Treasures of Sorrow

As you are able, please stand for the reading of the word.

And behold, a man came up to him saying, Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?

And he said to him, Why do you ask me about what is good?

There is only one who is good.

If you would enter life, keep the commandments.

He said to him, Which ones?

And Jesus said, You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, honor your father and mother, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

The young man said to him, All these I have kept.

What do I still lack?

Jesus said to him, If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me.

When the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

The grass, the flowers.

But the word of our God will stand for it.

The word of our God, the word of our God will stand for it.

The word of our God, the word of our God will stand for it.

May be seated.

This time kindergartners are dismissed for kids' quest.

So I speak at a you know a two-speed for all you podcasters.

So I need to make sure I slow it back down so you don't think I'm having like a stroke or something.

Uh when I was in college, uh 2003, the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie came out, Curse of the Black Pearl.

My kids, you know, still one of their favorite movies.

But if you'll remember, um, the Black Pearl had gone and stolen some Aztec gold, and it was uh cursed.

And the curse was that they could live forever, right?

So they had immortality, but the problem was they couldn't feel, right?

They couldn't taste, they couldn't enjoy, they didn't have any pleasure.

And so they were kind of stuck in this undate, lifeless state, but you know, with immortality.

And so they're on a quest to recover all of the gold and return it so that uh the curse would be broken.

And you know, ultimately, it's kind of talking about how if you have a misplaced treasure, right, it's really just gonna bring you sorrow.

It's gonna bring you misery.

And as I was thinking last week, right, as we're in this little two-week stewardship uh series last week with Abraham, right?

You remember Abraham and this rich young ruler are kind of asked similar things, right?

It was for Abraham, hey, give me your son, your only son, your hope, your everything, and give him to me.

And Abraham's response was okay, right?

So he takes him up and is willing to sacrifice him, and then the Lord stops him.

Well, the rich young ruler, right, he's in a sense, he's asked the same thing.

Give me your everything.

So all your possessions, give me everything that is your treasured.

Uh, but his reaction is much different than Abraham's, right?

He he turns around sorrowful.

So this morning, that's kind of wanted to look at, right?

To take this context of the rich young ruler, right?

We know he's rich, we know he's young, and he's a ruler because uh this story is accounted in Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

Right?

So, as being a ruler, he he's probably somebody who uh is either a ruler of a synagogue, uh, he might be a part of the Sanhedrin.

He's religious, right?

And he he genuinely has a care for being obedient and following the world or the word.

And here's another crazy aspect that uh you know I thought about this week is this guy most likely gave.

All right, he tithed.

If you think about uh in Luke 18, right, the Pharisee and the tax collector, and that Pharisee's like, hey, look, I'm thankful that I'm not like other men, um, that I fast uh weekly, that I tithe on all that I have, right?

That I kind of fulfill the commandments.

This is kind of the same thing this guy is doing.

So he he probably gave, right?

So it gets a little scary when we start talking about this guy because he seemed to love the Lord and he gave.

Yet, what we're gonna see is his heart is idolatrous, right?

He treasures the money over the greater offer of Christ.

And so uh last week with Abraham, it was, hey, generosity is about trust, right?

Ultimately, your generosity comes from how much you trust the Lord, how much you're willing to say that he's enough, right?

And this week it's more like idolatry is kind of the enemy of generosity, right?

So we'll look at, you know, kind of why we reject, you know, the treasure in heaven, and then we'll just look at what is, in fact, the treasure of heaven.

Uh in the early 2000s, Blockbuster, for all of you young kids, Blockbuster is a place where you would travel to find a movie.

You'd go through rows and rows, and before DVDs, you even had to rewind them before you sent them back.

But you would have to travel somewhere to find a movie that you wanted to watch, then you have to drive back, and you could watch it, and then you had to return the next day.

It wasn't on your TV.

Well, in the early 2000s, Blockbuster had an opportunity to buy Netflix.

Netflix at the time was this small little company that was just mailing out DVDs.

Blockbuster thought, who would ever not want to quit driving to a store to rewind movies and then get charged?

We don't bring them back on time.

Who wants to quit that business model?

So they declined, you know, buying Netflix.

Why ultimately did they not do that?

They didn't see the value, right?

They could not see the potential value that Netflix had and could have.

And idolatry in a similar way, because idolatry ultimately is you taking something that's good, right?

Idolatry is taking something good and you making it ultimate, and you making it more treasured, and you making it more valuable to you than God.

And so what happens?

If something outside of God is your best offer, it's your greatest joy, well then you're going to reject God because he's not as great as an offer.

You can't see the value, right?

See, idolatry makes us think God holds back.

Right?

If we have more than what God can offer us, then you're always going to think that God holds back.

And if he holds back, then you can't trust him.

Ask yourself this.

When is the last time you doubted God's goodness?

Right?

