Have you ever dreamed of finding buried treasure? When I was a child, I did. I read books on John Swift’s lost silver mine in eastern Kentucky. I panned for gold, and bought a metal detector and waded up and down the creek on our farm. I also hunted arrowheads and Indian artifacts. Why did I do all of this? Part of it was for the challenge; but the other reason was because I wanted the money from any treasure I found to fulfill my mother’s dream of building a Christian school.
Treasure and its buying power have driven men for centuries to embark on arduous quests in search of it. Take for instance the early Spanish explorers: Hernan Cortes invaded the Aztecs to plunder their gold; Hernando de Soto went in search of treasure in Florida; and Coronado stumbled across the Grand Canyon while in search of treasure in the southwest. And let’s not forget the gold rush of 1849 in California, which resulted in many young men leaving their families behind in the east, never to return to them again.
People have uprooted their families, risked bankruptcy, and even sacrificed their lives in search of treasure. This evening we are going to learn about a great treasure; one for which many have given their lives throughout the past two thousand years. It is also a treasure that others feel is not worth the pursuit. We are going to talk about this treasure; and we are going to see why some people choose to risk their life for it, and why others tend to ignore it and let remain undiscovered.
A Buried Treasure (v. 44)
44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Here we have “The Parable of the Hidden Treasure.” What is the treasure mentioned here? It’s the “kingdom of heaven.” “The man who bought the field found ‘a treasure.’ The Greek word for treasure used here is thesauros.”(1) What are we familiar with today that sounds like this word? A thesaurus! What is a thesaurus? It’s a book containing synonyms, which are different variations of a single word. If you think about it, a thesaurus is like a treasury of words.
The Greek word thesauros “refers to a treasure chest or storehouse where a great treasure is kept. It is the same word used in Hebrews 11:26 to describe Moses’ turning of his back on the ‘treasures of Egypt’ in order to follow God.”(2) Therefore, the treasure that this man found was not just a coin or a bag of gold, but a huge treasure, like what’s contained in a treasure house. When one discovers the kingdom of heaven, it’s like stumbling across a door in a field which leads to a huge treasure chamber hidden beneath.
I once read a story in the Kentucky Advocate Messenger about a farmer back around the 1940’s who drilled a water well. The story goes that after forty feet, he hit black gold, or rather oil. He lowered a coffee can on a string and pulled up a black molasses looking substance. In recent years, there was an upheaval of land on the same farm, which lifted boulders weighing many tons. When I read this newspaper article, I immediately thought to myself, “I wonder if that farm is for sale?”
If you were the man who found a treasure hidden in a field, what would you do if you stumbled across it? You would probably do exactly what he did; you would go into debt and buy the land. This man sold all his possessions to buy the property. Why? Because he knew that he was getting something far better in return. If you are sold out for Jesus Christ, then you have a treasure more valuable than anything you could ever imagine!
The treasure hunter Mel Fisher, who discovered the treasure ship the Atocha off the Florida Keys, searched persistently for eighteen long years until he found the mother lode.(3) He invested millions of dollars searching for the ship and its alleged treasure, but he didn’t give up. He even lost a son one night as the search boat, on which he was asleep, sank while docked in the harbor. Why did Mel Fisher sacrifice so much? Because what he was searching for was worth more than a few million dollars.
What is it that causes someone to search so diligently and for such a long time? It’s because they believe in what they cannot see. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Those who seek after treasure are able to envision what they can’t see. Mel Fisher was a visionary, and he kept his sight focused on what was in his mind’s eye. Treasure hunters don’t need visible proof of what’s out there. They follow their instinct and their heart.
Jesus preached the kingdom of heaven, though none could see it. Those who envisioned the kingdom in their heart caught the fever, and acquired the desire for it; because they had faith in what they could not see. Those who needed to see the kingdom first before they would seek it, never found it; and they would never hit the mother lode of salvation and eternal life in Christ.
