Matthew 13:34-50

TL.9.16.2012 Sell all that is worthless in me and purchase the treasure of heaven Matthew 13:34-60 34 Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. 35 So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.” 36 Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” 37 He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.40 “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42 They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear. 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 blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. We continue to study worship. The proper posture of worship. What is the basic foundation of worship? What is the foundation or attitude of our heart when we worship? Is it fear? Is it reverence? Is it awe? How do we approach God when we worship Him? Do we worship Him out of fear, awe, reverence and the power that He possesses? Why do we worship Him? If we say that we are truly worshipping Him, should love not be the basic foundation upon which we offer our worship to Him? You must love God from your heart to say that you are worshipping Him. The reason being, when we speak of worship outside of the church, and in a worldly sense, even nonbelievers have an attitude of reverence. When they see something in nature that is beautiful or a large boulder that has a strange shape, or if there is an extremely large tree, people are attracted to these objects and end up revering these things and at times praying and worshipping these objects in an act of reverence. Have we not all seen these things? Korean people are accustomed to doing this. In many places in Korea where there are large stones, or strange shapes, or with trees whenever there is something that is outside of the norm, they go and pray to them, offer sacrifices to them and pay homage to these objects. This is all an act of worship. Is this is the manner we worship God? As children of God, are we offering to Him, the proper worship? Is this the same manner in which we are worshipping God and giving Him our praise? Let us say that we are not worshipping Him in the same manner. There is a saying that says “The salt in the shaker must be put on the food to give it flavor.” I thought about it all week. I heard this when I was in Seoul. We all have heard this many times before, but what does this have to do with our Christian faith? How does this relate to our faith? Of course, the meaning is obvious, we know that you have to put the salt that is in the shaker onto the food to give it flavor but how does this relate to our Christian life? It not only relates but this defines our life. Why? We know all the Words that have been given to us. If we don’t put it into our lives will there be any flavor? As a Christian and as a child of God we are to have flavor in our lives. Jesus tells us to be the salt but if we do not have flavor in our lives then what use it? In Korea, there is no one who does not know about Jesus. We met people who were chosen and anointed, but they could not rid their lives of their selfishness. They were following God on their own terms. They did not change their lives and were all hindered in their walk with God. They did not know how to put the salt, the Word of God, into their lives, so they all encountered problems. Are you in the same situation? A journey begins with one step. Gather dust and you can make a mountain. Let us say that you want to go on a long journey and get to heaven, can you get there by sitting in your seat and thinking about it? Step by step, though tiring, with perseverance you must go so that you can get to heaven. If on the journey you give up, will you make it into heaven? No you cannot. Can you use the excuse “I did it yesterday.” I fasted up until yesterday, and prayed with the power of God and did many things, but today because I am tired, I must go out into the world and enjoy myself. If you think this and go out into the world, will you make it into heaven? You cannot? In the Old Testament God tells us that no matter how righteous one is, if that righteous person turns to wickedness, then God will get rid of that person. Simply put that person is going to hell. On the other hand, no matter how wicked one is, if that person turns from their wicked ways and turns their life around and follows the Word of God and obeys, then that person will be given life. If until yesterday I was a person who lived in sin, but today I come before Jesus surrendering and desiring to be washed in His blood and to live a new life, then I can be cleansed and go to heaven. But if until yesterday I have witnessed to countless of people the Gospel, and healed many sick and cast out many demons, if today I give up because I am tired, and today I turn away from Jesus and go into the world, then tonight when the Lord comes for me, we fail to realize that I will be considered a sinner who cannot hold the hand of Jesus and fail to enter into heaven. If you did good until yesterday, and today you know that you are not to do worse, then even if you were not able to do better than yesterday, then at least you must do at least as well as you did yesterday. You must continue in that good in your life. You are not to forget the grace and the love and to continue in this life. But to the one who does forget and lets go, the loss is theirs. Then is God to be feared, because we did good until yesterday, and He is not willing to excuse me for today? Let us examine our own lives and find the answer. Let us talk about two people who are in love. Let’s not use the married couple but those who are dating. If two people are dating and in love and having a good time, drinking and eating and enjoying each other and are completely satisfied with each other, but one of the two meets someone else and this new person makes them more comfortable and enjoys them more than the other. Then what happens. Then that person will leave their original partner and be with the new one. Then can we say that the person really loved the other? Until yesterday, as a child of God, I did everything in the name of Jesus Christ, but today if I meet something new in this world that makes me more comfortable and which I enjoy more, and I let go of the hand of Jesus, then am I really revering Him, am I really loving Him? There is no true reverence, no true love, it was just a fleeting moment of pleasure. Even married couples when we have arguments, if