WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:08.960 We've been spending a few weeks in Matthew chapter 13, getting toward the end of it, talking about these parables, these kingdom parables is what they're called. 00:00:09.039 --> 00:00:14.240 And what we've been saying is that the kingdom of God is about God's power entering the world. 00:00:14.320 --> 00:00:18.960 And so it's about the forgiveness of sins, the relief of condemnation, the relief of shame. 00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:21.120 But it's also a few weeks ago we talked about that. 00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:23.679 It's also about God making all things right. 00:00:24.239 --> 00:00:30.239 But in all of this, this is about what does it mean for God to reign in you? 00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:33.600 You know, we say things like, I just want God to take control of my life. 00:00:33.679 --> 00:00:34.640 Like, what does that mean? 00:00:34.960 --> 00:00:36.960 We say it, but what does that mean? 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:38.560 And what would that look like? 00:00:38.719 --> 00:00:42.799 What does it really mean for God to be in control of my life? 00:00:42.960 --> 00:00:45.039 So the text this week, we have two parables. 00:00:45.119 --> 00:00:49.679 We have the parable of the treasure, and then we have the parable of the pearl. 00:00:49.759 --> 00:00:55.280 And so the first one, uh, Sam just read it, Matthew 13, uh, verse 44, the kingdom of heaven. 00:00:55.439 --> 00:00:57.600 So the kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field. 00:00:57.679 --> 00:01:10.319 So the kingdom's like the treasure which a man found and covered up, then in his joy, so he's compelled, then in his joy he goes and he sells all that he has and he buys that field. 00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:19.519 So in ancient time, money was a medium of exchange, but it wasn't something that you would um, it wasn't like capital, you know, it wasn't capital that you would go and invest. 00:01:19.920 --> 00:01:22.959 And so it wasn't it wasn't even something that you would put in a bank. 00:01:23.040 --> 00:01:29.359 And so if you if you had money, if you had a a bit extra, you would have you would form a treasure. 00:01:29.439 --> 00:01:35.439 I mean, you would put it in a jar, you would buy some jewels and put them in a chest, and you would bury it or hide it. 00:01:35.760 --> 00:01:40.640 This is what you did with your extra uh currency, your extra money. 00:01:40.799 --> 00:01:50.000 And so, you know, every once in a while, just like do you remember the story a few years ago, the lady hides the million dollars in her mattress, and then her children don't know it and throw the mattress away? 00:01:50.079 --> 00:01:51.040 Do you ever remember that? 00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:59.680 I have a friend who um when she went out of town, she would hide her wedding ring, but she didn't want to take it out of town in case she lost it. 00:01:59.760 --> 00:02:02.799 I don't know why you're more likely to lose it out of town, but apparently she thought that. 00:02:02.879 --> 00:02:08.400 Uh, she would hide it in the bottom of her trash can because that's the last place a robber would look. 00:02:08.639 --> 00:02:10.719 Well, you I mean, you know how that story ends, right? 00:02:10.879 --> 00:02:14.080 I mean, you forget it's there and you throw the trash away when you get home. 00:02:14.560 --> 00:02:15.919 So, but this is what people do. 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:17.360 They would hide their treasure. 00:02:17.840 --> 00:02:21.439 They wouldn't put it into uh, you know, a vault in the bank. 00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:23.039 They wouldn't invest in the stock market. 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:24.960 If they had extra, they hid it. 00:02:25.039 --> 00:02:38.879 So it's possible every once in a while, because lands get ravaged and there's these wars and people die and people don't communicate where the treasure is, it's possible every once in a while that there's treasure left over on some land. 00:02:39.039 --> 00:02:44.080 And in this story, we get this guy who's seemingly extordinary. 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:45.120 Just a guy. 00:02:45.199 --> 00:02:49.199 He doesn't seem to be incredibly poor, he doesn't seem to be incredibly wealthy. 00:02:49.280 --> 00:02:56.800 Uh he's just an ordinary guy, and he is looking at some land, and he finds a treasure. 00:02:57.280 --> 00:03:04.879 I mean, he maybe maybe it's a jar of gold, coins, maybe it's some jewels, but he finds it, and you can imagine that moment. 