Treasures in Heaven

I'm going to give you a challenge. I find this challenging.

Imagine the best treasure that you can right now. Just imagine the very best treasure that you can imagine. Don't limit yourself. Come up with the best, the biggest, the most valuable treasure that you can possibly imagine. You know, treasure hunters have in their minds what treasure is to them. It's something rare, it's something valuable, it's something unique, it's something that perhaps is difficult to find, and they will devote themselves to finding that. I remember this year during the Feast of Tabernacles we were hearing about a Nazi treasure train.

Somehow, somewhere underground in a tunnel, maybe over in the area of Poland or the Ukraine, that somebody thought they might know where this train full of gold and stolen art that the Nazis had gathered together and hidden during World War II was located. And wow, everybody was abuzz about it and started to fight over it. People tend to think of gold as being treasure, and they'll hear of gold being discovered and race off for it. Modern examples are in Alaska, little veins or threads of gold. But you look what people go through to get that gold and how they shift their entire life, and they put at risk their own value, their net worth.

They put that at risk to go after something that they consider to be treasure. Some go looking for sunken ships, and they'll spend years trying to figure out some historical account where a ship went down and some galleon had something on board, and they'll devote the energy and the time and the resources and the technologies to go out and try to find that.

So what did you come up with with physical treasure? Sometimes treasure is a little more realistic. Consider fishermen. We have a village in Africa full of members, and they tend to be fishermen out on Lake Victoria. And when they go out to fish, what do they think about? Not catching anything? Do they think about, oh, maybe they'll just catch one small fish, and it'll be a waste of my time?

How many people who want to go out and maybe go for gold or go for fish think of not getting much? Pretty much, I'm going to get a boatload of fish. That's my treasure. I almost sink the boat. So many and big fish that when I get them home, I'll have not only a day's catch, but maybe be able to pay off the boat, pay off the house, have some money left over, send my kids to school.

That's what we tend to think of. And so it was in John 21, verse 3, after Jesus had died and after he had returned to his father. And we don't know all the details, but we know that there was some amount of, perhaps, need more than just frustration. But as they were waiting in Jerusalem for the length of time for Passover to come, these commercial fishermen hadn't been working.

They, perhaps, didn't have a way to feed their families or to really to support themselves. So in John 21, in verse 3, we find a statement by one of the family who was in the fishing business that it's time to go fishing. And Simon Peter said to them, I'm going fishing.

And they said, we are going with you. Okay, so there it is. Maybe it's a small treasure, but they needed some fish and they needed some money. And they probably were hoping for quite a few fish. So they went out immediately and got into the boat. Now, fish probably are caught at various times in various ways, but in many cases, fish in the summertime go deep and they stay out of the sunlight. Nets aren't going to get them during the daytime.

But at night, they come up and they'll come up when the water cools. For whatever reason, they will feed at night. And so night fishing is traditionally what's done on that lake. And so all night, they caught nothing. How do you think the faces of these disciples looked the next morning? A little like the people that go after gold look sometimes. After all of this work, we came all the way from Jerusalem, all the way up to the Sea of Galilee, got in a boat and went out and fished all night and got nothing.

Get pretty despondent. But when the morning had come, it's now daylight, fish down, and Jesus stood on the shore, yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said, children, have you any food? And they said, no.

And so he said, well, cast the net on the right side of the boat and you'll find some.

They probably, in a discouraged mood, thought, what? The guy up there is not even a fisherman. Number two, this is the fishing community near Capernaum, and probably other boats there, people getting their fish out and their nets out. And we are going to throw our nets out close to the shore here in the daytime. But they did so. So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish. The multitude of fish. Suddenly, what we see here is so many fish. It is such a fortune in fish that they couldn't even harvest it normally. In fact, how many fish were there? Well, let's drop down to verse 11. Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land full of large fish. This was a Bonanza, 153. How did they know? Because it was such a fortune. It was such an incredible thing. They counted out their fortune, as it were, and they had it in fish. What's important about this is, you and I, like Peter and the disciples, all start somewhere with our concept of what treasure is to one of our grandchildren. It might be a little box full of little animated figurines, you know, and that's the treasure. We've seen great tears this week when a wristband with an action figure on it disappeared.

