Father, we just pray for the time that we have as we look to your word, Lord, that you would just impart to us, even through your spirit, the right affections for Christ. That we would treasure him, and Lord, even in times when we feel maybe we don't treasure him the way that we know he supremely deserves. Lord, that we might even be as Peter, where, Lord, we even say, even though our actions may not even reflect that kind of love, we do love you. And you know all the hearts of men. You know our hearts. And Lord, pray that we would continue to grow in Christ and have our actions continually be more transformed and aligned with that supreme love that we need and should have towards Christ. Help us this morning. Help the sermon to serve that end. Pray this in your son's name. Amen. Well, in 2010 there was an art dealer named Forrest Fenn. And Forrest Fenn was just in love and just thought, was enamored with treasure hunts. And so he had amassed a little bit of wealth and he thought he wanted to spend that wealth putting on a kind of massive treasure hunt. And I said, 2010, not 1910, not you know, 1810, just a few years back. And he wanted to see this kind of thing because he thought it would be so cool to have this treasure hunt. And it kind of got a little bit of traction. And then maybe 2012, I think, was when a bigger news kind of company picked up an article on this treasure hunt. And then it kind of blew up. And people started spending hours and hours and really their own fortunes, their own money to try to find this treasure. And hundreds and thousands of people started to look all over Colorado. He had left a map with clues and they started to study those clues in his books, which is exactly what this man wanted to do. I got the most kind of press when I ended up having the first person who died looking for that treasure in Colorado. In total, five people tragically died looking for that treasure. Then a number of people who survived said later that they spent tens of thousands of hours studying his map and his clues to find out where this treasure was. And it was supposedly valued between a million and two million. In 2020, it was actually found, same year the man actually died. It was found and auctioned off for about a million dollars. And I imagine those people looked back and thought, hmm, was it really worth all of that? What I think it does tell you though, although I don't think it was probably worth, definitely not anyone's life, maybe not even worth 10,000 hours, but what it tells you is that the human heart desires fulfillment. It desires to find treasure. So when you're young and you're thinking, man, I want to, able to make this massive discovery, I think there's part of that that is good and God intended, but the problem is we look for that treasure in all the wrong places. And the Bible is gonna say consistently, it's not found out there in this world. It's not even found in good things like our families or maybe a career. God has made us to work, but you're not gonna find the true supreme treasure there. It's only found in Christ. Not gold, not artifacts, not material wealth. It's only found in Christ himself. And that's where we're gonna look this morning in Colossians chapter 124 through two, because it's there that he says that all the wealth of the full assurance of understanding unto the full knowledge of God's mystery that is Christ himself in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Paul is going to challenge us really with his own testimony, his own life that he's saying I am struggling and striving and doing all these things because I treasure Christ so much. He's going to challenge us that with that this morning and when they look at Colossians as a whole because I know you've all been studying Hebrews. Colossians is really yes about Christ and so You know, when I teach how to study the Bible, which actually I'm starting at my church next week, I often use Colossians as an example. Because you can say Colossians is about Christ, and of course you're right. And you could say Hebrews is about Christ, and you'd be right. And what I try to do as we kind of study the Word is you want to start to almost whittle down that stick into a sharp point and go, okay, what about Christ? Does Colossians want you to know? What is kind of the purpose of Colossians? And what I find so helpful, and Colossians is such a great example, is that he wants you to know something about Christ, very specific, that he is this supreme treasure. And he does so in a way that he does with a purpose, that he wants them to grow and mature. He wants them to be presented complete in Christ. And so it really becomes, yes, about Christ, but about maturing in Christ, about knowing something not just partially, not just being kind of maybe average at something, but being excellent and good, being an expert, a master craftsman, you could say, in Christ. And that's what he does in Colossians. And one of the ways you'll see that, if you look at chapter one real quick, maybe just to bring us up to chapter two, is that He does so with this language of comprehensive language that is Christ is sufficient, He is supreme. So look at verse 9. And you start seeing this kind of heart of Paul. Colossae is a church he's not planted. It's a church he's never visited. He's heard from Epaphras really good things. But he wants to write them from prison and encourage them. And he's worried because there's false teachers who've come who are saying there's something more than Christ. And he's saying, no, it's Christ is everything. He's sufficient, supreme. And he uses all of this language throughout. So if you were to underline, highlight, circle, box, whatever you do in your Bible, you'll start to see language like this and say verse 9, I have not