Hidden Treasure

Message Transcription

Well, we're in a series called The Good Life wrestling with this question, what is the good life and who actually gets to live it? Who is it available to? We're following Jesus around through the sermon on the Mount, the greatest sermon ever preached in one of the first sermons he gave as his ministry began. We've been listening for his invitation into this kingdom that's actually available to anyone who wants to live in it. The only requirement is, do you want it? Do you have any desire to live in it? In fact, last week we heard that if we're going to take that step to live fully in God's kingdom, it's going to require some changes in our life that the good life is actually born out of the good that's stored up in our hearts. You know, the good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his life. The good woman brings good things out of the good stored up in her heart. From the deepest levels of understanding Jesus walks us through. This idea of becoming the kind of person who lives a good life that flows out of his heart. Her heart. Jesus was teaching to go beyond the scribes and the Pharisees. You see, in Jesus day there was this idea that to. To live the good life, you had to follow a bunch of rules and be really good at it, otherwise you might be in trouble. Jesus says, actually, it goes beyond that.

We've got to go beyond just doing the right thing. That it's actually looking into our heart. What's our motivation? What's our intention? So right after Jesus reminds us of this present availability of the kingdom, he walks us through. He moves us through from the deepest roots of human evil. Right in chapter six begins with anger and and obsessive desire to the pinnacle of the fulfillment of God's law. And that's love to live a life of love. This week, he's going to warn us about the temptation to engineer our own security by trying to build up our own name, or by trying to depend on lean on material wealth and possessions. In fact, Dallas Willard argues that these two things block and hinder us, perhaps more than anything, to stay connected to, to live in the good life, our desire for the approval of others, and our dependency upon wealth. Now we think about this, especially in the church in our day, that there may be not more to to deeper temptations for us than than how we are seen by others and what we depend on. So Jesus begins, he drives us deeper here into beginning in verse one, chapter six. Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others.

Truly, I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray. Standing in the synagogues and on street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your father who is unseen. Then your father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask him. And when you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly, I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast put oil on your head, wash your face so that it will not be obvious to others that you're fasting, but only to your father who is unseen. And your father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

You know, the desire for approval is perhaps in our world, uh, a huge temptation. Maybe more so than than anyone Christians to be seen as right, to be seen as doing right living right being right. We want to be seen by others as good and moral and righteous. It was no different in Jesus day. The religious in his day also taught that same thing. But Jesus would say that kind of mindset, or rather that type of hard set, is toxic to learning how to live the good life. He says. What matters most are your intentions, the intentions of your heart before God, your father, who sees what is done in secret. He understands. He knows your intentions. Now, it's important to hear a couple of things here this morning. First, to hear what Jesus isn't saying. He's not saying we should always hide our good deeds. Now, that might be appropriate in some areas and at different times in our life. But that's not the point. Jesus is trying to drive home here, much like his teaching in the last chapter on adultery of heart. The the point is intentions. It's not just that we look at someone and desire them, but are we looking at them to desire them? So to hear. It's not. Are we doing a good deed that others see? It's are we doing a good deed so that others will see it? Jesus isn't saying we should always hide our good deeds.

He's saying, what are the intentions of doing that deed? He's also saying that intent is determined by what we want and expect from our actions. If we're doing so to be seen by others, he says. It doesn't involve God and therefore God's not really paying attention to that. Your reward is what you receive from the adulation from others. But but if your desire is to do a good deed because it's out of the overflow of the heart. And is, as Brandon reminded us, this overflowing thankfulness, this gratefulness for the amazing things God has done for us, I cannot help but do for others. He says. Your father sees what's done in secret, whether anyone else ever sees it or acknowledges it or not. God sees and he meets us there and he draws us deeper into the good life. If we're doing it for human recognition, God doesn't respond. He's not involved. But if we're serving him, then he meets us there. The gift that Jesus is trying to give us here church. And I think this is crucial, it's certainly been important in my life, is the gift of being free from the control of what other people think. Of other people's opinions of you. You see, the deciding factor for what we do or don't do is our desire to to live in the kingdom, to live the good life, allowing other opinions, others opinions to control us.

