Absolute Worth!

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Advent Conspiracy, the movement, is the belief that Christmas can still change the world!

Unfortunately in our Western world, our culture tends to obsess about what they don’t have and it all started back in the garden where Adam and Eve got fixated on the only thing that was off limits for them.

So, we know there is this constant yearning for the next thing in our culture and the best antidote that I know is learning to give it away.

How do we not get caught up in a subtle but subversive movement where love is defined even in the most pure of relationships, that between a father and son, mother and daughter where we have the mindset  “Well, I didn’t have this stuff, but I’m going to sacrifice and make it happen so you can have all the kind of presents that I didn’t have.

Maybe you have had one of these conversations as a parent…where Christmas is going to be as big this year.  It was measured by the amount of presents under the tree or how full the garbage bag of wrapping paper was afterwards.  However, what if we said it would be bigger than ever!  A crazy notion that we would give away gifts that would multiply far greater in our world than we could ever spend on each other.

How, you ask?  By giving to organizations like Samaritan’s Purse, Compassion or Partners International to name a few.  They offer you opportunities to give gifts that provide wells for communities to helping children out of the child sex trade.

 In Matthew 13:44,45, Jesus tells the parable of the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price and these two stories will frame my thoughts for our time together this morning.

The Greatest Discovery

READ  Matthew 13:44, 45 

Jesus tells us two stories about two men absolutely committed to possessing something of great worth. One sells everything he has so he can possess a treasure he finds hidden in a field. The other cashes in all his belongings so he can own the most spectacular pearl he’s ever laid eyes on.

Have you ever made an investment that was ‘pure gold’ for you?

How about an investment that gave you close to a 100% rate of return…A Night In Bethlehem grew from over 500 visitors last year to over 1000 this year.  There wasn’t an official count, but we went from giving out 50 New Testaments to about 575 New Testaments this year!

Bobby C. makes a huge investment in PK… 16 men from those two buses prayed to receive Christ.

Do you know what Jesus says? Jesus says, “That’s what the kingdom of heaven is like.” Jesus says, “Just like those two men were willing to give up everything they owned so they could possess that treasure and that pearl, your commitment to me must be greater than your commitment to anything else on earth.” Do you possess that kind of overwhelming hunger to possess Jesus? Where’s that kind of hunger come from? What makes people like you and me to become fully committed followers of Christ? 

There are these moments when something big and beautiful happens that catches people’s attention. 

I believe that the Nativity Scene this year captured the imagination of people’s hearts in a way that they were challenged to make room for the Saviour!  Steve H was one of the shepherds who bowed in that stable countless times over the three nights and spoke about how powerful that moment was.

It starts with a discovery. In these parables it all begins when one man discovers a treasure hidden in a field and when another man discovers a pearl of great worth.  Commitment to Christ begins when we discover Him. 

One thing these parables teach us is that different people discover the truth about Jesus in different ways. In the first parable we find a man who isn’t even looking for treasure. He just stumbles onto it. He’s walking along minding his own business and finds the treasure in a field by accident. It’s exactly opposite of what happens in the parable of the pearl. There we find a merchant who has spent his entire life searching for that perfect pearl that he ultimately finds. 

Isn’t that the way it is with Christ? Some of you here today had no intention of ever following Christ. For a good part of your life you didn’t think about God. You didn’t care about God, but then the good news about Jesus unexpectedly broke into your life and you were forever changed. As it has been said, ‘You weren’t looking God, but He was looking for you!’

On the other hand, some of us had a different experience. It seems that some people are just born with an acute spiritual longing. Like that man visiting one market after another in search of the perfect pearl, you searched for God. Maybe you went from one philosophy to another or from one religion to another. Then one day somebody told you about Jesus and you discovered that peace with God isn’t about religion. It’s about a relationship. It’s not about works. It’s about grace. It’s about personal faith in Christ. Your search was over and now you found what so many people are still looking for.

