The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, Matthew 18:21-35

This parable teaches the universal need for forgiveness - both the need to be forgiven, and the need to forgive.  Jesus illustrates in this parable how God’s forgiveness is to be a precursor to our forgiveness of others. If we have been forgiven, then we should forgive others.  This principle is essential to our psychological well being, in dealing with two common causes of anxiety, depression, and all sorts of psychological problems; those two causes being on the one hand guilt, and on the other hand resentment.  Jesus illustrates in this parable how we can be set free from the bondage of the soul that comes as a result of harboring these two psychosises.

Now before we consider this parable, we want to first understand the context in which it was given.  In the preceding verses starting with vs 15, Jesus is teaching some principles regarding what is often called church discipline.  What that really entails is interpersonal sins - one person sinning against another within the context of the church.  In vs 15, Jesus says, “if your brother sins…” and many manuscripts include the phrase “against you.”  That would seem to be the thought behind what Jesus is saying.  One Christian in the church sins against another in some way.  I think it could also include a sin which a person in the church commits which is outside of church relationships, but the general thrust is in the context of the church.

Jesus says concerning this kind of sin starting in vs 15, "If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen [to you,] take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”

Notice that those last verses are given in the context of church discipline, that Christ is in the midst of the church and that He has set the boundaries for life in the church. That verse which says where two or three are gathered together in my name is often quoted out of context.  I don’t have time to go into that further this morning but it basically refers to Christ being the head of the church, and thus all things in the church are subject to Him.

So Jesus says, if one Christian sins against another, the one who has been wronged is to confront the offender privately.  If the offender does not repent, the one who has been wronged is to confront him again but this time accompanied by one or two other believers. If the offender still refuses to listen, the matter is to be brought before the church. And if the offender remains unrepentant and does not listen to the church, he is to be regarded as a tax collector, which was another way of saying an unbeliever. The church is to break fellowship with such a person.

One of the most difficult experiences the church may face is having to confront a church member who refuses to repent of sin. I also happen to think that it should be a rare event. But when it’s necessary, it needs to be done to protect the sanctity of the church as well as for the good of the person who is unrepentant. But the goal of church discipline is not to punish such a person, but to bring him to repentance and restoration within the church. This ecumenical rebuke is not to be used for just anyone who sins, but only for those who sin and are unrepentant. They brazenly, openly defy any rebuke, any appeal to repent from their sin and continue in that sin.

Sin is a serious thing in the eyes of God, and it should be considered as such in our eyes as well. There is a view among some Christians today that there is no need of repentance once you are saved.  But this section of scripture makes it very clear that repentance is a part of the life of the Christian, and one cannot be a part of Christ’s church unless they have been born again. So it should be obvious from this scripture as well as many more that I don’t want to take the time to show you today, that repentance is a necessary ingredient in the Christian life, and the lack of repentance is evidence that a person is backslidden at best, and quite possibly not saved at all.

Then after Jesus had spoken concerning the protocol for church discipline, Peter speaks up, and asks Him a question concerning forgiveness. It’s possible that perhaps Peter is speaking up in hope that his question will bring a commendation from the Lord because He seems to be so magnanimous on this subject of forgiveness.  

Peter says, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Peter was in effect asking how many times he should be willing to confront in this way a brother who had wronged him. If a brother sins against Peter, and Peter confronts the brother, and the brother then repents, how many times should Peter confront the brother
if the same offense happens again? Peter magnanimously suggests that he should forgive him seven times.

But Jesus responds, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.”  Now there seems to be some controversy there between various translations of the Bible.  Some say seventy times seven, and some say seventy seven.  The original language would seem to express the idea of seventy times seven times seven times seven. In other words there is no end to forgiveness.

But to the argument that Jesus may have said 77 times, He might have had in mind Genesis 4, which after Cain sinned and had received judgment from the Lord, Cain appealed to the Lord and said that everyone would be against him from now on, and they would take vengeance against him. And the Lord issued a statement to the effect that if anyone wrongs Cain, he shall be avenged seven times.  Now later there was a great, great, great, great-grandson of Cain, and he is described in that 4th chapter of Genesis. His name was Lamech. And like his forefather Cain he was in rebellion against God and living in willful sin. And  Lamech makes the statement, “If Cain is avenged seven times, I with my sword will be avenged seventy and seven times.” And so perhaps what we see in this number is the unlimited revenge of man giving way to the unlimited forgiveness of Christians in the statements of Christ.

Either way the numbers are interpreted, the principle is that forgiveness should be unlimited, even as God’s mercies are unlimited towards us.  When Peter suggested that he keep count until it became seven sins, Jesus reminded him that true forgiveness does not keep  score. That reminds me of a joke I heard once about a newlywed couple back in the old days when men on the prairie would order themselves a mail order bride.  I don’t know if you will think it’s funny or not, I kind of doubt it.  But I think it’s funny, though not exactly politically correct.  

As the story goes, this man and his new mail order wife was driving their buggy back from the justice of the peace’s office to her new home.  And as they are on their way, suddenly, the horse stops in his tracks.  The man gets down out of the buggy and walks in front of the horse and says, “That’s one.” He then gets back in the buggy and cracks the whip and the horse starts trotting again.  A mile or so further along, the horse stops again.  Once again the man gets down from the buggy, stands in front of the horse and says,“that’s two.” Climbs back on the buggy, pops the whip and the horse starts off again.  A couple of miles further the horse stops again in the middle of the road.  The man gets down out of the buggy, walks in front of the horse and says, “that’s three” and pulls out a pistol and shoots the horse dead.  Meanwhile, his new wife can’t believe what she just saw.  She harshly exclaims to the man, “You must be crazy! How could you shoot the horse like that?” He turned around and looked her in the eyes and said, “that’s one.”  

The point of the joke is that you don’t keep score.  Peter wanted to keep score, even though he thought in his mind he was being generous by counting to seven. But true forgiveness forgets, it doesn’t remember how many previous times a person has done you wrong. Now Jesus told a much better story than I did.  He told a parable about the unrighteous steward to illustrate the principle of forgiveness. 

