Parable of the Hidden Treasure // Matthew 13:44-46

INTRODUCTION

Illus. Pinewood Derby car — This toy car that I’ve had since I was a kid sits on the shelf in my office and has for several years. It’s a car that my dad and I put together when I was probably around 7 or 8 years old for the Boy Scouts event called the Pinewood Derby — which is a wooden car race with strict rules about size, dimension, and what materials can be used. The point is to encourage creativity on how to take these constraints and come up with the fastest possible car.

My dad, of course, helped me build the car, but he’s never been one to do things very casually. His motto might as well be that “everything worth doing is worth overdoing” — I can’t say the apple fell far from the tree.

I remember building a test track on the kitchen table to decide where on the underside of the car was the best place to attach weights to make it as fast and stable on the track as possible. Then, after we got everything built and attached, painting it orange with black stripes like a tiger because that was my group in the Scouts. All that effort paid off because the car won the race and got an award for being the most creative design.

I keep that car on the shelf in my office because it reminds me what it means to be a good dad. My whole life, I had all kinds of hobbies — soccer, baseball, football, music, karate, quiz bowl, choir, golf, and theater. No matter what I was involved with, my dad treated it like building that car for the pinewood derby. My dad can’t carry a tune in a bucket, but he took an interest in music like it was a passion of his own. He didn’t know the first thing about baseball, but he coached my baseball team, and took a week off of work in the summer to be the only parent sitting in the stands at the Memphis Redbirds baseball camp. Whatever he didn’t know, he learned about. Everything I was interested in got over-the-top effort and support.

As a kid, I just thought my dad happened to like all the same things I did. It’s really only now as a dad, myself, that I understand what was really happening. Part of being a good dad isn’t turning your kid into a carbon copy of yourself but helping them explore their passions and become their own unique person. This car on my shelf reminds me that I want to be a dad who overdoes everything my kids are interested in, so that they have the opportunity and encouragement to learn what they love and what they’re good at.

Nothing we’re going to talk about this morning has anything to do with being a dad or helping your kids grow into their own unique selves. Instead, I share this to illustrate a point — all this meaning is wrapped up for me in this toy car that means nothing to any of the rest of you.

In fact, if you were to see this car on the shelf in my office, you’d have no idea about any of it. I suppose it’s true, as they say, that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

Which, I think raises an interesting question about what makes something valuable? For my toy car or any other number of things a person might value, is the value inherent to the thing itself or is it my valuing of the thing that makes it valuable?

TRANSITION

We live in an pluralistic age — an time with an incredible diversity of thought, belief, and worldview. Among all these competing conceptions of truth, goodness, and beauty in the world, Christianity is viewed, at best, and simply one among many good ways you might choose to live your life.

And underneath that way of thinking is an assumption — that what is valuable, especially in matters of faith, is largely a matter of personal perspective. What might be good for you isn’t good for me and vice versa.

Whether or not you believe what Jesus says to be true, he claims that the kingdom of God is inherently valuable — so much so that it’s worth losing everything that you might gain it. That’s a claim for us to contend with, this morning.

Let’s take a look at the passage together…

Matthew 13:44–46 CSB

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure, buried in a field, that a man found and reburied. Then in his joy he goes and sells everything he has and buys that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls. When he found one priceless pearl, he went and sold everything he had and bought it.

These are simple parables mirror one anther. In each one, something of great value is found and the response is the same—the people give up everything to gain the treasure. The point for both is simple enough…

Big Idea: The Kingdom of God is a treasure of such infinite value that gaining it justifies losing everything.

This raises the question for us to deal with — is it actually true? Because if what Jesus says is true is, then it is wisdom to lay down everything to gain the kingdom. If what Jesus says is not true, then doing so would be foolishness of the highest order.

So, this morning, I want to consider:

Jesus’ claim — The Kingdom of Heaven is of Infinite Value

Jesus’ invitation — Lay Down Everything to Gain It

EXPOSITION // Matthew 13:44-46

ONE // Jesus’ Claim — The Kingdom of Heaven is of Infinite Value

In these parables, we encounter two types of people — one who stumbles on a treasure (the one buried in the field) and one who is actively searching for it (the pearl).

For both of these, though, the outcome is identical — once the treasure was found, there was no hesitation, no beating around the bush, and no negotiation. They sold everything in order to gain the priceless treasure.

Most importantly, v.44 describes how the man went in his joy to sell everything he owned — It wasn’t a reluctant or begrudging sacrifice… it was price joyfully paid by a man who knew he was gaining everything.

Application — This morning, Jesus welcomes you to the same dilemma: he tells you that everything he has taught about the Kingdom of Heaven is a priceless treasure that is worth you losing everything to gain.

Think about everything in your orbit — your job, your ambition, your dreams, your expectations, your doubts… everything in your life that seems too costly to lay down to follow Jesus…. Jesus invites you to see that what you see as immeasurable cost is nothing compared to the value of the Kingdom of God.

