What if God were Your Treasure?

In Matthew 6:21 Jesus says plainly, "where your treasure is there will your heart be also." Hoarding for self v. helping others survive shows a fundamental flaw in character. A heart issue. Reveals a lack of depth and compassion and understanding of how life works best. Reveals a lack of trust in the sovereignty of God, to provide everything we need; shows that we give more credence in man’s abilities than God’s sufficiency.

What consumes your thoughts? What do you really want? Why would God want us free from self-centered pursuits? So that we would more freely and fully worship Him. He inhabits the praises of His people. We were built to serve Him.

The difference between treasures on earth and treasures in heaven is the difference between enjoying something good and finding one’s joy in something. Not finding foundational joy but residual joy in the good gifts God gives. He has given us all good things to enjoy, but not to obsess on or worship as idols. 1 John 5:21 "Little children, keep yourselves from idols." Where do you run for comfort? Food? People? things? Or Jesus? If its Jesus you can enjoy all the others; but if not you will enjoy nothing.

In our spare time we usually dream of getting, not giving away. We ask our friends, what would you do if money was no object? What if you won 1 million dollars? We never ask what would you do if you ran out of money? or went broke? or what would you do if your salary was cut in half? or you lost your job? We are consumers trained to consume; programmed to possess. We seek treasure, but I want to give you a vision for something more, better, deeper. What if we were focused on systematically giving our stuff away? What if words like “my” or “mine” were eliminated form our vocabulary? What if our natural inclination towards possessiveness became a super-natural relinquishing of all rights and possessions? What if we had a loosening grip vs. a tightening fist? What if in simple grace you downsized when you could upsize? The blessing of living a simple life.

What if God were your treasure? As A.W. Tozer wrote in the Pursuit of God, "The man who has God for his treasure has all things in One. Many ordinary treasures may be denied him, or if he is allowed to have them, the enjoyment of them will be so tempered that they will never be necessary to his happiness. Or if he must see them go, one after one, he will scarcely feel a sense of loss, for having the Source of all things he has in One all satisfaction, all pleasure, all delight. Whatever he may lose he has actually lost nothing, for he now has it all in One, and he has it purely, legitimately and forever." God must be our treasure. We need to find our security in the all-sufficient Jesus Christ.

Stained, Soiled, Dirty and Needing a Bath

As much as we hate to admit it, most Christians are either slightly soiled or majorly polluted from our contact with the world. We sense it, we know it, we feel it; the uneasiness of being a part of a God-ignoring, God-forsaking, God-denying culture. We feel like traitors. While God pours out His love, grace and mercy on us we adopt the views and attitudes and lifestyles of a world gone wild with godlessness.

We are all messed up in some way due to our contact with the world – whether we or it did the pursuing. To the degree that we assimilate and adopt its value system and worldview we will either resist the truth and reject the help God offers in getting cleaned up, or try and tack on some God-stuff, looking the part of a growing Christian; or we will cry out to God to be delivered.

God knows and understands and does not condemn us – He wants us to want Him and be swayed by the truth of His eternal Word not the world’s temporary lies. He loves it when we agree with David, who prayed in Psalm 51:10, "Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit in me". And Paul, who said in Romans 7:24-25, "wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" And John in 1 John 2:15-17 "Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in Him. For all that is in the world – the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions – is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever."

We are stained and soiled and dirty and needing a bath spiritually. Thank God the blood of Christ cleanses.

What Makes All the Difference

What is the focus of your life? Is it obtaining some bright and shiny thing here on earth? Or stockpiling silver and gold? Or developing a self-generated autonomy or infamy? Or finally gaining financial freedom? Is it in possessing other people’s possessions?

What is the treasure that you seek? Is it the siren call of recognition; the blindness of ambition? The friendless waste of popularity? The empty case of insincerity?

The answer will reveal the true condition of your heart. The One who knows your heart knows the answer better than you do. If you lie and say God when He is not your sole desire, it only gets worse for you. You will be miserable until you with the thronging masses fall at the feet of Jesus and cry Holy, Holy, Holy are You Lord God Almighty! Not until you bow fully will you fully appreciate the depth to which the King went to rescue your soul from fiery hell and everlasting torment. Not until you recognize and acknowledge His right to rule over you and you assent to it and welcome it. When that happens you are then seeking treasure in heaven. When the knees fall and the heart breaks you are closer than when you ran headlong into a sea of charging voices hell-bent on destruction. You are more free yoked to Jesus than when you ran for years un-tethered, but tracked by love and held by the Invisible Hand.