Notice at the beginning an important phrase; Jesus said, ““For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves.”  What I want to impress on you to begin with is what Jesus means when He says “the kingdom of heaven.”  He is not talking about where you go when you die.  He is not talking about what most people think of when they hear the word heaven.  He is speaking of the rule of Christ in the hearts and minds of His people.  That kingdom began with the incarnation of Jesus Christ, and it continues after His resurrection, when He ascended on high as took His seat on the throne of heaven.  It is the kingdom of God, the rule of God on the earth in the lives of His citizens.  We live now in the kingdom of heaven, and we are to submit to  the Lord’s rule and reign in all aspects of our life.

If we have confessed Jesus as Lord, and believed in who He is and what He has accomplished, then we have become His stewards, His ministers of the kingdom of heaven.  We are part of His family, we are a noble race.  To quote Peter from 1Peter 2:9-10 “But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR [God's] OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;  for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.”

Now what Jesus says then in this parable is this is how we as ministers of the kingdom of heaven operate.  We are to act like Christ.

Jesus begins this parable by telling of a king who is settling accounts with his servants. Someone has suggested that perhaps the man described here by Jesus had a significant post in the kingdom, perhaps one that he handled or took in a great sum of revenue for the kingdom, like a tax collector might.  And when the time came for such servants for their accounts to be settled with the king, it was found that this man owed the king 10,000 talents. A single talent was an extraordinary sum of money, the highest unit of money in that day. A talent was equal to many years wages. So 10,000 talents would have been similar to millions of dollars that this man was short.  Such a debt was far beyond any person’s ability to repay.

It’s interesting that Jesus correlates his disciples as being like this debtor, and by extension all of us who are citizens of the kingdom of heaven are debtors like this man.  We have a debt that is beyond our comprehension, a debt that we can never repay.  Our sins indebt us to God. Every time we sin, we add to that debt. And because we are sinners by nature, we have a debt to God that is virtually insurmountable.  Paul describes that debt we have to God as falling short of the kingdom of God.  Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” None of us can meet the standard of God’s law. It’s like trying to jump the Grand Canyon.  Some of you might be better jumpers than others, some of you might be in better shape.  But regardless of how fast and how far you might jump, we are all going to fall far short of the other side.  The gap is too great.  Our sins are too great.

A common problem though is we don’t really see ourselves that way.  We may think we have messed up a couple of times in our lives, but overall, we aren’t all that bad. Your spouse, on the other hand, is a real scoundrel. He needs saving, but by comparison you are golden. Jesus loves us because we are lovable, and we are saved because He is happy to get such a good person on His side. We fail to realize the extent of our sinfulness and how our sin has corrupted everything in us so that there is nothing good in us. So Jesus presents this picture to show us the magnitude of our sin and our debt to God and how much He has forgiven us.

Since the servant he did not have the means to repay, the king commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, so that some repayment might be made.

The servant begged him for a chance to pay back the debt. Yet, even if the king had given him years to repay, it still  would not have been long enough for the servant to repay the debt.  So even though he could not comprehend the extent of his debt, he recognized that his only hope was to throw himself on the mercy of the king.

Jesus said in vs 23, “And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt.” Instead of giving the servant more time to repay his debt, the king forgave it completely.  Not just a portion of it, but he forgave all of it.  The magnitude of the king’s kindness and mercy exceeded the magnitude of the debt.  The king spared him of what he justly deserved. 

Now obviously, this king is a picture of our Lord, who had compassion on us, and showed us such great mercy, forgiving us of all our sin, and giving us new life in the kingdom of heaven.

Now the story could have ended there and been a great picture that illustrates our salvation.  But there is another side to the parable.  Jesus continued, saying, “But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’ But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed.”

Now the denarius was the standard day’s wages, and it took thousands of denarii to equal a single talent. This debt of a fellow servant, which could have been repaid in a matter of weeks, was a minor amount compared to the first servant’s debt, which never could have been repaid. But although the second servant begged for mercy in the same way that the first servant had, using almost identical language,  the first servant refused to forgive him his small debt. Sadly, the servant who had been forgiven so much failed to pass along even a tiny portion of the mercy that he had been given to him.

Vs 31 "So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. Then summoning him, his lord said to him, 'You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.  Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?' And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him.”

When the other servants told the king what had happened, he sent for the servant and delivered him to the jailers until he could pay his debt in full, because he had not shown mercy on his fellow servant, even as he had received mercy. Jesus was teaching that in the same way, when forgiven sinners refuse to show the same mercy towards others that we received in salvation, then we can expect the justice of God to fall upon us.

What God wants to see from us is first of all, repentance.  If we are truly repentant, then we are not only sorry for our sin, but we turn away from sin.  What this man illustrates is that he really had not repented of his sin.  He was sorry that he got caught, and sorry that he had to pay the consequences of his error, but the fact that he was unchanged in his heart was revealed in his attitude towards his fellow servant.  If we are truly repentant, then there will be a consequent transformation in our heart that will be evidenced in the way we treat one another.

For someone who has become saved by God’s mercy and grace, forgiveness towards others is not a option, it’s an obligation. Jesus taught us that principle when He taught the disciples to pray.  In the Lord’s prayer, Jesus said in Matthew 6:12, , “forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”  Our forgiveness is contingent on our willingness to forgive others. And then at the conclusion of the Lord’s prayer, Jesus says this in Matthew 6:14 "For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.”  That’s pretty heavy.  I don’t know if we truly grasp the significance of that statement.  But this parable illustrates the same principle. 

Unless we are willing to forgive those who sin against us, we should not expect God to forgive us when we sin against Him. Since God’s extravagant mercy towards us is the basis of our conversion, we should be transformed into a Christ like people, forgiving others even as we have been forgiven. So part of our salvation is crying out to God for a change of heart, so that we might have the heart of Christ. We must be changed, which is the full measure of God’s grace in that He gives us a new nature, a new heart, and a new life.  That’s complete repentance, changing direction, which has to be facilitated by God as we are transformed by faith in Jesus as Lord.

