And let's turn in our Bibles to Matthew chapter 13 and verse 44 to 48.
It reads,
And he is so worth it.
And there was this poor year-and-a-half-year-old, probably thinking, you know, what is wrong with Dad?
He's gone mad.
But it's true.
Sometimes when we make costly decisions, we can wonder, was that worth it?
And nowhere is that more true than in the Christian life.
The devil and the world and the flesh, all of them will be saying, this is a waste of time.
This is stupid.
This is nuts.
But Jesus has told this parable to teach us that simple truth.
The truth that we need to hear, whether it's for the first time or the thousandth time.
That knowing Jesus will cost you everything.
That he is worth more than anything in the world.
Those are my two points for this evening, and we'll work through them one by one.
Firstly, knowing Jesus will cost you everything.
It's one of the most obvious common features of these parables.
Verse 44, it says,
Then again in verse 46,
Who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had.
And the point is, if you want to know the one true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent,
they are the pearl, the treasure.
There is a sense in which you must sell all too.
Now that would be very obvious to us if we lived in somewhere like North Korea or Afghanistan.
Where to put your faith in the Lord Jesus so very clearly might cost you.
But here it might not be so obvious.
After all, many people live in this country and call themselves Christians,
and it costs them very little indeed.
No, I have done that.
We know many people, I imagine.
Many people who say to Jesus,
You can have my Sunday morning.
Maybe even I'd give you a Wednesday evening.
I would try and be a nice person too.
But how I use my money,
who I date,
how I bring up my children,
what job I do,
is for me to decide.
Many people in this country take the name of Christian
and effectively treat Jesus like a good mate
whose advice they can take or leave,
or a genie in the sky
to grant their wishes
and forgive their sin.
But Jesus is not a good mate.
He is not a genie in the sky.
He is the king of heaven.
These parables begin,
The kingdom of heaven is like,
The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of pearls.
How does one enter the kingdom of heaven?
Well, it's not so much that we go to a geographical place.
It's that we submit our lives to the king of heaven,
and that costs everything.
There are some people whom to know it costs.
An obvious example of that would be your boss,
if you have a boss.
When you enter the boss-worker relationship,
you are sucking eggs really,
but you promise to do X number of hours,
to do Y duties,
perhaps even be a certain sort of person,
and that costs.
Another example would be your spouse.
Maybe this doesn't need explaining,
but to have a spouse,
you have to promise.
I will honor you,
love you,
protect you,
and be faithful to you
until death do us part.
No matter what,
all that I am,
I give to you,
and all that I have,
I share with you.
And in my case,
when I made that promise,
it wasn't very much at all,
but you know,
you get the point.
It costs to know your boss,
it costs to be married to your spouse,
and it costs to know Jesus.
And it costs us everything,
because the relationship we have with him
is not simply that of a worker with a boss,
or even simply as a bride of a bridegroom,
though he is that to us,
but as our king,
who demands our life,
our souls,
our all,
everything we have,
everything we do,
everything we love,
he demands rule over.
He demands to rule over our work,
our school lives,
our investments,
our money,
our relationships to friends,
and parents,
and children,
and spouses.
He says,
whoever would be my disciple
must deny themselves,
take up their cross,
and follow me.
And he tells these stories
about men who sold everything
to teach us
that we must surrender all to him.
It may not mean
that we literally sell
all that we have,
but it certainly means
that we ask,
what would Jesus have me do
with all that I have.
He even demands of us
whatever the equivalent is
of the favorite fez
with a feather.
And I don't know
what that might be for you.
It might be a collection
of cash,
would be a common one.
Maybe an ambition,
a career,
a relation,
a grudge.
I remember very clearly
when I discovered
that Jesus had to be
my king.
I'd just gone to university,
I had two great loves
in my life.
One was my girlfriend
and one was badminton.
The Lord very kindly
sorted out my badminton for me.
I didn't make the university team,
I didn't even get close,
so that was very simple.
But I remember
as I came under
the preaching of God's word,
and what I wanted to say
to God was like,
look God,
you can have
all these bits of my life,
but you can't have her.
I wanted to ring fence her.
You can have this,
but not her.
But of course,
Jesus did not
accept those terms.
And maybe that is
you right now.
At the start of a new year,
you know that there is
an area of your life
you are trying to say
to Jesus,
I don't want you
to have this.
But we can only know
Jesus on his terms.
And his terms
are the terms
of a sovereign Lord.
He demands everything.
Knowing Jesus
costs everything.
And when you give him
everything,
that can look crazy.
It can look
absolutely mad.
It's one of the reasons
I really love
the story.
