Preachrblog

  Your house is burning down and you have just minutes to escape. What do you take with you? What's your most valuable possession? Your family? Ok, let's assume they make it out safe. What one thing would you take? A wedding album? A piece of jewelry? Maybe your computer or some family heirloom. Something irreplaceable right? Something that might not be worth a lot of money, but to you, is worth saving more than all those other things. Today we conclude a series of parables from Matthew 13. Today we hear Jesus talking treasure. The treasure buried in the field and the pearl of great price. The kingdom of heaven is like these, he says. But what does he mean? Let's take some time this morning and consider “valued treasures”. Well I hope I got you thinking for a moment before about what you truly value. And in a crisis situation, perhaps your true values become more clear. First make sure your family is safe. Then your own life. Then worry about what can't be replace...

  Have you ever had an old article of clothing, an old favorite, an old standby, that you just can’t part with, even though it’s not in the same shape it used to be?   You know that one day you’ll have to replace it and get a new one.   Sometimes it’s the wife that makes you.   I have an old coat like that, and I don’t get to use it much in Texas anymore.   But it’s seen better days.   And eventually, that garment becomes so worn out, so threadbare, that it’s just time to throw it out.   Not even worth donating anymore.   It’s of no use to anyone.   Isaiah says, “The earth will wear out like a garment.” We can sense that this creation is not what it used to be.   Things don’t seem to be getting really better, but only worse.   And it can’t go on like this forever.   Christians know this world is fallen because of sin.   And the solution to sin isn’t “try harder” or “do something to fix it”.   We could no more fix ...

Perhaps, like me, you’ve sometimes been arrogant enough to think or even say, “If I were God, I would certainly do things such-and-such a way…” As if we could know better.   Jesus’ parable here, like many of his parables, confronts us with absurdity.   Sure it’s an everyday action people can all relate to – a sower goes out to sow some seeds in his field.   But this guy doesn’t seem too bright.   He’s not very careful.   You might call him sloppy.   He just takes handful after handful and tosses seed wherever.   No two inch deep holes, nicely spaced apart.   Not even careful to make sure the seed all gets into the garden.   Some falls on the path, here and there, he doesn’t seem to be bothered by any of this.   Maybe he doesn’t really know what he’s doing.   Maybe he doesn’t care if any of this seed grows or not.   Maybe he’s just a fool. But like all Jesus’ parables, the point is deep.   The absurdity is the very le...

We Americans mostly enjoy the luxury of being able to take vacations.  We go off with our family, often in the summer, for some R&R, rest and relaxation.  Or perhaps your idea of rest is a more active “see the sights” approach, taking in the museums or doing all the activities.  But in any case, for us, vacation means stepping out of the usual routines of work, and into (we tell ourselves) some much needed rest. Work and rest are two sides of a coin, since the beginning of the world.   God himself worked for 6 days – making everything in creation by the power of his word – and then resting on the 7 th day.   Of course, it wasn’t because he was tuckered out.   He rested for us.   To set a pattern for us of work and rest, times of productivity and times of re-charging.   He designed us to need sleep, and not to go on without rest indefinitely.   And, of course, there is some worldly wisdom also in times of rest to recharge and rejuvenate...

  People think they know what the Bible teaches, or what Jesus says, and quite often they do not.   So much of who Jesus is, and what he does is unexpected, even to Christians. Is it because he is mysterious and beyond us, because he is omniscient God who created all and knows all, and we are tiny, puny little specks in the grand scheme of his creation?   That he’s just so much smarter than us that we can’t fathom his truth? Or is it because our sinful flesh has warped expectations of God? That even if we had the biggest brain, or a super-computer artificial intelligence juicing up our comprehension of reality – we’d still get it wrong because we are perverted by sin – corrupted through and through.   And it’s not so much intellectual capacity as it is spiritual deadness that is our problem?   Why is Jesus always surprising us, blowing up our expectations?   Because we’re not that smart, or because we are so sinful?   Perhaps both. Thankfully h...