The Unequaled Value of the Kingdom

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.

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

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,

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.