PEARL OF GREAT PRICE—Matt 13:45-46
TEXT
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.
INTRODUCTION
In The Parable Of The Hidden Treasure, I suggested that Jesus was depicting the value of the kingdom to one who accidentally finds it and that Pauls conversion was an example of how one is willing to give up all in order to lay hold of the treasure of the kingdom. Jesus followed that parable with another short parable commonly called ’The Parable Of The Pearl Of Great Price’ –Mat 13:45-46 and in many ways is similar to the previous parable, yet there is a difference.
THE PARABLE EXPLAINED
A merchant is seeking beautiful pearls and finds one pearl of great price. He is undeterred by its price and sells all that he has in order to buy it
THE MEANING OF THE PARABLE
The use of the word ’Again’ ties this parable to the preceding one and where the value and preciousness of the kingdom was being described. We also see here the value to one who accidentally finds it. But in this parable, the person is on a mission to find that which is of great value, the believes there is something out there worth looking for, or he would not be seeking it and when he finds it, he immediately recognizes its value and is willing to sell all to obtain it. I am not suggesting we can ’buy’ or otherwise ’earn’ our salvation because salvation is a gift -Rom 6:23. We can only ’buy’ salvation in the sense of gaining rightful possession of it by grace through faith - Eph 2:8-9 and submitting to the working of God and the renewing of the Holy Spirit which takes place as we are baptized into Christ -Col 2:11-13; Ti 3:4-7
This parable, then, describes how some people react to the kingdom of heaven, when they know there must be something out there of great value and are busy searching for it.
SOME BIBLICAL EXAMPLES
The Ethiopian eunuch - Acts 8:26-38 on his journey to Jerusalem to worship and his reading of Scripture while returning, indicate he was spiritually searching and his immediate desire to be baptized shows his estimation of the value of the salvation offered through Christ. Cornelius – Acts 10: 1-8,30-33 His prayers and alms were indicative of his search for righteousness and as promised by Jesus Matt 5:6, God took note of his spiritual hunger and thirst, and sent Peter to tell him the gospel of Christ.
Lydia – Acts 16:/11-16 Her meeting with other women to pray illustrates her spiritual searching, hearing the things spoken by Paul, she and her household were baptized.
Each of these examples should remind us that there are many people who know there is some ’thing’, some ’purpose’, some ’meaning’, that is worthy of diligent search, and who spend their lives trying to find it. When they come to learn of Christ and His kingdom, they are willing to give up all to obtain it!
Jesus’ teaches us that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will indeed find what God has for them! It might be that we may "stumble" across the blessings God has in Christ and His kingdom as in The Parable Of The Hidden Treasure. But do we want to risk our salvation on the possibly of stumbling across it?
What can we do to ensure that we will find what God has for us? Well, we need to be that ’merchant’ who is, searching for that ’pearl’ of great price. How does one do that in regards to spiritual matters?
SEARCHING FOR “THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE”
We need to follow the example of the Ethiopian Eunuch and be a student of the Scriptures, we need to apply the Scriptures to the best of our understanding and be open to what others may have to share concerning the Scriptures. We could also follow the example of the Bereans Acts 17: 10-11l Again, be open to what others may to share but apply diligence (i.e., "readiness of mind") to understand what others are saying and in the end, let the Scriptures be your final authority and demonstrate it by "searching the Scriptures daily"
CONCLUSION
Like the Ethiopian eunuch, the Bereans, Cornelius, Lydia, and many other religious people we may be lost in our present state of understanding of God’s will but if we will search like that ’merchant’ did, and have the desire to understand and please God like these people did then we can trust in God’s Providence to lead us to the truth, and to that ’pearl of great price’! The blessings of the kingdom are not limited to the life hereafter; as Jesus reassured Peter, there are hundredfold blessings even in this time- Mark 10:28-30
SERMON—THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE
Matt 13:45-46
IS THIS FOR YOU
He had it all, at least on the surface. He had good business, a fine family, status in the community, he had everything it would appear, but not quite enough. Some men craved after gold or silver or jewels not this man those things were all so cold and inanimate, forged and moulded deep inside an unfeeling earth. Instead he sought after pearls. Those beautiful gems that began their existence as a simple irritant, a piece of grit or sand buried deep in the mantle of an oyster. And then a miracle, slowly ever so slowly the oyster began to secrete nacre, the very substance that made up its shell. One layer was added to the grit, and then another and another until finally a lowly piece of sand had become one of the worlds most beautiful gems.
