Best Buys

Steve Bowyer

The Words and Works of Jesus • Sermon • Submitted 8 months ago • Presented 8 months ago

Matthew 13:44–52

Parables

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Expensive Buys

You’ve heard me say this many times before. What is a thing worth?

It’s worth whatever someone pays for it.

Here are a few interesting, even head-scratching, buys:

Among the 10 ten purchases on Ebay.

A Honus Wagner baseball card. This really is the holy grail of card collecting. There has been more paid for another card, but this one was bought on Ebay for $1.1m.

It’s an investment, if you’re into this sort of thing. Someone else will eventually pay more for it.

The town of Albert, TX

Someone bought the entire town for $2.5m on Ebay. 5 residents. Just north of San Antonio and west of Austin.

Lunch w/ Warren Buffet.

An anonymous buyer paid to have lunch w/ one of the richest men in the world, maybe for some investment advice, if not restaurant advice, at a DQ. They paid $2.6 m.

The most expensive thing ever bought on Ebay is a Gigayacht.

$168m for a 3000 sq’, 405’ long luxurious boat. 8 cabins, gym, swimming pool, helicopter pad, and who would buy such a thing w/out an elevator.

Huia bird feather.

Now extinct. Someone bought this for $10,000.

A print of a photograph taken by Andreas Gursky.

He took this picture in ‘99. A print sold in ‘11 for $4.3m.

Here’s one you probably recognize. This house is on Pinewood Blvd, across from the driving range. I am FB friends w/ Nancy Sheldon, the listing agent. She posted when she listed it and when she sold it.

It listed for $1.2m. It sold for $1.1m and closed in 2 weeks. Obviously, a cash deal. Then, the new owners have gutted it and are remodeling it. Beautiful house. Big lot. Easy access.

Any of these things. They may not be worth that much to you. Okay. To each his own. Or, they may be. But you have to have the resources to do it if you want it.

The buyers gave these things their value. The sellers might have thought their item was worth more. But, since they didn’t get more, the value was established at closing.

Would any of these be considered, Best Buys? Well, maybe a few people think so. The buyer, seller, critics.

For most, these seem to be some head-scratchers. Why?

Where was the most expensive purchase ever in history made? It is the Best buy in history.

Who made the buy, what did it cost Him, and what did he get?

It is encouraging to know we are in this together. Collectively, we help each along the journey thru life. But, it is also important to understand, if you were the only person on earth, Jesus would have paid the same price for you, as He did for all of collectively.

This is not only the most expensive purchase in history, it is also the best buy in history.

This is the best buy in history because

Jesus gave everything He had to buy us, making us as valuable as everything He is.

Was it worth it to Him? I think so, you’ll have to ask Him when you see Him. Get His answer.

It is the best buy ever, in history. And we are part of it. What Jesus paid for us gives us value that no one can take away or beat out of us and it gets us a seat at His table.

And, it doesn’t cost us a thing. Jesus paid the entire price for us.

We are studying the last four parables in this section. Matthew wrote what Jesus taught. It’s in ch.13.

Up to this point these parables have been about what kingdom life will be like for us until he returns.

These wrap up this section as Jesus makes his last point about what He came to do, why He did it, and what it will be like when we get there.

4 parables. The first 2 are very similar, but w/ one very important difference.

The Hidden Treasure

Matthew 13:44 NIV

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

These first two, again, seem obvious about what Jesus is teaching us. But, the obvious may not be the most accurate.

Yes, the kingdom is valuable. It is worth us selling everything we have to get it. In fact, Jesus even says if we want to get his life, implied in the kingdom, we must give up our own life. All true.

But, I don’t think that is what He is saying here. He is saying it there. I’ll explain as I go.

The context has a lot to do w/ interpreting every passage. Any verse cannot be accurately interpreted outside of its context. The speaker or writer would not drastically shift gears mid paragraph or section. So, the surrounding context must always be considered when interpreting a passage.

And an accurate interpretation is absolutely necessary for us to come to an accurate application to our own life.

IOW, if you want to land you plane on the right runway, you must follow the directions to get there.

There was a military plane a few years ago that landed at the wrong airport in Wichita. It was supposed to land at McConnell AFT. But instead it landed at a small, regional airport, Jabbarra airport.

