Matthew 13:44-58: The Kingdom's Worth

Introduction

Let’s turn in our Bibles to Matthew 13:44.

Once, shortly after the Lord regenerated me at 19, I was listening to a sermon. And this sermon offended me. It offended me a lot.

You see, in this sermon the preacher was challenging a lot of my previously held beliefs. I had been told by well-meaning youth ministers from a multitude of denominational backgrounds about how crazy God was about me. About how important and special I was. Like, if God is for me (and why wouldn’t he be??), who could be against me?

But this pastor, this guy was saying that God is actually all about his own glory. The Bible and the Gospel were not about me. I am not the point.

While my name is David, I’m not King David. I’m not facing a Goliath. And in fact that story that was always said to be about me (and all the other youth who were sitting around me), is actually about Jesus. Jesus is the True and Better David who took on the great overwhelming enemies of His people (Sin, Satan, and Death) and where, then, did that leave me in the story?

As one of the cowardly Israelites who so desperately needed rescued. Not because of my Goodness, but because of the Goodness of God.

He even outlined how Jesus’ faithfulness to die on the cross was not primarily about the people he would save, it wasn’t primarily about me, but rather it was about bringing glory to God!

And let me tell you, that offended me greatly.

I was angry, but I was determined to hear it out. And as I listened to that Pastor, I heard him work through the Scriptures proving his point over and over and over again. And as the Word of God did the work of shaping my heart, my offense gradually turned to acceptance, and by the end of the sermon had turned to repentance and love for the truth being proclaimed by that faithful brother.

After 12 weeks of studying together, we are coming to the end of the third section of Matthew. After this morning we will be taking some time to focus on other books of the Bible, but we’re gonna have a season finale of sorts this morning.

We started this section back in May with the focus being on different reactions to Jesus. We saw John’s doubt, the crowds’ rejection, the Pharisees’ accusation, and today we see the final reaction

and it comes from Jesus’ hometown

and their reaction is: offense.

But these chapters were not only showing reactions to Jesus, they also contained stories that Jesus told about why they were reacting the way they were.

There was the parable of the sower or the parable of the soils. Where the seed of the good news of the kingdom of heaven was cast on four different soils

Then there was the parable of the weeds, where weeds grew up among the wheat and though the owner allowed them to grow together, at the time of the harvest the weeds were separated from the wheat and the weeds were cast into the fire.

There was also, then, a couple of short parables of the mustard seed and the leavened bread, showing that though the kingdom appears small and insignificant, it grows in unexpected ways until it permeates everything! So don’t doubt what appears to be the small things of God!

In the verses we are about to read, Jesus continues telling a few more parables, some familiar, some less so, and the idea of the worth of the kingdom and the kinds of teaching Jesus expects from his disciples.

So let’s read Matthew 13 together this morning

Matthew 13:44–58 ESV

44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. 45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46 who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. 47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. 48 When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 51 “Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” 52 And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” 53 And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there, 54 and coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? 55 Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” 57 And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” 58 And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.

This is a word from the Lord!

The beginning of this passage has a series of parables (44-52)

And let’s start with the first two

1. The Worth of the Kingdom

The Treasure in the Field (44)

The kingdom of heaven is like a hidden treasure that was stumbled upon in a field

Now this was more common in some senses than you would imagine for this time

There were no banks in the ancient near east so people would hide their valuables by burying them underground.

The man who found it sold everything so that he could get the land because what he found was worth so much more than what he was leaving behind!

The Pearl of Great Price (45-46)

Similarly the kingdom of heaven is like someone who is searching for a pearl of incredible value

Pearls were the most luxurious of jewels in the ancient near east and sometimes were worth the equivalent of millions of dollars

In this case, the treasure was not accidentally found, it was sought out earnestly.

Two different people who come across a great treasure in two different ways, and yet, what was their response?

They both saw the overwhelming value of the treasure they found,

they counted the cost (Luke 14:28), realizing that it would cost everything that they had in order to obtain that treasure, and then they gave up everything in order to get that one treasure!

