Naylor Community Christian Church
Naylor, Georgia
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bible to Matthew
13:44-46
Matthew 13:44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure
hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy
went and sold all he had and bought that field.
45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant
looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value, he went away and
sold everything he had and bought it.
-- have you
ever dreamed about finding a hidden treasure? -- I sure have --
when I was a kid, I was convinced that one day, I would find
a hidden treasure
-- lots of
the stories and movies I watched back in the day -- from Robert Louis
Stevenson’s Treasure Island to the classic film, “The Goonies” -- all had me
convinced that there was buried treasure hidden somewhere close to me -- and
all I had to do was find it
-- and,
honestly, that wasn’t that far-fetched of an idea -- when we had Georgia
History taught to us in school, I learned that the infamous pirate Edward Teach
-- Blackbeard himself -- used to sail along the coast and rivers of Georgia --
and rumor had it that he had buried some of his treasure on a Georgia island or
possibly up one of the major rivers, such as the Savannah or the Altamaha --
treasure that has not been recovered to this day
-- that means that it's still out
there somewhere -- and who knows? -- maybe my dream of finding buried treasure
is something that will come true in the future
-- but regardless of whether I ever
find a chest full of gold doubloons and precious jewels, the truth of the
matter is that I have found treasure in my life -- spiritual treasure -- treasure
in heaven
-- as Jesus said in Matthew 6:20-21,
“Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not
destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure
is, there your heart will be also.”
-- these spiritual treasures
include eternal life with Christ -- salvation and the forgiveness of sins made
possible by the death and resurrection of Jesus -- God’s own word given to us
in the Scriptures -- and His very presence given to us in the person of the
Holy Spirit, who sanctifies us and leads us ever onward to heaven
-- and these spiritual treasures
include the five crowns that are promised for believers in God’s word:
1.
The Victor's Crown -- awarded to those who discipline their minds
through the study of God's Word and prayer
2.
The Crown of Rejoicing --given to those who have led others to Christ
3.
The Crown of Righteousness --given to those who are in a right
relationship with Jesus
4.
The Crown of Life -- given to those who have overcome this world -- who
have endured and triumphed over trial and temptation and persecution, even to
the point of martyrdom
5.
The Crown of Glory -- given to the faithful shepherds of the people of
God and to Christian leaders
-- these spiritual treasures and
heavenly crowns are offered to all who respond to God’s call and believe in
faith and put their hope and trust in Jesus -- we can all find these spiritual
treasures if we will but look
-- this
morning, we are continuing our sermon series on the Parables of Jesus by
looking at two parables Jesus gives us here in Matthew 13:44-46 about finding
treasure -- the first is a treasure hidden in a field -- the second treasure is
a pearl of great price
-- unlike
some of His other parables, Jesus doesn’t give us the interpretation -- He
doesn’t tell us what these parables mean -- He leaves that up to us to
understand
-- as we
pointed out last week, the secrets to the Kingdom of Heaven have been given to
those who are spiritually ready to receive the hidden meaning within -- to
those who have ears to hear and eyes to see
-- and the
meaning and the interpretation of these parables differs, depending on who you
listen to -- so, let’s look at these verses together and see what we can learn and
what the Spirit reveals to us from these two similar parables
II. Scripture Lesson (Matthew 13:44-46)
-- verse 44
Matthew 13:44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure
hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy
went and sold all he had and bought that field.
-- on the
surface, the parable of the hidden treasure is a very straight-forward story --
as Jesus tells us here, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a
field -- a man goes out into a field, finds a buried treasure, covers it up
again, and then buys the field and keeps the treasure for himself
-- now when we first read this, the
actions of the man sound dishonest, don’t they? -- in our day, we would expect an
honest person to go to the owner and to tell him about the treasure that they found hidden on the
property since rightfully it would belong to the landowner -- but that’s not
what this man does -- instead of going to the owner and telling them about the
treasure, they hide it again and then go out and sell all they have to raise
enough money to buy the field and dig up the treasure for themselves
-- but what this man did in hiding
the treasure and buying the field was perfectly moral and lawful in first
century Palestine
-- the
reason why it looks dishonest to us is because of the way we understand
rightful ownership based on the law -- but we have to remember that our laws
are based on the laws of the Roman empire -- in a very real sense, we are the
descendants of the Roman empire -- and our law and our culture and even our
language and worldview -- our way of looking at and understanding this world --
all come down to us from the Romans
-- so, the
actions of the man who finds the treasure and then hides it and buys the field
look dishonest to us because we are looking at it from a Roman standpoint --
from a Roman worldview
-- but when
you study the Bible, you have to keep in mind who these passages were
originally given to -- the audience who originally heard these teachings -- and
how they would have received and understood and applied the message
-- in order to properly understand
and interpret the Bible and then apply it to our lives, you have to think of
the context -- not just what it says -- but what it meant to the original
reader -- before you do anything else with the text
-- in this
case, Matthew tells us the audience for this parable was Jesus' disciples --
Jewish men -- raised in Jewish tradition -- steeped in Jewish law -- they would
immediately understand what Jesus was saying in this parable, and to them, the
actions of the man would not be dishonest, but would be perfectly in keeping
with the law of the Jews
-- as
William Barclay pointed out in his commentary on these parables, "in
regard to hidden treasure Jewish Rabbinic law was quite clear" -- it
stated, and I quote, "What finds belong to the finder, and what finds must
one cause to be proclaimed? -- These finds belong to the finder--if a man finds
scattered fruit [or] scattered money...these belong to the finder."
