Treasure Lost, Treasure Kept ...

What is the most important item you have in your home?  Is it your TV, maybe your computer?  Do you keep jewelry at home, or have you bought furniture recently for Christmas?  If for some reason, a thief managed to break in to your home, what would you fear the loss of the most?  We think about this before it happens.  We think about ADT or other services after it does.  If insurance does its job, the things we have, should be replaced (though with fine print that may never quite happen).  But I would venture to say there are things way more valuable than what I mentioned above.  The people you live with, would top the list.  When we look to protect and defend ourselves, the purchase of a gun comes to mind.  But no matter what scenario happens that robs us of what treasure we have, the common element is surprise.  Its not as if the would-be thief leaves a note on the door, scheduling the day and time they are expecting to come in and rob us.  That would be so far fetched no one (including the police I imagine) would believe it.  It just does not make sense.  No, the thief must count on the element of surprise to successfully rob us of our treasure.  We are just so complacent in our normality, we never expect it, until we are shocked that it happened to us.

Jesus understood this.  Though never having sinned, Jesus understands well both the motives and the methods of every thief ever born.  And frankly Jesus would redeem everyone of them if they would but let Him.  In the gospel of Matthew to his Hebrew contemporaries, Jesus discusses the element of surprise as it relates to His second coming.  In this case sad to say, but we just never seem to see it coming.  He picks up with this same analogy in verse 43 saying … “But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. [verse 44] Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.”  There is more to this simple analogy than might first meet the eye.  It relates to the context of the previous texts in Matthew’s gospel of this same chapter.  Where it comes to being prepared for the Lord’s second coming; Jesus states one would be ready and taken, the other not.  One person, even one Christian, would be ready, the other not.  One person who truly understands the love of Jesus, that transforms, and teaches us to love others – the other not.

Imagine this statement is true, even within the household walls of one single family.  Imagine a husband who is ready, and his wife not.  Adam faced this.  Imagine a set of children ready, their parents not.  Imagine a sibling who is ready, and their other not.  It is most painful to think that even within a single family unit, one might be ready, with another not.  It is possible though; because salvation is personal and not transferrable.  As much as a parent might wish to lay down their own lives to see their children sparred, they cannot.  As much as a husband might wish to lay down his life for the sake of his wife; he cannot force his wife to truly know Jesus, and vice versa.  Sometimes when there is a person within a family who has great faith, perhaps a mother or grandmother, all the other family members look to her in matters of religion.  But her faith, is not your faith, her stories not your stories.  Her knowledge of the love of Jesus, is not your knowledge.  Each person must come to know Jesus for him or herself.  No one can be forced. 

And so, even within the walls of our own home, not everyone may have accepted what you have accepted.  If this is true, then the finality of the second coming is an event that seals life long trends, and life long rejections of a loving God.  If this happens, it would very surely cause our home to be “broken up”.  It is not the treasures of this world we would ever miss, compared to the infinite world we can barely imagine.  But the treasures of our family, of those we love – those are treasures that we would miss for eternity if we were to be deprived of their company and their love.  There are some treasures we will lose at His second coming, and find they were never really treasures at all.  And there are some treasures we could lose at His second coming, we will find had no price tag high enough in our eyes and hearts.  And worst of all, it is the surprise that might settle which is which.

This was the point of Jesus who treasures each of us more than His very own life.  It will be in an hour we think not.  In an hour when normal life looks so incredibly normal.  When everything that has carried on, continues to carry on, just like before for what seems like a million years.  Plans we make.  Lives we live.  Movies we watch.  Entertainment we pursue.  Careers we wish to grow.  And the love of families we enjoy.  All of it so utterly normal, so utterly routine.  Nothing special to catch the eye.  And then BAM!!  The clouds appear in the eastern sky, about the size of a man’s fist, growing as it approaches our world and becoming brighter.  Until a host of angels arrive led by Jesus Christ so enormous the sight of it cannot be contained across the entirety of our world.  That heavenly trumpet will blow.  No need for TV coverage, the naked eye will see it just fine.  And how we react to it, whether in fear for our existence, or in joy for our eternal reconciliation; will say a lot about whether we were ready despite normality, or lulled into the sleep of complacency up until then.  Will we suffer the tragedy of broken homes, because we just assumed each member of our family knew Jesus like we did?  Or is it we, who still need to know Him?

Jesus continues on the theme of continual readiness picking back up in verse 45 saying … “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? [verse 46] Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. [verse 47] Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.”  A few things to zero-in on in these words.  To begin, note that we are not God, or Lords of any kind.  All of us on planet earth are servants of one sort or the other.  What we are given to manage (our treasures), are gifts from our Lord.  Our households, our families, our real treasures – are as much a gift and blessing from Jesus as anything else we might claim to “own”.  In point of fact, we “own” nothing, we “manage” His gifts because of His love for each of us.  To provide meat (or harvest) in due season; that is to say, to see the love of Jesus so fully infect us, that we cannot help but pour it out upon those around us.  Making the harvest greater by pointing the other seeds to the Master of the vineyard.  This is our highest honor, and best role, as manager of the gifts He bestows upon us.

Being faithful to Jesus Christ, that is, keeping our eyes transfixed on Jesus in submission.  Allowing Jesus to change how we think, what we want, and how we love – is being faithful to Jesus.  Our purpose here is only one role we are to play.  Our service continues into the new world.  Finding us willing to serve here, allows Him to assign us new things, a new purpose in the new world.  Again not as kings, or Lord, but as willing servants, set to manage whatever tasks He would assign us to do.  Ever dependent upon Him.  Ever filled with joy at whatever He would assign.  We will have learned that following the Lord’s instruction or plans, is infinitely better than trying to follow what we think is best.  A lifetime on earth is supposed to teach us this as well.  An extension of our service, is what is planned for the new world.  Not the beginning of it, but the extending of it.  For those who think they will begin to serve only after they have to, or only after the grave, they are mistaken and have misunderstood the joy of being a servant of the Lord in the first place.

