Treasures In Unexpected Places

By John Stallings

• The main cause of divorce in this country is in this story.
• The main cause of church splits is in this story.
• The main cause of broken friendships is in this story.
• The main cause of family dissention is in this story.
• The main cause of strained relationships is in this story.
• The root cause of many of life’s problems is in this story.

Let’s read the story,--The kingdom of God is like unto a treasure hid in a field. For which when a man found he hideth; for the joy thereof goeth; selleth all that he hath and buyeth that field. Matt13:44

We all know what a treasure is. A treasure is something that can change your lifestyle. A treasure is something that can take you from- rags- to- riches. A treasure is something wonderful, something to be coveted and much desired. Men spend their lives searching for treasures. They go to the ends of the earth for treasures. Sadly some people kill and steal in the hopes of gaining a treasure.

We all know what a field is. A field is a place where weeds and scrubby things can grow. A field is a wild place where rats scurry about and other small rodents and even larger things live, like wildcats and raccoons. A field is a place where people can dump garbage and even carcasses of animals. A field is a place where poison Ivy might grow along with weeds of every description. A field is a non-descript place with no real utility, no crops growing, just a field.

NOTICE THE WORD HID

You have to find this treasure. You’ve got to look for it because it’s hidden in a field. You’ve got to go out into a field and look for the treasure. The man in this story finds a field with a treasure- hidden; he covers the treasure back up, and then goes and sells everything he has to buy this field. But when the man comes back he gets a chance to evaluate the field he’s purchased, low-and behold he finds some startling things. Yes he’s bought treasure but also….

• He’s bought some weed-thickets,
• He’s bought some rocks,
• He’s bought some ants and spiders,
• He’s bought some gopher-holes,
• He’s bought some field-mice and rats,
• He’s possibly bought a skunk or two and some snakes,
• Maybe he’s bought a raccoon and an opossum,
• He’s bought some garbage someone dumped on his land,
• He’s bought a few dead trees, a many old stumps,
• He’s bought some poison Ivy.

This man has bought all this stuff because he wanted the treasure buried in this field.

I can imagine the man as he goes into his field to start digging and all at once a big lizard comes scampering out of his hole. Then he sees poison Ivy growing and as he turns around a large rat runs between his feet and he smells the odor of a skunk. What if this man was so disgusted with all the junk on his field that he forsakes his field and the treasure buried there because of his negativity? Wouldn’t it be silly for him to do this and maybe go to the adjoining field where there is no treasure and buy it because he’s become so negative about his field?

This story alludes to the kingdom of God and the hidden treasure in Christ. But let’s broaden the scope and application a bit and see another truth that presents itself here.

WE SEE THIS SCENARIO PLAYED OUT OFTEN IN PEOPLES LIVES.

So often we’re not willing to take what we don’t want to get what we do want. We can’t escape the fact that the treasure is in the field. Notice…

• It isn’t in a bank- it’s in a field
• It isn’t in a museum -it’s in the field
• You may have to smell the odor of a skunk
• Or run from a raccoon
• Or stumble over some garbage
• You might have to get bitten by a few wasps

But some don’t want to encounter these negatives.


1.--A FRIEND IS A TREASURE-BUT ALL FRIENDS HAVE FIELDS

When we first meet a friend we are enraptured with him. He appears nearly faultless. And then all of the sudden we see a few weeds in his life. We see a few negatives, a few warts. Perhaps not stopping to think that we all have weeds in our fields, we turn away from that friend. We were looking for the treasure in the person’s life but maybe a skunk pops up and; we break up with that friend. We get mad with our friend and in some cases we won’t speak to our friend after we find out what he has in his field. So we go seeking another friend only to find sooner or later that friend will also have undesirable things in his field. In the process of seeking friends we must keep in mind that we also have our own fields containing rats, nettles and weeds and briars. We shouldn’t be surprised when trying to be the best friend we can be if a lizard jumps up and scurries across our field at the most inopportune time.

2.-A YOUNG MAN FINDS A YOUNG LADY-BUT SHE HAS A FIELD

The man falls in love with the young lady because he sees many things to love and appreciate. He never stops to think that this angel he loves is really a human being, a person with a field. After he marries her and gets close to her he starts to see that see she has enormous weeds in her field. He sees a mouse or two scampering in her field and maybe a little garbage. Then the young man decides he doesn’t want the treasure after all.

