Pray with me.
Come, fountain of every blessing.
Every blessing.
Oh, our King, you are King of glory,
who can stand before you,
and yet you shower your grace upon people like us, rebels,
and you have won us by your grace.
So come now and cause your grace to fall on us
in the form of your word, spoken words of life.
Father, would you speak life now through what you have said,
through your son's lips.
In his name we pray.
Amen.
You may be seated.
Worship team, thank you guys so much.
So grateful for you leading us in worship.
We're going to be in Matthew chapter 13 this morning.
So you open your Bibles there.
If you don't have one, look in the back of the pew in front of you.
There should be one there.
Children didn't need any reminding, so they're on their way.
They're eager to go.
They know the routine.
Well, speaking of children, when I was a kid,
my mom worked as our church's secretary for a number of years.
How many years, mom?
Five?
There you go.
And these were like the prime years of childhood right here,
the exploration phase.
And my brother and I had all kinds of fun exploring the church building,
getting into a lot of trouble,
and exploring the property around the church building as well.
And one day, it was a hot summer day,
we were exploring a little drainage ditch behind the back of the church
in the back parking lot,
and to our great excitement,
we saw little glints of gold shining up at us.
And in the hot Missouri sun,
we dug feverishly,
and we thought we had struck it rich.
We thought, that's it.
We're good to go.
College is paid for.
We probably didn't have that on our mind.
I don't know how much of this stuff we dug up,
but we worked hard.
We were modern-day gold rushers.
We found stuff to sift it out,
and oh, man, we were so excited.
But the bummer of it all is that we brought it to our mom
and found out that it was fool's gold.
Iron pyrite.
Not the real deal.
And if all that iron pyrite we had dug up was real gold,
man, that would have been really amazing.
Well, in Matthew 13, starting in verse 44,
Jesus wants us to get our attention on treasure.
So let's read these two parables together.
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 he bought it.
So here in Matthew 13,
we've been peering into what Jesus is revealing about the kingdom of heaven,
God's kingdom.
How the kingdom is received,
how the kingdom grows,
how we need to respond to that kingdom.
But now,
Jesus is going to shift gears for a minute,
and he's going to paint two masterful pictures
depicting not how you enter the kingdom,
or how you receive the kingdom,
or how the kingdom grows,
but rather,
the kingdom's unequaled value.
The kingdom's desirability.
In fact, the kingdom is so valuable,
so desirable,
that it is worth obtaining at any cost.
You should walk away from these parables this morning thinking,
there is nothing I wouldn't give up to get this kingdom.
God's kingdom is worth obtaining at any cost,
because it is of unequaled value.
Because the kingdom is of unequaled value,
it's worth obtaining at any cost.
That's the big idea.
So I've got three things for us to do this morning
to get that big idea sunk into us.
First, we're going to examine.
Second, we're going to gaze.
And third, open.
Examine, gaze, open.
Ego.
That was accidental.
I'm not trying to say anything.
Ego.
So examine, gaze, open.
Let's start first by examining these parables.
We're going to do it one at a time.
But before we dive right in,
I want to remind us of what Pastor Mike has been pointing out
the past several weeks in chapter 13.
That Jesus is using parables,
these little real life,
easy to relate to word pictures,
to compare God's kingdom to something in real life.
And when he does this, though,
the parables have two functions.
First, they reveal the kingdom
to those who have ears to hear.
They help us grasp the kingdom more fully
if we have humble ears to listen.
But at the same time,
it also hides the kingdom even further
for those who do not have ears to hear.
There is a revealing,
but there's also a hiding.
And so what I want us to humbly do now
is say,
God, I need you to reveal the kingdom.
We need humble hearts.
Not proud, I've got this figured out hearts,
but humble hearts to say,
God, show me your kingdom.
Help me to see that in this parable.
So let's make sure our hearts
are positioned well
to respond with faith to these parables.
So with that in mind,
let's look at verse 44,
and I want us to look at the parable
of the hidden treasure.
Let's examine this parable.
The kingdom of heaven
is like treasure hidden in a field,
which a man found and covered up.
And in his joy,
he goes and sells all that he has
and buys the field.
Pretty straightforward, right?
Jesus can accomplish a lot
in just like a sentence.
A guy is in a field,
finds buried treasure,
keeps it hidden,
goes out with joy
to sell everything he has
to buy the field
so he can keep the treasure.
We've examined the parable.
Done.
Just kidding.
Now if you'll pardon my pun,
I want us to dig into this parable
a little bit
to notice a few details.
My wife's probably
rolling her eyes right now.
First of all,
I want us to look and see
how rare and surprising
a discovery like this
was.
