Treasured

How’s your treasure hunt going?

Some look more like pirates/Nicolas Cage than others, but we’re all treasure hunting.

better toys, good grades, higher paychecks, status, fashion, power, experiences, lifestyles; real treasure is ourselves

Disney Gospel: you are special (treasure) the way you are, be you!

Self-fulfillment/realization, happiness, no judgment

Treasure hunt has only two ends: pride or despair

Pride: I am perfect the way I am (lie: I am my own treasure)

Despair: I am hopelessly broken (lie: I am not treasure)

Lie of world: Treasure found inside you, not from God.

Gospel is a story of treasure

Jairus: leader of synagogue, prominent, powerful (pride)

Leaves his daughter’s side in the final moments of her life to fall at the feet of Jesus

“My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.”

Woman: unclean, bankrupt, widowed (despair)

Dares to approach Jesus touch his cloak to be healed

What do Jairus and the woman have in common?

Instead of trusting their own definition of what it means to be treasure, they chose to trust Jesus’s definition of what it means to be treasured

Instead of trusting in worldly definition of treasure (hopelessly broken/ successful) they both had faith in Jesus’s Word that He treasures them.

Jesus calls the woman out and declares that her faith has saved her.

And even when Jairus’s men report the worst news a father could hear, the death of his daughter, Jesus says, “Do not fear, only believe.”

Against every piece of evidence to the contrary, even death, Jesus wants Jairus to believe Jesus faithfully treasures us as His creation under His redemptive reign.

That’s what happens: Jesus reigns over Jairus & daughter as His treasure, with His almighty Word: “Talitha cumi; Little girl, I say to you, arise.”

Jesus faithfully treasures us as His creation under His redemptive reign.

Gospel is not that we find treasure in ourselves.

Gospel is not even that we go on a treasure hunt to find Jesus.

Gospel is that we are Jesus’s treasure that He gives up everything for.

Leaves heaven, becomes one of us, takes our sin, crucified, hell!

Rises, not for Himself, but for us, to treasure us forever.

Miracles (healing and raising of daughter) are a sign of things to come, what Jesus will do ultimately for those He treasures

Jesus will heal all, raise all, perfect all things to treasure creation eternally

Lamentations 3:22-23: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.

You don’t need to go treasure hunting. God is faithful to you!

You know you are treasured because God sent Jesus to die & rise for you.

Whenever you come face to face with your own sin, fear, despair, suffering, and even death, remember whose you are.

Whenever you come face to face with world’s temptations of wealth, power, status, happiness, comfort, preferences and pride, remember whose you are.

We come back to His Word, His altar, His church because we know we are treasured by Him.

Your value is fixed, absolute, and ultimate. You are treasured not because of who you are or what you have done, but because of Jesus.

Give up the treasure hunt. Believe the Gospel against all evidence to the contrary: you are treasured.