ceased to pray for you to ask that you may be filled with the full knowledge. And he could have said I want you to be filled with knowledge. But he loves in Colossians to make sure you know, I don't want some partial. I want you to have full knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and multiplying in the full knowledge. of God, being strengthened with all power. And you get the idea. I could keep going, and it doesn't just happen in chapter one, it happens throughout. He wants you not to know in part, he wants the Colossians church to not know in part, but to know Christ fully in every way, not to please Christ in some ways, but to please Christ in every way. with all steadfastness. And then in verse 15, he kind of breaks out in a hymn about Christ and the glory of Christ of who he is. That is to say, he is the most wonderful, the most beautiful, the most supreme, the most worthy person who has ever existed, who ever lived. In fact, he is God and has always existed the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. And he starts to build this case that Christ is worth more than anything. He's the one who's before all things, 17, in him all things hold together. He's the head of the church. the head of the body of the church. He's the beginning of the firstborn, et cetera, et cetera, on and on and on. And he wants you to kind of see that because he wants to paint a picture to say you can't put anything against that picture and not go Christ is more valuable. Because the false teaching that we get kind of a sense of here, because we don't know everything that was going on, we know that they're presenting something more, a different way to salvation or a different way maybe to sanctification, a different way to godliness. And I love this at the end of chapter 2, when they go, verse 20, if you've died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, he's gonna say, don't use those principles of the world to get godly then, right? You died to those things. Why is if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, which deal with everything destined to perish, with use, which are in accordance with the commands and the teaching of men. Again, teaching of men, contrasted to the teaching of God, which are matters having to be, sure, a word of wisdom. I think a lot of you guys use the English Standard Version. I love their translation here. It gives the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion, self-abasement, severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence. And so what he's saying is, there is a way that appears right to a man. but it leads to death. There's a way that appears to men, a way towards being godly, but it won't lead to godliness. And he keeps pointing you back to then, what will, what will, what will? And he's going to say, it's the very thing you were saved by, which is this good news. This gospel of Christ is the same thing that's gonna lead you into maturity with Christ. Don't think you ever have graduated on from Christ. Everything goes back to Christ. Therefore, you use this language that he's gonna get into of treasuring Christ. And so, I'm gonna look here with verse 24 through 26 and begin looking at the way Paul treasured Christ. And hopefully, by way of application, Paul says in many places that he wants his readers to imitate him, and of course, imitate him as he imitates Christ. And so, we want to treasure Christ the way Paul treasured Christ. And so we're gonna see that because Paul switches in verse 24 from talking to the, say, church at Colossae directly to using the personal kind of first person pronouns of I. So he starts out in 24 here, now I rejoice. And he goes all the way through chapter two, verse five, which is why we're gonna try to cover his kind of outpouring of his heart. And he's saying, the reason I'm doing this for you, the reason I'm writing, the reason I'm suffering, the reason I'm ministering is because I treasure Christ. And so in the same way we can learn these lessons to imitate Paul and treasure Christ as well. And the first area or the first way you can treasure Christ is to treasure Christ in suffering. That he's worth any cost that you have to pay. That he's so valuable. He's such a treasure as Jesus uses in the parable. It's like the man who find a great pearl in this field that's for sale. And he puts it back and he sells everything and buys that field that he might have that great pearl, that great treasure. And he's saying that's Christ, he's worth everything, even the cost of suffering. And so that's the first point we're gonna look here, that Christ is worth suffering because he is our supreme treasure and his gospel is our calling to then steward, not just things about him, but we're really stewarding Christ, the message of Christ, who he is, what he has done for us and for He opens by saying, now I rejoice in my suffering for your sake. And at first glance, of course, like so many passages of scripture, this seems very paradoxical, very, you can't say joy and suffering in the same sentence, but we so often find that in scripture. He's saying, I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake. And I'll tell you why. Because yes, he loves them, but why does he love them? Because he loves Christ. And he says it in this way, he's just so happy to be involved in ministry in a way that he comes and gives this picture that I fill up. Almost that picture of we think of filling up, the idea of you've got an empty glass and you're filling it up. He's saying, I want you to picture this, that I am filling up what is lacking of Christ's afflictions in my flesh on behalf of his body, which is the church. Of which I, of course, was made a minister according to this stewardship. And you read that and you go, what's he