FROM SUCCESS TO SIGNIFICANCE
TREASURE
DR. JIM DIXON
MATTHEW 6:19-21, MATTHEW 6:24
NOVEMBER 26, 2006
On October 19 in the year 1872, a man named Erik Holtermann of New South Wales, Australia found a gold nugget but this wasn’t the kind of gold nugget that you pan out of a stream. This gold nugget was 7,560 ounces in size, 472.5 pounds. It was more like a boulder than a nugget. Of course, in the gold mining industry, such an object is called a specimen, not really a nugget. It’s called a specimen or a matrix. Officially this object is now called the Holtermann’s Specimen. Today wherever treasure hunters gather, they often mention the Holtermann Specimen which contained 3,000 ounces of pure gold. If it were found today it would make someone an instant millionaire.
The Bible says in Matthew, chapter 13, verse 44—in fact our Lord Jesus says, —”that the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a treasure hidden in a field which a man found and covered up and in his joy went and sold everything that he had a bought the field.” Jesus wants us to understand the real treasure is the kingdom of heaven. In the next couple of verses, Jesus told another little parable. Jesus said again, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a merchant in search of fine pearls who, upon finding one pearl of great value, of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” Jesus wants us to understand the kingdom of heaven is worth everything that you have. The kingdom of heaven is worth everything that I have. It’s the greatest treasure of all. And so, as we look at moving from success to significance, God wants us to understand that we can only reach significance when we treasure the kingdom of heaven first and foremost. That’s why Jesus said, “Do not lay-up treasures on earth where moths and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” So, to find significance, we need to seek heavenly treasure as opposed to earthly treasure and we need to value the kingdom of heaven above anything else.
We saw this was true in the way that we use our time, in the way that we use our talents and now indeed also the way we use our treasure. Significance is tied to serving the kingdom of heaven. This morning we have two teachings. The first teaching is simply this. In the world, success means making money. That’s how the world views success – making money.
You can travel down to the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs – I’ve sure many of you have – you need to take a little money with you. Of course, you can stay at the Broadmoor. It’s a 5-star hotel/resort and it’s as nice as any hotel in the world. At the Broadmoor Hotel, there are a number of fine restaurants. There’s the Charles Court, certainly a fine restaurant. I think the finest restaurant at the Broadmoor Hotel is called the Penrose Room. Barb and I ate in the Penrose Room years ago on our anniversary. In the Penrose Room, you can bring your spouse and you can have an incredible $30 to $50 meal for $150! Of course, you’re not just paying for the food, you’re paying for the ambience. The Penrose Room is at the top of one of the Broadmoor Towers. On one side you look out over Colorado Springs and on the other side you look out on the Broadmoor Lake and then up at Cheyenne Mountain and the Will Rogers Shrine. You’re kind of paying for all of that.
Of course, the Penrose Room is named after Spencer Penrose. I think many of you have heard of Spencer Penrose. He came to Colorado and Colorado Springs in 1892. He came from the city of Philadelphia. He had graduated from Harvard University. He was a brilliant man and he came to strike it rich. He came to find gold. Shortly after he arrived in Colorado Springs, he wired his brother, Boyce Penrose, and he said, “I want you to invest in this. I’m going to strike it rich. I’m going to find gold. I want you to invest and help me buy supplies and stuff.” He asked his brother Boyce for $1,500. Boyce was not rich. He was kind of a stable steady sort of a guy and not much of a risk taker. Boyce wired Spencer Penrose back and said, “I’m not going to give you the $1,500. You’re crazy. You’re wasting your time. You’re an embarrassment to the family.” Just a few weeks later, we’re told that Boyce did send Spencer Penrose $150 along with a letter telling him that the money was for him to travel back home and quit wasting his time.
