TREASURE SEEKERS
Matthew 6:19- 34
I hope the kids are excited about this year’s VBS. It is called Treasure Cove and the goal is to inspire kids to be treasure seekers, not for the treasures this world has to offer, but for the treasure that will never spoil or rot – an intimate relationship with the Lord, Jesus Christ.
This is the real goal that each of us should be pursuing with all of our heart and strength. But the demands of living in the modern world can sometimes rob us of our devotion to Christ. Lee Strobel, a great evangelist of our day, once wrote about the decade of the 90’s:
“If you were really a person of the 90’s you felt life whizzing past you at 90 miles an hour. You worked 90 hours a week and you still had 90 items on your to-do list. You were on a 90 calorie a day diet because you looked 90 pounds overweight in your swim suit. You had 90 bills to pay but you were already $90 overdrawn in your bank account. You are still paying $90 a month on your student loan, but now you are starting to worry about where you are going to get $90,000 to pay for your child’s college education. You have 90 channels of cable TV and still can’t find anything to watch. . . . and you think foolishly that everything would just be fine if you could find a job that pays $90,000 a year.”
Is there a promise of a better future? Does there seem to be any reason to hope for tomorrow? The answer to that question depends greatly on what you are seeking. If you are seeking the things this world has to offer, you will continually be frustrated and discouraged at what little you have. But if you are seeking a different kind of treasure, then it is possible to live a life of contentment and peace, full of joy and hope in a bright future. So take a moment with me this morning and evaluate your heart:
“What treasure are you really seeking out of life?
Jesus has been instructing His disciples in the Sermon on the Mount about life in the Kingdom of God. He has described a life of devotion and purity of heart. He has taught them how to pray, and now He addresses the focus of their life. He knows that life in Israel is difficult. They are living under Roman rule. Many of them are living below the poverty level. Most are hungry and desperate for a touch from heaven. But would they be any happier if they had all of the wealth of Herod? Would their lives be any more satisfying if they had all the modern conveniences and pleasures we take for granted in our modern culture? Is that the most important thing, or is there a better treasure for them? And so, Jesus begins to describe for them life in the Kingdom of God. In fact over 80 times in the Gospels He refers to this Kingdom. A popular saying in Jewish culture during the day of Christ was this:
“Take upon yourself the Yoke of God’s rule”
The peasants of Palestine were living under the Yoke of Rome. They felt enslaved, but Jesus understands where true freedom and happiness can be found. Jesus knowing this encourages His followers: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and meek.”
God is building His Kingdom and He promises the gates of Hell will not prevail against it. He looks for men, women, boys and girls who are willing to “Seek first His Kingdom”! Are you a person who is willing to do that?
Turn with me to Matthew 6:19-34
"Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where they can be eaten by moths and get rusty, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where they will never become moth-eaten or rusty and where they will be safe from thieves. Wherever your treasure is, there your heart and thoughts will also be.
"Your eye is a lamp for your body. A pure eye lets sunshine into your soul. But an evil eye shuts out the light and plunges you into darkness. If the light you think you have is really darkness, how deep that darkness will be!
"No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
"So I tell you, don’t worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food, drink, and clothes. Doesn’t life consist of more than food and clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t need to plant or harvest or put food in barns because your heavenly Father feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than they are. Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? Of course not.
"And why worry about your clothes? Look at the lilies and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won’t he more surely care for you? You have so little faith!
"So don’t worry about having enough food or drink or clothing. Why be like the pagans who are so deeply concerned about these things? Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs, and he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.
"So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”
1. KINGDOM TREASURE SEEKERS REST IN GOD’S PROVISION!
Have you ever read that popular book: “Don’t sweat the small stuff”? The disciples were sweating about every detail of life. To them everything was small stuff!”
Jesus is speaking to His beloved followers here. These are men and women who have responded to the message of Jesus and have become his followers. He is using one of His teaching moments to help them to see that life in the Kingdom of God is to be one of rest, not worry!
In the parallel account in the gospel of Luke 12 a man yells from the crowd and asks Jesus to tell His brother to given him his portion of their inheritance. “He won’t give me my share!” is the whine that comes out of this person.
Jesus then goes on to describe a rich fool. This fool was blessed with abundance, and stored more and more of his riches, building bigger and better buildings to store it all in until finally the fool thought to himself: “I’ve made it – I am financially secure – now I can enjoy my retirement” But then the man dies. He stored up riches on earth, and it was all left behind. But He was too busy to store up riches in heaven.
That is the backdrop to this conversation Jesus will now have with his followers.