00:03:05.039 --> 00:03:09.680 I mean, his heart pounding is looking around, like, is anybody else seeing this? 00:03:09.759 --> 00:03:10.719 And what do I do? 00:03:10.879 --> 00:03:19.520 Because here's the thing he has found the treasure of his life, and yet he has no right to it. 00:03:22.479 --> 00:03:25.599 So he says, Well, he thinks to himself, how do I get right? 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:42.560 So I have to become the legal owner, because even we can read in some rabbinical law at the time that even if he had stolen it, like it'd almost like he would have found he would have been found out, and if he would have been found out that a workman who stumbled upon a treasure, the treasure would go back to his master. 00:03:43.039 --> 00:03:46.240 So the only way for him is to become the legal owner. 00:03:46.319 --> 00:03:48.479 And now here there's probably some shadiness, right? 00:03:48.560 --> 00:03:50.240 You're going like, this seems a little shady. 00:03:50.400 --> 00:03:54.719 Like, you know, there's tre there's treasure on the land, and then you hide it, and then you go buy it. 00:03:54.800 --> 00:03:57.840 Like, but is there, should you tell the owner about the treasure? 00:03:58.080 --> 00:04:00.960 But the point of the parable is not the morality of the hiding. 00:04:01.120 --> 00:04:03.599 The point of parables, and usually there's kind of one main point. 00:04:03.680 --> 00:04:05.520 The point of the parable is the treasure. 00:04:05.680 --> 00:04:08.960 It's all about the worth of the treasure. 00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:17.920 Something so incredible that in joy he goes off and he sells everything. 00:04:19.680 --> 00:04:22.560 So I just got a series of questions I've been wrestling with this week. 00:04:22.639 --> 00:04:27.199 And the first one is this why is this kingdom so valuable? 00:04:27.920 --> 00:04:31.120 Like, why is the kingdom of God in your life so valuable? 00:04:31.600 --> 00:04:35.839 Maybe you've been in church so much that you just stopped asking that question. 00:04:36.160 --> 00:04:51.120 But for some of us, you look around at other Christians and you see the level of anxiety or fear, insecurity, or judgment in them, and you're going, well, I'm not quite sure if it's that valuable, according to observations. 00:04:52.560 --> 00:05:06.319 Or maybe you're like me and you look around and you see the amount of brokenness in this world, the amount of brokenness in a church, the amount of brokenness in different places, and you see all this brokenness, you go, I'm not quite sure if it's this valuable. 00:05:06.959 --> 00:05:11.360 I'm looking at the condition of places and people groups and what's going on. 00:05:11.439 --> 00:05:12.639 I'm looking at my own condition. 00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:14.800 I'm not sure how valuable this is. 00:05:14.959 --> 00:05:23.600 And yet, the only way it's possible for us to know anything is broken is if we have some concept that there is wholeness and goodness. 00:05:24.560 --> 00:05:24.879 Right? 00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:36.240 I mean, the only way we can even know something's broken and have a feeling like this is broken and this is messed up is if there's some idea, some truth that there is wholeness and goodness. 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:38.480 And our hearts pick up on this. 00:05:39.759 --> 00:05:44.399 But what we do is we set off to be our own king. 00:05:44.879 --> 00:05:46.720 To set our own agendas. 00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:50.560 We're gonna fix the brokenness in ourselves or in our families or in the church or in the world. 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:54.399 And so what we do is we set off to be our own king. 00:05:54.639 --> 00:05:55.839 The brokenness in myself. 00:05:56.000 --> 00:06:04.160 I will satisfy it, I will fix it, and I'm gonna fix it with some things or some deeds or some worth that I'm just gonna earn, or maybe some religious morality. 00:06:04.319 --> 00:06:06.319 I'm gonna fix it with that. 00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:09.600 I'll be my own king, I'll form my own kingdom. 00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:22.720 And this is where we get into Isaiah 40, verse 3, because it's talking about God as king and the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight, and the desert a highway for our God. 00:06:22.879 --> 00:06:26.319 So this is speaking about God as king because this is what I learned this week. 00:06:26.959 --> 00:06:33.600 When a king would come back in these times, when a king would come, they would build roads. 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:39.439 They would build whatever they had to build to make his path straight. 