Kingdom Growth
Matthew 13:31-43
October 9, 2011
We have been studying the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven
We have said that the Kingdom of Heaven is here.
(Not physically, but spiritually)
And Jesus has set out to explain this mysterious reality.
You see, the disciples heads were filled
With misconceptions about Christ’s kingdom.
Namely that they were looking for a glorious physical kingdom.
Even after all these parables were given, they were still confused:
Luke 19:11 “While they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately.”
Even at Christ’s ascension, they asked:
Acts 1:6 “So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?”
Obviously they were interested in the kingdom.
The problem was that they didn’t immediately understand
The truths of the kingdom,
Probably not even until they received the Holy Spirit.
The realities about the Kingdom of heaven were a mysterious thing.
Jesus has set out to explain those mysteries to His followers.
We also know that those explanations are not for everyone,
But only His followers.
That is why He spoke in parables.
He is concealing truth from those who won’t see it
And at the same time revealing truth to those who will.
And as we said last week, that puts us in very prestigious company.
For Jesus said:
Matthew 13:16-17 “But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. “For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”
We have been given a tremendous privilege
To see what many a righteous man wanted to see.
And certainly we grab a hold of that privilege.
So Jesus is explaining the truths about the kingdom.
We have already seen two mysteries explained.
1) WHY DOESN’T EVERYONE ENTER THE KINGDOM?
(Parable of the Sower)
Because they have bad hearts.
Some hard, Some shallow, Some Divided
2) WHY ARE THERE OTHER RELIGIONS IN THE WORLD THAT ALSO SEEM TO FLOURISH?
(Parable of the Tares of the Field)
The enemy planted them,
And they remain only because God doesn’t want the wheat harmed.
And so two great mysteries have already been explained to us.
This morning we move on to more.
And the mystery revealed today is this:
3) WHY IS THE KINGDOM SO INSIGNIFICANT?
Now you and I may not be asking this question,
But the disciples were.
They were following Jesus with grand expectations.
Let me show you what they were looking for.
Isaiah 60:10-14 “Foreigners will build up your walls, And their kings will minister to you; For in My wrath I struck you, And in My favor I have had compassion on you. “Your gates will be open continually; They will not be closed day or night, So that men may bring to you the wealth of the nations, With their kings led in procession. “For the nation and the kingdom which will not serve you will perish, And the nations will be utterly ruined. “The glory of Lebanon will come to you, The juniper, the box tree and the cypress together, To beautify the place of My sanctuary; And I shall make the place of My feet glorious. “The sons of those who afflicted you will come bowing to you, And all those who despised you will bow themselves at the soles of your feet; And they will call you the city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.”
Zechariah 8:20-23 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘It will yet be that peoples will come, even the inhabitants of many cities. ‘The inhabitants of one will go to another, saying, “Let us go at once to entreat the favor of the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts; I will also go.” ‘So many peoples and mighty nations will come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the LORD.’ “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘In those days ten men from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”‘”
That is what they were expecting in regard to the kingdom.
When the Messiah showed up, and His kingdom appeared.
They expected the world to flock to Him.
They expected Kings to bow before Him.
They expected people to cling to them saying, “Take us to God.”
When the Kingdom arrived,
They expected it to be World Renown, Full of Followers.
But thus far Jesus teaching,
Has been a direct conflict to their expectations.
The King was here, BUT:
Matthew 11:12 “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force.”
Instead of people flocking to it, THEY ARE REJECTING IT.
Instead of begging to enter, THEY DON’T EVEN NOTICE IT.
In fact 3 out of every 4 people fail to enter.
This couldn’t have all been what the disciples were expecting.
Now of course we do believe the kingdom will come as promised.
Romans 11:29 says, “the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.”
And as Hebrews 6:18 says, “It is impossible for God to lie.”
BUT NOT UNTIL CHRIST RETURNS.
Now the Kingdom is under attack, (like David’s was)
And the disciples had trouble understanding.
And so these three parables are here given to us
To explain the smallness of the kingdom.
Why so small?
Why so slow?
Why so many sinners?
#1 THE GLORY OF THE KINGDOM
Matthew 13:31-32
Now we have all heard this parable before.
No interpretation given.
The meaning seems obvious, but we can’t be dogmatic.
CHRIST IS TALKING ABOUT THE GLORY OF THE KINGDOM.
The Kingdom was falling short of the disciples’ expectations.
They expected a glorious following.
