Parables of Jesus Part 4: The Treasure & The Pearl

This free Bible lesson, The Parable of The Treasure & The Pearl will teach preschool and elementary students about the lesson Jesus taught when He was living on Earth as a human and the greatest teacher of all time.

This lesson is part of a summer series titled "Jesus Makes a Splash: Lessons from the Parables of Jesus".

This lesson comes from the Seeds of Truth Elementary Bible Curriculum that is free to anyone looking for ideas to "plant seeds" into the hearts of children as they are learning about Jesus. Find more details HERE.

Transcript

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Welcome to the Seeds of Truth podcast, where seeds of biblical truth are planted into the hearts and minds of listeners so they can grow into a relationship with Jesus. I'm your host, Miss Dana. Thank you for joining me today. Let's get started. Hello, friends, and welcome back. This is part four of our series all about the parables of Jesus. So remember, a parable is a short and simple story that uses everyday situations and events to teach a bigger lesson. And Jesus used parables a lot when he was here on earth: loving, serving, teaching the people. The parable that we are going to learn about this week, actually, two separate parables that are very similar. They're recorded in Matthew, the book of Matthew. They're called the Parable of the Treasure and the Parable of the Pearl. And sometimes we hear it called the Parable of the Hidden Treasure, the Parable of the Pearl of Great Price, or the Parable of the Priceless Pearl. So Jesus told these two parables about his kingdom: the parable of the treasure and the parable of the pearls. I want you to think about what you already know about treasure and what you know about pearls. So treasure and pearls are valuable. Many people go and look for treasure and for pearls. They're both beautiful. They can both make people happy. And people might give up other things in their life to find treasure or pearls. So as I read the parables in Matthew chapter 13, verses 40 through 44 through 46, I want you to think about what the different things are symbols for. So who is the treasure a symbol of? Who is the pearl a symbol of? And who are the people in the parable a symbol of? So the parable says, The kingdom of heaven is like treasure that was hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again. He was very happy. So he went and sold everything he had and he bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a trader who was looking for fine pearls. He found one that was very valuable. So he went away and sold everything he had and he bought that pearl. So remember, sometimes the people didn't understand when Jesus taught in parables, so he would explain the meanings to his disciples. Sometimes he would explain and they would record it and it is found in the Bible. But unfortunately, that is not the case with these parables. And for that reason, some people have interpreted these parables in different ways. So you may have an adult that's listening who has heard this parable interpreted in a different way. And that is okay. There are multiple ways that we can interpret this parable. And we need the Holy Spirit to help us understand how he wants us to understand it so we can pray to the Holy Spirit and ask him for guidance. So in these two parables, this interpretation that I'm going to give you, Jesus teaches that we should give up our old lives and follow Jesus because Jesus paid it all when he died on the cross to take away our sins. So both the treasure and the pearl are a symbol of Jesus. Jesus is the valuable treasure who died for every sinner. The Bible tells us that God gave us the biggest treasure ever when he sent Jesus to the earth to live as a man and die for our sins. God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. Anyone who believes in him will not die, but will have eternal life. That is John 3.16. Jesus paid the price for all sinners when he died on the cross to take away sin. Jesus gave his life so that our sins can be forgiven. He gave his life so that we can live with him forever. Jesus died for each of us because he loves us and he wants us to have eternal life. So the man in the parable who found the treasure and bought the field, and the man who looked for and bought the valuable pearl are both a symbol of a sinner who finds Jesus. Sinners must give up their old way of life to follow Jesus closely. And that's called repentance. When we give up sin, we turn away from sin and we follow Jesus. When we repent from our sin. When we realize the true value of Jesus and the salvation that he offers us, we will want to give up everything else and follow him. So these parables are a reminder that Jesus paid it all when he died on the cross to take away our sins. So we learned in the last episode when we talked about the parable of the absent owner, about how God made a promise of a coming kingdom and a savior who would offer a way for us to have a relationship with God. Jesus is that promised king and savior that God promised in the Old Testament. Someday Jesus will come back to get the people who love him and take us to heaven to be with him forever. He will set up his kingdom after all of his people are with him. These two parables teach us five important truths about God's kingdom. So when we're talking about the kingdom of God, we are talking about the gift of salvation that Jesus offers us because of what he did for us. And what he did for us is that he died on the cross to take the punishment for our sins and he rose back to life. So the first important truth about the kingdom is that the kingdom is priceless in value. Ephesians 2.8 says, your salvation doesn't come from anything you do, it is God's gift. Salvation is a gift that is offered to us by Jesus because of what he did for us on the cross. We don't have to pay anything to receive the kingdom of God because Jesus offers to give it to us for free. The second important truth about the kingdom is that we must seek the hidden kingdom. We learn in the book of 2 Corinthians, in chapter 4, verse 4. The God of this world has blinded the minds of those who don't believe. They can't see the light of the good news that makes Christ's glory clear. So the God of this world is Satan, the devil. The evil of this world doesn't want us to believe in Jesus. So we must look for Jesus and seek him to be able to find him. When we find him, we must accept his offer of eternal life by believing in him and trusting him to be our Savior. The third important truth about the kingdom is that each person must accept the kingdom. So the Bible says in the book of Romans, in chapter 10, verse 9, say with your mouth, Jesus is Lord. Believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, then you will be saved. For someone to be saved from sin and live with Jesus forever, that person must accept the free gift that Jesus offers. We must believe that Jesus is God and that He came from heaven to earth to die on the cross for our sins and raise back to life. The fourth important truth about the kingdom is that the kingdom is the source of joy. So what is joy? Joy is a deep feeling of happiness, that it's lasting gladness and contentment and just happiness. Knowing Jesus is true joy. Jesus provides a sense of happiness that only he can give us. And that is John 15, 11. The fifth important truth about the kingdom is that receiving the kingdom is a transaction. What is a transaction? So a transaction is a trade or an exchange where you give something to get something else. Now, many times a transaction involves money. Can we buy our salvation with money? No, we cannot buy our salvation with money. Money has nothing to do with the transaction that receiving the kingdom of God is. The transaction that takes place to receive the kingdom of God is the exchange of your old self for Jesus. Jesus said in the book of Matthew, chapter 16, verse 24, whoever wants to be my disciple must say no to themselves. They must pick up their cross and follow me. What Jesus meant in this verse is that a person who wants to follow him must give up all of themselves and receive all that he is. When we follow Jesus, we exchange a life of sin and control over our own life for him. The transaction is the willingness to give up the old life and follow Jesus. So these parables are a reminder that Jesus paid it all when he died on the cross to take away our sins. And we must give up our old life to follow Jesus. Jesus died for each of us because he loves us and he wants us to have eternal life. Let's pray. Dear God, thank you for your word, the Bible. Thank you for the parables that Jesus used to teach big lessons. We know that we are sinners. We know that we need a savior. Thank you for sending Jesus to earth to live as a human and die on the cross for our sins. Jesus paid it all on the cross. Please help us to understand this amazing truth and the special gift that you offer to us all. We love you and we praise you. In Jesus' sweet name, amen. Next time we're going to be talking about the parable of the vineyard workers. So I hope to see you back. Until then, God bless. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Seeds of Truth podcast. For more free Bible resources, visit Seeds of Truth Ministries.com.