What Is Your Personal Worth?
The Pearl of Great Price
Matt 13:44-46, Malachi 3:17, Exodus 19:5
Introduction
1. We have started a sermon series on the parables of Jesus. These are stories that He told often instead of a sermon. Simple stories that helped people get a better picture of how God looked at things. Today we are going to look at two parables, the “pearl of great price” and the hidden treasure in the field. Let’s turn to Matthew 13:44-46.
2. These two short stories are parables about the Kingdom of God. This is not talking about when we die and go to heaven. This is explaining how the kingdom of God works on the earth. The first story tells about some treasure hidden in a field which was found by a man who got so excited, he went and sold all that he had just so he could buy the field. The second story tells of a merchant who is looking to buy beautiful pearls, and finds one so beautiful that he goes and sells all that he has so he could buy it.
Traditional interpretation
1. The traditional way these are interpreted is to teach that we are the merchantman and we are the man who found the treasure or the pearl and went and sold all we had to get this treasure which represents Jesus or salvation or heaven. It is often taught this way, many songs are written this way. We are encouraged to value our relationship with God and that we should be willing to pay any price to keep it. Many feel that this parable is teaching that our salvation is worth everything we have.
2. That is a nice way to understand these stories, but I believe there is a better way. There is also a problem with this interpretation. It does not follow what is known as Hermeneutic consistency. All the parables refer to the field as the world and the man doing the things spoken of is always God not us.
3. One day I was meditating on this parable and all of a sudden the Holy Spirit came into my room sat down in a chair and said He would like to clear up this parable for me. He was concerned that in misunderstanding this parable we can easily misunderstand the character of God and never really come to grasp how great His love for us is and how valuable we are. The man in the field and the merchant are both one and the same BUT they are not representations of us but rather they reveal unto us our heavenly Father. He is the merchant and He is the farmer. We are the pearl of great price we are the treasure found in the field. Jesus went and sold all he had so that he might buy us. This is not referring to “us” selling all that we had. What did we have? We had sin, sickness, guilt, depression, death. It is interesting to notice that he had to buy the entire field in order to purchase us, meaning that He purchased the entire world in his desire to purchase us.
4. There are two kinds of Christians in this world. Ones who work all their lives feeling like they must earn God’s favor and love. They must work for God. Ones who let God work for them or through them.
5. We get so caught up with all the things we should be doing, I should be reading more, praying more, fasting more, serving more, giving more time and money. We feel we should be involved in this and we helping here.
6. Now sometimes this is true but this parable is teaching us the other side of why we should be doing all these good things. God really loves you and wants to hang out with you. It is sort of like when you were single and someone told you that a real pretty lady or real handsome young man was interested in you. What did you do? “Oh great now I have to go find out about this pretty lady or this handsome guy. What a burden, what a bummer!” No, you eagerly went and found out more about him/her. This is the way it is with God. He is real interested in you. He values you. When you finally realize that the God of the universe is really interested in you and wants to get to know you that should arouse your curiosity enough to want to find out more about Him. Who is this God who thinks I am so valuable?
7. These two parables are telling us, how much we are worth to God.
8. With the interest rates going up so much in the past few months, I could not help but call the bank and see if I could refinance some investment loans to get a better rate or lock in the rates I had before they went up anymore. Now those of you who have applied for mortgages know what a hassle it is. The banks want to know everything about you. They want to know how much are you worth. Whenever I hear the question, “How much are you worth?” I feel a little insecure. I wish I was worth millions of dollars.
