One of the most prevalent teachings in the Bible is on the kingdom of God. Jesus typically used parables to teach about this central theme. Each parable would convey one primary lesson. And that’s certainly the case in the two following parables, one about a hidden treasure and the other about a very valuable pearl. In each case, the primary kingdom lesson that Jesus is teaching is basically this: to be welcomed into the kingdom of God is the grand prize of life, and we should pursue that goal with everything we’ve got. Securing a place in the kingdom of God is worth whatever sacrifice we have to make and whatever price we have to pay.

Beginning in Matthew 13:44 Jesus says, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” Then, verses 45 and 46 say, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

The Primary Lesson

Two stories bound together by a common lesson—once you recognize the treasure that God’s kingdom is, you will do whatever is necessary to ensure that you get it. Or, if you prefer, we can come at the same truth from the opposite direction by saying that the only possible way to make sense of anyone who decides that they are not interested in God’s kingdom is to recognize that they just don’t understand the value of God’s kingdom. Because once you’ve recognized its worth, you will pursue it with everything you’ve got.

That’s the primary kingdom lesson that is taught through each of these parables. But there are also secondary lessons that are worth noting.

Secondary Lesson 1: The Main Difference Between the Two Parables

One of those secondary lessons is found in noting the most significant way in which these stories are distinct from one another. The stories contain a number of similarities, but they are, in fact, distinct in one very significant way, namely, that the man who finds the hidden treasure does so by accident while the merchant finds the costly pearl as a result of a very purposeful and diligent search. And by including this key distinction in the stories, Jesus is opening our eyes to this reality—while everyone who enters God’s kingdom does so in exactly the same way—and that is by putting their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior—the paths that lead people to that moment of decision when they place their faith in Jesus are many and diverse.

I’ve known people, for instance, who ultimately came to faith in Christ at the end of a decade’s long spiritual quest that had taken them through every mystical, spiritual, or religious expression that you could imagine. Buddhism. Hinduism. Transcendental meditation. Mind-altering drugs. You name it, they tried it. Their entire life had been a quest to find God. And eventually their searching led them to trust Jesus as their Savior and they knew, immediately, that they had finally found God.

On the other hand, there are also a whole bunch of folks who just seem to stumble into the kingdom almost by accident. No great search. No long journey. One day, they just find God.

So, here’s the point—there’s only one way into God’s kingdom and that’s through a saving relationship with His Son, Jesus, but people travel many different roads to get to Jesus. There are also some lessons to be learned from the similarities in the stories.

Secondary Lesson 2: The Similarities Between the Two Parables

The obvious similarity is that in both stories the seekers ultimately get the prize they were seeking. God is not elusive. He is not trying to avoid us. Rather, He is very much a self-disclosing God. He delights in revealing Himself to us—through His creation, through His word, through Jesus, through the quiet promptings of His Spirit, through His church, through the testimonies of His children—God delights in making Himself known to us and rejoices over everyone who finds Him.

Psalm 145:18 says it like this, “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.”

Here’s the good news—if you have in your heart today the sincere desire to know God, that desire in you is God’s assurance to you that He is already in the process of drawing you to Himself. And if you will continue to seek Him in truth, you will find Him. James 4:8 says it like this, “Come near to God and he will come near to you.” God wants us to find Him.

Another lesson we find in the similarities in these stories is that the process that ultimately led these people to claim the prize they were seeking began the moment they recognized the value of the prize. The lesson is that the moment we glimpse the wealth of blessings that God freely lavishes on His children, the pursuit of God’s kingdom becomes our highest priority. We will not be able to ignore all that God offers us:

-- Complete forgiveness for all of your sins—past, present, and future. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was sufficient to cover all of the sins of all of God’s children. How much is that worth to you?

-- The constant, abiding presence of God’s Spirit to secure in your heart a spirit of joy and peace that even the worst circumstances of life cannot take away. How much is that worth to you?

-- The confident assurance that when this life comes to an end, you will spend all of eternity with God and His family in Heaven, and there is not anything that can happen to deny you that future because your future does not depend on anything that you have done for yourself but rather upon what God, by His grace, has already done for you through Jesus. The moment you place your faith in Jesus, your eternal destiny in Heaven is totally and completely secure. How much is that worth to you?

People who are not interested in God’s kingdom simply do not know the value of God’s kingdom. But the moment they recognize its true value, the pursuit of God’s kingdom will become their highest priority.

Now, the lesson here is not that we have to somehow buy our way into God’s kingdom or that salvation is something that we can earn through our own hard work. That’s not the point. Through His death on the cross, Jesus accomplished for us literally everything that had to be done to make salvation available to us. Our only contribution to the process is to take God at His word and place our complete faith and trust and confidence in Jesus as our Savior.

No, the lesson here is not that we can somehow buy a relationship with God. The lesson here is that once we recognize the incredible worth of a relationship with God we will gladly pay any price and make any sacrifice to get it. The very idea that God could somehow ask anything of us that could in any way be considered unreasonable is blatantly absurd once we realize that there is nothing in life more valuable than our relationship with God. Just think about this logically for a moment. If a relationship with God is truly our highest value, then anything we might be asked to sacrifice to attain it will necessarily be something of lesser value.

How many people sacrifice and save for years so that they can buy a better car, a bigger house, or, these days, a new face?

A hundred years from now, that bigger house, better car, or new face will not matter and possibly will not even be remembered. But a hundred years from now—and you can take this to the bank—your relationship with God will, without a doubt, still be the most valuable thing in your life. So how could we possibly conclude that a sacrifice for a temporary thing is reasonable, but a sacrifice for something eternal is not?

When we rightly recognize the value of our relationship with God, we will gladly pay any price and make any sacrifice to stay as close to God as we can get.

Why? For one si\mple reason—being close to God is the grand prize of life.

Have you claimed it yet?

If not, what’s keeping you from doing so?

(Rev. Tom Marcum is the pastor of Petaluma Valley Baptist Church in Petaluma, California.)