1 00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:14,800 So today's teaching scripture is from Matthew chapter 13 verse 45 2 00:00:14,800 --> 00:00:19,040 to 46. Again the Kingdom of heaven is 3 00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:22,040 like a merchant in search of fine pearls. 4 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:26,800 On finding 1 Pearl of great value, he went and sold all that 5 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:30,480 he had and bought it. This is the word of the Lord 6 00:00:30,480 --> 00:00:34,080 Good. Morning. 7 00:00:36,320 --> 00:00:42,600 So in 1957, John Coltrane was. Fired. 8 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:47,240 From Miles Davis Band. He was deep in the throes of. 9 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:51,480 Addiction and was personally and professionally. 10 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:54,600 Wrecked. And it was in that state that he 11 00:00:54,600 --> 00:01:00,080 locked himself in a room and quit using both alcohol and 12 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:03,600 heroin cold Turkey. And he experienced what he. 13 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:06,560 Describes as a. Spiritual Awakening. 14 00:01:06,840 --> 00:01:11,160 In that place he. Didn't go looking for God, he 15 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:13,560 went into that room to white knuckle. 16 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:16,480 His way through detox. And. 17 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:19,920 Later he writes I. Experienced by the. 18 00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:22,520 Grace of God A. Spiritual awakening which was to 19 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:25,120 lead me. To a richer, fuller, more 20 00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:30,360 productive life. That kind of thing is what we 21 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:35,400 talked about in last week's parable of the hidden treasure 22 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:37,680 in the field that comes right before this one. 23 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:45,000 The Kingdom of Heaven, 1 might say, found Coltrane suddenly and 24 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:49,240 unexpectedly in that room, in the field that he was. 25 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:52,280 Plowing of his. Ordinary life but his. 26 00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:55,960 Greatest work? And one of the greatest albums 27 00:01:55,960 --> 00:02:00,040 in the history of recorded music, A Love Supreme, came 28 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:03,400 seven years. After that moment, After. 29 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:07,640 Seven years of daily practice of spiritual discipline. 30 00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:11,039 Of. Learning to pray through the 31 00:02:11,039 --> 00:02:13,960 instrument of what musicians called woodshedding. 32 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:18,400 That's the long. Unglamorous, arduous, solitary 33 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:23,480 process of. The formation of music, this 34 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:26,640 album didn't come from this chance encounter that he had. 35 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:30,160 He didn't have this experience of the love of God and then 36 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:32,640 write a love supreme the very next day. 37 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:36,600 It came from everything that. He did after that. 38 00:02:36,600 --> 00:02:41,040 Profound moment of change. So a love. 39 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:46,200 Supreme in four movements, 33 minutes long, recorded in one 40 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:49,480 session in one day on December 9th, 19. 64. 41 00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:53,720 The musicians who were in the studio that night described the 42 00:02:53,720 --> 00:02:55,960 session as unlike anything they had. 43 00:02:55,960 --> 00:02:59,440 Ever witnessed? There was this sense that 44 00:02:59,720 --> 00:03:03,800 something way beyond ordinary craft, ordinary music making, 45 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:07,200 was happening before their very. Eyes that. 46 00:03:07,600 --> 00:03:12,760 John Coltrane had prepared himself so thoroughly that the 47 00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:16,480 music came through him rather than from him, like it was 48 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:19,640 coming from another place. In the liner notes for A Love 49 00:03:19,640 --> 00:03:23,840 Supreme, Coltrane dedicated the album to God, calling it a 50 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:27,840 humble offering to Him and as an attempt to say thank you. 51 00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:31,400 God through our work. And he opened those notes with a 52 00:03:31,400 --> 00:03:36,680 single line of scripture. Seek and you shall find. 53 00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:43,160 This is the sort of summary of the prior. 54 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:45,360 Seven years of John Coltrane's life of. 55 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:50,040 Struggle of process of. Reflection of looking forward 56 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:53,960 and what I'm trying to. Describe with this story is this 57 00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:56,760 that the. Stumbling upon chance 58 00:03:56,760 --> 00:03:58,440 encounters. With God's love. 59 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:02,240 And the long intentional. Search are. 60 00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:06,440 Both in his story and you can't have the second one without the 61 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:08,520 first one. He has to have. 62 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:09,720 The moment. Of. 63 00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:12,600 Realization the this this chance encounter with the love. 64 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:14,960 Of God. To be able to go on the journey 65 00:04:14,960 --> 00:04:18,040 that he goes on. Next, but after. 66 00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:22,440 God's love finds John Coltrane he spends 7 years learning what 67 00:04:22,440 --> 00:04:26,840 to do with what he's found in that moment and so that. 68 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:30,920 Is where we'll be. This morning we were in Matthew 69 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:33,040 1340. Four last week. 70 00:04:33,040 --> 00:04:35,480 So for those of you who was here last week for. 71 00:04:35,480 --> 00:04:37,720 That one, yeah. So you probably forgot. 72 00:04:37,800 --> 00:04:39,160 The moment you walked out the door. 73 00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:42,160 What we talked about. So just a little refresher for 74 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:43,800 you. To no, I'm just. 75 00:04:43,800 --> 00:04:44,800 Kidding. I wait well. 76 00:04:44,840 --> 00:04:46,560 You know people. Always say you, you go home. 77 00:04:46,600 --> 00:04:49,000 Singing the worship songs, but nobody goes home singing the 78 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:51,960 sermon, right? So there are things that are a 79 00:04:51,960 --> 00:04:54,520 little easier to remember and and things that are a little 80 00:04:54,520 --> 00:04:58,840 harder, but there was a man. Plowing a field. 