The Ultimate Treasure
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Introduction
Introduction
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.
Let’s read that twice.
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.
So… we are going to be looking at this one verse and I hope I can do it justice. I told Sarah on Friday when I was reviewing and just kept reading the verse. I love this verse. I imagine a man finding a treasure.... and then being so excited about it that he hides it again, sells everything he has and buys the field. I will admit this is weird and some additional story material would’ve helped. Was the man searching for this treasure? And let me get this straight....if he was journeying to find it he simply found it and hid it again AND sold everything he had prior to finding the treasure, and bought the field that the treasure was found it.... and then what?
Most commentaries just guess at things… some have turned this parable into a huge metaphor. They say the treasure hidden is the church of God and the field represents the world..and the man is Jesus. I’m not convinced by this and I tend to side against one-to-one metaphor readings of Scripture by this I mean that some like to over symbolize everything Jesus says.
Now… I think its super important to delve into the context of Scripture and to put ourselves in the mind of Christ’s audience.
4 if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures,
The Scripture talks a fair amount deal about ‘treasure’:
We use this word to mean the treasure the wisemen brought Jesus
when it talks about storing up treasures for yourself in heaven vs on this earth
as well… where your heart is there your treasure will be
35 The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,
Luke 12:33
33 Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.
34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face,
2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ,
3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Colossians
So…when the Bible says treasure, it means treasure. I think of pirates always looking for lost treasure and for the infamous “X” that marks the spot on the map. Whenever we read these pirate stories we know that these men bought into this idea about a hidden treasure and the air of mystery that surrounded it.
Most of Jesus’ parables deal with the reality of the Kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom of God. It is important for us as believers to not limit the Kingdom as just a place but a reality. The Kingdom of God can be experienced here and now, but it will be experienced at a newer level of reality when Christ returns. The Kingdom pushes further into this world when demons, unbelief, and unrighteousness are defeated by the power of salvation , righteousness, peace, and joy (all of which are found in and through Jesus Christ).
So, the Kingdom of God means:
The Kingdom pushes further into this world when demons, unbelief, and unrighteousness are defeated by the power of salvation , righteousness, peace, and joy (all of which are found in and through Jesus Christ).
The reign of God
Salvation through Jesus
Partly present, partly futuristic reality
Present and ongoing saving grace of Christ
What is the bottom line point of ? The Kingdom of God is so valuable that you losing everything that this world has to offer and only remaining with the Kingdom of God is a happy trade off.
Losing everything but still having Jesus is a joyful sacrifice. There was a book written by Tullian Tchividjian was about Colossians but the name of the book was “Jesus + Nothing= Everything” and this is the point of this verse.
You could either willing give everything away or....through life circumstances lose everything and Jesus would still be enough. The real question is…do you and I actually believe this?
You could either willing give everything away or....through life circumstances lose everything and Jesus would still be enough. The real question is…do you and I actually believe this?
I think we can take the treasure being found as the moment of our salvation. We came to this point where we believed Jesus to be enough. We had come to the end of ourselves and that is where we met Jesus…or where he met us. You ‘found’ this treasure when you were reconciled with Christ Jesus through his work on the cross for you and your ‘accepting’ of this gift of grace. Now…as we continue through this passage we see that the man stumbles upon this treasure and then hides it and sells everything he has to buy the field. Let’s not get lost in the weeds here. The point isn’t necessarily ‘how much did the field cost?’ as much as the emphasis is on the fact that it cost you everything you had and that it was worth it....
We see this reality in
8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
So… here comes the most important nuance here. You and I never bought the field nor the Kingdom. Christ paid for this thing with his life… you and I are the beggars that are offered the finest bread in the world. We receive the Kingdom and now the question becomes: where is your heart? You have the Kingdom but where is your heart…?
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew
32 “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
You lose everything but gain Jesus… and note the use of the word joy in
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.
“In his joy” he goes and sells.... it isn’t a sad occasion when you trade everything for Jesus.
John Piper says the following in the context of this verse:
“If we treasure him, and if we love them, we will pray and give and labor to reach more and more and more and more people. Will we not? That’s one burden we carry as leaders. How shall we fulfill our mission—to spread a passion for the supremacy of God? Spread. Spread. Spread. That’s why Jesus came. That’s what he sent us to do. Go make disciples. Draw more and more people into the everlastingly all-satisfying experience of knowing and treasuring Christ. Share your joy. Don’t keep it to yourself. Horded joy rots. Shared joy increases. That’s our mission as a church. And one of our great burdens as leaders is find God’s strategy for how we should do that. Everything we do is part of that strategy.”
So what does this parable mean for us sitting in this living room?
So what does this parable mean for us sitting in this living room?
Horded joy rots. At one point in our walks we sold it all for Jesus and, perhaps, you, like myself, felt on fire for Jesus. Then life happens… or it doesn’t happen. We lose the fervor we once had… we have the field, but not the joy. I really struggled in this area about a year ago. We had moved up here and I was working at the post office. Our finances were super tight…the honeymoon period of leaving a super dysfunctional church setting to then church planting and working at the post office was starting to wear away. I started to quietly question our move here:
Shoot, I told myself I was making a good deal of money as a admin pastor. I, arguably, was doing what the Lord wanted me to do… we weren’t paying as much rent as we were paying in MA. We had Sarah’s parents closer. Sarah had a great job and a fantastic schedule. So why the heck did we move up here?
You see my friends I had “purchased” the field… but wasn’t joyful about selling everything I had to do it. This last year I’ve been stretched. God has been calling on my half heartedness towards him and his Kingdom. I now have words to describe what was going on: I confused my doing with being (with God) and my horded joy was rotting. It was rotting to the point that I had little joy left…
And my friends....everyone in this room knows this reality: you can run on empty. You can trick yourself into one more mile…one last hurrah.
Am I all better? Am I skipping down main south whistling the message of the Kingdom of God? This is a hard question to answer. The bottomline is that I should be. And i’ll be the first one to tell you that yes, this pastor, struggles with joy. Some of you might find this hard to believe… this world and this profession have a way of squeezing you. I always tell Sarah that as humans we amass this metaphorical filing cabinet. You want to know what we keep in this cabinet?
All of our highest points in life and our lowest points in life. I keep my childhood in this cabinet, the hole left by a father that never existed, and the list goes on. The moments that passed and came to pass…the moments that still stick with us. The moments we should shake but just can’t seem to.
I say all of this to tell you that I don’t have it all figured out…but what I do have figured out is that the Kingdom is still worth it. The Kingdom has always been worth the moments of uncertainty and discomfort. Jesus was always worth it after I was done shaking my fist at the sky.
17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.
19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’ ”
20 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.”
21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
23 And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”
24 And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God!
25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
26 And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?”
27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”
28 Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.”
29 Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel,
30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.
31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
I told Sarah i’m going to have a plaque made to go in my office… and it says “remember the rich young ruler.” I would urge each of you to remember him and to let his story haunt you. I always want to encourage each of you who are sitting here and are wondering “What the heck are we doing? And what is God doing?” It’s all worth it. And you will receive hundredfold in the age to come. Don’t lose sight and don’t lost hope and certainly don’t let this world stomp out your joy.
Let’s pray.