The Treasure Hunt

BECOMING A BALLAST SPRING

As I look around this morning I like the fact that we have most age groups represented here. I see some who are young and just beginning their life's journey. I also see others who are most probably nearing the end of theirs. The lesson this morning though will apply to all of us.

We'll be reading from several different Scripture passages. I have titled this message, “It's About Time.” I mean that in both possible ways. For, it's about... “time” and by that I mean the passage of time: however, it is also true that once a person has a certain understanding about life, then it is time to do something about that, so... “it's about time.”

Turn with me to Colossians 3:2 “Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth.” Now, turn to Luke 12:13-15 “And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me. And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.”

Finally, turn to II Samuel chapter 19 and verse 32. While you are turning I will give you some of the back-story that leads up to these verses we will be reading. Also before I tell you of the lesson of Barzillai I want to tell you something that some might find hard to believe.

I first read this man's story when I was in my 20's. And from that time to this morning, I suppose that I have written hundreds of thousands of words and had hundreds of lessons, messages, etcetera: however, never one time have I ever spoken, written, or talked about Barzillai. Now, here comes the part that some people would find hard to believe. I knew the very day I first read of him that I had read something important and that there would come a day that I would tell others about him: it is just that I did not know it would be this day, nor did I know it would be to this group.

David had been on the run from his enemies after having lost his kingdom. During that time there were those who were David's true friends and at various places and sundry times they had offered comfort and succour to David and his fellow travelers. In the 17th. Chapter of this book you will read that Barzillai was one of these men. In the 19th chapter where we are going to pick this story up, David is now being restored by God to his kingdom and David wants to reward those who were faithful to him during the time that he was gone.

II Samuel 19:32-37a “Now Barzillai was a very aged man, even fourscore years old: and he had provided the king sustenance while he lay at Mahanaim; for he was a very great man. And the king said unto Barzillai, Come thou over with me, and I will feed thee with me in Jerusalem. And Barzillai said unto the king, How long have I to live, that I should go up with the king unto Jerusalem? I am this day fourscore years old: and can I discern between good and evil? Now, please pay very close attention to the next two questions that Barzillai asked King David. Then, later in this message I will tell you of the valuable lesson that can be learned from the following two questions. For, it applies to every man and woman and it was not questions asked for that age only, but this truth is for our age as well. Barzillai continued with... can thy servant taste what I eat or drink? can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women? Those are the two most salient questions in this dialogue and I'll return to them later. Now we'll finish this passage. “Wherefore then should thy servant be yet a burden unto my lord the king? Thy servant will go a little way over Jordan with the king: and why should the king recompense it me with such a reward? Let thy servant, I pray thee, turn back again, that I may die in mine own city, and be buried by the grave of my father and of my mother...”

Often at work I hear someone make a statement that I'm loathe to hear. This past Tuesday I approached a young guy in one of the aisles and I asked … if he needed help? His answer to me was, “No thanks, I'm just killing time.” Again, I caught myself glancing at the cameras suspended from our ceiling and I wondered to myself if the LP guy was monitoring my department? Because my first thought was to grab him by the shoulders and shake some sense into him! Benjamin Franklin said, “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.”

I hear that phrase or something similar to it many times weekly and I always think how foolish the speaker... time is of great value and should not be wasted. To the young I say... you will get old soon enough... don't wish your life away. And to the aged I say... do something positive with your life... eternity awaits.

I also encounter those who are not just idly “window shopping” but are there for a purpose: however, even for those people many foolishly waste a lot of time. What I am now going to describe I see many times in any given day. A couple will bring a swatch of cloth or pillow or something from home as they want to match a carpet with a couch, drape, wall-color, etc. Keep in mind that we have literally thousands of color samples for our carpeting. Many carpet (sample) boards have a one-hundred palette choice of color. This means that many of the colors are nearly identical!

