Sermon Tone Analysis

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A Time to Keep And a Time to Throw Away

During days of inflation, there is very little chance of saving anything.

With the rising costs of food, gas, and clothes—not to speak of medical and other expenses—the paycheck shrinks before we know it.

All this makes us very conscious of the word "investment."

If we are wise in our financial affairs we try to save, whatever the cost.

While this is important in the material realm, how seldom do we think of the spiritual realm!

The Bible says, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matt.

6:19-21).

At first glance, there seems to be very little difference between the statements, "A time to gain, and a time to lose" and "a time to keep, and a time to throw away" (Eccl.

3:6).

On closer examination, however, it is evident that the first part of the verse has to do with the matter of choice, while the second part relates to the consequences of choice.

When a person has chosen to walk God's way, rather than man's way, he will also take steps to invest in heavenly things and to divest himself of earthly things.

Franz Delitzsch (1900, 258) captures this thought when he renders the text, "To lay up has its time, and to throw away has its time."

With this in mind, it is plain to see that there is:

!! A Time for Heavenly Investment

One of the subtlest devices of the devil is to blind sinners and saints alike to the concept of eternity, or what D. R. Davies (1946) used to call "the world we have forgotten."

On the other hand, the Scriptures exhort us to "set [our] mind[s] on things above, not on things on the earth" (Col.

3:2).

As citizens of heaven, we should be thinking constantly of our heavenly investments.

The New Testament, in particular, teaches that there are at least three investments that should be made in the light of eternity:

*/1.

There must be the investment of life/.*

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God" (Rom.

12:1-2).

The word "bodies" can be rendered "faculties," embracing spirit, soul, body, and everything else that is involved in the human personality.

/Only/ as these faculties are worthily and totally yielded to God can a person prove "what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." And, of course, /only/ "he who does the will of God abides forever" (1 John 2:17).

To be conformed to this world is nothing less than to love the world and all that is in it, even "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" (1 John 2:16).

And we are warned, "the world is passing away" (1 John 2:17).

How important it is then, that our entire lives should be submitted to the will of God so that our living and serving may abide forever.

Our example in this matter of knowing and doing the will of God is our Lord Jesus Christ.

He could say, "I have come to do Your will, O God" (Heb.

10:9); "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work" (John 4:34); and finally, "Not My will, but Yours, be done" (Luke 22:42).

In the model prayer He taught His disciples, He inserted as the central phrase, "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matt.

6:10).

We are obliged to recognize, therefore, that to live for the world is ultimately to lose everything, whereas to live for the will of God is to abide forever.

This is the wise investment of life.

*/2.

There must be the investment of time./*

"See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil" (Eph.

5:15-16).

Time is one of the most precious commodities that has been made available to mankind.

Time, moreover, has been forever sanctified by the birth, life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Because He entered time He has enriched it with an eternal significance which is both creative and redemptive.

With Paul we can say, "/Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation"/ (2 Cor.

6:2).

For this reason no one can understand the creative and redemptive purposes of God and dare to waste time!

Indeed, we shall be judged one day in relation to our use of time while here upon earth.

Thus we are exhorted to redeem the time, or buy up the time; and according to the apostle, this involves living a Spirit-filled life, for following the words "redeeming the time" he says, "Be filled with the Spirit" (Eph.

5:18).

How shattering to realize that moments, hours, or days lived apart from the mastership and leadership of the Spirit are totally wasted!

It is imperative, then, that the Holy Spirit be received, enthroned, and obeyed.

If we have never /initially/ received Him, then we must "repent, and ... be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and ... receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38).

We must also recognize that "as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God" (Rom.

8:14)—and enthrone the Spirit, for "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Cor.

3:17).

Only when the Spirit is enthroned as Lord can He liberate and lead in daily life.

But more than this, we must /know in personal experience/ that God gives "the Holy Spirit ... to those who obey Him" (Acts 5:32).

