Where Is Our Treasure?

This morning our small group will be pondering Matthew 19:16 - 30, with a focus on the young man who owned a great many things. Maybe there is something here for you:

 

This is one of those passages that Christians have tried to explain away over the centuries – St. Francis of Assisi being a notable exception. In other words, we’ve tried, and we still try, to blunt the force of Jesus’ words to the young man who had “many things” or “many possessions” (19:22). Some teachers have gone so far as to say that Jesus didn’t mean a literal “needle” in verse 24, but that there was a gate in Jerusalem called “the needle’s eye” through which a camel had to kneel or bend down to get through; the problem with this is that there wasn’t any such thing – Jesus is talking about a literal camel and a literal needle, and unless the camel shrinks or the needle’s eye get a whole lot larger, people with “many things” ain’t entering the kingdom of heaven. (I think “many things” or “many possessions” is a better translation than “great wealth” or “much property”.) Thankfully we have verse 26, “…with God all things are possible.”

 

In considering this passage, note Matthew 6:19 – 24 and 7:13 – 14. Matthew 19:16 – 30 lines up with what Jesus has already been teaching and should be no surprise – Jesus actually expects us to act on what He teaches. Also please consider what comes before our passage, Jesus’ teaching, once again, about little children (19:13 – 15; also 18:2).    

 

Two or three weeks ago Steve asked a question of us about how we handled the expectations of the world, the pressures to provide for family, and the desire to be successful in our careers, in light of being followers of Jesus Christ. Not only was there silence, but we changed the subject. Why was there silence? I’ve been pondering this…and not wanting to waste this good question that Steve asked, I’ll build on it.

 

(But let me also put in a word for “silence” – silence is good and we ought not to fear it. Our Zoom meetings are not like radio in which dead spots are dangerous – we don’t have to fill space with words, if we need time to ponder a question like Steve’s then let’s ponder it – how else can the Holy Spirit speak to us? This is a downside of not meeting in person, it seems we’re more afraid of silence than usual).

 

Okay, now building on Steve’s question: How were we raised to think about money and possessions? How is our society raising children today in this respect? How have we lived our lives regarding money and possessions, in light of Matthew 6:19 – 24? Most importantly, how are we living today regarding money and possessions?

 

What are the true values of our society and churches?

 

As I pondered this passage I realized that I could easily preach a sermon series on it, it is that complex, and yet it is simple – because it penetrates our hearts (or should) and strips us naked…if we’re honest about it. What really matters? Where is our treasure? What are we teaching our children? What are our neighbors seeing in our lives? Our coworkers? Who are we really?

 

Are we more concerned about our children and grandchildren making money, or knowing Christ and becoming men and women of character?

 

In 19:21 Jesus uses the word “perfect” or “complete” – compare with Matthew 5:48. The Christian life is not about getting some eternal passport stamped – it is about becoming like our Father and Lord Jesus (Romans 8:29). What a shame that most Christians don’t “get” this.

 

In the Old Testament the idea of being perfect or complete carried with it the meaning of “undivided loyalty and full-hearted obedience.” In the case of this young rich guy, his money was competing with God…and as we’ve seen in previous passages, what Jesus demands is absolute radical discipleship.

 

D.A. Carson points out: “The condition Jesus now imposes not only reveals the man’s attachment to money but shows that all his formal compliance with the law is worthless because none of it entails absolute self-surrender. What the man needs is the triumph of grace; for as the next verses show, for him entering the kingdom of heaven is impossible. God, with whom all things are possible, must work…But the young man is deaf to it; he leaves because, if a choice must be made between money and Jesus, money wins.”

 

Dale Bruner notes that, “The god of making money is perhaps the most common god in the world…Jesus would save us from the curse and endless troubles of running after the god of money by teaching us in the Rich Young Ruler the joys of voluntary austerity, of simple living in following Jesus, and of “enough is enough.”

 

I think many Americans look at eternal life as just another “acquisition” – as if we want the “spiritual” as a complement to all the other things we have – we certainly see Christianity marketed this way – if we have the spiritual then we’ll be well-rounded.

 

Don’t overlook “the poor” in 19:21. As we saw in our study of the Minor Prophets, we have an obligation to the poor. How are we meeting that obligation? Proverbs 14:21, 31; 19:17; 21:13; 28:27; 29:7.

 

While we may not be “rich” in the sense of Bill Gates, we are all rich relative to most of the world and relative to many of our fellow citizens. Also, it is likely that we all have “many things” or “many possessions” – just try downsizing.

 

Dale Bruner has a nice observation which challenges me, “The gospel inevitably becomes economic…Jesus intends every disciple in every generation to hear this command to the rich man as a command to them to do something with their assets that will indicate that their discipleship to Jesus is real…All of us are addressed by Jesus in this story, at the point of our possessions and are asked to say, “Is it I, Lord?”

 

How is Christ speaking to me in this passage? To you?

 

In 19:21 – 22 Jesus is saying, “Live your life following me!” How are we living our lives?

 

Bruner points out, in a nice turn of phrase, that the young man “loses both eternal life and the adventure of a lifetime.”

 

How were we raised? How do we think about possessions? Money? Are we possessed by money and things?

 

Who are we? This question of who we are is critical – this is what we focused on in August. If we don’t know who we are then we will live as slaves. The irony is that the freedom and pleasure the world offers leads to slavery, we become slaves to pleasure, slaves to money, slaves to things, slaves to the values of the world, slaves to entertainment. We become economic and consumer zombies. Do we remember Christ’s words about self-denial in Matthew 16?

 

Have we become hypnotized by economics?

 

Consider that Americans have been made into “consumers”. Even our churches, rather than teaching the self-denial of Jesus Christ, are focused on people feeling good about themselves and having their wants and needs met, rather than surrendering to Christ and laying down our lives for others (1 John 3:16). This particular perversion of the Gospel is a recent historical phenomenon.

 

Since with God all things are possible, we can look to our Lord Jesus to speak to us through this passage and transform us into His image. What better time of life to put points on the board than the last season of life? What better season to beautifully become more like Jesus? What better time to stand out from the crowd as we walk with Jesus?

 

I’m going to close with a story from John Newton, the author of Amazing Grace. Newton went to visit a parishioner just after she had lost her fortune. He wasn’t surprised to find her in tears, but he was surprised at the reason she was crying. She said (and I’m putting this into modern English), “I suppose you think I’m crying for my loss, but that is not the case: I am now weeping to think I should feel so much anxiety about the loss.”

 

Newton said that after this visit, “I never heard her talk about her financial loss again as long as she lived.”

 

Then Newton wrote, “Now this is just as it should be. Suppose a man was going to York to take possession of a large estate, and his carriage should break down a mile before he got to the city, which meant that he had to walk the rest of the way; what a fool we would take him for, if we saw him wringing his hands, and blubbering out all the remaining mile, “My carriage is broken! My carriage is broken!”

 

As Jesus says, where our treasure is, there our hearts will be also.

 

What’s in our hearts?