When I was a child a treasure was????
What was a treasure when you were a child?
For me it was a new packet of crayons and a colouring in book.
A toy gun or a metal tractor?
A tree hut.
These were all treasures.
When I was fourteen I was in the local milk bar when my Father’s wrecked car was towed into town covered with his blood..
Then I discovered with tears a greater treasure –
My Dad.
When I got older I got a brand new car from my company – I didn’t treasure it –
I didn’t look after it – and through recklessness I crashed it – I flipped it upside down and landed upside down on top of the local Ambulance drivers letter box.
It was then – when I lost it I treasured my car.
When the company I worked for bought me another brand new car – I treasured that.
A few short years later – the ambulance driver’s son was killed in a Motorcycle accident through no fault of his own. I was jolted – I realised that whilst my accident was my own fault – his was not – yet he had lost his life – all I had lost was my pride, my license and my car – all of which were soon restored.
So often we fail to treasure that which is really important that which is most valuable.
One of the chief causes for the failure of families is – as I understand it – neglect.
James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, had these words to share: “The issues before us are so very critical. I mean, it’s now or never. I really believe that the institution of the family is going to survive or fail in the next year – and probably this year. It is hanging on the ropes, literally. And so many people of faith, so many good people have sat around – sometimes myself included – for 35 years and let everything we care about erode away. And it’s time to say, ‘Enough is enough!”
One of the great problems we face is the problem of managing to accentuate what is important.
Neglecting the important for the temporary or trivial is a common human trait.
I read about two wealthy Christians, a professional and a merchant, who traveled with a group that was going around the world. As they were visiting in Korea, they saw by the side of the road, a field in which a boy was pulling a crude plow and an old man held the plow handles and guided it. The professional was amused and took a snapshot of the scene.
He turned to the missionary, who served as their interpreter and guide, and he said, "That’s a curious picture. I suppose they are very poor." The guide replied, "Yes, that is the family of Chi Noue. When the place of worship was being built, they were eager to give something to it, but they had no money, so they sold their only ox and gave the money to the church. This spring, they are pulling the plow themselves."
The men were silent for several moments, then the businessman replied, "That must have been a real sacrifice." The guide said, "They do not call it that. They thought it was fortunate that they had an ox to sell."
Sermon Central.
A lot depends on what you consider is important.
What do you treasure??
Let us look at a bible reading that explores this issue.
MT 13:44 "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
MT 13:45 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.
MT 13:47 "Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. 48 When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. 49 This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
MT 13:51 "Have you understood all these things?" Jesus asked.
"Yes," they replied.
MT 13:52 He said to them, "Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old."
This passage written in parable type form raises important questions for the person who is having trouble sorting out their priorities.
This morning I want to ask the question.
What does God want us to know about treasure?
And
Secondly
What does God want us to do????
Let’s look at the first part of our reading:-
MT 13:44 "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
The first thing I observe here is that the Kingdom of heaven produces joy.
You see if you can discover the joy that the Kingdom of God brings it will produce incredible dedication.
. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
When the man discovers the treasure that the Kingdom of heaven is it produces incredible joy.
Many religious people it seems lack a sense of joy.
Without that joy you will find it hard to maintain a dedicated Christian life.
What is the source of such joy?
A general answer would be God – but somehow we need applied and experienced joy.
Jesus Himself experienced this joy -
LK 10:21 At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.
I want to suggest three sources of joy about the Kingdom of God that will produce the kind of appreciation the Christian needs of the Kingdom of God in order to maintain the Christian life in balance.
1. Salvation - PS 51:12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Knowing you are right with God through the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ will produce happiness.
2. The cross, the reception of Christ as your personal Lord and saviour opens up the heart to the infilling of the Holy Spirit. God longhs to come and fill us with His Holy Spirit. There are many benefits of being filled with the holy Spirit. Among them is the fruit of joy
Notice as I read this passage how high on the list joy is:-
GAL 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
You don’t need to work up joy inside your self – it is more an issue of opening up your heart to the work of the Spirit and as you do, Joy will come. Even in the heardest of circumstances.
Even when you have given your plough away.
3. Seeing God work through you will produce joy. Jesus sent seventy two of his followers out into the world to minister when they returned this is what happnned on their return:- LK 10:17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name."
The first step to treasuring the correct things in your life is delighting in the right things.
As Nehemiah said:- Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."
What does God want us to know about the Kingdom of heaven?
That it alone can produce lasting joy and that it is possible for all of us to discover that incredible joy.
