Parable of the Dragnet

At the beginning of this month we took some of the senior high youth for Youth Quake a confrence and one day I took some of the ladies to a local coffee shop in which I found a rock. Well actually a stone. A corner stone of a building, and I picked it up telling the group what I had found, and what it’s value was, just that it was a special stone that would tell us the date and signifgance of the foundation of the building, evenmore the corner stone is signifigant as it would be the first brick laid, and so the one that set the building right.

However after telling this story I mentioned that I really just found it in the middle of the road and was going to toss it on some grass so that nobody ran over it. I did not have much emotinal attachment too it and altough I debated keeping it for a sermon illistration, such as now I decided against it.

One of the girls then run up and take it from me, they recognized the value of the stone and take it and store it away for themselves.

Have you ever found something that made you spark with joy?

Something that really makes you think wow I am glad I found that,

or maybe even wow I need that,

That new car,

that new watch,

new phone,

New.....

I need that.

But we get this overwhelming sense of I need that, and Jesus when he is teaching his disciples about the Kingdom of God describes exactly that feeling in Matthew 13.

He tells his disciples two parables about that burning desire for the kingdom of God and what it means to truly seek after it.

Hidden Treasure

The kingdom of God is a revelation of Joy.

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.

When we read this we want to recognize first the ambition that the man had, he quickly covers the treasure that he finds becuase we assume he was just a regular man who was not rich and he goes to the bank or wherever he could to sell his posessions, everything he has, let that be his land, his home, his clothes off his back and he procceeds to give all of his possessions away to retreive this single thing. The land that he now owns is only a bonus, but we should most likely see it as ingsignifgant to the true treasure that he now owns. As he owns the feild he too owns the treasure that resides in the feild.

The impact of this short parable is not in the man covering up the treaurse, nor is in the abundance of land the he now owns. Rather the impact of this parable is found in the mans Joy when he goes to sell all that he has to claim this treasure.

It is the joy first that he finds the treasure, oh what treasure is this! It equites to the modern equivalent of finding a 5 dollar bill on the side of the road, how what treat this is, I can go to Tim Hortons now! Right? Imagine the joy of finding that treasure.

From that joy of finding it it carries on to actually claiming the treasure as the man goes to give all he has away in order to obtain in. It is not the joy in giving it all away but it is the joy of self intrested in obtaining something so much more valuable then that which he already has.

The take away from this small parable is that there is something greater to be found. Something that will bring you such joy when found that you will want to give away all posessions in order to obtain it. This is the kingdom of God, a treasure that is hidden only to be found in pure joy and obtained through joyful sacrafice, not painful sacrafice, but joyful sacrafice, I want to give this up becuase it means that I can have the kingdom of God, I want to be apart of the kingdom and I will do anything I can to be apart of it.

Pearl of Great Value

The kingdom of God is by itself valuable.

Then Jesus goes on to

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.

See the kingdom of God is like a merchant that is out seeking fine pearls and then suddenly he finds one, only one and goes away selling everything he has and buys that pearl.

This parable speaks to that idea that yes people are looking for the kingdom of God, people are actively searching trying to find this valuable thing that we already have gotten ahold of.

Like in the previous parable the man will do anything they can to get a hold of this valuable thing that repersents the kingdom of God, and it is that distinction that the kingdom of God is not something to be added to the top of our collection, something to be put on the shelve but rather the kingdom of God is something that requires our whole attention. Something that we must actively seekout becuase it is of such great value, such great importance that we should leave behind our riches and sell our valuables to obtain it.

But even more is these too parables speak a bit to how others see the kingdom of God.

There are two types of people here in these parables, the one who stumbles upon the kingdom of God and the one who is actively seeking out the kingdom of God.

These two different characters speak volumes to our world today, becuase thre are many people that do not know about Jesus, they have no idea about his death and ressurection. They have no idea that he had come to make all things new. However once they find this out they are like the man who rushes to puchase the field, when we find people stumbling upon the gospel they go and they rush to join in on the kingdom of God.

The other is that which who spends their efforts actively seeking it out. Someone who acknowledges the value already but does not know where the true value lies. Like someone looking for a pair of jeans, trying on many different types and sizes until they finally find that right fit. There are people in this world that are actively looking for a God who loves them but yet do not know where to look, they are actively seeking but yet they may never pull up to the doors of a church and encounter God becuase they found something that looks like it has that value of the Kingdom of God.