Jesus compares those who are happy to serve, with those who think they are no servants at all as He continues in verse 48 saying … “But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; [verse 49] And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;”  Notice what happens to the behavior of the servants who believe the delay in the Lords coming gives them a license to assert control.  They begin by trying to dominate other servants themselves, instead of accepting each one as an equal.  Husbands might try to dominate their wives instead of serving them and loving them so much they would give their own lives for them.  Relationships within families disintegrate as the role of servant is abandoned to seek the role of authoritarian.  We wish to see ourselves as benevolent dictators (like God) instead of servants equally praised and valued by the same Lord of Lord, and King of Kings. 

After asserting control over others which we should have never done, the next step in the regressive behavior is to fall into normality of seeking fun above most else.  This is not so much a condemnation of eating particular things, or drinking to excess – it is a warning about the normality of believing control rests with us, and pleasure seeking is the most important pursuit we have.  It is in this cesspool of complacency where evil is nurtured until the love-of-self blinds us completely to the love-of-others.  We fall completely out of harmony with God, and find ourselves completely in harmony with the world around us.  Each man or woman looking out for number one; because if I don’t, who will?  The degenerative addictive disease of evil can so overtake its human host, the human eventually becomes indistinguishable from the evil that grows wildly within it.  Without submission to Jesus, instead of asserting control, salvation becomes a theory never tested.  We talk about it.  But have no experience with it.  And our lives, and the evil of our deeds, testify to that lack of personal experience with salvation.

But evil cannot last forever.  There will one day come an end to it.  An arbitrary end enforced by a loving God after every chance has been offered and refused.  It is hard for us to believe this would be a willing outcome, but for those infected by evil, and devoid of love for others, it is not so hard to imagine.  Jesus describes the outcome for such individuals with heavy heart as He continues in verse 50 saying … “The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, [verse 51] And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  Evil will one day be cut off from this world, and then from eternity.  The rewards for those who refuse to submit look nearly identical to those who falsely claim they submit.  Weeping and gnashing of teeth; not over who they are, or who they became, or even what they do – but of being caught at it, and busted by The Truth.

Evil never wishes to die, it only wishes to continue, and get worse.  Satan did not start out as Satan.  He was once Lucifer who broke trust with God over whether loving self was indeed harmful or not.  Who he has become answered the question of self-love and its real dangers for the entire universe.  The entire universe has learned that there is no “different” from God that is good.  God is the embodiment of all that is good, so if it is different from God, by definition it is evil.  The universe was forced to learn this lesson by the breaking of trust with God, that Lucifer did way back then.  The invention of pain and death was born into a universe who had never seen either, until “different” was introduced by Lucifer as an “alternative” to God.  And because Lucifer became Satan, pulled with him a third of the angels (now demons) and has spent 6000+ years trying to further hurt God by tempting His creations to abandon His love – we are the casualties of a war our Lord is trying desperately to save us from.

But evil does have an expiration date.  It will not last forever.  To save our treasure, we must submit it to Jesus.  We must stop looking for control over others and start looking through His transformative love to serve others as He did.  Submission to Jesus leads to continual readiness.  No other path does that.  No other self-described deity offers that.  And the idea of independence is merely a myth, one of Satan’s lies, to get you to believe that Satan does not even exist.  To save our treasure we can eliminate being surprised - by being continually ready, in continual submission, in continual service.  The changes that makes in our own lives, might serve best as the witness our own families need in order to see Jesus clearer.  And while salvation may not be transferrable, the love of Jesus for others is highly infectious, and appealing, and leads to a happiness none can take away.  To point others to His light and love, is to be prepared in a world that is not.  Let us make our servitude an extension of our lives into the new world of eternity, rather than a new discovery at that event.

But even so Jesus had more to say about being prepared …

 

How to Get In to Heaven ...

Every modern Christian thinks they have a pretty good answer to the most basic question ever posed.  It is after all, the goal every Christian seems to seek above all other things.  It is held out as “the final reward”; and is often positioned against hell the only other final destination everyone should want to avoid.  So as soon as an awareness of God is discovered in you, the basic question of how to wind up in the good place, is one you want an answer to right at the get go.  This is not something new to our age.  It has a long history of being asked by people just like us.  You can date it back to the disciples and Pharisees who lived in the days of Christ.  But if you want to, you can keep seeing it asked all the way back to Adam and Eve as soon as they knew they had broken trust with God, and were destined to leave their perfect garden home for the labors of a scarred earth for the remainder of their lives.  And like the later days of Adam and Eve, there were many who just gave up seeking an answer, until the point where they no longer cared, and no longer wanted a future good-place outcome.  Give me a great life now, instead of a great life later, the prevailing thinking.  This thinking too, has lasted all the way to our day.

In the gospel of Matthew, in chapter nineteen, Matthew provides a series of contrasts of those who ask this question, and a detailed view of how it works.  It begins with the real answers, and then follows up with what most of think about how it works, and frankly, why we are nearly all wrong about it.  To begin we pick up in verse 13 saying … “Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them.”  If ever there were a living example of how to get into heaven this was it.  Take note of the sequence here.  It begins with someone (presumably the parents) bringing “little children” (picture 2yr old toddlers, though the ages probably had a little wider range than that) to Jesus.  In our case, we do not even seek Christ on our own.  We have to be brought.  Not by an earthly parent, but by our Heavenly One.  It is God the Father who brings His children to Jesus.  He does NOT just bring the perfect ones.  Because let’s face it, what 2yr old behaves perfectly?  They make messes, sometimes messes with poo they have yet to learn where the proper place for that goes. 