We live in a suffering and often unjust world but joy is possible:-
Jesus said:-
LK 10:17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name."
LK 10:18 He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. 20 However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."
Jesus makes here a lot out of the gift of salvation that christians have.
Even though the gifts of the Spirit are working in the disciples lives and it produces great joy – Jesus tells them that the really important thjing to delight in is our heavenly destination.
If you want real treasure in life, then it seems to me that the starting point is not some earthly possesion or even relationship – the starting ;point – when all is stripped away is our heavenly destination.
There needs to be a highlighting a prominence of salvation that scars the very picture of our life.
It is as if whatever we have in life becomes marked with a cross.
You can’t live the victorious Christian life without constantly having the promises of God before you.
When you do what is happening in you and what is happening in the world will be different.
People will love you for it, people will respect you and people will dislike you but the cross of Jesus – the peace of Jesus will shine through your life.
What you treasure will show and provoke a variety of responses in others.
Smith Wigglesworth (biography Apostle of Faith- Stanley Frodsham.)
Says of his life:-
Wherever I went conviction seemed to be upon people. I went into a stone quarry where a whole lot of men were employed, and I preached to them as they were dressing the big stones, and again the conviction fell and many were saved. As I was returning from this quarry, I pased a large saloon. Just as I was nearing it two men drove by in a two wheeled vehicle, and I have never seen men with such evil faces. They looked the very picture of the devil. I did not know who they were but as they came near they cursed me and tried to slash their whip at me. It seemed like a whiff from the pit. They shouted so loudly that the landlady and landlord at the hotel and five people came out of that saloon and dashed at me like mad dogs, cursing and swearing, though I had not spoken a word to them. But I did not fear their assault. I cried out instantly, “In the name of Jesus, in the power of the blood of Jesus, I drive you back into your den.” They rushed back into the hotel and I went in and preached Jesus to them.
There were many people healed and baptized at that time and the glory of the Lord constantly fell. Twenty years later I visited that same village and the people recounted the story of that wonderful visitation from God. Many people from different parts of the country would come to our mission and on almost every occasion they would express the wish that I would visit their place and do something for them.
This little story puts in stark contrast the world of Christ and prayer with the world of self sufficiency.
It is only when we come to understand the difference between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdoms of this world that we get within our heart a passion, a desire an urgency to pursue the Kingdom of God.
Let us revisit our reading:-
MT 13:44 "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
MT 13:45 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.
On the internet there are a number of scams.
One of the scams that has worked wonders is one from Nigeria where a bogus letter is sent to someone who claims to have enormous amounts of money in Nigeria and the money normally something like twenty five million dollars can be released if someone will act as a agent for the people in Nigeria who are in prison or indisposed in some way through some grave injustice.
All you need to do is to send some small amount of money a few thousand to pay the fees required to release the money.
Of course once you make the first payment then subsequent payments are sought until the person has bled all that they can out of you.
They have made money out of this scam because human nature will always want to trade a little amount for a great amount.
We are no different.
Jesus recognises this and he tells this story to demonstrate the transaction that takes place between a Christian and God.
Our treasure is in heaven and the bible goes to enormous lengths to describe this rich inheritence that we have in God.
When you grasp what riches you have in God then you will hold onto the things of this world lightly.
Ephesians chapter 1 verse 18 spells this out:
18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
One of the things,then we need to do is to ask God to open the eyes of our heart that we may see the glorious inheritance we have in Christ.
I met a man recently who came from a well known wealthy family.
His Dad as I understood it worked very hard – all his life – to build a family fortune.
This man, the son, squandered this fortune in a very short time and now – the father is dead.
The son now lives in comparitive poverty – and all his Dad worked for – all his life has been wasted.
John chapter 6: verse 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval."
What does this mean?
It means that we should seek first the things of God.
The first call on our lives should belong to God.
The man in the parable gave up everything he had to buy the field that had the treasure in it.
We too need to order our priorities.
What does God want us to know?
He wants us to know the character – the value of the Kingdom of God.
He wants us to know that that great treasure can be ours.
He wants us to know that he loves us enough to give us the very best.
He wants us to know that we can’t have our cake and eat it too.
We live in an age like no other known to our forebears.
It is more permissive more – liberal –
God wants us to be aware of the scam that says invest your life in temporal and relatively unimportant things – what he wants us to do is to grasp the value of the Kingdom of God.
When you and I do we will find life changing differences.
Like the disciples Jesus shared this story with we will see
People we know being excited and changed because they are hearing about the Kingdom of God.
jgullick@xtra.co.nz
