Secret Treasure

Secret Treasure

2 Cor. 4:7

Intro: What would you give me for this lamp? Probably not a whole lot. But then, sometimes we don’t understand what things are really valuable! I was watching an episode of “Antiques Roadshow” this week, and saw something that seemed to fit in here perfectly. Two ladies brought in an old lamp. Let’s see what it turned out to be.

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$100,000 for an old lamp. Sometimes things we don’t value highly are worth great riches. So then, what would you give me for this old flower pot? Maybe not a whole lot. How about for this little clay pot? In Bible times, clay pots were used for everyday chores, carrying items, holding water, etc. Now, rich people had all types of fancy gold and silver vessels, but the common, everyday chores were done with these clay pots. Yet, sometimes treasures can be held in clay pots. Let’s see what 2 Cor. 4:3-7 says.

READ

And if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

It states here that unbelievers don’t understand the glory of Christ. And that fact is no more clearly seen than at Christmas.

Santa and Rudolph - the Grinch - muppets - Tickle me Elmo - Pokemon

What happened to baby Jesus? Oh, that’s right - the government that puts on it’s coins “In God We Trust” also says we can’t talk about Jesus. We can talk about anything but the one whose birthday it is.

Even when we see the baby in the manger, it is so very easy to lose sight of the great value that is there.

I. How did our God come to earth?

As a tiny little baby. This baby - and you forget how small they really are - go up to Camden Reece sometime and hold him and see just how small and frail and tiny babies really are -- this baby, frail and innocent and helpless, was the most important person who would ever live. All of history waited for this one child to be born. He is the central figure of the human race. And how does he come? In a jar of clay, as a humble, frail, shivering little baby, crying out for milk and his mother’s warmth.

II. Why would the King of the Universe come as a little baby?

It was for our sakes. It was so he might be one of us, so as one of us, he might take the sins of all of us. He laid aside his greatness, to become the lowest of the low. Right outside Bethlehem was a huge mountain fortress called Herodian, the home of Herod the Great. But the truly “great” one comes in a cattle stall.

Let’s look at 2 Corinthians 8:9 - READ

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

Do you know anyone who is truly rich? I’ve been fortunate to know a handful of multi-millionaires. I lived with one’s son for a year in college. I worked for another. I used to be a chauffeur for “Miss S.” She was very wise when it came to money matters. But if you looked at her on the street, you might not think she had $100, let alone $1 million. The summer I drove her, she wore a different dress every day. But, I should mention they were just two dresses, and while she was wearing one, she would wash the other out in the sink and hang it on the line to dry.

Jesus, though the heir of all the universe, put aside his great riches, to humble himself to become a man. Think about what he was heir to. Eph. 1:19-23

That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.