“The Church’s True Treasure”
Text: 1 Timothy 6:6-19 & Luke 16:19-31
9-25-2022
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. There are numerous Bible passages that get quoted out of context and then they’re used for a completely different purpose than they were intended. For example, the verse, “Judge not and you will not be judged” is often used by people to justify their pet sins that they’re happily caught up in. If a Christian dares to call it what it is, we’re told to be quiet because (supposedly) Jesus taught us not to judge the actions of others. That’s a total distortion of what He was saying in that passage. Scripture narratives can also get twisted around, like when Jesus is portrayed as some kind of a weak pansy who never got upset or experienced righteous anger. And then there’s the verse in today’s Epistle that has to be THE most misquoted one of all, and it’s usually done by Christians who really ought to know better. Verse 10 is often quoted as saying: Money is the root of all evil. Shoot, even Pink Floyd misquoted that verse in their song called Money. I know, I know. There are probably only a handful of you who know that band, so let’s move on.
Honestly, I’ve heard Pastors and lay people alike misuse this verse to promote the idea that money and wealth are inherently evil and should be avoided. St. Paul said nothing of the sort. If you look at the actual passage it says, “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.” In the verse prior he warns against the consuming desire to get rich at all costs. Later, in verse 17 and following, he doesn’t condemn those who are rich. Rather, he encourages a Godly attitude towards possessions. Because after all, God Himself is rich beyond compare and that’s not evil. As Paul says, God “richly provides us with everything to enjoy.” So, we’re to be generous with what we have and thereby we’ll be “storing up treasure.” Yes, treasures for the future, but also for us to enjoy here and now. These are truly the Church’s treasure.
But hold on for a second. These treasures of the Church may not be what you think. Jesus reveals the truth about this in the Gospel reading via the parable of The Rich Man and Poor Lazarus. As you can see, the setting for this parable is heaven and hell. Admittedly, there are things taught about the afterlife here that I could preach a whole sermon on. But that’s not the main teaching goal of this parable. We can talk about it in Bible Class if you’d like. For now, I would direct your attention to the treasure that was overlooked by the rich man. It really is what landed him in hell. This man was so consumed with the accumulation and enjoyment of his material treasures that he was blind to the spiritual treasure that was right at his doorstep. It was the poor man, Lazarus.
Now how can he be the treasure? Well, do you remember what Jesus said in Matthew 25? The scene is Judgment Day and the King is separating the believers from the unbelievers. Jesus points to the kindness and generosity of the believers towards the poor and others in desperate need, saying, “As you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” Jesus Christ is our priceless treasure. He supplies us with the righteousness that removes the guilt of our sin making us holy and acceptable before God. When we, by faith, help and serve our fellow man who is in need we are serving Christ Himself. Those actions show that we possess the treasure of Jesus and His righteousness. Christ also gives the negative side by explaining in vivid terms the horrors that await those who neglect this treasure like the rich man did in today’s Gospel.
Perhaps an illustration will help you get the point I’m trying to make. There’s an interesting and true story from back in the 3rd century A.D. The Roman Emperor, Valerian, began a vicious campaign of persecution against the Christian Church. In the year 258 he ordered that the pope, the bishops, and the priests be executed and the property of the Church confiscated. St. Lawrence was serving in Rome as an archdeacon and he was in charge of the Church’s treasury. After all those other Church leaders were killed, Lawrence was ordered to turn over the Church’s treasures. He asked for 3 days to gather up the wealth. During that time, he secretly sold all the valuables of the Church and distributed the money to the poor and needy. When the time came to give the treasures to the Emperor, Lawrence brought with him a large group of poor, crippled, and blind people. Pointing to them, he boldly said, “Here are the true treasures of the Church.” As you might imagine, the Emperor was not amused. He was so furious that he ordered Lawrence to be executed immediately. It may be difficult to find any humor in the martyrdom of a saint, but there is a legend that says that he was roasted alive on a huge gridiron. And rather than cry out in anguish, after a while, Lawrence said to the executioner, “I’m well done on this side, turn me over!”
