Matthew 13:44-46

This morning, I want to ask you if you are familiar with a person named Mel Fischer? Have you ever heard his name? Mel was a salvage boat operator who as a little boy read in a book that there was a Spanish ship loaded with treasure that sank off the coast of Spain in 1622. He got in his mind that he would like to find that treasure. So he spent all of his adult life looking for it. For years Mel searched for it to no avail. He was actually a pretty good motivator so he talked people into investing in finding it with him, telling them that if they found it, they would all become wealthy. So they supported him. But very tragically, he had some accidents. His son and his son's wife were killed while helping him look for the treasure. He lost several boats. He lost sponsors and for years, his life was very difficult, even tragic. Then in 1985, he invented a gadget that was like a fire hose to be used under water. What it could do is blow sand away from the bottom of the ocean. He and his men put on diving gear, went down and they searched the basic vicinity where this boat was supposed to have sunk, blowing sand away from the bottom with this powerful hose. Suddenly, they found it. This was his lifetime achievement. Did it make him rich? Beyond your wildest dreams of avarice. $400 million dollars worth of treasure. There were 7,000 ounces of gold. 1,000 bars of silver. 520,000 Spanish doubloons. There were also precious gems and things like golden chandeliers and other artifacts. He found it! But at what cost? What came to my mind as I read his story is the Biblical quote&”What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?” Now I don't know whether he lost his soul. We can't judge him. Maybe he tithed! Can you imagine if he tithed that to a church? That church would never have to take up a collection again! Who knows what he did and how he handled his $400 million that he found. Of course, he had to pay his investors back. That was part of the arrangement.

With the scripture that we read this morning, we become aware that Jesus talked frequently about treasure. The two little parables that were given described two phenomena about treasure. The first was that one might stumble upon it and the second was a person might spend most of their life looking for it like Mel Fischer. Now in the first parable, a fellow was just going about looking at property and came across a box buried in someone's backyard which often happened in Jesus' day. When the Barbarian's were coming through and stealing everything, people would take all their riches and bury them in their backyard. Apparently, someone had done this and long since had died. No one knew that this box filled full of treasure was in the backyard. As Jesus described in this parable, a man simply stumbled on it. Then he went and sold everything that he had to buy the property so that he could legally claim the box that was buried in the backyard.

The second parable was about the fellow who all of his life looked for the perfect pearl. When he finally found it, he sold everything that he had so that he could buy it. In both cases, the lesson is the same. When we locate the treasure, it is worth committing our life and our resources to obtain it.

What is that treasure? Are there wrong treasures? Are there treasures that are unworthy of our life? Do we value treasures that are valueless? Again, I remind you that Jesus said, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and then lose his eternal soul?” So the goal of our life is to find THE treasure. What is THE treasure? THE treasure is the kingdom of God. Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and all things else will be given to you besides.” Think about that for a minute. If we seek the right treasure, then we are going to get whatever it is we need in our life if we ask for it and diligently work for it. It is going to happen; we will get all that we need. Not that we are going to become millionaires but we will get what we need.

I've known three millionaires in my lifetime. One died the week that he became a millionaire so he never got to spend his money or enjoy it. One went to prison because he had gotten his million by defrauding other people. The last one's family was riddled with health problems and no matter how he would spend his money to resolve the health issues of himself, his wife and children, it never happened. So what did it profit them to have all that money? It didn't profit them anything. It is not wrong for Christians to have money but the message in today's scripture reading is that God comes first. A relationship with Jesus Christ comes first. That is THE treasure, the only treasure that we should actively spend our whole lives and resources seeking. The kingdom of God is present in that personal relationship with Jesus Himself. That is what life is all about. Put that first. You'll find joy. You'll find peace and your needs will be met.