Since I posted a sermon earlier on worry, I decided to post this sermon by
Steve Zeisler also on the topic of worry and how we, as Christians, should
remain faithful instead of worry.
May God bless,
Carl
my website -- http://www.nettally.com/saints/
my blog -- http://www.anniemayhem.com/cgi-bin/wordpress/
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DON'T WORRY, BE FAITHFUL
by Steve Zeisler
I felt sorry for our newspaper deliverer on Friday because he had to make
two trips to deliver the newspaper. One trip was just to deliver a thick
wad
of catalogs, fliers, and brochures of all kinds advertising holiday
specials. This weekend is almost a national holiday for shopping, as you
probably observed if you were out and about on Friday and Saturday.
We have come to an important place in the Sermon on the Mount, especially
with regard to the current thinking about material goods. It will be very
helpful to us in this season of the year to hear Jesus' words about
treasures on earth and treasures in heaven. The Lord will use
illustrations
about treasures, eyesight, masters, birds, and flowers. As he draws each
illustration to a close, he will make a profound point in a simple
statement. I hope our Lord's words will have the challenging and renewing
effect on you that they have had on me. We'll look at three of these
illustrations to begin with in verses 19-24:
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust
destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves
treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves
do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart
will
be also.
"The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body
will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be
full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is
that darkness!
"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the
other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot
serve both God and Money.
Storing up heavenly treasures
The first of these teachings has to do with storing up treasures. Jesus is
serving as an investment counselor for us here. His assumption is that all
of us will have some concern about our future and will make investments
for
it. One of the key factors by which those who study human behavior measure
maturity, or the change between childhood and adulthood, is the ability to
defer gratification. For example, you can tell a very young child, "Here
is
one chocolate, but if you do not eat this one and wait an hour, you can
have
two then." You can get some idea of how mature they are by whether they
are
willing and able to say no to the short-term benefit in order to have
greater gain later. And of course the deferment and gratification are
progressively increased.
So Jesus is assuming that he is speaking to adults who are storing up
something for the future. But the question is, are we storing up treasures
on earth or treasures in heaven? How far into the future does our concern
go? Jesus advocates storing up eternal treasures in heaven because they
are
so much more valuable than any treasures we can store up on earth.
The problem with anything that is stored for future earthly consumption is
that it is subject to corrosion, deterioration, and theft. If you're
trying
to manage any amount of money at all for the future, you know how
difficult
it is to stay ahead of inflation, for instance, and to anticipate tax
decisions that the government will make in the future. How in the world
can
our assets be protected against the corrosions that money undergoes
because
it changes in value?
I have a friend who owns a beautiful and very expensive car, but he never
drives it. He actually drives an old pickup truck. He is afraid that if he
takes his car out of the garage he will be threatened with car-jacking,
someone will scratch it, or something else will happen. He also lives near
the ocean, so he keeps it in the garage because the salt air will affect
the
paint. So he periodically polishes this very expensive device in his
garage,
but almost never does he or anyone else derive any benefit from it.
I know women who own jewelry that is exceedingly beautiful and worth a
great
deal of money, but it stays in a bank vault. What they wear out in public
for other people to see is the more ordinary kind of jewelry so that they
won't attract the attention of thieves.
Everything material that we value in this life, that we can hover over and
hoard, is subject to some kind of loss. We cannot protect it absolutely. I
have known people who saved very effectively for the future and arrived at
an age when they might spend what they had saved, but they had been so
miserly in their approach to life that it was completely impossible for
them
to learn to enjoy what they had. They were committed to owning rather than
to enjoying. There are also people who arrive at the time when they might
spend what they have and find they have no friends or family to enjoy it
with because those have been sacrificed in the acquisition. What good is
the
cabin in the mountains and the boat docked at the lake if there is nobody
in
your life to share them with?
Jesus reminds us that if we are committed to storing up material treasures
that are valuable only in this life, we are making a foolish choice,
because
there is a wonderful alternative. That alternative is to store treasures
in
heaven---to make decisions that will accomplish something that will be
ours
eternally in God's presence and in the presence of all God's people in
glory. It is to use the things that God has given us control over as
stewards to do what will last forever. That is the investment counsel that
Jesus gives us.
