Good morning everybody and happy Sunday. Welcome to The Edge Church online. My name is Steve Van Denend, and I'm one of the pastors here. Whoever you are and wherever you are joining us from today, we're really glad to have you gathering virtually with us.
If you've been following along with The Edge for the last couple of weeks then you know that we're doing things a little bit different this summer. Primarily we have intentionally shortened our teaching time. Not because we don't love God's word and sharing that with you but primarily for the purpose of creating some spaces for you to really think about and respond to the message. For you to talk about and share with others that you're gathered with, maybe it's family and your home, maybe you're at one of our house churches gathered together this morning. And it's just an opportunity for you all to, sort of digest and talk about God's word together.
For those of you who are not, maybe you're home alone this morning, you're just watching online. Then perhaps this will be an opportunity for you later in the week, or sometime later today, just to give a friend or brother sister in the Lord, a call to digest and talk about this message.
Really our heart's desire and our goal as a church is for us to be a people who don't just consume God's word in a sense that we just listened to it. But really for us to be a people who share God's word with one another, a people who encourage one another by God's word and a people who minister to one another. And so our hope is that we can create some spaces for that to happen and for God to use you to minister to somebody else.
So right now we are in a series where we are looking together in God's word and some of the parables that Jesus tells us about the kingdom of heaven; the kingdom of God. Jesus would at times speak to people in parables. A parable, if you remember, is just really a simple story that's used to illustrate a moral and spiritual lesson in truth. And, so today I want to share with you and talk about The Parable of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast.
You can find this parable in three of the four gospels. We're going to look in the gospel of Matthew together this morning. Before we do, I'm just going to pray. I'm going to invite God just to speak to us by his word: Father, just come before you this morning, in the name of your son, Jesus. God, I thank you for this time. I thank you for this opportunity, Lord, just to be together, to open up your word. God, I thank you that your word is true. God, that you say that your word is living and active God that it accomplishes its purpose and father, I just pray that as we open your word, as we read it together, as we hear your word God, that you would minister to us by your spirit, God, that you would transform and change us according to your word. God, give us ears to hear you today. Give us hearts that are open to you. God, we just commit this time to you in Jesus’ name. Amen.
If you have your Bible, you can open it to Matthew chapter 13, we find our parable here in verses 31-34. And here's what it says to us.
The Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast
31 He [meaning Jesus] told them another parable: “The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.”
33 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour [60 pounds] until it worked all through the dough.”
34 Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable.
35 So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:
“I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”
So here Jesus is, and he's with a crowd of people, he's gathered, like some of you are gathered right now, and he's teaching them and he's teaching us about what the kingdom of heaven, what the kingdom of God, is like.
And, I don't know about you, but when I think about Jesus talking about the kingdom of heaven and what it's like, I'm sort of expecting Jesus to compare it to something just absolutely amazing and powerful and majestic. I'm expecting Jesus to say something like the kingdom of heaven is like a lion or the kingdom of heaven is like a mountain or the kingdom of heaven is like an army. But instead Jesus says the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God is like this little tiny mustard seed. Now I don't know if you've ever seen a mustard seed before, but it's an incredibly small seed. It's about the size of a grain of sand or the size of an eyelash. You can barely even see it's there, it's so small. So I have to guess at this point, as people are listening to Jesus, that they're either really unimpressed or they probably think he's even kidding a little bit like ha, funny, Jesus -- good one mustard seed the kingdom of heaven, because for one, not only is a mustard seed, incredibly tiny, but for two, under Jewish religious law, it was illegal to plant mustard seed in a public garden.
It was illegal to plant this mustard seed because when it grows, it grows like a vine, a vine-like weed that spreads and just takes over everything else in the garden. And it grows large, too. It can grow up to even 12 feet tall. So it just grows and it grows and it produces lots of other seeds so that it literally takes over everything else around it. The flowers, the vegetation, all the other plants in the garden, everything. So in reality, once you let this mustard in, all you have left is mustard. Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like that. After this, then Jesus brings up another quick story and he talks about yeast and he says that, look, the woman takes this little bit of yeast and brings it into the flour into this dough. And it works its way through all of it.
Again, Jesus is speaking about something that is seemingly invisible, having this ever increasing, ever expanding, growing influence and impact. And so what is it that Jesus is trying to teach us here about the kingdom of God? The big idea here is simply this, the kingdom of heaven starts small and it grows big. The kingdom of heaven comes humbly yet it produces incredible fruit and it cannot be stopped. It can't be stopped because it's God's kingdom. It can't be stopped because God said that it would go forth. It can't be stopped because God is faithful. And he always makes good on his word. The mustard seed here is speaking to the external advancement of the kingdom of God, everywhere on the earth. While the yeast that he's talking about is getting at the internal growth and transformation that the gospel makes in a person's life.