we were having these arguments with true love would our arguments be the same as they are today? I would say that it would be a 100 percent different. You argue for you satisfaction and your pride. The words you speak do incredible damage and put a distance between you two. But if you were to really argue for the sake of the other person, in humility and sacrifice, then no matter how deep the wounds they would heal quickly. If I worship God on the foundation of love, because of what Jesus has done for me, then even though I may have fear I am still able to come into His presence and return to Him. Without love, if I worship out of fear, out of respect and duty, then if the world makes us more comfortable, we will end up leaving to find comfort in the world. In today’s passages. Heaven is likened to seeds, to a hidden treasure, a fine pearl, and a fisherman’s net. They are similar but have their differences. When the Word of God is planted in your life, are you diligent in tending to the field and removing the weeds of the devil? Or if heaven is like a hidden treasure in the field, then even though to everyone else it looks like a normal field, are you willing to sell everything to have that which is hidden? Do you truly believe that heaven exists? Do you believe in all the promises given to you by God, that there is value in what He has spoken and have the willingness to sell all that you have to buy the field? Why would someone sell all they have to buy something of great value? A business person is different from a farmer. A business person buys and sells for one reason and that is to make a profit. If he calculates and decides that there is value in what he has found then he will sell what he has in order to purchase that item. If heaven is real, then am I willing to sell my pride, self esteem, wife, husband, children, all that I have, and sell it to attain heaven, for Jesus? To sell all that I have means that I am willing to humble myself and rid myself of everything and that I know the value of that precious treasure. If I do not know the value of the treasure then I am unable to sell what I own. If that which I desire is worth more than my pride, then I would be willing to humble myself to attain it. In business, if you know that by humbling yourself and asking for a favor and by getting your contract signed that will give you incredible profit, is there anything that you wouldn’t do to get that piece of paper signed? Isn’t that what lobbyists do? Likewise, in order to attain heaven, do I realize the value of heaven that I may sell all that I have to attain it? Have I realized its worth? Or like the fish that are caught in the net, if the fish that the fisherman dislikes is thrown away, what happens if I am an unwanted fish, and in the end when I sit before our Lord in judgement and He throws me away? If I realize that it would have been a useless life, then am I willing to live a life that will allow me to attain heaven? What is the life that is diligent in removing the weeds that are trying to destroy me? It is the life that is cautious in speech and action. If I am unable to decide to no longer live for the flesh then the weeds of this world will grow inside. In a field that is unattended, there are more weeds that grow than plants from which to eat. It is sad to say, but when there are few things to eat, in the end even those few things will be uprooted with the dirt and disregarded. We do not try to harvest the little that is left because the yield is not worth the labor, so everything will be disregarded as the field is prepared for the next season. Jesus will not choose you for the few things that you say you did for Him. If you do not yield a return that is profitable then just like a useless field you will be disregarded. What will happen to your life? You must look at your life daily and decide what you will do. How does tending to the seeds in your heart and selling all you own to purchase something of greater value relate to worship and glorifying God? What can we compare our worship to? We have come here as immigrants. Do any of you have any valuable family heirlooms that have been passed down through your family? Any heirlooms? Most of us who have immigrated do not own them. We are only first and second generations here and do not have much of these things. If you do not have an heirloom, have you worked hard and attained any precious treasure? Probably not. We have no heirlooms or treasures. But if we do not have any of these things we all have something that we wish to be proud of and show off to others. Or when we see those who have great wealth, if they have anything of great value and unique, they have these things hidden to keep them from being stolen. Is this not so? This is treasure. When you have something that is unique, you hide it, you keep it safe, and you enjoy it by yourself when no one else is around. You take pleasure in it by yourself. Or if you have a special guest you may bring it out and show it off to them. Is this not what we do with our treasure? In this manner we are worshipping these things within ourselves. Is it not so? It is idol worship. We do not want it to be stolen, we cherish it, and hold onto to it for our own self and satisfaction. Is there anyone who does not have this? You say you have no money, no merit, nor any of the things that other people have. But inside each of you there is anything you treasure more than your pride. Your pride and stubbornness. It is the one thing that you refuse to give up, to surrender to others, and it is your treasure. Do you have anything more valuable than this? Your pride is the one thing that you will take care of more than the spouse that you promised to love for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, no matter what life may bring. You cherish your pride more than your wife or husband. Have you come clean before your spouse? You have not. You hide your pride, and rather than show it to others, you expose all your dirty habits to the one you love. You make a mess with your pride and then put your pride back inside you. You bring it back out and make a mess of your family, and then put it back inside again. When you bring it out, it would be better that you throw it away, but rather you put it back inside of you. Why? Because you want to bring it out and take pleasure from it again. If this is how we are living, then we are worshipping