Woodworking, Postcards, and Treasure Boxes

When I was about 7, my folks gave me a woodworking kit. I loved this. I made my mom a wooden planter, I made my sister a bench for her dolls, and I made myself a treasure box that had an actual lock on it. And for the next 11 years, I put my most prized possessions into this box, and I hid this box far under my side of the bed. My brother had his side and I had my side. And my treasure box was far under my side, hidden, and locked, so that no one could get at my treasures.

I had special letters in this box, special coins, an old civil war bullet, etc. And every so often, I would open this box and my heart would warm as I looked through all my stuff. Then I would carefully put everything back, making sure everything was in its space and the box was locked, the key hidden.

Then, I lost the key.

We all have treasures. Things that we value highly. Things that we would be willing to sell everything else for, just so that we could keep this.

It might be a car, a special tool, a relationship, our kids, our emergency fund, a picture of our parent who died. I can’t tell you what your treasures are. But, we all have them.

Unfortunately, many times, our treasures are not what they should be.

Jesus, when explaining priorities to his followers, tells them what a kingdom-follower should we focusing on.

Matthew 6:19–34 NIV

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, 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 of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Jesus tells his followers that everyone has a treasure that influences us but should be exchanged.

Before we dive in, will you pray with me?

1. Everyone Has a Treasure

Everyone single person in this world has something that they treasure. Something that they are not willing to give up.

I think about Samson. Judge of Israel. Strongest man in the world. He liked his strength. More than his strength, he liked his hair. More than his hair, he liked his women.

He had a string of ungodly women in his life. Finally, he ends up with Delilah.

Incidentally, Delilah is the 52nd most popular name for girls in the US currently.

Delilah like money more than Samson. The Philistines wanted Samson weakened, so they bribed Delilah to seduce the truth out of Samson of his strength.

Samson lies three times. Finally, after she nags him for days, he tells her the truth. She cuts off his hair, breaking his Nazarite vow, and he becomes weak. And ultimately dies with the Philistines. That whole story is a sermon for another day.

Delilah’s treasure was not her relationship with Samson, but the thousands of dollars that the Philistines promised to give her.

Samson’s treasure what not his vow before God. Samson’s treasure was peace with the girl he was sleeping with and the ability to sleep with her again.

What is your treasure?

Jesus says:

Matthew 6:19–20 NIV

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Anything that is our treasure here on earth will be destroyed, lost, removed from us, whether in this life or through death, as the old saying goes: you can’t take it with you. While we might bury somethings in the casket or with the urn, they don’t go with our loved ones to eternity. Everything is lost.

Even our relationships, in Christ, we have an assured hope that we will see our loved ones again, if we have trusted Christ as our savior. Death is not the end for those who die in Christ.

But, for those of us who have lost a loved one, while we look forward to seeing them again, we hurt because the relationship has been put on pause. The treasure has been ripped out of our grasp.

Everyone has a treasure.

Jesus presents a different treasure, for those of us willing to consider it. A treasure laid up in heaven.

For those of us who know Jesus, he is our treasure. As Jonathan Edwards says: Jesus is the most beautiful thing imaginable.

Jesus tells a parable about a man who finds a pearl in the middle of the field, so he sells everything to buy that field, in order to gain that pearl.

Jesus is that. When Jesus is our treasure, we will commit our resources—our money, our time, our talents—to His work in this world. We want to follow him, we want to serve him, so everything we do, our priorities, our budgets, our relationships, our possessions are tied to Jesus and his work. My treasure is there, not here. I like the stuff here, but my treasure is there. That’s what I’m focused on.

Everyone has a treasure. What is yours? What are you not willing to give up?

2. That Influences Us

Everyone has a treasure and that treasures influences us. Jesus expresses three ways that our treasure influences us.

A. Our Treasure Influences Our Desire

First, our treasure influences our desire.

Jesus says:

Matthew 6:21–23 NIV

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

What do we want to do? What do we want to protect? On what we will spend our time and resources?

Our treasure influences our desires.

Jesus uses a rather unclear illustration, at least unclear to us. At the time, the illustration was rather clear.

Motive is the eye of the soul. If the motive is good, the whole character will be right. But, if it be polluted, our whole being will become defiled.

As Charles Spurgeon writes:

If our religion leads us to sin, it is worse than irreligion. If our faith is presumption, our zeal selfishness, our prayer formality, our hope a delusion, our experience infatuation, the darkness is so great that even our Lord holds up his hands in astonishment and says—“How great is that darkness!”

