Discovering True Riches – June 11, 2023

Genesis 12:1-9, Acts 3:1-10
June 11, 2023

I love this story.  It comes at the very beginning of the Church.  Peter and John are going to worship – in the Temple, in Jerusalem.  Because that’s what the believers did, at first.  They worshipped in the Temple, in the synagogues, along with their fellow Jews.  Because that’s what most of them were! Except that they just happened to believe something new about Jesus.  Later on, when their numbers began to grow, and their beliefs about Jesus weren’t accepted in the Temple and the synagogues, they started their own places of worship.

So Peter and John were going into the Temple, and they encountered that day this man asking for alms at the Temple gate.  And remember that this was just part of life for them.  This wasn’t a chance meeting, where this man happened to be there this one time.  He was there regularly.  He asked for alms regularly.  The heading in my Bible calls him a “beggar.”  And that’s too bad, because I’m afraid that word has taken on a negative connotation.  This was just a man who was asking for alms.  Like anyone in his situation, he had to.  It was his only means of income.  That’s the way it worked in those days.  They had no “social security.”  This was it!

And it was part of their faith.  The people were taught through their scriptures that they were to support the poor and the widows in this way.  It was expected.  So as part of their worship, as they entered the temple, they gave alms.  They supported those who had no other means of income, no way to work and support themselves.

So that’s the setup.  That’s the scene here.  And part of this story is that the man should have expected Peter and John to give him something.  And part of us wants them to.  Don’t we?  Imagine if we had not known this story like we do – if we didn’t know what was about to happen!  We’d feel differently about Peter and John, wouldn’t we?  We would feel sorry that he didn’t help the man.

But we do know what happened!  We know that this man’s whole life was changed in an instant.  And I’ve chosen to call this sermon “Discovering True Riches,” because this man did just that!  He discovered true riches.

If you think about it, people who are in need like this man are always very aware of their riches, or lack thereof.  They’re focused on getting that next meal, that next dollar.  This man’s life was focused on asking for alms.  Now, all of a sudden, things were different!  His life was changed!  It was like winning the lottery!  He didn’t have to worry about “mere survival” anymore.  But even more than that, he got a better understanding of where real riches lie.  He discovered “true riches” in these men, and the message of hope they brought him, through the power of Jesus Christ!  And he followed Peter and John into the Temple, walking and leaping and praising God!  It’s a great story!

And this story is a great analogy for us.  It calls us to consider what’s truly important in our lives.  It’s about us discovering true riches, too!  Because our lives can easily be very “earthly-oriented,” can’t they?  And of course they are much of the time.  We are like this man in that way.  We are concerned about how to make a living in this life.  And that’s all well and good.  We should be concerned about those things!  But this man – even without searching for it – discovered the true riches of this life!  And I hope that’s a discovery we’ve made, too!  All of a sudden this man understood the “treasure in heaven” Jesus was talking about in the Sermon on the Mount.

If you remember that sermon, Jesus spent a lot of time on this very subject.  He talked about what we “treasure.”  And he used the word “treasure” as a verb in that way.  He said, “Do not ‘treasure’ the treasures on earth.”  “Because all of those earthly treasures will go away!”  “Moth and rust will consume them.  Thieves will break in and steal.”

Paul said the same thing.  He told the Corinthians, “We look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen.  For the things that are seen are temporal.”  That is, they are “temporary.”

This week I got to drive through my old neighborhood.  And when I do that, I always like to drive past the little park where my elementary school used to be.  That was a big, stone building!  It took up a whole block between two streets.  And, at the time, I couldn’t imagine it being only “temporary.”  I couldn’t imagine it ever “going away.”  But it did!  It’s just a nice park now.  It turns out only the baseball fields outlasted it!

Our neighborhoods, our businesses, our houses, our cars – everything – will all “go away” someday!  It’s all “temporal.”  Not that we shouldn’t care for and appreciate all that we have in this life.  You know me, I like to keep things in “good repair.”  I like to take care of things, and even improve them.  And again, that’s all well and good.  But someday, it will all be gone.  And when I think about that, I know that’s not where the true riches lie!

Jesus finished that thought in his sermon by saying, “Do not ‘treasure’ the treasures on earth.”  Instead, “‘Treasure’ the treasure in heaven.”  And then these very wise words.  “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”  There will your focus be.  There will all your thoughts be.  Jesus calls us to focus on the heavenly.  That’s where we’ll discover true riches.  The man in this story had a dramatic experience that showed him that.  We can think about him and discover that ourselves.

When we think about him, we need to remember that discovering true riches is not a one-time thing.  It’s something we need to be reminded of – again and again!  That’s why we look to these stories again and again!  The concerns of this life are ever before us.  They are always calling for our attention.

We must be ever vigilant looking to the things of heaven.  And sometimes it won’t be easy!  The worldly influences are strong.  The needs of this life are always compelling they’re always calling to us.  Sometimes we might feel like Odysseus, lashed to the mast of our ship, the ears of our oarsman stuffed with wax so they can’t hear the song of the sirens!  Remember the sirens?  They sang their songs and lured sailors to their deaths on the rocks!

The last thing to keep in mind from this reading is that this story didn’t end here!  This event, this healing in the Temple, caused a long controversy with the Jewish leadership, a controversy that would go on for several chapters here in Acts.  Because here Peter goes on to preach the second Christian sermon!  And this time it’s in the Temple itself!

The religious leadership had a hard time with that.  And remember that many of them were the same leaders who were involved in Jesus’ death.  Then and now they couldn’t see past their point of view, their own earthly understanding of things.  And that kept them from discovering and knowing the true riches that God sent the world in Jesus Christ.

May that not be said of us.  The sirens of the world are still calling.  They would dissuade us from seeing the great value of the Grace and love of God sent to earth two millennia ago.  May we see past all that, keep our eyes on the kingdom, and be sure we have discovered, and are focused on, and remembering each day, the true riches!

Prayer

Eternal God, help us indeed to run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of our faith.  Show us and help us to see each day the immeasurable riches of your kingdom.  Help us to know the joy of the man in this story, as he discovered the true riches of your kingdom.  For we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.