The Divine Appraisal Text: Matthew 13:45-46
Introduction: The Great Calculation
We live in a world of frantic, endless calculation. Men spend their lives weighing costs and benefits, poring over spreadsheets, and checking market trends. They do this for their careers, for their retirement, for their hobbies, for their vacation plans. They are meticulous in appraising the value of stocks, bonds, and real estate. But when it comes to the most important transaction of their lives, the one that determines their eternal destiny, they are thoughtless, careless, and content with cheap trinkets. They trade their immortal souls for a handful of shiny beads and a pat on the head from a dying world.
The modern man, and sadly, the modern evangelical, often approaches the kingdom of God like a casual shopper at a flea market. He wants to browse. He wants to haggle. He wants a bargain. He wants to add Jesus to his collection of other interests, perhaps placing Him on a shelf between his golf clubs and his political outrage. He wants a little bit of salvation, but not so much that it interferes with his real treasures. He wants a fire insurance policy for the next life, but he wants to remain the undisputed landlord of this one.
Into this world of petty appraisals and spiritual cowardice, Jesus tells a pair of very short, very sharp parables. The first is about a man who stumbles upon a treasure in a field. The second, our text for today, is about a professional who finds the object of his lifelong search. Both parables have the exact same point, and it is a point that cuts directly across the grain of our lazy, lukewarm affections. The point is this: the kingdom of heaven is not just valuable; it is all-valuable. It is not just another item on the list of things you might want; it is the thing for which you must joyfully liquidate everything else you have. It demands a total, absolute, all-in commitment. It is not a negotiation; it is an unconditional surrender born of overwhelming joy.
These parables are not gentle suggestions. They are a divine appraisal of reality. They teach us what the kingdom is worth, and in doing so, they force us to make our own calculation. What is it worth to you? Your answer to that question reveals everything.
The Text
"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."
(Matthew 13:45-46 LSB)
The Professional Seeker (v. 45)
We begin with the description of the man and his quest.
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls..." (Matthew 13:45)
Notice the difference between this parable and the one immediately preceding it. In the parable of the hidden treasure, a man finds the treasure by what appears to be sheer accident. He is just going about his business, perhaps as a day laborer, and stumbles upon a fortune. But here, we have a professional. This is a merchant, a man whose entire life and livelihood revolve around one thing: seeking and appraising fine pearls. This is not a hobbyist. He is an expert. He knows the market, he knows quality, and he has spent his life sifting through countless lesser pearls, looking for the truly exceptional.
This tells us that people come into the kingdom in different ways. Some are surprised by grace. They are not looking for God at all; they are like the man plowing a field, and the gospel simply runs them over. They are arrested by a sovereign act of God they never saw coming. Others are seekers. They are already on a quest for truth, for meaning, for something that will satisfy the deep ache in their souls. They may be studying philosophy, or engaging in world religions, or pursuing moral excellence. They are looking for "fine pearls." They are looking for something of real, lasting value.
This merchant is not looking for junk. He is seeking "fine pearls," plural. He has standards. He is discerning. He is not taken in by cheap imitations. And this is a good thing. But his search for many fine things is about to be gloriously interrupted by the discovery of one ultimate thing.
The Supreme Discovery (v. 46a)
The merchant's lifelong search comes to a sudden and dramatic climax.
"...and upon finding one pearl of great value..." (Matthew 13:46a)
After a lifetime of examining and trading in lesser pearls, he finds it. The one. The pearl of "great value." The Greek here implies something of surpassing, incomparable worth. This is not just a slightly better pearl than the others in his collection. This pearl makes his entire collection of other "fine pearls" look like gravel. Its value is in a category all by itself.
This, of course, is Jesus Christ. The kingdom of heaven is not an abstract system or a set of moral principles. The kingdom of heaven is the rule and realm of a King, and that King is Jesus. To find the kingdom is to find Him. All other truths, all other philosophies, all other moral systems, all other religions, are the "fine pearls." Some may have a measure of truth or beauty in them, just as a real pearl has some value. But compared to Christ, they are nothing. Paul, a man who was himself a merchant of the finest pearls of Judaism, makes this exact point. "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" (Philippians 3:7-8).
