Saturday, July 30, 2016

Where Your Treasure Lies / Based on Luke 12:13-21 / Delivered July 31, 2016 at CCH in Hudson WI

Where Your Treasure Lies
Based on Luke 12:13-21
Delivered July 31, 2016
Hymns:
Spirit of God Descend Upon My Heart, The Gift of Love, You Are My All in All

Luke 12:13-21
 12:13 Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me."  
12:14 But he said to him, "Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?"  
12:15 And he said to them, "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions."   
12:16 Then he told them a parable: "The land of a rich man produced abundantly.  
12:17 And he thought to himself, 'What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?'  
12:18 Then he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.  
12:19 And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.'  
12:20 But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?'  
12:21 So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God."

Where does your treasure lie?  The parable deals with treasures.  I don’t see the story so much about the crops as about the man’s thoughts.  Jesus wasn’t saying it’s bad to have things, but it was bad to make them your focus.  Money isn’t the root of all evil, but the love of money is.  As I begin to think on this message I fear I need to preach this one to myself.  Feel free to listen in and if something fits you I hope you find it useful.

So where is our focus?

With things?
With people?
With God?

Is my treasure with things?
The parable deals with this one directly.  “Take care!  Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”  I don’t have “treasure” but I do have lots of stuff.  I spent the first half of my life collecting it and now it is stored in the basement.  My husband retired in 2014 and I told him I was his new boss and his main job was helping sort through and get rid of the stuff in my life.  This isn’t an easy task.  I don’t let go very easily.  This parable is a great reminder for me.

Some things do bring joy because of their purpose.  I have musical instruments that I will not part with because I still play and create songs with them.  Other things sit in boxes.  I have bins full of old clothes that have sentimental value.  These are the types of things that must go.  My thoughts are held by them but they do not bring me joy.  Books are another treasure of mine.  I am slowly letting go of my fiction books, but can’t part with those that have given me training spiritually.  They hold my thoughts.  I tell myself I may read them again.  They will take more work to let go of.

The parable calls me to think of my stuff in a different light.  'You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?'  Eventually my kids will be forced to clean out my house.  What treasure will they find in my stuff?  Seeing it from the perspective of someone else is eye opening.  My husband has a fulltime job helping me sort and release the things that tie up my thoughts.

Is my treasure with people?
While it certainly feels more Christian to make people your focus, it also misses the mark.  Yes, we share love, we pray for one another, and we take care of each other.  We are called to be in community.  But that should not slide to make a person our treasure.

I fell into this one with my children.  All three of my kids are my favorite.  I will say that up front because I will send them this message to read.  However, more than likely, only my daughter will actually read it.  This example has to do with her so I’m pretty safe.

My daughter was my last born.  The two boys were 15 months apart, and then three years later my daughter was born.  Three years after that my marriage dissolved and I was a single mother of three kids.  My children were my treasure.  I took classes in how to be a good parent.  I read book after book on how to help us all cope in a single parent household.  If I thought there was a problem I couldn’t solve I quickly brought in counselors even though I was in pretty rough shape financially.  My children had to have the best possible chance to grow up and be successful.  That was my passion!

My boys knew this.  Even in the rebellious teen years when I was setting down limits and they were testing every one of them, my first born would come sit on the edge of the bed and would have long talks.  When most boys wanted nothing to do with their mother I was blessed to spend a week on a tandem bicycle with my second son at his request.  I made us iron-on t-shirts that said “Mike and Mom Team” on his and “Mom and Mike Team” on mine.  The other riders were amazed by our relationship.

Then there was my daughter.  She and I felt like sisters or best friends.  When she was away from me I nearly couldn’t focus.  Summer camp was tough on me and I was the one who stayed home!  I worried for her safety to an unhealthy level.  My extended family could see this and worried about how I would handle the separation of her going to college.  So the summer before college she went to live and work with my father and my brother.  She wanted to be a nurse so working in their Chiropractic office was a great opportunity.  I knew she was safe, I could visit but it was a four-hour drive so couldn’t be with her daily, and it was the best thing for me.  I still cried like a baby when I dropped her off at college, but the summer separation had helped me know I would be OK.

It wasn’t healthy.  I learned to let go over time.  It would have harmed her if I hadn’t.  All three children are wonderful adults.  I have a great relationship with each of them.  My love is still strong, but I have let them go and know I am OK with letting them go.

Is my treasure with God?
While it is true we are commanded to love one another, Jesus said the first great commandment was to love the lord your God.  This must be our center.  Leaning on my ability to make money is fleeting.  Leaning on people can be unhealthy for both of you.  Leaning on God, making him your source of strength, is what we can rely on.

When my marriage dissolved for a time I stepped away from God.  I felt unworthy of His love.  Yet I stayed in church because it was good for my children.  They had mentors there, they enjoyed social time with others, and I was able to get help with things like having a church member pick them up for me after school.  But I was depressed.

My pastor encouraged me to take an adult Bible study class called Disciple.  It was life changing.  I learned God never stopped loving me.  I reconnected with Him.  I took four years of that Disciple series and then because I needed to be reminded often, I taught the four-year course to others twice.

Life hasn’t been easy, but life is good with God by my side.  Coming to speak here has caused me to dive deeper into scripture and spend more time in prayer.  I hope I can help your relationship to God grow through my visits, but I can tell you coming here for sure has helped my relationship to God grow stronger.  Thank you for that gift.

I warned you I was preaching to myself today.  I hope my example brings clarity to this lesson for you.  I want to leave you with just one more story.

I had a friend, who loved golf, that was dying of cancer.  He had moved into the hospice stage of his journey and we knew he wouldn’t be with us here long.  Once night I had a dream he came to visit me.  He said he wasn’t quite sure if he was ready to leave.  He asked if there was golf in heaven.  The answer that filled my mind was this.  I don’t think there is golf in heaven, but do you know how you feel when you hit that perfect shot – the one that goes straight and long and lands on the green just a foot or so away from the cup?  That feeling of joy will be in heaven.  That love of the moment will be in heaven.

I believe it is fine to find joy in things, activities, and people that help love flow.  But do not attach yourself to them.  That only brings greed and worry.  Instead of focusing on the thing, activity, or people, focus on the joy and the love that is flowing.  The scripture tells us God is love, and when we love we are like him.  When we attach to a thing instead of realizing the true treasure is the God of Love we miss what is important.  We cannot “store up” these physical treasures, because they do not travel with us.  Focus instead on letting that love flow, remembering that God is love.  Love is the true treasure.

Where is your focus?  What do you treasure?  Between the choices of things or people or God, choose God.  Choose Love.  Your life will be truly rich.


Amen

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