That is treasure at one point, but in time we are to graduate and to grow in our minds to what real true treasure is. Where is your treasure? What is your treasure? What is my treasure? And what should those treasures be? What is treasure? Jesus said, lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Now, that's probably not a phrase or statement that rings in our ears all the time. I was scratching my head recently and thinking back, how many books have I seen published on laying up treasures in heaven? How many messages have I heard about it? How many articles have been written? How many magazines are there? Pamphlets? What is it exactly? If you break down that statement, first of all comes lay up. To lay up actually involves all of that effort and work plus the final product. You know, to lay up gold means first of all you have to go out and you have to dig out all of this earth and somehow sift through it and then you refine it and then you melt it and then you get the final pure product and it's very small and then you can lay that up. So he's talking about a huge thing here of time and labor investment with a final product that you know what it is. And then next he says, for. For whom? Do you ever think about what he says here? Lay up for yourselves. Plural. Lay up for yourselves. That's interesting. Odd. Who are yourselves? I'll say, well that certainly needs an answer. And then goes on. Treasures. Again, plural, not singular. Plural. Lay up for yourselves. Treasures. What are treasures? And then he says, in heaven. Are you kidding? I don't even know where heaven is. You know, it's not even in this dimension. How would I know what treasure to put there or how to lay it up or where to put it? So I'll just say, this is probably just a principle of, you know, put a priority on spiritual things and get your mind off the physical. Move on. Isn't that kind of what we do? You say, oh, it's just kind of a principle. Spiritual things last, physical things don't. Got the lesson. Move on. Consequently, how many of us are actually doing what he said? Laying up for ourselves. Treasures in heaven. I asked myself that question. How much have I laid up? Well, I guess you'd have to say, what is it first? So let's talk about that today.

When do you plan to lay up treasures in heaven? Hmm, how well am I doing so far? How much is there?

Well, why would it be laid up in heaven and what would it be for? Let's see. If we are going to be the bride of Christ and we're going to inherit everything and he owns everything, why would we also need treasures in heaven? Is that for future emergencies or something?

You know, so at some point the thing can almost break down mentally and we might just run away from it. Is that really what he meant to give spiritual or priority to spiritual matters? Is that all he meant? I'll tell you this. In studying this topic out, I find that the Bible has some great news. And that great news is that your treasures in heaven can explode in value and explode in importance from today going forward. If we can identify what they are, how to develop them, you and I actually can be very, very busy from this moment on amassing unbelievable value in heaven that will last in eternity. So today I'd like to unlock a missing key to a secret process that humanity doesn't tend to discover. Because it's a process that comes from God, it was ordained by God, God created it from the foundation of the world, and the treasures are something that are most important to God and to his son and to his whole family. You'll see that a partnership is actually required in developing these treasures. And the reason why you and I can't see and know and understand and figure it all out is because we're only part of a partnership that's required in order for this to take place and to be successful. The title of the sermon today is Treasures in Heaven. Treasures in Heaven. To use the words that Jesus Christ stated.

Let's begin by going back to Genesis chapter 1 and verse 1. Today I'd like to try to get a flavor of what creation and what this universe is about and what humans are about from God's perspective. Too often we look at it from our perspective like, who am I? Where am I going? Why am I here? Those are good questions, but if we only see it from me, my perspective, and we don't turn around and look at it from God's perspective, we'll miss a very important dimension of this process, this partnership that you and I have with God.

It says, in the beginning, God. In the beginning, Elohim created heavens and earth. A foundational concept here actually is in the word God. The name here is the Eternal One. God is eternal. Who He is, what He is, and in heaven, the realm in which He lives, if we want to call heaven, that spirit realm, those are eternal things. God does things that have eternal goals and eternal ramifications.

