I really thought I could do this.
Avast ye mateys! Welcome to Sunday School Remix. We're looking at some of the parables we learned in Sunday School and just doing a little bit of a deeper dive.
Now, none of us are actually pirates. Pirates or treasure hunters. So, yeah, I can't keep wearing that.
So, the thought of finding buried treasure is more, I mean, like a plot for a movie, isn't it? But to the people that Jesus taught the parable of the treasure in the field, it was a familiar one. Because, honestly, treasures were frequently buried.
Now, why? Well, think about it. You know, no banks, no safety deposit boxes, no fireproof safes in our houses. So, if there was no place to lock up valuables and treasures, they would, they would, them.
You act like, do you have something in your backyard buried? It's like, duh, yeah, I bury it all the time. No, we don't. But back then, they actually did. They buried it.
Think about the servant in the parable of the talents, the servant who had just a singular talent, what did he do with it? He buried it to keep it safe until his master's return.
So today, buried treasure is what our parable is all about. Now, we're going to read it from Matthew chapter number 13, verse 44. One verse, so don't fall asleep, okay, because it's going to be over quick.
But listen, the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field.
Now, the parable of the buried treasure seems pretty straightforward. You know, it's just a man goes, he finds a hidden treasure, he buries it again because it's really, really great treasure. You know, it's very desirable, it's very valuable, so he buries it. He goes out, sells everything that he has in order to buy the field to get the treasure that's in there.
Now, that sounds a little dishonest to us, you know, because we're thinking, why didn't he tell the owner of the field that there's treasure there? But that's because our thinking, surprisingly so, is Roman. Did you know that? Did a little research. Our thinking, the way we process, the way we think is Roman.
But the people to whom Jesus was teaching this parable, he was teaching this parable to his followers who were Jewish, who were raised in Jewish tradition. Who were steeped in Jewish law, which meant that this was a very familiar practice for them because the Jewish law was pretty much finders, keepers, losers, weepers.
I know some of you say, how many of you said that when you were a kid? Yeah, I knew it. I knew it. And basically that was their law. It was just, if a man found something, he got to keep it.
And so when the followers of Jesus were listening to this parable, it seemed very, very familiar.
So, um, how many went to Sunday school? Okay. I did. I went to Sunday school and my Sunday school teachers taught me that we were the man in the parable. Okay. And that Jesus was the treasure.
So that when we discover how wonderful Jesus is, we're going to be able to give all that we have in order to have salvation. That's what we were taught. How many were taught that?
You got frozen shoulder. I had that one. It hurts, but you know, let's try raising hands again. How many were taught that?
You know, sure we were taught that, but I think that we need to think about this just a little bit more. Yes, Jesus is an absolute treasure, there's no doubt about that, but if you think about it, this interpretation may not actually be the right one.
So we're going to explore just a little bit more. Now, most commentators do say that we are the man and that we are lost and in sin and we need to be forgiven and we need to find Jesus.
And if we do, here's the thing though, did you notice in the parable was a man actually looking for a buried treasure?
Now, the scripture doesn't say he was looking. He said like, oh, I'm gonna go find some buried treasure. No, he wasn't even, he wasn't even looking for it.
And so, you know, if you go with that interpretation, it's kind of like, you know, you don't even go looking for God. You just stumble on God. Does that make sense? We just accidentally find God.
No, Jesus said in John 6:44, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him in the last day. So no one can just accidentally find Jesus. You know, you can't just accidentally find him.
And honestly, you can't even want to go looking for him unless the grace of God draws you first.
So, you know, this, there's, this is a, that's a problem with the interpretation of the parable.
And the second problem that I see is that the man goes and sells everything that he has in order to buy the field, in order to possess the treasure.
And that would mean that we have to sell everything we have in order to have salvation. Does that work? No, it doesn't work because the word tells us in Ephesians 2:8 and 9, I mean that you have been saved by grace because you believed. You did not save yourselves. It was a gift of God. You are not saved by the things that you have done, so there's nothing to boast about.
So yeah, we are saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot buy our way into heaven. We cannot do enough good stuff to get into heaven. We can only be saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ because Jesus is not for sale.
He's not for sale.