PEARLS
They were almost a gift from God, well almost; they still had to be paid for. And then one day he found it, the most incredible pearl he had ever laid his eyes on. Everything about it was perfect, the size the shape the colour, everything was perfect. He had to have it, it had to be his, and so he sold everything that he had so that he could buy this one exquisite pearl. So was he happy well we don’t know that but this story was told by Jesus in Matt 13:45-46 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.
The fact that Jesus had used a pearl as an illustration for the Kingdom of God might be lost on us in the year 2001, but it was an illustration that would have struck home with the men and woman who made up Christ’s world back in that first century. The reason for this was that pearls were valued not for their monetary worth, but also for their aesthetic qualities and for their beauty. Because of that many of the people who bought them did so just to have them, not as an investment, not as something to be bought and sold. Instead they were seen as something to be held and admired.
THE MERCHANT
I now want to look at this merchant who was so intent on having a pearl like no other pearl that he had ever seen. It is obvious that he was not satisfied with what he already had. How many times do we ourselves grumble about what we already have and about everything that happens to us, in fact our attitude is sometimes very negative and life seems to be one long battle, but If we think about it, every discovery, every advancement, every achievement that man has made has been because he was dissatisfied with things the way they were. Because Thomas Edison was dissatisfied with reading by candle we have electric lights. Because Alexander was tired of Mrs Bell yelling at him to come home, we have telephones. Because John Wesley was dissatisfied with the Anglican churches attitude to the poor we have the Wesleyan church. The facts are that if it were not for dissatisfaction we would still be living under trees and dressing in fig leaves and eating raw meat. Perhaps Roger Bannister was dissatisfied with just being another runner that led him to become the first sub four-minute miler
And so back to our story; I don’t think the hero of our story was a shopkeeper because the Greek word for merchant would indicate that he was a wholesaler or trader, looking to improve on what he already had. [Did you know that the biggest pearl in the world currently stands at 4 lbs in weight].
Each one of us has to push on. It’s not enough to merely exist. If we are going to please God we need to continue to grow and expand in our personal walk with Him Throughout the new testament we are urged to grow in our Christian faith and not be content with just taking the milk of the word but to strive for the meat of the word. Each one of us is to seek to become better in our workplace and to improve our standards when we play and how we live, but we need also to become better in our spiritual lives. Sometimes we need to build Castles in the air[dream] so that our dreams can become a reality. Edison had to dream of electric light before he could invent it, Alexander Graham Bell had to dream of the telephone before he could invent the telephone. I wonder how many nights that merchant dreamt of that perfect pearl before it became a reality for him. God gave Moses a dream of the Promised Land, God gave David a dream of a Temple and God gave Paul a dream of reaching the Gentiles, what dream has God given you
Just as the athlete lives for the race or the game this merchant lived to find pearls. He worked to live but work wasn’t his life it simply made it possible to follow his dreams, and if we are Christians then it had better be Gods dream for our life or it will be a dead end dream, and once we have that dream then we had better pursue it with every bit of energy we can muster The Merchant was determined to make his dream a reality, not only was he dedicated to the dream but he was willing to do anything that had to be done to see the dream fulfilled. In his case it meant financial sacrifice, The scriptures tell us that he sold everything that he owned in order to buy that pearl and we must remember that nothing worth anything comes for nothing. How much are we prepared to give? We see men and women literally surrendering the pleasures of this life to excel at sports, or business, or the arts. Imagine what could happen to the cause of Christ if we were willing to do that for the Kingdom of God. I John 1: 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. This verse does not say ’if we sit in the light’, it does not say ’if we stand in the light’ it does not say ’if we lay in the light’. What it does say is ’If we walk in the light’. What this means is that we must seek Gods will, do what God wants us to do and do it to the best of our ability we will grow and present His Gospel in a positive way. And when our Goals are met then we need to dream some more goals. And those dreams and those goals need to come from God and God alone...
BEAUFORT RESTORATION MINISTRIES
E.W.Carey-Holt