81 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:01,640 That he didn't own. And his plow. 82 00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:04,880 Hits something Buried treasure. And it finds. 83 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:08,720 Him in this ordinary moment. Of his everyday life. 84 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:14,680 That he didn't plan for, but what he finds is worth selling 85 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:16,440 everything. To buy the field. 86 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:18,440 That contained the treasure and so. 87 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:21,680 This week, Jesus says. Something similar again, and he 88 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:25,880 deliberately places this new parable alongside the previous 89 00:05:25,880 --> 00:05:31,440 one instead of an ordinary. Day laborer he tells a short 90 00:05:31,440 --> 00:05:35,000 story about a. Merchant and a lifetime of 91 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:36,840 searching. Of searching. 92 00:05:36,840 --> 00:05:41,440 As vocation, as searching. You know that this, this this 93 00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:44,680 man's only concern in life and so. 94 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:46,800 These two parables. When you read them through 95 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:50,080 quickly, they sound the same. They sort of follow the same 96 00:05:50,080 --> 00:05:53,520 cadence. A field hand finds treasure in a 97 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:56,120 field, sells everything to buy the field. 98 00:05:56,440 --> 00:05:59,960 For joy and a. Merchant searching for fine. 99 00:05:59,960 --> 00:06:02,960 Pearls finds a Pearl of great price sells. 100 00:06:02,960 --> 00:06:05,800 Everything to buy the Pearl, but looking a little bit. 101 00:06:05,800 --> 00:06:08,720 Closer I. Think there's actually a? 102 00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:12,000 Completely different aspect of what? 103 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:15,160 Jesus calls the Kingdom of heaven or the Kingdom of God in 104 00:06:15,160 --> 00:06:17,320 this second. Short story which? 105 00:06:17,400 --> 00:06:20,960 Raises a question worth sitting with before we go any further 106 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:23,720 into the text. If Jesus says that the. 107 00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:30,400 Kingdom can and indeed does find us completely by accident. 108 00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:35,440 Why search it all? I find myself asking that 109 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:37,680 question after the. Story that we read last week if. 110 00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:39,480 If the Kingdom. Is like. 111 00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:46,120 Someone who stumbles on treasure in a field, what's the value in? 112 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:49,040 Sort of troubling ourselves with the. 113 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:53,360 Searching with the asking with the hard questions of of faith 114 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:54,880 in life. The Quaker. 115 00:06:54,880 --> 00:06:57,760 Writer Parker Palmer. In his book, The Promise of. 116 00:06:57,760 --> 00:07:02,000 Paradox argues. That most of us are not equipped 117 00:07:02,280 --> 00:07:04,960 to understand. Our lives through the. 118 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:09,040 Lens of paradox. So this whole book he spends 119 00:07:09,040 --> 00:07:11,760 sort of unpacking the nature. Of. 120 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:15,880 The contradictions of the Christian faith, the 121 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:18,520 contradictions of the text, and the contradictions of the 122 00:07:18,520 --> 00:07:20,880 questions. That we have to ask ourselves to 123 00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:24,080 be able to truly live. This thing out because. 124 00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:26,400 We're people, at least. I'm a person who wants 125 00:07:26,400 --> 00:07:28,760 resolution. Either or. 126 00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:31,840 Black and white thinking is easier for me to get my mind 127 00:07:31,840 --> 00:07:36,600 around either the Kingdom is a. Gift that you receive. 128 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:38,760 Or it's something you work toward. 129 00:07:39,680 --> 00:07:41,840 Right, this is the. Way that our minds try to make 130 00:07:41,840 --> 00:07:44,840 sense of of these questions either. 131 00:07:44,840 --> 00:07:49,400 Grace does everything or. Your effort matters. 132 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:53,080 We set up these sort of. Bifurcated questions for 133 00:07:53,080 --> 00:07:55,760 ourselves. Because it's easier for us to 134 00:07:55,760 --> 00:07:59,080 live. In one side of that tension. 135 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:01,960 Or the other rather. Than holding that tension and 136 00:08:01,960 --> 00:08:03,680 living our. Whole lives. 137 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:06,360 In. A paradoxical truth. 138 00:08:06,920 --> 00:08:08,760 About what the Kingdom of God is like. 139 00:08:09,040 --> 00:08:14,520 We are not comfortable holding 2 profound truths in conversation 140 00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:17,760 with one another. At the same time, we want to 141 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:19,880 live on one side. Or the other but. 142 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:24,480 Palmer, drawing on the Christian mystical tradition. 143 00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:29,120 Says that faith is precisely the capacity to hold. 144 00:08:29,120 --> 00:08:34,039 Paradox with humility to hold the tensions in our lives. 145 00:08:34,520 --> 00:08:38,520 To hold the contradictory truths in our lives with humility. 146 00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:40,720 He quotes the physicist. Niels. 147 00:08:40,720 --> 00:08:43,440 Bohr, who says the opposite of a correct. 148 00:08:43,440 --> 00:08:47,640 Statement is a false statement. The opposite of a profound truth 149 00:08:48,080 --> 00:08:52,680 may be another profound truth. Isn't that an interesting 150 00:08:52,680 --> 00:08:55,000 thought? So these things are sort of. 151 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:57,320 Scattered all over our lives that that. 152 00:08:57,320 --> 00:09:02,160 Seem mutually exclusive. To believe one means that you 153 00:09:02,160 --> 00:09:04,480 would. Necessarily have to reject the 154 00:09:04,480 --> 00:09:07,440 other, right? But it's not so because when 155 00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:09,160 Jesus. Teaches these parables. 156 00:09:09,160 --> 00:09:11,280 Of the Kingdom, which is the series that we're in right now, 157 00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:13,720 where we're looking at the. Ways that Jesus teaches. 