All These Things – October 31, 2021, Reformation Sunday – All Saints Day

Hebrews 1:1-2, Matthew 6:19-34
October 31, 2021

As I mentioned last week, October is Stewardship time.  And last week I talked about “The Spirit of Giving.”  I used as my passage that iconic verse from II Corinthians, where Paul says, “God loves a cheerful giver.”  And I would add a synonym to that thought and say, “God loves a joyful giver.”  For that is so indicative of what God’s kingdom is about – joy and abundance.

This week, I thought it would be good to look at the words of Jesus, himself.  I mentioned once before a book that I have called “The Greatest Speeches of All Time.”  In it are found such important speeches as Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address,” Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech, and Winston Churchill’s speech, which included the iconic words, “Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few.”  But right up there at the top of the list was this speech, given by Jesus, called “The Sermon on the Mount.”  This morning’s reading is from that sermon.

This is a great speech, perhaps the greatest of all time.  And it’s great, not just for its eloquence, but also for Jesus’ wonderful teaching about life, and his amazing insights into God’s kingdom.  It could be said, that “Never in the field of Human interaction has so much been owed by so many to one person – at one moment of time!”  I don’t think Churchill would mind that I “borrowed” his words to describe this speech by Jesus Christ!

Jesus taught many things that day on the mountain.  But maybe none so pertinent to our modern world than the passage we read today.  In my computer Bible, the heading of this section says, “Concerning Treasure.”  (It might have said, “Concerning Stewardship.”)  And is it any wonder that Jesus would talk about this?  Treasure has always been an important subject!  The desire to obtain it, and to have it, has always been very strong among us humans.  And that desire has caused some of the greatest social problems, the worst interpersonal conflict, and the most stress in our world

Think about it.  Think about how much stress the worry about our subsistence causes people.  And I think that’s hugely evident in our world today as the baby boomers are reaching retirement age.  When our televisions are not showing us pharmaceutical ads, they’re showing us ads for Medicare, Social Security, and retirement services.  Oh, and hearing aids!  I predicted that one 30 years ago, when I was starting to be aware of how loud concerts were!  I was sitting in a concert years ago – with hearing protection – and I said, “Wait until all these people turn 60.  They’re all going to need hearing aids!”  Actually, I was wrong.  It only took 20 years!

So, “Concerning Treasure” is an important subject, and it’s a big worry in our world.  So, is it no wonder that, as part of his comments on “treasure,” Jesus also talks about anxiety?  He asks, “Which of you, by worrying, can add one cubit to his span of life?”  Think about how wise that question is!  As I’ve observed before, we’re learning that stress and anxiety can actually take away cubits of our lives!  And concern about our subsistence has always been something that has tended to worry us.  Then, of course, we’ve added a pandemic that’s magnified those worries.

So, what’s the answer?  I think we can take a lot of comfort in this, the greatest of Jesus’ speeches.  After talking about how God knows our needs, about how he clothes the flowers of the fields, and how he will take care of us, Jesus brings it all down to this famous line.  “Seek ye first the kingdom of God.”  And of course, when he uses the word “first,” it makes this about “priorities.”  It’s about the importance of things in our lives.  And it’s not that other things aren’t important.  Jesus doesn’t say, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and forget all the rest!”  No, his words are wonderful here.  He says, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you!”

“All these things.”  That’s the title for this sermon.  In all he was saying that day, Jesus wasn’t advocating a separation from the physical world.  He wasn’t promoting some kind of “religious asceticism” here.  We talked about that last week.  “Asceticism” is that “severe discipline and avoidance of the worldly.”  (Sorry to you ascetics out there!)  Jesus is not talking about that here.  On the contrary, he’s talking about abundance.  Remember that he himself said, “I have come that you may have life and have it more abundantly.”

Of course, abundance doesn’t mean the accumulation of treasure.  Jesus is not advocating any kind of hoarding of the world’s resources here.  Remember, he told the parable about the man who had so much “stuff’ that his barns could not contain it all.  So what did he do?  He sold a lot of his stuff, downsized and moved into a smaller place.  No he didn’t!  He built bigger barns, so he could store all his his “stuff.”  But, if you remember, in that parable, the Lord said to the man, “You fool!  Tonight, your life is ending.  Now, whose will all that be.”  In other words, “What value will all your treasure be to you?”

In that parable, and in this scripture, Jesus was talking about attitude.  He was talking about the heart.  He bagin this part of this sermon by saying, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and thieves break in and steal.”  As I’ve pointed out before, the word translated “store up” is the same word as “treasure” in that sentence.  Only now, it’s in the verb form of the word.  (Oh no, he’s talking about grammar again!)

It means, literally, “Do not treasure treasure on earth.”  To treasure means “to adore,” “to love,” “to adulate,” “to revere.”   (I love the synonym button on my computer!)  Think about it.  We “treasure” our children.  We “treasure” the good times in our lives.  Jesus says to beware of “treasuring things.”  For the things of this world, “that which is seen,” as Paul described it, is “transient” – that is “temporary.”

Jesus then says, “Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,” treasures that are permanent, treasures that are “eternal,” as Paul said it.  And then Jesus so wisely and amazingly concludes, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also!”

Isn’t that true?  “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also!”  I think we all believe that.  But still it’s hard not to be worried about our subsistence, isn’t it?  Especially in difficult times like we’ve been going through.  But as I tried to get across to you last week, you have been good stewards even in these difficult times!  You have stepped up!  And you are to be congratulated and commended and encouraged – encouraged to “keep up the good work!”  And I hope that I gave you a sense of the joy of all that.  And I hope that sense of Joy is understood even more for you, here, in the words of Jesus himself.

That’s what God wants for us.  Again, he wants that for us just the way we want a joyful life for our children.  And as his people, we are taught – by Jesus himself – that “seeking first the kingdom of God,” is the way to that joy.  And we are taught that that joy is something we can have no matter what the circumstances in our lives.

We worship a God who wants that for his people.  He wants that for each of us!  He wants us to “store up for ourselves treasures in heaven.”  He wants us to seek first his kingdom.  And he wants us to know that “all these things shall be added unto us!”

Prayer

Eternal and ever blessed God, your kingdom is all around us.  And we know in our hearts that all that we see is temporary.  Help us truly to have joy in all that you have given us in this life.  But, even in all of that, help us to focus our lives on your kingdom.  Help us to trust you for our sustenance, both spiritual and material.  And help us to show your joy and abundance to the world.  For this we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.