Hidden Treasure

Notes for the Ekklesia Meeting
Sundays @ 10:00 a.m. Info: (651) 283-0568 www.dtminc.org Today’s Date: January 1, 2006

Hidden Treasure
by Dan Trygg

"And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.’ 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!’" Luke 2:10-14

"See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure." I John 3:1-3

People did not recognize Jesus when He first came as a baby, or when He was growing up, or even when He was a young man. Folks from the neighborhood, business contacts, relatives and even family members were unaware of who He really was. He was a good man, most would probably say, but none was prepared for what happened when He stepped into His public ministry, and no one would have thought He would die as a criminal. None could have imagined that He would defeat death and rise again, proving once and for all time that He is both Lord and Messiah (Acts 2:32,36; Rom. 1:4). He was seen simply as Jesus, the carpenter’s son.

Appearances can be deceiving. We often fall into the trap of making expectations and judgments based only upon what we see, and have known from past experience. God, however, calls us to look beyond the expected. He calls us to a hope or promise that is unseen, not visible to the average human perception (Rom. 8:24,25; II Cor. 4:16-18; Heb. 11:1).

The miracle of our new birth is like that. The scriptures tell us that when we put our trust in Christ as our Savior and the Master of our lives, He gives us the authority to become children of God (Jn. 1:12,13). Having believed in Him, we receive the promise of the Holy Spirit, and we are born from above (Jn. 3:1-16; Tit. 3:3-6; Eph. 1:13,14). Sometimes, this is a very dramatic, powerful experience, while for other people it is barely noticeable. Nevertheless, a transaction has taken place. We are born of the Spirit, and a new creature is birthed inside of us. Our identity is changed from that of a spiritually-dead child of wrath, a sinner by nature and by choice (Eph. 2:1-3), to being that of a spiritually-alive child of God (Eph. 2:4-7; Rom. 8:9-17), and a member of His family (Eph. 2:19), …a holy one by nature. We are new people, created afresh in the core of our being, made in the holy and righteous likeness of God. As we walk with Him, we are experientially being renewed to be more and more like Him (Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10).

The apostle John teases us with this in I John 3. In the first verse, he marvels at the great love of God that would transform us from lost sinners into God’s very children. God’s love. It was God’s love that saw our impossible situation, and could not leave us in the mess we had made. It was His love that willingly came to dwell among us and chose to take our place to pay our debt. It was His love that reached into your life and mine to draw us to Him, to open our eyes so that we could see who Jesus is for us. It is the victory of His love that is made visible in the life of each person who comes to know Him. Truly, we become trophies of His love. Finally, to secure in us the experiential knowledge of His love, He has actually poured it into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whose mission is to teach us to call God, "Daddy" (Rom. 5:5; 8:15,16).

Why is this necessary? Because we have trouble believing it. The world and the enemy have done damage to us, assailing us with negative messages, inflicting wounds of rejection, pointing out areas of weakness or unfavorability, convincing most of us that we don’t measure up, and could not possibly truly be loved by God. Let us not ignore the obvious. Aside from the poor self-concept that the majority of people seem to struggle with, most Christians are more aware of the sinful tendencies of the old man, the old thinking and habit patterns of their B.C. life, than they are conscious of the leading of the Holy Spirit. Paul and John found that it was necessary to write about what God had done for us as believers precisely because it was not readily apparent or self-evident to most Christians. There is a war going on over our lives exactly concerning these issues, …how much we are loved and accepted by God, and who we now are as born-from-above-saints. Thus, we find the apostle John restating the obvious, so we can’t miss it. "…and we are." And we are what? Why, children of God. Now. Not at some nebulous moment in the future. Right now.