So the question is what role are we going to play in others lives to help them find the Kingdom of God?

The Good and Bad

The Kingdom of God will have the bad sorted out

I am going to call up the kids for this next parable,

Can I get some kids to hold this net for me and the rest come sit here on the floor

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.

It is clear that there is a difference of whose in and whose out in the kingdom of God. Those who are good and who are bad, the righteous and the wicked.

While Jesus is here teaching his disciples what he would like them to do, he does so in a way that strengthen their work by suggesting that the painful side of the failure to be on mission.

It’s the imagery that breaks halve way through the parable where we really see the need for the mission. That not only are we just talking about good and bad fish but we are actually talking about the wicked and the righteous people of this world. There there is a separation between the good and the bad.

It speaks to this urgency of the mission of Christ, not just on the world scale but also on a local scale.

When we look at the parable of the dragnet we need to look at it as also being a call to mission that is strengthened by the last few verses

The “Scribe’s” of the Kingdom

Who teaches the new and the old.

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.”

It is one thing to understand but it is another thing to act on it. Jesus saying that if you teach others about the kingdom of God you are like the owner of a house bring old and new out.

There is a few different things to unpack from this verse and the first should be the direction that Jesus was speaking.

It is one thing to understand but it is another thing to act on it. Jesus saying that if you teach others about the kingdom of God you are like the owner of a house bring old and new out. he teacher who is now a disciple and the English Standard Version says “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven”. Let’s put both of these translation together, if you are a scribe who is has become a disciple.

when we think of scribe we often think of someone tasked to take and write down the words of the speaker. but rather the scribe is not a actual teacher, it was a bit of a jab against the Jewish leaders in the time, but also compeletely true with what Jesus was trying to tell his disciples. Esentially he says, you are a scribe, not a religous teacher but you have the training to teach. You don’t need the tittle, but you non the less have the job of someoen who is to do this work.

Even more is Jesus is trying to tell his disciples in this momment is that it is not just his job. This is not the solo work of Jesus, it’s this shared mission, that he tells his listeners, he is not the mission, but together they are the mission, even with out the structure of the Jews in the day. They are to be the scribes who are disciples of the Kingdom of God.

Are you a Scribe who is also a Disciple?

If you feel unqualified to be on Mission, I cannot think of any other passage that speaks more to that feeling. Jesus has said if you have learned and considered yourself someone who wants to contiune to learn, then you are qualified.

Remeber Jesus in his counter cultural message did not want God and his love to be barred behind the religious leaders of the day, but to rather be carried by all those who decided to learn more. So, if you counsider yourself a student of God, someone who hungers and thirsts for more of who he is, then you are called to this next peice.

Your role is to bring out the Old and the New,

showing the old treasures, what was the importance of the kingdom of God from the OT and even the New teachings of the kingdom of God.

You are to be someone who brings out the old and the new in the bible, and Jesus here is talking to his disciples and again trying to teach this new way of looking at Judism, not as the rule structured religion but rather as a faith based pratice. So When he saying bring out the new and old he is really saying teach it all. Do not just rest on the New that is after Jesus is born and the new things that he brought but also spend time digging into how OT characters ultimently shaped this narrative, how did creation play into the reasoning for Christs death.

2. If you want someone to know God you have to show them the whole story.

As we know people are looking for that treausre, they are looking for the kingdom of God, or even if they just are stumbling upon it. We owe it to them to teach them the whole deal, teaching them the fall, to the exodus to the exile to the death and ressurection and finally inviting them into the story.

The kingdom of God is not limited in scope, it is both a new and old treausre.

So, if you consider yourself a disciple then I want to call you into mission to share the message of the bible, the whole message. creating and multiplying disciples everywhere.

I hope you see the value that is the gospel for someone who does not know it. I hope you see the importance of mission.

If you know t he whole story and you see its value then I encourage you to bring it out, not just in the way you live but in words. “I have found a hidden treasure, I have found a valuable pearl that is the Kingdom of God”.

I found this, let me tell you about it, it could change your life.

I pray that as we seek to be a church that inspires other to a growing relationship that we do not forget that we also need to be inspired to tell others about Jesus, about the kingdom about the glory about the passion. Do not just live the gospel but speak it too, both old and new, speak of the treasure you found and how valuable it is for your life.

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