I have couples from their teens to their eighties arguing for 20 minutes or more over two nearly identical hues. Finally, they turn to me and ask, “What do you think?” One of these days I'm going to say... “Do-You-Really-Want-To-Know-What-I-think?” Then I'm going to tell them. Of course I will lose my job at that time. Because what I truly think is how insane they are in worrying whether a particular hue is going to match a lace drape or some leather couch?

After hearing people waste 30 minutes of their lives arguing over something inane that matters less than nothing I find myself just staring at some elderly and sweet-faced couple and what I would like to do is very gently place one of my open hands tenderly against the woman's cheek and then do the same thing with my other hand to her husbands face: then I would like to “clang” their heads together and hopefully wake them up! Of course I would do it gently, because after all, some of them are very elderly.

This is not a part of this morning's message but it just dawned on me that I might be even more successful as a salesman if I wasn't constantly thinking about shaking or clanging heads together of potential buyers.

Instead though I find myself towing the company-line and saying something ridiculous like... “Well, I think I like the mauve or chartreuse,” or something else equally ridiculous. Admittedly though, it is a little easier for me not to care about color-coordination and things along those lines because I have never been interested in things like that in the first place.

Many years ago at another church I attended there was a man who had heard me say from the pulpit that I didn't dress to impress anyone. And further, I didn't really care what anyone else thought about it. After the service he asked me if I was serious in what I said about clothing and I assured him that I had meant what I had said. Now keep in mind that I was not speaking about inappropriate clothing, just clothes that others might be concerned didn't match, etc. So, before the next service he brought me a pair of pants and wanted to know if I would wear them in public? “Wear them,” Of course I told him, “they look great!”

I'm really not sure where he would have found something like this. I think they might have been golfing pants but I'm not sure? They were blue and they had little umbrellas painted all over them: dozens of them. Now, on my own I found a striped shirt of a color that I'm fairly certain would not go with the pants, to be fair though nothing probably went with the pants.

Then without explanation I went out into the public... not once, but twice. And one of the times was to a church service. It wouldn't have been fair to announce to everyone that I had lost a bet or something of that nature, else everyone would have understood my garish outfit. No, I wore it like I thought it all “looked good.” Of course it only confirmed a long held opinion of my wife and children that I really was nuts. In the end though, it really didn't hurt anyone and I honestly didn't care what others thought.

Though I might have gone too far wearing blue umbrella pants and a green striped shirt... at the same time: can't you see where it is at least as equally silly to care about everything matching that endless hours and tons of money are wasted in such pursuits. Remember: “... a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.”

Mother Teresa, sad to say was most probably lost. I mean, you can be part of the Roman Catholic church and (in spite of their teaching) become born-again. But, you could not follow their teaching and dogma and be saved. It is totally a doctrine of works and one man sponsoring another man's forgiveness... all anti-Biblical! But, at least one aspect of her life I greatly admired and I think she fulfilled Colossians 3:2 in that aspect.

Once, as she was being seated on an air-plane a stewardess asked her if she could put her belongings in the overhead luggage compartment? She laughed, and holding up the small brown paper-bag she had in her hand she explained that what she was carrying was all of the goods she had in the world. I always thought that was remarkable. However, Isaiah 64:6 sums up all of the “good works” that man/woman can do and it is woefully inadequate.

Now, that was my introduction... and with that as a background we should be ready for the message. It is important to remember as I begin that we are talking about the passage of time and how we “spend” that time.

Now, all of us have some things in common as we pass time. For example, if you live your three-score-and-ten (70 years) approximately 23 of those years will be used up by sleeping. Three months of time will be spent brushing your teeth. Two years will be spent reading books and literature. If you never miss a church service and your church holds three services weekly... you will spend three years in church. Four years of your life will be spent eating. One year will be spent showering, and that is based on only a 20 minute shower once daily. The average working career in America today is 40 years. So, if you work 40 hours per week times 50 weeks (two weeks each year on vacation) times forty years you will spend more than nine years of your waking life at work. You will spend two months sitting in a car only waiting for the light to turn from red-to-green. Forty-five days a man will be found sitting in a barber's chair. Notice I did not calculate commuting to work, washing dishes, mowing the grass, changing diapers, doing laundry, talking on the phone, or the time wasted in front of a television. Not even considering what I just said, the first list takes up more than 42 years of your life. Now, that 70 years of life has been reduced to only 28 years. These “discretionary years” are what I want to talk to you about this morning in your service to God. For it is those years that will determine rewards earned for eternity.

