Kingdom Parables: The Small Things

Transcription

1 Matthew 13: Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: 32 Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. 33 Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. Introduction Over 200 years ago, Thomas Jefferson o commissioned Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to find the source of the Missouri River, o and from there to discover a relatively easy water route west to the Pacific. Such a waterway, they discovered, doesn't exist. o But they did succeed in mapping the Northwest and, 15 months after they began pushing themselves upstream, they found, near today's Montana-Idaho border, the source of the mighty Missouri river. Lewis's journal records that on August 12, 1805, o a member of the expedition, Private Hugh McNeal, o "exultingly stood with one foot on each side of this little trickle of water and thanked his God that he had lived to stand astride o the mighty Missouri that had, to this day, seemed endless. They learned that the Missouri River at its source o looks a lot different than the powerful current that flows into the Mississippi River near St. Louis! It is often God s way to begin his great works with small things. o We see it every day, for the first dawn of light is but feeble, and yet by-and-by it grows o into the full noontide heat and glory. o We know how the early spring comes

2 with its buds of promise, but it takes some time o before we get to the beauties of summer or the wealth of autumn. How tiny is the seed that is sown in the garden, o yet out of it there comes the lovely flower! How small is the acorn, but how great is the oak that grows up from it! o The stream commences with but a gentle trickle, but it flows on untill it becomes a creek, a stream, a river like the mighty Missouri. The way that God uses small things o to multiply his kingdom is the point of today s pair of parables. From the smallest of seeds, o God grows a mighty church that serves as a place of refuge from a broken world. And, with just a small lump of leaven, o the Lord transforms the very nature of a large batch of dough. A little leaven leavens the whole batch. Both parables start with small things o that explode into incredible growth. The mustard seed that results in great external growth and the leaven that results in tremendous internal transformation. In each parable we witness the spread of the kingdom, o both in this world and in our own lives. Mustard Seed We start with the programmatic phrase, o The kingdom of heaven is like 31 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: The kingdom is like the grain of mustard seed o That is sown in the field. We know from the Jesus interpretation of last week s parable, o that the field is the world.

3 o So right away Jesus is telling us that this parable is about the kingdom that He came to establish in the world. His kingdom is the small seed that is planted in the large field. 32 Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. Jesus called it the least of all seeds. o A grain of mustard seed is, indeed, an incredibly small seed. o If you held one in your hand, it would be a tiny speck. If by chance you dropped, o you would never find it. o It is not the smallest seed in the world. However, it was the tiniest seed that farmers sowed in ancient Israel. o In the culture in which Jesus was teaching it was, indeed, the least of all seeds. o We know from history that the mustard seed was the smallest unit of measure in the system of weights and balances o that was utilized in the first century. o Yet, that small seed, that minuscule little grain, was capable of remarkable growth. o In a single growing season it would spring from the ground and grow into a massive bush-like tree o that stood as much as twelve feet tall. o Its branches were many and thick, like a shrub. They provided a shelter for the birds of the air o to come and nest in, a refuge from the heat and the storms. In this short parable Jesus gives us a picture o of the growth of His kingdom. It starts small. o The kingdom comes to earth in the incarnation. God invests himself in a single human body. o Now that may not seem so small

4 when you really contemplate the wonder of it all, but the point here is that one man, among the millions that walked the earth, o is a small thing. God s kingdom, however, was destined to grow. o From humble roots and small beginnings, God will raise up a mighty church, a great city of refuge o in the midst of the world, a place where the desperate can find hope, o a place where the hungry can be fed, where the broken can be mended, o where the wounded can be made whole. The church that Jesus came to establish will be a city of refuge in the world, o a place of shelter for men and women to escape the trouble and trials of this life. We have a tendency to despise small beginnings. o Everybody wants to lose a little weight, but we want to lose it 10 and 20 pounds at a time. o It is absolutely appalling to us to imagine losing just a pound a week. o However, the science has shown that, if you lose 30 pounds in one week you are much more likely to gain the weight back than if you lose one pound a week for 30 weeks. o The logic of that statement is unassailable. It makes perfect sense. But, over and over again, o we reject that approach because small steps seem so insignificant o when compared to the big goal. All too often we neglect the powerful truth o that God often chooses to use small things to accomplish mighty tasks. o He takes a little boy s lunch, just two fishes and a few loaves and feeds a mighty multitude. o He takes twelve men, one of whom was a traitor, and he turns the world upside down o in the course of just a few years. o He takes a few people gathered in an upper room

