The Treasure Principle

The Treasure Principle – You can’t take it with you, but you can send it on ahead.

Introduction
This book is about the enhanced joy from giving – the unrivaled joy of giving.

Chapter 1 – Buried Treasure
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose. (Jim Elliott)

15% of everything Christ said relates to the topics of money and possessions – more than his teachings on Heaven and Hell combined. Why did Jesus put such an emphasis on money and possessions? Because there is a fundamental connection between our spiritual lives and how we think about and handle money. We may try to divorce our faith and finances, but God sees them as inseparable.

Our approach to money and possessions is central to our spiritual lives.

Jesus spoke of a rich man who spent all his wealth on himself. He planned to store up for early retirement and easy living. But God called the man a fool. The greatest indictment against him – and the proof of his spiritual condition – is that he was rich toward himself but not rich toward God.

In Matthew 6, Jesus fully unveils the foundation of what I call the Treasure Principle. It’s one of His most neglected and misinterpreted teachings:

“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. (Matthew 6:19 – 21)

Jesus says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth.” Why? Because earthly treasures are bad? No. Because they won’t last.

Scripture says, “Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle” (Proverbs 23:5). Next time you buy a prized possession, imagine it sprouting wings and flying off. Sooner or later, it will disappear.

When Jesus warns us not to store up treasures on Earth, it’s not because wealth might be lost, it’s because wealth will always be lost. Either it leaves us while we live, or we leave it when we die. No exceptions.

As a Christian, you have inside knowledge of an eventual worldwide upheaval caused by Christ’s return. This is the ultimate insider trading tip: earth’s currency will become worthless when Christ returns – or when you die, whichever comes first. (And either event could happen at any time.)

Though Christ’s financial forecast for Earth is bleak, He is unreservedly bullish about investing in Heaven, where every market indicator is eternally positive!

In light of the inside information revealed in Scripture, to accumulate vast earthly treasures you cannot hold on to is equivalent to stockpiling Confederate money even though you know it’s about to become worthless.

According to Jesus, storing up earthly treasures isn’t simply wrong. It’s just plain stupid.

A Treasure Mentality
Jesus doesn’t just tell us where not to put our treasures. He also gives the best investment advice you’ll ever hear: “Store up for yourselves treasure in heaven” (Matthew 6:20).

God’s riches are infinite. When you serve Him and others, you store up treasures in Heaven. This doesn’t reduce the treasures available to others. Everyone gains, no one loses.

“Store up for yourselves treasure in heaven.” Why? Because it’s right? Not only that, but because it’s smart. Jesus makes not an emotional appeal, but a logical one: invest in what has lasting value.

You’ll never see a hearse pulling a You-haul. Why? Because you can’t take it with you.

“Do not be over awed when a man grows rich, when the splendor of his house increases; for he will take nothing with him when he dies, his splendor will not descend with him.” (Psalm 49:16 – 17)

You can’t take it with you. If that point is clear in your mind, you are ready to hear the secret of the Treasure Principle.

Jesus takes that profound truth, “you can’t take it with you,” and adds a stunning qualification. By telling us to store up treasures for ourselves in Heaven, He gives us a remarkable corollary, which I call the Treasure Principle:  You can’t take it with you – but you can send it on ahead.

Anything we try to hang on to here will be lost. But anything we put into God’s hands will be ours for eternity. If that doesn’t take your breath away, you don’t understand it!

If we invest in the eternal instead of in the temporal, we store up treasures in Heaven that will never stop paying dividends. Whatever treasures we store up on Earth will be left behind when we leave. Whatever treasures we store up in Heaven will be waiting for us when we arrive.

Don’t ask how your investment will be paying off in just 30 years. Ask how it will be paying off in 30 million years.

Suppose I offer you $1000 today to spend however you want. Then suppose I give you a choice – you can either have that $1000 today or you can have $10 million one year from now, then 10 million more every year after that. Only a fool would take the thousand dollars today! Yet that’s what we do whenever we grab onto something that will last for only a moment.

Of course, there are many good things God wants us to do with money that don’t involve giving. It is essential, for instance, that we provide for our family’s basic material needs (1 Timothy 5:8). But these good things are only a beginning. The money God entrusts to us is eternal investment capital. Every day is an opportunity to buy up more shares in His kingdom.

You can’t take it with you, but you can send it on ahead.