-- in other
words, the man who found the treasure hidden in the field had the right to keep
what he had found according to the law -- in fact, the man who found the
treasure didn’t even have to purchase the field -- he could have lawfully just dug
up and kept the treasure without saying anything to the landowner
-- so, the
man was acting honestly, but that’s not the point of the parable -- Jesus’ main
point was that the kingdom of heaven is like a buried treasure that a man finds
in a field -- a treasure that is so valuable and so desirable that the man goes
and sells all he has in order to purchase the field and claim it for his own
-- we’ll
dig into the meaning and interpretation of this parable in just a moment
-- before
we do that, let’s look at the next parable -- verses 45-46
Matthew 13:45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a
merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value, he went
away and sold everything he had and bought it.
-- in this
case, the finder of the treasure is a merchant who is actively looking for fine
pearls -- and when he finds a pearl that is more valuable than all of the
others, he sells all he has in order to buy this one pearl of great value --
the pearl of great price
-- the
point of this parable parallels that of the first -- when a treasure of great
price is discovered, the finder sells all he has in order to acquire the
treasure he has found
-- now I'm
sure you've heard these parables taught in the past -- and I'm sure the
interpretation of these parables has always been similar -- the actor in the
parable -- the man who finds the treasure in the field and the merchant seeking
fine pearls -- represent you and me -- sinners seeking eternal life -- sinners
seeking the Kingdom of Heaven
-- and the
interpretation that we've always been given is that when we find eternal life
through Christ, we are to sell all we have -- to give ourselves completely to
Him -- in order to claim the treasure of the kingdom of heaven for our own
-- however,
this popular interpretation of these two parables is probably not the correct
interpretation because there are some serious spiritual and theological
problems with this explanation -- let me explain
-- the
first problem with the popular interpretation is in the definition of the actor
in the parable -- in other words, who is the main character?
-- in the
first parable, the main character is a man who finds a hidden treasure while he
is working in the field, going about his daily labors
-- in the
second parable, the main character is a merchant looking for fine pearls -- and
when he find the pearl of great price, he sells all he has to buy it
-- so, who
do these people represent? -- in both cases, the common interpretation of this
parable is that these people represent us -- that in both cases, the people are
unbelievers who stumble across the hidden treasure of the kingdom of heaven --
the way to salvation and eternal life
-- makes
sense? -- heard that before? -- it’s a pretty common interpretation
-- the
problem with this popular interpretation is that it doesn’t line up with
Scripture -- the Bible makes it clear that we can't find God on our own -- Scripture
tells us that we have no desire to find God -- to seek God -- because our
hearts are wicked and deceitful above all things -- Romans 5:10 says that we
are actually enemies of God and 1 Corinthians 2:14 says that "the natural
man has no ability to come to God" on his own
-- in other
words, in our natural state we aren't looking for God -- we don't have any
desire to find God -- and even if we tripped over God in a field or found Him
hidden in a market, we wouldn't recognize Him -- we wouldn’t even pay any
attention to Him at all -- we wouldn’t care
-- how many
people have you talked to who have no interest at all in Jesus? -- how many
people have you talked to who just don't care about religion or the Bible or
any other trapping of Christianity? -- there's a reason for that
-- in John
6:44 Jesus says "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws
him, and I will raise him up at the last day." -- no one can come to Jesus
unless the Father draws him
-- to put
it another way, no one is going to look for God unless God first calls him
through His prevenient grace -- the grace that reaches out to us before we are
saved -- the grace that woos us to the cross -- the grace that makes us aware
of our lostness and our need for salvation -- without God calling us in the
first place, no one would even know there was a treasure available that offered
eternal life
-- let me
give you an example of what I'm talking about -- several years ago Kim and I
were trying to find a small station wagon she could use to haul dogs in -- and
we saw one listed in the paper at an estate sale, so we went to go look at it
-- we
walked through the house and everything in there was for sale -- they had taken
the pictures down and leaned them against the wall by the front door and we
just glanced at them as we walked past looking for the owner -- we found him --
drove the car -- and ended up buying it
-- a few
weeks later we found out someone had found a treasure in that house -- they had