So just think about how the kingdom of God initially comes to earth through Jesus. You’ve got to remember that up until that time, the Israelites, the people of God, had spent pretty much all of, but a hundred of the previous 750 years being ruled and occupied and oppressed by other nations. And they were waiting for this Messiah for this promised one of God to come, who they believed was going to be a mighty King and bring with them a kingdom that would overthrow Israel's enemies and restore Israel to great power. It probably thought about passages like Isaiah chapter nine, verses six and seven, where Isaiah the prophet had said hundreds of years before Jesus ever came, that to us, a child will be born and a son given, and the government will be on his shoulders and says that the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. So they're thinking about the Messiah coming and they're thinking the kingdom of God, the kingdom of God is going to come big. The kingdom of God is just going to come and take over. But, but instead the kingdom of God comes with Jesus in a small insignificant town called Bethlehem to an unknown unwed, teenage mother. Not on a throne, but in a manger, not in wealth, but in poverty, not in glory, but in humility. And this confused a lot of people, people had a hard time with this because they were expecting, they weren't expecting Jesus. They were really expecting a military King who was going to deal with their oppressors, not a savior King who would die for their sin and deal with their hearts.
Jesus would say this in Luke chapter 17, 20 and 21, he says the coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed nor will people say here it is or there it is because the kingdom of God is within you. God's kingdom is firstly an internal work that produces godly fruit within you and results in godly fruit from you. And Jesus is saying, listen, this kingdom might look small now, but this kingdom is going to spread and it's going to get really big. In fact, the Bible tells us in Matthew 24:14, Jesus says the gospel of the kingdom is going to be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to the nations. And we know that it is because scripture tells us in revelation at the end of that at the throne room of God, there are people from every tribe and tongue and nation, and that every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord in heaven, on earth and under the earth. And this is really meant to give us a confidence in the kingdom of God and Jesus; to give us a confidence so that we don't tie our hope to other kingdoms. And we don't tie ourselves to other kingdoms of this world, to the next election or the stock market and economy to some other cause; rather to find our hope and to rest in the kingdom of God, because our hope is in a more secure kingdom. Our gospel call is then to proclaim that kingdom is to be part of that mustard seed growth. The idea of the mustard seed also is meant to comfort us in the sense that sometimes you're going to feel the smallest of the kingdom. Sometimes wherever you are, you're going to feel like, am I the only Christian here? Am I the only person following Jesus? Am I the only one in my family? Am I the only one at my job? Am I the only one in my school? Am I the only one in my neighborhood?
Sometimes you feel the smallest of the kingdom of God's doing a bigger work or maybe that it's not that you're the only one and you're alone in that. Maybe it's just that you don't think that you know enough for that. You're adequate enough for God's mission. The apostle Paul spoke to this in first Corinthians chapter one, when he says to us that God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, God chose the foolish things. Even you, even me, right? God chose even the simple things to shame the wise to speak to the wise. So in other words, God's saying don't despise small beginnings.
Don't despise the little bit that you do know to share. Don't despise that little bit of scripture, that little act of love or of generosity. God's going to use that for greater things. Just consider for a minute the beginning of the church and Christianity, 12 disciples and not 12 all-star guys, 12 guys who were not really the best and the brightest and the most desired, according to the standards of their culture. And yet Jesus chose them to follow him. And he commissioned them with his gospel that would bring about godly transformation and change throughout the whole world. What this tells us also is that listen, no matter who you are, no matter how small you feel, no matter how insignificant, no matter what you feel like, you know, or don't know, that if you'll follow Jesus, God will use you. God will use your life to impact the world. According to the book of Acts, the early church began with just 120 people in an upper room, praying and seeking the Lord. And it says that they went out empowered by the Holy Spirit, sowing the gospel throughout Jerusalem and beyond. And the kingdom of God grew as each person shared Jesus and their testimony with others. How is it that the gospel of the kingdom advances and grows throughout the world? Well, it happens one conversation, in one invitation at a time, small seeds being sown in every garden, in every place that God has you: at home, at work, at school, in your hobbies, in your neighborhood, on social media, everywhere. And from that 12, that became that 120; as it stands now today, there are some two and a half billion Christians around the world.
The kingdom of God starts small, but it continues to expand and grow as faithful followers of Jesus sew gospel seeds. Now finally, this is how the kingdom of God is also meant to work in each of our lives. Personally, a beginning, with a simple act of surrender to God and receiving his love and grace and putting our trust in Jesus finished work on the cross for our sin. And then by his spirit, as we surrender ourselves daily to him, we become more and more mature and complete as the scriptures tell us. So God meets us wherever we are; only God doesn't leave us or keep us or intend for us to stay where we are. We are meant to grow. The kingdom of God is meant to infect every single part of us, just like that yeast, the kingdom of heaven is meant to get worked into every area of your life until every single part of you, all of your heart and soul and mind and strength, all your motives, your intentions, your thoughts, your emotions, your words, and your actions, all of them until all of them are aligned to King Jesus and the kingdom of heaven.
