Matthew 13:44 Discovering Joy

listening to the podcast of Recast Church in Mattawan, Michigan. This week, Pastor Don Filsak is preaching from his series,

Christmas Words. Let's listen in. Good morning, everybody, and welcome to Recast Church.

As David said, I'm Don Filsak. I'm the lead pastor here, and really appreciative for David filling in for Dave Bunt in his absence, and he's going to lead us in some songs here later in the service.

But I hope you all had a Merry Christmas. We had a great time with our family. I really loved the chants, and I hope you took the chance over the last week to really think more deeply about the incarnation of our

Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I'm glad, and I hope that you are too, that our culture has really a cadence and a rhythm to it that can be stabilizing from season to season.

How many of you needed some stabilizing anchor points this past year? Anybody? Raise your hand and say,

I've needed those times and some of those rhythms and some of those routines, and Christmas serves as one of those kind of anchor points for our soul, and I hope you saw it that way over the last week to really be able to come together surrounding that awesome, awesome gift that God has given to us in His Son.

And this week, we're going to continue the second of a three -part series called Christmas Words. Now, I know

Christmas was so totally two days ago, but we're going to push forward with this anyways. And last week, we looked at a passage about peace, centering on that glorious and amazing gift that He has given us in His Son, which is peace.

And this morning, we're going to be welcoming joy into our hearts and into our midst. And so, I want to point out at the start of the introduction to this message that it would be a shame for us to walk away from this message with merely more information about joy, as if that would be sufficient or enough for us that we would leave here with some academic ideas about joy.

But the goal is that we would walk away from this gathering actively rejoicing.

And I love the way that the morning is structured, particularly that we're going to hear from the message at the start, and then we're going to get an opportunity to respond in rejoicing and songs of joy at the end.

And so, I know that we're doing that because of COVID, and at the same time, there are times when that's the right order.

Hear from the Word and then respond with rejoicing. And so, this morning is one of those opportunities that we have.

So, we're going to start in a passage this morning. It really seems a little bit strange for a

Christmas message, but it's not going to be hard to make the connection once we kind of get into the flow of things.

So, we start in a passage where Jesus is telling a parable about a man who's just minding his own business, doing his own thing, when he finds something that radically changes his life.

And what he finds and what he discovers bends his life toward joy.

And we're going to start with that story that Jesus told about his kingdom. He uses,

Jesus loved to use short stories and parables, and what we're going to see is really a one -verse parable this morning. We're going to read it together, and he uses this story for the purpose of explaining what life is like under the rule and reign of God.

What it's like to live under the kingship of God. And I think you're going to see the way that joy is a central motivation in the kingdom.

It's caused by the very kingdom of God breaking into a life, breaking in among a people.

And so, let's open our Bibles, if you're not already there, to Matthew chapter 13, verse 44.

And we're going to read it together, and I want you, it's a short reading, so turn over in your device now or in your own Bible, Matthew 13, 44.

And I want you to look for the position and the place that joy holds in this story, particularly focusing on joy.

Again, it's going to be a short word this morning, and at the same time, recast,

I love to remind you of this before we read the word, but this is a word that desires to change us, where we might think of ourselves as standing over and analyzing the word.

The word wants to analyze and think over us and change us. So, let's listen in.

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up.

Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Let's pray. Father, I thank you so much for your word. I thank you for the power that you possess in just very short sentences and very concise terms, to convict, to correct, to encourage.

And, Father, I pray that this word this morning would have its way in our hearts and in our minds, leading us to a joy and a rejoicing over the right things, leading us to an abiding joy that would rest and reside in every heart that is here, a joy that doesn't sustain us in the moment, doesn't sustain us for the holiday season or for a day or for an hour or for a week or a month or a year or for a decade, but it is a joy that will sustain us for eternity if it is placed, if it's flowing out of the truth of your kingdom.

So, Father, I pray that that would be a reality in our midst and that by your word you would draw us into worship this morning, the worship in hearing from your word, the worship in responding to your word, and then the worship of singing songs in praise to you, the worship of taking communion together and rejoicing in the sacrifice of our

Lord and Savior for us. Father, I ask that you would meet us here in this place, each one, and draw us deeper into joy this morning, in Jesus' name.

