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Where Your Treasure Is, There Is Your Heart
Preacher: Frog Orr-Ewing, Vicar of All Saints Church in London, England
October 29, 2006, 9am
Luke 12:34
Where your treasure is, there is your heart.
You could turn this around from a statement into a question, and if you did it would go something like – What are you passionate about?
If you want to find out where your heart is, look where your treasure is.
Luke 12:34 – the heart, in Hebrew thought isn’t just the place for the emotions, but is also the seat of the will – it is the part of you which makes decisions, places priorities, as well as some of the emotions. (Most of the emotions are connected with the stomach.)
A couple got married. On the first day after they arrived home after the honeymoon, the groom got up early, and went downstairs to make the breakfast. He brought it up on a tray, with full egg and bacon, a newspaper, some cereal, fresh toast, freshly squeezed orange juice, and brewed coffee, piping hot with foamed milk, and gave her breakfast in bed. The bride was delighted and thought what a good husband she had chosen for herself. At the end of breakfast the groom said “now you know how its done, I want this every morning.”
You find out where your heart is, what you are passionate about, by looking for where your treasure is, where your treasure goes.
What is treasure. It is what you value, and what you value most highly. Money, Quality time, etc.
INVENTORY:
My suggestion is this – do an inventory, of your time and money. Find out what proportion of what you earn goes on what, where is it spent? This is a highly rational, practical exercise.
Sit down some time this week – where is my money going? How much am I giving, how much am I spending, and on what? how much am I saving?
How am I spending my time. If I am spending 8 hours a week at the gym, and only 6 hours a week talking with my wife, then my treasure is in the gym.
Once we know where our treasure is, we know where our heart is, what we are passionate about. Then we can ask whether this is healthy, do something about it, change. This is what stewardship of resources is all about.
Jesus here is talking about Christian stewardship. In this passage there are alternatives.
- Live and worry like a Pagan
Give like a pagan
- Live and worry like a child of God
Give like a child of God
Live and worry like a pagan - verse 30 “Do not set your heart on what you will eat and drink; do not worry about it, for the pagan world runs after these things”
What is giving like here? Well the saving regime is good, notionally storing up to give to the children.. This treasure always has an element of caution and worry – the “what if” element. Treasure can run out, precious cashmere can be destroyed by moths, thieves can steal, the stock market can crash, the firm can go bust.
Live like a child of God, and give like a child of God.
Verse ‘The father knows you need them – he is more concerned for you than you are. Do not worry, do not be afraid – your father knows, your father wants to give you the kingdom, for he is your father, he is the king, and you are a co-heir with Christ. You are part of the royal family, and shouldn’t have to be overly concerned by these things – see the bigger picture. ‘Seek his kingdom, and all the other things will be given to you as well.
Give like a child of the King – with confidence and happiness and abandon. God has treasure for you which is eternal, and can be worry free.
Where your treasure is, there is your heart. If you are passionate, truly about the kingdom of God, then your treasure will also be invested there, what is precious to you is the kingdom, and your resources are in the kingdom, and will never be taken away.
If we are living like a child of the king, and giving like a child of the king, then an inventory of our treasure will show if we are really concerned with this the mission of God, with the health of the body of Christ, with the worship of Jesus, then our giving will reflect his priorities – the proclamation of the gospel, and care for the poor. Make no mistake, though treasure can include time, here in Luke 12:34 it is money. Some of us will make excuses, say to ourselves, I give my gift in time, rather than money, because time is money.
Churchill: “Men sometimes stumble over the truth – but most pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.”
I live in the inner city in London, some of my parishioners can’t even pay their rent, some struggle to feed their children because the debt collectors are on their doorstep. Perhaps they could give time, because they have no money. But I have seen retired dinner ladies give to mission projects amongst urban youth. Often those with little remember how much all that they have comes from God, and they give accordingly.
When I arrived at All Saints my second vestry meeting carried a rebuke. “I heard a rumour that you have been charging for food at an event” “No, I said, there was a bowl with a little sign for a suggested donation” “We ain’t never charged for food at H’All Saints. Everything is free, the Lord has always provided.”
Where is your heart? – what are you passionate about? Look for your treasure.
Where Your Treasure Is, There Is Your Heart
Preacher: Frog Orr-Ewing, Vicar of All Saints Church in London, England
October 29, 2006, 11am
Ephesians 2:20-33
Intro – political city - Political family
Grandfather, Lord Orr-Ewing, was at one time politician running the navy, introduced decimalisation into the country, was an MP for 27 years, in the cabinet, and elevated to the house of Lord, where after many years of churchgoing, he attended an Alpha course in the House of Lords, in his 70’s and made a personal commitment to Jesus.
Testimony – my own coming to faith as a teenager, then Oxford university, and now inner city London.
