Do You Seek and Treasure God?

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in the field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Matthew 13:44" p. 66

Chan uses this Scripture as an illustration, a benchmark, for what our response should be when discovering the gift of Jesus. When explaining the Scripture, he says the following:

"In this account, the man joyfully sold all that he had so that he could obtain the only thing that mattered. He knew that what he had stumbled upon- the kingdom of heaven- was more valuable than anything he had, so he went for it with everything in him.

"This kind of enthusiastic response to God's love is entirely appropriate. Yet, what a contrast to our typical response at discovering the same treasure." p. 66

Chan uses this Scripture as a segway to question our authenticity... our desire to really know Christ, to love Him and to serve Him. His argument here is that the church, in general, is more interested in boasting numbers than creating TRUE disciples. To further substantiate this claim, Chan references Luke Chapter 8:

"Jesus began speaking in parables- 'so that' those that weren't genuinely listening wouldn't get it. When crowds gather today, speakers are extraconscious of communicating in a way that is accessible to everyone. Speakers don't use Jesus' tactic to eliminate people who are not sincere seekers. The fact is, He just wasn't interested in those who fake it." p. 66

As Christians, we are to become disciples of Christ. And if we fool ourselves into believing that this can simply be done by going to church, mentioning Jesus to our kids every so often and living as sin-free a life as possible... then we are COMPLETELY missing God's great plan and purpose for discipleship. And, I think the responsibility (and by default, the blame) is on both the church and the believer. The church, as a whole, needs to do a better job of teaching and preparing us for what it means to be a disciple of Christ. As imperative as conversion is, what's the point if we're not genuinely teaching people how to bear the fruits of our faith. And hearing a sermon on Sunday morning just isn't gonna cut it... I don't care how eloquent of an orator you are! However, it's also important that we become willing to live as we have been commissioned to live. That doesn't necessarily mean we're called to sell everything we own (but for some of us, it just might!). However, it more than likely does mean that we need to get a little uncomfortable. We need to grow. It's time for us to have both feet in... so to speak! If not, we might as well have both feet out.

THE PUSH

Continue watching the video from Monday. Today, start where we left off... 9:15. Watch all the way up to 23:01. This is a little lengthy, but it's extremely powerful. Set aside some time to watch when you won't be easily distracted.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBhqrtMqrv8&feature=related