We've Been Bought

Recap

Jesus is in the mode of reaching those who have ears to hear by using parables. Remember a parable is used in the since that it is “thrown alongside the truth”. We’ve seen Jesus share the parable about the 4 soils pointing to the importance for our hearts to be prepared to receive his word and let the seed of the truth grow and bear fruit in our lives.

Last week Ken covered the parable of the wheat and the tares where Jesus illustrated that the the sower always sows good seed, which are the sons of kingdom, so don’t get anxious with what we are to do with the tares because God will deal with the children of the evil one when judgement day comes and all the evil ones will be cast into a fiery furnace or hell.

Jesus is building up to a climax with his parables, but before I dive into that tonight I want to ask you a couple of questions.

Why do you come to church?

What is your role in the kingdom work God has given His church?

That may sound random but I promise it will tie in later.

Parable of the Hidden Treasure & the Pearl

Lets get started with our first of three parables. These are rather short and somewhat obvious parables with no hidden meanings. Remember, a parable is not a allegory where you have to look deep for some hidden meaning, its meant to be heard and caught by those who are searching for truth.

The first one is the parable of the hidden treasure. Many of us will know this parable, but what I really want us to consider is why? Why did Jesus pay it all? Also, for whom did he pay the price for?

Matthew 13:44–46 ESV

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. 45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46 who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

The word for “treasure” = “deposit”. Something of value deposited in a treasury.

The word “hidden” = means “something concealed by a covering”.

So we are dealing with a valuable deposit that had been concealed with a covering.

Pulling from the context of all of Jesus parables here in Matthew 13, we should see a theme here. Jesus spoke of seed deposited in 4 soils. The seed was the truth of the gospel. The sower was the Son of Man or Jesus.

We then see the good seed planted in a field that is the world and the good seed as sons of the kingdom. Ultimately the hidden treasure, or covered valuable deposit, the nation of Israel.

Multiple times in the Old testament Israel is referred to as the treasure of Yahweh.

Exodus 19:5 ESV

5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;

Psalm 135:4 ESV

4 For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel as his own possession.

Just to name a few.

God chose Abram out of all humans at that time and made a covenant with him and his descendants. He delivered them out of Egypt and deposited them in the Promise land. The covering that God provided was a covenant which Israel broke repeatedly, so God followed up that covenant with an everlasting covenant made with Israel first and then the gentiles. God’s promise to sustain Israel and keep his covenant is the covering over Israel.

Genesis 12:3 ESV

3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

When Jesus sent out the 12 disciples he set them first to the “lost sheep of Israel” and warned them NOT to go to the gentiles yet or even Samaria. That was yet to come. That was the mystery to be revealed as spoken of in Ephesians 1. We’ll get to that in a minute.

Jeremiah 31:32 ESV

32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord.

The man who found the hidden treasure covers it up and then goes and sells all he has and buys the field. Notice, he doesn’t buy the treasure. He covered it up so it would be preserved. That gave him time to go and sell all that he had so he could purchase the field. The whole field.

John 3:16 ESV

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

The hidden treasure, God’s people. Jesus laid it all on the line in order to purchase the field. That field included gentiles and those gentiles would be grafted in later only after the Jews rejected Jesus as Messiah.

Jesus Christ, before the foundations of the world, has known every future believer by name. He then, at the right time, came down to earth and paid the ultimate price for his church, his body of believers for all ages. He didn’t just die for our sins, he purchased us! Doesn’t that just blow your mind.

That means that he saw such value in his people Israel, his called out nation, that he gave everything up and died on a cross, paying the full price for our ransom.

Colossians 1:27 ESV

27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Galatians 3:29 ESV

29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

Another thing to notice in verse 44 is that it was “in his joy” that Jesus went out and gave everything to purchase the field.

Hebrews 12:2 ESV

2 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.

The parable of the pearl is very similar but there does seem to be a little bit of a distinguishing factor here. The merchant here, Jesus, goes out looking for fine pearls and finds one of great value and sells everything he has and purchases it.

What is a pearl anyway. Well, it starts as a grain of sand which is an irritant. The oyster then secretes a substance which coats or covers the grain of sand until it is something precious. A string of pearls is a real treasure. It is this precious treasure that Jesus purchased because he saw and sees our value.

“So did Jesus himself, at the utmost cost, buy the world to gain his church, which was the treasure which he desired.” (Spurgeon)

Ephesians 1:18 ESV

having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

This takes us back to my original questions. Why do you go to church? and What role to you play in God’s kingdom work?

Jesus, if you are a believer, valued you so much that he paid everything to purchase you and me! In light of that, we should be striving to be everything he meant for his church, his called out ones, to be. We should be focused on the things that he set out for us to be focused on.

The sad thing is, that two things are happening right now in the world concerning the church. True believers and any who would become such are being drawn to Him. On the opposite end of the spectrum, there is a major falling away in the church, and not just in America. This shouldn’t surprise us if we know our bibles.

Churches all over the world are adopting a social gospel, one that blends really well with what the world and I would definitely say, Satan and his forces, are pushing on the people of the world. In the name of tolerance, kindness, and love, churches are changing their teachings and walking away from the truth of scripture. This is not just evil people doing evil things, this is in conjunction with deceitful spirits and teachings of demons.

