Welcome to Waymaker Church! We are so excited to have you join us today! We exist to Encounter, Live for, and Advance the Kingdom of God!

Recap
So over the last 5 weeks, we have been diving into Jesus’ parable teachings. And he was very intentional in teaching in parable form.

After the first parable that Jesus spoke —the parable of the sower and seed—the disciples intentionally asked, “WHY do You speak to them in parables?” It’s a good question and one that Jesus answered clearly… Up to this time, the teaching of Jesus had been plain and clear.

As a whole, the Gospel of Matthew shows the teaching of Jesus in the laws of the kingdom, in the sermon on the mount. Though there are some parabolic sayings in his sermon, the teaching is basically clear.
Ch 1 - The genealogy and birth of the King
Ch 2 - The wise men’s visit and presentation to the king.
Ch 3 - The Kings forerunner and the King’s baptism
Ch 4 - The king’s temptation and calling of four disciples
Ch 5,6,7 - The king’s sermon on the mount - the laws of his kingdom
Ch 8,9 - The power and demonstration of the king’s kingdom
Ch 10 - The king commissions the twelve
Ch 11 - The king’s commendation of His forerunner, John the Baptist
Ch 12 - The king’s rejection of religious leaders
Ch 12 is very climactic as it concerns the the Pharisees and Scribes and their rejection of Jesus.

The chapter closes with a warning. Jesus is saying, I have come to clean house, but when I leave… if you don’t take what I have to offer, the spirit of this world that I have overcome will take up residency once again in the individual and it will be worse off than before.

He then ends the chapter by making it clear… It’s not simply flesh and blood. Yes God had/has a covenant with the Jews… but its not simply based on blood right…the status quo was changing…
“Anyone who does the will of my father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother...”

I say all that to say, when the scribes and pharisees and Sadducees take counsel to kill Jesus, he changes tactics.

Over the past 5 weeks, we have looked at: The purpose of the parables AND…
1) the Parable of the Sower and have seen that the parable of the sower addresses the battleground of humanity. That is the heart of mankind. In that, the seed of God’s word (The seed of the kingdom) carries divine power to save your soul and produce a great spiritual fruit.
2) The parables of the Wheat and the Tares, and the two sons which addresses the present reality that in the battle for the hearts of man, there is a battle between Good and evil, light and darkness. They are all intermingled together. God will know who bows before the king and who stands in their own righteousness. Be the son who submits to the kings desire rather than the one who says “yes” but does the opposite.
3) The parables of the mustard seed and the growing seed which address the reality that when we receive the seed of the Kingdom, we then reproduce seed of the kingdom which in turn is to be planted in others. We are not the ones who transforms the seed… we plant it. And when it is planted, much like the mustard seed (which is the smallest among garden seeds) will ripen into a mature tree that others can rest in and glean from.
4) The parable of Leaven addresses the reality that, it only takes a little bit of kingdom to effect the whole. Just like it doesn’t take much yeast to make all the dough rise, you simply need the seed of the kingdom growing to affect all of the church.

All of that brings us to today.

Setting
The first four parables we have learned about in Matt 13 have been given to the multitude standing on the seashore. In Matt 13:36 we see a change of scenery.

Matthew 13:36 NLT
36 Then, leaving the crowds outside, Jesus went into the house. His disciples said, “Please explain to us the story of the weeds in the field.”

The last 4 parables of Ch. 13—which starts today—are given exclusively to the disciples.

Moral
The central truth of the parable of the treasure hidden in the field is this. There is a price to be paid to obtain God’s kingdom-treasure. It will cost all. This parable speaks of the great price of the kingdom.

Exposition (Diving into the meaning of the scripture)

The 5th and 6th parable in the Kingdom series of Matt 13 both have a similar message. The Kingdom costs one’s all.

Again, this parable is left uninterpreted by Jesus as far as we know. So we have to seek the context of the whole of Scripture within the bounds of sound theology to find the interpretation of the parable in it’s parts.

Here is an example of what I have always heard and read in this parable.
***When I discover the kingdom, I have to give up everything. It’s going to cost me everything. And I should give it all up, because it’s worth it.

