26 13.24

SERMON

A grandfather went to his daughter’s house for Sunday dinner. When the meal was over, he announced that he was going to take a walk through the neighborhood. “I’ll be back in twenty minutes,” he said. But two hours had passed before he finally returned. “Sorry I’m late,” he said. “But I stopped to talk to an old friend and he wouldn’t stop listening.”

It’s funny how quickly we learn someone’s voice once we’ve spoken with them once or twice. For those we know we don’t need to caller I.D. to tell us whose on the phone, we immediately recognize their voice. When I call Mary Anne I don’t have to tell her who I am, she recognizes my voice.

I heard about some unusual skiers. They’re unusual because they’re blind. Skiing is difficult enough when you can see; imagine zipping down a tree-lined mountain without sight under the direction of someone’s voice. Ski guides use voice commands and a tapping technique to guide the blind skiers down the mountain. Because of all the others noises going on around them, a blind skier must be tuned to the guide’s voice because their well-being is completely dependent on their ability to hear his instruction.

The same is true in our relationship with God. We have no idea what really lies beyond the next turn or crest in our lives, but God does. In John 10 Jesus says:

14I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me. . . . 27My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. (Matthew 10:14, 27)

To make it through life, we must learn to listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd.

In each of the seven letters to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3 Jesus comments that those who have ears let them hear what he has said. Jesus ends each of his letters saying:

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Twice in Matthew 13, the chapter we are looking at tonight, Jesus says:

Whoever has ears, let them hear. (Matthew 13:9, 43b)

Why does Jesus say this? Because there are those who do have ears but aren’t listening. That’s what we find over and over in the Old Testament. God accuses his people of having ears, but not listening. How did God know they listening. He knew because they weren’t obeying. In the Bible hearing carries with it the idea of obedience. If we hear we will obey. If we don’t won’t to obey we stop listening. Perhaps you’ve noticed the same thing happening at home with small children.

Jesus says:

Whoever has ears, let them hear. (Matthew 13:9, 43b)

Do we have ears to hear? Are we listening that we might be able to obey?

SERMON

SLIDE 1 I’ve mentioned many times that when the Jews of Jesus’ day thought about the coming Messiah that they’re expectations were wrong. There were some good reasons for that. For starters, the prophecies of the Old Testament were intended to be vague. There’s was a piece here and a description there. It wasn’t until Jesus came, died, and rose from the dead that his followers could see how all those pieces fit together to describe Jesus. Too, there were some verses in the Old Testament that distracted the people from seeing who the Messiah would be like this from the prophet Joel: SLIDE 2

1In those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, 2I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. SLIDE 3 There I will put them on trial for what they did to my inheritance, my people Israel, because they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land. (Joel 3:1-2)

The problem is the Old Testament mixes pictures of his first coming with pictures of his second coming. Therefore, they saw the Messiah coming to restore their fortunes and judge their enemies. All this would happen when the kingdom of God came and they wanted his kingdom to come.

SLIDE 4 I like how one preacher described their expectations. He said they were expecting something big, loud, and victorious. And isn’t that how we picture the second coming of Christ? We expect it to big, loud, and victorious. It will be hard to miss.

But what happens when it doesn’t come like that? What happens when our expectations of God’s kingdom don’t line up with what we see going on in the world around us? This is the problem the disciples were having.

In Matthew 13 Jesus gives seven parables that describe his kingdom. Last week we looked at the first, the Parable of the Soils. Jesus describes four different people or soils the good news of his kingdom falls into. There’s the hard soil that isn’t able to receive the good news and the devil comes and snatches it away. There’s the rocky soil that receives the good news and it quickly grows, but when difficulty comes they lose heart and fall away. There’s the thorny soil that also receives the good news, but the distractions, worries, and material wealth of this world choke it out. And then there’s the good soil in which the gospel grows and bears abundant fruit. Unfortunately, not everyone will receive the gospel. And even among those who do there are many who will allow this world prevent them from continuing to follow Jesus. That’s what the kingdom is like.

This evening we are going to look at three more parables Jesus gives about the nature of the kingdom. Let’s watch and hear what Jesus has to say.

VIDEO

SLIDE 1 Jesus starts by telling the story of a farmer who field has been wrecked by the actions of an enemy. Jesus tells us that the tares looked similar to the wheat that was growing. Even seasoned farmers could not always tell the difference when the plants were young. There was no guarantee they would pull only the tares or even that they would pull all of the tares. The problem is the tares were bitter and a little poisonous. They wouldn’t kill you, but they’d leave you sick.

No, the safest route would be to allow the tares to grow with the wheat until harvest when it would be abundantly clear what was weed and what was wheat. SLIDE 2 By the time of harvest the wheat would turn golden while the tares turned a dull gray. Additionally, the wheat would bend under the weight of the grain while the tares stood tall. SLIDE 3 It’s not too difficult even in this blurry photograph to distinguish the wheat from the tares. After both had been harvested the tares would have to be meticulously separated from the wheat.

Skipping over the next two parables that we’ll look at in a minute, we come to the explanation. Once Jesus has sent the crowds away and he is alone with the disciples, the disciples as for the meaning of the parable. They want to know what lesson Jesus was trying to teach with the story about the wheat and the tares.

Jesus explains that he is the farmer who sows the seed and that the seed is the gospel which is sown into the field or world. But before it grows very large his enemy the devil comes and sows weeds into his field. One day however, at the time of the judgment, his true followers will be separated from those that are not.