Different people discover the truth about Jesus in different ways. Some are born into Christian families. Some hear the truth from Christian friends. Some come to know about Christ through hardship and trials. Some open a Bible for the very first time.  It doesn’t matter. The point is, absolute commitment to Christ can’t happen unless you somehow discover Him. You can’t possess a treasure you never found.

Heather V. shares the story about her son, Ethan.

The story begins when Ethan, last year in grade one, initially got a teacher that we knew was antagonistic towards the gospel.  A son of a Christian family that we know had this teacher and when he was open with the class about his faith, the teacher told him point blank that what he believed was wrong and continued throughout the school year to berate him when he talked about God.  At first we thought we would leave Ethan where he was given that he is a quiet guy and we didn't think he would talk as openly about things of God as this little friend had.  However we had a gut feeling that we should request another teacher for him, this kind of move being something we had never requested for any of our other children in the past.  The principal told us it was pretty much an impossibility given the make up of all the classes.  A week and a half into the school year we received a call saying that something had come up and they were able to move Ethan to another grade one class.  He ended up with a Christian teacher.

A few weeks later I went on a field trip with Ethan's class and shared a bus seat with a little girl named Annika, who out of the blue asked me if I thought there was a God and said she didn't think there was.  A few months later we were looking for Ethan's beginner Bible to read to him at bedtime and he told us he had taken it to school to read during free reading time.  He said he couldn't bring it home for a while as he had loaned to Annika , who reading at about a grade four level, had been reading it over and over again!  Who knows what seeds were planted!  Of course if Ethan had the original teacher, she never would have allowed a Bible to be passed on during reading time.  And we had underestimated what Ethan would share at school regarding things of God!

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:13,14 NIV

The Ultimate Pursuit

But finding treasure is only the first step. It’s not enough to simply discover Jesus. Commitment requires us to recognize His great worth. In verse 46 Jesus tells us that when the merchant found his pearl, he recognized what many people never saw. He recognized that the pearl he was looking at was a pearl of great value. I wonder, how many people see Jesus and never recognize His worth? 

A life of absolute commitment to Christ doesn’t happen just because we discover the truth about Jesus. Commitment only happens when we recognize His worth. This is where I fear most of us just don’t get it. We don’t really recognize the infinite worth of Christ. If we did, we would not hesitate to put our absolute trust in Him

The treasure is always there for us even if it is hidden. The fact that we are digging in a field suggest that we may fruitlessly search in life for all sorts of encounters , for meaning, for truth, for joy, whatever and try to find it in relationships, the pursuit of pleasure and of course then there’s physical beauty or physical strength. Why is physical beauty of such great worth to so many? Physical strength ultimately fades away.   We have all seen people who have taken it too far with facial lifts, botox, ‘lipo-suction’!

 But sometimes as one writer puts it, we are led unexpectedly through someone or something,  an experience , an often simple encounter that leads us to that ‘ah ha’ moment , and in that moment we find the ultimate experience of  true joy in God alone and we realise that to continue this new way of being will cost us everything.

Have you recognized the great worth of Jesus? Do we really understand the treasure He is? Every one of us deserves to be eternally separated from God in hell. Do you understand that? Do you believe that about yourself? Jesus rescues us. In Christ we get forgiveness. We get heaven. What’s that worth to you? In Christ we get adopted into God’s family. Because of Jesus, God Himself becomes your Father. Through faith you become His son. You become His daughter. What’s that worth to you?

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13 NIV

I love those who love me, and  those who seek me diligently find me.  Proverbs 8:17 ESV

The Joy In Surrender

What happens inside someone when they discover Jesus and recognize His worth? Joy happens! When you recognize the worth of Jesus, you become joyfully determined to possess Him no matter what! Listen one more time to Matthew 13:44-46. Jesus 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. 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. 

Sometimes we get it so wrong. We talk about all the sacrifices we have to make for Jesus. Here’s what we all need to see. In this parable there’s no sacrifice at all. 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 the field. 

How is it possible for someone to give up everything they possess with laughter and joy?