But, and again here is the important part, regardless of their current condition, we are brought to Jesus for Jesus to lay hands on us, and pray.  For this to happen, we must first recognize we are not sophisticated adults coming to debate the correctness of our doctrines.  We are 2yr olds whose primary obsession is to love, be loved, play, eat, sleep, and repeat.  This is not an entrance based on a doctrinal understanding exam, it is based on a personal perception exam – are you a toddler – or not?  And as usual, church leadership (in this case the very disciples of Christ, not the typical anti-hero-Pharisees) are the ones trying to keep Jesus from being bothered by it.  If you are looking to gain entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven, don’t find yourself depending on the church to accomplish it.  They are more likely standing in the way, than lending you a hand.  Think about it, how much does your church, encourage you (regardless of your physical age) to be the toddler, you are supposed to be?  Most often, the church demands “adult” behavior from you, and is ready to throw you out, if you should dare to act like this kind of young kid.

Jesus responds in verse 14 saying … “But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. [verse 15] And he laid his hands on them, and departed thence.”  Jesus states it right here folks, in plain English, and in good old black and white.  This citizenry of heaven is made up of little toddlers.  Not adults, like you and me, or rather old farts like me, but young minded, obsessed with loving and being loved, ready to play, eat, or sleep at a moment’s notice.  Toddlers have the unique characteristic of NOT trying to be adults, or have deep doctrinal understanding, they leave all that to Jesus.  Toddlers trust.  Something that adults have a remarkably hard time doing.  The only thing adults are given to trust, is in themselves, which is possibly the worst thing they could ever take trust in.  Toddlers just roll with it.  Whatever Dad wants to do, is an adventure to them.  They trust the love of Dad.

But we don’t.  So Matthew follows this rather complete lesson on how to get in to Heaven with a study of the contrasted thinking (in his day and what remains in ours).  He continues in verse 16 saying … “And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?”  Here ya go.  We just heard the answer.  We just saw an example in living color.  Jesus laying His hands on little children who trust Him for everything (including transformation and blessing).  And a typical adult, just like you or me, ignores ALL of that, and asks the question, as if, there is some other path required of adults, that is not demanded of toddlers.  So a rich young ruler, who considers himself a religious man, asks the question orally, as if a different answer is forthcoming.

Matthew continues in verse 17 saying … “And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.”  Jesus begins by losing all the flattery.  The term good master, or good rabbi, was not really genuine.  That is to say, this parishioner was not treating Jesus like the Son of God, he was treating Him like a fellow albeit unrecognized informal member of the Sanhedrin.  Folks in the Sanhedrin liked respectful name calling, so he uses one.  But the goal of Jesus is not to join the Sanhedrin, and fake flattery is not something He wants, so Jesus points the young man back to giving only God respect.  Then Jesus answers him, as any contemporary of the day would.  If you want to enter into “life” (mind you, not the Kingdom, but a better life), you should keep the commandments.  This is the prevailing wisdom of the day, and is meant to challenge the young man’s thinking.

The man responds in verse 18 saying … “He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, [verse 19] Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”  The silly young ruler, actually asks, “which” commandment he is supposed to obey.  As if there is only one that needs it.  This question itself reflects a huge lack of understanding of what obedience means, let alone what harmony with the law would imply.  If this man is looking for “the” commandment to focus on, he is already looking in the wrong place for Kingdom entry.  Nevertheless Jesus gives him an answer, of all the commandments that deal with how to love others.  This is yet another test to challenge the thinking of this man.  You would think his response would be ,,, what about the ones where you love God first? ,,, but that is not what he says.

The incident continues in verse 20 saying … “The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?”  Yikes!!  The arrogance of this man.  To state to Jesus of all people, that you have kept all the commandments that have to do with loving others, since you were a child, is in effect saying, I have not sinned against my fellow man, ever.  First, highly unlikely, given the nature of human kind, second, useless as criterion to enter the kingdom.  The young man is smart enough to know, he still lacks something,  He can sense it.  For all his works he has done.  For all the obedience he has manufactures, it is not enough.  There is something more.  He can sense he is out of harmony.  But instead of coming to Christ as a toddler, looking for the blessing of transformation.  He is coming as mini-rabbi looking for something He can “do” to fix it.

Jesus continues to indulge his questions picking up again in verse 21 saying … “Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.”  Notice the response of Jesus, He says if you will be “perfect”.  Again not gaining entrance into heaven, but if he wishes to actually begin that process, to understand what loving others truly means.  If he is looking for something he can “do”.  Then go sell everything you have, give it all to the poor, and follow Jesus becoming the 13^th disciple, or disciple next if you will.  This is Jesus offering him an invitation that will finally and fully impact his life, change it, and truly transform it.  It is not the shedding of wealth that will do that, it is the following of Jesus that will.  The problem with his wealth, and with ours, is that it keeps us from following Jesus full time.  It distracts us with the cares of maintaining wealth, whether by working hour after hour on some other duty, and away from Jesus in the process.  We want a part time God.  Available for us when we need Him, but content to be quiet in the corner when we do not.  That is not how it works.  Not for toddlers anyway.  They want Daddy’s time and attention ALL the time.  Eat together, play together, nap together or sleep in Daddy’s bed warm and snug next to Him.  Toddlers don’t care about money, they hardly understand it.  They do care about attention, it is the constant companionship that makes them most happy.  Sharing that with other toddlers, even better.

The incident continues in verse 22 saying … “But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.”  Here is where the concept of “doing” something to obtain your salvation ends.  In great sorrow.  For the pull of sin, and of this world, is stronger than the will you have within you.  Motives matter.  Despite all the behavior the rich man thought adequate since his youth, he never really understood what it meant to love others, at least to love them, more than he loved his wealth, or himself.  That was a bridge too far.  He could have stored his treasure in heaven by giving it away, but instead he preferred staying liquid in this world.  A short sighted response,  But based in thinking that was misguided from the outset.  It was only the connection with Jesus that might have reset it.  But it was that very connection, the man had refused.  At least, refused for now.