158 00:09:13,720 --> 00:09:15,880 About the different aspects of the Kingdom and these. 159 00:09:15,880 --> 00:09:18,560 Different ways of describing. What the Kingdom of. 160 00:09:18,560 --> 00:09:20,760 God is like. What the rule and reign? 161 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:23,240 The the the. Loving authority of God is. 162 00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:26,680 Like in our world. He uses paradox. 163 00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:30,760 He uses contradictions to teach about the nature of the Kingdom, 164 00:09:30,960 --> 00:09:35,400 so that we can see this thing from every possible angle you 165 00:09:35,400 --> 00:09:37,640 know I can think of. Ways that I've. 166 00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:41,320 Experienced the presence of God in both ways in my life, and I 167 00:09:41,320 --> 00:09:44,200 think you probably can too. I became a Christian because of 168 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:49,680 one of those ordinary moments that was animated by the love of 169 00:09:49,680 --> 00:09:52,560 God. An unsuspecting moment in my 170 00:09:52,560 --> 00:09:57,480 life where God's Kingdom just came crashing down on my head. 171 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:04,600 But I've also known as I think many of you have times in my. 172 00:10:04,600 --> 00:10:07,200 Life where I've searched. And I've prayed and I've 173 00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:09,360 discerned. And hungered for the love of. 174 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:11,840 God diligently. Over the course of. 175 00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:16,600 Months and. Years, and those have. 176 00:10:16,800 --> 00:10:23,280 Been uniquely satisfied at the end of a long process of seeking 177 00:10:23,280 --> 00:10:25,800 God. Both things can be true at the 178 00:10:25,800 --> 00:10:28,440 same time. So last week the Kingdom found 179 00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:31,800 someone who wasn't looking. This week the Kingdom is found 180 00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:36,000 by someone who has been searching for his whole life and 181 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:37,440 Jesus. Put these puts these two 182 00:10:37,440 --> 00:10:39,640 parables back-to-back. Very much on. 183 00:10:39,640 --> 00:10:42,880 Purpose because both are. True, and the tension between 184 00:10:42,880 --> 00:10:49,040 them is not a problem. To solve it's it's the shape. 185 00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:54,080 Of the thing itself, the Kingdom finds the accidental and. 186 00:10:54,080 --> 00:10:59,360 Rewards the devoted just. The same it comes in this 187 00:10:59,360 --> 00:11:02,600 strange. Logic of pure gift. 188 00:11:03,040 --> 00:11:06,920 And the culmination of a lifetime of searching both 189 00:11:06,920 --> 00:11:09,560 things are true at the same time, and holding both of these 190 00:11:09,560 --> 00:11:12,000 things without collapsing 1 into. 191 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:16,120 The other is part of the work. Of following Jesus. 192 00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:21,280 The first word of this. Parable is again. 193 00:11:23,440 --> 00:11:25,680 So it's a small work, small word that does. 194 00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:30,640 Real work. Again, Jesus says, deliberately 195 00:11:30,640 --> 00:11:33,360 asking us to. Read these parables as a pair. 196 00:11:33,920 --> 00:11:36,600 There's actually a third and even more confusing parable that 197 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:40,000 we're not going to preach on in this series that also begins 198 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:42,120 with, again, directly after this one. 199 00:11:42,120 --> 00:11:43,280 So if you'd like to. Go read it. 200 00:11:44,040 --> 00:11:45,760 You're welcome to, but you'll probably have. 201 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:49,320 Questions. And then he introduces a 202 00:11:49,320 --> 00:11:52,280 merchant. The Greek word is for a. 203 00:11:52,280 --> 00:11:55,880 Traveling wholesale trader so this isn't a side hustle. 204 00:11:56,160 --> 00:11:57,800 This is this. Person's whole. 205 00:11:57,800 --> 00:12:02,280 Life, their whole vocation, he deals specifically. 206 00:12:02,360 --> 00:12:05,880 In pearls. It is what this. 207 00:12:05,880 --> 00:12:09,840 Person knows and he has handled thousands of them. 208 00:12:10,400 --> 00:12:14,800 Across years of work. In markets from the Persian 209 00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:16,600 Gulf. To the Red Sea. 210 00:12:17,040 --> 00:12:20,280 He knows immediately what he's looking at because he finds 211 00:12:20,280 --> 00:12:23,360 something that's extraordinary, that stands out because he spent 212 00:12:23,360 --> 00:12:25,720 his. Whole professional life. 213 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:29,280 Learning the difference between fine and ordinary. 214 00:12:29,840 --> 00:12:32,960 So this is just a little bit of like what the hearers of this 215 00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:34,640 parable. Would be imagining when Jesus. 216 00:12:34,640 --> 00:12:38,120 Starts to describe. This merchant the search. 217 00:12:38,600 --> 00:12:42,040 For the Pearl of great, Price prepared his eyes. 218 00:12:42,440 --> 00:12:46,840 Because he had looked on many, many, many lesser things before, 219 00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:50,200 he finds this one. So much like the buried treasure 220 00:12:50,200 --> 00:12:52,240 last week, There's there's. Something about this? 221 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:55,840 Story that would have. Landed more forcefully on. 222 00:12:55,880 --> 00:12:59,040 Jesus hearers. Than it does maybe for us as 223 00:12:59,040 --> 00:13:01,840 moderns in the West. Pearls. 224 00:13:02,200 --> 00:13:06,200 In the ancient world, were among the most valuable commodities in 225 00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:11,480 the Roman Empire and were more consistently prized than gold in 226 00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:14,480 some societies. So when we hear Pearl, we think 227 00:13:14,680 --> 00:13:16,040 you know. Possibly a valuable. 228 00:13:16,040 --> 00:13:18,560 Thing maybe you think of like, you know, your your 229 00:13:18,560 --> 00:13:20,360 grandmother's jewelry or something. 230 00:13:20,560 --> 00:13:23,200 Like a little bit obscure a little bit. 231 00:13:23,200 --> 00:13:26,080 Abstract, but we know it's. Valuable but to the hearers of 232 00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:28,240 this parable. They would have been hearing the 233 00:13:28,240 --> 00:13:31,520 most valuable thing, in fact. Pliny the Elder. 234 00:13:32,040 --> 00:13:35,440 Wrote that the. The two most expensive objects 235 00:13:35,440 --> 00:13:37,400 in the. World were pearls. 236 00:13:37,400 --> 00:13:41,480 Owned by Cleopatra so we know that when Jesus says the. 237 00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:44,680 Pearl of great price. What people are hearing is not 238 00:13:44,680 --> 00:13:49,040 just some random valuable thing they're hearing the most. 239 00:13:49,040 --> 00:13:54,640 Valuable object. In the world, one detail that's 240 00:13:54,640 --> 00:13:57,320 easy to miss is that the merchant had been collecting. 