Sermon for Sunday 30th July 2017
1 Kings 3:5-12. Romans 8:26-39’Matthew 13:31-33,44-52
May I speak in the name of the Eternal Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen
Are you confused when you’ve heard a bible reading without knowing the context in which it was written, or it not being clear to you? I know that I have been perplexed,
which prompts me to study if further.
I wonder if I were to ask each of you, after this talk, did you understand what I was saying? How many would give a hesitant Yes or No?
The writer of Matthew’s Gospel intention was to point us towards Jesus as the Messiah God’s Messenger and towards God’s Kingdom1.
In todays’s reading from Matthew Chapter 13, Jesus is teaching in parables2, a method common in his’ time.
Jesus’ teaching helps us to understand about him, and God’s Kingdom.
Some of those listening to Jesus, misunderstood his meaning, or chose to ignore it as they disagreed with him, unable to believe he was the promised Messiah.
At the end of last Sundays Gospel reading. , Jesus said,
A term, often used by Jesus as he demanded their attention! In Mark’s Gospel, in the Parable of the Sower and Seed, Jesus actually compares those who “let the word of God pass through their ears and those who truly listen and seek understanding5.”
Jesus is saying that
Two of the parables concern someone making a great discovery, in one case a treasure of enormous value and in the other a pearl beyond price.
Jesus’ speaks of a man who finds hidden treasure in a field and sells everything to buy the field10. Then
there’s a jeweller who comes across a costly and rare pearl and sells his entire stock in order to buy it11.
In both these stories, there’s an element of giving up everything to possess the treasure or pearl - ownership changes everything.
Their example of joyfully and decisively selling all that they have to obtain that treasure or pearl they so are desperate
to possess.
Jesus, tells us that’s how we should to react when “we discover the Kingdom of God”.
That most precious of possessions -
The Kingdom of God is beyond price -
it outweighs any other value.
Seeking the Kingdom of God means sacrifice,
giving up everything for entry to it.
Think for a moment, of your longing or searching for something outside or greater than themselves. Not content until they find it..................
Out of the blue a sudden revelation happens!
The light shines - they Discover Jesus - The Word of God.
Divine truth becomes an live giving, reality.
To their own surprise they able to make that remarkable statement “I believe.”
To find the pearl of great price is a Gift of God.
It is a case for astonishment and awe.
Did you feel full or joy, and wanting to change everything,
when you first knew or experienced Jesus? Like those two seekers?
I certainly did.
But belief comes at a price!
The price for the treasures of God’s Kingdom is everything we have.
Ourselves, entirely devoted to God, through Jesus Christ as his disciples.
The cost of discipleship is our whole life; we cannot be partial followers of Jesus!
Jesus challenges us to give all for God’s Kingdom. God’s Kingdom is here and now, for us to build in this world, in preparation for the next.12.
What might hinder us in finding that great treasure?
We might be wavering in our faith?
measuring it against our lives, or
our place in the world, or
our worries, cares and concerns,
can shape or mould our faith to fit in around them.
Squeezing the time for thanks giving,
prayer and worship to a bare thread, until nothing is left.
We might be inattentive to our gift of faith,
and come to regard it as an add-on!
a hobby for our spare time! Only on Sundays!!!
These or other failings, may separate us from Jesus, and the Kingdom of God. That treasure freely given and received and cherished, is no longer perfect and we risk losing that
treasure - the Joy, wonder awe and excitement of our discovery of Jesus as part of our life and our very identity in him.
Paul in today’s epistle, seeks to encourage us:
“The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches
the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints(us) according to the will of God13”
Several Pope’s have given us some pointers?
In 1965, Pope Paul 6th pointed out that “Only the Reign of God is absolute. Everything else is relative.14”
In 1990, Pope John Paul said: “The Church exists not just for herself, since she is oriented toward the Reign of God, of which she is the
seed, sign and instrument15.”
Pope Francis recently said16: ” “for us, Jesus’ project is to inaugurate the Reign of God”.
It seems clear to me, that the price of this precious treasure is Eternal life itself.
Jesus sacrificed his life on the cross for our Salvation,
that precious gift demands our faith,
belief and action to fulfil God’s plan.
to build his Kingdom on him, to promote that The Reign of God is all17.
Understanding Jesus’ words!!
Jesus, asks the listeners “Have you understood all this?” They answered, “Yes.” And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe (a sort of Clerk or Lawyer) who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven
is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old18.”
You can imagine the faces of his hearers. They’d been hanging on to Jesus’ every word, they confirmed that they’d understood. But now...... he brings in another
concept - a Good Scribe? What????
