The Kingdom of Heaven: Seed & Yeast

Well, you have turned to Matthew chapter 13, where we've been spending our time talking, listening to Jesus tell us about the secrets of the kingdom. Before we look into our text today, let's pray. Father, we are here today by your appointment. We are here because you want us to hear this. You want us to understand what Jesus is saying, and so we ask that you give us ears to hear. we pray that you would enlighten our understanding and by that we would be encouraged by what Jesus tells us in these parables thank you again for your word what a joy it is to gather around it to hear your voice now again Lord give us ears to hear that voice help us to listen to our master Jesus we pray this in his name amen do you ever kind of get the idea that this whole kingdom business this idea of being messengers of the kingdom and spreading the kingdom of heaven in this world sometimes is just like an overwhelming thing do you ever feel hopeless and discouraged because of it i mean think about it here's a missionary let's call him pastor sylvia's he's in the vast tracts of jungle in the middle of the Amazon, the only man and his wife there ministering to people, what's that going to do, right?

Or you think about that little church in one of the worst neighborhoods in Brooklyn, in an urban jungle. What good is that little church going to do? Or even the house churches that are in China, these little churches where people meet in secret oftentimes. What good is that going to do with the billions of people in China? It almost seems like an overwhelming task.

It seems almost like, what's the use? Jesus addresses that discouragement in the two parables that we have before us this morning in verses 31 through 33. It's intended to encourage us in the whole ministry that we have as messengers of the kingdom. It's intended to help us to see it's not hopeless. It's not a powerless endeavor. Yeah, we are insignificant, but it's amazing what God does with little things.

And so if you will, follow along as I read in Matthew 13 verses 31 through 33 He put another parable before them saying the kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field It is the smallest of all seeds but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches. He told them another parable. The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour till it was all leavened.

Now recall that in these parables, Jesus is telling us the secrets or the mysteries of the kingdom. The mystery is not that the kingdom is coming. The mystery is how it comes. You see, they were all expecting the kingdom, you remember, to come in great fire and noise and complete, utter, immediate transformation of the universe when Messiah appeared. That's what they thought about the kingdom.

Jesus is now coming and saying, not that that was wrong, but that's not the only way of understanding the kingdom. That the kingdom comes in a different way as well, when the kingdom arrived with the coming of the king. And he wants to clear up those misunderstandings. He wants to give us an understanding of how the kingdom of heaven works in this world, since it already has arrived.

Not in the way that they expected. so having arrived the way it did how then is it supposed to work now in these parables I believe Jesus intends to encourage his people a proper understanding of the kingdom will encourage you why do we need it why do we need encouragement why did the disciples need it then well as they're moving along now as you read through Matthew Jesus with this kingdom that's supposed to come and transform everything, all of a sudden you see opposition, greater opposition starting to come against him. It doesn't seem like there's much success. There's a lot of followers, but their, you know, their attachment is at best superficial.

Jesus has just told them two other parables, the parable of the soils in which there are four soils and only one of the four hears the message of the kingdom and produces anything. He's told them the parable of the tare, tares in the wheat where opposition is going to grow up along with the kingdom that there's wheat the kingdom as the message takes root and grows but there's also opposition that takes root and grows and on top of all this is a pretty small band of disciples will they not be overwhelmed stifled and destroyed with this message that they learning from their master I don't know, have you ever had a similar thought? Well, you say, we're so small and insignificant, we're irrelevant in the world, no one pays attention to us, what good does it all do?

Well, Jesus says, it's not going to happen, no matter what the odds. not if you understand the nature of Christ's kingdom so let's look at these two parables the parable the parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the leaven first of all in verses 31 and 32 be encouraged because the kingdom will grow be encouraged because the kingdom will grow Jesus draws a picture of a man going out he's already planted his field he's plowed everything he sowed everything now he's walking out to the corner of his field in order to plant some mustard seeds now mustard seeds are about this big if I had one on my thumb right now you probably couldn't see it I forgot to grab some mustard seeds on the way out the door today so let's just imagine I've got one on my thumb you could barely see it mustard seeds are not very very big in fact Jesus identifies them as the smallest seed of them all it's going out to the corner and he only takes a few of those little tiny insignificant mustard seeds why only a couple why only a few because once you plant that it's going to grow into a tree that's 12 to 15 feet high at least the mustard seed of Jesus day it's going to grow into a plant a tree what looks like a tree of 12 to 15 feet high he only needs he only needs a couple of those tiny little seeds in order to grow those plants now I don't know about you I remember working in the garden with my dad I absolutely hated it at the time but I can remember we would plant little tiny seeds you know bean seeds you plant a little bean seed you get a whole plant dad had all these pole beans all the time and the bush beans of course just take one bean you got this huge bush full of I hated those plants but what you notice though is that the little thing produces something large and that's what Jesus is saying here this tiny little seed this mustard seed produces a tree that's 12 to 15 feet high it's a small insignificant little seed you could barely see it if you weren careful you lose it it that and you if you drop it you couldn find it that how insignificant it is And that the way the kingdom of heaven is Now think about that The kingdom, when Christ arrived, was like that mustard seed. It begins as an insignificant, irrelevant entity. It's small, it's irrelevant, it's insignificant.