It made the news. But the Jabarra Airport is right by where my mom lived so I got a little more inside info.

The pilot did not accurately interpret the map and directions.

Once again, this parable is about the kingdom of Heaven. It is not about how we get into it. It’s about who’s already in.

The field is the world. In previous parables, same thing.

So, what does the hidden treasure represent? Israel. Let me explain.

Exodus 19:5 NIV

Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine,

Israel had just come out of Egypt. God had redeemed them and delivered them out of slavery and they were on their way to the promised land.

God made a promise with them, thru Moses, if they would keep the law as it was originally intended, then they would be His treasured possession.

The law. When we think of the law, we think of rules and rituals. But, when Jesus was asked, what was the most important law, or commandment. His reply was:

Love the Lord your God w/ all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.

The 2nd, Love your neighbor as yourself.

His point there is, faith. You must believe in God, have faith in God, faith in all that He is first, before you begin to obey any other rule, no murder, no adultery, no theft, no coveting, etc.

Faith first. Then, commandments. Believe first, then behave.

It’s the same message of James in your NT.

“You say you work to be saved. I say, I work because I’m saved.”

This was God’s original intent from the beginning. Believe in Him. Believe it was God who got you released from Egypt. He used plagues. He worked thru Moses. You left w/ the entire wealth of the nation. They paid you to leave. God did that. Don’t forget.

Well, they forgot. They got to a point when the believed they did it on their own and were capable of being as good as God wanted them to be, even better, w/out his help.

If they would live faithfully and obediently, then they would be God’s treasured possession.

We know throughout history, there have been brief periods when they did this. There have been cycles. God delivered them out of trouble. They lived faithfully and obediently. They began to believe they could do better on their own. They got back in trouble. Called out to God to deliver them.

Several times they made this circuit.

This last time around, if you recall your OT, Nehemiah rebuilt the wall and the city. The ppl committed to living faithfully and obediently again. But soon they reneged. 400 years of silence, no communication between them and God.

Then, Jesus showed up. Intro’d by JB. Jesus came as the Lamb of God to take away their sins and restore them to their original position as God’s treasured possession.

Then, they rejected Jesus. He wasn’t what or Who they wanted. He is. But they expected something different. Since they rejected Him, then He rejected them.

They have been hidden and out in the open at different times in history. They were hidden. He came to lead them out. They are hidden again.

The parable: Jesus found them hidden. Offered them a way out. The refused to come. So, they are hidden again.

The offer He made them to get out is to accept Him as the Lamb of God, one final sacrifice on the altar, his blood, not an animal. He is spotless, sinless, perfect, undeserving. But He will do it b/c he loves them and values them. This gives believing Jews value.

Jesus gave everything He had to buy those in Israel who will believe in Him as the Lamb and accept His offer of the sacrifice for their sins, instead of them or another animal.

Believing Jews are the hidden treasure. Jesus is the seller of everything He had and buyer of the field where they are hidden today.

The parable of the fine pearl is next.

The pearl is very similar, but there is one important difference.

The Pearl

Matthew 13:45–46 NIV

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

Again, this is about the kingdom, not how we get in. At first glance, it seems to be about the value of the kingdom to us and what we should do to get in.

But, context and who buys and pays for what is important to the understanding.

Pearls are beautiful. Rainbow swirls. Soft white spheres. It seems so contradictory to how they are formed.

Pearls are formed by irritation. A grain of sand gets into the slit of an opening in the oyster. As the water comes and goes and movement by the oyster, it irritates the inside. The oyster secretes a substance that forms around the grain of sand. The longer it remains in the oyster, the more secretion covers, and the larger and more valuable the pearl becomes.

Who hasn’t had something caught your teeth, or in the back of your throat. Or, if you’ve gone swimming in the ocean, got a little sand in your shorts. It’s irritating.

We can get a toothpick, rinse our mouths out, or take a shower to stop the irritation. What’s an oyster to do?

I guess if you’re B.C. comics fan you know clams got legs and get away from it.

The pearl. What does the pearl represent? The church. Mostly, non-Jewish, NT believers.

