Blessed to share in my “Back to School” series 

Pearls of Wisdom – and Treasure in Plain Sight – Sermon 13OCT

Matthew 13 scripture: 

The Parable of the Hidden Treasure – “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

The Parable of the Pearl of Great Price – “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

The Parable of the Dragnet – “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away. So it will be at the end of the age.

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I put on my 16th birthday gift from my Dad – a string of pearls – I love pearls and I love the concept of pearls as nature-made gems – even those forced – as a bead or something could be seeded – but regardless these are special stones – unique and treasured.

I have many favorite memories as a child – one of them is so vivid to me – but only snippets – I am sure my imagination has morphed my memories – but this one is from being at SeaWorld in Florida – late 70’s early 80’s – we took so many trips as kids with my parents – sometimes twice a year driving to Florida – until our teenage years – it was nice to have that time together – and I still love to travel – see other sites… Disney and SeaWorld were “inexpensive” then – and we almost always stayed at relatives houses – that was fun too…  love trips… learning by living…

On this occasion we were in SeaWorld and there were swimmers diving for pearls – for the oysters – in a glass encased pool – like mermaids or just divers – and they would watch for your direction as you told them what oyster to pick – you never knew what you would get and even if you would get a pearl. Oh – my Dad loved gemstones – he was a banker and he saw the monetary value, yes, but he especially saw the beauty of them. So I can remember him excited,  picking out an oyster – and I got to pick one too – we all did – and one of us – I don’t remember who – got a pink pearl – wow – special and more rare – and I remember us waiting in line with other people so anxiously awaiting to see what their oyster contained…  would it be the rarest of the black pearls? – or would it simply be empty?…  hmmm…  

The other part of the memory is that we had to then decide what we did with that pearl – just take it for the nominal price of the dive? Or have it mounted in a necklace? Of course, these were the days that I remember the tourist traps of gift shops and everything under the sun in plastic – but this was a real precious item – yet was the treasure of the pearl better if it were displayed or if you kept it hidden in a bag and forgotten…  

Looking for the real treasure!

The parables – these are treasured stories – a mechanism for Jesus to teach,  that we have a treasure in Heaven to be desired. Yes, Jesus as our treasure and Jesus reminding our treasure is in Heaven. We are to remember Him and what He did for us in coming to forgive our sins and make it possible thru Him to be His Treasure in Heaven.

We not to DISPLAY Jesus as what He did for us as a string of pearls of our purchase – He was the one who purchased this Way. And we search ways to not find ourselves flauntingly DISPLAY JESUS, but to PORTRAY Jesus as a Way of Life. Portray and Emulate Jesus – be His and teach others.

Jesus first had to teach the Way – and imagine the lessons people were motivated to hear – the crowds that followed him – either as hope – or a sideshow attraction – or a prophet – or a healer – or the ones who went after him as they saw Him as a blasphemer…

And these parables – were a vehicle to perk ears open – to understand Jesus more – why He came to earth – why He loves us so much – and these parables are back to school moments – and this one parable intrigued me as the shortest  – Pearls – in a set of 3 parables – I love how God loves numbers and 3 is a special number isn’t it? – they say we remember things in 3’s – and we are to know of course Three in One – God Jesus and the Holy Spirit – three. So the scriptures were read this morning – and I want to reiterate them here – 

(The Parables of the Hidden Treasure, the Pearl of Great Price, and the Dragnet)

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

AH – so Heaven is worth it!  God’s great price to have us in it… A treasure…

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

AH – finding a very special pearl is worth it. This reminds me of the lost sheep – another parable – how finding the one lost sheep is worth it…

47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away.”

AH – not all will go to Heaven – the good made good by Jesus we know – but the bad, hmmm…  this reminds me of scripture prophecy of Jesus returning to gather us – one taken to heaven and the other left (The Great Disappearance)…

 

AH – but let us get back to the PEARL of wisdom about that PEARL – it is simple enough – HEAVEN IS A TREASURE – God looking for a treasure in us and we looking for a treasure in God – in being with Him forever – the prophets spoke so often: like in Jeremiah 32:38-40 “And they shall be my people, and I will be their God: And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them…”

I want us to think of a person new to these concepts, sitting in the crowd just listening – maybe a child there who is just now learning who God is – CURIOSITY – and then let us think about whole multitudes of people who were NOT there but then heard the stories of the stories – perhaps from the few disciples who travelled with Jesus place to place – or perhaps years later.

The Pearl –  the shortest of these parables – just hear about the pearl – the treasure – the price…  The child may comprehend and new ears later get ahold of Jesus as the answer to the question…  like we always ask in the children’s message… Isn’t it good to have One Word – Jesus!

