Today's scripture reading is from the book of Matthew, chapter 13 verses 44 to 46, and may be found on page 969 in the Bible beneath the seat in front of you. Matthew 13, 44 to 46. 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. 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. This is the word of the Lord. Before I began my sermon this morning, I just wanted to say that my voice, I hope it stays through, I did a wedding yesterday, and during the prayer you heard me pray for several weddings. In fact, just on Friday, we went to bedbath and beyond, and we started getting gifts for the wedding this Saturday, and I realized that we have five weddings in the next five weeks. So it was funny to do the registry because the guy kept printing out all the papers for us, and we ended up with five different couples, but they're all from UPC, and it's just wedding season, but we're really excited about these couples, and please just make sure and be praying for them that the Lord will be with them during this time. Today I am going to complete the sermon series, the gospel defined and implied, and I just wanted to quickly give you a review of what we've been discussing the past few weeks. First off, the gospel defined is simply a message that there is nothing you could ever do to cause God to love you any less, and there is nothing you could ever do to cause God to love you anymore. You see, most religions in our day will say that the only way we can get to heaven is if we do good works. The only way that we are approved by God is if we do the right thing. But the thing that separates Christianity from all other religions is that of grace, and when I say grace, I basically mean that grace is an undeserved gift. It's a gift that we don't deserve. In fact, each and every one of us here this morning deserves death because of our sin. We deserve to be in hell, but because God sent his son Jesus Christ on this earth to die on the cross for our sins. He's given us the opportunity to be in heaven with him if we repent of our sins and believe in him. That is grace. This is the gospel defined, and it's this idea that we can't lose our salvation. In fact, when God sees us, He sees Jesus Christ. This idea is profound, but this is the truth of the gospel, and this is what separates Christianity from all other religions. Now, it's not because of what we've done, but it's because of what Christ has done. That is the reality of the good news of Jesus Christ. This is what the gospel means. But how do we apply this good news in our life? And I've been discussing this diagram, this cycle that you're probably familiar with now. It's called the spiritual combustion cycle, and it's daily repenting of your sins, believing in the good news of Jesus Christ and obeying His law. So it's a constant cycle of repentance, faithfulness, and obedience, where we constantly look at the things that we put above Christ, and we repent over that. And then we have faith in Christ, and it leads to our desire to obey His law. This doesn't just happen one time, but it's a daily continuous journey where we're constantly doing this. This is what it means to apply the gospel in our lives. Now, this morning, I'm going to wrap up all the series by concluding with this discussion of what it means to treasure Christ. What does it mean to treasure Christ? I'm going to be discussing two major points this morning. The first point is that treasuring Christ leads to happiness, and the second is treasuring Christ leads to holiness. So let's now look at the first point. Treasuring Christ leads to happiness. Jesus gives us two short parables to emphasize what it means to treasure Christ. Look with me at the first parable that He gives us in verse 44. He says, 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. Now, in Matthew 13, Jesus talks about the kingdom of heaven constantly. You see, the kingdom of heaven is referring to God being the divine king, and he reigns over all the heavens and all the earth. He is calling each and every one of us this morning to be part of this kingdom. But how do we be a part of this kingdom? How do we join this kingdom? Well, Jesus gives us an answer in this passage that we just read by describing a man who finds treasure in a field. This treasure that the man finds represents Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the only way that we can be a part of this kingdom. Look with me how the man responds when he finds this treasure in a field. It says he is filled with joy. He's just overflowing with joy. Now, why was this man filled with joy? Why was he overflowing with happiness? He's filled with joy because this treasure is the supreme treasure that satisfies the need of the heart. It brings about inner peace and satisfaction. Let me just tell you this morning, the only thing that will ultimately satisfy you in this life is Jesus Christ. The more we embrace Christ, the more joyful we will be. He is the treasure that we are looking for. But do you know what our problem is? Our problem is that we try to see happiness in things other than Christ. Now, this happens to me all the time when I have guests come in town. I realize over time that they come not to visit me, but they come to visit Mickey. In fact, I know many of you would probably resonate with me. We live 45 minutes away from Disney World and people don't come to see us. They say they want to come see us, but really in our reality they want to go see Mickey Mouse. Well, I've noticed this over time where people will come and visit and they'll stay with us for a week and they're just so excited about going to Disney World. But it amazes me because every single time by the end of their trip, they're dragging their heels and they're exhausted. They build up all this anticipation, all this excitement to go see Mickey and to go to Disney and they have all these dreams. But in the end, they're kind of left unfulfilled. They're left unsatisfied. People are always longing for more. They either want to stay longer or they're just over it. In fact, just a few months ago on my birthday, they had this really good deal where you can go on your birthday for free. And