Salvation Is Your Greatest Treasure!

5th Sunday in Lent, 3/17/13
Philippians 3:8-14


Salvation Is Your Greatest Treasure!
I. Let go of the others.
II. Always press on towards it.


I saw it on my internet home page last week. Maybe you saw the same item. It was the story of two men who had purchased a home a couple years ago on Long Island, NY from a man who had been a painter. They paid $300,000 for the house and the shabby-looking garage that was off to the side of the house. They knew that the man had been a painter and that the home still contained some of his paintings. They were told none of them were worth much, if anything at all.

Either that informant didn’t know much about the value of paintings or he hadn’t carefully searched through all the paintings stored in the garage. Because it wasn’t long before the two new owners discovered what a treasure was there. An appraisal by a famous art expert valued the paintings at $30 million dollars! Imagine grasping the reality of owning a treasure like that!

Believe it or not, you do. Today’s worship focus reminds you that your loving and gracious God offers you the precious treasure of salvation. And lo and behold, that treasure by God’s grace through the powerful working of the Holy Spirit is yours. By faith in Jesus you are saved from the punishment of your sins. By faith in Jesus you possess eternal life in heaven. Not all the famous paintings in the world are worth that!

If we found out that we possessed a painting worth millions of dollars, we’d be delirious. But what impact on your life does possessing a far greater treasure have on you? How does possessing salvation affect your daily life? How does it affect the decisions that you make? How does it guide your priorities? The Apostle Paul addresses those very questions in this morning’s text from his Letter to the Philippians. In these words he reminds the Philippians and us that salvation is your greatest treasure. If you need to be convinced of that, then it’s a good thing we have these next few minutes to spend together. If you’re having trouble living like the possessor of this greatest of all treasures, then your God has exactly the help you need right here. Salvation is your greatest treasure!

Part I.

Have you ever watched a little toddler inside a room full of toys for the first time? It’s humorous. They have trouble handling it. There are so many new toys and they want to experience the fun of playing with all of them at the same time. It isn’t long however, before they realize that can’t play with them all, so they begin to pick up and hold the ones they intend to focus on. But with such little hands, they can’t hold very many of their new little treasures. But they keep on trying! As they open their chubby little hand to hoard one more toy in their fist, they lose their grip on one already in their possession. So they bend down to pick it up, and, as they succeed at retrieving that one, they lose another.

That reminds me of the tragic efforts of far too many Christians who already possess the greatest treasure, their salvation. They have it in their grasp, but then begin trying to grab onto all sorts of other things, and, in the process lose their greatest treasure. Our Lord’s words through Paul help us avoid the same tragic mistake.

Paul had it all at one point in his life, or so he thought. He writes earlier in this same letter that if anyone had reason to boast about being an outwardly good person, it was he. He was a Pharisee among Pharisees. He was fanatical about keeping God’s Old Testament laws. He was a pure-blooded Jew. He even persecuted those whom he viewed as a threat to Judaism.

But listen to what he says about all that now, “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish.” First, Paul let go of his own self-righteousness. He came to realize that we can’t make ourselves good in God’s sight no matter what good things we do. That’s rubbish.

Instead, Paul looked to Christ to give him that righteous status before the holy God. He says, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection.” It’s not that Paul didn’t know about Jesus; he knew about him. He trusted in him as his Savior. But he wanted to grow in his faith and knowledge about Jesus. By his resurrection Jesus assured Paul and every sinner of the full and free forgiveness of all sins. The resurrection of Jesus assures us that we are righteous before God because of what Jesus did, not because of what we do. That resurrection is now the power for our daily living.

In fact, Paul states how deeply that power affected hm. “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings.” The one who had once hated Jesus now wanted not only to live for Jesus but to suffer for him. Paul wore suffering for his connection to Jesus as a badge of honor. Paul endured even vicious physical abuse for his faith in Jesus. That’s how much Jesus meant to him. What an example for us!

Paul endured suffering knowing what awaited him. He speaks about attaining the resurrection from the dead on the Last Day. Paul didn’t know at this point how he would die. Would it be peacefully in his sleep or violently as a Christian martyr? It didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was dying with faith in Jesus so that, on the Last Day, the Lord would raise his body in glory. Nothing else mattered. Salvation was Paul’s greatest treasure. He let go of everything else that he considered important.

I don’t think any of us would describe another person in this sanctuary as a Pharisee, but to a degree, that description fits us all. Our natural opinion of ourselves is that we can do something which will make God favorably disposed toward us. And even if we wouldn’t admit to building ourselves up before others, we have to admit that there are times when we look down on others. It’s all the same, though; just a different vantage point. And when self-righteousness isn’t hindering our relationship with Jesus, then it’s the other facets of living that take over. We get so busy juggling what we consider to be important that we tend to let our greatest treasure slip from our spiritual grasp. We may even intentionally set aside our spiritual life so that we can pay more attention to something else, with the intention of getting back to our spiritual life as soon as things settle down. That’s like holding $30 million worth of paintings in your hands and letting them all drop to the ground in order to pick up a dirty penny. That’s foolishness! Your salvation is your greatest treasure! It’s the only thing you possess that will last forever. Jesus gladly gave up his perfect life so that he could win it for you. It’s yours by faith in him. It’s your greatest treasure. Let go of all the others in your life!

Part II.

Allowing yourself to get distracted can be deadly. That’s the reason for Ohio’s new law against using cell phones while operating a motor vehicle. Distracted driving kills!

Eternal salvation is our greatest treasure. It’s our precious possession. But we haven’t reached our goal yet. Our goal is life with our Savior in heaven. We’re still here in this sinful world. But don’t let the world distract you from your goal.

Instead, press on towards your heavenly goal every day. That’s exactly what Paul says he is doing and he offers his example as an encouragement to us. He writes, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” A little later he writes, “One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Paul uses terms that he borrowed from the sport of sprint racing. The Philippians, living in an area that is now modern Greece, were all too familiar with such sprints in Olympic competition. No sprinter ever ran only at half-speed. No sprinter every stopped running to speak with someone watching the race. All focus, all energy, every thought process were centered on the goal—the finish line.

Paul encourages the same focused energy in our race towards eternal life. But practically, how do we do that? Through the means of grace, the gospel of Jesus in his word and sacraments. As our faith in Jesus is strengthened by word and sacrament our focus on heaven is renewed and sharpened. Our ability to ward off distractions is heightened. We quickly realize what things in this life are getting in the way of our race to eternal life. We daily declare by the way we’re living that salvation is our greatest treasure. We do that by always pressing towards it.

Our loving Lord showers us with blessings—loved ones, friends, employment, hobbies, recreation, art, music, sports, houses, vehicles, education, retirement. He wants us to enjoy them, but never at the expense of our greatest treasure. There’s a fine line between enjoying these blessings and letting them become a distraction on our way to eternal life. Jesus never let anything distract him from being your Savior. He let nothing hinder him from suffering and dying for the sins of the world. And now he has given you salvation by faith in him—your greatest treasure. Let his love for you fill you with love for him as you press on daily to life with him. Amen.