Sermon on Matthew 13

Given the Sunday School roster swap, I was able to sit in on Pastor Steve’s sermon at church on Matthew 13. Although I was feeling “dead” as I only had 5 hours sleep, I still managed to take some notes. Once again, any posts on church sermons will be accompanied by the usual disclaimer that “any mistakes or oddities in my post are completely mine”. I won’t rehash the entire sermon (partly because my note-taking was not at the optimal level). Rather, I will talk about parts of the sermon & thereafter post my thoughts. My post may be patchy, but anyway, here it is.

In the sermon, we were reminded that the biggest problem in our church (perhaps not just talking about the church we attend) is deceitfulness. No one can serve both God & money. If we are trying to make money today & it becomes our priority, then we are “gone”.

Another thing from the sermon is that Jesus is about transformed lives & He wants the weeds to become wheat. The difference between weeds & wheat is receptivity & responsiveness. Pastor referred to Matthew 13:44-46 for a picture of what receptivity looks like.

Then, pastor made a point that really grabbed my attention – true Christians can be seen by what they treasure. After talking about treasures in Matthew 13, pastor referred to one of his favourite authors, John Piper & his book ‘Seeing & Savouring Jesus Christ’. In that book, Piper apparently stated: We were made to enjoy God. God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. Nothing most satisfies us or more glorifies God than when we are blown away by God’s grace.

Pastor also referred to Ephesians 1 , & said that God’s love is the ground of our joy. On the subject of love, he said that love must be God-centered, or it is not love. It is a wake-up call for those who find treasure/love in the wrong place.

Pastor then said that being a Christian is about receptivity, taking hold of the treasure out there (which God has made for us). What treasures are we trying to gain? Those who seek the world forfeits his/her soul. Pastor then called us to assess our priorities – where are we at, if we are a Christian? What happens if what we currently have is taken away from us? We must be willing to put Jesus as number 1. Would Jesus still be number 1, a treasure of unsurpassable value, if we lose what we have? Will we walk away from Jesus in that instance, or will Jesus remain number 1?

Pastoral ministry & missions are worthless if Jesus is not at the centre of our heart. Pastor’s last comment is this: Is Jesus our treasure, our pearl of unsurpassable value?

Ok then, that’s the sermon. Now here are my thoughts:

• The point about not serving God & money came just 2 days after chatting with a friend on Friday nite, regarding his “sulphur” comment on a previous post regarding workaholism. When that friend explained what he meant by his comment, it felt a tad ominous. He sounded like he meant business. His explanation for the “sulphur” comment was also centered on the futility of believers serving God & money. I wonder if it’s a coincidence that I heard about this “God & money” thing from 2 different people within a matter of days – is it mere coincidence, or is it God trying to highlight an area in my life where I may be struggling (& am in danger of stumbling even further)?

• “True Christians can be seen by what they treasure”. It's that attention-grabbing sentence from Pastor's sermon. Flowing from that, I have to pose this question: What is it that I treasure? Well, I’d be bluffing if I say that I only treasure Jesus & the Word of God. I also happen to treasure the pleasures of this world – in fact, I often am more carried away by the things of this world than by spiritual things. This raises a further question: Am I then a real Christian?

• Have I got my priorities right, as a Christian? The answer is probably not, although these days I’m more mindful of & less oblivious to my faults.

• Am I looking for treasures in the wrong place? Should I be looking for those “wrong” treasures, given that I already have the one that really matter – Jesus, our pearl of unsurpassable value?

As u can see, I’m left with lots & lots of things to think about. Serious things, the answers to which will not just come instantly or overnight.