Anyone else read that and and see that? I’ve had it taught to me so many times that way, It’s difficult to wrap my mind around it any other way, BUT… I can also see the self-isms in that understanding.

Let’s dive into what the word says, and bring the meaning of this parable to life, then apply it…

The Kingdom of Heaven is like...
This is saying it resembles, corresponds to, and can be compared to a treasure hidden in a field. When the man finds it, he hides it again and sells all that he has to BUY THE FIELD. Obtaining the field, the treasure is also obtained. All the parts of the parable make up the parable. The Kingdom of heaven is not like ‘one part’ of the parable; it involves all the parts in this comparison.

The Treasure
It seems that interpreters of this parable have taken “treasure” to be several different things. Lets look at a few before we dive into what the treasure is.

Some interpreters say that the treasure is Christ, and once a believer finds Christ, it will cost the believer ALL. These interpreters use scripture like Luke 14:25-33 to confirm this view. The view is

Luke 14:25–33 NLT
25 A large crowd was following Jesus. He turned around and said to them, 26 “If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. 27 And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple. 28 “But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? 29 Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. 30 They would say, ‘There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it!’ 31 “Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down with his counselors to discuss whether his army of 10,000 could defeat the 20,000 soldiers marching against him? 32 And if he can’t, he will send a delegation to discuss terms of peace while the enemy is still far away. 33 So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own.”

They say that it will cost all to follow Christ. And it is true that it will cost one all to follow Christ, BUT Christ is not for sale. We do not “buy Christ” as He “buys us.” Therefore, although Christ is indeed the treasure of all treasures, we can’t assume that the treasure in this parable refers to Christ.

Some interpreters say the treasure is the chosen nation of Israel, using Psalm 135:4, Ex. 19:4-6, Deut 14:2

Psalm 135:4 NLT
4 For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel for his own special treasure.

and Exodus 19:4-6

Exodus 19:4–6 NLT
4 ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians. You know how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me. 6 And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation.’ This is the message you must give to the people of Israel.”

And even Deuteronomy 14:2 to confirm this.

Deuteronomy 14:2 NLT
2 You have been set apart as holy to the Lord your God, and he has chosen you from all the nations of the earth to be his own special treasure.

In these Old Testament scriptures it does talk about Israel being God’s special treasure, however, in the coming of the new testament era, this has changed. This will be more evident as the parable is explained.

Other expositors say that the treasure is the NT Church, and it is Christ who paid the price —His All— to by the church. I hold to this view for reasons that will be seen as we continue to dive into the exposition of this parable.

The word treasure has to do with “a deposit” and “wealth,” and this word is used a number of different ways. But it is within the context of the parable itself that we can find the definition of “treasure” Jesus had in mind.
The word speaks of treasure over and over again:
• treasure cities (Exodus 1:11; Hebrews 11:26), where all the wealth of the Pharaoh’s of Egypt was stored.
• Babylon had its treasure house where the wealth of Babylon from the spoils of war was stored. (Ezra 5:17; 6:1; 7:20; Daniel 1:2)
• The temple of the Lord at Jerusalem had chambers and rooms for the treasure of the house. (1 Chronicles 29:8 amongst many other notations0
• Solomon gathered all kinds of treasures from the nations and kings around him (Ecc 2:8)
• The eunuch of Ethiopia had charge over all the treasures of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians (Acts 8:27)
• The righteous have much treasure in their house. (Proverbs 15:6, 21:20)
• Jesus spoke of treasure in the heart of man (Matt 6:21, 12:35; Luke 6:45), having treasure in heaven (Matt 19:21; Mark 10:21), Where the treasure is, that is where the heart is.
• There are other places you see this verbiage too

But WHAT is the treasure in this parable? It is certainly not material things.

The treasure here symbolizes PEOPLE. The “peculiar treasure” is people.

