p. 19 | Transfer of Treasure as the End Draws Near

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 12, 1914

Transfer of Treasure as the End Draws Near

By William T. Knox

(Reading for Friday, December 18)

Transfer of Treasure as the End Draws Near

W. T. KNOX

“LAY not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Matt. 6: 19-21.

With but few exceptions, the entire human family is busily occupied in the pursuit of treasure. All do not have the same ideas or standards of what constitutes real treasure, but whether it is knowledge, power, social position, houses and lands, pleasure, health, or the wealth of gold and silver, every one is actively engaged in its pursuit. The vital question is not to what degree are we successful in the attainment of the object of our activities, but rather the use to which we put it, the manner in which the treasure is invested or expended.

The Saviour warns all against investing, or laying up treasure upon the earth, for on the earth the fruitage of our labor is exposed to the corruption of moth and rust, and loss from thievery.

Man is exhorted to “love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. . . . For all that is in the world, the lust [or desire.] of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” Whatever treasure of time, labor, or money is invested in the world, will ultimately be lost with the passing away of the world; but he who invests treasure of time, labor, or money with God, has an enduring investment with the eternal God in heaven, exposed neither to corruption of moth and rust nor to loss from thieves.

The Lord has imparted to man the power to get wealth, not, however, that the accumulated wealth should be consumed

upon himself, or hoarded in the earth for the individual’s gratification, but used as a sacred trust from God, that it might be expended in cooperating with him in establishing his covenant on the earth. “But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.” Deut. 8: 18.

Our trust and affections are not to be placed in riches, great or small, but in God, who enables us to secure them. “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.” 1 Tim. 6: 17-19. The children of God are living and working for both time and eternity. What blindness is theirs, when they make the accumulation of transient wealth one of the chief objects of their existence, and place their trust in uncertain riches that are subject to attack and dissipation from so many sources—dishonesty of men, changing values, sickness, and calamities. From a hundred unforeseen sources may arise conditions that will sweep away the broken reed upon which the individual has been leaning. But the foundation of God standeth sure, and they that use their energies and wealth in harmony with the Lord’s plan are laying up in store for themselves a foundation against the time to come.

Too many Christians may be likened to the young ruler—moral to a high degree in his outward life, but recognizing his need of something else in order to make sure of eternal life—to whom the Saviour said: “Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful.” Luke 18: 22, 23. How many of the Lord’s people are maintaining the same attitude to the cause of God. They are reaching out after eternal life; they desire a place in the new earth; but when appeals are made to them to invest their means in the upbuilding of God’s kingdom in the earth, they go away sorrowful, showing that they love the things of this world more than the things that belong to God. The future will reveal that they belong to that foolish class represented by the man whose ground brought forth plentifully, but instead of seeking to advantage the cause of God by his prosperity, he thought within himself: “This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow my . . . goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” Luke 12: 18-21.

The conditions prevailing in the earth all strongly indicate that the time will soon come when all who maintain such an attitude toward the riches of the world will awaken to the fact that the “harvest is past, the summer is ended,” and the time when their wealth could be of any use in the kingdom of God has lapsed irretrievably. Then they will fulfill the prophecy of Isa. 2: 20: “In that day a man shall cast the idols of his silver, and the idols of his gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats.” Marginal reading.

Some seem to think that in returning to the Lord his tithe they have discharged all their financial obligations to the cause of God, that upon the remaining nine tenths the work of God has no claim to which they need give consideration, and, like the man who received one talent, they forthwith proceed to bury it in the earth, entirely ignoring the kingdom of God and its claims and needs. The following quotations from the writings of Mrs. E. G. White are very pertinent:—

“It is God who blesses men with property, and he does this that they may be able to give toward the advancement of his cause. He sends the sunshine and the rain. He causes vegetation to flourish. He gives health, and the ability to acquire means. All our blessings come from his bountiful hand. In turn, he would have men and women show their gratitude by returning him a portion in tithes and offerings,—in thank offerings, in freewill offerings, in trespass offerings. Should means flow into the treasury in accordance with this divinely appointed plan,—a tenth of all the increase, and liberal offerings,—there would be an abundance for the advancement of the Lord’s work.