discovered an original lithograph of the Washington Monument -- an artist's
proof that had been made by the designer for approval before construction -- it
had been signed on the back by several prominent early politicians -- I forget
the value of the picture, but it was worth thousands of dollars
-- and Kim
and I walked right past it -- we walked right past a treasure -- inches from
our knees -- we saw it, but it didn’t mean anything to us -- why? -- because we
didn’t recognize it as treasure -- we didn’t have the capacity or the ability
to discern its true value
-- and that’s the problem with this
common interpretation of these parables -- the natural man is not going to be
looking for the kingdom of God and won’t recognize it if he happens to stumble
across it -- either hidden in a field or hidden in a case of pearls
-- the
second problem with this parable is what the main character does when he finds
the hidden treasure or the pearl of great price -- in both cases, we are told
the main character sells all he has to buy the field or to buy the pearl -- and
we routinely hear this taught as an example of what we must do in our lives, as
well -- that we must give all we have to Jesus in order to find eternal life --
that we have to sacrifice everything in order to enter the kingdom of Heaven
-- now, I
hope you can gather what is wrong with this interpretation now that you're
looking at this parable with discerning eyes
--
Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us, "For it is by grace you have been saved --
through faith -- and this not of yourself -- it is the gift of God -- not by
works -- so that no one can boast"
-- we are
saved by grace through faith -- not by works -- as we often proclaim, "you
can't buy your way to heaven -- you can't do enough good things to get to
heaven -- you can only get to heaven through faith in Jesus"
-- now, I
don't know about you, but when someone tells me that these parables mean that we
are to go and sell all we have to buy the field with the hidden treasure or to
buy the pearl of great price, that sure sounds like it's telling me we have to
buy our way to heaven
-- of
course, the commentators are quick to say that's not what it means -- they say
what Jesus meant is we should make any sacrifice necessary and give up whatever
we need to in order to gain eternal life -- as Barclay said in his commentary,
you have to be willing to give up everything in order to gain the treasure
-- but
they're skirting around the literal meaning in order to make sure their
interpretations line up with their doctrine -- in other words, "this
parable can't really mean you sell all you have to buy the field or to buy the
pearl because you can't buy your way to heaven, so Jesus really meant this
instead"
-- but when
I read it, it seems to be clear that Jesus says both the man and the merchant
sold all they had so they could buy the treasure with their resources on hand
-- they sacrificed all they had to buy the treasure -- and this just does not
line up with what the Bible tells us --
with the foundations of our faith -- "for it is by grace you have been
saved -- through faith -- not by works"
-- also, to
further confound the issue, Isaiah told us in Isaiah 64:6 that our righteous
acts are like filthy rags -- that means that we don’t possess anything of value
to begin with -- we don't even have the money to buy the field or the pearl if
we wanted to
-- even the richest man in the
world -- even Elon Musk or Bill Gates -- isn’t rich enough to buy their way
into heaven
-- and even the best person you
know -- even Mother Teresa -- isn't good enough and can’t do enough righteous
acts to atone for their sin -- so how could we buy the field or the pearl in
the first place? -- it just doesn’t line up with Scripture -- and Jesus is not
telling us something that is biblically untrue
-- so, if
the common interpretation is not right, then what is the better interpretation?
-- let's think about this logically in a way that lines up with a proper
interpretation of Scripture
-- first,
who is the audience? -- who was Jesus talking to when He told them these
parables?
-- Matthew
tells us these two parables were given to His disciples after Jesus left the
crowd and went into a house -- so, these parables were not given to the crowd
-- and that means the teachings of this parable were not for the crowd, but only
for Jesus' chosen disciples -- the men who would build His church on earth
after His death and resurrection
--
secondly, what is the overall message of the parable? -- what is it that Jesus
is trying to get across to these men?
-- He’s not telling them how to be
saved or how to find eternal life -- they already know that -- that would be a
message that the crowd needed to hear
-- instead, He's telling them the
reason why He came -- in these parables, Jesus outlines to His closest
followers the purpose of His coming -- the reason for the incarnation, for the
cross, and the resurrection
-- knowing
those two things, let’s look at these parables again in that context
-- look
back at verse 44
Matthew 13:44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure
hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy
went and sold all he had and bought that field.
