SERMON STRUCTURE: Treasures New and Old
Matthew 13:42-53
CIT (Central Idea of the Text): Understanding the truth of Jesus’ parables is training for living in the kingdom of heaven. (15 words).
SERMON FOCUS: And so we need to ask ourselves what difference does our understanding of Jesus’ parables make in our lives day-to day?
Major Objective: Consecrative
Specific Objective: Ask yourself, Have I understood and applied all these things to my own life?
TITLE: Treasures New and Old
Then … the completed sermon should be evaluated in terms of how well it adheres to the CIT and SF, and accomplishes its SO.
INVOCATION
OUTLINE OF Matthew 13:44-53
Three Parables. (13:44-50).
The parable of the treasure hidden in the field. (13:44).
The parable of the pearl of great price. (13:45, 46)).
A merchant is in search of fine pearls. (13:45).
When he finds what he wants, “46he went and sold all that he had and bought it.” (13:46).
The parable of the net thrown into the sea. (13:47-50).
The net is thrown into the sea and catches “fish of every kind.” (13:47).
The catch of fish is sorted into good and bad. (13:48).
“…49 at the end of the age, the angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous…” (13:49).
“… 50and throw [the evil ones] into the furnace of fire….” (13:50).
Treasures New and Old. (13:51-53).
Jesus’ question: “51Have you understood all this?” (13:51).
Jesus comparison: “52Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” (13:52).
Jesus departs. (13:53).
SERMON DEVELOPMENT
Treasures New and Old
Matthew 13:44-53
For the last two weeks we’ve been thinking about some of the parables from the 13th chapter of Matthew.
And this week will bring those studies to an end.
Our Scripture today is from Matthew 13:44-53. I’m reading from the New Revised Standard Version.
[Read here Matthew 13:44-53, New Revised Standard Version.]
What Jesus seems to be saying here is that understanding the truth of His parables is training for living in the kingdom of heaven.
And so as we come to the end of these parables, we will want to ask ourselves two questions:
First, how well have we “heard” what Jesus is saying to us in these stories?
And second, what difference does that understanding make in our lives from day to day?
The first two parables in our reading today are closely related.
Both of them have to do with the surpassing value of the kingdom of God.
In the first parable, a man accidentally discovers a great treasure hidden in a field.
And the Scripture tells us that he hid the treasure again, and then “44in his joy he [went] and [sold] all that he had and [bought] the field.” (13:44).
Now we might worry a bit about the ethics of not disclosing what he had found when he made an offer for the field, we need to remember that parables are stories with one main point, and that deconstructing the parable usually destroys its meaning.
And the meaning here seems to be clear: belonging to the kingdom of God is worth more than all our earthly wealth.
And the second parable is similar, but this time it is a merchant who is in search of fine pearls, and when he found “…46one of great value, he went out and sold all that he had and bought it.” (13:46).
And these two parables certainly seem to share the same truth: belonging to the kingdom of God is worth more than all our earthly wealth.
But did you catch the difference between these two stories?
The person who discovered the treasure in the field apparently did so by accident, or good fortune (at least for himself) — he didn’t go looking for it.
But the merchant who bought the pearl of great value was in fact looking for exactly what he found.
In the end, both of these folks acquired something worth far more to them than they had perhaps expected, though by different means.
So how is it that people get into the kingdom of God?
How do people “convert” and become Christian?
Think with me for a few minutes about how you became a Christian.
Was it in a dramatic encounter with Christ, like Paul on the road to Damascus?
Or did it occur more quietly, perhaps more subtly, so that you were perhaps unaware of any specific moment in which the change took place?
In general, there are at least three or four ways in which people may come to faith in Christ.
One of them of course is a dramatic, and perhaps unexpected, encounter with God, especially in a time of danger or crisis. That was Paul’s experience. That was also the experience of the man in our parable today who discovered the treasure buried in a field.
Other people come to faith in Christ because they are actually seeking spiritual truth.
That was the experience of the merchant in search of fine pearls.
That has also been my experience, particularly as I came back to active faith as a young man.
I have shared that story with you all already, I think.
But next Sunday I will have a little more to say about it.
And this is the way that C.S. Lewis, the well-known author of Mere Christianity and The Chronicles of Narnia also returned to faith.
Other people may come to salvation more gradually, by experiencing a growing awareness of God at work within them. The final movement in their transition to faith may be a simple acknowledgement of what God has been doing all along.
This experience is no less genuine or permanent than something that happens suddenly or dramatically.
There are folks who will tell you that unless you can name a specific time and place in which you made a conscious decision to accept Christ as your savior and gave control of you life to him, you have not been saved.