saying? And I think it's meant to be the most basic illustration. He's saying that I am filling up, I'm doing something Christ hasn't been able to do. I think that's true. But of course, we have to then say, what is he not saying first? Because what he's not saying, of course, that he is in some way earning his own salvation or earning their salvation or in any way is he adding to the cross of Christ. He's not saying the sacrifice of Christ is incomplete or inadequate. That would make no sense after he just prayed that massive hymn of who Christ is and he's supreme to say, well, you know, his sacrifice is lacking and therefore I'm filling it up. No, he doesn't mean that. What he's saying is, in this different way, that his ongoing suffering of the believers, he is, you could say, some people have used that phrase in church history, you know, the hands and the feet of Christ. He is saying Christ is not in the body anymore here. He's sitting at the right hand of the Father. He is not able to sit in prison for the church at Colossae, for the other churches. Christ is not here to write this letter. He's Inspiring Paul to write this letter to them. He's saying, I get to, on behalf of Christ, suffer for you. I get to identify with the sufferings of Christ and that makes me rejoice. If the world hated Christ, Christ said, if they persecute me, they will also persecute you. He's rejoicing just in the same way Christ said in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew five, blessed are you when others revile you, persecute you, utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice, be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. It's not that something is missing, rather he's going, I get to be part of the ongoing mission of Christ. You weren't there. We weren't there. I wasn't there when Christ took up his cross and went to his death. But yet, we understand that because what Christ has done in the gospel to us, why do I suffer for others or why do I serve others? It's because of what Christ has done and they experience that through you in that way. Again, not in any salvific way, but it's this idea that you get a partner in a small way in your life with the things that you have been given, particularly in Paul's case, this stewardship of the gospel, which of course we all have been if we've been given this truth, if you've been shared the gospel, someone has shared the gospel with you and you believe that truth, then you have the same responsibility to pass it on as well. He's a steward in a maybe unique way as an apostle, but we are still all stewards of the mysteries of the truth of God that is the good news. He says, of which I made a minister according to the stewardship from God given to me so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God. And I just love, again, the way Paul never disconnects what he believes with the way he lives. He just won't let you do it. I mean, you go, well, what does preaching the word of God or fully carrying out literally just the word of God is the way it's literally in the Greek. In some translations put the preaching of the word of God. But how do you bring me carrying out the word of God? Isn't the word speaking? Well, it is, but he's saying, I understand that my stewardship from God includes everything I do, even my suffering, my ministering the word, everything I do is part of that ministry, even my afflictions, even my sufferings. He wants to suffer for the sake of the church. Why? Because he treasures Christ. He wants to suffer in prison as he writes this letter. Why? Why does he rejoice? Because he treasures Christ. He understands that and he continues to make sure that they understand this truth that he is only doing this because, yes, he loves them, but he only loves them in this way because he loves Christ first and foremost. He wants to carry out the word of God, which that is, verse 26, the mystery, which has been hidden from past ages and generations, but now has been manifested to his saints. And he says so in a way saying, this is like a treasure that is hidden and now it's revealed. It's like you thought, man, I've got nothing. There's no money in the bank account. The mortgage is, you know, overdue. And someone comes along and says, actually you inherited millions of dollars yesterday. And you're going, I didn't mean you went from, I guess I'm poor to, I guess I'm rich. He's saying, yes, you didn't realize you had all these riches, but now because Christ has been revealed in that this way in which God has reconciled himself to humanity through his son has been revealed, you are the richest of all. And he gets to be part of sharing that message. And so if it costs him a little bit, That's okay, because he treasures Christ even more. So he'll treasure him even more so when he suffers, because he gets to be part of this ministry. I think the same is true for us. The same is true when you look at your own life. And it may not be suffering in prison. It may not be sacrifice, in this case, of traveling and the dangerous things that he will face when Paul's persecution comes into the towns. But we all, when we treasure Christ, do have to make some kind of Sacrifice some type of cost that is to say when Christ calls every single one of us You're gonna pick up your cross. You're gonna die to yourself, right and you have to follow after him There's something you're gonna say in your mind some morning and some day and probably every morning and every day and say I don't want to do that But you the Holy Spirit saying no, but you should because you understand from the Word of God that that's the way a Christian Believes or that's the way the Christian acts. It's like I don't want to trust the Lord in this I want to give in to fear and anxiety, but you know what? I