July 16th, 21

One man's trash is another man's treasure. I used to work as a garbage man for the city of Rockledge, Florida. And I can tell you that that's true. Some of the stuff that people threw away, I was sure to collect. It was still good, there was still a lot of life there. There was a treasure. And never has that been more true than in today's reading. We're told not to seek treasure and something new. The treasure we need is not found out there. Verse 9 says, so do not be attracted by strange new ideas. Your strength comes from God's grace, not from rules about food which don't help those who follow them. Nor is our treasure to be found in the old, the old rules, the old sacrificial system, the treasures we are looking for can't be found there either. The treasure we are looking for, that we need, that the world is desperate for. The greatest treasure ever given, is to be found in the most unlikely of places. It's going to be found in the trash heap. In the old system, the sacrifice was made on an altar in the tabernacle in the most important place in the world. There the priest would offer a perfect gift, shedding the blood of an animal on the holy place as a sacrifice for sins. Then the trash, the discarded and unused parts would be taken to the trash heap outside the camp where it would be burned up. But outside in that burning trash heap was something no one saw. It happened to be the most precious gift of all. It was discarded and thrown out like waste refuse. And there's good reason why this sacrifice is being made exactly where it is in that trash heap. Because the man offering this sacrifice, lived his life among the discarded among the disqualified, among the refuse and the refugees. It was there among them, that he came to live and give his life. It was for them that he came to die, in order that through his death, he might win for the world, the greatest treasure the world has ever known. He has come to offer himself. His life, his presence to ALL even the discarded and rejected out in the trash heap was a treasure. Verse 12 says, so also Jesus suffered and died outside the city gates to make his people holy by means of his own blood. He suffered and died out in the trash heap to make his people holy by means of his blood. So let us go out to him outside the camp, they are in the landfill and bear the disgrace He bore. For this world is not our permanent home. We are looking forward to a home yet to come. Let's continue to offer him praise because he offered us broken ones. The greatest treasure ever found. One man's trash is another man's treasure. So let's hold tightly to the treasure of him and experience the transformation that is available to all out there. Out there in the trash heap. That's the prayer that I have for my own soul. That's the prayer that I have for my family for my wife, my daughters, my son. And that's a prayer that I have for you. May it be so

You are loved!