Matthew 13:45-46 / Surrendering All for the Kingdom of Heaven
Introduction: Passions, Truth, and God’s Heart
If you have been around The Well for any number of years, you know that our journey is intertwined with The Cross Church over at Palm and Gettysburg, which is now our Fig Garden campus. For decades, Sam Freshwater served faithfully as senior pastor there before joining our staff in pastoral care. Married for nearly forty-one years and in ministry since the early 1980s, Sam is profoundly committed to the gospel and to rightly handling God’s Word.
Well, with all those years of experience, I can’t wait to hear what I have to say!
Just a little bit about me: I was not raised in a Christian home. My father was nowhere to be found—in fact, I never met my father. My mother did the best she could to raise my sister and me. Early on in my life, sports became my god and my salvation. I had just enough success in athletics that it paid my way through college. As Raider fans know, I adopted that motto early on: “Just win, baby.” Winning was everything to me. I used to think, “Show me a good loser, and I’ll show you a loser.” I am passionate about winning, especially when it comes to sports. If you follow me on Facebook, you know very well that I am passionate about my San Francisco Giants, and I expect them to do well.
There is something else I am passionate about: two blondes. One of those blondes only has two legs—her name is Liz. She is the woman I have had the joy of being married to for almost forty-one years. We have had the privilege of doing life together. The other blonde has four legs: my Labrador retriever, Abby. I am a passionate dog lover. In fact, I want to take friendly exception to my good friend Christian, who spoke a couple of weeks ago about praying for a dog and referred to it as a trivial matter. I would suggest to you that if you spell “dog” backwards, you will see it is not trivial at all!
Most importantly, I am passionate about the truth. I have always been a person seeking truth, and if you want to know what really upsets me, just lie to me. In 1975, I found the ultimate truth in the person of Jesus Christ. My deepest hope is that by my life and my words, I will proclaim that truth.
Let us begin with a word of prayer.
Father, as we open up Your Word today, speak to us. We do not need to hear from me—we do not need my thoughts, my ideas, or my opinions. Father, we need to hear from You. May Your truth be clearly spoken, warmly received, and faithfully obeyed. We pray these things in Christ’s name, Amen.
If there is anything you take away from this message today, I hope it is this: God loves you with all of His heart, and He wants you to love Him with all of your heart.
There is no doubt that God loves us. The Bible is replete with verse after verse declaring God’s great love for humanity. We know that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16 (NASB)
’For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
Scripture reminds us that greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
John 15:13 (NASB)
’Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8 (NASB)
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
The list goes on and on. But it is the second part of that truth—God’s desire for us to love Him with all of our heart and surrender fully to Him—that I want to focus on today.
The Parables of the Kingdom
Matthew 13 contains seven parables teaching us about the kingdom of heaven.
The first two—the parable of the sower and the parable of the wheat and the tares—describe the nature of the kingdom. They show that in its present form on earth, the kingdom encompasses both good and bad, believers and unbelievers. Hold onto that thought, because we will return to it shortly.
The next two parables—the mustard seed and the leaven—speak of the power of the kingdom: how it starts remarkably small, but grows, expands, and influences the entire world.
The following two parables—the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price—teach us about the appropriation of the kingdom: how an individual actually receives and values the kingdom of heaven for themselves.
Let us read Matthew 13, starting at verse 45:
Matthew 13:45-46 (NASB)
’Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
In the ancient world, pearls were the equivalent of diamonds today. They were the most valuable gems known to man. If you owned fine pearls, you were considered exceptionally wealthy. Finding pearls was dangerous work. Divers had no modern scuba gear; they tied heavy rocks to their bodies, dropped over the side of a boat to the sea floor, and frantically searched the mud for oysters. They risked exploding their lungs, drowning, and encountering predators, all for the chance to find a gem. If a diver brought up a magnificent pearl, he could name his price.
This is why Jesus warns us not to throw our pearls before swine. You do not take what is priceless and cast it before pigs.
Matthew 7:6 (NASB)
’Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.
Furthermore, in the book of Revelation, when Scripture describes the breathtaking beauty of the New Jerusalem, the gates of the city are fashioned from pearls. They represent incomparable beauty and immense value.
In this parable, the merchant finds one singular pearl of great price and sells everything he has to buy it, realizing it is worth more than all his earthly possessions combined. This short parable reveals three vital principles for us today.
1. The Kingdom of Heaven Is Priceless in Value
First, the kingdom of heaven is priceless in value. This parable illustrates the incomparable worth of salvation in Jesus Christ.
Think about what salvation brings to your life. It brings complete forgiveness for everything you have ever done wrong. Every sin from your past, every failure today, and every mistake tomorrow has been paid for in full by Jesus Christ. When God forgives, He casts our sins into the depths of the sea, never to bring them up against us again.
Salvation brings His love, joy, peace, patience, and mercy. Most remarkably, it restores a right relationship with the living God. Have you ever been so at odds with someone that when you saw them walking toward you, you turned around to avoid them? Before Christ, that was our relationship with a holy God. We wanted to hide in the shadows. But through salvation, we are reconciled. Because perfect love casts out fear, we can stand before Him unashamed and unafraid.
Of all the treasures in this world, salvation is by far the greatest. Jesus asks a piercing question about true value:
Matthew 16:26 (NASB)
’For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
Francis Chan once wrote, “Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.” What are we spending our lives pursuing? Are we pursuing things that have eternal significance? The kingdom of heaven is worth pursuing with all our strength, soul, and might.
Psalms 42:1 (NASB)
For the choir director. A Maskil of the sons of Korah. As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God.
2. The Kingdom Must Be Personally Appropriated
Second, the kingdom must be personally appropriated. This is the very crux of the parable.