ourselves. This is self love. If we do not rid ourselves of this, we will be unable to truly accept the love of Jesus in our hearts. We are unable to truly know the love of our spouses because in our hearts we are filled with ourselves. Is it easy to accept the love that someone gives you that has come from a different upbringing? There are misunderstandings and conflicts arise which must be resolved. But these things do not get resolved. You have no thought of even trying to resolve these things. It is because you are only focused on yourself. In this manner, as we are only focused on ourselves, when we come to God we only are concerned with ourselves and desire that He satisfy our needs. We ask Him to deal with someone on our behalf. When He tells us to humble ourselves we tell Him we cannot. Because we cannot get angry at God, we get angry at our spouse. If we are living in this manner, is this the right way to be living? In this manner a family cannot be well. If this is how we worship, is it proper? If that which is inside you is not of value, has no merit and only creates a mess every time you bring it out, and you take pleasure from it, and you find satisfaction from using it in anger, then this could not be living in the manner which is proper. If this is the manner in which we come to worship God, will He accept this worship? Rather than sell you pride and rid yourself of all the things that are dirty, and filling yourself with the love of your spouse and doing everything within you to attain the reward of heaven, you see no value in selling your pride and therefore are not willing to give it up. You must get rid of all the dirty and evil things of this world so that you can attain the treasure of heaven. You know that there is value in it but you have a difficult time calculating the cost. You cannot see that you do not understand. If you know that if you get rid of one and will get two in return, then you must have the ability to get rid of the one. Our problem is without getting rid of the one we hold onto it and then try to get the reward of two. It does not work that way. We must be determined to rid ourselves of all the dirty things inside of us so that we can truly start on the journey towards heaven. There are many sickness and diseases in the world today. We are of asian descent and having immigrated here much of our food has changed. There are many things that we can now eat that are pleasing to the mouth. There are many foods that are delicious and pleasurable. But the more that we eat for our pleasure the quicker our bodies become sick. Foods that are pale, that contain MSG, sugar, are all pleasurable. Many of the electronic equipments we use today give off radiation. There is much air pollution due to the transportation. With so many things to entertain us, we are sleeping less. We are having much more stress in our lives. The things that we absorb into our bodies. Through all these things and many others, our bodies ability to stay well diminishes and we begin to get sick. It all starts from seeking pleasure. To satisfy the appetite, the satisfy our eyes, whatever it is that we seek to satisfy the flesh a little too much. Rather than listen to our bodies when it is telling us that we need rest, because we find pleasure with what we see we end up watching TV for an extra hour, or in the enjoyment of activity we play too much, when our body tells us to not eat any more we take another bite to satisfy our urge. We blame stress and pick up habits like smoking and drinking. It is doing that little bit in excess that creates the sickness from within. You do not immediately get sick and bedridden today, but just like the journey starts with one step and mountain is created by the accumulation of dust, so do these things keep adding up and you start the process of getting sick. Our spiritual life is like this. If you decide today that you are not going to forgive and decide to do it tomorrow, and even though you did something wrong and do not go to make amends, and these things keep adding up and eventually end up as a disease like a stroke, then it will be too late. That which damages our walk in faith, starts from our childhood, all those things that we have seen and heard, that have hurt us and been rooted in us, that creates bad habits in us, end up leading us into the path of hell. We do not see that we are accumulating the things in our life that force us to choose to turn away from Jesus. Even though there are many advances in modern medicine, there are also many more diseases for which we do not know the cause. The father of medicine, Hippocrates says the disease that cannot be cured by food cannot be cured by medicine. What is food? For us it is the Word of God. To cure our lives with the Word means we must put it into action in our lives, so that the Word comes to life in power, as I surrender and the Word comes to life. I must eat of the Word just as I must put salt in my food to give it flavor. If I do not do this then I cannot be cured from my sickness. If I do not change my life then I cannot live as a Christian. But if I desire to live a life of obedience, I must rid myself of all that I treasure within me, the pride and arrogance, which I hold onto so dearly, and purchase the treasures of heaven. Where on earth can you give away garbage and gain treasure? You may be here with the others just as a fish that is caught in the net, but when the Jesus looks at you and you are unwanted what is going to happen to you? You will be thrown away. Should you not be a fish that is not tossed away? I must have this determination within me, so that I can truly worship God. It is this life that is the life of a true Christian. When you surrender all to Him, He will bless you abundantly that He will be glorified. God shakes us at times to give us more blessings, but these moments are through training and discipline. When you persevere well through these trials God will bless you abundantly. You must be determined to go through these trials in order to reap the reward. If you have eyes to see you must decide if heaven is worth attaining. Then if you decide it is worth selling everything for, then make the decision and do it. Have you not seen, have you not heard? The decision is now yours. May you decide to do that which will give glory to God and live the life of a true worshipper. Sermon by Pastor Howard Park Translated by Miguel Park