It just brings it out
so well.
You know,
I remember
as a child seeing it,
you know,
there's a man
kicking his legs together
with a pearl
and nothing but his boxes.
And you're like,
what do you want
a pearl for?
Why did you get rid of,
I mean,
the freezer's full of food.
He's got sausages
and chips.
Why would you do that?
You can imagine,
you know,
there he is
selling his stuff.
Imagine he had a wife.
Dear wife,
why are you getting rid
of the furniture?
What do you mean
you're selling the house?
Are you,
to buy a pearl?
Are you nuts?
And you can imagine
her leaving.
And I probably don't need
to tell many of you this.
You already know
the cost
and the crazy looks.
Maybe you come to church
every week,
read your Bible
and pray
and your family
wonder if you've been
brainwashed by a cult.
Maybe your colleagues
think you are daft
for living the lifestyle
you do.
Maybe you have
a very high-powered job
but you don't live
a high-powered lifestyle.
You give so much away
and you're kind
to guys at work
you know one else's
and they think
you're a little bit nuts.
You wonder if you have
a screw loose somewhere.
Or maybe your friends
think you're crazy
because you gave up
your promising career
to be at home
with the children
and you submit
to your husband.
What a thing.
I beg your pardon.
Or maybe it just might be
whether it's at school
you don't join in
the gossiping.
You don't join in
the drinking.
Or you're ready to say
you're pro-life
or something like that.
And there are people
like what?
What is up with you?
Are you mad?
Are you insane?
Jesus,
is he really that precious?
I don't think he's
precious at all.
And sometimes
that can get to us.
Sometimes we can think
maybe I am mad.
Maybe this is nuts
coming out here
on a New Year's Day
through the rain
to come and listen
to a guy
you've never met before.
What is that about?
I mean,
Paul didn't tell you that.
No,
you didn't know that.
But this is silly.
But the whole point
of the story is
that in the end,
if all your family
called you mad
and all your friends
left you
and you lost
all your wealth,
your career,
your home
and ended up
persecuted
and beaten
and imprisoned
and so all you had
left in this world
was your boxes
and the Lord Jesus Christ
and then you lost
your life,
you would still
have everything.
At the end of the story
both men have nothing
but a field
and a pole
that cost them all
and they are
over the moon
because though
knowing Jesus
will cost you everything,
he is worth more
than anything
in the world.
And that is the main thing
that this parable
wants to teach us.
Verse 44,
the kingdom of heaven
is like treasure
hidden in a field
which a man found
and covered up
then in his joy
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
and finding one pearl
of great value
went and sold
all that he had
and bought it.
It's funny,
you know,
joking about,
it was a joke
in my head,
but joking about
it costing
to know your spouse.
It's a strange thing.
Having a spouse
is very costly.
Even a wedding
is very costly.
It's very expensive.
And it costs a lot
as you go on.
I mean,
when you have kids,
boy,
that's a costly thing.
But have you noticed
that weddings
are very rarely
mournful occasions?
Here they are
making all these costs,
paying all this money,
saying all these
hard promises
and people aren't
miserable.
They're rejoicing.
This is good news.
Same when you have
a child.
People don't say,
ah,
people didn't say
to my mom,
I'm so sorry,
Pauline.
Ed is going to be
so hard work,
which mom likes
to remind me of
regularly.
Even with me,
they didn't say that.
I'm sure they didn't
say it to your parents.
They would say,
congratulations.
Because some things
are worth the cost.
And knowing Jesus,
well,
what does Paul say?
I consider all things
lost compared to
the surpassing greatness
of knowing Jesus Christ,
my Lord.
With a wedding,
we celebrate something
that's so good
that all the costs
are worth it.
Indeed,
sometimes the costs
themselves aren't bad
for us,
but really good.
you think about
what does it really
cost you to know Jesus?
For one thing,
it costs you your sin.
Your sin that was
ruining your life.
We can think
that obedience
to Jesus Christ
is going to weigh us down.
But what we tend to find
is that when we start
to obey,
it's similar to what
it must be like
for a whale
who spent all its life
on the beach
finally making its way back.
to the ocean.
It is true,
obedience requires us
to deny ourselves.
But in a sense,
in denying ourselves,
we find ourselves.
At the heart of self-denial
is love.
And by loving,
God restores us
in his image.
Submission to the king
of heaven,
it fits us for heaven.
And it makes us
heavenly.
my wife,
if you asked my wife,
Hannah,
who is the person
who has the most influence
you in your life,
she would say,
without even thinking about it,
she would say,
my grandma.
That's her mother's mother.
She was called Rosemary.
