Salt-Light-Candle Bushel
Original URL Wednesday, May 20, 2026
Transcript
All right. Well, good evening, everyone. It's great to be with you all again. It's a real pleasure to be able to share my thoughts with you and to share this time of Bible study together. I wanted to share a class that I put together a few years back. This is one of about a series of five classes that I gave on the parables of Jesus that were found in the book of Matthew. These were salt, light, candle and bushel, moss, roth, moth, rust and thieves, bread and stone, fish and serpent, the two ways, the two builders, the two trees. And then finally, the parable of the patch cloth, the wine skins and the new wine. I think we've been through a couple of these already. So this is the first class in the series that I gave. So I'm happy to be able to share that with you. So I structured most of these classes where we'll look first at the physical elements and their significance, and then we'll analyze the spiritual elements and the practical applications to our life. And in this way, we hope to address how these parables would have been significant to the people hearing them from a natural sense and how it would affect them in a spiritual sense. Now, this is a common theme throughout scripture, I believe, and Paul highlights this in 1 Corinthians 15, where he says, But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the natural and then the spiritual. So in every lesson or parable in scripture, we can find these two elements and the two elements serve to drive home the lesson that we're meant to learn. And it can help stick it in our minds because we have a nice story or a nice physical thing that we can apply to a spiritual walk. Now, one might ask, what do all these parables have in common, the parables that we listed out at the beginning there? And for starters, they're all found in the Gospel of Matthew. So all the ones that we're going through in these classes are found in Matthew. And of the 39 or so parables told throughout the Gospels, 23 are found in the Book of Matthew alone, and nine of those are unique to that Gospel. Luke has the most parables at 28 and Mark has only nine. And believe it or not, the Book of John only has one parable that we find in Chapter 10 of John. I remember reading an article on that online one time that claimed that John only had one parable, so I had to prove it to myself. I ended up reading through the whole Book of John because I didn't believe it. But sure enough, it's true. Jesus tells only one parable in the Book of John, and it's the parable of the Good Shepherd and the thieves. That was a bit of an aside, but I spent a lot of time researching that, so I figured I'd put it out there to share it with you guys. So before we start digging into these parables of the salt, light, candle, and bushel, I think it's important to ask the question, What is a parable and why did Jesus use them to preach to the people? Well, Dictionary.com tells us that a parable is a short story or a narrative that communicates a message or principle. If you think about it, this is the simplest way to communicate a concept to someone and make it stick. We do this with our children constantly. When my kids were little, I would read them bedtime story almost every night. And most kids' stories have a theme. Hopefully that underlying theme or narrative teaches them something about life or a principle that they need to know to be better people or to show them how they should react in certain situations. So by linking a principle to an object or a person in a story, we give the reader something to recall when they face a similar situation or choice in their own life. However, in this case of Jesus' teaching of the people of his day, the parable served another purpose. Sure, the stories he told may have made it easier for the people to recall his message later, but the main reason we're told was to conceal the message. We're told in Matthew 13 verses 34 through 35 that Jesus spoke in parables so that he could A, fulfill the words of the prophet Isaiah and B, so that they would not understand. It says in those verses, This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case, the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says, You will indeed hear, but never understand, and you will indeed see, but never perceive. For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed. Lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous people long to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. At first, this may seem like a contradiction to our understanding of the purpose of God. I'll admit, when I first considered this concept, I was a little confused. On the one hand, we have the passages like Matthew 18 and 14 that tell us that even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. And on the other hand, we have this passage in Matthew 13 that says that the Lord deliberately hides His message from some so that they wouldn't know the true meaning. Well, the simple answer is that the Lord doesn't necessarily want everyone in His kingdom. That can be a hard truth for us to swallow sometimes, especially in a world of humanism. We won't be welcomed into the kingdom of God because we were born into a Christadelphian household, or because we were naturally born into the house of Israel. We'll be welcomed into the kingdom of God if we want it, and we follow the commandments of our God. The gift of the kingdom and the love of our Heavenly Father is offered up with an open hand, but it's completely up to us to reach for that hand. The Lord freely gives the knowledge of His Word. He ensured through the eons of time that His Word would be preserved for us. But it's our responsibility, our privilege, to search it out and come to the realization that we're in need of salvation. Proverbs 25 and 2 tells us it is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the honor of kings is to search out a matter. By hiding His true message in parables and in stories throughout the Bible, the Lord ensures that those who come to Him are the ones who are committed to Him and determined to know Him, despite what their own desires in this life may be. We've all probably seen this concept acted out many times in our life. There are people all over the world, academics and scholars, that read the Bible cover to cover and see it as nothing more than a piece of fiction or a collection of fables. Time and time again, academics have picked it apart and judged stories or verses out of context. And by treating it in this way as just another piece of literature, they completely miss the point of the book. They miss God's purpose with the world, His call to salvation, and the redemption that's given through His Son. On the other hand, you have men and women who study the exact same stories and come to a completely different conclusion. They