"The Keys To Finding Hidden Treasure"
Philippians 2:12-18
INTRO.God instructed Moses to tell the children of Israel in Exodus 19:5, “Now therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then shall ye a peculiar treasure unto me, above all people: for all the earth is mine." The children of Israel had to meet two conditions to be a peculiar treasure to God: 1) They had to obey His Voice. Obedience to the mind and will of God is something very lacking in our society today. Many of God's people also are very slack in this area. They tend to view obedience to God as an option instead of an imperative! If they have time or resources, they will do this or that for God. But obedience is not an option, but an imperative because obedience is the final proof that a person truly loves God! Jesus said in John 14:15, "If you love me, keep my commandments." He shows what an inseparable connection there is between love and obedience; love is the root, obedience is the fruit. Where a sincere love to Christ is in the heart, there will be obedience. 'If a man love me' indeed that love will a commanding constraining principle in him, that, no question, he will 'keep my words'. Where there is true love to Christ there is a value for His favor, a veneration for His authority, and an entire surrender of the whole man to His direction and government. Where love is, duty follows of course, is easy and natural, and flows from a principle of gratitude (Matthew Henry. The Quotable Matthew Henry. p. 187). 2) They had to keep His covenant. They had to reverence it, respect it, and reflect in their lives what a difference it had made. We must do the same with God's Word today! It must be reverenced and respected for what it is: The very mind and will of God! But also it must be reflected to others so that it might accomplish God's purposes!
If the children of Israel would meet these two conditions, God promised they would be His peculiar treasure. The Hebrew word for "peculiar" implies "select, precious, and exceedingly prized." Within every child of God is the potential for greatness. God desires each of His to become His "peculiar treasure." 2 Corinthians 4:6-7 says, "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." I want to speak on "The Keys To Finding Hidden Treasure." By “hidden” I mean that many chose to hide their talents instead of using them for God’s glory! Many allow their treasure to remain hidden because they won’t seek and follow the will of God for their lives! God didn't redeem us by His Grace for us to live in disgrace. Every born-again Believer can be great for God!
KEYS TO FINDING HIDDEN TREASURE:
(1) DETERMINATION
Philippians 2:12—“Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, WORK OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION WITH FEAR AND TREMBLING."
- THE WORK OF GRACE. Salvation, from start to finish, is all by the Grace of God (Ephesians 2:8-9). So Paul here is not telling the Philippians to work for their salvation, but rather because they are saved they should get to work! God has saved every believer for a purpose! (Ephesians 2:10) After Redemption follows Responsibility! But to fulfill our responsibility we must have determination. To be “determined" means "to be bound, to be established, and to be resolved." For potential for God to be uncovered we must not let anything or anyone deter us in our pursuit! The Gospels tell us that Jesus, when His time was come, "stedfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem" (Luke 9:51). Nothing would stop Him in what He must do! If we are going to be great for God then we must have the same determination! With this determination we can find our hidden greatness for God! How? "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."
B. THE WORK BECAUSE OF GRACE. The saved man is God's
workmanship, but also he is a workman himself. God nowhere is said
to call upon an unsaved person to work out a Salvation that He has not
worked in, but He fully expects the inwrought work of regeneration to
be worked out by the regenerated one (Lehman Strauss. Philippians. p.
120)! Paul is writing to those who are already saved. They are told to
"work out" their salvation. The verb "work out” in the Greek means
"work to full completion." In Paul's day it was used for "working a
mine," that is, getting out of the mine all the valuable ore possible; or
"working a field" so as to get the greatest harvest possible. Our lives
have tremendous potential, like a mine or a field, and God wants to
help us fulfill that potential (Warren W. Wiersbe. The Bible Exposition
Commentary. Volume 2. p. 177).
ILLUS. Lehman Strauss in his commentary on Philippians gives us an
apt illustration on "work out your own salvation." He says
"When I visited the West Indies in 1956, I witnessed American
aluminum manufacturers removing millions of tons of bauxite
from the hills of Jamaica. The rich ore was already there.