 

 

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, Luke 18:9-14

We saw last week in the account of  the rich young ruler that there are many people who feel some need to be religious, to be rich towards God, because they are not like the rich fool in the earlier parable who cares not for God nor man but only for his pleasure on earth, but these people believe in God and in the hereafter, and they think it prudent that they make an investment in heaven so that they will be rewarded after this life is over.  This desire for religion then a common aspiration throughout the entire world and I’m sure most of us would agree that it is commendable for men to seek to be right with God.  But as this parable illustrates, simply being religious, or even living a life which they believe to be righteous, does not equate with justification in God’s eyes.  Justification simply means the act of becoming righteous before God.

This very morning across this country, millions of people are practicing some sort of religion, in the hope that they are making progress with God and thus insuring eternal life.  Millions of people are seeking to appease God, or to be justified with God, or to achieve good standing with God, and they are doing so at least in some part by going to church, or to a temple. 

And if the truth be known, most people, perhaps even some here this morning, would think that the sincerity and the effort put forth by these people in trying to achieve spiritual standing with God should be counted for something - even if eternity should prove their diligence is misplaced or even if they are misinformed as to the correct way to God.  They should be given credit for their effort, for their sincerity in pursuing religion.  If God truly be a God of love, and only love, then isn’t He pleased that they seek Him, and how could He possibly reject their attempts to appease Him?

However, Jesus tells a story about the kingdom of heaven which illustrates that not all who practice religion are righteous, that not all who seek justification are in fact justified before God, even though in their minds they think that their religion is sufficient to accomplish a good standing before God.  Luke, the writer of this gospel, tells us that Jesus told this parable to those who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt. So by his statement, we see that self righteousness is actually not a form of righteousness at all, but is actually a sin of pride, and that pride is evidenced by another sin, which is to hold one’s neighbor in contempt.  Pride is not just a sin that hurts oneself, but it also hurts others, that the characteristic of pride.  And by that characteristic we see that pride is a terrible, damning sin in the eyes of God.

As we shall see, the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector warns against the danger of self-righteousness and exhorts us to approach God with humility, placing our ultimate trust not in our merit but in His mercy and grace.  In this parable Jesus is  teaching how a man might be justified with God.  And to illustrate this doctrine, He gives us a study in contrasts, a tale of two men who come to God, or you might say, a tale of two religions.  These are two men who stand in sharp contrast to one another in their approach to God.  And perhaps this also serves as a picture of the kingdom of God, in  which are both wheat and tares, both seeking after God, but one life bearing the  fruit of righteousness and the other life evidenced by self righteousness which produces no spiritual fruit.

These two men are described as a Pharisee and a publican.  And initially we see that both are religious. Jesus begins the parable by saying that both the Pharisee and the publican come to the temple to pray.  Vs 10, “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.”  On the surface, they both would seem to have the same desire to come to God, presumably to be right with God.  They both have an interest in spiritual things.  They both have a belief in God. They both believe that going to the temple to pray is a means to come to God.  So far, so good.  But that is where the similarities end.

Jesus begins this contrast in approaches to God by first focusing on the Pharisee.  He says in vs 11, "The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: 'God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.”

The Pharisees were a Jewish religious group that began in the period of time between the writing of the Old Testament and the New Testament, what is called the intertestamental period.  They were concerned about the decline in the standard of Jewish religion at that time, about the neglect of the people for the law of God, as the Jews were being corrupted by the culture that they lived in the midst of.  This religious group formed to urge the people back to godliness.  But eventually, the Pharisees themselves became corrupted by the sin of pride. They became more focused on their obedience to the law, rather than what the law was intended to teach. 

The law of God is supposed to reveal God’s standard of holiness, and how far short we fall short of keeping it. As Paul taught in Galatians, the law was intended to be a schoolmaster to cause us to turn to Christ. But rather than seeing their sin revealed in the law, the Pharisees saw their own achievement as something to be proud of.  And to compound their error, they sought to condemn others who did not match their zeal in regards to the law, but thought that they were above such people and tried to keep their distance from them.  Anything or anyone that they considered beneath their level of achievement they studiously avoided. When I was growing up we used to say about such people that they had their nose up in the air.  Self righteousness and pride bring about contempt for others.

Notice Jesus’s description of this man in vs 11.  “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself.”  Though he addressed God, Jesus indicates his prayer was not heard by anyone other than himself.  He was praying for his benefit, and perhaps the benefit of whoever might be watching him.  Some versions translate it as the Pharisee was standing by himself and praying.  In other words, he picked out a prominent spot, by himself, perhaps on some elevation, where he could easily be witnessed to be in prayer.  

Jesus said about the Pharisees in Matt. 6:5 "When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.”  Many have taken that verse as an indication that the Pharisee in this parable was standing in a prominent place to be seen of men.  We can learn a lot about the spiritual status of a man by his prayers, or by his approach to prayer. Pride prohibits prayer.  Jesus said in Matthew 6, in contrast to the Pharisee,“But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.” 

Notice the prayer of the Pharisee tells a lot about this man’s issue with pride.  He says nothing about his own sinful condition, there is no spirit of repentance, but rather pride in that he has achieved in his mind at least, a higher standing with God than others, especially this publican nearby.  “I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.” Paul said in 2 Cor. 10:12, “but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding.”  The law of God is given to compare ourselves with God’s righteous standard, not so that we can compare ourselves with others and think we are doing better than they.  God does not grade on a curve, but He grades us on a scale of perfection. “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

Unfortunately, the way this man approached God is the way many people use religion. They tend to have a misunderstanding of what is required to be justified before God.  They trust in what they think is their inherent goodness, their sincerity, their works, their participation in religious rituals and ceremonies to make them right with God. Notice, that the Pharisee claims his fasting and his tithing are merits that earn him justification with God.  Now the Old Testament law did not require fasting, but the Pharisees sought through their tradition to make fasting into a means of righteousness.  But their motivation was wrong.  They fasted to be seen of men.  They fasted more than the law required, so that it would appear to others that they were extremely devout.  