She went to India
to be a missionary doctor.
She spent about 18 years
out there.
While they were there,
they saw absolutely
no one converted.
Zilcho.
It cost them
a huge amount to go.
It cost them a lot
to come back again.
I only met her
a couple of times.
She was one of the most
patient
and lovely people
I've ever met.
One of the things
that particularly
I remember before
is always offering you
a biscuit.
If you were around
at her house,
you were not allowed
to be there
if you did not have
a biscuit in your hand.
That was very memorable.
But I never saw her angry.
I always saw her grateful
even though she was
in a lot of pain
at the time.
And wonderfully,
the Lord eventually
used their work
and brought many to Christ.
But obedience to Christ
is no loss for you.
Becoming like Jesus
is a great gain.
It costs you your sin.
It costs you your ease.
But you were not made
to live an easy life.
And to come to Jesus
sometimes costs you
good things.
Good things.
But the reality
is that these things
can never satisfy.
And these things
we will lose anyway.
It's a great irony
that the very things
we try and ring fence
from the Lord Jesus
are things that will be
lost to us anywhere.
I remember another story.
Another guy I knew,
he, well,
at university,
he fell in love
with a man.
He was a Christian.
He walked away
from Christianity
to go and be with this guy.
After one month,
they broke up.
I was so gutted.
And even then,
he didn't wake up.
But even if they'd had
a long and happy,
I don't know,
relationship together,
they just all lost
each other in the end.
Everything we try
and ring fence,
we will lose in the end.
But he is no fool
who gives
what he cannot keep
to gain
what he cannot lose.
and you will never,
ever lose Jesus.
And I don't know
what you guys love.
I don't know you guys
very well at all.
And I don't know
what you've had
to give up for Jesus.
There may be
all sorts of people here
who've given up
all sorts of things
for the Lord Jesus Christ.
There may be reputations
or careers
or countries
or family members.
Think about the thing
that Jesus Christ
has cost you most.
And if it's a person,
because people
are the most precious,
think they are lovely
and beautiful
and funny
and you have memories
of joy together.
If you ask the question,
from where did they get
their beauty,
their loveliness,
their joy from?
The answer is
always
from the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you sacrifice
anything for him,
you have in him
the source
of whatever it is
that you sacrificed.
You have the one
who painted
their beauty.
You have the one
who imagined
their humor.
You have the one
who gave them
their personality.
From where does
their loveliness,
their goodness,
their truth come from?
If not from him
who is eternal
and infinite love,
truth and goodness.
How lovely must he be
who is the source
of all goodness,
truth and beauty.
If you have
the Lord Jesus Christ,
you do not simply
have something
in this creation
but the creator himself
who now mediates
his goodness to us
in a million of ways
if we could only
have eyes to see them.
But one day
we will see him.
and that one look
will make up
for all the sorrows
that we face
in this life.
My friends,
if we had our heads
screwed on,
we would not ask
is following Jesus
worth it?
Of course it's worth it.
Of course he is
the pearl of great price.
Of course we want him.
He is the life
of our lives.
He is the light,
life of our lives,
the light of our eyes,
the treasure of our souls.
The question we would ask
is why on earth
would he,
the king of heaven,
want anything
to do with me?
A sinner
who has done
wretched things,
who has ignored
and disobeyed him,
who has continued
to treasure things
more than him,
who deserves nothing
but the fire of hell.
But the wonderful thing
is there's another way
of reading this parable.
The main way
is so obviously
to give up all
to take Christ
the treasure.
But in another sense,
Christ is the one
who sold all for us
to make us his treasure,
us of no worth.
Not ceasing to be
what he was,
he became what he was not.
The eternal made in time,
the infinite made finite,
God become man.
And his family
did call him mad.
And all his friends
left him.
He had no wealth,
no place to lay his head.
He was persecuted
and beaten.
He was mocked
and slandered.
His clothes
were stripped from him
and his career
led to a cross.
But there he died
for our sin
to make us
his treasure.
He died to bring us
who deserve hell
to the loving arms
of the Father
and save us forevermore.
He died
that all who believed
shall be his
and he
shall be ours.
And so, my friends,
there is no greater treasure
than the Lord Jesus Christ.
this year,
let us put our trust
in him.
No matter who we are,
no matter what we have done,
let us come to him
as our Lord
and our God.
Let us follow him,
submit our lives to him,
no matter what it costs,
because he is worth
everything.
And if we find ourselves
disheartened
and discouraged
at the loss,
let us remind ourselves
we have
the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is ours.
And we are his
and in him God,
Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit
who is worth more
than anything
in the world.
Let's pray.