A Treasure Hidden in the Field
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May 21, 2017 |
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 Senior Pastor Dr. Jaerock Lee
"The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field" (Matthew 13:44).
Many people seek true happiness and work hard but few of them feel true happiness in their lives.
They unceasingly try hard to live a better life, but they do not feel satisfied with what they have and some of them even lose their wealth and fame overnight.
1. The Kingdom of Heaven Is Like a Treasure Hidden in the Field
When God formed the first man, Adam, He made his spirit to be the master of man, the soul was controlled by his spirit, and the flesh was where his spirit and soul resided. God set Adam as the lord of all creation and blessed him to rule over all things. As a spiritual being, he was in communication with God who is spirit.
However, after a long period of time, Adam committed the sin of disobedience. He ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which God forbade him to eat. As a result, the spirit that is master of man died and his communication with God was severed. As sins came into the heart of Adam who had sinned, the God-given spiritual knowledge, that is, knowledge of life, slipped out. As more time passed by, he accepted more untruths in control of Satan.
Consequently, spirit of man became like chaff that has no content. The descendants of Adam did not acknowledge God any longer and did what was inappropriate in the sight of God (Romans 1:28-31).
For such people, God sent Jesus, who He had predestined by foreknowledge and had kept hidden since before the ages, to the earth. Jesus was crucified as the atonement for them. He overcame death and resurrected. His resurrection opened the way to salvation, so anyone who believes Jesus Christ can receive salvation and enter Heaven by the faith.
When we heard the gospel of the kingdom, accepted Jesus Christ, received the forgiveness of sins, and received the Holy Spirit, our dead spirit came to life. We gained the right to become God's children by faith and our names were recorded in the Book of Life in Heaven. Then, we felt joy and started to attend all kinds of worship services. We started to understand the Word of God by the Holy Spirit's help and we also came to receive the power to pray and live by the Word.
In Matthew 13, there are several analogies on Heaven. One of them is that of 'A treasure hidden in the field'. The parable's analogy likens finding a treasure hidden in the field to people's dead spirit coming to life through hearing the gospel, accepting Jesus Christ, and receiving the Holy Spirit; and Heaven coming to their hearts.
2. A Man Found and Hid Again; and from Joy Over It He Goes and Sells All that He Has and Buys That Field
'A man found and hid it again' implies that their dead spirits were revived and they want to live by the will of God but they have not been given strength to live by it yet so they do not act upon the Word. 'The joy' the man feels means that they realize the existence of Heaven in their hearts and their hearts become filled with joy when their spirits are revived.
In order to act upon the Word of God, you should cast away untruthful attributes from your hearts. It is because Satan controls untruths in your heart. If you have unrighteousness and untruths in heart, although you confess your faith in God, the unrighteousness and untruth leads you to darkness. Thus, you should pray with reliance on God. Only then can you hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and follow only the will of God.
What does it mean by 'he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field'? Although spirit locked in the soul is revived after you accept Jesus Christ, you must destroy aspects of the soul for the spirit to work as the master of man again (2 Corinthians 10:5).
The soul that is controlled by Satan stands against the truth and God. Thus, the person whose spirit is under the control of the soul, that is, the person of soul is controlled by Satan and dwells in darkness. Unless they destroy the untruthful works of soul, their spirit cannot be revived and become the master of the person. To the extent that untruthful operation of soul is destroyed and spirit is filled more, your soul will prosper. Then you can live by the Word of God. Therefore, if you find a treasure hidden in the field, you have to diligently 'sell what you have' and buy the field quickly.
3. In Order to Possess Heaven That Is Far More Precious Than All You Have
While cultivating wasteland, a man felt something under his shovel. He dug to the bottom and found a great treasure. He covered it with soil to hide it and started to think. He finally decided to sell all he had and buy the field. It is because he found a treasure far more precious than all he had.
To 'sell all he has' spiritually refers to destroying the untruthful works of the soul, casting away works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21) and getting rid of things of the flesh (Romans 13:13-14). These are the things that are not appropriate according to the Word of God. It is to get rid of anything that you love more than God.
Suppose you listen to a message telling you to love, to give thanks, to cast away adulterous mind, and not to steal. If you obey it as you learned and cast off sins and evil through prayer, this is then the act of 'selling all you have.' As you cast away sins and evil you will be able to live by the Word following the Holy Spirit's desire. You can enter into spirit, and become the light and salt of the world.
In other words, 'to sell all he has' means to fight against sins to the point of shedding blood, live by the Word of God (Hebrews 12:4), to become people of spirit, to participate in divine nature, and to have the heart of Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:4). In order to possess something, we need to pay for it. In the same manner, if you want to possess Heaven, you should pay something to God who is the owner of Heaven. You can gain Heaven if you worship in spirit and truth, sacrifice yourselves, volunteer your time and money, and offer up all you have.
In addition, you should remember that you cannot buy the field if you like what you have better than the treasure found hidden in the field. Also, if you do not know the treasure is hidden in the field or if you do not believe it, you wouldn't sell what you have. However, if you truly believe in Heaven you can fight against sins to the point of shedding blood and throw all of them away.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, though they throw away everything while on the earth, those who posses Heaven are the richest on earth! This is because everything they need is in Jesus Christ. Therefore, I urged you to cast away everything against the Word of God and live only by the Word. I pray in the name of the Lord that you find this treasure and by doing so, your heart will become like Heaven and you will possess eternal Heaven.
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