241 00:13:57,320 --> 00:14:00,360 Pearls, plural. This was his. 242 00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:05,000 Life's accumulation. And so in this moment, he trades 243 00:14:05,240 --> 00:14:07,840 his entire collection, everything that he's. 244 00:14:07,840 --> 00:14:10,920 Gathered across a lifetime of expertise. 245 00:14:11,640 --> 00:14:16,120 For this one stone, this is a complete reorientation of 246 00:14:16,120 --> 00:14:19,400 everything that he has and everything that he is, which 247 00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:22,400 makes this parable on its. Face sort of foolish. 248 00:14:23,240 --> 00:14:26,120 I don't know how many of you in the room own a business. 249 00:14:26,160 --> 00:14:27,600 That sells. Things. 250 00:14:28,040 --> 00:14:30,360 But I just want you to imagine for a moment that you take your 251 00:14:30,360 --> 00:14:32,720 entire inventory. You. 252 00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:36,680 Liquidate your entire inventory to buy one item. 253 00:14:37,880 --> 00:14:39,640 That's not a great business model. 254 00:14:40,760 --> 00:14:42,880 Or like if you're in real. Estate, you know, maybe. 255 00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:45,760 You're a developer. And you're buying apartment 256 00:14:45,760 --> 00:14:48,360 buildings, you're buying. Properties to flip. 257 00:14:48,720 --> 00:14:52,280 And you take your. Whole real estate portfolio, you 258 00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:55,680 sell it all. Off and you buy one enormous 259 00:14:55,680 --> 00:15:00,840 mansion in the Beverly Hills. Probably not a good business 260 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:03,040 decision, right? That thing is going to be much. 261 00:15:03,040 --> 00:15:05,320 Harder to turn over. You're probably not going to 262 00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:06,280 make a profit. On it. 263 00:15:06,480 --> 00:15:08,560 So. So again, Jesus is telling a. 264 00:15:08,560 --> 00:15:10,440 Story that's a little. Bit counterintuitive. 265 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:13,840 He's he's not just saying that this was a savvy business person 266 00:15:13,840 --> 00:15:15,680 who had finally found what they were looking for. 267 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:17,640 He's saying this person, this is a person who. 268 00:15:17,640 --> 00:15:20,160 Takes a hard. Left turn and actually. 269 00:15:20,400 --> 00:15:23,000 Sort of. Betrays all the sensibilities of 270 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:25,040 what they had been spending their entire life doing. 271 00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:28,640 He is no longer a Pearl merchant once he. 272 00:15:28,640 --> 00:15:31,520 Sold all of the. Pearls and buys one extremely 273 00:15:31,520 --> 00:15:36,280 expensive 1. He owns one stone and nothing 274 00:15:36,280 --> 00:15:39,360 else. Robert Capen would say the 275 00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:41,680 Kingdom operates. By a different logic. 276 00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:46,320 Entirely in this case, and this foolishness is not incidental. 277 00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:49,400 To the story it's the. Point of the story. 278 00:15:50,080 --> 00:15:52,320 Paul writes to the. Corinthians, that the message. 279 00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:54,320 Of the cross is. Foolishness. 280 00:15:54,880 --> 00:15:58,440 To those who are perishing, the Pearl merchant looks. 281 00:15:58,440 --> 00:16:03,760 From the outside, like a man who has completely lost his mind, 282 00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:09,360 one would look at this decision and think, please give me one, 283 00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:15,120 one good reason. From the inside, though, he's 284 00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:18,480 found the one thing that makes everything else negotiable. 285 00:16:19,520 --> 00:16:21,280 And this is. Where the parable? 286 00:16:21,280 --> 00:16:24,240 Continues to open into. Deeper layers of what? 287 00:16:24,280 --> 00:16:25,640 Jesus. Is trying to communicate and 288 00:16:25,640 --> 00:16:27,600 where we need to ask the same question that we. 289 00:16:27,600 --> 00:16:29,640 Asked last week if the treasure was. 290 00:16:29,640 --> 00:16:32,320 Buried in the field before the man arrived. 291 00:16:33,080 --> 00:16:35,880 Who put it there? And we need to ask the same 292 00:16:35,880 --> 00:16:38,120 thing here if the. Pearl was already. 293 00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:41,320 Formed before the merchant found it, Who formed it? 294 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:44,760 And so we can go the practical direction and say, you know, a 295 00:16:44,760 --> 00:16:47,960 Pearl is the only precious stone that's made by a living 296 00:16:47,960 --> 00:16:50,680 creature. It's made through irritation, 297 00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:54,920 layer by layer. Over years and the oyster. 298 00:16:55,080 --> 00:16:57,640 Doesn't choose the grain of sand, but it. 299 00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:00,720 Chooses what to do. With it and what comes out the 300 00:17:00,720 --> 00:17:04,280 other side is something of extraordinary value and beauty. 301 00:17:05,079 --> 00:17:09,480 There's no shortcut to a fine Pearl and the time and the cost. 302 00:17:09,800 --> 00:17:11,839 Are part of. What The thing is? 303 00:17:12,079 --> 00:17:14,920 I think that's part of the the story that Jesus. 304 00:17:14,920 --> 00:17:17,359 Is trying to tell. The church father said that the. 305 00:17:17,359 --> 00:17:21,800 Field containing the treasure is Christ himself, and I think the 306 00:17:21,800 --> 00:17:25,200 same thing is true here, that the Pearl was formed before the 307 00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:30,160 merchant arrived at the market. God has been at work in the 308 00:17:30,160 --> 00:17:34,880 world long before any of us began searching. 309 00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:39,520 God has been sort of weaving this. 310 00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:43,520 Thread of his love. And his kindness throughout. 311 00:17:43,520 --> 00:17:47,120 The the tapestry of history. Since the very beginning, and 312 00:17:47,120 --> 00:17:51,280 it's been there for human beings to search for and to find, 313 00:17:52,320 --> 00:17:54,400 Searching for the Kingdom of God, searching for. 314 00:17:54,960 --> 00:17:57,840 The love of God. Searching for God's kindness and 315 00:17:57,840 --> 00:18:02,480 God's justice in the. World prepares our eyes to be 316 00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:05,480 able to. See it when we find it, but it 317 00:18:05,480 --> 00:18:11,280 doesn't produce what we find. The searching doesn't create the 318 00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:13,920 conditions for you to experience the love of God. 319 00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:15,640 And I think so often we get this wrong. 320 00:18:15,920 --> 00:18:19,240 We we slip into, you know what I would almost say is magical 321 00:18:19,240 --> 00:18:23,880 thinking to think that somehow our efforts are searching our 322 00:18:24,200 --> 00:18:29,080 desire bring about the thing that we're looking for. 323 00:18:29,560 --> 00:18:32,920 But it's very much the opposite. The love and the kindness. 