Amen. Welcome table in the lobby.

Lastly, we have an offering envelope. We don't pass an offering plate here at Recast, but if you feel led to give, go ahead and drop this envelope into the giving slot at the welcome table.

So the new year is right around the corner, and at the welcome table in our lobby, we have reading through the

Bible in one year printed plans, so if you want to grab one there, or we have the PDF on the website.

Kick off the new year by defining your relationship with Recast. If you'd like to become a member, there's applications at the welcome table in the lobby or on our website, recastchurch .com.

That's not all we've got going on here at Recast. For more information, go to recastchurch .com. And subscribe to our

YouTube channel and hit the notification bell. Thanks for watching. Have a happy new year. So all kinds of things going on there, and you can check out the website and see all the different things that are going on.

I encourage you to make yourself comfortable and keep your Bibles open or your device open to Matthew chapter 13, verse 44, as we dive in.

And remember that if at any time during the message you need more coffee, juice, or donuts, I'm while supplies last back there, so if you need to get up and stretch out at all during the message or anything, you're not going to distract me.

But I want to start off by a statement that I really stand behind, and I really believe. Whether you're looking for joy or not, you just might find it.

Whether you're looking for it or not, you just might find it. And let me start off this message about joy by giving you a quick biblical survey of joy.

It makes sense for us to define Bible words by Bible context, where we find it and where we find it used, how it's applied in the

Old Testament, how it's applied in the New Testament. And in the Old Testament, joy is often used as a word that's used to describe elation over the victory of God.

Often this was literal victory over enemies, but the people rejoiced over the deliverance that God provided them over other nations and people who would seek to conquer them and invade them and all of that kind of stuff.

And so it was often over literal enemies, but joy was also often used of celebration in the

Old Testament. Big themes, victory over the enemies, or times of celebration and great joy, the the cadence of annual festivals and feasts were to be celebrated in joy, and they brought joy.

Wedding feasts were interruptions to the routine of daily life. Wine brought joy to those who routinely toiled week in and week out, and they had these celebrations that would cause joy.

And in the Old Testament, joy was shown to be an outward expression. This is very important recast, understanding the definition of joy.

Joy was an outward expression of an inward reality, an outward expression of an inward reality.

It was communal in that sense. It was to be shared with the community. It was something that was outwardly focused.

It was not something, in other words, harbored internally. It wasn't like I'm just joyfully in here, but nobody else knows it.

In other words, when a person rejoiced, their faces also rejoiced, their bodies rejoiced.

There was a celebratory nature in a dancing and an active outward expression of that joy.

They celebrated, they danced, they laughed, they shared it, and it spread to others through them.

Do you understand the kind of joy that we're talking about here that's reflected in the Old Testament? A community kind of joy.

And then the New Testament carries those same types of notions, but adds to this definition of joy the stable and bedrock cause for, greatest cause for rejoicing.

Yes, rejoicing in the victory of God, but not over our physical enemies, but over sin and ultimate death.

The greatest cause for rejoicing there are added in the New Testament to such a degree, as a matter of fact, that this kind of eclipses all other definitions of joy and begins to take all of the circumstances of life and put them under the heel of joy, so to speak.

As in, joy conquers circumstances. Joy in the New Testament is shown to go over the top of suffering and difficulty and pain to such a degree that rejoicing is conquering circumstances in the

New Testament. And for this reason we're told by James, for example, this is just an illustration, but James tells us at the beginning of his letter, my brothers, my brothers and sisters, count it all joy when you fall into various trials or difficulties.

Rejoice in all of those circumstances. Our joy is to be a joy that is stable because we always have something, we always have something, church, to make us smile.

We always have something to make us smile. And it comes from this kind of notion in a kind of steal a little bit of the thunder here, but we know what we deserved.

You know what you deserved? Namely, eternal condemnation.