-- in the
first parable, a man goes out into the field, finds a buried treasure, and
sells all he has to acquire the field and possess the treasure
-- what is
the field? -- the field represents the world -- both Jew and Gentile -- the
entire world -- all the people of the world -- remember John 3:16? -- for God
so loved THE WORLD… -- that is what we see here
-- so,
who's the man? -- we've already pointed out that it can't be us -- it can’t be
unbelievers -- because we aren't looking for God in the first place -- and,
even if we were, we don't have money to buy the field even if we wanted to
-- so, who has the resources to buy
the field? -- that’s the key -- it's Jesus -- Jesus is the man -- or, as He
calls Himself throughout the gospels, the Son of Man
-- then
what's the treasure? -- what is of such great price that He would sell all He
had to gain it? -- it's us -- it's you and me and all the other people in this
world -- Jesus came to earth looking for us and when He found us, He gave all
He had -- even His very own body and blood on the cross of Calvary -- to redeem
us from the curse and to offer forgiveness for our sins
-- back to
John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him shall have eternal life"
-- Jesus sought
us when we were still sinners and paid the sin-debt that we owed all because He
loved us and considered us a treasure of inestimable value
-- but what
about the merchant looking for fine pearls? -- what's up with that? -- verse 45
Matthew 13:45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a
merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value, he went
away and sold everything he had and bought it.
-- once
again, Jesus is the merchant -- He has to be since He’s the only one who has
any resources to give up for our redemption
-- similar to the man working in
the field, the merchant is looking among all the pearls in the market,
searching for fine pearls -- this is a reminder to us that we are all pearls in
the eyes of God -- all of us are made in the image of God, and that is why we
are all valuable enough for Jesus to give it all in order to redeem us
-- but there is only one pearl in
the market that Jesus sells everything to buy -- it is the pearl of great value
-- the pearl of great price -- this pearl represents the church
-- the men
and women -- both Jew and Gentile -- who have been redeemed by God and who have
put their faith and trust in Him
-- if you
consider pearls for a moment, you’ll quickly understand1
-- first,
pearls are the product of suffering
-- pearls are formed when oysters
get a grain of sand or other item trapped inside the mantle of their shell --
This piece of sand irritates the tender oyster and it responds by coating the
grain of sand with layer upon layer of a substance called nacre, which is
basically saliva and calcium -- It is the same substance that coats the inside
of the oyster’s shell
-- the church was created through
the suffering of Christ on the cross for us -- it is through His pain and His
body and blood that we come together today -- the pearl of the cross is the
product of His suffering
-- second, the process of creating
a pearl takes something with no value and gives it value -- the irritant that
begins the process of the oyster creating a pearl is nothing of great value --
just a piece of sand -- a bone fragment -- something similar -- but as the
oyster responds to this irritant, it takes that worthless item and transforms
it into a beauty of inestimable treasure in the same way that Jesus transforms
sinners into children of God
-- third, the pearl is a composite
-- it’s not just one thing -- a pearl consists of a minimum of three materials
-- the piece of sand or other irritant and the secretions of the oyster, made
up of its saliva and calcium -- in the same way, the church -- the pearl of
great price -- is made up of people from varying backgrounds, different races,
different genders, and different economic classes
-- finally, the pearl is indivisible -- the
pearl is the only gem known to man that cannot be cut or shaped -- large
diamonds and other jewels are cut and made into smaller, more valuable stones,
but a pearl cannot be divided -- to cut a pearl utterly destroys its value --
in the same way, the church of God cannot be divided -- Jesus prayed that we
would be one with each other and one with Him as He and the Father are one --
the pearl of great price -- the true church of Christ -- in indivisible and will
stand together forever
III. Closing
-- okay, so
now that I've turned these parables upside-down for you, what does it mean? --
what are you to take from this interpretation of Jesus' parables of the
treasure hidden in the field and the pearl of great price?
-- it
simply comes down to this -- you are loved -- in the eyes of God you are a
beloved treasure -- a treasure of inestimable value -- you are worth so much to
the God and Creator of this universe that He sent His only Son to save you and
redeem you
-- Jesus
gave all He had to purchase you -- to redeem you from your life of sin and
death -- to claim you as His own and make you part of the kingdom of heaven
--
regardless of what the world may say about you -- regardless of what others may
think or how they may judge you -- God knows your worth -- God knows your value
-- and He moved heaven and earth to find you and call you and draw you to Him
-- perhaps
He's still calling some of you today -- perhaps His voice is still wooing you
from your place of lostness in this world -- perhaps He's still waiting for you
to come and let Him redeem you and forgive you of your sins
-- if so,
then let me encourage you to respond to His call -- all you have to do is put
your faith in Jesus and His atoning death on the cross -- believe that He is
the Son of God and that He died for you to pay the price for sins and that He
rose again on the third day to prove His victory over sin and death
-- that's
it -- that's all it takes for you to experience forgiveness and freedom and
life in the kingdom of heaven
-- so let
us close now in prayer, thanking God for His grace and for His Son, who gave
all He had just for us
-- let's
pray
----------------------------
1 Modified from Alan Carr’s sermon, Pictures from the Pearl
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