BURIED TREASURE By Rom A. Pegram (10/28/18)

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1 BURIED TREASURE By Rom A. Pegram (10/28/18) All our lives, most of us have been seeking excellence for ourselves; we ve been on a treasure hunt. We ve all desired the very best for us and for our families. And that desire isn t in us by chance; God placed it there. Because of this desire God s placed within each of us for something more, we seek both a person and a place. I m convinced that Jesus is the Person and Heaven is the place the ultimate treasures. But, there s a problem; we re not physically living with that person nor in that place. Yes, we may attend church regularly, pray, and read the Bible. But, life can still be filled with drudgery, can t it? We dutifully put one foot in front of the other, longing for a joy we cannot find, a treasure that all too often seems to escape us Well, Jesus told a story like that. It s all about a hidden treasure that, once discovered, brings life-changing joy! And that s the parable I want to share with you today, but first let me share this story about a traveler A first-century Hebrew man walks alone on a hot afternoon, walking stick in hand. His shoulders are stooped, sandals covered with dirt, and his tunic stained with sweat. But he doesn t stop to rest. He has urgent business in the city He veers off the road into a field, seeking a shortcut. The owner won t mind travelers are permitted this courtesy. The field is somewhat uneven. To keep his balance, he uses his staff, putting it down into the dirt. Thunk. The staff comes down on something hard. He stops, wipes his brow, and pokes at the ground again. Thunk. Something s under there, and it s not a rock. The weary traveler tells himself that he can t afford to linger. But, his curiosity won t let him go on. So, he jabs at the ground again. Something is now reflecting a sliver of sunlight. He drops to his knees and starts digging. Five minutes later, he s uncovered it a case decorated with gold. By the looks of it, it s been there for decades! With his heart now racing, he pries off the rusty lock and opens the lid. Gold coins! Jewelry! Precious stones of every color! A treasure more valuable than anything he could ever imagine! By now, his hands were shaking. The traveler inspects the coins and finds out they were issued in Rome over seventy years ago. Some wealthy man must have buried the case and died suddenly, the secret of the treasure s location dying with him. There s no actual home nearby that he can see. So surely the landowner has no clue the treasure is here The traveler closes the lid, re-buries the chest, and marks the spot. He turns around, heads back to his home rapidly. As a matter of fact, he s skipping like a little boy, smiling with joy What a find! Unbelievable! I ve got to have that treasure! he says to himself. But I can t just take it; that would be stealing. Whoever owns the field owns what s in it. But how can I afford to buy it? He thinks to himself. I know. I ll sell my farm and

2 2 crops and all my tools and my prize oxen. Yes, if I sell everything that should be enough. From the moment of discovery, the traveler s life changes. The treasure captures his imagination, becoming the stuff of his dreams. It s his reference point, his new center of gravity. The traveler takes every step from then on with this treasure in mind. And this story, folks, is captured by Jesus in one single verse (Matthew 13:44, NLT). Listen: The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field. There re a variety of ways to interpret this one single verse. But one thing can be agreed on: This parable definitely points to the joy of surrendering lesser treasures to find greater ones! And that s the principle we re going to talk about as we launch this new worship series today Folks, I ve been your pastor here for a little over 3 years now. And I ve come to know this congregation to be very good at many things. On the flipside of that coin, as a pastor, I also see areas where growth is needed. And, like any good coach, I want us to improve on those areas where growth is needed to be the very best team for Jesus we can be! So, for the next few weeks, we re going to be concentrating on the growth area of generosity really, how Jesus lived. Why is this important? I m convinced (as well as many others church leaders) that we cannot be fully-developing disciples of Jesus Christ (what Jesus has called us to), unless we learn to be fully-developing stewards of all God s entrusted to us! Stewardship is a vital part of discipleship; they have to go hand-in-hand. So, we have to understand this first WE CAN T SEPARATE MONEY & POSSESSIONS FROM LIFE WITH GOD! The Parable of the Hidden Treasure is one of many references Jesus made to money and possessions; in fact, 15% of everything Jesus is recorded as saying relates to the topic of generosity more than his teaching on heaven and hell combined so it must be pretty important Question: Why did Jesus put such an emphasis on money & possessions? Here s a few ideas Because there s a fundamental connection between our spiritual lives and how we think about and handle money. We may try to separate our faith & our finances, but God sees them as inseparable! And I wouldn t be much of a pastor or friend if I didn t teach you what I ve learned (and I m still learning) in this area Turn with me to a story in Luke s Gospel (Luke 3:7-14): When the crowds came to John for baptism, he said, You brood of snakes! Who warned you to flee God s coming wrath? 8 Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don t just say to each other, We re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham. That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. 9 Even now the ax of

