Hidden Treasure | Part 1

Pastor Scott Rodgers · Jul 1, 2019

Big Idea

God is all in for you, so be all in with Him.

Jesus told the parable of the hidden treasure to show that both are true at once: you are the priceless treasure God gave everything to purchase, and He is the treasure worth giving up everything to follow. Because God is fully committed to you, the invitation is to be fully committed to Him, one moment and one decision at a time.

Key points

1
1Jesus taught in parables to bring listeners to a decision, not just information
Pastor Scott explains that a parable is an everyday story used to illustrate spiritual truth, and that a third of Jesus' recorded teaching in the gospels takes this form. He notes parables were common because literacy and books were rare, and because they forced hearers toward immediate application, even though listeners standing right in front of Jesus often still misunderstood the spiritual meaning.
2
2The parable of the hidden treasure pictures someone hiding valuable, buried treasure and giving everything to buy the field
Using the illustration of a childhood piggy bank buried in a can in the backyard, Pastor Scott sets up the cultural background of people burying valuables in fields for safekeeping before reading Matthew 13:44, where a man finds treasure, hides it again, and joyfully sells everything to buy the field.
3
3There are two faithful ways to read the parable, and both point to the same truth
One reading makes the reader the farmer who sells all for Jesus, the treasure; the other makes Jesus the farmer who gives everything to purchase people, the treasure. Rather than settling the centuries-old debate, Pastor Scott proposes both are biblical and land on the same big idea: God is all in for us, so we should be all in with Him.
4
4You are the crown of God's creation, made in His image
Walking through Genesis 1:26-27 and Psalm 8:3-6, Pastor Scott shows humanity was uniquely made in the image of God (Imago Dei), given reason, free will, and a moral conscience, and set apart as the culmination of creation. He illustrates this with the true story of Claire Beckman's $25 garage-sale table that turned out to be a $560,000 antique, arguing many people, like the woman who sold it, don't realize the value of what they actually have.
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5Everything pales in comparison to Christ, the true treasure
Pastor Scott reads Paul's words in Philippians 3:8 about considering everything a loss and rubbish compared to knowing Christ, and admits his own honest struggle to stay 'all in' with Jesus, the Bible, prayer, and church, describing times he devalues what God has done in his life the way someone might dismiss a $40 piece of furniture.
6
6Being all in is a decision made moment by moment, not a one-time crescendo
Rather than chasing an emotional camp-style commitment that fades by Monday, Pastor Scott reframes 'all in' as choosing, in each specific decision or conversation, to surrender to Jesus right then, including how to treat people who are also the crown of God's creation even when they disagree with us.

Application

Pastor Scott's charge was to stop chasing an all-in feeling and just be all in with Jesus in this moment.

See yourself as God sees you
Instead of valuing yourself by what you have, where you've been, or what's been done to you, remember you are made in God's image and are the crown of His creation.
Stop devaluing what God has done in your life
When you catch yourself treating a story of God's work in you, or the Bible, prayer, or church, like garage-sale goods, pause and remember it's actually priceless.
Decide to be all in right now, in this moment
Rather than promising a lifelong all-in commitment, choose in each specific decision, conversation, or crossroads today to surrender that moment to Jesus.
Treat others as the crown of God's creation
Even when someone disagrees with you or frustrates you, treat them with the dignity and respect due someone stamped with God's image.
Receive Christ or renew your surrender
If you've never given your life to Jesus, pray the prayer of surrender now; if you have, take communion as a remembrance that He is all in for you and recommit to being all in with Him.

