Sermon “All In” based on Matthew 13:44-46

Matthew 13:44-46 (New Living Translation)

Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl (slide)

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

Friends in Christ grace and peace to you for God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

I have to admit once in awhile I watch the poker tournaments on ESPN. And there is term that is used called “All In”.  Basically the person commits all the money they have left on the hand they hold.  If they win they are still in the tournament, if they lose they are all out!

Now how does this analogy have anything to do with our passage today?  Jesus in these passages is describing what the kingdom of heaven looks like.  Last week we talked about the fact that the wheat symbolizing believers and the weeds symbolizing unbelievers grow together until the harvest time.  We are not to do the judging of who is wheat and who is weeds, God the harvester will do that at an appointed time.  We are to live among the weeds and hopefully have an effect on them before it is too late. (slide)

Chapter 13 of Matthew is full of several parables about how the Kingdom of Heaven grows here on the earth.  The parable of the seeds shows that as the farmer is faithful in planting seed he brings varying degrees of multiple crops.  As we are faithful to sow God’s Word, God will bless that in varying degrees but that is God’s job not ours. (slide)

The parables of the mustard seed and yeast show that although God’s kingdom can start in seemingly insignificant ways it can grow to have huge influence and impact.   

And in today’s parable Jesus talks about a treasure and pearl of great price (slide) that are found by those searching for it.  When they find it they sell everything they have to obtain what they deem is more valuable than anything they currently have.  They go “all in” and say I have found what I am looking for and nothing else really matters. 

I remember the U2 song, “And I still haven’t found what I’m looking for!”  Well in this passage these guys found what they were looking for and nothing really matters in comparison to it.

In my men’s bible study our conversation about this passage ranged from does that mean you have to buy your way into heaven, to does this mean it is wrong to have material things.

This can be a problem with a literal interpretation of the Scripture.  When one studies parables and how to interpret them, you discover that parables have usually one meaning which is established when the “punchline” is given.  Unlike an allegory in which meaning is given to every point, a parable is going for one truth to be discovered through the telling of the story. 

Even the disciples asked Jesus in verse 10, “Why do use parables when you talk to people?”  Jesus responded that parables were ways to explain the mysteries of God and those who were interested in finding truth would get it.  He used earthly analogies to connect with people where they were at.  This is just like often in our sermons we use earthly analogies to connect spiritual truths to people.

So what does this parable mean?  Does this mean one must sell all they own to inherit God’s kingdom, or that the kingdom of heaven can be bought for some price?

As a pastor when I preach I am called to interpret what this text means to us today in the power of the Spirit.  I am called to be a living voice for the Scriptures, so they do not stay silent in the pages of bible that is never opened.

I don’t think this parable is saying that the only way to receive the kingdom of heaven of God is to sell everything you own to get it.  While some may be called to make extreme financial sacrifices for the kingdom (ie. missionaries), I believe the text is saying something else.

I don’t believe the text is saying that we can buy our way into the kingdom.  That goes against our entire theology that we are saved by grace through faith based on what Jesus did for us on the cross. 

What I do think the text is saying is that when one discovers what kind of life is available through God’s kingdom being here and now, they will realize that everything else pales in comparison to it.  When they discover that secret they will in effect sell everything else they were relying on and invest in kingdom of heaven stuff. 

A question that I was asked that led me to this conclusion was, (slide) “What are you going to do with your life that will make a difference for all of eternity?”  

When one discovers what it is like to surrender their lives to God each day and to pray the prayer Jesus taught us, (slide) “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”

For those of you with a Lutheran background maybe you will remember Luther’s Small Catechism. Luther wrote it in response to the deplorable conditions he found in churches who did not know the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, Ten Commandments, much less God’s Word.  So he gave this as a teaching tool.  After each petition he would give a “So What Does This Mean?”  We try to do that in our sermons too!

Anyways for “Thy Kingdom Come” he wrote, (slide) “To be sure the kingdom of God comes of itself, without our prayer, be we pray in this petition that it may also come to us!” He is saying God is going to do some great stuff do you want to be a part of it! God’s will will be done, but will it be done in our lives?

There are so many people who think following God or becoming a committed Christian is boring and/or irrelevant.  That becoming a Christian means going into a cloister and not having any fun anymore.  That becoming a Christian means I am going to have to carry signs that say, “repent or die” down the local boulevard. 

What I don’t think people hear is that to become a Christian is to experience what Jesus said in John 10:10, “I have come that they might have life and life abundantly!” 

Stephen Covey talks in his book the “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” the difference of a “scarcity mentality vs. an abundance mentality”.  The idea is that some people think that there will never be enough to go around so they are always hoarding.  An abundance mentality has more of an attitude that there will be provision and it is more okay to take some calculated gambles when led.  There is faith that there will be enough as one pursues what they are called to.

Another way of looking at the “abundance mentality” is to say “you can’t out-give God”.  Some people think well if I give this time, talent or treasure there won’t be enough to go around. Whereas the person who has found the pearl price realizes that whatever they thought they had is relatively meaningless compared to what they have found. 

So we’ve looked at what does this parable mean, now let’s look at what it can mean for us?

I struggled to come up with this last section. Because I think there is no cookie cutter answer to how we discover the pearl of great price and what it would mean for each of us to sell everything we have to keep it.  I know God wants us all to experience it, but He meets us each where we are at today. 

So rather than tell you what it should look like in your life, I want to give us a minute or two for God to speak to each of us tell us what it might look like in our lives.  After the service I would encourage you to write it down or share it with someone, which might help you to follow through. 

Let’s ask God to speak to us and I’ll close with a prayer….Amen.