Saturday, February 23, 2013

Message - Spiritual Treasure Chests - Randall Nelsen

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:19 -21 NKJV

 The Heart of man is like a Spiritual Treasure Chest. The type of of person you are today is directly related to whatever is within your heart and mind. The Bible teaches us that it is not the physical things that we consume that corrupt us, but the spiritual. It is not the kind of food that we eat, or the external things of this world that we use that make us unclean. What God really cares about is the internal condition of our hearts. The thoughts and unseen motivations of the heart are the most important they are the things that need to be dealt with.
 So Jesus said, “Are you also still without understanding?  Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.  For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.” 
Matthew 15:16-20 NKJV


Jesus rebuked the religious leaders because they taught and believed that they were holy because of their strict ritual observances such as dietary laws, and the washing of hands.The truth is that they missed the point. Jesus was teaching them that the heart of man is what needs washing not the hands. He taught them that it is was not the physical food that that makes a person clean or unclean but the spiritual condition of the heart is what defiles a person

This poses a problem for us because the bible also teaches us that the heart is deceitful and full of wickedness. 
 “The heart is deceitful above all things,
And desperately wicked;
Who can know it?  
Jeremiah 17:9
     
 If  this statement is true, and we know it is, then we face a serious problem. The Bible teaches us  that our heart is corrupt and evil. How do you wash away an evil heart. Since our heart is where our treasure is then we must make sure that the treasure is good.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
 Matthew 13:44 

Jesus is comparing  the kingdom of God to a Treasure hidden in a field, but what he says next is a little more obscure. Jesus says that the man hid the treasure and then sold everything he had and purchased the field. It is my belief that what the Lord is saying here is that the man hid the Treasure which is the Kingdom of God in his heart. What this clearly illustrates is that the man accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior in other Words he received Salvation. It also explains that the things of this world have no worth in comparison to the priceless Treasure of eternal Life.  


What can be the solution to this problem?
How do we wash the heart?
What is Good Treasure, is that even possible?