see the beauty in its simplicity and marvel in its complexity, and year after year of reading it, they discover more that they can use to improve their lives and the lives of their loved ones. Every time I read Matthew 13 and verse 17, I feel as if Jesus is speaking to me directly. And I'm overcome with thankfulness that my eyes have been opened to the truth of His message, and I see it for what it really is. For truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear and did not hear it. We must all feel this sense of gratitude, brothers and sisters, because without the Lord opening His message to us, we too would still be in darkness without hope. And every year the world grows darker and darker, and hope for mankind gets a little more bleak. But let us be forever grateful that we, as Peter says in 1 Peter 2, have been called out of darkness and into this marvelous light. Okay, so with that introduction, let's go into our first parable. And as we stated from the outset, these parables are found in the book of Matthew, chapter 5. And we'll just read through, there's a few verses there that these specifically are focused on. So Matthew chapter 5, if we recall, is when Jesus is up on the mountain, and this is the Beatitude chapter. So that blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those that mourn, blessed are the meek. He goes through all these verses until we come to verse 13, where he says, So these verses are kind of an aside. You can, from the beginning of it, he's speaking to the multitudes, and he tells them all of the Beatitudes. And then he gets into verse 13, he turns to his disciples, and he gives them this parable. And he says, So, I remember back when I was in 9th or 10th grade, whichever year it is that you take high school chemistry, and I remember asking my chemistry teacher at the time, can salt actually lose its saltiness and still be called salt? At the time, I think we were going through the properties of ionic compounds, and of course one of the first examples they bring up is sodium chloride, or table salt. And every compound has unique properties that help us identify them, and compounds are only broken into three classes. There's acids, there's bases, and then there's salts. Acids are usually sour, bases are bitter, and salts are, of course, salty. Something interesting about salt that I never knew before is its importance to the function of the human body, and all organic life, for that matter. Salt plays a crucial role in maintaining human health. It's the main source of sodium and chloride ions in the human diet. Sodium is essential for nerve and muscle functions, and is involved in the regulation of fluids in the body. It also plays a role in the body's control of blood pressure and volume. Chloride ions serve as important electrolytes for regulating blood pH and pressure. I'm sure you've all heard of electrolytes before. Well, electrolytes are compounds, often salts, which separate into their ionic compounds in solvents like water. Chloride is also a crucial component of the production of stomach acid. We all excrete salt when we sweat, and must replenish those lost sodium and chloride ions through our diet. All animals require salt to survive. We simply eat or drink things that naturally contain salt, for example, meat or seafood, or we just add salt as a seasoning. However, some land animals have diets deficient in salt and have to seek supplemental salt sources. If you've ever worked on a farm or been in a barn, you may see one of these big blocks of salt in the animal's pen or stall. Animals such as horses and cows require access to salt blocks, and wild mammals and birds are known to gather at natural mineral deposits known as salt licks, where they can ingest the essential sodium and chloride minerals they need to survive. This picture up here on the right is a mountain goat licking a salt deposit from the cleft of the rock. The importance of salt to the body and life probably wasn't understood at the level it is today, but nevertheless it was still very important to people in Jesus' day. According to the Salt Association, which is a UK -based trade association, they state that in the Roman Empire soldiers were partly paid in salt. It's said to be from this that we get the word soldier, sol-der, meaning to give salt. From the same source we get the word salary, or salarium in Latin. Salt was a scarce and expensive commodity, and its value was legendary. To sit above or below the salt identified precedents in the seating arrangements at a feast, according to one's rank. Not to be worth one's salt was a great insult in those times. In fact, one of the reasons the Roman Empire established a center for control in Judea at the time was to control the trade routes of salt in and out of the Dead Sea. In addition to the physical significance of salt, it also held great spiritual significance to the Jew. Salt was in fact a sign of God's covenant, and was used heavily in the execution of sacrifices. In Leviticus 2 and 13 it says, In Numbers 18 and 19, when speaking to the Levites, the Lord says, The children of Israel offer unto the Lord, have I given thee, and thy sons and thy daughters with thee, by a statute forever. It is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord unto thee, and unto thy seed with thee. 2 Chronicles 13 and verse 5 also says, Aught ye not to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingdoms over to Israel to David forever, even to him and to his sons, by a covenant of salt? Now why do you think the offerings were to be salted, or that the Lord made a covenant of salt with David? Well, another physical characteristic of salt is that it preserves food. In fact, salt has been used to cure meats and other foods for thousands of years. Before the invention of ice boxes or modern refrigeration, it was one of the only methods to preserve meat, especially in regions of the world like the Middle East, where the weather is hot for most of the year. Salt inhibits the growth of microorganisms by drawing water out of microbial cells through osmosis. Just as our bodies cannot function properly without salt, too much salt can disrupt the function of our bodies by dehydration. When the water is removed from meat or it's dried out, nothing can grow on it, and so it's preserved indefinitely. Dried, salted meat can last almost indefinitely. So salt also was a representation of longevity. The covenant that God made with David was one that would last forever. It was a covenant made with salt. So we could just as easily have read through this verse and taken nothing more from it than it was something Jesus said. But how beautiful is it, brothers and sisters, that we can extract these lessons from God's word because we looked at just a little deeper than the surface. So for Jesus to call those who followed God the salt of the earth, it