The only way that you would be able to do that would be if if you knew that what you were about to receive was of far greater value than what you gave up.

I don’t know what you’re hanging onto today. I don’t know what’s of great worth to you. Maybe it’s money. Maybe it’s control. Maybe it’s some pet sin you think you just can’t live without. Whatever it is, know this—it’s not worth what He’s worth. Not even close. Discover Jesus. Recognize his worth. Don’t you see the treasure He is to you? Isn’t it time for some real joy in your life.  Here’s the thing, God can’t place in your hands what He has for you as long as you hand is clenched and shut.  Open up your hands and stop holding on to stuff so you can receive what He is waiting to give you.

Isaiah 55:1-3,6,7

·         Understanding what the kingdom of heaven isn’t -

Listen to what Jesus is telling us here. The kingdom of heaven isn’t about losing out or ending up with the short end of the stick.

·         Understanding what the kingdom of heaven is -  It is about the best investment that you will ever make with your life.

It’s about trading death for life. It’s about trading temporary toys for eternal riches. It’s about trading bondage for freedom. It’s about trading shame for joy. It’s about trading rejection for acceptance. It’s about trading your fear and emptiness for the love that never disappoints. The kingdom of heaven is infinite treasure. The kingdom of heaven is the pearl of great price.

The Takeaway

Nothing on earth can touch what we receive in the person of Jesus Christ.  He is absolutely worth every part of the pursuit!

When Jesus talks about selling all and purchasing the kingdom, He is not suggesting that God can be bought off. He is not saying we should abandon all possessions and become beggars.  So what are we selling?  He is speaking of a willful abandoning those possessions that compete for one true devotion to Christ.

We are called to have one true treasure (Matthew 6:19-21) and confess one true Master (Matthew 6:24)

I did some research on pearls...here is what you need to know.

Pearls are formed in oysters as a response to an irritant, which enters when the shell valves are open for feeding or respiration. The oyster secretes nacre, a sticky substance around the object to protect the soft tissue and seals off the irritation.  Layer upon layer the nacre coats the irritant and a pearl is formed, buried deep within the oyster.  Light reflected from the layers produces the iridescent lustre.  In our present consumer frenzied world  we are probably all familar with the phrase "I've got to have it" but the stark reality is  that we don't need half of what we think we can't do without.

The parable of the pearl is a great illustration of the way in which our spiritual lives are  formed.  Inside the shells of our heart  we are irritated  by feeding and taking in all the lies we are led to believe that we need to live but  cumulatively these damage us, both physically and spiritually.  Christ "our nacreous shell " forms and  protects us layer by layer and He becomes the treasure in us, in our jars of clay.  Philippians 1:6  He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it!

There’s another way of looking at these 2 parables. Instead of thinking of the treasure hunter as YOU, think of him as GOD. Instead of you being the merchant, think of GOD going through the marketplace. Now the story is different. Now the treasure hidden in the field is – YOU and ME! Now the pearl of great price is – US!

And what does God “sell” to make his purchase? Better question, who? Jesus. Jesus, His only Son. He gave His greatest treasure, to make us his treasured possessions.

Phillip Lichtenwalter

So, what will your family’s ‘advent conspiracy’ be this year?  Where will you invest in the Kingdom that will be multiplied and worth so much more for Jesus than all those typical gifts this Christmas?

Blessed Are The Persecuted

Please visit www.callformercy.com to sign the petition on behalf of Asia as we pray for her release!

Many experts suggest that more than 200 million people in over 60 nations face violent persecution or detention because of their identity as Christians. At least that many or more are discriminated against on a regular basis because of the faith.

• Christians are the largest identifiable group in the world today who are denied their basic human rights simply because of who they are.

• Evangelicals are growing at a rate three times faster than the world's population growth rate In 2000, evangelicals had an annual growth of almost 5%

• In China, the Protestant church had maybe 1,260,000 members in 1949. Today the church has grown to at least 81 million members (registered and unregistered).