God had worked it in by some catastrophic movement of
nature or through some aging process. Man had only to
operate and exploit in order to get the greatest worth out of
that which already was his possession. As I watched I
observed the process to be anything but simple and easy. It
was a costly project. But to be certain, the effort was sure to
pay off in large dividends. Such, it seems to me, is the idea in
the Holy Spirit's words, "work out your own salvation." It is
my possession by the gift of divine grace, but as Guy H. king
has said: 'I am to mine what is already mine,' endeavoring to
work out that precious nugget therein (Lehman Strauss.
Philippians. pp. 121-122).
For us to reach our greatest potential for God requires work; and work,
in turn, requires determination! This "out working" of our "in worked"
salvation, according to Paul is to be "with fear and trembling." Not fear
and trembling lest they lose their salvation, for not truly saved person
will be lost, but because of the weakness of the flesh, the ways of the
world, and the wiles of the devil (Lehman Strauss. Philippians. p. 122).
To "work out our own salvation with fear and trembling" is to take heed
lest we fall (1 Corinthians 10:12). We must never trust ourselves, but
God!
Thus the first key to uncovering hidden treasure is: DETERMINATION!
(2) DEPENDENCE
Philippians 2:13—“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."
- A COMPLETE TRUST. The next key to finding hidden treasure in our lives is DEPENDENCE. If I am to become great for God I must trust God and God alone! Dependence on anything less than God is doomed for failure! David Livingstone, Missionary to South Africa, lived by this principle, "Without Christ, not one step; with Him, anywhere!” (Albert M. Wells, Jr. Inspiring Quotations-Contemporary & Classical. p. 68). For us to be great for God, we must depend on God and God alone! The Psalmist said in Psalm 46:1-4—“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.”
B. A CONSECRATED TRUST. The word “worketh" used in v13 in the
Greek means "energize". God arouses, stirs, and energizes the heart of
the believer to do God's Will. These stirrings are from God. God is
working within us--energizing us--giving us both the WILL and THE
POWER to do what he pleases! TOO many Christians obey God
because of pressures without, not because of the power within. Both
divine enablement and human responsibility are involved in getting
God’s work done. We are then partners with God in His work--God
works and we work to a common goal to glorify His blessed name! We
must then respond to God when He stirs us and do exactly what He
wills! God has given us all the power needed to serve Him (2 Timothy
1:7); we simply must depend on that power! When we do, God can do
great and mighty things in and through us! Ephesians 3:20-21 tells
us, “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that
we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be
glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without
end. Amen.”
The tragedy is to ignore, neglect, and refuse to respond to the stirrings
and workings of God. When we feel His moving, we need desperately to
respond and by His power do what He is leading us to do! The power
that works in us is the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit who empowered
Christ when He was ministering here on earth can empower us as well!
As we obey God, the Spirit fills us and enables us to serve God. The
closer to God we are the more filled with the Spirit we are and the
greater we can be for God! Philippians 4:13 assures us, “I can do all
things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” "The world had yet to
see what God can do with and for and through and in a man who is
fully and wholly consecrated to Him." Henry Varley (Albert M. Wells, Jr.
Inspiring Quotation-Contemporary & Classical. p. 44).
The second Key then to finding "Hidden Treasure” is: DEPENDENCE!
(3) DESIRE
Philippians 2:15-16—“That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain."
- THE MEANING OF DESIRE. What is desire? It is “an eagerness to obtain or enjoy; an aspiration, or a longing.” The core problem is not that we are too passionate about bad things, but that we are not passionate enough about good things. -- Larry Crabb. Leadership, Vol. 15, no. 2.
B. THE MASTER’S DESIRE. In vv. 15-16, we see Paul's desire for the
Philippians. But this was not merely Paul's desire, but also it was
God's desire. God wants all who are His to be exactly what these verses
describe. But for us to be that, our desire must be God's desire! God's
desire is that:
- We Are To Be BLAMELESS. The blameless as used here means to be without fault before others. I am not "working out" my salvation nor can I be great for God if my life has in it that which is inconsistent with my high calling in Christ. There must be nothing in my life which would be a stumbling block to someone else (Romans 14:13; 1 Corinthians 8:9). One of the most hurtful things a child of God can do is to be a stumbling block to someone!
