I noticed that the box for questions is here. It would help me if, while I am speaking, you have a question, you would come right out, during when I'm speaking, and fill it out so that I can mark that spot in my notes. The doctor said I'd be this way if I lived. Let's pray: Lord, thank you for the gorgeous truths that we've just been singing. May they shape our living, we would pray, and may we have tender hearts in this moment as we look at the expansive ideas and realities of your beautiful Word.
Always in Pursuit of Treasure
In Jesus name, Amen. This morning, I talked to you about the significance of understanding that you're a person who's always living in pursuit of some kind of treasure. It's very important to realize that your behavior, in any given situational location and relationship, is, in fact, your attempt to move toward your treasure. And it's important to recognize that Christ distills this down to two life shaping treasure categories. In a moment, you are either living for earthbound treasure, all of those physical experiences and relationships and possessions, all the stuff of this 'right here' and 'right now life', or you are living in the midst of those things with an eye toward treasure in heaven.
Your choices, your words, and behavior are investing in the temporary earthbound treasure, or, in this given moment, you're investing in things eternal. That's the model of Matthew 6. I think it's important for me to say one more thing about that before I move on. Christ confronts us with the exclusivity of treasure pursuit. Let me say that again, Christ confronts us with the exclusivity (I can say this) of treasure pursuit. (It's the mustache, it weighs down my lips, and there are certain words that, the upper lip needs more flexibility.
Sorry! It's true.) The exclusivity that I said of treasure pursuit: You cannot serve two masters at the same time. Bottom line, get a grip! And you must understand that you are always in service of some kind of kingdom; you're always in service of some kind of treasure; there is always something that's ruling your heart, and what rules your heart will then form your choices and behavior. That exclusivity is very important for you submit to and humbly admit to because Jesus says, "It is spiritually impossible for you to be serving two masters at the same time."
Now, I want to think I'm able to do that, but I'm not. I'm always either in service of the temporary treasures of earth, asking those treasures to be my messiah, asking those treasures to do for me what they can't possibly do because they are not the glory that can fill and satisfy my heart. They are actually a finger that points to that glory, so they cannot do for me what that glory is able to do; it just won't happen. Or, I'm connecting myself to the expansive treasures of heaven, to the eternal kingdom that is now come into my life, understanding that this moment is connected to the great redemptive drama, that this moment extends into eternity, and I live as if that's true, and because of that, I choose to act in a way and with words and behavior that's shaped by a desire to move in the same direction that that kingdom is moving.
And so, in that moment, what it means is, I want, in that moment, what this Eternal King wants for me in this moment. I want to be part of what this Eternal King is doing; I want to invest in things that are not temporary and fading and gone so quickly. But I want to invest in what is fundamental and ultimate and eternal. And in the specific, street-level moments of life, I'm serving one of those two masters. I find that principle of the exclusivity of treasure pursuit significant and helpful and protective for me, so I don't play games with my own soul.
I must remember that I'm after this, or, I'm after this, and at any given moment, I can't be after both of those things. Now, let me give you another example: You're in a moment where you know that you're facing a difficult conversation with somebody; I know you have been there; you live, too, in a fallen world. And so, you do what, (Oh, let me say this first.) you really desire to be an instrument in God's hands, an agent of unity and reconciliation and love; you want to be part of what He's doing; you want to think of this moment larger than just the personal thing that's going on between you and this person; you want to think of it from the vantage point of the kingdom.
That's all great stuff. You do what we often do; I'm sure you've done this too; you put the sort of DVD in your brain, and you play the conversation ahead of time; you've done this, and you think about the possible things that person would say; you practice what you'd say in return, and then you play a different rendition of that, and you try to cover all the contingency, sort of choose your own adventure. And, you've prayed about it, and you feel ready for the conversation. And you get into that moment, and you're quiet of spirit; you're soft of tone; you're acting as if conciliation is your goal; you're envisioning God's kingdom in the process, (some of you are already smiling) and all of a sudden, in the middle of that conversation, that person says something hurtful and dismissive to you.
And all of a sudden, you don't care about reconciliation any more. You don't care about the kingdom any more. You don't see eternity any more. That moment is shrunk down to this moment; you can't believe that this person would say that to you. And all of a sudden, all you want is to win; you want that person to say, "You're right! You're the rightest person I've ever met! I bow before your rightness, oh, right one!" Now, do you get what you've done? You've started here; you've started with eternal focus; you've started as if there's some such a thing as eternity, and you long to be part of this grand work of God that's vastly bigger this moment, and you've ended up as if this is totally a horizontal thing; it's only about this moment, and you've got to get the treasure of this person saying, "You're right!