3 3 God s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire. 10 The crowds asked, What should we do? 11 John replied, If you have two shirts, give one to the poor. If you have food, share it with those who are hungry. 12 Even corrupt tax collectors came to be baptized and asked, Teacher, what should we do? 13 He replied, Collect no more taxes than the government requires. 14 What should we do? asked some soldiers. John replied, Don t extort money or make false accusations. And be content with your pay. Anyone notice similarities in each of John s responses here? Each answer relates to money and possessions, doesn t it? They asked what they should do to demonstrate they d turned from their sins. So why didn t John talk about other things? Here it is: Our approach to money and possessions, as followers of Christ, isn t just important; it s central to our spiritual lives our relationship with God! It s such a high priority with God that John the Baptist couldn t talk about spirituality without talking about how to handle our stuff! It s intricately tied together As I ve studied scripture, certain passages have jumped out at me: Luke 19:8-9 Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much! Jesus response? Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. Zacchaeus radical new approach to money & possessions proved his heart had been transformed Or how bout the poor widow with two small coins (Mark 12:44)? Jesus praised her giving by saying, For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on. In contrast, Jesus spoke of a rich man (Luke 12:20) who spent all his wealth on himself, planning to tear down his barns and build bigger ones, so he could store more stuff to retire early and take it easy Jesus response to him was to call the man a fool, saying, You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for? The greatest indictment against him proof of his spiritual condition is that he was generous toward himself, but not toward God Then, there s the rich young ruler (remember him?) the antithesis of the traveler in today s story not willing to give up anything for a greater treasure We can t separate money & possessions and our life with God, can we? They must go hand-in-hand. So, if we can t separate those two things, what must we do? INSTEAD, WE HAVE TO LEARN TO HAVE A TREASURE MENTALITY! Folks, Jesus doesn t just tell us where not to put our treasures; he also gives us the best investment advice you ll ever hear (Matt. 6:20): Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Now, if you stopped reading too soon, you d think Jesus was against storing up treasures for ourselves, but that s not what he said. He actually said, Store YOUR treasures in heaven. So, Jesus isn t against it; he s all for it! In fact, he commands it! He wants us to store up treasures! He s just telling us to stop storing em in the wrong place and start storing em in the right place!

4 4 Store your treasures in heaven. Some versions say, Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Does it seem strange that Jesus commands us to do what s in our own best interest? Wouldn t that be selfish? NO! God expects and commands us to act out of enlightened self-interest. He wants us to live for his glory; but what s for his glory is also always for our own good So, folks, we too need to have this kind of treasure mentality a treasure mentality like Jesus that s not misguided, but always guided toward what s best for us for eternity! What is this treasure in heaven some of you might be wondering? Power (Luke 19:15-19), possessions (Matt. 19:21), and pleasures (Psalm 16:11) And Jesus promises those who sacrifice on earth will receive a hundred times as much in heaven (Matt. 19:29); that s 10,000 percent, if you were wondering an impressive ROI (return on investment) Of course, Jesus himself is our first treasure our ultimate treasure! All else pales in comparison to him and the JOY of knowing him (Phil. 3:7-9a, NLT); listen to Paul s words I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with him. So, a person is our first treasure (Jesus), a place is our second treasure (Heaven), and possessions are our third treasure (eternal rewards). So, why should we store these treasures up in heaven? Because it s the right thing to do? Well, yes, but not just that. We should store up our treasures in heaven because it s the smart thing to do because such treasures will last! Folks, Jesus argues from the bottom line. It s not an emotional appeal. Jesus doesn t ask people to give out of guilt (which happens way too often/distorts the teachings of Jesus). Rather, Jesus appeal is a logical one: Invest in what has lasting value That s what the wise do! You know what they say, don t you? You ll never see a hearse pulling a U-Haul. Why? Because you really can t take it with you any physical thing from this world John D. Rockefeller was one of the wealthiest men who s ever lived. After he died someone asked his accountant, How much money did John D. leave? The reply was classic: The accountant said, He left all of it. You can t take it with you. If that point is now clear in your mind, you re ready to hear the secret of the Treasure Principle (Alcorn), and I d like to introduce this to you today. It goes like this You can t take it with you, but you can send it on ahead!

5 That folks is the Treasure Principle at the heart of Jesus treasure mentality. And we re going to pick up here next week, as we continue to learn what it means to live and love like Jesus learning the secrets of joy-filled giving 5