It pushes aside God's presence in our life. It forces that mentality out. That's why the antidote is the discipline of secrecy. The antidote that the thing that helps break the grasp of others opinions on our souls is the discipline of secrecy, of learning to do what you would do without doing it in front of other people. So if you've been struggling recently with what others think about you and how you respond, what you say, what you wear, what you do based on what would others think of me? Then perhaps this week you're invited to to enter the discipline of secrecy. Maybe there's a need in your family or in your community and God's inviting you. Would you meet that need in your school? Or at your workplace. Maybe it's in your neighborhood or with your family. Would you be willing to meet that need? In secret to not let anyone know that you were doing not so that one day they might find out about it and then tell you how wonderful you were for actually doing that, even though they didn't know about it and how they just found out about it. And that's amazing. You're such a great person. But could I meet that need? Because it's just it's the right thing to do. I was thinking this week about an example of what this might look like. And some of you may be thinking, well, Carl isn't telling us an example like giving them credit for what they did.

Well, I thought of one, and I literally I don't know who did this. And so I feel like I can tell you about it. It's just an example. Uh, a few years ago, actually, every summer, Gabe and I do a father son baseball trip. And we've been to many different stadiums. Seen the Rangers mostly, but but we've been all over the place. And Gabe, of course, loves to go early to watch batting practice. He wants to see it all. Every opportunity that he can be in the ballpark, he wants to be there. So we were there a couple of hours before game time, and in the midst of that, some players were running over to the dugout and on their way over. We had a couple of extra t shirts and they were tossing them into the stands. And of course, the kids. If you've ever seen the movie Finding Nemo, when the seagulls are on the thing and they're mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, well, that's this rush of kids. It's just mine, mine, mine, mine, mine. So they're throwing these two shirts into the stadium or into the to the fans. And Gabe is standing there and this guy points kind of at him and he throws it to him and Gabe catches it. Oh, he's just elated until he looks next to him. And there's this young kid. And he looks up at him and he goes, he was throwing that to me.

And Gabe standing there and he looks down. And he gives the kid the shirt. And he comes back up and he's just, oh, you know, I said, I'm sitting there going, what are you doing, man? This is like everything you want. Your whole dream has come to get, you know, he goes, well, dad, he just said it was meant for him. And I was like. That's really nice, son. That's really kind of you to do. He was totally lying to you, but it was really nice that impulse for you to just give it away. Give it away. Right. It was really sweet thing. So I was telling this in a sermon a few years ago. Well, Wednesday of that week, we go to the mailbox and there's a package and it says to Gabe wife. And so I'm like, hey, Gabe, get in here. You got a package, buddy? And he opens it up. And guess what? It is a Rangers T-shirt. It's unmarked. Nobody said, hey, I did this. It was just anonymous with a little note that just said, hey, Gabe, I think you deserve this right now. If I could go back and just take a picture of Gabe's face. Right. The blessing that he experienced. Right? Because some one of you. I don't know who it is. I still to this day, don't know who it is. Thought enough of Gabe to say, Gabe, that kind of behavior deserves a reward, and I'm going to reward it.

That it blessed his little heart. And it blessed my little heart to watch my son actually go, that's life in the kingdom, right? As when people give sacrificially and then they're told about it. They're just moved to go. I want to be a part of that. And we were so moved that someone was moved by Gabe's desire to just be kind to this kid, right? That's life in the kingdom, right? Jesus says, you don't have to let your right hand know what your left hand is doing, not because there's something powerful about it being secret, but because it's it's the spontaneous overflow of the heart. Right? Jesus says, out of the overflow of our hearts, our mouth speak. He also says that's that's life in the kingdom that we learn to to give, to respond. And we don't have to do it and be recognized for it. It's just who we are. Jesus says one of the biggest traps, one of the biggest challenges of living life connected to God. The good life, is the temptation to have to be recognized. Right to have our name, to have someone's opinion of us go up. Jesus says that's actually not how it goes in the good life. Now the second warning he gives, he continues on in Matthew six, verse 19. This temptation to seek our security and wealth, our ability to gather up enough resources around us that we don't have to worry about our life anymore, he says.

