Good morning! Welcome to The Edge Church, online gathering. We're so glad that you chose to be with us this morning, like this. We know that you could be in a lot of other places, but you're with us and we're thankful.
My name is Neil Schori and I'm one of the pastors here at The Edge Church. We've received some really good feedback on our summer series called The Parables, as we are walking through the stories and lessons that Jesus gave his followers related to what the kingdom of heaven is like.
We've talked about how in The Parable of the Sower it's really more about the generosity and the goodness of God than it is about people and their hearts. Brandy talked about how God allows weeds to exist in the extraordinary garden of humanity. And God alone knows the right time to bring about justice in removing those weeds because he is the only one who is truly just. Then last week, Pastor Steve spoke about how the kingdom of heaven starts so small, but spreads moment by moment in our lives and through our lives to those around us.
I hope that as we go through these parables that your spiritual curiosity is being peaked. There are layers to these stories and meanings and in some ways it reminds me of my childhood when I read the books that were called, Choose Your Own Adventure. You could take different routes to a new ending right in the middle of a story. So it was always exciting to see where you would end up or where you might end up if you chose a different route. I sort of get that same feeling when I read some of these parables of Jesus and it ignites in me a sense of wonder about what else he might be saying to me or where else he might lead me.
No matter where you are today in your life and in your heart I really just want to say this, that you aren't too far from God and you are not too far away for him to help you start a new story today. He loves you and he's for you, and he wants to show you something new right now.
I love the Passion translation of the Bible, particularly as I read Psalm 25, verse 14. See if this really moves your heart like it does mine. It says:
14 There’s a private place reserved for the lovers of
God,
where they sit near him and receive
the revelation-secrets of his promises.
As we get prepared to jump into more parables, let's just take a moment and ask God to help you to want to hear from him today and just thank him that he's going to show you something new that will affect your life. Let's do that.
Lord, no matter what we read in the Bible, help us to come back to the reality that you love us. Help us to know that you're for us and not against us. May your voice drown out all of the other voices as we sit with you and experience you today. Lord, so many voices are out there that seek to condemn us. We know that comes from the enemy and it comes from our own self doubt. So no matter what Lord, I pray that you would speak to us today something that will transform us from the inside out. And as David prayed, I'm going to echo his prayer. May these words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.
Today, we're going to look at two short parables that are found in Matthew 13:44-46. So in three verses, you're getting two parables today. It starts like this.
The Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl
44 “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 that he had and bought that field.
45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.
Now here's the thing. The most common interpretation of these two parables is that to be in the kingdom of heaven, with Jesus, it's worth giving up every single thing that you have in your life and to make God's priorities, your priorities. It makes me think of what Paul shared in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18. He wrote:
17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
It's this idea that no matter what is happening in our lives here, it's only for a short time. So if you're experiencing good things, that's great, but that's not going to be this way forever. And if you're going through a hard season, it's not going to be forever either. This is just a temporary time until we slip into the eternal life that never ends and has no trouble.
But I just have to share this. Here is why I have some hesitation when it comes to this traditional interpretation of these parables. And in Jesus’ explanation of the Parable of the Weeds from just two Sundays ago and a handful of verses back in the same chapter, in Matthew 13, Jesus gave context to his disciples regarding what he was speaking to.
Matthew 13: 37-38:
37 He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom.
So from Jesus' own explanation we see that in Matthew 13, the one who sews seeds is the son of man and the field is the world. So when you look at these two parables and you're looking at a field and about a man who bought a field or bought the treasure in the field, it seems like it would take some hermeneutical gymnastics to now change the main character from Jesus to a human in this parable, just a few verses later.
But I believe that there's an even more fundamental reason that this is not the right interpretation of these parables because there is nothing that we can do to earn our spot in the kingdom of heaven. There is no amount of money that you can pay to get in. You can't sell your possessions and then one day hope that Saint Peter meets you at the gate and you can pay him to get preferred seating in the Kingdom.
Our salvation is 100 percent independent of us. That's the central story in scripture. One of the most basic tenants of our faith is that God came to us. He made a way for us when there was no way for us to find our way home. It's the story that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, but that Christ died so that we could be made right with God and spend eternity, forever with him. We should really have a problem with any interpretation of a story that Jesus shared that makes us think that we're the main character and that God needs us to do something to make us acceptable to him.