00:06:41.279 --> 00:06:46.720 So I I've only met like one king, and it was like this king of a village in uh Africa. 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:49.199 I've only been Africa one time, and it was years ago. 00:06:49.279 --> 00:06:52.480 I was in college and I went with a group and we were doing some work in this village. 00:06:52.639 --> 00:06:59.519 Well, to come into this to this village and gone to Africa to come in, everything had to go through the king. 00:06:59.680 --> 00:07:02.480 Like everything had to go through this one guy. 00:07:02.800 --> 00:07:07.360 He held the authority, and it's this little village out in the middle of nowhere. 00:07:07.519 --> 00:07:14.000 I I don't think, I think it was like a a white person had not been in that village in decades. 00:07:14.399 --> 00:07:20.399 I mean, you know, so everybody wants to touch your skin and look at you and you know, see that you're like they are, you know. 00:07:20.560 --> 00:07:28.560 And so we're walking in and we go and we sit in this this hut, this mud hut, and it was way too small for the amount of people in there. 00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:44.000 It's like 30 people slammed in there on these little stools, and it is hot, it is dark, it is it is middle of the day Africa, and you are in this hut with no lights, and it's hot and it's uncomfortable, and everybody has a little mini sermon as they go around for these introductions, right? 00:07:44.079 --> 00:07:44.639 And here we go. 00:07:44.800 --> 00:07:50.240 It is my worst nightmare as I'm sitting in there because this thing, it's it's like the never-ending church service. 00:07:50.319 --> 00:07:51.279 It won't end. 00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:54.399 And you're just like, I just want out, please get me out of here. 00:07:54.639 --> 00:07:59.439 And what's real clear in all this is there's one guy in charge. 00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:05.439 Like one guy, one guy gets the vote here of whether we come in to do any work or not. 00:08:05.600 --> 00:08:08.000 And when he moves, people move. 00:08:08.480 --> 00:08:11.600 Everything runs through his authority. 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:13.759 Now, I don't know if that guy was a good king. 00:08:13.920 --> 00:08:14.480 Perhaps he was. 00:08:14.560 --> 00:08:17.600 He let us in and we did some good work in that village. 00:08:17.759 --> 00:08:22.319 But what's clear is that a good king removes barriers. 00:08:22.720 --> 00:08:23.120 Right? 00:08:23.360 --> 00:08:25.199 A good leader removes barriers. 00:08:25.680 --> 00:08:28.800 A good small group leader removes barriers, so there's discussion. 00:08:28.959 --> 00:08:33.519 A good president removes barriers, a good dad removes barriers. 00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:37.200 I mean, a good king removes barriers. 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:41.679 So listen to verse 4 in that Isaiah chapter 40. 00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:45.759 Every valley shall be lifted up. 00:08:45.919 --> 00:08:49.440 So here comes God, he's coming in, he's got his road is straight. 00:08:49.519 --> 00:08:52.159 Here he comes, he's coming in, and here's what's going on. 00:08:52.399 --> 00:09:02.799 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill will be made low, the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 00:09:03.279 --> 00:09:11.440 So this is symbolic that this king, his kingdom removes every barrier. 00:09:12.720 --> 00:09:18.960 And he makes impossible mountains low and depressing, valleys, he raises them. 00:09:19.200 --> 00:09:25.360 And in this, is there not some realization for us and how we like to be our own kings? 00:09:25.679 --> 00:09:36.720 And how we try to endlessly climb mountains, trying to be more and more righteous to secure our position before God, and how we often live in valleys of shame and guilt where there's forgiveness for that. 00:09:36.799 --> 00:09:56.559 And what we see is we see that God has taken the mountain of righteousness that we cannot live up to, and he has conquered it, so he has made it low for us, and that valley of shame and condemnation that we so often live in, that he has come in and in his forgiveness, he has brought that up for us so that we can live. 00:09:56.799 --> 00:10:00.639 Not endlessly tired and weary. 00:10:02.879 --> 00:10:04.399 And we're just fighting, right? 00:10:04.639 --> 00:10:13.360 We're fighting because we're trying to rule our own kingdoms, whether it be the kingdom of worth or the kingdom of righteousness, this is what we do. 00:10:13.840 --> 00:10:14.720 This is sin. 00:10:14.879 --> 00:10:16.480 This is sin under the sin, right? 