That is what our sin has earned us, and yet we know what we have been promised through our

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Namely, eternal life and eternal peace.

So the best definition of biblical joy must tie in with the cross of Jesus, and equally must have a community or communal aspect to it to reflect accurately with the

Bible in the Old Testament and the New Testament. And context shows us what we mean by joy, the cross being a part of it.

The idea that our sins have been covered for us and that he took on himself the penalty that we deserved.

So if you're defining joy biblically, you can say joy is an inner gladness that is expressed outwardly to others that has its basis in the saving work of Jesus Christ on behalf of his people.

Biblical peace is rooted in the treasure of salvation. It comes from the very work of the king on behalf of his people, and it is constantly available to anyone who trusts in his promises.

And so with that little bit of history of joy and a little bit of definition of joy, let's look into the parable that we're looking at this morning.

And this is really our first point of the messages found in Matthew chapter 13 verse 44. And here's the point, it'll be on the screen here for you.

The cause of joy, finding the treasure. The cause of joy, finding the treasure.

That's our first point. And Jesus here tells us a parable and he likens his kingdom to a treasure that was hidden in a field.

A man stumbles upon it, reburies it, and then he goes out and in his joy the text tells us, in his great joy, sells all that he has to buy that very field.

Now we need to break this down for a minute because this is a story that is very, very far from our cultural understanding.

We might not understand how in a world a scenario like this might come about. Why in the world is somebody digging up buried treasure on somebody else's property?

And how could any of that be legit? But a couple of simple cultural explanations help us to bridge the gap from where we live to this parable to help make sense of it because, again, we don't really see the details in and it doesn't make a ton of sense to our minds.

So first we need to remember that there was no dependable or trustworthy banking system during that time.

Now I had originally written, it was funny, somebody called me out on it and they sent me a Google link and I had originally written there was no banking during this time.

That's not accurate, but it is accurate to say there was no dependable or trustworthy banking during this time.

So people would often bury their wealth for safekeeping. When my grandfather died, they found, and actually he had some maps, and he had buried a bunch of money all over the farm.

Interestingly, he had lived through the Great Depression, did not trust the banking system, and he had jars and jars and jars of money.

Not a lot of it, just jars of money around the property. So I mean people still today, there are people who don't trust the banking system and would use a variety of different means to store their wealth.

We see this in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament, where people would bury things. Achan buried some silver and some really expensive clothing under his tent for safekeeping and for hiding.

Think about the steward in the parable of the talents, who buries the one talent instead of turning a profit with it.

He basically put it in his piggy bank, so to speak. He buried it under the ground.

So buried treasure was not uncommon during this era. But further, if someone buried it and died and didn't leave a nice treasure map with an

X marks the spot on it, it would be quite possible for the current landowner to not even know that treasure existed on their property.

It's quite possible for that to happen. And lastly, you might ask, one further problem here is what

I mentioned earlier. How does someone discover buried treasure on someone else's property? Anybody kind of question that as you read the parable?

Like, wait a second, is this legit? Like, I was just over here in your backyard digging up with a shovel and I stumbled on some treasure.

How many of you are having a problem with somebody with a shovel in your backyard? Anybody kind of going, what are you doing back there?

Like, you're taking pictures, you're calling the cops, all kinds of things. But think about it. It's quite common to be digging around someone else's property if you're a servant working in their fields, for example.

And so this is the likely cultural situation that Jesus is describing. And it would not be hard for his original hearers to fill in these kinds of blanks and go, yeah,

I can see how that could happen. He's telling a fairly reasonable story. But Jesus doesn't address the honesty or dishonesty of the guy who finds the treasure in this illustration, but rather is going to emphasize the joy and the great worth of the treasure that he finds.

This man finds the treasure, stumbles upon it, reburies it. He doesn't run off with it.

There's at least some level of integrity there that he doesn't just throw it under his armpit and run, but instead he reburies the treasure.

And instead of, instead in discovering this amazing treasure, he goes out and joyfully sacrifices everything that he has and buys that field for an amount that is agreeable to the owner.