But Jesus gave the right attitude towards fasting in the Sermon on the Mount.  He said in Matt. 6:16-18 "Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites [do,] for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face  so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees [what is done] in secret will reward you.”  I can’t help but see the irony in that verse in light of the way most churches observe lent.  Lent is a very public fast, if you can even call it a fast in most cases, with the participants receiving an ash mark on their foreheads which they are supposed to wear to advertise that they are fasting.  I saw on the news, though I didn’t want to click on it, that AOC was giving up eating meat for lent, and it had a picture of her with her head bowed like she was praying or something. How did the news know?  Did she send out a press release or something?   I would like to suggest to her a few things I would like to see her give up for Lent.  Beware of doing your works to be seen of men.

The common misconception of most people’s idea of religion is that a person will go to heaven if their good deeds outweigh their bad deeds.  I have news for you, none of us could get in by that standard.  Not if we evaluated our deeds by God’s standard of what is good.  Our sin far outweighs any possible good we might do.  Psalm 130:3 says, “If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?” None of us could stand before God on our merits.  As Paul said in Romans 3, quoting from the Old Testament, “as it is written, "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;  THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;  ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE."

The other claim to goodness on the part of the Pharisee is that he tithes of all that he gets. Now tithing was mandated under the law.  And I’m sure that this man was a fastidious tither.  Jesus said that the Pharisees tithed of mint, dill and cummin.  Those were the herbs that they grew in pots outside their kitchen window.  They carefully measured out the herbs to make sure they were tithing on every thing. But they did so to make an impression on people as to their devoutness.  They made sure that their giving was public. The big tithers actually had someone blow a trumpet ahead of them as they came to give in order to announce themselves and their generosity.  

Jesus said in response to that attitude in Matt. 6:2-4  "So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,  so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees [what is done] in secret will reward you.”

So the very works of the law that the Pharisee claimed as righteousness, in fact he erred in doing them, because he did them to be seen of men, and they actually were a sin of pride in self achievement.

In sharp contrast to this prideful, contemptuous, overtly religious Pharisee, Jesus shows us the publican standing off in a corner of the temple perhaps trying to stay out of view from others. You get the feeling that in contrast to the Pharisee, the publican is trying not to attract attention. The publican was a term used for a tax collector.  These men were the most hated of all in Jewish society because they were considered traitors to their country.  They collected taxes for Caesar, but not only that, they made their money by adding on a surcharge, which was allowed by the government, but which usually was egregiously high. It was bad enough to work for the Romans, but to get rich from taking advantage of your countrymen was an unforgivable thing in the eyes of the Jews.  So it’s no wonder that the Pharisee felt it was right to be contemptuous towards the publican.

The publican had also come to pray to God, but Jesus said he would not even raise his eyes to heaven. He exhibited a heart that had been humbled, that was remorseful, a heart that was repentant. In Psalms 51:17 we read, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”  The publican came before God with the right attitude.

Jesus said in vs13 "But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner!'

What’s apparent in the attitude of the publican is that he understood the serious nature of his sin and expressed genuine mourning over it.  Beating one’s breast in the Jewish culture of that day was an expression of mourning. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew chapter 5, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Jesus was talking about mourning over your sin, mourning over the bankruptcy of your spiritual condition.

This tax collector knew that God was holy and that he was not.  He came before God empty handed.  As the hymn “Rock of Ages” so aptly puts it, “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling. Naked, come to the for dress, helpless look to thee for grace. Foul I to the fountain fly, wash me Savior or I die.”  Rather than gloating about his achievements, the publican simply called out to God for mercy.

This word rendered “merciful” in the NASB has another meaning. It’s the word propitiation. The ancient Greek word translated be merciful is hilaskomai; it is actually the word for an atoning sacrifice. The fullest sense of what the tax collector said was, “God, be merciful to me through Your atoning sacrifice for sins, because I am a sinner.” The only other place this word is used in the New Testament is in Hebrews 2:17, where it is translated propitiation.  Propitiation refers to the act of atonement by Jesus Christ on behalf of sinners.  He was the penal sacrifice for our sins.

The tax collector may not have been recognized for his morality, or his good standing in society, but he has a good grasp of theology.  He understood that if he is to be accepted by God, then it will have to be on the basis of God’s mercy and grace. It will have to be on the basis of what God has done, and not on what he has done.  Mercy is by propitiation.  But grace indicates not something forgiven, but something given.  Grace is the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to our account.  

The doctrine of imputation teaches that the justification that sinners receive before God is based on a righteousness that is not their own. By faith, sinners receive a righteousness that is not from their own works, but that comes from outside of us. And that righteousness comes from Jesus Christ.  In order to reconcile fallen humanity to God, Jesus Christ did not simply arrive on earth and then die upon the cross.  But He had to live completely righteous, perfectly sinless life as our representative.  That righteousness of Christ is then imputed to those who put their faith in Him.  

As 2 Cor. 5:21 says, “[God] made [Jesus] who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might receive the righteousness of God in Him.”  The only way to be rich towards God is to first recognize that we are spiritually bankrupt, and receive as a gift of God the righteousness of Christ imputed into our account.

To be considered rich towards God is the principle of justification, when God declares a person to be righteous who is not righteous in his own life. With this declaration of justification, God removes the person’s guilt and gives them the righteousness of Jesus Christ.  That’s the spiritual riches that have currency in heaven.

This tax collector, this sinner, this unjust man, called upon the mercy and grace of God, and he walked away that day justified before God.  Jesus said in vs 14, “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

James states this principle in James 4:6, saying, ““GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.”  The key to humility before God is not to take refuge in your goodness, or your good works, but to recognize you are a sinner, and to call out like this tax collector, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!”  And to that prayer of repentance and faith, God promises to respond with mercy and grace that you might receive the righteousness of Jesus Christ and the forgiveness of sin.  