Spencer Penrose did strike it rich. He struck it rich at Cripple Creek. He found gold and he becan1e famous. Of course, it was Spencer Penrose who built the Broadmoor Hotel. It was Spencer Penrose who built the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. In fact, the original Cheyenne Mountain Zoo all consisted of his animals and it was Spencer Penrose who built the Pikes Peak Highway. It was Spencer Penrose who really developed much of Colorado Springs. When Spencer Penrose had been in Colorado for only one year he went back to Philadelphia just to pay his brother Boyce a visit and he gave his brother $75,000. Boyce Penrose said, “What is this?” and Spencer said this is the return on your investment. Boyce said, “I never invested.” Spencer said, “You sent me $150” and Boyce said, “That was just for you to travel back.” Spencer said, “Well, I invested it and this is what it made – $75,000. If you had done what I had asked you to do and sent me the $1,500, I’d be giving you $750,000 today.”
Today everybody has heard of Spencer Penrose but nobody has heard of Boyce Penrose. My guess is most of you heard of Boyce Penrose for the first time this morning. Why is that? It’s because Spencer Penrose made money and Boyce Penrose did not. Spencer Penrose became wealthy and Boyce Penrose did not. We live in a world like that. Success is tied to making money.
In 1993, just 13 years ago, Marvin Davis was on the French Riviera with his wife. They had just come from Wimbledon. They had watched the famous tennis tournament in London and now they had flown to the French Riviera where they wanted to have some extra vacation. They were in a limousine and they were robbed. Some of you might remember reading about it in the newspapers thirteen years ago – Marvin Davis and his wife robbed in their limousine. Cash was taken and jewelry was taken. That might not sound like a very big deal but these are not normal people. They are not normal people. The cash was $50,000 that they had on them and the jewelry was worth $20 million. That’s why Barb and I, before we get in our limo, leave the cash and jewelry at home.
All of you know who Marvin Davis is. You know who Marvin Davis is and his association with the City of Denver in the past and the State of Colorado, but you know who he is because he’s so wealthy – one of the wealthiest guys to ever be associated with the State of Colorado and the world remembers that. Success is tied, at least in some measure, to the making of money in our culture and time. But remember what the Bible says. The Bible cautions us that this is a very shallow understanding of success and it has nothing to do with significance.
Some of you may have heard of a French painter whose name was Bruneau. Bruneau painted many pictures but one picture that he painted shows a man sitting in a chair at his desk. This is a portly man. He’s sitting there at his desk and he has bags of gold on his desk. On the shelves behind his desk there are more bags of gold and then a window behind him. You can look out through the window and see a bumper crop and there’s a gentle breeze because the grass is just swaying and it’s a beautiful summer day. That’s what’s on one side of the canvas but this was an unusual painting painted by Bruneau because if you turn the canvas over, he painted the other side. The other side is exactly the same painting. I mean it shows the same portly guy sitting in the chair at his desk, the bags of gold both on the desk and on the shelf, the open window, the bumper crop, the summer day. It’s all the same except on this reversed painting, Bruneau’s made everything look dusty. Everything kind of looks covered with dust and the angel of death is standing at the shoulder of the man in his chair. At the bottom of the picture, Bruneau wrote, “Fool, Fool.” You know what that painting refers to. It refers to the biblical passage and the Parable of Jesus about the rich man and his barns who had accumulated so much wealth and who said to himself, “You are rich and you have ample goods laid up for many years. Take your ease. Eat, drink and be merry,” but God said to him, “You fool. This very day your soul is required of you and the things that you have accumulated, whose shall they be? So shall it be, Jesus said, for all who are rich towards themselves and not rich towards God.” So, making money is not what it’s about biblically. I mean biblically it’s just not what it’s about.
I love the story of Ray Stedman. In the second half of the 20th Century, Ray Stedman was one of the leading evangelical figures in America. Ray Stedman spoke all over the world. He was a pastor and an author. On one occasion Ray Stedman went to Berlin where he was to speak at a 3-day conference. The problem was that when his plane arrived in Berlin, his luggage didn’t. You’ve probably had that happen to you and it’s so frustrating, particularly if you’re in a foreign place or in a foreign country. Ray Stedman thought, “What am I going to do? I have no luggage. I have no clothes and I’m going to speak at this D-day conference. He went to downtown Berlin to a clothing store. He was looking to get a suit. He wanted to get a couple of suits but he didn’t think he had the money. As he went into the store, he looked around and he noticed that there was one section where the suits are really, really cheap. I mean REALLY inexpensive. He asked the person in the store, “Why are these suits so cheap and why are they marked down so much?” The owner of the store said, “That’s because those suits came from the mortuary. Those suits had been used to present deceased people to their loved ones when they’re viewed in the casket. But don’t worry. They are of good material and the suits have all been cleaned and they’re just a great bargain.”
