1. The Bible tells us we are made in God’s image (Gen 1:26), we are to actually imitate Him (Eph 5:1). We KNOW God is a giving God from the classic John 3:16. How are you imitating God in giving? This is truly living (I Tim 6:6-10, 17-19). List some ways you can “build treasures in Heaven.”
2. Read over these classic quotes discuss (or write) with someone which ones touch your heart or mind:
- “The care of $200M is enough to kill anyone. There is no pleasure in it” –W. H. Vanderbilt
- “I am the most miserable man on earth” –John Jacob Astor
- “I have made many millions, but they have brought ne no happiness” –John D. Rockefeller. Someone asked Rockefeller’s accountant, after JD died, how much he left. The accountant deadpanned: “He left it ALL.” “Naked a man comes from his mother’s womb, and as he comes, so he departs. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand” (Ecc 5:15).
- “Millionaires seldom smile. The almighty dollar bequeathed to a child is an almighty curse. No man has the right handicap his son with such a burden as great wealth” --Andrew Carnegie
- “I was happier when I was doing a mechanic’s job” –Henry Ford
- “He who dies with the most toys is still dead” –observed bumper sticker
- “Whoever loves money never has money enough…Whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income…The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep…wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner” (Ecc 5:10, 12-13)
- “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose” –missionary martyr, Jim Elliot
- “I have held many things in my hands and I have lost them all. But whatever I have placed in God’s hands that I still possess.” –Martin Luther
- Every New Testament example of giving goes far beyond the tithe, and none falls short of it. We are judged not only by what we give, but also by what we keep. It is much easier to live on 90% (or less) of your income inside the will of God than 100% outside it.” –Randy Alcorn, The Treasure Principle, p 62, 65, 66
- “Do your givin’ while you’re livin’ so you’re knowin’ where it’s goin’” –Ron Blue, financial advisor (How do you really feel about leaving money to your children? How about just being generous with your money in your will instead of during your lifetime?)
- “We are halfhearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mudpies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea. We are far too easily pleased.” -CS Lewis QUO p. 60 of Alcorn, orig. from The Weight Of Glory
3. Many don’t believe in any “Heavenly rewards system”: “How can you have degrees of ecstasy?” one critic of this theology asked me. Yet the Bible contains many references about rewards. Could this be the same as laying up treasures in Heaven? How is that done?
4. Our lives can be represented by this diagram [DOT & LINE]. The dot represents everything we accomplish here. The line depicts our ongoing life that never ends in eternity in Heaven with the Lord. The worldly person lives for the dot. The person laying up treasures in Heaven lives like his life is on the line. What’s “on the line” for you? [DIAGRAM HERE A LARGE DOT FOLLOWED BY A LINE WITH AN ARROW HEAD *--------------»
5. Dave Ramsey says transformation to freedom and joy in our money vs. slavery and pain is 20% head knowledge and 80% behavior. What actions do you need to change to move from slavery to freedom and joy? What heart issues need to be addressed?
6. 70% of American families have “too much month left at the end of their money.” Is that you? What does that look like for you?
I. One of the stranger activities I heard my kids involved in (sometimes you don’t really want to know) is when friends & co-workers bring all the outdated electronic equipment they can find to a big parking lot where they smash it. They toss it into the air to to see it smash (I advise a hard hat). They come armed w/ sledge hammers to swing (keep at least one eye open). I guess it’s fun [old Palm pilot or as obj lesson.]. Even though I’d like to see it recycled & wonder who is going to clean it all up, it makes a vivid point that everything here is going to end up as waste. It’ll end up in some landfill. Everything except treasures you can lay up in Heaven are marked: “for temporary use only.” What are those and how do we do it?
A. When I was a kid I used to hear about older guys going to the Garfield dump and shooting rats with their .22s. The lessons of the junkyard were probably lost on them. A landfill makes an excellent field trip for your family if you use it as a teaching opportunity vs. target practice.
B. People are treasures we can lay up in Heaven. The Bible tells us to use worldly wealth to send people ahead of us (Lk 16:9). We can’t do that unless we give.
1. God never intended the kind of inequity we find in the world. The numbers are indeed staggering. Over 20% of the global population, over 1 billion people, are starving to death. Nearly 2 billion people lack effective medical care, with the miserable consequence of millions of children dying from the effects of what the West considers "childhood" diseases. [Nearly half the world lives on <$2/day and that includes a little under a B who are our brothers and sisters in Christ. –World Relief stats] Talk Delivered to the Five College Program in Peace and World Security Studies 1996 Summer Faculty Institute on World Security Affairs 6/14/96
2. God’s solution to the sin that causes the inequities in the world is (2 Cor 8:13-14; 9:10-11).
3. This is one of the clearest arguments against Prosperity Theology. PT finishes that verse with “So YOU can show how good and powerful God is for YOU, and how much He loves YOU.”
4. NO. It’s so we can give & share.
5. “God isn’t all about raising our standard of living, but our standard of giving.” –R Alcorn
6. Virtually every person here today is wealthy compared to 2/3 of the world. Even the poorest American is richer than those in the developing world. Every person here today has the ability and resources to give something to someone that they really need. Don’t just think money. But don’t ignore money. Think 3 Ts: Time, Talents & Treasures. For many Christians writing a check is the easiest form of giving they do. It’s not obedience, sacrifice, or true giving, because we’d never miss it.