held special significance to those whose eyes and ears were open. Remember that at this time, the multitude that Jesus was speaking to were his disciples. These were people that believed in him and were actively seeking out his teaching. In verse one of chapter five, we're told, These were not the spiritually blind and the deaf that we mentioned in Matthew 13. They were the ones who heard his parables and sought the deeper meaning. That's why he calls them the salt of the earth. They were that essential nutrient that would be given to the rest of the world to bring them life. Without them, the message of salvation could not spread. In the eyes of the Lord, the men and women sitting before him were essential. It was through them, the work they would perform over the coming years and centuries, that the message of hope and salvation would reach across the world. We too are the salt of the world. We are the essential element that this world needs so it can be preserved. The word of God has been open to us, and we've been given understanding to discern the lessons contained in its pages. Let's use that understanding to enlighten others and bring the light of the gospel to the world. On that note, we move on to the next parable, which is where he calls them the light of the world. He says a candle will not be put on a bushel, but set up on a pedestal. In verse 14, he says, It's the first thing that God creates in Genesis 1, and it's the last thing that John speaks of when describing the Kingdom Age in Revelation 22. In Genesis 1 and verse 3, the first command that the Lord gives is, Let there be light. And from that moment on, his light, his will and purpose spread throughout his creation. The story of the Bible then progresses with centuries and millennia of the struggle between the descendants of light and the descendants of darkness and how God worked with both to bring about his purpose. This culminates in Revelation 22 and verse 5, where we're told, Physically, light is an incredible force, and it permeates every aspect of our life. Life as we know it cannot survive without light. Yes, I know there are organisms and life on this planet that live in complete darkness, but we, humankind, could not survive without it, and neither could 99% of the things we rely on for food. Plants need sunlight to carry out photosynthesis, which creates food for them and oxygen for us. Without light, plants could not produce food for us and animals to eat. We're also discovering that light is essential to our physical well-being as well. Light from the sun is needed to help our bodies produce vitamin D. Its function is active in many parts of the body, taking care of a variety of important processes, from boosting our happiness and immune system to fighting all kinds of infections and serious illness. I've lived in a few different places in my life, and I have to confess, one of the hardest places for me was Michigan. Not because of the cold winters, but because of the dreary, overcast skies. I'm sure y'all experience this sometimes in Boston, while going through the winters. You know what I'm talking about. I may be building it up too much in my mind, but there were some years where I felt like we'd do months without ever seeing direct sunlight. It's incredible what that can do to your mood and your overall feeling of well-being. There were times when I just found myself feeling depressed for no reason. To this day, I'm convinced it was from the lack of sunlight and vitamin D. I certainly never felt that way in Qatar or in California when I lived there, or here in West Texas where we get a lot of sunlight. I think in Qatar we had over 350 days of light in a year. You can ask Bob about that. He's experienced that light and heat. But light truly is one of the most important forces in our lives. If the light from the sun was taken away, life as we know it would perish. It makes sense that the existence of light is also applied to the spiritual world. According to BlueLetterBible.com, the word light occurs 235 times in the King James Bible, 216 times in the ESV. Job is the one that occurs the most. It occurs 29 times in Job and 24 times in the Psalms, and Isaiah comes next with 22. I know that seems like a silly thing, but I've always been interested in little factoids like that, how many times words are used in different books, and I've always thought if one topic or word appeared more frequently in one place, then perhaps that's where I should look for the theme or the lesson regarding that topic. And if there's ever a book that illustrates the purpose of God and the struggle between light and darkness, it's certainly the book of Job. Job says in chapter 24 verse 12, From out of the city the dying groan and the soul of the wounded cries for help, yet God charges no one with wrong. There are those who rebel against the light, who are not acquainted with its ways, and do not stay in its paths. Their murderer rises before his light, that he may kill the poor and needy, and in the night he is like a thief. The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight, saying, No one will see me, and he veils his face. In the dark they dig through houses, by day they shut themselves up, they do not know the light. The light here is used as a synonym for goodness. Those that are not acquainted with the ways of light participate in these wicked deeds. All that is evil in the world and detestable is done in the dark, in the absence of light, where it can be hidden or concealed. Paul exhorted the Thessalonians in his first letter to them in chapter 5, For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. Clearly, to be of the light is to be spiritually in the light, following after the teachings of God. Psalm 119 and 105 says, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. It's the teaching of God that brings light. So, once again, in this parable, the Lord reminds His disciples that because they have heard His message and understood it, they are now of the light. The light, the life of the gospel, is inside them and should shine out to everyone they meet. Jesus continues His parable to them in verse 14. