Series: Wholehearted for Jesus
Topic: Solid Joy and Lasting Treasure
Speaker: Dave Mackie
Date: 29 October 2009

The Video

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The Passage

Matthew 13v44-52

The Parable of the Hidden Treasure

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.

The Parable of the Pearl of Great Value

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

New and Old Treasures

⁵¹ “Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” ⁵²And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”

The Notes

- Aim
– Be convicted that: “having Jesus as king is worth more than anything else in the universe”
– He is infinitely valuable
– Our souls are made to treasure Him
– The enemy will try to prevent us from this
– But God is more powerful than Satan

- Background
– Jesus has been teaching in parables
— Parable of the Sower
— Parable of the Weeds
— Parable of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast
– This is another of these parables

- The Passage
– What’s Obvious?
— 2 people find something valuable
— They go to extreme lengths to have it
—- They both sell everything they have to get it

– Why the extreme behaviour?
— Out of Joy
— The treasure is so valuable possessions become worthless

– So What?
— Jesus says the Kingdom of Heaven is like this!
— In the Kingdom of Heaven Jesus reigns supreme
— It’s a place of joy, peace, assurance
— So it is worth forsaking everything WE HAVE for Jesus!
—- More valuable than a degree
—- More valuable than having a relationship
— This is Because these things are only in this life
— In Jesus we have eternal life

– Do you still hold onto things less valuable than Jesus?
– Do you close your eyes to Jesus’ infinite worth?
– How Valuable is Jesus to you?

– When we see Jesus we give up whatever stops us from treasuring Him

– In the parable, the men do not run from the things they have
— Sell the things they have
— They use the things they have to get to the treasure
— We can do that too
—- How does your degree, your relationship, your passion help you to come closer to Jesus?
—- Jesus is king in all these things

– Is there stuff you need to cut out to help you treasure Jesus?
– Is there stuff you can pursue to help you treasure Jesus?
– Do you feel the same joy as the man in the parable?
— If not pray that God will give you that joy

– Verses 51-52 seem like an odd response
— Disciples say they have understood so Jesus talks about a scribe
—- If we treasure Jesus we’ll be teaching others
—- So we can treasure Jesus by studying him
—- If we study Him we’ll be like these scribes
– Our souls were made to embrace Jesus as treasure
— For our own good
— For the good of others

- Response
– Is Jesus your Treasure?
– Is He infinitely more valuable to you than anything else?
– Can you say with Isaac Watts “When I survey the Wondrous cross, on which the Prince of Glory died, My richest gain I count but loss”