324 00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:36,040 Of God are already. Present in your life for you to 325 00:18:36,040 --> 00:18:38,920 find. And so then the parable turns 326 00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:44,160 the mirror one more time. What if the merchant is not only 327 00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:45,200 a picture? Of us. 328 00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:47,480 But what if the merchant is also a picture of God? 329 00:18:47,800 --> 00:18:50,920 If the Pearl of great price. Is humanity the. 330 00:18:50,920 --> 00:18:54,560 People of God, that that God's. Gathering to himself. 331 00:18:54,560 --> 00:18:58,680 Across all of history. The one who finds it and sells 332 00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:00,720 everything to buy it. Is Christ? 333 00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:03,760 And here the emphasis. Shifts. 334 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:05,240 From last. Week's parable. 335 00:19:05,480 --> 00:19:07,720 This is vocation. This is his. 336 00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:09,000 Job. So no longer. 337 00:19:09,240 --> 00:19:11,240 Is it just a? Field Hand. 338 00:19:11,240 --> 00:19:15,200 Plowing in the field. Working for someone else, this 339 00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:19,640 is the culmination of an. Eternal purpose for Jesus the 340 00:19:19,640 --> 00:19:23,040 deliberate search of a love that. 341 00:19:23,320 --> 00:19:27,600 Has organized itself around finding us the way that God 342 00:19:27,600 --> 00:19:31,760 comes into the world in Christ. This is where the artist and 343 00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:33,480 writer. Makoto Fujimura's idea. 344 00:19:33,480 --> 00:19:36,320 Of gratuitous. Beauty lands with. 345 00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:37,680 With great force. For me. 346 00:19:37,680 --> 00:19:42,800 He argues that beauty is. Gratuitous in the best sense, so 347 00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:44,040 often we hear. The word. 348 00:19:44,040 --> 00:19:46,360 Gratuitous and we think you know, over the top. 349 00:19:46,360 --> 00:19:49,120 Unnecessary, almost with a negative connotation. 350 00:19:49,560 --> 00:19:52,680 But what he does is he says. You know, this is, this is so. 351 00:19:52,680 --> 00:19:55,920 Over the top so. Beyond utility, it's not. 352 00:19:55,920 --> 00:19:59,160 Necessary for survival. It's not useful in any pragmatic 353 00:19:59,160 --> 00:20:01,280 sense. And he says that's. 354 00:20:01,280 --> 00:20:05,200 Precisely. What makes something point 355 00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:07,800 beyond? Mere survival towards. 356 00:20:07,800 --> 00:20:11,440 Something like flourishing? What God desires for. 357 00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:13,840 Humanity God didn't need. To create. 358 00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:18,160 God didn't need to redeem, and so the concept of selling 359 00:20:18,160 --> 00:20:21,320 everything in one's possession for a single Pearl. 360 00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:23,760 Is foolish. It's gratuitous. 361 00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:28,120 And I think in that way, Jesus is illustrating what the love. 362 00:20:28,120 --> 00:20:31,000 Of God is like. It's way beyond what's 363 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:34,320 necessary. It's way beyond just the simple 364 00:20:34,320 --> 00:20:36,320 practical needs that we have in our lives. 365 00:20:36,320 --> 00:20:37,760 It includes those things, too. It's. 366 00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:42,120 So big, though, that it goes. Far beyond just the basic 367 00:20:42,360 --> 00:20:46,840 necessities of life. And so this concept of selling 368 00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:49,840 everything in your possession for one Pearl. 369 00:20:50,120 --> 00:20:52,160 Is foolish. It's it's. 370 00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:56,520 One stone and. The merchant sells. 371 00:20:56,720 --> 00:20:59,120 Everything, for one thing, that has no. 372 00:20:59,120 --> 00:21:03,280 Practical value whatsoever. Fujimoro. 373 00:21:03,280 --> 00:21:07,160 Writes that art is gratuitous. Art is extravagant, but so is 374 00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:09,440 the love of God. And so it's just one of the. 375 00:21:09,440 --> 00:21:12,000 Reasons that I love to, you know, sort of surface like. 376 00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:15,200 Music and film and visual. Arts and all these things, you 377 00:21:15,200 --> 00:21:18,240 know, because. It's one of the ways that we get 378 00:21:18,240 --> 00:21:20,760 in. Touch with with the over the top 379 00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:25,640 gratuitous love of God for. Us far beyond just what we need 380 00:21:26,120 --> 00:21:28,680 and so rather than being somehow efficient. 381 00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:34,600 The cross shaped love of Christ is extravagant God's love. 382 00:21:34,600 --> 00:21:37,520 Isn't the minimum. Required to solve. 383 00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:41,160 The problem? It's always extravagantly more 384 00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:45,200 than enough. The Impressionists painted with 385 00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:48,560 light. Not because light is useful, but 386 00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:50,280 because the world. Is dim. 387 00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:52,840 They lived in a world. That was sort of. 388 00:21:52,840 --> 00:21:56,040 Overtaken by darkness and by struggle. 389 00:21:56,240 --> 00:22:01,280 By war, by strife. And the soul needs. 390 00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:06,200 Feeding our souls. Need life to keep going and so 391 00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:09,240 community and prayer and engaging suffering aren't 392 00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:12,280 productivity. Hacks for the spiritual life. 393 00:22:12,280 --> 00:22:16,080 They are our souls. Participation in the gratuitous. 394 00:22:16,240 --> 00:22:20,240 Beauty of God, the over the top beauty of God and so. 395 00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:23,440 Sometimes even I can find myself thinking about things. 396 00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:27,720 Like like worship. In the gathered room. 397 00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:30,200 And you know what is that actually doing? 398 00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:33,760 What good is that? Or I think about, you know, 399 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:36,440 serving in this area or doing this thing or whatever, you 400 00:22:36,440 --> 00:22:38,760 know, giving a little bit of money here or doing this and 401 00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:41,040 it's like what? What's the real value? 402 00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:47,000 And there's a reminder, I think. For us that the search. 403 00:22:47,440 --> 00:22:51,600 Itself, for the Kingdom, all the little things, all the ways. 404 00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:54,000 That we just sort of. That might feel like a. 405 00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:57,320 Drop in the bucket. Reflect the extravagant. 