- We Are To Be HARMLESS. "Harmless" used here in the Greek means "unmixed," the idea being that we are pure, free from foreign mixtures. Our thoughts and motives are to be guileless, unmixed with selfishness and insincerity (Lehman Strauss. Philippians. p. 127). James 1:27 tells us what it means to be harmless, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” God's end effect is to work in His children to produce fruit both outwardly and inwardly!
- We Are To Be THE SONS OF GOD WITHOUT REBUKE. All true believers are the Sons of God now and no length of time nor growth in His Grace can make us more the Sons of God than we are now. But God's desire is that we be "the sons of God without rebuke" meaning "without blemish" or "without defect." We are not perfect now, but one day when our Blessed LORD comes for us we will be (1 John 3:2-3). That in no way minimizes our duty to live holy and godly lives now. The idea is that although we live in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, we must walk in holiness and true godliness reflecting the purity and holiness of God Himself (1 John 4:17;Matthew 5:14-16)!
- We Are To HOLD FORTH THE WORD OF LIFE. What is the Word of Life? Is it not God's Word? God's desire is that we witness to others of His wonderful salvation (1 Peter 3:15). The Word of life is the message of life that is in Christ Jesus our LORD! (John 5:24; 1 John 5:11-12).
For us to uncover hidden treasure our desire must be God's desire which is that we be: BLAMELESS, HARMLESS, THE SONS OF GOD WITHOUT REBUKE, AND HOLDING FORTH THE WORD OF LIFE.
The next key then to hidden treasure is: DESIRE. Our desire must be His (John 4:34).
(4) DELIGHT
Philippians 2:17-18—“Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all. For the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with me."
- BEING A LIVING SACRIFICE BRINGS JOY. Paul had offered himself as a sacrifice to serve men. Paul had taken his body and offered it as a sacrifice and service for people. His body was totally sacrificed for that purpose and that purpose alone. That was Paul's delight! We will never be great for God unless we are willing to delight ourselves in giving sacrifices to God. The world's philosophy is that Joy comes by aggression, but true Joy comes by submission. Jesus never used a sword nor any other weapon; yet he won the greatest battle in history-the battle against sin and death and hell. He defeated hatred by manifesting love; He overcame lies with truth. Because He surrendered He was victorious (Warren W. Wiersbe. The Bible Exposition Commentary. Volume 2. p. 79)!
B. BEING A LIVING SACRIFICE PLEASES JESUS. We will never be a
peculiar treasure to God unless we are willing to sacrifice for God and
others (Luke 9:23)! The idea Paul is trying to express is that there is
joy in sacrifice. It is an act of worship (Hebrews 13:15-16). Paul said
in Romans 12:1-2—“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of
God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto
God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this
world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may
prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Submission to God brings a twofold JOY:
- JOY HEREAFTER (v16). God is going to reward those who are faithful to Him. "The Joy of the LORD" is going to be part of that reward (Matthew 25:21). The sufferings we face now will turn to Joy in heaven (Romans 8:18).
- JOY HERE AND NOW (vv. 17-18). It comes through sacrifice and service. These are marks of a submissive mind (vv. 5-8). "There is only one way to bring peace to the heart, joy to the mind, and beauty to the life; it is to accept and to do the will of God." William Barclay (Albert M. Wells, Jr. Inspiring Quotations-Contemporary & Classical. p. 194).
For me to be great for God, I must delight myself in giving myself to do the will of God! Thus the last key to "finding Hidden Treasure" is: DELIGHT. A delight in giving all for God!
CLOSING: How can we uncover our "Hidden Treasure"? : By
DETERMINATION IN OBEYING GOD, BY DEPENDENCE ON GOD
AND GOD ALONE, BY DESIRING GOD'S BEST-HIS DESIRE BEING
MY DESIRE, and BY DELIGHTING MYSELF IN GIVING GOD ALL!
To be great for God and have a submissive mind it takes faith! We
must believe that God's promises are true and that they will work in
our lives! God works in us through the Word, prayer, and suffering;
and we work out in daily living and service. Life should not be a
series or disappointing "ups and downs", but a sequence of
delightful "ins and outs." God works in and we work out! Jesus is
our example, our energy comes from the Holy Spirit, and the end
result is JOY!