INTRODUCTION
Sermonic Theme
Opening Statement: Today, we all have our search. If you are a normal human being, you are engaged in some kind search or quest this morning. It may be a place, a person, a purchase, a dream, an experience, a position, an achievement, or your first million, but it is some kind of treasure that you believe will make life worth living.
Transition: Jesus used the metaphors of treasure and a pearl to indicate the value of the Kingdom and lifestyle that He came to implement. If the Kingdom is everything that he said it was, we should not stop until we know what it is and how we can find it.
Title: Discovering Jesus: The Treasure and the Pearl
Text: Matthew 13:44-46
Opening Statement: Have you ever wondered what it would be like to discover a hidden treasure? Many dream of buying that .50 cent picture at a garage sale, and discovering that behind the cheap poster inside was an original unpublished Norman Rockwell painting.
Background: Jesus is with his disciples (Matt.13:36) and he is explaining what it is like when a person finally discovers the Kingdom of Heaven, as it was presently being offered to them in Jesus. The point of these twin stories is one of discovering the immense value of the Kingdom. Discovering Jesus and the Kingdom lifestyle that He came to offer is the greatest discovery that people can make because of it’s value.
Question: The key question that we’ll have in front of us today is “Why would Jesus describe His Kingdom like this? What makes His Kingdom so valuable, so priceless?”
Recitation: Matthew 13:44 “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure, hidden in a field, that a person found and hid. [Picture the plowman plowing the field as a common laborer. Feel the hot sun beating down, the sweat rolling off his brow, the weary and calloused hands gripping the plow handles. Then suddenly… thud! “Probably another rock that has to be pulled out and discarded,” he must have initially thought. He bent down to investigate. The name that comes to mind is Jed Clampet who was “shootin’ at some food and up from the ground came a bubbling crude…” Jed was just doin’ his Hillbilly job of rustling up some grub when he struck oil. This plowman was just doin’ his job, when the plow hit something odd. The earth was still hard, so he had to dig down and around this strange object. Finally, he broke through the hardened soil, to discover the top edge of a chest. The more he dug, the faster his heartbeat. Could it really be something of value? Banks weren’t common in those days. War and calamity often prompted people to quickly bury things of value in hopes of returning to retrieve them at a later, more opportune time. Of course, if the owner of some buried treasure were killed during a war, he would carry his secret to the grave with him. Could it be some lost, forgotten treasure that now this worker could rightfully claim? He managed to break the lid open and there he found jewels, gold coins, and precious stones in abundance. He quickly placed the lid back on the chest and reburied this treasure, hoping that no one had seen him. The style and condition of the treasure chest and perhaps the dates on some of the gold coins indicated that the present owner of this piece of property could not have put them there. He knew nothing of this treasure. It far outdated anything that he could have hidden. The plowman immediately knew what he would do.] Then because of joy he went and sold all that he had and bought that field. [He would liquidate all of his assets and use the cash to buy this property because of what the field contained.] 13:45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. [He knew pearls. He had studied them for a lifetime. He bought and sold hundreds of these. These beautiful gems began their existence as a simple irritant, a piece of grit or sand buried deep in the mantle of an oyster, and then the miracle began. Slowly ever so slowly the oyster began to secrete the very substance that made up its shell. One layer was added to the grit, and then another and another until finally a lowly piece of sand had become one of the worlds most beautiful gems. Perhaps, he had traveled to the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, and even to India in search of these pearls.] 13:46 When he found a pearl of great value, [And one day, he finally saw it, the finest pearl he had ever seen. He didn’t necessarily go looking for it, but he found it. It was perfect. Flawless. Beautiful. It was the mother of all Pearls.] he went out and sold everything he had and bought it. [He knew this would be the purchase of a lifetime. He calculated, evaluated, and finally concluded that selling everything in order to buy that one perfect pearl would be the right thing for him to do.]
Explanation: Jesus said that finding the Kingdom is like this. Why? The Kingdom was immensely valuable.
Key Word: The Kingdom is valuable for several important REASONS.
OUTLINE
Death Is Conquered.
Exposition: When Jesus and His Kingdom invaded previously held enemy territory called earth, He conquered what has proven to be our biggest problem of all – death.
Illustration: Just recently, my father was near death and didn’t know it. He has major respiratory problems due to coal mining and his heart is becoming enlarged as a result. Even though he was able to retire at 55 due to black lung, the damage was already done. He must use a wheel chair all of the time now, with the exceptions of a few steps here and there. During his time of hospitalization, my sister called and told me all that had happened and how that people in his condition when he was admitted are always on a ventilator when in the hospital. They ended up draining 30 pounds of fluid from him that had built up from his feet up. All of this has forced me to begin to think about the fact that I may not have my dad a lot longer.