406 00:22:57,560 --> 00:22:59,800 Over the top love of God that goes. 407 00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:03,120 Far beyond the practical goes far beyond solving a problem. 408 00:23:06,160 --> 00:23:07,560 I brought this in last week but I think. 409 00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:10,320 It's worth. Raising in this context again, 410 00:23:10,360 --> 00:23:14,440 Paul describes this same reorientation in Philippians and 411 00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:16,520 and we hear this all the time, but I think it's helpful. 412 00:23:16,520 --> 00:23:18,320 To hear it set. Right, right next to these 413 00:23:18,320 --> 00:23:20,880 parables, he considers everything that he has 414 00:23:20,880 --> 00:23:25,400 accumulated as a loss compared to the surpassing worth of 415 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:29,000 knowing Christ. The value calculus. 416 00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:32,320 The math has completely shifted and. 417 00:23:32,320 --> 00:23:35,720 What looked like wealth to us before, what looked like wealth 418 00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:37,920 to Paul before, looks like rubble. 419 00:23:38,280 --> 00:23:41,720 Next to what he's found, Paul's a great example of this too. 420 00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:44,640 From the Scriptures, he has a moment, a happenstance moment 421 00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:48,440 where the love of God crashes down on his head, and then years 422 00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:51,600 of formation, years of searching for the thing. 423 00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:54,160 And he's not. He's not grieving. 424 00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:57,840 What he gave up. In this case, I think there's 425 00:23:57,840 --> 00:24:01,400 something important to name here while we're talking about 426 00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:05,640 paradox and tensions and the way that the Kingdom comes to us. 427 00:24:06,080 --> 00:24:09,320 That lives close to home for us specifically because our little 428 00:24:09,320 --> 00:24:11,800 Vineyard church here is actually. 429 00:24:12,080 --> 00:24:16,040 A kind of paradox in itself. I. 430 00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:21,600 Want to show you 3 photographs? The first one is a. 431 00:24:22,320 --> 00:24:26,360 Jesus, people Beach. Baptism from the early 1970s. 432 00:24:27,360 --> 00:24:30,640 So there's people in street clothes standing in the Pacific 433 00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:35,600 Ocean, laughing, crying, cliffs packed with onlookers to the 434 00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:37,960 scene. Not a stained glass window. 435 00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:43,160 Insight. No chairs, no coffee, and. 436 00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:46,000 This is where our. Movement came from this is where 437 00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:47,840 the family of churches. That we're part of. 438 00:24:48,680 --> 00:24:51,040 Sort of had its beginning. The Vineyard was born out of 439 00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:54,200 scenes like this one. A whole bunch of people who 440 00:24:54,200 --> 00:25:00,040 found the Kingdom by accident in parking lots, on the beach, in 441 00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:04,640 bars, in living rooms with no. Religious pedigree whatsoever. 442 00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:07,760 And no. Spiritual resume required the. 443 00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:11,440 Kingdom found them and crashed into their lives and that is 444 00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:14,600 real and it's good and it's in the DNA. 445 00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:20,720 Of who we are as a church. This next one is a papal Mass at 446 00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:29,040 Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome with this ornate altar and 447 00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:33,920 hundreds of priests investments. Each of them you know each each. 448 00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:37,600 Surface in this. Building carrying 2000 years of 449 00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:41,760 accumulated tradition and ceremony, and it's worth 450 00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:44,880 reaching toward to receive some of its gifts. 451 00:25:46,400 --> 00:25:48,120 We read the old. Stuff. 452 00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:52,800 And we practice silence and some liturgy and some of the ancient 453 00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:55,840 prayers, and we know that formation matters, that this 454 00:25:55,840 --> 00:25:59,880 long devoted search matters. And there's a kind of depth that 455 00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:01,680 only comes from. Years. 456 00:26:02,040 --> 00:26:03,160 Years. And years and. 457 00:26:03,160 --> 00:26:06,240 Years of devoted practice. And asking the hard questions. 458 00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:11,960 What a stark contrast between beach baptisms in the 70s and 459 00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:14,680 this right. And the last one is the Sunday 460 00:26:14,680 --> 00:26:17,040 gathering at Asia's Hope in Cambodia. 461 00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:19,360 A church. That this community. 462 00:26:19,360 --> 00:26:23,760 Has the privilege of. Walking alongside in. 463 00:26:24,120 --> 00:26:25,840 Periodic trips. And our tangible. 464 00:26:25,840 --> 00:26:30,160 Support through our partnership. This is this is another thing 465 00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:33,280 that we love, you know the Kingdom doesn't belong to. 466 00:26:33,560 --> 00:26:37,760 The West it doesn't. Belong to any single tradition. 467 00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:40,440 It doesn't belong to any single aesthetic. 468 00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:44,320 It doesn't belong to a single hemisphere. 469 00:26:44,840 --> 00:26:49,560 God's presence is thick in this room in a dusty suburb of Phnom 470 00:26:49,560 --> 00:26:53,480 Penh, packed with orphans and genocide survivors who found the 471 00:26:53,480 --> 00:26:57,080 treasure in the field that they didn't know they were plowing. 472 00:26:57,800 --> 00:27:01,200 And the audacious claim? Of the. 473 00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:03,000 Christian faith of the. Project of. 474 00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:04,280 Living a life. With Jesus. 475 00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:08,960 Is that the same basic thing is happening in all? 476 00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:12,920 Three of those photographs. That's like kind of a 477 00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:14,920 challenging thing to get our mind around, isn't it? 478 00:27:14,920 --> 00:27:17,080 I mean just just click. Through those 3. 479 00:27:17,080 --> 00:27:19,000 Again, just linger on each one for a minute. 