Now, do we give ourselves completely to God? Do we give everything that we are, our hopes, our dreams, our plans, our goals, our time, our resources, our efforts? Do we do that? Sure, we give everything we are to God, but it is in response to what God has done for us because he's loved us so much.
We give ourselves to him. We're not trying to earn anything, folks. And if you are right now trying to earn God's favor, stop.
Turn to your neighbor and just, you know, very nicely, sweetly say, stop it.
Okay, so that makes sense, right? You know, so if the common interpretation cannot be right, then what is the interpretation?
Oh, I want you to think about it some more. I'm going to ask you to think quite a bit. I'm really sorry about that because you didn't get up to come to church and think. I'm gonna have to think. You know, we come to worship, praise God, but today we're going to think.
We're going to think this thing through because we need to understand what Jesus was trying to do here.
So here's the question: who was the audience? Think about who was the audience.
Now, Matthew tells us that the audience was his followers, his chosen disciples, not the crowd. This was not a parable told to the crowd; it was his chosen disciples. It was the men that he was going to use to establish his church here on the earth after his death, burial, and resurrection.
It was to these men and to us today that he was trying to teach. He was teaching this parable.
And so what's the message of the parable? What was Jesus trying to say to them and trying to say to us?
The message of the parable was really an explanation of why he came.
Okay, I want you to think about that. You know, a man goes out to the field, finds a buried treasure, sells all that he has so he can acquire the field and own the treasure.
So, first of all, what's the field? I'm waiting. I know you know this.
It's the world. See, I told you you knew it. Yes, the field in Jesus' parables was always the world.
So how many of us are going out and selling everything we have to buy the world? How many? You want world domination? That's on your agenda, you know. It's a someday goal that you have.
No. So the field is the world, and it's not something that we want to do, and even if we wanted to do it, none of us have the resources to do it.
But who has the resources to buy the field, to buy the world? Who's the man? Jesus is the man.
And as Jesus described himself, the Son of Man. He is the one who purchased. He is the one. He is the one.
See, when Jesus came from heaven, he gave up everything, the splendor of heaven, the glories of heaven. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 8:9, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty may become rich.
So Jesus, Jesus gave up everything in heaven. All that he was, all the splendor, everything in heaven, to come to this earth, to give it all again, to give everything he was, to give his very life, to his very blood. He paid for the world. Right?
He paid for the field. But he paid for the field so he could have the treasure, baby.
What's the treasure? Yes! I made my husband zip it because he shouted it out in the first service.
We are the treasure. I want you to get that. Jesus did all of that, sold everything, gave everything that he had to purchase this world. He died for the world so that he could have his church, his bride, his treasure, you.
You are that treasure. I want you to turn to whoever's sitting next to you and say, oh, I am so honored. I didn't realize you were a treasure.
I didn't realize you were a treasure.
Now, why would Jesus give up everything for us? Why? I think of three reasons.
First of all, number one, you are loved. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but he will not perish, but have eternal life.
Even though Jesus gave his life for the world, we are the treasure hid in the field. Jesus died for the world so he could have us.
You need to get this. I think that sometimes we just hear these things and we even say these things and they go right over our head. But today I wanted to go down deep. I want you to go down deep in your understanding of how much you are loved.
Jesus gave up everything because he loves you so much. Isaiah 54:10 says, For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord who has compassion on you.
Now, J.T. Pew was the man who was preaching the night my husband received the baptism of the Holy Spirit at the age of 13. Now, J.T. Pew was like an icon in the denomination that we are a part of, a very wise man in the word.
So he was like an icon. Someone once went to him and he said, what is the hardest message for people to receive? He says, is it tithing? And Pastor Pew said, no, no, it's not tithing.
And the man made several other guesses, and it was no to all of them. And finally, Pastor Pew just said, the hardest message to get through to people is how much God loves them. That's the hardest message to get through.
I mean, it's simple, but it's so hard for us to receive because we know us. We know us. We know what our thoughts have been doing and where they've been going. We know our words that haven't been quite kosher. We know that our actions have not been quite in line with the word of God.
We're not doing everything we know to do. We know us. And then, you know, when we're low, we remember every negative thing that was ever spoken about us or to us.
So we start thinking about who we are and everything and what the people have said, and we start thinking, how could a righteous and holy God love us? We have this problem with it.