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven. So the physical elements of this parable are pretty straightforward. In a time where cities were built on hills to provide protection from invading armies, as Jerusalem was, this was an easy message for the people of Jesus' day to relate to. On the one hand, if you build your city on a hill, it may be safer, but at the same time, it was impossible to hide it. You can see a city built on a hill for miles, especially at night when all the lights of the watchtowers were lit. It would be a beacon to travelers in an age where there was no GPS or satellites to guide your way. So should the follower of Christ be to all who are living in darkness. Our knowledge of the truth should be a beacon to all who are looking for it, and it should be on display for all to see as a city on a hill. This same can be said for a candle that is lit in a dark room. Of course, in this time there was no electricity, so at night the only way to see was by candle or lamp light. And of course, when you lit your lamps at night, you didn't put them under a bushel or a basket, you put it on a high place so everyone in the room could benefit from the light. This is perhaps one of the most powerful spiritual lessons for us as we live our lives as servants of God. If the light of truth is truly in us, then how can we or why would we hide it from anyone? Is there anyone who knows us that doesn't know what we believe? Do we have friends in the workplace or at school who don't know what we believe or can't recognize us as different by our actions? In all honesty, that's what Jesus is telling us here. Now that we have taken on the light, it should be impossible for us to contain it. It should be as if we're a city sitting up on a hill, proclaiming safety and security to anyone who is looking for it. If we're truly letting our light shine, then there shouldn't be anyone who doesn't know or see that we're different. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 3 and 15, But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. Yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. At a moment's notice, brothers and sisters, we should be willing and able to give an explanation of our faith and tell others of the truth that's inside us. It's usually in election years or years where there's a lot of uncertainty or doubt about the future. This one has probably been the worst for that in these last couple of years. This verse really speaks to me. This year of elections in particular, I've always felt an overwhelming sense that I should be exploding with the knowledge that I have. I often feel that I should be out there telling everyone, Hey, it's okay. It's going to be okay. God has a plan. He has a purpose. And one day, all of this, all this chaos and madness is going to come to an end. And we're going to have a just ruler. One day, God's own son is going to put things right. And all the problems in the world right now, all the vile things that are done in dark are going to be brought to the light. And they'll all be brought to an end. Do we want to be a part of that world? And this is a question that I put out there for those who are looking for the truth. Do we want to be a part of a world that doesn't have corrupt leaders, that doesn't have all the wrong and evil things that are happening in the world? Would we like to live in a world where you don't have to be afraid of what's possibly coming next? I know a lot of people will probably just look at you like you're crazy. And honestly, that's okay. Those are the people that have been made blind and deaf to the light and sound of truth. But we, brothers and sisters, are not blind and we're not deaf. Like few in the world, we've been given the privilege to be able to understand these parables that our Lord spoke. And the light of the Word of God has been shown to us so that we might share it with others. This week, as we go about our lives, let's go into the world and share with them that life giving salt that brings nutrients to the spiritual body. And educate others on the covenant that was made with us that will last forever. And let's let our light shine out in the open for all to see, so that others might see that we're different and be drawn to the truth that dwells in us. Thank you.Moth, Rust and Thieves, and where our Treasure is
Original URL Wednesday, April 17, 2024
Transcript
But so during the pandemic was the first time that I looked at this topic that we're going to consider tonight. And at that time, my family and I were attending the Simi Hills Ecclesia in Southern California. And I was asked to put together a series of classes on the parables that we find in the books of Matthew. So in our first class, we considered the parables from Matthew five verses 13 to 14 on salt and light. And we looked at both the physical and spiritual elements of these parables and how important they are in our walk towards the kingdom. We were reminded of the importance of letting our light shine to those around us by spreading the good news of the gospel and spreading God's plan with the earth. In the same manner, we saw the importance of consuming the salt of the word so we can in turn give that life preserving element to the world. And one of the core elements of the parable on salt that I wanted to leave everyone with at the end of that class was was what was found in Matthew five and 13. Where after telling his disciples that they are the salt of the world, Jesus says to them, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It's no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. In these trying times before the return of our Lord, it can be easy for us as the salt of the world, as the spiritual salt of the world to lose our saltiness. There's so much out there that can distract us and fill our minds with that we can become diluted to the point where we lose all of our saltiness. We lose that fire or that love for the word of God and the knowledge that it contains. It's not just distractions or other activities that we fill our life with that can dilute our saltiness. It can just be the stress of life. If we spend any time watching the news or browsing social media, you'll find out pretty quick that life today in the world is pretty stressful. People everywhere are losing hope and many within our community are even losing their faith. A recent CDC report showed that 41% of adults surveyed say that they had at least one mental health effect, including symptoms of anxiety or depression, symptoms of trauma or stress related disorder. And it started to or they're increasing their use of substances to cope with the stress that they're facing. For those of us with families and young children, it can be a lot easier in times like this to just close ourselves in and focus on our family or single family units. I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with making sure that your own house is taken care of first, but taking care of our immediate family is one of the most important jobs in our lives. However, now more than ever, we need to have strong, ecclesial family ties as well. It's in times like these that the parables of our Lord and the study of his word can be so crucial and even revitalizing to our health or to our saltiness in the truth. As a spiritual family, this is the time that we can have the most impact on our brothers and sisters, times of great stress and uncertainty. So this week, if you're feeling a little extra salty, if you're feeling confident or sunny, share that with someone you haven't talked to in a while or