Treasures Old and New

Did you hear about the guy whose thesaurus was stolen? He was perplexed, exasperated, frustrated, angry, upset, and filled with consternation.

Someone joked it’s a good thing Simon and Garfunkel didn’t use a thesaurus, or instead of “a bridge over troubled water” they would have sung, “Like a gangplank over anxious H2O, I will situate myself down.” And if the screenwriter had used a thesaurus, instead of “an offer he can’t refuse,” Marlon Brando’s character in The Godfather would have said, “I’m going to make him a countersuggestion he can’t repudiate.”

The Greek word* thesauros* appears several times in the New Testament, where it usually is translated “treasure.” For example, it describes how the Magi “opened their treasures” and presented gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to Jesus (Matthew 2:11). The same word appears in Matthew 6 where Jesus says to store up treasures in heaven, not on earth. To us a thesaurus is a list of synonyms, but in first-century Greek it meant a treasury of valuables like money or jewels.

An Overlooked Verse

Tucked away in Matthew’s Gospel is a fascinating verse where Jesus said, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old” (Matthew 13:52, New International Version).

Christ compares his followers to a homeowner whose storeroom contains precious treasures (Greek thesaurou). We have access to God’s warehouse of truth, a spiritual repository filled with “new treasures as well as old.”

Personal Applications

These insights from Jesus have practical implications. For example, worship leaders can find old and new treasures in the music we sing in church. God’s storeroom contains both classic older songs and newer songs we can use to praise the Lord.

Here are some other ways Matthew 13:52 applies to us.

We should treasure both the Old Testament and the New Testament. I’m grateful to live under the new covenant of grace Christ brought with its “better promises” (Hebrews 8:6-13). But “everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope” (Romans 15:4). Bible students can discover “new treasures as well as old” in both Testaments. “Let the wise listen and add to their learning” (Proverbs 1:5).

We can embrace new methods for ministry without disregarding the wisdom of the past. We shouldn’t succumb to chronological snobbery and assume people today are smarter and more capable than those who walked with God long ago. Charles Spurgeon said a faithful teacher “is not weary of the old; and he is not afraid of the new. Old truth is made new by a living experience and new views of truth . . . are only the old in a fresh light.” By faith, we treasure what God has done in history while we anticipate what he will do in the future.

*We can reach students and young adults while respecting and including older people. *Treasures can be found in all generations, young and old. The Bible says to remember your Creator in the days of your youth, and to be faithful until death.

When we discover and share the old and new treasures found in God’s storeroom, the church will be healthy, sound, whole, robust, hearty, thriving, sturdy, and strong.