Worth Everything – Pentecost 9

Worth Everything

Matthew 13:44-52 T Pentecost 9

INI

When the kingdom of heaven came to earth in the person of Jesus 2,000 years ago, everything changed for people. There was no neutrality about Him. Either Jesus was the King of God’s kingdom, worthy of your whole life, or He wasn’t. The arrival of this incarnate God was a high-stakes moment for all who encountered Him.

Jesus’ 12 disciples went all in. Followed Jesus everywhere. Experienced persecution and lack on account of His kingdom. Then, many others thought the risk of living in this kingdom to be too great.

Since that was 2,000 years ago, many act is if the stakes aren’t that high anymore. That the kingdom of heaven can be picked up and put back down whenever its convenient. That living in God’s kingdom doesn’t require all that much – just a few words on a Sunday and a body to fill a pew. In that sense, the world today tells us to cheapen God’s grace. To live as if it weren’t costly at all.

But is that what Jesus says?

Our Gospel text presents 3 parables to us, all of which summarize points that had been made prior in Matthew’s Gospel. And they teach one thing: that the kingdom of heaven IS high stakes stuff, even today. Even though we tend to treat it as something cheap, Jesus teaches that the kingdom of heaven is costly to you, Him, and the world!

The first parable is short. But the point of comparison in the parable is the treasure that’s hidden in the field. That treasure is God’s kingdom. A man finds this treasure, and JOYFULLY sells everything he has to buy the field. Now, we, and any other follower of Jesus, are this joyful man in the parable.

This describes how we, as followers of Christ, respond to the greatest treasure we could ever come across. Nothing else in this world is worth having over God’s kingdom. Jesus is the greatest treasure we could ever have. Not that having Jesus means we MUST give EVERYTHING up, but it MAY cost something dear to us. As Jesus said a few weeks back, it may cost a relationship “I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother… whoever loves father or mother more than ME is not worthy of me.” It may cost us our life, as it certainly did for the twelve – “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” And it may cost wealth. Jesus says, “lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy… Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

That’s not to say that the kingdom of heaven must be bought with our sacrifice. God may not ask every Christian to give up such things in pursuit of His kingdom. But He certainly asks us to give up other things – time, devotion, security, attention – anything that would detract from life with Him. He asks us to die to ourselves – our ambitions and pursuits – that we may pursue the living in and extension of His kingdom. But His point is that anything that may compete with Christ and His kingdom must be surrendered, because HE is the true treasure we should desire.

And notice the attitude of the man in the parable – he JOYFULLY sells everything to buy the field with the treasure in it. There’s no reluctance. There’s great joy in the fact that He’s found such a valuable treasure. And nothing will stop him from obtaining it!

So yes, to be a Christian in the 21^st century still costs you something. But compared to the value we have in Jesus, other sacrifices seem small. Joyfully we lay aside every idol, because we’ve found something even greater!

The second parable is also short. The point of comparison in this parable differs from the first, which suggests that WHO this is about, shifts. This parable isn’t about an object, like treasure. But it’s about the merchant. The kingdom of heaven is like the merchant who searches for the perfect pearl. Finding the perfect one he’d been searching for, He sells everything he has, to purchase it.

How can God expect us to lay everything down and follow Him into His kingdom if He wasn’t willing to do the same? The merchant in the parable is Jesus. And the pearl of great price is YOU. HE is the one who searches for YOU. He gave up everything He had – his divine power, divine glory, His innocent life and suffering – to purchase YOU. No, not just in a generic John 3:16 sense that He died for EVERYONE. He specifically gave up His life on the cross for YOU. For YOUR sins, YOUR guilt.

He laid aside heavenly riches and comfort to incarnate into the flesh, voluntarily limiting His divine power to come to SERVE you. Paul tells us– “though [Jesus] was in the form of God, He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but EMPTIED himself, by taking on the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men…. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death upon a cross.” (Phil 2:6-7)

He sought you out. Because of our sin, we’d never search for Him. God is the one who makes the first move to find us. Not only does He find us, but He claims us as His own treasure. The Old Testament reading says it of Israel – “YOU are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has CHOSEN you to be a people for His treasured possession.” (Deut 7:6). Paul says the same for the Church in Ephesians 1:4 – “He chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world.”

He’s the one who gave up everything He had to have you. It cost Jesus everything to have YOU in His kingdom. And because of that, we gladly sacrifice anything needed to live in the love, mercy, and assurance of our Savior. Because THAT’S the most valuable thing a person can have.

Finally, the kingdom of heaven also costs the unbelievers everything. Though, the price to pay isn’t now. It’s at the close of the age, when the crucified and risen Jesus comes to judge the living and the dead.

In the parable of the dragnet, Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven is like a net that’s thrown into the sea, and fish of every kind are gathered into it. Good fish, bad fish, and maybe even some seaweed or garbage left at the bottom of the sea. When the fishermen drag the net to the shore, they sort out the good fish into a container and the bad fish are thrown away. The good fish are those who follow Christ, and those who don’t are the bad fish. And the evil ones will be judged and thrown into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

As the parable of the dragnet suggests, the stakes are high for unbelievers too. There’s going to be a final judgment and eternal condemnation to pay.

But for now, Christ’s net is cast far and wide. It even scrapes up what’s on the bottom of the sea. Christ’s Church scoops up believers and unbelievers. The saving Gospel is preached to everyone. The Word of Christ gathers many who hear, but the sorting out doesn’t happen until Christ returns.

But that’s why it’s so important that as followers of Christ’s kingdom, we never give up preaching the message. Because for every unbeliever, there’s still time to repent. There’s still hope to have the greatest treasure.

And that’s why the stakes are still so high today. Christ is still casting out His net through the preaching of the Gospel and administering of the sacraments. He’s still seeking lost sinners. He’s still gathering in His treasured possession. And one day, when the net is finally drawn back to the shore, those whom Christ has purchased with His own holy, innocent, suffering and death will not be cast away. They will be gathered safely into His eternal kingdom.

Until that day, joyfully treasure Christ above all things, because He first treasured you.

INI

Pastor Joshua Ralston