Look at the founder, look at the Messiah himself. Where was he born? In a barn, right? and he fell asleep his first night of sleep was in a feeding trough and where was he born he was born in Judea some backwater of the Roman Empire and he grew up in Galilee I mean Judea and Galilee and the Roman vast Roman Empire is like someone saying to someone who's worked in Washington DC for years hey I want you to go and live in LaRue I mean that wouldn't be exactly considered a promotion now would it and and that is how insignificant this part of the world is to the vast roman empire um it's so insignificant and then the 12 disciples come on none of them came from the jewish religious um leadership none of them were from the social or economic aristocracy when you look at these 12 they were not very educated they certainly were slow to understand and to believe what Jesus was saying and at best you would think they could lead maybe a little fishing company but more than that it doesn't look very promising and when Jesus ascended after his resurrection how many followers did he have after three years of ministry after three hard years of ministry how many followers did he have after covering Galilee and Judea and some of the outer regions of Palestine and healing thousands and thousands of people how many followers did he have 120 were meeting for prayer in an upper room figuratively speaking jesus kingdom was much smaller than a mustard seed when you really look at it but what's happened since then what's happened that little group of followers expanded and by the power of god it turned the whole roman empire upside down in fact when the roman empire fell christ's empire continued to go and to grow did it look at it today that kingdom has invaded every single continent on the planet not to mention and almost all the islands and everything else that is on this world.

It has invaded the entire world, all from that insignificant beginning. Can you see it? Can you see what's happened? It's amazing when you look at that. It's like a mustard seed that's grown. Now the same is still true today.

When you compare the church to everything else around it, it certainly seems like little. the church has an institution the local church the churches that have been established they're not much it's a small institution it's small and insignificant and irrelevant when you compare it to governments with all its power and its armies when you compare it to corporations with its money and its influence when you compare the church this church, let's say it, this church when you compare it to universities where world-changing ideas are hatched that have turned the world upside down. Yet governments come and go. Corporations go bankrupt and cease to exist.

Ideas in universities, they change with every generation. And yet the kingdom continues to advance. The same kingdom that started with Jesus continues to advance and to conquer. It's not only a small institution. It has a small message. The message is not that complicated.

Compare it to all the philosophies that swirl around us, all the studies that come out, all the things that tell us how the complexities of everything work and how this should be and how that should be and all the universities that have the brains there and they're coming up with things that say, well, this is what we need to do with our economy. And you listen to NPR, or you listen to anything on the radio, you listen to the economists on there, and they're going on and on about this happening and that, and it's so complex and complicated. And along comes the simple story that Jesus gave us, which is this.

What's the main problem? Sin. Not real sophisticated, is it? Comes with a simple assertion. Comes with a simple assertion that there's only one real question that you really need to be asking. You know what it is?

How can you be reconciled to God And it has a simple answer Believe in Jesus Entrust yourself to Christ. Believe that He will forgive your sins because of the sacrifice He has made and the perfect life He has lived. You can be justified. Simple hope. Jesus is coming again. That's all we got.

It's not complex, is it? It's not very sophisticated at all. It isn't. The message seems irrelevant and insignificant. And yet we have to ask the question, where are all those sophisticated philosophies that have vexed the church over the centuries? I love what one theologian, one biblical scholar by the name of Bruner wrote.

Here's what he wrote. Sex, by the way, that's S-E-C-T-S, okay? Sex as in parties. Sex and ideologies almost always seem stronger than the church. Sex and ideologies fly and the church limps. Sex and ideologies die and the church limps on.

Stick with the church. The church with its message is an anvil that has worn out many hammers. the kingdom is not only small in its size, it's not only small in its message it's small it uses insignificant irrelevant messengers consider this the kingdom has advanced not with political power not with armed might it has not been that which is captured the imagination of people. It has not used celebrities and powerful people.