just check in on another member of your ecclesia. You never know the impact that you can have on someone who may be quietly struggling. That's probably one of the biggest challenges that we face is a lot of people are struggling, struggling quietly, and we don't realize that they're that they're having the problem. So tap somebody on the shoulder, give them a hug, remind them that they're not in this alone. I think it's a great, a great lesson. So this evening, as we said, we're going to consider the parable found in Matthew chapter six and verses one, 19 and 20, which focuses on the moth, rust and thieves and the treasure of God. Now, at this point in Matthew six, Jesus is still on the mountain preaching to his disciples. And as we saw in the first 14 verses of this chapter, he focuses primarily on being genuine in our service to God. He tells us not to practice our righteousness where others can see, so we'll get recognition, nor to give long, grandiose prayers in front of people to look righteous. And when we fast to do it without giving an outward show, the example that the people had of all of these things at the time was, of course, the scribes and the Pharisees or the hypocrites, as Jesus calls them. In verse two, he says, Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. And then he comes to verse 19, where he addresses the idea of where they keep their treasure. He tells them this, 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 or where neither thieves do break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. It's clear from his line of teaching in previous verses that this parable is also in relation to the religious leaders of time. The scribes and Pharisees were known for having special garments, and many would embroider their robes with fine jewels or gold. In Matthew 23 in verse two, Jesus warns the people concerning them, But all their works they do for to be seen of men, they make broad their phylacteries and enlarge the borders of their garments. Two of the most basic signs of wealth in this time period was fine clothing and jewelry. And the religious leaders in their attempts to stand out from the common people put this wealth on display for all to see, leading many astray and causing them to emulate their behavior. To them, in order to appear righteous, you had to wear the finest clothing and have great possessions. That way, all could see how much the Lord had blessed you for your good deeds. This is brought out in Matthew 19, when a young man comes before Jesus and asks him what he must do to have eternal life. And the Lord tells him to keep the commandments, you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, honor your father and mother, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And the young man said to him, All these things I have kept, what do I still lack? And Jesus said to him, If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me. And when the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. And Jesus said to his disciples, Truly I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again, I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. And when the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, Who then can be saved? It was so culturally ingrained in them that wealth was a sign of blessing from God. And if you had that much wealth, you must be righteous. We see from the young man's reaction that he knew where his treasure was, and his wealth was more important to him than the promise of eternal life. It's easy for us to get sucked into the same trap. It's in our nature. Today's marketing is so clever that it makes us want things that we don't need, and oftentimes things we didn't even want in the beginning. The depictions of the happy family enjoying life because they have the newest car or the biggest house on the block can consume us and make us feel like we have to have those things. It's one of the oldest stories in the world. The pursuit of riches can consume us. And once you have it, it can become all you do just to keep it. The Bible is full of messages about the dangers of running after wealth. We have Balaam, Ananias and Sapphira, Solomon and Ahab, all sought after material gain and met their ends losing the greatest treasure of the kingdom. Even if we do obtain the things we desire, the Lord reminds us that eventually these things will decay or their rust or even be stolen. Moths and rust and even thieves were more of a concern to those living in the first century than they are for us now, but the principle can still be applied. Clothes might not be eaten by moths, but there's not a fabric known to man that won't wear out or tear or go out of style. Rust isn't much of a concern to us in Texas. Maybe it's more for those who are in places where they salt the roads like Detroit or the East Coast, but even a car that's kept in a garage will eventually decay if it's not serviced and run constantly. With the invention of banks, safes and strong boxes, most of our valuables can be protected, but nothing can protect our wealth from economic collapse or the change in the markets. The conclusion of the matter is then, forget about chasing after the treasure of this life, find clothes, the silver and gold and precious jewels, and focus on gathering the treasure that the Lord values. Our God is a God that places great importance in treasure. There are references all through the scriptures to silver and gold, precious stones and jewels. These physical treasures have a strong spiritual significance that the Lord has emphasized time and time again. Using these physical symbols, we can extract powerful lessons and visions that remind us of God's underlying purpose and plan. For the remainder of our class, we like to focus on these lessons and symbols and highlight what the Lord sees as treasure. So when you think about the word treasure, what's the first thing that comes into your mind? This is an open question. You can unmute and give me an idea. What's the first thing that comes in your mind when you think treasure? Pirates. Pirates. That's a good one. Precious things, valuables. Money. Things and money. Very good. Those are all great things. My kids. Your kids. Oh, hey. Hey, Madison's listening to you from our hospital bed. Oh, fantastic. This is my sister, Mallory. She's in Australia. So we have people from far and wide joining the class. All right. So yeah, all these things. I think that's wonderful. I think Mallory brought up probably the best one that we can think of that naturally most of us aren't inclined to think of. But that is the greatest treasure that we're given as our children and our family and those that we can pass on the knowledge of God to. For me personally, when I see the word treasure in my mind, and this is the first thing that pops up. I think somebody said pirates. This is really the epitome of