And now ask yourself, when's the last time you doubted money?

Right?

And it doesn't take long for us to understand, like we're, you know, it's in our fallen nature, right, to doubt God, to feel like he holds back, to not trust him.

I mean, you should go back to Genesis 3, right?

What did Satan say?

Satan says, hey, look, didn't God say you can't eat of any tree?

Right, that's his first thing he asked him.

God never said that.

Right?

God was actually very generous to Adam and Eve in giving them the garden.

He just said, you can't eat of the one tree.

But Satan immediately said, My best way to get into the heart of these people is to have them question God's goodness.

So I'm gonna say, didn't he say that you can't have of any tree?

Right?

So immediately it's like God's holding back from you.

And so they choose that.

Right?

They treasure that opportunity of being like God.

And what happens to that treasured possession that they have?

They hear God and they walk away.

Right?

They walk away sorrowful, much like the rich young ruler.

Right last week I talked briefly about, hey, we stop short oftentimes in our pursuing of the Lord because there's a bit of a doubt, right?

There's a bit of a fear of the unknown.

And in a sense, like that, that's that's very natural for us, because if you don't know how a situation's gonna turn out, you're more likely just to go back and be a part of the situation you know in which to expect.

Right?

But see, we we rob ourselves when we do that, when we turn back.

And we don't keep going forward to see how the Lord works.

Um did you ever see The Village by M.

not Shamalan?

Okay, it came out in 2004.

If you have not seen it, I'm about to ruin it for you, but it's been 21 years, you had your chance.

Okay.

And it's a you this movie starts off, and you think what you're watching is a community that's in like the 19th century, right?

They act like it's the 19th century, they're kind of in a wooded area, there's no electricity, there's no nothing.

And they're told that there are these monsters in the woods.

And so a part of this community is kind of they set up like security areas that keep these monsters out.

And so you realize that this is spoiler alert, all right.

Uh go to Blockbuster, it might still be there.

That community was started by someone who had dealt with violence, social violence, and they found other people in a grief counseling that had suffered social violence, and so they decided to start a community in the woods decades ago.

And the way to prevent people from leaving and experiencing the world, because what you realize later in the movie, it's like the 21st century.

They're living in the present time, but they keep the people there out of a fear of the unknown.

And one person escapes and learns about it to get medicine to help someone, comes back, and the elder's like, Look, thank you for saying that, but we're just gonna tell them that it's you can't go.

We we so they use the fear, they use the lack of the doubt of the unknown to keep them all there, and that's how the movie ends.

It's it's kind of a terrible movie.

I was really mad about driving to Blockbuster to rent that thing.

Um but we do that, right?

If you doubt God's goodness, if you struggle with that, you're not gonna keep continue to keep following him.

And so that second part of the question I asked earlier, when is the last time you doubted money?

And here's the hard part.

I'm not talking about you didn't have enough money to get something.

When's the when's the first time you've ever actually doubted money's usefulness?

And the reality is we don't doubt money because we always remember what it does for us.

Anytime you've been sad or bored and you bought something and it gave you that little high, you remember that this piece of paper will get me, whether it's temporary, you know, or not, it will get me what I wanted.

It'll give me a little bit of joy, right?

Or anytime, like I said, you've been sad and gotten something to cheer yourself up, you know, hey, even though it might have been temporary, this little piece of paper will indeed get me something that I wanted.

Right?

So it actually becomes scary.

It's real scary that we can put such hope and confidence in money because we know its capabilities.

Again, we talked last week about the live, right?

You can't buy you time, you can't buy you time, but we do experience some of that from money.

Right?

So we we remember it.

And if you remember what it's capable of, and you don't doubt it, it makes it very hard to give away.

And it makes it really easy to serve.

But here's the thing we will serve the things we hope in.

Right?

It's why scripture tells us you cannot serve God in money.

You'll be devoted to one or despise the other.

What does devoted mean?

What does the serve mean?

All right, in the simplest sense, like whether it's God or money, it's you calculating all of your life choices.

Right?

It's you determining your efforts, your plans to how am I going to benefit from the very thing in which I get hope and serve?

Right?

So that looks both ways, right?

With God, you might calculate the way like, hey, how can I serve the Lord?

How can I know more about him?

How can I benefit from his grace, right?

That's called obedience.

Right?

That's what we want to do.

But it looks the same for money.

How can I position myself?

How can I make decisions?

How can I continue to do the things I need to do to acquire this money so that I will indeed receive the benefits I know true that it will give me?

And so he says, you can't do both, because you'll despise one.

Right?

What is money?

Like we talk about like what is it, what is it promises?

Deep down what we think it promises, even though we know it's a lie, is peace and joy.

Right?

And you can look in like Luke 12, like with the rich, the rich fool, right?

What does he say?

He says, Hey, you had this guy whose uh crops and everything did really well, and so he had a lot more.