That's the story. And notice that the motive for putting all of his eggs in this one basket.

Why does he go out and sell all that he has for the sake of purchasing this field with this great treasure?

And it says directly what his motivation, what motivated him. Joy. In his great joy, his own personal gladness, his own elation over having found the treasure.

He doesn't come to this kingdom with some sense of duty. Oh, I guess I have to give up everything. Or some sense of legalism.

Others would want me to give up things so that I fit a certain mold or something to that effect.

But what leads this man to give up all else for the kingdom, what does it say in the text? It is joy.

Unbridled gladness and joy over this treasure that he's found that would lead him to sacrifice all else for this one thing.

You see, he has found in this treasure the one thing that matters.

He has found the only one thing that will satisfy. He has found the greatest of all joys.

Remembering that this is an illustration of the kingdom here. And the kingdom of God is like finding the treasure.

The kingdom of God is like finding the one thing. And this is a joy that makes all other sacrifices seem small.

But then the question becomes, as we think about the illustration, what's the treasure that he found?

Well, we're thinking in our mind maybe a chest of gold or gems or jewels or jewelry or expensive clothing all wrapped up nice and tight so it didn't, you know, decay or something like that.

What did he find buried there? But you see, as our minds turn to the story, we need to turn to the illustration because Jesus is using this metaphorically.

This is not a literal treasure that he's talking about here. What is he pointing to? And for that, I'd like to head back into the

Christmas story to consider where the joy is found in the kingdom. So if you would be willing to bear with me,

I'd love for you to turn over to Luke chapter 2 verses 8 through 12. You've probably already read this or heard this read or you heard

Charlie Brown read it or maybe it's Linus that reads it, I don't know. But this is a common

Christmas passage, but I want you to just again focus on the word joy here and see where joy breaks in.

Luke 2, 8 through 12. I'm going to have you turn over to one other passage after this, so just be aware. But in the same region there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flocks by night, and the angel of the

Lord appeared to them. And the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.

And the angel said to them, fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

For unto you, for unto you, the reason for the joy, for unto you is born this day in the city of David a

Savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you.

You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. Now we need this passage to help us define what the treasure is in the previous parable.

What is the great joy? What is the great treasure? And so this second passage brings us to our second point.

The coming of joy. Jesus is our treasure. The coming of joy.

Jesus is our treasure. Where does joy get introduced into the story of history? Well, we find it here at the introduction of Jesus Christ in the introduction of his birth, right at the announcement of the birth of our

Lord and Savior. Here is good news of great joy for all people.

All humanity is a recipient of this great joy. And the reason for the joy is given in verse 11.

Unto you all, unto you, which is plural, is born this day in Bethlehem a

Savior who is Christ the Lord. Now let's break this cause for great joy down for a minute according to the words of the angels.

First, great joy. He is Savior. He is one who will rescue his people.

And how many of you know or have come to know that you need a Savior? Go ahead and raise your hand if you you've come to the place where you recognize you need a

Savior. Well, good news everybody who just raised your hand. One has already been sent.

Good news. That should result in great joy. And he will save any who put their faith and trust in him to rescue us from our sins.

Now second, so he is Savior first. Second, he is Christ. This is not redundant.

And no, that is not Jesus's last name. Despite what many think in our culture today, it's not his last name.

It's the word Messiah in the Greek language. It ties the baby to the ancient promises and prophecies of the

Old Testament. The one who was promised all the way back in Genesis is this little guy announced at his birth by the angels.

And not only that, but he is the anointed one of God, which is the Messiah, but he is Savior, and he is

Lord, the text says. He is the master. When we talk about the kingdom of God, we're talking about the king.

Who is the king? Jesus is the king, the master, the Lord, and he is the one who calls the shots.

You see, he is our great treasure. The treasure of the kingdom is wrapped up in the identity and saving work of the king himself, who is

Jesus. So when taken together, Jesus told a story of a man minding his own business, possibly just out digging up a furrow in a field to plant for his master when he found a treasure.

