The Great Treasure Hunt
Matthew 13:45-46
July 31, 2005
The September 6, 1999 issue of TIME Magazine contained an article about Extreme Sports. According to the TIME editors, members of Generation X have fewer real risks to face and therefore some feel the need to live out challenges through risky behavior. Extreme sports include things such as: caving, base jumping, bungee-jumping, mountain biking, and street luge.
In case you are wondering what you might do for vacation this summer, maybe I could suggest the Tahoe Xtreme Sports Camp at Lake Tahoe, California. According to their website, “This ain’t your mommy’s summer camp.” Campers can choose from many options: paintball, rock-climbing, go-carting, white-water rafting, parasailing, jet skiing, flying trapeze, skateboarding and more.
The website explains it this way. “We don’t do sing-alongs. We don’t do marshmallows. If you want to do arts and crafts – go to another camp.”
Many people in Gen X seem to be on a quest for the next challenge, for the next thrill, for the next activity to test their physical and emotional limits. They seem to be looking for that one thing that will provide them with fulfillment or a sense of achievement, and are willing to go to extreme lengths to find it. Adventure is the most important thing in their lives as they search for the pearl of great price.
In the early 90’s I was appointed to a suburban church just east of Crown Point. The church was just across the road from a gated community. The parsonage was in fact, in that community and we had to drive through a gate attended 24 hours a day by a security guard to get to our house.
This community was a direct result of white flight out of Gary in the sixties and was marketed as a place to get away from all of the racial strife and poverty that engulfed that city. I always thought that the flight from Gary was unfortunate, but was certainly understandable. Rural Crown Point was a much better and safer place to raise a family than Gary or Hammond or East Chicago.
By the nineties, a new phenomenon had arisen in Northwest Indiana: gambling boats. I remember seeing the demographic statistics for Lake and Porter Counties. Our housing addition straddled the Lake/Porter County line and at that time, the average family income for our area was around $32,000 per year. It was just a stone’s throw for our folks from this middle class enclave, to drive up to the boats for a day of recreation.
Most of us were very comfortably middle class, but there was this drive to get more…and some of us thought that we had a chance to hit it rich on the boats. All it takes, after all, is one lucky pull on the slots, or one lucky hand at the poker table, one lucky spin of the roulette wheel, or one lucky throw of the dice at the craps table.
The Social Principles of the United Methodist Church state that, “Gambling is a menace to society, deadly to the best interests of moral, social, economic, and spiritual life, and destructive of good government.” We believe that gambling fosters greed and is exploitative of society’s weakest citizens. I was pretty clear to my folks up there that I didn’t believe they should be gambling, but I’m not sure that it stopped anyone from going. One time, one of the charities in the area was having a duck race to raise funds for their work. One of our members wanted the church to buy a duck. I pointed out that this was gambling and we wouldn’t be doing it.
To be very honest with you, I understand the allure and the promises of easy money. When we moved in, we needed to find a new dentist. After our first appointments, we discovered that this particular dentist sent each of his new patients, five lottery tickets as a thank-you.
So Toni and I got these ten lottery tickets in the mail and didn’t know what to do with them. We were facing a very real existential problem. We are sincerely opposed to gambling in all its forms. At the same time, here were these lottery tickets. They might be worth real money.
We debated and debated between ourselves. Should we scratch them off? Should we send them back? Should we just throw them away? I must confess that in the end, personal integrity lost. We scratched off the tickets…and didn’t win a cent. We thought the pearl of great price might be hidden in a lottery ticket, but were disappointed.
I’ve told you stories before of the work team I led to Russia back in 1994. We traveled to the city of Mozhaysk, about 100 miles southwest of Moscow. We helped renovate a thirteenth century monastery. The clutter and trash had built up so much over the centuries that the ground inside the walls was about four feet higher than it had been when the monastery was built.
During the Soviet era, troops had come in and torn down a cross that was on top of one of the churches, after they had used it for target practice. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, someone had found this cross in one of the trash heaps and had stuck it into the ground as a symbol of renewed hope.
We arrived in Mozhaysk on Saturday. When we asked the priest, our host, when worship services were the next morning, he told us that they began at 9 am. Then he told us to come around about 11 and we could join in the last hour of the service.
For your information, Russian Orthodox Churches don’t have pews. Worshippers stand for the entire three hour liturgy. Remember that the next time you think I’m preaching too long.
