The Parable of the Hidden Treasure
Notes
Transcript
Stories of the Kingdom
The Story of the Hidden Treasure
Today we find ourselves back in the gospel of Matthew 13. In this chapter of Matthew, we have been looking at the kingdom parables of Jesus. Or the stories of what the Kingdom would look like. This time frame of the last 2,000 years since our Lord ascended into heaven and his second Coming.
And i hope that you have been challenged and encouraged over the last few weeks as we have examined these different stories. I know i have been.
So far, we have this beautiful picture that Jesus has painted of what the kingdom will be like.
The already, but not yet fulfillment of the kingdom of heaven.
It starts with a beautiful planting from our heavenly father, who scatters his word all throughout the world. And when that seed lands on good soil, it takes root and produces a harvest. But he also taught us that this planting of seed would also take place by scattering his children all over the world, and we are to be his agents for growing the kingdom of heaven…producing a crop of wheat. But there has also been another planting, and this one was done by the enemy of our souls and he has planted his darnel, these false teachings and ideologies that act a whole lot like wheat. Then we looked at the story of the mustard seed and how there would be an unnatural growth of the church, and we need to be on the guard from the birds of prey who would seek to destroy those of the kingdom. And then last week we looked at the story of the yeast, and we talked about how this yeast is not a good thing, but rather we need to be on the guard from the sin that can creep into our lives and destroy the fellowship that we have with God and one another. And that brings us to today…
So to set the stage for Jesus’ story today, we have to read a little context.
So turn with me to Matthew starting with verse 34-35.
34 Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. 35 So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”
So these next 3 stories are all shared with only his disciples. Not the crowd. These 3 go into even more depth about what will transpire through history before Jesus’ second coming.
And today we are at the story of the hidden treasure.
The Story of the Hidden Treasure
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.
Now I’ve preached and taught this passage a few times in my ministry and most of the time I’ve taught it like this…
The kingdom of heaven is a treasure that was hidden in this world. And once we come across it, it is worth us selling everything, counting the cost and following Jesus.
But going through this series I could not help if I got it wrong… I mean when we start to look at the symbolism that Jesus used throughout these stories…it made me wonder if I had missed it before, even if it was just a little bit.
It made me wonder if I have misread the text because before I didn’t take into account the contextual and cultural things. And while that may be a good message…that the kingdom is worth us giving our lives to…
I think that still is a possibility of the interpretation but I also want to offer another one tonight.
Let’s explore the story…
First let’s go over the things we know because this is a series of stories all in the same sermon, or the same teaching. Therefore the illustrations, the symbology remains the same throughout each story.
And therefore we know that the man in this parable is none other than Jesus himself.
Well just that fact changes the meaning of the last sermon I preached. Because in the last sermon I preached on this passage I related the man to us.
The Man- Jesus is the man. He is the one was walking through the field and came upon the hidden treasure.
The Field- The World
But here we have Jesus walking through humanity and he comes upon a treasure that had been hidden.
So the question we need to wrestle with is What is the treasure?
The Treasure- What is the Treasure?
The Treasure
This is where it is so imperative that we let the bible interpret the bible.
Where else does the bible talk about treasure?
Invite responses?
- Jesus said, do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth but rather in heaven…
Exodus 19:5- Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me.
Deuteronomy 7:6 “For you are a holy people, who belong to the Lord your God. Of all the people on earth, the Lord your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure.”
Deuteronomy 14:2 “You have been set apart as holy to the Lord your God, and he has chosen you from all the nations of the earth to be his own special treasure.”
Malachi 3:17 “They will be my people,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “On the day when I act in judgment, they will be my own special treasure. I will spare them as a father spares an obedient child.”
The kingdom isn’t the treasure. The kingdom is like a treasure that is buried. This kingdom of heaven that we find ourselves being a part of…which is already but yet still to come has a hidden treasure within it, and that hidden treasure is none other than the nation of Israel itself. A nation that God blessed and said they are his special treasure…his holy nation. A nation that was not only blessed with a special relationship with God, but a special location from God and a special calling from God.
And so now we understand this story to read like this…
“The kingdom of heaven is where Jesus was walking through humanity when he came across God’s special treasure, the nation Israel.”
