It's like treasure, hidden in a field.

For weeks now I have been doing a series of messages that I've entitled, "The Things Concerning the Kingdom of God." Jesus often took objects and places that would have been familiar to his listeners and said, "The Kingdom of God is like this."

Kingdom can mean a place, a physical realm, or it can mean the decisions and the influence of the King brought to bear in our day-to-day life. In Matthew's gospel it is recorded that Jesus said, "It is like a man who found treasure hidden in a field. The man hid it again and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field."

Hidden treasure, this is a thing that dreams are made of. I remember recently reading about a man who bought a bunch of old books and magazines at a garage sale. Later he came across one document that caught his eye. It turned out that he had stumbled on one of the few original copies of the Declaration of Independence, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars!

Another incident comes to mind. A man was traveling near Qumran in the Holy Land when a fierce storm came up and he took refuge in a cave. He stumbled upon a monk who lived as a recluse in that cave. The monk started a fire with some dry kindling. The man noticed that the 'kindling' was actually parchment material. The monk unwittingly was starting a fire with the oldest existing copy of the scriptures. This find became known as the Dead Sea Scrolls!

In each of these examples, the great discovery happened during routine occurrences of the day-to-day lives of the individuals. There is also another subplot here. Once the treasure was discovered, the man sold all he had to purchase the field. I think there are a number of things that Jesus meant for us to think about here:

1. There is treasure to be found in the day to day.
2. It is hidden; that is to say it say, not so obvious.
3. Once a person finds this treasure, it is worth everything.

Have you ever heard anyone say, "So what field are you in?" or "There has been a great discovery in the field of chemistry." In these instances the field is referring to your occupation or your career. Could it be that right next to your cubicle there is treasure for the Lord's kingdom to be found and you just haven't discovered or found it yet?

I want us to think about that. I want us also to think about the area where we live and minister. One could call that a field, too.

Pastor Jim
March 18, 2007