He is the Eternal One. Eternity is really thematic of what God does. What God does, He continues. He doesn't just do something and then, oh, that's done, we'll just sweep that away. So really, all that you are about and all that we do within the church and all that we do within the commandments of God, they all have eternal ramifications and also a continuance that goes on that's expected.

So this Eternal One, God comes down and He begins to create. It says in verse 1, He created the heavens and the earth. These heavens and earth are temporary, but they are types of a new heaven and a new earth that are eternal. And we are temporary human beings now, but in the new heavens and the new earth, God's children, God's people will live eternally. So from God's standpoint, what He's doing here, He's creating a temporary type of something He wants to last forever. Sons and daughters that ultimately become literal sons and daughters in His family.

In verse 26, let us make man in our image. So God created you to look like Him. The word image and likeness are similar in the Hebrew, and yet you can break out a slight difference in them. And it has been said, and I don't doubt it, that when He said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness, we are all made in the image of God. But there's another component God wants to develop in us, and that is a similitude of character, of thought, of type. So that when Jesus Christ came and looked like the Father, by the time He had grown up and He was a minister, when you heard Him and you watched Him, you also saw what the God family was like.

So He had the likeness, and He also had the image. And He said, when you see the Son, you see the Father. He wants us to become like Him, not just in our form, but also in our mindset. In James chapter 1 and verse 18, we see that this God has in His mind a plan for us to be one of His God family members.

James chapter 1 and verse 18, of His own will, He brought us forth by the word of truth, by the logos, by His Son Jesus Christ, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. The word creatures there is Pestis in the Greek.

It's His creation, His creature, His type of person. Well, I guess you could say person. How do you describe a God being? We call Him people here on earth. We call Him God beings up there. He wants to make us one of His family, like Him. This Pestis means a created thing. That's all it means. It's something that's created, a created thing, without being specific. In Romans chapter 8, let's take this. God wants us to be one of His creatures, or His created things. You might call it humans. In Romans chapter 8, notice here, it begins to make it personal.

You and I now desire to be one of His creatures. We have this desire, this yearning within us. Not because we're human, but because we have His Holy Spirit in us now. A spirit that's drawing us to become more like our Father, more like our elder brother, more godly in what we do and what we say and who we are. That engenders within us, then, a desire to be family. Notice how strong this desire begins to grow in us.

Paul says, for I consider the sufferings of this present time in Romans 8, 18, not to be worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us.

Whatever we are now, whatever issues you have, whatever physical limitations or challenges you have, those are not worthy to be compared with notice. What God is going to do with us, what God is going to do with us, is glory. That's the brightness of God that would kill a human, the glory that will be revealed in us. This is what God gets excited about. And yet you also have a desire for this. Notice verse 19, for the earnest expectation of the priestess again. It says, creation here. It's better rendered, I feel, in the original King James version as the creature. That same word, creature. The earnest expectation of the creature that would be you and me have this earnest expectation. We desire to be in the family of God. Like Paul says, we desire to put off this tent and be with Christ. We desire for the Kingdom to come. We get excited every Sabbath when we picture the Kingdom of God versus the weekdays of our physical life. We get excited when we attend the feasts and we're thinking, yes, this is the future. And so we have this earnest, earnest expectation that's inside each created being. Eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.

We wait, we yearn for the revealing, for the resurrection. We pray, your Kingdom come. We want that resurrection of the first fruits. Verse 20, for the creation or the creature or the person was subjected to futility. You and I aren't going anywhere in our physical body because of him who subjected it in hope. You and I were subjected to short-term life but with hope because the creature itself will also be delivered from the bondage of corruption. That's when we die. Corruption, you see, speaks to that process that humans go through after we die. We go back to dust. We are in bondage to that process and we look to be liberated from that with the resurrection.

And we will be delivered from the bondage of that decay into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Is that the creation or is that the creature? Don't we desire, don't we long to be in the kingdom of God? Not only that, but we also who have the first fruits of the spirit, even we ourselves, grown within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the sonship, the redemption of our body. So it's almost as if the creation around us is like the nursery room of the children of God, waiting and expecting, you know, that birth into the family of God. And we ourselves also grown within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the sonship, the redemption of our body.

