Welcome To Church: The Found Treasure | 08.02.26 | Selinsgrove Church of the Nazarene #Church

Jesus sets the parables of Matthew 13 in front of the church as a way of seeing what the kingdom of heaven is like. The kingdom is not a castle in the clouds, and the church is not mainly a building or an organization. The kingdom has a King, and the kingdom has a people submitted to that King. The church is that people, that ekklesia, whose shared life together is meant to show what Jesus is making.

Jesus gives the parable of the hidden treasure with one sharp question underneath it: how much value would something need to have for a man to sell everything for it? The man finds treasure in a field, hides it again, and in his joy sells all that he has to buy the field. The surface sounds simple, but the deeper struggle comes when the cost feels too steep. Everything a person owns, every investment, every shirt, every can of corn in the pantry, is headed toward the landfill or the sewer. All of it will have zero value in a hundred years.

The parable does not put fallen people in the place of the man who purchases the kingdom. The temporary cannot buy the eternal. No amount of worth, wealth, effort, or self-worth can purchase the kingdom. Jesus is the man. Jesus is the one who gives up everything.

Hebrews 12 opens the parable even wider: “for the joy set before him, he endured the cross.” That joy was not duty, debt, or mere responsibility. That joy was the people he came to redeem. Jesus went to the cross because the treasure was worth it to him.

The treasure is the person who wonders, “What if I’m not enough?” Jesus is not worried about opening the box and seeing what is inside. From the moment he came, he was on a trajectory to the cross because his people were worth it to him. That changes the way a person sees self, and it changes the way the church sees each other.

The church, in light of this parable, should look like a people overflowing with gratitude and love. The church should not look like people who scraped enough together to buy a ticket. The church should look like found treasure, redeemed by Jesus, welcoming others to the table. Romans 15 presses that gratitude into practice by calling Christ’s people to accept one another just as Christ accepted them.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. The kingdom is a people Jesus does not reduce the kingdom to a place somewhere far away or a religious system that people attend. The kingdom has a King, and the kingdom has people who live submitted to that King. The church loses something vital when “church” becomes only a building or an organization instead of a redeemed people learning to belong together under Jesus. [48:48]
• 2. Jesus sells everything with joy The hidden treasure is not first a picture of human effort reaching high enough to purchase heaven. The man in the field points to Jesus, who gives everything because the treasure has that much value to him. The cross is not cold obligation, but costly joy, “for the joy set before him.” [58:13]
• 3. The treasure changes self-sight The anxious question, “What if I’m not enough?” gets answered at the cross before it ever gets answered in feelings. Jesus knows exactly what is inside the person he redeems, and still he moves toward the cross with intention. A life cannot keep calling worthless what Christ has called treasure. [60:13]
• 4. Gratitude spills into costly love The church is not meant to look like a group that managed to scrape together enough to earn a seat. The church is meant to look like people who have received mercy so deeply that gratitude bubbles over into love for Jesus, self, each other, and outsiders. Love becomes the evidence that the treasure has understood the price paid for it. [62:17]
• 5. Christ’s eyes revalue difficult people Romans 15 presses believers toward the same attitude of mind that Christ Jesus had. The person who seems hard to value may be seen only through usefulness, words, annoyance, or old assumptions. Prayer, time, and honest appreciation become ways of asking Jesus to reveal the value already present in someone he calls treasure.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [45:29] - Prayer Season and Mission Team
• [46:13] - Sabbatical Renewal Prayer
• [47:27] - Welcome to Church Begins
• [48:07] - Parables Show Kingdom People
• [49:13] - Church Is Not a Building
• [50:26] - Matthew 13 Hidden Treasure
• [52:52] - What Is Worth Everything?
• [56:10] - Jesus Is the Man
• [58:13] - For the Joy Set Before Him
• [59:52] - The Treasure Jesus Found
• [62:17] - Overflowing Gratitude and Love
• [63:34] - Love Someone Not Valued
• [67:24] - Seeing Self Through Christ’s Eyes
• [69:29] - Communion at the Table

1. Matthew 13:44 — “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” [51:37]

1. In Matthew 13:44, what actions does the man take after finding the treasure, and what emotion is connected to those actions? [51:41]
2. What two parts of a kingdom were highlighted, and how does that shape the way the church should be understood? [48:58]
3. What examples were used to describe how temporary our possessions really are? [54:53]
4. According to this passage, what should the church look like if its people truly see themselves as treasure redeemed by Christ? [01:02:09]

1. If the temporary cannot buy the eternal, why does it matter that the man in the parable is understood as Jesus rather than as fallen people? [56:20]
2. Matthew 13:44 says the man sells everything “in his joy.” What does it reveal about Jesus that the cross is connected not only to sacrifice, but also to joy? [58:13]
3. If Christ’s people are the treasure, how does that speak to the fear that someone may not be enough or may not be worth what Jesus gave? [01:00:23]
4. Romans 15 calls believers to accept one another as Christ accepted them. How does seeing other people as treasure reshape difficult relationships inside the church? [01:04:32]

1. Jesus did not purchase his people out of cold duty, but with joy. Where is it hardest right now to believe that personally? What tends to speak louder in daily life—Christ’s delight, or self-doubt? [58:41]
2. A person cannot keep calling worthless what Christ has called treasure. In what situations is there a habit of speaking about oneself with contempt, shame, or dismissal? What might repentance look like there? [01:08:53]
3. The church should look like a people overflowing with gratitude and love, not like people trying to prove they belong. What would that difference look like in a normal week—in conversations, service, hospitality, or the way conflict is handled? [01:02:21]
4. Is there someone right now who is mostly being seen through irritation, usefulness, old assumptions, or past hurt instead of through Christ’s eyes? What is one concrete step that could be taken this week to move toward that person? [01:04:03]
5. Prayer, time, and simple appreciation can help re-train the heart to see someone’s value. Which of those comes least naturally right now: praying for them, making time for them, or showing appreciation? Why? [01:05:32]
6. Some people struggle most to see value in themselves. If that is true for someone in the group, what would it look like this week to spend intentional time with Jesus, asking to see oneself through his eyes instead of the world’s or one’s own? [01:07:53]
7. Christ welcomes his people to the table as those he has redeemed. How could receiving that welcome change the way someone treats others who feel overlooked, awkward, or unsure they belong? [01:18:24]