Give Together: Men's Bible Study

Introduction and Scripture

Matthew 13:44–46 NIV

44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. 45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

What are parables?

Many would say that parables are “Earthly stories with heavenly meaning.” —> WRONG

These are about life now

“Kingdom of God” versus “Kingdom of Caesar”

Definition: A familiar metaphor to teach something unfamiliar

Wes Allen: A parable is a narrative metaphor, drawn from nature or common life, which arrests the hearer by its vividness or strangeness and leaves the mind in sufficient doubt about its precise interpretation or application to tease it into active thought even to the point of altering one’s world-view.

So let’s ask some questions of this text just as an exercise:

What is the kingdom of God (heaven)?

What is the man in the field doing?

What is a merchant?

Why pearls?

Why sell everything?

Are they buying the kingdom?

Background of the story: it was common for people to bury treasure in their fields. If they were going to travel (which could take months for a pilgrimage) of go to war. They would bury their treasure out in their land. This was common enough that this story would make sense to the listener. This man would be someone who works the field. Probably a hired hand that does not have much to his name

Merchants: they would have more capital but this is still a working position that they would understand.

Kingdom of Heaven:

Definition: Kingdom of God (Heaven). The sovereign rule of God, initiated by Christ’s earthly ministry and to be consummated when “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ” (Rv 11:15).

Revelation 11:15 NIV

15 The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever.”

According to the testimony of the first three Gospels the proclamation of the kingdom of God was Jesus’ central message. Matthew summarizes the Galilean ministry with the words, “And he went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every infirmity among the people” (Mt 4:23).[1]

Matthew’s gospel is the only one that has kingdom of heaven interchangeably with kingdom of God. The primary reason is kingdom of heaven is a semitic statement. The jewish audience would connect with this.

Now, it is interesting that Jesus shares these parables and equate them to the kingdom of God. God’s rule and reign here on earth is like “a man who finds treasure in a field, and a merchant that finds a great pearl worth more than any others.”

This is peculiar and something we should question. How is it that the kingdom of God is the same as these two men giving up everything for the sake of something else?

The parables:

A man working in a field, perhaps going about his job while planting crops uncovers something invaluable. We do not know what exactly it is, but what we do know is that the man immediately sees that it is worth everything. It would take something incredible to bury this treasure and walk away, and in joy sell everything in order to buy the field. For an ancient sharecropper this would mean literally selling everything. And then he returns and buys the field.

Now the merchant is also going about his work. He goes looking for fine pearls, for something that will improve his livelihood. He is looking for a payday so that he can get Christmas shopping done. A middle-man merchant is someone looking for capital to sell and make more money. These pearls would be sold to the wealthy, much as we can relate to. However, he finds a pearl that you cannot sell, in fact he sells everything in order to keep it.

Finding the Kingdom:

There is a temptation to read these parables and think these guys bought the kingdom. But that is pressing the parables too far. And we know from Jesus that the kingdom cannot be bought or earned.

The man’s joy leads him to go off and buy the field, even though this means that he must first sell all he has. Jesus is not saying that a man may buy his way into the kingdom; that would fly in the face of all his teaching. The selling of all he has is rather a way of bringing out the truth that one should count all well lost for the sake of the kingdom. It may not appear to be riches from the world’s point of view, but membership in the kingdom has superlative value.[2]

The kingdom is found by some searching and by others who stumbled across it.

The first man seems to nearly trip over the treasure. He is not looking for it.

The kingdom of God surprises some.

The second man is looking for a betterment. He is trying to find something. What he finds is not what he expected.

The kingdom of God is sometimes an answer to those that are searching. Though not sure what they are looking for.

Finding the treasure is not the same as owning the treasure

Notice in both stories, simply finding the treasure in the field, or the pearl, does not immediately equal owning it. It takes reorienting all of life to own the treasure.

“The kingdom is a treasure, and those who really believe it will sacrifice everything in their lives for the kingdom agendas.”

This is not buying the kingdom, but it is rather receiving the kingdom of God by letting go of everything else that holds value in our hearts.

So then, the Kingdom of God….the place where God rules and reigns, becomes present in the life of the individual that gives God everything.

Some have stumbled across the treasure but they have not experienced “Thy kingdom come,” because we are still holding onto something.

Come on church, some of us have seen the kingdom, we have gotten a taste but we have not reoriented our lives in such a way that allows God to reign!

I wonder what incredible things happen in the life of the farmer, and the merchant? Is it financial gain and success? Probably not. Is it comfort? No they just got rid of their only worldly comfort. Is it a life of joy and sacrifice? What if they allowed God to have everything in their life? I wonder what happened in their life?

The beautiful thing about these parables is that the answer is not there. Its opened ended, inviting us to imagine and dream about what it looks like in our own lives.

We have to allow God to do something extraordinary through us

· This is not allowing God to do something extraordinary….he will without us. But this is allowing God to do something incredible in us and through us.

· And before God can do something extraordinary through us, God has to do something extraordinary in us.

[1]Ladd, G. E. (1988). Kingdom of God (Heaven). In Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (Vol. 2, p. 1269). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House. [2]Morris, L. (1992). The Gospel according to Matthew (p. 360). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.

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