Jesus offers an epilogue to his disciples on this incident picking up in verse 23 saying … “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. [verse 24] And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”  Here Jesus repeats a basic truth we should all know, but somehow conveniently forget.  There is no way for us to “do” something to get into heaven.  Getting a camel through the eye of a needle is simply not possible, at least not possible for us.  In simple terms, there is no way to do it on our own.  There is no way to bring ourselves into harmony with God’s laws.  We may think we obey them.  But we do not understand what obedience really means.  Motives matter.  It is not just the actions of our hands and feet, it is motive of our hearts that reflect the heart of God, or just action without empathy, or worse, action with false empathy.

The incident continues in verse 25 saying … “When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? [verse 26] But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.”  The disciples are freaked out.  If this rich young ruler (keep in mind wealth is considered an earmark of the direct favor of God in their day), is not headed into the kingdom, who is?  If a solid commandment keeper is not going to heaven, who is?  Every good Jew, and Adventist, are completely bought in on the idea that if you can get to keeping all the commandments, you have it made.  Conversely, if you are not keeping every commandment, you are out.  No ifs, ands, or buts.  Except here was Jesus debunking that entire line of thinking.  His assessment of camels getting through the eye of a needle, is Him stating we will never get there on our own, ever.

It is the second half of this verse that gives us back hope again.  It is not about what we do.  It is about what God can do in us, for us, and often in spite of us.  With men this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.  The God who invented physics, can easily bend the norms of physics.  The God who died for our sins, understands more than forgiving our sins, He understands how to change our hearts and minds so we stop sinning all together.  That is what transformation is all about.  It is not what we do.  It is becoming the toddler who trusts Jesus to lay hands on us and pray, and see us transformed by the power of His love injected in us.  We reap the benefits of His work, do none ourselves.  We begin to feel His love for others in us, instead of our own love for us and no one else.  We begin to see truth, as we begin to see The Truth, and no other way.

But the topic of the rewards of the kingdom, was not something concluded just yet …

 

Treasure Hunter ...

Every so often a story will come out in the news about a Treasure Hunter who has made some marvelous discovery.  Most of it is cleaning up after pirates, or chasing down some nefarious Hitler lead.  But in the end the idea of finding some long-lost treasure has an appeal to most all of us.  Kids get inspired and begin to dig holes in the backyard, hoping to hit oil like the Clampets (of Beverly Hills), or find pirate booty.  Going to the beach, we see the periodic eternal optimists holding one of those metal detection devices, scanning the sands looking for some hunk of gold that washed up since the day before, but is now buried just a few inches down, right there for the taking.  Free stuff sounds good.  Valuable free stuff sounds better.  Something for nothing even better than that.  But for every kid with an intense imagination, there is a zoning law that would prevent them from drilling oil wells in the backyard.  For every treasure hunter there are international laws that attempt to return lost or stolen items to their historical owner (or historical governments failing that).  Actually finding treasure, and keeping it, is perhaps the rarest of all stories.

So why did Jesus say it is something we could all be?  Oh Jesus had a different name for it, but the meaning was clear as crystal in comparing it to treasure hunting in our day.  Perhaps a little back story is warranted.  Jesus has been telling parables (stories) about the nature of growth in spiritual things.  His allegories are about a Farmer planting seeds, and what happens in that process all around.  But now Jesus begins to shift gears.  He begins to start telling more parables, but this time focused more from the perspective of the seed, that is us, instead from the process overall.  The first one emerges in the gospel of Matthew picking up in verse 44 saying … “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.”  Treasure hunter.

In this case, there is some form of ancient pirate booty (had to have been Assyrian, Philistine, Babylonian, or Egyptian pirates to have historical accuracy in those days), that is buried in some random piece of land.  Our hero had to have been searching for something, or perhaps he was just one of the luckiest guys around, and has stumbled upon the buried treasure.  But instead of just taking it with him, perhaps it was more than he thought he would be able to carry, or perhaps he wanted clear title of ownership to the treasure – he goes and sells everything else he owns, to buy the field where this thing is, and have ownership of the treasure he has discovered.  Voila!  He is now the best treasure hunter of ancient days.  But what is the point of this spiritually?  Now comes the real treasure hunting, for us.

While you consider what the meaning of that parable might be in terms of salvation (keep in mind this is Jesus telling them).  Lets take a look at a second story similar in nature that follows it in verse 45 where Jesus continues saying … “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: [verse 46] Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.”  Business Treasure Hunter.  This guy is a merchant by trade, a jeweler to be specific, a specialist in pearls to be more specific than that.  This guy is far from just some hapless schmoe who stumbles across buried treasure in a random field.  This second hero is a merchant looking for something very specific, and he finds it.  After much searching, perhaps searching for his entire life to that point, he comes across a single pearl that he believes is worth more than every other pearl on planet earth.  The current owner must be aware of its value to at least some extent, because while it is for sale, it is also a something that costs “a great price”.

But the merchant is undeterred by the high asking price.  He goes and sells everything else he has to buy this single pearl.  In this sense he is exactly like the hero from the first story, they both are gladly willing to sell everything else they have to get the treasure they have discovered.  They both hold nothing back.  Neither of them seem to haggle over price, they both think they are getting the far better end of their respective deals.  So I ask again, what is the importance of these stories where it comes to our spiritual understanding.  First, good thing these are parables.  We all know the Kingdom of Heaven cannot be bought by our wealth.  But we also know the model for the early Christian church was for a new member to go and sell everything they had, bringing the wealth of the sales back to the church and giving it everything they owned.  Then the church took care of their needs as they arose.  Continued labors were also deposited into church coffers (not just 10 percent tithe), but 100% of whatever was earned.

