Have you ever thought about what you would do if you won the lottery? Some of you, like me, are saying that you'd have to actually play the lottery first...but, stay with me here.
Or, what about this? What about if you found out you had a mysterious uncle you never knew about. He died and left you a fortune. What would you do?
The situations I've described are similar to the illustrations Jesus used in Matthew 13. In verses 44-52 He describes the Kingdom of Heaven as being of such great value that anyone who truly recognizes it for what it is will turn his or her life upside down to possess it. The illustrations He uses are:
- a treasure that is discovered hidden in a field (verse 44)
- a flawless pearl (verses 45-46)
- a bounty of fish (verses 47-50)
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What is the Kingdom of Heaven, anyway? Jesus made plain that any of us who are part of this kingdom or who possess it are rich beyond measure. People of Jesus' day, even His closest disciples, thought He would set up His earthly kingdom, similar to that of previous earthly empires. But, He made plain that the kingdom He set up during His 33 years on this earth was "not of this world" (John 18:36). Listen to the Message version:
"My kingdom," said Jesus, "doesn't consist of what you see around you. If it did, my followers would fight so that I wouldn't be handed over to the Jews. But, I'm not that kind of king, not the world's kind of king."
In Luke 17:20-21, Jesus was asked by a Pharisee when He would set up His physical kingdom. Jesus replied as follows:
“The kingdom of God doesn’t come by counting the days on the calendar. Nor when someone says, ‘Look here!’ or, ‘There it is!’ And why? Because God’s kingdom is already among you.” {Some versions say "within you".}
Jesus went on to say in that passage that He will return to set up His earthly kingdom and that His return will happen suddenly. He describes what is commonly called the Rapture of the Church in verses 34-35.
So, here's what I want to ask you: have you discovered the Kingdom of Heaven? Are you a part of His kingdom? We need to read the earlier verses in Matthew 13 (verses 36-43) with a great deal of solemnity. In them, Jesus is describing how, when the Rapture occurs, the true believers will be revealed and separated from the pretenders. Note in verse 42 that there will be wailing and complaining to high heaven from those who will be exposed as either unbelievers or fraudulent Christians...In 2 Timothy 3:5 the apostle Paul described the latter group like this:
"holding to the form of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid these people!"
(HCSB version)
If you say you are a believer, do you really believe that what you say you believe is truly true? Let me ask you something: (and I'm asking myself the same thing) "How does your belief change your life?" Notice in Matthew 13 that when those who found the kingdom of heaven (vs. 42-26), the pearl, the buried treasure ... it changed their behavior! They sold everything that they had in order to possess it!
Of course, we can't BUY our way into Jesus' kingdom. It is His free gift to any who choose Him as Savior and Lord. But, IF we truly believe Jesus and His claims to the Truth, as revealed in the Bible, there should be a drastic difference between how we live and how the rest of the world lives.
Most of our lives are lived on "automatic pilot". We wake up and get out of bed. We believe our legs will support us. We go to the toilet, believing our bodies will rid themselves of waste accumulated overnight. We open the faucet, believing that water will flow into the coffee carafe. In other words, we operate on faith in the physical laws that we learned about as small children.
This does not always happen in the Body of Christ! The kingdom of Heaven is within us! Yet, we often act, we live as if we don't believe that.
I marvel at the zeal of the apostle Paul. When he was ignorant of the kingdom, he zealously, fervently pursued the life of an orthodox Jew, even to the point of persecuting and killing Christians, since the orthodox of his day viewed Christians as heretics to the Jewish faith. (Well, in large part, that has not changed...) But, then! When he met Jesus Christ in the heavenly vision on the road to Damascus, when he caught a glimpse of the kingdom of heaven, he did what the people did in Jesus' stories in Matthew 13....he did a complete turnaround. The zeal he had formerly applied to persecuting Christians, he began to to apply to preaching the gospel. Yet, D.L. Moody famously said, "The world has yet to see what God will do with a man fully consecrated to Him."
We have "won the lottery", Christians! Let's live like it!
Father, thank you for the riches that are mine through my Savior, that I did not have to earn those riches, but that they are Your free gift. I confess that I often forget my place, my status, and live like a pauper, choosing things that are distractions or that are of lesser importance. I pray for a heart that thirsts after You, and that my actions will match the Truth that lives within me. In Jesus' name, amen.
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