Ray Stedman bought two of the suits. He thought he was ready for this 3-day conference. He was getting ready to go speak at his first engagement and getting dressed in his hotel room. He put on the suit and went to put his wallet in his pocket and he can’t find a pocket. There is no pocket on this suit anywhere – no pockets at all. He got to thinking and it dawned on him. Dead people don’t need pockets. They made these suits for dead people and they don’t need pockets and so these suits had no pockets. A good reminder isn’t it? We’re not going to take anything out of this world. You don’t need your pockets. You’re not going to take anything with you when you go. Of course, it’s like the old story about the Monopoly game. When the game is over, it all goes back in the box. So, when you die, when I die, it all goes back in the box. Making money is not what it’s all about. That’s a very shallow understanding of success and so we move to the Bible and we take a look at significance. What does the Bible have to say about significance?
The Bible ties significance to giving money. If the world ties success to making money, the Bible ties significance to giving money. Of course, you’ve got to make some money in order to give some money. I want to ask you today and I know God wants to ask you today. When you make money, do you have in your mind and in your heart that you’re making it in large part because you want to give it away? Does that thought occur to you? In the Bible a lot is said about money. Jesus told 38 parables and 16 of them explicitly deal with the subject of money. That’s huge. One out of every ten verses in the New Testament deal with money. It’s so important to God. There are 500 verses in the Bible that deal explicitly with prayer. Prayer is so critical to the life of a Christian but there are four times as many verses in the Bible that deal explicitly with money—2,000 verses in the Bible deal explicitly with money. God has something to say about money and he wants you to give it away if you’ll find significance. If you’ll find significance, He wants you to give it away and He wants you, as you give it away to His kingdom, to the work of His kingdom.
Now Christmas is approaching. I want to tell you a Christmas story. Of course, we all know from the Bible that soon after the birth of Christ, the family of Chris – Mary and Joseph went to Egypt to escape the wrath of King Herod. We all know that. Now there’s a 2nd Century AD writing that describes the flight into Egypt. We do not know whether this 2nd Century document is true history or not but there is a 2nd Century document that is devoted to this theme of the flight of the royal family, the family of Christ, into Egypt. This document tells us that Jesus Christ and His family went to Egypt by means of the Sinai Road and that’s most certainly true because it was the primary road going from Palestine to Egypt.
The Hexis people in the 18th Century before Christ traveled the Sinai Road and of course they went into Egypt, conquered the Pharaohs and created their own dynasties. Alexander the Great brought his armies down the Sinai Road as he was approaching Egypt. Antiochus IV, Antiochus Epiphanes in the 2nd Century before Christ went down the Sinai Road to conquer Egypt. The Sinai Road was the major road. Surely Jesus and Mary and Joseph and the family went down that road but this 2nd Century document tells us that when they arrived in the Nile Delta they did not go to Alexandria. Of course, in the time of Christ in the 1st Century, Alexandria was the great city in Egypt. Most people going down the Sinai Road would have headed over towards Alexandria but according to this 2nd Century document Jesus did not. What they did was they went to a city called Babylon. Babylon is NOT to be confused with the Mesopotamian city of Babylon. Babylon was in Egypt. Babylon means, “Gateway to On.” Sometimes the city of Babylon was simply called “On.” For the Greeks, the city of Babylon was called Heliopolis, City of the Sun. You may not have heard of Babylon but you’ve surely heard of Heliopolis. Of course, the Hebrew people called it Bet Sheamus, City of the Sun, House of the Sun. There were Jewish populations that lived in Babylon so the 2nd Century document may be right that Jesus and His family might have gone to those Jewish communities in Babylon but they did not stay there. They fled up the Nile and they went all the way, according to the 2nd Century document, to the Valley of the Kings and the Region of Luxor where the Temple of Karnak is and they kind of remained there for a long period of time until it was safe to return back to the Holy Land.