But I want you to listen. I mean really listen to what Paul wrote to the Ephesians: I pray that Christ will live in your hearts because of your faith. I pray that your life will be strong in love and be built on love.
And I pray that you and all of God's holy people will have the power to understand the greatness of Christ's love. How wide, how long, how deep, how high and how deep that love is.
Christ's love is greater than anyone can ever know, but I pray that you will be able to know that love.
Oh, that is my prayer, that we would grasp it, we would embrace it, we would live it, it would motivate and move everything we say and everything we do.
Because when you truly embrace the love of Christ, that love, then you will be filled with everything that God has for you. It's the prerequisite. It's getting that love.
God loves you passionately, completely, unreservedly. He is madly, madly in love with you.
I love that man. And he loves me. In case you don't know who I'm pointing to, I'm pointing to my husband, Jerry. Just in case my finger didn't quite do it right.
Jerry and I, we love each other. And nothing's going to come in between that.
Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you.
Now, obviously, we're not perfect. Nobody here is. We're not perfect. But sickness and pain and family troubles and uncertainty about the future, other people, our own failings, none of that is going to come between our love.
I'm telling you, I'm telling you, I'm telling you. I'm telling you, our love is strong, and it's going to last until we have our last breath.
Even if he can never find his phone.
That's what I'm saying. I'm saying, if we, these two imperfect people, can love each other unconditionally, what do you think the God of all power and might can do with your life?
He loves you. He loves you regardless. It doesn't matter how you failed. It doesn't matter how you've messed up. It doesn't matter how much life has hurt you or damaged you. How much you've damaged.
Listen to me. If two imperfect people can love like that, how great is God's love for you? It is not conditional. It is not based on your performance.
It is not based on how much you pray, how much you give, how much you serve. It is based on the fact that our God loves you.
He's madly in love with you. Madly in love with you.
And so, what I'm saying, if people with shortcomings galore can love like that, well, God, there's nothing. There's nothing that can come between God's love for you and your love for him.
I mean, I'm going to read Romans 8:35, verses 37 through 39. You know this was coming.
Can anything separate? Can anything separate us from Christ's love? Can trouble or problems or persecution separate us from his love?
If we have no food or clothes or we face danger and or even death, will that separate us from his love?
But in all these troubles, we have complete victory through God who has shown, has already shown his love for us.
Yes, I am sure that nothing can separate us from God's love. I'm sure that nothing now and nothing in the future, nothing, no powers, nothing above us, nothing below us, nothing in all of creation, the whole created world will ever be able to separate us from the love God has shown us in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Are you getting this? You know, it can't just be a head thing. I don't want you just to know it in your head. I want you to embrace it. I want it to be a part of every fiber of your being.
God loves me, and there's nothing I can do about it. Nothing I could do about it.
Are you embracing his love today? If you are, I want you to stand. I want you to stand as I read this verse:
Give thanks to the God of gods. His steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords. His steadfast love endures forever.
Let's clap our hands and thank God. Give thanks for his love.
Let's give thanks for his—no, no, no, no, go clap. Come on, let us give thanks for the love of God.
Oh, his love never changes, it never diminishes, it never fails. He loves you passionately, dearly, completely, and there's nothing that's gonna stop that love. Amen? Amen!
You may be seated.
Here's the second reason why Jesus would sell everything, give it all, and that is you are valuable. You are a treasure of immeasurable value.
Matthew 6:26 says, look at the birds. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you far more valuable to him than they are?
I mean, it's kind of like a rhetorical question because the answer is obvious. Yes, you are. You are more valuable. You are extremely valuable to God.
Isaiah 43:4 says, you are precious in my eyes and honored, and I love you. That's what God says.
Now, the value of something is dependent on what someone is willing to pay for that item.
We were just in northern Nigeria. And while we were there, we ministered at a conference for missionaries and missionary widows. There were hundreds that were there. There's thousands in northern Nigeria.
And these women were made widows primarily because their husbands were kidnapped by Muslim bandits and held for ransom. And even though they paid the ransom, their husbands were never returned.
And when I heard their stories, my heart just broke, and honestly, my mind could not, being here in America, my mind couldn't even conceive of that.
Pastors and missionaries losing their lives in this matter. I couldn't even wrap my brain around it. But that whole thought of ransom, that thought of ransom stayed with me.
