"Are You Satisfied?"

Matthew 13:44-46

“Are You Satisfied?”

(based largely on the Book: Radical by David Platt)

Imagine walking in a field and stumbling upon a treasure that is more valuable than anything else you could work for or find in this life.

It is more valuable than all you have now or will have in the future.

So you go into town and start to sell off all your possessions to have enough money to buy that field.

The world thinks you are crazy.

“What are you thinking?” your friends and family ask you.

And you tell them, “I’m buying that field over there.”

They look at you in disbelief.

“That’s a ridiculous investment,” they say.

“Why are you giving away everything you have?”

And you smile.

You smile because you know.

You know that you are not really giving away anything at all.

Instead you are gaining.

Yes, you are abandoning everything you have, but you are also gaining more than you could have in any other way.

So with joy—with joy!!!—you sell it all, you abandon it all.

And you hurry to do it.

You don’t speak of sacrifice.

The present tense in the Parable of the Hidden Treasure shows an eagerness and joy!!!

You have found Christ and the Kingdom!!!

You have found something worth losing everything else for.

This is the picture of Jesus in the Gospel.

Jesus is something—Someone—worth losing everything for.

And if we walk away from Jesus we walk away from everything of importance!!!

The cost of non-discipleship is profoundly greater than the cost of discipleship.

For when we abandon our trinkets of this world and respond to the life-giving invitation of Jesus, we discover the infinite treasure of knowing and experiencing God!!!

When we find “the treasure hidden in a field,” we are suddenly confronted with the truth that there are infinitely more important things in our lives than football and a 401 (k).

We wake up and realize that there are real battles to be fought which are so very different from the superficial “meaningless battles” we tend to focus on.

We wake up to the realization that there are countless multitudes who have not discovered the treasure and have not sold all they have to buy that field!!!

The price of our non-discipleship is high not only for us, but also for those who do not know Christ!

God has called us to be a people who spend our lives for the sake of God’s glory among the needy outside our gates.

Consider the cost when we ignore the gospel and instead choose to spend our money on better comforts, larger homes, nicer cars, and more stuff!

Consider the cost when Christians choose to spend millions of dollars on nice buildings to drive up to, cushioned chairs to sit in, and endless programs to enjoy for ourselves.

Consider the cost for the starving multitudes who sit outside.

To enter the Kingdom of God is to accept to do God’s will.

And it is worth anything to do God’s will.

Would you not rather die within the will of God than live outside of it?

That’s how important this treasure is!!!

As Paul proclaims in Philippians, “whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him…” and then, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

Talk about freedom!!!

Talk about having life to the full!!!

Talk about finding the Treasure in the Field!!!

There is a war going on for the souls of people—right here in America.

And you don’t have to be rich to be losing!

It’s a war between materialism and doing the will of God!!!

It’s a constant battle to resist the temptation to have more luxuries, to acquire more stuff, and to live more comfortably!!!

It takes a real commitment to Christ, a daily walk with God, a complete devotion to God’s Church and a strong intentionality bathed in prayer to live out the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the middle of an American dream that identifies success as moving up the ladder, getting the bigger house, purchasing the nicer car, buying the better clothes, eating the finer food, and acquiring more stuff!!!

As followers of Christ, we have a decision to make: “Are we going to wage the war?”

Are we willing to identify necessities and remove luxuries?

If our house is too big, are we committed enough to winning this war that we will start looking for something smaller and simpler?

Are we willing to attempt to form a budget that frees up as much as possible to give away?