The Treasure

"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.  Matt 13:44 

 

Have you ever noticed that one of the greatest needs that a person has is to be valued?  To be needed, even treasured, by someone?  Some people will go to almost any length to prove that they are valuable.  And the sad fact is, that need is almost never fully met.  No matter how much we feel valued by that others; at some point we’re always let down.

 

So, why would we be designed with this ‘need’ that seems to go unfilled?  It almost seems cruel.  But in reality, its not cruel – it’s destiny.  I believe God placed that great need to be valued into our very soul to draw us to the only source where that need can be met – to Him!  Saint, you need to know this:  God loves you!   Actually God treasures you, and He was willing to give all that He had in order to obtain you!  That, my friend, is true value.

 

Join us Sunday as we look at how God treasures you, how He considers you a “Pearl of great price!”

 

Pastor Clay

From Sunday

This is from the message on Sunday, for some reason I felt led to post it!
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Matt 13:1 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?' 28 He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' The servants said to him, 'Do you want us then to go and gather them up?' 29 But he said, 'No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn."'"

31 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, 32 which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches."

33 Another parable He spoke to them: "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened."

36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field."
37 He answered and said to them: "He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. 39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. 40 Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. 41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, 42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
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Some interpret parable of the mustard seed as meaning the “kingdom will grow mysteriously very big, and shelter people.” But I have two problems with this…

1. There has never in history been a mustard plant that grows into a tree. That would be abnormal, a monstrosity.
2. Whenever birds are noted, they speak of evil.

A better interpretation and one that fits better with the context of Jesus topic would that Jesus is warning about the Kingdom – I.E. the church, becoming big – organized – and becoming a monstrosity. In many ways the institutionalized church has become like the monstrous mustard plant, and the evil birds have roosted in its branches.

As for the parable of the leaven, your bible commentary might say that this is a picture of the “kingdom of God spreading all through the world…” The problem I have with this explanation is that in the bible, leaven is always associated with sin.

And check it out - three measures is the exact amount of meal customarily used in a grain offering to God, and leaven has absolutely no place in a grain offering.
This looks to me like a picture of a warning that sin cannot be hidden in the kingdom – because like leaven it will spread and corrupt the entire lump.

Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. 1 Cor 5:6-7

Summation - There have been so many wrongs done in the name of the church, and so many strange doctrines and practices, that some people hesitate to even admit that they belong to a church. It has gotten to the point where if someone says “I am a Christian”, that statement in and of itself doesn’t hold a firm meaning, because there are so many “brands” of Christianity. You have to dig deeper, identify a creed: “exactly what do you believe?”

That’s why many churches have a “Statement of Faith”, so that people can know what they believe. Things like: We believe Jesus is the Son of God, and the He rose on the third day, that the bible IS the inerrant word of God, etc, etc. Things that should be common understanding for a New Testament church.

When you think about it, it is ludicrous that we would even have to have such a document. It shows just how apostate the church has become.

In essence, I believe that in the parable of the tares, Jesus is:

… talking about the danger of institutionalizing His Church
… talking about the danger of having hidden sin – agendas, personal gain, corruption in His Church
… talking about people that seem to be in the Kingdom (the church), but are not really His people
… telling us that there is an adversary that comes against the Kingdom of God – that adversary is Satan.

He is telling us that our enemy will try and destroy the church from within.

But it also tells us this: We don’t have to worry or get upset about it. We don’t have to try and “root out the tares”. See the parable explains that trying to root out the tares before the harvest will damage the wheat. It tells us that going on witch-hunts and trying to identify the ‘posers’ and remove them will only hurt the church.
No – the separation of the wheat and the tares – the true church from the imposters – will be done by the angels at the end of this age.
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Matt 25:31-43
"When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 33 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

41 "Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 43 I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.'
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The bible also tells me to “not judge”:

"Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Luke 6:37

The bible also tells me that we are to love one another:

By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." John 13:35

In other words – it means that I am to love God, fulfill my personal purpose, and not worry too much about the tares – God will sort them out!

But… the parable also tells me that there will come a time where God will separate the wheat from the tares, the sheep from the goats. What will be the determining factor? How many good deeds? How many sins? How many times you went to church, or prayed, or gave money?

No – NONE of those things will determine whether someone goes into the kingdom – it is not a ‘weighing of good or bad”, but a separation of those who are God’s from those who are not. The determining factor will be “are you a wheat, or a tare?”

In other words – what is your identity? Are you of Gods children? Have you placed your faith in Jesus Christ, accepted Him as the Messiah, made Him YOUR King? If you have, then Jesus’ sacrifice at the cross has become your sacrifice – His death has become your death – and His righteousness has become your righteousness.
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"There is none righteous, no, not one; Rom 3:10

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Rom 3:23


8 But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame." 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For "whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved." Rom 10:8-13

Separating the Wheat from the Tares

Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.  Matt 13:43

 

It’s that time of the year.  It’s time to prepare for battle, to arm ourselves, to get tough, to go to war.  Our opponent is tenacious; he spreads like wildfire, and is difficult to eradicate.  My plan is to prosecute a war with extreme prejudice.  But once I have achieved victory, and killed all of those weeds in my yard, I’ll have a beautiful green yard, all summer long!

 

The fact is, there are certain things that need to be weeded out or separated.

 

    * Buy a pineapple;  you cut out the core and the skin. 

    * When some food in your refrigerator gets that ‘fuzzy’ look, you toss it out.

 

We separate good from bad, the useful from useless, the working from broken.  The issue many people have is that they don’t want to accept the fact that one day God is going to separate the righteous from the lawless.  “How could a loving God send anyone to hell” they ask.  My response would be “how could He not?”  Do we really want the evil and lawlessness of this world following us into the Kingdom of God?  It would make heaven no better than earth, only we would be living forever in a corrupted place.

 

God’s plan is just the opposite:  He wants a reality for His people that will be uncorrupted.  A existence of beauty, love, and harmony.  A place where we, as God’s people, will shine forth as the sun.

 

In His Service,

 

Pastor Clay

 

What’s in a Parable?

Storytelling has existed since the beginning of time. People have used stories to pass on ancestry, traditions, and significant historical events. Story’s have been used to communicate thoughts, ideas, and moral and social codes. In ancient times stories were carved, scratched, painted, printed, or inked onto wood or bamboo, ivory, bones, pottery, clay tablets, skins (parchment), bark cloth; basically any material available. Stories have been written on paper, illustrated on canvass, and in modern times recorded on audio and video medium, and stored electronically in digital form.

Jesus often used a type of story called a parable. The word "parable" comes from the Greek word parabolē, which describes a fictive illustration in the form of a brief narrative, by which spiritual and moral matters might be conveyed.

The Parable of the Sower is a great example. Jesus used the parable to paint a word picture in our mind of a man sowing seeds in his field, throwing them all around. The seeds fall into different areas, land on different soil, and each soil type produces a different result for the planted seeds. In telling this parable, Jesus communicates a powerful message about God, about His word, about our lives, and about our ministry to others.

Join us Sunday as we look at begin our study of several parables Jesus used to communicate the principles of God’s Kingdom to us!