So I want to offer you an alternative interpretation of the passage based on the witness of scripture and based on what you know about Jesus. And it's simply this: to Jesus, you are the treasure in the field and he gave his life away for you so that he could spend eternity with you, as it was always meant to be.
I'm going to say that again: to Jesus, you are the treasure in the field.
I'm sure that for some of you, as you hear this, you might have a hard time thinking of yourself as treasure. That could be for a number of reasons. It could be because of how you were raised, how your family functioned, how your parents treated you. Maybe they treated you in a way that made you feel less than valued.
It could also be because you were raised in a church that really focused most on a list of behaviors, a list of do's and a list of don'ts, and you somehow got this idea that God would be most pleased with you if you acted a certain way. You really needed to watch out if you didn't do it all right. And you knew deep down, at a young age, that you couldn't do all those things, right. You didn't have it within yourself to do it all right. So you learned to act and maybe even live a double life. So people might look at you and say that you outwardly were thriving. You showed up to church, you went to Sunday school. You even went Sunday night to church, but inwardly, you were dying a little bit, day in and day out and no one knew.
In our remaining time today, I want to share scripture that backs this interpretation of the parable and then we're going to end with questions that we can all consider in our house church experience or with friends or family throughout this coming week. So here are three verses that I think are really important that speak to how we are saved. We have to get this right. We have to show people how to get to the Lord. We can't just assume that everyone is a Christian because they go to church or watch church services online. So how is it that we are saved?
Ephesians 2: 8-9
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
I love this. We're told multiple times in a short passage. It's grace through faith and it's not from you. It's a gift from God. It's not by your work so don't even think about boasting.
Philippians 3: 7-9
7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in[a] Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.
Finally, Matthew 7: 21-23
True and False Disciples
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
All three of those passages speak to the reality that there is nothing that we can do to get closer to God but it's what he has done for us. He's the man who purchased the jewel that he found in the field and the jewel was us.
Now here are three verses about God's heart for you.
Hebrews 12:2
2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Luke 15: 4-7 [I love this story.]
4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
Finally, one of the most commonly shared passages of scripture, and it's still important, none-the-less.
John 3: 16-17
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
That passage right there, one of my very favorites in all of scripture, because it shares God's heart for you. And when people wonder if God is for them, I always will start with that. I'll say, “He loves you. He's for you. He came not so that you could be good enough for him to come. No, he came when you didn't have anything to offer him and he offered everything for you so that you could come home.”
His desire has never been to condemn people, but to save people. The truth is the whole of scripture, points to the reality that there's nothing that you can do to earn heaven. So I want to encourage you today to stop trying.
There's also nothing you can do to make God turn away from you. His love for you and doers forever and as long as you have breath, you can be saved. For those reasons, I'm convinced that the man in the parable is Jesus and you are the treasure that caused him to give up everything, even his own life for you.
If you haven't made the decision to follow this gracious and good God, you can do that today. Wherever you are, you can do that.
Romans 10: 9-10
9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
For some of us who like to strive to earn favor, this is a hard message. But the truth is you can be the best person on the face of this earth and you're still not good enough to close the difference between you and the character of God. We're called to be perfect and the only way we can do that is by receiving the forgiveness that we are offered, through God, and faith in Jesus Christ.
Here are some questions that we'd like you to consider in your groups and your house churches or throughout the week. The first one is this: What is your main takeaway?
We believe that the Holy Spirit speaks and what he wants to convey to you is probably going to be different than what he is conveying to me or to someone else in the church. So what is your main takeaway from this message?
The second question is this: Our family experiences determine so much about how we think of God and ourselves. So in your groups share a little bit about your family experience. Did your upbringing make it natural to see God's love or did it make it a little bit harder for you today?
And the final question is: Share one way that you want God's grace to flow through you in this next week; to your family, to your friends and to your neighbors.
I'm just going to take a minute and pray, and we'll close out our service today.
Father, thank you so much for stories that always point to your goodness; stories that give us hope, God, because for me, so often, I get stuck in ruts where I feel like I don't have your favor as much as I'd like. And then I just realize, I come back to what the reality is in scripture. You are good and that you're for me and your love for me and your love for the world is not based on us. It's not based on our performance. It's not based on getting all the behaviors right. But it's based on the goodness of God and the sacrifice of Jesus. So Lord, help us to get that. If we get nothing else, help us to just receive the goodness of God through Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.