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Heaven: One Man’s Trash, or Your Treasure?

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There is a saying: “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” This is especially true when the topic of heaven comes up. While some Christians long for to walk on the streets of gold, many today (including Christians) are not interested in it. Some have bought into the world’s appraisal of heaven: its an empty promise that’s glittery but boring (sitting on a cloud playing a harp while eating cream cheese). Basically, the world sees it as trash.

Of course, Jesus has a different view of the value of heaven. In Matthew 13:44, 45, He shares two important parables on the subject.

The first parable is about a man who happened to find a treasure in a field. It was so valuable he went home and sold everything he had so he could return and buy the field (guaranteeing that treasure, and possibly more, was his). His second parable is about a merchant who was purposefully searching for fine pearls. Then, he found it: the Pearl of great price. It wasn’t just that the pearl cost a lot, but it was worth a lot. So much that the man ran home, sold all he had, and bought the pearl.

Jesus’ point? Heaven is so valuable that if you just bumped into its truth, or fell onto its light, you would give up everything this world offers in order to make sure it was yours. Heaven is so valuable that if you are really looking for what is priceless, and are honestly searching for “fine pearls,” then when you see the value of Heaven, you’d gladly give up all this world gave you in order to make it yours. The world sees heaven as trash but Jesus says it is a treasure and a priceless pearl. Is He right?

Maybe we need a reminder of, or an introduction to, heaven’s glory. (See Revelation 21:3–5 and Revelation 22:1–5. There are many more texts about heaven, but these are a good starting point.) Here’s a summary:

God is going to wipe away every tear from our eyes (Revelation 21:4). There will be no more sickness or death: no more colds, no more heart attacks, no more strokes, and no more cancer!

The curse will be wiped out (Revelation 22:3). In other words, no more sin: No more stealing, no more lying, no more broken relationships, no more selfishness, and no more terrorism.

We will have new bodies (1 Corinthians 15:51–53): our eyes and ears will be opened, legs and necks and backs renewed. We will run and not grow weary, walk and not be faint (Isaiah 40:31).

We won’t need hospitals, or insurance, or doctors, or nurses. We won’t need police, or congress, or military, or presidents. We won’t need elders, or deacons, or treasurers, or clerks. We won’t need new churches, or seminars, or cooking classes, or VBS. And we won’t need pastors (I’m okay with that).

Jesus will be our High Priest and God will be our God. We will see His face (Revelation 22:4), and will worship Him on the Sabbath with all creation (Isaiah 66:22, 23), and we will live for ever and ever, and ever, and ever (Revelation 22:5)!

Nothing on this earth compares. Nothing. Heaven far outweighs anything we might have to give up here.

But what if the man in the field left the treasure there? What if the merchant just walked on by? What if they had seen it as one man’s trash, but not as their treasure?

One summer, while visiting my grandparents, I bought a pack of baseball cards. Noticing my enthusiasm, my grandpa told me that I could have his cards from his childhood. Of course I accepted. As we searched for his cards, he named off a few cards he remembered having. One caught my attention: Mickey Mantle’s rookie year card (alone worth about $500,000 then). He also had complete sets of cards for several years which would have been worth no less than $1 million. As you can imagine, I began to search harder. After a while, he finally asked my grandma if she had seen the box of his baseball cards. “Oh, those worthless things,” she said. “I threw them out in the trash.” One grandma’s trash…

God has provided a glimpse of the glory waiting for us in heaven, but have you found its treasure? Have you seen its value? Do you want to claim it as yours, or do you just see it as one man’s trash? Remember, every bit of treasure of this earth will just be trash when Jesus comes, but on that day, even the trash of Heaven will be a treasure. Fix your eyes on the pearl, Keep sight of the glory. Claim your treasure… today!

Photo by Tim Bogdanov on Unsplash

“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light and momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16–18)

Sandcastle Churches

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There’s a classic children’s song that talks about a wise man and a foolish man, both desiring to build a house (it is based off of one of Jesus’ parables—see Matthew 7:24–27). Here’s the gist of the story: The wise man chooses to build his house upon a rock (either a pretty big rock or a really small house) and the foolish man builds his house upon the sand. According to the song, and the parable, in both cases rains come down and floods come up. Because the wise man built his house on solid rocky ground, his house stays firm in spite of the stormy weather. The foolish man, however, who was enjoying a beach house, had different results—when the rains and the floods came, his house went splat.

It’s an interesting story. While some may think to use this as guidelines for when they’re searching for a house to purchase, Jesus had a different application in mind. He said that those who hear His words and do them are like the wise man—able to weather any storm Satan sends. However, those who hear Jesus’ words, but do not put them to practice are like the foolish man—they’ll fall hard when the storms blow.

Jesus emphasized this concept many times, and in many parables: listening is not enough, we must also do. We deceive ourselves if we think hearing is enough (James 1:22). Of course, His counsel makes sense. Consider how it applies in any other area of life. You will get healthier and in better shape if you not only listen to the personal trainers but do what they say. Also, it would not be enough to just listen to the instructors teaching you how to open your parachute when you jump out of a plane, you must do what they say as well, right? Because, when you are taught something valuable you are benefitted by that teaching only once you put it into practice. Likewise, you’ll find eternal life and more happiness here on earth if you will not only listen to Jesus, but actually do what He says (obey).

It seems like it should be an easy concept but it isn’t. Some have subscribed to the idea that knowledge is really the key and all we have to do is absorb it—through reading, watching, or just listening—to improve ourselves. Our culture heavily promotes this too. We have become conditioned to believe that as long as we have taken the class we are safe. Look around and it’s easy to see that that isn’t true.

Unfortunately, this mindset has also invaded the church. While Jesus may have meant His illustration for the individual, I believe churches (God’s people corporately) can suffer from it as well. A group of God’s followers also have to choose between building the foundation of their group on the Rock or on sand.

Of course, Jesus is supposed to be the foundation on which God’s people stand, both individually and corporately. He is the cornerstone upon which the church stands (Acts 4:11); He is the head of the body of His people (Colossians 1:18). As I mentioned in a previous blog, we are united, or become one, in Him. Therefore, any group that bears His name should be anchored in Him.

I am using phrases like “should be” and “supposed to be” because I have seen that churches can have very sandy foundations. Some churches have been built on division, split from another because of different ideas of theology, or worship, or leadership. Other churches are built only on a mutual agreement—they’ve found unity in a similar cause or belief. Some churches are even built on deception by a greedy false “prophet” or “messiah” seeking to steal people from God and pad their own pocket books. I’m sure there are many more “foundations” on which a church may be built, but if a church does not have following Jesus as their foundation they have built on sand—and they will fall. If you find yourself in one of these churches, be careful! You do not want to be inside a sandcastle church when the the angels of Revelation let the winds blow (Revelation 7:1).

I’m not saying that one day, all of a sudden, their church building will collapse due to high winds, but rather that they will not be able to stand the severe spiritual tests of the last days. There will be tests, difficult ones. Deceptions so strong that they could almost deceive those truly following God (Matthew 24:24). Only those who have made hearing and obeying Jesus their foundation will remain standing when all is done.

You may not have any influence on the foundation of your church, but you can choose a proper foundation for yourself. You can choose, like too many proclaimed Christians today, to sit in a church every week (or month or twice a year) and hear God’s word and be finished with your Christian “duties”. Or you can choose to act upon what you hear from God and plant yourself on solid rock. As another song says, “On Christ the Solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.”