One did not stumble
across buried treasure
in the land of Israel
every day.
It's probably as common
as winning the lottery today.
And apparently,
you're more likely
to be struck by lightning,
killed in a plane crash,
and become a movie star,
probably all three at once,
than winning the lottery.
So this is probably
not that likely.
But it wasn't unheard of,
either.
Jesus' audience,
his disciples,
that's who he's talking to
right now,
they have probably heard
of a few rare tales
of a farmer plowing his field
somewhere in Galilee
and turning up
some buried treasure.
After all,
Palestine,
the land of Israel,
for hundreds of years
had been subject
to invading armies
coming in and out.
And when an invading army
is coming,
what else are you going to do
with your family heirlooms
and your life savings
but hide it away?
You're going to find
some kind of hardy container,
hastily bury it
in the ground somewhere
so the marauding hordes
don't get it.
And then,
if you're lucky enough
to come back,
you can dig it up
and you still have
what you had.
But the chances
of this guy
finding something like this
are so close to nil
that this is very rare.
This is very exciting,
very surprising.
This is his lucky day.
So a likely scenario
that Jesus probably had in mind
went something like this.
This fortunate man
was probably a laborer
of some sort
working in his boss's field,
the guy who owned the field.
And while he's working,
whether he's digging
an iridation ditch
or plowing a field,
his tool strikes something
in the ground
that's not dirt,
it's not rock,
it goes thud
or clank or something.
And he uncovers it,
he can tell that it's
extremely valuable
but he doesn't lift it out
and then he covers it back up.
Why?
Why wouldn't he just lift it out
and say,
woohoo?
Well, it wasn't his field.
Technically,
it was his boss's field,
most likely.
The law of the rabbis
at this time
did say that
finders keepers,
basically.
If you find
hidden treasure in the field,
it's yours.
No matter who owns the field.
But,
if the laborer
lifts it out,
the owner could
potentially claim
that he had sent
the laborer
to go dig the treasure out
and therefore say
that it's the owner's treasure,
not the laborer's.
And so,
the only surefire way
to get the treasure
was to obtain the field.
So,
what does this guy do?
He went,
he sold all that he had,
and he bought the field.
He liquidated his assets
and exchanged
his entire material life
for that field
and for what it contained.
Just for a moment,
let me take you
on a little mental exercise.
I want you to imagine
all of your assets.
Start with your possessions.
Just get this in your mind.
From your toothbrush
to your bed,
your home decorations,
your baseball cards
in the attic,
your grandmother's china,
your favorite coffee mug,
the contents of your safe
or your safe deposit box,
your car,
your house,
your books on your bookshelf,
that's a hard one for me,
your phone,
your tools,
everything you've got.
Everything except
the shirt on your back.
Okay,
so you've got
all your possessions.
Now,
add to that
every cent you own.
In your checking account,
in your savings account,
in your retirement,
all that you've got
from the cash in your wallet
to your spare change,
all that you've got.
Now,
imagine taking all of that
and exchanging it
for one thing.
But notice,
it was not because
he felt like he should.
It was not out of obligation.
Did you notice
that little phrase?
In his joy,
he goes
and sells all that he has
and buys the field.
So this is what this guy did.
In a fraction of a second,
this guy's looking at the treasure.
In a fraction of a second,
he mentally takes
all that he's got,
all of his possessions,
all of his life savings,
everything he's got,
and he puts it on one end
of a scale
and he puts the treasure
he had just found
on the other end.
And when he sees the treasure
break the scale
with its immeasurable value
and tosses meager assets
up into the air
like feathers,
he drops his shovel,
he runs to his house,
he shouts to his wife
that he's going to sell
everything to go buy that field.
He tells his kids
he's made the most joyful
discovery he's ever made
and he bought the field
without a second thought.
There was no deliberation,
no foot dragging.
He didn't stop to ponder
the cost-benefit analysis.
He was exchanging pennies
for millions.
Who would need to stop
and think about that?
This was an easy decision.
So what does this parable tell us?
It tells us that the kingdom
is the most joyful discovery
you will ever make.
And once you find it,
once you realize what you found,
it'll be a joy to give up
whatever you gotta give up
to get it.
And this is very similar
to what the next parable tells us,
only with a slightly different emphasis.
Verse 45,
Jesus gets a slightly different image
in our heads.
We have a merchant now
on hunt for fine pearls.
Now, in the ancient world,
pearls were extremely rare,
especially fine ones.
We didn't have the capacity back then
to make synthetic pearls
as we do now,
artificial pearls.
And so they were on par with gold
in terms of value.
