Fields of Treasure

What is valuable to you? Is it your car or your truck? Is it your house? Is it a favorite fishing rod? The rifle you hunt with? Maybe your cell phone? Is it your time? You see we all hold things to a different value. You have heard the phrase “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Some things do not hold the importance in one person’s eyes as they do another. Today I want to talk about a treasure that a man found that was far more valuable than anything he could acquire. If you would turn with me to

Matthew 13:44-52 ““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. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. “Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.””

Has anyone ever found a diamond maybe at Murfreesboro, or other locations around the U.S.? One day I was standing in my front yard and a west wind blew a dollar into my possession. I had no idea where it came from, and if you knew where I was standing you would understand that there was really no where for it to have came from. It was odd, but pleasing for sure. Have you ever found an arrowhead? Those were of great value to someone at some point, but now only carry historical value. But how do you find these valuable? You find them hidden in some sort of way. You scour the ground until you find them. What if you were prospecting a piece of property on day that you might want to have, but you knew you really did not have the money for, but then you stumbled upon what seems to be a large wooden box with its corner sticking out of the ground. Your curiosity overtakes you, so you decide to dig it up. After a time digging you expose the sunken box, and it turns out to be a cache of jewels. Diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and golden bars fill the chest. You have found a buried treasure chest. It sounds like something straight out of treasure island. You know that it is wrong to steal, but is it wrong to purchase? If you buy the land, would the box not be yours as well? You hurriedly cover the chest back with the loose soil. You return anxious and exited, but you remember one thing. You lack the available funds to purchase the property. How in the world are you going to strike it rich if you cannot buy that land? You decide with what you have found you can easily replace old items that you once had, so you sell everything you have in order to buy that field. You sell your car, you sell your house, you sell your possessions such as you TV's and beds, your washer, dryer, your couch, you sell your house and the little plot of land it is sitting on. You sell whatever a man will give you money for, and you make just enough. You quickly run to the land owner and you joyously hand over your entire lives accumulations in order to buy his property. He gladly takes the money, and you my friend just became very wealthy.

How many of you ladies own a pearl? How many of you ladies wish you owned pearls? There was a Filipino farmer who found a pearl one time, and he kept it under his bed thinking that it was magical and that it would bring him good fortune. You could say that it was magical because it was the largest pearl in the world weighing in at 75 pounds! It was estimated to be worth 20 million dollars! And the man kept it under his bed. He was sleeping on fortunes that he never knew he had. If you understood the value of a pearl like that, and you knew that you could sell all that you had, take the proceeds, and buy something that would make you infinitely rich, would you do it?f I would sure hope so. It would be unwise not to do so.

This is what heaven is like. It is costly. I mean the streets are made of gold, there are 12 MASSIVE pearl gates. A gate, made of a pearl. How big would that pearl have to be? I am sure no man will have to stoop to enter the gate, and if 75 pounds is worth 20 million, how much would one of these gates be worth? and there at 12! You can read Revelation 4, and 21 along with various other scripture to see more descriptions of what heaven will be like. But the main driving point of the scripture here is that it is worth it. Whatever you have to give up, it is far more worth it. Listen to what the Apostle Paul had to say about heaven and sacrifice.

Romans 8:18 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” He explains that there is more to be had than this world, and what is coming is far more valuable than what we are experiencing.

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Philippians 3:8 “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” Everything that could be had Paul gave up in order to follow Christ. He was an extremely prestigious Pharisee. Likely to be the Chief Pharisee at some point in his life. He was very popular amongst his people. He had material possessions such as lodging and funds that he would have had access to. I am not sure how grand, but a man of the Pharisee Saul’s caliber I doubt it was scant. Paul had everything men wanted, but I lacked what man needed most. That is a relationship with Jesus Christ. When Paul was saved by Jesus he left all of what he had behind. He lost his job, his pleasure, his friends, his family. He lost everything he knew, and what did he say? I count it all as worthless. Knowing Christ is more important than anything he had lost.

What is cool about heaven is that it will be populated by so many different kinds of people. Every tongue, every tribe, every nation. Place you have never been, languages that you have never heard. They will all be there. Languages and places that do not even exist anymore will be there. How cool is that? Many languages, many nations, many kingdoms, many eras, many years gone by, but still the same God. We are all unified in Him, and we will all be called to Him some day.

