Matthew 13:44-50 The Message
44 “God’s kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field for years and then accidentally found by a trespasser. The finder is ecstatic—what a find!—and proceeds to sell everything he owns to raise money and buy that field.
45-46 “Or, God’s kingdom is like a jewel merchant on the hunt for exquisite pearls. Finding one that is flawless, he immediately sells everything and buys it.
47-50 “Or, God’s kingdom is like a fishnet cast into the sea, catching all kinds of fish. When it is full, it is hauled onto the beach. The good fish are picked out and put in a tub; those unfit to eat are thrown away. That’s how it will be when the curtain comes down on history. The angels will come and cull the bad fish and throw them in the garbage. There will be a lot of desperate complaining, but it won’t do any good.”
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
We Will All One Day Somehow End Up Worship Someone, Something, Somewhere, Anywhere
Isaiah 42:14-17 New American Standard Bible 1995
The Blindness of the People
14 “I have kept silent for a long time,
I have kept still and restrained Myself.
Now like a woman in labor I will groan,
I will both gasp and pant.
15 “I will lay waste the mountains and hills
And wither all their vegetation;
I will make the rivers into coastlands
And dry up the ponds.
16 “I will lead the blind by a way they do not know,
In paths they do not know I will guide them.
I will make darkness into light before them
And rugged places into plains.
These are the things I will do,
And I will not leave them undone.”
17 They will be turned back and be utterly put to shame,
Who trust in [a]idols,
Who say to molten images,
“You are our gods.”
In the words of singer songwriter Bob Dylan, you gotta serve somebody.[1]
1 Bob Dylan, “Gotta Serve Somebody” (1979).
It’s true—we will all somehow end up worshiping something, somewhere.
The only question is what and where and when.
Too often in our human futility, we end up leaning on and ultimately serving crafty little creations of our own invention.
Throughout history, mankind’s fundamental problem has been that we keep creating false gods to whom we go seeking false salvation.
These idols are simply heart-level and soul deep substitutes for the real God.
Rather than single-mindedly looking to the Lord as the object of our devotion and the source of our satisfaction, we single-handedly take the good things that He created for our enjoyment and we turn them into vain replacements for Him.
C.S. Lewis puts it this way:
“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”[2]
2 “The Weight of Glory,” in The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses (Harper Collins, 2001), p 26.
Whichever heart-level substitutes we may rely on, these idols are powerless.
Whichever soul deep substitutes we may look upon in our mirrors, they will be an empty soulless reflection bearing absolutely no resemblance to God’s reality.
They cannot help us.
As Isaiah makes clear, they’ve never been able to tell us the future or even help us reflect on the past; neither can they give counsel. They meet our questions with mere silence and 100% unfulfilled expectations (Isaiah 41:22-23, 28-29).
Only the true and living God knows everything from beginning to end.
At creation He broke through the chaos, silence, foretelling what was to come.
He overwhelms darkness with His light. He replaces the “rough places” of wickedness with the “level ground” of righteousness. Although we once turned our backs on Him, He still sent His only Son, Jesus, our Wonderful Counselor.
You and I are constantly confronted by idols that call out for our attention and entice us to find fulfillment in them rather than God.
What are the ones that call out the loudest to you?
Dare to confront them, dare to challenge their faces, name them one by one.
Know that they are lying (though of course they don’t tell you that).
God’s word repeatedly warns us of the shame that lies in worshiping them and leads us on a better way: to find fulfillment in serving and being served by Him.
“You gotta serve somebody today.”
Psalm 103:13-16 New American Standard Bible 1995
13 Just as a father has compassion on his children,
So the Lord has compassion on those who [a]fear Him.
14 For He Himself knows [b]our frame;
He is mindful that we are but dust.
15 As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
16 When the wind has passed over it, it is no more,
And its place acknowledges it no longer.
God only knows; We always gotta worship someone, something, somewhere, at some time in this, the brief temporal existence our God affords us on this earth.
Isaiah 40:7-9 New American Standard Bible 1995
7 The grass withers, the flower fades,
[a]When the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
Surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever.
9 Get yourself up on a high mountain,
O Zion, bearer of good news,
Lift up your voice mightily,
O Jerusalem, bearer of good news;
Lift it up, do not fear.
Say to the cities of Judah,
“Here is your God!”
Here it is because here HE IS! Be sure to make it the living, loving God.
Worshipping the Ground We, Someone Else Walks or Crawls on or Works Their Fingers To The Bone On
Matthew 13:44-50 The Message
44 “God’s kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field for years and then accidentally found by a trespasser. The finder is ecstatic—what a find!—and proceeds to sell everything he owns to raise money and buy that field.
45-46 “Or, God’s kingdom is like a jewel merchant on the hunt for exquisite pearls. Finding one that is flawless, he immediately sells everything and buys it.
47-50 “Or, God’s kingdom is like a fishnet cast into the sea, catching all kinds of fish. When it is full, it is hauled onto the beach. The good fish are picked out and put in a tub; those unfit to eat are thrown away. That’s how it will be when the curtain comes down on history. The angels will come, and cull the bad fish and throw them in the garbage. There will be a lot of desperate complaining, but it won’t do any good.”
If you could only have one thing in life, what would it be?
Take an honest and serious look at your heart for a minute, even an hour today.
What do you love most?
Who or What would you quite literally give up everything else for?
Would you believe your heavenly Father’s answer to those questions is you?
That the Creator of the universe loves you most?
Would you believe he would give up everything to have relationship with you?
Because He really and actually did!
By looking at Genesis 2, God’s single greatest desire is relationship with us.
After God creates Adam in his own image, God says, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him” (Genesis 2:18).
