The Value of the Kingdom

Introduction

How valuable are God and His kingdom to you?

This question is the focus of our text for today, which is Matthew 13:44-46. These two parables have the same theme, present the same truth, but they do so from two different perspectives.

Let’s read.

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.

This is the word of the Lord to us today.

Point 1: Nothing is as valuable as God’s Kingdom

The first thing I want you to notice in these verses is the grandeur and glory (or as the text says: “worth”) of the treasure and pearl. So great was their value that these two men “sold all that [they had]” (vv. 44 and 46) to get them.

New things, old things, everything they owned were not nearly as valuable as these newfound goods. So, the point we need to see from this is that nothing is as valuable as God’s kingdom.

This is the view of the Christian, the one who follows Christ with absolute, worshipful abandon of earthly treasure to gain Him and to be a citizen of His Kingdom.

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So, why is this treasure so valuable? Why is it that both the men in these parables “sold all that [they had]?”

To answer this question we have to first of all consider the gospel, the reason that Jesus came into the world in the first place. He came because Adam and Eve, our federal representatives as the first humans created, sinned and brought about the Fall of creation. Sin has come, it has wrecked every facet of life and caused mankind to rebel against a perfect, holy, righteous, and just God.

God, however, since “before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4) determined a plan to redeem man out of the Fall they caused. That plan involved the sending of His own Son who was a perfect reflection of all His attributes, who would die for mankind, promising them resurrection into eternal life and giving the rebellious eternal death (Jn. 5:29).

Therefore, being a citizen of Christ involves the promise of sin being removed eternally, restoring creation to the state it was before the Fall without any possibility of breaking it again.

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Can you imagine this? In some part, no! You can’t! We have spent all our days surrounded in evil of our own devising! But when Jesus came, He proved that sin didn’t have to maintain its hold on people. Removing diseases, demons, deficiencies, and discipling people into following Him!

In another part, we can imagine how great this will be. Our souls and hearts recognize that something is wrong. Our minds try to make sense of all the evil in this world. We want a kingdom that is not of this earth to reign inside and outside us.

These two parables demonstrate what we’re missing, how we need to see the true value of the Kingdom of God. What we need to see first is that nothing is as valuable as God’s Kingdom. It’s so valuable that we should be willing to sell off everything we have to obtain it. We need to, as Colossians 2:2-3 says: “… reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge!”

Nothing is as valuable as God’s Kingdom! Nothing! No-Thing! Not… a.... single.... thing! We should be willing to give up everything we have in order to obtain it!

Point 2: We should ensure that we obtain this treasure at all costs

Both men sold all that they had to obtain it, but the first man even went a step beyond and “covered [it] up” (Mt. 13:44) so that nobody would be able to snatch it from him before he bought the field.

The actions of this man demonstrate how great the treasure of being a citizen of the Kingdom should be to us. So personal, so prized, so beloved that we would want to do everything possible to ensure the certainty of our gaining this treasure.

We should be limited by nothing, there should be nothing we own or are that is more important than this treasure, nothing we shouldn’t be willing to sell or sacrifice that’s hindering us from having it. We should want to keep it safe from any adversary who might come and try and out-bid us on the gaining this treasure.

Adversaries both human and Satanic will try and convince us that the treasure of God’s Kingdom and our citizenship in it aren’t as precious as they really are. We will be distracted by sinful passions in our flesh, be tempted to not give away our all to obtain them.

How precious are God and His Kingdom to you? What on earth would you want to hold on to, what would you determine is more important than obtaining the Kingdom of God? If there is anything in this world that you wouldn’t drop in a moment’s notice, sell off or burn to the ground, then that thing is an idol in your life.

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Therefore, repent! Turn to Him and see how precious the Kingdom of God is in these verses! It’s a treasure hidden in the field, a pearl of great price! It has an infinite and eternal value! So valuable that the Son of God died in order to secure its value!

If this truth doesn’t make your heart sing and make you look at the things in this world as useful, yet not more valuable than God and His Kingdom, then you’ve got an idol-problem. This involves both material possessions and immaterial possessions. Both the stuff you can touch and the things you can’t.

The things you can’t touch would be your knowledge and experiences. Those are also of infinitely less value than God and His Kingdom. “… seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” (Mt. 6:33). God will take care of you, but seek Him first, primarily, entirely with all of you.

Point 3: God determines both stumbling upon the Kingdom and seeking after the Kingdom valid ways of gaining citizenship

Notice that there are two manners that these two men came upon their treasure. The first stumbled upon it, the second was searching for it. People come upon the glory of God in the gospel in one of those two ways.

I can frankly say that I was an accidental finder. I stumbled upon the treasure of the glory of God not on purpose, but because I happened to be stuck in a class in high school with absolutely no friends. So, I had to make new friends, and those friends invited me to church… The same church that my neighbor just happened to invite me to… The same church that a guy who I ate lunch with just happened to invite me to.

God sovereignly and providentially brought me into His kingdom, but to my eyes it looked like “coincidence.” However you came to know Christ, whether by stumbling through the doors of a church and into His Word, or you were seeking for that restoration your heart knew this world needed, or if you are still searching… God determines that both ways are completely valid ways of gaining citizenship.

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But no matter how you come into possessing the great treasure of Jesus Christ, the result is the same. We must be willing to sacrifice everything we have in order to obtain it!

Don’t be like the Rich Young Man Jesus spoke with in Mark 10:17-22. Let me read this instance for you:

Mark 10:17–22 ESV

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.

This man sought out Jesus, but was not willing to do what God had said of Him. Christians do not walk away sorrowful because they refuse to sell off their possessions for the sake of Christ.

Instead, we should be like the men in our parables today who give away everything for the sake of gaining Christ and His Kingdom!

Point 4: God is worthy of us giving up all we treasure, even sin

Let me tell you what God has been teaching me in these verses this week.

God has given me a renewed joy in battling temptation and sin through these verses. He reminded me how precious and valuable He is, how worthy He is of everything I am and own. How if our home and all our possessions were burned in a fire this summer, being a servant of His kingdom and a possessor of Him as my treasure

May we be like the Apostle Paul who counted all things as loss for the sake of knowing Christ the Lord. To read his words in Philippians 3:8-11: “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 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Paul shows us what it looks like to value the Kingdom of God like the man in our parable who hides it to keep it safe. “Hiding it” doesn’t mean not spreading the gospel, or not publicly living out the faith, it means that Paul is considering anything that isn’t directly holy to the Lord as “loss” or “garbage.”