Teachings of Jesus: A Treasure Worth Having

Intro

Prayer | Welcome | Turn to Matthew 13:44-46 |

Opening Illustration: John Steinbeck wrote a Novella titled the Pearl. In the story, the protagonist finds a pearl of great value but as the story progress misfortune is all that follows that great pearl. At the end of the story, after the loss of his son, he and his wife cast the great pearl into the ocean deeming that the pearl only brings more problems than it’s worth.

Unlike the Pearl of Steinbeck’s work, I want to talk to you about a Treasure worth having.

If you have found your place in Matthew 13:44 would you say word?

It says,

Matthew 13:44–46 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.

1. The kingdom of God is worth the sacrifice.

Hidden Treasure

The kingdom of heaven is like “treasure hidden in a field.”

The first established bank was around 1472. However, the first American bank was established in 1791. While we might not know anything about a world without banks. The people at the time of Jesus’ ministry on earth, knew nothing about a world with banks.

The common practice for people in this day and age was to take their most valuable belongings and hide them from other people. It might be in a jar, or a wooden box or a cloth. But they would take their valuables that they wanted protected put them in the protective object and then they would bury them.

Just imagine, you are getting payed, fairly well, you have excess money and instead of taking it to the bank and later being able to go to an ATM machine and withdraw cash, or swipe your debit card at the store, you would have to take that extra coin, fashion an object to protect it from the dirt, weather, and from being lost in the soil. After all, there were no metal detectors. Then you would find a spot, on your land, where you could secretly bury it. So you might wait until the dark of night, when everyone is sleeping and bury it then. If you need it, then you’d have to go and dig it up.

It was not a as easy as our banking system today, nor was it as protective.

So, when Jesus says the kingdom of God is like a hidden treasure. The people would have immediately understood that Jesus was saying that this is a valuable possession.

“which a man found and covered up”

Picture this, you are walking out in the field maybe using a property as a short cut, and as you travel you notice something sticking up just a bit out of the ground. You venture over and there is a wooden box sticking up out of the ground. You stoop down begin digging since some of the lid is still in the earth. You get it uncovered and attempt to pull it up. Yet, it’s weight feels unmoveable. You begin to wonder, “What could be in this?” After a great deal of effort, you finally move it enough to open the lid. With your curiosity peaked, you dust off the dirt and open the box. Inside you see pure gold coins. Each weighing about 1oz. You do some quick math in your head, 1oz a coin and there has to be at least a 5 thousand coins in this box. In today’s market, it would be a whopping $15,000,000 worth of treasure. It is a significant and valuable treasure. You have found. Now, how do you obtain it.

Now, Jesus does not tell us the exact value of the treasure, the reality it really doesn’t matter, what matters is that the man found a great hidden treasure. He does tell us that after finding the treasure the man covered it up. You find a treasure on someone else’s land, an incredible find; especially if they are unaware of it’s presence. The man doesn’t pocket a single coin. Instead, he simply covers up the entire treasure.

“Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

If we go back to our expanded illustration of what has transpired. If we had found 15 million dollars worth of God on a piece of property. If we could sell everything we had to purchase that little piece of property, even if we could not build a house on it, we would do all we could, even if that land cost us a million dollars to purchase, we would sell all we had give up everything to buy that property. We have joy in it because we know the property is worth far more than anything we have sacrificed because on it is a treasure more valuable than anything we have lost!

We would be full of joy. Even if the realtor says, this land is overpriced, it is costing you everything, you can’t afford to build a house and you have sold your house! What a fool you are for buying this land! We would be unfazed and undeterred because we know the true value of the land. With great joy we complete the sale and giving up everything, now we have great wealth!

Don’t miss this, Jesus is instructing the crowds that the kingdom of God is like a hidden treasure that some will accidently stumble upon. Those who do accidently stumble upon the truth of the gospel and hear of the great value of Jesus and his priceless worth should immediately give up everything, their entire life; in order to obtain, Jesus as the Lord and savior.

ILLUSTRATION:

In 1997’s Mastercard commercial, there is a father and son who attend a baseball game, it begins with them buy two tickets for a total of $28 dollars, then they buy two hot dogs, two popcorns, and 2 sodas for $18 dollars, then they buy a $45 dollar autographed baseball, but it says, a real conversation with you 11 year old son, priceless.

Our sin costs us everything, it has killed us. While we might believe we are alive, we are dead, dead spiritually. Yet, Jesus’ death and resurrection is the priceless, purifying work of Jesus to make us alive so that we can be with him in his kingdom.

The Pearl of Great Value

“The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls”

Jesus’ next parable now turns the attention how the merchant in search of fine pearls. Unlike the the person who had a since of accidental discovery, the merchant is searching for “fine pearls.”

