It Will Cost You Your Self Righteousness

Matthew 13 and the Cost of Discipleship

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now here's a message.

From Pastor Chris Rosebrook. The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew the 13th chapter. Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Again the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls who on finding one pearl of great value went and sold all that he had and bought it. Again the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered the fish of every kind and when it was full men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw the away the bad.

So it'll be at the close of the age the angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Have you understood all these things?

They said to him yes and he said to them therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old. This is the of the Lord in the name of Jesus.

The Parables of the Treasure, Pearl, and Net

So Jesus caps off this chapter in Matthew Matthew 13 with three quick short parables and at the end of the parables he asks his disciples do you understand all these things? And so you'll know Jesus in chapter 13 is giving us a master class on how to understand his parables.

It's necessary because Christ hasn't withdrawn his word he's just made his word to be impossible to understand unless you apply yourself to it unless you have faith and so he who has ears to hear let him hear but do not be stubborn and stiff-necked and do not despise God's word.

But I would note here I'm still a recovering Nazarene and a recovering Californian I think that's a also a thing also but all of that being said I think I still have some PTSD from receiving all kinds of law law law law law law law preaching and not hearing the gospel for me as a Christian.

That being the case I can distinctly remember horrifying terrifying sermons on these particular parables especially the first two and being told things like well the kingdom of heaven's like a treasure hidden in the field so have you sold out for Jesus a hundred percent are you on fire for the Lord right and and of course are you willing to lay down your life for Christ and and I'm we're not talking about just persecution we're talking about laying down your life every single if if you are not willing to do that then you're not even worthy of the kingdom of heaven why should you even call yourself a Christian?

And you preach like that eventually somebody's gonna sit there and go you know that's a good point that's a good question why should I call myself a Christian? Asta I'm out of here you know on to the next thing.

You know all law preaching doesn't bring us peace with Christ it brings us terrors and and somebody can only sit under that kind of terror for so long. But here's where we're going to apply some very important rules number one rule context context context but there's another rule when it comes to sound exegesis and that is you let scripture interpret scripture.

I assure you that there is a cost to being a disciple of Jesus Christ and as we sang in the opening hymn Jesus is indeed our priceless treasure but I think you would be surprised to find out how the scriptures interpret that cost when it comes to what we need to get rid of and consider to be worthless so that we might gain Jesus our priceless treasure.

So we'll do a little bit of work on that. Second parable I kind of set it up this way you're in there but not where you would expect. Yeah let's just kind of put it that way and then the third parable super easy to kind of understand the parables regarding the judgment day always seem to be pretty straightforward.

So with that we'll do a little bit of work here. First parable the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which a man found and covered up. There's lots of stories of hidden treasure right you know isn't that what being a pirate's all about right it's all about hiding treasure but I would note something here in the days before banking okay we can we can put our money safely in the bank at least we think it's safe right.

I mean the FDIC insured up to a particular amount of money that I never seem to get any closer to but but all that being said the bank seems to be a safe place to do but before there were banks what would you do with your money.

So I did a little research this week yeah what did people do with their money back in the day turns out that in Jesus's day it was common practice for people to take to divvy up their money and put it into three places in order to protect it.

Place number one legitimately putting it in a chest and burying it somewhere maybe in a garden or somewhere out in a field that was a common practice this was to avoid becoming bankrupt. Third way in which a second I jumped over the second second way in which people you know kind of hid their money is they would invest it in jewels and wear it as jewelry and here was the thinking you know if you lived back in the day Roman soldiers would come through or Greek soldiers would come through the Syrian army would come through and if you there was a good chance that back in the day that you would find yourself at least one or two times in your life being a war refugee and having to be on the run and go somewhere else in order to survive a conflict and then come back when things have settled down and the whole point of converting part of your assets into jewels was you can wear it on your way out and then when you arrive where you're going you can trade you can sell those jewels and then have the money that you need to live on.

That's a pretty smart way of thinking. And then the third is you hide it in the proverbial mattress parts of it go into the proverbial mattress. This is your day to day operating expenses. So it wouldn't be uncommon if somebody hid a treasure in a field which is not an uncommon place to put it that that person might die and nobody knows where it is.

Where's cousin vetoes treasure. We have no idea. He dug up somewhere and hid it while he was drunk and he can't even remember where it was. So this is kind of the thing so it Jesus legitimately is referring to something that people would understand long before the days before there were pirates of the Caribbean.

So here's the fellow he finds this treasure and what does he do. He covers it up and then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has to buy that field. Now if this were me and the sinner that I am I'm not interested in buying a field.

I just want the treasure right. So I would take one of my you know my flashlights or go into stealth mode maybe get get myself some kind of a device where I can see in the dark. And then I would go and dig that treasure up while nobody was looking so there were no witnesses and I would just slink away with it into the dark of the night and enjoy the joys of the treasure.