You are such an amazing person. I wish I could rise to the level of who you are, oh right one!" (Sorry, Tim...I had to use somebody.) That's it! That's the battle! And so, I want to say this to you, and then I want to move to another point. This means that life is war. Brothers and sisters, this isn't peacetime. Life is war, and this war is not fought between you and other people; it's not a war between you and situations; it's not a war between you as a believer and a fallen world; it's a war fought on the turf of your heart; it's a war fought for control of your heart.
And, it's a war between these two masters that yet rages in your heart. And I would ask you, this afternoon: "What kind of soldier are you? Have you taken seriously the presence of that conflict? And, do you cry out for help?" I've begun this habit; I began this several years ago because I saw the desperate neediness of my own heart. There are three prayers that I pray every morning. I try to pray these before I arise out of bed lest I forget. Here's the first one: "God, I'm a man in desperate need of help today.
A Man in Desperate Need of Help
God, I am a man in desperate need of help today." That's a confession of my own neediness. I know how I can lose my way. I know how I can do exactly that; I can start out getting it right and end up losing my way right in the middle of a circumstance. Second prayer, I pray: "Lord, that in your grace, You would send Your helpers my way. I pray, Lord, that in Your grace, You would send Your helpers my way." Third prayer: "And, oh, Lord, please give me the humility to receive the help when it comes.
God, I'm a man in desperate need of help. I pray, in Your grace, that You would send Your helpers my way, and I pray that You would give me the humility to receive the help when it comes" I want to posit this question before we look at the second half of this passage, and here's my question: "Could it be that a church that celebrates the sovereignty of God and preaches the unrelenting grace of God does much of what it does out of fear?" Could it be that we, as the children of God who proclaim the sovereignty of God, who talk about the unrelenting nature of the grace of God, often function out of fear?
I would ask you for a moment of honesty. How much of what you do somehow, someway is motivated by something less than faith? How much of it is motivated by fear? I talked to you about those angry days that God, by His grace, has rescued me from, but those days were not just days of anger, they were days of anxiety. I would lay in my bed on my way to sleep, or having awakened early in the morning, and I'd go through this endless catalog of 'What if's', concerns that I was, I was carrying as a person in ministry that were not being carried in faith.
Turn, if you would, to that passage, again, in Matthew 6. If you would indulge me, again, so I can read this whole passage again, and then we'll look at the second half of it: Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, (verse 19) where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp the body; if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.
But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you'll put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds of the air, they neither sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his life span? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things will be added to you. I think it's very important to recognize that having introduced this concept of a life that's driven by earthbound treasure, immediately, Christ talks about worry; immediately, He talks about anxiety; and immediately, He talks about fear.
Because that world where this moment becomes the only moment where my focus is in...I've got to have this physical thing, this physical experience, something must happen in this physical moment, always results in a somehow, some way, and a life of worry and anxiety and fear. I'm deeply persuaded that you will find no greater, no sturdier rest than when you live in this moment from the vantage point of eternity. Now, think about the logic here: If I have been guaranteed a sure place in forever with my Lord, if His covenant promise for me is not just His presence in this moment, but ultimately, that I will taste the final victory of salvation...Then in order for that to be true, He must guarantee me every needed provision and every needed grace along the way, or I'll never get there.
Did you get the point? The guarantee of future grace built into it, the surety of present grace; the guarantee of future provision built into it, the guarantee of present provision. You will never rest better than when you view life from the vantage point of eternity. And, I have found in counseling again and again with depressed, single people or angry, married people or lost, business people that what I needed to do was give them back eternity again. Because if that is what I've been graced within my future, then with that comes the absolute guarantee of every needed provision and every needed grace along the way, or I'll never get there.
In fact, that means that the future reign of Christ, check this out, guarantees His present reign. Because His future reign would not, could not happen in the way it's described in Scripture if it wasn't preceded by a present reign that moves us and moves history to that point. Turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 15. We're not bumping around in this nasty, broken world, waiting for Jesus to reign. Did you hear what I said? Please let's get our theology right here. We're not hanging out in this broken world; we've got a few good principles in our hands that we hope work, and we're just excited about the fact that, someday, Jesus will reign.
Christ Has Been Raised
Heresy! Heresy! Heresy! Let's look at what Paul says, arguing that you can't make any sense about Christianity without the resurrection...verse 20: But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man death came, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at His coming those who belong to Christ, then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, after destroying every rule and every authority and power.