In Jesus’ day, most people had only the most elementary education, the literate person, the Scribe, who made that skill available was highly esteemed. They wrote letters
for people and seem to have acted for clients in local courts. Jesus usually presented a rather low view of the scribes, lumping them together with Pharisees.
In this parable, Jesus talks about good scribes, just as there were also good Pharisees like Nicodemus19 and Gamaliel20. What,
then, is a scribe who has been trained for the Kingdom of Heaven21?
He or she is someone who has decided to dedicate her or his life to being part of the Kingdom of God, here and now, ME and YOU. The good scribe is open minded, fresh and willing to surrender to God’s will, wherever it may take them.
The fishing parable too holds a sting in its tail. It talks about judgment, when Jesus compares the discarding of the ‘bad fish’ (which we sometimes choose to i
snore with his description of the end of times. A final reckoning based on our choices22:23
“The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth24.”
One of the stumbling blocks we face is our Individualism, putting ourselves first. Individual rights trump the rights of others - me first, everyone else, including God last25.
The Gospel dispels such ideas; for Kingdom people. God’s people, God’s reign is first. ..... Life needs us to make sacrifices to serve God’s Kingdom.
The sacrifices mean a holy uncompromising life, lived for Jesus, that, if practised, helps build God’s Kingdom wider than the bubble that we live in. For all of God’s
people, Christian or not.
We are called to be those ‘fishers of men and women26.
We are called to be workers for God’s Kingdom, who live out His teaching and pray, praise and worship God in in the unity of all of God’s people and ultimately
God’s world27.
If we plant little seeds of goodness and mercy and they blossom into visible signs of God’s presence. .............. If we live life knowing that we belong to Christ,
we are herald’s for the return of Christ.
It we live, selflessly and serve each other28, we are serving Christ, hoping that the watching world may catch
a glimpse of what God intends.
This is holiness in action, not an abstract concept, only for the Saintly. ...
This is seeking, finding and Building God’s Kingdom, here and now.
Jesus is continually saying to us “seek first the kingdom of God.” I pray that we do it as individuals, as a Church and as Partners in building the Kingdom,
today, tomorrow and ever more.
Amen
1215
1 Kings 3:5-12
At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask what I should give you.”
And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you; and you have kept for
him this great and steadfast love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne today. And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have
chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?”
It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your
enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise
after you.”
Romans 8:26-39
The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart,
knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he fore knew he also predestined to be conformed
to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.
What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give
us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for
us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all day long;
we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.”
we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things
to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Matthew 13:31-33,44-52
Jesus put before the crowds another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds,
but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; 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; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
“ So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping
and gnashing of teeth.
“Have you Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put
the good into baskets but threw out the bad., “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”
1 R. E. Nixon. "Matthew"; in Donald Guthrie, et al., The New Bible Commentary:
Revised. (London: Inter-Varsity Press, 1970), p. 813.
2 his method of teaching was not peculiar to Jesus—it was common among Easterns—but
His use of it was unique in felicity and in the importance of the lessons conveyed. abstract a priori definitions of the word serve little purpose; we learn best what a parable is, in the mouth of Jesus, by studying the parables He spoke. Thence we gather that to speak in parables means to use the familiar
in nature or in human life (in the form of a narrative or otherwise) to embody unfamiliar truths of the spiritual world.
3 Matt 11:15
4 Matthew 11:15. proverbial form of speech often used by Jesus after important utterances, here for the first time in
Matt. The truth demanding attentive and intelligent ears (ears worth having; taking in the words and their import) is that John is Elijah. It implies much—that the kingdom is here and the king, and that the kingdom is
moral not political.
5 Mark 4:13-20. “A man’s reception of God’s Word is determined by the condition of his heart.” A secondary lesson would be “Salvation is more than a superficial, albeit joyful, hearing of the gospel. Someone
who is truly saved will go on to prove it.” May our faith and our lives exemplify the "good soil" in the Parable of the Sower.https://www.gotquestions.org/parable-sower.html
6 Matt 6.33
7 In their book, Talking About God in Practice, Cameron et al identify the ‘espoused theology’ of a local
church as the theology contained in the church’s articulation of its beliefs, and the ‘operant theology’ of that church as the theology which is embedded in its practices. The difference between these theologies
can be an invisible source of tension within a church community and,therefore, enabling discussion of the theological convictions perceived to be underpinning your engagement, and their implications with all those involved,
can provide important ground on which to work and grow together. Cameron, Bhatti, Duce, Sweeney, & Watkins. Talking about God in Practice. (2010) London: SCM. p53.