480 00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:24,200 The same basic thing is happening in all three of those. 481 00:27:24,360 --> 00:27:26,880 Photographs the worship of Christ, God's. 482 00:27:26,880 --> 00:27:29,680 Kingdom and power and love. Present with people. 483 00:27:30,280 --> 00:27:33,120 On a California. Beach 50 years ago. 484 00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:38,200 In the most ornate building in Western civilization and in 485 00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:40,680 Cambodia on a Sunday morning and. 486 00:27:41,280 --> 00:27:43,040 By the way. I think this is interesting. 487 00:27:43,160 --> 00:27:45,280 Because I sat with these photographs for a while this 488 00:27:45,280 --> 00:27:47,400 week, you can tell where your bias is. 489 00:27:47,840 --> 00:27:51,000 By which one is hardest? For you to believe, 'cause I 490 00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:53,280 think probably for almost every person, when you look at all 491 00:27:53,280 --> 00:27:55,520 three of these pictures, you go. There's one of them that you 492 00:27:55,520 --> 00:27:57,680 see. And you go, yeah. 493 00:27:57,720 --> 00:28:00,040 But I'm not. Sure about that. 494 00:28:00,120 --> 00:28:01,720 I don't know about what those people are doing. 495 00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:04,640 I mean really like. Genuinely, any any one of them 496 00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:09,360 we are imperfectly trying to hold. 497 00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:13,240 All of these. Three and the whole mess. 498 00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:14,840 Of the broader tradition that we're a. 499 00:28:14,840 --> 00:28:19,840 Part of at the same time the spontaneous encounter and the 500 00:28:19,840 --> 00:28:21,680 ancient tradition of the. Global Church. 501 00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:27,440 And the tension between those things is not a problem to fix. 502 00:28:29,120 --> 00:28:32,800 And so some weeks you or I might walk out of here feeling a 503 00:28:32,800 --> 00:28:34,320 little. Bit like that was a little bit 504 00:28:34,320 --> 00:28:38,640 too. Fill in the blank and you know, 505 00:28:38,640 --> 00:28:41,320 in some sense, I mean, I, I don't want to be, you know, I. 506 00:28:41,320 --> 00:28:44,280 Want to be realistic? That could be because. 507 00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:51,520 We're doing something wrong. But it also could be because 508 00:28:51,840 --> 00:28:55,920 we're. Attempting to sort of inhabit. 509 00:28:56,360 --> 00:28:58,480 These. Traditions that are in tension 510 00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:03,040 at any given time, recognizing the beauty and the value of each 511 00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:06,440 one of them and going, you know, one or the other of those things 512 00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:10,200 might be sort of home base for you but. 513 00:29:13,040 --> 00:29:15,280 Would that we receive the gifts of all of them does. 514 00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:21,120 That make sense so. The merchant didn't arrive at 515 00:29:21,120 --> 00:29:23,480 the Great. Pearl on his first day in the 516 00:29:23,480 --> 00:29:27,120 market, he became someone who could recognize the Pearl by 517 00:29:27,120 --> 00:29:31,640 spending years handling everything else and. 518 00:29:31,720 --> 00:29:35,080 There's a lot of. Everything else in your story 519 00:29:35,080 --> 00:29:37,440 and mine. I I know it to be true. 520 00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:40,720 You know we. We sort of sift through the 521 00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:43,240 difficult. Things of life, the things that. 522 00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:45,640 Just. Flat out are not God. 523 00:29:46,280 --> 00:29:48,680 Because. We want to become people who can 524 00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:52,720 learn to recognize what is God. Where God is at? 525 00:29:52,720 --> 00:29:56,640 Work in your life and so. Our practices of. 526 00:29:56,640 --> 00:29:58,880 Community and formation and mission, They're not. 527 00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:02,160 They're not unique. You know, God forbid we ever 528 00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:04,360 think that we're. Up to something clever. 529 00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:07,440 Or that we've got. Some like great new idea. 530 00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:10,200 That's going to be the best thing that anybody's ever seen 531 00:30:10,200 --> 00:30:12,000 that walks in these. Doors because the truth. 532 00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:16,920 Is we stand in a long line. Of received practice. 533 00:30:17,360 --> 00:30:20,960 From our brothers and sisters in recent history, in ancient 534 00:30:20,960 --> 00:30:24,480 history, in our own city and on the other side of the. 535 00:30:24,480 --> 00:30:28,680 World. This is the search that 536 00:30:28,680 --> 00:30:31,120 prepares. Our eyes to recognize. 537 00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:34,440 What was already there? What was already? 538 00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:37,760 Planted in your life for. You to receive as the Pearl of 539 00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:41,160 great price as the gift. Of the Kingdom of God to you. 540 00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:50,000 So where does this leave us? The Kingdom found the man before 541 00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:53,400 he went looking in last week's story, and God has already. 542 00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:56,000 Sold everything to purchase the field. 543 00:30:56,000 --> 00:31:00,560 That contains us, which means that the sell everything move. 544 00:31:01,120 --> 00:31:04,000 Of discipleship is the. Response of someone who has 545 00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:07,000 already been found and has spent enough time in the market to 546 00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:09,360 know. What they're holding. 547 00:31:09,840 --> 00:31:11,640 And how to find it? And the difference? 548 00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:14,040 There's a difference between the person who searches. 549 00:31:14,040 --> 00:31:17,480 Because they're trying to. Conjure something and the person 550 00:31:17,680 --> 00:31:18,840 who. Searches because they've 551 00:31:18,840 --> 00:31:20,960 already. Tasted something real and they 552 00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:23,720 want more of it. That's what a devoted life with 553 00:31:23,720 --> 00:31:25,480 God looks. Like and I think this is. 554 00:31:25,480 --> 00:31:27,480 Important to talk about because so often we get. 555 00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:31,520 Tricked into thinking that we're searching so that we can have. 556 00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:33,840 Another experience or so that we. 557 00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:36,520 Can have that experience for the first time or so that God will 558 00:31:36,520 --> 00:31:39,520 do something for us I'm so encouraged by. 559 00:31:39,520 --> 00:31:43,120 Both of these types of stories. And I also want to say that the 560 00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:45,200 longer that I do this, the more I gravitate. 