Sermon Tone Analysis
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Announcements:
What a great day to worship Jesus Christ
There are billions of people who will never know what it is like to gather with God’s people
There are billions of people who will never know what it is like to know Jesus
But for us WE ARE BLESSED!
We have something so much greater than this world could ever offer and so much more than we could ever deserve.
Pastoral Prayer
INTRODUCTION
There are two kinds of preachers: those who preach to convict the soul and those who preach to draw a crowd.
I try to preach to convict the soul.
And I have tried to preach the other way, and I have tried to prepare nice messages that will not offend people but if I am true to the Scriptures it is nearly impossible.
I say that because I had planned on preaching this parable for weeks, and I planned on an uplifting message about the wonderful treasure the Kingdom of God is.
But as I prepared this message, I discovered some deep convicting truths buried within about what it means to be a disciple.
Why do you think Jesus taught that way?
Right smack in the middle of a rich, colorful, story Jesus would include a convicting statement that would be so hard to swallow by those who were listening.
I would say that Jesus’ own conviction on preaching would be his own words, “the truth shall set you free” (John 8:32).
It is better to preach truth that wounds and then heals, than speak lies that comforts and kills.
It is better to be hated for speaking the truth, than loved for telling lies.
It is better to be divided by truth than united in error.
Those words were spoken by Adrian Rogers and I keep them in my heart because they are words that I live by.
When we read this parable it makes us smile, until we really begin to think about the implications of what He is teaching.
This parable is not only about the infinite value of the kingdom of God, but also about the radical call to discipleship in the man who finds the treasure.
We read the first part of that and we say oh that is so good.
I just love this parable.
And then we read the second clause and it’s a little odd, but still ok.
BUT then we read the last part and say, “Is that what God expects of me?”
And we are left with this profound impression abou the greatness of the Christ and the profound responsibility of a disciple.
I have broken this parable into three parts, and each part teaches a significant part of the gospel.
The Opportunity: the kingdom of God is a once in a life-time discovery
Explanation
Most of us are not treasure hunters, and the thought of finding a buried treasure or a sunken treasure in the ocean seems like a fairy tale.
But to those Jesus was talking to, this story would have been very familiar because treasures were hidden quite frequently.
Why?
Because there were no banks, no safety deposit boxes, no fireproof safes in homes, and no real secure place to store their valuables.
So instead of locking the, up, They buried them!
And often times they buried them in the middle of a field.
Archaeologists have often found jars of gold coins and even precious jewels buried in fields.
So in cases like that, the owners of those buried treasures would have been killed or died suddenly and their treasured remained hidden where no one knew about it.
And it was very possible to come across someone’s great hidden treasure.
Bridge
What are the odds of finding a buried treasure?
Scholars say they were about the same then as they are now.
ILLUSTRATION
If we use the lottery as an example, the odds of hitting the Mega Millions are roughly: 1 in 330 million
There are 329 million people in the United States right now.
One of those people will be our next president.
Just suppose that you were given a hat with every persons name living in the United States right now and you were given one chance to pick the name of the next President.
No looking, no sifting.
Just one chance to reach in and draw out the right name.
Application
What makes the Kingdom of God such a rare discovery, is not its lack of availability!
We must not read this and think that the chance of going to heaven is like hitting the lottery!
What we must see here is that the whole World misses the greatest treasure because they do not recognize it
So many do not come to Christ is because they cannot see the once-in-a-lifetime treasure that He is.
The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field…”
They cannot see His value
They cannot see the real treasure that He is
They cannot see past the temporal things of this world.
So when they think about Jesus, they only look at him through their natural eyes and not through faith.
They see another responsibility in their lives.
They see struggles and hardships
They see them losing the pleasures of their sins
And they conclude that He is not worth it.
BUT when one comes to see the kingdom of God for what it really is and what it is really worth, they find a once-in-a-lifetime hidden treasure that changes their lives forever.
The Discovery: When one discovers the true value of Christ, he will gladly surrender everything to have Him
Explanation
This man who was walking along in a field and discovered this hidden treasure knew he had stumbled upon a one-in-a-life-time discovery.
He knew what he had found was far more valuable than everything that he had earned and saved up over the course of his lifetime.
But there is one issue here!
He has been walking in another man’s field!
He just happened to stumble upon a hidden treasure.
And as it was back then, the man who owned the field owned the treasure!
But this man Is no fool!
He has seen the value of this treasure and knows it is worth more than everything he owns.
So as a wise investor, he goes and sells everything he has so that he can buy that field.
And in buying the field he also receives the kingdom.
Bridge
Now this is not teaching that we can buy Jesus, or give things to revive Jesus or the Kingdom.
No amount of money will get us into the kingdom of God.
No amount of good deeds will get us into the Kingdom of God.
What this is teaching is the cost of discipleship.
What this is teaching that for one to come to Christ, that one must be willing to pay the costs whatever that is.
Luke 14:28-34 “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?
“Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’……
“So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.”
Principle:
Do you know what keeps so many people from the kingdom of heaven?
The Cost of Discipleship!
Make no mistake, it will cost you to come to Jesus.
It will cost you your time
It will cost you money
It will cost you your reputation with the world
It will cost you the comforts and luxuries that this world has.
It will cost you your lifestyle of sin…
It will cost everyone of us in many ways, BUT WHAT IS GAINED CANNOT BE COMPARED TO THE COSTS!
This is the primary point of the the entire parable!
JESUS IS WOTH INFINITELY MORE THAN ANYTHING WE COULD EVER GIVE UP!
The value of a treasure is worth everything that we have!
‘There is nothing that could even compare to Jesus!
But I must make his point clear: THE MAN PAID TO COSTS.
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