Look again at verses 19-24
Building material wealth is counterproductive. All the beautiful things we work so hard to have and enjoy are all going to break down, or rot, or rust, or taken from us by a thief or by death. There are no hearse’s pulling U-Haul’s.
But there are treasures that will last for eternity. They won’t die away with your body. They can be yours forever and ever. Your heart will determine what is most important to you. Are you consumed with consumerism? Or are you consumed with eternity? To be consumed with consumerism is to live a very dark life according to Jesus. It is a life of disappointment and loss. Just when you think you’ve gotten ahead, you will fall behind. It is a dark life.
It all comes down to whom or what is Master over your life. If the material world is your master (whether it be bigger and better toys, or pleasure, or self-oriented goals), then really aren’t serving God. And if you truly are serving God, then the things of this world will not have a grip on your life.
The defining fruit in your life as to whether or not you are living for God or living for Mammon will be how much you worry. WORRY is counterproductive. Worry doesn’t change a thing. I can worry all I want, but it will not give me what I do not have, or take from me what God wants me to have. If I am worrying, then my treasure is not with God and His kingdom, but with the pleasures and trinkets of this world.
Jesus addresses the items that were of the greatest concern to His disciples: food and clothing. They had left everything to follow Jesus. Jobs, fishing nets, family members, and income were all left behind to walk with Jesus. And so it would be totally natural for them to question, “How are we going to feed ourselves, and where will our next meal come from, and how will I ever pay for new sandals when these wear out?”
Jesus showed them on many occasions that they were to trust in Him. He multiplied a few loaves and fish and fed a multitude. When tax time came he led Peter to a fish that had two coins in its mouth – one for Jesus and one for him. God knew what they needed and He took care of them.
Remember that my first point this morning is this: Kingdom treasure seekers REST IN GOD”S PROVISION!
Look at the 2 examples given by Jesus:.
The Raven works hard. It is busy from sun up to sun down looking for food. In other places we are told that if we don’t work, then we shouldn’t eat. Work is good. Jesus is not talking about laziness in this illustration. The Raven works from sun-up to sun-down. But as it works, what is its attitude? How does it approach the day? What concerns does the Raven have? And so, Jesus teaches His disciples this:
The Raven doesn’t make the food. It doesn’t plant the crops and then eat them when they’ve grown (farmers do that). It doesn’t build barns to store crops for a rainy day (farmers do that).
What do ravens do? They trust! They work hard, but they don’t worry. Whether the economy is good or bad, whether they have a high paying job or not, whether their boss likes them or not, it doesn’t matter. Why? Because the Raven knows instinctively that there was food yesterday, there will be food today.
God feeds the birds. And if birds have value to God, how much more valuable are we! A bird doesn’t worry! The principle Jesus is trying to instill in His followers is that they are so valuable to God, that He will be responsible for them. He will take care of them. They just need to rest in His Provision.
Food has been a lesson God has used throughout the ages to teach His children to trust Him.
When He wanted to give the Israelites an object lesson while they walked through the desert, he sent them Manna, bread from heaven. They always had enough for the day, but when they tried to hoard it, not trusting in God – the Manna decayed. Curiously, however, when the Sabbath rolled around the manna would last for 2 days and could be stored up for the extra day.
Resting in God’s provision was a lesson He wanted the Israelites to learn.
Jesus used food as an illustration that He was the one who sustains and nurtures life. He said: “I am the bread of life! Feed on Me! Man does not live by bread alone, but from every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God. This bread is my body broken for you. Take it, eat it!” Feeding our souls on Jesus is a treasure that cannot be measured like how big your house is, but it is a treasure that will last forever and ever.
God feeds us. He knows what we need. He wants us to trust Him totally and completely with our lives. We are to work. Paul was a tent-maker. But we are not to worry.
Now we live in a fat, and fulfilled culture. We have more food than we know what to do with. We have closets full of clothing overflowing, so we may not relate directly to the worry that consumed the people of Jesus’ day. We don’t worry about where our next meal is coming from. We don’t get consumed by clothing wearing out like the peasants in Jesus day. But we do get anxious!
We worry about our kids.
We worry if our job will be there tomorrow, and if we still will have all of our retirement benefits.
We worry about our health.
We worry about terrorism, and crime, and war.
We worry about the declining morals of our society.
We worry about the bird flu, and the hurricane season.
We worry about how to pay for our mounting debt.