I also want you to understand that it is true that we are always supposed to be in service to Him: however, we are also supposed to sleep, hold a job, etc. If you don't work, the Bible states neither should you eat. Paul was a tent-maker before he met Christ on the Damascus road, what do you suppose he was after that meeting? That's right, the Bible records that he was still a tent-maker. It was just that he had many other Christian duties to also perform.

So, when I talk about your discretionary years I am meaning those times that you call your own. What do you do with those hours. Do you wander around a big-box store trying to “kill time?” Or do you spend many wasted hours trying to get just that perfect color for something that in the grand scheme-of-things matters less than nothing.

As we get into the message I want you to keep thinking about those 15 or 20 years of life that we call our own... the discretionary years.

I am going to try and compare that short period of time to eternity. I don't know about you, but try as I might I can not really get my mind around eternity. While in sixth grade I became good friends with a boy and I spent many hours at Ron Maine's house. He had an older sibling who studied advanced mathematics. Because both of us were greatly interested in mathematics I used to quite often sleep-over at his house and we would pour over chemistry and physical science books. It was then that I first became interested in one of the two sciences of calculus: integral, I was never as interested in differentiation. I'm saying that to explain that even though I have somewhat of a solid base in mathematics, I can not even begin to grasp “eternity.”

If that is true for me, then it might be true for you as well. I also want to say that I am not implying that because I don't understand something, then you wouldn't either. So, if you can truly grasp the idea of into the ages, then you can tune me out for the next five minutes or so while I dumb something down in order that I might more easily understand a particular truth.

I am holding up a domino, I hope everyone can see it okay? It is approximately one-inch in length. What I want to do is to create an imaginary time-line and I hope to do it by comparing a tangible solid object (domino) and let it represent something that is un-substantive, which of course means that is has no mass and does not occupy space... such as “time.”

Let's say that every one-inch long domino represents one year of time. So, let's pretend that life begins at ground-zero which for this message is the pulpit. As I move away from the pulpit only 70 inches, (5'10” away) that would represent a full 70 years of life lived. Keep in mind though that many of those years we all have in common are doing things that are ordained by God and we must do them: sleeping, eating, working etc. So, in reality, we are not at all talking about 70 years of full-service to God, rather it is what we do with our discretionary years which are usually no more than 15 or 20 years.

Imagine that eternity was only one-million years long? Now, at least for me, that is a number I can imagine: though large, it is still easier to comprehend... do you all agree? I have a domino that I am beginning to move on the pulpit a distance of 20 inches. Notice, it doesn't even make it a third of the way across the top of the pulpit. But, all God expects from us are these 20 inches... representing 20 years of time to work for Him. And if we do that to the best of our ability we have a million domino's ahead of us to be grateful.

Let's see how far a million inches (domino's) are to travel in distance. From this pulpit to the rear of this church would take about 800 years (inches) to travel, that is one-inch equaling one year of time. A million inches is more than 83,000 feet... which is nearly 16 miles! The next time you are in your bare-feet try this: put one foot in front of the other, tightly, heel to toe and see how far that is. Then imagine that short distance represents 15 or twenty years of discretionary life on Earth. Now, slip on a pair of shoes and go to your car and set your odometer to zero and drive from your home until you reach 15.78 miles. That is one-million inches and that represents eternity! So, 20 inches of life and service compared to 15.78 miles to be rewarded.

However, in reality a million years does a great disservice in trying to imagine eternity: for it is not a million, billion, trillion, quadrillion, quintillion, sextillion, septillion, or octillion number of years. It is not even a centillion, which is a one, followed by 303 zeros: it is FOREVER!