561 00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:50,480 Toward the stories of. Long devoted searching to have a 562 00:31:50,480 --> 00:31:53,920 moment and then draft off of that thing for five. 563 00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:56,640 Years or a decade? Is one thing, but when I hear 564 00:31:56,640 --> 00:32:00,600 stories and I sit with people with my friends who have been 565 00:32:00,600 --> 00:32:05,040 faithful for. 40 or 50 years. To keep searching for God's 566 00:32:05,040 --> 00:32:09,840 Kingdom among us and who haven't flamed out, haven't made some 567 00:32:09,840 --> 00:32:12,120 dumb mistake, haven't you know, whatever. 568 00:32:12,920 --> 00:32:14,840 That's the kind of thing that. I draw a real. 569 00:32:14,840 --> 00:32:19,240 Encouragement from again this you know the the, the momentary. 570 00:32:19,240 --> 00:32:21,320 Stories are also. Encouraging. 571 00:32:21,320 --> 00:32:23,400 They're also good, but you know some of. 572 00:32:23,400 --> 00:32:26,440 Us were taught. And with the best of intentions, 573 00:32:26,440 --> 00:32:33,520 by the way, that the moment of. Surprise is the whole story that 574 00:32:34,360 --> 00:32:37,760 grace is free. And there is nothing left. 575 00:32:37,760 --> 00:32:42,440 For you to do. Once you've experienced it and 576 00:32:42,440 --> 00:32:44,600 what I would. Say is that it is free. 577 00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:47,480 And there is nothing left for you to do. 578 00:32:49,320 --> 00:32:57,160 And that the accidental finding is not the destination. 579 00:32:57,720 --> 00:32:59,480 It's the beginning of a long journey. 580 00:32:59,880 --> 00:33:02,760 And for many of us, I think that has. 581 00:33:02,760 --> 00:33:06,000 Quietly, sort of. Become a stuck place in our 582 00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:08,040 life. Where we were told. 583 00:33:08,320 --> 00:33:09,880 You know you had this experience. 584 00:33:10,080 --> 00:33:11,760 Grace is free. There's nothing left for. 585 00:33:11,760 --> 00:33:13,480 You to do. And now? 586 00:33:13,480 --> 00:33:19,560 Here you are 5. 1020 years on going I'm not sure what to. 587 00:33:19,560 --> 00:33:21,920 Do about that. Because I don't feel. 588 00:33:21,920 --> 00:33:23,920 Quite as excited about. This thing that happened. 589 00:33:23,920 --> 00:33:27,000 Back here. As I did at one point, and 590 00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:28,360 nobody really. Told me what to. 591 00:33:28,360 --> 00:33:32,120 Do with it. And so the years have gone by 592 00:33:32,840 --> 00:33:36,320 and the thing that felt vivid at one point has started to feel 593 00:33:36,320 --> 00:33:41,160 distant and you weren't sure. If it was your fault, or God's 594 00:33:41,160 --> 00:33:44,840 fault, or if that's just sort. Of the way that things are, but 595 00:33:44,840 --> 00:33:47,520 we tend to sort of lose the. Plot after a little. 596 00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:49,520 While if we're not. Sure, what to do? 597 00:33:49,880 --> 00:33:52,360 With the gift that's been given to us and. 598 00:33:52,360 --> 00:33:55,000 So here's the arc of these two parables. 599 00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:58,600 Together, the Kingdom comes to the person who wasn't looking in 600 00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:02,000 an ordinary field on an ordinary morning, the plow hit something. 601 00:34:02,600 --> 00:34:06,440 They stop, they sell. Everything and buy the field and 602 00:34:06,440 --> 00:34:10,120 the Kingdom comes to a person who has spent a lifetime looking 603 00:34:10,120 --> 00:34:14,480 in a market who knows better than anyone what they're looking 604 00:34:14,480 --> 00:34:16,159 at. And after years. 605 00:34:16,639 --> 00:34:20,760 Of handling lesser things, he finds the one that makes 606 00:34:20,800 --> 00:34:22,480 everything else that he's seen look cheap. 607 00:34:23,600 --> 00:34:29,600 Both of them sell everything, but the journey is slightly 608 00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:31,080 different. To get there the. 609 00:34:31,080 --> 00:34:34,600 Destination's the same, but Palmer writes again that faith. 610 00:34:34,800 --> 00:34:36,960 Is the. Breakthrough into the Deep. 611 00:34:36,960 --> 00:34:40,840 Realm of the soul that accepts. Tension with humility. 612 00:34:41,639 --> 00:34:46,679 You actually don't have to choose between the accidental 613 00:34:46,679 --> 00:34:48,600 grace. And the devoted search. 614 00:34:49,520 --> 00:34:52,520 And I think for some people, God's doing one of those things 615 00:34:52,520 --> 00:34:56,320 in your life, even right now, even right now in the moment 616 00:34:56,320 --> 00:34:59,280 that you're in, the accidental grace is finding you. 617 00:34:59,560 --> 00:35:01,840 You've sort of. Stumbled into something and it's 618 00:35:01,840 --> 00:35:04,280 and it shimmers with. The love of God. 619 00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:09,080 And for others of you, you are in the long unresolved middle 620 00:35:09,480 --> 00:35:11,320 where you go. I know I bumped into something 621 00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:14,320 at some point and I'm trying to figure out what that means for 622 00:35:14,320 --> 00:35:15,880 my life. And I'm asking the question and 623 00:35:15,880 --> 00:35:18,000 I'm sort of moving in that direction, but I don't know. 624 00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:21,160 Exactly what to do? And so here's where I want to 625 00:35:21,160 --> 00:35:23,600 land this morning. As the worship. 626 00:35:23,600 --> 00:35:27,040 Team comes back and parents you can prepare. 627 00:35:27,040 --> 00:35:30,440 To receive your kids back in the back there, I'd just invite 628 00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:32,320 everybody to. Stand if you're able. 629 00:35:33,040 --> 00:35:38,480 We're going to do some prayer ministry if somewhere along the 630 00:35:38,480 --> 00:35:43,640 way someone told you that grace is free and. 631 00:35:43,640 --> 00:35:48,960 That's the whole project. And you've been living on that. 632 00:35:48,960 --> 00:35:51,680 For years. And although it's true, 633 00:35:51,680 --> 00:35:54,600 something feels a little bit. Hollow about it. 634 00:35:55,440 --> 00:35:56,960 That's actually not a you problem. 635 00:35:57,560 --> 00:36:05,640 You've not done anything wrong, it's 100% true and it is not 636 00:36:05,640 --> 00:36:06,880 100. Percent of the truth. 637 00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:12,120 The treasure parable is real. And the Kingdom does find people 638 00:36:12,120 --> 00:36:15,000 by accident, and that matters. And so does this one. 639 00:36:15,120 --> 00:36:17,320 The merchant didn't stumble on the Pearl. 640 00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:20,480 He searched for it hard. For a long time through a lot of 641 00:36:20,480 --> 00:36:23,720 lesser things and the search is not contrary. 642 00:36:23,720 --> 00:36:27,440 To God's love, and I think that's what I would would hope 643 00:36:27,440 --> 00:36:30,040 that at least somebody leaves. With a sense of this morning, is 644 00:36:30,040 --> 00:36:30,840 that the. Search. 645 00:36:30,840 --> 00:36:34,280 That you're finding yourself in the midst of is not contrary. 646 00:36:34,280 --> 00:36:38,240 To God's love for you. God's love is coming to you in 647 00:36:38,240 --> 00:36:38,920 the middle of that.