00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:28.080 Like we might talk about sin as you know, speaking and saying something horrible or impatience or um, you know, something, you know, and we could really go to like drugs and sex and rock and roll. 00:10:28.159 --> 00:10:31.440 I mean, we could do some typical sins that people like to talk about or whatever. 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:37.440 But underneath any sin, any behavioral sin, underneath it, this is what we're talking about. 00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:41.279 We're talking about that uh the fact that we like to rule our own kingdoms. 00:10:41.440 --> 00:10:44.240 We like to be our own king, our own deliverer. 00:10:44.559 --> 00:10:46.799 That's the sin under the sin. 00:10:47.039 --> 00:10:53.039 That's the stuff that affects and fuels any of the behaviors of sin. 00:10:53.519 --> 00:10:55.120 So what are we to do? 00:10:56.240 --> 00:11:02.480 Well, I'd I would imagine maybe you're exhausted for climbing and for living in valleys of shame. 00:11:02.960 --> 00:11:09.360 Here's what the parable says to do it says you've stumbled upon an absolute treasure. 00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:12.639 I mean, something that could redefine your life. 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:19.120 It says for you to sell everything to be done. 00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:24.320 In his joy, he goes and he sells all he has. 00:11:24.399 --> 00:11:26.159 Listen, listen, here's what it is. 00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:29.840 You sell the attempt to rule. 00:11:30.799 --> 00:11:32.480 This is all you really have. 00:11:34.240 --> 00:11:48.960 Like underneath the things and the deeds and the stuff, and even your love for the stuff, underneath all of that is the attempt to rule, to be your own king. 00:11:50.559 --> 00:11:54.000 And making yourself your own king crushes you. 00:11:54.320 --> 00:12:00.000 So sell off the attempt to rule, and you will have nothing. 00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:05.200 And in your nothingness, you will now have enough to buy the treasure. 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:13.759 Nothing else can buy the treasure except liquidating your attempt to rule. 00:12:15.919 --> 00:12:18.080 Maybe you're saying, well, that's you're being too metaphoric. 00:12:18.159 --> 00:12:18.720 What are you talking about? 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:20.080 Here's what I'm talking about. 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:21.840 Humble yourself and let go. 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:29.200 I don't know if that's an epiphany for you or a confession or walk an aisle or just pray or weep. 00:12:29.360 --> 00:12:43.360 I don't know, I don't know what that is for you, but it's a humbling of yourself before the king of the universe and the one who wants to be the king of your life, so you're not crushed endlessly trying to climb mountains and live in valleys. 00:12:45.120 --> 00:12:47.200 And that we need outside help, right? 00:12:47.279 --> 00:12:49.679 That's what the king does, is he provides outside help. 00:12:49.759 --> 00:12:52.799 And for us, that's the work of his son of Jesus for us. 00:12:52.879 --> 00:12:57.759 So we're made righteous, and so we're his beloved, and we don't have to form this work ourselves. 00:12:57.919 --> 00:13:02.399 And it's so tiring to be and rule our own kingdom, and we don't have to. 00:13:03.120 --> 00:13:05.120 There's a kingdom that can live in us. 00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:14.799 So if we jump down to verses 10 and 11 in Isaiah 40, behold, the Lord comes with might and his arm rules with him. 00:13:14.960 --> 00:13:22.080 Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense, that's a big word, his recompense before him. 00:13:22.240 --> 00:13:24.080 That means his compensation. 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:26.720 What is needed to make things right? 00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:27.679 He brings that. 00:13:27.840 --> 00:13:28.559 Don't you love that? 00:13:28.720 --> 00:13:29.600 We don't have to bring it. 00:13:29.759 --> 00:13:31.519 He brings that because that's his work. 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:32.639 That's the work of his son. 00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:34.240 He brings that. 00:13:35.120 --> 00:13:36.240 And then verse 11. 00:13:36.399 --> 00:13:42.879 So you get all this power and you get this might in verse 10, and then verse 11, he will tend his flock like a shepherd. 