But that's not the parable that Jesus told. Which then begs the question why does he need to sell all that he has in order to buy it. And here's where we need to note something here. This is talking about the kingdom of heaven.

This is talking about Christianity. This is talking about eternal life. This is talking about Jesus Christ our priceless treasure. And you'll know good luck stealing him. And good luck stealing the kingdom.

That ain't gonna work. There is always a cost for being a Christian. You cannot possess the treasures of heaven and something else. And let me explain what that something else is. And here's where we'll do a little cross-reference work.

Think along with me if you want to flip over to Philippians chapter 3. If you have a Bible open you are welcome to do that. I'm gonna start at verse 2 a passage that I come to with some frequency in my sermons.

And let's look at this text in light of this idea of those things that are worthless and those things that have such value that you be willing to forsake them for that. Right. And here's what Paul says Philippians 3 to look out for the dogs.

Look out for the evildoers. Look out for those who mutilate the flesh. He's writing this against the self-righteous. And you'll know that each and every one of us still has an old sinful Adam. And let me tell you that guy is as self-righteous as they come.

Right. Your old sinful Adam is every bit as much as the Pharisees a dog and mutilator of the flesh seeking to bargain with God. Well God I should be given blessings from you because I did these things.

Right. I'm a good person. I did some good things. Therefore I should receive blessings from God. Right. Why is it that I'm not getting what I deserve God. And what do we do. We're exchanging our good works thinking that there's they have some kind of a cash value.

Right. In order to receive blessings or maybe even salvation from God. Paul says this we we Christians we are the circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God and we glory in Christ Jesus. And we put no confidence in the flesh though I myself I have reason for confidence in the flesh also.

So he's now going to list out his pedigree. It's a good pedigree if you were to think of like the Torah and God's law. If anyone else thinks he has reasons for confidence in the flesh. Listen. I have more circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin a Hebrew of the Hebrews as to the law of Pharisee as to zeal a persecutor of the church as to righteousness under the law.

Blameless. Ah yeah. And what are the lists that people use when I was growing up. Well I never went to any are rated movies. Only went to movies rated G and PG. Didn't drink a drop of alcohol. No never smoked never chewed or dated any girls who did.

Yeah all that kind of stuff. And so you think I'm really really really holy. But here's note the words whatever gain I had I counted as a loss for the sake of Christ. 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 I count them as rubbish in order that I might be I might gain Christ and be found in him not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law but that which comes through faith in Christ the righteousness that is from God.

And that depends on faith. Huh. Same theme. Right. And that's really the point. The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. You see that is exactly what Jesus is. He's treasure hidden in a field.

I would note he was hidden inside of a tomb. Right. And the does the world consider Jesus to be a treasure. No in fact it's fascinating that God takes the treasure of the eternal life offered in Jesus Christ.

And he hides it. He hides it in bread and wine and in the waters of baptism. He hides it in Jesus's death for you and I on the cross. And him being put into a rich man's tomb. He hides it in the scriptures the Bible of all things.

And boy is that book being despised more and more today. And of all places places they call themselves Christian churches. And so you'll know ordinary place a field that's where God places this great treasure.

And I would note that this fellow who found this treasure but was he looking for it. No that's kind of the thing. We've all heard stories of some fellow who some farmer who decided that he was gonna dig up part of his you know part of his plot of land because he was gonna do something different.

And next thing you know his backhoe gets into the dirt and he digs up like the keys to Atlantis or something like this. You know some buried treasure from ancient times. And what do we say about that fellow.

That guy's the luckiest guy on planet earth. It was just dumb luck. Right. But the reality is this is that that treasure found that guy just like eternal life. And the treasure of Jesus Christ he has found you.

And although you were not looking for it you have found it in him. And as a result of it we recognize that there is a cost that must be paid in order for us to possess this treasure. We cannot steal it.

And it requires us to sell all of our works of self-righteousness all of those deeds that we thought that we had done in order to earn salvation. Just put them all away and instead buy the field. And if you don't have any money.

Good news the whole thing's free anyway. That's the point. Because you cannot even afford this field and then he possesses it. You possess it. So you'll know the kingdom of heaven is indeed like a hidden treasure.

And it's going to cost you every single one of your deeds of self-righteousness. They will cut. They will get you nowhere. Instead trust in Christ and receive this treasure that you so clumsily just stumbled upon as the gift that it is parable number two.

I said it's really not about you. And it isn't. And a good way to think of it is this people hear it this way. The kingdom of heaven is like a pearl of great price. Wrong. That is a wrong way of reading this.

The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls. That's the point of the text. Right. And so we must note something here in scripture. Scripture in Romans chapter 3 says. Of all of us none is righteous.