And so he's like, Well, my barns are already full, so what do I do with this excess?

And he says, I know what I'll do.

I'll tear down my barns and I'll build bigger ones.

And then he says, so I know I'll have ample goods stored up for myself, and I can eat, drink, and be merry.

Right?

What is he communicating there?

I have enough confidence that this is giving me peace, right?

It's giving me peace of mind, it's giving me security and feeling like that whatever happens, I have enough of it.

And then it gave him joy.

I can eat, drink, and be merry.

Right?

That's what we think ultimately money's going to give us.

And that's why the rich young ruler walks away sad.

The idolatry of money made him think that I indeed, the promises of the peace and joy that this money gives me is bigger and stronger than the unknown I have about God's offer to follow him.

And you can see how that can be scary.

But what is Jesus trying to do?

He's lovingly, he gives him that offer, right?

In verse 21, Jesus said to him, If you would be perfect, go and sell what you possess and give to the poor.

What's he saying there?

Hey, deep down, man, I know it and you know it.

You're not happy.

You don't have peace.

You've come to me asking about how to have eternal life.

And so I'm trying to lovingly tell you that money isn't going to make you happy.

It's not going to satisfy you.

He's saying, don't let it enslave you.

And here's my here's my offer to offer you the freedom from the slavery of money.

So he says, sell it all, right?

And this offer that I think he doesn't even hear.

He's like, go sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have a treasure in heaven and come follow me.

He's saying, Trust me.

There's an unknown there.

But to trust, to follow me, and you will indeed have this treasure in heaven.

Jesus, in a sense, is saying, Let me be the one to decide how much money you should have.

Let me be the one to decide what in your life is necessary for your joy and contentment.

I think sometimes when we read this, and look, let's be honest, none of us are going to say, okay, I'll do that.

Right?

Again, I can't speak for you.

I'm not selling all my possessions.

I'm not doing it.

I've relying on them too much, right?

But he actually doesn't say sell it all and you'll be poor and miserable, and your life will be ruined.

There's nothing to say that, hey man, again, if you gave all that away, I'll bless you more.

You might have more.

You're definitely going to have more.

But he didn't see it that way.

He just said, You're taking away the one thing I know to be true, and that this is what I need to be happy.

But Jesus is saying, Let me determine your joy.

Let me determine what is enough.

Right?

He's trying to show him in a lovingly manner.

And like I said, if you read in Mark, right, it says he lovingly tells him this.

But he says, Look, even with immense wealth, it is impossible to live a life of satisfaction and contentment outside of me.

He's trying to show him that.

He's trying to show us all of us this.

Right?

It says, keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have.

For he has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.

I always find that offering.

That seems like an odd two sentences.

Keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have.

And then the answer, why would you do that?

Because he just says, because I'll never leave you nor forsake you.

So what he's saying there is your key to being content is if you truly believe that the promises of God, that he'll never leave you nor forsake you, are enough.

Right?

That they are indeed the I to put it as a math equation, right?

So you've got love of the money on this side, and then you have I will never leave you nor forsake you.

And which way are you going to put the greater sign?

That's what Hebrews 13, 5 is saying.

He's saying, I never leave, will never leave you or forgive you, or will never leave you or forsake you, is a greater proposition and more valuable than whatever amount of money you have.

Right?

He's offering his presence to us, and he's offering his presence to the man, where he says, Hey, come follow me.

Be content to trust me that I indeed am enough in your life, and you'll have treasures in heaven.

So what are the treasures?

Right?

What doesn't moth and rust destroy?

It's Christ.

It's his righteousness.

Right?

Here's the thing about money, right?

You can lose it.

It can lose its value.

One of the greatest instances of inflation was in Hungary post-World War II.

Because their, you know, buildings had been destroyed, their farmlands had been destroyed.

It was a perfect storm, right?

That are reparations to the Soviet Union.

So what you had is, right, you don't have any supplies because you can't make it.

You don't have any food because you can't grow it.

Right?

So what happens with a low supply?

You get a high demand.

But now the government doesn't really have any money either.

It doesn't have taxes that is growing on people buying stuff because they don't have money for it to buy anything that's being sold.

Right?

And so it said that every 15 hours, prices doubled.

Every 15 hours, the price of all goods doubled.

Money was basically worthless.

So a true treasure isn't something that can lose its value.

And our treasure being Jesus is because with Christ, being in Christ, having Christ, you're rich towards God.

Right?

Because you have his righteousness.

Righteousness is the currency, right, in heaven.

In God's economy, it's about righteousness.

What do you get with righteousness?

What is purchased with righteousness?

It's peace.

Right?

The peace we think money's gonna bring us.

It's joy.

It's a joy we think money's gonna bring us.

Right?

It's a standing, it's a status.

Right?

Think about the righteousness with Christ, right?

