Word of Salvation – Vol. 20 No. 39 - July 1974

 

Kingdom Treasures

 

Sermon by Rev. J. J. C. Westera, B.D. on Matt.13:52

Scripture Reading: Matt. 13:31-51

Psalter Hymnal: 14:1,3; 295:1,3 (law); 317 (faith); 315; 29; 490

 

Beloved Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, Young people, and boys and girls,

Nobody can talk about the Kingdom of God or of heaven except Jesus and nobody can understand what Jesus says about it except he who believes in Jesus!  In his conversation with Nicodemus Jesus says that we can't even see the kingdom of God unless we are born anew.

We need to keep that in mind when we ponder on our text here in Matthew 13.  Jesus has talked with his disciples about the Kingdom.  He has shown them by means of parables, that it is great, though the beginning may be small.  It is like a grain of mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds but when it is sown and it has grown, it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.  When we enter the Kingdom of God we find protection and peace in it.  It is large enough to have room for all of us.  Have we tried it?  Are we like those birds, and did we take refuge with God?  Really?

We will notice another thing.  The Kingdom of God penetrates our whole life.  It is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.  That's what God does.  God is not only there on Sunday, but on Monday and the rest of the week as well.  And God is not only there when we sing or pray but He is there when we work and play as well.  When we truly believe, the Kingdom of God influences our marriage, our family, our friendship and all other spheres of life, also our business our buying and selling, our tax-paying our politics etc.  That's not a matter of organisation of Christian organisations you know, but of your heart.  Christian organisations may definitely be necessary but the Kingdom of God does not depend on them.  It is within you and it does not come with outward appearance.  We need to keep that always in mind when we strive for Christian political parties and organisations.  The King of the Kingdom is JESUS and He cannot be our Lord with- out being our Saviour, without living and dwelling in our hearts out of which are the sources of life. (Prov.4:23) The Kingdom of God is a "thing" in itself, different from all the things of this world.  It is unique and priceless as a treasure hidden in a field and as a pearl, the one pearl of great value.

We can lose it or not be in it, even when we are members of the Reformed Churches or supporters of the one or the other organisation.  They are but means to establish the Kingdom of God, to preach it and to work it out in our life, in our world, but we will always be as sheep among the wolves.  It is a hard work for all of us and as long as we are here on earth we will only know it in part till we will see it in glory when Jesus comes back.

We must never forget that: the Kingdom depends on our faith in Jesus.  It is a matter of being saved or not being saved.  It is like a net which was thrown in to the sea and gathered fish of every kind; when it was full men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into vessels but threw away the bad.  So it will be at the close of the age.  The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire; there will men weep and gnash their teeth.

Have we understood all this?  Jesus put that question to his disciples and they said to him: Yes!

That is wonderful when you can say that.  It means that you believe in Jesus and have accepted him as your Saviour and King.  The Kingdom of God is then open to you and you enter into it.

I wonder what will happen to us, for it cannot be that nothing will happen when we enter that Kingdom of God.

Have we ever entered the world of sport or of art?  Not as an onlooker but as a sportsman yourself or as an artist.  As one who wanted to know how to play, how to produce something worthwhile?  You have been training haven't you, to master the game or the art?  You do what my son does who is an enthusiastic soccer player.  He trains every spare minute in our backyard with others or all by himself.  He plays the ball with his feet, knees, chest and head.  He is really good at it – just as his father was when he was a boy.

Training is hard work.  They always say that the making of a genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.  Ask an artist or a world famous pianist or a violinist and they will agree and will tell you that their success depends on their training.  The Kingdom of God is a new world for us and when we enter into it we need training.  No doubt.  Every good scribe – Jesus says – who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven......!  It looks as if we need training here too and that only by training the Kingdom of God becomes ours.  What about it?  If we enter the Kingdom of God, we want to know – taking part in it – making it our own – so that we feel at home and can use and share the things of that Kingdom.

Without training we remain – if possible – strangers in the kingdom of God.  We are baptised, we have done profession of faith, we go to church, we read the bible and go to bible groups and nevertheless we remain strangers.  Our heart is not in it.  That is possible and the reason most probably, is that we are too much onlookers, interested maybe but not involved, not making the things of Gods Kingdom our own, not trained!

As training necessary in the world of sport of art and in all other worlds, so it is necessary in the Kingdom of God.  We may be born-church people, we may have Christian parents and have grown up in a Christian environment – thank God for it –but it does not mean that we can miss the training and be a good scribe or a good Christian.  We need training for the kingdom of God....!

Having been trained we become like a house-holder.  A word is used here that means despot, a house despot.  Well, we know what that is.  A Despot is somebody who has absolute power.  Things and persons are at his disposal.  He can do with them just what he likes.  And that is what Jesus wants us to be.  He wants us to be house despots, people who have the things of the Kingdom of God to their disposal.  Sometimes you get people at your door who have SOME texts at their disposal, just those which they want to use and which fit their faith, their teaching.  We always wonder about that.  But instead of wondering about it, we must be busy with all the things of the Kingdom of God so that they become ours and we be possessed by them by taking possession of them.  We don't realise it perhaps, but when we take possession of the riches of this world, they at the same take possession of us.

The more we are trained in the things of Gods Kingdom the more they become ours as we become theirs.  That is a good thing!  But the opposite is true too.  The less we know about the Kingdom of God the less it becomes ours.  We don't know what we are talking about and how to enter it and how to share it.  The new life of the Kingdom becomes only ours by sharing the new life that the King of that Kingdom has gained for us by his death and his resurrection.  It is His life but it becomes OURS and it is at our disposal.  We have to decide what we are doing with it and how we are using it.  Faith without action is a dead thing.  It must make us active.  Jesus gives us the Kingdom of God to do something with.  But we can't use the riches of God's Kingdom unless we make them our own.  We admire a person who knows how to play an organ or a piano.  He makes his instrument say what HE wants.  It is at his disposal.  This is how it has to be with the Kingdom of God.  We must know how to use it.

