So, what do you suppose Jesus is trying to tell us here in Luke 12?

Do you think it’s really simple, like Bobby McFerin’s song: “Don’t worry, be happy?”

What’s Jesus trying to say to us in the passage we just heard? [ASK-treasure the right things, whatever you treasure is where your heart will be, etc.]

We’re thinking today about offering our hearts to God.

How do we do it? How do we learn to treasure the right things, the things God cares about? How do we seek God’s kingdom, how do we pursue what God is doing in the world?

Step one is figuring out what we treasure NOW. What are we seeking NOW with our lives? Before we make it personal, let’s speak in generalities.

What are some of the things we humans treasure ahead of God? What do we pursue that Jesus says thieves can steal and a moth can destroy? [ASK-money, material things, etc.]

Let’s probe a little deeper.

How about intangible things we treasure? What emotional things, what non-material things do we pursue? [ASK]

As we enter a time of open worship, let’s take time in the quiet to invite God to begin to work in us.

What do you treasure? I’ve heard it said that if we look at our appointment book, we’ll see the things we really treasure by seeing what takes our time. What drives you? What do you ultimately desire? What do you speak?

Let those questions and Jesus’ words guide us in the silence. [READ v. 31-“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”]

OPEN WORSHIP

There are a lot of ways we can be distracted by this passage.

Some of us have the type of personality, that when we hear Jesus say, “Don’t worry…” …we end up worrying about worrying!

Others focus on the part about how we clothe ourselves, and will feel ok because we haven’t bought any new stylish clothes in years. “I look terrible, therefore I must be ok!” J

If we let him, though, Jesus will keep pulling us back to the core issue. Did you experience that in open worship? Did you find Jesus moving your thoughts back to the center: where is your heart’s desire?

Whatever we ultimately desire, whatever we treasure, that’s where our heart is.

And Jesus wants it. He wants our hearts. He wants us to desire the things he desires. First and foremost, God wants us to seek out what God wants to happen in our lives and in our world.

To offer our hearts means to offer what we treasure to God. In fact, it means letting God’s value system change what we treasure and what we ultimately pursue with our lives.

It’s enough to drive you a little bit crazy.

We keep trying to break down this offering idea into bite sized pieces, into tangible and manageable parts of our lives to offer God…and every time we do it, God ends up asking for everything again!

One of the basic parts of being human is that we want to make sure our needs are met before we take care of anything else.

“Once I’m on more solid financial footing, I can give to the church.”

“After my kids are out of the house, I’ll have time to help with Habitat for Humanity.”

That’s what makes Jesus words in Luke 12 particularly challenging. The people who followed Jesus around and listened to his teaching were dirt poor. They worried about putting food on the table because it was a very difficult life, a real struggle to make ends meet.

We tend to minimize his words when we apply it to our situation. “I’m not greedy or anything, I’m just taking care of my family.” The harsh reality is that most of us pursue a lifestyle that is quite a bit beyond the subsistence level…yet Jesus was even challenging people who didn’t have enough to eat not to worry about food!

Jesus knew that.

He knew and loved these people who were struggling to make ends meet, struggling as some here struggle, not knowing if there will be food on the table by the end of the week.

Jesus’ words to them are not chiding. They aren’t punishing words. He doesn’t want them to worry about worrying about making ends meet.

Jesus is teaching them about trusting God. It’s about getting the important things lined up first, and Jesus reminds them, and us, that sometimes we get the cart before the horse.

The hopeful promise is that putting the horse first…putting God first in our lives and seeking first what he intends for us and the world…putting the horse first means God will make sure the cart follows.

If we seek what God wants in our lives as our first priority, he’ll take care of our needs. Our needs, themselves, were never meant to be a primary goal of our lives.

Our needs were never meant to give us purpose.

On a practical level, virtually all of us forget that at times.

Some are pretty blatant in making needs a goal, a purpose in life. We get up every Monday morning to go to work so that we can pay the mortgage and the car payment. We pursue money for the comforts it brings, the status it can offer us. We buy clothes and snowmobiles and iPods and knick knacks because they give us pleasure.

Our things and our stuff become important factors in our decisions: can we afford this? If I take this job, will I be able to make my payments and obligations?

On a practical, day-to-day level, our decisions are affected by our stuff…our stuff that Jesus reminds us is going to rot away at some point.

I suppose it goes even deeper than that, if we’re willing to look.

There are things that guide us, things we seek, beyond our stuff. In fact, sometimes we’re seeking more and more “stuff” for the deeper things we think it will bring us- A sense of significance. Power. Respect. Prestige. Sexual fulfillment. Pleasure. An adrenaline rush.

Even if we get past seeking more and more “stuff”, more and more things, we can find a deeper struggle. We realize that our lives are ruled by a heart that desires emotional experiences, that desires others to respect us.

The pursuit of God, the heart pursuit of wanting what God wants in our lives and in our world, can be diverted by so many other things.

To offer God our hearts means to re-prioritize what we desire.

Seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness. Ahead of our food and clothing needs, ahead of our car payment and our mortgage and our 401 K, ahead of our emotional needs and the mark we will make on society…

Ahead of all that, God says, put my desires and my work. If you do it, if you put what I want in first place, I’ll make sure you have what you need.

But that re-prioritizing is so difficult.

We can’t just “add on” God’s desires to our lives. We can’t just fit church and spirituality around the other parts of our lives, because our mortgages and our schedules lock us in to a lifestyle. They lock us in to priorities that we’ve made and set.

God doesn’t fit very well around the edges of our heart. We have to offer him the whole thing.

I have a friend I’ll call Tom, from a different time and place in my life.

He would talk to me often about how God was putting all of these visions and plans in his life, things my friend loved to do and was passionate about, things he could envision pursuing AND how they could be used by God.

But he never put those visions into reality. His earlier choices about what car to drive and what house to buy, his earlier choices to max out a credit card, meant that too much of his energy was going into finding ways to pay the bills.

Offering God our hearts, our desires, is an all-consuming thing.

So many of our decisions affect what we can pursue or how we can respond to God as our assignment in his kingdom.

It doesn’t just come down to asking what does God want me to do today. It doesn’t just come down to what career does God want me to do.

Who we marry, what types of things we view as “necessities” for our lifestyle, our debt load, where we choose to go to school; even what hobbies we enjoy and give time to…it all affects how responsive we can be to God’s call on our lives.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve certainly said enough to make ME paranoid!

So let’s close by simplifying. If we’re going to offer God our hearts, if we’re going to ask God to make his desires, our desires, what do we need to do?

We’ve taken the first step during open worship. First, we have to look at what we treasure now. Where is our heart right now?

Next, we ask: What does God treasure? What are God’s desires and values for my life and for the world?

Finally, what will I have to give up and release to treasure what God treasures? What will need to increase for me to treasure what God treasures?

We’ve already worked on step one. Now, let’s help each other a little with step two.

How do we find out what is important to God? After we’ve found what we desire, we need to compare it to what God desires for us and for the world. How do we find out what God treasures? [ASK]

As a practical way to offer your heart to God this week, you could choose to spend some time doing one of the things we just mentioned. Spend some time reading the bible, or doing listening prayer, or journaling as a way to find out what God desires.

Or, take it a little deeper to step three. As a practical way to offer your heart to God this week, what will you choose to give up and release so God’s desire can be first in your life? What will you need to increase and add for God’s desires to rule your heart?

[Close in prayer.]