We are not naïve, as if the Kingdom is fully here AND not hopeless, as if the Kingdom has not already begun.
Already, Not Yet.
EMPIRE
KINGDOM
SAINT
Jewish Eschatology
Christian Eschatology
OLD AGE
NEW AGE
OLD
AGE
NEW
AGE
MESSIAH COMES AS KING
MESSIAH RETURNS AS KING
MESSIAH CRUCIFIED
Kingdom.
The Kingdom of God is about KING, forming a people, to live under His REIGN.
“The righteousness of God’s Kingdom is the product of God’s reign in the human heart. God must reign in our lives now if we are to enter the Kingdom tomorrow.”
What is a parable?
Parables are intended to “address and capture the hearers, to bring them up short about their own actions, or to cause them to respond in some way to Jesus and his ministry.”
- Gordon Fee. How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, 152.
What is a parable?
Parables are intended to “address and capture the hearers, to bring them up short about their own actions, or to cause them to respond in some way to Jesus and his ministry.”
- Gordon Fee. How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, 152.
Matthew 13:44-46
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.
Big Idea:
The kingdom of God isn’t a reward to be earned, and simultaneously we cannot please the King unless we come to Him in search of reward; many miss the experience of deeper happiness available.
Matthew 13:44-46
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.
A Moralist Will be Unsuccessful in Trying to Displace His Love of the World by Reviewing the Ills of the World. Misplaced Affections Need to be Replaced by the Far Greater Power of the Affection of the Gospel. It must be by substituting another desire, and another line or habit of exertion in its place - and the most effectual way of withdrawing the mind from one object, is not by turning it away upon desolate and unpeopled vacancy - but by presenting to its regards another object still more alluring.
-Thomas Chalmers. The Expulsive Power of a New Affection. pg 2.
Matthew 16:24-25
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Matthew 10:37-39
37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
The value determines the depth of urgency.
Matthew 13:44-46
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.
Good to GREAT.
Why don’t we more easily recognize the deep joy that is found in Jesus?
Why don’t we more easily recognize the deep joy found in Jesus?
Billy Joel. Only the Good Die Young.
And they say there's a heaven
for those who will wait�Some say it's better, but I say it ain't�I'd rather laugh with the sinners
than cry with the saints�The sinners are much more fun…
Why don’t we more easily recognize the deep joy found in Jesus?
“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in you.”
- Augustine, Confessions
Why don’t we more easily recognize the deep joy found in Jesus?
Matthew 13:44-46
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.
Matthew 13:44-46
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.
What is selling all we have?
Jesus himself is treasured as the reward above anything else this life has to offer.
Luke 5:27-29
27 After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” 28 And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.29 And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them.
Other gods that battle to sit on the throne:
“From one point of view it is quite incredible that a man should regard as a god that which he himself cut and carved and manufactured…On the other hand it is also true that there is nothing easier to understand than the process by which an idol does come to be regarded as divine. God is unseen, a power invisible to the eyes of men. It is very hard for simple people to remember and to think about, and to worship, an unseen god. Well, then, let us try to make it a little easier for people.
So we make a little image which is meant in the first place to remind us of God when we look at it. We make a little image to represent God…But bit by bit the image ceases to represent God and begins to take the place of God.”
“We find something very like this happening in case of the crucifix. A crucifix is meant to be a reminder of the love of the cross; it is meant to help men and women, by looking at it, to fix and concentrate their minds and hearts on the one who bled and died there.
It is meant to be a reminder and a picture which make meditation easier and prayer more real. But the danger is – it happens often – that the crucifix itself comes to be regarded with superstitious reverence; it itself becomes a holy thing. The symbol is identified and confused with the reality of the thing for which it stands.”
“Idolatry is an ever present danger, and it is all the more dangerous in that that which was originally meant to be an aid to worship becomes the barrier to worship.”
“Idolatry means making means into ends.”
TREASURE > vessel.
[Sunday morning] worship “is a means of worshipping God; but an elaborate liturgy can become an end in itself, so that the means and the method of worship end by becoming more important than the worship itself.”
William Barclay – The Plain Man’s Guide To Ethics, 1973, p.20
What motivates us to “sell all we have” for the treasure of Jesus?
What motivates us to “sell all we have”?
Implications.
Psalm 42:1-2, Proverbs 10:28, Psalm 37:4, Psalm 43:4,
Philippians 4:4, John 15:11,
John 10:10, 1 Peter 1:6-8, Psalm 16:11.
Implications.
Implications.
Neighbors, Little League, School, Job, Family, Firefly.
PRAY | WATCH | STEP
Implications.
Share the Treasure.