Our Treasure

Preached at Prescott Baptist Church

August 11, 2013

Luke 12:32-40

Fear comes and goes. We’re all afraid of something; if not right now then later on today something will jump up and leave us feeling threatened. Fear comes with being alive and human. The embassies were shut down because of fear of terrorist attacks. More than sixty people were killed at the close of Ramadan in Iraq yesterday. I could go on but you can quickly come up with your own list of frightening events and facts. I feel afraid if I don’t hear from my daughter for more than a couple days.

“Do not be afraid, little flock…” I don’t think Jesus is asking us to be something other than human when he urges us not to be afraid. I think he is inviting us to be more of what it means to be human. 

In his book, The Powers That Be, Walter Wink begins by writing: “This book is unashamedly about things spiritual. It assumes that spiritual reality is at the heart of everything, from photons to supernovas, from a Little League baseball team to Boeing Aircraft. I see spirit—the capacity to be aware of and responsive to God—at the core of every institution, every city, every nation, every corporation, every place of worship.” Every human being—has the capacity to be aware of and responsive to God.

I believe that the Spirit of God directed my eye to see this book by Walter Wink on the shelf at the Memphis Theological library. I believe the Spirit knew it was the right time for me to have the opportunity to read this book. Does that kind of belief make me crazy? In some ways, yes, I am crazy. Crazy in the way the dominant world view sees reality.

On page 17 of Wink’s book he describes “The Materialistic Worldview” as a view of reality that recognizes matter as that which is ultimate. If we can see it, hear it, feel it, smell it, taste it- then it is real. If reason can define and explain it- then it exists. This worldview excludes from reality The Kingdom of God, the very place where we live and find our faith and our courage.

What is real? What reality do we value? We, the resurrection people? Our faith tells us that even death has been conquered by love. Is that real for us, real in a way that sets us apart and helps us have courage when we are threatened?

My next door neighbor, Jeannie, had her laptop stolen a couple weeks ago. The laptop, one she uses for her work as a PR person, was in its place in her upstairs office at home. Before going to bed on a Monday night, Jeannie went out the front door to walk her dog to the corner and back. In the five minutes she was outside, someone came into her house, walked up the creaky stairs, picked up her laptop and its cord and exited through the back yard. The laptop alone was worth about $1200 and when you add the value of all the professional information, documents and pictures included in what Jeannie lost - the value is priceless. Her peace of mind was jeopardized as was ours. 

Frightened. Of course she was frightened. The back door was wide open. Her partner, Phil, was upstairs! Was he hurt? Was someone hiding in the basement? We all tremble with Jeannie—hearing this story. We value our security, our peace of mind and the safety of our home. This is real for all of us. 

And yet, Jesus says, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. Sell your possessions and give alms.” 

It’s hard for us to seriously entertain the notion of any of us selling our possessions: house, furniture, clothing and cars. Only then to turn around and hand out offerings to the poor, maybe even handing a ten to the man who holds Jeannie’s laptop. That notion doesn’t fit into our worldview because we have been educated and raised in a culture that trains us to see our possessions, our monthly income and all of its purchasing power, as having ultimate value, our treasure. We have come to believe that we have earned what we own. Earning and owning give us the illusion of security, being set apart from the threats of the world.

There was an interesting story in the news yesterday. Candy Stallings, the executive director for a Sexual Assault Service Center in San Bernardino, California was awakened in the night by a call from the police. The service center had been robbed and the thieves had come in through the roof. All of the computer towers and laptops were stolen. Ms Stallings got out of bed and went down to the center and did what needed to be done. Then she went back home to get an hour of sleep before another work day began. She was interrupted by another call from the police. There was something suspicious happening at the center. She got up and went out to meet the police again. This time she was stunned to see all of the laptops and towers returned with a note from the thieves: “We had no idea what we were taking. Here your stuff back. We hope that you guys can continue to make a difference in peoples live. God bless.”

We had no idea what we were taking. No idea. What a confession. What a universal confession of our limitations as finite creatures. We come out of the womb and our lungs fill with oxygen for the first time. We have no idea what oxygen is or how valuable it will be to us from that moment until the last moment we live in these human bodies. We had no idea and yet it was ours and remains freely available to us whether we acknowledge its value—or not. Free to people who live in mansions and free to people who live under the by-pass.

The San Bernardino thieves thought they valued the laptops and computers but they were surprised to learn that they valued the work done at the sexual assault center more than they valued the stolen goods and what those goods might bring to them in terms of cash on the street. There was a conversion experience that night. 

And that’s what Jesus was attempting to inspire on his way to Jerusalem as he talked with his disciples. A conversion experience that would transform the disciples’ world view, set them apart as people whose values and response to fear are different than that of the dominant culture.

Jesus says that God takes pleasure in giving the Kingdom to us. Then, to fully illustrate the reality he sees, he tells them about a master who comes home late at night and puts on an apron and serves the seated slaves.  

The Kingdom of God with all of its ultimate treasure doesn’t belong to us because we work hard and stay out of trouble. The Kingdom of God belongs to us because God takes pleasure in giving it to us. And that is where the disciples were headed as they walked along the road to Jerusalem. They were walking into a new way of understanding life, their possessions, their humanity and their God.

Phyllis Tickle, long time religion editor at Publishers Weekly and a prolific writer about all things churchy and Christian, says: “To be a people set apart we must have a deep understanding of what has set us apart and a daily practice that reminds us of who we are in this place apart. Our children must know the stories of our faith community and they must learn to value the daily practice and the stories.”

We are not expected to live without any fear. That would make us something other than human.  The challenge of our faith is to live as people who are alert for the presence and power of God in every breath we take. It’s a spiritual discipline. The stories of our faith teach us that we are not alone and that fear, even feeling our fear and honestly reflecting on its power in our lives, can be an opportunity to engage in a conversion experience--moving us closer to the God who takes pleasure in giving us The Kingdom. Moving us closer to that which we truly value.

We come together as church to recognize and claim the ultimate treasure of our faith, the steadfast love of God.  Here we realize that we are accepted, valued and loved. Here we are reminded that to exist is to be loved. We are not required to crawl through briars on our knees. We are not asked to give laptops away every Monday evening. We do not have to spend years in a monastery before God notices us. The love of God is our liberation, the open door that can transform our fear to faith.

Nobody can steal the pleasure God takes in giving you the Kingdom. You are safe. This is our treasure.