The Value of the Kingdom

Introduction

What is something you want really badly? Would you sell everything you have in order to get that thing?

Disney world, spent all my money in the first five minutes

In , Jesus tells two short illustrative parables about the value of the kingdom, about what it’s worth.

Matthew 13:44–46 NLT

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field. “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it!

Jesus tells two parables that are very similar. In both, the kingdom of heaven is something of great value, and the person sells everything he has to buy it.

And these I think are the two points for us: That we need to give up the world, and that we need to get the priceless kingdom.

Matthew 13:44

Give up the World

Here’s the deal: The guy sells everything he has to get the kingdom. Notice that he doesn’t say some of what he has. It doesn’t say he gives up what was in his wallet, or he gives up his checking account. No, he goes home, pulls his cash out from under his mattress, digs up his gold in the back yard, goes to the bank and unloads all his accounts, sells his house and his donkey and his iPhone, and he takes all that money to buy the field. He gives up everything!

As Christians, we have to give up a lot to follow Jesus: Worldly success, Worldly relationships, Comfort, Wealth, ETC.

We have to give stuff up in order to follow Jesus:

Give up the World

Jesus tells a story about becoming a disciple:

Worldly success

I think this can be hard to understand, because we think, or we’ve been told that we should come to Jesus because he has great plans for me, and he’s going to make my life awesome, and all this stuff. But Jesus is like, listen: you better think carefully about the costs involved with becoming a Christian. Other cultures feel this much more strongly. Many people around the world, when they become a Christian, their family disowns them, or they are put in jail.

Worldly relationships

I remember this time when a guy from my school offered my twenty bucks to say two cuss words, and I didn’t do it, and I was like oh yeah I faced persecution and overcame. I’m amazing.

Comfort

Wealth

ETC

But the truth is, we really do have to give up things in order to follow Jesus. In our culture, it’s less obvious, but no less difficult. In order to truly follow Jesus, you may need to give up friends, or maybe a boyfriend or a girlfriend. This is going to sound like a joke, but I don’t mean it to be. What if your xbox and your ps4 and playing fortnite all the time was getting in the way of following Jesus? What if Instagram and Snapchat and your phone was getting in the way of following Jesus? What if sitting at the table you sit at during lunch was getting in the way of following Jesus? What if the birthday and chores and summer jobs money you had saved up was getting in the way of following Jesus? Would you give that up for him?

Now, if that all seems like a bummer, let’s not forget why we’re giving those things up.

Get the Priceless Kingdom

But The Kingdom is worth far more than those things. The guys in Jesus’ parables are willing to sell everything but what for? For treasure and for a precious pearl.

The guy in the first story is excited. He’s not worried about what he’s giving up; he’s amped about what he’s getting! All the things he has sold pale in comparison to the treasure that he is about to get.

It’s the same with the kingdom of God. Jesus doesn’t want you to lament over what you’re giving up, he wants you amped about what you’re about to get!

Rental car to Indy. kia soul to an audi A4. Can you imagine being like, nah, I want to keep the lame car. CS Lewis quote: mudpies in a slum vs. Holiday at sea.

Jesus says in came that they might have life and life to the fullest! God does want to give you the best life possible. That just doesn’t always look the way we want it to look. We think, man if I follow Jesus, then the way that I treat others and stand up for justice is going to make me lose this friend. And Jesus says, yeah, it is. But if you stay friends with that dude or that girl, they’ll influence you negatively and you’ll become like them, and you’ll alienate everyone, and then eventually they’ll treat you the way they treat everyone else.

God wants you to follow him. It will be hard. But in the long run, it is the best way to live. Jesus says that when you try to gain your life, you lose it, but when you give up your life for Jesus, you get real life.

But, even beyond that, when choose to give up life, you get Jesus himself. Jesus is the only thing you need. There’s a book called Jesus + nothing = everything. Meaning if you have Jesus and nothing else, you still have everything you could ever need.

Don’t forget what Jesus did for you: Jesus is GOD himself. He is the creator/sustainer of the universe. He’s perfect and good and amazing and wonderful. And you rejected Jesus, but he said, that’s okay, I still love you and he came and he died on the cross to fix your heart and restore your relationship with him so that you can be friends with him forever. If I have the choice between that guy, and a couple hundred or a couple thousand bucks, I’m choosing him EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

What is the

What is an example of something that is hard to give up for Jesus?

Why do you think the kingdom is worth it?