But I do not think these stories were told, just to get Christians to begin thinking differently about how to operate Jesus’ church once He left planet earth.  Something deeper was meant for us.  Perhaps that something was in how “we” would feel about the discovery of the Kingdom of Heaven.  That discovery happens here and now, not just after death.  The benefits we derive happen here and now, just as soon as we obtain the treasure of great price – not just later in our estate handed down to our children.  There is an immediacy to the benefit of our transformation.  Living without the pain sin causes, is living in a much better way.  Comparatively, this is living with buried treasure, or perfected treasure, like none other the world has to offer.  This is not about living a dull, boring, downtrodden life – where everything fun has been taken away.  This is about living a vibrant life.  This is about having a treasure you can find now, that is truly a treasure, something worth more than anything else – and YOU are the one who feels that way.

But not every great feeling, comes from a great place.  While these stories reveal how wonderful we feel about the discovery of the treasure of the Kingdom of Heaven – those feelings of transformation away from sin are in fact the treasure.  The short term high of engaging in sin is by far not the same thing.  But some folks ignore the pain of sin, and just keep engaging in it more, hoping things will get better.  They don’t.  Jesus addressed this kind of discernment about the good from the bad picking up in verse 47 with another parable saying … “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: [verse 48] Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.”  Forgiveness is not a license to sin.  Forgiveness is meant to heal, not to continue the disease, even unto death.  Instead of treating forgiveness like a baseline to restore us back to God, some of us treat it like a get-out-of-jail-free card that will allow us to sin without worrying about ever paying the cost of our sins.  In so doing we mask the pain of sin, instead of uncovering it.  We ignore what sin does to others, keeping ourselves blind to the pain of others, in order to try to keep ourselves happy.

This kind of attempt to feel good about the Kingdom of Heaven, to use forgiveness as a weapon to do bad, winds up leaving us un-transformed, and not in harmony with the Law or will of God.  And if this condition is not changed, it will put us on the bad side of the evaluation at the end of all things. As Jesus continues picking up in verse 49 saying … “So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, [verse 50] And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”  The wicked, believe themselves to be within the Kingdom of Heaven, after all they were scooped up in the net just like the righteous were.  The difference between the two, is that the righteous do not want to “do” good, they want to “be” good.”  The wicked want to do only that which makes them happy.  When the wicked do good, it is for points, for credit, for appreciation.  The wicked do good, in order to satisfy the list Jesus created – visit the poor, sick, imprisoned.  Once the wicked check these things off their list, they go back to the lives they want to live.

It is the heart of the righteous that breaks when they suffer with the poor, relate to those imprisoned, feel the tragedy of the sick in our world.  The righteous shed tears they cannot control, because they know whatever they have done to alleviate suffering is so little compared to the need.  The righteous ache to see those in need, have their needs met, on whatever level it is.  They love like the heart of Christ loves.  It is not fake.  It is genuine, because the transformation of their lives is genuine.  The wailing and gnashing of teeth is done by the righteous in this world because of the heartbreak that sin causes.  The wailing and gnashing of teeth is done by the wicked at the end of this world, because they have finally gotten caught, and can see their time to please self is at an end.

Jesus continues in verse 51 saying … “Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea, Lord.”  Jesus asks the disciples do you understand, as He asks that question to us today.  The disciples answered yes.  I am not as confident.  While taking a second look at these simple parables might reveal a point from a different perspective, that is hardly the end of truth, or the complete picture of it.  It is the luckiest hapless hero on earth scenario, stumbling across the treasure of so great a value and a price.  It will cost all of me, that is, the entirety of who I am.  I will be someone different when my transformation is done at the hand of my Creator, in the here and now, and after death if I taste it.  But the value of my transformation will be worth more than any pearl, or any pirate booty.  This is the Truth of what Jesus Christ offers.  But then Jesus makes a promise that gives me hope.

Jesus continues in verse 52 saying … “Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.”  Treasure Hunter.  You and I, the modern scribes who are instructed unto the Kingdom of Heaven are householders (i.e. Treasure Hunters).  We bring forth treasure, things old and new, from our search of the scriptures and the Word and will of God.  Different perspectives bring forth additional context, additional insights, additional understanding.  No one of us has it all.  Each of us has something to add.  Treasure Hunters.  As we all submit to Jesus before asking to be led in His words, we find more to know, more to share, and insight from each other as we get insight directly from Him.  In this, if it costs us all, it is worth it.  In this, if it totally changes who we are, and how we love, it is worth it.  Anything Jesus offers us is worth it.  Nothing else, is worth holding on to.  Sin is the disease we so long to see cured, in the world, and in our own hearts.  We are getting the better end of this arrangement by far, it is worth more than anything else we will ever own or aspire to own.  This is treasure we get to keep, and transformation that turns us into treasure for others.

 

True Currency Valuation ...

Where do you keep your funds?  For folks at the top of the middle-class strata, a financial portfolio is warranted.  You never want to keep too much cash just sitting idle in your average checking account.  But for folks a way down from “upper” the question has less meaning … we keep our funds in our rent, in our utilities, and in the food we put on the table.  For folks even farther down, it is not as much an issue of managing cash, but rather, managing credit and debt.  But no matter where you sit, the question is still relevant from a different perspective … what do you use your funds on, or plan to use them on?  From this angle, each of us might have more in common than we think.  We ALL use whatever funds we have, to maintain us, to maintain our families, and to try to put our children (if we have any) more ahead of where we started out.

