Sermon – Pastor Tim – Finding Buried Treasure

Finding Buried Treasure

June 8, 2014 – Pastor Tim – “Finding Buried Treasure”

Did you ever thrill as a child to tales of swashbuckling buccaneers, gold doubloons, and adventures on the high seas? I still do!

In Robert Lewis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, young Jim Hawkins boards the good ship Hispaniola (hiss-span-yo-la) in quest of buried treasure.  Captain Billy Bone’s sea chest has yielded a map with a red X containing the words “Bulk of treasure here.”  This spurs a crew of sailors onward in search of buried wealth.

Christians possess a similar treasure-laden document The BibleColossians 2:2-3 is a “red-X verses” labeled “Bulk of treasure here.”  Paul is praying for the body of Christ,  “that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”In Christ “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”   

Proverbs 2:1-8, “M y son, if you receive my words,
And treasure my commands within you,
2 So that you incline your ear to wisdom,
And apply your heart to understanding;
3 Yes, if you cry out for discernment,
And lift up your voice for understanding,
4 If you seek her
(wisdom of God’s Word)
as silver,
And search for her as for hidden treasures;
5 Then you will understand the fear of the Lord,
And find the knowledge of God.
6 For the Lord gives wisdom;
From His mouth come knowledge and understanding;
7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
He is a shield to those who walk uprightly;
8 He guards the paths of justice,
And preserves the way of His saints.”

Christians are rightly entitled to the treasure, for “the Father…has qualified us to share in the inheritance…in the kingdom of light.  For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves.”

Colossians 1:9-14, “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy;
12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”

The Word of God, the wisdom of God, is the treasure we seek and must find.

Proverbs 3:13-18,“Happy is the man who finds wisdom,
And the man who gains understanding;
14 For her
(the wisdom of God) proceeds are better than the profits of silver, And her gain than fine gold.
15 She is more precious than rubies,
And all the things you may desire cannot compare with her.
16 Length of days is in her right hand,
In her left hand riches and honor.
17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
And all her paths are peace.
18 She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her,
And happy are all who retain her.”

Finding the treasures of God are life and wealth to us. And, just as Treasure Island had its bad pirates collaborating with Long John Silver, so do we, there are crews of philosophical pirates out to plunder those sailing under the Christian Flag. There are those who will seek to destroy our faith, they will attempt to sabotage our core beliefs. They work among us trying to justify compromise in the name of love. Believe me when I tell you, “I believe in loving people.” However, I have found this to be true, the Bible may hurt or challenge us with truth, but it will never comfort us with a lie.

The expression “take you captive” is used in Greek literature outside of the Bible for kidnapping.  Colossians 2:8 (NKJV) Beware lest anyone cheat you (or take you captive) through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.” Don’t be fooled, know the Word of God, knock and keep on knocking, seek and keep on seeking. Find His truth. Know His truth. Live His truth.

Colossians 1:27, “To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

What is the will of God, for us to know, “the glorious riches of this mystery” we must discover it and guarded. It not enough that we discover the treasures of God’s Word. But that we protect them at all cost, even at the loss of your own self.

Galatians 2:20-21, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.  21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”

This is the treasure we were born again to protect, the grace of God, Christ in you.

Let us not live our lives in vain!!!

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