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:46.080 He will gather the lambs in his arms. 00:13:46.799 --> 00:13:52.559 He will carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that are with young. 00:13:53.039 --> 00:14:00.879 So he's sovereign, he's lord, he's armed, he's powerful, but that arm is tending like a shepherd. 00:14:01.679 --> 00:14:02.879 This is the king. 00:14:03.519 --> 00:14:06.399 A savior king, a shepherd king. 00:14:06.799 --> 00:14:08.720 Verse 10, it says his reward is with him. 00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:11.120 What's his reward? 00:14:11.919 --> 00:14:18.399 What's the reward of the king of the universe, the treasure of the universe? 00:14:19.039 --> 00:14:26.320 Well, last Christmas, Christy and I thought we had finally figured out the perfect gift for her dad. 00:14:26.879 --> 00:14:29.440 Because it's this constant riddle. 00:14:29.600 --> 00:14:32.240 What do you get the guy who buys anything that he wants? 00:14:32.480 --> 00:14:32.879 Right? 00:14:33.440 --> 00:14:36.799 He buys anything that he wants, he just goes and buys it. 00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:37.919 So what do we get him? 00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:40.480 So you have to think of something before he thinks of something. 00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:43.519 That's the only way a gift with him works. 00:14:43.679 --> 00:14:45.600 Because there's nothing that he hasn't thought of. 00:14:45.759 --> 00:14:47.360 If he's thinking of it, he gets it. 00:14:47.519 --> 00:14:50.080 So finally we go, oh, he has a sweet tooth. 00:14:50.159 --> 00:14:53.519 And we find out about this bakery in Jacksonville, Florida. 00:14:53.600 --> 00:14:58.240 It has these incredible cookies, unbelievable, ridiculously good cookies. 00:14:58.399 --> 00:15:00.480 We're like, no way he knows about the cookies. 00:15:00.559 --> 00:15:01.519 And he doesn't know about the cookies. 00:15:01.679 --> 00:15:02.559 Not the point of the story. 00:15:02.960 --> 00:15:04.399 He doesn't know about these cookies. 00:15:04.480 --> 00:15:05.519 He has a sweet tooth. 00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:07.440 And so we order these cookies. 00:15:07.519 --> 00:15:08.799 And we're like, this is it. 00:15:08.960 --> 00:15:10.960 Like, we're finally, we have found it. 00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:17.759 And so we give Christmas Eve, we give him the cookies, and he's like, oh, these are fantastic, and we explain. 00:15:17.840 --> 00:15:24.240 You keep them in the freezer, and then just you heat up the ones you want, and man, they're huge and unbelievable, they're incredible. 00:15:24.320 --> 00:15:28.639 And we bake a few that night, and they're awesome, and everybody's, you know, we're so proud of ourselves. 00:15:28.720 --> 00:15:34.240 And you know, it's just a few months later, I'm I'm in the fridge over there, and I open the freezer. 00:15:36.240 --> 00:15:37.679 And they're still there. 00:15:38.639 --> 00:15:41.200 You know, and I I think probably it's not him being rude. 00:15:41.519 --> 00:15:50.000 It's just, it's just, you know, sometimes you don't want to bother to turn on the oven and stick the cookies in, or you forget about them, or whatever, and you're just like, like, what is it? 00:15:50.080 --> 00:15:51.039 What do we give him? 00:15:51.200 --> 00:15:53.759 What could we, what can we give him? 00:15:54.879 --> 00:16:05.840 And then a couple weeks ago, we were over there and we're swimming and we're cooking out, and all the grandkids are there, so there's like nine grandkids swimming, and then we're all hanging out, and all of us kids are all talking around a table. 00:16:05.919 --> 00:16:08.080 And he's just sort of sitting off to the side at one point. 00:16:08.320 --> 00:16:15.759 I kind of look over at him, and he is sitting over there, nobody's around him, nobody's talking to him, and he is so happy. 00:16:16.799 --> 00:16:17.840 It's us. 00:16:19.360 --> 00:16:20.720 That's the reward. 00:16:24.879 --> 00:16:28.159 See, we are his reward. 00:16:29.840 --> 00:16:39.679 I mean, in that verse 10, that his reward, the king of the universe that has everything and he's mighty and powerful. 00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:43.279 I mean, it's like, like, what could possibly be his reward? 00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:44.639 Well, it's it's us. 00:16:44.960 --> 00:16:49.759 Broken down, imperfect, messy us. 00:16:49.919 --> 00:16:53.840 And the reason why we can be his reward is because his recompense is before him. 00:16:54.480 --> 00:16:59.360 So he provides the way in which we can be his reward. 00:17:08.880 --> 00:17:13.200 Maybe you're here and just get tired, right? 