The largest number man can conceptualize is called a googol number. A googolplex then would be a 10 to the power of 10 to the power of 100. Try and imagine how impossibly large that number is... imagine wanting to write out a googolplex number. Let's say you could write two numbers per second. In other words 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 would take you five seconds to write and you did this nonstop until you had reached a googolplex number. At two numbers per second it would take you 1.1 times 10 to the 82nd power times 14 billion years to complete!

Yet, as impossibly large as that is to conceive... if a time line of eternity could be represented, after enough eons have passed, then even a googolplex number of years would always be shrinking back toward zero and finally hover there forever... always growing smaller, yet not entirely disappearing. I hope I haven't wasted this past five minutes. I am just wanting to show you that for 20 years representing 20 inches of distance traveled and (or) service to God... you have that “into the ages, world without end” concept of time to be rewarded! In the vernacular of children, it seems like a no-brainer type of decision.

Turn with me to Matthew 10:39 “He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” There are many ways to “lose your life.” Now of course this verse is not speaking about death, rather it is talking about what we do that consumes or uses up our life. The three most important words in that verse are... for my sake...

I want to talk to you about some of the many ways that we can “lose our life.” One of the worst ways I think is that we begin to have a lot of idols in our lives. Let me explain.

The first time I bought a new car I was 22 years old and we had two young daughters at home. I told my wife then that I would never do that again because so much money is lost by just driving it off of the lot. However, I didn't follow that sound advice and I bought my second new car about four years ago. I had my first book signing coming up in a few days and I figured things were looking good so I went out and got it. Now let me ask you something. What is the only thing that a car is supposed to do? Isn't the answer is that a car is to get you from point A to point B... correct? That should be all and nothing more... right? But do you know what I found myself doing? I was buying a roll of quarters and every week I was wasting the money and time on washing and vacuuming the car, even though it didn't need it.

Now, depending on what missionary you send money to it will take between $5.00 to $15.00 to see one soul saved. So, my new idol (car) was keeping at least one soul per week from being saved. Now, God has a way of answering even unspoken prayers. One morning after church the weather was inclement so I went out and brought my car nearer the front door in order to allow Deb not to get as wet going to the car.

Invariably, wherever I'm at I try to keep something to read nearby and while waiting on her I had picked up something and was scanning it when out of the corner of my eye I saw motion and looked up just in time to see the preacher backing his vehicle into the side of my car, and putting a big dent in the passenger side-door.

No one was hurt and I assured him that it wasn't a problem and that was what insurance was for. For some reason I kept dragging my feet on getting an estimate. After a couple of weeks I got the estimate and finally made arrangements and took a rental for the days the car would be in a shop. Then at the last minute I changed my mind... I decided that I liked the big dent! Do you know why? In the interim after the accident and while waiting for repairs, I realized I had not washed or vacuumed it one time. My idol was back to being what it was intended for, so much glass, chrome, plastic, rubber, etc. just a conveyance to get me from point A to point B.

Do you know how many times the car has been washed from that day to this? I'm not sure either, but the only sure way to find out is by checking with the National Weather Service and see how many times it has rained. I probably should not admit this, at least publicly I never have... until now. I still though like to go out in a warm rain and “play” around. I guess I have only grown older and not up. But, now I'm doubly blessed... a fun rain to play in and my car gets washed... what a blessing. I told my wife that we also don't have to vacuum: when it gets bad I open all four doors and use a shovel and rake!

But, cars is not the only thing that we can make idols out of. Many years ago I used to buy for Deb small oriental carvings, because she liked them. Now, they weren't expensive like a Hummel, but, they were still expensive and the artisans were constantly creating new pieces: so, it seemed a never-ending process. One day I came home from work and I could tell that she had been crying. I asked her, why?

