GIG 206 - Identifying Ourselves Correctly in the Parables

The words of Jesus - surprisingly to many people - are not always what they seem at face value, as we've discussed over the past few weeks here on Growing in Grace. Often we begin with a preconceived premise in our determination of what Jesus is trying to communicate, but if we start with the wrong premise then we're going to end up going down the wrong path, leading to the wrong conclusions. With this in mind, this week we take a look at how various characters in the parables that Jesus told are often misunderstood because we often start with the wrong premise of the meaning of each parable.

Often the parable of the Good Samaritan is read and taught in such a way as to make us (Christians) out to be people who should strive to be the Good Samaritan in the story. The parables of the Pearl of Great Price and of the Treasure Hidden in a Field are presented as stories that show Jesus as a precious pearl and treasure that we are to purchase after we sell all we have. Are these things really what these parables are communicating? We'll take into consideration the people Jesus was talking with in each situation and what questions He was responding to, and also take into account the surrounding context and other New Covenant truth to help us sort out who some of characters in the parables really represent.

Hint: We often try to make ourselves the heroes and/or the centerpieces of the parables. But perhaps these parables really show us how Jesus is the hero and centerpiece!

gigcast.graceroots.org

You are so valuable to God that He paid the full price to have you

YOU are the pearl of great price that a Man, when He had found you, went and sold all He had and purchased you!

YOU are the treasure hidden in a field, which a Man, for joy over you, went and sold all that He had to buy the field!

We Didn't Pay the Price - He Did!

This week's podcast was inspired in part by a recent blog post from Steve McVey - It's Not About Us. When Steve was at our church 3 or 4 years ago, he shared some of the same thoughts that are in this blog post. He spoke of how parables such as the Pearl of Great Price and the Treasure Hidden in a Field have been taken to mean that we have paid a great price to gain a precious pearl and a rich treasure named Jesus. But in the light of the gospel, in which Life and Salvation is a free gift - not something we can buy - those views just don't make sense!

This week Mike and Joel talk about how we've misidentified the pearl and the treasure as Jesus, when really the pearl and the treasure is us! God so loved the world that He gave Jesus. Jesus purchased us with His own blood!

It's not about us. It's not about us keeping a covenant. It's not about us paying some price to earn or obtain Jesus. It's about what God has done for us! Be encouraged with some words this week about God's great love for you - how He treasures you!

gigcast.graceroots.org

God's Treasure (repost)

(First posted 7/19/07)


As I meditate more upon God's love in action, which I believe is really the only way we'll ever even begin to walk in it ourselves, a couple more examples that come to mind are based upon two parables.

Steve McVey of Grace Walk Ministries (see his blog), when he was visiting my church a couple of years ago, shed light and opened my eyes to the beauty of God's love demonstrated in the parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price. I'll put it in my own words below.

"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. (Matt 13:44)

"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. (Matt 13:45-46)

I've always, always, always heard that the treasure in the field and the pearl of great price is JESUS, and that we're to sell all we have so that we can have Him. But hold on a minute. How can we purchase what God gives us freely? And to think about it a little further, isn't there a price that Jesus paid so that God could have us? "For God so loved the world (the treasure, the pearls) that He gave His only begotten Son..."

...our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us... (Titus 2:13b-14a)

For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all... (1 Tim 2:5-6)

Let's be real about this... Did we ever do a thing to seek out or to earn any of this? "There is no one righteous, no not one..." "There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God."

The pearl of great price. The treasure in the field. Isn't Jesus talking about us? And again, the price that was paid - isn't that what Jesus did? Isn't it Jesus who went looking for the lost sheep? All we can really do is to respond to what He has done for us! We cannot treat it as a debt, because He gave all this to us freely. And even our response is by His grace. How we've forgotten that the coming of Jesus wasn't about what we could do for God, but it was ALL about His love for us, and how He considered us so precious that HE did all this for us!

One of my favorite passages that gets to the heart of God's love in action is found in Philippians 2. We're encouraged to love one another, be of one accord, be of one mind, etc, by looking to the example of Christ:

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil 2:5-11)

By all of this we know God's love for us. He demonstrated it fully and perfectly.

When Jesus told the rich young ruler, "sell all you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven," He Himself was in the very process of demonstrating it, by giving up His rights to deity ("selling all He had") and becoming one of us, coming in our likeness, being obedient to the point of death on a cross (giving Himself to us, the "poor")... and ultimately being exalted to the highest place, and receiving the ultimate treasure in heaven...

Us.