00:17:13.519 --> 00:17:17.359 Like, do you ever get tired of climbing those mountains and living in those valleys? 00:17:19.279 --> 00:17:23.200 What I love saying every week is that Jesus on the cross is enough. 00:17:24.480 --> 00:17:27.599 He he fills that valley. 00:17:28.640 --> 00:17:31.359 He climbed that mountain. 00:17:32.480 --> 00:17:39.519 This is what the great British preacher, Martin Lloyd Jones, uh uh, he called this the double payment, right? 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:42.720 That is forgiveness and acceptance. 00:17:42.799 --> 00:17:45.920 It's not forgiveness and go and live a good life. 00:17:46.160 --> 00:17:48.480 It is forgiveness and acceptance. 00:17:48.640 --> 00:17:52.000 You're fully forgiven and fully accepted. 00:17:52.799 --> 00:17:57.519 Now, that will compel you to go and live a life that honors the Lord, but it is double payment. 00:17:57.599 --> 00:18:03.200 The work of Jesus is double payment that he fills the valley and he lowers the mountain. 00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:05.920 There was a day I didn't get this, and I was all bound up. 00:18:06.079 --> 00:18:09.680 I got the full, fully forgiven part, but I didn't get the fully accepted part. 00:18:09.759 --> 00:18:13.440 And so I was fully forgiven, but I worked for my acceptance. 00:18:13.519 --> 00:18:13.680 Right? 00:18:13.759 --> 00:18:17.759 And what I was doing, climbing a mountain, I was self-coronation. 00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:19.039 That's all it was. 00:18:19.279 --> 00:18:24.640 In my pride, I was coronating myself over and over and over and over again. 00:18:25.039 --> 00:18:30.079 Crowning myself on each day to be king again and again and again and again. 00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:33.680 You and I, we are not fit to rule our own kingdoms. 00:18:34.079 --> 00:18:35.519 We're not meant to. 00:18:37.119 --> 00:18:57.440 And accepting this kingdom that is at work in you through God's Spirit, through the Holy Spirit that reigns in you, wants to speak to you, whisper things to you, empower you to live in this way in your nothingness, it doesn't mean everything will be perfect. 00:18:58.799 --> 00:19:03.920 I can't promise that, but what it does mean is that the crushing weight begins to go away. 00:19:05.200 --> 00:19:07.920 That some freedom begins to happen. 00:19:09.440 --> 00:19:12.000 Some fruit begins to appear. 00:19:13.839 --> 00:19:15.920 Sell the attempt to rule. 00:19:16.079 --> 00:19:20.559 This brings us to the second parable, uh, Matthew 13, 45 and 46. 00:19:20.720 --> 00:19:26.160 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls. 00:19:26.480 --> 00:19:28.160 So in the first one, it was interesting. 00:19:28.319 --> 00:19:41.519 The first parable, it said that the kingdom of heaven was like the treasure, but here it says the kingdom of heaven is like the merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and he bought it. 00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:49.200 So you usually hear what you hear taught, and you can go on to continue to believe this, you don't have to accept the next five to seven minutes of what I say. 00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:53.759 Usually what you hear is you hear that this is a repetition of the first parable. 00:19:54.720 --> 00:20:03.440 And that again, the kingdom is the pearl, and we need to sell everything to buy the pearl, but what if Jesus switched it? 00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:07.599 What if the kingdom is the merchant? 00:20:09.039 --> 00:20:13.359 And what if God's reign and control and movement in our lives is the merchant? 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:15.680 And what if we are the great pearl? 00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:19.920 Now, pearls back then they had huge value. 00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:24.319 They were looked at with better value than they are today, in terms of like jewels. 00:20:24.559 --> 00:20:29.200 I mean, Cleopatra had a pearl that was worth four billion dollars in today's money. 00:20:29.359 --> 00:20:35.359 I mean, this was a value that we would never value pearls today had they valued pearls then. 00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:47.839 And he sells all he has because when he looks at you, he says, You, my dear, are an incredible pearl. 00:20:48.319 --> 00:20:53.920 And then you have to wonder like, what if we stopped looking at ourselves through the eyes of the kingdom of the world? 00:20:54.480 --> 00:20:57.359 Constantly evaluating ourselves and judging ourselves? 