[Sorry, did not record the OT reading]
Sermon – Digging for Wealth
2 Kings 20:12-19; Matthew 13:44-50
Farmville Presbyterian Church
10/26/25
Someone in the last few years contacted the church office to ask if they might go around the church property one day and do some metal detecting. The person sounded like someone who had done that kind of thing before elsewhere, and they seemed pleasant enough. The idea was that if they found anything related to the church and its history, they would turn that over to the church. I guess it was the thrill of discovery that was motivating them. Sadly, that was the last time we spoke. Either they found nothing and went on their way, or they discovered that chest of Confederate treasure that was hidden behind the church and took off for Mexico. I will leave it to you to decide which of those two scenarios might seem more likely.
Of course, we do not necessarily live by what’s likely. None of us probably believes that we could walk out our front door with a shovel and find something precious, but there is a part of life that keeps us wishing and hoping for something incredible to happen. This is why many play the lottery with its laughable odds of winning. Even supposedly easier to accomplish things seem too big to believe. There is one public diamond mine in the world, the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas. And yes, you can keep what you find. The largest diamond discovered in America, the Uncle Sam, was discovered there. This year, two diamonds both over 2 karats have been found there. I suspect plenty of more folk have visited, however, and ended up “diamond empty.” It is not easy digging for wealth.
It is not easy in the Bible, either. Of course, striving for great wealth is frowned upon, unless you are a king that God seems to like. Regardless, having wealth tends to not work out so well scripturally. Case in point is the story of Hezekiah in 2 Kings. He was actually supposed to be a good king. He had apparently amassed a great fortune. Of course, it was probably not all from him. This was most likely the culmination of generations of kingdom building since the days of David. Good King Hezekiah in this story from 2 Kings did what any good king would do with their wealth, though:
Use it to feed the widows and orphans – no.
Invest in clean water and sanitation – no
Improve literacy and vocational training – no
Secure the safe and appropriate worship of God – no.
Show it off to a neighboring, rival king – absolutely.
This goes to prove that IQ has never been a prerequisite for leaders. Hezekiah was so impressed with his fortune and wealth, the fullness of his glory and splendor, that he showed it off to the king of Babylon through his messengers. They were not even there to spy. They had come to pay respects to Hezekiah who had been terribly ill. God extended his life because of his prayer, and in return, Hezekiah went on a bragging spree. In fact, the passage TWICE emphasizes that he withheld NOTHING from their tour. This is like him opening the vault, the safes, and the safety deposit boxes. He even showed them the silver and what he had stuffed in his mattress. When the prophet Isaiah heard about this abject stupidity, he told Hezekiah just what a blunder he had committed. One day, it would all be gone. Even his children would be taken away as mutilated slaves. This is perhaps the most important part: Hezekiah does not care as long as he has peace in his lifetime with his fortune.
This bizarre answer of disregard for anything that was truly important is shocking. He kicked the can of authentic leadership to a later generation. This is also tragically echoed through history. By the way, guess who captured the Southern Kingdom of Israel, Hezekiah’s kingdom, and hauled the people off into captivity? That’s right… Babylon.
Jesus paints a different picture of wealth with different values and a different desire.
Throughout this chapter, Mathew has Jesus telling parable after parable. That is tough enough. Parables are supposed to be teaching stories that people can relate to. You do not need a seminary education to make sense of these stories, yet plenty of people did not get what Jesus was trying to tell them. This chapter has a back and forth between Jesus and his disciples about making sense of the parables and whether they should understand his meaning. Then, we get these snippets of sayings showing something of the Kingdom of Heaven. And they all relate to wealth. These are not parables, per se, but they tell us something that God wants us to know with basic, everyday language.
The ancient treasure hunter was out looking for treasure. He found some and buried it back up so that no one else would get his idea. He sold everything he had to buy the field. Legally, he would then have been able to keep the treasure.
An ancient pearl merchant found the pearl of his lifetime. He sold everything he had – all the other pearls, just to have this one great, invaluable pearl.
The fisherman finds the haul that no one would expect. The net brings in every kind of fish, but of course, not every kind of fish is usable, so there is a sorting that must take place. Everything that swims is not kosher, so to speak. The worthless fish are thrown out and disposed of. Then, you have a haul of fish of value.
All three of these vignettes are about the Kingdom of Heaven, also known as the Kingdom of God, and they all relate to wealth. There is something valuable in all three, and the Kingdom of Heaven is valuable. It is something we should value a lot. It can be understood as something people work for and strive to find. It is a treasure, something wonderful to be discovered and worth the work, and it exposes what is valuable to us. It shows what we are willing to give to have. That’s important. It shows our heart’s love.
Today is a special day to reflect on what is valuable to us. We think about the ways we will commit to the work of this worshipping community, this church. While one big, obvious way that we do this is with our money, this is much bigger than simply what is in our bank accounts. Today is about what is precious to us.
Hezekiah shows us what was precious to him. It was his piles of actual wealth. Jesus shows us what is precious to him. Speaking in terms of wealth, he tells us that our hearts should be devoted to looking for the Kingdom of Heaven. If we are living for and striving for and working for the Kingdom of Heaven, then we will see things that matter, things that have value, and we will have what is important to God.
A truly good expression of this value is the work that Mission, Nurture, and Outreach with help from Fellowship and others brought to the church and community this last week. This was the Kingdom of God in action. We looked for something important, something valuable, and we invested in that service. We found a way to share resources with those who need. We found a way to give so that we might have a better investment. This is the way our church needs to continue building and growing. This is the vision of the Kingdom of God that this community needs from us. This is what is precious to us as a church family. I hope you find this precious to you, worth digging for, and that we can dig together into the coming year.
I look forward to the collaboration of hands and hearts in the months ahead. As we continue to prayerfully consider what that collaboration might be, let us pray….
God of heart and mind, show us your growing value in our lives and the lives of those around us. Show us your Kingdom and our place in its work. Show us what is valuable and invite our value to share. Give us the love of your people and the willingness to be your love. Open our joy to what is coming, and help us to prepare. To you be the glory. Amen.