The parable of the Treasure (Matthew 13:44)
The parable of the Pearl (Matthew 13:45-46)
You come into the kingdom when...
- You recognize the value
- You realize the Cost
- You receive the Joy
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
-
00:00-00:09
Open up your Bibles to Matthew chapter 13. As we continue our series, Jesus introduces the church.
00:13-00:33
Did you know in in 1947, a geologist named Dr. Williamson was in Tanzania, and he was driving his four-wheel drive vehicle in a deserted place and it actually got stuck in the mud.
00:35-00:43
Well, he got out, grabbed his shovel and started digging his vehicle out of the mud.
00:45-00:53
And as he was digging, he found a pink stone and it was actually a diamond.
00:53-00:54
Do we have that picture, Ashley?
00:58-00:59
It's the big one in the middle.
01:00-01:18
He found this pink diamond that was actually used to make this flowered pendant for the princess, eventually queen of England, Princess Elizabeth.
01:19-01:26
You can see pictures of her, 1947, actually wearing that, totally found by accident.
01:28-01:28
Incredible.
01:33-01:42
This is just a sign, I guess, of the stage of life that we're in, but there are times that Aaron and I will actually sit down and watch the Antiques Roadshow.
01:43-01:48
Now, confession time, how many people kind of dig the Antiques Roadshow?
01:48-01:50
All right, we are not alone.
01:52-01:54
OK, but Aaron and I play this game when we watch.
01:55-01:56
Like, how much do you think that's worth?
01:56-01:57
Did you ever play that game?
01:57-01:58
It's a lot of fun.
01:58-02:00
How much do you think that's going to be worth?
02:00-02:02
And Aaron's usually better at that than I am.
02:04-02:08
But there was a guy on there that had these cups.
02:08-02:10
And actually, can we see the picture of these cups?
02:12-02:13
This guy was on there.
02:13-02:14
He had these cups.
02:15-02:16
And he went to get them appraised.
02:16-02:20
And he said, like a lot of these guys, I've had these cups.
02:20-02:29
and I've had them since the '70s, and they've just been kind of sitting around my house, and I thought, "Ah, I'll bring them down here and see what they're worth." Do you know what those cups are made out of?
02:32-02:34
Darren, these cups are made out of rhino horns.
02:36-02:37
(laughs)
02:37-02:38
No joke.
02:39-02:40
Rhino horns, do you know what they're worth?
02:42-02:43
Actual retail price?
02:43-02:45
Come on, let's play, take a guess.
02:47-02:47
A thousand?
02:48-02:49
You are way off.
02:50-02:53
>> [INAUDIBLE] >> Way off.
02:53-02:54
>> $1.
02:54-02:55
>> $1.
02:56-02:59
There's always the person that bids $1.
03:00-03:01
I'll tell you what they're worth, OK?
03:02-03:07
Between $1 and $1.5 million.
03:09-03:12
$1 to $1.5 million.
03:13-03:24
And I had to laugh because I'm wondering, what did the guy do with these cups before he took him I guarantee you that yellow one was used as an ashtray at one point, don't you think?
03:25-03:33
Right? And you know, they're like, you know, spitting pistachio seeds in the one, and the other one, you know, had paper clips or something in it.
03:34-03:43
Million dollar cups. Sitting in the guy's house, he had no idea what the value was.
03:44-03:46
There's a lot of shows like that now, right?
03:46-03:48
They have a ton of shows.
03:48-03:50
Like another one, American Pickers.
03:50-03:51
How many people have seen this American Pickers?
03:51-04:00
These people run around and root through other people's garbage, or houses, or both, looking to find that rare gem.
04:00-04:03
And those guys-- I don't like that show, because those guys kind of irritate me.
04:03-04:07
Because they'll be like, oh, this thing's worth at least $3,000.
04:07-04:12
And then they turn to the guy, and they're like, I'll give you $30 for that piece of junk.
04:12-04:14
Like, come on, man.
04:16-04:20
You know, you have the "Pawn Stars," we were watching that last night.
04:20-04:28
And there's just all kinds of shows out there now about people stumbling across fortunes.
04:30-04:32
And some of us are old enough to remember the craze.
04:32-04:33
Remember the metal detector craze?
04:35-04:36
A few decades ago, remember that?
04:36-04:44
When people were going out buying metal detectors and hitting the beach and going through the woods and going all over their property with these metal detectors.
04:45-05:00
Well, the question that we're going to be looking at today concerning the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of Jesus Christ, the question is, what's it worth?
05:01-05:03
That's the question, what's it worth?
05:04-05:06
Can you put a dollar amount on?
05:06-05:10
And I don't think you're gonna try to bid $1 to go under everybody else.
05:10-05:15
More like you'll be like the jerk God always bids a dollar more than the person before them on the prices, right?
05:16-05:18
Oh, that God drives me insane.
05:19-05:22
But what's the kingdom of heaven worth?
05:23-05:33
Well, in Matthew chapter 13, the last few weeks, Jesus has been telling some stories about a particular period of history.
05:33-05:37
And that period of history is the time between his first coming and his second coming.
05:38-05:45
Recall that the Old Testament said that the Messiah would come, the Messiah would suffer, the Messiah would reign over all the earth.
05:45-05:47
But there was one period of time that's not in the Old Testament.
05:48-05:49
And that's what we call the church age.
05:50-05:52
That's why Jesus said he's going to declare a mystery.