Take it into your week

Scripture in this message

From the transcript
“It says in Matthew 13, if you're there, check this out. If not, it's on the screen. Verse 35. Speaking of Jesus in fulfilling prophecy by the parables he would teach. It says, I will open my mouth in parables”
Read the whole chapter →
From the transcript
“Look at Matthew 13, go down to verse 44. And here's what Jesus says. He says in Matthew thirteen forty four, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field”
From the transcript
“Then Jesus says a very similar thing with a little bit of a different story to it. The next verse, he says, again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls”
From the transcript
“Here's what it says. If you have it in front of you, it's Genesis chapter one verse 26. And here's what it reads. Then God said, let us, That's that inference to Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Let us make mankind in our image”
From the transcript
“so that they may rule over the fish in the sea, and the birds in the sky, over the livestock, and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. Verse 27. So God created mankind in his own image”
From the transcript
“I'm gonna read something in Psalm eight that just continues to expand on Genesis one. It's like the Psalmist is reflecting on the creation account. Here's what he says in verse three of Psalm eight. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers”
From the transcript
“he says in verse four, what is mankind that you are mindful of them? Human beings that you care for them. Like in all of this, what's the big deal about people”
From the transcript
“Verse five. It says that you've made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. What's really interesting about this verse is that if you go and look at the original Hebrew language”
From the transcript
“Verse six, you made them rulers over the works of your hands. You put everything under their feet. You and I, what's unique about us and why I would suggest that you are the crown of creation”
From the transcript
“Because even if you've never read the bible, you've heard John three sixteen, for God what? So loved the world that He, He gave it all, man”
From the transcript
“There's this guy named Paul, the apostle Paul that wrote something that goes with this, aligns with this thought on this parable. Let me read it to you. It's in Philippians chapter three. He writes in verse eight”
From the transcript
“It's in Philippians chapter three. He writes in verse eight. I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness. Now just pause for a moment”
From the transcript
“Colossians one thirteen, for he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the son he loves. There's a Christ in the kingdom. Verse 14 says, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins”
From the transcript
“There's a Christ in the kingdom. Verse 14 says, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. That's what happens when you and I make that decision”
From the transcript
“And the wafer is this symbolic of the body of Christ on the cross that was brutally beaten for us and hung on the cross. We look at it as the broken body of Christ. You can read this in first Corinthians chapter 11”

7-day devotional

A personal reading plan from this message — scripture, reflection, and prayer for each day.

Day 1

Jesus didn't teach in parables to be mysterious — He taught in parables to bring ordinary people face to face with extraordinary truth. Pastor Scott pointed out that roughly one third of Jesus' recorded teachings take this form, and that's not a small detail. It means Jesus trusted everyday images — a farmer, a field, a hidden treasure — to carry the weight of the most important realities in the universe. Matthew 13:35 ties this back to the Psalms, showing that speaking in parables was itself a fulfillment of promise: 'I will speak to you in parables. I will explain things hidden since the creation of the world.' There's something worth sitting with there. God didn't hide these truths to keep people out — He wrapped them in stories to draw people in, to create the kind of moment where a listener suddenly realizes the story is about them. A parable is an invitation to a decision. That's exactly what Pastor Scott was after on Sunday: not a nod of agreement, but a genuine moment of reckoning. As you begin this week, consider that the story Jesus tells in Matthew 13:44 is still doing what parables do — pressing you toward a choice. The question isn't just what the parable means. It's what you'll do with what it means.

For reflection

When you hear a teaching from Jesus, do you tend to file it away as information, or does it move you toward a decision? What might be the difference between those two responses in your own life right now?

Pray

Pray for open ears and a willing heart — that this week's time in the Word would move from understanding to genuine response.

Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

This message centers on a single short parable — one sentence, really — that Pastor Scott Rogers says holds two complementary truths that belong together. Before we dig in, what's one word that came to mind when you first heard the phrase 'hidden treasure'?

Discussion questions

1
In Matthew 13:44, the farmer stumbles on a treasure, then joyfully sells everything he owns to buy the field. What do you think Jesus wants listeners to understand about the nature of that joy — why does it matter that the man sells everything with joy rather than reluctant duty?
2
Pastor Scott Rogers laid out two ways to read this parable: we are the farmer who finds Jesus as the treasure, and Jesus is the farmer who finds us as the treasure. How do those two readings change or deepen each other when they're held together rather than treated as separate ideas?
3
Genesis 1:26-27 and Psalm 8:3-6 both speak to humanity's unique dignity before God — made in the Imago Dei, crowned with glory and honor. How might taking that identity seriously shape the way we treat the people around us day to day?
4
In Philippians 3:8, Paul calls everything he once valued 'rubbish' compared to knowing Christ. What does that kind of reordering actually look like in practice — not as a dramatic gesture, but in ordinary moments and decisions?
5
Pastor Scott Rogers pushed back against waiting for a future 'mountaintop moment' to go all in with Jesus, and instead called for a present, moment-by-moment choice. What makes that kind of immediate, small-scale commitment harder — or more freeing — than a single large future vow?
6
Colossians 1:13-14 describes moving from 'the dominion of darkness' into 'the kingdom of the Son.' How might a community of people who genuinely believe both truths — that they are deeply valued by God and that Christ is worth everything — look different from the outside?

Pray together

Gratitude that God gave everything to redeem us, and honesty about the next small step of being all in with Him

Topics

Commitment to Jesus Living All In Surrender to Christ The Parable of the Hidden Treasure Your Worth in God's Eyes

Hidden Treasure | Part 1

Big Idea

Key points

Application

Take it into your week

Scripture in this message

7-day devotional

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Small-group discussion guide

Open

Discussion questions

Pray together