Dear Christian friends:

Some of you are members of the California Association of the Deaf (CAD). Some of you ladies belong to the Southern California Women's Club of the Deaf (SCWCD). Most of you here today are members of Pilgrim Lutheran Church for the Deaf (PLCD). We are members of various organizations. But there is one special organization to which you and I belong, better than all other organizations. That is God's organization or club! If you are a Christian, you belong to God's “club’.

Here in our text Jesus calls it "the kingdom of heaven." And Jesus wants us who are members of His "club" to understand the benefits of membership and to appreciate our membership in His Kingdom. Jesus tells three parables to help us better appreciate our membership in His Kingdom. In these three parables Jesus tells us about


In the first parable Jesus compares His Kingdom with a hidden treasure. (verse 44)

This hidden treasure is Jesus. Jesus is here talking about Himself. He is like great riches.

All people need this treasure, Jesus. People are sinners. They are spiritual "poor," "broke," and "bankrupt." All people deserve to go to hell. All people desperately need Jesus the treasure. You and I need him, too!

Jesus is the treasure because He offers forgiveness of sins. Through Jesus we sinners can go back to God our heavenly Father. (John 14:6) In Jesus we have new and eternal life! Jesus is the treasure!

This treasure is very precious. God gives us many things: our body or natural life, food, clothes, house, good government, fields, friends, wife, children, etc. But in giving us Jesus God gives us Himself. God can give you nothing better!

Jesus says that this treasure is hidden in a field. The "field" is the world. The treasure, Jesus, the Kingdom of God, is now here in the world among people. The treasure is near us and we need to find it!

This treasure is hidden from natural man. (1 Corinthians 2:12-14 and Ephesians 5:8) Natural man by his own searching and thinking and studying can never find this treasure. That's why Jesus here calls it a "hidden treasure." Yet God intends that all people have this treasure. God sent Jesus to suffer and die on the cross for all people. Jesus died to save all!

In this first parable Jesus teaches us that He is the hidden treasure here in the world intended for all people. In the second parable Jesus compares Himself with a most expensive pearl, (verse 45-46).

Jesus is the pearl of great price, a special treasure. He is a special person! He is the only Son of God who became Man, born of a woman. (Galatians 4:4) In Jesus all the fullness of God is hidden in one Man, (Colossians 2:9). Jesus is a precious, wonderful, special Man or Person! And He did a special wonderful work. He saved the world from sin and hell by His suffering and death upon the cross. He did the one, special, great work. The greatest work anyone ever did!

Jesus is much, much better than any other treasure. He is the One perfect pearl! No other pearl or treasure can compare with Jesus: Money, gold, a mansion, a Rolls Royce car, good health, fame, success, the four gold medals which Carl Lewis won in the L.A. Olympic games can not compare with Jesus. Jesus is the One special pearl or treasure! For Jesus men give up all earthly things. In the first and second parables the men sold all that they had to buy the "hidden treasure" and the "pearl of great price." And St. Paul said, "For to have Jesus I have suffered the loss of all things, and do consider these earthly things as dung, that I can win Christ," (Philippians 37:6).

"Dung" means manure, All earthly treasures are as dung when compared with Jesus Christ! I use these profane words to impress on you that you do not love all your earthly treasures and forsake the One, Real, Treasure, JESUS!

In the third parable Jesus compares Himself with a fish net. Jesus means that He is a searching treasure, (verses 47-50).

In His Word, or through His Word Jesus searches for us. A net catches fish; the fish do not catch the net. Perhaps from the first two parables you thought that you must find the treasure Jesus. No! You and I can't find Him, but He finds us and catches us, same as a net catches fish. In His Word God seeks for us and calls us to attend to the treasure He has prepared for us in His Son, Jesus. God fishes for people through the church's preaching of the Gospel and through the mission work. By the Gospel preaching the Holy Spirit leads men, women and children to believe in Jesus. When Jesus called Peter to follow Him Jesus said to Peter: "Fear not; from henceforth you will catch men." (Luke 5:10) Before Peter, the fisherman, caught fish, but now and in the future he is to preach the Gospel and catch men. It is most important that we hear the Gospel regularly that God can "catch" us! It is also important that we support the Gospel preaching here at Pilgrim and in our District and in the world through Synod's missions!

Jesus warns us that those who believe in Him will be saved, but those who refuse to believe the Gospel will be condemned to eternal punishment, (verses 48-50)

Do we understand what these three parables teach? (verse 51) Understanding means faith and trust and action! Do you understand about Jesus the Kingdom Treasure? Do you believe that Jesus is your Savior? Is Jesus your pearl of great price? Do you have hope and joy in Him only? Let us answer: Yes, I believe that Jesus is my Savior. He is not hidden from me. He is my precious pearl and treasure. He has found me and caught me. I shall live in His kingdom forever.

Amen.