Something Worth Living and Dying For

May 31, 2009  Pentecost Sunday

Matthew 13:44-52 44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.  45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.  46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.  47 “Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish.  48 When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. 49 This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  51 “Have you understood all these things?” Jesus asked. “Yes,” they replied.  52 He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.” (NIV)

If being a Christian was you job, would you get fired based on your performance?

Kind of an in-your-face way to start a sermon isn’t it? But it gives you something to think about and consider. How well are you living out your calling to be a disciple of Jesus, one who not only lives a certain way but who also shares the message of Jesus as Savior with others? Keep that in mind as we consider a few things this morning

I. People are not finding what they need in THE CHURCH

Throughout this nation, people are leaving the church. They are not going TO anything in particular. They just drop out. Why? People leave because they are not finding what they need in the church. They leave because they do not find in the church anything worth living for or worth dying for. And that is what people want to find. The tragedy here is that the very thing worth living and dying for is to be found only in the church.

Have you noticed the trend in recent years? We’ve tried to make it easier to be a church member. We’ve said, “Why don’t you be an usher…it won’t take much of your time!”  Or “Why don’t you try to teach Sunday School for a few months. You don’t have to make a long term commitment.” I know I have done this. We have been trying to lower the cost of discipleship to bargain basement prices. In doing so, we have been more intent on following the ways of the world than the ways of the WORD. We have failed to take into account two very important things.

A. Search for something meaningful

First of all, people want to find something that is so wonderful, so fulfilling, so meaningful and satisfying that they can give themselves to it in total commitment. They want to be sold out to something. People are not afraid to suffer and make sacrifices if they can find something worth it.

B. When a person finds the KINGDOM he will make that total COMMITTMENT

Secondly, Jesus says that when a man finds the kingdom of heaven, he will automatically, without any reflection, make that total commitment in order to possess it, like the man in the parable: He went away and sold everything he had…

Look at this quote. “We will not accept into membership anyone with any reservations whatsoever. We will not accept into our membership anyone unless he is an active, disciplined, working member in one of our organizations.” Do you know who said that? VLADIMIR LENIN. People were willing to give themselves totally to communism with its moral bankruptcy. Should not we be all the more willing to give ourselves totally to the one who gave His life for us? They will if they know about it .

II. The Church has been blinded by PRESUMPTION

One of the biggest problems we face in the Church is that we have been blinded by presumption. We presume that children who have been born to Christian parents and raised on a church pew have already, by osmosis, found the kingdom of heaven. I can tell you from my experience with your children in Confirmation Class that it just isn’t so. You presume that you and your children are automatically in full possession of the treasure in the field. What a deadly presumption that can be. I read that a prominent clergyman a few years ago observed that many people expose their children to the faith in such small doses that they succeed only in making them immune; they innoculate them against catching the disease. And that is nothing new. Luther observed that the church is never more than one generation from extinction. So there are two things that are needed to combat this dangerous presumption.

A. Need #1: Life-Changing Discovery

Every person needs to make that LIFE-CHANGING DISCOVERY of the hidden treasure. So many of those who give up on the Church never discovered the Kingdom. Only this discovery will bring about the needed change. And Jesus says that a dramatically changed life is the result of finding the hidden treasure of His kingdom. That is how you know the Spirit has worked faith in a person. A person’s entire life, value system, perspective — everything is changed. In God’s Kingdom a person finds that which everyone seeks: Something worth living for and something worth dying for.

B. Need #2: Holy-Dissatisfaction

It is a pathetic delusion, though, to sit in church Sunday after Sunday imagining that you have found the kingdom and yet your life has not been revolutionized the way Jesus intends. The second thing needed is a HOLY DISSATISFACTION with anything in the Church that is “Ho-hum.” Why? Because it is not Biblical. God never intended His Church to be a place of complacency with a lack of vitality and no spiritual fervor. His people are to be on fire for Him. That was seen on that first Chrsitian Pentecost. You have the best news ever given this world. You have life everlasting because of your faith in Jesus Christ. You should be happy and excited about that. It ought to show in your living!