05:53-05:57
He's going to tell us something that's never before been revealed in Matthew 13.
05:58-06:01
And it's the that period of time between.
06:02-06:05
His ministry. Of atonement.
06:06-06:09
And his second coming in glory.
06:10-06:11
Why is this stuff so important?
06:13-06:16
Because we're living in that period of time right now, that's why it's so important.
06:17-06:21
These parables are in your face, like this is exactly how Jesus said it would be.
06:21-06:23
And that's exactly how it is.
06:25-06:38
Just a quick review, remember the first parable, the parable of the sower, Jesus said there are different ways that people are going to respond to the message going out and at this church and over covenant and, you know, down the road at Northway and victory and all over the world.
06:38-06:41
the message is going out about Jesus Christ.
06:44-06:47
And there are basically four ways people are going to respond to the message.
06:47-06:49
Some people are going to be hard-hearted, not interested.
06:50-06:57
Some people are going to be shallow, like, "Oh, that sounds great, that sounds great." And then things get hard and they fall away.
06:58-07:05
And some people, they just got too much other stuff going on and they kind of want to receive Christ, but there's just too much stuff going on.
07:06-07:10
And Jesus said, that's like the plant that grows up and is choked out by thorns.
07:11-07:15
The cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches choke it out.
07:16-07:22
Now, praise God, there are some who receive the word and you can tell because they multiply.
07:23-07:29
They go out and they sow the seed of God's word and more people come to receive Jesus Christ.
07:29-07:36
Jesus said, that's one of the ways you'll know somebody that truly belongs to him as they're out sowing the word over and over and over again.
07:37-07:41
And then we talked about the parable of the wheat and the tares.
07:41-07:50
You remember Jesus in that parable was saying, during this church age, good and evil are going to coexist at the same time.
07:51-07:54
The redeemed and the unredeemed have to share the world.
07:54-07:55
We have to share the space.
07:56-07:57
The question is, so what should we do?
07:57-08:00
If somebody doesn't receive Jesus, we take them out, right?
08:00-08:04
We shoot them or we, you know, go after them, right?
08:04-08:12
Jesus said, "No, no, no, that's not your job." And the point of that parable was we coexist until the end of the age, the angels will come and do the separating.
08:13-08:15
Okay, we love people, we bless people.
08:15-08:24
We seek to preach the message and allow Jesus Christ to change people, but it's not our job to eliminate unbelievers.
08:26-08:54
And then last week we looked at the parables the mustard seed and the leaven. And Jesus there was saying that the kingdom is unstoppable. It's going to start as this little teeny tiny thing and it's going to have a disproportionate growth. It's going to grow out of control and nothing's going to stop it. And like the leaven, it's going to permeate the entire planet. And we talked about the effects that Christianity has had on the world.
08:56-09:28
So Jesus was answering questions. How are people going to respond? What do we do with unbelievers? How far can this thing go? The parables we're going to look at today, the question is, what's it worth? What's it worth? So let's look at the parables first of all. Matthew 13, the first one, just one verse. "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which a man found and covered up.
09:30-09:51
Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Let's talk about this parable. This might seem a little weird to us, but understand in Jesus' day this was a this would have been a very common thing. The people of this parable would have been gone, yeah, that makes sense, I get that.
09:53-09:54
So let me give you a little background.
09:55-09:56
Why was the treasure buried in the field?
09:57-10:03
Well, in Jesus' day, they didn't have banks on every corner like we have here, right?
10:05-10:09
And even the banks that they did have, only wealthy people used them.
10:10-10:12
And even then, they weren't really that secure.
10:13-10:20
And keep in mind, Israel has always been a hotbed for war and attacks and violence.
10:20-10:23
So if you had something valuable that you wanted to keep safe, what would you do with it?
10:25-10:32
Well, if you kept it in your house and an enemy came into your town and ransacked and pillaged, your stuff's gonna be gone.
10:32-10:38
So the safest thing that you could do with your stuff that was valuable was to bury it in a field.
10:41-10:48
Well, you know, sometimes things would get buried and whether it was a soldier off to war or, you know, another unforeseen death.
10:48-10:55
Sometimes people would bury something and then that person would die and that thing would stay buried, nobody knowing where it was.
10:58-11:01
So that kind of gives the background to this parable.
11:01-11:03
Jesus said there was a guy that was in the field.
11:03-11:04
What was he doing?
11:04-11:04
Was he working?
11:06-11:06
I don't know.
11:06-11:07
That's not the point.
11:07-11:14
The point is he was in the field and obviously he was doing some digging when all of a sudden he came across one of these buried treasures.
11:19-11:24
And then it says, he actually went out, sold everything that he had.
11:24-11:26
Now wrap your brain around that.
11:29-11:36
He sold everything that he had to buy the field so he could have the treasure.
11:37-11:40
And this parables come under criticism like much of the Bible.
11:40-11:42
We just gonna throw this out here.
11:42-11:43
Some people are like, well, that's unethical.
11:43-11:45
Was Jesus teaching an unethical story?
11:46-11:48
That guy was ripping off the owner of the field, right?
11:50-11:51
No.
11:52-11:56
Obviously the owner of the field didn't know that the treasure was in the field.
11:56-12:05
Otherwise, upon selling the field, he would have first dug up the treasure himself, right?
12:05-12:09
What he actually did wasn't morally in question.