But I disagree with that. What is important in your life as a Christian is not so much the way in which you came to faith as what your relationship with Christ is today, and how it affects your life day-to-day.
This kind of conversion is a bit like watching the sun rise.
If you go outside while it is still dark, and watch and wait for the sun to rise, even with a watch on a cloudless morning on level ground you will not be able to say exactly at what moment the sun comes up.
Astronomers tell us that the moment when you seem to see the sun appear just above the horizon isn’t the exact moment, because the earth’s atmosphere bends the sun’s rays and makes it appear that the sun has risen before it really does.
But what you will be able to say from this experience is that the sun has indeed risen, and you are physically no longer in darkness but in light.
And in a spiritual sense you may likewise say that you are no longer in darkness but in light.
And another physical experience also shows that real changes take place imperceptibly: have you ever been camping on a humid night in the summer?
You probably awoke to find that your tent and all your equipment was wet with dew.
But if you had stayed up all night, could you have said with any precision at what time the dew fell?
And finally, I know a few folks who have never really had any awareness of not being Christian.
These are people who have grown up in a Christian home, who have always been surrounded by the love of God given to them by their parents and family.
Paul’s disciple Timothy seems to have been a person like that.
Paul writes to him (2 Timothy 1:5) “5I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice, and now, I am sure, lives in you.”
Linda and I have a good friend we’ve known since his teenage years.
He’s the son of a pastor, now retired, I think, in the southeastern part of the state.
And he was one of my classmates at the Divinity School. He’s a pastor himself now, serving in the area where he grew up.
I can remember several conversations we’ve had about this question, both in class and out. And he has always insisted that he’s never known a time when he wasn’t a Christian, and from what I know of him, I believe he’s right.
So, if in these last few minutes you’ve been thinking about your own experience in becoming a Christian, which one of these ways of doing it most closely resembles your own?
A dramatic encounter with God?
A chance encounter with God that leads to a decision?
A deliberate methodical search for spiritual truth?
A gradual awareness of the presence of God in your life?
Or a more subtle experience of never really being away from the presence of Christ?
The third parable in our passage today (13:47-50) is the story of the net cast into the sea.
Its structure and meaning are very similar to the parable of the wheat and the weeds from last Sunday’s readings.
So we will pass quickly over it and go on to consider the question Jesus poses at the end of his parables.
Jesus question is, “51Have you understood all this?” (13:31).
And that’s a good question for us to ask ourselves.
To recapitulate the meaning of Jesus’ parables in this chapter, we might rephrase Jesus’ question as four separate subquestions:
Do you understand that the quality of your spiritual life depends on how well you listen to and receive the word of God that is sown into your life? (13:1-9, 18-23).
Do you understand that the kingdom of God — the rule of God in your own heart and life — often begins in a small and inconspicuous way, but grows to be something that completely takes over your life? (13:31-33).
Do you understand that getting into the kingdom of God is worth everything that you’ve got? (13:44-47).
Do you understand that your eternal destiny will be determined by what you do with the kingdom of God that is offered to you? (13:24-30, 51-53).
And then Jesus says one last thing that we need to hear: “53Now every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” (13:53)
Now this last remark has puzzled me for a long time.
And I have wondered especially what it means to “bring out something new.”
But the more I have studied the Scriptures, particularly over the last few years, the more I have realized how dynamic and alive they really are.
You have heard me quote Hebrews 4:12-13 a number of times: “12For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13And before [God] no creature is hidden, but all [are naked and] laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.” (Hebrews 4:12,13).
And as I read and study, especially to prepare sermons, I am reminded of how important it is to learn something new and different from them every week.
But that is a truth applicable not only to pastors, or even deacons, but to every Christian.
And so bringing out “something new” is the inevitable result of growing as a Christian.
And if you aren’t have the experience of “something new” in your life spiritually, that’s an indication that you may not be growing as you should.
And so as we finish these studies of Jesus’ parables, as Matthew presents them to us, we find that we have lots of questions to ask ourselves.
Do you know that the kingdom of God rules in your heart?
Can you share with someone else how you came to experience the rule of God in your heart?
When and where did that take place?
How has that experience changed your life today?
Can you share with someone else what practical difference the rule of God in your heart makes in your life from one day to the next?
What “new treasures” have you discovered in the word of God within the last week?
In what ways is the kingdom of God in your heart taking over your whole life?
With whom can you share the experienced reality of God in your heart today?
Based on your understanding of Jesus’ stories in this chapter of Matthew, what practical difference do they make in your life from one day to the next?