let me just tell you, I was like a little kid because just a few months before we went, I printed out the maps and I was marking out every roller coaster I wanted to ride just before we went. And we were there right when the doors opened at around 8 a.m. I really was like a little kid. We were there right when the doors opened and we stayed until the closing time. So we were there probably 12 to 14 hours a day. I would say we walked between 15 to 20 miles. But by the end of the day, I was exhausted. I was left unsatisfied. I thought I either want to do some more or it wasn't really all what it cracked up to be. I mean, Disney's great, but the thing is Mickey is not Christ. And I realized that like it's one of those things that Disney cannot satisfy me. Only Christ can. And we see this happen over and over again in our own lives. And we see it happening and we hear about it all the time in the news. Just years back, I remember reading a report when Elvis Presley just at his death, it was six weeks before he died. A news reporter asked Elvis, she said, Elvis, when you first started playing music, you said you wanted to be rich, famous and happy. Well, are you happy? And Elvis replied, I'm more lonely than ever before. This was six weeks before his death. And just recently, we heard the news of the former governor of South Carolina, Mark Sanford resigned after he was reported lying about hiking on the Appalachian Trail. Instead of being on the Appalachian Trail, he was in Argentina with his mistress. When interviewers asked him about his love for his wife, Jenny, Mark Sanford said, the one part where my heart at this point is not where I wish it was is with Jenny. She is a great girl, a great mom, a great wife and a best friend. And I am committed to her in a commitment sense. But my heart is just not alive here as it ought to be.
We hear about stories like this all the time where people try to find their happiness and something other than Christ. And because they do that, as time moves on, they're left unsatisfied and they end up hurting all the people around them. The sad reality of this is that you can go your entire life without treasuring Christ, without ever knowing Jesus as your Lord. We all know people. We all know people who are non-believers or we all know people who have died without knowing Christ. And this is a shame. If you are trying to find happiness in money, if you're trying to find happiness in your spouse, your friendships, or your success, all of these things are temporary and they will go away. But when you discover Christ, when you discover Him, not only will you find your ultimate fulfillment in this life. But He is the only thing that is everlasting and eternal. He is the only thing that is stable and consistent. He will never leave you. He will never forsake you. When everything else passes by, Christ is still there. Last week, I spoke with a woman who told me that her calling in life was to be a mother. And she's approaching 60 years old and that was her calling. She was to be a housewife and raise four children. Well, just recently, her youngest got married off and it was a last to be married. And right after her son was married, she went into a stage of depression. And she's a believer. She had no idea why. She wondered why am I just sitting alone in my home watching movies. I'm not like this. And she began saying that over time, she realized that her satisfaction was really in her children. And once her child got all of her children, got married off and got older, she just thought she was ready to be taken home. She said, God, I'm ready. My job on this earth is complete. But as she began to open up the scriptures even more, her joy was rediscovered. And she began to understand this idea of treasuring Christ. And as a result of that, her hope was not found in her children, but it was found in Christ. And now she is constantly serving her church. God has given her a new calling in life. She's still a mother. She'll always be a mother. In fact, she's become a grandmother and loves it. But she's also serving the church in ways that she's never served before. She's mentoring younger women. She is going on yearly mission trips now. And she's helped leading their helping lead their prayer team each and every week. This woman is excited about Christ because her joy was rediscovered. And she realized that her joy was not to be found as a mother, but her joy was to be found in Christ. Now, just like this mother who finds joy in Christ, so we are to find satisfaction in him and in him alone. He's the only one that will satisfy us. Treasuring Christ leads to our happiness. The second point I want to give you this morning is that treasuring Christ leads to our holiness. Let me say this. As we find happiness in Christ, we pursue holiness. Let me say that again. As we find happiness in Christ, we pursue holiness. After the man discovers the treasure in the field, he is filled with joy. But then what does he do? He immediately goes and sells all that he had and bought that field. The first thing we see this man do to show holiness is that he shows fairness to the landowner. He shows fairness to the landowner. Now, as I read this parable, I couldn't help but think, why didn't this man just take the treasure and run off? Hey, if I found the treasure in a field, I would take it and go. Well, what we don't know about this passage is that we don't know why he was digging in this particular field. In fact, one possibility that I read this week, a commentary said that he could have been renting from someone. So we don't really know whose field this was. We don't know why he was there. But what we do know about this passage is that this man didn't just take the treasure because he realized that in order to claim legal ownership of the treasure, he must first of all own the field. And so this man was being fair to the landowner by making sure it wasn't his. Because if this treasure was, in fact, the land owners, then of course the landowner would not sell his property. But as the parable unfolds, we see the treasure didn't belong to this landowner. But it must have been buried years before. In