We are a nation of worriers. We are a nation of depressed, unhappy, and unfulfilled people. Drugs, sex, alcohol, shopping, and overeating all speak of our tendency to worry about life. We spend sleepless nights tossing and turning in our beds. And we think that all of this worrying is helping us to sort things out. It is helping us to find a solution to our problems. We think that if we worry enough, then it really won’t be as bad as we worried about it. We think that by worrying, our lives will be better, we will not fall into the traps other people fall into, we will be secure, peaceful and at rest. But all of this worrying doesn’t extend our lives. In fact, the medical profession has proven that worry and stress shortens your life. All the worry in the world is not going to change tomorrow. We can’t add a day to our lives by worrying, but we can take a lot of them away.
I used to worry about everything. What am I going to do? How am I going to handle this? What if this happens or that doesn’t happen?
What if I can’t get a job? What if I get cancer? What if my parents die or worse, what if they live for many years totally in need of care? What if I lose my eye- sight? What if I fail as a parent? What if our nation starts to persecute Christian’s? What if the war spreads? What if I lose a loved one? What if . . .
What is interesting to me, as you read the account of the disciples is that many terrible things DID happen to them?
Paul was shipwrecked, and beaten, and naked, and hungry at times. Most of the followers of Christ were killed for their faith. Paul had a terrible affliction that He begged God to remove and God said: “NO, my grace is sufficient for you!”
Wouldn’t they have been better off if that had worried about all of those things? Shouldn’t they have prepared for the inevitable disaster that was going to fall upon them? How could they live such happy lives knowing that at any moment the next shoe was going to fall? Was Jesus lying here! Wouldn’t it have been better to approach life “realistically (Pessimistically)”? Wouldn’t it have been better to just have a fatalistic attitude?”
“Que sera sera – whatever will be will be”
No! Jesus calls all of us to trust in the sovereignty (that is a word that has a lot to do with Kingdom’s) and grace and mercy of a loving Father who knows what we need at all times (and it is not always what we want)!
Job had written: “Yea though He slay me, yet will I trust Him! I know that my redeemer liveth.”
Habakkuk had written: “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; He makes my feel like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights”
Jesus calls all of us to REST in His Provision. Let God be God! He’s God. Not you!
And yet we are afraid. We hold back. What if I really give God everything? What if I put my trust completely in Him and stop worrying? Surely He will harm me. He’ll send me to Africa, or His give me some disease as a cross to bear.
And what we are saying in those statements is that we do not believe that God is good! Instead, we believe in a God who is just looking for an excuse to control us and make us forever miserable! It is difficult to fully abandon yourself to someone you do not trust. AN infant will cry when held by a stranger, someone who may harm them or drop them; but an infant will relax and rest in the loving caress of its mother or father.
And so Jesus reassures His disciples:
The raven – I feed it, I care for it. But you are priceless to me!
The Lilly – see how beautiful they are. See how much I care for them. I made them that way. They didn’t make it happen. I provided the seed, the sun, the rain, and the soil. They don’t have to DO anything. They just need to BE! Abide in Me! Rest in Me!
Don’t set your heart on tomorrow! Don’t make the things of this world your goal! Don’t be consumed with getting things and keeping things. That’s what the pagans do. That is how those who are of this world act. You are of a different Kingdom.
I looked once again at that word “worry”. In ancient Greek literature it was used to describe the feeling of being lifted off the ground and suspended in mid-air, like a person getting ready to jump out of an open plane without a parachute.
Do you feel that way today? Are you fretting over things that only God can do? Become a child again. Trust your loving Father. He knows what you need.
Jesus told His little flock to become Treasure seekers. They weren’t to hunt for riches of this world, but for the treasure that will never fade away, a living and vital relationship with a loving Lord. They were to put all of their energy, their dreams, their desire, their goal, their pursuits, their plans and purposes into seeking God and His Kingdom.
What is it you are seeking today?
Worry is a good indication of what kingdom you are living in today. Are you living this moment in God’s Kingdom? Worry will disappear if you are.
Our prayer lives are another indication to us of what kingdom we are living in. If I am living in the Kingdom of this world, then I will pray about the “stuff” of that kingdom:
“Oh God give me health, Oh God make me happy, Oh God take care of that need I have.”
But if I am RESTING in the Kingdom of God then my prayers may take on a different flavor: “Oh God, thank you that you will care for me today. Thank you for giving me exactly what I need this day. Oh God help me to walk with you, give me victory over sin, and use my life today to bring you glory.”
Our prayers will become Kingdom Prayers when we dwell in the Kingdom of God.
Are you seeking His Kingdom today? Do you know rest? Or are you worried?
2. KINGDOM TREASURE SEEKERS ARE FREE TO GIVE GRACIOUSLY!
When I seek first the kingdom of God, there is no fear of tomorrow. There is no need for me to hoard and cling to what I have today. I understand that life does not consist of what I get, but what I give. Kingdom seekers are not grabbers, but givers!