And still you ran and now run to all that glitters as if it could satisfy. It is not so much that where your treasure is your heart will follow after. Your heart is already there. The location of the treasure reveals the location of your heart. The Spirit’s motive-seeking GPS is honed in on your position; you were being tracked by the Hound of Heaven, but fiercely loyal to yourself you react to that knowledge with an unknown coldness. You are undone, you have been found out for the impostor that you are. Pretender unmasked, the curtain pulled back, Oz exposed. Your heart, once freed from tyranny’s power went through the valley of indecision and compromise, to emerge scratched and bruised and beaten down and not ready for the battle.

Time has taken a toll and worthless idols have been exposed and still you wonder how He knew. You know He knows all and yet you do all that is within your power to act on your own behalf, a jailhouse lawyer trying his first case, the penalty worse than you ever imagined. The Judge is at the door, so release the buried past and welcome Him in once again – the Lover of your soul knows. You went down another road more worn than the less-traveled and now you live to regret it…but He lives to remove it. It rings in your ears, the cry of wasted years, last gasp of broken promises. Undone, needy, dead.

The day of salvation dawns unhindered, the night of sin is gone; you are welcomed. The battle has been won, the debt has been undone, the stone has been removed, grace has covered all; mercy falls like rain on parched land. Death was tasted for you; the Best was given as collateral, fully identified with the fallen; completely at home in heaven. Thank God, the blood cleanses. It makes all the difference.

Treasuring Treasure: A Question of Security

There are two ways to live: for God or for self.

There are two ways to respond to that revelation: living for the temporary or eternal.

The temporary is insecure, it deteriorates. Things fall prey to destructive influences. Things fall apart, get lost, are stolen. That is why Jesus spoke of moths and rust and thieves in Matthew 6:19-21 when He spoke of treasuring heavenly treasure versus hoarding earthly goods. One perishes the other flourishes.

I want to find my sufficiency in the all-sufficient Jesus Christ but I get pretty wrapped up in other things here below heaven. The pursuit of wealth clouds the vision for the eternal which is secure, protected, durable, imperishable. It lasts forever, longer than any "limited lifetime warranty". We like to say "they sure don;t make them like they used to" but no one makes them like God does.

Yes, there are two ways to live. They are competing not complementary. They may at times look similar but they are diametrically opposed. In direct opposition to each other. One gathers to get and consume. The other gathers to give and share. I want to do the latter.

More Thoughts on Food Abstention for God Glorification

Food is necessary for life. When we do without food to focus more fully on God we are saying we need God more than food. That is right.

When we engage in the discipline of fasting to focus on God He meets our need, He shows us the way, He gives us strength. He does these things all the time but we experience them, or maybe we appreciate them, to a greater degree when we put ourselves completely at His disposal.

Some random thoughts on the discipline of going without food for the glory of God:

1. Gluttony (which is overdoing food intake, going beyond what is necessary) is an enemy of fasting.
2. Fasting doesn't preclude feasting (which is enjoying God's good gifts), it just puts it on hold for a while to feast on God Himself.
3. Fasting is a chance to celebrate God's presence in a way that a full stomach sometimes overshadows.
4. Isaiah 58 sheds some light on "active fasting" in a life-altering way: when I refuse to go my own way and I resolve to go in a God-honoring way, I find myself not being deceived by fool's gold; sharing my bread with the hungry and interacting with people who hunger to see God in action through His people.

Moving from Gluttony to Fasting

Jesus talks in Matthew chapter 6 about giving, praying and fasting – and how these things are not to be done to be noticed; they are to be done with our eyes focused on God; we are to do these things to please Him not other people. The main point of Matthew 6 is all about seeking God and His pleasure rather than our own; all about pleasing God rather than ourselves or our ego. Matthew 6:1 begins with he word "beware". Beware of what? The danger zone. This is a warning sign. Danger – don’t go there. Caution. It is so easy to fall into the trap of doing things to be recognized as the one who did them; or for the applause of people.