Application: I can’t tell you how priceless the King and His Kingdom is to me right now as I contemplate the possibility of loosing someone that I love. Recently, Will has had a lot of questions about heaven and hell and eternal things. Telling him about these things in light of the Kingdom of heaven is priceless.
Lives Are Changed.
Exposition: When we encounter the Kingdom of God and the King Himself, it transforms us into servants of the King who live with allegiance to Him.
Illustration: Fridays meeting with the potential membership candidates went great. I could easily say nice things about all of them. But I ended our meeting by sharing something that I’ve observed in one of our potential new members – Joan Bradley. She began attending SCC 8 months ago. She started to SS in January. This is where I have slowly seen God’s Kingdom quietly taking shape in her life. It first started with a notebook. Now it’s a bag with our SCC name on it that she had screen-printed on her own.
Application: The Kingdom of God as it’s revealed in Jesus is priceless because it enables people like Joan Bradley who for so many years didn’t know what it was like to journey with Christ personally and with others and enjoy that journey. When you encounter the Kingdom of God in Jesus, you have to understand that “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Those who know that life could be better if it were lived according to Jesus’ way are on their way to making the greatest discovery of a lifetime. Joan is making that discovery and that is priceless!
Friends Are Made.
Exposition: When you discover the Kingdom of God, you discover a whole brand new circle of relationships and you enjoy camaraderie that you’ll not experience anywhere else in the world. That’s priceless!
Illustration: I’ve been blessed to meet some greathearted people in my time in ministry. One the nicest guys you’ll meet is Paul Wilson. Paul’s done so much around the house and the church. He’s hauled a bunch of stuff to the dump for me. In fact, I don’t even know where the dump is because Paul always takes stuff there for me. Yesterday, we tore off shingles from the old garage, getting it ready to take down. Of course Will and Levi had to be in the middle of it. Levi stepped on a nail and said he couldn’t walk. Will had been quiet for several minutes and we couldn’t see him down below. Paul finally told Will to turn the board over that had the nail in it that Levi stepped on. Will quietly replied, “I can’t. I’m stuck.” He had been quiet because he was too embarrassed to tell us that he had taken a board off of the garage, stuck his head inside the garage to take a look, then couldn’t get his head back out. Paul hurried down to help Will get his head out and Levi on his feet again.
Application: Sometimes Kingdom work means coming together and improving the facilities. You all have done great in supporting the garage project. But it also means making new friends with others all because the Kingdom is coming to bear on you and your new friends and you share that in common. When you make a run at something together, whether it’s putting up a garage or tearing one down or team-teaching a VBS class, your making new Kingdom friends for the journey. That’s priceless! I dropped in to see Deann, Jim, and Nathan Sefton the other day. I left with deer steak, deer burger, and a bunch of little dinosaur toys. Carl Bruns called and offered me tickets to the Reds to watch Barry Bonds and the Giants. Doug Smith offered some Reds tickets a couple of weeks ago too. Friends are made in the Kingdom. But it’s not just any friend – it’s Kingdom Friends who share in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Victories Are Won.
Exposition: I often think of Sunman Community Church and local churches as a field with treasure buried within it. It’s like a Pearl that just keeps increasing in value as we represent the Kingdom of God. We have a long way to go. But if we can just become a fully functioning, Holy Spirit enabled, New Community of people that exercises our spiritual gifts through involvement and attendance, we can become the kind of place where people can make the most exciting discovery of a lifetime and can be restored to the purpose for which God created them. This church can be a treasure in a field where people can discover and encounter the Kingdom of God in Jesus and win the battles of life.
Application: The important thing is that however you’ve come to the Kingdom - through whatever means or relationship you have encountered Jesus – having encountered Him and His kingdom, rest assured that He and His lifestyle is an immensely worthwhile treasure that you cannot afford to pass on. He is treasure. He is pearl. He is worth any and every sacrifice in order to bring you to the place where you can follow Him. Discovering life in Jesus and the kind of Kingdom that he came to offer are two things worth securing at any price. The kingdom of heaven is worth infinitely more than the cost of discipleship, and those who know where the treasure lies joyfully abandon everything else to secure it. Jesus underscores the fact that just finding the kingdom isn’t enough for anybody. Possessing the treasure is what it’s all about and the heart has room for only one ultimate treasure and that treasure is priceless!
Question: Why is the kingdom priceless? Death is conquered. Lives are changed. Friends are made. Victories are won.
CONCLUSION
Application: Everything in your life worth anything at all will cost you something. Your marriage, your children, your job, your dreams, your church, your faith. Each of those things will require a sacrifice on your behalf. Some of those things cost money, a financial sacrifice. Others require a sacrifice of time and commitment. But just as the merchant and plowman were willing to give their all we need to determine just what we are going to give our all for. Jesus tells us that thing worth dying for is the kingdom of God in our life, salvation and doing the will of God.
