What is the point of a safe or a vault? It’s used to keep something valuable hidden away. But does that mean you never get to use the item that is stored there? Think about that. If I gave you some gold coins worth a million dollars, you should go home and put it in your safe. That would be smart. But it would be really dumb to never take it out and use some of it. Technically, you would be a millionaire, but practically you would still be broke, if you never used what you had been given. Do you understand what I’ve been trying to teach here for the last three years? I’m not sure, because sometimes you nod along in agreement and sometimes you look at me like a cow looking at a new gate. For those of you that didn’t grow up in the country, a cow looks at a new gate very confused. Matthew 13:51-52 “51 “Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” 52 And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” Earlier in Matthew chapter 13, Jesus told His disciples several parables about what the kingdom is like. But after the disciples saying they understand what He is saying, he tells them a parable about what they are supposed to be like. Jesus says, “Every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house.” That is you. You are the master of the house. Only the master is allowed to go into the treasury or vault in the house and get things out. What is the vault? It is the accumulated kingdom knowledge you have been given.
And what are you supposed to bring out of your vault of kingdom knowledge? You are supposed to bring out things that have been hidden there. You put things in a vault that you want to keep safe, hidden away until they are needed. We are supposed to bring out things that are new and things that are old. But what does that mean? And why are they hidden in the first place? In these verses, the new things the disciples were supposed to bring out was the brand new gospel of the kingdom. The revelation that Jesus is the King and everything that means. This was brand new information to those of that day. The religious system of that day was based on keeping the law of Moses, all 600 and something rules for living. Obviously no one could keep all those laws. That’s why the message of the King and His kingdom was such good news. Today, the message of the kingdom is just as new to the religious system as it was back then. And it’s still the new revelation you must bring out of your treasury of kingdom knowledge and share with those around you. Have you learned enough to be sharing the message of the kingdom with others? What about the old things the verse talks about? The word translated old in this verse is meant to be understood as ancient. So what is the ancient kingdom knowledge that we are to bring out? It is described in 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 2:7-10 “7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart
of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.” Verse 9, is a verse that gets quoted all the time when people are talking about what heaven will be like. They say no one can possibly imagine what it will be like. But that is not at all the context of what Paul is talking about in these verses. If Paul is saying that no one knows what heaven will be like, he then contradicts himself in the very next verse, because he says that the Spirit has revealed it to them. What Paul is actually talking about is the death and resurrection of Jesus. The ancient wisdom of God, that He has revealed through the Holy Spirit, is His plan of redemption for mankind through the sacrifice of Jesus. What God had prepared for those who love Him is a sacrifice, and it had to remain a secret until it was completed, because as Paul says, the rulers of this age would never have killed Jesus if they knew that was God’s plan to bring mankind back into a relationship with Him. Who are the rulers of this age that Paul says didn’t understand God’s plan? It wasn’t just Pilate and the Pharisees. It was the demonic spiritual rulers of the age. God hid His plan from them so they would go ahead and actually carry it out. Do you think they would have done something to bring about their own defeat if they had known? But why does it say that man’s heart didn’t imagine it? Because if God allowed man to understand his plan before He carried it out, they would have surely been talking about it and thus informed the evil spiritual rulers.
Let’s go back to the passage we opened with. Matthew 13:51-52 “51 “Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” 52 And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” Jesus is talking about parables when He asked if they understood. After the disciples told Jesus they understood His parables, he said this: Everyone who has been trained in the kingdom should be bringing out of their treasury or vault of kingdom understanding, things that are a new revelation of the ancient kingdom mysteries. Matthew 13:34-35 “34 All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. 35 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.” What is the mystery that has been hidden since the foundation of the world? It’s the kingdom. Jesus told us this every time He started a parable. Here are two more. Matthew 13:31-32 “31 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” Matthew 13:33 “33 He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”
Look at how Jesus describes this kingdom knowledge. It’s like a grain of mustard seed and like leaven or yeast. What do those things have in common? There are both very small, but have the ability to change things greatly. The kingdom knowledge will change every environment it is put into...regardless of how small the kingdom portion is, it has the power to overtake everything. You may be the only Christian at your workplace, but you are all that the King needs to change that place into an environment for His glory. If you keep yeast in its package, will it leaven a dough? How about a seed? If you leave it in the package with the other seeds will it ever grow into what it its meant to be? Your kingdom knowledge must be put into the right environment for it to do its work. Gathering here and gaining kingdom knowledge will not help your environment if you leave it in your vault and never bring it out. What do you think when I say that? Do you agree with it? Is it enough to just believe it’s the truth? Or do you need to act on it? True belief will result in putting action behind it. I say that I believe I need to lose 30 pounds. Now is it enough for me to believe that’s the truth? Will that change anything in my life? No, it will not. I have to take action on that belief for it to have any benefit for me. And if I never take any action, what does that say about my belief? Do I really believe that I need to lose 30 pounds if I never attempt to do it? What it says is that I don’t believe that I really need to lose the weight, but it makes me feel better to pretend to believe that I do. If I really believed it, I would do something about it. I have all the information I need to do it, and still I do nothing.
What are we doing with this kingdom information? Matthew 13:51-52 “51 “Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” 52 And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” Are you bringing anything out of your kingdom knowledge vault? Are you keeping it for yourself? Your kingdom knowledge is not just for you. It’s a mustard seed and yeast, and a treasure that has been hidden. It’s meant to change your environment for the King. You are supposed to use it for the benefit of others. Do you ever see a grown cow drinking milk? Have you ever seen a chicken eating an egg? No. Why not? Because what they produce is for the benefit of others, not themselves. But it’s not the knowledge that they can benefit others that does anybody any good. It’s the action of doing something that is the actual benefit. It’s not supposed to be just for your benefit. Your motive is what God is always looking at. I was in a small group once and the topic of serving and giving was being discussed. There was one guy who said he didn’t need to give and serve at church. When we pushed him to explain why he thought this, he said that he gives and serves somewhere else. Well, it turns out that where he “served God” was at a boy scout troop. And they needed some new camping equipment, so he “gave to God” by purchasing that equipment.
As we dug further into his story, it turns out that his son was, of course, in that boy scout troop and all he was doing was hanging out with his son and buying gear for him to use. His service and giving was nothing more than just serving himself. He was only pretending to serve God because it made him look good. If we are never willing to go outside of our comfort zone, we will never serve God the way He wants us to. Loving others as ourselves is difficult, it’s messy and it’s inconvenient. Your will is supposed to be bent to the will of the King, but we just can’t seem to bring ourselves to do something that is even just a little inconvenient. Is that what a life of sacrifice looks like? Is that what a life of service looks like? The message of the kingdom is powerful, but not if you don’t ever do anything with it. Matthew 13:51-52 “51 “Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” 52 And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” Are you bringing anything out of your kingdom vault? Or are you just storing it up for yourself? You have brothers and sisters here, neighbors, coworkers and friends who need what God has gifted you with in their lives. There are environments that you are supposed to leaven with the kingdom message, so that environment will be changed for the glory of the King. What are you going to do with your kingdom vault?
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