No not one. No one seeks for God. Now pop quiz reading comprehension time here. How many people seek for God according to Romans 3. None. Huh all. Right. But I know a guy who seeks. I know a guy. Right.

It didn't Jesus say that he came to what seek and save the lost. So Jesus is this merchant. The kingdom of heaven is like a merchants like Jesus in search of fine pearls. And who on finding one pearl of great value went and sold all that he had and bought it.

Let me kind of give you a common way of putting it. This merchant went and bought the farm so that he can purchase this pearl. And what is the pearl. It's the church. It's you. It's me. And he bought it with his own precious blood.

That's the point of this text. Let me give you some cross-references so that you don't think I'm totally out of whack here. At least just you know partially out of whack would be okay. But here's what it says in Ephesians chapter 5.

We'll use this as kind of an anchor text. Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her so that he might sanctify her having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word so that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing so that she might be holy and without blemish.

Now the scriptures clear. This passage goes on to say that therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. He's quoting from Genesis. And then he says this.

This mystery is profound and I'm saying that it refers to Christ in the church. What refers to Christ in the church. Genesis chapter 2. A man will leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife and the two will become one flesh.

That text is pointing us to Jesus. In other words every single marriage every wedding is a type and shadow of Jesus's relationship with you his bride. Now think back to this. We've all been to a wedding or two.

Right. Has anyone not been to a wedding all. Right. The the pinnacle moment of every wedding is not when the pastor says to the to the groom. You may now kiss the bride. That is not the pinnacle moment.

The pinnacle moment in every single wedding is when the music changes and we know that the bride is about to make her entrance. Right. I always get teared up every single time I see it. Everybody stands up everybody turns around and ah there she is and she's wearing her wedding dress and she's beautiful.

Your breath is taken away and she starts coming in. Right. That's the pinnacle moment. But that is you'll note that here it legitimately says that Christ has taken his bride you and I as sinful. And as we are scripture says together we have all become less because of sin.

But Christ in his great love for his bride sanctifies her cleanses her by the washing of water with the word. He then presents her to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing so that she might be holy and without blemish.

So every time you go to a wedding and you see the bride coming in in her dress. That is a picture of y 'all me you as the bride of Christ. But that's our foundation text. Here's the next one in Revelation chapter 21.

Listen carefully to the revelation of the New Jerusalem. John is still getting his cooks tour of the heavenly kingdom and seeing visions of heaven that are just too marvelous for us to ponder completely.

He says. Then I saw a new heaven. I saw a new earth for the first heaven. And the first earth had passed away. The sea was no more. And I saw the holy city the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.

Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven. Here comes the bride. Right. You have to think of it that way. Prepared as a bride. I heard a loud voice from the throne saying behold the dwelling place of God is with man.

He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be them at would be with them as their God. Well isn't that how it works. Right. Couples are not supposed to cohabitate before they get married.

Right. Does Jesus cohabitate with his people before he gets married to them. No. Okay we do not have Jesus here face to face. But there is a day coming when God's dwelling place will be with us after the wedding.

Right. So Jesus doesn't formal caboodle late. He's he's properly engaging in the right behaviors regarding his bride. So behold the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them. They will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God.

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death shall be no more huzzah. Neither shall there be mourning huzzah or crying or pain anymore. Amen. And amen. The former things have passed away. And then he was seated on the throne said behold I am making all things new.

It's great picture. Right. Great text much comfort here. So he also said write this down for these are these words are trustworthy and they are true. He said to me it is finished. I am it is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega the beginning in the end to the thirsty.

I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. And by the way when somebody gives you a free meal is it a free meal. Doesn't it cost somebody something. Whenever whenever somebody takes me out to dinner or takes me out to lunch it says I'll pick that up for you.

Right. For me it's free. They still have to pay the tab. And you'll note that's the same with eternal life. Salvation is free to us but it's not free to Christ. He is the one who picked up the tab and so you'll note that all of these things are given to all of us for free without cost to us but at great cost to him.

He laid down his very life bled and died so that you and I can live. He is the one who experienced thirst on the cross. Right. Didn't Jesus say I thirst extreme suffering and pain as he bled and died for your sins and mine.

And he is the one who thirsted on the cross so that he can give us of the springs of the water of life without payment so that we would never thirst. The one who conquers will have this heritage and I will be as God.

And he will be my son. As for the cowardly the faithless the detestable as for the murderers the sexually immoral the sorcerers the idolaters and all liars. Their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur which is the second death.

But then that vision continues that then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and he spoke to me saying come I will show you the bride the wife of the Lamb.

Now my immediate question in hearing a statement like this is how do you plan on doing that. Okay because the church is the bride of Christ. Are we gonna see a montage of all of the faces of all of those who were saved.

