Many years ago there lived a faithful Christian pastor who followed a splendid custom. Year after year on a certain Sunday he would preach a sermon on the theme: Jesus, Lamb of God. So consistent had this habit become that some of the older members of his congregation had affectionately named that particular date on the calendar Lamb of God Sunday.
On the Sunday before he died he was too weak to enter his pulpit. Seated in a chair, he spoke to his congregation on his favorite theme. Despite the protests of his family, he occupied the same chair for the evening service, and again he spoke on the theme that had endeared him to his flock.
When he returned to his study later that evening, his daughter asked him: “Father, why didn't you choose a different text for your sermon this evening?” Without hesitation he replied, “My daughter, that is all they need – “the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.” Living in the very shadow of death, the old man could see more clearly than ever the primary need of life, an abiding faith in the sin-atoning Savior. “That's all they need,” he said.
Can the same be said today? No question about it! In a society that is becoming more and more complex, in which personal problems seem to grow more and more involved and personal needs multiply day after day, can it still be said: “That is all they need”?
Yes! Our greatest need, beside which all others fade into relative insignificance, is a close, true relationship with God. To know beyond doubt that we are His, that He is ours, that nothing in life or death can separate us – what greater need could any mortal have? Not only is it our greatest need, but it is also our highest treasure. What greater thing could be found in life?
Have you found it, dear friend? And if you have, how do you treat it?
In our text the Savior encourages each one to consider such thoughts this morning. May the Holy Spirit graciously guide us in our study as He again speaks to us regarding matters of God's Kingdom. Let's consider this primary need and our response to it on the basis of a question: What Do I Do with the Kingdom of God? Jesus urges: I. Treasure it highly; II. Secure it eagerly.
I. Treasure it highly.
Two weeks ago in His Parable of the Sower and the Seed, Jesus used a word picture to describe for us the different ways that human hearts receive the Word of God. His purpose was to get us each to take a good look at how we hear God's Word. And then He ended by encouraging, “Whoever has ears, let him hear.”
But hearing is only one aspect of our life in God's Kingdom. The next step is response to what has been heard. How do you react when the Word of God is heard?
To get at that, Jesus told two more parables in our text this morning – 2 more word pictures that have similar meanings.
The first story tells us of a man who unexpectedly came upon a treasure that was hidden in a field. In a day in which there were no banks or wall safes or safety deposit boxes, a man often secured a part of his possessions by doing the only thing available to him – burying it in the ground. Such securities could lie hidden for ages, especially if the owner died suddenly without letting others know the exact location of the treasure.
Well, the man in the parable came across such a treasure hidden in a field. It was totally by accident that he found it. He wasn't looking for it. All of a sudden there is was, right before his eyes. It wasn't even found in his own field. But he made sure that he would get it. So, without hesitation he sold everything that he had in order to have enough money to buy that field where the great treasure lay.
The second story was a similar one. A jeweler made it his business to search far and wide for the finest possible pearls. It kind of reminds me of the ads I hear from a local jeweler in Springfield who is always running commercials about searching for the finest diamonds in the world and having them available at his shop. Such people are consciously looking for something special.
This dealer in pearls was doing that when one day he came upon the biggest, finest pearl he had ever seen. Right away he understood its great worth. So, without hesitation he, too, sold everything that he had and bought that single perfect pearl.
Both of these valuable items represent the same thing. They represent the kingdom of God for that's how Jesus began each story: “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field….” “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls….”
The kingdom of heaven is God's gracious rule in our hearts and
lives through the precious Gospel. And since Christ the Savior is the heart of the Gospel, you could say that the treasure and the pearl of great price stand for the Savior.
Some people find Him by accident, so to speak. Maybe a person finds a Bible in a hotel room and reads it because he has nothing else to do. Or maybe someone picks up a Meditations devotion booklet that he finds lying on someone's table. Maybe a person hears a sermon over the radio or TV, or a friend finally persuades him to go to church with him one Sunday. Maybe, as I suspect for many of you, your parents brought you as a tiny child to the washing of Holy Baptism and they saw to it that you went to Sunday school. The kingdom finds many by accident, so to speak.
Some people find Christ because they are searching – not necessarily for Him, but searching for something that will satisfy a hunger that gnaws inside of them. Maybe a person is searching for truth or for happiness. Maybe a person is not satisfied with common and ordinary things of everyday life and is searching for a real purpose and meaning to his life. Maybe he's fighting for justice, peace, and better social conditions in the world. It may even be that he is searching for God, that higher power that's supposed to be out there somewhere. Suddenly, again almost by accident, the Gospel comes and takes hold of him. His heart leaps for joy in finding the Savior from sin. And in that Savior he's found God's Kingdom. Once found whether by accident or by searching, he sees its great worth and treasures it highly.
Why does he treasure it? Because the Savior is more precious than anything else in this whole wide world. He means more to us than any other possession that we could possibly own. All other things eventually lose their value. Like Jesus said elsewhere, either moths or rust destroy them, or thieves break in and steal them. Sometimes they are lost. And if things are not lost, I can't take them with me when I die. So, all other possessions are of a temporary and passing worth to me.
But the kingdom of heaven, the Gospel, my Savior from sin has a lasting value for it goes on forever. And if I want to join in the blessings of that kingdom now and forever, rather than be thrown away like the bad fish into the fiery furnace of hell at the end, I must react to the Gospel, trusting in it, treasuring it highly.
So, dear friend, since you have ears that hear and this isn't the first time that you have heard these saving truths, consider once: What Have You Done with the Kingdom You've Found? I pray that we all, with the help of the Holy Spirit, treasure it highly!
II. Secure it eagerly.
And if you do, you won't stop there. Recognizing its value, you will do everything possible to secure it eagerly as your own.
The two men in the parables sold everything they had in order to purchase what they had found. Nothing would stop them from procuring the great treasure. Can we say that's the same approach that we all have to the Gospel, so that we let nothing hinder us from hearing it but do all that is within our power to secure it?
You know, dear, friends, if we believe what we have already heard from the Bible….if we believe what that Bible tells us….
• about heaven and hell,
• about life and death,
• about the holy God and fallen man,
if we believe
• that the man who is not born again cannot enter the kingdom of God.
if we believe
• that those who do not enter the kingdom of God by faith in this world will spend an endless eternity in the unhappy torment of hell,
if we believe what the Bible tells us, we will understand that having this kingdom is worth more than having anything that the world can give. And we will make sure that we secure it for ourselves, letting nothing get in the way of procuring it.
Think of it. What is it worth to you to know for sure that God loves you in spite of your sin? What is it worth to you to know that for Jesus' sake He forgives you and will take you to heaven when you die? What is it worth to you to secure a place in the mansions of the heavenly Father? What is it worth to you to guarantee not just a good life but a good death in the Savior? What is it worth to you to have security after the grave? That's what you've got in the kingdom. Truly, it is a great treasure, it is a priceless pearl that we would eagerly secure for ourselves.
But there is more! The Lord has invited us to be participants in the gospel ministry of the kingdom, not only securing its blessings for ourselves, but in offering its blessings to others, doing the same work He called His first disciples to do. And so Jesus said at the end of these parables: “Therefore, every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”
Every member of the kingdom, taught by God's Word, is able to distribute the Gospel treasures given to him. Jesus says that these are new treasures as well as old ones. And what are they?
They are nothing else than the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price – the message of salvation which is as old as the hills, since it was first proclaimed to Adam and Eve in the Garden. And it's also as new as the present day for this very moment our sins need to be forgiven even as Adam and Eve's did back then. No message is more timeless and essential in any age. And think of it. God has not only given us the privilege of treasuring and securing it for ourselves, but of proclaiming its timeless blessings to all. God grant it to us in faith for Jesus' sake. Amen.