If you embrace this revolutionary concept, it will change your life. As you store up treasures in Heaven, you’ll gain both an immediate and an everlasting version of what that man found in the hidden treasure – JOY!

Chapter 2 – Was Jesus Really Talking About Financial Giving?
Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. (Matthew 6:20)

Jesus explicitly said that God will grant us rewards for generous giving: “Go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven” (Matthew 19:21).

Jesus said, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Luke 12:33 – 34).

There is no ambiguity here. Taking money and possessions we could have stored up for ourselves on earth and instead giving them to the poor is how we store up treasures in Heaven. The language of treasures, thieves, moths, and our hearts following our treasures demonstrates that the meaning of Luke 12 mirrors the meaning of Matthew 6.

Similarly, Mark quotes Jesus as saying, “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasures in heaven” (Mark 10:21).

Jesus’ message is convicting and clear – it’s all about giving and rewards for giving.

Chapter 3 – Compounding Joy.
The less I spent on myself and the more I gave away, the fuller of happiness and blessing did my soul become. (Hudson Taylor)

God used experiences and material things to take my understanding of His ownership to a new level. Contemplate his words:

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him. (Psalm 24:1)

The silver is mine and the gold is mine, declares the Lord Almighty. (Haggai 2:8)

Remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth. (Deuteronomy 8:18)

You are not your own, you were bought at a price. (1 Corinthians 6:19 – 20)

Treasure Principle Key #1 – God owns everything. I’m his money manager.

Understanding ownership was only half my lesson. If God was the owner, I was the manager. I needed to adopt a steward’s mentality toward the assets He had entrusted – not given – to me.

A steward manages assets for the owner’s benefit. He carries no sense of entitlement to the assets he manages. It’s his job to find out what the Owner wants done with his assets, then to carry out his will.

We need to realize God’s ownership. Once we understand that we are giving away God’s money to do God’s work, we will discover a peace and joy we never had back when we thought it was our money!

Whenever we think like owners, it’s a red flag. We should be thinking like stewards, investment managers, always looking for the best place to invest the Owner’s money. One day we’ll go through a job performance evaluation: “For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God” (Romans 14:10,12).

Our name is on God’s account. We have unrestricted access to it. As His money managers, God trusts us to set our own salaries. We draw needed funds from his wealth to pay our living expenses. One of our central spiritual decisions is determining a reasonable amount to live on. Whatever that amount is – and it will legitimately vary from person to person – we shouldn’t hoard or indiscriminately spend the excess. After all, it’s His, not ours.

I attended a gathering of givers where we took turns telling our giving stories. The words fun, joy, exciting, and wonderful kept surfacing. There were lots of smiles, laughter, and tears of joy.

The more we give, the more we delight in our giving. It pleases us. But more important, it pleases God.

“God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7). However, the cheerfulness often comes during and after the act of obedience, not before it. So don’t wait until you feel like giving! Just give and watch the joy follow.

God wants us to find joy. He even commands us to rejoice (Philippians 4:4). But if we don’t give, we’re robbed of an important source of the joy God instructs us to seek!

When it comes to money and possessions, the cultures of the world and the church sometimes seem indistinguishable. If you ever feel inclined to talk a young believer (including your child) out of giving, please restrain yourself. Don’t quench God’s Spirit, and don’t rob someone of present joy and future rewards. Instead, watch and learn. Then ask God what He wants you to give away, and what gladness He wants to bring into your life.

“Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.”  (2 Corinthians 8:2)

How do “severe trial,” “overflowing joy,” “extreme poverty,” and “rich generosity” all fit in one verse? Giving isn’t a luxury of the rich. It’s a joyous privilege of the poor. I’ve discovered that impoverished Christians in many countries find great joy in giving.

These early Christians were dirt poor but came up with every reason they could to give. What a contrast to those who have so much but come up with endless justification for not giving!

God uses giving to conform us to His image. Gaze upon Christ long enough and you will become more of a giver. Give long enough and you’ll become more like Christ.

The greatest passage on giving in all Scripture ends not with “congratulations for your generosity,” but with “thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15).

As thunder follows lightning, joyful giving follows grace.

God says that His willingness to answer our prayers is directly affected by whether we are caring for the needy and oppressed. Want to empower your prayer life? Give.

It was said of Josiah, “He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me? declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 22:16). Caring for the needy flows out of knowing God and draws us closer to him.