12:10-12:16
Actually, he could have just taken the treasure and said, finders, keepers, losers, weepers, and just went about his way.
12:18-12:20
But the most ethical thing he could do is buy the field.
12:23-12:31
So he could have the treasure, but even the people criticize the people that criticize this parable, obviously, they're missing the point, they're missing the point.
12:32-12:32
The point is this.
12:33-12:38
A man found something so valuable that he happily sold everything that he had to get it.
12:39-12:39
That's the point.
12:40-12:45
He was so excited about his find, he was willing to do whatever it took.
12:47-12:48
To purchase that one thing.
12:49-12:51
All right, let's look at the next parable.
12:53-13:02
The parable of the pearl of great value, verse forty five, again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls.
13:04-13:13
who on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
13:16-13:22
Now, a merchant was somebody who would go around and buy things wholesale and then sell them to a retailer.
13:22-13:31
Now, the reason Jesus was talking about pearls, in Jesus' day, a pearl was what a diamond is today.
13:31-13:34
I mean, we saw the pink diamond that Dr. Williamson found.
13:35-13:37
I tried to find a price tag on that, honestly, and I couldn't.
13:38-13:42
I'm assuming it's priceless if the queen's wearing it.
13:43-13:44
I assume it's not for sale.
13:44-13:45
I didn't see it on eBay or anything.
13:48-13:52
But in Jesus' day, they would have talked about pearls that way.
13:54-13:59
It was the most valuable thing in the world.
14:00-14:02
Actually, I thought this stuff was interesting.
14:03-14:05
Egyptians and Romans would actually worship pearls.
14:08-14:15
And 1 Timothy 2, verse nine, women would actually show off their wealth by putting pearls in their hair.
14:16-14:18
Became sort of a status symbol.
14:19-14:19
How about this one?
14:19-14:27
Some Roman emperors, they'd actually show off their wealth by dissolving pearls in vinegar and drinking them.
14:29-14:30
That's how they showed off their wealth.
14:31-14:37
You know, kind of like today, you know, you see the cartoon or whatever where the guy lights the $100 bill on fire to light his cigar.
14:37-14:38
Did you ever see that?
14:38-14:40
Just kind of showing off his worth.
14:40-14:43
Or like Paul Persich's in my favorite movie, "Dumb and Dumber," right?
14:43-14:47
Where they find that suitcase, come on, it's your favorite movie too, right?
14:47-14:48
They find that suitcase full of money.
14:49-14:54
They're blowing their nose with the $100 bills and wiping their tears with the $100 bills when they're watching.
14:54-14:57
Who's all seen "Dumb and Dumber?" Okay, all right.
14:59-15:00
for a minute there, I thought it was just like me and Paul.
15:01-15:03
Next week we show up here and it's just me and Paul.
15:04-15:05
So Paul, what do you want to talk about today?
15:05-15:06
Let's get what's dumb and dumber.
15:07-15:09
But that's the point, and they were just showing off their wealth.
15:10-15:13
Like, hey, I like my martini with a pearl in it.
15:14-15:16
You know, like that was how they showed off.
15:18-15:25
Well, this parable describes a man who was in the business of seeking pearls.
15:27-15:31
When all of a sudden, he found the mother of all pearls.
15:31-15:33
That's where you get the name for that color, mother of pearl.
15:34-15:38
This guy, I don't know, I just kind of made that up, but it sounded good at the time.
15:38-15:40
But this guy found the mother of all pearls.
15:43-15:44
And this guy was an expert in pearls, right?
15:44-15:46
That's what he, this was his livelihood.
15:47-16:02
And he said, "I'm going to sell everything that I have just to buy one pearl." Now talk to somebody that's involved with investing, portfolios and all these financial things.
16:03-16:07
Catch Michelle Grooms or Ken Frederick or one of the people that are in the finances business.
16:07-16:12
How smart is it to invest every single thing that you have in one thing?
16:13-16:15
No investor would tell you to do that.
16:15-16:17
Sell everything and just buy this one thing.
16:20-16:21
Well, that's exactly Jesus' point here.
16:22-16:29
is when this one thing is recognized for the value that it has.
16:31-16:41
The smart thing to do would be to get rid of everything so that you can have this one thing.
16:41-16:43
Well, I know what you're thinking.
16:43-16:48
Well, both of these parables teach the same thing, sell all to get the one valuable thing.
16:48-16:52
So why did Jesus give us two parables here?
16:52-16:55
Couldn't he have made the point with just one parable?
16:56-16:59
Well, there's one distinct difference between the two parables.
16:59-16:59
Did you catch it?
17:01-17:02
There's one distinct difference.
17:02-17:10
In the first parable, the guy didn't know what he was looking for when he stumbled across the treasure.
17:11-17:11
Did you catch that?
17:12-17:13
He wasn't a treasure hunter.
17:14-17:16
He just stumbled upon this treasure.
17:18-17:27
And in the second parable, you have a guy that's an expert in something looking for something, found it, and sold all to get it.
17:28-17:30
And the point is this, that Jesus is making.
17:32-17:36
Some people are going to come into the kingdom like the guy that found the treasure.
17:36-17:40
Some people aren't going to know what they're looking for when they come across Jesus Christ.
17:41-17:49
And they're going to be blown away and want to do whatever it takes to become a follower of Him.
17:51-17:57
Some people are just going about their business, when all of the sudden they're confronted with the gospel.