In OT times, Israel was a “kingdom of priests” and God’s “peculiar treasure.” But when we come to the New Testament and the new covenant, the gospel of Matthew clearly shows along with the Epistle of Peter that it is the NT CHurch that is now God’s treasure, since the cross.
In Matthew 21:43 Jesus says,

Matthew 21:43 NLT
43 I tell you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation that will produce the proper fruit.

Peter takes the truth further and writing to the believers told them that they are “a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people” (1 Peter 2:5-10)

The kingdom was taken from the Jews and given to the church. The church is now a kingdom of priests unto God and His Christ — His only begotten son Jesus. The church is now God’s holy nation. The church is now his peculiar treasure, His peculiar people.

Hear me out… his eyes are still on the Jews and when we read Revelation, we see God is still at work within the Jewish nation and people, but they also rejected His son who fulfilled the law and the prophets.

The language in 1 Peter is taken directly from Exodus 19:1-6, and what was given to and applied to Israel was then given to and applied to the church.

The treasure therefor in the parable represents the church. This is confirmed further by a consideration of the other parts of the parable.
Side note - Even Paul speaks of God’s people being His peculiar people in Titus 2:14.

Okay, let’s quickly divide the rest of this.

The Field

The treasure was hidden in a field. Consistency in interpretation would tell us that the field here is the same as the field in the other parables. It is the world.
-Seed of the kingdom was going into different soils of the earth
-Wheat and tares were sown in His field.
-The mustard seed was sown in His field.
-The treasure was found hidden in his field.

The psalmist tells us that the earth is the Lords and the fullness therein (Psalm 24:1-2) It is His field and it belongs to Him [the Father] and His Christ [Jesus].
The field doesn’t belong to the Devil… he has had control over it due to Adam's fall.

In Leviticus 25, the laws for estimating the value of the field were given and the priests valued it according to the produce of seed.

The earth is God’s field.

The Man
Consistency of interpretation in this series of parables, as well as other parables confirm that “the man” is none other than “the Man Christ Jesus” 1 Tim 2:5-6

1 Timothy 2:5–6 NLT
5 For, There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. 6 He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time.

In parable 1 ‘the man’ sows the seed of the Kingdom (Jesus)
In parable 2 ‘the man’ is the Son of Man (a name Jesus used for himself)
In Parable 3 ‘the man’ sows the mustard seed
In Parable 5 ‘the man’ finds the the treasure hidden in a field.

Using context clues that Jesus is telling all this in one event… the man is Himself.

In the incarnation, the eternal WORD, became flesh, and took upon Himself the form of a man in order to die for sinful mankind. (Phil 2:5-11, Hebrews 10:12). When the word was made flesh, He was called Jesus. The Son of God became the Son of Man.

Hidden, Found, Hidden
There is an interesting sequence of events pertaining to the treasure… Hidden in a field, found, then hidden again.

A. Treasure Hidden
i. It was a custom to sometimes hide treasures in a field for protection from enemies or from thieves.
1. Israel was spoken of as God’s “hidden ones” (Psalm 83:3)
2. Jeremiah and Baruch could not be found at on time for the Lord hid them
ii. The NT church was spoken of as mystery hid in God and also hidden from previous ages and generations (Eph 3:9, 1:4; Colossians 1:26; 2Tim 1:9-10; 1Pet 1:20; Titus 2:14, Romans 16:25-26)
iii. The NT church is indeed God’s treasure hidden in the world of mankind but known by the Father God. It is a mystery even as this is a mystery parable of the Kingdom.

B. Treasure Found
i. The treasure is found by the man. The whole ministry of Jesus is to “seek and find/save” that which was lost.
ii. We are not privy to how or even why the treasure came to be hidden, but the church has been in the mind of the Father from eternity.
The man, Jesus came and found this treasure.
iii. The man found the treasure in the field—the world.
1. You can see this idea over and over again.
a. The next parable has a man that found the pearl of great price
b. The shepherd found the lost sheep
c. The woman found the lost coin
d. The father said his prodigal son had been lost but is now found.
iv. The church as God’s treasure is made up of people who were once lost but now have been found.

