Finding the Real Treasure

The Lord Jesus made it clear what our priority in life should be when He said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” (Matt  6:33).  Many of us have known this verse of Scripture for a long time but haven’t realized that it contains the power to change the world. This is why Jesus spoke so frequently about the kingdom of God. The Bible tells us, in fact, that before His ascension Jesus spent forty days preaching the gospel of the kingdom (Acts 1:3). There must have been something to that message if it consumed His final forty days of ministry on earth.In order to make the kingdom of God our first priority as Jesus taught us, we need to cut through the mystery surrounding it and uncover the truth God wants to reveal to us through His Word. We can only go as high as the revelation we’ve received, so we must look into the Scriptures to enter the kingdom life that God has provided for us. From Genesis to Revelation God has revealed the secrets of His kingdom. Through the Scriptures the whole kingdom is in sight.

Jesus revealed to His disciples how to live in the kingdom of God even while they walked the earth.

When we receive this revelation and begin to act on it, we will see the kingdom at work in the earth even in our own lives.Each of us is a vital part of the kingdom of God. As we study the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit will begin to lay a foundation in our hearts that the devil cannot shake. We will learn how to operate in the kingdom of God, which will provide everything we need in life to fulfill our God-given calling—everything from wisdom and understanding to peace, joy, health, abundant provision, and so much more.

Heaven’s Treasure vs. Mammon

Once we have the kingdom inside, the Holy Spirit’s job is to help us to get the world out of us. Only then can we be in the world but not of the world. This requires a turning away from our own way and going God’s way. We repented when we received Jesus Christ and His salvation; but as the Holy Spirit reveals to us that we have trusted the world’s system and not God in certain areas, we will need to repent again.

We cannot serve two masters. We can’t serve the world and Jesus.

“For either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matt. 6:24). People say they’re serving Jesus, but they’re holding on to the world’s system. The world’s system does not save souls, it saves money; it tells us to store up all our treasure here. But Jesus said:Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.    Matthew 6:19-24This is the message Jesus wanted to convey to the rich young ruler who asked Him, “Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 18:18).Jesus said, “Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother” (v. 20).The rich young ruler replied confidently, “All these have I kept from my youth” (v. 21). He was religious, and he had been careful to do everything on the list.But then Jesus said, “Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me” (v. 22). Notice, He didn’t say, “You’re going to go broke.” Jesus said, in essence, “You’ll have treasure on a higher plane, and that treasure is available when you need it.”When Jesus spoke to that rich young ruler, He was trying to show him who his real god was. His real god was not the Lord God Jehovah. His real god was his money.

If our money is telling us what to do, it is in effect our god or master.

When the rich young ruler heard Jesus say that the only thing he lacked was to sell “what you have and give to the poor” and follow Him, he bowed his head and walked away. He couldn’t do that, because he thought he was going to suffer loss. He didn’t have the full revelation of the kingdom of God because his focus was divided between the world system and God’s kingdom.Jesus said, “If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” If our intent is to depend on God and our eye is single, or our focus is entirely on God, then our body will be full of the revelation that it takes to live in the kingdom of God. However, if we try to look at God a little bit and try to hold on to the world’s system because we’re not sure if “this God thing” will work, then darkness will come in and we won’t have the light of His Word guiding our lives. Like the rich young ruler, we’ll think God is trying to take something from us or make us fall. We’ll back up and walk away and say, “No, He won’t take all this. I worked too hard for this.”However, with the revelation of the kingdom, we will see that we are living in two realms. We’re living in the kingdom of God, and we’re living in the realm of the natural, five physical senses. Only revelation knowledge can take you beyond your intellect and this natural physical matter. Without Jesus Christ, that sense realm is the boundary of life.

However, once we become born again, we receive a new life—eternal life—which takes us beyond natural boundaries into the place where all things become possible.

Now all things are possible to us who believe. No other religion can offer this reality. Hear that again: No other “religion” can truthfully make this claim. However, the church has not been demonstrating this new reality, so people have been looking at the church the same way they look at any other religion. That will not be the case for long. We are entering a new day: a day when the church will receive revelation of the kingdom, manifest His Word, and reclaim the earth for the King.