Anyway, back to his stewardship of the Church’s treasures. St. Lawrence understood the lesson Jesus was teaching in that parable. He recognized that the Church’s treasury doesn’t consist of mere gold or silver or property. The true treasure of the Church is the righteousness of Christ which is possessed and held in the treasure chest of our souls. That treasury is filled by God through His Word and Sacraments. When even a tiny baby is Baptized, he or she receives this abundant, priceless treasure. Whenever we hear or read the Scriptures, we’re storing up more of those treasures. Whenever we humbly confess our sins and hear God’s gracious absolution, the precious treasure of Jesus’ righteousness is being restored in our souls. As we receive Christ’s Body and Blood in Holy Communion, our treasure chest of His righteousness is filled once again to overflowing. History tells us that before St. Lawrence was executed, he boldly proclaimed, "The Church is truly rich, far richer than the Emperor." He was right because every soul that has received the riches of Christ’s righteousness then becomes the abundant treasury of the Christian Church. And the best part is that this treasury cannot be stolen from us and it’s not affected by the stock market.
So what does that mean for us? Are believers in Jesus supposed to sell all their material possessions, give it to the poor, and go off to live a life of poverty in a monastery? Not at all. As I said earlier, money is not the problem. The love of money and possessions is. Prior to the parable that Jesus told in our text, in verse 14 St. Luke tells us that Jesus was specifically addressing His words to “the Pharisees who were lovers of money.” St. Paul makes it clear; this kind of an attitude has caused some people to wander away from saving faith and in the process, they’ve done untold damage to their souls. He urged Timothy to not get caught up in this deadly trap.
Paul also knew that there were people in his day who were trying to “cash in” on the preaching of the Gospel. And we’ve all seen plenty of modern examples of it. Just look at all the mail you get from the various “charities” asking you for money. Some of them are legitimate. But far too many of them are using guilt to separate you from your money. Or, they promise some kind of eternal reward for your contribution. That’s just plain false doctrine. And if you dig into their financial statements, you’ll find that only a tiny percentage of the money gets used for the noble cause that they claim to be providing, while the proverbial poor Lazarus is lying destitute at their gates. Paul would urge you to not be fooled by these charlatans.
Look, it would be really great if someone left a million dollars to our church in their will. But the tough question is, what would we do with it? Would we serve Christ by serving others who are in need? Or would it be used for our own creature comforts? Unfortunately, some of our members would see it as a reason to stop giving to the church. When my son-in-law was pastoring at a church in North Dakato they had this enviable million dollar “problem.” I was very proud of him and his congregation for what they did with it. They assessed the needs of their community and decided to open a much-needed daycare. That way, children and families would be helped, and best of all, those little ones will be exposed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the process. The point is that they didn’t use the blessing of that money for themselves but for others. I would hope that we’d do the same and use it effectively for the proclamation of the Gospel and to help those around us.
But let’s make this more personal. What if YOU inherited a million dollars? Let me reiterate, that’s not some evil temptation if the Lord were to allow it to come your way. Remember, the money isn’t the problem. In verses 17-19, St. Paul tells us what our attitude should be. He says, “As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasre for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.” With that as our focus we can enjoy and share the material blessings God has given, all while recognizing that our true treasure is the righteousness of Jesus Christ that has been abundantly showered upon us. If we’re using our material wealth for the purpose of sharing that treasure then we are truly rich!
As Jesus tells us in Matthew’s Gospel, we are to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all the things we need to sustain our lives and make them enjoyable will be added to us. So it really doesn’t matter where we are at on the economic scale. Your income or the money you’ve squirreled away in good investments or land you’ve accumulated are not your true treasure. And believe it or not, as much as you may love and cherish your spouse, children, grandchildren and your family, they also are not your true treasure. Instead, you are truly rich if you have faith in our Savior. God sent His greatest treasure, His beloved Son, into the world in order to provide us with the immeasurable treasure of eternal life through faith in Him. When our souls are filled with that, we truly are God’s treasury of righteousness.
Confident in the knowledge of that will give you a peaceful contentment with whatever earthly tresures you may possess, whether it be much or a little. As Paul says, “godliness with contentment is great gain.” You see, you have more than you could have ever imagined, because you have the greatest tresure of all: Jesus Christ and His righteousness. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!