Are you a grabber or a giver?
A child demands loudly: “That’s mine! You can’t have it!” Unfortunately, there are a lot of adult children today, even in the church. “That’s my car, my home, my bank account. Keep your hands off of it God. That’s my time. God you can have this over here, but you are not getting that.”
As a child grows and matures, he or she begins to unload their lives of “stuff”. I am fascinated by the process that often happens in families when someone is dying. The children many times fight over who are going to get what. I get that dresser. That picture is mine. I’ve even known families where they have gone through a house and marked names on items.
In contrast to this is the dying person who is unloading their lives of stuff. Every time I visited my Dad during the last months of his life, he’d give me something else.
As believer’s we are dead to this world. It’s not our home. We are members of God’s Kingdom. It’s time we start unpacking!
Kingdom Seekers are more concerned with building God’s house, not their own. Kingdom Seekers give hilariously to the mission of God. They want more brothers and sisters in the family.
Kingdom Seekers start seeing all of life from a different perspective. Where once they played golf for self – it was there time to unwind and relax. Now they play golf for God – they take a Christian brother along to encourage him, or a seeking friend to share the gospel with them.
Where once they wanted a big home to be a refuge, a castle - Now as kingdom Seekers their home becomes a place of hospitality, a way to reach non-Christian friends and minister to Christian friends.
Where once they went to church on Sunday to see how good it would make them feel, now as a Kingdom Seeker they go to church to see whom they can encourage or bless.
Kingdom seekers have a totally different outlook on life. They are givers not grabbers! They are sharers in the goodness and grace of God.
Whose Kingdom are you residing in today? Are you living as a Kingdom Seeker?
Jesus said some pretty powerful words: “Children, Your Father has been pleased to give you His Kingdom. He who owns the cattle on a thousand hills will not hold back any good thing from you. He will give you peace that is beyond comparison.”
You will know love that goes far above any human love. You will be so filled with joy that others won’t understand how anyone could live so far above their circumstances. He is going to pour Himself into your life, and your cup will overflow.
Therefore, don’t hold onto the things of this world. Give them away. Share with the poor. Take what you have and give it to others. Don’t’ worry about getting more. Think about what you can give away. You will be blessed.
KINGDOM SEEKERS REST IN THE GOD’S PROVISION. THEY ARE CHARACTERIZED BY PEACE, NOT WORRY. KINGDOM SEEKERS ARE GIVERS NOT GRABBERS. THEY LOVE TO SHARE WITH OTHERS OUT OF THE RICHNESS OF GOD.
3. KINGDOM TREASURE SEEKERS REALIZE THAT THERE IS NO LIMIT TO THE STOREHOUSES OF GOD!
In the parallel passage in Luke, Jesus gives a visual illustration of His teaching:
“Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted.”
God’s bank unlike the FDIC doesn’t stop insuring at $100,000. His account never runs dry. He is never overdrawn. He doesn’t bounce checks. God’s house doesn’t need a new roof. The pipes aren’t leaking. The garbage disposal isn’t stopped up.
You put your hand into the purse that God gives you, and you take something out and share it with someone, and then you reach down into that purse again, and there is something else in their for you to share, and they you reach down in again, and there is something else, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again!
Provide purses for yourself that will not wear out. Do you remember mom’s purse? It had everything in it. You needed an aspirin – go see Mom, she has one. You need a quarter for the gum machine. Go see mom she has one. You need a tissue for your runny nose. Go see mom she has one. God’s purse doesn’t run out!
Whose bag am I carrying? You see my luggage wears out. It breaks. It can only hold so much stuff. But God’s bag is magic. It’s small, lightweight. It doesn’t take up any space in the worry department, but it supplies all I need.
Jesus is basically saying to His disciples: TRAVEL LIGHT. Some of us are traveling in this world, and we are between planes, and we have all of this baggage we are lugging around with us. DROP IT! Seek His Kingdom. Take His YOKE UPON you.
Jesus is saying: TRAVEL LIGHT!
It’s time to drop the bags people. Drop the bags of self-gratification and self- satisfaction. Drop the bag of I feel –sorry-for myself. Drop the bag of “I deserve it”. Drop the bag of “I want this, that and the other thing.” Drop the bag of “What if this happens or that happens. Drop the bag of “If only I had.” Travel Light!
*Rest in His Provision
*Give graciously because you trust in Him
*Realize His purse never runs empty
SEEK HIS KINGDOM! GIVE GOD YOUR HEART TODAY!
Close with song: “Knowing You”