Christ followers aren’t the only ones who can discover enormous joy in giving.

Speaking of world needs, novelist Stephen King wrote, “we have the power to help, the power to change. And why should we refuse? Because we’re going to take it with us? Please.”

King continued, sharing sort of a secular version of the Treasure Principle, “I want you to consider making your lives one long gift to others, and why not? All you have is on loan, anyway….All that lasts is what you pass on.”

Investor T. Boone Pickens talked about how good it feels to give. He said, “I was put here to make money so I could give it away.”

There’s just nothing like giving. It’s exhilarating. For me, the only feeling that compares is the joy of leading someone to Christ. The great thing is that our giving to missions helps people come to Christ all over the world. Someday we’ll meet them in Heaven! When that happens, will any of us wish we had kept that money instead of giving it?

Giving brings us far more than it takes. It infuses our lives with gladness and gratitude. It interjects an eternal dimension into the most ordinary day. That’s one reason you could never pay givers enough to convince them not to give.

But hold on – great as it is, our present joy isn’t the best part of the Treasure Principle.

Chapter 4 – Eyes on Eternity.
For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. (Matthew 16:27)

(Page 40 – Story of comparing King Tut to a man who made a big impact for the kingdom but didn’t have much materially…)

I was struck by the contrast between these two graves. Borden’s was obscure, dusty, and hidden off a backstreet littered with garbage. Tutankhamun’s tomb glittered with unimaginable wealth. Yet where are these two men now? One, who lived in opulence and called himself King, is in the misery of a Christless eternity. The other, who lived a modest life in service to the one true King, is enjoying everlasting reward in his Lord’s presence.

Tuts life was tragic because of an awful truth discovered too late – he couldn’t take his treasures with him. William Borden’s life was triumphant. Why? Because instead of leaving behind his treasures, he sent them on ahead.

Jesus notices our smallest acts of kindness: “If anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward” (Matthew 10:42).

God keeps a record of all we do for him: “A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name” (Malachi 3:16).

Imagine a scribe in Heaven recording each of your gifts. The bike you gave to the neighbor kid, the books to prisoners, the monthly donations to the church, missionaries, and pregnancy center – all are being chronicled. Scrolls are made to be read.

Jesus said, “If you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?” (Luke 16:11). If you handle his money faithfully, Christ will give you true, eternal riches.

Our “friends” in Heaven will be those whose lives we’ve touched on earth, who will have their own “eternal dwellings.” Luke 16:9 seems to say our friends’ eternal dwellings are places where we stay and fellowship, perhaps as we move about the heavenly kingdom. The money we give to help others on earth will open doors of fellowship in Heaven. Now that’s something to get excited about!

John Bunyan wrote “Pilgrims Progress” in prison. He wrote: “Whatever good thing you do for Him, if done according to the Word, is laid up for you as treasure in chests and coffers, to be brought out to be rewarded before both men and angels, to your eternal comfort.”

Is this a biblical concept? Absolutely. Paul spoke about the Philippians financial giving and explained, “not that I am looking for a gift, but I am looking for what may be credited to your account” (Philippians 4:17). God keeps an account open for us in heaven, and every gift given for his glory is a deposit in that account. (Have you been making regular deposits?)

You must believe it is right to want to do what Jesus tells you to do: store up treasures for yourself in heaven. 

If it is wrong to want rewards, Christ wouldn’t offer them as motivation. Rewards are God’s idea, not ours!

Our instinct is to give to those who will give us something in return. But Jesus told us to give to “the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind….Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous. (Luke 14:13 – 14). If we give to those who can’t reward us, Christ guarantees he will personally reward us. He’s talking about treasures that await us in Heaven, rewards for caring for the poor, including our efforts to reach the unreached with the gospel of Jesus.

Giving is a giant lever position on the fulcrum of this world, allowing us to move mountains in the next world. Because we give, eternity will be different – for others and for us.

A heart in the right place.
God promises us generous heavenly rewards in a magnificent New Heaven and New Earth free from the curse and suffering (Revelation 21:1-6). We’ll forever be with the person we were made for, and a place made for us. Nevertheless, many Christians dread the thought of leaving this world.

Why? Because so many have stored up their treasures on Earth, not in Heaven. Each day brings us closer to death. If your treasures are on Earth, each day brings you closer to losing them.

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