should trust the Lord because He is worthy above all. He's saying it's actually that affection, that treasuring that starts to change your attitudes and even your emotions to joy when you are worried, you are fearful, or when you start to think something is not valuable. You remember actually, no, I've given my life to the thing that is of most value, something that cannot be taken. As Jim Elliott famously said, he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. That's a good trade. It's not that all life is math, but in some sense you go, well, we're all making some calculations of is this worth this? Is this worth that? And when we look at Christ and treasure him, it's like anything, whatever it costs is worth it. So treasure Christ in suffering, but Paul goes on to even say he treasures Christ in the way he does his own ministry. And the way I'll put it is treasure Christ in suffering, but also treasure Christ in sanctification. that is treasure Christ in ministry, not only in your own heart, but in your ministry to others. He goes on to say. that this gospel is manifested to his saints. Then in verse 27, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles. So he gets to be part of this in a unique way. When he is saved on the road to Damascus, he becomes the apostle, not just to Jews, but chiefly the apostle to the Gentiles. They saying, this has been made known when Colossae, this is chiefly, probably Jew, Gentile church, but it's in Asia minor. It says in Jerusalem, you've been given this gift, even though you're a Gentile, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. He wants that to sink in for them, that you've been given Christ himself. You've been given not a something, but a someone. And he's in you, ministering through you. In fact, 29 explains it this way, right? For this purpose, I also labor, striving according to his working, which he works in me. in power. This mystery is revealed that when you repent of your sin, you turn from your sin, and you believe in the work of Christ, what He has done, not only in His life, but His death and His resurrection, and you believe that He is the Son of God, and you say, please forgive me, I want to follow you. He's saying, you receive the Spirit, which is God, the Spirit that Jesus promised His disciples, and it is very much that Christ is in you. It's one of the most profound truths you could have in all of Scripture, that it is Christ who dwells in you. And really, that should change everything, that you don't have to look outside. Now, don't hear me. If you didn't look for meaning, look inside of you. If you're a believer and you understand theologically, I'm saying Christ is in you, then yeah, but look to Christ. But you don't have to look outside of your life for meaning or value, whether it become what you do for a living, whether it's work or relationships. He's saying, no, you have Christ in you. Nothing can impoverish you. Nothing can take that from you. You don't need to find righteousness. You don't need to earn favor with God by I'm just trying to do these things and hope God likes me this morning. No, you have Christ in you who is perfect in every way and has satisfied the Father's wrath. There's nothing you need to do to be right with God because Christ has done it. You don't have to fear for the future because your future is assured, your glory, eternal glory is assured because of what Christ has done. And I think in this way, he wants them to understand it is Christ in you. This is the message he gets to give to them, this truth that they might think they don't have much. And they might even be, and I think in this case, like many believers, they think, well, I know I have Christ, but what else is there? And this is where Colossians keeps going back and saying, that's the wrong question. You go back to Christ and he's a treasure that you're never going to mind. It's a treasure you can never spend. You're gonna look at the world and maybe say, is this a way to find meaning? Is this a way to find fulfillment? And every single time it may give the appearance that that's what you need. You're a single person who just needs to get married and then you'll be joyful and fulfilled. You're, you know, married and you think, once I have kids, I'll be fulfilled. Or you're currently working as a low-level manager and if I'm an owner of a company, then I'm fulfilled. but none of those things can bring true fulfillment. It gives the appearance, it kind of makes sense in our minds as humans that, oh yeah, if I had those things, I mean, if I just had enough money to never worry about it again, then surely I would be fulfilled. And even though we all know the statistics, we all know that winning the lottery doesn't make you happy, we still go, maybe it would. And Paul's going, no, you know better, and it appears that way, but only because your flesh longs for those things. But you need to be reminded, actually, you can find everything you need for your salvation and for your spiritual growth. You're maturing in Christ, in Christ, because he's in you the hope of glory. And beyond that, you can also find in Christ the motivation and the need for what it is to call others to discipleship, because it's him we proclaim, verse 28, It's not something extra. It's not to some external standard. It's not to say we don't have things that work themselves out as fruit or there's a right way to live for Christ as scripture demands, but it all flows from Christ and his person, that it's him we proclaim. This isn't a club with a, you know, we just gotta fill out this and join the club and maybe take an oath or these things. No, we're proclaiming Christ. It's him we proclaim and it's him then we admonish every person, every man, every, person, man, woman, child, and teaching