This is very important to God. In fact, this is most important to God. In fact, this is God's treasure. Stop and think about it. What is treasure in the eyes of God? Is it gold? No. No.

Treasure in the eyes of God is something that God is working. He's devoting his life to. God the Father and Jesus Christ have been working until now. They have worked for, evidently, billions of years from the foundation of the universe through the development of the human species, through Jesus Christ, predestined to be our Savior, those called as saints, being predestined since the foundation of the world to have the opportunity to be the bride of Christ and Christ to have a bride, and God's kingdom begin to roll out. They are treasure, and there is no greater treasure in the eyes of God. You look through Scripture, you will never find anything more important to God the Father and Jesus Christ than his children, of which they are sacrificing all for. Our goal is Matthew 5.48, become you therefore perfect like your Father in heaven is perfect. Revelation 21.7, he who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. That is the goal, and that is the treasure. It should be the treasure for both. Treasure is the same. The treasure is you. The treasure is us. The treasure is ourselves. That's what God is invested in, and that's what he is partnering in, and that's what he wants you and me to be totally devoted to. Let's go over and see this in Matthew 13, from Jesus Christ's perspective. Jesus Christ, you're giving three parables that really can be likened to the mind of God, and to all that God is focused on and all that God is doing. This isn't some opportunity that God is sort of tossed out to some people, and, oh yeah, if you make it, you do, you don't, whatever, but I'm busy up here in heaven. No, you, we, all humans, ultimately, in their time, are the apple in God's eyes, the focus, what God stops, he gives himself to. God knows the number of hairs on your head at any minute. If he knows the number of hairs on your head, what else does he know? He is very interested, very involved. He lives inside you through his Holy Spirit. If you're baptized, if you're not baptized, he still has his Holy Spirit working with you. Jesus Christ lived, died, continues to live in us, guide us, direct, so that the Father will lose none, and that all will be successful, and the Father truly is calling. John, chapter 13, verse 44.

I'm sorry, I should be in Matthew 13, verse 44. I abbreviated it to four letters, and it looked like Mark. That'd be Matthew 13, verse 44. Here's what Jesus said. After, in verse 43, the righteous will shine forth as the Son and the kingdom of their Father, he who has ears to hear let him hear. That's what he wants. He wants you to shine with all of his glory and have everything the God family member does.

And to that end, let's see it through their eyes. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure. Treasure. Hidden in a field, which a man found in hid. Who's the man? How about Jesus Christ? How about God the Father? How about in the field, which is the world, God has certain treasure in his field, and he wants that field to grow. He wants us to put down roots. He wants us to produce fruit. And a man found in for joy over it, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. How much did God the Father sell, give up, in order to have that field with you and me in it? His only begotten Son. Everything that he had. How much did his only begotten Son give up in order to buy that field with you in it? Everything he had. All of his divinity by the right hand of God down to a fertilized egg. That's a big drop, isn't it? Humble himself to a fertilized egg. Humble himself to a growing zygote. And over time, an embryo. And over time, a little fetus. And over time, a baby. That the Father then began to give his gifts to. Even from the womb, he had the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And the Father raised and developed and gave him all of those gifts needed. And in the end, he had the finished product. He had the treasure. And he raised that treasure up. And that treasure sits on the right hand. That treasure inherits everything and has all authority. God wants to do the same with you and me. He wants to have us sit on Christ's throne and have all the authority. Jesus will share his authority with us. We learned that in Revelation chapter 3.

2 and 3.

Again, verse 45, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant sinking beautiful pearls. We see twelve pearls in New Jerusalem.

Representing God's chosen, his early chosen, he's seeking beautiful pearls. Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. That was an expensive pearl. It cost him his son. It cost his son his life.