So for nearly all American Christians, we value our funds, our currency, in what it is able to do for us, and for our families.  Money then, becomes a tool.  It is a mechanism we exchange for the basic needs of life.  On occasion, we have more than we need of it, and so we use it on something we “want” rather than something we “need”.  Even the poorest of us have spent credit dollars on something we wanted instead of something we needed, knowing that may not have been the wisest of decisions.  But the mechanics remain the same, and so our valuation remains the same. 

But then, what happens when heaven becomes our home?  All of the sudden, currency has zero valuation.  It no longer exists, even as a mechanism for exchanging goods or services.  We have everything we need without effort, and what we create finds its highest meaning in being given to someone else to bring happiness to another.  It would be harder to define the exact opposite of where we are now, than to simply picture what life in heaven will be like.  So how do we bridge the divide?  How do we find a practical way of transitioning our current currency valuation to our future state currency valuation without becoming destitute or going without the basic needs we have on a day-to-day basis?  Most Christians rarely attack this question.  Fear keeps them from thinking about it.  But as it happens Jesus lays out for us an excellent transition plan in His Sermon on the Mount.  Matthew continues recording it in chapter six of his gospel.

Picking up in verse 19, Jesus says … “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:”  To transition how we think about currency valuation, we must begin by recognizing that wealth itself is transient.  Beyond the addiction of always wanting “more” no matter how much we have now, there comes with it, an intense fear that we will lose even what we have.  Banks are built upon this fear.  We secure our currency in banks, because to keep it all at home, is to invite a burglar to a field day when they learn of this.  Keeping our money in a bank, insured by the FDIC, our funds are supposed to be largely safe from theft.  Until the theft comes in a three-piece-suit costing more than your home; packaged in the form of securities that not even the best accountants can easily decipher, with interdependencies so entangled it makes a plate of spaghetti look linear.  When the theft happens this way, the FDIC is no match for it.  Banks can easily collapse.  Your funds can easily disappear.  And your wealth, your savings, your insurance for your future, becomes a footnote in history about the next great depression as something too big to fail, does.

So the first counsel Jesus offers, is to change the strategy about where we place the currency we value.  He continues in verse 20 saying … “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:”  As it turns out there is a better place to put treasures, it is the eternal city of heaven, where not a single thief makes his home.  Where no bacteria exist to destroy, rot, or age whatever you place there.  Now this sounds wonderful, except that the mechanics are clearly a bit fuzzy.  How does one place funds we will need access to, into the heaven first national bank, given the light years of interdimensional separation that exist between us and our God.  Could our angels become our currency couriers?  Or is there a more instantaneous method of making deposits and withdrawals?

Jesus continues in verse 21 saying … “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”  This winds up being a very profound statement.  Jesus reverse engineers our mechanics of deposits and withdrawals.  Currency, no matter what format we currently value, coin, cash, certificates, stocks, bonds, etc.. should not be where our “hearts” are.  We use that currency on ourselves and our families today.  It is the object of our spending that winds up being closer to where our hearts are.  We love our families.  And sadly, as our spending patterns reveal, we love ourselves quite a bit too.  But there is a fix for this.  If we begin to examine our funds as a tool, a continuation of what we already do.  But instead of using the tool on ourselves, we begin to use the tool, on the people we love, the people we hate, and the people we hardly know … we start making deposits of our currency into the city of heaven.  In point of fact, we are exchanging our currency from disposable formats to permanent ones.

Money does not make it to heaven.  But your wife does.  Your son does.  Your daughter does.  The co-worker who edged you out of that promotion does.  The boss who makes your life miserable does.  The homeless man you are sure spends all your donations on liquor and drugs does.  Some guy in Africa you never met, and at the moment, could care less about, winds up in heaven, because the tool you employed here was translated into a tangible demonstration of love, meeting the needs of that person you never met, showing him Jesus in a real way, and making him curious about the love of this God he hardly ever knew until a random missionary introduced him.  You yourself, have never been to Africa, or Asia, or downtown L.A. on skid row.  You yourself, may not have ever moved much off of the pew you sit on at church week-to-week.  But your current funds can travel very quickly, and be translated into permanent impacts in the lives of people you may hardly know, or care about, or frankly dislike.

Imagine what your co-worker thinks when you take the time to shop for their child to buy them something they wanted at a holiday.  Or to meet a need they may be struggling with when life presents the challenges it does.  Translating currency into real world impacts, into tangible offerings of love, has a heaven bound deposit on the transaction.  And when you submit yourself to your Lord, the passion He puts inside of you for other people is so intense, you may wind up going through your earthly currency very fast, in favor of heavenly currency.  What you value changes.  And it must.  For the American currency system is headed for the fires that will purify the earth.  But your co-worker does not have to be.  The guy who calls himself your sworn enemy, can still be the guy you spend eternity with.  Not begrudgingly trying to find the far side of heaven where he will not be.  But the guy you want to live right next door to.  The guy you keep trying to give your mansion to, but he won’t take it, insisting you take his instead.  The kind of real love you will have for each other in heaven will be so intense, you will think he is family.  And he is.  Not because of birth, but because of choice.  Ultimately because the currency you had here was nothing more than a tool, to help get him there.  Otherwise it was worthless.

This comes because what you value changes.  What you focus on changes.  It is a post-transformation realization such as nothing like it before.  Jesus continues talking about that change resuming in verse 22 saying … “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.”  If we focus on the real value of finding ourselves, and the community we touch and encounter in heaven, the light we will reflect will be enormous.  Jesus continues in verse 23 saying …” But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!”  First, this second portion of this text is not about your particular salvation.  You may be saved because of the grace and mercy of God, no matter what or how you spent your funds on in this world.  But if your focus with your funding is centered upon yourself.  It will be spent upon yourself.  And the opportunity you had to use it as a tool for the salvation of others is squandered and wasted, and will never return again.  You cannot get that time back or the impacts you might have made.  You cannot back up time and do it right a second time.  You have only one shot to get it right, and the community you encounter has only that single shot from you as well.