The tricky part about all of this is that while giving and praying are pretty simple concepts – we find ourselves scratching our heads when it comes to fasting. At least I do. I know what it is but I don;t want to do it. Too tough. I love food to much.

What is Fasting? It is doing without food for spiritual reasons. It is an external discipline that reveals internal things; matters of the heart not the body. Fasting is not the most popular thing around these days. Why don’t we hear much about it? How come we don’t talk much about it? Maybe because people are confused about it so they don’t know how to deal with it. Maybe it is because in these days of foodies; food junkies and Food Network shows; abundant choices as well as multitudes of food abound – all you can eat, fast food, take-out, quick and easy; stockpiles and the like. So let me just say it simply - we are just gluttons. [BTW I love food too much at times. Doesn’t matter if you are skinny or fat, old or young, short or tall; high metabolism or slow – you can be a glutton. Sometimes the people who look they must be aren’t; it’s the ones you’d never suspect. We hide our gluttony so well. It’s three when one will do; it’s another when 1 was sufficient; it is the extra whatever when a regular portion would have done.]

No wonder we don’t like to fast. Who wants to go without food? And then maybe, just maybe the reason we don;t hear much about fasting is because people are obeying Jesus – they aren’t telling people they are fasting, they are keeping it to themselves. That would be beautiful, and refreshing. Maybe that is what is going on. Maybe we are confused, not sure what it is and what to do; maybe we are convicted of a lack of desire to seek God more than food; or maybe we are being obedient. Whatever the case it is probably one of the three.

What does God say about fasting? Actually not a lot in terms of how to actually do it. It is a simple thing – always attached to another action such as praying or repenting or mourning over sin. There was only one fast required in the Old Testament. The fast on the Day of Atonement; once a year every man, woman, boy and girl would fast. But that was done away with when Jesus, the atoning sacrifice came for sin. You see references throughout the OT to fasting; references sprinkled through the NT on fasting, but nowhere do you see it commanded or any instructions on how to do it. Jesus assumes His disciples will fast. That is why it is so funny to me to read and hear people explaining how to do it: how to plan a fast, how to re-acclimate yourself to food once you get done. It is almost like they are doctors or health professionals giving advice to a marathoner on how to get your body ready for the grueling effects of a marathon. While we need to take care of our bodies and be good stewards of what God has entrusted to us, this seems a little excessive when the purpose of fasting is to look to God for sustenance, sufficiency and significance. I think He can take care of the details if we just seek Him with our whole hearts. Hasn’t He promised us as much? (Matt. 6:25-34)

Why would we want to fast? Does anyone really want to fast or do they do it because they want God more? They are desperate for Him and so they do without their food to focus more intently on His provision; His sustaining presence, His simple guidance, His all-sufficient grace for even me. One thing we know for sure fasting is something that cannot be done for too long without doing real harm, to oneself. Abstain from eating for enough time and it will kill you. But doing without food for a while won’t. Sometimes it is so easy to get so wrapped up in ourselves – what we want, what we are doing or going to do, what someone did to us, how everything relates or revolves around us. We are naturally self-centered. But when we fast we cannot be like that. If we come to God in humility, asking for guidance, with an attitude of worship – things begin to change.

What does fasting do? What is its purpose? What is its reward? This we can know with certainty. Fasting drives us to find our sustenance, significance and sufficiency on God alone. Not in food, not is our ability to gather, buy, prepare or provide food. Fasting strips us bare of all self-sufficiency. It drives us to our knees. We pray when we fast because we cannot do anything else.

Let us cry out to God from the depths of our hearts.
We need You Lord! We confess we don’t have life wired.
We need Your guidance! We don’t know what to do or where to go.
We love You! Contrary to popular opinion we are not You! You alone are God.

When we are praising we are not sinning. When we are sinning we cannot be praising. When we are seeking God’s pleasure we are not seeking our own. 2 Cor. 5:9 we ought not to please ourselves but God who raises the dead.

