reflected on God's faithfulness in the midst of a challenging year. So that was awesome and that made me late. And I'm here and you got the things so it's all good. Let's begin by going to the Lord in prayer.
Let's pray together. Father, we do thank you that you are all we have sung about and so, so much more. That you are awesome and glorious, holy and just, merciful and compassionate. That nothing is too hard for you, that your plans are never thwarted.
What we praise you. We thank you that you did not leave us in our sin and rebellion, but you provided an acceptable sacrifice to your own willing son who gave his life as a ransom for many. Lord, we thank you for the gift of salvation, paid for at such a cost but offered freely to whoever would believe. Lord, we thank you for your spirit that indwells every believer.
We thank you for your church of which your son is still the undisputed head. Lord, we praise you that we can gather together, that we can sing praises to your name, that we can pray with one another, that we can fellowship, that we can open up your word. Lord, now as we look to your word, we ask that you would speak to us through your spirit. Lord, remove distractions from us.
Quiet our hearts, make us attentive. Lord, as always, we ask for eyes to see and ears to hear minds to understand and most of all hearts to be changed. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Well, I have the benefit of having a rather famous niece. I have a niece and she had the opportunity, she's an archaeologist to get a job for a season working on a popular television show about an island down the coast but I'm not going to promote them. And when an episode came on that she was featured in, all of a sudden I started getting text messages and message messages from people like, we're at home just sleepily watching this program and all of a sudden, is that your niece? She's on this program?
We love this program. I had a fellow I hadn't talked to in 26 years, all of a sudden that night. Is that your daughter? She's on the show.
Oh, I can't wait for them to find the treasure. I was like, oh my goodness, you people. There's no treasure. Anyway, there's something about treasure that just motivates us, that moves us.
One person said the thing about a treasure is we always expect it, no matter how ever effort we put into getting it, is going to be worth so much more than the effort we expanded. At least that's the hope of all the people who endeavor to pour money into the money pit, except for those who came up with a brilliant idea of turning into a television program and making a fortune. In 2010, there was a gentleman, he was a line cook named John lived in Somerset, England, and he decided he wanted to find a treasure. Somebody had told him in a field near Somerset that people sometimes find old coins, like 100-year-old, 200-year-old coins, some of them you can sell for $100, $200, $300.
So John got excited about the prospect, so he went out and he bought a metal detector. It was the cheapest one they had. And he got himself a little spade. And one afternoon, he went out into the field and he started wandering along the field.
And he walked and he walked and he beeped and he found a bottle cap. And he walked and he beat and he found a bolt. And he walked and he walked and he walked and he got down and he dug and he found a coin. But it wasn't a 100-year-old coin.
It wasn't a 200-year-old coin. As he began to rub it, it looked kind of strange and it was a 1700-year-old coin. And then it's kept beeping, so he started to dig again and he found another coin and he started digging and he kept beeping. He found another coin.
Well, after he found 21 coins, he thought maybe he was on to something. So he started to dig more and now he's digging more furiously and he started to dig down a bit. And then he came to the top of this large heavy clay container and he realized, okay, this is more than just finding coins in a field. So he carefully covered it up and he went to the local museum and he said, supposing somebody found something of value.
How does this work as far as ownership and whatever and the person at the museum said, well, like, what do you think you found? He said, oh, you know, something. And the fellow said, well, we would give you a portion of the value of it if you were the one who originally found it. That's pretty sweet and not like in Canada.
And so he said, well, I found something out in the field. And they said, oh, really, like what? And he said, well, I found some things like this and he tosses a Roman coin on the counter and immediately people's eyes go, wow. So they come out with a whole archaeological team and they dig out this massive clay container.
What it was was the pay chest for a Roman legion that had been hidden during an attack. It had over 50,000 Roman coins in it. Immediate value without going through any kind of scrutiny, first value over a million pounds. Not a bad treasure to find in a field.
And the thought of seeking treasure had value even in Jesus' day. As a matter of fact, unlike today where we can go all around the neighborhood because I was an avid treasure hunter, we even once decided to really get through the dirt and digging up a spot in the backyard where we lived at the time that you needed to sift the dirt because we'd seen that. So that required a screen. So we acquired a screen.
Yeah, we tore it off the back door storm door. We got in trouble for that. But we were sifting the dirt. We were sifting.
We found nothing. When we moved into the home where we live now, we had to dig up some parts and even then we're like, we're going to find something. We're going to find something. We're going to find something.
You know what I found? I found out that our neighbors had cats. The cats died and they buried them. And we found them all.
But in Jesus' day, seeking treasure was actually something that you could get rewarded for because in Jesus' day it was not that uncommon to find treasure. If you are familiar with the location of Palestine, modern day Israel, where it sits in the ancient world was what was known as the highway of conquest. Because empires moving from the north down to the south, down into Africa, empires coming from Africa, moving up into Asia, Asia, minor would constantly traverse that piece of land. So whether it be an invading army or a raider, what you would do if you lived there was somebody's coming, Martha take the silver and go and bury it somewhere.
