Treasures on earth

Paul wrote in his letter to the Colossians (3:1), ‘If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is….’ There’s some debate as to when exactly the letter to the Colossians was written but it may well have been written from a prison cell in Rome. Even in prison though Paul was convinced of the gospel message – he wrote to the Colossians to try and stamp out heresy which was damaging the church there.

But he doesn’t do it primarily by talking about the heresy but by reminding the people of the nature of Jesus – and that he is all that we need to focus on to obtain fullness of life. Today, as people have through many generations, people often seek for other things – to find the perfect job, to find happiness in wealth or possessions, some in unfortunate relationships, or even drink or drugs.

There’s a story about a man who really loved money, and when he was dying he made his brother, who would have inherited all the money promise him that he would put all his money in the coffin with him. He promised to do this. After he died his brother went to see the open coffin with a friend. He had told the friend of his promise.

At the end of the visit as the undertakers got ready to close the lid, the brother brought out a box and put it in the coffin next to the body. The undertakers locked the coffin and rolled it away. His friend said, surely you weren’t foolish enough to put all that money in there.’

The brother replied, ‘Listen I’m a Christian and I promised him that I was going to put all that money in the coffin with him.’

‘You mean to tell me you’ve put every penny in the coffin ?’

‘I certainly did’ said the brother. ‘I wrote him a cheque’.

More seriously there is the story of Alexander the Great. He had inherited one Empire and conquered another. He literally bought the East and the West, and he did it all by the age of 33. He quickly became disillusioned with life though realising that money and possessions couldn’t buy happiness. He asked that when he died his hands should be left completely open, so that people who came to view his body would realise that the man who seemed to own the whole world left with nothing.

What Paul is saying to the Colossians was that a relationship with Jesus is what we all really need, and this very much followed the theme of the reading from the gospel today (Luke 12:13-21). There we hear of a man who was very rich, so rich that he had nowhere left to store his abundance of crops and so he pulled down his barns and built larger ones to store up his possessions for many years to come – he planned to relax, eat, drink and be merry.

But it was too late – that very night the man died and all of the things that he had prepared for the future meant nothing. Like Alexander the Great, the man’s possessions and wealth would mean nothing.

Some have interpreted this as a suggestion that we need to give away all that we have in order to serve God, and for some people that is the right way, but most importantly what the story is urging us all to do is to get our priorities right.

Think again of those words of Paul to the Colossians, ‘If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is….’

Following Christ means following the example of his life. It is to recognise that each of us is created to live in relationships – relationships with one another and with the wider world. It means to live in a way that recognises relationships are not drawn merely by family connections or even friends, but by recognising that we are all part of a family whether we live in Llandrindod or many thousands of miles away.

Where people are hurting, our family is hurt. Where people are in need, we must seek to respond to that need. Where people are rejoicing, we rejoice with them.

Many people work long hours for possessions which they don’t have time to enjoy. Many seek solace and comfort in drink or drugs. Many seek day after day to find some sort of peace in their lives, and completely miss the mark.

There is not too much wrong with the phrase ‘relax, eat, drink and be merry’ (as long as that drinking is in moderation !!) but there is a lot wrong in seeking to do those things while neglecting others. Preparing for funerals, I sometimes get a long list of achievements that people have done in their lives but no real comment about what they were like as people. What is far more meaningful is what people actually thought of the person – were those achievements ones that would live in the memory, things that have made life better for others, or were those things simply material – things that will pass away with the person.

A family once put up a bird feeder with four feeding stations. It was really popular for a while with lots of birds coming to it and the food needing to be filled a couple of times a day. After a while though the use diminished, so much so that it seemed onlyv1 bird was using it, and the food only needed filling once a week. What had happened was that this bird had taken control of it, and attacked any other birds that went near.

The bird would sit and watch for hour after hour. Taking control of the feeding station had meant that instead of having a great possession, he had actually lost his freedom – tied to watching and protecting the station day after day, and missing the chance to do anything else.

Sometimes we too can get bogged down in things that seem a really good idea, or things that seem really important at the time, but later we recognise we have wasted time and opportunity to simply enjoy creation – both the beauty and wonder of it, and also the chance of relationships within it.

Following Jesus isn’t always going to be the easy option, but it will be the lasting option. Seeking to serve in the way he did won’t perhaps make us rich in material terms, but it will make us rich in his peace, in knowing that in doing his will we are serving him and sharing his message of love and offer of salvation.

We will face trials in life. We may know pain and even depression perhaps but we can turn to God and ask him to get us through these things. We can turn to God and recognise that his love is all sufficient. In his care and his company, we have already conquered the problems and fears in our lives.

Corrie Ten Boom once explained that life can sometimes be like a piece of embroidery placed between us and God, with the right side facing up towards God – we can see the loose frayed ends, but God sees the picture.

Paul, writing from his prison cell, didn’t bother arguing about his faith and trying to win that argument. He simply pointed people to Jesus urging them to recognise that a new life with him really meant a new life – a life that would consist of recognising that in whatever we do, or whatever situation we find ourselves in, God is there with us, continuing to love us – and offering to guide and support us if we let him.

It was with the same sort of motivation that Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians, again from his prison cell in Rome, urging Christians to live joyfully in every circumstance. Living joyfully wasn’t easy from his prison cell I’m sure, but he knew that peace that God offers. He knew that comfort that God brings, and he knew that in his victory over death Jesus had already conquered any of the problems this world may offer.

For us life will not always be easy I’m sure. It may not always mean we’re going to walk around with a cheesy grin on our faces, but a relationship with Christ will mean we know a new way – a way that offers us peace – the true peace that recognises that God loves us, and that it is his will that we share that love with others.

In sharing his love we will know his power and his peace, and we will know that what is most important in our lives is not what we have in terms of material things, but what we have in terms of relationships – with God and with one another.

‘If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is…’ AMEN