Where your treasure is, there is your heart also.
If you want to find out where your heart is, look where your treasure is.
Luke 12:34 – the heart, in Hebrew thought isn’t just the place for the emotions, but is also the seat of the will – it is the part of you which makes decisions, places priorities, as well as some of the emotions.
So here is the question for this morning: “What am I passionate about?”
- If my priorities, decisions and emotions all go together, my heart, if I want to truly understand my heart, I must look for my treasure, for the two are intertwined, inseparable.
- If I know where my treasure is, I can then allow the word of God to challenge my heart, and the Spirit of God to change my heart.
We often do all we can to escape the facts:
What is treasure?
It is what you value, and what you value most highly. Money, Time.
If you want you can make a real or imagined inventory.
You have elections coming up in this political city, values and priorities are all being discussed and voted upon. Today weigh up your giving, your stewardship before God. If we value money, if we have an accountant, a budget, is our treasure where it should be?
Some of us think we are passionate about the kingdom of God, that our priorities and our love are truly Christian, our heart may well have escaped unchallenged and unchanged.
We often do all we can to escape the facts:
From a court deposition
Q: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
A: No
Q: Did you check for blood pressure?
A: No
Q: Did you check for breathing?
A: No
Q: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
A: No
Q: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
A: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar
Q: But could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
A: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practising law somewhere.
We live and minister in inner-city London, in an area called Peckham, infamous across the whole of the UK for deprivation, crime, and violence. I lead a church called All Saints, and we have placed a high priority on mission and ministry to the youth of our community. We are in schools every day of the week, ministering and pastoring, and we also work with young gangs. It has been our delight to see many of them come to know Jesus and begin their journey of discipleship, but sometimes areas of their hearts also remain unchallenged or unchanged.
Ephesians 2 gives us 4 things which are God’s priorities for us to reflect in our passion, our heart and will combined, and our giving.
- A heart for God’s purpose in the world v 13-15
- A heart for God’s peace in the gospel v 16,17
- A heart for God’s person in the Trinity v 18
- A heart for God’s people in the church v 19-22
A heart for God’s purpose in the world v 13-15
“But now in Christ, you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law and its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace…”
We can see the heart of God for the lost – the lengths to which Jesus went, even to death on the cross, to gather people who were far away from the Father and bring them near. The purpose in the world is mission and social transformation. To reach the lost, and transform our communities, where there is hostility sowing peace, and from the divisions of society, bringing unity through the blood of Jesus.
Every community has those who are far away from the Father. If we have a heart like God’s heart, we will be passionate about his purpose in our community, his mission in our world. We will be investing into reaching the lost, and making a difference all around us, in our schools, prisons, deprived areas, caring for the poor. God’s purpose in the world is to transform lives, relationships and communities.
Christian Gangsters… no guns, only knives, cos you got to protect yerself
innit.
From guns, to knives, to blunt instruments, recently to football.
God doesn’t just love his children, he loves those who are now outside the body of Christ, and he wants to draw them near – do we, are we prioritising mission, like God does?
Heart for God’s peace in the Gospel v 16,17
Here Paul describes the gospel as the ‘message of peace’.
And through his one body to reconcile them both through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
A second priority is also mission, but through the proclamation of the gospel. The importance of the message, not just the action. We could have countless projects, but if there is no transforming message, then we are missing the priority of God in the world. There is a message of peace, peace with God for every individual, only this message can make the dead alive.
JASON in the school – suicidal, neglected, now leadng worship and writing songs. A message of life, I too entertained thoughts of suicide as a teenager, the message of peace was life to me.
We are to love, to be passionate for the message of life, and our giving is to fund the preaching of the gospel of peace, this priority.
Heart for God’s Person in the Trinity verse 18
We are made to adore who God is, not just what he does. God is Trinity:
“For through Him (Jesus) we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.”
We are to love God’s person, and our giving should reflect this love. Giving is an act of Worship, and our giving should go to glorify God in worship.
Heart for God’s people in the church v.19-22
Read out…
Mission will lead to making one unified body, where previously there has been hostility and division.
In Peckham, our community in London, we have 300 distinct cultures, and are famous for gang wars racially motivated murders, and poverty. 35 cultures in our congregation alone, of different languages, tribes and tongues. Top civil servants and political strategists sitting in the pews next to asylum seekers, refugees from civil wars in the Congo sitting beside economic migrants from Eastern Europe, accountants with those of welfare, those who cannot read, and those who write books. Only the power of Jesus’ death can bring these diverse communities truly together and allow them to worship and grow together week by week. When this happens, the community around us is also transformed.
We are to love God’s people, and our giving should reflect this love. Our giving should be for the health and the love of the body of Christ.
INVENTORY, PRIORITY
Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
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