So you would gather your precious items and you would go outside of your home somewhere and you would bury it with the hope that after the invading army trump through or after the raiders pass through, you'd go and you'd take it back up again. Well, the only problem with invading armies and raiders is maybe you weren't alive once they passed through. So treasures would be buried until somebody came across them. And this is what we find.
This is sort of the groundwork for the narrative that Jesus tells in Matthew 13. So if you have your Bibles with you, we're going to jump off there. Matthew 13, Jesus is telling some parables and Matthew 13 starting at verse 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, he went and sold all he had and bought that field. So Jesus tells this parable of this man who's out and he stumbles across the treasure. We're not told whether he was actually looking for the treasure or just happened to be open the field, maybe hurting sheep or something, but he discovers a treasure and it's a valuable treasure.
And there's something else you need to know in the ancient world, if you found something on a piece of land, it belonged to the person who owned the piece of land, not like here in Canada where you only own down a certain depth and anything below that, anybody else can mine out if they buy the rights to it. Never quite figured that out, but that's the way it works. So this man's like, here's a treasure and it apparently was a pretty sweet treasure, but it's not his unless he owns the piece of land, it's on. So in anticipation of the treasure, he runs home and he sells all he has.
You can just picture this guy. Hey, you know, you like my house? I'll sell it to you, but you live in your house. Okay, that's okay.
I'll sell it to you. Buy my house. Buy my house. It's a nice house.
Where are you? Oh, don't worry about me. You need a house. Buy the house.
Hey, hey, sheep. Would you like my sheep? Hey, like my sheep? You're lively.
Oh, don't worry about me here. Buy the sheep. Like my belt. I'll sell a belt.
Do you? I'll sell it with the sandals that go with it. Harley Warren, they don't even smell like my sandals because this guy wants to be able to buy the field because the treasure he knows is worth every other expense. In his audience, they're probably picturing what this awesome treasure could be.
Then he tells a second parable. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. So you have this picture of this merchant who deals in pearls.
So he's buying and selling. He knows the value of them. And then one day, there is this pearl. And it is everything he could ever want or desire.
In itself is worth his entire inventory. And so he sells all of that to possess this. And Jesus says, this is what the kingdom of heaven is like. Now, once when I was going through this and talking with teenagers, one guy said, and fairly so, he said, now I know that when you translate from Greek into English, certain word meanings change.
So in verse 44, where it says, in his joy, he went and sold all that he had and bought that field. And then down in 40 secrets, he went away and sold everything he had and bought the pearl. What does all and everything actually mean? So be very clear here so you can get the nuance of the language.
The term all means all. And the term everything means everything. That is what Jesus is saying here. So this treasure, you want to know what the kingdom of heaven, the value it has?
It would be something you would sell everything for. If you had a number of things like the kingdom of heaven, you would give them all up for the kingdom of heaven. And this is important because this is something that I think as we look back on last year, as we think of the year to come, one of the many good things that came over the past year, I think for us, if we're honest, is we got to look at what we're actually our treasures. You know how you know what your treasure is?
Your treasure is that thing that upsets you when it's threatened. So I want you to take a moment in your sanctified imagination and think about what were the things that upset you when they were threatened because they are your treasures. I saw people who were upset that the government told them that they had to put this on their face. Why?
Because my personal freedom is not to be dictated by someone else. Well, apparently your personal freedom is your treasure. What upsets you when it's threatened is your treasure. We have this picture here where Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is the treasure you would sell everything for.
And then we look and we see in scripture that Jesus actually walks this out with his disciples. Because in Luke chapter 5 we come to the narrative where Jesus calls the disciples. You remember the story. Jesus calls his disciples first, he's teaching, then he's in the boat, then he tells them to do exactly what they know they shouldn't have to do and they throw the net in at his orders and they catch the biggest catch of their lives and they can barely get it to shore.
And there is everything that in their mindset would have value and purpose for them and Jesus says, come follow me. And what do they do? It says they immediately followed him. And I'm always caught by that and I ruminate on it the biggest catch likely of their professional lives.
That would mean so much in occupation which is very much living hand to mouth. And Jesus says now follow me. And it doesn't say they went to the fishmonger and said, um, just give me a second. Jesus, how much can I get for this?
What's it going to go for? Okay. Yeah. Okay.
That's the deal. We'll sell that. You just give that money to my wife. Okay?
Yes. Jesus. I'm following you. It says straight way they get up and they left everything and they followed him because in that moment they saw something even in their limited understanding they saw a treasure worth more than everything they had built their lives on that far.
We read in Mark 10 where Jesus also puts it to someone. You recall the story of the rich young ruler who's got those three qualities we all desire. He was rich. He was young and he was a ruler.
There it goes. There's the western world summed up right there. We'd all like to be rich. We definitely would like to be young.
Otherwise, why is there all these face creams going on sale? And we all want to be the person in control. And this man comes and sincerely asks Jesus what he needs to have eternal life. And Jesus poses to him the questions.
You know what the commandments are. And Jesus strategically starts naming off the second half of the commandments. The part of the decalogue that deals with our relationship with people that is reflective of our keeping of the first half our relationship directly to God. And this man as far as we can tell very sincerely says I've kept all of those since my youth.