God brings every created animal before Adam to see if he deems any of them suitable as a helper, and Genesis 2:20 says, “But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.”
Then without consulting Adam, God puts him into a deep sleep and forms a woman out of his rib.
Seeing the woman upon waking, Adam says, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man” (Genesis 2:23).
How did God know Adam would want a woman as his helper?
How did God know she would be the desire of his heart?
God knew Adam most longed for a bride because Adam was made in God’s image, and God’s single greatest desire is for relationship with us, whom the Bible calls his Bride.
Let the truth of God’s heart sink in for a minute.
Out of everything else God has created or could have created, he most desires relationship with you.
And he so longed for you to know him fully that he sent Jesus to die to make restored relationship possible.
God calls us to himself daily with his love. He stands at the door of our heart and knocks, beckoning us with his loving-kindness to simply come and know him.
Once we truly grasp the depth of God’s desire for us, the only true response is to give up everything for him.
He laid the foundation for our commitment to him with the greatest single act of love, and he simply waits, beckoning us to respond, living our lives with him as our highest priority. And he doesn’t do so selfishly, but because the absolute best way for us to live in the fullness of our lives is in total commitment to him.
In Matthew 13:44-46, Jesus tells a parable explaining this response to God’s unending love.
He says, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
The kingdom of God is the greatest treasure, the pearl of greatest value.
Relationship with him is worth our entire lives.
Pursuing him with all our heart is the absolute greatest ambition we could have.
Paul described this pursuit in Philippians 3:8 when he said,
“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.”
Philippians 3:7-11 The Message
7-9 The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I’m tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God’s righteousness.
10-11 I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.
So again, reflect on your own heart.
What do you value above all else? WHY?
Who do you value above all else? WHY?
God’s not angry with you if it truly isn’t him.
John 14:1-7 The Message
The Road
14 1-4 “Don’t let this rattle you. You trust God, don’t you? Trust me. There is plenty of room for you in my Father’s home. If that weren’t so, would I have told you that I’m on my way to get a room ready for you? And if I’m on my way to get your room ready, I’ll come back and get you so you can live where I live. And you already know the road I’m taking.”
5 Thomas said, “Master, we have no idea where you’re going. How do you expect us to know the road?”
6-7 Jesus said, “I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him. You’ve even seen him!”
You see, the way, the truth and also the life is that our single-minded pursuit of God will only ever match our over zealous longing, revelation of his goodness.
God knows that if he isn’t truly the greatest desire of your heart, it’s because you don’t fully know how good he is.
If you had the full revelation of his love for you, living totally for him wouldn’t even be a choice. So undeniably great is the worth of knowing Jesus that as you see the real Gospel him, you’ll naturally give up everything to know him more.
So, today as you enter into prayer, know the first baby steps in growing in your pursuit of God is acknowledging the posture of your own heart and your soul.
How strongly do you desire deeper relationship with him?
How much would you 100% give up to know him?
What do you seek fulfillment in during your free time?
The second step is receiving a fresh revelation of his incredible love for you.
Spend time daily simply encountering his heart.
Meditate on the truth that he desires relationship with you above all else.
He so greatly enjoys you that he pursues you with all of his focus and energy.
Last, respond to a revelation of his love with your own love.
Worship him, adore him, and live for him with your life.
John 4:21-24 The Message
21-23 “Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you Samaritans will worship the Father neither here at this mountain nor there in Jerusalem. You worship guessing in the dark; we Jews worship in the clear light of day. God’s way of salvation is made available through the Jews. But the time is coming—it has, in fact, come—when what you’re called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter.
23-24 “It’s who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That’s the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration.”
You will encounter him in anything you truthfully do as worship.
He will pour out his presence, favor, and blessing in any area you live out of love for him.
Colossians 1:13-14 says, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
And Luke 12:31 promises us, “Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.”
Pursue a deeper relationship with your heavenly Father today through prayer.
Pursue a truthful relationship with your heavenly Father today through study.
As you single-mindedly live for him, seek his kingdom first, you’ll inevitably discover all the fullness and all the abundance he has longed to add to your life.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Psalm 46 The Message
46 1-3 God is a safe place to hide,
ready to help when we need him.
We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom,
courageous in seastorm and earthquake,
Before the rush and roar of oceans,
the tremors that shift mountains.
Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.
4-6 River fountains splash joy, cooling God’s city,
this sacred haunt of the Most High.
God lives here, the streets are safe,
God at your service from crack of dawn.
Godless nations rant and rave, kings and kingdoms threaten,
but Earth does anything he says.
7 Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.
8-10 Attention, all! See the marvels of God!
He plants flowers and trees all over the earth,
Bans war from pole to pole,
breaks all the weapons across his knee.
“Step out of the traffic! Take a long,
loving look at me, your High God,
above politics, above everything.”
11 Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.
Guided Prayer:
1. Reflect on your own life.
How strongly do you desire deeper relationship with him? How much would you give up to know him? What do you seek fulfillment in during your free time?
“The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.” Psalm 14:2
2. Meditate on the depth of God’s love for you.
Receive a fresh revelation of how greatly he enjoys you. Think about the story in Genesis of how God’s greatest desire was relationship with his Bride.
“Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.” Hebrews 12:2-3
“O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the crannies of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.” Song of Solomon 2:14
3. Respond to God’s love with your own.
Spend time simply adoring him.
Spend time in solitude sitting with him, encountering his heart, and giving him your own because He single-mindedly paid the highest price for you just to be able have a relationship with him. So take time, be the reward of his sacrifice.
“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13
May we answer the call to live for love with our lives today.
May we live in response to this benediction found in Hebrews 12:28:
“Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe.”
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 