17:57-18:05
And they're, "I didn't know that. I didn't realize. I didn't know." And from now on, this is the one that I'm pursuing.
18:08-18:14
In the second parable, you had a guy that was actually looking and found.
18:14-18:17
And there are some people that are like that when it comes to Jesus Christ.
18:18-18:21
Some people are out looking and I've met and talked with people.
18:22-18:25
I'm sure you have too, that have been involved in different religions.
18:25-18:27
Or I got involved with this or I started studying this.
18:27-18:31
And I realized something was missing from my life.
18:31-18:33
So I was looking and I was looking and I was looking.
18:33-18:43
And then I came to understand who Jesus Christ is.
18:43-18:45
I started seeking after him.
18:45-18:47
And you're in one of those two categories.
18:47-18:49
if you're a follower of Christ.
18:53-18:57
You know, the first category, people that stumble across, you have any examples of that?
18:57-18:59
Well, yeah, how about the apostle Paul?
18:59-19:08
He wasn't looking for Christ when he found him, or when Christ found him, rather, is how the story actually went.
19:09-19:11
What about the Samaritan woman in John chapter four?
19:13-19:14
That went in the heat of the day to get water.
19:14-19:16
Was she looking for Jesus?
19:17-19:45
now, but he found her. Read the testimony of Charles Spurgeon sometime and see that, you know, one of the greatest preachers ever came to Christ when he wasn't even looking for him. Stumbled across them, so to speak. What about the searchers, the seekers? Well, you see those in Scripture too, right? The Ethiopian eunuch in Acts Chapter eight, we talked about him some months back.
19:46-19:52
He was searching when Philip brought the message of Christ.
19:52-20:07
Cornelius, Acts chapter 10, Lydia, Acts chapter 16, the Bereans, Acts chapter 17, all through Acts, you see people that are searching for something when they find the gospel.
20:09-20:14
So somehow you encounter it, But the question that we're going to deal with this morning is what do you do with it?
20:15-20:16
What do you do with it?
20:17-20:20
Well, jot these down on your outline on the back of your bulletin.
20:22-20:29
Jesus here is talking about, he's sort of expounding on how people come into the kingdom.
20:33-20:36
How does somebody come into the kingdom of Jesus Christ?
20:36-20:38
Or we could say, how does somebody become a Christian?
20:39-20:41
What does that look like from a human perspective?
20:42-20:43
Well, here it is, just three things this morning.
20:43-20:44
You ready?
20:44-20:46
Number one, write this down.
20:46-20:48
You recognize the value.
20:50-20:51
You recognize the value.
20:54-20:56
That was true for both of these men in these parables.
20:57-20:59
And this is the main point that Jesus was making.
20:59-21:02
The kingdom of heaven is priceless.
21:05-21:05
It's priceless.
21:09-21:11
Could we take it somewhere and get it appraised?
21:13-21:26
Can we talk to somebody who's been a follower of Christ and say, "How much has that been worth to you in American dollars?" It's priceless.
21:30-21:34
You would have to be foolish to pass on it.
21:35-21:40
how priceless it is. And see, in both of these parables, you have to see that.
21:42-21:49
There's a sense in which the value isn't seen on the surface, did you catch that?
21:49-21:55
The value wasn't seen on the surface, the treasure was buried and the pearl had to be sought after.
22:01-22:03
but it's not sitting on top of the surface.
22:03-22:08
What are, well, let me illustrate it this way with something that I know many of us can relate to.
22:08-22:15
You might be surprised to know, some of you already know this, but I have a comic book collection that I've had since I was about five or six years old.
22:20-22:22
Well, that's why this story caught my attention.
22:22-22:33
Back in 2001, right up the road in Cranberry, at New Dimension Comics, this woman, did you hear about this story, Ben?
22:33-22:34
Oh yeah, you know this story.
22:35-22:43
This woman took a box of comic books, she found them in the attic or something, it was like her kids, she was just like, she took this box of comics into New Dimension.
22:44-22:49
And there was a particular comic in there, it was actually called All-American Comics #16.
22:50-22:51
Ashley, can we get that up there?
22:52-22:54
This comic book was in the box.
22:57-22:57
Does that mean anything?
22:57-23:00
How many people here are like, "That doesn't mean anything to me.
23:01-23:03
"That doesn't mean a thing to me." Okay.
23:05-23:12
How many people here are like, "I totally know why that's important." One, two, three.
23:13-23:13
Okay, a couple of us.
23:15-23:17
That's sort of the point of these parables.
23:19-23:21
The value is not seen on the surface.
23:21-23:25
You have to get an understanding, really, of what the value is.
23:26-23:27
The treasure's buried, the pearl is sought after.
23:28-23:30
Well, let me tell you why this is so important.
23:31-23:34
This is the first appearance of the Green Lantern.
23:37-23:40
And 10 to 20 of these are known to exist.
23:41-23:49
And my understanding was New Dimension put this on eBay with a starting price of-- we're not going to play any more pricing games.
23:49-23:50
I'm just going to tell you.
23:52-23:53
Bid started at $75,000.
23:56-23:57
Did they sell it?
23:57-23:57
Do you know, Ben?
23:58-23:58
I don't know either.
23:59-24:04
I like got to that point in the story and I'm like, "Okay, that's the illustration, I'm done." If you're interested, you can go down and talk to them.
24:05-24:08
Maybe put a bid on it if they haven't sold it.