5 and empowers them to baptize over 3,000 converts o in a single city on a single day. The seed may be the smallest of seeds o but what it produces is disproportionate to its current size. That s the nature of a mustard seed s growth. o It starts small but it grows fast. Christianity was a religion which seemed at first To be so feeble, and helpless, and powerless, After Jesus was crucified the Jews and the Romans had every right o to expect that this Jesus movement would shrivel up and die. o I mean, come on, its founder was put to death before the fledgling movement ever really took off. He was nailed to a cross like the vilest of criminals. And his followers, such as they were, were just a little company, o a small band that didn t really amount to much. o Its first preachers were a few fishermen and a tax collector who were mostly unlearned o and ignorant men. o And the message they preached was shocking. They continued to preach about Jesus Christ crucified, his cross became their rallying point. The message of his death o was a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks but it touched the hearts of multitudes of desperate, hungry, people. The church was persecuted and oppressed o the might of the Roman government became fully focused on the annihilation of this new faith. o Nero set his own city, Rome on fire, and blamed it on the Christians in order to establish a reason for

6 o his horrendous persecution of the Christ followers. o He would throw them into the arenas and feed them to the lions as whole crowds cheered with bloodlust. o He would crucify hundreds, and, in what was perhaps his most atrocious crime, he would impale Christians on poles, o and have them doused with oil and burned alive to light his gardens at night. o But through it all, the church emerged triumphant. It didn t diminish, it didn t shrink in size, o it didn t wither up and die. No, it grew. o In the face of persecution, the church was multiplied. o Against all odds, when everything was against it, the kingdom that Jesus established o thrived in this world. There is no more fitting illustration of the church o than the tiny grain of a mustard seed. Seeds grow because they have life in them. o And the tiny seed of the church contained the very breath of God within it. o It was life that was conveyed in the upper room as the kingdom came in power. It is the life within the seed o that determines its destiny, not its size or its unsuitable environment. The seed grows because nothing in this world o can hinder the power of God that works in his church. The seed grows because the life that is within it o will not be denied! The grain of mustard seed, Jesus said, o became a great tree. In spite of persecution, opposition, and violence,

7 Christianity gradually spread and increased. Year after year o it spread throughout the whole world, until every tribe, tongue and nation o was impacted. In the mustard seed we see the image of the church, o as it grows from something small and seemingly insignificant into something large o that provides shelter and nourishment to all who seek refuge there. There is a lesson to learn here about the church. o It may start small, it may rise from humble roots, it may not seem to be all that much, o but don t ever count the church out because God is going to multiply his church. This is not the work of a man, o this is not my kingdom, or your kingdom, this is the kingdom of God o and one thing is certain It will rise. It will grow. It will flourish. And it will produce fruit in due season. o The church will be triumphant! We may see some hard times. o We may go through the winters of this life but no season is ever final. o Seasons will come and seasons will go and through it all, one small step at a time, o His kingdom is going to thrive! Come on somebody, this church is victorious. o We are not beaten and we are not broken, the devil has us right where o God wants us to be. o Mark my words, honey, this church is getting ready to grow because that s what His church does!

8 o It thrives. It grows. It outlasts the seasons of this life. Because there is a lost city o that needs a place of refuge! The Leaven As much as the first parable illustrated o the external, visible, growth of the kingdom of God in the world, o the second parable emphasizes the internal, invisible growth of the kingdom of God o in the life of a believer. 33 Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. To us this is just a story. o The details have little to no meaning in our culture. We have no idea what three measures of meal is. However, the original audience o would immediately have recognized that this is huge batch of dough. o This isn t the small amount that one might prepare to feed their family. o This is around 50 pounds of meal or flour and would have been capable of producing enough bread to feed 150 people. However, before the flour can produce bread, o dough must be made and yeast must be introduced. o In that day and age, you couldn t run out and buy yeast. Instead, every housewife o kept a little lump of leavened dough from the previous batch. o Like the mustard seed, the lump was insignificant in size, it didn t seem to be all that much, o especially when compared to the dough mixture that is made from 50 pounds of flour, but the housewife would hide the lump in the larger mixture of dough

9 o then patiently wait. o The effects were not instantaneous but they were as certain as the rising sun, the yeast would spread o from the single lump throughout the entire batch of dough. This is the truth that Paul states in Galatians 5:9, o a little leaven leavens the whole lump. Just a very little bit of leaven will permeate the entire batch of dough o and cause it to rise, turning wet blobs of dough into light, air filled wonders that will produce delicious bread. The leaven is similar to the mustard seed o in its miniscule size and its incredible influence. However, where the mustard seed s growth o is easily observed, the impact of the yeast is much more subtle o though no less pervasive. The language of scripture o is that the leavened lump is hidden in the dough mixture. o Once it is pressed into the unleavened dough it becomes indistinguishable from the rest. o However, even though you cannot easily see the intital difference, there is a difference. The leavened lump o has a living organism in it that will absolutely alter the very nature of the dough. o The leaven initiates a process of transformation that works from the inside out. This is how the kingdom of God grows, o not in the world, but in an individual life. The kingdom of heaven transforms a life o from the inside out. When God fills you with his Spirit o he places something inside of you