God is really looking at us as treasure. Treasure that's about to be revealed. You know how close we are compared to before the foundation of the earth, to the first harvest taking place? In God time, it's right there. It's got to be just so close. God has to be so excited about the resurrection of the first fruits that will be with his son, that he can give to his son in a marriage. What an exciting time for the family of God. Again, verse 47, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind. Christ said, none can come to me unless the Father draw him. He told the disciples, I'll make you fishers of men. That concept of a net going out and drawing us somewhat against our will, but still drawing us. Drawing some of every kind, some of every tribe, every nation, every tongue, God is drawing the first fruits. It's very, very exciting for God. Which when it was full, they drew to shore and they sat down. They gathered the good into vessels and threw the bad away. And so it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from the just. And obviously there will be a final separation there.

You know, in verse 52, he says, therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things old and new. I think sometimes we don't realize that God has invested all that he can in what is sitting here today and sitting around the world and has been and will be and ultimately will involve the whole world in various ways. You and I, though, sometimes don't perceive that. We must choose to cooperate with God, to partner with him. We can't build that treasure. Neither can he alone. Or he would have without going through what he's gone through. You know, I can't take any credit for building treasure in heaven. Like I said, we don't even know where heaven is. But when we come to realize what the treasure is from God's perspective, then we can say, ah, I need to be about my father's business. I need to be co-developing that which he has given all for. And it's not just me, it's us. As Jesus taught us in the model prayer outline, pray our Father, give us this day our daily bread, the bread of life, your son, your word. Help us forgive us as we, our, your, your. And so it goes. It's a family initiative that ends up in family.

We must choose. We must choose. In Matthew 6, verses 31-33, it says, we are God's children and he's raising us like you raise your children, like our parents raised us. We know what that's about. You know, you give them a place to live, you give them food, you give them clothing, you give them nourishment. Those aren't the things that are important to you, are they? They're going to grow out of those things. Those things are going to wear out. What you want them to do is become like you. Have your values, your ethics. They want you to obey because you want them to be people of principle. You want them to be set up for a life that is good. Good in all ways. That's what you want for them. And so here in Matthew chapter 6, we find our God is exactly the same. Matthew chapter 6 and verse 31, don't worry saying, what shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? I've heard a lot of that this week from the family and the grandkids. You know, the focus on those things. Been a little bit less focused on what mommy and daddy want them to do at all times. But that's what our father and our elder brother want us to do. And our future husband, they want us to fit in with the family plans and the mentality and be like they are. He says, for after all these things the Gentiles seek, your heavenly father knows you need all those things. Your physical father, he does too. But, verse 33, you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be taken care of for you. That's what you and I are to do, to recognize what God's treasure is. And recognize that without you participating with him in seeking his kingdom and righteousness, he can't have his treasure. And realizing that your treasure also is the family of God and the kingdom of God, and therefore your treasure is the same treasure his is. All of us in the family. It becomes the family's treasure. It's not my treasure or your treasure or his treasure, it's our treasure. And therefore, we now desire to seek those things of the family.

And it's very pleasing to God when we do so. It's very pleasing to one another as we do so, as we look out for each other, as we encourage one another, as we're there for one another. So we really do love our God and Father with our heart, soul, and mind, and love our neighbor as ourself. We pull together as one body, the body of Christ. Satan wants to distract us, doesn't he? He wants us to get us... no, no, don't think about that. Somehow think about yourself. Think about ease. Think about, I don't know, something that's good for you, elevating temporary things, temporary people. We know in 2 Peter 3 and verse 10 that both the earth and the works there in, will be burnt up. So that's not where treasure is, and that's not certainly where our priority should be, though we do need to live in this life.

Our priority should be on laying up treasures in heaven, participating with God in that process. You know, Adam was a type of Jesus Christ. He had a rib taken out, and he had a wife made that became part of his body. The second Adam, we read, let's go to Ephesians 5 verse 22, the second Adam also has a body that the wife is to be one with.

In Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 22, there's a little bit more to this than just saying, oh yes, this is the type of Christ in the church, marriage, etc. You know, it's worth really reflecting on, meditating on. It says in Ephesians 5 and verse 22, wives, think of all of us, let's think of this role as the future bride of Christ, okay, wives, be submissive to your own husbands as to the Lord. How are we developing in the eyes of our Father as a potential mate for his Son? How many of us once saw you ladies who are our wives and saw you as the ultimate treasure that walked the earth? We'd kiss the ground you walked on. Hopefully still would.

You know, that becomes an exciting treasure. Well, the bride of Christ, the firstfruits, this is a big, big thing to God the Father to give to his Son and for the Son to receive a helper.

Who is submissive? Who is like him? We will be like him, John tells us.

Going on. For the husband is the head of the wife, as also Christ is the head of the church, the Savior of the body. There's a lot that went into that. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands and everything. Husbands, love your wives, agape, godly, god-minded, god-family love your wives. Just as Christ also agape's god-family loves the church. That he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing and water of the Word, of the Logos, of himself, of his blood, of the mind of God, purifying, cleansing us, generating, regenerating us, that spirit of life into the family. That he might present her to himself a glorious church. You know, in verse 32, this is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

Nonetheless, let each of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. To become that treasure, fully treasure, that God is wanting of us. We have work to do. And notice, we can't do it alone. Yes, the bride may be cleaning herself up, washing herself, in a sense, as it says in Revelation 19. But here we find it's a co-effort, because he is the one who is, in verse 26, cleansing her and washing her. Yeah, this is a participatory joint venture, we might say. You and I have the privilege and the honor to be involved in. In Revelation 19, verse 6, let's take another look at this. Revelation 19.6, where we see the reality take place. It was just a few years off. The seventh trumpet sounds. Revelation 19, verse 6, I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude. Big noise, in other words, huge noise. He also compares it to the sound of many waters, just a cacophony, like a waterfall. Also, it was the sound of thunderings, like lots of thunder going off at the same time. He's trying to describe this noise, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God, omnipotent reigns. You break down the word Lord and God, and it's hard not to describe or to ascribe this to God the Father. The Lord, the Almighty, the Ultimate One, the Omnipotent One, the only one. He is reigning. In the next verse, it says, Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, God the Father, glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come. So here is a wedding that's going to take place. The marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.

She's been involved in that process. She has worked. And now, this glorious time, this event in the family of God, in the kingdom of God, this event is now ready to take place.

Looking at it from a different perspective, this is the treasure is about to be revealed and unfolded in the heavenly realm. And to her, it was granted to be arrayed and fine linen.

This was so important. This bride was, oh yeah, you can come on. We know you're just, no, no, this is so precious, so important. You've had the voices. Now you have the thunderings. Now you have the wedding ceremony or the wedding feast taking place. And she's arrayed. She's set apart so special because in the eyes of God, this is his treasure.

The fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. They have come to act right as God defines right. That's what righteousness means. They have come to develop a character by God and his spirit and them working together. They have come to the mindset of the God family and they now are created as God's family members. They are the jewels of the family of God.

Then he said to me, write, blessed, in the Greek this would mean, oh how supremely blessed, it's a very active word, oh how supremely blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper. The Greek here can also mean the wedding event or the wedding feast. Supper means also feast, the wedding feast. This is a celebration, in other words, it's the celebration of the family of God.

And he said to me, these are the true sayings of God. So, brethren, let's ask this question. Now that we understand from God's perspective what treasure is, where it's going to be, how it's developed, what efforts will we be putting in this coming week, going forward in our lives, to building treasures in heaven?

We need to realize that what we often see as humans, something to do with me, personality, recognition, wealth, whatever, all these things are temporary and they just go away.

But co-becoming an eternal treasure of God, that means a lot to God, so much more than you and I could ever imagine it means to God, let alone what it may mean to us. And not just me, but us. That's a process that takes a lifetime.

It takes a lifetime also to develop. Back in John chapter 21, interesting thing happened. I won't turn back there, you can read it sometime.