We don’t know whether the story is entirely true but the thought occurs to me, “Where did they get the money?” Joseph was a carpenter. Where would they get the money to travel for months and months and months like that and go to all those places. How did they feed themselves, clothe themselves. How would they lodge? Where would they get the money but the 2nd Century document tells us that they used the proceeds from the gifts of the Maji. That’s what is written in the document. They used the proceeds from the gold, the frankincense and the myrrh and that it was, at least in part by the will of God, that these gifts were given because God foreknew they would flee into Egypt and they would need the money.
I can tell you this much. The cause of Christ has always been supported by gifts brought to Him. It’s that way today. The cause of Christ is still supported by gifts brought to Him – gold, frankincense and myrrh. The question today is what are you bringing and what am I bringing? What are you giving and what am I giving for the cause of Christ in this world because significance is tied to His cause supremely.
As we look at the subject of giving to the cause of Christ, I want us to take a very brief look at the four biblical principles of giving. The first is give sacrificially. If we’re going to be significant in the sight of God, we have to give sacrificially. Barb and I are always looking at this. What does this mean to give sacrificially? What does it mean for us? What does it mean to give until it kind of hurts? What does it mean to give until you’re a little bit afraid? What does it mean to give until you really have to trust? God wants us to give sacrificially.
Some of you may have heard the old joke about the guy named Fred who died and fow1d himself at the gates of heaven. There were the apostles and angels and they didn’t much like Fred and they didn’t want to let him through the gates. They said, “Fred, have you done anything sacrificial in yow¬ life that might impress us? Have you ever done anything sacrificial?” Fred said, “Yeah, I saw an elderly women and she was being attacked by a motorcycle gang. This one gang member was kind of slapping her around and I was so mad, with no thought for my own safety, I just ran up and I knocked this guy’s Harley over and I kicked him in the shins and I told this elderly lady to go get help and then I just hauled off and punched this bike rider in the gut.” The apostles and the angels looked at Fred in a new way. They had a little more respect. They said, “Fred, when did this happen?” Fred said, “About two minutes ago.”
Of course, the thing is, getting into heaven is associated with sacrifice. Getting into heaven is associated with sacrifice but it’s not your sacrifice or my sacrifice. It’s His sacrifice. His sacrifice on the cross is what gets us into heaven but it’s also true that we who belong to Him, we who take His name, we who are called Christians, we’ve been called to sacrifice for His cause on earth and to give sacrificially. So, you see Jesus up on the Temple Mount sitting there with His disciples looking at the Treasury. Of course, you read about this in Mark, chapter 12 and in Luke’s Gospel, the 21st chapter. Apparently Jesus did this from time to time. He would sit and observe the Treasury. There were thirteen receptacles in the Treasury on the Temple Mount, thirteen receptacles. They all looked like trumpets. You would put yow- gifts into one of the thirteen trumpets and they all were designated for different causes, thirteen different purposes. The gifts to the people were brought and Jesus watched. Perhaps He watched to see what they were giving to. He certainly watched to see the amount. He wanted to see how much people were giving. He used it as a kind of teaching time for His disciples. As they watched, many rich people came putting in large gifts but Jesus saw this one woman come who was very poor. She took out two copper coins which represented one penny and she put the money into the Treasury and Jesus marveled. He called His disciples and He said, “You saw the rich putting in their gifts but they gave less than this woman did. I tell you she gave more than they did because they gave out of their abundance. Though their gifts were large, they gave out of their excess, but she gave everything she had.” What was Jesus looking for? Sacrifice. He’s still looking. He’s watching today.
Every time the plate is passed, He’s watching. Every time we give money to any kingdom cause He’s watching and He wants us to learn to give sacrificially. The widow’s mite.
Secondly, the Bible tells us that we are to give secretly. Of course, there are many stories in the Talmud and particularly in the Gomera. In the Talmud, this one story I think is beautiful. It’s about a Jewish village. In the village there is a man who was called “the miser.” He was very wealthy, a wealthy Jewish man. He lived on a hilltop and had a mansion. Poor people in the village would come up to the top of the hill to his door and they would ask for help and he would always say “no” because he was “the miser.” He’d say, “Go see the giver.”
