WOF: True Treasure II

Jesus speaks to the man with a sense of familiarity as he states, “You know the commandments…,” and after stating a few, the young man declares, and I paraphrase, “Been there. Done that!” He says this almost with a sigh of relief, as one who expects to receive his payment for work they didn’t know they were going to be paid for. We study God’s Word, and we indeed learn and know, or are aware of God’s righteous requirements, but we must come to a place where we realize that knowing is not enough! You can know that your house is burning down, but if you don’t act on what you know and flee from the burning house, you’re going to burn up with the house! We have to begin to put what we know to work! That is after all the true meaning of walking by faith; to know what God has said, to believe what God has said, and for our expectations and our actions to reflect our belief in what God has said to be true.  Can there be truer treasure than to lay hold of the reality that God’s Word is true?

But rather than judging this young man, the Word of God says that, “Jesus looked on him and loved him.” What a joy to know that in spite of our ignorance, God doesn’t treat us the way we treat one another. Jesus doesn’t judge us the way we judge others, but he loves us. Jesus goes the extra mile and pours himself out for us, so that we can be filled up with his presence and truly lay hold of joy! Jesus says to the young man, “You lack in one thing. Go sell all you have. Take the proceeds, the money from what you sell, and give it to the poor. Then take up your cross, and follow me.” Now if we would be truthful, this would be the tallest of tasks for all of us! “Right now go sell your house, your car, your jewelry, and go give find the people who are in need, who didn’t work for the money and give it to them. Then prepare to give your life for the cause of others – prepare to die. Follow me.”

Jesus puts his foot down right on the pulse of the real issue. What is your true treasure? If you can show me your true treasure, I’ll show you the deepest desires of your heart! Like this rich young man saints, we have allowed our lust for things to get in the way of our relationship with God, and have thus replaced God with “things.” In fact the things have become our god and we have become idolatrous thieves who have taken what is not ours and called it our own. Mal. 3:6 We have gotten the roles twisted and have thus acted as if we are owners instead of the stewards that we really are. This is how we find ourselves caught up in this dilemma – we try to serve God and our Wealth – our money, when God has already told us this won’t work. Matt. 6:33 It defies the principles of the Kingdom. We behave as if we have forgotten that “the Earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof; the world and we that dwell therein.” Psalm 24

In the midst of this identity crisis, we have lost sight of the Kingdom Agenda,  and we no longer even realize the purpose of the resources of the Kingdom, like money. Like this rich young ruler who has heard the directions that will lead him to prosper in the way of eternal life, we turn and leave the presence of God saddened, broken, and defeated. Saints don’t let this be your destiny. Jesus has so much more in store for you. Join us in the next leg of this study as we explore what the life of a surrendered steward connected to the Kingdom looks like.

By Faith,

Emery and Stephanie

FaithWorks Christian Center

Proving God at God’s Word