24:10-24:12
But Jesus said the kingdom of heaven's like this.
24:14-24:28
This was one in the box that to this woman just looked like Maybe I'll get lucky and go down and get 10 or 20 bucks for this box of comics.
24:28-24:33
When under the surface was a fortune.
24:36-24:38
The kingdom of heaven is like that.
24:38-24:43
The same way salvation in Christ is not apparent to people on the surface.
24:45-25:00
One of the problems is the world puts value on things that God doesn't, and the things that God puts value on, the world doesn't.
25:02-25:04
What are some things that the world values?
25:05-25:16
Money, sex, physical beauty or physical strength, approval.
25:18-25:22
These are things that the world says, these are the valuable things that we have to pursue.
25:24-25:25
What is the treasure?
25:27-25:27
What is the pearl?
25:28-25:32
In these parables, ultimately, that treasure and that pearl represent Jesus Christ.
25:33-25:41
But Jesus Christ represents everything that has value in the treasure and the pearl.
25:41-25:42
Like what?
25:44-25:44
Like forgiveness.
25:48-25:51
Sound like an infomercial, but what if I told you?
25:52-25:58
What if I told you all of your sins could be removed from you for eternity?
26:00-26:02
Would you be interested in hearing some more about that?
26:03-26:14
What if I told you that the God of the universe who spoke this world into existence by speaking just saying the words and bam, there it is.
26:15-26:18
What if I told you, he wants to adopt you as one of his children?
26:20-26:22
What if I told you that?
26:22-26:23
Would you be interested?
26:25-26:28
What if I told you that you can find meaning in this life?
26:30-26:33
Your purpose for being here, something that has eluded people.
26:34-26:35
Would you be interested?
26:36-26:39
What if I told you about the peace that Jesus Christ provides?
26:40-26:42
What if I told you about the security he provides?
26:42-26:57
What if I told you that you have a comforter that lives within you, that no matter how bad things get or how hard life gets, you're gonna have somebody minister to you from the inside out.
26:57-26:58
Would you be interested?
27:02-27:06
What if I told you your best days are ahead of you?
27:08-27:15
And I don't just mean like 4th of July or August or 2013.
27:16-27:21
What if I told you that there is a place of eternal paradise?
27:23-27:37
Where sin and all of the decay and consequences that sin brings into the world are forever removed, where you're in a state where the greatest day of your life is every day.
27:38-27:39
Do you know that's what heaven's like?
27:41-27:45
Every day in heaven you're going to run into people like, "Hey man, how's it going?
27:45-27:47
I'm having the greatest day of my life.
27:47-27:48
Like that's what you said yesterday.
27:49-27:49
Yeah, but you know what?
27:50-28:09
Tomorrow I'm going to say the same thing." What if I told you that there's assurance of that place, whether you die today, tomorrow, in 50 years, there's an eternity waiting for you that's better than you can imagine.
28:10-28:11
Would you be interested?
28:18-28:21
The question is, do you recognize the value?
28:23-28:24
Do you recognize the value?
28:26-28:28
Have you looked upon Jesus Christ?
28:28-28:41
If you looked upon the promises of His word and say, "I see the value. I see the value." I heard this story about this blonde lady, no offense, blonde ladies is just how I heard it.
28:41-28:47
But she went into Walmart and she saw a thermos sitting on the shelf.
28:49-29:01
She grabbed one of the sales associates and she said, "What is this thing?" And they said, "It's a thermos." She picks it up and cradles it in her arms.
29:01-29:14
And she said, "What's it do?" The sales associate said, "It keeps hot stuff hot, "and it keeps cold stuff cold.
29:15-29:20
"It's a thermos, lady." She said, "I have to have one.
29:21-29:26
"How much is it?" It's like seven bucks.
29:27-29:28
I gotta have one.
29:28-29:35
So she buys it and she shows up to work on Monday and she sort of has a reputation in the office of being a little bit of a ditz.
29:35-30:20
So she walks in with her thermos proudly cradled in her arms and one of her coworkers said, "What do you got there?" And she held it up proudly and she said, "This is a thermos." And the guy's like, "So?" She's like, "It keeps hot stuff hot and it keeps cold stuff cold." And the guy's like, "So what do you got in there?" And she goes, "Two cups of coffee and a Popsicle." Now, she saw the value, kinda.
30:24-30:33
But our question is, we're gonna get serious here in a second, do we see the value?
30:38-30:40
And I wanna address the believers here for a second.
30:44-30:45
Do you see the value?
30:55-30:57
Or have we let that fade?
31:00-31:06
You know, we could look at, do you know why some people don't make church a priority?
31:09-31:10
They don't see the value.
31:12-31:16
Do you know why some people are content to just hit and miss?
31:18-31:20
They don't see the value.
31:21-31:29
You know why when the music's playing that some people aren't worshipping, some people don't see the value.
31:32-31:37
You know why during the sermon some people tune out?
31:39-31:40
They don't see the value.
31:44-31:47
See, being a preacher, I'm a lot like Santa Claus.
31:47-31:49
I see you when you're sleeping and I know when you're awake, right?
31:52-31:56
And I know Sammy and Laura can tell you the same thing, Darren, Jay, they can tell you the same thing.
31:58-32:05
a big difference between the people that come and I see the value and and worship.