Don't store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moths and vermin destroy. Where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. At these words Camille read for just a moment ago. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Jesus is teaching us here about treasures. And treasure is simply something that we hold on to because of its value. It matters to us. Now, treasure is not simply a material object. It can be a relationship. It can be, uh. Um, our our favorite team. It could be our alma mater, our our university of choice. But we can treasure something you can value. Value to us. The most important Judeo-Christian commandment is to treasure God. To treasure God above all things. Material or otherwise. That's what's meant by love. The Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, your mind, your strength, every possible scenario. Jesus says to treasure God more than anything, and to treasure him means to hold him dear. To care about the things that he cares about, to do the kinds of things that he would do. For where we treasure and what we treasure. That's where we find our hearts.

Dallas Willard, who's been such a huge influence in my life and certainly in his book, The Divine Conspiracy. He says to treasure. That's actually a very human thing. Treasures are directly connected to our spirit or will, and thus to our dignity as persons. It is, for example, very important for parents to respect the treasure space of children. It lies right at the center of the child's soul, and great harm can be done if it is not respected and even fostered. You know, it's interesting. It's not just children who who really treasure things and need to have their treasure space acknowledged. So with adults. When Jesus talked to us about treasures, he's not just talking to us about how we deal with or relate to external objects or even people. He's pointing, Dallas says, to a fundamental structure of our soul. It has to do precisely with whether the life we live now in the physical realm, is to be an eternal one or not. And the extent to which it will be so that's critical for us to understand. Jesus warns this that to treasure things that are earthly, it's not a smart strategy for living, because moths and vermin destroy it, and thieves can break in and steal it. Even digital things can now be attacked with a virus. Jesus says to to treasure those things. It's not a it's not a smart way to live. Instead, Jesus points us in a new direction. He says, store up for yourselves treasure in heaven.

It's kind of an odd phrase. What does that mean? It means simply to direct our actions toward making a difference in the kingdom. To invest in what God is doing here in the world today, because those treasures can't be lost or destroyed or infected or stolen. He says invest in what God is doing his kingdom. Devote ourselves to the good that's going on in the world around us. To all that God is doing to bring his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Another way that we might think about this is following the way of Jesus. You know, we talked a couple of weeks ago about if Jesus were to come today that he could have your job, he could live in your family, he could have your economic prospects, he could have your opportunities or lack thereof, and he could live fully in the kingdom that our ability to live the good life, it's not limited by who we are or where we live, or what we have or don't have, or what people think or don't think about us. It's an amazing opportunity. So Jesus says, Will you treasure the hidden things, the things that the world around us looks at and maybe scoffs at? It says, because what we treasure, that's where we find our hearts. It is, in fact, our treasures focus our hearts, Willard continues. Our heart is our will or our spirit, the center of our being from which our life flows.

It is what gives orientation to everything we do. A heart rightly directed therefore brings health and wholeness to the entire personality. All right. This is where your treasure is. That's where your heart will be. So learning to treasure hidden treasures, right? Building up treasure in heaven. It's more than about what happens to us after we die. It certainly includes that. But the good life actually can begin here and now. To treasure in heaven is nothing less than God Himself and His kingdom interwoven into our every day ordinary life. You don't have to wait until we die. Jesus says we can begin living that way now, today, in this moment. He goes on to say this in verse 25, therefore I tell you, don't worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food in the body? More than clothes? Now think about this for a minute. Imagine if you stood up in your class and someone asked you, what's the most important thing in your life? And you could say this, don't worry about it. Don't worry about your life, right? Imagine if at work you're having this conversation around the water cooler, if they still have those and someone says, so what do you think's this all about? And you just said, don't worry about your life. I don't have to worry about what I eat, what I drink, what I'm going to wear.