9. I read recently that all the minerals in our body, if sold, are worth about $6 million. This would be the actual prices all the chemicals would sell for in a chemical catalog. At least I know I am worth something. The truth is that we are all worth a lot more than we realize. It is important to understand your personal worth. It will affect how you live your everyday lives.
a) Amazingly, some years ago in response to the biogenic six million dollar man proposed by Hollywood Harold, J. Morowitz, a leading chemist received a birthday card from his daughter. It read, “According to biochemists the materials of your body are worth only 98 cents!” Intrigued by that statement sent from his daughter, Morowitz took out his chemical supply catalog and began looking up the prices of all the chemicals that composed the human body. Well, it turned out that the human body of an average size is actually worth more than SIX MILLION DOLLARS, chemically speaking. Here’s the breakdown Morowitz found: Hemoglobin - $ 285 a gram, Insulin - $ 47.50 a gram, Trypsin - $ 36 a gram, Bilrubin, the bile pigment, $ 12 a gram, Human DNA, $ 76 a gram, Collagen, $ 15 a gram, Human albumin, $ 3.00 a gram. Even more, less common constituents like: Acetate Kinase, $8,860 a gram, Alkaline Phosphatase, $ 225 a gram, Amino acids such as Bradykinin cost upwards of $ 12 a gram. Now the real shocker came, when he got to the follicle-stimulating hormone at $ 8 million a gram and then Prolactin the hormone that stimulates milk production for mothers, this costs $ 17.5 million a gram.
b) Well taking all these costs into account from a common chemical supply catalog and calculating the percentages of each chemical in the composition of the human body, Morowitz arrived at the cost of $ 245.54, as the average value, per gram, of any human being. Then, taking the average weight of himself at 168 pounds or 79,364 grams, but subtracting for the fact that man’s body is 68 % water, his dry weight would then be 24,436 grams. Finally, multiplying that by $ 254.54, Dr. Morowitz found his body alone was worth $6,000,015.44! Imagine that! How about that ladies? And you thought your husbands were worthless. Now if you could only fine a way to extract all those chemicals out of his body!
c) However, one must not stop there, for the SIX MILLION DOLLAR figure of the average human being’s body is inaccurate. That figure applies only, to the human atoms priced at their sophisticated, informational state. The supply companies, to offer these chemicals in their existing state within the human body, brings an even greater picture as the value of man’s basic body. If the supply companies had to synthesize these elements from raw materials, the desired chemicals would increase in value per person to SIX BILLION dollars. But then, once having these chemicals in the needed forms, is still not enough. You see, now someone would have to assemble these synthetic molecules into cellular structures, and then make them into larger cell components. Again, Dr. Morowitz then estimated the cost per human body, would jump much higher to $ 600 BILLION! Would we then have man? The answer is still no.
d) Still, another crucial step would be necessary. The cell components now produced at over say $600 BILLION dollars, must now be turned into human cells. How much more will this cost, chemically speaking? The answer Dr, Morowitz reported is a figure of $6000 trillion dollars! But what would we have now? We would just have a blob of combined simple cells. Obviously more is necessary, for cells must become tissues, tissues must become organs, and organs must be set up to function as the human being is found today. How much is man worth? Well, Dr. Morowitz at this point, in dollars and cents said: ‘Our ability to calculate this now disappears!” (from The World, The Word & You Broadcast)
Since we are so valuable what did Jesus actually do to purchase us?
1. We are told in the letter written to the Philippians 2:5-7 that Jesus set aside His seat in Heaven, His God stuff and became a man. He emptied Himself of being God and became only a man. “For the joy thereof.” We are told that for the joy that was set before Him, Jesus was able to bear the cross. Heb 12:2.
2. He gladly set aside His throne to purchase us. It was not easy but He did it willingly not under constraint. We are told that Jesus found joy in the fact that He must give up His throne in heaven and come to live with men. He set the end in sight and rejoiced in it. “Though He was rich, yet He became poor, that we through His poverty might be made rich.”
3. “Seeking goodly pearls” He tells us that God is constantly scanning the face of the earth looking for His people. There is a bible passage that says, God is constantly looking across the face of the earth for people who He can be strong for.
4. He is looking for us not so much us looking for him. This is the Glorious Gospel. God seeking for us to bring us to Himself.
Why are we so valuable to God?
1. People who know jewelry don’t mistake fake jewels for real ones. He is a connoisseur. They recognize a precious jewel when they see one, so it is with God. He recognizes a real jewel when He finds one.