According to this story in the Talmud, in the village there was a shoemaker, a humble shoemaker who was simply called, “the giver.” Somehow when people came to him for help, he always had the means to help them and he always gave to them enough to help them with their food or their clothing or whatever. He was “the giver.” In the course of time the miser died. As the Talmud presents the story, nobody cared that the miser died. They didn’t care. He was the miser. But when the miser died, suddenly the giver ceased to give. People would go to the giver, go to his shop, and he would say, “I’m sorry. I can’t give anything.” Finally, they asked the giver, “What’s happened?” The giver said, “When the miser died, I lost all of my money because all of my money came from the miser. Every month the miser came to me and gave me money to give to you. He would come every month with more money because he wanted to take care of you. He wanted to help you but he didn’t want anyone to know it. All the money that I was giving you when you called me “the giver” was all from the miser.” According to the Talmud, from that point on everyone viewed the miser differently and when they died and when death was approaching, they all wanted to be buried next to the miser because they knew he had given secretly and that kind of giving pleases God.
There is a sense biblically in which God wants us to give secretly. You know how Jesus spoke of the rich who approached the Treasury on the Temple Mount and when they would bring large gifts they would also bring with them trumpeters. You read about that and you’re amazed. People have researched that and found that it was true. In Israel in the time of Christ, some of the rich brought trumpeters to sound to the people to make them aware that a big gift was being given. Of course, Jesus is saying, “Don’t give like that.” What Jesus is saying is not that when you give no one can know you gave because that wouldn’t always be possible. What Jesus is saying is “Don’t seek accolades from man through your giving. Seek the praise of heaven. Don’t, through your giving, seek rewards from people. Seek rewards from God. Seek treasure in heaven.” We’re to give sacrificially but we’re also to give as much as possible secretly.
The Bible says, “Give joyfully.” The Bible says in II Corinthians, chapter 9, “God loves a cheerful giver.” The word for cheerful is the word, “hilaros” in the Greek and we get the English word, “hilarious” from hilaros. The Greek word means, “extravagant joy,” “almost reckless giving but with great joy.” God loves a giver like that. That’s what the Bible tells us so give joyfully.
I know that some of you have probably heard of Archimedes. If you studied Greek history you’ve heard of Archimedes. He’s been called “the father of experimental science.” He was a brilliant man and he transformed both math and physics through his discoveries and through his thought. He kind of revolutionized the numeral system for both the Greeks and the Romans. He discovered a more accurate value of pi. The man was brilliant and of course he also invented or discovered the principle of the pulley and the principle of the lever. He invented the catapult and various war machines. Like many scientists today, he was under the provision and under the guidance of politicians so his skills were used to create war machines.
Archimedes is most famous for something that happened to him 2,270 years ago. He was a 3rd Century BC scientist. Two thousand two hundred and seventy years ago he got out of his bathtub and he ran naked into the streets of Sicily and the streets of Syracuse on the Island of Sicily and he shouted, while he was running naked in the streets, “Eureka! Eureka!” Of course, eureka was an exclamation of joy and excitement. It literally meant, “I found it!” And what did he find? While he was in the bathtub he figured out how to measure the relative purity of gold. And so “Eureka! I found it! Great joy!” You can look today on the Great Seal of the State of California and what word do you see? “Eureka.” You think back to the California Gold Rush, 1848, Sutter’s Mill, “Eureka! They found gold!” I think the word eureka is oftentimes associated with the finding of gold and the joy that it brings but, you see, biblically it’s finding the kingdom of heaven that brings joy and eureka. Of course, as Christians we learn that as we give to the kingdom of heaven, we find joy and so the Lord wants us always to give joyfully. I think when we’re giving sacrificially and we’re giving secretly, maybe it’s a little hard to give joyfully and yet that’s what God expects.
We just came through Thanksgiving Day. In the Greek, the word for “thanksgiving” is eucharistia and it’s built on the word “chara” which means, “joy.” If we’re really thankful, we’re going to be able to give with joy. We’re going to be able to give with gratitude and joy and that’s how the Lord wants us to give.
Finally, there is this other principal that we are to give to the kingdom strategically. Have you ever thought about that? Giving to the kingdom strategically? Do you ever just give without thought or without much thought or without a kingdom perspective or a Christian world view?