C. Treasure hidden again.
i. The true church, as God’s treasure, was hidden in the field of the world by the father. The Son found this treasure and now, in His absence, the church is hidden again. The church is hidden from the eyes of the world. The world sees the structural and organized religious institutions, but it cannot see the true church as God’s treasure, the special people of God.
ii. John said, “The world know us not, because it new Him not,” and, “As He is, so are we in this world” (1 John 3:1, 4:17)
1. The same thing is spoken of the church as of Christ. Here in this field of he world, the kingdom-church is not recognized as God’s peculiar treasure. Jesus said that his own were in the world and the world does not know them. Truly the true church is hidden from the eyes of the carnal world.

His Joy
He knows… If He buys the field, the treasure is also his by right of purchase!

This points to the Joy of Jesus over the church, His treasure. You see this written in Hebrews 12:2

Hebrews 12:2 NLT
2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.

You see this joy spoken of with angels rejoicing over the lost who are found, the faithful servant who enters into the joy of the Lord, or even how Zephaniah tells us how the Lord will joy over his people with singing!
The joy is his church, his peculiar treasure

Sold His All
To obtain the treasure in the field, it cost ALL the man had.

Realize he left glory, he left heaven and the fathers house, coming to earth in the humility of a baby born to a virgin teenage girl, laying aside his reputation and godly rights to be cared for, bathed, changed and raised by a humble human. Becoming a man, a servant, and being obedient even unto death, even death on a cross. It Cost Jesus His All!

It cost him his life blood for the church, His treasured people. Calvary was the cost. There we were bought with such a price.

Bought the field
The man buys the field. He could not obtain the treasure without buying the field. Whoever owned the field owned the treasure of the field. The treasure was found, hidden and then purchased.

There is great significance in the buying of the field. The greek word for buy is agorazo, and it means to go to the market to purchase; especially to redeem. The believer certainly does not buy the world (the field) to obtain Christ as his treasure! It is Christ who bought or redeemed the world to obtain the church.

The field is his, the church—the treasure—is his and this by right of redemption.

Application
We see that Jesus left this parable uninterpreted. It is possible Jesus explained this or the disciples simply understood it due to their understanding in that day, but it isn’t recorded for us.

In concluding the exposition of this parable, there are 2 particular OT real life situations which illustrate and confirm the truths set fort in the parable. And both have to do with the Kinsman Redeemer.

The laws of redemption of a lost inheritance, or the redemption of a field are given in Leviticus 25:16-25. A kinsman redeemer must have certain qualifications.
-must be the closest family member.
-must be able to pay the price of redemption
-must be willing to pay the price of redemption
-Evidence of said transaction must be written and sealed before witnesses. Only the kinsman redeemer could break the seals and redeem the inheritance.

We see this picture laid out in Ruth—
In the final chapter of Ruth, we see Boaz, the Kinsman redeemer who was willing (there was one closer, and able, but they were unwilling) marrying the Gentile bride, Ruth. Not only did he taker her to be his bride, he had to redeem/buy the field that belonged to her mother-in-law Naomi. He could not have the bride without buying the field. He redeemed both the bride (Ruth) and the field (the forfeited inheritance!)

This points to Christ, our Kinsman redeemer. The consummation of this is seen in Revelation 4-5 and Revelation 10. Christ bought the field—the world. The devil—the usurper, took claim over it when Adam fell and forfeited his inheritance and the inheritance of unborn generations to the devil in the Fall.

Christ purchased that back at calvary. This is the truth of the parable of the hidden treasure in the field. The Man, Christ Jesus, has redeemed both the field and the treasure; the earth and the church!

There is a second example in Jeremiah of a Kinsman redeemer that we will not touch, but Jeremiah 32 would provide insights if you wanted to study it out.

Takeaways

1) The kingdom has come at great price!

It cost him everything. And it’s going to cost us our kingdoms to seek out his!

2) Redemption was the mission!

For the joy set before him, he endured the cross

3) It’s not what you have accomplished . It is what he has accomplished.
-The man in this parable is not us…
-If we will recognize what Jesus has done… I believe we would willingly give up what we have accomplished to be a part of what he has accomplished.