It has gone out and conquered the world through ordinary, insignificant, what's considered irrelevant people. We're talking about you and me. You know, when you look at church history, and as I was studying and doing some reading for my class, my science school class as we studied church history, historian made a point of one particular history I reading and I think it phenomenal when you think about it the Apostle Paul is not the reason why the gospel spread over the whole Roman Empire He only went to a few places.

Even in those three missionary journeys, he only went to a few places. How did, there was a church in Italy, in Rome. He'd never been there. There were churches all over the place where he had never been what happened christians and and then the the empire wide travel which was safe and normal christians were traveling all over the empire bringing the gospel it wasn't the celebrities it wasn't they captured the ear of the roman empire or the roman emperor they hadn't they hadn't military might they only had normal everyday people in their jobs working, traveling, taking the gospel over the entire known world.

It uses ordinary people. Now notice the effects of their growth. This may seem puzzling to you at first, but he talks about this tree that grows up 12 to 15 feet and what happens is that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches. What is that all about? Well, this is drawing on Old Testament imagery. We heard one image today in Ezekiel 31, where it talks about the kingdom of Pharaoh growing like what?

A tree with birds and beasts being sheltered by it, right? Turn over to Daniel chapter 4. You'll see that imagery there as well. So it has something to do with a kingdom that grows large and has certain effects after it grows. Daniel chapter 4 you remember this is the dream that Nebuchadnezzar had and Daniel interprets it and this is the chapter remember where Nebuchadnezzar goes crazy he's like a beast and he's just running around in the grass like a cow or a bull and uh and it's to teach him that God's kingdom is is the one that rules we'll listen to to this as we read, first of all, verses 10 through 12 in Daniel 4.

This is Nebuchadnezzar speaking. The visions of my head as I lay in bed were these. I saw and behold a tree in the midst of the earth and its height was great The tree grew and became strong and its top reached to heaven it was visible to the end of the whole earth its leaves were beautiful and its fruit abundant and in it was food for all the beasts of the field found shade under it and the birds of the heavens lived in its branches and all flesh was fed from it you see the imagery there sounds the same as what we see in Matthew 13.

Drop down now to verse 20. This is Daniel speaking. The tree you saw, which grew and became strong, so that its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth, whose leaves were beautiful, and its fruit abundant, and in which was food for all, under which beasts of the field found shade, and in whose branches the birds of the heavens lived.

It is you, O king, who have grown and become strong. Your greatness has grown and reaches to heaven and your dominion to the ends of the earth and so forth. So this is a reference to a kingdom and it's a reference to, it's the imagery of a mighty prosperous empire, an empire that would provide good things that would provide for the nations in its empire.

All right? So it's a picture of these birds finding sustenance, the beasts finding shade, and so forth. It's a picture of the imagery of a prosperous empire that's providing wonderful benefits to everybody that's a part of that empire. It's agriculture, it's art, it's literature, it's government. All the things that come with that empire are now benefiting the people in that empire.

That's the imagery. And so Jesus draws on that imagery to tell us that even though this starts out as an insignificant, irrelevant, unsophisticated little tiny seed, it's going to grow up and have benefits all over the place for the people and the nations that are touched by the gospel. There's going to be incredible benefits. Now let's think about that. wherever the gospel goes in and it's hard for us to to imagine this because the gospel permeated the whole world now and it's hard for us to imagine what it was like in pre gospel days but listen it invaded countries pagan countries pagan empires like the Roman Empire and everywhere the gospel went people gained a sense of justice and morality Whereas before there was incredible bloodshed and violence, where the gospel goes, suddenly, not suddenly, but eventually there is this sense of justice and morality that touches that.

Wherever the gospel went, do you realize this, that the dignity of women and children were elevated wherever the gospel went. Our world says today the Bible just puts women down by saying, be submissive to your husbands. but wherever the gospel went the dignity of women was elevated you know i'll tell you what there wouldn't even be a feminist movement today without the gospel women wouldn't even be allowed to talk without the gospel children were just castaways right in the old roman empire if your wife had a daughter and you wanted a son well you just took the daughter out to the garbage dump and left her there to die. You know what Christians did?

They would go through the dumps and look for babies and raise them. You see, dignity was elevated. Slavery ends. Do you ever notice that the Apostle Paul never says, don't ever own a slave. Get rid of all your slaves. In fact, the book of Philemon is a letter written to a slave owner sent with the slave that ran away from him, sending him back to his master.