Thus far the Kingdom seemed insignificant
The kingdom was small.
It wasn’t attracting worldwide attention,
It was being choked and persecuted from its present community.
IT DIDN’T LOOK SPECTACULAR.
And so Jesus gives a parable of explanation:
(31-32a) “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds,”
If a person were to look at a mustard seed,
They wouldn’t see anything that looked very impressive.
All they would see was a tiny seed.
It certainly would be hard to get excited about anything that small.
Mustard Seed is the smallest seed.
Smallest garden seed – (not counting weeds)
Only Tobacco is smaller – (native to America)
Mustard was the smallest seed they knew about.
Anyway, the smallest seed was the mustard seed,
It was small, insignificant, and nothing to write home about.
That is exactly how many people likely viewed the kingdom of Christ
Small, insignificant, and nothing to write home about.
But the unique thing about this small seed
Is that it becomes the biggest plant.
The mustard plant in Palestine grows to approximately 12 to 15 feet tall,
Which is much taller than normal garden plants,
And was large enough for birds to nest in its branches.
So the seed that looked the least promising,
Actually became the largest and most glorious plant.
“and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the BIRDS OF THE AIR come and NEST IN ITS BRANCHES.”
And as Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed”
It may have seemed small then, and it may even seem small now,
But it will ripen into the largest most glorified kingdom some day.
So large that “the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”
(meaning people from all nations will come to this kingdom for rest)
The point to the disciples being,
Although the kingdom may look unimpressive now,
Just wait, it is like a mustard seed, it will become the most glorious.
I believe that is a good parable for us to study today.
Sometimes it can become discouraging,
As we wait for the return of Christ.
Christianity isn’t popular in the world.
Jesus isn’t honored.
It is easy for the world to overlook the kingdom of heaven
As being small, weak, and insignificant.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
It will one day rule the world.
A GOOD ILLUSTRATION OF THIS IS FOUND IN DANIEL.
Daniel chapter 2 speaks of a dream that Nebuchadnezzar had.
He saw a statue,
Head of gold
Chest of Silver
Waist and thighs of bronze
Legs of iron
Feet of clay mixed with iron – ten toes.
A stone smashed them all.
Interpretation: Statue = World dominating Kingdoms
Gold – Babylon
Silver – Medo-Persia
Bronze – Greece
Iron – Rome
Iron & Clay – Ant-Christ & his puppets
The small stone was the kingdom of Christ.
Daniel 2:44-45 “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. “Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future; so the dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.”
The kingdom of heaven will become the most powerful,
And glorious kingdom to ever rule on earth, and it will never end.
Revelation 11:15 “Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.”
It may look insignificant now, but it won’t forever.
So first the glory of the kingdom.
#2 THE GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM
Matthew 13:33
This again is a parable that Christ does not explain,
But again the meaning seems obvious.
“The kingdom of heaven is like leaven”
Leaven often has an evil connotation.
Watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees
No leaven in their sacrifices
“Unleavened bread” for passover
No reason to assume leaven is evil here.
He is comparing the kingdom to a modern day marvel.
Just as it was amazing how such a small seed could make such a big tree.
Leaven also had an amazing characteristic.
Leaven has an amazing ability to spread.
Jewish women would save a lump of leavened dough
They would give it to their daughter on her wedding day.
So you can understand why Jesus warned us
To watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees.
(Their hypocrisy could easily spread and it was very dangerous)
Paul even warned the Corinthian church that their tolerance of sexual immorality could spread like leaven.
“Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of doe?”
“The Kingdom of heaven is like leaven”
It has an amazing way of growing, by infecting those around it.
How can it grow from being so small to being so large?
Because it grows like leaven.
And what an important point to understand.
Today our fascination in churches is with Big programs,
And State of the art events, and cutting edge displays.
We tend to think the bigger it is, the louder it is, the more high tech it is, the more famous it is, then the bigger impact we can make.
Now it isn’t that those things are evil, or bad, or even wrong.
So long as you know they are powerless to save by themselves.
Remember what Paul said?
1 Corinthians 2:1-5 “And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.”
Paul understood the kingdom of heaven isn’t grown through marketing.
You don’t bully people into the kingdom…
You don’t “wow” people into the kingdom…
The kingdom spreads like leaven, from one life to another.
The kingdom spreads when you (as one person)
Go and share the gospel with another person.
It doesn’t require gimmics, or tricks, or any fancy program,
Just go and personally share the truth with someone else.