And unlike the chap
in the previous parable,
this merchant's already wealthy.
If he's able to be hunting down
the finest pearls on the market,
he's got the means
to be able to do that.
And he obviously knows his stuff.
He has an eye
for what he's looking for.
He knows a fine pearl
when he sees one.
I would not be able
to tell you anything,
but this guy has an eye
for quality,
for beauty,
and for value.
His livelihood depended on it.
And one day,
he found it.
He found the pearl.
In verse 45,
notice that he's on the search
of fine pearls, plural,
and then he finds the one.
The one pearl of great value.
As one commentator puts it,
this is the one pearl
that once you have it,
you don't need anymore.
It was the pearl
he didn't expect to find.
It was find beyond his imagination.
And this merchant
does the same thing
as the man in the previous parable.
He takes decisive action.
He goes,
sells everything he's got,
and he buys the pearl.
But unlike the man
with the treasure,
this man couldn't live
off the pearl.
It wasn't for the kind of bank
that he's going to make.
It's just to have the pearl.
Just to possess something
of such fine, fine beauty.
Not to profit off of it,
but to possess it,
to have it.
And by the way,
Jesus isn't telling us
these pearls
for them to walk on all fours.
We're not meant to critique
the ethics of the man
who found the treasure,
whether he should have told
the owner of the field or not,
or we're not supposed to critique
the wisdom of the merchant selling.
Everybody's got that
for a little pearl.
The point of these parables
is to illustrate
how immeasurably valuable
the kingdom is.
And the price paid
to get the kingdom
is unquestionably
and joyfully worth it.
So we've examined the parables.
The kingdom is the most joyful discovery
you'll ever make.
It's the most valuable object
you could ever seek.
Once you find it,
there's nothing you can compare it to.
And exchanging it
for all that you have
is unquestionably worth it.
It's pennies for millions.
It's a no-brainer.
But you might be sitting there
and wondering,
okay, Billy,
I get that Jesus is saying
the kingdom is immeasurably valuable.
I see it's worth exchanging
all I have to get it.
But can I have a little explanation
on what it is?
What is the kingdom?
Why is it so valuable?
Can you maybe open up
that treasure box a little bit
and let me just see it
so I can know?
And maybe run my fingers through it.
Can I hold the pearl,
feel it on my fingertips a little bit
so I can know
that it's worth selling
everything I've got to get it?
Yes.
We can do that.
Let's gaze at this kingdom.
Let's gaze at this treasure.
So we're going to do
a little gaze at a glimpse.
Kind of just open the treasure box
and let you see
kind of the whole thing
for a minute
and I just want to pick up
one little gem
that's right here in the passage
and I want us to gaze at that.
So let's just kind of start
from a glimpse.
What is this kingdom
we're talking about?
Well, as Mike has said
in previous sermons,
this is the kingdom.
It's God's saving reign.
It's coming under God's rule.
It's God's redeeming activity
in the world.
Wherever there are people
who recognize God
as their king,
that's where the kingdom is.
And this has been
the story
of all of the Old Testament.
From the garden,
God's people
in God's place
living under his rule
and then it's broken
because we refuse
to acknowledge God
as our king.
We refuse to see
how great and valuable he is.
It's broken.
That kingdom is shattered
and then God reestablishes it
by his grace
by choosing one people
and establishing his rule
over that one people, Israel,
and setting up his king,
King David,
over that kingdom
and then even that kingdom
falls apart
because God's people
still reject his rule
and his reign.
But then this guy named Jesus
shows up on the scene
and he says,
the kingdom of heaven
is here.
It's here now.
all of a sudden
we're beginning to see
that the kingdom of God
is God's reign
over not only all creation
but particularly his people
and the good that he's doing
over his people
with his rule
over his people.
So that's the treasure box.
If you're looking at the treasure
just all as a whole,
that's the treasure box.
There's so many blessings
we can pull out of it.
We're under his good
and perfect law.
We're experiencing his presence.
We're able to receive
his mercy and forgiveness.
We're able to escape
from judgment.
We have eternal life
when we're near him
and under his rule.
There's so many good blessings,
little pieces of gold
we can pick up
and run through our fingers.
But there's one thing
that I want us to look at
right here in the passage.
You see that little word
in verse 44?
The kingdom of heaven
is like treasure
hidden,
hidden in a field.
That's not the first time
that Jesus is referred
to the kingdom as hidden,
even in this chapter.
Look back up to verse 34 and 35.
We're going to find
some great value
of the kingdom
in its hiddenness.
All these things Jesus said
to the crowds
in verse 34,
in parables,
indeed he said nothing to them
without a parable.
