Mar. 19, 2023

“The Kingdom of God - a Pearl and a Treasure” (BTS 19 Mar 23)

Introduction - This is the second teaching in this mini-series of several lessons dealing with the Kingdom of God.  The Western church spends lots of time on Jesus’ work in our behalf as Savior, but little time teaching us about Jesus’ role as our King.  We will explore the Kingdom parables in this and several of the coming weeks in order to better understand our relation to him as our King.

Important Note:  In all our discussion in the coming weeks concerning the Kingdom of God, please don’t assume that we are talking about the false doctrine propounded by Dr. John MacArthur called “Lordship salvation.”  That teaching grew popular in the 1980’s and stressed that a person is not saved until Jesus is the Lord of his life.  It quickly takes you to the conclusion that if you sin, Jesus is not Lord of that part of your life, so He cannot be Lord of all and you cannot be saved.  This radically contradicts the truth of salvation by grace:

Ephesians 2:8,9 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

You will get to heaven because God reached out to you in grace and you responded in faith, no matter how feeble or uninformed that response was.  You then begin to a process of learning how to be a member of the Kingdom of God, which, in this age, includes being a part of the church Jesus is building.  This is not some arduous, unpleasant process, but a rich, beautiful one, full of the most abundant life you can imagine:

Matthew 13:44 The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field. NLT

In today’s terms, this man could be someone plowing land for a landowner.  His plow uncovers an ancient chest. He scrapes the dirt away and cracks it open enough to discover a huge chest of gold coins.  He knows it is not his, so he does not steal it, but he covers the treasure back up and legitimately offers the landowner all the money he can gather together by selling everything he owns to make the best offer he can to buy the land.  The landowner accepts and the new owner is quickly enriched beyond belief.  

We learn through this parable that the Kingdom is good, very good!  It is teaching us that all of the richness we secretly hope for in this life is found through these kingdom dynamics coupled with the disciplines we have learned in church life.  In this case, It is worth taking a risk for the kingdom and sacrificing in the short term for gain in this life.  The kingdom affects things in the here and now! it was an earthly treasure in this parable!  This treasure is hidden, but it can be discovered by the grace of God. The man had no special qualifications. God is wanting everyone to find it.  It is hidden from those whose heart is hardened (by pride? love of money? etc.) because it is spoken about in these parables, but God will give it to those who truly listen and hear. 

Matthew 13:45 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. 46 When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it! NLT

A natural pearl is a rare, iridescent, lustrous object produced by oysters as a result of an irritation to the protective lining of its shell.  Natural pearls, such as the one mentioned in this verse, were only found in certain parts of the world, which made them very costly and valuable in Jesus’ time. Today, pearls are cultured (farmed) and the value has dropped greatly. This merchant, however, knew what he was looking for and recognized the true value of the pearl.  If he owned it, he could resell it at great profit.  There would be great benefit which would come to him as a result of selling all he had and buying it.  

Conclusion - The Western church emphasizes that good comes to us almost magically, through praying harder or singing more demonstratively.  While prayer and worship are essential parts of kingdom life, risk taking and sacrifice are taught here.  In view in this last parable is what would profit a man in earthly life, implying that this is how the kingdom of God profits us now in this life.  So, it is a good investment to use your home to gather the lost sheep God is gathering. It is good to take a risk, overcome fear, and publicly teach something so that others may learn.   It is a good investment to take a risk and start leading a small gathering to baptize and teach believers, thus starting a small church.  Profit, in the form of favor with God and man, comes to you when- you do so.