Kingdom: Worth

[Matthew 13:44-46]
 
“The Kingdom of heaven is like treasure in a field, which a man has found and covered up. Then in joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field” Matthew 13:44
 
In Matthew 13 we find Jesus teaching privately to His disciples. He has spent time preaching to the crowds that were drawn to His ministry and then He takes the disciples aside into a house for some more private teaching. And as with most of His teaching Jesus teaches them through parables – earthly stories with a heavenly meaning.
Jesus shares two similar parables to explain what the Kingdom is like. Firstly He compares it to treasure found in a field. The man who finds it then covers it, sells everything he has and buys the field in order to get the treasure. In the second parable He compares it to a “pearl of great value” (Matthew 13:46) that, when a merchant finds it he sells all he has in order to buy the pearl.
Both these parables give us a sense of the worth of the Kingdom – it is worth all we’ve got. It is worth selling all we have to get the Kingdom – such is the message of these parables. Now the really amazing thing is that while the Kingdom is worth so much Jesus made it freely available to all of us through His death on the cross which opened wide the narrow gate for all to enter in.
These parables show us the esteem we should hold the Kingdom in. They show us how much we should value it. The Kingdom is the one thing we should desire above all else. It is what we should value most. Nothing is more important. Nothing is worth more. Nothing even comes close.
The Kingdom is worth our all. We must hold nothing back. We have to give all we have to the harvest work of Kingdom advancement. Society tells us the thing to treasure is material good. It says they are what is worthy of our time and money. Culture says to focus on your own self-gratification. But Jesus teaches that the Kingdom is worth our all. We are not to treasure earthly things. We are to treasure the Kingdom above all.
That means making choices that will not make sense to those around us who have not yet come to see the worth of the Kingdom. It means investing time and energy into Kingdom advancement projects rather than the junk that culture tells us we need. It means having the same attitude Paul did when he wrote to the Philippians saying “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ.” (Philippians 3:8)
In the Kingdom we gain Christ. And He is worth our all. All else is rubbish compared to the priceless treasure that is knowing Jesus. And that is a treasure that as Kingdom people we should want all to have. So we must hold nothing back but give our all to the task of showing the world the love of God and telling them of His grace and mercy so that they too may enter the Kingdom and experience for themselves the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus as Lord. We are to hold our possessions loosely and to cling to Christ tightly, always willing to sacrifice for the sake of the Kingdom, for it will always be worth it.
 
Focus verse
“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ.” Philippians 3:8
 
To ponder

• Do you value the Kingdom as worth your all?
• Does the way you live show the worth of the Kingdom? If so, how?
• What do you need to do to further invest into Kingdom advancement rather than self-gratification?