We saw the net full of fish. Remember? Peter was about fishing. He's the one that came up with the idea. There's his treasure. Peter was already maturing. And Peter figured out that was Jesus on the shore. See, I got fish, more fish than a man could dream of, and I got Jesus Christ. Which do I want? More. He got dressed quickly and jumped in the water and swam the shore. It wasn't very long after that, in his life. We come to 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 9.

This same Peter continues to grow and develop his understanding of what treasure is.

And he probably remembers those 153 fish. Probably still tells the story to fishermen. But he realizes, 30 years later now, those fish either got eaten or rotted or something.

That was a temporary thing. Now he's really focused on real treasure. And God has revealed to him what real treasure is. Let's look here in 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 9. But you are a chosen generation, chosen before the foundation of the world generation.

To God you're a royal priesthood, a holy nation. Why holy? You have God in you.

All things that are holy have God in them. And a holy nation has God in them, his own special people. That you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, who once were not a people but are now the people of God.

That's what Peter came to understand as treasure. He came to see it from God's perspective.

How can you and I lay up treasures in heaven? Work with God. Get rid of the self, focus. Put those things secondary. Yes, we have to live. And yes, it's nice to have the blessings that God gives us. Read the book of James and try to get over those things. Get self out. Get whatever big issues in your life are there. Get them out of the way. Get anointed or sing a song if you're blessed with physical things, but focus back on relationships. Get in there with those you're separated from and pray for one another that you can be stitched back together.

Be stitched together with God. Have that mind from a God from above that is of God, that is humble and willing to yield and full of mercy, as James talks about. Develop into his own special people and use the gifts from the Father of lights. Paul says in Philippians 3, verse 12-21, that these gifts of God are the things that will develop that treasure more fully into what God wants us to be. Philippians 3, verse 12, says, Not that I have already attained. I'm a work in progress. I am already perfected, but I press on. I'm not I'm fine where I am today, perhaps. You are probably too. We've grown this far, but that's not where we need to be tomorrow. We press on.

That I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me. See that partnership, see that commitment from God, see the precious treasures that his people are.

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, as many as us are mature, have this mind. Verse 16, Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule. Let us be of the same mind, not just ourselves, God's mind. Brethren, join in following my example and note those who walk as you have for us a pattern. Many walk, some have gone to destruction. Verse 13, verse 24, Our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body, that it may be conformed to his glorious body, according to the working by which he is able even to subdue all things to himself.

That's the treasure that God is working. Christ is working for. That's the desire that we have as this creature of God, to reach that treasure, becoming that treasure. Let's see as we wrap this up Revelation 21 verse 6 and 7. Again, from God's perspective, he said to me, it is done. I am the Alpha and Omega.

See, God didn't just drop you here on planet earth and see what will happen to you. No, he is the author and finisher. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the one who designed the universe, then put you in it in his image, and he is making you in his likeness. He is developing you into one of him, and he will be the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts, to him who wants to be that treasure. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be my son. The next chapter, 22 verse 14, blessed are those who do his commandments, that they may have a right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. We know what we are to do. We have God living in us.

He is trimming and pruning us and helping us grow more and more. He will never leave or forsake us.

The question is, will we continue to participate with him in doing his real work? You know, God's real work is about disciples doing everything he commands.

That's the real work of God, developing people like him who are doing and thinking as he does.

Jesus gives us some investment insight about treasure building. Let's conclude by reading Matthew 6, verses 19 through 21. Matthew 6, verses 19 through 21.

He knows about treasure. He and the Father have been creating and developing treasure. They are about to receive the first treasures. What does he tell us? Matthew 6 and verse 19. 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, like Satan, do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Is your treasure in the kingdom of God and in his righteousness?

Is your treasure in the kingdom of God with all of us as the bride of Christ, then bringing in more people into God's kingdom? By developing holy righteous character, by pursuing his kingdom and his righteousness, we are becoming treasures of God in heaven, that just like God will be the God family and treasures in his kingdom forever.