Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Luke 12:27-34
Pastor: Pastor Schlicht
Sermon Date:  October 21, 2018

Small talk is a normal part of social life. It allows you to meet people and start talking to strangers. It also allows you to survive interactions with people you have nothing in common with while avoiding awkward silence. It’s perfect for spending those two minutes in an elevator with someone or breaking the ice on a first date. But while small talk is a necessity, it is certainly not the goal of a conversation. The goal is to actually get to know someone, to go deeper, to talk about what is really important.

This is true on a larger scale, a whole-life scale if you will. There are many parts of our lives which equate to ‘small talk’. Our house, our clothes, our food are a necessary part of life. But they aren’t the goal of life. Yet I’m afraid that a lot of people spend their whole life concerned with this type of ‘small talk’. I’m afraid that many of my own days are filled up with it. There are enough daily chores and mindless entertainment to keep us distracted for a thousand lifetimes. But that’s not the stuff we dream about! We want to live meaningful lives. We want our time to be well-used and our money well-invested. We want to spend our lives on what is really important.

That’s the sentiment I get from Jesus’ words here in Luke 12. “Consider how the wildflowers grow. They do not labor or spin. But I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory was dressed like one of these. If this is how God clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will he clothe you, you of little faith? Do not constantly chase after what you will eat or what you will drink. Do not be worried about it. To be sure, the nations of the world chase after all of these things, but your Father knows that you need them. Instead, continue to seek the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you.” Jesus says, don’t waste your time chasing after the inconsequential and the fleeting. Focus your life on the substantial, eternal purposes of God and he will worry about the minor, everyday things. Jesus says, “Spend your life on what really matters.” And in order to help us do that, he goes on to say the famous phrase, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Growing up in a Christian home and going to church every week I’ve heard these words a lot. But I misunderstood them for years. I always thought it meant that basically, you need to have your heart in the right place because if you have your heart set on God’s kingdom, everything else will follow. But that’s not what Jesus said. Listen again: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” According to Jesus, your treasure doesn’t follow your heart. Your heart follows your treasure. I mixed up the order, and really the intent of this statement. Jesus is not telling us, “Put your heart in the right place.” Jesus is telling us to look at where we put our treasure because that’s how you tell what’s really in your heart. That’s how you can see whether you really care about what is important.

“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” A more modern way to say it is, “Follow the money.” In the 1976 motion picture All The President’s Men, “Follow the money” is said by Deep Throat, the informant who took part in revealing the Watergate scandal, implying that a money trail would lead to corruption in high political office, specifically President Richard Nixon. And he was right. That was a sad time for our country. The president looked at the whole of America right in the eye on television and said, “I’m not a crook.” But the money told the truth. The same is true for you and me. We can say what we want about what we believe and value, but what we spend our money on is a clearer indication of where our heart really is.

So where is your treasure? Of course, there are some things that everyone must buy. If you picked up toilet paper yesterday, I’m not going to accuse you of making toilet paper your heart’s desire. You know that’s not what God is talking about. It’s not wrong to spend money. We all have things that we need to buy. But I want you to imagine, that if someone from the outside could look at your life and your finances, what would they think you care most about? Would they guess entertainment? Would they guess your physical body and appearance? How about alcohol? Your house? Your favorite sports team? Maybe your comfort in retirement? If what Jesus says is really is true then the way we use our earthly treasure has a direct impact on our hearts—on our faith! How we use our money tells us a lot about our relationship with God. Take your spiritual temperature here. It’s not a good sign if you don’t bat an eye at spending money on sports tickets, vacations, or restaurants, but cringe when it comes to giving back to God and his people. For Jesus, this is one area that is very black and white. If your treasure is with God and his purposes, then your heart is going to be there too. If your treasure isn’t with him, then don’t fool yourself. Because your heart isn’t with him either.

Here’s what’s amazing though: God is very clear about where his treasure is. To our worried hearts sometimes clinging to earthly riches, Jesus says, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.” God is pleased, it gives him joy, to generously give us his kingdom. Think about that, what is a kingdom to a King? It’s everything! All God has he shares with us: his home, his name, even his only Son. It is staggering to think about Jesus saying these words, isn’t it? “Your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom…” Jesus is true God, from eternity. Before he was born in Bethlehem he lacked nothing. He was all-powerful, majestic in glory, dwelling in heavenly perfection, the king of all creation. And yet he left all that to come a sinful earth. The Father was pleased to give us the kingdom, so Jesus brought the Kingdom down to us. Yes, if you ‘follow the money’ of our God, you start in heaven and you end up at Calvary, where his Son’s blood saturates the ground. Why? Because God chose us as his treasure. He was rich, yet for our sake, became poor. So that we through his poverty might become rich! Your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom through Christ. You are what he treasures most and his whole kingdom is yours through faith. God has this enormous chest of treasures—love, grace, forgiveness, deep and lasting meaning, heaven itself, and he joyfully gives it all to you. And where God’s treasure is, there his heart will be also.

This is what really matters. God has given us his Kingdom and therefore, investing in that kingdom is how we set our heart on what really matters. So how do we invest in God’s kingdom? It’s a little abstract to think about, but Jesus gives us one concrete answer in this chapter. He says, “Sell your possessions and give to the needy. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not become old, a treasure in the heavens that will not fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.” Jesus wants his disciples to sell their possessions in order to give more! In a world that uses people and money things, Jesus wants us to use money to love people. What I find fascinating about this is that the disciples were poor. They didn’t have much, but the little they did have Jesus suggested they give away. “Use it!” He says, “I’ve already told you that your heavenly Father knows your needs and promises to provide. Use what you have to bless others. Share with them the greatest news that they are rich in Christ! Do what is truly important!”

Most of us have disposable income. We don’t have to sell our stuff in order to give freely to others. That’s certainly an option, but we already have so much with which to be generous. We have been given an eternal treasure in heaven so we can be joyfully generous by giving away this earthly stuff we won’t be taking with us anyway! As Jesus said, “Freely you have received, freely give.” (Mt. 10:8) And what an amazing blessing it is that we can reflect God’s love by giving to the needy. What a blessing it is when mere paper and coin help people hear the message of salvation in Christ! What a blessing money can be when it is not our treasure, but a tool for God’s gospel!

It is hard to make sure that our heart is always in the right place. You can’t usually force your heart exactly where you want it to be. But you can control your treasure, and controlling your treasure is one way to lead your heart toward what really matters. “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” I think we all have experienced this truth. Have you ever invested time, energy, or money into something and soon found that your heart followed? Maybe you finally decided to pay for a gym membership, and you actually started going because you didn’t want to waste the money. Soon, however, you found your heart invested in a healthy lifestyle. Maybe you didn’t care much about the Badgers until you bought some tickets and went to Camp Randall. You realized, surrounded by a sea of red and white, that your heart got into the game pretty quickly. Brothers and Sisters, let’s invest in what really matters. Let’s exchange our earthly riches for eternal currency, and be joyfully generous to God and his kingdom.

Amen.