The Messiah’s Secret – Treasure in Heaven
Readings Hebrews 11: 1-3. Luke 12: 32 – 40
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Luke 12: 32- 34. NIV Bible
The congregation were in two teams each purse was opened as the questions were answered. The contents were either treasure that will be kept in heaven or moths (3)
All the purses had sweets and gifts, the treasure purses had items from magazine cut outs relating to Christian ministry. The 3 purses with the moths had no magazine cut outs. In each purse a number of points scored and were added up to produce a winning team.
The treasure are the things that we do willingly for others, we do for Jesus. These things will never fade and are kept safe in heaven.
Treasure Hunt (teaching the little ones to identify and the purpose behind these pieces of church furniture)
A picture was cut into four parts each part placed in connection with a question:
Where do we read stories from the Bible? The Lectern (Eagle). Where babies are baptised – The Font.
Where we receive Communion- Communion rail.
Where the stories of Jesus are expounded – The Pulpit/reading desk.
On the back of the four parts of the picture each had a gift.The picture was of Jesus.
Jesus the treasure of the kingdom of heaven.
Message
We can do ‘face-time’ or skype people using technology, we can put the numbers in that connect us to a friend or relative to where they live on our planet and we see them on the screen of the phone where they are at that moment in time and have a conversation with them. It is amazing technology, we know how it works through satellite, wireless and cable.
God’s technology is to give us his kingdom not by just being linked or connected by prayer, but for his kingdom to be actually within us.
So how does it work? It works by faith, everybody has this element of creation faith. In this realm of faith there is a battle going on; it’s were people are searching to connect their faith to something.
Some people experience the sense of having been in a place before and assume it’s a previous life, as a result they may turn and put their faith in re-incarnation.
Some people believe in UFO’s or others may say I’ve seen a ghost so they turn to spiritualism.
So the battle ground for people’s faith is in the world. The robber who steals a person’s faith is the devil, he will distract, confuse and lie, so that a person does not come to faith in Jesus.
Faith in Jesus
God has made it so that we are able to enter his kingdom now, and we enter through faith in Jesus. In the New Testament many of the people who came to Jesus to be healed were asked by Jesus did they have faith in him. The only requirement was to have faith in him.
The Bible says faith – is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11: 1.
Faith is like: when we are poorly we go to the doctor, he examines us and prescribes the treatment for his diagnosis.
We have gone to the doctor in faith having the assurance and conviction that he/she will give us the medicine that will make us better.
Faith to believe that in his love, Jesus bore our sins upon the cross and healed our broken relationship with God and as a result, the Lord our God has poured his love, the treasure of the kingdom of God into our hearts.
Jesus said, “In that day you will know that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you.”
“If a person loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him.” John 14: 20, 23.
The Holy Spirit of God’s kingdom acts on the words about Jesus, bringing into fruition Jesus’ abiding presence in the heart and mind as a result the Christian bears the fruit of his kingdom.
After entering into the kingdom of God we become its’ Ambassadors with the mind of Christ and our behaviour following the Lord’s life and teaching.
“God the Father will glorify me, for he will take what is mine; and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said he will take what is mine and will declare it to you.” John 16: 14, 15.
Isaiah wrote of the kingdom of God, having been given the knowledge of it through prophecy. “The wolf will lie down with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the yearling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.” Isaiah 11: 6, 7.
The Kingdom of God is where compassion grows like trees and where flowers bear the fragrance of joy and their seeds of truth are scattered. Its’ pathways are of patience and peace and the atmosphere, the substance of it is completely made up of love.
Fear and worry are not there in the kingdom, unless a window is opened to let them in, like the moth that ravages the clothes. Fear and worry eats away at our faith.We remove the fear and the worry as we take our problems to Jesus and leave them at the foot of his empty cross, leaving them there. Trusting and believing that Jesus will help us.
Faith without works is dead wrote the Lord’s brother James.
Two years ago, I must admit that I was anxious as to whether we were right in having a Mothers Union (M.U) bric – brac Stall on Rawtenstall Market. We were raising funds for the M.U Relief Fund and I was asking myself as Rossendale’s M.U Deanery Leader were we living by faith?
The day before the event, while I was sorting and pricing up the items these words that are in our reading popped into my mind, “Sell your possessions and give arms.” I was relieved and delighted at the same time that the Lord had answered our prayers. We were doing it for the right reasons.
Our hope is that our inheritance in Jesus is kept safe in heaven for us.
Jesus gave us the example in his parable of the man who went to his friends house at midnight, getting him out of bed to supply him with a loaf of bread to feed his quests who had arrived unexpectly.” His friend at first was not too pleased at being disturbed, but he gave his friend the loaf. Luke 11: 5-8
Some of he things that will last for eternity, the list is endless: When we have responded to our neigbour’s need: the emergency and the errands etc. The times when we have prayed for their family and friends. The opportunities to tell them about Jesus.
The Treasure that is stored in heaven.
There is an old saying, “You brought nothing into the world, and you can’t take anything out.” We can’t take our money or possessions with us when we die, but what we have in Jesus, we did not have it when we were born.
What we have in Jesus, we take with us when the Lord calls us home. It’s the treasure of the kingdom of God, the abiding presence of Jesus, the love of God in our hearts, his kingdom on the earth as it is in heaven.
Judgment Seat of Christ.
After the Lord calls out his church and we come before him for rewards, not punishment. The treasure that will never fade away will be a blessing to us: like the drink given to quench some one’s thirst, the words of comfort when we ministered to a person in their time of suffering. Corinthians 3: 13.
Making a purse.
A piece of cardboard cut out in the shape of a purse 16 inches / 10 inches. Two pieces of material cut slightly larger than the cardboard. Sew the two pieces of material together leaving the top opening and one side unstitched to allow cardboard to fit inside. Place the cardboard inside. Stitch up the side. Using a strip of foil glue it to the top opening.
Another piece of foil to make the clasp into a small diamond shape. Decorate with bows and ribbon, cut out and glue on to purse ‘Hello Kitty’ and ‘Wally.’ Pictures of moths and treasure boxes with words: love , joy and peace inside the lids.
The purses were attached with split pins to a large (recycled) cardboard sheet covered with lining paper, and a blob of glue on the back of the cardboard to keep it the pin in place.