At the end of Jesus' life, he said that the day would come when some would
be gathered to him and some would be banished. Then he would tell the ones
he gathered to him, "...I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I
was
thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I needed clothes and you
clothed
me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to
visit me." And they would say, "Lord, when did we do those things?" Then
he
would explain, "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of
mine, you did for me." (See Matthew 25:35-40.) In glory our Lord will
reflect back to us his knowledge of things that we did from a pure heart
for
Christ's sake, caring about him and the people he cares about, even if we
passed over them without noticing ourselves. That will be an extraordinary
day, and the echoes of his word of his approval, spoken so that everyone
will know, will never fade. We will carry them with us eternally.
Three kinds of treasure
There are three kinds of things that I would suggest are treasures in
heaven
that will last forever. One of them is our character. What kind of person
have we become, or what sort of soul has been shaped in us? We will be
given
new bodies, but the inner person that we have become over a lifetime we
will
take into eternity. We will be recognizable as ourselves, having an
identity
that is based on this earth's identity. So are we becoming kindhearted
people? Are we merciful people? Is there purity growing in our experience
and in our thoughts? Is there a love for truth? Is there an intimacy with
God? Is there sacrificial love for other people? These are the kinds of
things that shape what we believe, who we are, and what we value. We can
make choices to either see our character shaped according to the Lord, or
to
see it shaped by other influences.
Secondly, we will take into eternity relationships with people who love
the
Lord, whether we have known them for a score of years or we have just met
them today. Relationships begun here will last forever in Christ. And we
can
make choices to build good relationships by, for instance, sharing
in-depth
with each other, and by saying no to television and other mindless
recreations when they are taking up too much of our time.
I have been wrestling with a decision for a week or so. My daughter has
been
given a marvelous opportunity. She plays on a college volleyball team, and
her team has qualified to play in the small college national championships
next weekend in Tennessee. I wanted to be with her, and my wife was
planning
to go back, but I was scheduled to preach here next Sunday. Then a number
of
the elders came to me and said they thought I ought to go. I raised the
question of whether I would be shirking my responsibility to go. As we
talked, their point was essentially this: "You have only one daughter, and
she is going to be this age only once. You should be with her when she
gets
to be in the center of the spotlight, and enjoy her enjoyment of those
things. Remember, this is a relationship you can enjoy not only for the
rest
of this life but for eternity." So with their encouragement, I am going to
go to Tennessee and watch her play next weekend. There are some things
that
are wise to do in the bigger picture of eternity in valuing relationships.
Thirdly, any degree to which we reflect the glory of God will reverberate
forever---any true word spoken in his name, any praise offered him that is
of the heart, any opportunity we take to reflect his beauty to someone
else
in this life. Choices we make to honor the Lord are treasures in heaven.
Jesus adds a critical observation at the end of this teaching about the
relative value of treasures in heaven and treasures on earth: "...Where
your
treasure is, there your heart will be also." The business of what owns our
heart and the choices we make to value things form a circle that is
self-reinforcing. We make a choice to value things that last forever or a
choice to value things of this life. That choice claims some ownership of
our heart. And the more our heart is owned by our choices, the more likely
we are to make the same choice the next time. And the circle reinforces
itself. If we find ourselves regularly and enthusiastically living to
glorify Jesus, love one another, and make righteous choices, these things
will reinforce themselves because our heart will be more inclined to do
them
the next time. We are more taken with and more committed to heaven and its
values.
But the reverse is also true. Every investment we make in protecting,
finding security in, and being selfish about this world's goods anchors
our
heart in this world and makes it more likely that we will make that choice
next time. The only way out of it is to begin to make healthy choices in
prayerful thoughtfulness, with encouragement from one another. We become
who
we are by making many choices, often little ones, over a long period of
time. That is why the Lord is urging us here to invest in heaven, to begin
to do what lasts forever routinely and often, and to find our heart more
and
more owned by the values of heaven. That is an important warning and an
important encouragement as well.
