When we moved to another house in the 1970s, we met an elderly neighbour who, when I asked to borrow some hedge-clippers, showed me his garden tools. They were all clean, lightly oiled to prevent rust, with the blades sharp and the hinges free. And they were about 50 years old! He had cared for them and kept them ‘as new’.

Our present ‘use-once-and-discard’ culture reminds me of a saying of Bill Bryson (in comparison with his experience in the USA): “One of the brilliant things about Britain is the way you’ve managed to save old things but to keep using them”. Our neighbour would have agreed with that! Our older generation has a great interest in antiques and the ‘good old days’, but do we care for old treasures and keep them ‘as new’?

Separate

Several times the scriptures make a distinction between old and new. Jesus teaches his disciples about the new treasures of the Kingdom of God to show the distinction between the great value of the Kingdom (like a pearl of great price) and the confines of ritualistic forms of religion - though they were treasures for their time. He indicates that old and new may not go together: we do not put a new patch on an old garment (which will tear), or new wine into old wineskins (which will split apart) (Matt 9:16-17).

The new Kingdom message of salvation requires a new creation. Those in Christ are a new creation - new life cannot grow in unregenerate man. Separation of old and new is needed. Jesus calls us to store up treasure in heaven by living in the new way of the Spirit, not in the old way.

Paul echoes this: “Get rid of the old yeast [representing sin], that you may be a new unleavened batch of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor 5:7-8). Using other metaphors, the Kingdom is about new seed that grows and bears fruit; it is a great treasure (Matt 13:24, 31-32, 44).

Together

But Jesus gives us one treasure that is both old and new – it is Love. The God who is Love gives us this treasure in the giving of Himself, through His Son (“God so loved the world that He GAVE His one and only Son…”), that all might have eternal life.

John also writes to us of a commandment to love that is at the same time old and new (1 John 2:7-8). It is old because it was there in the Hebrew Bible from the beginning, in Torah: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and love your neighbour as yourself” (Deut 6:5; Lev 19:18). This law of love must be our law too.

It is new in that Jesus raised the standard: we are to love as He loved. He said, “A new commandment I give to you: Love one another - as I have loved you” (John 13:34, 15:12). This love is a new treasure in the extent to which it should go, to reach everyone - as He did. No-one is to be excluded. To love like this, we need to know how Jesus loved: He laid down His life for all mankind.

Let us make our treasure the Love by Whom, and by which, we live.

Author: Greg Stevenson