Notice what the merchant does. He does not merely admire the pearl from afar. He does not say, “Look at this magnificent pearl! Isn’t it gorgeous? I am so glad I got to stand in its presence so I can tell everyone I saw it.” That was not enough. He went and sold everything he owned so that the pearl would become his personal possession.
This distinction is crucial. As I mentioned earlier, the present kingdom of heaven contains both believers and non-believers. In Matthew 13, Jesus gives three parables illustrating this reality. In the parable of the four soils, all four receive the seed, but only one bears eternal fruit. In the parable of the wheat and the tares, both grow together in the field until harvest time, when the master separates the wheat into the barn and burns the tares. In the parable of the dragnet, the net pulls in all kinds of fish, and the fishermen sit down on the shore to separate the good from the bad.
Jesus even warned religious crowds about the danger of being close to the kingdom without truly belonging to Him.
Matthew 8:11-12 (NASB)
‘I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline [at the table] with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Paul echoes this principle in Romans when he explains that not all who are descended from Israel belong to true Israel.
Romans 9:6 (NASB)
But [it is] not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are [descended] from Israel;
It is entirely possible to be around the things of God, to enjoy the culture of church, to admire Jesus, and yet never personally appropriate the gospel to your own heart. God is not looking for outward proximity; He is looking for inward surrender. You must make the treasure your own.
3. The Kingdom Is Entered Through a Divine Transaction
Third, the kingdom is made personal by a transaction. Verse 46 tells us that the merchant “sold all that he had and bought it.”
Let me be crystal clear: you cannot purchase your salvation with money, and you cannot earn it with good deeds. Salvation is entirely by grace. Yet Scripture uses the language of a transaction to describe what happens when we come to Christ. Isaiah writes:
Isaiah 55:1 (NASB)
’Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost.
How do you buy something without money and without cost? The transaction is this: you give up all that you have for all that He has. You surrender your life, your rights, and your self-rule, and in return, He gives you His righteousness, His life, and His kingdom.
The Greek word translated “sold” in verse 46 carries the connotation of transferring ownership—enslaving or yielding rights over to another. The merchant took everything that had his name stamped on it, surrendered ownership, and placed it in the hands of another so he could secure the pearl.
Salvation is absolutely free, but it will cost you everything you are.
Luke 14:33 (NASB)
’So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.
Matthew 16:24 (NASB)
Then Jesus said to His disciples, ’If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.
Jesus asks: “Do you want My treasure? Then give Me yours.” That is an incredible exchange. The Apostle Paul understood this transaction deeply when he evaluated his own life:
Philippians 3:7-8 (NASB)
But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,
Paul was that merchant. He looked at his pedigree, his status, and his achievements, and counted them as garbage compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ.
Walking in Daily Surrender
This call to surrender is not only for the person receiving salvation for the first time; it is the daily calling for every follower of Jesus. Jesus is not just our Savior; He is our Lord.
In my pastoral care ministry at The Well, I have the privilege of sitting down with many people who are walking through painful seasons, marital struggles, and personal crises. While I would never violate anyone’s confidentiality, I can tell you that the most common underlying issue I encounter is a reluctance to fully surrender everything to the lordship of Jesus Christ.
If I could wave a wand to bring healing to our church family, it would be to see every single heart fully surrendered to the will of God. Imagine the restoration in our marriages, the joy overflowing in our homes, and the witness we would have in our community if we truly yielded our lives to Him.
We miss so much joy when we hold back from full surrender.
About six years ago, Liz and I went through the hardest season we have ever experienced in our marriage. It was so intense that I remember pacing around the backyard, venting on the phone to my oldest son, Josh. I was furious. I ranted and raved like a lunatic.
Then Josh asked me a sobering question: “Dad, are you going to leave Mom?”
Like the prodigal son who came to his senses, God used my son’s words to stop me in my tracks.
Luke 15:17 (NASB)
’But when he came to his senses, he said, ’How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger!
I told Josh, “I love your mother. I am angry right now, but I love her, and by God’s grace, we are going to work this out.”
I hung up the phone, walked over to our diving board, sat down, and wept before the Lord. In that quiet moment, the Lord spoke to my heart: “Sam, do you love Me?”
“Yes, Lord, You know I love You.”
“Then love your bride as I love My church and gave Myself up for her. Even when the church is wrong, I love her. Even when the church is sinful, I love her. Even when the church is broken and pathetic, I love her. If you follow Me, go love your wife like I love Mine.”
Think of the blessings I would have missed if I had allowed my stubborn anger to rule my life. We would not be celebrating forty-one years of marriage. I would have missed sitting in our recliners together laughing, hearing my bride’s laugh, enjoying our children and grandchildren, and serving alongside our staff family here at The Well. When we refuse to surrender, we forfeit God’s best. But when we surrender our will to His, His grace restores what we could never fix on our own.
Conclusion: Give Him Your Heart
Life is hard. It is hard even when you are walking with Jesus in full surrender. But as the old saying goes, life is a whole lot harder when we are foolish. We try so often to take back ownership of the things we surrendered to God. We want to sit on the throne of our lives again. But whenever we take over, things fall apart. When we give control to Jesus Christ, He brings peace that surpasses all understanding.
God wants your whole heart. He does not want a portion of your life; He wants all of you. Like the merchant in the parable, let us joyfully surrender everything we have so that we may lay hold of the incomparable treasure of Jesus Christ.
Let us pray.
Father, Your grace is simply amazing. We do not deserve it, and we cannot earn it, but we desperately need it. For anyone here who needs to make that first decision to trust Jesus Christ, give them the courage to surrender their life to You today. For those of us who have walked with You for years, help us lay down our self-will, our anger, our pride, and our control. We surrender all that we are into Your hands. Thank You for Your mercies, which are new every morning. In Jesus’ name, Amen.