But this last little bit here about the fishing net paints a sobering picture for us, lady’s and gentlemen. It speaks of the end of time when we will be gathered before God. Like a drag net scoops up everything in it’s path, we will be hauled before God in the same manner. Just as the net brought up fish that were worthless at market, there will be many people who stand before God who are not redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ and are therefore unworthy to stand in His presence. This is not simply talking about your run of the mill sinner though. This is talking about men and women who fill church pews every single week. This is talking about people who are well respected even. People who you may never have guessed that they were not saved. But God knows. He knows, and then you time comes, and you are hauled away in that net, He will have you sorted out very quickly. At that point it will be too late. Do not be one of the ones who are cast out. If you have not given your life to the Lord fully, then do so. There is nothing more important in this world than giving your life to Christ. He said so Himself. What does it profit you to gain the entire world, but lose your soul.

Life is but a vapor, the afterlife is eternal. See to it that you know, and are comfortable with where you are going.

Jesus spoke in parables. Parables are stories that have deeper, underlying meaning. Reading the scriptures this morning many of you probably got the gist of what the meaning behind the stories were. Jesus spoke in parables so that He could still teach His disciples whom god had opened their eyes to the knowledge, and refrain from rolling out more judgment upon those who were listening but had hardened hearts.

Jesus gave this last instruction here in our scriptures this morning. He said here Matthew 13:51-52 ““Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”” Jesus came to fulfill the law, but He never came to destroy it. Jesus came to complete the prophecies of the Old Testament, and reinforce and establish further teachings in the New. We resonate more with the New Testament, but the New Testament is incomplete without the Old, and vice versa. Jesus said that just because you have new scripture does not mean you forget about the old, and you do not hold onto the old so tightly that you forsake the new. They go hand in hand. I like what Jesus compares God’s word to here. TREASURE. Treasure. God’s word is treasure.

Do you think that the kingdom of heaven is valuable? If it is valuable to you, do you think you would take care to know it? If you bought a field full of treasure then you would carry the treasures to the bank and keep it safe. If you had purchased a pearl, you would not leave it out in the front yard so that nature can take her effects on it. You would take care of it. If heaven is important to you, study about it. Learn what God has shared to you about the coming glory for all those who believe.

And if it is important, share it to you sons. Share heaven to your daughters.

Fathers, study God’s word and do not be afraid to share it to your son. You will leave and inheritance of some kind to him. Leave a lasting spiritual legacy as well. You will not be uncool if you speak about spiritual things with you son. You will not lose your sons respect because you share God’s word with them. On the other hand there is more to lose if you do not. Leave him something more valuable than any piece of land you could ever give him. Leave him with something that will carry him farther than the money you leave him behind, and if you cannot leave him with anything but God’s word, then what more will he need?

Mothers, give your daughters something worth holding onto too. They hold onto so many things in this world that are useless. Give them something worthy to cherish. Make sure they know who their heavenly Father is, and that they know just how much He loves them and what they mean to Him. Your daughters want to be loved. They want to feel wanted, and they need to feel validity in this world. Make sure they they are getting what they need from Christ, not from this world. We all know that only brings heartache.

Both your sons and your daughters are far more likely to hold onto something that you think is important. If you hold God’s word to be important in your life, and you show that to them, then they will love and cherish it as well. They follow you more than you know, and they will become the men and women that you are. They will not become the man and woman you wish to become, they will be the man and woman that you lead them to evolve into. Teach them what is important, teach them what is valuable, teach them God’s word.

It sounds a little silly to give everything up that you and your family own just to buy a field with some treasure in it. They might look at you crazy at the market place for selling everything that you own in order to purchase one pearl. But look at what you receive in return. Spending your eternity in heaven is just that important and precious. That a man would give up everything he has in this life just so he could walk the streets of gold in eternity. This world has many enticing things to offer, but they will not outweigh what heaven will be like. Do not miss out on your heavenly home because you are too focused on worldly matter. In the end this all will go away, but eternity is everlasting. Know where you are going to spend it.