The pearl is formed thru irritation. Jesus may describe his torture and crux as an irritation. We probably see it as more than that. But, thru those scars, the church is created and develops. The longer time goes by before Jesus returns, the larger it gets.

Jesus is the one who gave everything He had to pay for and buy us.

This is important. If you are here this morning, checking things out, attending for your own reasons, but do not consider yourself to be a Xian. Or, you have not made the step to once and for all, believe in Jesus as your Savior and accept what He did on the cross for you.

Just like a kid getting grounded for messing up and his friend offering to get grounded for him so he doesn’t have to.

Jesus did this for you. And, it costs you nothing. He paid everything to save you. He has given your life value. The amount of the value the life of God. Included in that, He left the comforts of heaven to do this for you. He came thru the birth canal, just like you and me. Grew up in world where the powerful oppressed the weak.

He could have just strolled up on the scene. He did that for Abraham and Sarah when he told them they’d have a son, Isaac.

He could have simply ascended to heaven. He did that later, in Acts. But before that He died. He could have died in an ACLU approved way. He didn’t do that. He was crux’d. It was brutal. He did that for you. And it costs you nothing.

For those of us who have accepted this. Salvation was free. Now that we’re saved, growth is costly. We pay, we do, we sac. b/c we love Jesus.

James, Jesus’s half brother: You say you’re saved b/c you work. I work b/c I’m saved.

It’s like marriage. If you are already married, you know it’s costly. Being married costs you. Sure, there’s the monetary issues. But you agreed to sac your old single life-style. You make sacrifices for your spouse.

Or, like having children. If you have children, your Saturday mornings are no longer yours. You spend them at the Little League ball fields, soccer fields, travel tournaments. Your Friday nights are football games, halftime band shows, and band concerts.

It didn’t cost you to conceive your kids. It costs a lot to raise them.

The pearl, like the hidden treasure, could not be for us. Jesus is the one who paid everything. He is the one who gives believing Jews and non-Jews value. And what we are worth to him is everything He had.

Of course, once he paid for us, He got everything back, plus us. It worked out for Him. And, it works out for us, those who believe, have faith in Who He is, and accept His offer of payment on our behalf.

What about those who don’t? We are divided into 2 groups. Those who do and those who don’t. Regardless of nationality, background, ancestry, year of our birth, or season of our life; we all fall into 1 of 2 groups.

That’s the next parable. The parable of the net.

The Net

Matthew 13:47–50 NIV

“Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Sounds familiar and seems obvious. This one is.

It’s familiar in that it’s just like the parable of the weeds. Angels will harvest the wheat and the weeds. Separate them on the threshing floor. They will burn up the weeds and save the wheat.

That happens when Christ returns, and only Xians enter the kingdom that Jesus sets up then.

Here, it’s a fish story. A number of the discs are fishermen. Peter, Andrew, James, and John; we know for sure were in their family fishing business. They get this.

The net is cast out into the water. Some fish are too small, some diseased, some too old, some bad to eat. They get rid of them. The ones they don’t want to catch again are left out to die.

The angels will do the sorting at the end of this age. This age ends when Jesus returns.

Same language as the destination of the weeds. Blazing furnace. Weeping. Gnashing of teeth. Not a fun place. It’s not a place anyone would want to go if they knew ahead of time what it would be like and what the alternative is. Heaven.

We confuse a few things b/c of the language. We say we die when we leave this earth. The bible never means that. Technically, death is separation from God. And, God is life. So, technically, Xians never die even when they leave this life. We go from one life to the next.

Those who are not Xian, are in the presence of God in that God is everywhere, but technically are not w/ God in this life and certainly not in the next. When they leave this life, it gets ugly. Jesus calls it Hades, or Hell. The Enemy, who planted the weeds is the One in charge there. He is Satan, the Devil, Lucifer after He fell.

It is not destruction. PPL exist forever there. No chance to get out. The chances come in this life.

The most important decision anyone will make in this life is what to do about Jesus. Once you’ve made that decision, your course is set.

5 minutes after you leave this life is 6 minutes too late. And you can still make the right decision w/ 5 minutes of leaving this life. Do not let any opportunity go by w/out making the right decision.