But you know what he says in that? He says, receive him now, not as a slave, but as a brother. You think slavery is going to last very long, where people look at each other as brothers and sisters? Sure, I'm still your master, but now you're my brother. Is that going to affect anything? Slavery ends eventually. education literacy it's expand people learn in this country listen ladies let me tell you something if it weren't for the puritans the puritans those strong solid bible believers who came to this country they believe this everyone should be able to read the bible and they did something radical you know what it was they said we need to teach our girls how to read women did you know that you didn in 400 years ago a woman reading was unusual women don need to read take care of the household but because of the puritans they said everybody got to read the Bible and that includes the women We going to teach our girls how to read You think that had any effect on our society as a whole?

Yeah, sure it did. Education became important. Economic prosperity. Do you know that Christians, Christians are the ones who say, work is worship right i serve god in my work and i don't work for my boss colossians chapter three i work for the lord what do you think that does to workers i hope it does it to you guys and ladies who are here who are workers it says i'm going to work my best because i'm doing it for the glory of God.

What do you think happens when people start working that way? There's equality that comes where the gospel goes. Why? The gospel has its effect on a society because the gospel says this, every one of you will give account of himself before the throne of Jesus. And it doesn't matter what social position you have. It doesn't matter whether you're Bill Gates or Tim Pasma, right?

There's a great equalizer here. Both of you, you're going to have to stand before Jesus and give an account. And the gospel went out and said, it doesn't matter who you are, you're a sinner who needs Jesus. And by the way, once you believe the gospel, what happens? You become brothers and sisters in Christ. Equality is the inevitable, the inevitable effects of the gospel.

What's the point? The point is the growth of the gospel, the growth of the kingdom of heaven has had profound influences for the good in this world. That's what Jesus is saying. So with that in mind, shouldn't you be encouraged? Shouldn't you be encouraged? we as God's people subjects of his kingdom are despised we are so unsophisticated and we are irrelevant to the world and yet we are members of God's kingdom and it is God who works in his kingdom through his kingdom and in the message of the kingdom God works we should be encouraged now he goes on and tells another parable It the parable of the leaven Here you have a woman who mixing up all she making bread Okay She making bread Now I watch Becca make her to die for cinnamon rolls right And she over there in the corner of our kitchen where the bread is made and she kneading the bread right she's rolling it over and kneading it and folding it and kneading it and doing all this stuff and by that working the yeast if you will into all of that well this woman in this parable is making enough bread for 100 people okay that's that's what you think this woman is doing lots of this right she's needing enough bread for 100 people this is a half a bushel of flour that she's working with.

Okay, that's a lot, isn't it? Yeah, a half a bushel of flour, that's a lot. But what does she need to get the leaven through the whole thing? A little lump. She needs a little lump of leaven and puts that in the dough and as she needs it, it spreads and all of you know this, the leaven then spreads through all the dough so that it raises. What's Jesus saying here?

He said, be encouraged by the kingdom's influence. Be encouraged by the kingdom's influence. Now, yeast here is not a symbol of evil. It represents the kingdom of heaven. And what Jesus is saying is this. What's his point?

The kingdom may look powerless. It may look small. It may look irrelevant. But like yeast, it can transform and influence the whole. Jesus says change does not only occur with this cataclysmic sudden appearing of the king and blowing everything away and immediately transforming everything he is saying and that's what many people are looking for they're looking for this apocalyptic entry of the kingdom that's going to change the world instantly and what Jesus is saying is this no understand that it also as the working of God today slowly transforms the world around it.

The kingdom works when it permeates the world with its message. Notice that this woman then notice till it was all leavened all right That leaven works through it all It permeates the world Are we infiltrating the world you see That the question Are we infiltrating the world? And the answer is, yes, we are. Are we going with the message, you see? We are.

You go to work every day. You go to Marysville, right? Bluffton, Marion, Columbus, Worthington, all these places. We're going everywhere. And the yeast, the yeast that we are should permeate the world. One of the church fathers, Chrysostom, said this, As therefore the leaven then leavens the lump when it comes close to the meal, and not simply close, but so as to be actually mixed with it, so also you, when you cleave to your enemies, are made one with them, then shall you get the better of them.

You go out there and you mix it up with your enemy and you get the better of them because you're bringing the leaven. You're bringing the good works. You're overcoming evil with good. You're there serving the Lord, not your boss. And you're working. You're the best worker in the place.

You're going to be there and you're the leaven that spreads. So the kingdom and its message of reconciliation to God through Christ does not make front page news. Or maybe more to the point. It's not the banner on the internet that says live video feed. Right? Some of you young people know what I'm talking about.

Some of you older people are totally lost. Okay? It's not the first thing to pop up when you turn on the computer and you get on the internet. You don't see all these big things about Christ working suddenly. It's making front page news. It's not the way it works.

