The Kingdom of Heaven
Notes
Transcript
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field,
which a man found and covered up.
Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has
and buys that field.
“Again,
the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine
pearls,
who, on finding one pearl of great value,
went and sold all that he had and bought it.
Matthew 13:44–46
The Kingdom of Heaven
Good afternoon, my name is Matt
and it's wonderful to be with you again
and see some familiar faces.
I'd like to take a few minutes to talk about the Bible story we just heard read.
If you remember the section was broken down into two stories
or what the Bible calls ‘parables’.
The ‘Parable of the Hidden Treasure’,
and the ‘Parable of the Pearl of Great Value’.
Both Parables talk about ‘The Kingdom of Heaven’.
But what does that mean,
‘The Kingdom of Heaven’?
Firstly,
Heaven is just another way of referring to God,
or where God dwells.
‘The Kingdom of Heaven’ is the sphere where God reigns and rules.
Everywhere really.
Lynn Valley,
North Vancouver,
Canada,
The whole universe in fact.
And although the Kingdom of Heaven is everywhere,
not everyone is part of it.
Earlier in the book of Matthew, Jesus said
“Repent,
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Matthew 4:17
So it sounds very much like repentance is needed to enter God’s Kingdom.
But repentance from what?
Jesus tell us,
“The time has come,
the kingdom of [Heaven] has come near.
Repent and believe the good news!”
Mark 1:15
So the Gospel,
or good news,
tells us we have all fallen short of what God calls us to.
We have lived life our way,
not God’s way.
And the Bible tell us,
He will hold us accountable for our actions,
and this rebellion is called ‘sin’.
And what makes matter worse,
is that we are unable to fix this problem ourselves.
Our relationship with God is broken,
and He knows it.
So God sent Jesus,
His own son,
to pay the price we couldn’t.
Jesus paid for our sins,
by dying in our place,
by taking our sin upon himself.
This is the good news of the gospel.
We have all fallen short of the glory of God,
but Christ has made a way that we can be forgiven,
and our relationship with God can be made new.
We are called to repent,
and believe this good news,
because the ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ is at hand.
So now we know what the ‘Kingdom of Heaven' is all about,
let's get back to our story.
Remember, Jesus says,
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field…”
Now, who hides treasure in a field?
I’ve heard of a few people hiding money in odd places,
but never in a field.
But listen to this amazing story!
In 2009 a lady in Tel-Aviv, Israel,
hid one million dollars, her life savings,
in her bed mattress.
As the years went on the mattress became older and older.
And no doubt more and more uncomfortable.
Eventually the lady's daughter,
who didn’t know about the money,
decided to surprise her mom
by throwing out the old saggy mattress
and buying a new one.
When her mom came home,
she was no doubt horrified as to what had happened.
The daughter rushed out into the street where she’d left the mattress
only to discover the trash had already been collected.
Quick as could be, the daughter called the recycling plant,
only to discover over 2,000 tons of trash had already been picked up that day.
The lady and her daughter search and search over weeks and weeks,
but with no joy,
and to this day, the money has still never been recovered!
Let this be a lesson to any of you who hide your money under the bed!
So back to our story,
In Jesus’ time there were no banks,
and so people had to get creative in keeping their money safe,
and often a field was actually a pretty good place to hide your cash.
So what happens next?
The story tells us that a man found the treasure,
and on finding it covered it back up and went away.
Is this not what we would all do!
Just imagine going for a walk one evening
and noticing something sparkling in the grass.
You bend down and begin to dig,
only to discover it’s the edge of a metal chest.
So you get down on your hands and knees and you dig.
As you’re digging, you keep nervously looking up,
expecting someone to come along
and ask what you're doing,
but no one does.
After much digging the top of the chest is finally uncovered,
and upon forcing it open
you discover it's full of gold and diamonds.
You know you can’t take the chest home
As it's just too heavy,
and anyway, its on private land,
so it would be stealing if you just took it.
So instead you quickly cover it back up and hurry home.
But what next?
In our story the man
… in his joy he goes and sells all that he has
and buys that field.
Matthew 13:44
That’s a smart thing to do.
The treasure is beyond anything you could ever imagine.
More than you could earn in a lifetime.
So what better thing to do but to buy the land and inherit the treasure.
Our story emphasizes the supreme value of ‘The Kingdom of Heaven’.
It is worth far more than any sacrifice you could make.
Far more than you deserve.
It's worth everything you have,
it is worth giving your whole life for.
The second story is really just a retelling of the first,
only in a slightly different way.
Let me remind you what it says,
“Again,
the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine
pearls,
who,
on finding one pearl of great value,
went and sold all that he had
and bought it.
Matthew 13:46
Like the treasure in the field,
the merchant in this story finds a pearl of great price,
and again they go away and sell all they have to buy it.
To be part of God’s family is worth every sacrifice,
every hardship,
every trail you may face in this lifetime.
If you’re looking for real joy,
real satisfaction,
real peace,
you will find it only in God’s kingdom.
Now,
if we’re not careful
it can seem as if the story is saying
that we can buy your way into God’s kingdom,
but this is far from the truth.
In fact the truth is so much better!
Salvation,
redemption,
forgiveness
it's a free gift,
available to everyone.
All it costs is your repentance,
to ask for forgiveness,
and then to trust in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Like the person in this story,
we have discovered a treasure of great value.
That treasure is being apart of God’s kingdom,
and through Jesus,
God has made a way we can enter it.
Let us pray…