This was to fulfill
what was spoken by the prophet.
I will open my mouth
in parables.
I will utter what has been
hidden
since the foundation
of the world.
And then in verse 33,
when Jesus compares
the kingdom of God
to leaven
working its way
through a lump of dough
in the flour,
it's hidden
in the flour.
Do you notice that
in verse 33?
And then
we see that this kingdom
is something that's hidden
since the foundation
of the world.
And now it's revealed.
something that was secret.
Something that was not known.
And now it's beginning
to be revealed
through these parables.
And Jesus' disciples
are wondering,
back in verse 10,
Jesus,
why are you speaking
to these people
in parables?
And he begins
to describe
why the kingdom
is hidden
and then how it's revealed.
He says that
in verse 13 through 15,
he starts to quote Isaiah 6.
And he says
that we as humans,
we hear,
but we don't understand.
We see,
but we don't perceive.
Our heart is grown dull
so that we,
the truth is right
in front of us.
It's hidden
in plain sight.
But we don't get it.
We can't get it.
Our hearts are too dull
because of our hardness
of sin
and not being able
to respond
to the truth
of the king
that we hear,
but we don't hear.
We see,
but we don't see.
The kingdom is hidden
in plain sight.
If we were to stop there,
that would not be
the kingdom's great value.
That would be
the kingdom's great tragedy
that we see it
in plain sight,
but we don't get it.
But it doesn't stop there.
Notice what Jesus says
in verse 16.
Blessed are your eyes
for they see
and your ears
for they hear.
Truly,
I say to you,
many prophets
and righteous people
long to see
what you see
and did not see it
and to hear what you hear
and did not hear it.
So we're picking up
this gem
of the kingdom
and we're seeing
that it was once hidden.
Now it's revealed.
I don't know if
you've ever
been brought in
on a secret,
but being brought in
on a secret
is kind of fun.
There's a sense of value
when you're brought in
to a secret.
I hope that you've read
or seen the movie
The Lion,
the Witch,
and the Wardrobe
by C.S. Lewis
in The Chronicles of Narnia.
If you haven't,
the story is that
these four children
walk into this world
called Narnia.
They don't know
what's going on.
They're clueless.
And they run
into this talking beaver
and this talking beaver
pulls them deep
into the closest thicket
of the forest
and he's trying
to get them away
from any potential spies
that might hear
what he's about to tell them.
He's about to reveal
to them a secret
and they have no idea
what's going on.
They're like,
what's going on?
And then he brings them in
and he brings them close
and he says,
come on,
close, close.
You could see the whiskers
trembling with excitement
with this little beaver
and he says,
Aslan is on the move.
And they didn't have a clue
what that meant.
They didn't know who Aslan was,
but they were brought
into a secret
and all of a sudden
that began to affect them.
And they began to realize
the preciousness
of that truth
that was just revealed to them.
The kingdom was once
hidden from our eyes,
all of us,
because we were,
like Paul tells us
in Romans 1,
we could see the kingship of God
in God's creation
plain as day.
We could see
it was plain to us
that he is the king,
that God created this world,
that he is,
as absolute moral authority
over all of creation.
It's plain as day,
but we don't see it.
And then all of a sudden,
by grace,
we do.
The kingdom
is revealed.
We're led into a secret,
and it's in that rarity
of hearing the secret
of the kingdom of God
that the kingdom
is all of a sudden
very valuable.
You don't go to an art show
and lay down millions of dollars
for a copy of a painting,
for something that anyone can get.
You go to an art show
and lay down millions of dollars
for that one,
because it's so rare.
It's in the rarity
of the kingdom,
of having our eyes opened
by the king.
And that's what happened
to these disciples.
They saw Jesus,
they were called by Jesus,
and they began to follow Jesus,
and they realized that,
hey, here's the king.
And sooner or later,
they realized
the secret of the kingdom
is revealed to us.
Not because of anything we do,
but because of sheer grace.
And not only is the kingdom
so rare and valuable
because those whose eyes
can see the kingdom
are only those
whose eyes have been opened
by the kingdom,
or by the king
to see the kingdom.
Not only is it so rare
and valuable,
but it is also costly.
Because the one
who brought us
under his reign
paid a very high price
for us to be able
to come under his reign.
Our king is also
our priest,
our mediator,
our sacrifice.
So this is the kingdom of heaven.
If we gaze at the infinite worth
of the kingdom,
the infinite worth
of this king,
then all we've got here
and now,
it's pennies
for millions.
It's a no-brainer.
And it's not fool's gold.
It's the real deal.
Alright, so we've examined
we've gazed
and now I want us
to open a few things.
