“New Year Trash or Treasure”
Matthew 6:19-21 and Revelations 3:17-19 (NRSV)
By John Gill ~ December 31, 2023

What is your favorite TV show? When people ask me that question, I really don’t know what to say. To be honest, I try to be very selective as to the TV shows I watch…there’s not too much worth watching these days. However, there is one show I love to watch…on PBS. Maybe you’ve seen it… “Antiques Roadshow.” If you’ve seen it, you know that the show travels from city to city with a team of people who are experts on antiques and collectibles. Then, ordinary people come from all over the area bringing their family “treasures” to find out what they may be worth.

It’s fun to watch, because every family has “treasures.” Sometime it’s a piece of furniture belonging to a great grandparent or some piece of jewelry bought at an estate sale. It may be an artifact from some ancient civilization, a rare book, or and old toy from your childhood. Perhaps it’s a piece of American history like a Civil War sword, or a lamp or vase your great aunt purchased oversees.

Suppose the show came to the Daytona Beach area. What would YOU take to the Antiques Roadshow? Our family doesn’t’ have much in the way of antiques or artifacts…a book published in 1789…a few pieces of antique dishware…an old coin or two. They wouldn’t be worth much…or WOULD they?

If you are like me, you are just curious enough to pack up your “treasures” and take them in to the experts, hoping the strike it rich!

Unfortunately, most people who go to the show walk away disappointed, sad to discover that their “treasure” is nothing more than sentimental “trash.” I remember one episode where a man brought in this large beautiful piece of antique furniture, which he said had been passed down through his family for generations. By the way he talked about it, it was his most prized possession. He could brag to his friends and neighbors that he owned an authentic piece of Federalist furniture, made by a famous furniture maker in Philadelphia around the time of the American Revolution. He had been told by someone that it was worth $150,000!

And then he brought it to the experts. He almost broke down into tears when the appraiser told him that his furniture was actually a reproduction. The man stood there in a daze as the expert pointed out the evidence that proved it was made much later…and worth only a small fraction of what the real thing would be worth.

Yes, most of the things people bring to the Show, thinking they are priceless treasures are actually of little worth. And as we look on, we feel their pain, watching their dreams of cool riches melt away in the hot spotlight of the truth.

But then, there are the lucky few. One of my favorite episodes is the one where a young man brought in an odd-looking helmet. It seems that he had just purchased a house, and as he was working in the attic discovered, crammed in the rafters, this dirty old helmet. It has a picture in relief that had been hammered out of the metal itself, a scene of some man dressed in funny-looking clothing, riding a horse. Well, the guy dusted it off and put it on his mantle, thinking it was a good conversation piece.

Then the Antiques Roadshow came to town. So the man took it off the mantle and brought it to the experts, mostly out of curiosity. Imagine his amazement when he learned that he was in possession of an authentic, one-of-a-kind royal riding helmet from some medieval prince of one of the city-states of Italy, dating from the 16th century! And its appraised value? At least ¼ million dollars!

That’s the way the show goes…some people come with things they think are treasures and discover they are actually trash. Others come with things they are assume are trash, only to discover that they are priceless treasures.

And therein lies the drama of this show. We watch, NOT because we may have a medieval helmet in our attic or a rare piece of furniture in our home that might make us rich. We watch for drama played out in the lives of common ordinary people just like you and me…as they lay before the experts those things they have prized the most in life, and discover if they have been wise or foolish in placing so much value in them. It’s like the show is a parable of our lives!

It think, as we begin a new year, there are valuable lessons to be learned from “The Antiques Roadshow.” New years is traditionally a time for taking stock of

our lives, checking our priorities, assessing what is of greatest value to us, and re-evaluating what in our lives is worth keeping, and what ought to be discarded…in short, separating the “trash” from the “treasure” of our lives. What can the “Antiques Roadshow” teach us?

First, like that man with the furniture that turned out to be a fake, WE HAVE A TENDANCY TO TREASURE WHAT IS REALLY TRASH.

Think about your life. What do you really treasure the most? …not what you say you treasure…but what does the evidence of your life show? I’m not just talking about possessions… What drives your life? …What occupies your time? …How do you spend your money? …What goals have you set for yourself?

Many of us are driven by money. We never think we have enough. We think that if we just worked more overtime, or skipped that vacation with the family, we’d finally have enough to be secure. Our greatest “treasure” is financial security so we can live well, and retire comfortably. We are like that man in the parable Jesus told who built larger and larger barns to store his wealth, only to die before he could spend it.

Too many of us treasure our “stuff,” and literally “spend our lives” in an effort to get more “stuff.” When we come to the end of life, we may be surrounded with lots of toys, and gizmos, and gadgets, but we discover that we are lonely and empty.

Others prize, above everything else, prestige and fame. Hollywood and Washington D.C. are littered with people who have sold their souls for power and glory. And their lives are morally bankrupt.

Yes, we ALL treasure SOMETHING! What in YOUR life do you “treasure,” that, when brought before the hot spotlight of God’s truth, needs to melt away? What do you prize that, in the end, is really of little value.

(Pause)

The other lesson is the flip-side: Like that man with the priceless helmet, WHAT WE TEND TO THINK OF AS TRASH IS OFTEN THE HIDDEN TREASURE.

Just in the past few weeks, there was a news item about a woman in Virginia who picked up a vase at her local Goodwill Store. It set her back four bucks. After doing a little research online, she discovered that it was a rare work of Murano glass from Italy, made by an artist and designer, Carlo Scarpa, in 1949. She placed it in an auction, where the winning bid was $107,100. That was great for the lady from Virginia who made a fabulous profit. But just imagine the disappointment of the person who gave their treasure away to Goodwill, not knowing or appreciating its true value!

How often is that true in our lives? Be honest. There are things we know intellectually are the most important things in life…we may even give lip-service to them…but our priorities tend to reveal our true feelings. What are the things we tend to DEvalue in life that, upon reflection, are really the most important treasures of all? …our marriages? …our children? …our families? …our friends? …our community? …our health? …our church? …our personal relationship with Jesus Christ?

What things in YOUR life have YOU been trashing or devaluing, that may in fact be priceless and of ultimate value?

(Pause)

Tomorrow is the first day of a brand new year. What better time could there possibly be to take stock of our lives, identifying what is actually “trash,” and what is “treasure?”

The scriptures warn us that we had better get our priorities straight. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth…but store up treasures in heaven…For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

My prayer for us in this new year is that God may give us the discernment to know what in our lives is trash, and what is treasure. I also pray that He will give us the wisdom to hold tight to the treasure, and the courage to throw out the trash.

© 2023 by John B. Gill, III