But in all honesty, there’s not a woman in the world who doesn’t have a field. And by the way, the treasure the man saw is still in the girl, but he decides he doesn’t want to keep looking hard to find it. Maybe the lady doesn’t screw the lids back on bottles or containers and you’ve put ketchup on the ceiling more than once because of that. Many thousands each year are ending their marriages simply because of finding out that the person in whom they saw great treasure also has a field. No matter whom they move on to next they’ll find out that person has a field also, but the next person might not have the same treasure as the one they left behind.

The message is if you have a good woman and find out she has some weeds growing and opossums running in her field, stay committed to her anyway because there’s great treasure there. She’s a good hearted woman who loves you, loves God, loves His word and loves her children. Like us all, she isn’t perfect but don’t throw away that treasure just because she has a field. If a man has a wife who’s cooking for him, washing and ironing his clothes, is loving and loyal then she’s a treasure no matter what kind of field she’s got -so keep looking at that treasure.

3.-A YOUNG WOMAN FINDS A YOUNG MAN-HE ALSO HAS A FIELD.

He’s a dreamboat at first but then he gains enough weight to sink the boat. After a while she finds out he has a field, which all men have. She finds out while he’s smart he’s also stubborn. He has a field with weeds growing with garbage here and there. But he’s a hardworking, faithful man who loves her with all his heart- but he does have a field. He loves God and the things of God so don’t give up the field because there’s great treasure there. A lady told me once that she got furious at her husband for taking a nap on the couch in the afternoon and she divorced him basically for that reason. Years later she told me with tears in her eyes how she’d do almost anything to see him once again napping on that couch.

I’m deeply troubled by the fact that in today’s America young people are marrying and divorcing many times just for the sex. Our sex-saturated society tells young people that their marriage bed will be like the sometimes lewd love scenes enacted in the movies they see. To make it even more tragic, many young men who’ve exposed themselves to pornography enter marriage thinking their marriage bed will resemble what they’ve witnessed in pornographic images. Though you may find it hard to believe, many marriages break up because one or both the partners feel the sex just isn’t satisfying.

A father told me once why his young daughter was divorcing her husband and marrying another man. He said, “It’s not a thing in the world but sex.” As if the sex act was something that could comprise a large segment of a marriage. It’s true that sex within marriage is a beautiful thing and the bed undefiled, but anyone married or single who tries to make sex the center of their lives will sooner or later become jaded by it and learn that God didn’t design sex to dominate our lives but to enhance them. It will take much more than sex to keep us happy and build satisfactory relationships.

4.-CHILDREN AND THEIR PARENT’S FIELD

There is obvious treasure in a parent but most kids would laughingly say they have to dig deep to find it. I remember when I was a kid how at times I would get livid with my parents. As I grew older I realized that they did the best they could and were right most of the time. My dad would make me lie down across the bed from time to time and use his belt on me but I can’t remember a time when I didn’t have it coming. Parents may be stubborn from time to time and have a temper but when we look at what they do for their children we can overlook a little field mouse scurrying across the field occasionally. It would be tough to grow up with no roof over your head and be forced to study by candle light, on an empty stomach. Don’t give all the treasures up because you see a weed or two in their field.

5.-STUDENTS AND TEACHERS-THEY ALL HAVE FIELDS

A pupil looks at the teacher and says-- “Boy is she hard-boiled?” As I look back at the teachers I had as a kid, the ones I liked least then are the ones I like most now. The ones that let us get by with just about anything are the ones I respect the least looking back. There’s a treasure in a hard-boiled teacher. A kid might say, “But she gave me some demerits.” No she didn’t, the kid gave himself the demerits, and she just wrote them down. It’s a sad thing how unwilling we are to take a few negatives so that we may have a chance to get the positive. So many say, “I know there’s a treasure here but I don’t want to get bitten by a spider or smell a skunk so I’ll just pass it all up. I’ll just go somewhere where there are no weeds and rats and maybe things will be more pleasant for me.

