Jesus uses a parable in which he tells of a householder who takes the old and the new out of his treasure chest. He shares this brief story in the context of teaching his disciples the importance of being trained for service in the Kingdom of God. Such wisdom as shown by the householder is not for religious leaders only, but for all who would serve the Kingdom in a God-honoring way, individuals, churches, and larger organizations alike.
We all have a past. Describe it in any way you wish, you still have a past. Some or most you may have forgotten or tried to forget, but you still have a past. Parts of your past may be remembered better by others than your self, but you still have a past. Your past may be dominated by your own initiated actions, or it may be the result of your response to the actions of others toward you. Either way you have a past.
The same can be said of a local church. As soon as someone has a dream of starting a local body of believers, a past has been formed. It will only grow with time, being filled with a wide variety of events and experiences. Conventions both large and small pass through the same dynamic. A past is created that cannot be altered or removed. It is locked in the pages of history.
The past or history of an individual or church cannot be ignored. Denying it will not change its truth. The past of an individual or church is always there lingering just at the edge of the present exerting its influence, whispering in a small voice about what has been and what might have been. It contains both jewels and cinders, both gold and pot metal. They all reside in our past influencing how our decisions in the present will determine our future.
Jesus pointed out that a wise servant of the Kingdom will look at everything in the past and decide what is valuable for the present and what is not. The wise servant will see how the old and valuable compliments or merges with the new and valuable to create something more valuable yet. That which is of little or no value will be placed aside for its value may not be in the present but may well reveal itself in the future.
Our Creator-God did not stop his process of creation in the first couple of chapters of Genesis. Through his prophets he spoke often of doing something new, something the people would not expect. In Jesus something occurred that was so new that few people recognized what had happened. In the birth of the Church (Acts 2), a living creation came into existence that could not have been anticipated except through the deepest insights of faith.
In all these there had been earlier signs that something wonderful was to happen. God was working with what was, introducing something new, and bringing forth a radical creation that revealed his glory and power in a way as never before. Something old combined with something new brings forth the awesome moment.
A new vision of the future can never be separated from the past out of which it springs. It is grounded in a response to what has been and an initiation of action toward what could be. God calls the individual to learn the agony and the glory of the cross. God calls the church to testify to the faith of its founders and then speak in a new language that its contemporary world will understand. That church will bring the old out of its past and meld it into the glory of the present and offer a testimony that will speak clearly of the timeless glory and love of God.
Is your church using both the treasures of the past and creations of the present? Can our conventions be said to be bringing the best out of the past, combining it with the best of the present, and through that produce a witness in our world that offers hope to all regardless of whether it is received or rejected?
The Kingdom scribe understands how God has spoken in the past, hears how he is speaking in the present, and is at work to make sure that the word of God is heard and understood now and into the future. God calls all of us to be careful but also to be bold as we search through the treasures of our past to develop the witness that is needed for the future.