I pray that no one hearing my voice today is taking refuge in their keeping of religious rituals and ceremonies, in their merit, in their good works, but that you have confessed that you are a sinner, and trusted in the atonement of Jesus Christ for your justification.  That you might claim the righteousness of Jesus Christ for your salvation.  That simple prayer of the publican is all that is required; God be merciful to me, the sinner.

The Parable of the Laborers of the Vineyard, Matthew 20:1-16

As we learned previously in our study of the parables, it’s important to determine the primary principle that was being taught by Jesus in the parable.  We should avoid the temptation to allegorize every detail of the story, but try to discern the central thought that Jesus was teaching.

Having said that, however, it’s still possible to have more than one application.  And this parable lends itself to possibly more than one application.  But rather than focus on whatever those possible interpretations may be at this point, I want to go back to chapter 19, because I think that by considering the greater context in which this parable was given we will get a better understanding of what Jesus was teaching.

The context for this parable really starts back in chapter 19 vs 16, as Jesus is visited by a man described as a rich, young ruler.  So far in our studies of the parables, Jesus has had a lot to say about the perils of being rich.  And in both previous parables we’ve looked at concerning a rich man, one was characterized as a rich fool because he was rich in the world’s goods, but not rich towards God.  And the other rich man was foolish as well, being rich in the world’s goods, but not rich towards God, and at his death finding his soul consigned to the torment of Hades.

Now in this account from real life this rich, young ruler comes to Jesus and says, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” He shows that he is a little more prudent than the other rich men Jesus has talked about previously through parables.  He may be rich, but he also recognizes that there is life beyond this world and he needs to make preparation for that eventuality.

I’m sure you are familiar with the story, so I don’t have time to exegete every detail this morning, but the end result of his discourse with Jesus was that he went away from that meeting sorrowful, because he had great riches, and it seemed to him that Jesus said he must be willing to sell it all and give it to the poor, and leave everything to follow Him.  The eternal life this rich young ruler was seeking could only gained by a willingness to forsake everything for the riches of Christ.  And he was not willing to forsake his great riches for Christ.

After the man left, Jesus turned to the disciples and spoke the following; “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.  Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Now that’s a pretty heavy statement.  And while most of us would protest that we aren’t rich, yet I would argue that depends on how you define rich.  And I think if we broadened our understanding of what it means to be rich in the world’s goods, we might find that we qualify as being rich in the eyes of God.  I would support that by saying that if salvation actually depended upon you selling your house, your cars, your stocks, emptying your bank account and giving it all away, then I’m afraid many of us would more than likely remain unsaved.  I wonder how many people would be willing to go to that extreme if that was the requirement for salvation.

The question arises though, was Jesus serious when He said that?  Or was He just using hyperbole? I’ve never heard a preacher speak about the dangers of riches without prefacing it repeatedly by saying there is nothing wrong with being rich, it’s just your attitude about riches that is the problem.  I’m not sure we can be so cavalier about it, to be honest.  In my experience, I think salvation is most certain when one comes to the end of themselves.  They are willing to surrender everything completely if God will just help them.  Riches are just one of many things that you can put before God  that can prevent you from coming to that point of complete surrender.

Well, the disciples were just as troubled by that statement that Jesus made as you might be.  Maybe more so, because they were taught that the way to righteousness was by giving alms to the temple and by giving alms to the poor.  And so for the rich it was much easier to give large sums of money than for others to do that.  These disciples were by nature hard working fisherman, and they didn’t have a lot of money.  So they thought if it was difficult for rich people to be saved, then it was going to be next to impossible for them.

So when the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, “Then who can be saved?” And looking at them Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”  Now that statement gives us insight into the principle that salvation is not of men, not of merit, not of virtue, not of value, but salvation is of the Lord.  It is the gift of God. Salvation is by grace.

Now following on this statement Peter then said to Jesus, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?”  He claimed that they had done what Jesus told the rich young ruler he had to do to be saved.  Peter says, we have left everything and followed you, what will be our reward?

And Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last; and the last, first.”

Again, Jesus reiterates the principle that giving up everything to follow Him is the key to receiving eternal life.  And the disciples, insomuch as they had given up everything to follow Christ, were going to not only get eternal life, but in the regeneration, in the new heavens and new earth,  receive dominion over the 12 tribes of Israel. 

But then Jesus summarizes that with a principle; “many who are first will be last; and the last, first.” Now that principle is the thesis for the parable which we are looking at today.  And it’s important to understand that is the central thought which Jesus is teaching in that parable.  I’ve heard and read others commentate on this parable and in the process extrapolate from it the doctrine of election, the sovereignty of God and so forth.  And I am sure those doctrines are illustrated to some degree in this parable.  But I don’t think they are the main point.  

And I can show further evidence for that because of the fact that this parable is bookended with this statement.  We have to remember that the chapter divisions are not inspired.  They were added by the translators quite a long time after the original writings.  And in this case, I think the chapter break does the passage harm.  Because if you disregard the chapter division, then you will see that the last verse of chapter 19 and the 16th verse of chapter 20 are virtually the same, Jesus just reversed the order.  And so the statement is both the introduction and the conclusion of the parable.

Let me read both of them for you, Matt. 19:30 "But many [who are] first will be last; and [the] last, first.” And then Matt. 20:16 "So the last shall be first, and the first last.”  It’s obvious to me that Jesus deliberately presented it this way so that the parable is an illustration of that principle which is repeated twice, at the beginning and at the end.  So as I have said previously, the best interpretation of a parable is one that Jesus Himself gives, and here He gives us this interpretation twice.

So now we know what the central principle of the parable is, but what does it mean? Well, let’s consider the parable which He gave to illustrate it, so that we might understand it.  

In this parable, the owner of the vineyard went out to search for laborers to harvest the fruit. When the grapes had ripened to the optimal point, it was important that they be harvested as quickly as possible. And so he needed many people to work before the grapes were past their prime.  As was the custom in that day, the laborers would gather in the marketplace early in the morning to wait for employers to come and hire them for the day. 