So now our attention has to turn to the point of the story. What did Jesus do with this treasure and the field?
We are going to look at the 3 actions that take place in the story.
#1) He discovered the treasure… Matthew 15:24
Jesus came to the lost sheep of Israel…
When our Lord came into the world and came to Israel he found that this treasure had been lost to the world. For more than four hundred years Israel had been an obscure, tiny little nation. There was no voice of God in their midst, no prophet speaking forth from God. The nation's glory was gone. It was now subject to the Romans, crushed under the heel of an iron-hearted oppressor. And our Lord found the nation in bondage, the temple overrun with moneychangers, commercial charlatans making a fast buck by preying upon the worship of the people. He found poverty and misery stalking the land.
When he found it, what did he do? He uncovered it. That is the story of the gospels. He revealed for a brief flash of time the glory that was Israel. He declared it in great messages like the Sermon on the Mount. And then he demonstrated it by healing the multitudes, by driving the moneychangers out of the temple, by feeding the thousands with bread and fish, and by rebuking death and evil everywhere he went. In the short course of the three and a half years of our Lord's ministry he uncovered the treasure of Israel, the secret of this nation's life.
But you know what happened. The nation would not have it, would not have him, and they rejected him. So according to the parable he hid the treasure again. You cannot read the Gospel stories without seeing that there came a time in our Lord's ministry when he began to change his message and turn away from the proclamation that the kingdom of heaven was at hand, that he was there in their midst. As opposition began to mount against him and resistance to his message increased, our Lord withdrew from Jerusalem and went out into the desert. He refused to go into the capital city again until his appointed hour had come. And the crowds who had followed him, the multitudes who had hung upon his words faded away. "Many turned back," the record says, "and no longer walked with him," (John 6:66).
#2) He hid it again… (Matthew 21:42-43)
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
“‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’[h]?
“Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.”
In the book of Romans…the Apostle Paul brings to light this concept.
11 Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. 12 But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring! 13 I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry 14 in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. 15 For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
Jesus had a reason for hiding the treasure again. He desired to do something so much bigger than just find the treasure…He desired to reconcile all of humanity unto himself AND fulfill the promise he made to the nation of Israel…so he…
I was so impressed this week at my wife’s amazing performance of Lydia, the seller of purple cloth
#3) He purchased the field. (Hebrews 12:2)
- Finder’s keepers. But that wasn’t good enough.
He went to the next level and sold everything he had in order to purchase the field.
He gave everything to purchase salvation for the entire world.
The word says…in his excitement. In the joy and elation he went and sold everything he owned so that he might buy the entire field in which the treasure was hidden.
It wasn’t enough for the Lord to just claim his treasure.
His special possession…he desires to fulfill the promise that he made to his people as well.
Genesis 12:1-3 Abraham’s promise
1 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. 2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
3 Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham.
All nations shall be blessed through you.
And so even though Christ came to seek and save the lost sheep of Israel…
In his excitement… those words echo what the writer of Hebrews so elaborately expounds upon when he writes…
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Jesus purchased the field, so both the treasure and the field belong to him.
And anyone who wishes to be a part of the kingdom of heaven all they must do is simply believe in the one in whom the Bible claims was sinless. That he offered himself, he gave everything he had in order to purchase salvation.
On that cross the son of God gave himself.
2 Corinthians 5:21
For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
Romans Road to Salvation
Share Bear’s One Page Bible
But there is also another point to this story for the church today, and it has to do with the hidden treasure and the part we play in it’s recovery.
Application:
“If you love the Jewish people, then what better way is there to show it than by embracing your close church-relationship with the Savior of the world, and thereby fulfilling your part in God’s plan to bring salvation to the Jews?” - Amir Tsarfati in The Day Approaching
If we are not living into the fullness of our communion with Jesus, we will miss out on bringing salvation to the Jewish people. See it’s our relationship with God that should arouse jealousy within the treasured nation.
And so how is your relationship with Jesus? Is it deep and flourishing. Are you producing the fruit that Jesus promised he would give to the church, as he has taken it away from the nation of Israel?
“Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.”
Let’s pray…