Kingdom Parables: Field of Dreams

Text: Matthew 13:44-46

Theme: The Kingdom of Heaven is like finding treasure.

In the movie "Field of Dreams" Ray Kinsella (played by Kevin Costner) plows under acres upon acres of his corn crop in order to build a baseball field because a voice speaks to him. He is standing in the middle of a cornfield when he hears the voice the first time: "If you build it they will come." He looks around and doesn’t see anybody. The voice speaks again, soft, but confident: "If you build it he will come."

He builds it, and the field plays hosts to legendary past greats such as "Shoeless Joe Jackson" and others who materialize out of the surrounding corn field each day to hit a few fly balls. Ray is faced with the dilemma of either holding onto his field of dreams or selling the farm to pay his bills. His brother-in-law counsels him with these words, "You're going to lose your farm pal! ... You're going bankrupt and you will default your loan. ... Sell now or you'll lose everything! ... How could you plow under your crop?

As the story goes Ray holds onto his field of dreams at the high cost of possibly losing all this world has to offer. Toward the end of the story Ray is re-introduced to his father as a young man playing baseball with the legendary greats. His father asks, "Is this heaven?" Ray answers, "No, it's Iowa." His father responds, "I could have sworn it was heaven." Ray in turn asks, "Is there a heaven?" to which his father replies, "Oh yea!"

Is there a heaven? Jesus might answer that in our vernacular of "Oh Yea! And you better pay attention and prepare yourself for the Kingdom!" Jesus has been teaching about heaven. In Matthew, chapter 13, Jesus has told a series of parables we’ve come to call Kingdom Parables. We call the Kingdom Parables because Jesus begins each with, “The kingdom of heaven is like ... “ Through them, he seeks to teach the disciples about the characteristics of God’s kingdom.

First, it will not be for everyone. The Gospel seed will not find good growing conditions in many hearts.

Second, Satan will seek to counterfeit the works of God in this world in a vain attempt to undermine God’s Kingdom.

Third, the Kingdom, though it started small, will become an impressive Kingdom and will have phenomenal growth and phenomenal influence.

In these next two parables, Jesus teaches us about the value of God’s Kingdom.

Let me quickly tell you what these two parables are not saying. Though the language of these two parables suggest "buying" the field with treasure in it and “purchasing” the pearl of great price, Jesus was not teaching that a person can buy their way into the kingdom of heaven.

Remember the story of rich young ruler? The man walked away when Jesus encouraged the young man to sell all that he had and to come and follow him. Jesus surmised the difficulty of a rich man entering into kingdom of God – it was tantamount to a camel going through the eye of a needle! Money simply cannot gain a person entrance into God’s kingdom. His disciples were flabbergasted at that statement and asked, "Who then can be saved?" (Luke 18:25-26)

Jesus uses the analogy of buying to emphasis the value of the kingdom of heaven. Christ and His Kingdom are superior to everything else!

People from all walks of life are searching and striving to discover their field of dreams. Some search for it in self, or family, or money, or job, or retirement, or houses, or fast cars, or a fast lifestyle. What is your field of dream that you value and what are you willing to give, or better yet give up to obtain that field? Is your field of dreams the Kingdom of God, or is it something else?

Luke 12:21 "So he who lays up treasure for himself is not rich toward God."

Jesus comes to us telling two short parables that teach us something important about the Kingdom of God – it is of superior value to anything else in life we might seek!

I. KINGDOM OF HEAVEN DISCOVERED . . . 13:44

Matthew 13:44 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

1. in this first parable we find a man who had discovered his field of dream ... hidden treasure

a. those listening to this parable would have been familiar with the practice of digging a hole and burying their valuables as a means of security so as to ward off being robbed

b. sometimes, because of death or imprisonment the treasure was forgotten and left to whoever discovered it

2. to put this parable in the proverbial nutshell, the guy in the story "Finds it - Hides it - Buys it"

ILLUS. Just a few years ago—in 1999—a farmers son in Shapwick, England, found the proverbial ‘king’s ransom’ while using a metal detector in a freshly harvested field of Barley. Kevin Elliot had been looking for only about thirty minutes when his metal detector started beeping. He unearthed the largest hoard of old Roman denarii ever found in England—9,310 coins. They were all minted from silver and dated between 61 B.C. through 230 A.D. and had been minted in Rome, Syria, and Egypt. Unfortunately for the finders it wasn’t their’s to keep. The hoard was declared as Treasure by an inquest and was purchased by the Somerset Heritage Service. The good news was that they had to give the finders of the treasure its market value of £265,000. That’s about $400,000 U.S. dollars. The family had been farming the land as tenants for 36 years until they bought it a year before the find.