If you have faith in what you cannot see, then you will find the kingdom of heaven. If you can believe in a God made flesh, who came and died on a cross over two thousand years ago that you might have eternal life, then you will see the kingdom of heaven. And when you do, you will be as this man of whom we read, “and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has” (v. 44). The man in this parable found a joy unimaginable! The pastor and devotional writer John Piper says of this passage,
This parable describes how someone is converted and brought into the kingdom of heaven. A person discovers a treasure and is impelled by joy to sell all he has in order to have this treasure. The kingdom of heaven is the abode of the King. The longing to be there is not the longing for heavenly real estate, but for camaraderie with the King. The treasure in the field is the fellowship of God in Christ. I conclude from this parable that we must be deeply converted in order to enter the kingdom of heaven, and we are converted when Christ becomes for us a treasure chest of holy joy.(4)
For those of us who know Jesus Christ and want to see others come to know Him, but we don’t see much happening, then we too need to become visionaries. We may not see the kingdom being built before our eyes, but God is being faithful in establishing it. If we want to see our church grow, then we need to hang in there for the long haul, and invest our gifts and talents in return for a treasure of souls for the Lord. If we can keep our eyes fixed on the vision of the heavenly prize, then we will maintain an everlasting joy.
A Pearl of Great Price (vv. 45-46)
45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, 46 who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
Here we have “The Parable of the Pearl of Great Price.” We read here that a pearl merchant found “one pearl of great price,” and sold all that he had to buy it. Have you ever read John Steinbeck’s book entitled The Pearl? Allow me to share a Cliff Notes style summary of the book:
The main character in the story is Kino. His baby was bit by a scorpion, and in order to get the money needed to pay for a doctor, Kino went diving for pearls. During his dive he found the “Pearl of the World,” the largest pearl ever discovered. Through the course of the story, many people tried to steal the pearl, and Kino even killed some of them. His wife pleaded with him to get rid of the pearl on numerous occasions, but they needed it to pay for a doctor. Near the end of the story, the doctor gave the baby poison, robbers chased down Kino and his family, and after Kino killed the robbers, the baby died. At the very end, Kino threw the pearl back into the ocean.(5)
In Steinbeck’s book The Pearl, many people lied, cheated, stole, and even killed in an attempt acquire the largest pearl ever discovered. Why did they do these things? Because the pearl was extremely valuable to them.
In verse 45, “the pearl merchant found a pearl ‘of great value.’ The Greek word used to describe the pearl is polutimos, which means something that is very expensive, of great worth, or priceless. It is the [same] word used of the expensive perfume with which Jesus was anointed before His crucifixion (John 12:3). In 1 Peter 1:7, Peter described our faith as being ‘of greater worth [polutimos] than gold’.”(6)
The kingdom of heaven is priceless. Many people have been martyred over the years, and many wars have been fought for religious freedom, all in order to worship Jesus Christ. The kingdom of heaven is something that people will die for. Its value cannot be measured by mere human standards for its worth is incalculable.
Time of Reflection
Is the kingdom valuable to you? Do you have a relationship with Jesus Christ so that you can one day enter the kingdom of heaven? If not, then you need to get your life right with Him this evening. You need to realize that the kingdom is worth far more than anything you can have here in this world.
Jesus once said, “Do not . . . cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces” (Matthew 7:6). If you are a believer and you are seeking worldly gain, then you are throwing away your real treasure to be trampled underfoot. If you are pursuing the lusts and passions of this life, then you are tossing aside your treasure to be trampled by a host of unbelievers.
If you don’t know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, then you too are throwing away the most valuable treasure of all. Eternal life is the greatest gift that anyone can receive, and Jesus bestows this marvelous treasure freely.
C. Barry McCarty says, “Some people find God as the man found the treasure in a field. They aren’t looking for God, but in the ordinary course of their lives God finds them. Some people find God like the merchant who spent his life looking for the pearl of great price. They are looking for God, searching for truth, hungry for meaning, purpose, and direction for their lives, and at last they find him.”
He continues to say, “However you come to discover the kingdom of God, there comes a point at which you must make a personal decision to enter it by entrusting your life to Christ. Belonging to God’s kingdom is a priceless treasure that exceeds all earthly riches and advantages combined. God offers this priceless treasure to anyone who accepts Christ no matter how poor, how insignificant, or how sinful we may be.”(7)
NOTES
(1) C. Barry McCarty, “Parables and Miracles,” Solid Foundation Sermon Starters (Cincinnati: Standard Publishing, 1999), 43.
(2) Ibid., 43.
(3) Mel Fisher Maritime Museum. Taken from the Internet January 2000 at http://www .melfisher.org/home.htm.
(4) John Piper, Desiring God (Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah, 1996), 66.
(5) Taken from the Internet January 2000 at http://www.penguinputnam.com/academic/resources /guides/pearl/frame.htm
(6) McCarty, 43.
(7) Ibid., 46.