Treasures on earth are not the same thing
The second illustration or teaching is in verses 22-23: "The eye is the
lamp
of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.
But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If
then
the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" Jesus is
talking about the difference between being temporarily unable to see and
being blind. If your eyes are just closed, or if the room is dark, light
can
be turned on. But if the light in you is darkness---if the organ that is
to
receive light into your body is darkened by blindness---then there is no
remedy for the darkness.
What Jesus is talking about in this context is treasuring earthly things
too
much. Our eye is another way of speaking about the values of our heart. I
believe Jesus is warning us here about coming to think that God and his
power exist in order to make us rich in this life, that treasures on earth
and treasures in heaven are the same thing. The reason to be a Christian
is
to win the election, the reason to speak of one's Christian faith is to
make
sales and get rich, and the reason to be a member of a Christian community
is to take advantage of all the material things that will come your way as
a
result. If we have aligned our spiritual insight and values with this
world's goods, then the very "organ" through which we should receive light
is lying to us. And there is no hope then, because every reference to the
Bible, to God, and to prayer becomes no more than a way of reinforcing our
selfishness.
The health-and-wealth gospel is one of the most damnable lies abroad in
the
land. It says that deep down, God wants nothing more than to make you very
beautiful, very rich, very successful, and completely self-centered. He
exists for no other purpose than the advantage of our fleshly interests.
But
once you believe that, then God becomes a reinforcer of the selfishness
that
we are already prone to, instead of having a heavenly realm that we can
value in place of this earth. So the darkness is very great indeed.
Money is a terrible master
In Jesus' third illustration he reminds us that not only are heavenly
treasures and earthly treasures not the same, but we cannot run them
parallel to each other, either. We cannot have enthusiasm for the things
of
God and enthusiasm for the things of earth. We cannot have a spiritual
compartment and a worldly compartment, pay attention to both of them at
various times, and build up stores in both places. Verse 24: "No one can
serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he
will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both
God
and Money."
If we love and serve God, and his mastery in our lives is gaining
ascendancy
at every point, then we will not be serving money as a god or master. We
will grow to despise it as such. But if we are serving money and we expect
it to make us happy, pay us off, provide security, and give us a sense of
worth---to do what only God can do---then we will grow to despise God. We
cannot have two masters. Money is an excellent servant, but it is a
terrible
master. Money, goods, time, energy, and riches of all kinds are intended
to
be the things that we use in this world to serve and glorify God.
Seek first his kingdom
We can value money too much, but we can also fear its loss too much. We
can
grow anxious when it is absent, or when it appears to be. This is the
second
significant problem we can have. Neither takes into account the depth of
what it means to have God as our Father. Listen to what Jesus says about
not
being afraid. Verses 25-26:
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or
drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important
than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of
the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your
heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Jesus said at one point that two sparrows were sold for a penny and five
for
two pennies. They are the least significant of animals, and yet God is
lavish in his care of them and all of the animal kingdom.
Verses 27-34:
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow.
They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his
splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the
grass
of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire,
will
he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry,
saying,
'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'
For
the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that
you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all
these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about
tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough
trouble
of its own.
We have an opportunity to make some serious and renewing decisions, to
hear
the call of the Lord against the call of the culture, to reorient the
direction of our heart or strengthen the orientation if it is right, to
treasure what is heavenly and not what is earthly. We have the opportunity
to serve God, not money, and to trust our heavenly Father to care for us.
We
can seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and let the other things
be
given to us, rather than insisting on worrying or being desperate over
them
ourselves.
If you are a Christian, I urge you to let God lead your thinking, take a
stand on the inside, and let it affect the way you live. If you are not a
believer, but one of those whom Jesus calls unbelievers (pagans) in this
passage---people who are required to worry and to provide for themselves,
who have no heavenly Father whom they can count on---what an opportunity
you
have to open your heart to the One who wants to love you, care for you,
and
give you what you desperately seek! I urge you to take this opportunity
seriously, not shallowly, to act on what the Lord has been saying to your
heart.
Copyright © 1994 Discovery Publishing, a ministry of Peninsula Bible
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