For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. What's happening in the 'here and now'? Jesus is working out the spoils of his victory in the cross; He's reigning. And, He must reign until the last enemy is under His feet, the last enemy is death, and then we get the final kingdom. Notice the language here: "For He must reign!" "Must" is what kind of word? You can talk. "Must" is what kind of word? It's an imperative; it's a word of necessity.
Paul is arguing this must happen or the whole (I can say this!) house of cards comes falling down. This must happen. He must reign now in order for us to ever have the surety of His future reign and our part in His future reign. And so, the future grace of eternity guarantees to me every provision and every present grace I need. The future reign of Christ necessitates a present reign. Hear this! Jesus can only guarantee the delivery of his promises over that which He is sovereign. Did you get what I said?
It's only in those situations where He is sovereign that He is able to guarantee to you the delivery of His provisions and His promises; His promises and provisions are absolutely dependent on His sovereignty. Because he can only deliver to you with guarantee those things that He has promised to deliver in the places where he rules. Of course! And so, Paul would say elsewhere that He rules over all things, talking at present, (For whose sake?)...the sake of His body, the church. And so, this perspective, where I begin to understand the plan of God, when I begin to focus on the surety of my future, not only gives me surety in the future, but it begins to give me a remarkable security and a remarkable rest and a remarkable surety now.
Because if I'm ever going to be there, then this One who was reigning, and will continue to reign, must deliver to me all the graces and provisions that I need in order to move toward this thing that He has promised me. That's what's going on in the 'here and now'. And now, to the degree that I forget that, to the degree that I lose sight of the fact that the future reign guarantees the present reign, that future grace guarantees present grace, to that degree, I'm susceptible to wonder and worry and "What-at?" and "What-if?" and fear and anxiety.
In fact, what I begin to do is, I begin to live a "me" focused life instead of a provisioned focused life. A need focused life instead of the grace focused life. I need to get life instead of...He is reigning on my behalf life. That's what happens to me. So need begins to drive my living, rather than provision driving my living; want drives my living instead of reign driving my living. R-E-I-G-N! Worry drives my living instead of rest in grace driving my living. That's what happens; that's what's described here.
Now, there are a couple of things to say about this 'need' thing. It's very dangerous to take on your shoulders the job of meeting your own needs. It's dangerous for a couple reasons: First, the need category is a very dangerous category. In fact, I would argue that one of the things that's being argued in this passage when Jesus says, "Your heavenly Father knows what you need," is that it's God's job to define your need; you and I don't do that very well. We tend to expand the category; we tend to load into our need category, things that are not needs, things that are not essential for life.
If you have children, you know that. If you're at a mall with one of your children, that's probably your first mistake, and you walk by an athletic store and their sneakers or trainers, whatever you call them there, and one of your children says to you, "Dad, I need those shoes." Now, you look down; they have leather incased feet; it's not actually a need. But they're convinced it's a need. And, once they're convinced it's a need, here are some things that happen: They feel entitled to it. They feel it's their right to demand it, and they will judge your parental love and faithfulness by your willingness to deliver it.
Let me say that again: "Once your child has named it as a need, I have explained this many times to my children, once they're convinced it's a need, they feel it's completely appropriate to demand it because they feel entitled to it, and they begin to judge the quality of my love and faithfulness to them by my willingness to deliver it. I'm convinced that happens to many of us vertically. We load into this need category, things that are not needs, things that God has not promised us, things that are not necessary graces, or necessary provisions.
They take on 'essentiality' to us because they make us feel entitled to them; we feel it's our right to demand them, and we judge the faithfulness of God by His willingness to deliver things to us that He's never promised to deliver. And, that not only results in greater fear, but now something even more significant, doubt of God. And, you don't tend to run for help to somebody who you've come to doubt. That's the spiritual dynamic. The second thing is: If I've taken on the job of meeting my own needs, if my life, in a fundamental way, is need focused, instead of grace and provision focused, need focused instead of the King is reigning focused, then, it's very hard for me to live out the two great commands, because what I'm living is now in a shrunken little world that's driven by the claustrophobic desires of my wants, my needs, my feelings.
It's a kingdom so small, only one can fit in it. Now, I was created to live for things, to live for purposes vastly bigger than me. In fact, I was created to live in these two communities; I've talked about this since I've been here; I don't remember when. Community with God, loving worshipful community with God, that I would live an outward, a God-ward life, that my life would be motivated by His purposes and His glory. And, I was meant to live, not only an upward focused life, but an outward focused life, driven by this call to live in community with others and selfsacrificing love of others.