How great the darkness!  To be in heaven and have the Schindler’s List moment; realizing there could be so many more people here if you had been willing to part with your funds and your love more generously here on earth.  If you could have seen what your currency was truly valued at, and used it to bring others to Christ.  You would not retain a penny.  But the Monday Morning Quarterback realization does nothing to change the game that has already been played.  If your co-worker is lost to heaven, he is lost forever.  And YOU above all others will feel that loss, because in your heart of hearts, you know you could have done more, but instead you held on to your funds and your love, fearing a reduction in either.

Jesus then summarizes the problem with money we refuse to value in the light of heaven in verse 24 as He says … “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”  You cannot serve God and the acquisition of funds.  Spending your life making money.  Spending your life making just a little more of it.  Winds up exhausting the time clock of the life you have been granted.  The abundance of your life’s work is not spent moving souls to the Kingdom of Heaven by introducing them to Jesus.  It is instead spent in meetings, in office politics, in debating financial strategies with the spouse, in trying to recover from the challenges life throws your way.  The abundance of your life is spent battling the effects of stress, because currency acquisition is a cruel mistress, unforgiving, and fickle.  While you give your life and time to it, it gives you back nothing but a hunger for more.  An aching hole of more and more and more.

When at last you look back upon your life, how many meetings will you remember, and how important will they be?  Would you not trade the accumulation of whatever wealth you have, for just more time to insure the love you could have expressed is expressed?  If I am always working to sustain myself.  I am always working.  Period.  The scraps of what is left, are scraps, not the bulk of what we had to offer, but the left overs.  It is the left overs we offer to our families.  The left overs we offer to our church.  Nothing to the co-workers, the folks we don’t know, and the folks we don’t care about … because to prioritize, I must reserve what left overs I have for the folks closest to me.  And so we live our lives content to share only our left overs with those we love most, and we call this “normal”.  And it truly is.  It is the normal Satan has convinced us all, is the only way we can survive.

But Jesus continues to offer us another way.  And the sermon was far from over …

Unmasking a Celebrity [part two] ...

In our previous study, we reviewed the possible evidence that could unmask Lazarus as being the rich young ruler who refused to be a disciple, trusting rather to his own great wealth to make him happy.  In our quest to unmask Lazarus, we found an eerie similarity to the Christians in our own day.  For it is “we” too, who are unmasked by a dependence on our means rather than on our Lord.  Jesus asked the rich young ruler to give away ALL of his wealth and join the other disciples, and he refused.  Is Jesus extending the same offer to us now, and we reciting the same response?  Oh sure, it is easy to give some of our means to the poor; you know, the part of our incomes we can part with, with only minimal sacrifice.  But to give all, is another story.  To give everything away to those less fortunate has no income evaluation in the ask.  Bill Gates would have much to give away, and perhaps Bill is already on that journey.  But the poorest church goer, even though he has little, is also called to give that which he has, to those who have less.  And let’s face it, there are always those who have less.

And if, like the rich young ruler who we believe might be Lazarus, we refuse this offer; what will happen to us?  What is the fate of one who cannot bring themselves to give all that they have?  The answer to this question was recorded for our benefit as well.  Peter recited the aftermath of this exchange to John Mark in his gospel in chapter ten and picking up in verse 23 it says … “And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!”  It is important to note 2 things in this declaration.  First, Jesus does not limit the audience to strictly those who are “rich”.  Instead He expands the audience more broadly by saying “they that have riches”.  This is done by intent to eliminate the relativism of wealth when examining self.  I may not for example, consider myself rich.  My income is not as high as I would like.  My cars not as nice.  But under this definition, if I own jewels of any kind, if I own any clothes said to be finery (perhaps like the suits I wear on Sabbath); if I own a home, or a car.  I do in fact have riches.  So Jesus cuts through 2000 years of time, and directs this passage straight at me.

Next, the passage does not restrict entry entirely from the Kingdom of God.  But it does say that entry will be difficult and rare.  In understanding this, we must make a distinction between salvation at the end of all things, and entry into the Kingdom of God where we are freed from our sins slowly in the here and now, and where we are freed from our slavery and addiction to self-love.  Christ had already said, the Kingdom of God had arrived in His first mission, in His day.  It is in that Kingdom where we learn how to love, or more precisely where we learn how to love others.  The freedom from loving self, is not a discovery that happens without submission to Christ.  We must submit our will to Him, and in this instance, more importantly, our very desires to Him.  We must learn to want different things.  When Jesus frees us from loving self, the concept of “ownership” no longer governs our lives.  We realize that God owns everything, we merely use some of His gifts for a time.  When that kind of thinking infects our brains, we are no longer as adamant about protecting the wealth we borrow, and are more likely to let it go.  We realize our “ownership” is really more like “custodial oversight” and the mission has ever been to see it given away, not retained.

For those who refuse to accept discipleship and immediate entry into the Kingdom of God, all hope is not lost, but the journey will be delayed … painfully.  For trusting in riches for happiness, or for salvation, is a fool’s game, where we are the fool.  Riches can neither make us really happy and fulfilled, nor can they save us, freeing us to love others.  Instead they distract us from both.  It has always ever been this way.  But the disciples were amazed at His response as John Mark continues in verse 24 saying … “And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!”  The Jewish society and religious system had always enforced the idea that wealth equated to the favor of God, which equated to being a good person.  Sinners then, were poor, sick, and evil.  This is what they knew from birth.  And in one sentence Jesus had blown away their scripturally based teachings.  This was hard to digest.  So Jesus repeated it once again.