treasure that comes into my mind. But gold, silver, jewels, maybe diamonds or rubies, pearls or crowns. These things have been constants all through time. Rocks and metals that shine and glisten in the sunlight that are appealing to look at. I'd like to suggest that all of these things, while they are valuable to man in God's eyes, they're symbols of his plan and purpose with us. For example, gold, as I'm sure we've all heard before, is a symbol of tried faith. In 1 Peter 1 and verse 7, it says that the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. So we see here the connection between gold and faith. As gold is smelted in a fire to remove its impurities, so is faith made stronger by the fire of trials and temptation. Which is why the Lord Jesus exhorts the Ecclesia and Laodicea in Revelation 3 and 18 to buy of me gold and tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich. So the idea is that our faith will be tried on our walk towards the kingdom, and if it endures, then it will shine as purified gold. Likewise, we have silver, which is mentioned in Numbers 18 and verse 16. In this chapter, we're told that the firstborn of every man and beast was to be given to the Levites as their portion. However, in verse 15, he tells them everything that opens the womb of all flesh, whether man or beast, which they offer to the Lord shall be yours, speaking to the tribe of Levi. And he says, Nevertheless, the firstborn of man, you shall redeem and the firstborn of unclean animals, you shall redeem and their redemption price at a month old, you shall redeem them. You shall fix at five shekels in silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is 20 garas of silver, then represents that which is redeemed or ransomed by paying a price under the law. They would pay this silver as a foreshadowing of the price that would be paid by the Lord Jesus Christ. In First Peter one and 18, he says, For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot. So silver and gold, then, are symbols of true believer who has faith that has been tried and proven true and who is redeemed by the blood of Christ, which is the silver. So Paul exhorts us on how we should use these precious materials in his first letter to the Corinthians and First Corinthians three and verse 10 through 15. Sorry, I've got that reference here in First Corinthians three and verse 10, Paul writes to them, According to the grace of God given to me like a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it, for no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become manifest, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work, each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. Now it's clear here that Paul is building on the same parable the Lord Jesus spoke in Matthew six that we read at the start of our class. Once we receive that foundation stone, which is the Lord Jesus Christ, we have two choices of how we can build on it. We can either build on it with the treasure of gold, silver and precious stones, or we can use wood, hay and stubble. We can build with materials that wear away, or that are quickly destroyed in a fire, or we can use materials that will last forever and stand up to the temptations and the trials of life. And so we have here a symbol of the characteristics that we need to be working on in ourselves that reflect the foundation that our lives are built on. Do we have characteristics that can withstand the trials and the fires of this life, or will they crumble and fall when we are put to the test? Now I know we all stumble and we all fall. That's just the curse that is our nature. We're going to fail when we pass through fiery trials. But the true test of our character is if we get back up again when we fall and try our very best to continue on and make the effort to remove that stumbling block from our path. That is how we build upon our foundation with gold and silver and precious stones by strengthening our faith and looking to our Redeemer, Christ Jesus, who we have to rely on for forgiveness. Now, while we're on this topic or this idea from Paul of the foundation, I'd like to take a short detour to two references that highlight another treasure that's found in scripture. Now we went to references on gold and silver, and now we'll see the importance of precious stones. You don't have to turn it up. I'll put this up on the screen. But at 1 Peter, chapter two, in verses three through seven, Peter says, Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone, chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. And skipping down to verse nine, Now the other thought that comes to mind when we're considering the stone that is the Lord Jesus Christ is the image spoken of in Daniel, chapter two, the image of the nations of man. Now this image was made of precious metals, not precious to God, because they are all grounded to dust, but precious to a man from precious to the man who was Nebuchadnezzar, which he saw in his dream. And in Daniel two and 45, Daniel tells the king that he saw a stone that was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold. I've often imagined this stone that is the stone that he says is cut without hands to be a rough misshapen rock, like many of the images and our libraries depicted. But after reading this passage in Peter, it's hard to see it as anything other than a flawless gemstone that glistens in the light and is precious. After all, what makes the most valuable gemstone so valuable is the fact that they aren't manufactured or cut. They occur naturally. They're cut without hands. And this great stone that is treasured of God will come and destroy the things that are treasured of men by grinding them into powder. And once it grinds the things of men into powder, Daniel says that it grows into a great mountain that covers the whole earth. One day, very soon, Lord willing, the stone will come and his kingdom will be established and encompass the whole earth. A wonderful vision of what we have to look forward to. But finally, we'll come to 2 Timothy chapter two, verses 19 to 21 to wrap up this idea of the foundation that we're built on. Paul says to Timothy in verse 19 of chapter two, but God's firm foundation stands bearing this seal. The Lord knows those who are his and let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity. Now, in a great house, there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use and some for dishonorable. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. This passage is a symbol of the ecclesia of God. Surely the foundation, which is Christ, is sure. And the house that God is building may be filled with some that have the characteristics he's looking for and some that don't. When he comes to inspect his house, he will remove those who lack the precious metals and stones so that only the faithful redeemed will be left. Now is the time for us to be storing up in ourselves the precious metals and stones that will withstand that day of judgment. And we do that by burying ourselves in the word of God, by filling our hearts and our minds with its teachings and building one another up as we work together as an ecclesia. We're given a great example of this and a contrast between two ecclesias in the book of Revelation chapter three. Now, earlier in our class, we mentioned the ecclesia in Laodicea. We know from history that it was a wealthy city and it flourished under the Roman Empire. It benefited greatly from its position on a trade route and became one of the most important and flourishing commercial cities of Asia Minor. It was known to be a place where large money transactions and extensive trade in black wool were carried on. In verse 17, he says to the brethren of the ecclesia there, For you say I am rich, I have prospered and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked. Although they may have been very wealthy, spiritually they were miserable, poor, blind and naked. Here was an ecclesia of believers who had stored up for themselves riches on earth and they had put their trust in them. In contrast, we have the ecclesia of Smyrna, who were apparently poor and destitute. The spirit says of them in Revelation two and nine, I know your tribulation and your poverty, but you are rich and the slander of those who say that they are Jews are not, but are of the synagogue of Satan. Here, even though they were poor in material things, the Lord calls them rich, because they were rich in the things of God. Their faith and their steadfast dedication to the truth, despite their trials, made them precious in God's sight. As someone who grew up in the US and abroad, that was raised in relative luxury, middle class family, it's easy for me to see myself as one of the Laodiceans. If we look around us, it's rare to see someone within our community that lacks all of the creature comforts of life. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, but for the majority of us, we live stable financial lives and oftentimes the stuff that we have can distract us from our need for God. Just a thought to consider as we go about our daily lives. Let's not let the things that we're blessed with become a distraction to us in our walk, as apparently the Laodiceans did. Now there's one other precious material that comes up in the Bible that we haven't mentioned yet, and that's the pearl. In another parable of Jesus in Matthew 13, he says that the kingdom of heaven is likened to a merchant man seeking goodly pearls, who when he had found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. I'm sure this is what it was like for many of us who were not born into our faith. You search and you search for years, sometimes a whole lifetime to find the truth, and once you finally find it, you're willing to give up all you have to obtain it. Many have lost family, friends, and even their own lives for the sake of the truth, because the value of the kingdom is far greater than anything this life can give us. It is truly a pearl of great price. Now the pearl is a unique treasure because it's the only precious material that's formed by an animal. Pearls are only formed by oysters and saltwater and mussels and freshwater when an irritant or a parasite makes its way into the shell of the mollusk. Now once the irritant becomes trapped, the mollusk starts to coat it with a substance called nacre as a defense mechanism, and the unique luster or glow of pearls comes from this nacre. The mollusk coats the irritant with thousands upon thousands of layers of it, and over time, a pearl begins to slowly form. Now how long it takes for the pearl to form is dependent on the growth rate of the nacre, but most pearls typically take anywhere between two to four years to fully develop. It's hard not to feel a bit sorry for the mollusk because in most cases, they have to live their entire life with this irritant inside them. But all the while, they work with the irritant and live with it until eventually they produce something from it that's beautiful and unique and treasured by man. What a beautiful illustration of how we live our lives and service to our Father. We all have different irritants in our life, different trials and struggles, but we can take comfort in knowing that if we work through those trials and use them to develop the character of God, then in the end, we'll have produced a treasure that is precious to our God. The trials of this life are working to develop in us pearls and precious metals. In Acts chapter 14 of verse 21, it says, And when they preached the gospel to the city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, saying, We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God. In the Greek, the word tribulations is threepsis, and it means oppressing or pressure. Did you know that the most almost all naturally occurring precious metals and stones only require two conditions to be formed? They need heat and they need pressure. So again, we have this wonderful symbol of how pressure and fire or trials create the characteristics that are treasured by God. There's one last example of precious stones that I'd like to look at today, and that's centered around the ceremonial dress of the high priest. I started this study by simply looking for references of treasure of treasure and precious stones or gold and silver in the Gospels. And when I started looking at the fine clothing that the scribes and the Pharisees used to wear that Jesus warns his disciples not to long for, I came across this picture of the high priest. What's shown here was a special garment that only the high priest wore. So it's not what Jesus was referring to in his parable. But all the same, it made me want to look closer at the ceremonial garments. And if you notice on the breastplate of the high priest, there are 12 gems. This has great significance because everything in the law was for a purpose, and it was a foreshadowing of what was to come. Paul tells us that the law was a schoolmaster that brought us to Christ. The high priest especially and everything pertaining to him was significant because the Lord Jesus Christ is our high priest and mediator and took over the role of the high priest from the descendants of Aaron. To see this, we'll have to go to Exodus chapter 28. And in this chapter, we have a description of the high priest garments. The garments that it says in verse two were made for Aaron for glory and for beauty. And in verse three, they were there to consecrate him. So in verse four, we're told, and these are the garments with which they shall make a breastplate and an ephod and a rogue and a broider coat, a miter and a girdle. And they shall make holy garments for Aaron, my brother, and his sons that he may minister unto me into the priest's