My grandfather was named Arthur Stanton Dixon, my dad’s dad. He owned the Dixon Glass Company in Los Angeles. It wasn’t a huge company but my grandpa was relatively successful. He bought a home in Hollywood and was able to accumulate some wealth. When my grandfather died some wealth was distributed to my father and to his brothers, Fred and Frank, and to his sister, Donna. So, the four kids were given various properties and some apartment buildings and even some oil wells. There would have been more but some of my grandpa’s money went to his third wife. His first wife died of cancer. His second wife died in an automobile accident and his third wife, who was much younger, the family kind of suspected married him for his money and took some part of it. But, you see, my grandpa was a Christian but he kind of, for a period of time, fell in with a pastor who was kind of a flake. I know it’s a sad thing and a scary thing to realize that there are pastors who are flakes but there are. My grandpa was enamored with this guy who was kind of a flake and he taught that true Christianity never uses church buildings. True Christianity never even builds church buildings. He based this on the 1st Century when the early church didn’t build church buildings.
Of course, in the 1st Century it was true that the church didn’t build church buildings because they weren’t allowed to. The Jews built buildings because they were allowed to because in the Roman Empire Judaism was legal so the Jews could build buildings but Christianity was illegal in the Roman world and therefore Christians could have no visible presence and they could not build buildings. Christians met secretly in their homes but as soon as Christianity became legal they built buildings and they would have built buildings from the beginning if it were legal.
So, this guy was a flake and my grandpa gave him a big chunk of money. We don’t know how much but he just took off and no one saw him again. Not very strategic giving. You think about it. Whatever you have to give, large or small, give sacrificially, give secretly, give joyfully but also give strategically. Maybe you give to the church. I believe in the church. I certainly believe in this expression of the church called Cherry Hills Community Church because we serve with integrity, we are fiscally responsible, we function with great zeal for moral conduct and we seek to serve supremely the kingdom of heaven. Every dollar you give goes to help kids, goes to help the poor both here and around the world, goes to ministry in the Gospel and the person in the name of Jesus Christ. Of course, there are other ministries you can rightly give to that reflect the kingdom of heaven. Valor High School is being built right across the street and those of us who are working on it are in an excited panic because so much needs to be done in one year’s time. It’s going to be a great kingdom deal.
Colorado Christian University is a wonderful ministry. I believe in Christian higher education. It’s worthy of your support. I believe in Young Life, Youth for Christ, Campus Crusade, Intervarsity, Global Connection, all of the para-church ministries. They’re worthy of your support. It’s the gifts brought to Christ that serve the cause of Christ.
I remember 24 years ago. Twenty-four years ago, I was sitting in my office at church. Our church had just started out. We were on Orchard Road and Broadway. He had a little church building. Our offices were in this little farmhouse that we had divvied up. We took the chicken coop and converted that into a youth building. We didn’t know what God was going to do but I was sitting in my office and Maxine Jones came to see me. I had never met her. She told me that she had a vision from God that we were to help the poor. When I talked with Maxine, I knew that indeed this was a word and a vision from God and I also knew that the call of God was upon her life. So, Maxine Jones joined our team. She joined our team and we began Manna Ministries right here at the church. Barb chose the name Manna. Maxine was pleased with that and so was I. I think for the poor people, all the gifts that we can give them seem like manna from heaven. Through Manna Ministries, we feed the poor, we clothe the poor, we minister to the poor – 24 years now. Did you know that our ministry called Manna Ministries is not in our operating budget? It’s outside of our operating budget so it only continues by the gifts of those who care. It only continues by your support, your special support given to Manna. Of course, we want to continue this ministry and I can tell you, in the sight of God this is strategic because the Bible says, “Never forget the poor.” When you give to the poor in the name of Christ, that’s strategic.
We have the Christmas Outreach coming up and we’ve got thousands of poor people we want to bless but we need your help, volunteer time and give dollars. Of course, we need financial support to give to the poor all year round. We support thousands of people every month through Manna so think about that. Think about the Para-Church. Think about the Church but give and give sacrificially and secretly and joyfully and strategically.