III. Jesus Describes the Kingdom

Listen to how Jesus describes THE KINGDOM. He uses three different comparisons, each showing a different facet of that mysterious thing called “THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.”

A. Treasure in field: HIDDENNESS

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Here Jesus emphasizes the hiddenness of the kingdom. Even though its reality and nearness surround us, it is not discerned by the unspiritual. It is hidden — hidden from the flesh, hidden from the natural man. It is revealed only by God’s Spirit.

B. Pearls: SEEKING

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. The second comparison is to a pearl of great price. The emphasis here is on seeking something of value. Because it is hidden, Jesus tells us to seek His kingdom. You are to seek it at the expense of everything else. You are to seek it first, seek it with all your heart, and seek it with the confidence that you will find. He promises that His Spirit will lead you to it.

C. Net: THROWING AWAY

Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish.  When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away.

The third is a bit more perplexing. At first glance, it seems simple enough. Sorting the good from the bad. This is certainly a picture of the end times, when Christ returns. The faithful will be taken to Him, those without faith will be thrown away to the place prepared for them.

However, I think there is another way to look at this comparison of the net if you take into account what follows. Jesus says in verse 52: therefore, every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.

A teacher of the law was another name for a scribe. A Scribe began his training at age 7. If he showed promise, he was assigned a private tutor at age 14, whom he remained with until the age of 40. At that time, he would become a full-fledged scribe himself, an expert in the oral traditions. He spent his life memorizing sayings that would bring insight into making moral and legal decisions. He became a walking library, trained to remember everything. That is how the Jewish heritage and tradition was passed on. Nothing was ever discarded. He never threw out anything, old or new.

But Jesus says he must throw things out if he becomes a disciple in His kingdom. There has to be a spring cleaning of sorts. When this translation says BRING OUT OF HIS STOREHOUSE, it does not mean bring out to use. The Greek word here means to discard, throw away, or cast off. Get rid of those so-called treasures in your storehouse that are useless. Would a Scribe really do that, throw out some of the things he had spent 33 years to attain? He would if he found the kingdom of heaven! He would have found the thing truly worth living and dying for. When that is found, your life is revolutionized, changed for the better. And that is what has been missing for a long, long time.

IV. Your Life in the Kingdom

Something each of you need to know and need to convince your children of before it is too late is that this kingdom of God not only exists, but that it will be found by all who seek it, that it is worth possessing above anything else, and that it is attainable for all who cast themselves totally on Him who won it for you at the cost of His own life. Jesus died to pay for your sins so that this kingdom might be yours. That is something worth living and dying for.

To find the kingdom is to find God Himself. You will discover that He is intensely personal, unmistakably real, nearer that your own breath. The one who speaks the parable is Himself the object of your search. He is Jesus, showing you the heart of His Father by pouring Himself out in love on the cross. He is the embodiment of God’s mercy reaching out to bring you to Himself freely. His blood cleanses all the sin you have done. The one that you seek is the one who sought you first.

To find this hidden kingdom of God, this treasure, is to find yourself in Him. By water and the Spirit you are dead to the power of sin, victoriously alive in God, seated with Him in the heavenly realms to execise authority over Satan and all darkness. You will discover a radical change in yourself not from your efforts, but because Christ lives in you. It is yours, promised in black and white, sealed with the blood of the Lamb, given freely by God to you in Christ Jesus.

It has been estimated that in the Dark Ages there were 50 million Christian martyrs. There were another million when the communists took over China. And people today still boldly profess their faith in Christ Jesus as the one who rescued them and gives them eternal life. These are people who know that through Jesus they are part of God’s kingdom, and that is something worth living and dying for.

If being a Christian was you job, would you get fired based on your performance?