ancient Palestine during the time of war, what would happen would be people would hide their treasures in a field. Because they would be scared that thieves would come in and take their treasure. So as a result, they wanted to hide it. And the best place to hide it was to dig a hole and put the treasure in the field. But what happened in this parable was apparently this man who owned the treasure originally hid the treasure. And then he may have been killed off in war. We don't really know, but he may have been killed off in war, he died. But as a result, nobody knew about this treasure. It was a secret. And so when this man comes upon the field and finds this treasure, it is rightfully his. And so that's why we can say this man found the treasure. It was rightfully his. And so this man showed us holiness by showing fairness to the landowner. But the second thing we see this man do was that he was willing to give up all he had in order to obtain the treasure. He was willing to give it all up just to have that treasure. As we read before, the man who finds the treasure in the field went and sold all he had just so he could have that treasure. But we also see in the next parable that Jesus gives us in verse 45 and 46 that a man does the exact same thing for a pearl. Look with me in verse 45. Again the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant, merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. You see, both of these men found something so valuable that they were willing to do anything for it. I can't help but think of the Apostle Paul when I think of this idea. Look with me in Philippians chapter 3, verse 7 and 8. The Apostle Paul shows us what this looks like when we treasure Christ for our ultimate satisfaction. Paul says this in Philippians chapter 3. But whatever was to my prophet, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ. You see, Paul has experienced Jesus Christ as such a treasure that everything else in his life is nothing in comparison to Christ. He considers everything else, I would say his looks, his pleasures, his wisdom, his jobs, his family, his success. He considers all these things worthless in comparison with the treasure that Christ is to him. In fact, he sees Jesus as his number one priority. Not only is Paul willing to give up all the things in his life just to be with Christ, but he's also perfectly content with Christ. Let me say that again. He is perfectly content. He doesn't need anything else. This is hard for me to understand. How can you be perfectly content when everything else is out there, but Paul is perfectly content. Now, I've told you that I love country music. And some of you may not like it and please just bear with me through this example. But one of my favorite country music stars is Kenny Chesney. He grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee, where I was born and raised, and I just love Kenny Chesney. And one of his songs, one of his latest songs is titled Never Wanted Nothing More. And this is one of the lines in the song. He says, one Sunday I listened to the preacher and I knew he was preaching to me. I couldn't help it. I walked up front and I got down on my knees. Right then and there I swear I changed when I found the Lord. Glory, hallelujah, good God almighty. I never wanted nothing more. Oh, I never wanted nothing more. And then he said, I'm what I am and I'm what I'm not. I'm sure happy with what I've got. I live to love and laugh a lot. That's all I need. I'm not really sure of Kenny Chesney's faith. But what I do know from this song is that he seems to understand being content in Christ. He says that when Christ came in his life, he was changed. And after that, he never wanted nothing more. Now, let me ask you a question this morning. Are you content in Christ? If you're not content, then how much do you treasure Christ? I truly believe that the more you treasure Christ, the more it will lead to your happiness and to your holiness. There's no need to complain anymore because you have Christ. And that's all you need. You should never want nothing more. Now, the more we treasure Christ, the happier and the holier we will be. But I wanted just to spend the last few minutes that I have with you this morning to talk about the issue of work. When we discuss this idea of holiness, we often think about the good things we're doing and about obeying Christ. So many of us work, I would say a whole of us work in some form of fashion. And the question you may be asking this morning, well, how do I treasure Christ in my job? Well, first off, I want to say, don't waste your life. Seize the day for Christ. In fact, the unwaisted life is a life that in everything you do puts Christ on display as supremely valuable. Our purpose in life is to make Christ look great. That's why we exist. First, let me talk to you who work nine to five. Who have a normal 40 to 60 hour a week job. I guess 60 hours a week wouldn't be normal, but some of you work that. Let me just say that our society really has it all wrong. What society has done is they've separated the sacred from the public and the secular. So on one side of the spectrum, you have the sacred and the private. And on the other, you have the secular and the public. So really, the secular is strictly defined as work and as business, while the sacred is known as the church and family. We've got it all wrong. The society has it all wrong because there are many of you here today who go to work. And you don't really know what it means to have a Christian perspective in your job. And as a result, you may go to work from nine to five. You may get a paycheck, try to climb the company ladder and build a professional reputation. Then after work, you try to get really involved in the church because you feel guilty because you don't feel like you're really glorifying Christ in your job. I recently heard of a man who was a doctor and he loved practicing medicine. It was his calling in life, but he just felt guilty. He felt like he should be doing more for Christ. And so he gave up his medical practice to go into the ministry. Well, what this man didn't realize was that his medical practice