Saturday, 7 March Seeking the Messiah. Matthew 6:19–24
This is a familiar passage. Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes, and thieves do not break in and steal.
We commonly think that this means we should take our focus off money and consumables, and focus more on godly things like being kind and doing good. After all, good deeds aren’t subject to decay or theft, as money and ‘stuff’ are.
But I wonder if there may not be more to it. I’m indebted to one of my former staff members for the following insight.
Treasure in heaven.What could that be? It won't be gold and diamonds, or stocks and shares. Anyway, the streets are paved with gold, if you want to be literal about it. It won't be good health, because death has been defeated for ever. It won't be a fancy address, because there is no high and low class there. Revelation talks about gold crowns a few times, but I think we all know that this is just a symbol. We don’t seriously think we’ll be wearing gold crowns for eternity. We joke about having ‘another jewel in your crown’ if you do something good, but we all know that we’re not really being serious.
For it to be treasure, it would have to be the most precious thing that there is. Precious to whom? Well, it’s God’s kingdom. I imagine he gets to set the currency, the gold standard if you like. What is the most precious thing to God?
Ah! That’s easy. People! People are the most precious thing to God. That’s why he died for them. The Old Testament is full of his expressions of love to Israel about how they are his most precious possession.
So let’s start our reading over again. Here’s a simple paraphrase, following this line of thinking:
Don’t spend all your efforts on making money and setting up a comfortable life for yourselves, here on earth. You know that whatever you put together to make your life easier is likely to get lost or ruined somehow.
Don’t you remember the Great Depression, or the stock market crash of 2008? Don’t you remember the Great Train Robbery or the story on last night’s news about scammers who took people for all their savings? Haven't you been following the news about the bushfires and the floods and the tsunamis that destroyed everything in their path? Don’t you remember the news footage of people whose homes were bombed in war zones and whose lives were utterly ruined from war, drought, famine, or government takeover? Don’t you remember the Spanish flu that killed up to 50 million people or the Bubonic plague that wiped out a third of the population in some areas?
Focus on the most precious resource you can –other people. Do all that you can to encourage other people to come to Christ, to persuade other people to the Christian faith, to influence other people to come to church with you and meet God. Even if you can't get out and talk to them, at least pray for them, constantly!
There are no pockets in shrouds. You can't take your money with you. The only thing you can take to heaven with you is other people. Start with your own family, and work out from there.
This whole passage is about managing and controlling our passions and affections. What light do we choose to illuminate our inner selves? The bigoted and angry light of social media? The light of a particular political philosophy, or a fascination for sport or films or fitness?
This is not a difficult passage to understand – but it is a hard pill to swallow.
It all comes down to the last sentence: You cannot serve God and wealth (or money).
Why are God and money in such clear opposition? That’s a simple answer, too. God is always to be worshipped and served – with no competition. He is God – which means that nothing and no-one else is.
Money – and all the things it can buy, such as leisure activities, fame, position, friends, power, and so on – is a wonderful servant. But it is a terrible master. Use it, as much of it as you can get your hands on, for God’s work. But don’t ever let it become your master. Remember John Wesley’s advice: Earn all you can. Give all you can. Save all you can.
To seek the Messiah with all my heart means that I will not seek to be wealthy – for wealth’s sake. Wealth might come – he may choose that for me – but I must not seek it with all my heart, my mind and my strength. Thus to seek money andto seek Christ is a contradiction in terms. In another few chapters, Jesus will spell this out in a graphic metaphor: It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God(19:24).
Is there anyone I know who is probably not a member of God’s kingdom – as far as I can tell? What could I do to get them to enter? Why am I not doing it? What would I have to change to help me to get them to come in?
Prayer: Almighty God, you have convicted me today of my inadequate focus on my legacy. I would love to see more people in your kingdom, and I would love to be able to help to get them there. Please help me to reset my priorities to change this focus. Show me what it is that I have to do. Thank you. Amen.