That is the whole meaning of this parable of Jesus.  The Kingdom of heaven is a very rich one.  It is great and mighty, but it does not become ours except by training.  It is at our disposal and we become like householders – like house despots – who are in complete control over the things of their house.

Jesus says that we are like a householder who brings out his treasures....!  They are called HIS.  God gave it to him and he may – must – make it his own.

So it is with us.  We know that the Kingdom, we are pondering on is the Kingdom of God.  It comes from heaven.  It is established by Jesus Christ.  It is here on earth as a fruit of Jesus' death, his cross and his victory over death and hell, but we must not hesitate to make it ours and to call it ours.  God has given it to us and it pleases Him more than anything else when we take his gift and make it ours.  But it displeases him if we don't do our utmost to possess it.  It displeases Him if we don't care and become lazy, spiritually lazy.  The Kingdom of God must become very real to us.

We grieve God if we say or think that the Kingdom of God is an idea, a matter of a certain view on life and death, but not a matter of real salvation in Christ.  A matter of complete victory over death and hell, by which we become more than conquerors.

We must become house despots.  Indeed, who knows what they have and how to use it.  Who knows what is in stock.

In our text it is said that every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a householder, who brings out of his TREASURE what is new and what is old.  The Jerusalem Bible has – not treasure – but store-room and that is what it really means.  Perhaps we can compare it with our fridge or with our cupboard.  We ask mother to give us some food and she takes it out of the fridge or out of the cupboard.  She makes sure something is there.  She buys the things we need.  Or think of our great warehouses.  The manager sees to it that he has things in stock and that he does not forget to stock up completely.

Once a year we have stocktaking.  We want to know what we have and how we have run our business.  Not only the taxation department is eager to know that, but we ourselves as well.  We want to know where we are up to.  What we really possess.

Such a stocktaking would be a very good thing for our Christian life too!  It is not as easy as with the goods of this world but it is necessary that we ask ourselves what we really have.  What do we have in stock?  For days of crisis we need some extras.  In days of sickness or in days of mourning, when all of a sudden one of our beloved ones is taken away from us.  In days of disaster it is good to have something in stock.

A good housewife is always prepared for unexpected visitors, and a good business man is not without any reserves.  And you yourself don't make a trip in your car without a spare tyre.

It is a fact that many people live without asking themselves whether they have something that lasts, something that cannot be taken away from them.  They just live by the day and by what they see.  They are blind for the things that last, for the Kingdom of heaven which is eternal.

It happens that they all of a sudden are confronted with their own nakedness and emptiness.  But have nothing on which they may fall back.  There is nothing but a bottomless pit of misery and agony.  Poor people!

But what do we have in stock?  What do we have in our store-room?  Nothing but earthly treasures?  Or is there something else?

God can bring us into circumstances where we are forced to ask ourselves!  Who are you?  Are you a householder who is able to bring forth out of his store-room, what he needs for the situation of that day?

We live in a situation of emergency in our world.  It is high time that we know what we have, who we are and where we are going.  This our world is flooded with all kind of evil and to save our lives, our houses and our children we need faith, faith in God and in Jesus Christ.

Fortunately, not many people were drowned during the flood we had in Queensland and New South Wales in January 1974.  We thank God for that.  But we are threatened by a completely different flood than that flood of water that rises and rises, so that our houses were immersed and goods were lost.  How many are going to be drowned in this flood, from which they don't know where to flee?  No house, no mountain is high enough where they can take refuge.  All what they have cannot help them.  They have no peace in days of war as ours are.  They have no truth in the midst of the lies of our society.  No comfort when death knocks on their door, no life when the end is there, no light when darkness deepens.

That is the terrifying situation of the world we live in and it is time that we take stock, not only once a year but time and again to see what we have, and to bring it out of our store-room what is new and what is old.

Jesus mentioned the new things first.  May be we would expect that with Jesus, for the new things did come and all things are made new in Him.  Therefore, the new is mentioned first that we may see all things in that light of Jesus.  In Jesus Christ the old things.  become alive, and you can bring them out of your store-room and use them.  That old prayer of yours that you have prayed so often, the old doctrines which you have known for a long time, but which were under the dust of forgetfulness, the bible that is laying there somewhere in your cupboard.  Bring them out and let them shine again in this dark world.  Let them do their work again.  Let them strengthen you and give you peace and hope.

Does not the old book of God, the Bible, become a source of Light and Truth in Jesus Christ?  Don't we have to read the Old Testament in the light of the New, and does not the New Testament speak to us better in the light of the Old Testament?  Look, we are so rich.  We may live in the light of God's revelation in Jesus Christ.  He has fully revealed to us the will of God concerning our redemption.  We may live in the light of God's Kingdom.

What do we have in stock?  What is in our store-room?  Every scribe, that means every Christian, taught, trained in the Kingdom of heaven, is like a house despot who brings out of his store-room treasures that are new and old.  Let us make our own what God has given us.  Let us have full control of the many riches of God's Kingdom.  They are worthwhile, of more value than all the riches of the world, which perish.  We can be so busy with them that we forget to seek God and His Kingdom.

Yet it is still true what the psalmist says in his song:

            The fear of the Lord is clean
            enduring forever
            The ordinances of the Lord are true
            and righteous altogether
            More to be desired are they than gold
            even much fine gold
            sweeter also than honey
            and drippings of the honey comb. (Ps. 19)

All the gold of the world is nothing compared with what Jesus gives you.  Make Him and all his benefits YOURS!

Have them in stock, and bring them out of your store-room.

Amen.