Jesus Christ, Storyteller: One Thing Worth Everything
Matthew 13:44-46
This week, I want you to have two very short but poignant stories by Jesus go deep into your heart to help you nail down what is of greatest importance to you, i.e., what it is that you are really living for. You see that I’ve called the message “One Thing Worth Everything”. There are many things that are worth a lot to us all. That’s not bad. We human beings can have quite a passion for things like good food, sports, a hobby, our health, our career, friendships, our family, etc. God has made us that way. There are a lot of things we enjoy and value. But, at the same time, not all valuable things are of the same value.
Several years ago, MasterCard ran a series of advertisements based on this principle. It owned up to the fact that there are some things that you cannot buy with a credit card that are much more valuable than those things you can purchase with it. (Of course, it wants us all to use their card for all those secondary things.) Here’s one of them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDf751c1yiA&list=PL7DF5EB5148CC31FE&index=8.
Jesus takes this point about some things being more important than other things and infuses it with eternal significance in the two stories recorded in Mt 13:44-46. We find two very different people finding something in life of much greater value than anything they had ever found before. Here in Southern CA, we have so many people who speak about spiritual searching for something of value. Jesus teaches us about spiritual finding.
Story 1: The Hidden Treasure (13:44) – In his joy, he sold all he had (13:44).
In a day when there were no banks or safe deposit boxes to keep valuables safe, people had different ways to protect their possessions. The main way was to hide them. Like a dog buries a bone to keep it for a later day, people often buried their prize possessions. (See Mt 25:25 when a passive servant buried his talent). Sometimes, people did this and then went on a journey never to return. At other times, when an area was under attack, people buried treasure from the attacker only to be killed by the looters. So, the treasure could stay in a buried place a long time. Often the hiding place was a field for growing crops or grazing animals. At other times, it was a remote place in the mountains.
Here’s the setting: The law in Israel was that, if someone found treasure in an unowned field, and the original owner was unknown or deceased, the finder was entitled to keep it. This act of finding an unclaimed treasure in an unowned field was called “lifting”. In most cases, the “lifter” became the owner. But, if the finder was an employee when he “lifted” a treasure, the employer could argue that the finder was acting as his agent. A legal battle would commence to determine whether the owner was the finder or the employer. The only indisputable way to claim the property was to be the owner of the field when the treasure was lifted.
I know I must explain one thing: This man in Jesus’ story was almost surely a poorer man, a day worker, because he had to sell everything he had ever possessed in order to buy the field with the treasure in it. The first thing most people in our culture think when we read this story is, “Was this an honest thing for the working man to do?” I’ll simply tell you that the law was clear that the treasure belonged to the man who found it. However, it seems that loopholes could be argued that might prevent him from having what was field. Buying the field would leave no doubt about ownership of the treasure.
Here’s the main point: Jesus did not tell this very, very short story to teach whether what the man did was or was not moral but to teach us all that there are treasures of such worth to a person that he’ll give up everything to have it. That’s what Jesus says experiencing the spiritual treasure of entering into the kingdom of God is like.
And Jesus makes it clear that the man not only gave up everything for this one treasure – but he was overjoyed about doing it. The loss of everything else in this world to gain this treasure was, in his heart, no loss at all. Jesus is not saying that we should go out and try to buy our standing with God. No, he’s saying that if surrendering all to find Christ is required of us, then we should count all things in this world well lost for the beauty of knowing Christ.
I was on the Wheaton College campus as I was preparing this message for you and I was reminded of the familiar story of Jim Elliott. He was an extremely gifted student and leader on campus with tremendous potential for financial and career success. But, he sensed the call of King Jesus of the kingdom of God on his life and gave up everything to carry the gospel to previously unreached people group in South America. You may know that this decision cost him his life. Before leaving for his mission assignment, he was asked why he would give up so much to carry the gospel to tribal people. You may know his concise and powerful response: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
Jesus says, “That’s what the kingdom of God is like.”
Story #2: The One Priceless Pearl -- He sold everything he had and bought it(13:45-46).
Jesus starts this story with the simple word “again”. By doing so, Jesus points out he is going to make a similar point as in the first story but with a very different kind of person. He’s going to show us that no matter what kind of person you may be – rich or poor, black or white, young or old -- the call of the kingdom of heaven will have one thing in common with all other Jesus-followers. The people who find life in Jesus will be very diverse but there is one thing that everyone who follows this king will share with others.
Let’s think about these men. The pearl merchant Jesus refers to would have been at the top of the economic career list. Still, just like the poorer worker in the first story, this wealthier man discovered the “one thing worth everything” unexpectedly one day. One day, this wealthy pearl merchant had no idea that he would have his eyes opened to the one the pearl that was worth more than anything else in this world.
And, just like the first man, the second sold everything to have the treasure. Notice this about the story: Jesus isn’t saying that this is a lesson in how to make a good business deal, i.e., that if he got this pearl one day, soon it would escalate in value and make the man a financial fortune. No, the man’s delight was in the possessing of the pearl – not in the profit he could make from it. It wasn’t that he could get this pearl and still be a rich man. It’s just that, after seeing this pearl, possessing other things just didn’t matter to the man. Why? Because in this pearl, he had found what his life was all about.