32:07-32:21
And I can see when we're getting into God's word, I see the people who are Bibles open and leaning forward and listening and jotting notes. The people that do and I'm not giving you a guilt trip, I'm saying this is just what we see. You can see who sees the value.
32:23-33:29
Oh, we're about to talk about God's word. You mean the God of the universe who gave us a book, we're going to talk about that now, then I better listen. Value. Do you mean we're going to lift our voices up to heaven and sing praises to the God who became a man who died and rose from the dead so that our sins could be forgiven and that we can have the promise of eternal life? We're about to do that. I'm going to give it everything I got because I see the value. And look, I'm not giving anybody a guilt trip. I'm not chewing anybody out, believe me. Because you know, I'll be honest with you, sometimes that's me. Okay? Sometimes I'm the one that tunes out. Which is especially bad when it happens during the sermon. Yeah, those are awkward moments, right? But I'm saying the times that I do that, do you know why I do it? Because for some reason I have it in my head that If there's something more important going on than what's actually going on, I fail to see the value of Christ.
33:31-33:35
And I put value on something temporary.
33:39-33:42
That's just a wake-up call for all of us.
33:45-34:11
Can we look again at Jesus Christ, understanding who he is, and dare diminish his value in hearts? Can we look at what Jesus Christ has purchased for us and dare to diminish His value in our hearts? So let's recognize the value. Number two, you realize the cost.
34:12-34:21
Here's how you come into the kingdom. You realize the cost. Both men in these parables had to make a purchase. Did you notice that? Sold everything they had to buy one thing.
34:21-34:23
So are we saying that we have to buy salvation?
34:23-34:24
Obviously not.
34:25-34:27
Like, wait, I thought that's what the offering bags were for.
34:27-34:30
You mean that wasn't to buy salvation?
34:30-34:35
I'm going to need a refund because I thought that I was, I'm not going to insult your intelligence.
34:35-34:38
I know that you know, you don't buy salvation.
34:38-34:39
You can't purchase it.
34:41-34:44
But listen, there is a transaction that takes place.
34:46-34:50
Understand that there is a transaction that takes place.
34:52-34:53
But it's not with money.
34:53-34:55
Well, like what is it?
34:55-34:58
We'll turn just over in your Bible a couple of pages, Matthew 16.
34:59-35:00
I just want to read a couple of verses.
35:00-35:04
This is what Jesus said about the transaction that has to take place.
35:04-35:07
Matthew 16, verse 24.
35:07-35:13
Then Jesus told his disciples, if anyone would come after me, let him.
35:16-35:17
Here it is, the hardest thing you'll ever do.
35:19-35:20
Deny himself.
35:20-35:22
That's the hardest thing you'll ever do.
35:22-35:24
I need to tell Jeff no.
35:25-35:26
But Jeff doesn't like that.
35:27-35:28
No Jeff.
35:29-35:30
But Jeff wants his way.
35:30-35:31
No Jeff.
35:33-35:39
If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
35:40-35:43
by the way, take up his cross, we've turned that into a metaphor.
35:44-35:46
Like, well, I just, I'm in a rough marriage, that's my cross to bear.
35:47-35:51
Or, you know, my place of employment stinks, that's my cross to bear.
35:53-35:57
Jesus meant, literally, be ready to carry your cross.
35:57-36:00
What that meant was, are you ready to walk with him to the death?
36:01-36:04
Are you ready to follow him even if it costs you your life?
36:07-36:10
For whoever would save his life will lose it.
36:13-36:15
But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
36:17-36:21
For what will profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?
36:25-36:30
Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
36:32-36:35
That's the transaction that takes place.
36:38-36:42
Everything you have for everything God offers.
36:43-36:44
That's the transaction.
36:44-36:45
But listen, don't misunderstand me.
36:47-36:48
Don't misunderstand me.
36:48-36:51
You are not making a sacrifice to come to Jesus.
36:52-36:59
If you're like, "Well, we all make sacrifices to come to Jesus." If you walk out of here thinking that, then you totally missed the whole point of this sermon.
36:59-37:01
You've totally missed the whole point of these parables.
37:02-37:05
Well, you know, we all make our sacrifices to follow Jesus.
37:05-37:08
and you know, I've had to give up a few things and...
37:11-37:13
Let me take you back to point number one.
37:15-37:20
When you understand the value, anything that's given up is not seen as a sacrifice.
37:23-37:33
You know, sometimes I'll talk to, you know, sharing the gospel with people, how people come up to me, "Well, what do I have to give up? What do I have to give up?" You mean if I come to Jesus, I'm gonna have to give up drinking?
37:33-37:37
I've had people ask me, if I'm going to become a Christian, does that mean I have to quit smoking?
37:38-37:40
I'm like, wow, you've completely missed it.
37:42-37:43
You've completely missed it.
37:46-37:50
Instead of I see the value, I'll do whatever it takes.
37:51-37:55
And you know, the drinking and smoking aren't deal breakers in the kingdom, right?
37:55-37:58
So like Jesus said, oh, you had a cigarette, you're out.
37:59-38:14
What I'm talking about is the attitude, if your attitude in coming to Christ is, "Well, if I have to change anything, or if God's going to change something about me, I'm not really sure I wanna do this." You've missed it.
38:15-38:16
You have completely missed it.
38:17-38:20
Just by asking, that indicates that you haven't seen the value.
38:23-38:26
The men in these parables didn't care what they had to give up.
38:27-38:27
Did you see that?
38:29-38:30
The men in these parables, they didn't care.
