A Treasure

A Treasure (Mathew 13:44)

Treasure (Mathew 13:44)

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

This verse is a small parable by Jesus himself on the importance of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Since this is about the Kingdom of Heaven and there is no mention of where we should apply this example into, let us compare the "treasure" with the King and the Citizens of the kingdom. That is, from a Man's

point of view and God's point of View

From Man's prospective

 1.       The treasure

·         The entry pass to the Kingdom of Heaven for all men. Salvation is the treasure.

·         Spurgeon (“Things that accompany salvation”): A rich and costly treasure which God has determined to send to this world and the Lord Jesus was so interested that he came to deliver and accompany this gift.

·         God did not stop there.. He sent the Holy Spirit to safegaurd it.

·         Yes, it is a free gift to all mankind.

·         It is a very expensive gift that Jesus had to pay a very high price of suffering and dying for us.

·         This is the basic foundation of Christianity. Unless there is salvation, there is no Christianity.

·         It was the purpose why Jesus came to this world. (Mathew 1:21, the first promise).

2.       The treasure is hidden.

·         1 Cor 2: 9, Unless the Holy Spirit reveals, salvation remains hidden. Everybody are invited to receive the salvation, but it needs to be proclaimed. It needs to be accepted. Unless it is accepted by us with faith, there is no way we can enjoy or feel being saved.

·         Also, we are very sure that "Salvation" is a free gift from God. Yes, it is. But, is it something we just accept and do nothing for? There is small action we need to perform here. Like "finding the treasure", we have to have

o   Humility

§  Jesus started preaching with this : “Blessed are the poor in spirit,  For theirs is the kingdom of heaven." as this is the very first requirement.

o   A need for Salvation.

§  An arrogant person who does not need God in his life will no way attain Salvation. There are many here who are self sufficient with their state of Goodness, comparing themselves with other Christian friends. But, the Bible wants us to compare only with Jesus and understand our actual state. (1 Cor 11:1, Rom 8:29)

·         Another understanding is that, are we hearing the Gospel in its plainest form? We have heard or preached all our other friends or neighbors that "Jesus will cure your diseases, Jesus will help you out of debts". But the purpose for Jesus' coming here was not to heal you from sickness, poverty or confusion. HE CAME TO SAVE US FROM OUR SINS.

3.   3.  Hides the treasure again

·         Essentially means that he takes care of his Salvation so that the enemy could not steal it.

·         2 Timothy 1:14 : Guard the treasure with the help of the Holy Spirit.

·         Philipians 2:12 : with fear and trembling.

·         There is an interesting thing to note here. If we are hiding a treasure and a small coin is slightly visible for others. What happens there? People will look for more coins in that field and everything will be lost. One small sin can easily lead us to total destruction.

  4.       Is Joyful

i.                     Psalms 51:12 – Salvation is Joyful according to the bible. The author has enjoyed the joy and maybe because he has sinned, his Joy is lost. He is praying to God to restore his joy of Salvation.

ii.                   One small action made me from being in miry clay to a rock. From a deep sinner to a clean slate. This brings tremendous joy.

iii.                  The fruit of being is saved is Love. (Galatians 5:22). Before we display any of the other qualities of Love, we display Joy. Wonderful, isn’t it?

5.   5.       Selling everything else

This verse does not ask to sell whatever that is not acceptable by God.

Everything else means anything that you hold that is not allowing you to buy Salvation. Sometimes, we are hesitant to give up a small habit which is not at all harmful. But, even that could cost you your salvation.

Rich men’s love of money has to be lost before gaining salvation.

From the LORD's prospective

1.       A treasure

·         God does not handle you like an ordinary possesion. He has directly mentioned that we are a treasure to Him (Ex: 19:5, Deau 7:6). He wouldn't lie. The condition is to obey and abide with Him.

·         Ge took tremendoes pain in finetuning mankind. He was with man from the day of his creation till now bearing a lot of disappointments, disobediences, cruelty, unfaithfulness, destruction etc.

·         That kind of mercy, we call that mercy as Grace requires lots and lots of love from God’s side. The only reason that God loves us more than Angels is that he considers us to be precious in his eyes.

·         Every human being is given the opportunity to be a treasure in God’s eyes. If we do not share the Gospel to anybody in this world, it simply means that we are ignoring a precious possession of God, but still claiming to be faithful.

2.       Hides

Psalms : 18:2, we can see what all steps God is performing to ensure our safety.

God Protects us from the enemy's darts. He does not allow us to easily be stolen away. When Jesus Christ left, God has provided us with the Holy Spirit who dwells inside us, comforts us, leads us and supports us to progress towards looking alike Christ.

3.       Is Joyful

·         Luke 5:10. Not just God alone is happy when you turn to him. The whole heaven celebrates, literally.

·         Remember the prodigal son,  God is keenly or longingly waiting for you to come back to him. And when you are back, He is the happiest.

4.       Sells Everything Else

This is the core of the Gospel.

God had to abandon his only Son for you. He could not watch His Son's sufferings in the cros. The reason was that you could earn "Salvation". Also, many other souls are still being lost. We should know that God loves them equally as He loves you. But, you are the winner here. He is really happy that you have come back to him. That makes you even more precious than other sinners.

Conclusion

God loves us and considers us as an expensive treasure. He is inviting us with open hands. Do we treasure God?

Psalms 98

Vs:1  Sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.

Why does one need to sing a new song. Primarily because we have got a new reason to sing. This reason is not covered in any other song. The marvelous thing God has done is given in the second half of this psalm.

This psalm is a prophecy. 

His right hand and the Holy Arm has worked salvation. Salvation was brought to us via Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. 

Jesus has brought us forgiveness by shedding his blood on the cross. Isaiah :52:10 says that the Lord lay bare his Holy Arm and then the earth saw salvation. This prophecy clearly denotes the crucifixion where Jesus lay naked on the cross. This event on the whole brought down salvation. In Isaiah 40:10,11 we can see that the arm rules and then the arm shepherds. Both being Jesus' characteristics.

It is the Holy Spirit who brings us righteousness. In Ezekiel 3:4, we can see that the Hand of the Lord opposes the bitter mind. The only way to oppose a bitter mind is to comfort. We always know that the Holy Spirit is the comforter.

The arm denotes majesty, strength, ruling etc. The hand denotes direction, help, comfort etc. Both these are required for salvation. After Jesus Christ died on the cross, we are clean of all our sins. But, going forward, we really need the Holy Spirit to help us progress in this way. This is clearly stated in this psalm.

Verses 5,6 shows two contradictory instruments or ways of worship. The harp and the trumpet. The harp is mild, has perfect tunes and soothes. The trumpet alerts, cannot make music but makes people rejoice and shout. We really need to understand that God indeed accepts both kinds of worship. Criticizing the other side is clearly wrong.