But there is a difference now, in the second repetition of the words of Christ.  He begins with the declaration of “Children”.  We must all unlearn what we have learned.  The Kingdom of God requires the adoption of the persona of Children before entry will be granted.  There are no “adults” in there.  For it is kids who do not care about money.  Toddlers care about love, eating, sleeping (which they resist), and playing.  Toddlers care about time with Dad, not time counting their golden coins.  Toddlers throw coins around and dip them in the mud for fun.  They share them with other kids in order to make the play more interesting.  In the persona of children, we cannot use the excuse of working to support our families to provide for them, as a reason to hoard our wealth.  Because if all of us are kids, our heavenly Father is the only one with a job, and He takes care of us all, He meets all of our needs.  That is the whole point of being a kid in the Kingdom of God, it frees us to play with Dad.  So Jesus here reminds His disciples and those who are listening, you do not NEED wealth in the Kingdom of God.  You actually need trust.

And again, Jesus does not condemn those who remain with their trust in riches forever and ever, He merely states how “hard” it is for them to let go, become kids, and be freed from their wealth, and the addiction to get more of it.  But the disciples do not yet understand how hard this is.  So Jesus must make an analogy that will help get them to see.  Jesus continues in verse 25 saying … “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”  Ut-oh.  There are laws of physics that come into play on this one.  There are no micron sized camels anyone has ever seen, nor are there giant needles many feet high used in the production of cloth.  So then, Jesus has just declared that it is in fact impossible for a rich man to enter the Kingdom.  And is He wrong?  Even within the walls of any Christian church today, how many are willing to give ALL to become kids, and enter His Kingdom?  How many are able to trust this much, believe this much, and “know” they are freed from the burden of their wealth.

What Christ is pointing out here is a painful fact, too few Christians will admit.  We CANNOT change our own hearts, minds, desires, or actions.  We CANNOT bring our motives into alignment with God.  We simply cannot save ourselves, though we seem determined to try.  We make lists.  We read our Bible.  We sing in church.  We listen to praise music on the radio.  We try to refrain from cursing.  We confront sinners whenever we find them (particularly in church).  And somehow we believe, that if we just do enough of these things … we will be saved.  Exactly like the rich young ruler who came to Christ, when he asked “what more” do I need to do?  There is no more action.  There is no more self-sacrifice that “you” can do.  What is needed is to let go, to return to Childhood, with a childlike trust.  What is needed is to allow Christ to change what you want, and therefore what you do.  A human response to this will fail.  This is the fact Jesus is pointing out, as plainly as He could state it.

And the disciples then ask the same question as Christians do today as John Mark continues in verse 26 saying … “ And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved?”  The disciples were blown away.  The disciples had done the math.  If I own riches (which could be defined as anything), and I cannot fit through the eye of a needle (me being smaller than a camel) … I am unlikely to ever enter the Kingdom of God.  In effect, if I am unable to save myself even after a life of “trying” to keep the commandments, how can anyone be saved.  It is the right question to ask.  Even if this question ran against every Jewish teaching and tradition, and scriptural interpretation.  It remains the right question to ask, even if it runs against every recent Christian tradition, and scriptural interpretation.

And Jesus had the answer, both then and now, as He answers in verse 27 saying … “And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.”  It was as if He had to say it again … you cannot save yourselves, you cannot let go your wealth, you cannot become a child again, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God on your own.  I don’t know how else to say it people … you cannot save yourselves.  But where it is impossible with man … get that, impossible with man.  All things are possible with God.  It is God who can save you.  In fact, it is Jesus Christ who can save you and Him alone.  He can change your heart.  He can transform you until you want other things.  He can make you small enough to fit through the eye of a needle (or at least reduce your ego to this size, replacing it with humility).  Or He can make the needle large enough for you to walk through (performing miracles that you simply cannot do).  In either case, the rules of physics are not applicable to the Author of physics. 

Whether we have unmasked Lazarus, as the rich young ruler, or whether we have only discovered it is we who are unmasked; the important lesson is that there is hope to become a child, and be freed from our wealth, from the same One who saves us entirely.  We learn through these passages that it was never supposed to be a burden we carry; our salvation was ever in the hands of God.  When we attempt to save ourselves we only delay the process and increase the misery we need not experience.  There is a reason Jesus keeps going back to calling us children … we were meant to be free like children.  We were supposed to be playing with Dad, enjoying His time, sitting on His lap, curling up to sleep under His chair.  There is no pre-requisite to all of this, there is only acceptance of it.  To rather trust in our means is to embrace the pain of trusting in a false solution.  It is NOT Jesus punishing us for choosing wealth over Him, it is US punishing US for doing something so stupid.  Jesus is here to free us from the pain we otherwise would choose.  This is the whole nature of salvation, to free us from the pain we cause ourselves.

God does not have to administer the spankings, the “sin” is the spankings (and worse), that He is trying to free us from.  Gold cannot change the soul for the better, only for the worse.  Love can change the world for the better, and place the appreciation for gold in its rightful place … as concrete.  It is for the Love of God that we were made.  It is for the Love of God, that He set aside one day in seven to hang out, stop His work, and make time to play with us.  It is for the Love of God, that even though we rejected Him, He would not abandon us, but provide a way to reconcile us.  He would offer us His love, even when we spit on Him, cursed Him, and eventually killed Him.  But for the Love of God, He would take on our punishment, to free us to be kids in His Kingdom.  We were supposed to be free, like toddlers, able to trust, and play till our hearts are content with our Dad.  Wealth only distracts from that.  Wealth only delays our time with Dad, and chance to play with Him.  It is a hollow solution, a false solution.  Let us come to Jesus and finally be rid of it, and anything else that would burden us.  Let us shed the burdens of adults, and take on the freedom of children that shelter under the Father’s wing.

But even when we unmask the problems we face outside of the church, there can still enter problems to be unmasked within the church as we will continue to examine in our next study …