What next? "…and it has not appeared as yet what we will be…". John tantalizes our imagination again by the words he chooses. In the Greek, the word "what" is neuter, meaning that it would be understood as "what thing". "Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what thing we will be." John is trying to push us to think of something way beyond what we have come to expect from ourselves, or even from life. In other words, God has started a metamorphosis process that is so incredible that we can’t imagine what the end result will be. Metamorphosis. Where do we use that word? It is used to describe the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly or moth. Radical, all-encompassing change. The end result looks so dissimilar from the original starting point that it would seem impossible. Yet it happens every year to millions of caterpillars. In fact, there is not one caterpillar that ever lived out its full life span that did not turn into a butterfly or a moth. Butterfly or moth is written right into the genes and chromosomes of that wormlike creature from before it emerged from the egg. It is going to happen. In the same way, our metamorphosis is destined to take place. It is written into our spiritual DNA. It will happen. Even if it is never fully seen or developed during our earthly sojourn, we will be like the risen Christ. As certain that He is returning to claim His own, we can be assured that our existence, our character, our abilities, even our physical appearance and abilities will be radically different than what we have experienced up to this time (Rom. 8:29; I Cor. 15:35-54; I Jn. 3:2).

What is the point of this study? Is it to just encourage us with some pie-in-the-sky trivia about our future state. No. Far from it. I am trying to get you to begin to look at yourself differently. You are not what you expect. You are not what your past experiences have told you. If you know Jesus, you have a power and potential within you that far surpass what you can currently imagine. True, the full potential will never be fully revealed in this life, but there is another aspect to this story that needs to be explained.

You see, the apostle Paul used the word metamorpheo in Romans 12:2 to describe the transformation that is supposed to take place in the here and now, "Do not conform yourselves together with this age, but transform yourselves by the renewing (making fresh, i.e., of a new, unprecedented quality or kind) of your perception of reality in order that you might experiment-to-discover what the will of God is for you, that which is profitable, well-pleasing, and mature." In other words, we are participants in the transformation process. There is a relationship between my efforts to grow and change and the resulting outcome. If I do nothing, little will change. In fact, my distinct gifts and abilities may never come to the fore. I may be lost in the great mass of humanity, in my attempts to "fit in". If, however, I refuse to accept the messages and expectations of the past, and those around me now, and apply myself to the growth and development of my understanding and perception of the world (meaning, to learn to see it as God sees it), I can radically change. God will show me what I have been created to do that will benefit others, and what will give me satisfaction.

Again, it is important to say that there are forces in this world that do not want us to move toward growth. They want to keep us immature, mediocre, self-contained, ineffective and unknown. They want us to waste our lives on distraction and sensual appetites. To experience transformation, we must go against the grain. We must push past this pressure to conform and accept the judgments that others have made of us. We must grab hold of the hope of transformation, …that God will make something of us that is good and wonderful, well worth the struggle involved in following His way, …and press forward into growth.

There is another passage where Paul uses metamorpheo. It is II Cor. 3:18. In the context, he is describing how God has made us adequate to do His will by virtue of the Holy Spirit which indwells us. There was an external glory in the OT, which was seen in the glow of Moses’ face after he met with God, and was in the presence of His glory. What we have is much greater, since it lives inside of us. Nevertheless, the process of transformation happens as we gaze upon the glory of God reflected through His word, His people, and whatever means He may use to reveal Himself to us. The point is that we must focus on Him. This is not a self-help endeavor. Transformation is not simply the striving of our will against the grain. There is a miraculous, healing, liberating, uplifting element that comes only from God. Renewing of our perception must include an awareness of our need for Him, and the consequent choices made to spend time in His presence.

Just as those in Bethlehem did not perceive the treasure that was embodied in that infant in the stable feeding trough, so those around us do not have a clue what God would do with us, if we allow Him to. Paul says that we have "glory treasure" in earthen vessels (II Cor. 4:6,7). God’s intent is that people could see the glory in us as we are transformed and learn to live in the strength and ability which God supplies. If we do not pursue a new understanding, a deeper relationship with God, and a deeper level of obedience to Him, we will not perceive the glory within us, and it will never find an expression in our lives. We have treasure hidden within us. Do not go on living as though it were not there. In this coming year, determine to unleash the "glory treasure" inside of you. Go after God, and pursue His will. It will be beneficial, well-pleasing, and will lead you to your destiny.