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Jesus Christ is the pearl of great price. He is the treasure hidden in the field, and He is of supreme value. He is worth more than anything else in this world, more even than life itself. Do you see that? Or is it hidden from you?
Why Jesus Christ Is of Supreme Value
i. Who He Is
In him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell (Colossians 1:19).
In [Christ] are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3).
Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. He is Almighty God, the Creator of the universe, and He came into this world, born as a baby.
Think about it: Jesus is God in a human body! He is God with a human psyche! He is God tempted in human flesh, God pressed on by the demands of people with every kind of need, God-loving and working, weeping and blessing, God with us and God for us.
Jesus Christ is of supreme value because nobody else can be who He is!
ii. What He Has Done
Jesus has lived the life that God requires of every man and every woman. He lived the life that I have not lived. He lived the life that God has called you to live.
Jesus Christ has fulfilled the whole law of God in a life of perfect holiness. Then He laid down this life as a sacrifice. He gave that life on behalf of sinners. He took on himself what is due, by the justice of God, to us. And He bore it.
The story does not end there. Jesus went into death, but death could not hold Him. He rose in the power of an endless life, and he ascended to the right hand of his Father in heaven, where He stands as the Savior and the Advocate for all His people.
Jesus Christ is of supreme value, not only because of who He is, but because of what he has done. Nobody else can do what he has done.
iii. What He Offers
Jesus says to you, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest for your soul. My peace I give to you, a peace that this world cannot give. I have come that your joy may be complete. I am come that you may have life more abundantly.”
He stands before you today and offers to:
- breathe his Holy Spirit into you and fill you with the power and presence of His own life,
- cleanse you from your past and present sins, removing them from you so completely that they cannot be charged against you now or at any time in the future, and
- reconcile you to God the Father, transforming your relationship with God from that of a sinner facing impending judgment, to that of a son or daughter anticipating a glorious inheritance.
Jesus Christ is of supreme value, not only because of who He is and what He has done, but because nobody else has what He offers.
iv. He Can Never Be Taken From You
Alexander Maclaren has this very insightful comment, “Nothing that can be taken from me is truly mine.” [1] Think about the big pearls of your life: Your job, your family, your friends, your freedom, the various pleasures of your life, your health, your money, your independence.
All of these things can be taken from you, and one day all of them will be. Every pearl you gather in this life you will have for a time, except for one: Jesus Christ. He can never be taken from you. He is the only pearl that you can ever truly say, “Mine.”
Jesus Christ will stay with you in every circumstance of life. When you walk through the fire, He will be with you. He will walk with you through death. When you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, His rod and staff will comfort you.
He will stand with you on the other side in the presence of the Almighty, where He is able to present you without fault and with great joy. Jesus Christ alone is able to say to you, “I will never leave you; I will never forsake you.”
When the pearl merchant saw this pearl, He immediately knew its value. If you are still trying to work out if it is really worth being fully committed to Jesus Christ, you have not yet seen the true value of this treasure. If you feel that it would be too hard to give up your sins, you have not yet seen the unique glory of Jesus Christ
When you see the value of all that Christ is, of all that He has done, and of all that He offers, and when you see that He is the only treasure that you can have always, you will say: “What do I need to do to get this treasure? How can I get this pearl?” When you see the glory of Jesus, you know you have to make it yours and you’ll be ready to do whatever it takes.
Photo Credit: Unsplash
This article was adapted from Pastor Colin’s sermon, “Joy,” from his series Ministry Matters.
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[1] https://www.ccel.org/ccel/maclaren/matt2.ii.xxx.html
Colin Smith
Founder & Teaching Pastor
Colin Smith is the Senior Pastor of The Orchard Evangelical Free Church in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. He has authored a number of books, including Heaven, How I Got Here and Heaven, So Near - So Far. Colin is the Founder and Teaching Pastor for Open the Bible. Follow him on Twitter.