10 that will completely change your life. o It changes the very nature of who and what you are. o The power of the Holy Ghost, once it begins to work in a life, will never stand still. o If it is allowed to complete its work, it will, with the passage of time, leaven the whole lump. o That s the way it works, one small step at a time. Slowly, but surely, the power of God changes us. o The moment the Holy Ghost comes in, it transforms your life. Old addictions are broken, o old appetites are diminished, indeed the scripture says that old things are passed away. o However, as powerful as the transformation is, in the end, there is a whole lot of humanity left in you o and there s a whole lot of growing left to do. We get frustrated sometimes o because we don t grow fast enough. But we would do well to remember the principle of the leaven. The kingdom of God has entered our lives o and slowly, but surely, it is changing the very fabric of who we are. o It will work If you will let it! Every baker knows that certain conditions o are necessary for bread to rise. The dough must be held within a specific temperature range. o If you get it too cold or too warm, the yeast will die before it completes the process. The housewife, who hid the lump in the dough, o will carefully place that mixture in the right environment for it to work.

11 Sometimes the reason why o we struggle to grow spiritually is because we don t put ourselves in the right environment. o I wish I could tell you that yeast works under any conditions, but it doesn t. o And the transforming power of the kingdom of God in your life requires certain conditions. o That s why it is so vitally important that you come to church, that you read your Bible, o that you spend hours in prayer and days in fasting. o These are the things that bring your flesh under submission to the Spirit that has been placed within you. o These are the environments that facilitate the transformation! There are no shortcuts here. o You can t grow if you don t yield to the Spirit. o But if you do put yourself in the right place, maintain the right conditions, water your heart o with the word of God and nourish your soul o with prayer and fasting, the kingdom of God will grow in your life. o It will change you, completely, from the inside out. Day-by-day, o moment-by-moment, you will become more like Him and less like the old you! That s how the kingdom of heaven grows in an individual life. CLOSE Kyle MacDonald was stuck in a dead-end job o and he was strapped for money. So he came up with an improbable plan: o starting with one red paperclip,

12 he would trade on the Internet until he exchanged it for a house. First, he traded the red paperclip o for a fish-shaped pen. Next, he traded the pen for a doorknob. o He traded the doorknob for a Coleman stove. He traded the Coleman stove for an electric generator. o He traded the electric generator for a Budweiser sign and a keg of beer, which he then traded for a snowmobile. Exactly one year o and only 14 trades later, MacDonald finally reached his goal: he exchanged a part in a Hollywood movie o for a home in Saskatchewan, Canada. The true story of Kyle MacDonald o is told in his book One Red Paperclip, which is being made into a movie. Fame, fortune, a book, a movie deal, and a home o and it all began with one red paperclip. This morning we have seen two portraits o of the growth of the kingdom of God, and in both instances it grew from something small, o like a single red paperclip, into something massive, like a brand new house. o The end result was disproportionate to the simple beginnings. The kingdom of heaven o is a large, pervasive, organization that is a vital place of hope and healing o for a lost world, o but it is also likened to the transformative power of the Holy Ghost

13 o in the life of a believer. The church is more than an organization, o it is a fellowship of Spirit empowered, Spirit influenced individuals. o In these two parables we see the big perspective image of the kingdom o but we also see the kingdom on a very personal level, right down where the rubber meets the road. The kingdom is both things at the same time. o Two manifestations but one kingdom. As much as we believe that this church is going to grow and prosper, o because it is his kingdom, we also have to believe that our lives are going to continue o to be transformed because it is his kingdom. Its easy sometimes to get a little bogged down o and become frustrated with our growth but the principle of the leaven is undeniable. o God filled you with his Spirit and, if you will allow it, if you will keep it in the right environment, o that Spirit will transform your life. Perhaps you feel like you ve gotten stuck in the process. o Perhaps you feel like you are losing ground instead of gaining ground. o Perhaps you feel like you ve failed the Lord, let the temperature get too low and killed off the transforming influence o of the kingdom of God in your life. o I ve come to tell you, on this Sunday morning, that the Holy Ghost is flowing o through this house. Jesus can revive, refresh and renew you. o The power of his kingdom is pervasive, if you will let it work in your life. God is going to build this church, o one life at a time and he is going to start

14 with you and me!