2. The Coming Judgement for those who reject the kingdom (47-50)

The Net and the Separating of Fishes (47-50)

Basically a repeat of the parable of the weeds

At the end of the age God will judge righteously and remove all evildoers and the effects of evil!

The Lord blessed me with the opportunity to share the Gospel with a young woman at first friday a couple nights ago. And I told her that Jesus will one day destroy all the wickedness in the world and you know what she said?

“That’s scary”

Because she recognized the truth that she too would be destroyed! So I have prayed for her to turn to Christ and trust in him alone because right now she is bound and dead in sin, still an enemy to God! But that is grounds for me to weep for her! Not to be hoping for her demise! Not to ridicule and mock.

Because, my goodness, what has God saved me from? The exact same thing! I am no better than she. I am no better than those who mock Christ and Christians.

It is by the grace of God alone that I have been saved, not because of anything I have done. We have no room for boasting or feelings of superiority because it is Jesus Christ alone who did what was necessary for our salvation. Not us. And it is Jesus Christ alone who can and will save people, even his own enemies!

But we don’t like that idea because it interrupts our offense and outrage. And if we’re being honest, that ability to act on our offense - to spread rumors by sharing a picture, to proclaim our outrage to others, to hear them tell us “you’re right! You should go fight back!” - acting on our offense feels really, really good.

But God reserves the right to condemn for himself. His followers have no such right.

Jesus commands his followers to love even their enemies. To even pray for those for persecute them. And he was telling this to the people who willingly laid down their lives for the sake of Christ and his Gospel. When have we ever faced a hatred of that magnitude as Christians?

3. The Great Responsibility (51-52)

Jesus then tells one more parable about scribes.

Now, Scribes were teachers of the Law, meaning the Law of Moses

They taught from the Torah, which is the first five books of the Old Testament

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy

So what then is Jesus saying in this parable?

That his followers who have been raised up as teachers for the kingdom of heaven, those who have been taught the things of Christ!, have a responsibility to bring forth treasure from both the New and the Old Testaments, because they have been shown the treasure of that house! They are in the position of being able to see all the promises God made throughout all the ancient history of Israel and to see how he kept those promises in Jesus!

Teaching has always been an essential part of the Church and the responsibility of Christian teachers is great because the treasure set before them is great!

The responsibility of Christian teachers is to showcase and enjoy and invite others to enjoy the treasures of God from throughout history!

And I hope to do just that when we start our series in the Minor Prophets next week!

Oh, what treasure we miss when our focus is only on the New Testament. But that’s next week.

The Response of Jesus’ Hometown: Offense (53-58)

So after completing his teachings and his parables that occupied most of these chapters, Jesus returns to his hometown and begins teaching them and they were astonished at his teachings!

But not in a good way.

They began asking questions that essentially equated to, “who does this guy think he is? Does he think he’s better than us? I grew up with him! I went to school with him! His family are still our neighbors? Who is he to say these things to us?”

And verse 57 says that they took offense at him.

That old saying that “familiarity breeds contempt” has a lot of truth to it.

For many of you, you know you have a past. And you have many relationships (friends, family, lovers) from that past who did not become Christians when you did.

And how did they respond when you started to become convicted and then repented of the sin that you once enjoyed together?

Were they happy for you? Probably not.

They were probably offended that you were being led by God out of your sin. And then, if you confronted them on their sin and called for them to repent? How did they respond?

They probably asked some similar questions of you that Jesus’ hometown asked of him.

“Who do you think you are? I know the real you, and you are no saint!”

Jesus and his good news are offensive.

But they’re not just offensive to “all the sinners out there”

So often, we can get so familiar with Jesus, thinking that he thinks and acts just like us, that when we are confronted with his actual words and teachings, they’re offensive to us.

When Jesus calls you to lovingly submit to him and his word contained in the Bible, you think “Sure! I can do that!”

But then what does Jesus require in submission? Is it just the stuff that is blatantly sinful?

