"Treasure" Matthew 13c Sep 1 2024

Matthew 13:44-58

Intro and Scripture

Good morning!

We continue our look at the Gospel of Matthew

Today, we will finish Chapter 13

Chapter 13 has 58 verses - more verses than any other chapter in Matthew

Jesus closes this chapter with 4 very short parables

I want to focus on two of them:

The Parable of the Hidden Treasure

The Parable of the Pearl of Great Value

Beginning in verse 44:

Matthew 13:44–46 ESV

“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. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

(Pray…)

Before we get into these two parables, let me quickly go over the remaining part of the chapter:

The Parable of the Net

New and Old Treasures

And then finally:

Jesus is Rejected at Nazareth

Parable of the Net

In the Parable of the Net Jesus compares his kingdom to a large net that was thrown into the sea

And it catches “fish of every kind”

And when it became full, the men bring the net to shore with all of the fishes

And once they had it on the shore, they separate the good fish from the bad - and throw away the bad fish

Jesus gives his summary to this parable by saying:

English Standard Version Chapter 13

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.

This parable is like the Parable of the Weeds that we looked at earlier

In that parable, there is a field where the Master plants good seed - and those seeds grow up to produce grain

But the enemy comes and plants weeds among the good wheat

The parable concludes that the master allows those weeds to remain until the last days - the harvest time

During the harvest, the reapers are told to gather the weeds into bundles first and have them burned

But the wheat will be gathered into the Master’s barn

In both parables, Jesus is teaching that there is a hell waiting for the weeds and of the bad fish

Notice that in the beginning of both parables, the good and bad fish are together - and the wheat and the weeds are together

That is where we are today

Both good and bad fish are together in the world

Good and bad fish are in the church today

But in the last days, there will be a separation - the bad fish will burn in hell and the good fish will be with Jesus forever

New and Old Treasures

Then, starting in verse 51, Jesus says this:

Matthew 13:51–52 ESV

“Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” 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.”

To his disciples, Jesus is basically saying that if you understand all of these things, then you need to teach all of these things

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

Then we come to the last section of Matt 13 - where Jesus is rejected in his home town of Nazareth

The Bible says he left that area and returned to his hometown and began teaching in his hometown synagogue

When he teaches them, they begin to ask many questions:

Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? 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?

And are not all his sisters with us?

Where then did this man get all these things?”

Based on these questions, you would think that these people from his hometown would be impressed by the pure wisdom of Jesus

You would think they would have given him a homecoming parade

You would think they would worship him because they knew him so well

But in verse 57, it says they took offense at him

They couldn’t grasp who Jesus truly was

Perhaps, like the Pharisees, they were jealous

And Jesus replies by saying, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.”

And then it says he did very few mighty works because of their unbelief

Parables of the Hidden Treasure and of the Pearl of Great Price

Now I want to come back to the two parables we read earlier

In the first parable, we learn about a man who discovers a treasure hidden in a field

He’s joyful about the buried treasure - so he sells all he has to buy the field

The man keeps to ethical standards

He does not steal the treasure

He goes and buys the field itself

Not because the field is worth much, but because of the treasure he found

If you buy real estate, you are entitled to everything on that land

Notice it says he sells everything in order to buy that field

In the next parable, we find a merchant who is in search of fine pearls

And one day he finds a pearl of great price

Again, we see in this parable that the merchant sells everything he has to buy that pearl

Both the man in the field and the merchant recognize something of extreme value

Enough value that both of them give up everything they had to buy the field - and to buy the pearl

Questions:

Who is the man in the field?

Who is the merchant?

Why are these items so valuable that it’s necessary to sell all possessions just to own those things?

What is the treasure?

What is the pearl of great value?

Here is what I used to think - and this interpretation is held by many people:

Both the man in the field and the merchant represent us

We are in search of God’s kingdom

And when we find God’s kingdom, we realize just how valuable it is

So we sell our entire lives to obtain this kingdom

And this is the Gospel - that we are searching for God, and we find him in Jesus - and we give up everything we have for eternal life

That’s what I used to say

I used to ask questions like, “Do you know how valuable the kingdom of heaven is? And are you willing to sell everything to obtain it?”

That’s what I used to think until I started giving this great thought

For one, where in the Bible does it say that wretched sinners are searching for God?