every man with all wisdom so that we may present them complete in Christ. Paul again is switched to this personal language of saying, listen, I rejoice and I get to minister. Why? Because of all that I just explained about Christ and who he is, I treasure him. I spend my life, whether in prison or whether free, whether easy, whether hard, whether I have much or whether I have little, like he says at the end of Philippians, he's saying everything, I get an opportunity, I proclaim Christ. I admonish every man, I teach every man with all wisdom. Why? Because what he wants for them, what he wants for you, is that you would be complete in Christ. That is kind of the whole ethos, the whole kind of the emotion that you get from Colossians. He wants them complete. He just doesn't want them to have kind of some skills. He wants them to have every skill you need for life complete in Christ. But that's gonna involve admonishment, it's gonna involve teaching, and it's gonna involve all wisdom, and all those things are found in Christ. That's three emphasis of how he labors. I think likewise, not only do we need those things, you need to be in the word, you need to be in church, you need to hear the word proclaimed, you need to be in relationship, whether it's discipleship with others, those who are around you who are warning and admonishing you and getting into those roles of learning and growing in Christ. But also, of course, you likewise, if you treasure Christ, are going to be passionate about those things as well. And maybe admonishment is one of those things that's probably a little bit one of those we struggle with because we don't like to be mean. I don't know. Nebraska has the phrase, Nebraska nice. I don't know. I'm sure Iowans are nice too. But you know, it's like we just like to be a little bit nice. In fact, the first pastor I worked for was from Boston. And everyone would give him a hard time and he's just like, everyone says I'm mean. I'm like, I'm from Nebraska. So I'm like, I know you're not mean, but you come across mean. And he'd always look at me like, what are you saying? And I was like, well, you kind of sound, your accent, you just say it, why don't you say it how it is? I'm like, I know, you just don't, you know, we like to talk around issues and you cut right through the middle. And sometimes though, for a pastor in his case, I go, but sometimes that's exactly what we have to do is cut through and really just tell people and admonish them and say, listen, and maybe you could do it the nice way and go, I'm not going to point it out, but you should really go to look in the mirror. Trust me. Right? Everyone's done that a few times. My wife said, just, just go look in the mirror and you'll see it. Like, okay. Thank you. Right? We need to have someone come alongside and admonish us and tell us where we are weak. Tell us where we're struggling. Tell us to see the things that we can't see. But we need to do that for others as well. Right? We need to admonish others. We need to teach them. Paul shows no partiality. I joked about it at the men's conference. My associate, Josh Sluder, all you know is a Hawkeye. And my current pastoral intern is a Hawkeye as well. So I can't believe it. But you know, they love the Lord. And so we, you know, we don't show partiality. You don't have to be a Husker fan. It's okay. Paul doesn't hear it, right? He wants every single person, everyone he meets to be complete in Christ. And that's why, like I said, the rest of Colossians, I'm not here to teach it, but you keep reading it, it's gonna keep coming back to Christ. See that, verse eight of chapter two, no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception according to the traditions of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, not according to Christ. Don't think you ever move on. Keep going back to Christ. And the way that you do that, you keep Christ ever before you because he is your supreme treasure. So treasure Christ whether in suffering or whether it is in your sanctification or your ministry to others as we're all striving to become more like Christ, to be presented complete in Christ, the heart that Paul has for every single person. And then thirdly here, we're gonna see that we are to treasure Christ in this way. We're to treasure Him faithfully or to treasure Him steadfastly. So, treasure Christ in suffering, treasure Christ in sanctification, and treasure Christ steadfastly. And why steadfastly, I will look at verse 5 in chapter 2, because he wants them to understand this is why Paul keeps trucking. That's why he keeps moving, he keeps pushing. Because he wants to rejoice when he one day sees them that they are in good order and a stable faith in Christ. Look at chapter two, verse one. Again, since Christ is our supreme treasure, we must guard against deception and remain rooted in him. Someone is going to tell you something is more valuable than Christ. Every time you probably open an internet browser or flip open your phone or you open Instagram or something of that nature, it's gonna tell you you need something more to be content and happy. You have to go back here and be reminded, oh that's right, that's what Paul told me. He told me they would try to make persuasive arguments to make me discontent. But I have to remember I have Christ, which I have the treasure that I need. Verse one of chapter two he says, for I want you to understand how great a struggle I have on your behalf for those of you who are at Laodicea and for all those who have not seen my face in the flesh. Again, Paul here is saying, I've never met you. This is one of those churches, he didn't plant it. He's never met them. He's heard really great things from Epaphras, he says in chapter one. But what I do, this ministry, the writing, the