2. What is the real value of a pearl? Can you eat it if you are starving? Can you use them for glasses? Will it quench your thirst? Will it keep rain off of your head? Can you hammer a nail with it? Can it keep you warm if you are freezing, or can you use it to fix something that is broken? No, then what good is it?
3. Really its value is in its beauty. It just has inherent value. It is not really good for anything, yet it is a most precious possession to the owner. He likes to behold it. Well, that is the way it is with God. In His eyes, we are treasures not because we can do something or say something for Him. He treasures us because we have inherent value. He just loves to behold us for our beauty!!!
4. There is a passage in the book of Malachi (3:17) that makes a reference to God speaking about His people. He said, “They shall be mine. On that day I will make them My jewels or special treasures.” What a relief to know that I please God because of who I am, not because of what I do.
5. In Exodus 19:5, God calls us His treasures. “You shall be a special treasure to me above all people, for all the earth is Mine.” We have been purchased and are owned by God. We all are owned by someone or we all must serve someone. It is either God or the devil. Before we were purchased we were owned by the devil. We were children of disobedience walking in darkness.
6. This speaks of the riskiness and foolishness of what Jesus did. The merchant surely would have had to sell at a lose in order to sell quickly. Also it was a risk, what if the pearl turns out to be valueless? This merchant went and sold all just to buy this ONE pearl. Would Jesus have done what He did if you were the only person on this earth? Yes, you are so very valuable to Him that He would have done it. Put your name in place of this word “ONE” “and when he found David He went and sold all to buy me!!!
7. If you know anything about investments, you know that diversification is the name of the game. Your portfolio should have some blue chip stocks, some risky stocks, some mutuals, some commodities, some CDs, some real estate, etc. Well not so with this merchant, he put all his life earnings, everything he had into this one pearl. Risky, maybe, but he knew what he was doing. He wouldn’t lose out. So it is with God, He put it all on the line in the plan of salvation. He did it because He knew He would not lose out. We are well worth it.
8. The more valuable something is the more we care for it. If we have an old car that needs lots of work, we might be inclined to sell it, but if we have a very valuable car we would more likely fix it up. We are not about to lose our valuable possessions. So it is with God. He is not about to lose us, not after He spent so much for us. Paul said, “I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded that He is able to keep me unto that day.” How true, God will care for us if we have any breakdowns, He will restore us.
9. Now put yourself this merchant’s shoes. He goes into the store and lays on the counter his entire life’s savings. The sales clerk hands over the beautiful pearl. The merchant holds it with two hands as he walks out the door. Just as he gets out the door the pearl falls out of his hand and rolls into the gutter and drops into the sewer! What would he do? Stand there for a minute and then say, “Oh well,” and walk off.
10. What if you worked all month and then at the end of the month you finally got your paycheck and it had a huge bonus. You go to the bank and cash your check and as you walk out the wind and the rain catch the money out of your hands and begin to blow it down the drain. What would you do? “Oh well, there it goes!”
11. I don’t think so. You would drop to your knees and begin picking up that money. If it went down the drain, you would do everything in your power to pull the storm sewer grating off.
12. This is the way your Heavenly Father looks at you. He had paid the ultimate price for you. He is not going to let you go if you happen to fall into the sewer. He would drop to his knees and follow that pearl and if he had to, he would pull the storm sewer grating right off and climb down into that sewer and retrieve that pearl. He will never give up on us, no matter what happens. He will stand by us. To Him, we are the most valuable thing in creation.
Summary
1. “The people that do KNOW THEIR GOD shall be strong and do exploits.” Dan 11:32 We need to know His character and how He really sees us. To understand these stories this way opens to an individual the depth of true personal worth. Jesus has such a high value on us, that He was willing to give up all that He had, His heavenly throne (Philippians 2:5-7) to purchase us. He emptied himself of his glory in order that He could buy us back. When we know the character of the One who we believe in, then we will be able to do great things with our lives. We love Him because He first loved us.
