Preached at First Presbyterian Church of Rolla on August 10, 2025. Based on Luke 12:32-40.
Last week, Susan talked about being rich towards God. Today’s passage continues the theme. But here, Luke writes that we are to lay up treasure in heaven, which is just a little bit different. Let’s see if we can figure out what Jesus was trying to teach his disciples.
How do we lay up heavenly treasure? One way is to worship God. I mean, that’s kind of why we’re here, right? To earn our Jesus Points™? Oh, but wait a minute, Jesus Points aren’t real! Under the old Temple sacrificial system, people would bring animals and other items to sacrifice as a way of getting in God’s good graces, earning Adonai Points so to speak. In about 760 BCE, during a time of great prosperity for the Israelites, Amos was chosen as a prophet and sent to God’s people with these words (Amos 5:21-24):
21 I hate, I despise your festivals,
and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them,
and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals
I will not look upon.
23 Take away from me the noise of your songs;
I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
24 But let justice roll down like water
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
Now, Amos isn’t saying that worship is pointless. Rather, he is saying that worship is not the real goal. The real goal is justice and righteousness. We come to worship God so that we are empowered and inspired to pursue justice and righteousness in our daily lives outside these four walls. Here, justice doesn’t mean tit-for-tat punishment and revenge, and righteousness doesn’t mean being completely pure of heart. Justice is restoring wholeness where there has been harm, and righteousness means the pursuit of that which is right in God’s eyes, rather than what seems good to our selfish desires.
Jesus’s guidance to his followers is to allocate our resources in accordance with God’s justice and righteousness, that is, to allocate our resources in the pursuit of God’s kingdom, which is universal flourishing. As we allocate our resources, so also we will believe and behave. This is a reminder that a church budget is a theological statement, and a personal budget reflects a person’s true values.
In preparation for this sermon, I ran a report of my last twelve months of spending. I was pleasantly surprised that the single biggest category was charitable giving. Next was the cost of our accessible van, including both the loan payments and the major repair we did in January. Then comes the mortgage, then vacations including the cruise we just took, then retirement savings, then groceries. I was a little surprised to find that hunting is less than 2% of my annual budget, about half of what we spend on eating out. So then I asked myself: Is this appropriate? Well, let’s see. Putting God first by giving to charity: check. Van and house for the sake of Rhonda’s quality of life: check. Vacations while Rhonda is still capable of enjoying them, and so that I can recharge, and so that we can keep our relationship refreshed: check. Food: check. That all adds up to about 2/3 of the total. I’m less certain about the relative importance of the smaller buckets, but overall, I’m satisfied.
Then I took a look at the church budget. Now I will say that our expenditures do not necessarily track the budget exactly, but the budget gives us a starting point for discussion. Over the past year, I’ve met with most of the people in the congregation, and it seems like everyone’s priority is worship. The total budget allocation to worship, including Jeff, Lorie, Susan, and me, plus things like organ and piano maintenance, is 17.5% of the annual budget. The two larger categories are the building, at 18.2%, and the non-worship personnel, at 37.8%. Our per capita obligation to the presbytery is 1.9%, and what we allocate to ministries other than worship such as fellowship, education, and the deacons’ activities total less than 1%.
So in effect, the largest portion of our annual budget is to maintain the building and our daily operations, not our worship. Hmm. I don’t think this is what we would choose if we were making a conscious allocation of resources based on the congregation that we have today. Rather, it is the result of decades of cutting back anything deemed non-essential, including a full-time pastor, coupled with a building that was constructed for a very different congregation 60 years ago. I am pleased that we still allocate a significant portion to missions, 3.5%.
Another resource that we all have, some would say our most valuable resource, is time. I looked at my “typical” schedule from last spring. In a given week, I spend roughly equal time on teaching my class and leading this church. I spend more than twice that amount in various meetings related to being department chair. In April and May, my daytime calendar was basically filled with meetings and events almost every weekday. I try to allocate half an hour or more to spiritual development every day, and half an hour or more to running every day. I feel reasonably good about the allocation of my calendar even though it can be a real grind sometimes. I’m naturally an introvert, so even though I recognize the value in having meetings both to get things done and to foster relationships, they can be really draining for me.
Am I “laying up treasure in heaven” with the way I spend my time? Well, I spend roughly one-seventh of my waking hours on commitments to God, whether serving the church or working at the Mission or focusing on my own spiritual development. I’d say that’s not bad. I would recommend that everyone does an assessment of how you allocate your time and your money and see if it aligns with your values.