Among other things, what this parable teaches us is that there is a devil and there will be a day of accountability. The day of judgment isn’t here yet, but it will come. You may be anxious for it, but be patient. When the time comes all will be made right and God’s kingdom will prevail.

SLIDE 4 Next, Jesus talks about the mustard seed. Jesus refers to it as the smallest of seeds. While it doesn’t hold the record for the smallest seed in the world, it is the smallest seed they would have had dealings with and it was often used figuratively when talking about something small. For example, we’ll talk about a white lie. A white lie is a small lie that doesn’t cause harm. They would talk about a sin as small as a mustard seed. Jesus spoke of the seed the same way when he compared faith to the size of a mustard seed. People understood that it was exceptionally small. Especially for the size plant it grew.

There have been complaints over the years about the size plant a mustard seed produces. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen one. But what my studies have shown is they aren’t very big. However, the plants grown in the middle east grow much bigger. The variety of mustard plants grown there reach from ten to twelve feet tall. They are indeed large enough for birds to land on. They like the plant because they like it’s seeds.

So this very small seed grows very large.

And then Jesus talks about the effects of yeast in dough. Throughout the Bible yeast is used to illustrate sin. Before the Feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread, Jews must search throughout their homes for anything containing yeast and get rid of it. So for Jesus to compare the kingdom of heaven to yeast would have drawn attention quickly. How could anything to do with the kingdom be like yeast?

The yeast they would have used is not like the yeast packets we buy at the store. It would be more like the starter loaves some people use use for sourdough bread. Many of you have been the beneficiaries of the sourdough Luther and Beverly bake. When the dough is ready you’ll pinch some off and bake the rest. The bit you pinch off is then used to make more bread. Similarly, the pinch from yesterday’s bread dough would be added to today’s mixture and allowed to rise. Before it was baked they would pinch some off to use for the next day’s bread.

This pinch of dough isn’t very big, but the effects are large. It doesn’t take a large amount to make a really big difference.

There are some things all three of these parables have in common.

First, all three speak of growth. The wheat seed are growing. The mustard seeds are growing. And the yeast grows within the dough.

Second, all three speak of something unseen or hidden. Is it wheat or tares? We don’t know. Not until it grows will it be revealed. The mustard seed is growing so that this tiny seed becomes a very large bush, but it’s not that obvious just looking at the seed. It’s not till it grows that it’s potential is realized. And the leaven grows spreading throughout the loaf.

Third, all three speak of how that something which is hidden will eventually prevail. The wheat is carefully harvested while the tares are removed to be burned. The mustard seed becomes the largest plant in the garden. And the yeast permeates the entire loaf.

And all three take time. It takes patience to see these things come to fruition.

We have this misconception that in order to win you have to start large. Go big or go home. We’ve been taught that bigger is better. I remember using a single blade razor when I first started shaving. Actually, I didn’t really need to shave, but it seemed like everyone else in the dorm was shaving so I did. Then, not long after I graduated the in thing became the twin blade. Not long after that they moved up three blades – the mach three. But that wasn’t good enough either so now they have the quatrtro pro razor with four blades. And now you can buy razors with five or six blades. How long will it be before they’ve got a dozen blades on a single razor all because bigger is better.

Because the world works this way we often expect God to work this way as well. And when he doesn’t work that way we get discouraged and/or confused. What can God accomplish with such a small group like us? Wouldn’t it be easier it we were bigger and had a little more money? What good is it if you’re the only Christian at your work or in your neighborhood? Couldn’t God do more if he’d just send some more Christians our way to help?

But this is the way God works. This is the way it is with the kingdom. The kingdom starts small. Jesus started with just twelve uneducated men and even then one betrayed him. Yet what Jesus began has grown into the largest faith in all the world with more than 2.2 billion followers. We need to know that his kingdom starts small, yet like the mustard seed it is able to grow exceedingly large. Like the yeast it is able to have large effects.

This doesn’t mean that God can’t use big things. This doesn’t mean that he doesn’t sometimes do things in a big, loud, and victorious way. But that is the exception and not the rule.

I’ve read that every generation of Americans has believed that it would be the last generation before the second coming of Jesus. We long for his coming even as the Jews of Jesus’ day longed for the coming of the Messiah. We are more than ready to see God come and deal with wickedness in the world and within us once and for all. We desire to be made perfectly whole. We want the kingdom to come.

We want his name to be vindicated. I for one am tired of seeing his name slandered and used as a byword. People doubt God’s existence and make fun of those who believe. I long to see God set the record straight. We pray for the day when his glory will fill the earth and every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. And we want it to happen soon. But Jesus tells us that it is slow. In fact, it’s so slow that it make seem like nothing is even happening. But it is. It is growing. It is moving. And one day, before we know it, it will happen.

In his epistle, Peter reminds us of something important. SLIDE 5

8But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. SLIDE 6 9The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. SLIDE 7 10But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. SLIDE 8 11Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? SLIDE 9 You ought to live holy and godly lives 12as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. SLIDE 10 That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. SLIDE 11 13But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. (2 Peter 3:8-13)

Though it starts small in quiet and unseen ways, God kingdom will prevail over all the earth. So let’s not get discouraged when it doesn’t happen as fast as we would like. Let us trust God to do his thing in his time. May we be faithful to proclaim his kingdom as God wants everyone to come to repentance.