The kingdom of God in your life personally is what it looks like when King Jesus has his way all the time. So if you think about it what would your relationships look like if Jesus had his way all the time? What would your marriage and family look like? What would your finances look like if Jesus had his way? What would your conversations be like if Jesus had his way? What would your social media look like if Jesus had his way? What would you do with your time if Jesus had his way? Your gifts, your talents. The yeast in scripture always represents the overwhelming influence of something. It's an overwhelming, it has a profound influence. It works its way through everything else. And sadly, the reality is, that for many professing Christians, that we’re more informed and influenced and infected by the culture than we are by the kingdom. We'll spend more time consuming social media than scripture and wonder why kingdom fruit isn't being produced in us and through us.
We have to remember that the kingdom and the culture are not the same. And the reality is that the people we follow and the things that we consume are the things that are shaping and directing us. And so in order for us to be conformed by the kingdom and not the culture, then it's going to take time for us in God's word, in God's presence and amongst God's people. I love Charles Spurgeon, he's one of my favorite preachers from the 1800s. And he said this, he said that that the Bible that's falling apart often belongs to the person whose life is not. I just, I love that quote because the idea here again is that when we consume and are rooted in and conformed by God's word and by who God is and what he says, then we find ourselves better able to not be overcome by all the various trials and temptations and schemes of the devil that come against us.
The kingdom of heaven is like yeast. Do you know what yeast does to bread? It makes it better. It makes it more full. I don't know if you've ever had unleavened bread before, but it's flat and it’s honestly pretty gross. It’s not that good. Okay. But, but the kingdom of God is like yeast, where when it's sewn into our lives and given that place of influence, it produces growth. It fills your life with the fruit of God's truth and his character and his spirit. It makes you better. It makes you more like Jesus. We so often tend to believe a lie that convinces us to withhold certain parts of our life from God. We think that if I surrender my time or my career or my relationships or my finances or my sexuality or my future, whatever it might be, that somehow my life is going to be less, somehow I’m going to be more miserable. It's going to be more boring, whatever it might be. But Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven is like this yeast, this kingdom of heaven, when that's the rule and reign of God, that when that is applied to your life, it makes everything better. It makes your life more full, better not being necessarily easier, better being better, more filled with the fruit of God. More full of God's purpose for your life, that you become more complete in who God had made you to be and what he meant for you to do. So here's the invitation and exhortation of Jesus to us today. Really simply, I'll close with this, here's what Jesus is saying. Listen, be a people who allow the kingdom of heaven to have its way in and through you. But recognize that God's on the move and God's working and God's going to do his thing.
God is going to move throughout the world. God is going to do that. The gospel is going to go out. So part of what I love about that too, is that as it pertains to our partnership with God and his gospel work, God doesn't need us to do that. God desires for us to partner with him. Because he wants to be with us in it. He could do it all by himself. He invites us into that though. And so Jesus is saying, listen, allow the kingdom of heaven to have its way in and through you. Be someone who gives yourself to the internal work of allowing the yeast of the God's kingdom of the gospel to influence and infect every area of your life, that you might be transformed and changed and give yourself to the external work of sowing gospel mustard seeds wherever God has placed you as an ambassador of King Jesus and the kingdom of heaven.
This parable is deep. It's wide. There's a lot in this. There's so much that we could try to dig out, but I want to just stop there because I want to create some room for you just to think about this parable and how it pertains and relates to your life. And I want to give you an opportunity for those of you who are gathered together just to share together. So a few questions. These are going to be up for you, but three big questions. I'm going to give you some support questions or follow up questions so you can think this through, but three big questions for you to consider. One: What's your biggest takeaway in all of this? What's the one thing that stands out for you? What is this really saying to you about teaching you about who God is, what he's like about who you are and what God wants you to do with that? That's the first question. What's your biggest thing? Here's the second question. What does the mustard seed spread of the gospel look like from you? What is that outworking of the gospel? What is that kingdom work in the world that God has for you? And what is that looking like for you? I’ve got other supportive questions that'll be up for you to consider along the way. And here's the third question. What does the yeast of the gospel look like in your life today? How is the yeast of the gospel transforming and changing you? I'm going to just close us in prayer and then give you guys some time and some space just to work that out. So let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. God, thank you for this time. Jesus, thank you for teaching us about the kingdom. Lord, I pray that in our times together now, God, that you would minister to us by your spirit. Lord, that you would use each one of us to be an encouragement, a support, a blessing, to minister to one another. God, that you would speak your truth to our hearts. God, that you would transform and change us according to your word and by your spirit, working and moving in each and every one of us. So God, I do, I pray Lord, for that kingdom work to happen in us and through us. Lord, thank you for being faithful, always. God we bless you this morning. In Jesus’ name, Amen.