The point is to pay attention to the right things, and to act in pursuit of justice and righteousness. People often comment on how much I do. One way I can do so many different things is that I see everything I do as part of the same goal. What is the core message of the Gospel? The kingdom of God is at hand! God’s kingdom is universal human flourishing. Whether I am preaching, or teaching engineering, or meeting with my colleagues, or working in the community, my goal is to foster human flourishing. When I’m running or studying, I’m working towards my own flourishing.
The second part of today’s lesson is all about being ready. Jesus said, “Be dressed for action…like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet. … You…must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” This is an echo of Matthew 25, which tells us to keep our lamps lit like the maidens at the wedding waiting for the bridegroom, and also to watch for Jesus to show up in the form of the hungry, the naked, the prisoner—the least of these children of God. We stay ready by paying attention to the right things. We stay ready by spending our time and money in ways that are in accord with God’s claim on our lives. We stay ready by keeping informed about world events like wars, famine, and disease. We stay ready by staying engaged with our community and aware of the needs of our neighbors. We stay ready by learning about the lived experiences of those who are different from us, different by age or class or race or gender or education or socioeconomic status. We stay ready by fulfilling our own spiritual needs, as well as our own material and emotional and relational needs, so that we have resources to help others fulfill their needs. And I want to emphasize that word: our needs.
Unfortunately, most of us put our trust in the wrong things. Rather than stepping out in faith and relying on God to provide, we trust on our own ability to provide. We cling to more than we need. We trust in people and systems that claim to offer security in exchange for our obedience. Why? Fear. Walter Brueggemann wrote,
“The truth is that frightened people will never turn the world, because they use too much energy on protection of self. It is the vocation of the baptized, the known and named and unafraid, to make the world whole. The unafraid are open to the neighbor, while the frightened are defending themselves from the neighbor. The unafraid are generous in the community, while the frightened, in their anxiety, must keep and store and accumulate, to make themselves safe. The unafraid commit acts of compassion and mercy, while the frightened do not notice those in need. The unafraid are committed to justice for the weak and the poor, while the frightened see them only as threats. The unafraid pray in the morning, care through the day, and rejoice at night in thanks and praise, while the frightened are endlessly restless and dissatisfied. So dear people, each of you: Do not fear! I have called you by name; you are mine!” says the Lord.
Throughout the Bible, God’s message is clear, as it is in the opening of today’s passage: “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Now, that doesn’t mean that you should be irrational and wasteful. It means that you should focus on God’s kingdom, on helping other people to flourish, on building strong relationships. If you are doing God’s work, people will want to be a part of it.
Take The Rolla Mission for example. They are not a Christian organization, although they were started by a church. However, they are clearly following Jesus’s command to care for the least of his siblings. They have done a phenomenal job for many years. Sara Buell gave a great presentation to the city council this past Monday. Some sample statistics over the last year: 92 jobs secured, 136 people into housing, almost 33,000 meals served and more than 16,000 loads of laundry, and furnishing for 208 new homes.
Any time I’ve spoken with Ashley Brooks about the Mission’s funding, she has been unconcerned. In her early days as their only employee, she would worry about it a lot, but she soon realized that all she needed to do was to tell people about the Mission’s good work, and they would want to be a part of it. Now, that doesn’t mean she doesn’t keep working on keeping the funding flowing—far from it. Sara, who gave the presentation, is a full-time staff member dedicated to donor relations. Ashley frequently submits grant applications. The organization is committed to responsible fiscal management; for example, they didn’t replace one staff member who left because of the federal funding uncertainties. But the Mission doesn’t worry about the future. They just keep looking for ways to help the community, knowing that if they are doing good work, the resources will come.
We too are called to live that way, as individuals and as an organization. Rather than hoarding our time and money, being stingy with our resources out of fear, we are called to be generous as God is generous. We are called to build strong relationships and foster the flourishing of our neighbors, our community, and the world. We are called to step out in faith, to proclaim the gospel for the salvation of humankind, to promote social righteousness, and to exhibit the kingdom of heaven to the world, even as we continue to maintain divine worship and to shelter and nurture the children of God in spiritual fellowship. In these ways, we preserve the Truth that is God’s love for us all. We preserve the Truth that God will make a way for us. And we lay up treasure in heaven, God’s eternal provision that will sustain us always. Amen.
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