• In Africa alone, the rate of church growth has been nothing short of staggering, skyrocketing from an estimated 10 million Christians in 1900 to 360 million in 2000.

• The church in Sudan is the fastest growing church in the Muslim world; this despite facing some of the most horrendous persecution known to man in recent years.

• India now has 10 churches with more than 10,000 members and 30 that have more than 3,000 members. In 1999, one church leader reported baptizing 2231 in a single day. Some Indian denominations are reporting that they are planting a new church every day.

• Among the Hmong people of northern Vietnam, there were NO evangelical Christians in 1989. In 11 years, by 2000, they numbered over 175,000. All of this church growth has taken place while being brutally oppressed by Vietnamese authorities.

• One of the main reasons for the persecution of Christians worldwide has been because of its rapid growth. It is truer to say that church growth causes persecution than that persecution causes church growth. In some countries, such as Iraq, Jordan, Syria, and other parts of the Middle East, persecution has actually caused the church to significantly shrink in size over the past 100 years.

The reality is that in these places they are desperately trying to get the Word out to people who have never heard and they are ready to pay the price.

When one part of the body suffers, all the body suffers.  We enter into and feel the persecuted church.

When we look at suffering in the NT, we will find that the majority of passages that deal with suffering deal with it in context to suffering for following Christ.  The truth remains that for the majority of Christians who live in North America, we have no idea what suffering for our faith really is.

Some of you have been ostracized from your immediate family because of your decision to follow Jesus and there are those who may have been passed over for a job because of your faith.  You may have been sworn at, ridiculed for your faith, but we still have no clue unless we choose to engage and face the brutal realities in our world.

Sharon and I have been reading the story of brother Yun in the Heavenly Man…

When you really immerse yourself into the stories of persecuted believers, their pain, their sorrow,  it makes you come undone for your brothers and sisters.  For me a righteous indignation starts to rise up in me and it is all too easy to be filled with hatred for what is done and then I listen to their testimonies.

Blessed Are The Persecuted

1.        The  HIGH cost of discipleship

Matthew 16:24-27 

Last week Pastor John challenged us on the reality of what it means to follow Christ.  The call to deny ourselves is to give our lives over to something that is greater than our own pursuit of success and fulfillment in life. to deny ourselves is the call of Christianity.

The demand of Jesus on His followers is to tread the path of martyrdom. As He prepared to send His disciples out as sheep among wolves and He told them that they would likely die in the process of carrying out their ministry. In order to build His Church (Matthew 16:18), His death was necessary, as He points out in 16:21. This is the foundation. Without Christ's death there is no redeemed community. But just as Christ's cross was needed to establish His Church, our crosses are needed to build His Church (16:24). Both are needed. As Josef Ton observed, "Christ's cross was for propitiation. Our cross is for propagation." To be called to follow Christ is to receive a call to suffer (e.g. Acts 9: 16; 14:22; 1 Thessalonians 3:3; 1 Peter 2:21; 3:9, 17).

This all comes into focus with the person of Jesus Christ, who is the revelation of God.  He showed us what sacrificial love is; for Christ to suffer and die was to accomplish the Father’s purposes.  We also recognize that the way up in the kingdom of God is down.  Christ must continue to become an ever increasing reality and presence in my life and the pathway that God chooses to use us is through weakness, suffering and sacrifice.  It is then and only then that we know beyond a shadow of doubt that God is at work but as His Word tells us, “my strength (power) is made perfect in your weakness”.  2 Corinthians 12:9

This is how God does His work.  It is not through our strengths or compulsion, but through love and invitation and Jesus dies and takes our sin in His own body on the cross.  He who knew no sin became sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21)

It is not so much a willingness to die as our readiness to be bold in our allegiance to Christ and our unconditional obedience to Him.

2.       The pathway of persecution 

Matthew 5:10-12  Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

The president of Turkmenistan wishes everyone to honor him like a god, to bow in front of his picture; and he calls himself “the king of kings”.  Christians in many of these persecuted countries suffer not only severe physical persecution, but also economic oppression. 

