Treasure Hunting

Treasure Hunting

Matthew 13:44-46

Introduction

Good morning, this morning I want to talk about treasures.

Your treasures and my treasures.

They may not be the same thing but they are things we hold dear in our lives.

Illustration-

If I gave you my wallet, that would be weird for both of us. Don’t look for me to do that, but if I did, it would be awkward.

Awkward for you because you know the wallet is not yours.

You would not know what to do with it.

You would think that I was crazy.

For me, it would be awkward because my stuff is in there.

Little bit of cash, stressing a little bit,

Credit card, insurance card, driver license

Pictures of grandkids,

Things I need every day and personal stuff.

The same is for a lady’s purse except that they carry a few more things;

kitchen sink,

survival kit,

nun-chucks,

a box of tissues

several pens.

What’s in your wallet? I should be in that commercial.

Let’s see what Jesus says about treasures and possessions, and how we should handle them.

Matthew 13:44-46

While you are looking at this text, notice something?

These verses are written in red because they are the words of Jesus.

We see this parable of treasures stuck between several other parables in red spoken by Jesus.

Parable of weeds

Parable of the net

Parable of the mustard seed

I won’t take a lot of time here, but Jesus is telling us about not letting weeds grow up around the main harvest of our lives. He tells us that we have to nurture our faith even if it starts out as small as a mustard seed. He tells us the kingdom is like a hidden treasure that is found and protected. He is telling us that the kingdom of heaven is of such great value that one should be willing to give up all he has to gain it.

Jesus is not implying that we would purchase the kingdom with money or good deeds.

(44) The treasure is hidden in a field.

We think that is weird, but we have to remember who Jesus is talking too and the timeframe is which it is written.

Ancient times, it was common to hid treasures in the ground since there were no banks.

Robbers would constantly break in and steal possessions.

Mud houses were probably not real safe and secure.

Matthew 6:19-21

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Listen,

Jesus does not have anything against savings accounts, being prepared for the future, saving for a rainy day.

These words of Jesus tell us we have a choice of where we place our treasures.

People then protected their valuables the only way they knew how, keep them out of sight and out of the hands of robbers.

Today we have banks and saving deposit boxes. Some still hide valuable in mattresses and other creative hiding spots.

That is one reason that metal detectors are so popular today, they are hoping to find a treasure buried and they want to uncover it.

We have a choice where we place our treasures and we have a choice of what we value

2 choices this morning

(1) What are your treasures?

(2) Where do you place and protect your treasures?

I. What are your treasures?

What do you value above everything else?

How did you arrive at value?

A treasure by definition is something that you hold great value for. It is precious to you, usually it is something accumulated, given or found that you want to hold unto.

We talked about this in a roundabout way on Wednesday night. If someone holds their relationship with Christ as precious, how can a Christian be lukewarm?

In this parable a man found a treasure, buried it to protect it, sold everything he had to go back to buy the field that he buried it in.

What he found had value- he was willing to give up everything for it.

For the believer, the most precious treasure you have is a God who wants to have a relationship with you. That is precious and it is of great value.

Lukewarm Christian to me is an Oxymoron. Two things that cannot go together in a sentence.

Society says- don’t go overboard with this God stuff! It is nice to find, but it is not a precious gift.

Society says you can have God and stuff, as long as God does not get in the way of us having fun.