Where does it say we’re looking for salvation?

The Psalmist says, and Paul says, “None is righteous - not one. No one understands; no one seeks for God”

The Bible says we don’t seek after God

The other problem with my earlier assessment is that the kingdom is not hidden

The Gospel is not hidden - it is proclaimed freely

Remember the story of the sower?

The sower indiscriminately throws the seed of the Gospel anywhere and everywhere

The kingdom of God is not something hidden

That kind of theology is pagan religion

That the true treasure is something hidden within you

If you only meditate and do these things over and over

Then you will discover the hidden treasure within yourself

That’s not biblical theology!

That’s human garbage

Third reason I changed my mind on this:

The kingdom of heaven is not something we buy

Salvation is a free gift

Ephesians says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is a gift of God...”

We don’t buy the kingdom of heaven

We don’t buy salvation

So, what is the treasure in the field? What is the pearl of great price?

Ready? - It’s you

More accurately, the Church

The only thing that’s buried was us when we were buried with Jesus by baptism into death - so says Romans 6 -

But we have now been raised in newness of life with Christ

Part of what Jesus did on earth was to usher in the Church Age - which fully becomes active in the Book of Acts

But Jesus paved the way for his Church

First Corinthians 6 and 7 say that you were bought with a price

It says twice that you were bought with a price

Doesn’t this sound like Jesus is the man in the field who gave everything to buy that field?

Doesn’t this sound like Jesus is the merchant who discovered the pearl of great price and gave up everything to but that pearl?

Ephesians says we were dead in our trespasses and sins - how could we possibly buy the kingdom of heaven?

If this interpretation is correct, there’s a mystery here

Who am I that God considers me his treasure?

What have we done to deserve this?

The answer is nothing!

That’s the essence of the Gospel

We did nothing - God did it all for us

“but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” - so says Paul in Romans

This doesn’t make sense

In a way, the Gospel doesn’t make sense - that’s why man alone could not have written the Bible

Christ died for us while we were sinners? While we were in rebellion?

Christ actually died for us when we wanted nothing to do with him??

How are we God’s treasure?

We are God’s treasure because he loves us

Whatever God loves is by default a treasure

That doesn’t mean that I understand all of this

Ephesians 2:4–7 (ESV)

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

I think when we get to heaven, it will take all of eternity to understand his love for us

God gave his son, Jesus to pay that price on the cross

Even John 3:16 says that God so loved the world that he gave his only Son

He freely offers eternal life

That’s the essence of the Gospel

Jesus gave everything for us - so that through faith, we can have eternal life

By the way, there is evidence that pearls were not considered valuable by the Jews in ancient times

But if the pearl represents the Church, then it makes sense - because Israel wasn’t expecting the church

No one was expecting God’s son to come and establish his Church

A pearl is like the Church

Other gems, like diamonds, rubies, and emeralds are cut into shape

But there is a completeness to pearls - they are not cut into smaller pieces - they are whole

Like the church that can’t be divided

A pearl is a great representation of the church

The church is the bride of Jesus

And Jesus sold everything he had to gain his bride, the church

He gave his life on the cross

This doesn’t elevate us - it glorifies God!

This ought to cause us to give him all praise, honor, and glory

The fact that Jesus gave everything on the cross to win us over to himself, should change the way in which we think of communion

Jesus found us, the treasure - buried in the sinful world

He went and joyfully sold everything he had to give us eternal life

In the Book of Ruth, Boaz is a type of Christ - he is the redeemer of Ruth

Boaz represent Christ in the story

and Ruth represents sinners

Ruth was a Moabite - and seemed worthless to others

In the story, Boaz literally bought a field - and when he bought that field, part of the deal was that he had to take Ruth as his bride

We are like Ruth, who was a Gentile - her people were enemies of Israel

Jesus bought the field we were in in order to win redeem his Church as his Bride

Jesus is also the merchant, in search of fine pearls - and then he found us - as his Church, a pearl of great price

And he went and sold everything on a cross at Calvary in order to buy his Church

This is why we have communion - to remember the price that was paid

As sinners, we have no ability to sell anything of any value in order to purchase the kingdom of heaven

Jesus did it all for us - that’s the Gospel

(Pray…)

Communion

Matthew 26:26–28 ESV

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Luke 22:19–20 ESV

And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 ESV

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.