7. In a recent PBS documentary called “Affluenza” these stats were given: The ave American shops for 6 hrs a week while spending 40 min playing this his children, by age 20, we’ve seen 1 million commercials, in recent yrs more Americans have declared bankruptcy that graduated college, in 90% of divorce cases, arguments about $ play a prominent role.
C. Yet the Bible emphasizes this is not our true or final home. Heaven is (Heb 11:6, 13; Ph 3:20; 2 Cor 5:20).
1. Joyce & I are already, at our tender ages, divesting ourselves of earthly possessions. We sold and moved a lot of stuff when my parents needed to downsize due to their health. We’re coming to realize there’s a big difference between downsizing/divesting and investing in Heavenly treasures. The first focuses on getting rid of stuff. The second focuses on adding stuff, but not here. In Heaven (Mt 6:21). How?
2. One way is to give. I don’t mean to imply that by giving stuff away you automatically are earning your way into Heaven. That comes only through faith in Jesus Christ (GOSPEL). I’m not sure giving is earning you rewards from God, though that is a fascinating Bible topic we don’t have time to explore today. You can on your own as I’ll list some Scripture in the online version of this sermon (Ps 18:19-24; Mal 3:6; Mt 6:21; 10:42; 19:21; 25:21, 23; Lk 6:22-23, 35; 14:13-14; 16:4, 9; 19:12-19; I Cor 3:10-16; 6:3; Heb 11:26; Rev 20:6; 21:1-6).
II. What would it take for you to live like Heaven is your real home? You can start by becoming a person who gives. Giving is one of the best ways to imitate God, experience REAL LIFE, and lay up treasures in Heaven (Mt 6:19-21; Eph 5:1; Jn 3:16; I Tim 6:17-19).
A. Our lives can be represented by this diagram [DOT & LINE]. The dot represents everything we accomplish here. The line depicts our ongoing life that never ends in eternity in Heaven with the Lord. The worldly person lives for the dot. The person laying up treasures in Heaven lives like his life is ON THE LINE. What’s “on the line” for you?
1. What’s on the line is our joy, our freedom, real living now, and forever (I Tim 6:19).
2. TT lives like his life is on the line, and I don’t mean scrambling from 300 lb. NFL linemen: “Football is amazing. We love it. We're so passionate about it,” Tebow said in his postgame news conference Jan 8 after upsetting the Steelers. “But the real win, at least I would say today, is being able to comfort a girl who has gone through 73 surgeries before the game and get a chance to go hang out with her now.
“That's the biggest win of the day. They're both exciting, but that's what I'm even more proud of."
The quarterback was talking about Bailey Knaub, a high-schooler from Loveland, Colo., suffering from granulomatosis, a rare vascular disorder that has cost her a lung. She got the VIP treatment at Sports Authority Field at Mile High courtesy of the W15H Program (the “Wish” Program, with Tebow’s uniform number standing in for the “I” and “S”), just one of many charitable outreaches of Tebow’s nonprofit foundation (QUO FROM bright.813)
III. How do we lay up treasure in Heaven? (I Timothy [not Tebow] 6:17-19).
A. Laying up treasures means helping PEOPLE get to Heaven primarily by our giving of 3 Ts.
B. Giving breaks the evil spirit/stronghold of “mammon.” Evolution of the word “mammon.” Mammon started out meaning simply material things. Material things are not automatically bad. God gives us material things to enjoy (I Tim 6:17). But mammon gradually took on the power of all “isms.” When I say common. You don’t think of something bad, mostly good. But if I say “communism,” that’s a whole other story. (“socialism, materialism”).
1. Finally in Jesus’ day (Mt 6) “mammon” came to mean “that in which you put your ultimate trust.” It took on the power of an evil spirit to be battled.
2. That’s where many are today with money and things. I understand the pull and power of this demon mammon.
C. We say “This world is not our home.” But then we look at where we’re laying up treasure and our stuff tells the story. Again it’s the 3 As: our Attitude toward stuff, how we Acquired it, & what we DO/Action with it. It is where they put their ultimate trust.
1. John Wesley, our spiritual forefather, once toured the estate of a wealthy friend. When the tour was over, the friend asked: “Well, what do you think?” JW: “I think you’re going to have a hard time leaving all this.” (42, Alcorn).
2. Do not miss the joy and freedom that comes with giving and laying up treasures in Heaven. It’s fun. Remember Scrooge at the end of “A Christmas Carol:” The miser had been transformed to giving: “He went to church and walked about the streets…patted children on the head, and questioned beggars…& found that everything could yield him pleasure. He had never dreamed that any walk-that anything-could give him so much happiness…some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them…His own heart laughed, and that was quite enough for him. And it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well…” (Dickens’ A Christmas Carol)
3. Don’t miss the joy & freedom in giving. We imitate God best by giving out of love. Giving is the BEST way to lay up treasure in Heaven.