3. you never know what you’ll discover quite by accident sometimes

A. THIS MAN FOUND THE TREASURE TO EXCEED IN VALUE MORE THAN ANYTHING HE OWNED

1. he willingly sold all he had to buy it

2. there are those who discover the kingdom of heaven accidentally without seeking for it unaware that God is actively seeking them

ILLUS. A biblical example is the Apostle Paul. While en-route to persecute the believers of the way of Christ he discovered the kingdom of heaven. Paul would later write of the value of his find.

Philippians 3:4-11 "although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless. But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead." (NASB95)

3. Saul was not searching for the Kingdom, but he found it and discovered the exceedingly richness of its value

ILLUS. I first went to a Baptist church because a really cute redhead invited me. I went because of her, not because I was searching for God. But guess what I also found by accident? The Kingdom of God!

4. in his second letter to the Church at Corinth, Paul says that our salvation is like a treasure in earthen vessels

a. God chooses to save us so that all may see the excellency of the power of God at work in us

ILLUS. William Hendriksen says "...the kingdom of heaven, the glad recognition of God's rule over heart and life, including salvation for the present and for the future, for soul and ultimately also for the body, the great privilege of being thereby made a blessing to others to the glory of God, all this, is a treasure so inestimably precious that one who obtains it is willing to surrender for it whatever could interfere with having it."

B. HOW MUCH DO YOU AND I TREASURE THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN?

1. what is causing you to overlook this treasure and settle for lesser things?

a. what bobbles, rhinestones, and fools-gold have you been willing to settle for instead of real treasure?

2. the kind of treasure you seek says a lot about your spiritual condition

Matthew 6:21 "for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also ." (NASB95)

Luke 6:45 “The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good ; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil ; . . . " (NASB95)

3. Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field

a. have you found the kingdom of heaven?

1) have you hid it within your heart?

2) have you bought into it with all your life?

b. if you haven't you can come today by confessing and believing in Jesus Christ and commit to following Him with all of your heart, and mind, and soul, and strength

4. if you have already confessed and believed you can "re-value" the kingdom in your everyday life, above all else

II. THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN SOUGHT FOR . . . 13:45-46

Matthew 13:45-46 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, 46 "who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

1. again, Jesus draws from an earthly story in order to teach a spiritual truth

2. a pearl merchant was looking for fine pearls when he found one of exceptional beauty, luster and quality

a. like the man who found hidden treasure, he sells everything of value just so that he can acquire this one superior pearl

3. in this parable, the person is on a mission to find something that is of great value

a. he believes there is something out there worth looking for, or he would not be seeking it

b. when he finds it, he immediately recognizes its value and is willing to sell all to obtain it

4. there are many people who know there is some “thing”, some “purpose”, some “meaning” in life that is worthy of diligent search

a. they’ve looked at life and know that there is something more to it than reaping ever larger harvests and building ever bigger barns

b. they search – sometimes diligently – for some kind of spiritual connectedness

1) sometime they find what they think are pearls, but in time discover that they are cheep imitations

c. a few – when they run across Jesus and His Kingdom – have that eureka-moment when they realize that this is of Great value and worth the price to get

ILLUS. In the New Testament was have examples of three people who have this eureka-moment. They’ve been searching when they suddenly discover that Jesus is the Pearl of Great price. There is the Ethiopian Eunuch of Acts 8:26-39. There is Cornelius in Acts 10:1-8. And there is Lydia – a seller of purple cloth – in Acts 16:11-15.

d. in each case, when they found Jesus, they discovered the most valuable thing in life

1) each gave their life – their right to themself – in order to get this precious gem

Luke 9:23-25 "And He was saying to them all, “ If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself , and take up his cross daily and follow Me. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake , he is the one who will save it. “For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world , and loses or forfeits himself?" (NASB95)

A. THE VALUE OF FINDING JESUS

1. the emphasis of this parable is the value you put on Christ

a. in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said . . .

Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.”

b. those who hunger for the kingdom and thirst for it will find priceless value in the kingdom

Jeremiah 29:13 “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”

1) here’s the key for finding the pearl of great price

2) it’s a search not accomplished with your hands but with your heart

2. in this parable we see the pattern of finding Jesus

a. First, the discovery – he finds invaluable treasure

b. Second, the response – there is joy in the find

c. Third, the commitment – sold all to obtain

Conclusion:

What can we glean from these two indispensable parables?

1) The kingdom of heaven is not real estate we can purchase, but a spiritual kingdom that can only be entered into by way of a confession and commitment of life to Jesus Christ.

2) In order to grow spiritually we must "grow out of love with self" and "grow in love with the Savior, Jesus Christ."

3) To value the kingdom of heaven above anything else in our lives.

Matthew 6:33 "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

Though the kingdom of heaven is free it is not cheap for there is a great cost involved. The price is repentance of sin and surrender and submission to the will of God.

Is there a heaven? Oh yea! And it is like a "field of dreams" where there's nothing to compare it with in this life. Discover it and seek it with all your heart!