Jesus said at the first hour of the morning, about 6 am, he hired workers who agreed to work for the day for the wage of a denarius.  A denarius was the standard wage for a day’s work. As the day went on, he went back to the marketplace and hired another group, this time about 9am. Obviously, the work was in danger of not being finished in time, so the vineyard owner came back at 12 and hired some more and again at three.  To those groups he offered them work and said he would pay them what was right.  

Finally, the vineyard owner came back at the 11th hour which would be 5 o’clock.  There was only an hour left to work, but nevertheless after speaking with some workers who had been waiting all day and no one had hired them, the vineyard owner hired them as well.  

At the end of the day, as was customary in those times, the workers came together to be paid for their day’s labor.  The vineyard owner instructed his foreman, “Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.”  As the last group of workers came forward to get their wages they each received a denarius.  The workers from the 9th hour and the 6th hour and the third hour received a denarius as well.  When the workers from the first group received their denarius, they were angry that they received the same as the others.  They said, “‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.” 

But the vineyard owner replied, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?”

Now this parable is particularly prone to over interpretation. I think the point that Jesus is teaching is very simple.  But if you parse each detail and dissect all the dialogue, you can easily come up with more questions than you have answers.  I think the simplest answer is best, and that comes from remembering the context in which Jesus gave it.  And the simplest answer is found in light of the rich man being unwilling to leave everything to follow Jesus, and consequently not entering into eternal life, and the disciples leaving everything to follow  Jesus and entering into eternal life and being given authority in heaven.  In light of that, Jesus is simply saying that those who seem to be first in this life in regards to earthly goods and riches, whether financial or physical or even relationships, will be last in eternity.  And those who seem to be last in regards to earthly riches but are rich towards God will be first in eternity.

Now that’s what He is teaching in this parable.  And that is born out by Jesus’s summary remark in vs 16, “So the last shall be first, and the first last.”  Jesus started the parable by saying, “the kingdom of heaven is like…”  It is an illustration of the nature of the kingdom of heaven.  One aspect of the kingdom of heaven is illustrated here.  There may be other applications that can be made from this parable, but I would discourage drawing too many conclusions from some of the details of the story.  Because not all of them have a direct correlation to the nature of the kingdom.  Some of the details just help to make the story more relatable. But they are not necessarily included to be allegorical.

So we know the primary central thought of the parable and what Jesus was teaching.  But there can also be secondary points that are illustrated as well.  For instance, the principle that salvation is of grace is indicated in this passage to a certain degree. Grace is illustrated by the fact that the vineyard owner generously gave a denarius to those who had not worked a full day.  But we really have to break the parable in order to make sure that we don’t include works as a means of grace.  Paul said in Romans 4:4 “Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.”  The word translated gift there is from the Greek charis, which is the word normally translated as grace.  So it’s difficult to use this parable as an illustration of grace when they are working for their wages, even if some only worked a few hours and others worked more.  So as all the laborers worked in the parable, they all got wages, and therefore it is not really a true representation of grace.

Another possible secondary interpretation is that which might be called dispensational. It might be possible to say that those under the law of Moses were the first, and those under the dispensation of grace would be the last.  And thus those attempting to enter into the kingdom through their works would come in last, and those who come under grace are those in first.  But again, the context doesn’t really support that idea.  When Jesus addresses the rich young ruler He tells him to keep the commandments if he wants to receive eternal life.  And when Peter speaks up about the disciples’ sacrifices, Jesus says that they will be given thrones over the 12 tribes of Israel.  All of that is very much Old Testament theology.  Not much is said there about grace.

Of course, we are saved by grace, the unmerited favor of God.  But grace is a by product of our surrender to Jesus as Lord.  Romans 10:9 says, “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”  Grace is the application of Christ’s righteousness to our account as a result of our confession of Jesus as Lord.  Paul says further in vs 13, “WHOSOEVER SHALL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”

The emphasis is on calling on Jesus as LORD. The principle of surrendering to the Lordship of Christ is the means of our salvation.  We don’t have to understand all the doctrines of grace or the doctrine of election, or the doctrine of substitutionary atonement in order to be saved.  We simply have to come to the end of ourselves, come to the end of our independence, our self reliance, the end of our rebellion and recognize Jesus as Lord.  He is God, He is the King of the kingdom of heaven.  From Him is life, from Him is every blessing and every good gift.  He is the source of our righteousness which makes us accepted into the kingdom of God.  

The Lordship of Christ exposes the problem with riches.  They are a means of our self reliance.  They are what keeps us from trusting completely in Him as the source of life, as the source of blessing. Every good gift comes from above. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills.  And when we forsake everything to follow Him, we find that He gives us everything that we need.  He is sufficient. He is the source of life in all it’s fullness and abundance. So we do not trust in riches or trust in the things of this world, even in the relationships of this world, even the love of this world, but we trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not unto our own understanding. In all our ways acknowledge Him and He will direct our path of life.

The problem is that we tend to put the world’s things first in our life and the Lord is given second place at best.  Jesus said that the first shall be last and the last first.  Jesus wants first place in our life and He will not accept second place.  The first and foremost commandment has not changed; “YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.”  That is first place. If He has first place in your heart, then forsake everything and follow Him and you will receive eternal life.

In light of that, we really should do a spiritual inventory and ask oursevles, what do you value more than Christ? If you were told that you had to give up your riches, would you do so for the sake of Christ?  If you were told that you had to give up your career, would you do it for the sake of Christ?  How about giving up your family?  Would you give up your family for the sake of Christ? He must have the preeminence. He must have first place.