But here’s the problem — paying that price is only sensible if Jesus is right!

Illus. If I were to tell you, for instance, that I had an airtight idea to make a lot of money quickly — the only thing I would need from you is to give me $10,000 and I’ll return to you $30,000 in 6 months time. Sounds pretty good, right? Entrusting that money to me would only be reasonable if what I said was trustworthy and true. Otherwise, it’s a foolish exchange.

But that’s exactly the value claim and invitation Jesus makes here.

With that in mind, let’s consider…

TWO // Jesus’ Invitation — Lay Down Everything to Gain It

If the kingdom is truly an infinitely valuable treasure, then the response we see in these parables in sensible — you’d pay whatever price necessary in order to obtain it.

But Jesus isn’t giving us financial advice for how to capitalize when an investment opportunity presents itself… he’s telling us what it looks like to become his disciple and therefore gain this invaluable treasure.

So, what do these stories actually entail for us? Just like in the story, the call to follow Jesus is one that is a totalizing call on our lives. Jesus says later in Matt 16:24 that to be his disciple is to likewise take up your cross and follow him — its a call to lay down everything, turn from ourselves and our sin, and rid ourselves of anything and everything that would keep us from following him.

These parables move us beyond treating the Christian as a set of propositional truths to a calling on our lives we must contend with — it isn’t an abstract thought experiment, but a concrete call towards discipleship.

And it touches every part of our lives — your job, your ambitions, your comfort, your reputation, your sense of control, and even good things like your family, security, and your future… What does it mean to lay all these things down to follow Jesus to gain this invaluable treasure?

Jesus isn’t saying that in order to be his disciple and therefore gain the kingdom of heaven that you must lose everything such that you have nothing — but that no part of your life is held back from faithfulness to him.

It would be convenient for us to hear the call of Jesus, decide that the kingdom is a treasure worth having, and then adjust our lives so that we can fit Jesus in the margins… but this isn’t the call of Jesus.

In the parables, these people who responded did not calculate their losses and hold back what they deemed most important — they put everything on the line to know and follow Jesus.

Just like in these parables, Jesus isn’t asking for a rearranged life — he’s asking for a life radically re-centered on him. That’s what it means to be his disciple.

Which is where this call to discipleship starts to feel like a lot — not because we don’t understand what Jesus is saying — but because we’re not sure we believe him.

Thinking of laying down our lives causes us to start doing this calculus to figure out whether it’s worth it — What if I lose too much? What if this doesn’t deliver? What if I give things up and it turns out I was wrong?

So we hesitate. We hold back. We keep parts of our lives at a distance.

The struggle isn’t mainly about surrender — it’s about whether we believe the treasure is actually better. Because if Jesus is right, then this is the wisest decision you could ever make. But if he’s wrong, then this is loss.

Which means everything in this passage ultimately comes down to a single question: Is what Jesus says true and is he therefore right about the value of the kingdom?

This morning offers us an opportunity to reflect on this question with a fresh perspective…

APPLICATION

Application: here’s how the resurrection gives us a new lens to view this proposition— 

The resurrection settles the question — of whether what Jesus says is true.

Throughout the course of your life, you’ve probably seen Christianity undergo various apologetic stress tests. Questions about whether the New Testament documents are authentic and reliable. Questions about whether the propositions of Christianity are morally good. The apologetic question predominated early Christianity, though was about the authenticity of the resurrection. And for a good reason. If Jesus simply went to death, even as the martyr of a good cause, everything he says deserves an *. He might be a good wise, moral teacher, but he is one whose instruction we can dispense with when it is no longer convenient for our lives however, early Christians, who lived in a world that was hostile and where their faith might lead to persecution unto death, the resurrection meant everything so what do we make of the resurrection?

Alex O’Connor on the resurrection — unlikely that he could’ve somehow lived through the crucifixion, a few days later people are claiming to see him, maybe they’re lying… but then you don’t tend to go to death for things you know are a lie. You might be willing to go to death for things that are lies that you believe to be true. Maybe they were mistaken… but the disciples spent every day with Jesus. They’ve only seen him a few days ago. There’s no way someone else could convince you that they were me. Maybe they were hallucinating… in groups? Jesus appears to as many as 500 followers at once. How would it be possible that they were mistaken? So what else explains the fact that they claim to see him after he died. The only plausible explanation is that Jesus raised from the dead.

1 Corinthians 15:14 “and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain, and so is your faith.” — either everything Jesus says is trustworthy or all of it is dispensable.

The resurrection makes the exchange reasonable — only if its true does it become reasonable to lay down your life that you might gain the kingdom

Therefore, receive the invitation — to lay down your life and by that gain eternal life and life abundant with Jesus

And the kingdom is therefore the treasure worth laying your life down to gain. It’s not all loss. Jesus says that if we will die to our sin itself, it’s not that we might cease, but that we might live eternally with him.

If Jesus is still dead, then this parable asks too much of us.

CONCLUSION