Jesus came to this earth and he suffered.
Let me put it this way: the greatest ransom that has ever been paid was paid for you by Christ Jesus. The greatest ransom of all, he paid it for you.
He came to suffer and die. The cross proves your value. If you want to know how valuable you are, look at the cross. That tells you how valuable you are because your value is dependent on what people will pay, and Jesus paid it all.
He paid it all for you and for me. And you know, I know that sometimes people may have told you that you're worthless. You got some cruel people in the world.
And sometimes, but we need to know that regardless of what anyone has ever spoken over you, you are not worthless. They were dead wrong. You have value. You are priceless. You are of infinite value to God.
I'm reading from Psalms 139, verses 1 through 4.
You have searched me, O Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise. You perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down. You're familiar with all of my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue, you know it completely. Before it even gets to my tongue, you know what is going to be said.
God knows everything about you. Your past, your thoughts, what's going on in your dreams. He knows everything about you.
And I'm not saying that for you to be ashamed. I'm saying that. It's just the opposite, really. I just want you to know that he knows you. He knows you deep, deep down.
There's sometimes, we're not ourselves with people because we want them to like us. You know what I'm talking about?
Okay. Is it only me that does stuff like that? No, we don't share everything because we want them to like us, so we don't give up.
But Jesus, he knows every little thing about you. And he still values you so much that he gave his life for you.
It doesn't matter how much life has marred you or how often you've been broken by life. You are valuable to God.
Kintsugi is a Japanese art. I first saw it when we were making a connection in Japan, and they had a display like a museum of Kintsugi.
What it is, is broken vessels that they put back together. I think they're going to give me a picture, with gold. They put the pieces back together with gold, making an exquisite piece.
It's an exquisite piece of art, far more valuable than it ever was before. In fact, some of these pieces go for thousands of dollars.
Why am I showing you this? I'm showing you this because if you've been hurt, if you've been broken, if you've been abused, if you've been abandoned, if life has marred you in any way, God still loves you.
And he wants to put all the pieces of your life back together. And when he does, you will be more valuable than ever before.
Your brokenness does not diminish you. Your brokenness makes you more valuable.
Everything that you've gone through, every broken time in your life, God fixes and remakes it with like gold, and you're so valuable to him.
No matter what is happening, I know there are some people, I sense it. There are some people here who have gone through some really tough stuff and you're feeling like God doesn't love you or he's ashamed of you.
That is a lie of the enemy.
Okay? I think everybody here needs to help me preach. You turn to your neighbor right now and you tell them, you are more valuable than ever.
Yeah, because Jesus moved heaven and earth to find you, to redeem you, to ransom you for himself.
And the third point is you have a job to do.
Now, I truly hope that you are embracing how much you are loved and valued by God. I hope you're really, I hope when you walk out of this place today, you're going to be kind of like, yeah, I'm a treasure.
Yeah, I mean, I hope you really get it. But this message is not just to help you feel warm and fuzzy, okay?
At the beginning of this message, I asked you to think. I'm going to ask you to think one more time.
What do you think this knowledge, this understanding, this truth, how do you think it should affect your life?
Now that you know your value, how should that affect your life?
I believe that knowing our value does not only change our perception of ourselves, but it should also change our perception of every single person we meet.
Every single person has value also. I'm talking about your friends and your family, strangers, enemies.
You don't have any enemies, I'm sure, but just in case, just in case your enemies, rich or poor, Republican or Democrat, educated or uneducated, every single person you meet has value.
And when you know your value, you can be confident in your purpose because you can boldly share with others that they are loved and valued by God.
Jesus' great commission, his great commandment is for every single person in this room and every single person online.
This wasn't a suggestion. This is a commission. This is a commandment. I'm reading it now from Mark's gospel, Mark 16:15-16.
And then he told them, go into all the world and preach the good news to everyone. Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved, but anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned.
Now, I could have read this from Matthew's gospel because it's more familiar to us, but I read it from Mark's because I want us to realize how serious, how serious this is.
So much of our lives are spent in concern for ourselves, our families, our jobs, concerned about ourselves.
But what about all the people that are around you? All the people who are lost and going to hell?
Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
Maybe that might not be politically correct to talk about hell, but hell is a real place. And I think maybe because we don't talk about it, we don't realize how vital our job is.