I think that would be a little tedious. Don't you instead think of it this way. When you travel to the East Coast maybe you land in Newark all right. Right across from Newark Airport. What do you see the Manhattan skyline.

You see New York. And you can say I've seen New York. Have you. Yes you have seen it now in all of its microcosm detail. No but that's kind of the picture here. You want to see what the bride of Christ looks like.

Well we can't show you all the faces. So let's show you where she lives. Right. So here's what happens next. So he carried me away in the spirit to a great high mountain and he showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.

Remember this is the bride of Christ having the glory of God. She's decked out its radiance like a most rare jewel like a jasper clear as crystal. It had a great high wall twelve gates and at the gates twelve angels.

And on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed on the east three gates on the north three gates on the south three gates on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had 12 foundations and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and its walls. Man all I've got is a tape measure made of aluminum. Right. You know I like the sound that it makes.

So when you bring it in from it after it's like out 11 feet. You know. Never mind. That's a that's a whole other story. So the city lies four square its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod 12 ,000 stadia.

Its length and width and height are equal. He also measured its walls 144 cubits by human measurement which also is an angel's measurement. The wall was built of jasper while the city was of pure gold like clear glass.

Remember he's describing the bride of Christ this is where she lives. This is the glory that she is decked out with because he has given this to her. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel.

The first was jasper the second sapphire then agate and emerald and onyx and carnelian crystallite and barrel and topaz and chrysophras. They and then Jack and amethyst. The twelve gates and the twelve gates were twelve pearls.

Each of the gates made of a single pearl. And the city. The street of the city was pure gold like transparent glass. Pearls show up again. Is it any wonder that in our Old Testament text that it was assigned for today the people who put this lectionary together made sure to use Deuteronomy 7.

Listen again to the words of Deuteronomy 7. You are a people holy to Yahweh your God. Yahweh your God. He has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

And you sit there and go. I'm not Jewish. You've been grafted into Israel. Of course this is talking about you. How could it not. The bride of Christ is truly God's treasured possession. It was not because you were more in number than any other people of that the Lord set his love on you.

And I would note that Kongsvinger is far from a megachurch. Right. Did God choose. Y 'all because this was such a big megachurch. No not at all. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that Yahweh has set his love on you and chose you.

For you were the fewest of all peoples. But is because Yahweh he loves you and he is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers that Yahweh has brought you out with a mighty hand. He has redeemed you from the house of slavery from the hand of the king of Egypt Pharaoh.

So know therefore that Yahweh your God he is God. He is the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations. You'll note that God has done this all because of his faithfulness his kindness his love his keeping of his promises.

And he's assuring you that he is saving you purely by his love mercy and grace all is a gift. Hmm. That second parable now resonates pretty pretty well. The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls who on finding one pearl of great value his treasured possession his bride.

He went and sold all that he had bled and died for her purchased and won her by his own blood. Now all of this then leads somewhere. Third parable a little straightforward. The kingdom of heaven's like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind.

When it was full men drew it ashore sat down and sorted the good into containers and threw away the bad. You can think of this as either the gospel maybe even better like the day of judgment. On the day of judgment will God selectively pick some people to be raised from the dead while others stay dead.

When Jesus returns in glory to judge living in the dead he's gonna raise everybody up. And the angels are gonna do some sorting work. And of course we hear this kind of parable and anxiety rises up within our hearts.

Rightfully so too because we all know that we heard what the angel said and that what Christ said that the cowards and the adulterers in the idolaters and the liars in the list goes on. Right. They will never inherit the kingdom of heaven.

But such were some of you. Christ has washed that all away. He is forgiven you he is clothed you in his own righteousness. Is that not what Paul said not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law but the righteousness that is by faith.

We have all been bedecked in Christ's righteousness. So on that day when the angels come and Christ returns and all of humanity is sorted out. One group over in that bucket another group over there. Right.

Sorted out into two different groups. So it'll be at the end of the age the angels will come and separate the evil from the righteous. But you are clothed in the righteousness of Christ you are his treasured possession.

He has bled and died for you and washed away all of your sins and clothed you in the splendor of his glory and righteousness. So you can figure out which bucket you're going into. Right. But the rest they will be thrown into the fiery furnace.

And yes Christ talks about a fiery furnace invokes Daniel chapter 3. But there is a fiery furnace that Christ has saved us all from. And that's the fires of hell by clothing us in his righteousness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

So have you understood all of these things. Christ asked that of his disciples back in the day. And he asked us of all of this all of us. Now do we understand these things. Do we get these parables. Now do we understand what he meant by them and what they mean and how they comfort us.

Indeed we do he who has ears to hear let him hear in the name of Jesus. Amen. If.

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