How would that go over with the people? That you work with, that you go to school with, that you live in the neighborhood with. Jesus says, look at the birds of the air. They don't sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you, by worrying, add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They don't labor, they don't spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon, who we study this morning in our Bible class. Not even Solomon in all his wisdom and all his splendor, was dressed like one of these. If that's how God closed 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 don't worry, saying, what shall we eat? Or what shall we drink, or what shall I wear? For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly father knows that you need them. Seek first the kingdom. And his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. If or don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Now think about this for a minute, church, as you think about what the good life is when that picture comes into your mind.

Jesus says this with the good life, you have no reason to ever be anxious. How does that sit with you? Does that sound just crazy to anyone else? How would that go over at the water cooler or in your classroom around the cafeteria table? In the good life. You don't ever have to worry about anything. There's no reason to worry. Now, to most people that sounds really strange and I wish I could tell you it doesn't sound strange to me anymore, but it's still kind of has this ring of like really. It seems like there's a lot of stuff in the world we need to be worrying about. I think it does so because much of our life how we see ourselves, how we see ourselves in relation to one another, how we see ourselves in relation to the world around us, it's inclined toward the physical reality, what we can see, taste, smell, touch. And so we're tempted to think that's all there is, right? And a lot of people, that's what they would say. Oh we got it now man. All you have is the moment in front of you. That's it. After that, it's just nothing. So if we treasure something else. If we treasure sacrificing things, right? Even if people are lying to us and we still give sacrificially. Like some people see that as delusional.

Why are you living that way? This. Welcome to the real world, people. That's not how this operates. See, I know we hear Jesus words, I know I do. Maybe I can just preach to me for a moment. I know I hear those words and I believe them right here. Right? I understand that, right? I don't have to worry about what I'm going to eat, or what I'm going to drink or what I'm going to wear. And I say, Amen, brother. Keep preaching. But do I believe it here? And if you follow me out into the world and you begin to listen to the relationships, the people that I talk to and how I interact with them, the advice that I give, the counsel that I offer. When you begin to look at my checkbook, that's a thing your parents will teach you about that, kids, when you when when you look at how I spend my money, am I investing in the things that really matter? Right when I'm considering my career, and what I'm going to do with the rest of my life, does does it reflect my value that this world isn't all that there is? Right that there is a kingdom that's breaking through even now. And so the invitation is, I don't have to wait until I die and just kind of tread water until Jesus comes back. But I could begin even now, even in my job, with my family, with my problems, with my economic opportunities or lack thereof, that I could begin to allow the kingdom to break through, in and through me.

What shall I eat? What shall I drink? What should I wear? Jesus says, if we're not careful, we're going to end up spending our whole life chasing after the very same thing that people who don't even know God chase after. That's a sobering thought, isn't it? To say we believe in Jesus and we spend our whole life chasing after the same thing that people who don't believe in Jesus chase after. And if you don't believe me, we're going to have a test case right this year, right? No, the first Tuesday in November and all the months leading up to it. Watch. Just watch, listen. And I want you to listen to Christians and how they talk about what this election means. This is the most important election we've ever had in our life. Democracy is at stake. Right. Our children's very lives are at stake. Your ability to own and to run and to do this and to do that. Right. Just listen. Is there any sense of there's a world beyond this one? And that how we live in this one now is actually preparing us for that. So we don't have to wait until we die and hope that we've got it together. But actually, we can begin practicing now. Right? So when we hear that friend of ours kind of going off the deep end, we can stop and go, hey, can we talk for just can we reset? You don't have to worry about what you wear.