AND on the flip side I also want to think of maybe an OLD-TIMER there – one who knew the stories of old back to Adam and Eve – there would be one coming to be the Savior and especially this person to know the prophecies – And this “old timer” may not have put all the pieces together at that point – they would have either heard or heard years later – remember these bible chapters were written soon after and up to 60 years after Jesus arose and ascended to Heaven. The “old timer” would have to have the Holy Spirit to understand this gift from God – to hear Jesus as the Way the Truth and the Life… 

I am not an old timer – maybe I am now – I myself have been enjoying the prophets Ezekiel and Hosea and their descriptions of how the people of the time would be best to follow God and follow His laws…  That is a history that cannot be ignored – that God was faithful even when the people weren’t – And can we even imagine God’s feelings for His children of Israel, those of the time and now – wandering – following God then abandoning the Lord and the Law of Moses – again and again. Imagine now the HOPE of God for His children to return to looking towards Him… and bringing back them/us/His children for a price, forgiving and forever-ing the relationship. A NEW COVANENT – a pain process that turned into purpose – a pearl which now shines – for the beauty shows up in the LIGHT. 

For Jesus as a teacher – this section is making people ponder and take hold of something that will open their ears when God chooses to open their ears –     we know Jesus is talking to a specific audience – those who write and those who teach: Jews with a NEW IDENTITY – JEWS who take Christ as the fulfillment of the Law:

51 Jesus said to them, “Have you understood all these things?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” 52 Then He said to them, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”

WHOA – this is truly deep and we all must move deeper into the Word. Old and new to treasure… ah – the scribes can bring out the stories of the new – that Jesus walked the earth – AND the stories of the old – the faithfulness of God to an unfaithful but chosen people… 

And there is one more section of TREASURED scripture – to talk about – the treasure open to one who looks for SEEING IT IN A DIFFERENT LIGHT – Treasure realized…  Jesus was sorry for the people who did not realize – those in His hometown in the days he went back – I am not saying that later they didn’t get it  – because we know of many people “got it later” – people who shunned then embraced that Him as the Christ – the Lord.  How many of those “pearls of wisdom” nestled in their brains and then maybe later on they remembered – like James Jesus’s brother… or were taught and Holy Spirit came to them – some even had a “road to Damascus” experience, like Paul.

SO Jesus hidden in plain sight rejected at Nazareth. Matthew continued:

53-58 Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables, that He departed from there. When He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue – they were astonished and said, “Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works?” [So obviously they saw the works]  

Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?” 

[I aways wonder “what things” – were they distracted by the earthly treasures and not seeing the heavenly One?]

“So they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.” Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.”

I love how Jesus’s brothers and sisters are mentioned – and I love knowing that James – his brother – became so devoted and wrote a tremendous scripture book in the book of James…

And I appreciate that people who rejected Him originally and those still who reject, can, after a Holy Spirit helping of education, can take Him then into their hearts – they could take Him as Lord and Savior – because they surely went “BACK TO THE BOOKS” – they THEN connected the dots of everything that happened and happened for a reason…

I don’t have my pearl from SeaWorld – but I also put on these earrings of fresh water pearls – they are different – and long – shiny yes but not the same as salt water pearls – and also a gift from my Dad. And thinking of both saltwater pearls and fresh water pearls as old and new treasures – I am reminded of how Jesus came for Jew and Gentile alike – The followers like Peter and Paul would understand this later we learn this in the book of Acts – the Holy Spirit chose the people – of all kinds – to accept this treasure…

I want us to ALSO think about pearls and how they are made – pearls are made from irritation – a piece of sand or foreign object inserted into the oyster – and then layers of calcium carbonate are adhered to the object and the pearl is created by the oyster itself – that the treasure – like the treasure of Heaven is taking a sinful person and making them beautiful and whole and covered with the blood of Jesus and now appearing new and unblemished and pleasing to God Almighty.

Heaven on earth itself is the ability for us to know the value of  Heaven – and act now like we will there – be thankful, gracious, forgiving, and whole… Pearls may be formed from the Pain but that pain is now precious…  Pearls get polished but not like a rock – they are carefully polished – and pearls are naturally going to vary in their brightness, their shine…  Isn’t that us too? We are to be the SHINE of God to be the treasure of God – understanding His treasure in heaven thru Jesus.

So – our back to school short take home message can be just that Heaven and getting there is a treasure… Jesus is the ANSWER.

Jesus came to save us – to teach us the Way – and to demonstrate how to live – this is again and again mentioned in scripture – what do we do with our knowledge and how do we live?

And in our old wisdom – let us remember these words of Paul to the church in Corinth 1Cor 2 snippets: “We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”

“… as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.”

And “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”  –   And: “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” – we have the mind of Christ.”

May we hold onto the small pearls of wisdom AND the big treasure of knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus and live to Portray Him – not just display Him…

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Won’t you pray with me: 

Lord – we treasure these times to learn that You taught – that You came to all Jew and Gentile – old and young – simply spiritual and to break down the complex complications…  may we simply know you as the answer – Jesus…  Lord, You are so precious to us – may we worship you in spirit and truth and learn more and more of your work for us here on earth.    

Amen