was a calling. Just like the ministry is a calling. You see, we need good Christians in law. We need good Christians in education, in construction, in the home, in business, in engineering. Because the thing is, if every Christian went into ministry, then there would be no Christians in the business world. In 1 Corinthians, chapter 7, verse 24, Paul says this. He says, so brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God. What Paul is saying here is that he's not only telling the Christians at the church of Corinth to stay in their jobs, but he's also telling them that God is with them as they go to work. So when you go to your 9-5 job each week, you are not just going to work to get a paycheck, but you're going to work with God. You do your job with God. And if you're unhappy with your job right now, remember that God has put you there for a reason, and you can display His worth in your job. So whether you're a student, whether you're a housewife, an administrative assistant, or a police officer, God has put you in this position for a reason, and you are to glorify Him in that job. My mentoring college told me this, and I'll never forget it. He said, Seth, you can glorify God by cleaning toilets. It's true. I believe it. You can glorify God in your job. Now God has created us in His image, and we are to make Him look great. He is a God of order, and He is a God of beauty. So if you're in construction work, you dig ditches, and you dig them straight. If you clean your house, you do it in an organized fashion. If you type on the computer, you do it with great accuracy and efficiency. And if you sell in business, you do it with honesty and integrity. All of our work is to be done to magnify Christ and to make Him look good. If you just go to work with no passion and with no joy, then your work won't be glorifying Christ. Martin Luther put it this way. He said, the only difference between me as a pastor and you as a member of UPC, let's say, is that of our office and our work. Luther says that a cobbler, a farmer, or a smith, each has the work in office of his trade. And everyone by means of his own work or office must benefit and serve every other. That in this way, many kinds of work may be done for the bodily and spiritual welfare of the community. You see, we all have different gifts in this building. And because of this, we can all honor God in whatever profession we are in. For those of you not in ministry, let me just say this and I love this quote. You are the church's front line troops and her engagement with the world. So stay in your job because you can glorify God in whatever you're doing. Now, many of you here this morning are retired and you may be wondering, well, I'm not working nine to five. So how do I glorify God in my retirement? Well, let me just point out one of our elders. I don't know if he's here this morning, but his name is Tim McGuire. And Tim McGuire really understands this idea of treasuring Christ in his retirement. Just a few months ago, he retired. And instead of going to his beach house each and every day for the rest of his life, he decided to take a more active role in this church. And he's really stepped up in leadership. In fact, because of Tim's influence, we now have Christian help that meets twice a week at UPC. And many people are getting counseled and many people are getting jobs because of Christian help on our campus here at UPC. Tim has also stepped up as an elder. He goes to our weekly staff meetings. And because of his influence, there are many things we're getting done that would have not normally gotten done. But Tim understands this idea that, hey, I'm retired, but it doesn't mean I'm really retired. In fact, I'm going to serve the church even more because I have the freedom to do so. And I have the desire to do so. And there are many of you here today who are retired who serve the church well. And with that, I thank you. I thank you so much for all that you do. Because I believe that as a Christian, I don't think you have a really retired. And I believe this is the same for you who are unemployed right now. In fact, I know of many of you who are waiting patiently for your next job. But instead, as you're waiting, you've been serving the church with all your heart. There are many of you and with that, I thank you. This is what it means to treasure Christ and magnify his name. As we find happiness in Christ, we will grow in our holiness. The more we treasure Christ, the more we will want to serve. This is why people like Joan Stevens is starting up a grief share group for widows and widowers in September. This is why Christ and Karen Acres have spent every week for 10 years serving the homeless. This is why Tom and Sharon Stone spend every week leading a worship service in our life care center during the time we're worshiping here. This is why all of our people who work for campus crusade, for Wickliffe and for man in the mirror, raise support to advance God's kingdom here on earth. You see, I can go on and on and on with the list of all that you do for the kingdom, but it would take me all day. It's people like this who have found the treasure in Christ and who are willing to do anything to make him known. The more we grasp Jesus as our treasure, the more we will want to further his kingdom. I end with asking you this question this morning. What are you satisfied in? Where is your joy? Brothers and sisters, find happiness in Christ. Pursue holiness through him and glorify God by enjoying him forever. Let's pray.
Lord Jesus, I pray that we will find our satisfaction in you. I pray that we will treasure you. Lord, as we treasure you, we then pursue holiness. And God, I pray that you will just ultimately fill our hearts with joy. Help us to find that treasure and hold on to it and never let it go. Lord, thank you for being that ultimate treasure that will never leave us, that will never forsake us. And right now, as you prepare our hearts for communion, I pray that we will just embrace it with great thanksgiving. I pray that our hearts will be filled with joy and filled with satisfaction and knowing that you are there. In Jesus' name, amen.