Treasure Hunting
Matthew 13:44-46
Introduction
Good morning, this morning I want to talk about treasures.
Your treasures and my treasures.
They may not be the same thing but they are things we hold dear in our lives.
Illustration-
If I gave you my wallet, that would be weird for both of us. Don’t look for me to do that, but if I did, it would be awkward.
Awkward for you because you know the wallet is not yours.
You would not know what to do with it.
You would think that I was crazy.
For me, it would be awkward because my stuff is in there.
Little bit of cash, stressing a little bit,
Credit card, insurance card, driver license
Pictures of grandkids,
Things I need every day and personal stuff.
The same is for a lady’s purse except that they carry a few more things;
kitchen sink,
survival kit,
nun-chucks,
a box of tissues
several pens.
What’s in your wallet? I should be in that commercial.
Let’s see what Jesus says about treasures and possessions, and how we should handle them.
Matthew 13:44-46
While you are looking at this text, notice something?
These verses are written in red because they are the words of Jesus.
We see this parable of treasures stuck between several other parables in red spoken by Jesus.
Parable of weeds
Parable of the net
Parable of the mustard seed
I won’t take a lot of time here, but Jesus is telling us about not letting weeds grow up around the main harvest of our lives. He tells us that we have to nurture our faith even if it starts out as small as a mustard seed. He tells us the kingdom is like a hidden treasure that is found and protected. He is telling us that the kingdom of heaven is of such great value that one should be willing to give up all he has to gain it.
Jesus is not implying that we would purchase the kingdom with money or good deeds.
(44) The treasure is hidden in a field.
We think that is weird, but we have to remember who Jesus is talking too and the timeframe is which it is written.
Ancient times, it was common to hid treasures in the ground since there were no banks.
Robbers would constantly break in and steal possessions.
Mud houses were probably not real safe and secure.
Matthew 6:19-21
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Listen,
Jesus does not have anything against savings accounts, being prepared for the future, saving for a rainy day.
These words of Jesus tell us we have a choice of where we place our treasures.
People then protected their valuables the only way they knew how, keep them out of sight and out of the hands of robbers.
Today we have banks and saving deposit boxes. Some still hide valuable in mattresses and other creative hiding spots.
That is one reason that metal detectors are so popular today, they are hoping to find a treasure buried and they want to uncover it.
We have a choice where we place our treasures and we have a choice of what we value
2 choices this morning
(1) What are your treasures?
(2) Where do you place and protect your treasures?
I. What are your treasures?
What do you value above everything else?
How did you arrive at value?
A treasure by definition is something that you hold great value for. It is precious to you, usually it is something accumulated, given or found that you want to hold unto.
We talked about this in a roundabout way on Wednesday night. If someone holds their relationship with Christ as precious, how can a Christian be lukewarm?
In this parable a man found a treasure, buried it to protect it, sold everything he had to go back to buy the field that he buried it in.
What he found had value- he was willing to give up everything for it.
For the believer, the most precious treasure you have is a God who wants to have a relationship with you. That is precious and it is of great value.
Lukewarm Christian to me is an Oxymoron. Two things that cannot go together in a sentence.
Society says- don’t go overboard with this God stuff! It is nice to find, but it is not a precious gift.
Society says you can have God and stuff, as long as God does not get in the way of us having fun.
You don’t want to get too radical. You do not want to depart from usual and traditional and get to “extreme enthusiasm.”
You do not want to be unbalanced, not adjusted properly.
You don’t want to not fit in do you?
That treasure you hold onto, how does it measure up to how you hold onto your relationship with God?
Luke warm Christians want to be popular over what they know is right .
They want to fit in at church and fit in outside of the church.
They care what people think more than what God thinks.
They don’t want to be saved from their sins, they want to be saved from the penalty of their sins.
They think that they are good enough to make heaven, but keep God at a distance.
Sometimes I wonder if we really know what we have in Christ. What it means to follow Jesus.
Our treasures we want to hold in our hands, tangible!
God is a treasure that transforms us and holds us.
A treasure that disciples us.
A treasure that walks with us.
What we have in Him is of great value.
Ancient times, burying a treasure to keep it safe was one thing; but today burying the treasure of the Lord so no one knows you have Him is dangerous way to keep a valuable.
I value my children.
I love my grandkids
My wife is a treasure to me, but they are not my first treasure. My Lord Jesus Christ is my finest treasure, and the most precious thing I have.
I know some of you just had a heart attack. But my wife will tell you the same thing- Jesus is first! Our most precious gift is Jesus Christ!
Back to the verse-
“The kingdom of God is like a hidden treasure.” Jesus is referring to kingdom living not heaven itself.
It is putting Christ over everything! Our family, our job, money, our possessions, and pleasures.
The treasure is living for Christ.
Matthew 6:33
“But seek the kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
When God is first, He will take care of all our other precious treasures.
Who else but the Lord would you want to hold your precious gifts from God.
Let me recap #1 for you- what is your treasure?
What is the most precious gift you possess? If the #1 thing is not the Lord Jesus Christ, your priorities are out of order.
II. Where do we place and protect our treasures
We find the answer to that question in the second part of this parable.
(45) “Again, (repeating) the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”
Here was a merchant who went around looking for good deals.
He bought wholesale and sold retail. He was going to make money on the deal. In this parable he is looking for beautiful pearls.
Merchants would look to sell pearls, but keep the best ones for themselves.
In that day, pearls were like diamonds are today.
If you owned a pearl, it was your treasure, it had value.
Pearl hunting in that day was dangerous.
Oyster beds were down about 40 feet in the water. Remember they did not have the equipment they have now.
They tied a rock to themselves and jumped over the side of a boat.
They risked sharks, eels, and creatures at the bottom, all while holding their breath with a rick on them.
Only one out of thousand oysters had a pearl.
You can see why it had such value! Why it was a precious jewel!
Egyptians worshipped pearls,
Roman emperors dissolved them in vinegar and drank them in their wine to show how rich they were.
It would be like a millionaire lighting an expensive cigar with a 100.00 dollar bill.
Once this merchant found a pearl it had value.
Jesus is saying to us this morning, that once we find our pearl in Jesus Christ, we must do
whatever it takes to keep Him as our precious gift.
I didn’t grow up Nazarene, actually went to what some would call a charismatic church. I have though been in a lot of Nazarene churches and found them varying in emotion from never raising their hands to shouting amen. I am not advocating either one is right or wrong, but what I noticed is if we are not careful in our attempt to be politically correct, that we can miss what God has for us. We are so set at avoiding attention that we can miss revival.
Wrapping up- stay with me!
2 parables here
Each parable has a man who found something of great value.
They both recognized the value and were willing to pay the price.
There sacrifice was made joyfully- nobody forced them.
Here is the difference
Parable of the treasure- the man found it by accident.
Parable of the pearl- the man was searching.
There are many ways that people find God
By accident-
Saul of Tarsus, on the Damascus Road, killing Christians and he has an encounter with Jesus. Saul was not seeking God. He thought he was already in.
By searching-
The Philippians jailer, Cornelius, Ethiopian eunuch, those who searched out what they had to do to be saved.
The important thing is not how we find the treasure of God’s kingdom, the important thing is that we found it, and desire to keep it.
I want you to understand the precious gift that is available and how important that we treasure Him and receive Him.
The greatest treasure we can find is a personal knowledge of Jesus Himself, “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Colossians 2:3
The only way I know to close this time is to ask you what is important to you? If it is keeping you from a closer relationship with Christ, you need to remove it or get it in the right priority.
Amen. Will close as the lord lead