And the purchasing power of your status of being accepted into God's kingdom.

Right?

Being one of his children.

And I heard another author, author say that another aspect of the treasures in heaven is not only Christ being that treasure, but that God treasures us.

Right?

So with your standing, right?

Scripture in Deuteronomy is like, you're a treasured possession, you're my treasured possession.

Right?

In 1 Peter 2.9, it's like you're a kingdom of priests.

Right?

You're mine.

Right?

So we're told throughout that we are his treasured possessions.

And so you think about Jesus even in Luke 10, right?

The disciples are like, hey, they come back from the mission field, and they're like, the demons are subjecting themselves to us.

It's awesome.

And then what does he say?

He says, Don't rejoice that demons listen to you.

Rejoice that your name's written in heaven.

Right?

He's saying in that moment, this does not compare to your standing that you have in my righteousness.

Right?

That's what you rejoice in.

Right?

In the Old Testament, right, you can read in Exodus 28 when the high priest was going into the Holy Holy, right?

He had to put On this whole outfit and the breast piece had all of these fancy jewels, and on those jewels were written the names of the tribes, right?

On his heart, so that the Lord will remember him.

And who ultimately is that high priest representing?

Right?

It's representing Christ.

And him realizing that your name, your name is written on his chest.

It's written on his heart.

Because you're a treasured possession to him.

And he remembered that so much that he was willing to give his own life up to attain you.

I mean, we think about when we we read about the parable of the person who found that treasure in the field and he sells all that he has and he buys the field because he knows what he has.

Think about how that means with Jesus Christ realized you're as his treasured possession and he gave up his life to purchase you, to have you.

Right?

And if you're his treasured possession, he's going to remember his promises to you.

One of the most overwhelming promises that we hear is in Luke 12, 32, it says, Fear not, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

That fear not.

What is he telling us?

Don't fear the unknown of my goodness.

Quit falling back on the ease of knowing I can rest and I'd rather have this.

Give me this money, and at least I know what I can and can't have with it.

But he's like saying that.

He's saying, don't fear the unknown.

I have promised out of my good pleasure to give you the kingdom that it's his to give away because he purchased it and bought it with his own blood.

We don't need to fear following God because he doesn't ever hold back.

And you just look at the cross to see that.

You have to answer yourself this question.

Right?

If everything you hold dear is stripped from you and you lose it, is Jesus enough?

Is he enough?

If the friends are gone, the job's gone, the home's gone, even if the family's gone, or your children are gone, is Jesus Christ enough?

And that's what he asks the rich young ruler.

If it's all gone, is it enough?

Is following me enough?

Because it's either I'll face anything with God, or you'll say, I'll face anything with money.

And I can tell you, standing up here, it feels much more comfortable to say, I can face anything with money.

Because I remember what it does for me.

And the daily battle is to remind myself that it's facing the difficulties of the day is found in God and being his treasured possession and knowing that he does not withhold from me the things that I absolutely need in this moment in my life for his glory and my good.

Let's show people, right?

Let's show people with generosity that our treasure is in heaven.

That we can give because we can say, look, these this money, this treasure, it doesn't satisfy.

Right?

You don't have to walk away sorrowful.

Your treasures don't have to leave you sorrowful.

You know why?

Because Jesus Christ took on your sorrow by taking on all of the sinful things you treasure.

What does Scripture say about who Jesus was?

Right?

In Isaiah 53, right?

He was a man of sorrows and he was acquainted with grief.

Right?

He experienced the absolute despair and misery of our sinfulness that we find in treasured possessions, and he bore that.

Just like that rich young ruler walks away sorrowful, Jesus Christ had to bear that sorrow, right?

So that we wouldn't have to.

Right?

For we know that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, though though he was rich for our sake, he became poor, so that we by his poverty might become rich.

Friends, always remember we have become enriched with the riches of Christ and his kingdom, so that we may be generous in every way.

And that starts with your absolute trust and that God does not withhold from you, and that he's greater than any promise that money can offer.

Let's pray.

Father, I confess that there are many idols in my life that I cling to that I think will offer me a greater comfort, a greater peace, a greater joy.

I run to them because I know what they give me.

And I guess that saying goes, the devil you know is better than the devil you don't know.

But Father, we just ask that your spirit and your goodness and your word that constantly talks about the treasure that we have in heaven in Jesus Christ and the life he lived on our behalf and the suffering that he endured and the humiliation and the pain and the death and the wrath, so that we wouldn't have to, so that we indeed would receive treasures in heaven to be in the presence of the one person who loved us with his own life.

And that one day we could all inhabit a glorious kingdom on this renewed earth where moth and rust do not destroy.

Father, protect our hearts from the treasures that ultimately bring us sorrow, so that we would see you in all your splendor and all your glory and all your goodness.

And it's in your name we pray.

Amen.