Seaside With Jesus: Going All-In Matthew 13:44-46

Three ministers in a small town gathered weekly to play small stakes poker.  The only problem is that the town they lived in had a “zero-tolerance” gambling policy.  One night, the sheriff raided their game and took all three before the local judge.

After listening to the sheriff’s story, the judge looked intently at the first minister, “Were you gambling, Pastor”?

The pastor looked toward heaven, whispered, “Oh, Lord, forgive me,” and then said to the judge, “No, your honor, I was not gambling.”

“What about you, Reverend,” the judge asked the second minister.  “Were you gambling?”

This minister repeated the first minister’s actions and replied, “No, your honor, I was not gambling.”

Finally, the judge turned to the third of the clergypersons and asked, “Were you gambling, Parson?”

The young parson looked coolly at the judge and simply replied, “With whom?”

You need to know upfront, since I have only been here two months as of yesterday, that like the United Methodist denomination we are a part of, I believe that gambling is a sin.  However, that’s another sermon for another day.  I offer this illustration, though, because poker playing, over the last decade, has grown in popularity.  Yes, I know it has been around for a while…we see all of the old westerns with all the men, and a few women, gathered around the tables in the local tavern, playing poker.  Yet, about a decade ago poker made a resurgence on the public scene, particularly a form of poker called “Texas Hold ‘Em.”  The popularity of this game has grown so immense, that were and continue to be World Series of Poker tournaments on ESPN.  Now here is where I have to pause. ESPN is a sports network, so I am figuring this means that poker has been declared a sport.  And we all know different that all sports have different workout routines to prepare the athletes for that sport…I think I’ll sign up for the Texas Hold ‘Em workout routine.

However, as you have already figured out I have a tendency to do, I have drifted far from where I was going.  You might be asking, If I have issues with gambling, why am I talking about poker in a sermon other than to rail against the evils of it.  Well, it is because I think there is something that we can salvage from the Texas Hold ‘Em terminology.  Specifically, what I am talking about pulling from the terminology is the phrase “all-in.”  To go “all-in” in Texas Hold ‘Em means that the person is betting all of their chips, putting all their money on this one hand.  Why would anyone do this?  According to several experts there are three possibilities of why you would go “all-in.”  First, you would consider going “all-in” when you think you have the best hand.  Secondly, you might go “all-in” when you want to make everyone else think you have the best hand (and hope that they might fold because your hand is really poor).  Finally, you might go “all in” when you are not going to have enough money to make it another round or two unless you win the pot, in other words, it is a desperation move.

The question may be, what does all of this, that sounds like it should be in a series entitled Saloon-side with Jesus have to do with our Seaside series?  It actually has everything to do with it as our Scripture this morning reveals two stories in which Jesus describes folks going “all-in” for the Kingdom of God.

Consider again our Seaside stories from this morning.

Jesus talks about the Kingdom of Heaven being like a treasure being hidden out in a field.  One day a someone comes across that treasure.  We don’t know if the person was actively looking for that treasure (like a prospector who would have been in the Old West saloon playing poker) or it was somebody just strolling through the field enjoying the beauty of God’s nature.  All we know is that they suddenly stumbled upon this treasure and becomes so excited about it that he goes and sells everything he has…he goes “all-in” and buys the field.

Jesus then appeals to those who business owners in His audience.  He says the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant who has gone out searching for fine pearls.  The merchant is looking and looking, and rather than finding several nice pearls he can sell at his business, he find one pearl, the most exquisite pearl he had ever encountered.  Rather than taking it back and seeing what he could get for it, he went sold everything he had, he went “all-in” and bought the pearl.

Jesus says that when people encounter the Kingdom of Heaven, they encounter something that is worth more than they could ever imagine and would risk everything in order to be part of it.  “But those are stories Jesus told,” someone wants to say.  “There was no real treasure seeker, no real merchant.  Who would really give up everything…who would really go “all-in” for God?

God’s Word is full of people who were willing to go “all-in” for the Kingdom.  God spoke to Noah, who was a good man, living among a very corrupt people.  God told him to build a boat.  That effort caused Noah to have to go all-in.  His efforts would have taken up all of his time, meaning that he put his family’s well-being at risk for he wouldn’t have time to farm or hunt if he was building this huge boat.  He put his reputation on the line because he would have been ridiculed by those around him building a boat for a impending flood in a world where the first drop of rain had never fallen.  However, he went “all-in” for the Kingdom and God brought Creation through the flood.

God called Abraham, though he was Abram at the time, and told him to leave your country behind…leave all your kinfolk behind…leave your ties to your earthly father behind, gather up your family and your goods, and go.  I will reveal your destination in due time.  Abraham didn’t miss a beat…he went “all-in” for the Kingdom, left it all behind, his security, his relationships, and any certainty he had in life.  And as Abraham went “all-in” God began building the people through whom He would bring salvation into the world.

Mary went “all-in” for the Kingdom.  Here she was a young teenage girl with a bright future ahead of her.  She was engaged to a local craftsman whose woodworking skills would have been in high demand.  Her future was secure.  Then an angel appeared to her and asked her to “go ‘all-in’” with God and with the biological questions answered, she put her marriage, her future, and even her life on the line for the sake of the Kingdom…and because she did, God broke into our world through the waters of her womb and washed us all clean.

Jesus called Peter, Andrew, James, John and the others, asking them to go “all-in” and they walked away from their careers and their secure futures and followed Him.

Members of the early church after Pentecost would go “all-in” as Acts tells us that they would sell all that they had, all their possessions, and pool those resources in a common fund for the community, so that everyone had all that they needed. 

Not everyone is willing to go “all-in” for the Kingdom of Heaven, even within God’s Word.  Jesus encountered the rich young ruler in search of the promise of eternal life.  Jesus told him that so far he had done everything correctly and that the only thing that he had left to do was to sell off all that he had, give it to the poor and follow Him.  We read that the young man went away sad because he had many possessions.  We never know whether that young man’s sorrow was that he was unwilling to part with his possessions, or simply the fact that he had to let all of it go—we just know joy of the person that found the treasure in the field or the merchant that found the pearl.

Going “all-in” was trouble for Ananaias and Sapphira in the Acts church.  They claimed to have gone all in for the Kingdom, selling off their property and giving it to this common pool, yet they had failed to trust their brothers and sisters in Christ, and more importantly God Himself, to look out for them…and they dropped dead.  Which, literally or not, is what happens when we fail to give ourselves over to God completely.

Going “all-in” with God is the only way we can truly embrace God and all that God has in store for us.  We cannot hold on to hell with one hand and reach for heaven with the other…embracing God is not a side to side hug…embracing God is letting go of everything else and wrapping our arms around Him.  It is going all in…it is risking everything for His sake.

And, my brothers and sisters, there is no bluffing here.  When we go “all-in” with God, we have staked everything on the winning hand…for they are the hands who shaped and created this world and us…they are the hands that were nailed to the cross…they are the hands that brought us salvation and the promise of Eternal life.  They are the hands that planted the treasure in that field, that pearl in an oyster…they are the hands that formed and are forming the Kingdom of Heaven…here amongst us, here through us…thanks be to God…

So I ask each of us this morning, as we conclude our Seaside stories with Jesus, are we willing to go “all-in” for the Kingdom of Heaven?  After all, He went “all-in” for us.

In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.