Seek Ye First - Treasuring the One Thing

Devotional

Day 1: Joyful Surrender in Ordinary Labor

A day laborer’s plow uncovers buried treasure. His ordinary work becomes the unlikely path to unimaginable joy. The kingdom’s value disrupts his routine, reordering priorities with reckless abandon. He hides the treasure again not out of fear, but to secure it fully. His joy fuels surrender, not obligation. The cost feels light compared to the weight of glory waiting. What seems accidental becomes eternal. [53:26]

“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.” (Matthew 13:44, ESV)

Reflection: Where has God surprised you with glimpses of His kingdom in your most routine tasks? What would it look like to let joy, not duty, fuel your response to His invitation today?

Day 2: The Relentless Seeker’s Final Find

A merchant hunts pearls, yet restlessness shadows his search. Fine treasures never satisfy—until one pearl rewrites his ledger. His lifelong pursuit collapses into a single “yes.” Expertise bows to awe. The kingdom isn’t found by accumulating, but by relinquishing. Every prior acquisition becomes kindling for worship’s fire. [53:59]

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” (Matthew 13:45-46, ESV)

Reflection: What good pursuits have subtly competed with your hunger for Christ’s supremacy? How might laying down even noble searches deepen your capacity to cherish the “one thing”?

Day 3: Unwrapping Lazarus Living

Lazarus walks from the tomb, still bound in graveclothes. Resurrection life demands more than heartbeat—it requires unwrapping. The kingdom strips death’s residue: old habits, half-surrenders, lingering entanglements. Freedom comes not just through crisis, but daily unraveling. Each loosened bandage reveals capacity to run toward Christ unhindered. [47:36]

“Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’” (John 11:44, ESV)

Reflection: What “graveclothes” still restrict your freedom to fully live in Christ’s resurrection power? Which bandage do you most need trusted community to help untie?

Day 4: Summer Staff Saints and Eternal Priorities

Young adults trade summer plans for camp ministry. Blisters and bunk beds become altars. The kingdom shines in temporary choices with eternal echoes. Like the treasure-seeker, they exchange cultural milestones for hidden glory. Their story mirrors the parables: ordinary moments magnified through surrendered hands. [36:32]

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth… but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21, ESV)

Reflection: What temporal comforts have you overly clutched that might hinder eternal investment? How could small surrenders today align your grip with heaven’s economy?

Day 5: Post-Treasure Living in the Already-Not Yet

The field buyer wakes the next morning—same dirt, new ownership. Kingdom living means working familiar fields with redeemed vision. Joy sustains when novelty fades. Daily labor becomes worship when done on purchased ground. The treasure transforms not just moments, but momentum. [01:00:23]

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33, ESV)

Reflection: How has encountering Christ’s worthiness reshaped your view of ordinary obedience? What practical step could reinforce your identity as a “treasure-field worker” this week?

Sermon Summary

Matthew 13 opens up the kingdom of heaven as something hidden, near, disruptive, and worth everything. Jesus has been moving through Galilee with mighty acts, healing bodies, setting demonized people free, and showing signs that God is reigning on earth in real lives. The signs are not random miracles. The signs point deeper, because Jesus is uttering “what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.”

The kingdom of God is not only a one time prayer, and it is not only heaven after death. The kingdom is like Lazarus coming out of the tomb alive, and then needing the death wrappings pulled off. Christ gives life, and then Christ calls a whole person into freedom, into a new way of walking, into “all of y’all” belonging to him.

Jesus places two parables side by side. The first picture is a man in a field, likely a day laborer, stuck in ordinary work, maybe even hopeless work. The field is not his. The inheritance is not his. Then his plow or hand hits something hidden under the soil, and suddenly the ordinary day is interrupted by treasure. The man is not looking for anything special, but the treasure finds him. His joy is not a small religious feeling. His joy is thrill, ecstasy, the shock of realizing, “What a find.” The value of the one thing reshapes the value of everything else, so he sells all that he has and buys the field.

The second picture is a very different man. The merchant is wealthy, connected, skilled, and always searching. His whole life is tuned to beauty, rarity, and value. He knows pearls, studies pearls, chases pearls, and builds his world around fine pearls. Then one pearl of great value stops his search. The one pearl makes every other pearl, every network, every possession, and every piece of reputation lesser in comparison. The searcher is satisfied by the one thing.

The two men come from opposite places. The day laborer stumbles into treasure. The merchant searches until the pearl answers everything. Yet the kingdom asks the same thing from both: everything for the one thing. The main revelation is not bare sacrifice, as if God is mainly demanding loss. The main revelation is worth. The kingdom is so valuable that surrender becomes joy. Christ becomes the treasure, the pearl, the one thing that reorders the whole life.

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Key Takeaways

1. The one thing revalues everything The treasure in the field does not merely add one more blessing to the man’s life. The treasure changes the worth of every other possession, plan, and claim on him. When the kingdom is seen as treasure, surrender stops looking like loss and starts looking like sanity. [60:23]
2. Joy makes surrender strangely reasonable The man sells everything because he is thrilled, not because he has been cornered into religious misery. The kingdom awakens a joy deep enough to loosen the grip on the “many things.” Sacrifice becomes distorted when joy is removed, but Jesus places joy right at the center of the transaction. [57:38]
3. The kingdom finds every kind The day laborer is not searching, and the merchant cannot stop searching. Jesus places both men inside the same kingdom picture, showing that grace reaches the broken, the surprised, the thoughtful, and the restless. The entrance looks different, but the worth of Christ becomes the same. [68:39]
4. Old wrappings do not belong Lazarus coming out alive is only part of the picture, because grave clothes still cling to a living man. Salvation brings life, and the kingdom keeps stripping away the habits, fears, and old identities that smell like death. Christ calls the believer not only to come alive, but to walk free.