In their extreme poverty, there is intense pressure to convert to the prevailing religion or deny their faith and they choose to stand strong and suffer for the name of Jesus their Lord.

They have been imprisoned, tortured, injected with poison and left for dead.  They have had boiling water poured down their necks, scarred with acid and burned with fire.  They have watched their Bibles being burned, their fathers taken away and they have fled from their villages for their very lives.  They are our brothers and sisters and they ask us to not forget them.

2 Timothy 3:12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted

1 Peter 2:19-25 ESV  For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. ²⁰For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. ²¹For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.²² He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. ²³When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. ²⁴He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. ²⁵For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

From our perspective, we look at those who endure persecution as heroic, but Peter is stressing that they are recipients of grace.  It is evidence that God is working in their life.  There is no glory for the one that suffers.

The common practice for us in our Western practice is to thank God for living in a free country, the early believers thanked God for the privilege and honor to suffer for His sake (Acts 5:41).  Paul spoke of how death was at work in him in order to bring life to others. 2 Corinthians 4:12.  They recognized that bringing the love of God to a hurting world would cause them to face the hatred of those they were trying to reach.

3.       The call to response for the follower of Jesus

Romans 12:17-21 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:
   "If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
      if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
   In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

The call to response goes against human nature.  This kind of behaviour can only come from the radical transformation of Jesus Christ and the result of the new nature within!

4.       The prayer for persecutors     Psalm 83

Persecution was hardly just a NT phenomenon

This psalm is what is known as a “communal lament,” the cry of the community of faith in their extremity to God. It is couched in the language and historical setting of ancient Israel, but it is the cry, fundamentally, not of Israel as a nation, but of Israel as the persecuted “people of God”: that is, it is the cry of the persecuted “church.”

First and fundamentally, we are to pray that God will be God in the situation V1-4 

The cry of the Israelites comes out of the context of their relationship with Him.  It is a call for God to act on their behalf.

Ironically, it is the nation of Israel’s problem yet today: Philistia is the modern day Gaza Strip; Gebal and Tyre are the coasts of present-day Lebanon and Syria;

Edom, Ammon, Moab, and the Hagrites fall roughly within the boundaries of Jordan;

The Ishmaelites traversed the deserts as the ancestors of the Arab kingdoms; Amalek roamed the Sinai, now in the domain of Egypt; and Assyria—well, Assyria is modern day Iraq.

We are to pray for their shame, that they will be convicted so that they will seek Your Name v13-18

V16  so that ‘they’ will seek your Name... and if not v17 – may they perish in disgrace…

 “prayer is not the preparation for the battle, prayer is the battle.” For the battle is the Lord’s, and in prayer we come before the Lord . . .

And yet, even in this litany of perennial enemies, we must remember the redemptive thread, woven throughout the Old and New Testaments: that there will be those even from these who will share in the eternal presence and praises of God; for the redeemed of the Lord will come “from every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Rev 5:9). Though here these nations are the sworn enemies of God’s people, one of King David’s mighty men was (likely) a Hagrite (1 Chr 11:38), another was an Ammonite (11:39), and yet another a Moabite (11:46). Moreover, one of his officials was also a Hagrite (1 Chr 27:31), and another an Ishmaelite (27:30). And Philistia and Tyre will become “born again” as God’s people (Ps 87:4). And even hated Assyria and Egypt will both become God’s very own, on par with Israel—fully embraced into God’s people (Isa 19:24-25). Even when we rightly—as God demonstrates in His Word—pray against the enemies of God and His people, we do so remembering the redemptive constant—a sometimes-faint-yet-continuous tone, which pervades the pages of Scripture and the plan of God.

The Takeaway

There is a clear scriptural link between persecution and discipleship. Indeed, there can be no discipleship without persecution; to follow Christ is to join Him in a cross-carrying journey of reconciling the world to the Father.