The Joy of Discovering Hidden Treasure – 4 – Missions 2024
Subject – We Should Not Live for the Dot but Live for the Line
By Rick Welborne
Matthew 6:19-21 (NIV)
19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Luke 12:15 (NIV)
15 Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
--Why is it that so many people have roadblocks to giving? Christ commands us to give and we know He promises great rewards for giving. Maybe we even believe that giving brings happiness.
--So why is it so hard to give? The roadblocks can be unbelief, insecurity, pride, idolatry, and a lack of trust in God. Our culture makes it normal to keep more than we give. It’s my money!
--It appears that the greatest deterrent to giving is the illusion that this earth is our home. We must understand that Heaven and the New Earth, not this earth, is our home.
--Think about it…the Bibles says we are pilgrims, strangers, aliens on Earth. We are just ambassadors.
Hebrews 11:13 (NIV)
13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.
2 Corinthians 5:20 (NIV) 20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors…
Philippians 3:20 (NIV) 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
Hebrews 11:16 (NIV) 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country--a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
--Where we choose to store our treasures depends largely on where we think our home is. Let’s say America is your home but you are in Spain doing work and staying in a hotel for three months.
--You are told you cannot bring anything back with you on the airline but you can make money and send it back home by making deposits. Would you buy expensive furniture for your hotel room?
--Of course not, you would only spend what you needed in your temporary residence, sending your money (treasures) ahead so they would be there waiting on you when you got home.
--The Bridegroom is getting ready for us by building us a place in Heaven. Everything we do for Him, everything we send on ahead, will be waiting for us there. Treasures in Heaven.
--Jesus was a builder by trade. Can you even imagine what kind of place He has been preparing for us? We need to stop trying to furnish our temporary hotel room and send more to our eternal home.
1. We Should Not Live for the Dot but for the Line.
--Think about this…everything that we put so much emphasis on will all be burned with fire. Disappear.
2 Peter 3:10 (NKJV)
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
--Our houses, cars, boats, motorcycles, phones, computers, furniture, private jets, everything will burn and be gone. We have heard, he who dies with the most toys wins. This is more accurate:
Alcorn – He who dies with the most toys still dies—and leaves his toys behind. When we die after devoting our lives to acquiring things, we don’t win—we lose. We move into eternity, but our stuff stays behind, filling junkyards.
--Think about your lives in terms of the dot (0) and the line. Our lives have two phases: one a dot, the other a line. Our present life on earth is the dot. It begins. It ends. It’s brief.
0------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ETERNITY
James 4:14 (NIV) 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
--From the dot extends a line that goes on forever. That line is eternity, which Christians spend in Heaven.
--Right now we are living in the dot but what are we living for? The shortsighted person lives only for the dot. The person with the right perspective lives for the line…eternity. Which are you living for?
2. Giving is Living for the Line.
Matthew 6:20 (NIV) 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven…
--All of us will part with our money. The only question is when. We have no choice but to part with it later. But we do have a choice whether to part with it now. Say what? Missions!
--We can keep our earthy treasures for the moment and get some temporary enjoyment from them. But if we give them away, we’ll enjoy eternal treasures that will never be taken from us.
Missionary Jim Elliot – He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.
--If you hear those words and think Elliot was just one of those super spiritual types who did not think about gain, you missed the point. Re-read.
--Gain was exactly what he was talking about. He just wanted the gain he could not lose. He wanted his treasure in Heaven not here on earth. He was living for the line not for the dot.
--People get caught up in living for the dot. Moms and dads spend about six times more time shopping than playing with their kids. More people in America file bankruptcy than graduate from college.
--Listen to people whose treasures were in the dot and their responses, very sobering:
W.H. Vanderbilt – The care of $200 million is enough to kill a person. There is no pleasure in it.
John D. Rockefeller – I have made millions, but they have brought me no happiness.
Andrew Carnegie – Millionaires seldom smile.
John Jacob Astor – I am the most miserable man on Earth.
Henry Ford – I was happier doing a mechanic’s job.
--There have been shows on TV telling us about the misery of lottery winners a few years after they won.
--We think we own our possessions, but they own us. Nothing makes a journey more difficult than a heavy backpack filled with nice but unnecessary things. Pilgrims travel light. But money is not evil.
A.W. Tozer – As base a thing as money is, it yet can be transmuted into everlasting treasure. It can be converted into food for the hungry and clothing for the poor; it can keep a missionary actively winning lost men to the gospel and thus transmute itself into heavenly values. Any temporal possession can be turned into everlasting wealth. Whatever is given to Christ is immediately touched with immortality.
--If America being blessed with so much wealth is the disease, what’s the cure? If materialism is the poison, what’s the antidote? Paul answers:
1 Timothy 6:17-19 (NIV)
17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.
19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
--Paul brings us back to laying up treasure in Heaven. The giving of our resources here on this earth is laying a solid foundation in Heaven for us. A great retirement plan! Missions!
--Paul says that being “generous” and “rich in good deeds” allows us to “take hold of the life that is truly life.” This the abundant life Jesus promised.
3. Giving is the Cure for Materialism.
--The very act of giving is a vivid reminder that life is all about God, not about us. It’s declaring that I am not the point, He is the point. He does not exist for me. I exist for Him.
--God’s money has a higher purpose than material comfort. Giving is a joyful surrender to a greater Person (God) and to His greater agenda. Missions! Giving takes me off the throne!
--As long as I have something in my possession, I’m tempted to believe I own it. But when I give it away, I relinquish control. I realize it belongs to God.
Ps. 24:1 (NLT2) 1 The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him.
--When we give what we have away we recognize God as owner, ourselves as servants, and others as those He wants us to bless. Missions. Therefor I have treasure in Heaven.
--Money is not all we can give. Time, wisdom, and meeting felt needs are all wonderful too. When we give these things out of love, these things will no doubt result in treasures in Heaven.
--Giving is the cure for materialism. Missions can be the cure for materialism. Listen to Paul:
1 Timothy 6:18-19 (NKJV)
18 Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share,
19 storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
Missionary Jim Elliot – He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.
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