What if Adam and Eve had fasted instead of eating the forbidden fruit? What if they had obeyed God? What if they had looked to Him for their sustenance; their significance; looked to Him to be their sufficiency instead of meandering down the wayward path that led to death; running headlong through the gate that leads to destruction? What if? If only. If only all our what ifs and if only would work out! Then life would be what? Heavenly. Someday for the redeemed. Someday. For now we slug it out down here and eat mass quantities of food and eat ourselves sick. And sometimes, maybe every once in a while we sense our need for God so keenly that we do without our daily nourishment for God to be our primary nourishment. What did Jesus say? “I have food to eat that you know nothing about” (John 4:32) and they thought someone had snuck some food to Jesus while they were out buying some. When God is our treasure we forsake our self-sufficient ways and look to the all-sufficient Christ to be our guide. We go to Him who fills all in all and find our true significance. We will not care if we are hungry – we will feel the pain and it will be as if there were no pain at all, the glory of God will be so great among us. In our midst and all around. In Christ alone our hope is found.

Living to Tell

We survive daily to tell the wonders of God. We live because of His good purposes. There is no other reason for our existence than to enjoy God and glorify Him forever. "We are His people ,and the sheep of His pasture" (Ps. 100:3). He sustains us, protects us, leads us, guides us, feeds us.

God brings refreshment to our souls, a deeper awareness of His nearness and presence, through means of His own choosing. Sometimes He speaks in the wind and sometimes in the fire. I have lately been refreshed, once again, by the innerant, infallible Word of God, the unknowing encouragement of His people and the unharnessed Spirit of God renewing my soul. God has used these things simply to resurrect and strengthen a wavering, wounded, weak heart. Again.

We live to tell the glories of God. We breath to share the news of "how deep the Father's love for us, how vast beyond measure". We reach for significance and find that it eludes our grasp when we think it is to be found in something of this world. True significance is in knowing Jesus and making Him known. In the midst of whatever you find yourself embroiled in, God is faithful. He will show Himself trustworthy. He is good.

"We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and His might, and the wonders that He has done" (Ps. 78:4)

Pushed to the Brink and then...

"The Lord reigns, let the people's tremble! ...The Lord is great in Zion; He is over all peoples. Let them praise Your great and awesome name" Ps. 99:1-3

"Great is Your faithfulness" Lam. 3:23

"My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." Ex. 33:14

"Please show me Your glory" Ex. 33:18

Tests are hard and God is better; trials weigh us down and God is stronger.

Sometimes when we feel we have been stretched to the breaking point, when all our stores of energy have been spent, when it seems we are walking in fog, when everything is turned upside down, when all hope seems lost (though we know that it cannot be) - but it feels like that...sometimes God opens up heaven a tiny crack and lets us see a glimpse of His glory, every so slightly and it is enough - it rejuvenates us, it invigorates us, it refocuses us, and we can go on in the strength of that food for days, like Elijah, because God has once again shown Himself to be faithful.

He is always faithful but sometimes we begin to doubt because of the wind and waves of trouble that sweep over us. Praise God He does not crush us, He does not give us more than we can handle [actually He does give us more than we can handle so we will trust in Him and not ourselves] - but He doesn't break us. He makes us stronger in testing and if we would just hold on for dear life to Him who is our anchor, we would see a new strength begin to build. A new resolution with which we fight the daily battles with sin and the world and the devil. The weapons of our warfare are mighty and they pull down strongholds God wants smashed. So that we will stand in His strength and not our own. That we would be purified from all defilement - that clings to us in our daily interactions with a fallen world.

Here we are, on our way to heaven, down here slugging it out - disoriented at times, but re-centered on God and His truth by the mighty hand of God, through fire, through pain, through sickness, through testing, through the furnace of daily and sometimes multiplying attacks upon the security within which we rest. And then, without warning, the fog lifts and there is my beautiful Savior, immovable and unshakable. God is good, He is always good - why did I ever doubt - or did I - I know and I knew He was always there and will be as well. He is faithful and mighty.

Mercy Over All

James 2:13 says "Mercy triumphs over judgment". The one who will escape the charges justice will bring against him on the day of judgment is the one who as a condemned sinner fled for refuge to Jesus to receive mercy. The person who shows mercy to others gives evidence of having received God’s mercy. John Piper says "the apex of the glory of Christ is the glory of His grace, treating people infinitely better than they deserve, giving Himself for the everlasting joy of the worst of sinners who will have Him as their highest treasure."