38:32-38:34
How much is it gonna cost to buy that field?
38:34-38:35
Everything you have.
38:35-38:35
Sold.
38:37-38:38
That pearl, how much is it?
38:39-38:41
Yeah, it's gonna cost just about everything you own.
38:41-38:42
Sold.
38:42-38:43
Don't you wanna think about it?
38:43-38:44
Sold.
38:47-38:49
That's what it means to understand the value of the kingdom.
38:50-38:51
You realize the cost.
38:52-38:53
And this is the gospel.
38:54-38:59
You give up everything you have for everything God offers, and you walk away saying, "I got a killer deal.
39:01-39:02
I got a killer deal.
39:02-39:04
I just got the deal of eternity.
39:05-39:07
God has given me everything.
39:09-39:10
What did it cost you?
39:10-39:13
It doesn't matter what it cost me because God gave me everything.
39:14-39:15
But didn't it cost you something?
39:15-39:17
Well, yeah, but who cares?
39:18-39:20
Because God, what?
39:21-39:23
Gave me everything.
39:26-39:28
But this is missing in preaching today.
39:29-39:31
Here's so much of preaching today.
39:31-39:32
Oh, you wanna be a Christian?
39:32-39:33
Okay, repeat this prayer.
39:34-39:35
Just repeat this prayer.
39:36-39:39
Okay, line by line, I'll give you four lines.
39:39-39:40
Just say these things and I'll say amen.
39:41-39:42
Congratulations, you're in the kingdom.
39:43-39:45
Jesus didn't say that's how the people enter the kingdom.
39:47-39:48
You see the value.
39:49-39:54
And whatever it takes, I'll lay it all down.
39:56-39:57
I'll lay it all down.
39:58-39:59
That's entering the kingdom.
40:00-40:02
The message is about repentance.
40:04-40:06
You need to see your sin the way God sees your sin.
40:07-40:10
You need to be disgusted over your sin when you come to Christ.
40:10-40:11
That's not preached today.
40:13-40:24
Every Bible preacher, every single prophet, Jesus Christ himself, cover to cover in your Bible, every time the gospel is preached, repent, repent, repent.
40:25-40:27
Jesus Christ himself, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
40:29-40:32
And for some reason, preachers today think they get a pass on that message.
40:32-40:38
They're like, "I don't get to preach repentance." Message is about counting the cost.
40:40-40:42
By the way, this is what's symbolized in baptism, you know.
40:42-40:45
We had, you know, a few months ago our first baptism service.
40:47-40:48
That's what baptism's about.
40:49-40:52
When you go under the water, what you're saying is, "Jeff is dead.
40:57-41:00
I'm dead." says, I am now alive in Jesus Christ.
41:01-41:03
Christ lives in me.
41:03-41:05
Christ lives through me.
41:05-41:06
Well, what happened to Jeff?
41:06-41:07
He's still dead.
41:09-41:13
That's why the apostle Paul said my old man has been crucified with Christ.
41:14-41:15
That's the picture of baptism.
41:17-41:20
I don't come up out of the water saying, OK, now what can Jesus do for me?
41:21-41:22
How can Jesus benefit me?
41:23-41:25
How can Jesus be a convenience for me?
41:25-41:33
I come up out of the water saying, "There is no me, it's Christ." Amen, Owen.
41:35-41:37
Feel free to let out a jubilant cheer like that.
41:44-41:45
But here's the point.
41:45-41:48
Following Jesus Christ costs you nothing, but it costs you everything.
41:51-41:52
That's one worth writing down.
41:54-41:58
Jesus Christ costs you nothing, but it costs you everything.
42:00-42:06
And that's just one of those paradigms of the gospel that we just have to try to wrap our brains and our spirits around.
42:06-42:10
That's why Jesus said, "If you seek to keep your life, what's going to happen to it?
42:11-42:49
You're going to lose it." And Jesus said, "When you lose your life, you're going to find it." And coming to Christ, you know, "All who are thirsty," Jesus said, "if anyone thirsts, to me, it's free. It's free. But it costs you everything. Well, these men in these stories understood that. There is a cost to following Christ. Here's the thing, Point number three, you receive the joy.
42:51-42:53
You receive the joy.
42:54-42:55
Don't miss this.
42:56-42:59
Oh, you mean if I become a Christian I have to give this up?
43:03-43:04
Okay.
43:05-43:07
I suppose I'll try to quit that.
43:09-43:09
Missed it.
43:11-43:11
Missed it.
43:11-43:12
Let's not even pretend.
43:16-43:20
We were at Idlewild last week and I totally missed this, but Aaron pointed it out.
43:20-43:26
This little kid got off this ride and he had some kind of little Spider-Man toy that he had stuck in his pocket, like sticking out.
43:27-43:31
And we were in the line, you know, along the gate, we were getting on the Howler, which is a great ride by the way.
43:32-43:41
But as this kid got off the ride, he made a point to walk along the fence with his hip out, making sure that we all saw his Spider-Man.
43:42-43:50
I told her, Aaron's like, "That is so my brother." I'm like, "What?" She goes, "That's what Mark used to do when he was little.
43:50-43:57
"If he had something he wanted to show off, "he wouldn't come right up in your face, "like, 'Hey, Sam, look at this.'" But he'd just be like, (whistles)
44:00-44:01
(clears throat)
44:02-44:04
And that's totally what this kid was doing.