The Christian life is not an aimless journey down an unknown way, but rather a mapped out plan and pathway that we can find, follow, and finish under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

To be filled with the Spirit, therefore, is to redeem the time and invest in eternity!

*/3.

There must be the investment of wealth./*

Jesus said, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matt.

6:19-21).

There is /an earthly investment that results in ultimate wastefulness./

This is what Jesus was talking about when He said, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth."

Then He went on to point out that earth is the place of moths, rust, and thieves.

The connotations behind these words conveyed a tremendous challenge to the eastern mind, for wealth in those days was evaluated in terms of cloth, grain, gold, and so on.

You will remember that Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, coveted "changes of garments" (2 Kgs.

5:22), and Achan lusted after "a beautiful Babylonian garment" (Josh.

7:21).

Garments like these, however, were soon destroyed when moths invaded the house or tent.

Then Jesus spoke about the rust, or more accurately, the "rot that doth corrupt."

Here He was thinking of the grain stored away in barns.

This, likewise, was wealth until the rats, the mice, and the worms started to eat away and spoil the harvest.

Then He described the thieves who "break through [to] steal" the treasures hidden away in the home.

What a warning this is to those of us who lay up treasure here upon earth!

"We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out" (1 Tim.

6:7).

And even worse than this, while in the world, clothes can be antiquated, our grain can be dissipated, and our gold can be confiscated!

Times may have changed, but the relative worth of earthly treasure remains the same.

On the other hand, there is a /heavenly investment that results in ultimate wealthiness./

So the Master said, "Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal" (Matt.

6:20).

In this context Jesus had been speaking of /giving/ as worthy of heavenly recompense.

Concerning this giving, Jesus said, "Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly" (Matt.

6:3-4).

It is the disciplined and unostentatious giving, performed in the presence of God, which constitutes laying up treasure in heaven.

The Lord Jesus emphasized this again in the parable of the unjust steward, where He summed up the lesson in these words, "Make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home" (Luke 16:9).

In effect, He was saying that if you have money, you are to use it in such a way that when you get to heaven the people who have benefited from it will receive you with joy.

The same truth is expressed by Paul when he exhorts: "Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.

Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life" (1 Tim.

6:17-19).

Jesus concluded His teaching on heavenly investment with the words, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matt.

6:21; Luke 12:34).

How true this is!

Show me a man who is engaged in heavenly investment, and I will show you a person who is totally devoted to Jesus Christ.

Paul dramatically exemplifies this when he ends his last epistle with that noble testimony: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have /loved/ His appearing" (2 Tim.

4:7-8).

And then with heartache he adds, "Demas has forsaken me, having /loved/ this present world" (2 Tim.

4:10).

Whether we love the Lord Jesus and anticipate His coming, or we love the world and concern ourselves with its interests, one thing is certain: we can't do both at one and the same time.

Are we investing in heavenly things or in worldly things?

On what are we staking our lives, our time, our wealth?

The story is told of a very wealthy Englishman who lived in a palatial home on his own estate.

Among his servants he had a gardener who was a perfect saint.

The life he lived and the testimony he bore were real and radiant.

For some years the Englishman despised his gardener, even though he could not criticize his work.

Little by little, however, the gardener's witness overcame hostility and won his master to a saving knowledge of Christ.

Soon after this the gardener became seriously ill and died.

Filled with grief at the loss, this wealthy Englishman one night had a dream and found himself in heaven.

He requested at once to see his old gardener, and an angel in white conducted him down the golden streets of that celestial city to an exquisite mansion.

"This," said the angel, "is the abiding place of your former gardener."

The Englishman was completely overcome, but then asked, "But where will be my mansion?"

"Down this way," replied the angel, and on and on they went until they came to the most unpretentious little house at the end of a side street.

"This," emphasized the angel, "is /your/ place of abode."

"How can that be?" objected the man, "I have lived in a mansion when I was on earth!"