She said that one of her favourite pieces that I had gotten her had been broken. We talked about it and I saw it as a chance to “act spiritual” I guess and I said to her that we shouldn't own any object that if it was broken, lost, or stolen that it would make us cry or be sad. I assured her that I could replace the one that was broken and it would be okay. Now, before I tell you what happened next, I need to tell you something about myself.

I never paid a lot of attention to my surroundings. Example: I would come home from work and after awhile Deb would ask me if I saw what she had done? I would carefully look around and after awhile I would admit that, “No, I don't see anything.” Then she would tell me that she had moved the whole room around or something like that. And I would always tell her that it looked nice, which it did. It was just that I wasn't sure what position everything was in the first place.

Or, I might come home and she would again ask me if I noticed anything different? Again, I would carefully look around and again I would be stumped. This time she might say that she had just painted all of the walls in the living-room. “You mean they weren't blue yesterday?”

“No silly, they were brown.”

“Well, regardless, it looks nice.” You might imagine I'm kidding, but she is here this morning and you can ask her. I just never paid a lot of attention to things like that. Anyway, even though I usually never noticed any changes in the house, I did come home one day a few months after the broken little statue episode and I saw the shelves where she kept them and it seemed very bare. Probably half or more were gone. So I asked her about it and she told me that after we had that conversation about an inanimate object becoming more important than it should... that she had been giving them away. She had remembered all of the family and visitors who have ever commented about how nice they were and she had been boxing them up and sending them out. “Huh,” I said.

As I walked into the other room I began to do some mental calculations. Let's see... probably 20 x dollars paid per piece... as soon as I realized how much money she had been giving away... now it was my turn to cry! Actually, I'm kidding about that part, she was right. If you have created an idol out of inanimate material, then you need to learn to control it, or give it up.

I now want to tell you of the lesson of Barzillai. We all know that there are many things that we do on Earth that will not be done in Heaven. Right? But Barzillai's lesson in his two questions teaches an even greater truth. THERE ARE MANY THINGS EVEN DURING THIS LIFETIME THAT WE WASTE COUNTLESS HOURS AND MONEY ENGAGING IN THAT WE WILL CEASE TO ENJOY AS WE GROW OLDER!

Barzillai was saying that even the taste of food brought him no pleasure. He must have been hard of hearing because he said that singing men and singing women no longer brought him pleasure. How tragic it would be then to pursue only goals in this life that will have no reward in heaven... and no enjoyment even later in this life.

I can see some of this in my own life. Nearly 20 years ago I lost my ability to smell... anything. You could break a vial of ammonia under my nose and you would get no reaction from me whatsoever. I believe with my whole heart I know why God took that sense from me. The reason though is unimportant, the fact is that I can already see that as senses begin to be lost, certain pursuits also have less interest.

This is not part of the message, but some things I really miss as it relates to smells. I used to love the smell of a fresh mowed lawn. The smell that hot concrete gives off after a hard summer rain. Certain perfumes and suntan lotions, and many other things too numerous to mention. But, in a small way I can relate to what Barzillai said.

My advice then, as it relates to Barzillai is simple. Enjoy your youth and all that God gave for mankind to enjoy: but do not pursue these activities to the exclusion of serving Him and thereby wasting so much of your discretionary years that there is no time left to give Him.

I would like to give you a mental image and hopefully tell you how you can become more productive for God and have greater value in your service to Him. Imagine with me a simple bar of iron. Such a bar can be bought and sold for about $5.00.

However, take that bar of iron to a craftsman and with the proper tools he can heat, bend and shape it into a set of horseshoes. Now the value of that bar has gone from $5.00 to about $11.00, in other words it has more than doubled. You could also take that simple bar of iron and have it melted and poured into a mould and turned into needles for sewing machines. Now, because you can make so many and they are individually more valuable, the bar of iron has increased to a value of approximately $350.00 dollars.