And this is a story about his kingdom. Many will be just minding their own business when they will encounter the treasure, and that treasure is

Jesus Christ, Savior, Messiah, and Lord. And they will discover him to be more valuable than all that they possess, and they will gladly, with great joy, sacrifice all for him.

His arrival brought joy into the world, and discovering him and his great love still brings great joy to any who find him and believe in him and put their faith and trust in him.

He is the source of true joy. And although we can talk and we could distinguish, and I've heard many pastors and preachers distinguish significantly between happiness and joy,

I'm not necessarily going to go there. I'm just going to say that true, deep, abiding, lasting joy comes from God.

You can define happiness however you choose, but our text is talking about joy, and all other joys are fleeting.

Holidays end. We're entering that phase of kind of the downturn. Christmases are starting to end, and holidays end.

Parties disperse. Cars rust. The new gadget 2 .0 comes right on the heels of opening and unwrapping 1 .0.

You know what I'm talking about? And most importantly, the kids play with the box while ignoring these expensive toys that came in them, or that they came in.

All joys that this world can offer are fleeting. Have you lived long enough to experience that?

Have you seen the end of earthly joys? How many of you? Go ahead and raise your hand if you've seen that. You've seen that they don't satisfy, and something that was opened under the tree is usually broken by 2 .30

in the afternoon, right? Or they're, you know, why is UPS going to be so busy in the next couple of weeks?

Returns. We know that kind of thing, but this joy announced by the angels and stumbled upon by mankind, outrooted in a field, is a lasting, eternal, abiding joy.

Rust can't take it away. Thieves can't steal it from us. Storms can't flood it.

Viruses can't infect it, and the gates of hell itself cannot prevail against this great joy.

This is a joy that can carry a person all the way to their final breath with a smile, with gladness of heart, with hope.

Even the apostle Paul declared, O death, where is your sting?

Death itself has no power over a joy that comes from the king who conquered sin and death on our behalf and promises us eternity of joy and peace and gladness forevermore.

I hope you can find joy already welling up within you as you think about these things. I don't think my rhetoric can adequately produce that joy in you.

It's got to be the truth saturating you, the Holy Spirit granting it through the words and the reflection of your own heart on the glorious salvation that has been given to you in Jesus Christ.

But I hope you feel it welling up within you. I pray that, that the Spirit would be bringing that to you, and I hope that that makes my final point moderately redundant, almost unnecessary.

I would even go so far as to say I would hope that a portion of Scripture was unnecessary for you.

You go, darn, wait a minute, a portion of Scripture unnecessary? I hope it's already there, in other words, because we're going to turn over to Philippians 4 .4

for just a moment here at the close, our last point. A passage that some of you maybe even have memorized.

It's very simple. You could memorize it while I'm talking here this morning because it's, it's so quick. But the final point here, if you're taking notes, the final point is the command to rejoice living off the treasure.

The command to rejoice living off the treasure. It's short, probably well known, but it simply says rejoice in the

Lord always. Again I will say rejoice. The words of the

Apostle Paul to us, the words inspired by the Holy Spirit to us, a command form.

Rejoice, by the way, is the verb here that corresponds to the root noun for joy in the

Greek language that we've seen in these other passages. In this usage by the Apostle Paul, he's wrapping up a letter he's writing to the church in Philippi while he's in prison, context matters, the fact that he's writing to them about joy from prison.

This is not a place where he could, where there were waits for him to get swole and there were, all the football games were on TV and all that stuff and he got courtyard time.

This was not a good prison he was in. And he's writing to this church about rejoicing and he wraps up his letter to them with various disconnected instructions and one of those commands is this twice repeated imperative to rejoice in the

Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. This command, by the way, is to the church.

A church that should already be familiar with rejoicing. Do you see why I would hope that this would be a redundant command?

Do you see why I would hope that this was unnecessary? It is to those who already know what we have to rejoice over.

We have stumbled upon the treasure, but if I'm being honest to you, I don't want to beat you guys up.

Oh boy, do I need reminders to rejoice? Do you need those as well?

