Sharing "Journey to the Cross" by Paul David Tripp.
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The Christian life is a battle of treasure. Whatever treasure captures your heart will control your life.
As I would walk with my children through the streets of Philadelphia, I would tell them to keep looking down every once in a while, because on the edge of the street at the curb, there was treasure to be found. My kids loved finding nickels and dimes and little metal trinkets, but they fantasized about finding real treasure. We found no diamond rings or collectible old coins, but my children never stopped hunting and hoping for treasure.
Every human being is a treasure hunter. We’re all looking for that thing of value that will give us life, or at least change our lives. So we hunt for treasure in relationships, careers, possessions, achievements, education, positions of power, or in physical strength and beauty. We never seem to find that pot of heart-satisfying gold that we’re looking for, at least not in the physical, created world. But sadly, many of us keep looking. With desperation or determination, we look again and again, telling ourselves that the next thing will deliver what it was never designed to deliver: life.
Matthew 6 reminds us that there are only two places to look. You can attach the desires of your heart and the hope of your life to earthbound treasure or heavenward treasure. You are searching horizontally or looking vertically for that thing of such rare and amazing value that it would have the power to finally satisfy your heart and give you meaning, purpose, and security for the rest of your life. What people fail to realize is that they are searching not for a thing, but for a person. The search for treasure is, in reality, a search for a savior. This is why where you look is so terribly important. Millions and millions of people every day surrender the hope of their hearts to false saviors. They look to the created thing to do what only the Creator can. This vain search that somehow captures us all began with Adam and Eve when they looked for life away from God and toward something else. Where you look for treasure will not only control your heart, and therefore, your words and behavior, but it will also determine your destiny. Treasure decisions have huge consequences here and now and in the life that is to come.
Listen to this parable of Jesus found in Matthew 13:44: “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.”
This is the kind of story that excites us all, the kind that makes you say to yourself, “I wish I were that guy!” He found what we’re all looking for, and he is so filled with joy that he has no problem whatsoever in selling everything he has so he can be certain that this treasure will be his. It’s a story that’s meant to stop you in your tracks, to get your attention, and to capture your imagination.
But I want you to think about something. We’re all that man. We’re all traversing the fields of life, and we all have our heads down looking for something that will give us hope, something that will fix what is broken in and around us, something that will satisfy our hearts. We’re all looking for that thing that is worth all of the sacrifices we have made for it. Whether we know it or not, we’re all searching for the one thing that we would sacrifice everything for, with no buyer’s regret and no fear that we would ever wonder if we had made the wrong choice.
We all make sacrifices every day for things that we think are valuable, things that we think will carry our happiness, satisfaction, and joy. No one lives a sacrifice-free life. We give up things all the time in the hopes of possessing and experiencing something better. You can’t be a human being, with the treasure orientation that is wired inside us all, and not do this. How many men have sacrificed their families for the hope of business and career success? How many teenagers have suspended their morals for the hope of acceptance by their peers? How many politicians have dealt away their allegiance to their electorate for the hope of political power? How many people make financial and relational sacrifices to win bigger houses and better cars?
Every day, we all make sacrifices for treasures that we have placed our hope in. If I could have a window into a month of your life, what sacrifices would I see you making? What would I conclude is the field that you are willing to give up precious things for? This story is not designed just to get your attention; it is also designed to cause you to ask one of the most important questions of all: “What am I really living for?”
Resist giving the “right” answer here. Regular church attendance, regular giving, along with episodes of ministry can sadly live right alongside a heart that is captured by and shaped by the sacrificial pursuit of earthbound treasure. What really does give you joy? What gets you out of bed in the morning? What has made you so content that you’re not only willing to make huge sacrifices for it, but you’re so satisfied you don’t have the desire to search anymore? What captures the imagination and desires of your heart? You are making sacrifices, but in what field and for what treasure?
This thirty-four-word parable is meant not just to get your attention or to cause you to ask deeply personal questions, but also to confront you with a truth that every human being needs to hear and understand. The only thing that is worth sacrificing everything for is the kingdom of heaven. That kingdom is not a place or an earthly political reality. No, it is the rule of the King of kings. He comes not only to rule our hearts, but to rule over everything for our good and his glory. In his rule is the grace of forgiveness, the patient love of personal transformation, and the sovereign guarantee of life to come that is free of all the sin and suffering that so marks the here and now. His rule is the place where I am freed from my bondage to the created thing and swept up into the transcendent and glorious. This King alone is able to satisfy the cravings of my heart and grant me joy that the disappointing circumstances of life cannot take away. It really is true: the kingdom of heaven is the only thing worth giving up everything for.
So in this season of quiet spiritual reflection, stop and pay attention, ask deeply personal questions, and make a treasure evaluation. Be willing to confess where you’ve placed your hope in earthbound treasure, sacrificing to get what it could never deliver. And give yourself in a new way to make sacrifices in the service of the King of kings. He never promises what he cannot deliver, and he is able to do in your heart what nothing else or no one else can do.
GOING DEEPER
Reflection Questions
1. How does the way you spend your time, money, and energy reveal what you truly treasure?
2. Looking at the objective evidence of your life, do you more highly treasure the kingdom of God or earthly things?
3. What sacrifices are you willing to make for the treasure of God’s kingdom?
Read Matthew 6:19–34 and 13:44 – 46, and meditate on where you are setting your heart.
Matthew 6:19-34 New Living Translation - Teaching about Money and Possessions
19 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
22 “Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. 23 But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!
24 “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.
25 “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? 27 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?
28 “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, 29 yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
31 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
34 “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
Matthew 13:44 – 46 Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl
44 “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field.
45 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. 46 When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it!
19 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
22 “Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. 23 But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!
24 “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.
25 “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? 27 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?
28 “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, 29 yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
31 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
34 “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
Matthew 13:44 – 46 Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl
44 “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field.
45 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. 46 When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it!
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