But you needn't stop there. A skilled man with a forge can take that bar of iron and cut pieces out and shape them into blades for high-end knives: now the original $5.00 bar of iron... shaped into blades has increased to more than $2,400.00 in value. There is no need to stop there. A master craftsman can take a simple bar of iron and he can turn them into delicate ballast springs for wristwatches. Because each spring has great value and because you can make so many out of a single bar of iron... that original $5.00 bar of iron, turned into ballast springs can now be sold for more than a quarter-of-a-million dollars!

Every person who is saved starts out as a lump of clay: all having the same value to God. Some though decide to give up some of their discretionary time to God and they double in value and become like a horseshoe. Other though decide that they would like to give a little more and they become the value of a needle before God. Fewer still, probably no more than a handful in any community decide that God deserves pretty much all of their discretionary time and they become as a knife-blade for Him. Now, I feel very certain I have never met a “ballast spring” for God. Perhaps there is only one or two in any generation. Someone who has weighed temporal time against eternity and found this life wanting. I know of at least one who is recorded in the New Testament.

Jesus stood by, He and His disciples and they watched people putting money into the treasury. I'm sure He saw some who put in great sums of gold and silver. Yet, He remained unimpressed. That is until he saw a widow come by and put in her “two mites.” There it is! A ballast spring Christian. Everyone else put in from their abundance... she... gave all that she had!

You see, this story is not really even speaking about an offering of money... it is about giving all that you have... not what you have left over. I suppose though to be honest if you ever met a ballast spring type of person for the Lord, you probably wouldn't notice. You and I would be too enamoured watching all of those with their great gifts and talents and money doing what they do for the Lord. But, I think the Lord looks on terribly unimpressed, because in the end most all of us give to Him only what we no longer need or want... He gets the “hand-me-downs” of our life.

Remember, it does not take knowledge, wealth or ability to serve God, it only takes desire! In closing I would like to list some idols that we have brought into our lives and they hinder our ability to serve Him. I would also like to say that as I list these it does not mean that you can never do them... it only means that not all of your discretionary money and time ought to be used in their pursuit.

I realize I am in a country church in the heartland of America. Because of that I have chosen to list this one first. This is an idol that is both a time and money waster. I'm mentioning it first so you can go ahead and get mad and I can get it out of the way.

Hunting: If you find yourself doing this for more than getting food for your family, then you probably have an idol on your hands. Do some simple math. Compare last year's offering that you gave to church to the amount of money you have spent on going hunting. Then, do the same thing with the number of hours spent in the woods and compare that to the number of hours spent out actively soul-winning. Is hunting your idol? If so, either give it up or learn to control it. You need to become its master, not the other way around.

Collecting: There are people who spend most of their free time going around to yard sales, flea-markets, and auctions... only looking for something new to add to their collection.

Game playing or watching sports on television: Look, some Nintendo with your children is probably fine. But hour-after-hour in front of a television set is foolishness and a great time waster.

Travel: I know of people who live their lives for every weekend, so they can be off to some new destination.

For the sake of time I am not going to talk about all that I came up with... just quickly list them: golf, music, learning, etc. etc. etc. What idols can you think of?

In closing let me tell you how you can even take an idol, and if done correctly you can turn it into a positive for God. Instead of only going hunting for your enjoyment and only your families needs. Contact an orphanage and find some people who will take the meat and find a butcher who will help, and turn that passion for hunting into a way to help feed those who are less fortunate.

However, if you do this make certain that the recipient of your gift knows that you are only doing this because you are a Christian. Otherwise, you get the credit and not God. If you love to travel then make sure that every place you go you witness to those you come in contact with. In this way you can have the fun of traveling and at the same time act as a missionary for Christ.

I ask that if you are a “bar of iron Christian,” then try to increase in value to become a horseshoe, likewise the horseshoe needs to strive to be a needle, and the needle to a knife-blade and from there, you would have only one way to go... up, to the rarefied air of a ballast-spring Christian.

If you ever meet one. Let me know... I would just like to shake his/her hand.

Let's pray.

posted by Robin Johnson @ 7:43 PM