Pentecost 5 Parables of Jesus Series Matthew 13:44-52 June 19, 2016

Pentecost 5 Parables of Jesus Series Matthew 13:44-52
June 19, 2016

Friends in Christ! Through Him we have redemption throughHis blood, the forgiveness of sins,
Do you remember the show some years back called, "Lifestyles of the rich and famous?" TV viewers were taken on tours ofhomes, yachts, and country clubs in exotic locations to seehow the rich and famous lived. Average people who worked hard to make ends meet watched with disbelief as people with more money than they couldimagine – many of them heirs of fortunes they never had to work for themselves – smiled at the camera and lived it up in a seeming paradise with hardly a care in the world! How could anybody have so much?
This morning we heartwoshort parables from Jesus that describe people who were soon numbered among the rich and famous. One was a man who stumbled upon a buried treasure; the other was a pearl merchant who found "the bigone", the granddaddy of all pearls. Jesus' words give us a picture of two ecstatic men bursting with joy running to the bank to cash in their life savings so they could buy the land and the pearl they'd found. They had more now than anyone could imagine. They were set for life.
But Jesus did not tell us these parables to show usriches beyond our wildest dreams, riches we’ll never have. This is your story, your life, your wealth. YOU, TOO, AREAMONG THE RICH AND FAMOUS – GOD'S RICH AND FAMOUS.
1. HE'S GIVEN YOUTHE FORTUNES OF HIS KINGDOM

Life is like a search for buried treasure and pearls of great price, isn't it? People go to college in search of a career that they hope will put them on easy street. We get married hoping to surround ourselves with a happy family and a cozy lifestyle to enjoy with them. We think about “dream homes”, "vacations of a lifetime",wonderful experiences filled with memories we can enjoy for years to come. We stand on the shore, "waiting for our ship to come in", hoping for better things in the future.
We each have an idea of what that life might look like. Kids say, "When I finally get out of the house and on my own, I’ll have the life I always wanted.” Churches say: "When all the bills are paid and we have money in the bank, then we'll have it made." When I was still at the seminary I met an elderly woman in who had worked for Parker Pen Company in Janesville, WI for 50 years. She’d never married and had no one else to be responsible for, so for 50 years she set aside money for a grand retirement. She saved and saved and waited and waited until the day she could finally walk away from her job and live the life of her dreams. That day came, and within a few monthsher health declined andmost of her fortune went to medical bills. No exotic vacations in far-away places.No dream home in the Ozarks.Sad story! But she didn’t tell me her story so I would feel sorry for her. She told it to share her joy.Only when she watched her lesser treasures trickle away before her eyes did she learn the surpassing value of thetreasure she had in Christ

We meet two people like her in Jesus’ parables. The first parable tells about a treasure buried in a field. In those days it was pretty common for the wealthy to divide their money into three parts: 1/3 for doing everyday business,1/3 invested in precious stones, and another 1/3 buried in a safe place on their land. If the man who buried the treasure diedbefore he could get back to it, there it sat until someone else found it. And that’s exactly what happened. Someone a man came along and found a treasure worth more than anything he’d ever had. He sold all he had so he could get a treasure beyond his wildest dreams.

The treasure Jesus is talking about is the kingdom of God. God doesn’t hide it far off in heaven where no human could even come near it. Jesus describes an average Joe who just seems to stumble upon it. How easy it is to find! God puts his treasure in a common, lowly place, right out in the open where it can be found, buried in thefield of his Word. How plain and ordinary the Bible is, and there are copies everywhere! Yet so many people walk right over its message again and again and do not findthe great fortuneGod had buried there. But even a child can see it and describe it.“I am a sinner – Jesus died for my sins. One day I will die and this life will be over – Jesus rose again from the dead so I can go to heaven with him when I die.”

In the next parable Jesus tells the story of a man who made a living looking for pearls. In ancient times they were among the most precious items you could own andmerchants paid incredible amounts of money for a perfect specimen. When the pearl hunter picked up that precious pearl he knew exactly what he’d found. It was worth more than all the other pearls he’d gathered in his life.Like the man who found buried treasure and considered it worth more than everything else he had, the pearl merchant unloads all his other pearls so that he may have this one. And so God empties the sinner's hands of all other earthly treasures and interests so he may have a far better fortune, hold a pearl of greatest price in his hands, the precious gift of salvation.

For these men, their searching days were over. Their shipshad come in. Nothing else in their life was worth as much as their new-found treasures. And that's exactly what'shappened for every Christian.It wasn’t an accident. God ledus to his treasure, opened our eyes to see it, and gave us faith to understand what we have.We’ve becomeGod's rich and famous throughthat single, unexpected, unlimited treasure.It was paid for with the life of God's own Son when he suffered and died on the cross for our sins. It isours as a free gift from God. What does the life of God’s rich and famous look like? The word that Jesus uses to describe what’s going on in our hearts is “joy”.

2. HE WANTS IT TO FILL YOU WITH JOY.

Jesus told these parables because it’s so easy for Christians to forget what’s most important in life and get lost in the maze of tiny treasures and pearls the world has to offer. It’s easy to listen to our own sinful pride and the advice of the world and think that the best things in life are what money can buy. It’s easy to think that our goal in life is to train our children to become successful in the eyes of the world.

But dads, your ship has already come in. You have Christ. You are among God’s rich and famous, not with the fading riches of this passing world, but rich beyond all measure as a beloved, forgiven, heaven-bound child of God through faith in Jesus. You have it all, and you have nothing better to share with your family. When you have Christ, you already have it all. As has been said many times, “A man is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep in order to have what he cannot lose.” Amen