First,
let's respond to God's word
by opening a few things.
First, let's open our eyes.
The king is putting
hidden treasure
in plain view.
So do you see it?
Do you recognize
the unequaled value
of the kingdom?
Living under
the rule of King Jesus
is worth
giving up anything
and everything.
Let me read Paul's words
in Philippians 3 to you.
But whatever gain I had,
I counted it as loss
for the sake of Christ.
Indeed,
I count everything
as loss
because of the
surpassing worth
of knowing Christ Jesus,
my Lord.
For his sake,
I suffer the loss
of all things
and I count them
as trash,
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 of God
that depends
on faith.
Do you hear Paul's
sold out joy?
His determination
to get the one thing
that is worth having?
Paul is saying,
all that I've got,
it's loss
compared to the gain
of getting the kingdom.
I want to belong to Jesus.
I want to come
under his rule.
I want the gain
of the king
and the kingdom.
I want the whole package
of saying yes
to Jesus
no matter what
it costs me now.
So do you see it?
Let's open our eyes
and just see the value,
the worth
of the king
and the kingdom.
If you're sitting here
this morning
and you're wondering,
I don't know
if I see it.
I don't know
if I get it.
I don't know
if I'm in it.
I don't know
what there is.
Please,
please hear,
don't just let that sit.
Act on it.
Act on God
is beginning
to open your eyes
to see the treasure
that's hidden
in plain sight.
There will be people
down here
to help you out
with that
after the service.
I'll be down there.
I'd love to pray with you.
Second,
open your hands.
We want to open our hands.
We want to look
and see what we've got
in this life.
Just take a moment
to personally assess,
what have I got?
Have I counted it up?
Have I counted the cost
of all that I've got
in this life
from my money
to my possessions
to my career,
my family,
my talents,
my dreams,
my car,
my home,
my time,
my energy?
Remember,
all you've got here
is pennies
for millions.
is laying down
the kingdom of self
that you've got
here in your hands,
is it worth it
to gain the kingdom
of heaven?
Is there anything
that you're tempted
in these hands
of yours
to say,
no,
not that.
That's worth more
to me than the kingdom
is.
Listen to what Jesus
is saying.
He's saying,
lay it all down.
If I could use a quote
that just never gets tired,
Jim Elliott said,
he is no fool
who gives what he cannot
keep.
That's the kingdom
of self.
To gain
what he cannot lose,
that's the kingdom
of heaven.
If you're saying
that the kingdom
isn't worth losing this,
then Jesus is gently
but firmly telling you
in these parables,
you're wrong.
It is.
Trust him.
As Andrew Peterson,
songwriter,
said,
when it's all you have,
it's all you'll ever need.
Next,
I want you to open
your hood.
I've opened my hood
to my car a few times
to see what's going on
in there.
I want us to open
the hood of our lives
and see what's
driving that.
What's driving,
what's the engine
that's driving our lives?
Is it affections
for the kingdom of God,
the kingdom of heaven,
or is it affections
for something else?
Not to say that things
of this world aren't good,
they are,
that there are good gifts
from the creator,
they are,
but what's driving your life?
What's the functional
treasure of your heart?
Is it the kingdom of self?
Or is it the kingdom
of heaven?
Whose rule are you under?
And how is that
driving your life?
So I want us to open
that hood
and take some of that
into consideration.
Lastly,
last thing I want us
to open is,
if you get it,
if you see it,
if you realize
all I've got here
is pennies for millions,
then open your mouth.
Open your mouth,
there are many
who,
all of us
were once
in the dark
of living for self,
and Jesus is saying,
go out and tell.
This kingdom is
treasure buried in a field.
It's the finest thing
you could ever have.
If you've got treasure,
your mouth's going to talk about it.
So open your mouth.
Let's pray
and
let's ask God's help
to respond well.
Father,
thank you
that you have revealed
your word to us.
You've revealed
your kingdom to us
through the mouth
of your son,
Jesus Christ.
Thank you,
King Jesus,
that you came
to bring the kingdom
to us.
And thank you,
God,
that there is nothing
more valuable
than your kingdom.
Father,
help us
as a church,
help us
as individuals
to recognize
that
it is worth,
joyfully
worth
every cost
to receive
the kingdom.
Father,
help us
to live
for your
saving reign.
May that be
the engine
that drives our lives,
may be the treasure
that our hearts
so desperately want.
Father,
help us
to give up
what we cannot keep
to get what we cannot lose.
Help us
to respond in faith
now by your spirit.
Help us
to make decisions
of obedience
to respond to this truth.
We ask it
in Christ's name.
Amen.