But I like to think of myself as much more thrifty than that. I've been playing William Shatner's role of "Priceline Negotiator" so we won't have to sell everything we own for a beach vacation, but it makes me wonder, for what would I give up all, and I mean ALL of my stuff? Well, it wouldn't be so I could simply trade it for a different collection of stuff. We do that to ourselves sometimes - exchange locations, jobs, or wardrobes to try to get a new lease on life. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Usually we haul along the very same baggage anywhere and everywhere we go. But I think Jesus is talking about something more than just our stuff here. He may seem to be talking about God's kingdom as if it were like making a big purchase, but really he's talking about something deeper. Being a part of God's kingdom means making a life-altering commitment - giving up everything for the ONE thing that can actually bring us true joy. In studying this one chapter of Matthew this past month and letting it try to sink in a little more this time through the lectionary, I've noticed three themes, three ways of glimpsing through clouded metaphor, what Jesus is trying to tell us about the kingdom of God. The bulk of this chapter is dedicated to what I would call "the great sorting out." The parable of the sower, the parable of the wheat and the weeds, the haul of fish, all point to the kingdom of heaven as a time of judgment and sorting out good and evil. As we have always anticipated, in the end good will be rewarded; bad punished. This is a rather persistent theme in the way we humans imagine the afterlife, and it comes from this common theme in scripture. Jesus even takes the time to explain the first two parables to the disciples. Then he asks them at the end whether or not they've understood what he's been telling them? I guess to me it's pretty clear - but just in case we wondered how good do we have to be - Je sus says earlier in Matthew, chapter 5, verse 20, "Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of God." Heaven help us! That seems like an almost ridiculous goal.

Nevertheless, Jesus has tremendous expectations for those who would follow him, those who would become his students and disciples. If you look at those two parables a bit more closely, the Scribes and Pharisees were the ones who coveted the role set apart for the angels. Only God's heavenly messengers are tasked with actually sorting good from evil and readying God's people for the great beyond. The children of God are only told to wait and watch - to ready themselves for the coming of the Son of Man. Being "more righteous" than the Scribes and Pharisees may mean paying more attention to God than to trying to do the sorting ourselves. To me, this seems like the starting place. The Kingdom of God will one day culminate in the great sorting - but for now - righteousness is about honoring our important relationships with God and each other more than nit picking about the minutiae of the law. Love God, love one another. No need to start pointing fingers, God will take care of evil in the final reckoning.

Today's reading includes the next levels of seeing God's kingdom. These other themes require a new vision, new eyes to see beyond the struggle for good and evil which is pretty much a basic when it comes to religious values. As it would be called in C.S. Lewis' fantastic Chronicles of Narnia, these next parables unearth the "old magic," the secret knowledge that Jesus promises to share with his disciples - which are faithfully recorded, but not necessarily explained for today's reader.

The second set of like parables says the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed or like yeast. The common principle of these two parables is that with the tiniest, simplest nugget of faith, the kingdom of heaven grows exponentially. We struggle with this parable as an institutional church because we imagine that growth means higher numbers in the pews, more money in the budget, and instant respect in our community. Not necessarily so. However, we can hardly help but worry about the declining numbers in our denomination. The Presbyterian Predicament was already a book series that addressed our numerical slippage and it was written at least a decade ago. I know it bothers many of you that this particular Presbyterian Church does not have the attendance it's had in other times in its life cycle. So is God not reaching us? Is God truly blessing Faith Promise and other growing churches, while the mainline gets sidelined? We might learn some things by considering answers to those questio ns rather than just lamenting the changes taking place over time. Growth is a sign of God's kingdom at work. Really it is.

But this multiplication is not limited to the growth that we expect by virtue of the business model that we've translated into our expectation of what a congregation is supposed to be. Growth in the Spirit is not just measured by the bottom lines. Kingdom growth is a young couple entrusting their baby to God in baptism. Kingdom growth is seeing past the "we" of this church to the "we" that includes people of faith in every church in Oak Ridge and beyond. Kingdom growth is being so excited about our mission as a congregation that we want to tell our friends about it regardless of what they will think of us. Kingdom growth is not measured only by things that are easily counted. The yeast disappears into the dough - yet just a little of it can make many loaves of delicious bread.

The third set of parables is even stranger to our ears. The kingdom of God is like treasure hidden in a field, a pearl of great value and in each story someone would sell everything they have to get this treasured object. In our consumer-driven culture, this is particularly hard for us to hear. We want to have everything. We want a fabulous beach vacation AND to be a faithful person. We are commitment-phobic when it comes to giving our all. It doesn't seem right for God to be so demanding that we sell it all to be a faithful follower. But Jesus reminds his disciples that they've not sacrificed for misery, they've sacrificed for joy. Those things that we give up in order to get even a glimpse of God's majesty bring joy - great, incredible, indescribable joy. The kingdom of God isn't everything; it's the ONE thing that matters. It is the pearl of great value - so beloved - so treasured that it's worth putting everything else aside. For what would you give up everything? This is the answer. Giving ourselves over totally and completely to God has a cost, but it also has a reward. If we thought imagining growth was hard, our eyes are definitely not trained to see this possibility of the kingdom. Sacrifice is not a fun word in our vocabulary. Who here is good at saying "no" to worldly things in order to imagine a life filled with heavenly things?

Jesus, after preaching these parables, asks his disciples if they understand. I'm not sure if they did - but regardless - these words have been preserved so that we can wrestle with them now. Even now we believers contemplate and sometimes even argue about what is good or evil in this world. We look for the growth of God's kingdom in ourselves and in our church family. We yearn for joy that actually fulfills us. This secret knowledge may indeed be too wonderful for us and escape our understanding as a church community, but I ask you to ponder these parables. Can you let go of control enough to see that God is the only judge? Can you bear witness to the the growth that eludes detection - spiritual growth in yourself or others? Can you sacrifice something important to receive great treasure? Jesus proclaimed that those trained in his ways would be like masters of a household who know how to bring out of their treasure both what is new and what is old. In Jesus we find the balance of law and mercy, discipline and grace. Jesus unites the old and the new. He doesn't argue over which side is right. He challenges us to imagine this kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.

Today, we welcome Ashley and Serenity into this fold of secret knowledge. May God's spirit help them discern good and evil, grow in faith, and experience the joy of giving up that which leaves us empty for that which truly satisfies.

Amen.