The merchant, being an expert, immediately recognizes the value of what he has found. There is no hesitation. There is no need to consult other appraisers. His trained eye sees the truth at once. This is what happens in true conversion. When the Holy Spirit opens a man's eyes to see the glory of Christ, the recognition is immediate. He sees that this is it. This is the one for whom he has been searching, whether he knew it or not. All other pursuits are immediately rendered obsolete.
The Joyful Liquidation (v. 46b)
The merchant's response to his discovery is radical and total. It is the only sane response possible.
"...he went and sold all that he had and bought it." (Matthew 13:46b)
This is the heart of the matter. The value of the pearl is so great that it makes selling everything else an easy decision. He doesn't sell just a few of his other pearls. He doesn't take out a loan. He "sold all that he had." His business inventory, his personal property, his retirement account, everything. He joyfully liquidates every last asset to acquire this one thing.
Now, we must be careful here. This is not teaching that we can "buy" our salvation. The Bible is clear that salvation is a free gift of grace, not of works, lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). So what does it mean to "buy" it? It means that possessing the kingdom of God costs you everything. Dietrich Bonhoeffer famously said, "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die." The call to follow Christ is a call to total surrender. It is a call to lay down your own life, your own ambitions, your own treasures, your own autonomy, and to subordinate everything to His kingship.
The man in the parable doesn't see this as a grim sacrifice. The parable of the treasure explicitly says that "for joy" he sells all that he has. The same joy is implicit here. Why would he be joyful? Because he is an expert appraiser. He knows he is getting an infinitely good deal. He is not losing anything of real value; he is trading temporary, perishable trinkets for an eternal, imperishable treasure. He is giving up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
This is where so much of our contemporary Christianity fails. We present a gospel that costs nothing and is therefore worth nothing. We tell people they can have Jesus and keep all their other pearls too. But Jesus says no. You must choose. You must sell all. You must hate your father and mother and even your own life in comparison to Him (Luke 14:26). This is not because those things are evil, but because Christ is supremely valuable. He is the pearl of great price, and He will not be one treasure among many in your heart. He will be the only treasure, or He will be no treasure at all.
Who is the Merchant?
There is another layer to this parable, a glorious one. While the primary application is to us and our response to the kingdom, some have seen Christ Himself as the merchant. And this is a beautiful and true picture.
Think of it. Who is the ultimate seeker of fine pearls? It is God, seeking a people for His own possession, a bride for His Son. And what is the "one pearl of great value" that He finds? It is His church, His elect, scattered throughout the world. And what does He do when He finds this pearl?
He goes and sells all that He has to buy it. What did Christ sell? He, who was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself (Philippians 2:6-7). He sold the glories of heaven, the praises of angels, and the perfect fellowship of the Trinity. He came to earth and took on the form of a servant. And what was the price He paid? He paid not with silver or gold, but with His own precious blood (1 Peter 1:18-19). He sold everything, He gave up His own life, to purchase His bride, the church. We are the pearl that He bought at so great a cost.
So the parable works in two ways, and they are gloriously consistent. Because Christ first sold all that He had to purchase us, we are then freed and enabled by His grace to joyfully sell all that we have to possess Him. His total commitment to us is the foundation for our total commitment to Him. We love, because He first loved us. We give all, because He first gave all.
Conclusion: Your Great Transaction
This parable leaves no room for half-measures. It demolishes the idea of a casual, convenient Christianity. It forces a question upon every one of us: What is the kingdom of heaven worth to you? Have you seen the surpassing value of Jesus Christ? Have you seen that He is not just another fine pearl, but the pearl?
If you have, then the response is clear. You must sell everything. This doesn't mean you must all literally sell your homes and become monks. It means you must undergo a radical, internal re-evaluation of all things. Your career, your family, your money, your hobbies, your reputation, your very life, must all be taken off the throne of your heart and placed at the feet of King Jesus. They are no longer yours to do with as you please. You are a steward, not an owner. You have joyfully liquidated your claim to yourself.
And if you have never made this transaction, if you are still trying to haggle with God, still trying to keep your collection of lesser pearls, then you must understand that you have nothing. You are spiritually bankrupt and holding a fistful of gravel. The invitation of the gospel is for you to see what the merchant saw. To see the incomparable beauty and worth of Jesus Christ, and for the joy of having Him, to count everything else as loss. That is not a sacrifice. It is the greatest bargain in the history of the world.