Where is our treasure? Woe to the person whose priorities are swapped, so that their faith is subject to their earthly treasure.

B. Our Treasure Influences our Devotion

Not only does our treasure influence our desires, but it influences our devotion.

Jesus said:

Matthew 6:24 NIV

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

The issue that Jesus is talking about is not money: the issue is what is controlling, what are we serving?

The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Church wrote an article: 5 Ways to Ensure that your kids never consider being a missionary.

The article is very tongue in cheek.

The first listed: Do not acknowledge the reality of God's call. It is far better to teach them that the pursuit of money, comfort, and power will give them a better and safer life.

They list 4 others, but this one is sufficient, because so many parents pass on their treasure to their kids, instead of teaching them about God’s call, pushing them to place their treasures in heaven, they teach them to serve the masters of money, comfort, and power.

We cannot serve those and God. It is impossible!

Where is our treasure?

C. Our Treasure Influences Our Emotion

Not only does our treasure influence our desire and our devotion, but it influences our emotion.

Jesus continues his teaching:

Matthew 6:25 NIV

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?

Our treasure has wrapped itself around our emotions, and when we begin to sense that we might lose our treasure, we get emotional. We get worried, we get stressed, we get angry. And we grasp our treasures all the tighter, saying “God, you can’t take this away.”

And in that moment, we realize that we care about our treasure more than God, and we trust our own strength more than the good God who sent His son to die for us.

Where is our treasure?

But Should Be Exchanged

Everyone has a treasure that influences us. And that treasure should be exchanged.

Why?

Well, when we have a treasure here on earth, rather than up with God, we are saying that we know what we need better than God does. It’s Adam and Even in the Garden again. Reaching for that fruit, because they thought God was withholding from them. God really didn’t know what they needed, so they will provide for themselves.

A. God Knows Our Needs

But, God knows are needs.

Jesus said:

Matthew 6:31–32 NIV

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

Those who are not Kingdom-Followers do not have a loving God who supplies all their needs, and so they rush around, trying to supply all their needs, collecting all these treasures, because they are afraid that they will lose them.

But, our God knows our needs. He clothes the flowers of the field, that were used to heat ovens. He feeds the sparrows, which we complain about.

And he considers us so much more important than those things.

He is so good.

B. He Will Provide Our Needs

And because of His goodness, he will provide our needs.

Matthew 6:33–34 NIV

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

You know, living in this world with so much fickle love, we cannot truly fathom a God who loves us through our sinfulness. We cannot understand a love that remains constant in the face of our actions.

And therefore, we have a hard time trusting God will actually supply our needs.

I have the privilege of training new missionaries with RHMA on support raising, and I spend a good two weeks talking about the theology of support raising and the concept that God will supply our needs: are we willing to trust him to do that, and to accept his understanding of what are needs and what are not.

That’s normally the kicker.

But, he will supply.

He will supply our temporal needs, even when we don’t feel like it. He will supply what we need to today for us to follow him today.

He might take our treasure away, to realign us with what our treasure should be, but he will supply our needs, and in his blessing, he will supply some wants too.

But, so much more than our temporal needs, he will supply our eternal needs. We all need forgiveness for our sins. We all need sanctification, to be made holy. We all need hope for the future that will carry us through this life, and he pours the fulfillment on these needs on us, in abundance, beyond our imagination.

C. We Should Seek Him

So, if God knows our needs, and will provide for our needs, will we seek Him?

Will we take up our treasures that are here on this earth, and exchange them for the real treasures, the treasures that will not be destroyed or lost?

Jesus said:

Matthew 6:33 NIV

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Will we do that?

Do you remember that treasure box that I lost the key for?

I finally picked the lock and the key was inside the box. I lost that key so much, that I finally took the lock off and subsequently lost the lock. Those items are still cool. But, they aren’t treasures anymore. If they get lost or burned, I’ll be sad, but there are more important things to me. Your souls are some of them.

Where is your treasure?

If you look at your life and realize that some of your treasures are here and not there, tell God. Hold that treasure in your hand, whether it is your check book, your keys, your kid, and tell God why this is your treasure, and ask God to take care of it and plant in your heart a different treasure, an eternal one.

And then trust him to do what is good and pursue him, his kingdom, his righteousness, until finally our treasures will be in our grasp as Christ is before us.