That is how it grows.
Acts 1:8 “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
Matthew 28:19-20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Romans 10:14 “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?”
1 Peter 3:15-16 “but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame.”
That is the secret to kingdom growth.
It doesn’t require special effects, just committed people.
And we certainly saw that with the disciples.
• 12 ordinary men.
• No degrees
• No fame
• No musical ability that we know of
• No pyrotechnics
• They didn’t even have the use of pizza
They just went and shared the truth with every person they could,
And like leaven the kingdom began to spread.
Acts 2:41 “So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.”
Acts 2:47b “And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”
Acts 4:4 “But many of those who had heard the message believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.”
Acts 5:14 “And all the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women, were constantly added to their number,”
Acts 6:7 “The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.”
And on and on and on.
AND IT STILL DOES TODAY
It will someday be the premier kingdom on the earth,
The biggest of the garden plants,
And it will get that way by growing like leaven.
So you see the Glory of the Kingdom and the Growth of the Kingdom.
Now before we move on,
We see again the method Jesus is using to preach the truth.
(34-35) “All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables, and He did not speak to them without a parable. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: “I WILL OPEN MY MOUTH IN PARABLES; I WILL UTTER THINGS HIDDEN SINCE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD.”
And there again we are reminded just how fortunate we are
To have been given these truths, for not all have been granted them.
Furthermore it is a reinforcement of what Jesus just taught.
The kingdom didn’t grow by leaps and bounds
Through massive crusades and large crowds of people.
Jesus invested these truths in 12 men,
And let them spread it to the rest of the world.
Jesus didn’t reach the world through a mass-mailing, or an internet video.
Jesus’ method was thorough instruction to those
Who would go and spread the truths they learned.
Glory, Growth
#3 THE GLEANING OF THE KINGDOM
Matthew 13:34-43
Now you will notice that at this point “He left the crowds and went into the house.”
This opened the opportunity for the disciples to get some clarification.
“And His disciples came to Him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.”
This indicates that they understood the parable of the mustard seed
And the parable of the leaven.
It also indicates that they were EXTREMELY CURIOUS
As to the point of the presence of TARES.
We mentioned last week, how they assumed
That tares should be immediately removed.
(call down fire on them?)
So here Jesus explains the parable.
(37-39) “And He said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels.”
Now we already talked about this parable a little last week.
We talked about why tares exist.
They exist because the devil planted them.
And we talked about why tares remain.
They remain because God is concerned about the safety of the wheat.
But here, as Jesus explains the parable,
Jesus focuses in on a third point of that parable,
And that is THE TARES WILL BE REMOVED
Notice, Jesus doesn’t go into great detail about the sowing of the tares,
Or even the temporary ignoring of the tares,
He focuses solely on the day they will be burned.
It indicates to us, that Jesus is just as eager to remove them as you are.
(40-43) “So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. “The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. “Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”
The explanation Jesus focused on was the gleaning of the kingdom.
He looked forward to the day when the harvest was ripe,
And the wheat was gathered,
And the tares would be destroyed.
He saw them as “stumbling blocks”
He saw them as “those who commit lawlessness”
He was ready for the day when they will be thrown “into the furnace of fire”
In short, Jesus allows them to remain, but they will not get the kingdom.
Stumbling blocks may exist.
Lawless people may exist.
But rest assured they are not safe, and they will not inherit the kingdom.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.”
Galatians 5:19-21 “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Ephesians 5:5 “For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.”
They will be removed.
And this is Jesus point as He explains the parables.
• Sure the kingdom looks small, but it will one day be the biggest.
• It will grow because it spreads like leaven.
• And don’t fret the presence of the tares, they will be removed.
Now, for us that is exciting!
We praise God to know that His kingdom will endure and we do not have to fret if at times it feels as though the kingdom is small.
It is also means that we have work to do.
We were commissioned with the task of spreading the seed and influencing lives. The kingdom grows on a personal level, so share it with someone.
We don’t have to be a mega-church.
We don’t need a multi-million dollar budget.
We don’t need a state of the art facility.
THAT ISN’T HOW THE KINGDOM GROWS ANYWAY
And finally, for any who feel safe in the kingdom, but have never born fruit, don’t sit comfortable, as you can see Christ is none too pleased about the presence of tares in his field.
Some day all of those lawless stumbling blocks will be removed.
“He who has ears, let him hear.”