Or does he require the submitting your own cultural, sexual, political, familial, financial, whatever else you can think of! opinions and thoughts?

Does he require that you submit your offenses to him? When someone mocks or attacks you for being a Christian does Jesus demand you stand and fight? Or does he demand something that takes far more strength? Self-control and forgiveness.

In case you don’t know, Jesus says it’s the second one.

“Turn the other cheek,” “Love your enemies,” “Pray for those who persecute you”

All of these are loved to be expounded as great virtue, but how did our hearts respond to the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Paris the other week?

How many times over the past couple of weeks have you responded in anger and offense over what appeared to be a mockery of Christianity?

In the Old Testament, in Ecc 7:21-22 we read some advice on not taking curses and mockery to heart.

Ecclesiastes 7:21–22 ESV

21 Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. 22 Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others.

So how many times have you submitted to Christ’s teachings and prayed for the men who dressed up as women for the image? And not imprecatory prayers that God would destroy them! Prayers that God would save them from their slavery to sin!

Don’t you realize that the very people you are loving to be angry with are the same people who are bound and dead in sin! They need the saving work of the Good News, our care and compassion, not our hatred!

Paul reminds us, very clearly of our own need for that same Good News in

Ephesians 2:1–7 (ESV)

1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, you were following the course of this world, you were following the prince of the power of the air, the same spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, he made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages, [in the Kingdom of Heaven] he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

The Kingdom of Heaven contains immeasurable riches that make it worth everything! But what are those riches? Again, look at Eph 2:7

The grace and kindness of God in Christ Jesus!

The Kingdom of Heaven is worth giving up everything! Even our offense!

And this concept of being willing to give up everything is not only seen in the teachings of Jesus in this passage!

We see it first and foremost in Jesus’ own willingness to give up His life to redeem his people to his kingdom in Heaven!

Though Jesus cried out to the Father, “if it’s possible to redeem my people in any other way, let the cup of your wrath pass me by!” (Matt 26:39)

He did not give up! He had counted the cost of seeing and enacting the Kingdom of Heaven and He found it to be worth everything!

And now, because Jesus bore the wrath of God for his people on the cross, those who believe in him and turn away from their sin and toward Christ are brought into the kingdom of heaven!

Jesus’ suffering and loss is what wins our greatest treasure: our salvation and invitation into the Kingdom!

But this willingness to suffer the loss of everything, because of Jesus the Christ and His Kingdom, is not just seen in Jesus. It is seen in the Apostles too!

In Acts 5:40-41 the apostles were arrested for proclaiming Christ and they were nearly killed, then and there, but instead they were simply beaten. Hear their response to their suffering.

Acts 5:40–41 ESV

40 and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41 Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.

Paul then has this to say in Philippians 3:7-11 about his own losses for the sake of Christ.

Philippians 3:7–11 ESV

7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

This wasn’t just Paul and the apostles who felt this way! Tradition tells us that all except one of the disciples were executed for the sake of Christ!

They were persecuted and driven from their homes!

They traveled the world to tell people the good news of the kingdom of Heaven, giving up everything they had!

And then, they were crucified, boiled alive in oil, beheaded, dismembered, burned as torches for one sick emperor’s entertainment.

And they rejoiced in their affliction!

And throughout the millennia there have been millions of people who have counted the cost upon finding the treasure of the kingdom of Heaven! From the first century to the twenty-first century! And it wasn’t just men!

Early in the second century (around 110 AD), there was a letter written by a provincial governor called Pliny the Younger to the Roman Emperor Trajan. And in this letter, Pliny is seeking wisdom on how he should be acting against this new sect called Christianity.