Pearls have long been a sign of wealth. In the New Testament, pearls are often associated valuables, and in some contexts it is connected to gaudiness, here are two examples from Revelation:

Revelation 17:4 ESV

4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality.

Also,

Revelation 18:12 ESV

12 cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron and marble,

The fact that this man is a merchant who is searching for fine pearls means he is a man of great wealth. He has deep resources and is someone who has the wealth to buy extravagant pearls.

We also need to keep in mind, this is a period of time where synthetic pearls were not yet around which means that pearls had great value. Of course natural pearls are more valuable than their synthetic counterparts. Synthetic pearls were simply not available in the ancient world.

“on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

What we see is that this merchant discovers a pearl that is more valuable than anything he has and decides to sell all that he had and bought it.

We need to keep in mind that this is a merchant. His livelihood is the purchasing and selling of products. In this case, he is a seller of fine pearls. Yet, when he finds this great pearl, he goes and sells all he has to purchase this great pearl.

Essentially, he has traded his entire life for this one pearl.

Also, the parable indicates that he bought it for himself. Essentially, that means that he left all he knew for that one pearl. His sacrifice was a worthy reward. It was a pearl more valuable than anything else in this world.

ILLUSTRATION:

I want to show you the most valuable pearl in the world. Here it is:

the pearl has been verified at 26 inches in length, 12 inches in width and weighing nearly 75 pounds. It is valued at $100 Million!

That is one pearl you cannot wear.

Obviously, this pearl is a one of a kind find. It is a great pearl!

If the merchant had found a pearl of this caliber it shows how significant the sacrifice was to purchase such a pearl. It was in many cases priceless and required him to give up everything to purchase such a pearl.

Yet, the kingdom of God is far greater than any great pearl this world has to offer or any hidden treasure. It is the gift of eternal life with the King of kings and Lord of lords!

Something of note about the merchant, he doesn’t sell his purchase. It reminds me of Proverbs 23:23.

Proverbs 23:23 ESV

23 Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.

When we surrender our life to Jesus we are buying the truth that salvation is found in Christ alone, we are selling our life, and accepting the gift of eternal life. We leave our old way’s behind and we receive Jesus! It is the greatest treasure!

APPLICATION

No matter who you are, whether you are the person who is surprised to hear about the kingdom of God or whether you are the seeker looking for something greater than what this world has to offer, Jesus is worthy sacrificing everything for. He is worthy losing all this world has to offer for, he is worth leaving careers for, he is worth pursuing with every ounce of energy and passion. It is a joy to sacrifice all this world offers to pursue Jesus!

Not only do we see that the kingdom of God is worth the sacrifice,

2. The kingdom of God is a worthy reward.

As we have already noted from earlier, the man who found a great treasure was full of joy as he sold all he had. The reason for this joy is he knew that what he was selling was less valuable than the treasure and land he was purchasing. When we first are faced with the sacrifice of turning from this world to pursue Jesus, we can see it as this great sacrifice. Think about young rich ruler.

Matthew 19:16–22 ESV

16 And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” 17 And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” 18 He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, 19 Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 20 The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

The man was seeking truth and when confronted with the truth, he had an idol in his life called wealth, he left not in joy but sorrow. When we see this text in comparison with the pearl merchant. We see that the pearl merchant’s willingness to sacrifice everything to have the great pearl is exactly the opposite of the young rich man.

Ultimately, the young rich man missed on the opportunity to obtain the greatest wealth he could ever receive! That same gift is offered to us! It is the greatest gift we could ever receive. It is a worthy reward for leaving everything behind to follow Jesus.

Revelation tells the church at Laodicea that they should buy from God.

Revelation 3:18 ESV

18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.

One of the things about Laodicea is that they were a wealthy city. They were known for their great wealth. In A.D. 60, they suffered a great earthquake; yet, Laodicea had no need for the Roman Empire to aid them in their rebuild because of the wealth they had! Yet, Jesus, instructs them to trade their wealth for his, to trade their garments for his. In other words, the instruction is that we are to be kingdom of God focused and rely on God for our needs.

There is no greater reward in this life than the gift of Salvation.

Do you have the gift of Salvation? Have you stopped trusting in the things of this world and embraced Jesus alone for your salvation?

Conclusion/ Invitation

The kingdom of heaven is worth giving up everything for and when we surrender all to follow Jesus, eternal life with Jesus is the greatest reward of all!

Invitation—

Having you given up all this world has to offer to pursue Jesus? Have you given Jesus your whole life?

Are you cherishing the kingdom of God more than than this world?

Pray