Enfield Evangelical Free Church

"Aiming to glorify God by calling and equipping people to be fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ"

     

February 2010 - Pastor's Message
Treasure

Have you ever dreamed about what you’d do if you found £1million? I suspect most of us have at some time or another. It’s probably what drives millions of people to play the lottery each week. The idea of finding hidden treasure is something that appeals to most of us, either in the make-believe or in reality through games shows and the lottery.

"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 this field. Again the kingdom 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.”

Jesus tells these stories in Matthew's Gospel (chapter 13 verses 44-46) to show us that to find Jesus is like finding treasure of great value. When we truly understand who Jesus is, and what He offers, it’s like the moment we find treasure hidden in a field, or a pearl of great value, or our numbers come up in the lottery. These stories teach us two things about Jesus.

Jesus Is A Hidden Treasure
It should be obvious to most of us that not everyone thinks Jesus is valuable treasure.  Even though some of us may have read the Bible, or been told lots about him we still don’t see what all the fuss is about.   This is because the value of Jesus is hidden from us, like treasure buried in a field.  But the stories give us hope, because although he’s a hidden treasure, he is a treasure that can be found.

How can he be found? Like the man digging in the field, some of us will almost stumble across Jesus.   For example we make a friend who tells us about Jesus.  As they tell us we start to become gripped by Jesus. It’s that moment when the man digging in the field realises it’s not just a stone he’s hit with his spade but a box of valuable treasure.  

Or like the pearl merchant looking for a pearl of value, others of us will already be looking for answers.  As we hear about Jesus it starts to dawn on us that Jesus is the answer we’ve been looking for.

These stories teach us that Jesus is a hidden treasure, but he can be found as God makes Him known to us. In fact Jesus has already told us to “seek and you will find” (Matthew 7 verse 7). Jesus is hidden from us, but he can be found.

Jesus Is A Valuable Treasure
In both these stories that Jesus tells, the treasure and the pearl are clearly worth a fortune.  Both the people sell everything they have in order to lay hold of their find.  Both people do a calculation and conclude that what they have found is of greater value than anything they currently own.   Jesus wants us to understand that when we find him, we have found something more valuable than anything else we own.

Why is Jesus so valuable? There are many reasons we could list.

Most important is because in Jesus we find God. We find a way to be restored to God through the forgiveness of our sins against God. Because of the cross we find a way to be rescued from God’s judgment.   In Jesus we find all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. We find security and peace and we find a safe place to be into eternity.

Jesus is a valuable treasure and when we find him we will want to pursue him with the wholehearted commitment of the man digging and the pearl merchant.

Have you found the treasure of Jesus yet? If you have found Jesus, are you making him your top priority like the people in this story make their find their top priority? Jesus says… “seek and you will find” – Matthew 7 v 7

Nathan Howard - (Assistant Pastor - EEFC) - February 2010

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