Jesus Priority 5: Build Up Treasures in Heaven

Take a look at this video. It’s about all the STUFF we let get between us and Jesus, and how Jesus keeps calling us to him … and how Jesus saves us, again and again. It's about 6 minutes long.



I showed this video this past Sunday night because it just seemed like the perfect illustration of this week’s Jesus Priority: Build Up Treasures in Heaven. The scripture for this week was Luke 12: 15-28, the parable of the rich fool.

In this scripture reading, Jesus cautions us about letting the priorities of the world take precedence over the priorities of God. In his book, “The Jesus Priorities,” Christopher Marical suggests the following three steps we can take to ensure we stay focused on Jesus, rather than spiritually meaningless stuff, like money: 1) Detach from Earthly Possessions, 2) Maintain an Abundance Mentality, 3) Act Justly.

Detach: Keep in mind that your income, your home and all the other resources you are blessed with come from God. While researching this scripture passage, I was shocked that one commentator referred to our attachment to luxuries as practical atheism. But it makes sense. Because if we say we earned everything we’ve got by our own merits, then we’re saying we don’t believe God had anything to do with it, or us. But as Christians, we know our lives and everything we have ARE from God. Our resources are entrusted to us, but they are not ours. If we can maintain a sense of detachment from them then they won’t take us over, like the things of the world almost overtook the girl in the video skit.

Maintain an Abundance Mentality: This point’s very simple. We are challenged to believe that there are enough resources world-wide for everyone to get what they need to be OK. Plus, if we believe our resources are entrusted to us from God, then at any time we should be ready to give cheerfully from our abundance. This is the natural outcome of successfully detaching from our possessions.

Act Justly: When we are detached from our possessions, and when we believe there are enough riches to go around, then we naturally pool our resources in ways that benefit those who don’t have as much as we do.

Our church does OK in this area. On the one hand, we are great at rallying around families in need, and many other Christian activities to boot. And many of our members tithe, which means they give a certain percentage of their income each week. And as long as this continues, our church will be fine.

We have a growing edge, though. In preparation for this sermon I looked up our giving statistics, and I was shocked to realize many of our members’ monthly giving to the church is less than what it costs to buy a tank of gas. But what is blocking so many of us from sharing our abundance with our church?

I bet you’re wondering how giving regularly to our church is a justice issue. That’s easy. Our church exists because we pool our resources. And because we have a church we are able to worship Christ and be a witness for Christ’s love of everyone, including us GLBT folks.

I ended my sermon with this prayer that I’d like to share with you:

O Holy God, You have blessed us in so many ways, so that we truly are richer than Solomon could ever have imagined. You have blessed us with cars and televisions, laptops and Bluetooth-enabled voice-activated navigational systems that bounce our requests off satellites in space so we won’t lose our way. Help us not lose our way in the forest of luxury, help us stay true to who you are calling us to be. Help us to cheerfully answer YES each time you ask us to share a little of what you’ve given to us with others in our world.
In the name of your son, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

—Josie Byzek