A Scarily Inward World
And so, what happened is, rather than living that way, rather than living an upward life and this outward life, I'm now captured by this scarily inward world, and everywhere I go and every relationship and every situation and every location, what I'm really after is making sure that all the things that I determined I need, I get. And, I'm not so much happy that you're in my life because that's an opportunity for me to serve the King in your life; I'm happy that you're in my life because you may be a vehicle for me getting some of the things that I need.
What a dangerous way to live! It absolutely builds a wall between me and the two great commands because I have now reduced my life down to my needs; I've taken on the agenda of making sure that I get, in my situations and locations and relationships, all the things that I need. That's the thing that wakes me up in the morning; I get up in the morning, and I've got a catalog of all the things I need, and I think of all the agenda that attached themselves to that catalog, and, I'm going to make sure that I get everything I need.
And so, my heart is not engaged by upward worship; my heart is not engaged by outward love; it actually is driven by me in the center of my universe, and my needs as the most important concerns to me. That's what it means to forget the eternal kingdom and to live for present treasure. It always ends in worry, and it always becomes a need-based form of living. May God deliver us from such a thing! Brothers and sisters, I'm here to be candid with you. You can have all the right theology; you can, in these moments, sing great, worship music, and in your particular situations of life, you can be living a self-oriented, need driven life.
And, I want to say this to you: I'm deeply persuaded that the scariest, most seductive idols are the ones that are easily Christianized. Because you won't be out there committing adultery, you won't become South Africa's most successful bank robber; you won't forsake the faith; you won't walk away from your theology; you'll be able to lead a men's group, but it's all driven by something other than the eternal Kingdom. It's got you in the center of the world; it's driven by your sense of need, and you're not actually there for others, and you're not actually there for God.
You're actually there for you because you are a functional eternity amnesiac. And, rather than your life being formed by, "Oh, what I've been given", your life is formed by: "I have got to have; I have got to have; I have got to have. I have got to have. Will I get? Will I get? What if? What if?" Instead of: "I have been lavished with love and grace that is eternal, far beyond anything I could ever understand, and I don't know what today will be like. I don't know what I'll face. I don't know how this bill will be paid; I don't know how this relationship will work out; I don't know what's going to happen to the church; I don't know how this theological controversy is going to work out, but this one thing I know, Jesus reigns, and future grace guarantees, for me, present grace.
I am okay, I will stand! I got a call from a dear lady who I was counseling. She longed for her husband to come to counseling with her. I did everything I could to reach out to this man, and he would not be involved. He would not be involved because he was plotting against her. They lived in, he was a very, very successful businessman. They lived in a huge mansion in the suburbs of Philadelphia; they had two children. It took her about an hour to drive to my office; we'd spend an hour together, and an hour to drive back.
One Tuesday, during those three hours, her husband had pulled big, moving trucks up to the house. He emptied the mansion out of everything but a kitchen dinette set and a single bed upstairs. He grabbed the two children from their babysitter. He had already begun legal documents to become the sole caregiver for the children. He had emptied every bit of money out of his bank account and transferred that to a business partner. It was one of the most heinous sins against a wife I've ever experienced.
He had another woman; he had planned for three years, a new life. She opened that door to her house, having no sense that this happened, to room after room of echo. She called me; her voice was shaking; she was weeping on the phone; she says, "What will I do? What will I do? What will I do? What will I do?" And, I said this to her, I said, "I know you won't understand what I'm saying right now, but I need to say this to you...The unshakable grace of your reigning Redeemer is greater than this moment.
You will stand!" She told me that in ways I didn't realize she's held onto that statement with both hands. She would walk around the house, that empty house and say, "The unshakable grace of the Redeemer is greater than this moment. I will stand!" She would get some kind of legal document that would prove that the situation was worse than she knew, and she would say, "The unshakable grace of the Redeemer is greater than this. I will stand!" I'll never forget; I'll never forget this moment; it was, it was such a ministry to me.
The phone rang in my office; I picked up the phone, and said, "Hello!" And, it was this familiar voice, and all she said is, "I'm standing! I'm standing! I'm standing!" That's the eternal rest that we have been guaranteed by our place in eternity which guarantees, not only a future reign, but a present reign; not only future grace, but present grace, and when you forget that grace, you begin to take on the responsibility for the meeting of your needs, invariably, and your sin - that needs category - expands.
