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What are you treasuring?
Verses
43-45 say,
For no good tree bears bad fruit,
nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own
fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor grapes from a bramble
bush. The good person out of the good
treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil
treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
It
is a very simply concept. Jesus uses a
picture from the natural world. A
certain kind of tree bears a certain kind of fruit. A fig tree bears figs, while an apple tree
bears apples. The nature of the fruit
reveals the nature of the tree. Most of us have probably heard before that you
can judge a tree by its fruit. Jesus
applies this clear observation in the natural world to the spiritual life of a
person. You can judge a person by their
fruit. A good person produces good, and
an evil person produces evil.
Now, remember, Jesus’ focus is
not that you are judging the spiritual fruit of someone else, but rather, the
spiritual fruit of your own life. Jesus
is calling you to examine your own fruit.
Notice the key idea in verse 45, “The good person out of the good treasure
of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil
treasure produces evil (emphasis added).” Our fruit will be determined
by what we treasure.
Let me say this in two ways.
First, to the non-believer, the Bible says that we are all evil because we do
not treasure what is ultimately good… God.
Since we have not treasured God supremely, but rather have rebelled
against Him, He must punish us for our sin.
The biblical punishment for sin is death and eternal hell.The amazing thing is although we
did not treasure God, He treasures us.
For God so loved or treasured the
world that He gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in Him will
not perish but have everlasting life. Jesus
treasured us so much that He died in our place, and God raised Him from the
dead. His death and resurrection gives everyone the opportunity to experience
the true treasure, eternal life with God.
So, today, if you examine your life and realize that you do not know
Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then turn from your sin and treasure Jesus
Christ as your Savior, and you will be saved.
Secondly to Christians, the
gospel message is not only our entrance in to the Christian life, but it is our
sustaining grace for the Christian life.
The Holy Spirit says through Paul in his letter to the Galatians 3:1-3,
O foolish Galatians! Who has
bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed
as crucified. Let me ask you only this: did you receive the Spirit by works of
the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the
Spirit, are you now being perfect by the flesh?
We are saved by hearing with faith, and we are
also sanctified, or made holy, by hearing with faith. It comes down to what we treasure. The reason Christians continue to struggle
with sin: all sins such as besetting sins, hidden sins, relational sins,
debilitating sins, etc., is because we do not treasure Jesus Christ. The
solution to overcoming sin is to treasure the Lord Jesus Christ above all
else.
We sin because we value the pleasure
from sin more than we value Jesus Christ.
Psalm 37:4,
Delight in the Lord and He will
give you the desires of your heart.
God
wants to give us pleasure, but our problem is we do not seek after true
pleasure. Listen how C.S. Lewis explains this:
“It would seem that Our Lord finds our
desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling
about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an
ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot
imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too
easily pleased.”[1]
Christian, never forget your treasure. Matthew 13:44 says,
The kingdom of heaven is like a 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 (emphasis added).”
If we are in Christ, we have found the
supreme treasure. We have found the pearl of great price. When we treasure Christ, we produce good
things out of the abundance of our treasure-filled heart. So what are you treasuring? Let nothing be
more of a greater treasure than Jesus Christ.
So, how can we diagnose our own
souls to see if there is anything that we are treasuring more than Christ? Jerry Bridges offers 12 questions in his
book, “The Bookends of the Christian Life.” I offer them to you:
I am preoccupied
with ________.
If only ________, then I would be happy.
I get my sense of significance from ________.
I would protect and preserve ________ at any cost.
I fear losing ________.
The thing that gives me greatest pleasure is ________.
When I lose ________, I get angry, resentful, frustrated, anxious, or
depressed.
For me, life depends on ________.
The thing I value more than anything in the world is
_____.
When I daydream, my mind goes to________.
The best thing I can think of is ________.
The thing that makes me want to get out of bed in the morning is ________.[2]
What do you treasure more than
Christ? He must be our ultimate
treasure. Pastor Tim Keller defines an
idol as when a good thing becomes the ultimate thing. We can never allow good things, (family,
work, church, etc.) to become the ultimate thing. We must treasure Jesus Christ as our supreme
Treasure, and when we treasure Jesus Christ, we will bear fruit out of the
overflow of that Treasure. Treasuring the person and work of Jesus Christ is
the fuel for the Christian life.
How else are we going to do all
that God asks of us unless we meditate on his gloriously good gospel? We deserved eternal punishment in hell and yet
God sent Jesus Christ to die on our behalf. His blood was shed over our
soul. Oh friend, please treasure that
fact!!!
[1]
Lewis, C.S. from The Weight of Glory as quoted from http://www.cslewis.org/journal/the-pursuit-of-happiness-c-s-lewis%E2%80%99s-eudaimonistic-understanding-of-ethics/#_ftn1
accessed on 2.28.14
[2]
Bridges, Jerry. The Bookends of the Christian Life.
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