imprisonment, the going town to town and being beaten, persecuted, I struggle. I agonize for you. And all those who are in Laodicea, that area, who have not seen me. You never met me. You've never seen me in the face, in the flesh. But why? So that their hearts may be encouraged. Having been held together in love unto all the wealth and the full assurance of understanding unto the full knowledge of God's mystery that is Christ himself. Again, going back to this language of in the old It's a mystery. There's a veil. How is Christ going to reconcile sin? How is he going to be the judge and the justifier? How is he going to do that? And it's been revealed that he does it through his son. Not just a human savior, but someone who came, that God himself became a man and put flesh on and died for sinners. An infinite sacrifice for the infinite penalty that we owe. And he keeps coming back to this, that I want you to know the reason I struggle, the reason I go and do all of this ministry is because I want you to be encouraged. I think Paul gets he's an example, or even 1 Corinthians 4, the men's conference, he says we're, the apostles said we're spectacles, we get it. He's an extreme. In other words, your life probably will never be like the apostles Paul life, but that's okay. He understands his role is to be an example. But he wants you to be encouraged by that example. Why he struggles, he agonizes for this. Because he wants this to be true about them. He wants them to be held together in love. Which is also important in this because he's not just saying this isn't just about wisdom and knowledge. Right? We start to think of wisdom and knowledge and we disconnect it. We think it's intellectual. Well again for Paul, particularly for the Old Testament believer, but the New Testament too. When they talk about the heart, right? They're talking about more than the mind. They're talking about everything, kind of the center of the person, that includes the emotions. It's held together in love, even unto all the wealth and the full assurance of understanding, unto the full knowledge. Again, you get that flavor, all, full, full. Because verse 3, in whom are hidden, in Christ that is, whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Saying that's it. That's where you have everything you need. He is sufficient in every single way. It's not that you don't need to go to have lunch. He's not saying that. He's not saying that you don't need to eat today or you don't need to breathe the air. He's saying that in Christ you have everything you need spiritually. You have everything you need for the core things of life. You have fulfillment and purpose. You can be content then like Paul in every single way, whether you have a lot or you have a little, you have the supreme treasure and therefore no one can touch your contentment in him because you know you have the one in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden. And he's saying this, why though? He's saying this as not maybe even a reminder, because these people maybe have not heard this from Paul again, but he says, I want you to know there's a purpose, there's a reason I keep talking about the treasure of Christ. And that is verse four, I say it to you so that no one will dilute you with persuasive arguments. And what he's saying is that the world is going to present arguments, and he even says here, persuasive arguments. He says, they're going to come and they're going to present an argument that sounds really pretty good. That makes sense. I mean, almost as if you were to hand a young person, you know, a blank check and so say, yeah, don't worry about it. Your life's going to turn out fine if I just give you enough money. And we all know it's like, no, again, that sounds like what you want. But everyone's going, you don't give an immature person all that kind of money and freedom, or they're going to wreck their life. You don't just give, Owen's 12, you don't give him the keys to a Lamborghini and go, you'll be fine. Right? Like I've never driven before. You're gonna crash. It's gonna happen, right? He's saying, there's this thing that sounds so wonderful. You're gonna give me this, you're gonna give me that, or I'm gonna earn this. It's gonna sound persuasive. But don't be persuaded, and that's why I'm telling you to treasure Christ the way I treasure Christ, because I don't want you to be deluded with persuasive arguments. For even though I am absent in the body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit rejoicing to see your good order and the stability of your faith in Christ. So again, he kind of comes back because he doesn't know them. He's going, okay. I've heard all good things, but I think you need something more than you have in the sense I need to teach you about how to deal with these false teachers that are telling you there's some need of more than Christ. And even though I'm abstaining, he's saying I'm with you in spirit. And what he's saying is hopefully soon he's gonna see them maybe face to face and he hopes that he would rejoice with them to see that they're gonna listen. He's gonna rejoice that they're gonna remain faithful. Then he uses kind of military terms here that they would be, he's rejoicing if they would stay stable or if they would stay steadfast in good order and stable in the faith of, faith in Christ, that they would know the word, that they would know the scriptures, they would believe these things, that they would truly treasure Christ the way Paul treasures Christ. Because you notice if they do treasure Christ the way he treasures Christ, then they're not going to be caught off guard or persuaded by all these other things. And therefore, Sneaking into verse six just real quick, because I can't do it next week. So