His letter is written as a politician making sure he is covering himself properly to avoid any trouble from his boss. He outlines what he has been doing to try to curb Christianity and talks about many who were quick to disassociate with Christianity after being threatened. They had not been truthful with themselves about counting the cost of following Christ. Pliny writes:

An anonymous document was published containing the names of many persons accused of being Christians. Those who denied that they were or had been Christians, invoked the gods in words given by me, offered prayer with incense and wine to your image, which I had ordered to be brought for this purpose together with statues of the gods, and moreover cursed Christ--none of which those who are really Christians, it is said, can be forced to do--these I thought should be discharged. Others named by the informer declared that they were Christians, but then denied it, asserting that they had been but had ceased to be, some three years before, others many years, some as much as twenty-five years. They all worshipped your image and the statues of the gods, and cursed Christ.

But just a little bit later he details what he did with two Christian women he found, who did not turn away from Christ. He wrote:

I judged it all the more necessary to find out what the truth was by torturing two female slaves who were called deaconesses. But I discovered nothing else but depraved, excessive superstition.

Another example from the second century is Ignatius of Antioch who, in his letter to the Roman Christians, pleaded that they let him die for the sake of Christ. That they withhold their love for him in the flesh so that he might be counted worthy of suffering for Christ!

Hear part of his letter!

It is not my desire to act towards you as a man-pleaser, but as pleasing God, just as you are pleasing to Him.

I shall never again have an opportunity like this one of going to God; and you will never be given the honor of a greater work than staying silent on my behalf. For if you are silent concerning me, I shall become God's; however if you show your love to my flesh, I will have to continue running my race.

Please, then, do not look to give me any greater favor than allowing me to be a sacrifice to God while the altar is ready for me. And when you gather together in love, you may sing praise to the Father, through Christ Jesus, that God has deemed me, the bishop of Syria, worthy to be sent for, from the east unto the west. It is good to leave from this world and go to God, that I may rise again to Him...

I shall willingly die for God, unless you hinder me. I plead with you to not show an unseasonable good-will towards me. Allow me to become food for the wild beasts, through whose instrumentality it will be granted to me to finally be with God...

Pray to Christ for me, that by these instruments, the wild beasts, I may be found a sacrifice to God!

… I am a condemned man, a slave in chains. But when I suffer, I shall be the freed-man of Jesus, and shall rise again emancipated in Him.

More recently, we have Nabeel Qureshi who recounted his journey out of Islam and into Christianity in his 2014 book, “Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus.” He speaks of his love for his family and how much he cherished being Muslim, and how all of that would be lost if he chose to follow Christ.

And he chose Christ over everything. Nabeel passed away from an aggressive cancer in 2017, but through it all he chose to follow Christ and he traveled the world as an apologist representing Jesus and openly rejecting Islam, and by extension, the family that he loved so much.

He writes:

“Would it be worth it to pick up my cross and be crucified next to Jesus? If He is not God, then, no. Lose everything I love to worship a false God? A million times over, no! But if He is God, then yes. Being forever bonded to my Lord by suffering alongside Him? A million times over, yes!”

“All suffering is worth it to follow Jesus. He is that amazing.”

The stories of those who have discovered the treasure of Heaven and gave away everything, every affiliation, every treasure, even their own life!, are unable to be numbered.

I wish I had time to tell you more! Of Jonathan Chau, the 26 year old who gave his life in 2018 trying to bring the gospel to an extremely isolated tribe. Of Elisabeth Elliot who went and lived among the Ecuadorian tribe who killed her husband and in so doing was instrumental in seeing that tribe become Christians! Of Serge and Anna, who are even today nearly in the middle of a warzone and nearly at the time of the birth of their first child, and yet have no inkling of running away from the position God has placed them in! And oh, how I wish God would tell them it’s time to leave! And yet, I’m helping finance them to stay!

Because the Kingdom of Heaven is worth everything!

My money, my friends, my family, my opinions, my comforts, my job, my life. It is worth it all.

I will close with this quote from C. S. Lewis

It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

Choose today what the kingdom is worth to you, count the cost, because Jesus does not accept half-hearted disciples.

But I don’t care what you’re gonna have to give up. It’s worth it. Don’t be too easily pleased by lesser pleasures than the ultimate pleasure of being redeemed to your creator and stepping into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Let’s Pray

Time of Response