"Where Your Treasure Is" a sermon for the Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost, YEAR C Scripture: Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4; Psalm 37:1-9; II Timothy 1:1-14; Luke 17:5-10 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. I’ve always loved jewelry, especially gems. They’re just so pretty, you can hold them and admire them; you can wear them and show them to others. You can just feel special owning them because they’re so pretty. On the downside, there are problems with having them, the biggest is the fear that they will be stolen or lost or broken. My lovely tanzanite ring from our 25th wedding anniversary is an excellent example, while it is truly beautiful; tanzanite is soft and easily scratched. The consequence is that I need to be careful wearing it which means that I can’t wear it every day because it would be easy for me to forget and do something that would damage it, so I save it for special occasions, like church on Sunday. Even so, it is a treasure to me and precious. The treasure that Paul is talking about in his second letter to Timothy is even more precious and far more durable than any earthly gem. This treasure can’t be broken, stolen, or lost. It is life-giving and life-healing, unlike our earthly treasures. While our treasures may be symbols of love, Paul’s treasure really is the love itself, the best and most reliable love we can ever experience, God’s love for us. When Paul wrote this letter he knew that he was facing death, soon. Facing death has a way of boiling things down to what is most important and Paul has a very important message for Timothy, a reminder of the treasure that he has right inside of himself to comfort and encourage himself and to share with the world. The first thing that Paul reminds Timothy is of the faith that he has, “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you.” What we learn here is that this gift of faith was handed down to him by his mother and grandmother, not by powerful live-changing events, but in the course of living his life with his family. This is an encouragement for us, too, in living our lives in the faith that we learned from our loved ones we go on to share it with more of our loved ones. We don’t have to go out and do amazing things with our faith, just share it in our living out our lives, isn’t that a comforting thought? The faith that Paul shared with Lois and Eunice was passed on to Timothy who shared his faith in the ministry he was called into through the gifts he was given. This chain of faith has touched us through the multitude of people who so freely shared their gift of faith from the incarnation of Jesus on down to us in the present. This is the treasure that we pass on to the future. This is a treasure that can’t be taken away from us. Paul goes on to encourage Timothy in his ministry and it serves as great reminder for us what God has given us. He writes, “God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.” How encouraging for us to remember these words when we may feel that we are just not strong enough or we are afraid. Through the work of the Holy Spirit of Jesus we have a spirit of love and power and self-discipline, we can count on that, it lives right within us. Do not be afraid, Jesus is with us, giving us the strength and courage we need, we can trust in this treasure, for forever. Since we have this strength and courage we know that there is more to life than what the world believes in, this treasure touches everything in our life. Paul told Timothy, “Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace.” In our baptism we have been called into faith, given to us as pure gift. God calls us, each and every one of us to our own particular ministry with his own purpose and grace; we don’t have to rely on our own selves, but on God himself. We have nothing to be ashamed of, God loves us and we have everything to be proud of even if the world sees faith as weakness. Faith is not weakness, it is strong and resilient, it is a true treasure. Paul reminds us where this treasure comes from, it is God’s grace given to us through Jesus, God’s love come down to us in human form, who came to destroy death and redeem us from our sins. Paul wrote, “This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” This is a treasure that can’t be taken from us; it can’t be lost or broken. Our treasure is found in the gospel that reveals God’s gracious love for us. This treasure is eternal and unbreakable and precious beyond anything else. Our treasure is found in Jesus, the human embodiment of God’s love for us, we have nothing to be ashamed of or to be afraid of. Paul encourages Timothy with these words, “I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him. Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.” We have this precious treasure, our faith in God’s gracious love that compels us forward into life. How wonderful is God’s love for us! Thanks be to God, Amen.
Posted on: Sat, 05 Oct 2013 03:30:21 +0000
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