One last parable. It’s about a homeowner. A guy owns a house w/ a storeroom, and what He brings out is the context that helps us interpret and understand who the hidden treasure and pearl are as well as the One who sells everything to get them.

The Homeowner

Matthew 13:51–52 NIV

“Have you understood all these things?” Jesus asked. “Yes,” they replied. He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”

The discs say they’ve got it. We can take their word for it. They were there, at the time, listening to Jesus. We are piecing it together 2000 years later. No doubt there was discussion following that Matthew didn’t record here. We can tend to think we have every word of Jesus. He walked and talked for 3 years. It might take you 30 minutes to read all of Matthew.

Then Jesus finished w/ one more parable.

Every teacher of the law, of which He is, who has become a disciple in the kingdom, those who he saved and led, bring out of their storeroom new treasures as well as old.

This is the context that brings Israel and the church into focus in the previous parables.

What are the old treasures? Believing Jews.

Teachers of the law, who teach the law the way it was intended, to have faith in God to do something to save them. They couldn’t do it on their own. No animal can save a human. No human deserves t/b saved.

A gracious God had to provide a way. They didn’t know how. They just bel’d He would. And, b/c they bel’d He would, they obeyed the law as best they could. Where they fell short, they killed a lamb, bull calf, burned grain, poured out wine on the altar in the temple to represent as best the could what God would do for them. And begged God to forgive their shortcomings and errors.

Jesus poured out His best for them on the cross.

The new from the storeroom, is us, the pearl, the church. The New Covenant that replaced the old. It is the grace by which all of us who believe are saved. It is free. It requires no payment, only faith.

The law, the rules, are still good ideas to obey as they were intended. Murder, bad. Adultery, bad. Thievery, bad. Have only 1 God, the God of heaven. The God of the Jews and the church. Good.

Faith first. Believe, then behave. Jesus died to save us from when don’t do either. And he did the work before we do either. So, when we do come to faith, salvation is there waiting for us.

Romans 5:8 NIV

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

He didn’t wait for us to clean ourselves up to do what He did. He did it, then when we believe in it, He cleans us up.

You are the pearl that Jesus gave up everything he had to get. Let that wash over you. No one can take away what Jesus has given you. Then, b/c He gave it to you, you don’t have to be concerned about getting caught in His fishing net or the harvest of the weeds and wheat.

That’s your entrance into the kingdom that he has prepared for you.

The discs had to get this. The messaging was changing. We are living out those changes today looking forward to when Jesus gets back to the kingdom program he promised all along.

Applications

Legitimate

It is a legitimate application, and not inaccurate or inappropriate to see the kingdom as more valuable than anything you are or have.

So, if something you have is preventing you from getting in, it is perfectly appropriate to get it out of your way.

You don’t have buy your way. You don’t have to buy your way closer to Christ. He freely welcomes you.

This is not directly what Jesus is teaching here. But, indirectly, if something less valuable is in your way, then move it aside so you get what’s more valuable.

Is there something you value, that is preventing you from getting what’s more valuable?

Neighbors

Do you see all believers as neighbors of yours when you get to the kingdom?

Is there a group, race, denomination that you’re not sure you want to be around in the kingdom?

There will be believing Jews there. There will be people of different skin colors and pigments there. PPL from different continents. There will be Baptists there, charismatics, presbyterians, Catholics, Lutherans, Episcopalians, and denominations we’ve never heard of b/c the existed centuries ago or will centuries in the future.

We are all on the same team and in the same family no matter how we look, how we worship, or where we’re from. How we used to be, doesn’t matter. How we will be, is around the same the table w/ Jesus at the head.

Is there a group of ppl, or individuals you need to rethink about how you view them as believers?

Responsibility

Are you feeling too responsible for the development and eventual population of the kingdom? Are you afraid that if you don’t do something, then it can’t happen?

The HS is at work. He does not need you. The kingdom will be populated whether you contribute or not.

Are you feeling not responsible enough to do what God has gifted you, empowered you, and called you to do. The HS is in the process of populating the kingdom and He’s using you to do it.

The point is, don’t thing too highly of yourself and your responsibilities and capabilities. And, don’t think too little.

Find your ID in X as you pray and ask Him to show you what your role is, and isn’t in the kingdom.