You don't have to worry what it feels like. I know the world has set this up to make it feel like everything hinges upon this outcome. What if it doesn't? What if that moment already happened on a cross 2000 years ago? And now everything. Post that moment. Now we're we're beginning to see this new life, right? Jesus says we have another option. We can choose to live a different way. You see, life's not about the food that we eat. It's not ultimately about the clothes that we wear. It's not ultimately about who sits in the white House or not. Right. It's not that those things don't have value and they're not important, right? They're just not ultimate. And so we don't live as if they are. You hear that, Karl? I hope so. We have another option. In fact, I love how Dallas writes it in his book. Life's about a place in God's immortal kingdom now. Eternity is in part what we are living now. So Jesus says, seek first the kingdom. Learn how to live the good life where we love and serve. And we give not for show. Not so that other peoples will say, oh look, you guys are so great. We just love. But because that's that's the kingdom way.

And Jesus love, and he gave and he sacrificed not because he had to, but because he could. He chose to. And we all know the benefit of of being loved by someone like that. And we all know the pain of not being loved by someone like that, where everything that's that's judged on. What have you done for me lately? Like, we know that we live that every day. Jesus says, that's not the way the kingdom. Would you be willing to live a different way? Would you be willing to treasure the hidden treasures, the things that that this world doesn't see, doesn't recognize, doesn't always understand? Would you be willing to live that way, even if they don't? God. My prayer this week for our church is that we would live differently, and we would live in light of Jesus beautiful teaching, of seeking first the kingdom that the good life is not found in. How much money we can store up for ourselves. It's not found in and having the best reputation. It's not found in managing people's impressions and and hoping that their opinions are always high. Father, your kingdom is breaking through every day. Every time. A student in a classroom where a cafeteria stops and includes someone who's been marginalized. Your kingdom breaks through a little bit more. Every time in a relationship where someone's tempted to hold a grudge and be angry. Instead chooses to forgive, to find a way to reconcile God.

Your kingdom breaks through a little more every time one of your servant receives a material blessing, and instead of just holding on to it and hoarding it for themselves, they they give a little piece of that back to someone else. Your kingdom breaks through a little more. Oh, God, would you help us to seek the kingdom this week? To be people who learn how to live in light of that incredible moment that happened on the cross and and right after when Jesus was raised to life, freeing us from the fear of death. We don't have to worry about what we eat or what we drink or what we wear. We got that one day we may physically die. Because your promises, those who live the good life, who live in the kingdom they'll live even though they die. That death is simply a transition. Into your kingdom fully. Oh, God, would you help us to live in light of that truth and that promise, that reality? Yeah, this year is going to be incredibly challenging for us as the world around us and maybe even friends, maybe sometimes even in the church, is going to try to convince us that this election is going to have more impact than any before it. Yeah, but you help us to see through that lie. That what will have more impact is when your people begin to seek the kingdom first, your kingdom, your way of life, to love and to forgive, to show grace and mercy.

To be strong and courageous, to stand up for truth and righteousness. But to do so with love. God that will make a huge God. A church seeking your kingdom first. That will be the most significant thing to happen. And God, if you could add us all together, your your church globally living that way. Oh God, your kingdom would break through in such powerful ways. God, we want to be a part of that. And so, Lord, help us to see what's our next step in this. And for some of us who are just holding on to a thread, God, would you show us what's our next step to lean into some help? God. For those of us who've been at this a while, and we're tempted to just kind of fritter away our lives on the very things that people who don't know you chase after God. Maybe it's a reminder. To refocus once again, whether it's in our financial life or our relationship world. Maybe it's in our work life, our home life, God, wherever it may be. Would you help us to take our next step? Yeah. Thank you. Thank you that you sent your son while we were still sinners. To die for us, to live for us, to show us a way into the good life. God, we want to pursue that. Would you give us the courage to do so this this week? In Jesus name we pray. Amen.