“But the hearts of men become hardened through selfishness, and, like Ananias and Sapphira, they are tempted to withhold part of the price, while pretending to fulfill God’s requirements. Many spend money lavishly in self-gratification. Men and women consult their pleasure and gratify their taste, while they bring to God, almost unwillingly, a stinted offering. They forget that God will one day demand a strict account of how his goods have been used, and that he will no more accept the pittance they hand into the treasury than he accepted the offering of Ananias and Sapphira.”—Acts of the Apostles, page 75.

“Liberality, both in spiritual and in temporal things, is taught in the lesson of seed sowing. The Lord says: ‘Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters.’ ‘This I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.’ To sow beside all waters means a continual imparting of God’s gifts. It means giving wherever the cause of God or the needs of humanity demand our aid. This will not tend to poverty. ‘He which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.’ The sower multiplies his seed by casting it away. So is it with those who are faithful in distributing God’s gifts. By imparting they increase their blessings. God has promised them a sufficiency, that they may continue to give. ‘Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom.’

“And more than this is wrapped up in the sowing and the reaping. As we distribute God’s temporal blessings, the evidence of our love and sympathy awakens in the receiver gratitude and thanksgiving to God. The soil of the heart is prepared to receive the seeds of spiritual truth. And he who ministers seed to the sower will cause the seed to germinate and bear fruit unto eternal life.”—Christ’s Object Lessons, pages 85, 86.

It is evident that whatever of the Lord’s good gifts have been bestowed upon us are to be considered as intrusted talents, to be used, not selfishly for our own gratification, but for the benefit of mankind—for the upbuilding of the kingdom of heaven on the earth.

There has never in the history of the denomination been a time when the conditions in the mission fields and developments in the world called for a recognition of the force of Christ’s statements concerning the safe disposition of man’s treasure more than at the present hour. The fields are everywhere ripe for the message. Where we have established our missionaries, the Lord is giving most encouraging results. Minds darkened by ignorance and superstition and enslaved by sin are being enlightened and liberated by the blessed truths of salvation. And yet the work in almost every field that has been entered by us is held under restraint for lack of workers and funds to occupy and develop the openings the Spirit of God has so manifestly prepared for his truth. To almost all the insistent appeals coming to us from these fields during the past year the General Conference has been obliged to turn a deaf ear, on account of the lack of funds, notwithstanding that we are told by Paul: “But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. . . . But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.” 1 Thess. 5: 1, 2, 4. “Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God?” 2 Peter 3: 11, 12 (margin).

Since 1844 the seventh angel’s trumpet has been sounding, concerning which the inspired seer declared: “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.” For seventy years this seventh trumpet has been sounding. The events that were to

take place under it have been or are rapidly being fulfilled. The judgment message has gone forth to those that dwell upon the earth, to many peoples and nations and tongues and kings. Surely there is no gainsaying the fact that the “nations are angry.” The thunderings of the Balkan War have scarcely ceased. Its rivers of spilled blood have not yet been hidden by the earth. The interference of the greater nations of Europe saved to the Turkish Empire a mere foothold on European soil, and now already Europe is torn and distracted with the most stupendous strife in history. Millions of men are said to be marshaled in the contending armies. The exactions of this frightful struggle are so urgent that neither the schoolboys nor the old men are spared from military service. Women even are reported as preparing to fill the terrible gaps that have been made in the ranks by the modern methods of destruction. Recent dispatches indicate that Turkey has entered the war, although it has been warned by some of the powers that have heretofore come to its help that if it enters the present conflict, it will mean the final destruction of the nation. At this writing no one can foretell the outcome of the war, but to the Christian, to the student of God’s Word, these things must surely be admonitions to prepare for the coming of Christ—harbingers of the dawn of the glorious day of deliverance to which God’s people have ever looked. To them the Saviour’s admonition will especially apply: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.” Matt. 6: 19, 20.