How Much Is God Worth- The Pearl Series

Matt. 13:44-46

HOW MUCH IS GOD WORTH?

(The Parables of the Pearl and the Treasure)

These two parables are like twins. They are very similar but they also have marks of individuality. They both teach the truth that the supreme blessing, the priceless discovery in life, is the discovery of God. To be in His Kingdom, to be a member of his family, to receive Him and His love and power is the true treasure of living.

They also teach that God is not only VALUABLE but ACCESSIBLE. We can all have Him, from the poorest dirt farmer to the wealthiest pearl merchant. We may find Him in different ways but we have Him when we value Him above all else. Think first of ...

I. THE VALUE OF DISCOVERING GOD.

The two pictures are simple but powerful. In Palestine, when armies marched across the land, people saved their possessions by burying them. The Rabbis had a saying, “There is only one safe repository for money - the earth.”

A poor dirt farmer is plowing somebody else’s field. He does it to feed himself and his family. He knows every clod in that old patch and probably hates each one. When his plow goes deep and hits something hard he curses the rock. But when he digs it out it is not a rock but a chest - a chest filled with more money than he has ever seen. He buries it and sells everything he owns so he can buy the field.

The second man is a wealthy pearl merchant. The pearl in that day was like our diamond, a rare treasure. One day he came across the most beautiful, valuable pearl he had ever seen. He too sold all he had so he could buy it.

The pearl and the treasure represent, of course, the Kingdom of God, all those blessings and benefits that are ours in being rightly related to Christ. We often think of religion as something that takes all the joy out of life but, instead, it is like finding buried treasure, like finding a perfect jewel.

When God opens our eyes we get our priorities right. We see that which is truly valuable. Passengers on a cruise ship give little thought to the life jackets under their bed. They are crude and ugly and rough and uncomfortable. But let the ship start to go down and the jackets are prized above all items. To many, Christianity, like those jackets, is something to fall back on in life’s emergencies, but the rest of the time it is a hindrance to full and free living.

To others, however, Christianity is as valuable, every day and in every way, as a life jacket is to a drowning man. Jesus is the Bread of Life. He is the Water of Life. Just as our bodies starve without bread and water, so our higher nature starves without Him who satisfies the hungers and thirsts of our souls. Jesus is the most valuable thing in life, the one thing we could not do without. Think second of ...

II. THE VARIETY IN DISCOVERING GOD.

These parables agree in teaching the value of finding God but they separate in the matter of HOW we find God. They point out the “variety of religious experience” William James wrote about. The farmer stumbled upon God by accident but the merchant found Him after diligent searching. One man set out to walk the hard, boring field of life’s daily duty and found God. Another set out to find God and found Him. Christians, in the Bible, and in our day, are as multi-colored as life itself. There is room in the kingdom for impetuous Peter who bravely believed and for the self-tormenting skeptic, Thomas, who barely believed. Our parables point out those who STUMBLE upon Christ and those who find him by SEARCHING.

Look first at the man who stumbled upon God. God was found in an unlikely place. In one way this is true of all who find Him because the unlikely place we all find God is IN THE LORD. God has not only revealed Himself but hidden Himself in a very common field - Jesus. The Bible-teaching Pharisees looked at Him and saw the devil. His own family looked at Him and saw one insane. Even John the Baptist said, “Are you the One or should we look for another?”

God came into this world through the back door. He was born a poor child in a little hole-in-the-corner country. He did not march through His world with twelve legions of angels. He healed the sick, blessed little children, forgave the sinful and died like the rest of us. This is exactly why many miss Him. But praise God, it is also why many find Him. He is not some far-removed Messianic General we salute from afar. He is our brother, our friend, our fellow-sufferer, as well as our God.