8 Craig Bartholomew and Michael Goheen’s The Drama of Scripture: Finding our place in the biblical story (2014)
Grand Rapids: Baker Academic. “The journey of discipleship is to have our world view increasingly shaped by God’s ‘Big Story”
10 while, the treasure being a pure gain. The point of the parable is that the kingdom of heaven outweighs in value
all else, and that the man who understands this will with pleasure part with all. It helps to show the reasonableness of the sacrifice for the kingdom Jesus demanded.
11 The treasure in the field was a sure gain for the finder, but it remained to be seen what the pearl merchant would
get for his one pearl. After the sale of his stock the purchase of the one pearl was a matter of course. In the former of these two parables the Kingdom of Heaven appears as the object of a glad though accidental finding of
a sure possession; in the latter as the object of systematic quest and venturesome faith. The difference between seekers and finders must not be exaggerated. The pearl merchant was also a finder. No one would set out on a
journey to seek one unique pearl (Koetsveld). The spiritual class he represents are seekers after God and wisdom, finders of the Kingdom of God, of a good beyond their hope. Such seekers, however, are on the sure way to find.
12 Rev 20:11
13 Romans 8:26-27
14 http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_cons_19651207_gaudium-et-spes_en.html Dec 1965.”These theologies carry two defining convictions; firstly, that God is at work in the world and in all people, and secondly, that God is most likely to be found
at the margins http://www.faith2share.net/perch/resources/building-kingdom-communities-2016.pdf p13.
15 http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_07121990_redemptoris-missio.html
16 https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_letters/documents/papa-francesco_bolla_20150411_misericordiae-vultus.html
17 ”Building Kingdom Communities 2016, p13. http://www.faith2share.net/perch/resources/building-kingdom-communities-2016.pdf
18 One remains in possession of the old, recognised as of permanent value, yet is not restricted to it, but along with
it possesses a precious new element”.—μαθητεύειν is here used transitively as in Matthew 28:19, Acts 14:21.—ἐκβάλλει
points to free distribution of treasures by the householder. He gives out new or old according to the nature of the article. The mere scribe, Rabbinical in spirit, produces only the old and stale. The disciple of the kingdom,
like the Master, is always fresh-minded, yet knows how to value all old spiritual treasures of Holy Writ or Christian tradition.
19 John 3. 7:50-51, 19:39-42. “Nicodemus may have been similar to Joseph of Arimathea in that perhaps he, too, was a disciple of Jesus but had not yet mustered the courage to declare his faith openly. Perhaps Nicodemus’s final recorded
act was his declaration of faith”. https://www.gotquestions.org/Nicodemus-in-the-Bible.html
20 Acts 5:34., 5:38-39, ”t is clear that Gamaliel and his family were revered as men of wisdom and prudential
judgment. In God’s sovereign plan, this Jewish rabbi preserved the lives of the apostles in the early church and helped equip the greatest Christian missionary.”https://www.gotquestions.org/Gamaliel-in-the-Bible.html
21 Matthew 13:48. καθίσαντες συνέλεξαν: equally a matter of course; a thing to be done deliberately, of which the sitting attitude is an emblem. There is a time for everything; the time for sorting is at the end of the fishing.—σαπρὰ, vide on Matthew 7:17. Matthew 13:49-50 contain the interpretation in much the same terms as in Matthew 13:41-42
22 Matthew 13:43. ἐκλάμψουσι: vide Daniel 12:2, which seems to be
in view; an expressive word suggestive of the sun emerging from behind a cloud. The mixture of good and evil men in this world hides the characters of both.
23 Matthew 13:48. καθίσαντες συνέλεξαν:
equally a matter of course; a thing to be done deliberately, of which the sitting attitude is an emblem. There is a time for everything; the time for sorting is at the end of the fishing.—σαπρὰ,
vide on Matthew 7:17. Matthew 13:49-50 contain the interpretation in much the same terms as in Matthew 13:41-42
24 Matthew 13:43. ἐκλάμψουσι: vide Daniel 12:2, which seems to be in view; an expressive word suggestive of the sun emerging from behind a cloud. The mixture of good and evil men in this world hides the characters of both.
25 Personhood is not the same as individualism. A part of the image of God in us is our need for community.
Our choices have an impact on others,whether personally among our friends and family, locally in our community or globally through our consumption or purchasing habits. Relating as persons, respecting choice and agency, is,
therefore, set in the context of community wellbeing, with both responsibility and agency working together for the good of one another” Ann Morrisey, http://www.faith2share.net/perch/resources/building-kingdom-communities-2016.pdf p21
26 Matt 4;19
27 “we come back to the primary purpose of the church: to be a worshipping community shaped by Jesus’
priorities, expressing and anticipating the in-breaking kingdom of God and the future renewal of all things.”Wright, T. Surprised by Hope (2007) London: SPCK. p245
28 Phillipians 2:5-8