After worship, we walked outside and were standing with the priest and talking about the service. I noticed this fellow walk out of the church and around the back to the spot where that cross had been erected. He took out his Bible and stood in front of the cross reading. In a minute or two, we noticed him close the book and his eyes. His moving lips told us that he was praying. After 70 years of oppression, he was finally able to worship freely and openly. He was one who knew where the pearl of great price was located. It was found in the sacrifice and grace of his Lord Jesus.
Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
What is the most important thing in your life? Have you ever thought about it? It seems to me that sometimes the things we say are the most important things in lives really aren’t. We may believe one thing or another, but our actions tell the truth. The truth is that the things we value most are the things in which we are willing to invest. The things that we value the most are those things that capture our hearts.
Remember that Jesus said that where your treasure is, there will be your heart also. I always say that I can tell the true shape of your heart if you would give me a peek at your checkbook. And you could do the same with me.
But we invest more than our money. If we value a college or graduate degree, then we will invest huge amounts of time and energy to graduate. If we value our health, we will invest in exercise, proper diet, and a wholesome lifestyle. If you value a hobby, say photography or scrapbooking or cooking or woodworking…then you will invest heavily in those things.
I remember being at a cross country invitational a few years ago watching Dominique run. One of the other high school teams had t-shirts which read, “In my heart, I’m Kenyon,” referring to Kenyon athletes’ reputation as among the world’s elite runners. These girls were saying that they valued winning enough that their hearts, minds, and efforts focused on the goal of being the best. They were willing to invest long hours of practice, and miles and miles of running to achieve their goals.
The merchant in the parable told by Jesus considered the pearl to be the greatest treasure imaginable, and he was willing to sacrifice everything to obtain it.
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians and, as translated by Eugene Peterson in “The Message” said:
All the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant… I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ – God’s righteousness. I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself…(Philippians 3:8-11).
The pearl of great price, as a symbol for the richness of the kingdom of God, is the greatest value for which we can strive. All of the other stuff that we think we want will satisfy for a time, but will ultimately leave us alone and empty. Youth fades, athletic prowess diminishes, beauty is subject to the ravages of age and time, and there are no pockets in a shroud (we can’t take our riches with us). It is Christ and Christ alone who holds the key to our eternal life. He is the one which holds our promise. He is the one who invites us to make him the center of who we are.
You may be asking, “How can I do that?” How do I make Christ the center of my life? How do I make Christ the most important thing in my life? How do I want Christ above all else?
I found a sermon by Rev. Bruce Goettsche of the Union Church of LaHarpe, Illinois that was very helpful. (http:/www. unionchurch.com/archive/021702.html. accessed on 6/23/2005). He suggested that a good Scriptural text to answer that question is Hebrews 12:1-2. Remember what that text says:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes of Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The first step is to throw off everything that hinders, everything that impedes our progress toward following Jesus. Maybe that will mean getting new friends who do not take your eye off the prize. Maybe that will mean finding new places to hang out where you are not tempted to stray from your goal. Maybe you need to be honest and repentant of some of your attitudes and behaviors which are standing in the way of a firm commitment to Christ. Get rid of everything that stands in the way of having a clear focus on Jesus. There is no sacrifice too great.
Secondly, run with perseverance. Don’t get tired. Don’t give up. Be consistent. Practice discipline. Keep going when you want to quit. Be determined in everything.
Thirdly, “fix your eyes on Jesus.” I remember the birth of our three children. Toni and I went through the Lamaze program with each of them. By the time the third one came along, we could have been teaching the class.
Those of you who have done the Lamaze thing will remember that one of the most important things they tell mothers is to find a focus point and keep your eyes glued to that. It helps to block out all distractions and to focus all energy in one place.
For those of us who wish to put Christ first, he is our focus. We focus on the facts of his life and meaning for our lives. He loves us, wants the best for us, and is the sure path to our eternal life.
The man in the Parable of the Pearl of Great Price knew the treasure that he had found. He knew that it was the treasure beyond all treasures; that it had value beyond all earthly values; that it was the most important possession that could be imagined.
So he sold everything he had in order to buy it. He gave all that he owned. He gave it all up. He subjugated everything in his life to the greatest prize. Are you willing to do that? If not, why not? If not now, when?