It's slow. And it's hidden. you see I want to read you a Facebook post I don't think I'd ever say that but I want you to read I want you to listen to this Facebook post because this says exactly what I'm talking about how the leaven gets out there and it doesn't do all these incredible great things it just slowly works its way out and things happen now listen to this I'm not even going to tell you who wrote it you're going to be able to tell in about 40 seconds or 20 seconds who wrote this. But listen carefully to what she says.

This is about how it moves out and transforms. How it changes. It's the gospel. January 22nd, 1973, Roe v. Wade. Forty-five years have passed, and more than 60 million have been aborted.

I was thinking earlier, what more is there to say? Here's another angle. My day started very early this morning. I was headed to the courthouse to testify on behalf of a client, more like a daughter, who was making decisions for the protection and welfare of her child, and she needed an advocate. The center began serving her when Tina Hill was still the director.

Back to the office this afternoon, a precious young woman, due in the spring, came for Bible study. I walked past the client education room and stuck my head in the room to say hello, just as Jerusha and her friend were opening their Bibles. I got a great update on our sweet client's last OB appointment. A young couple came by for an emergency supply formula.

They had run out of their wick for this month. She walked in with her Bible and homework finished. Angela knew we had exactly what they needed. Two sweet little girls came with their mama. They ran straight for the babies. The baby models we have to show clients how babies develop in the womb.

I also got lots of hugs and kisses. Another young woman came with her little one. That sweet child has a birthday this week, and so we had cupcakes and a little birthday celebration. She's working so hard at being a great mama. We are amazed by her. Dee and this young woman have such a special bond.

It is a joy to see their love for one another Our post Bible study leader came by to talk about how best to serve those so deeply broken by abortion We wept and prayed and planned for how to walk with these precious women I got home late. Chuck and I went out for dinner. The beautiful young woman who greeted me at the restaurant is a client. Hugs. How is your husband?

How are your kiddos? Will you give the kiddos my love and hugs and kisses? At New Path, our response to the catastrophic injustice of Roe v. Wade is hand to the plow. by the grace and strength of the Lord and with the gospel ever before us we'll do the same thing tomorrow until justice rolls down like a river and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.

That's how it works. You see? That's how it works. It's not big political power. It's not great political rallies. It's just the gospel touching this life and that life and this life and it spreads.

You see? that's how the kingdom works. And we have got to understand this from Jesus. We're too far into the, unless it's big and explosive, it's not going to accomplish anything. That's not so. That's not so. That's not what Jesus says.

Can you be encouraged? Absolutely. You know, many today, many Christians have a survivalist mentality. We're going to hang on. We're hanging on. until we're hanging on us poor, powerless, pitiful people. Until Jesus returns we survive We get along We hopefully be here when he comes That not what Jesus tells us to do He doesn't tell us, you know, I want to leave behind a bunch of people who are hopeless and discouraged.

Right? That's why he tells us these parables. Jesus says that his kingdom is not powerless. Although it appears that way. It appears to be that way. It appears to be irrelevant. it appears to be insignificant, it appears to be small, it appears to be powerless, it has profound effects.

Someday Jesus will return and the kingdom in its glory will be revealed to all so that it won't be hidden anymore. But until then, even though we face opposition, we continue to conquer, capture, and transform. that is the picture of the kingdom that Jesus wants you to have so how do you see Christ's kingdom it may appear small it certainly appears unsophisticated and simplistic and irrelevant but that's not the proper understanding of the kingdom of Christ we've got to have the view that God has. We represent that kingdom as subjects of our king.

We are insignificant people with very little power and certainly not many resources. The world outdoes us in all that. There's no doubt about it. But as we serve our king faithfully we can have a profound effect on our communities The mustard seed can grow and the yeast can permeate LaRue and Marion and Marysville and Kenton and Ada and Columbus and Worthington and every other place.

Jesus wants to encourage you with the right view of his kingdom and its power. Father, thank you for your word today. we thank you for the hope that it brings us father we know we're insignificant we don't have political power we don't even have power in our local village councils father help us to realize that the power that we have is much greater than political power much greater than armed forces much greater than anything the world has to offer the power we have is the power of the gospel of the kingdom of heaven and so help us to trust you and to trust in the power of that kingdom help us to realize father that insignificant people with a simple message can affect unbelievable transformations so god give us that view help it keep it before us keep it before us so that when we are discouraged we can turn and we can see that your word, your gospel, the message of the kingdom is a powerful agent in this world. Remind us of that, we pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.