44:06-44:08
It was joy over possession.
44:09-44:10
Did you catch that?
44:11-44:17
He's like, "I got Spider-Man and he is so cool "and I just gotta show you.
44:18-44:23
"I mean, you've gotta check this out." Spider-Man, right there.
44:24-44:31
Well, that's a little picture of the joy of having.
44:33-44:34
And that's what we see.
44:35-44:37
It's explicitly said in the parable of the treasure.
44:38-44:47
It's not explicitly said in the parable of the pearl, but I certainly think it applies.
44:48-44:55
Do you see that circle of the word in verse 44, says, "Then in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has." In his joy, circle of the word joy.
44:58-44:59
Joy.
45:00-45:04
Like I said, it doesn't say that in the second one, but come on.
45:07-45:10
run into that guy when he's on his way home to sell everything.
45:10-45:10
What are you doing?
45:12-45:14
I'm off to sell everything that I own.
45:15-45:16
Why?
45:17-45:22
Oh, because I found this little pearl that's worth more than anything I've ever seen in my life ever, and I just got to have it.
45:22-45:23
And I know that I'm about to get it.
45:25-45:26
I don't think so.
45:26-45:29
I think if you were to run into that guy, like, get out of my way.
45:29-45:30
What are you doing, man?
45:31-45:34
I found this pearl, man, and it's worth everything.
45:35-45:36
It's worth giving everything up for.
45:37-45:42
The joy probably would have just like, gosh, like out of the guy's face.
45:42-45:45
He's so excited in his joy.
45:49-45:50
Joyfully giving up everything.
45:51-45:53
Well, we ascribe value to things that make us happy.
45:55-45:55
Don't we?
45:56-45:58
We ascribe value to things that make us happy.
45:58-45:59
We already talked about that.
45:59-46:01
Money, sex, beauty, strength, approval.
46:01-46:03
We ascribe value to those things that make us happy.
46:03-46:05
but listen, joy is not happiness.
46:06-46:07
Do you know what happiness is?
46:10-46:13
Happiness is based on circumstances, right?
46:14-46:15
I'm happy on a roller coaster.
46:18-46:20
I'm happy eating a cookie.
46:22-46:23
I was really happy about you.
46:26-46:27
That's happiness.
46:27-46:29
Joy is despite circumstances.
46:30-46:35
Joy means Satan can be throwing his worst at me.
46:39-46:50
It appears that my life is unraveling around me, but I have a confident contentment to know that Christ is with me and that good is on the other side of this.
46:51-46:53
That's why I'm going to persevere.
46:54-46:55
That's why I'm going to seek the Lord.
46:55-46:57
That's why I'm going to worship.
46:58-46:59
That's joy.
47:01-47:07
And there's only one source of true joy, and that's the kingdom.
47:15-47:20
When I think of joy, I think of my kids.
47:21-47:24
Sometimes Owen will just erupt into laughter for no reason.
47:24-47:28
He'll just see something on the computer or something, he'll just erupt into laughter.
47:29-47:33
Or I think a kid who gets such a kick out of the most trivial things.
47:34-47:43
He'll draw a picture of something and come and, he'll draw a picture of a kangaroo and show it to Erin and she'll be like, "Oh, I don't like kangaroos." And he'll just laugh and laugh and laugh.
47:44-47:50
But it's like the kid is constantly like the optimist, right?
47:52-47:57
Well, what if I told you, here we go again, What if I told you that I could give you Cade's joy?
47:58-48:01
You'd be like, "Yeah, sign me up for that." Well, I got something better for you.
48:02-48:17
John 15, 11, Jesus said, "These things I've spoken to you," listen to this, "that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full." So when you're in Christ, or rather Christ is in you, whose joy do you have?
48:19-48:21
You have the joy of Jesus Christ.
48:24-48:27
Let me ask you, what's higher than that?
48:29-48:30
What is higher than that?
48:31-48:33
Do you think Jesus had joy?
48:35-48:43
How about at a level I don't think any human can experience in the flesh, certainly.
48:44-49:05
But Jesus, obviously not in the flesh, He says, "I'm going to give you my joy, so that it may be full." Christians have joy like no other, because we found and possessed the treasure.
49:06-49:07
It was so much we needed, the trailer.
49:08-49:09
We found the treasure.
49:13-49:18
So if our worship team would come forward, we're going to close here in a moment.
49:26-49:50
The question Jesus was answering here is, "What's this worth?" To live in a world cursed and decaying, enemies all around, hardship.
49:53-49:55
The question is, is this really worth it?
49:57-49:58
Is it worth it?
50:03-50:09
Can we truly look at everything that Jesus Christ has offered us and gives us?
50:10-50:13
Can we truly look at that and say, "Forget it.
50:16-50:17
It's not worth it.
50:22-50:23
I found something so valuable.
50:25-50:30
I'll gladly give up everything to have it.
50:33-52:09
And when the peace of God is ruling your heart, you're going to say, "Worth it." And when you enjoy the fellowship with your brothers and sisters in the Lord, you're going to say, "Worth it." When life knocks you down, yet you still have hope, you're going to say, "Worth it." When people mock you for your beliefs, you're going to say, "Worth it." When you're preparing to leave this earth, you're going to say, "Worth it." And when you stand before Him in glory and experience the ultimate fulfillment of His promise, you are going to say, "Worth it."
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Matthew 13:44-46
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.