That’s why I think most people that are truly saved are people who have hit bottom. They have come to the end of themselves. They recognize the hopelessness of their situation.  They have nothing left to hold onto.  And so maybe it’s easier for them to give up everything for Christ.  But it’s hard for a man who is rich in the things of the world to enter into the kingdom of heaven. “It’s easier for a camel to  go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

Those are heavy words, my friend, because we are told that the gate to the kingdom of heaven is narrow, and few there be that find it.  And for those who try to enter carrying all the things that they love from this world, they find that it is impossible to enter through the narrow gate while carrying those things.  A lot of people are pretty well satisfied with their life, but they want to add something to be certain that they will be received into heaven in the next life. So they come to God on the basis of adding to their riches.  I would ask you to consider what are you carrying this morning?  Perhaps you are like the rich young ruler, you are smart enough to know that there is an eternity, that there is a heaven, but are you willing to forsake everything in order to get in?  I pray that you are.

Paul said in Phil. 3:7-11 “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,  and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from [the] Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which [comes] from God on the basis of faith,  that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;  in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”  

And that is what we all must do if we would inherit eternal life.  

Twin parables about being rich towards God, Matthew 13:44-46

When we studied the parable of the rich fool, and the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, there was a similar truth which was taught in both.  And that truth was the danger of being rich in the things of the world, but poor in relation to God.  Jesus said that he is a fool who “stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”  Lazarus in the second parable was poor in the world’s things, but was rich towards God and thus was able to enjoy the treasures of heaven upon entering into eternity.  In contrast, the rich man was rich in the world’s goods, but poor in relation to God and thus at his death was consigned to eternal damnation.  

Today we are looking at two short parables which I think continue to teach the principle of the surpassing value of being rich towards God.  Paul spoke of this treasure in Phil. 3:7-11 saying, “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,  and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from [the] Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which [comes] from God on the basis of faith, 1 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;  in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”  The surpassing value then is knowing Jesus Christ, the King of the kingdom of heaven, and having the righteousness that comes from Him that gives me entrance into the kingdom.

Now both of these parables are very similar.  They not only teach the same principle, but they are both introduced with the same phrase.  Notice that in both of these parables Jesus begins them by saying, “the kingdom of heaven is like….” 

In the New Testament gospel of Matthew we frequently find this expression, the kingdom of heaven.  And we also see the phrase the kingdom of God.  The two expressions are interchangeable.  They both refer to the same thing.  Matthew tends to use the kingdom of heaven, whereas the other gospel writers tend to use the kingdom of God.  But they are essentially the same thing.  The common misconception though for most Christians is when they hear the word “heaven”, they automatically associate it with a place somewhere in outer space which has streets of gold, mansions, and pearly gates.  

But the phrase the kingdom of heaven simply refers to the spiritual rule of God on earth in the hearts of His people.  Jesus said at His trial that HIs kingdom is a spiritual kingdom that is not of this world. And Isaiah 66:1 says, Thus says the LORD, “Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool.” God is in heaven, but His kingdom is over the world. Jesus actually spoke very little about heaven as the dwelling of God, but He had a lot to say about the kingdom of heaven as it is manifested on earth.  When Jesus began His ministry He declared, “the kingdom of God has come near you.” He said the kingdom of heaven is at hand.  Jesus is the King of the kingdom of heaven, and in His incarnation He came into His kingdom, to declare the gospel of the kingdom, and to make it possible for man to enter His  kingdom, to become sons and daughters of God.

The parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price both deal with the value of the kingdom of heaven. That phrase that Paul used concerning knowing Jesus as His Savior he says is a “surpassing value.”  Value is an interesting word. Value not only relates to somethings intrinsic worth, but it can also sometimes refer to ethics.  We talk about national values, or family values.  In that context it has to do with moral standards. 

But a strict definition of value is a determination of worth.  And that is a subjective thing.  I used to do some appraisals when I was an antique dealer many years ago.  And people would bring me something and wanted to know what it was worth.  The answer I usually gave was what it was worth to me.  Because value can be different for different people, and dependent upon various conditions.  But that was hard for people to understand.  However, most antiques are worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it.  There is no set value in most cases. And so value depends upon the perceived worth it has to a particular individual.

What Jesus taught in the previous parables that we have studied, was that our natural value systems do not agree with God’s value system.  As Christians, we have an obligation to bring our personal values into line with the values that God assigns to things. Jesus said to the church in Rev 3:18  "I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, [that] the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.”  God has a different standard, a different value system, and we must recognize and adopt His standard of value, which is the rule of the kingdom of heaven.  When Jesus announced that the kingdom of heaven had arrived, he announced something of inestimable value to people who did not place a high value on it.  They were looking for a temporal kingdom. They were looking for a kingdom which would benefit them now, in this world, in financial and physical ways.  They were not looking for a spiritual kingdom.  That had little value to them.

An antique dealer I knew slightly from Santa Fe years ago by the name of Forrest Finn hid supposedly a large fortune in gold and coins and so forth somewhere in the desert.  And he provided some clues  to it’s location in the form of a  poem.  You may remember reading about it in the news over the last few years.  Several people died looking for that treasure.  They gave their life trying to discover this treasure that this antique dealer had supposedly hidden.  Just last year, I think he said that it had been found, but as far as I know, the person had not actually been identified.  Maybe Finn just didn’t want any else to die looking for something that I think  probably was never there to begin with.  From what I know of the guy, I would never have believed his story that he had a fortune to hide in the first place.

But people love a treasure hunt.  For me as an antique dealer, it was the thrill of the hunt that kept me going.  I always thought that the next store I went into, or the next flea market or whatever, could be the find of a lifetime.  I used to say I was looking for national treasures.  And I managed to find a few treasures back in the day.

Jesus uses that natural interest of people to find lost treasure in the first parable.  He says in vs 44 "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid [again;] and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

In the ancient world, it was not uncommon for people to bury valuable items because they didn’t have access to banks the way we do today.  But if the owner of the treasure died, it could remain in the ground in an unknown location, unless someone happened to find it.

This man perhaps was working in the field and found this treasure.  Rather than take it, because it belonged to the owner of the field, he hid it back in the dirt again, and then he made plans to buy the field. Which by the way, according to rabbinical teaching of the day was perfectly within his rights.  So this man sold everything that he had in order to purchase the field so that he might gain the treasure.  Nothing else he owned could compare to the value of the treasure in the field, and so he was willing to give up everything to have it.

Notice also that this treasure was hid in a field.  It wasn’t obvious.  It wasn’t apparent to the naked eye.  I think Jesus uses that to show that the treasure in heaven is not one which is physical, but spiritual.  And that which is spiritual is not seen, but it is hid to the natural man. But God reveals it to those whom He calls to His kingdom.

In a previous parable in this chapter Jesus identified the field as the world.  So if we use the principle of expositional constancy here then the field mentioned in this parable is the world.  But the treasure, the kingdom of heaven is hidden.  It is not physical, but spiritual.  It is not seen but unseen. Faith is the evidence of things not seen.  God sent His Son into the world to save sinners.  So that Jesus would say, “the kingdom of God is near you, in your midst.”  And yet He was not recognized by most people.  John 1:10-12 “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.  He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name.”

Now the second parable is like the first. Notice it begins in the same way as the first.  The subject matter is the same - the value of the kingdom of heaven.  Jesus says in vs 45 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls,  and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

Jesus says, “again,” or another way of expressing that thought is “in the same way.” He shows a parallel between the two parables.  In this parable, the man is a merchant of fine pearls.  He is seeking fine pearls.  And one day he finds a pearl of great value.  He recognizes the value of this exquisite pearl.  In some ancient cultures, we are told that pearls exceeded gold in value.  They were much harder to come by.  Today the pearl market has been practically ruined by cultured pearls. But in that day they were very rare, and this pearl was exceptional.

When this merchant discovered this pearl, he recognized it’s great value.  And because of that surpassing value, he was willing to sell everything that he had in order to buy it.

I can’t help but notice that Jesus said this merchant was seeking fine pearls when he discovered this pearl of great price. It reminds me that we have an obligation to seek those things which are above.  It reminds me of the text in Colossians we studied together a couple of months ago in Col. 3:1-2 which says, “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.”  So we are to keep seeking the things which are above.  Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek Me and find [Me] when you search for Me with all your heart.”

In both of these parables, each of the men came across something so valuable that they would

gladly sacrifice everything else in order to possess it.  And Jesus says that is what entrance into the kingdom of heaven is like. You must be willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of obtaining the treasure of the kingdom of heaven.

The question is then, what do you have to give in exchange for citizenship in the kingdom of heaven? Well, the answer might be found in another question, a question Jesus asked in Matthew 16:26. “What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”  He went on to say, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” The answer then would seem to be that rather than gaining the world, what is needed is to gain the kingdom of heaven. 

Jesus said in answer to that question, in Luke 9:23-24 "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.”  Simply stated, we must surrender our life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in order to save our soul.  We must surrender our independence, our rule, our authority over our life, and submit to His authority as our Lord and King.  And when we submit to Him as Lord, we find that He is also our Savior.  By His stripes we are healed.

This principle of exchanging your life for what you value reminds me of a number of stories that have been circulated concerning a young black man from the South in the 1930s by the name of Robert Johnson.  He supposedly wanted to be able to play the guitar, particularly the Delta blues guitar, and according to legend one night he went down to the crossroads and fell down on his knees.  And the story goes that he made a deal with the devil and when he came back he could suddenly play the guitar like no one had ever heard before.  He became quite famous in that area and many years later became the inspiration  for many a rock and roll star.  Eric Clapton and his band Creme made a record called “Crossroads” in the 60s which popularized this event.

But as the story goes, selling his soul to the devil came with a hefty price.  Robert Johnson began to feel that he was being chased by the hounds of hell.  He drank whiskey to try to quiet the feeling that the devil was after him.  After one particular heavy bout of drinking he was said to have died after suffering from violent stomach pains. He was 27 years old. Some of the particulars of his life are open for debate, but certainly his story should be a caution to the foolishness of selling one’s soul for the sake of earthly treasures. 

In the value system of God, the kingdom of heaven surpasses every other item or

treasure in worth.  We need to examine our values and align them with the things

that God values.  Someone speaking on this topic once asked the question; if you were told that your house was on fire, and you had five minutes to get whatever you could out of the house before it would be too late, what things would you grab from your house? What do you value so much that if there was only a few minutes you would save?

That’s maybe a telling indication of what you put a priority on in your life.  Our priorities in life need to be examined to see if they are the things that are truly valuable in the kingdom of God. Jesus said in Matt. 6:33 “But seek  first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”  We need to get our priorities in line with God. 

That verse I just read holds the secret to the treasure map of the kingdom of God.  You know, in the stories about buried treasure and treasure maps there seems to always be a key to understanding where the treasure is.  And once you understand that key, you can find the treasure.  I suggest Jesus gave us the key to this treasure in Matt. 6:33, let’s read it again; “But seek  first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

What’s the key?  The key is His righteousness. That’s the treasure.  That’s the key to entrance in the kingdom of heaven.  We are dressed in Christ’s righteousness by faith in Jesus Christ and what He did for us on the cross.  As 2 Cor. 5:21 says, “God made Jesus who knew no sin [to be] sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

We can receive that righteousness as a gift from God.  But to do so we must be willing to forsake everything and follow Him. We must forsake our sin, that is repentance.  We must forsake anything or anyone we would put in priority over God in our lives.  Jesus said in Matthew 10:37-39  "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.  He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”

What are you holding onto?  Where is your treasure? What are your priorities? If your priority is not Jesus Christ, then you will lose your life like the rich fool of the previous parable.  But if your treasure is Christ, then you have found an eternal treasure in heaven.

I’ve used this illustration before, but maybe you haven’t heard it.  But on that day when we die, and we come to the gates of heaven, the angel of God stops you and asks “by what right do you enter here?”  The only answer that gains you entrance into the kingdom of heaven is to point to Jesus, and say, “I’m with Him.”  Dressed in His righteousness alone, I am faultless to stand before the throne of God.  That is the greatest treasure we can possibly obtain.  And it is one that will never fade away.