Here’s what I want you to notice: These men are, on the surface, very different. But, they had the same need, i.e., for something that was of lasting value in their lives. Because of that, when they finally find the spiritual treasure that life is all about, their lives are completely reoriented. Nothing is too much to give up for it. Not halfway religiosity. Both make radically life-changing decisions.
Both stories involve complete surrender – no cost is too great. So too, when you find Jesus – genuinely find Jesus -- you quickly see that your life is not your own anymore. You discover that, when you follow Jesus by faith, you surrender everything in this world to him but you lose nothing that lasts. When you find the real spiritual treasure that Jesus is, every part of your life will be revolutionized by it. The kingdom of God is not some self-help religion that improves it. It is an encounter with the living God that remakes you from inside out. If you have the kingdom of God and have nothing else, you still have everything worth having. If you have everything else and don’t have the kingdom of God, you have nothing.
So, one of the surest ways to know that you have truly found spiritual treasure, that you have entered the kingdom of God through faith in Jesus, is that this act of faith will change your life totally.
What did these men do when they became aware of the treasure? The same things I hope you have done:
What to Do When Your Eyes Are Opened to Spiritual Treasure
1. Assess with your mind the value of the treasure in light of everything else in the world,
2. Feel the value of the treasure in your heart,
3. Live out your new values by the way you live your life,
4) Discover that a life of following Jesus brings a deep inner joy, no matter where he leads.
Jesus says, “This is what the kingdom of heaven is like. This is what I have come to offer you. “
Let’s reflect a moment on the nature of these two stories in a different way. The strength of our reaction to such stories comes from our perception that someone is giving up something "of enormous value" for the sake of something — and this is crucial! — that the world considers to be of lesser value. People who watch Jesus-followers giving up everything in light of the one great treasure of obeying Jesus will often look at us, evaluate the trade-off and think, "Why would you give up this for THAT?"
If, on the other hand, we were to hear of someone giving up something of value for the sake of something having even GREATER value, then it wouldn’t surprise us at all! For example, giving up one lucrative career to take on an even more lucrative career is hardly a story. Or leaving one's home to emigrate to a country that holds more economic promise wouldn’t shock anyone. Or – if you’ve always spoken of wanting to get married -- leaving singleness to enter into marriage would make people say, “Well, of course you would do that.”
I think the powerful point of this is that Jesus knows human beings. He knows that most people who think he might be who he says he is, the savior and Son of God, will be tempted to make a moderate commitment to him. He knew we would be inclined to think that following Him might be "a nice thing to add to my life" or perhaps "a good idea" -- but not something worthy of giving up everything for.
Jesus’ two stories have to be of people giving up something that the culture commonly perceives having great value for something commonly (but falsely) perceived to have lower value. This is why Jesus says so often in his stories, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear. He who has eyes to see, let him see.” Here, he’s saying that we need to open our eyes to the abundant life he and he alone can give. He’s declaring, “What you find in following me is worth everything you have or desire.
All week, I’ve considered what finding this pearl of great value is like. Here are some that came to mind:
- It’s like Dr. Robertson McQuilkin, who chose to leave his job as President of Columbia International University to care full-time for his wife Muriel when she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. I had the privilege of being with him when we invited him to speak at Trinity as I was president. I remember him saying to me, “Greg, many people think I have made a great sacrifice. However, that’s not really how I feel about it. I see this as a part of God’s call on my life. Believe it or not, this life of caring for Muriel brings me joy, inexplicable joy.”
- It’s like any number of missionaries or other full-time ministry workers with stellar educations and correspondingly high-level job prospects who choose to forego them in order to work in a field that cannot possibly reward them the same way (but does reward them in infinitely better ways).
- It’s like Maggie Brandow in our church who works as staff attorney with the Children's Law Center of California -- representing children who are wards of the juvenile court. Maggie wrote me, “I was offered high-paying firm jobs after passing the bar, but I never took them. I went straight into public interest work because God gripped my heart so clearly when I read Isaiah 58 in college. Another reason I would never work at the high-paying firm is that I wouldn't see my family or get to prioritize them the way I feel God calls me to do. In fact, I only work part-time for this very reason.”
Maggie simply did this out did of obedience to Christ and gives ongoing testimony to the joy that comes from this choice. She has found a pearl of much greater value.
These stories should not just be about those people – but about you and me. When you follow Jesus, you hear his call and, in faith, follow him wherever he leads you. That’s what it means to be a Christian. That’s what it means to enter the kingdom of God. Be assured that Jesus doesn’t lead every person down the same path. Some he calls away from our vocation to a new calling. Others, he sends back into our careers as his representatives. But, when we follow Jesus, we follow wherever he leads, whatever it costs – and we find everything in him.
Have you found that spiritual treasure? Has your heart been gripped by the pearl of great price that Jesus is? Or, are you still thinking that you will add Jesus on to the other things that you will hold onto no matter what Jesus might ask of you?
Jesus, the Son of God – the One through whom the world was made, never meant for anyone to respond moderately to him. He meant for you to find eternal treasure by saying, “Here I am and I am yours.”
And this brings us wonderfully into a time of some of our church family following Jesus in baptism…
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Study Notes text...
To His glory,
Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor