What could be more exciting than finding buried treasure? Jesus told a story about that.
MATTHEW 13:44: BURIED TREASURE
INTRODUCTION
I remember how, as a child, I enjoyed stories of buried treasure.
Do you remember how in Tom Sawyer, Tom and Huck discover Injun Joe’s iron box full of gold coins in the cave?
And I remember a story by Howard Pyle—I think it was “Tom Crist and the Treasure Chest”—in that story a boy solves a mystery and finds Captain Kidd’s buried treasure.
Probably when you were in junior high school you read Edgar Allen Poe’s story “The Gold Bug.” It was in a literature textbook called Prose and Poetry. Do you remember that they solved a coded message and then climbed up into a tree and dropped a little beetle made of gold through the eye-socket of a skull fastened up there. They dug in the spot where the bug struck the ground, and there they found the treasure.
Jesus told us a story about buried treasure to teach us a lesson about what is important in life. The story is told in just one verse.
Text: Matthew 13:44:
“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”
Did you know that in Iowa we have a law that if you find a treasure—even if it’s on someone else’s land—and if the one who buried it has died and no heirs can be found, you can keep the treasure?
Different states and different countries and different times have different laws. Evidently in Jesus’ country, the man had to own the land to keep the treasure. But that was no problem: the treasure was so valuable.
I. The surprise
A. Sometimes God seems to be hidden.
Sometimes he surprises people who aren’t looking for him but who stumble onto him.
Even some of us who were seeking God were surprised when we found him.
He wasn’t like what we expected. It was like coming upon a treasure in a field.
B. I can imagine what when the man’s plow (or shovel) hit the box of treasure, he was irritated. “Oh, those confounded rocks!” he probably said.
Just so, sometimes we find God when our life hits a snag.
A disappointment, a sickness, a busted romance, the death of a loved one…makes us turn to God, and we find out that he was there all the time—waiting for us to find him.
II. The “field” Jesus is telling about is the drab little corner of the world where we spend our life.
And in that unimportant farm or little town—in a Sunday school class, or youth group, or among family who love us, or maybe at an evangelistic meeting—we found the treasure, the Savior who was waiting for us to discover him.
I have found God hidden in a book…in the kind, generous action of a friend (or stranger)…in a moving sermon…in conversation with a friend...or maybe in the quiet of prayer or Bible reading.
I met a lady once who found God in a hymn. This lady came from Scotland. She told me that when she was a young woman working in a factory in Scotland, a Christian lady came to sing for the workers. And she sang this song:
“When my life work is ended and I cross the swelling tide,
When the bright and glorious morning I shall see,
I shall know my Redeemer when I reach the other side
And His smile will be the first to welcome me.
I shall know Him, I shall know Him,
And redeemed by His side I shall stand,
I shall know Him, I shall know Him
By the print of the nails in his hand.”
And through that song my friend found the treasure that was Jesus.
III. The man had to sell everything he had to possess the treasure.
A. God always costs something. Salvation is free; Jesus paid the price when he died for us
But to take hold of Christ we have to let go of the things that have taken his place in our lives.
Someone said, “God wants to give us something; but our hands are too full.” And that applies to salvation and all the blessings of salvation that God has for us.
B. The things the world thinks are so important—riches, reputation, pleasure, power—are only for this world. These are things that won’t last.
There has never been a man or woman who decided to follow Christ who didn’t have to give up something.
Paul said that he had once had everything he thought was important—learning, reputation, position—but when he found Jesus he was happy to count all those things as refuse so that he could gain Christ.
C. I wonder what this farm worker had to sell in order to buy the field. Maybe he owned a bit of land with a little house on it. Maybe had a few animals…and farm implements…and household goods.
But he sold everything that was dearest to him.
But that was no problem to him. Jesus says, “In his joy he goes and sells all that he has…”
IV. But the emphasis of the parable isn’t on what we give up but what we receive when we find God because the treasure of the Kingdom of Heaven is incomparably more valuable than anything it costs us.
Here is what the treasure is…
Peace that passes understanding…
Joy that the world can’t give and the world can’t take away…
Companionship of the Savior every step of the way…
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me…”
Assurance that all things work together for good for those who love God.
Everlasting life, the promise of resurrection and life with God and his people in a far Better Country.
But especially, the treasure is Jesus himself, because when we have him we have all the rest.
CONCLUSION
Jesus is the treasure, and we have to have all of him…You can’t have just a part of Jesus.
Some people want just enough of what they call religion to get into heaven by the skin of their teeth.
But Jesus says, “That won’t ever do.”
The Bible says, “If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Everything has become new.”
My purpose today is to remind you of our treasure in Jesus.
The more we think about what we have in Jesus, the more real that he becomes to us.
And the more real Jesus is the more exciting life is.
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