It’s possible that by looking around you might find a field with a little less garbage on it or fewer weeds growing but it’s very possible that the field you find won’t have a treasure either. If we go through life always taking the easy way or the line of least resistance, we can have an easier life perhaps but it won’t be a fulfilling life. The human spirit doesn’t thrive on ease and comfort. The human spirit thrives on challenges and accomplishments. Almost every time if we’re to accomplish something worthwhile we’ll have to dig for it in some sort of field. The situations may be less than ideal because life hides its treasures just that way. Blessed is the young person who learns this lesson early enough to do them some good.

6.-FINDING A CHURCH THAT’S A TREASURE TO YOU-IT HAS A FIELD.

You start to attend the church and say to yourself what a treasure you and your family have found. The singing is superb and the pastor’s preaching is straight from the portals of Glory. But pretty soon you see some things that you don’t understand and you wonder about it. You see some weeds and you see “a rat or two” run across the church. Then you start to notice that the church people have a field and then you see that the pastor also has a field. There are problems in the church choir, in the Sunday school and in the Nursery. There are problems in the parking lot if the church is a large one and now you’re beginning to see all the flaws or the churches “field.” You saw the treasure first but it took a little time to see its field. Not only that, if you and I join the church now there’ll be more treasure but alas, we’ll also bring our fields.

All the men in the Bible had great treasure in their lives but they also had a field.

• Moses had great treasure but he was hot-tempered and his field kept him from entering the Promised Land.
• Noah had a great treasure but he had a field.
• Peter had a treasure but he also had a problem (field) with impetuosity.
• David had a treasure but most of us know what his field was.
• Jacob had great treasure but he was a con-artist with a large field.
# Paul had a great treasure but he had a field.

• James and John had treasure but they also had a field.

Every pastor you’ll ever meet will have a field –so…

• Why spend your life going from church to church trying to find a treasure without a field?
• Why go from spouse to spouse trying to find one without a field?
• Why go from friend to friend trying to find one without a field?
• There is no such thing as a treasure without a field.

If it’s true that we can’t find a treasure without a field, why don’t we go to that person we’ve fallen out with and make things right with them? Go to the person you’ve been criticizing and say you’re sorry. You saw something good in them at some point or you’d never had gotten closer to them in the first place. That good’s still there but be advised; in all probability their field is still there too. Tell them you saw a mouse and got spooked but you still see the treasure that’s within them and care enough about them to want to pursue your friendship.

Why not go to your wife or husband and tell them you’ve been pointing out all their mistakes but they are still the most precious person to you on the face of God’s earth. Look them in the eye and say, “Sorry sweetheart, I’ve been looking at the weeds in the field instead of the treasure that dwells inside you.” Look at the person with whom you’ve been disenchanted and say—“Will you forgive me, for I’ve been looking at the field instead of the treasure?”

7.-THERE’S ONLY ONE GREAT TREASURE WITH NO FIELD

What a pity it would be to close this piece and not remind you of One who has no field, across whose path a rat never ran. One who never knew what it was like to have a weed in His field. One who every time you dig you’re not disappointed, you find treasure. Over the years in many parts of the world I’ve asked many people if they knew my Savior-the Lord Jesus Christ. I remember asking a lady in the Orient that question once and she told me in no uncertain terms she wasn’t a Christian and would never be because of the Christians she’d come in contact with. I told her “I wasn’t asking her to trust those people but I was asking her to trust Jesus. Can you find anything wrong with Him?” She said “No, and if more of your people were like Him more of our people would become your people.”

We don’t point people to the Pope, or an Archbishop or any other individual. They all have weeds. We don’t point them to a preacher, priest, rabbi, evangelist, we all have weeds. We point them to the Lamb of God who is faultless and without blemish and paid our sin debt on the cross of Calvary and offers us all eternal life.

Let’s go back and find the fellow with the field. He’s been digging and digging and he’s been bitten several times by spiders and other insects. He’s felt the sting of the nettles and weeds and; he’s smelled a skunk or two. But he kept digging. One day all of the sudden he finds the treasure he’s been looking for. It was worth all of it because finally he’s got his treasure that was hidden in his field.

IT’S UP TO US! ---

In every human relationship there’s a treasure, but there’s also a field. It’s up to us whether we spend our lives complaining about the field or rejoicing over the treasure.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels (jars of clay) that the excellency of the power may be in God not us. ----2 Cor.4:7


Blessings,


John