1 Timothy 4:1 ESV

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,

We live in an age were a huge number of churches in America alone are now against Israel because Israel is defending itself and seeking to take out the threat of Hamas.

Church update

People are being drawn to churches who are preaching the word of God and seeking to live out the calling of the church. This is what we are seeing here at Outdoorsmen Church and we are now being faced with some real opportunities for the people in this church to step up and take a real significant role in seeing God’s purposes fulfilled before His return.

Since the fall of 2021 we have seen God adding to our numbers here at OC. I feel that this was a direct result of what I mentioned before as well as people in the world truly seeing what’s going on in the world and realizing that Jesus is the way the truth and the life. Since the fall of 2021 we’ve seen God double the size of our church family.

Let me be clear, this is not about touting numbers and giving credit to OC. That would be robbing God of the glory he is due because of the work he’s been doing to grow this church. It’s been our goal to not get in his way.

The opportunity that this gives us is this.

Max capacity of this building is 235 people. we have around 250 places to sit on a Wednesday night service but as we are creatures of comfort, we also realize that once this room gets about 70% full, which is about 175 people, people start to get uncomfortable. Now, I’m not here to cater to anyone’s comfort, but what we, the leadership of OC, have been trying to access is what do we need to do, first, to more effectively minister to the people of OC, and second how are we going to plan ahead to accommodate more growth should the Lord continue to draw people to OC.

As we’ve met and prayed over these past several weeks, we’ve recognized some holes that need to be filled.

We need more kids class space so we can divide up the ages to make learning about Jesus more age appropriate. Having kids from 3-8yrs old isn’t conducive to effective learning. Someone is either going to have things go over their heads or on the other side, be bored. We need to have a space where kids who learn at relatively the same rate and in similar ways can do that together and not hold anyone back.

To Remedy this, we plan on dividing the current Peaks classroom into two spaces, offering 3yrs - 5yrs a class room and Kindergarten - 2nd grade their own space. That should be relatively inexpensive.

The other ages would need additional space. What we want to purpose is the constructing of a new floor above the dining area which would be two new classrooms for 3rd - 5th & 6th - 8th. This will come at a much higher cost. We will be in discussions with engineers and contractors to try and get a good idea what something like that might cost. Guesstimate is somewhere around $100k

We are also in need of replacing our boiler. Even though it is expensive, $20k + installation, it’s still the most cost effective way to heat the building.

I mention these first because unless Jesus comes back tomorrow, or unless our nation turns totally against the church in general, we will still be meeting in this building and we need to do the necessary updates and additions to equip and serve those that call OC home.

The other side of this coin as we move away from buildings and maintenance, is we have a shortage of leaders in the church. The more people we see coming through the doors, the more people we need to lead them. Serve them, disciple them and equip them to turn around and do the same thing.

We need more qualified Deacons

We need more people equipped to disciple others through Directions

We need more people willing to serve in children's classes, worship teams, kitchen crew, youth, and small group leaders.

There is the possibility of a need to go to 2 services at some point. It would more than likely mean a Wednesday and Thursday night services, unless God makes it obvious to us that a Sunday morning service is what He’s calling us to. That would mean Christian Nation Church loosing a meeting space once again and I’m not real fond of that Idea. Regardless, If God is going to entrust more people to our care, we need to be positioned to care for them the way he’s called us to.

So, what’s the big deal, why all the hurry and urgency? Because the end of the age is quickly approaching.

The Parable of the Drag Net

Matthew 13:47–52 ESV

47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. 48 When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 51 “Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” 52 And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”

This parable paints a very clear picture. There is coming a day when all of the fish of the world, or people of the world will be gathered together and sorted out between two families. The family of God and the family of darkness or the Devil. The righteous from the evil and the evil will be thrown into the fiery furnace. This place Jesus speaks of is known as Hell. Its probably one of the most unpopular topics to preach on in a world that wants inclusion and comfort, but how unloving would I have to be to only tell you about the love of Jesus but leave out the part that is the consequence for not being born again through saving faith in Jesus? How much do you have to hate someone to only tell them to good part and even a watered down good part only to hide or even discredit and deny the existence of a place called Hell where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth?

Folks, it’s in the scriptures from the first page to the last and we need to understand “all these things”! True teachers of the whole message of the gospel must not shy away from or leave out any part of scripture. We must believe and teach God’s word old and new, not only old and not only new.

God’s church better be about fulfilling God’s purpose for it or He will remove its lampstand. If you read the 2nd and 3rd chapters of Revelation you will find churches that fit every scenario, but I believe that the church in the United States fits best the description of the church of Laodicea.

Are you Hot or Cold? Heaven forbid you be lukewarm!

Revelation 3:14–22 ESV

14 “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation. 15 “ ‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. 19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. 21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ ”

We need to be sold out servants of the living God, ready to take on whatever he calls us to do and lay aside every sin that entangles us to run the race set before us!

Communion

Matthew 26:26–29 ESV

26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” 27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”