All who are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ go free because Jesus Christ was judged for us; the condemnation we deserved fell on Him. When you see it, when you grasp this truth, your view of the world changes, and you see God, yourself and others differently. Everything changes. You don’t have to be right and prove others wrong; you look, as Amy Carmichael wrote, with eyes of hope on all in whom there is even a faint beginning. You forgive; show mercy not judgment.

We need this because we are prone to forget this truth on a daily, moment by moment basis. We need to be reminded often. I think that is one reason why Jesus taught His disciples to pray like this: "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors". God's mercy in Christ for those who believe alters everything; He took the punishment we deserved, His wrath satisfied by Christ's shed blood in our place. Our lives become a living exhibit of the triumph of mercy. At the end of the day mercy wins.

Mercy Triumphs Over Judgment

As a pastor I talk with a lot of people. It's part of the picture and I love it. 1 Thess. 2:7-8 is one of my favorite passages of Scripture when it comes to ministry: God's Word and people; sharing your life and the gospel. The two go together hand in hand. So I love talking with people; I love being around people and sharing God's Word with them; it recharges me.

I also love a healthy conversation but sometimes the topic takes a downhill turn. The low road of personal preference mixed with a need to be right becomes a doorway to falling into a common trap that many fall into: unfairly judging the opinions and motives of others. I am guilty of it way too often. Matthew 6:14-15; Matthew 7:1-5 and Romans 14:1-12 to the rescue right? Well, yes, but not so fast; it's not so easy. Take whatever hot topic in the Christian community you like (excluding things essential for salvation or leadership in the church or moral issues), and some will follow one school of thought and others another; and sometimes they will land poles apart. Nothing wrong with that until the preferences are shared and we don't know where to go with the cognitive dissonence that is created with conflicting views. We could go to the cross and realize what unites us is Jesus Christ and that non-essential things should not divide; but it seems for whatever reason sometimes we'd rather go to our corners and duke it out rather than to the cross to sort it out. It is the "I am of Paul, I am of Apollos" thing all over again. I feel the need to warn some (and myself) against the extremism and polarization that does not unite but divides the body of Christ. It doesn't matter which end of the spectrum you land on issues; you can be just as vocal either way. Judgmentalism is an equal opportunity stumbler.

Sadly, some don’t want to find common ground – it is more comforting to remain at the edges. We like to nurse our views and protect personal preferences. I know that it is tougher to engage in vigorous examination wherever you land on whatever 'debate' is going on. Instead of testing our assumptions to see what philosophical and Biblical basis there are for them – with non-essential, peripheral issues that become central - it is much easier just to say ‘we are right and everyone else is wrong’ than to actually study the issues and land at as Biblical a position as you can, while allowing others to follow their conscience as well. We must all live with a clear conscience before God and hold our positions on ‘non-essentials’ with large amounts of understanding for those who differ. “Agree to disagree” on matters not relating to beliefs essentials for salvation or leadership in the church or moral issues. On "biggies" we must stand firm; on the unchangeable and immovable we must be the same. On lesser things, specifically things the Scriptures do not specifically teach, we must allow for differences.

I am finding that people at both extremes find it difficult to be objective and use solid Biblical reasoning for their stances. Emotions take precedence (and it’s so easy to dig in on our position when they do) rather than engaging in a conversation with those who differ (understanding must come before evaluation; and evaluation must be fair – but sadly ‘straw man’ arguments abound). I often wonder why people on either side of whatever debate is going on don’t refer to Romans 14 and the “do not judge your brother” teaching – oh yeah – that is too balanced a view. Not ‘juicy’ enough. Forgive me Lord, I just did what I am saying we shouldn't do! Lord have mercy. I too know how hard it is to be balanced and feel the pull to just spout my opinions. Isn't that what blogging is all about?

You may be wishing I would just throw a few hot potatoes out there - name check an author I disagree with, or a debate I am embroiled in - but I am not going to do it. I care deeply about people and I care deeply about Christ's Church. I yearn for unity amongst the people of God. I know this is not a new thing to the church, but the debates that polarize always seem to have new voices that some latch onto and get stirred up by. How does that saying go? “In essentials unity, in non-essentials diversity, in all things charity”.

"So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment." James 2:12-13 (ESV)