Now this is not one of those moments where Jesus says well I'm actually saying you know your heart issue what you think in your mind. This guy is probably thinking okay I haven't cheated on my wife. I haven't killed anybody. My parents think I'm a good guy.
I'm satisfied with all that I've got. So I've done okay. And Jesus of course says to him well there's only one thing that you lack and that is sell everything that you have. Give it to the poor and come follow me.
Now why does Jesus say that? Jesus says that because Jesus knows this man's treasure. For him his treasure is his wealth. And so Jesus says to this individual sell your treasure off your physical treasure and come follow me.
And we come to that part where it says the man is very downcast because he's very wealthy and he walks away. And Charles Price always makes the point when he looks at this passage in his commentary he said you notice Jesus doesn't run after him. He didn't say oh hold on hold on hold on I didn't realize you take it so hard. Come come come come let's reduce it down for you.
Okay so here are my expectations for you. You need to trust me. Yeah trust me. I expect you to give a tenth of what you have.
Yeah just a tenth the rest of it's all yours. Just a tenth. And come to a gathering once a week. It'd be nice if he came twice once a week okay.
And then there's going to be certain activities and occasionally you'll have to you know come to an annual meeting. I know I know that's a heart. It's okay. That's all.
No Jesus doesn't. Because here stands the treasure Jesus Christ. And he's saying it is me and nothing else. Because see our culture likes to tell us you can have Jesus and you can have everything else.
So this is the way it works. And it's like putting books on a shelf. I've got my Jesus and I push my career over to the side. There's Jesus in there and there's career and there's family and there's aspirations and there's secret things.
And I've got it there. You have Jesus right there. You know three books over. There he is.
I remember once quite a number of years ago one of our prime ministers. Well a difficult issue was being discussed in parliament. He was asked because he professed to be a Christian. He was asked how does debating this difficult issue.
How do you reconcile that with the tenants of the faith that you say you're a part of? And he goes oh for me it's not a problem at all. I find no difficulty at all separating my role as a politician from my personal beliefs. And in that moment as I watch that in news I realized he doesn't have the treasure.
Because what he has is of so little value that it can sit alongside other things. But see the value of who Jesus Christ is our Savior and Lord our advocate the one who shed his own blood to pay for our sins the one who redeems us and gives us life hope and purpose is of such great immeasurable value that it must supersede everything else. We sing the song you can have all the world but give me Jesus. And that at times I've sung that and it has challenged and condemned me.
Are you looking at really? What would you give up? What would you give up and still have Jesus and still believe that you have the treasure? What could be taken away and you would still believe you have the treasure?
Because we read in Matthew chapter 6 about our treasure in our heart. Where your treasure is there your heart is also. So I encourage you and I challenge you as we go into this year if you know the treasure. The kingdom of heaven which is Jesus Christ which is our relationship with him life eternal is knowing God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent.
That we could go into this year freed of the other treasures. That doesn't mean we don't have things of value in our lives but there is one treasure in it then guides everything else. It then assigns the proper value to all the other things God gives us in our lives. But as those things come and go the treasure remains.
Brothers and sisters in Christ we of all people in the past year should have had joy unspeakable shouldn't we? Did Jesus diminish in 2020? Did he become less a savior? Was he less faithful?
Was he less enduring? Did he not meet us in our darkest moments? Did he not carry us in our trials? Did he not do all those things?
Of course he did. Of course he did. The treasure hasn't changed. And we look into 2021 and we look we have no idea how many days the Lord may choose to give us in this year ahead.
Already there are questions of will the vaccine hurt? Will it work? Will I be allergic? Will I want to get it anyway?
Will there be a different COVID next? Will I ever be able to eat in the restaurant again? And yet if we are looking going I have the treasure. I have Jesus Christ.
He has redeemed my soul. I put my trust in him and his finished work alone. So whatever comes I will praise the Lord. We sing the songs you give and take away.
We need to actually live that. We need to live that in such a way that when people see us in the turmoil of the world, why in the world are you content? Because I have the treasure. What do you mean you have the treasure?
Because I have Jesus Christ. Well what good is he amongst everything else? And then we can show him. Not only by our words but by our lives.
He is the treasure. He has not diminished. Let's pray. Father we praise you for the treasure which is Jesus Christ.
But you give us freely. Lord we know we are not supposed to put him simply among the other treasures of our lives. That we should have one treasure. And then that treasure blesses, controls, guides, every other aspect of our lives.
Lord I pray for each of us. I pray for me. I pray for my brothers and sisters. Lord that you would open our eyes to see the things that we call treasures that are not.
And fix our eyes on Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. Lord that we would walk today, tomorrow and the next day, fixed on Jesus. That we would be able to say with confidence that anything could be taken away. But just leave us Jesus.
And then Lord let that show forth as lights in this dark world. As people who have seen so many treasures fall apart. That we can show them the one treasure that lasts. Lord do this work we pray.
For your glory in Jesus Christ. Amen.