Because we're talking about heaven and hell here, people. And every person that you meet in the stores, on your job, every person has value.
And every person will spend eternity somewhere.
Are we crying out for souls in prayer? Are we looking for opportunities to share God's love?
I already mentioned that we were in northern Nigeria, working with missionaries who share Jesus in very difficult places.
Now, Ibrahim was our host, and he just organizes and trains and mentors and empowers missionaries in northern Nigeria, which is really the most dangerous place on the planet.
My husband heard just a couple of weeks ago on Moody Radio that the voice of the martyrs have declared that northern Nigeria is the most dangerous place in the world for Christians to live.
And at first breakfast, we were sitting across from Ibrahim, and he was starting to tell us, you know, how they're trying to reach and how they're trying to reach people with the gospel in this dangerous place.
And he started to cry. He started to weep. Here we are in a restaurant, but he could not contain himself. He tried to stop, but he couldn't stop.
He was crying because his heart was bleeding for souls. He was sobbing. He was sobbing for those that do not know Jesus.
And I was so moved, but I was also so convicted.
How did you and I become so calloused to the people who are dying without Jesus?
I'd like you to bow your heads for just a moment.
I want you to ask Jesus to forgive you for not pursuing his commission for you.
Ask him to forgive you. Ask him to give you a new heart that values everyone that you meet.
And to also give you courage to put yourself aside long enough to talk to people about the love of God.
I challenge you to make reaching the unchurched a priority in your life.
But it's not just me challenging you. Scripture commands you.
Don't ignore God's great commission as you pursue your own interests. But surrender your lives.
As men and women who are loved and valued, surrender to God. Right now and say, God, use me. Use me.
Now, if you are going to be willing to pray for lost souls on a regular basis and look for opportunities just to share God's love, I would like for you to stand right now.
This is only for people who are committing to praying for the lost and just looking for opportunities to share God's love.
I'm going to pray over you right now.
Father, in your name, Jesus. I feel your heartbeat right now. And I know that you love everyone. Everyone. Everyone.
And it's standing. And it's sitting. But you're smiling down on this congregation right now.
I thank you, God, that you will give us the compassion and the courage to pray and to reach for others. Because that is our purpose.
That is why you came and died. And I thank you, God, for releasing your wisdom, releasing your anointing, releasing your compassion, releasing your courage, releasing creative ideas, Lord God, into everyone who is standing.
Use them. Use them for your kingdom's sake. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.
I want you to clap your hands in Jesus. And here's why. If Jesus can awaken us, oh, man, that is the best thing in the world, to be awakened to God's purposes.
So what I want you to do is I want you to turn to someone and give them a high five and say, yeah, we're going to do it.
Yeah. Amen. Amen.
You may be seated.
And I'd like everybody to bow your head just one more time because there might be someone here. Bow your heads.
There may be someone here who has never made Jesus Lord of their life.
Amen.
So I want you to know that Jesus loves you and he values you. And he's waiting for you to come to him and ask him to forgive you of your sins so you can make your home with him for all eternity in heaven.
I'm encouraging you to respond to Jesus today. Those in this room and those of you who are online, because all you have to do is believe that Jesus really is the Son of God and that he died to save you from your sins.
And he rose again on the third day. All you need to do is ask him to come in to be the Lord of your life from this day forward.
If there's anyone who wants to do that today, I'd like you just to raise your hand.
Thank you, Jesus, I see.
So I want all of us to pray for those in this room and those online that are giving their lives to the Lord right now.
Father, we love you. Thank you for giving us Jesus. Thank you, Jesus, for giving everything you were for us, for dying for my sins so I don't have to.
Lord Jesus, I ask that you would come into my life and be Lord of my life from this day forward.
I want to live in such a way to put a smile on your face. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for valuing me. And thank you for salvation.
In Jesus' name, everybody say amen.
Let's clap our hands in celebration. Amen.
And Pastor Brent is going to be coming up in the morning. He's going to tell you the next steps because this is awesome. But there's some next steps for you to do.
Amen. Amen. Amen.
Three things I want to say before I step down. Are you ready? Everybody listening?
Yes, ma'am.
Okay. You are loved. You are valued. And you have a purpose.
on Nov 17, 2024