Entitled and Doubting
You become entitled to things that God hasn't promised you that you're actually not entitled to. You begin to doubt the goodness of God because he hasn't delivered those things, and that leads to greater anxiety and greater fear because you don't tend to run for comfort to somebody you come to doubt. I would ask you, "How much of what you're doing somehow, some way is driven by fear?" Now, Jesus does three things here that I think are important. I just want to do these quickly with you, and then I'll be done.
Here's the first thing: He reminds us of the gospel of creation. He reminds us of the gospel of creation. He says: "Look around; look at the birds; look at the flowers; there's clear indication, every day visible in your life that God does not abandon the work of His hands." Let me say that again, Christ immediately refers to the gospel of creation. Now, here's what Christ is saying: "In your temptation to be anxious, in your temptation to forget the present reign of Christ and the guarantee of present grace and presence provision, God has done something very loving and very tender.
He has embedded around you reminders of His faithfulness, that He is not going to abandon the work of His hands, and if God would care that much for birds and flowers, how much more would he care for those made in His image, those now covered by the costly blood of his Son. You have reason to rest because creation preaches to you, every day, a gospel of divine faithfulness. Wow! The second thing He does is: He reminds us of the gospel of family, that we have been given a Father, a Father who is tender, a Father who cares for us, a Father who has willingly and covenantally and faithfully and eternally taken on the burden of our provision.
Jesus essentially says this: "It makes sense that the pagans worry because they don't have a Father, but you shouldn't; you have a Father; He knows what you need, and He is in the process of delivering. Now, I think that would mean: If you don't have it right now, it's because your Father knows you don't need it right now. Just chill out! Your Father knows better! How's that for pointed counsel? This is true. We really think...it points to...we're smarter than God; I know better than God does. If I were sovereign, it's craziness; it's gospel irrationality!
Jesus says, "Don't you understand you have been blessed with a familial relationship to the Lord of lords, the Creator, the Sovereign One, and the King of it all?" He's your Father, and He, of his own volition, has taken on the responsibility of your provision. Why, in the world, would you worry? Quit being pagan! I think again, it's right, it's possible to have a solid biblical theology out there someplace in your confessional statement and actually approach a Tuesday, like a pagan. You're just cranked with worry; you're playing out the, "What-if's".
You know, you're driving, and you're just pushing all that stuff through your brain, getting yourself all worked up, and you're forgetting the gospel of family. There's a third thing Jesus does: He reminds us of the gospel of the kingdom. I don't know if you've thought about this or not, but that call to seek God's kingdom is, itself, a grace. Did you hear what I said? That call to seek God's kingdom is, itself, a grace because it's only when I seek God's kingdom that I'm free from seeking my own.
That call is a call that liberates me; and hear this: I couldn't seek something that I haven't been given. Do you know what Jesus said? "Fear not little flock for the Father has chosen to (do what?) give you the kingdom." You're not waiting for the kingdom to come; He has given it to you. Fear not for the Father has chosen graciously to give you the kingdom. You see, when I'm stuck in that moment, driven by earthbound treasure, driven by an anxious sense of need, earthbound treasure, anxiety bound need, I have forgotten the gospel of creation; I have forgotten the gospel of family, and I have forgotten the gospel of kingdom.
I'm now cut off from the rich truths of the eternal kingdom. No wonder I'm anxious. And, Jesus says, "In loving tenderness," hear what I am going to say, "Stop it!" Why would you live that way when you have been connected to glorious treasures in heaven? They're yours! When your life, now, is connected to what's eternal and unstoppable, when your little life is connected to the glorious reign of risen Christ, when future grace guarantees for you present grace, why would you give way to the life of the Gentiles who have no Father and have no biggest bigger focus of concern than, "I've got to get what I need."
Don't live that way! "Seek My kingdom and My righteousness." Let's pray: Lord, we are that kind of people who can have our theology in place, but forget the glorious truths of this passage. We can assent to the two great commands, and yet, at moments, live a self-focused, need driven life that has no greater field of concern than what we're convinced we can't live without. That does produce a life of worry and often moments of doubting your goodness and faithfulness. May we live with Your eternal kingdom in view.
May we understand that future reign guarantees present reign, necessitates present reign, future grace guarantees present grace, that that surety of eternity guarantees for me every grace and every provision that I need along the way. May we hear the gospel of creation, that You will not forsake the work of Your hands; may we hear the gospel of family, that we have been blessed with a Father who has covenantally taken on the task of providing for our needs. May we celebrate the gospel of kingdom, that we don't need to fear because the Father has graciously decided to give us the kingdom. Thank you! In Jesus name, Amen.
