TREASURE
Just a simple word for us all, that the Lord gives us an opportunity in this life down here, and no one of us knows how long it may last. The young ones have, humanly speaking, many years before them, but those who are older cannot say the same. But we need to bear in mind in any case that the coming of the Lord may be so near that even what is before the young ones may not amount to very much time. So that it is important for us to make a right use of what time there is – that is the present moment.
The Lord is speaking in Matthew’s gospel about instruction for the disciples, and how important it is to observe the basic principles that He brings forward. One of these basic principles is to have a right valuation of things. What we might store up on earth for ourselves turns out to have very little value if the moth and rust spoil it or if the thieves steal it. The important thing is to lay up for ourselves treasure in heaven. There is plenty of treasure available; we only have to ask for it in sincerity and truth and we shall find that the supply is greater than what we ask for. Mr Darby often used to point out in Psalm 132 how David asked for various great things, but God’s answer was always greater than what David asked for. That is worth contemplating. If we ask the Lord to supply us with treasure, He will say, Yes, that is there for you, it is there ready for you in heaven, but you can enjoy it now. It is available because of what He has done. We have been hearing about what He went through and how He sacrificed Himself. If we value the great things that are available to us through His work, and made real and valuable to us by the presence of the Holy Spirit, then that is what we shall value, and that is where our hearts will be; “where thy treasure is, there will be also thy heart”, the Lord said. Not ‘it ought to be’, although of course it ought, but it will be. If what we value is in heaven, that is where our hearts will be.
The scripture in Joel relates, as we know, to how God will bless Israel in a time to come, even on this earth, but the lesson for us is what corresponds to it in what is heavenly. God is very gracious. There has been a lot of time wasted, both in Israel and among the saints generally, and I speak as one who has failed much in that, and yet God is pleased to order matters so that greater fruitfulness comes out of what remains, if we are exercised to make room for the restoration of that which the locust has eaten. The locust has eaten it, and these various other pests have eaten up much that is good, because we were not watchful, because we were interested in something else. We were not paying attention to the riches that God supplied. How is it that God can bring that back? It is not by turning the calendar back, and saying that you can go over these years again. It is by making the time that remains more fruitful than ever, so that there is more for God as a result. These things that God supplies – it says that “ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of Jehovah your God ...”. It speaks of the great abundance which there will be if we give God His portion. If we are mainly concerned about what is for Him, then there is bound to be great abundance for us; “ye shall eat … and be satisfied”, it says. If that satisfaction comes from God, how great it is, and how great a result it leads to for Him in praise and worship and response.
There is no need to say much more about it, but just simply let us exhort one another to hold what little time remains to us for God, and to serve Him in it, and He will see to it that there is abundance and enjoyment for us. We can leave that in His hands, as we do now with thanksgiving, in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.
Word at a marriage meeting, Chelmsford
25 October 2019
Brian E Surtees