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Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[34:55] - Worship Team and Summer Staff Blessing
[39:55] - Seek First and the Mount Hermon Picture
[42:09] - A Whole Life Given to Jesus
[43:36] - The Kingdom Brings Joyful Disruption
[46:13] - Matthew 13 and the Lazarus Image
[48:34] - Signs Pointing to the Kingdom
[51:10] - Jesus Reveals Hidden Things in Parables
[53:05] - Treasure Hidden in a Field
[57:38] - Thrill, Joy, and the Cost of the Field
[61:31] - The Merchant Searching for Pearls
[65:23] - The One Pearl of Great Value
[67:12] - Different Ways of Coming to the Kingdom
[70:31] - Seeking First the One Thing
[73:14] - Prayer for Fresh Wonder and Worship

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Matthew 13:44-46 (ESV)
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. 45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46 who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

Observation Questions

In the parable of the hidden treasure, what does the man’s immediate response (selling everything) reveal about his perception of the treasure’s value?
How does the merchant’s lifelong search for pearls contrast with the day laborer’s accidental discovery of the treasure?
What does the image of Lazarus’ grave clothes (John 11:44) symbolize about the process of living in God’s kingdom after receiving salvation? [47:36]

Interpretation Questions

Why might Jesus use two very different characters (a laborer and a wealthy merchant) to illustrate the same truth about the kingdom? What does this say about how God reaches people? [01:08:39]
The sermon says the kingdom “revalues everything.” How does finding the treasure or pearl change how these men view their possessions, relationships, or daily lives?
The laborer acts out of “thrill” and “ecstasy” rather than obligation. How does joy reframe sacrifice as something desirable instead of burdensome? [57:38]

Application Questions

The kingdom is described as a treasure that reshapes how we value everything else. What is one area of your life (time, money, relationships) where you’ve struggled to let go of “lesser things” to prioritize Christ?
The merchant’s lifelong search ended when he found the “one pearl.” Have you ever experienced a moment where Jesus suddenly made sense of your longings or questions? How did that change your perspective?
Lazarus’ grave clothes represent old habits or identities that “smell like death.” What “wrappings” (fears, sins, or patterns) do you need help removing to walk more freely with Christ? [47:36]
The sermon contrasts accidental discovery (treasure) with intentional seeking (pearl). Which resonates more with your faith journey? How can you cultivate both wonder and intentional pursuit of Christ?
Joy makes surrender “strangely reasonable.” When has following Jesus felt like a thrilling choice rather than a duty? How could focusing on His worthiness renew your joy in costly decisions? [57:38]
The kingdom disrupts ordinary lives. What routine, plan, or comfort might God be asking you to release this season to embrace His greater purpose?

Sermon Clips

48s

#OneThingWorthEverything

“``And I actually debated as I thought about the sermon because I I've had so many sermons that say, you must sacrifice to get God or surrender to get God. And there is a truth to this. You must surrender. It does cost everything to come into the kingdom. But if you realize the main revelation here is that for the day laborer, this was a thrill. He didn't know he could have that type of relationship with God. We'll say it that way. And for the merchant, this was ecstasy. This was the highest beauty. This was the thing that shaped all the other values in his life. And so, he also was being drawn into this relationship with God that he never even realized he could have. In fact, he would sell his whole emporium to have this one thing. And the main thing about the one thing is that it's worth everything.”

72s

#FromDeathToLife

“He's come back to life. It's it's a very great parallel to what it means to be saved. Right? To to give ourselves to Jesus, to hear his voice and come alive. And yet he comes out in these death bandages, you know, these wrappings of death that that are still around him, and he's got these oils wrapped on his body. And he should smell and and I guess there was a smell when they originally opened. Don't know if it went away, which would be unfortunate. And and what they have to do is they have to pull off, you know, pull off these wrappings that have kept him bound in death. So even though he has life, he's still enwrapped in death. This makes sense? And what I the picture I had today is I think that as we understand what God beckons us into in the kingdom of God, we need to know that it includes salvation. Yes. The coming forth and the come forth Lazarus and the life, but it also beckons us into more than that or maybe salvation is more than that. It has to strip off the wrappings of death. It has to be a whole new way of living. You have to come through death into life, come into freedom, and now walk with Jesus.”

53s

#TreasureShapesEverything

“So once he gets once he lays it all down, once he counts the cost, know, what Jesus' language is in other parts of the scripture, he sells all that he has and he buys this field which guarantees the field and the kingdom is now an inheritance for him and his family as long as he owns it. So this is one of one of the beautiful pictures of the kingdom. I'll summarize it this way that the value of the one thing shaped his value of everything. The value of the one thing, this being the treasure that he stumbled upon, shaped his value of everything and it cost it all to gain it. But for him, there was no cost to that because he was regaining his life and his identity and his his legacy potentially with his family.”

72s

#SeekFirstKingdom

“This is the revelation of the kingdom. And when you come into the kingdom, just like Jesus taught, seek ye first. When you seek ye first the kingdom of God, you let go of all that added unto you. Let go of those because God will bring those things as they need to come. And you just stay with the one thing, just like these guys did. And that brings the reward in itself. That's why Jesus says, when you seek first the kingdom, all these things will be added unto you. It may be a treasure, it may be a pearl, but you stay here with Jesus and that shapes the rest of your life. Now, there's there's two applications I wanna say. One is that, you may just need to reawaken to the wonder today of what it means to stay in the kingdom with Jesus. That that you are you're not just saved for being saved at a one time prayer, that you're gonna walk out a whole life with him. Like Lazarus post death, like, what do I do? I am Jesus' now. What do I do today? What do I do tomorrow? I have I have nothing in my life but him.”

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Seek Ye First - Treasuring the One Thing - 2026-07-12