00:20:57.519 --> 00:20:59.440 And what if we looked at ourselves through the eyes of God? 00:20:59.599 --> 00:21:08.079 What if we looked at ourselves through the eyes of the whispering of the Holy Spirit in us in the kingdom of God? 00:21:09.759 --> 00:21:12.319 Declaring that double payment to you? 00:21:13.839 --> 00:21:24.799 So your business is failing, or you feel like a failure, your body is failing, or your friends are failing, you just aren't what you once were, or you aren't becoming what you thought you would be, or the thing's not working out. 00:21:25.039 --> 00:21:29.359 But what if you are the pearl? 00:21:35.440 --> 00:21:40.559 And that spirit is in us and saying, I see you and I love you, I know you and I love you. 00:21:40.720 --> 00:21:43.759 That work on the cross is enough for you. 00:21:44.079 --> 00:21:47.200 Double payment, forgiveness, and acceptance. 00:21:47.279 --> 00:21:49.839 That's an incredible treasure. 00:21:51.759 --> 00:21:54.160 So the same thing happens pretty much every day for me. 00:21:54.480 --> 00:21:59.039 In the morning, I walk across my backyard, I go up the stairs above my garage, and that's where I work. 00:21:59.119 --> 00:22:01.200 And so in the morning, I don't have to turn the lights on. 00:22:01.519 --> 00:22:06.079 The sun comes in the side window, and so it lights up the whole room, and I don't turn the lights on. 00:22:06.160 --> 00:22:08.160 I've never really noticed it until this week. 00:22:08.400 --> 00:22:10.319 And so all morning I work without the lights on. 00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:12.160 I can read, I can do all my work. 00:22:12.319 --> 00:22:13.279 And then I go to lunch. 00:22:13.359 --> 00:22:16.960 And so I go out to lunch with somebody, grab lunch, we talk, come back. 00:22:17.119 --> 00:22:20.160 I come back, sit back down, I start to work again. 00:22:20.400 --> 00:22:22.480 And the sun's moved. 00:22:22.880 --> 00:22:28.880 And now I need the light on, but I'm I'm a moron, and I think I'm fine. 00:22:29.039 --> 00:22:30.079 I can still read. 00:22:30.160 --> 00:22:36.000 You know, and you're getting closer and closer, you're trying to write something down, and but but you know, I and I just don't want to get up. 00:22:36.079 --> 00:22:45.279 I don't want to get up and take those like three steps over to the light switch, and I just keep telling myself, like, I'm fine, I don't need to get up and turn the light on. 00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:51.759 And and for a really long period of time, every day I do this, this silly effort. 00:22:52.799 --> 00:22:55.920 And all I need to do is sell off the attempt, right? 00:22:56.079 --> 00:22:57.119 Sell off this attempt. 00:22:57.440 --> 00:22:59.119 Just be done with it. 00:22:59.440 --> 00:23:07.519 And I need to get up and I need to walk over to the light switch, and I need to flip it on. 00:23:09.279 --> 00:23:13.599 And my act of switching it on has no power. 00:23:14.720 --> 00:23:17.119 Nor does the switch have power. 00:23:17.359 --> 00:23:19.680 The power is already there. 00:23:19.920 --> 00:23:23.039 The thing that helps turn it on is my nothingness. 00:23:23.839 --> 00:23:25.839 And that's because I receive it. 00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:31.200 The work of Jesus for you is a profound treasure. 00:23:31.359 --> 00:23:35.839 The voice of the Spirit in you is a profound treasure. 00:23:36.079 --> 00:23:38.000 Will you trust in it? 00:23:38.319 --> 00:23:39.759 Will you rest in it? 00:23:39.920 --> 00:23:43.519 Will you rest in the work done for you? 00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:49.039 May you sell off the attempt to rule and may you see yourself through the eyes of the king. 00:23:49.200 --> 00:23:55.759 May you live in humility and joy where the valleys are raised and the mountains are lowered. 00:23:55.920 --> 00:23:57.359 Let's pray together. 00:23:58.079 --> 00:24:03.119 God, thank you that you are enough and you are an incredible treasure. 00:24:07.279 --> 00:24:16.000 That if we have shifted faith from ourselves to faith in you, your kingdom reigns in us, your spirit lives in us. 00:24:17.519 --> 00:24:20.319 Would you help us to trust in the work of Jesus more? 00:24:20.480 --> 00:24:25.279 Would you help us to listen to the guiding voice of your spirit? 00:24:27.039 --> 00:24:36.960 Would you help us to know more this reality of the double payment that you have paid the price for us to be forgiven and you have paid the price for us to be fully accepted? 00:24:39.519 --> 00:24:45.440 Would you forgive us of our pride that fuels our attempt to rule? 00:24:47.119 --> 00:24:57.200 And would we become nothing in a greater way, so that we might know freedom and might know you deeper and deeper. 00:24:57.440 --> 00:24:59.920 In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.