Do you find this unnecessary? It's a necessary command for me. It's necessary for me to reflect on the need for rejoicing in my life.

I love that Paul repeats himself here showing that he means business in this text. Not here, rejoice if you want to.

Rejoice if your circumstances warrant it. Rejoice if you got a raise. Rejoice if you got everything that you wanted under the

Christmas tree this year, or rejoice if you feel like it. Rejoice in the

Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice.

Notice that he puts our rejoicing squarely on the back of the treasure itself.

Rejoice in what? Not rejoice in the hardships, not rejoice in a season of COVID, not rejoice in any of these external things.

What are we to rejoice in? What does it say? Anybody? In the

Lord. Rejoice in the Lord, it says. Rejoice in the

Lord. Rejoice in the King. Rejoice in the Savior, in the Christ, the treasure. Rejoice in him.

And how often should we do that? Always. Rejoice in the

Lord in quarantine. Rejoice in the Lord in academic, economic rather, academic troubles maybe, economic troubles.

Rejoice in the Lord in difficult medical struggles. Rejoice in the Lord as your parents are aging.

Rejoice in the Lord in times of plenty. Rejoice in the Lord as you're praying feverishly for a wandering child.

Rejoice in the Lord in times of plenty and in times of want. The object of our celebration is what?

The Lord himself, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Always a steadfast rock over which we can rejoice.

We are not commanded, I say this again, we are not commanded to rejoice about the hardships. We are not commanded to rejoice about cancer or COVID or difficulties or the pain that we're feeling.

But we are being commanded to rejoice in the Lord while we go through those hardships and troubles.

Do you hear it? Do you see what the text is telling us? Rejoice in the Lord always.

And again I say, rejoice. So let me wrap up by two quick applications before we come to our time of communion and then some time of singing and rejoicing and actively participating in that together.

First is a simple question I would like everyone to answer. I want you to answer this. And yes,

I don't want you to flippantly answer it. I want you to seriously answer it. Have you found the treasure? Have you found the treasure?

Do you know Jesus as the one thing in your life above all other things? Have you experienced him in that way?

Would it be joy for you to give all other things up for him? Now, hear me carefully.

We don't buy our salvation, but we are saved by trusting him and savoring his love and kindness toward us.

If joy doesn't describe your relationship with God through Jesus Christ, then I would love to talk with you about how you can receive this great treasure, the great treasure of the

King and salvation from him today. I encourage you to come and talk with me if you'd like to know how you can find this great joy today.

You can catch me at the end of the service if that's you. The second application is if you found the treasure, then this is for you, and it's just a one -word application.

You know it. It's rejoice. Rejoice, church. Rejoice in community.

If your face doesn't know that you're rejoicing, then you're probably not rejoicing. Some people will use the excuse, and I've talked,

I've had conversations with people about this. I'm just the kind of person who's internally joyful.

Nobody else knows it. Kind of a closet rejoicer. That's not it.

I, you know, I'm rejoicing inside. I just don't look like it. Oh, that's why you're always frowning.

I get it. But biblically, even the command in Philippians is a command to the church, you all, to celebrate.

Rejoice with a little bit of energy, a light on our faces, and gladness.

I don't, by the way, want to bring us into the realm of too much guilt, and I don't want to be overly dramatic or even melodramatic, but it is possible, church, that we have missed and been missing the mark on one of our greatest callings during the past several months.

It's possible we missed it. Maybe the greatest thing we could have done during this entire

COVID thing has been missed and overlooked. Have we been rejoicing?

It's convicting to me. If somebody were to just follow your social media, those of you that are engaged on,

I know not everybody here uses it, but if somebody were to just look at the things that you have posted, is there any rejoicing in there?

Is there anything I would say, man, that person stands out as joyful. That person stands out as glad.

What about just the limited? How many of you would know we've had some limited interaction with people over the last eight months? You've been limited.

But so have you been taking those limited opportunities that you have with others to show joy in the

Lord? Have we been taking those opportunities? Have we rejoiced? Have we been demonstrating what it means to be glad in the midst of difficult times?