you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him. Again, he's saying what? You received Christ as what? As Savior and Lord. You received Christ as the good news of the gospel message, that you were a sinner needing a Savior. So walk, live your sanctification same way, but be firmly rooted, being built up in Him, having been established in your faith just as you were instructed and abounded with Thanksgiving. So also understand that this is where the roots need to go deep. You need to be stable in Him. You need to know the word. You need to remain in Christ and stand firm in the faith. Oftentimes, when people are blown to and fro, Ephesians uses that language in Ephesians chapter 4, you don't want to be tossed to and fro. They just don't have deep enough roots. They don't have good answers. Not able to give a defense of the hope that they have within them. And that's okay the first time. You don't know what you don't know. I can remember being in college, freshman year, and I was at a Bible college, and the Bible professor didn't believe, for example, the first book of the Bible was history. He viewed it as poetic, kind of theological fiction. And I had never been exposed to that, I guess, kind of liberal teaching before. And I was thinking, but this guy's smart, and he's eloquent, and he knows 26 languages. And I just, it was kind of like the saying, you know, I kind of had a, brought a knife to a gunfight. He had the PhD and I had nothing. I'm a 19 year old freshman. I don't know anything. And that's okay, right? We're all there at some point, but you have to start studying. You have to start knowing and going, that doesn't sound right. I think there's a theological problem with taking Genesis chapter one, two and three, not as history. And there is. You know, and I believe that God created the world in six days. But I also had to give a defense of that and understand and know those things. But that's part of being deeply rooted. And the longer you are in Christ, the longer you've seen Him be faithful to you, again, the more you treasure Him. It may be like any relationship, any marriage. You know, when I got married, I would have told you I love my wife, and I would have told you I understood love, but of course, 14 years later, I would probably look back and go, man, that was kind of, I didn't know much, right? I thought I knew what love was, but now I really understand what love is. And then I had children, I go, man, I thought I knew what love was, and now I really know what love is. And I imagine if you call me in 15 years, I'll go, man, I thought I knew what love was. And now I really know what love is. And I think the same way with Christ because you can't ever plumb the depths of Christ. You're gonna say, I love Christ and I know Christ and Christ is beautiful. And you'll go back to me 15 years ago, man, he was way more beautiful than I thought he was. Because that's the way Christ is. He is a treasure that is never ending. And so like those who sought for forest, fens, treasure, The idea, kind of a romantic idea, right, of a treasure hunt. They chased it because they wanted wealth or status or maybe they just wanted to be, I read some people, they just wanted to match in wit for wit and be clever. They wanted to be the ones who found that great treasure. They didn't care about the money so much. But the greatest treasure isn't out there hidden in Colorado or any other place. In fact, I read there's another one that someone's planning on doing, trying to get all those people into looking for it. The greatest treasure is not hidden. It is found in Christ. It's been revealed. It's no longer a mystery, right? It's been revealed in Christ. And so Paul is saying he saw it and it changed everything he did in his life. It changed the way he suffered. It changed the way he understood how to grow and become godly in Christ. And it changed ultimately his path forward and being stable. He understood that treasuring Christ changed everything about the way that he lived, which I think of course makes sense because we know from Jesus that for wherever your treasure is, right, there your heart will be also. So my encouragement to you this morning is that you put that Your hope, your treasure, not obviously just the financial, right? He's saying this is something far grander than that. It's your, the hopes and dreams of your soul, the purpose of your life. You're putting everything into treasuring Christ. And if we truly treasure Christ, you'll be surprised that there's a natural outflow in the decisions you make. They start to become easier because you go, well, because I love Christ and this makes this decision easy. You don't have to start to think through what does God want because you're treasuring Christ in that way. Let's pray. Father, if we do Truly treasure you. We do understand, Lord, that it will make a change in our hearts and our lives just as anything that we love. Help us to know that nothing compares to the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ our Lord. Encourage those here, Lord, as they even go out this week, that they have this great treasure. Perhaps they thought of themselves as not having much this morning, and I pray they leave recognizing they have the greatest treasure that has ever been. been revealed in human history because they have come to know Christ. Lord, if there are those who do not know that treasure, do not know what it is to have fulfillment and purpose in Christ, Lord, I pray for them to stir their hearts, Lord, that they would give up those things that are false, foolish gold, Lord, that give the appearance of wisdom and knowledge and purpose, but ultimately will fail, knowing that Christ is the only true, treasure that there is. Always pray for these things in your son's name. Amen.