The Value of What We Have in Christ
Notes
Transcript
45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: 46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
“seeking” - the beginning of finding the value is seeking it
seeking when unsaved - seeking when saved
what are we seeking in this life?
what are we spending our life/time doing?
finding the pearl - he had eyes to see
Christ is the pearl
more value than anything on this earth could ever be
makes anyone who finds it RICH
everything you need, completely satisfied
riches in money don’t do this, riches in Christ does
must be willing to leave ALL, like man in parable
BOUGHT IT - not only seeking, seeing, and finding
*Christianized parable*
17 The gold and the crystal cannot equal it: And the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold. 18 No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls: For the price of wisdom is above rubies.
15 She is more precious than rubies: And all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.
11 For wisdom is better than rubies; And all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.
HOW SHOULD WE REACT AFTER FINDING
early believers as a role model - let’s look at an example
37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
43 And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.
44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common;
45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.
46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
37 - “pricked in their hearts” - they had ears to hear, they took it seriously and didn’t just blow it off
not only this, they wanted to take action
40 - how appropriate is this verse for today!
42 - they CONTINUED - what if, like the merchant, they sold all they had and bought the pearl, or received Christ, and then just didn’t continue in it?
it’s a shame, it’s throwing away riches, the greatest gift, it hinders our spiritual development
The way of man leads to death, God’s way leads to life
44-45 - we can see here just how dedicaed they were, just how zealous they were, they were excited!
they’d just been given everything! Spiritual riches! Renewal of their life! A relationship with GOD! What an absolute privilege to have contact with God!
that is something to be excited about, something to truly value in this life
46 - importantly, they had singleness of heart, they weren’t double minded
just as the merchant sold all for the pearl, left all worldly priorities for Christ, these people had one main focus, one thing that their life was about
47 - and because THEY were like this, many others were saved because they saw that the Christians had found something great
PAUL
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
the verse talks about taking care of our bodies, but why? BECAUSE WE HAVE BEEN BOUGHT WITH A PRICE, WE BELONG TO GOD NOW
could there be anything greater than to be under the Good Shepherd?
20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Our lives should be about Christ living through us as the first priority
this is what Paul did after he believing, why shouldn’t we?
6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
What value is this, we could never have cleansed ourself from sin on our own, this is value that man could never attain
27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Again, what value we have, but if we have put on Christ, been clothed by Him, our reaction should naturally be to serve Him and put on a good testimony
if we represent ourselves as believers, we have the responsibility to put on a good testimony, not only morally good, but a truly passionate testimony
PETER
24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
Similarly, we see the value of what Christ has done for us here, that we can put off sin that brings death and be healed
OLD TESTAMENT
Abraham
called by God, given a great promise
just like we all have been, we’ve all been called, we’ve all been given a great promise
Naaman
David
Moses
called by God for a mission, just as we are, the Great Commission
left his pretty well off Egyptian life to carry out this mission
he left worldly things behind for God and His people
Zaccheus
1 And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho.
2 And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich.
3 And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature.
4 And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way.
5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house.
6 And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully.
7 And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner.
8 And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.
9 And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.
10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
2 - zaccheus was rich, and he had a high social position
3 - and he sought Jesus, so he was seeking, like the merchant in the parable at the beginning
5 - So Jesus sought Zaccheus, just as He seeks out for all of us
6 - how did Zaccheus receive Jesus? HASTILY AND JOYFULLY
8 - We see Zaccheus is repenting, has had a change of heart where he says he will repay those who he has taken advantage of
We see faith and repentence,
we see him seeking out Christ
going out of his way to find Him
seeing the error of His ways and the value of God. he
and like the merchant sold all that he had and bought the pearl, zaccheus took what Christ was offering and prioritized it first and foremost, above worldly things
9 - and we see the outcome, salvation to Zaccheus’ household!
That is something to be excited about!
that is something to truly value!
that is something to live for, moreso than anything else in this world