How many of you know that that might shine out different in the world right now? A little bit? That might be the very calling that God is placing on us at the start of this new year.

The very thing that He wants from us, church, is joy and gladness. To be a smile when some people haven't seen people, anyone smile in days or months.

You know what I'm talking about? And you might just be the one to lift somebody up. I would confess that often my mind is so caught up in daily things that I don't look up enough at my

Savior. By the way, who is the source of that joy? You're not going to muster that on your own. This is not a pull yourself up by the bootstraps and be glad.

It's a meditate and come back to the cross and think about how great a salvation you have been given. And that will produce joy in your heart.

Are you getting what I'm saying in that? You can't make this happen. I'm not talking about some cheesy, chintzy, glitzy, like just spray some glitter on your face and you'll be okay.

You'll shine then. Do you know what I'm talking about? I'm not talking about a chintzy, cheap, thin veneer of gladness that as soon as somebody pokes you they see, oh there's nothing deeper than that.

Trying to fake me out, but you're not happy. You're not joyful. I'm talking about a deep abiding joy that comes from the reality of salvation that has been given to you that you didn't deserve.

And He did it for you. He loved you that much. You see,

I think about where I found the treasure. I'd encourage you to go back there too. This is an application point.

Maybe just go back to that place. I know where I was when I stumbled on the treasure. I stumbled on the treasure as an eight -year -old in the basement of the

First Baptist Church in Middleville, Michigan. It was during a Wednesday Night Iwana program and my father had just passed away.

And it was just probably weeks, maybe a month at the most since my father had died. And we were going to this church and I sat after and somebody took the time.

They probably had dinner to get together with their family or they had something to do that evening that they could have done, but they stayed after and they talked with a little eight -year -old boy.

And joy broke into my life. Joy broke into my life in that moment. And although it might make me emotional, it's the place where God met me and I met the treasure.

My life has never been the same since. Where were you when you found the treasure?

You know it because you can't get over it. It consumes you and it is your life.

He is your life and you know it if you have it. You know it if you have

Him. And so I encourage you to think back to where you were. Where were you when you found the joy?

Where were you when He broke in and you said, I'd give anything for this. I'd give it all for this.

Think about that and I believe that that will draw you back into a more natural gladness and rejoicing in the midst of dark times and difficulty.

If you're not yet a person of abiding joy, again I invite you today to trust in the good news that Jesus came to save sinners just like me, sinners just like you.

Our sin was worthy of eternal condemnation, but Jesus died on the cross to pay that penalty that we owed to God for our sin.

And if you trust in Him and you ask Him to forgive you and you allow Him to be your King and your Lord, He promises eternal peace and eternal joy to you.

And you can have the start of that today. And if you've already found that treasure, then rejoice. I invite you, if you're all in with Jesus, to join in the other

Christians here as we take a cracker to remember His body that was broken for us. And during this next song we also take the juice to remember

His blood that was shed for us. Now there's some individually wrapped back there by where Spencer is standing. You can, if you haven't already got some, you can, this would be a great time to just jump up there and no shame in that.

Just go grab it if you missed it on the way in. They're individually wrapped for the size of your family and you can grab one there.

But let's go out from here and recast rejoicing in Jesus Christ our Lord. He is our

Lord, our treasure, our Savior, our good King. He is so kind to us.

Go out from here rejoicing, recast. Let's pray. Father, I thank you so much for breaking into my history.

I thank you for breaking into the hearts and minds of so many. We were just minding our own business, doing our own thing, plowing our own furrow when we encountered the treasure.

And Father, I pray for that for more. And I pray that you might use our gladness and joy over that reality to just overflow and spill out to others.

That others would come to faith and trust. And I know that it's not going to be a smile that's going to lead them to Christ, but it might be a smile that breaks into a hard heart.

And it might be just a kindness extended and a joy given that at the end of the day causes questions in the hearts and minds of people around us.

I know that we're tired. Our culture is tired. Our world is tired.

And so Father, I pray that you would give us our marching orders now to be counter to that tiredness and joy and gladness this season.