office. And dropping down to verse 15, we have the description of the breastplate where the stones were held. It says in verse 15, you shall make a breastplate of judgment and skilled work in the style of the ephod. You shall make it of gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. Shall you make it? It shall be square and doubled a span, its length and a span, its breadth. You shall set in it four rows of stones, a row of sardis, topaz and carbuncle shall be the first row. In the second row, an emerald, a sapphire and a diamond. In the third row, a jasinth, an agate and an amethyst. In the fourth row, a burl, an onyx and a jasper. They shall be set in gold filigree. There shall be twelve stones with their names according to the names of the sons of Israel. They shall be like signets, each engraved with its name for the twelve tribes. And so we have described here this order of stones with all the names of the tribes of Israel. And every stone had a name engraved on it with gold. Now in verse 29, it says, It's not just that it was to be worn on his chest. It specifically says that it should be worn on his heart. And why his heart? Well, because that's what the high priest was supposed to treasure. Jesus told us in the very parable that we're studying, Where your treasure is, there will your heart also be. And so when we consider the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our high priest, who came to lay down his life for his friends, where was his heart? It was focused on the people of God. It was upon the treasure of God, not the treasure of man. Now the people of God, his peculiar people, were written on the very heart of his high priest. And every time he put on the ceremonial robes, he would be reminded of the importance of that treasure. Now we can take this one step farther. Now here is the traditional layout of the stones like we saw in the original picture of the high priest. You can see each stone has a name engraved on it. We have four rows with three stones in each row, just as described in Exodus 28 and verse 17. You shall set it in four rows of stones. However, if we look at the Hebrew word row, which is tour, it can also be translated as a wall round about. So we could translate verse 17 like this. You shall sit it in four walls of stones. If this is the case, then the breastplate would have looked more like this. And if this looks familiar to anyone, it's because you've probably seen this layout before. Only it was in the layout of the camp of Israel when they would make camp each day. Every day, the children of Israel set up camp. And no doubt the Levites and the priests would have been involved in the organization of these movements. They would have been reminded of how they were meant to be a peculiar people, a special treasure to God. Every time the high priest put on the breastplate of precious stones, he would have seen the people laid out by their tribes surrounding the tabernacle and the mercy seat. So now that we have this image in our minds, let's look ahead to the future application of this layout, which we find in Revelation chapter 21. In this chapter, we have a description of the holy city, the New Jerusalem, starting in verse nine, that perfected city that will house the temple of the Most High God, which the angel calls the bride, the wife of the lamb. He says there, Then came one of the seven angels, who had the seven bowls full of seven last plagues, and spoke to me, saying, Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. And it had a great high wall with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and at the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed. And on the east three gates, and on the north three gates, and on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. Now, this description of the layout of the city sounds amazingly similar to the description of the camp of Israel, and the positioning of the stones on the breastplate of the high priest. In fact, they're almost identical, which cannot be anything more than a deliberate act of the spirit. And so, in the Kingdom Age, we come full circle to a complete fulfillment of what was laid out in the law. The twelve gates of the New Jerusalem, like the twelve stones on the breastplate, will have the names of the twelve sons of Israel inscribed on them, and each gate will stand a judge, one disciple for each tribe of Israel. If we continue on in verse 19 of Revelation 21, we read, And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third a chalcedony, the fourth an emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysalith, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth a chrysophorus, the eleventh a jicent, and the twelfth an amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, every several gate was one pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. If you notice, the foundation of the city is no longer made of one stone than the Lord Jesus Christ that was spoken of by Paul. The foundation of this perfected city is made up of twelve different stones, just like the twelve stones that are listed in Exodus 28 for the twelve tribes. This new foundation is made up of those who dedicated themselves to the work of God and spreading his gospel message and allowed the pressure and the fiery trials of life to transform them into jewels, precious stones that can be used by our Father to fulfill his purpose. And each gate is made of pearl, the pearl that, as we pointed out earlier, is formed from the constant struggle with irritants in our life, but through perseverance and hard work is transformed into something precious. This is what we have to look forward to in that great kingdom age, the age when, Lord willing, we can be added into this glorious city of beauty and light, so that we, in turn, can reflect that light of our Father to the world around us. As someone pointed out to me that each gemstone that we find in these lists have no luster of their own. If you have it sitting on the ground, it's not bright, it doesn't look like anything special, but when you shine a light through it, it becomes radiant and beautiful. And that's a perfect example of what we are to our God. If we put on the characteristics of his son and are transformed into a gem, we can have the light of God shown through us and we become beautiful to the world around us. So as we face the trials of this life in the coming week, let us try and forget about vainly storing up for ourselves the riches of this earth that can be eaten by moths, tarnished by rust, or that can be stolen away from us by thieves. But let us rather store up within ourselves the treasures of heaven so that when our Lord does come, we will appear to him as polished gems and precious pearls fit to be added to his city.The Patched Cloth - Wineskins and New Wine
Original URL Wednesday, September 3, 2025