Human Hands in the Hands of God

Architectural Marvels

Throughout history, structures have been built that were cutting edge, never been done before, architectural marvels.

For instance:

The Tower of Babel

Mankind got themselves in trouble w/ God, again. There had been a flood that wiped out the entire population except Noah and his family. Over the next generations, ppl did not get the message about believing in God.

Denial is more than a river in Egypt. Short memories. You’d think they would have gotten the message as they saw the stranded hull of the Ark sitting on top of a mountain at about 16,000’.

Up to this point, single story structures were the thing. Piling rocks, even shaped bricks. They couldn’t go too high or the structure would collapse. They were as intelligent as us, capable of studying the fundamentals of construction and inventing new processes.

They built this. Truly a marvel.

The problem was, they believed their creation was on par w/ God’s creation. Didn’t go over well w/ God.

That top level was called, “Bab-El”. Meaning, Gate of God.

They believed their 5-story creation reached heaven. It was an idol and a testimony of their belief they were as powerful as God.

My own belief that man-made climate change is our current version of the Tower of Babel.

Anyway, God got mad, one day they woke up and no one spoke the same language as their neighbor. They babbled. Thus, Babylon.

But for the whole judgment of God thing, this was pretty impressive.

The Italians built a tower between 1173 and 1372

It took them 200 years to build this. Truly a marvel. But, they couldn’t keep it straight.

Foundation issues.

Sometimes the problem isn’t obvious, it’s underground. The foundation is the most important part of a building.

After 9/11, we built the Freedom Tower

Built near the water. You can see we’ve learned a thing or two about the importance of a solid foundation.

The foundation goes 110’ into the ground. It is 1,776’ tall.

The design and construction were innovative and creative. The views are spectatcular.

The twin towers’ foundations were 70’ deep.

The tallest building in the world is in Dubai. It’s the Burj Khalifa Tower

This tower is 2,711’ tall. 163 floors. The foundation goes 164’ underground.

There is a swimming pool on the 125th floor. I don’t think I’d want to rent space on the 124th floor.

The elevator travels 24.6 mph but only takes 1 minute to get you to the top.

It will cost you $125 to ride to the top.

We’ve come a long way since Babel.

Architectural marvels. Imagine being the first to imagine a building like any of these. You’d be called crazy. Impossible. It will collapse, blow over.

God is designing, engineering, and building something special. The HS is equipping, empowering, and using us to do it.

We are tools in His hands.

When it’s done, we will occupy it forever.

If it was up to us to build on our own, it would resemble my elementary science project built w/ playing cards.

We must be careful to not fall into the trap that the early Babylonians did. We are not God. We are not capable of building the structure that God is.

We are in a section of parables.

Jesus had just been finally and ultimately rejected by Israel as their Messiah. Since they were done with Him, He was done w/ them, as a nation.

Any individual can still believe in Jesus, be saved, and see the kingdom.

The kingdom would have been immediately established had they accepted Him. But, since they didn’t, it’s now been delayed. Jesus still will set up His kingdom on earth. And he will do it when he returns the 2nd time.

Here, Jesus has changed his teaching style. He didn’t use many parables before. He is now b/c it takes some spiritual insight and experience to understand them. Today we are studying 3 more. And one of these is 1 of 2 he explains. The rest, He expects us to get w/out his explanation.

He is preparing his disciples, including us, for what kingdom life will be like in this age until he returns.

The first of these 3 is about weeds that we will have to deal w/.

Weeds are Going to Choke Us

Matthew 13:24–29 NIV

Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ “ ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ “ ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them.

Currently, there is a kingdom, but it’s a spiritual kingdom. Jesus is sitting on the throne in heaven. Later, his throne will be on earth and his kingdom will be here, too.

We are citizens of His kingdom no matter where it is. So, these parables explain what the kingdom is like for those of us who live on earth waiting, either to get to heaven. Or, waiting for his kingdom to come to earth.

This is another ag illustration.

A farmer casts good seed into his field. The good seed will sprout and grow healthy heads of wheat.

An enemy, schemer, deceiver; comes under the cover of darkness, hidden, and casts a corrupted seed among the good seed in the same field.

This seed is not a different type. It is actually the same seed, only a degenerate or corrupted version.

When it sprouts, it looks just like the sprouts of the healthy wheat. It still grows in the middle east today. The discs would have known exactly what Jesus was talking about.

It’s called, Bearded Darnel. It’s a type of poisonous rye grass. It looks exactly like wheat until the heads develop. Wheat develops a head of grain. The Darnel does not.

Their root systems intertwine underground. The bad plants suck the nutrients out of the soil before the good plants can be fed. They will limit the spread of the good plants, retard their development, and reduce the amount of grain they produce.

The servants ask if they should pull the weeds. They can’t. Because everything is entwined underground, they cannot pull the bad plants w/out pulling up the good plants, too.

So, the plan is, to harvest everything and separate the good from the bad at that time. If the bad were left in w/ the good at the threshing floor, then it would corrupt the good as the bad is poisonous. If there is any good nourishment from the wheat, it must be separated from the Darnel.

Jesus was preparing them, and us, to be aware of the Enemy’s work. If we expect unhindered growth, unopposed progress, unchallenged development; then we will be extremely frustrated.

W/ the power of God on our side, how come we cannot do more and be better. That’s because there is an Enemy who is real and creates obstacles at every turn.

This is the 2nd of the parables that Jesus offers and explanation. Skip down to v.36 as Jesus gives insight into the opposition we face.

Explanation of Opposition

Matthew 13:36–43 NIV

Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.

In this parable, Jesus is the farmer who casts the seed. The field is the entire earth. The good plants, the wheat, are believers who grow up believing in Christ, producing fruit, and spreading the truth of Jesus to the ppl around them.

The Enemy is Satan. His seeds produce ppl, too. PPL just like us. Our friends. Neighbors. Family members. Community members. Fellow citizens of the US. And, those who populate every country throughout history around the world.

The Darnel is not demons. It is ppl just like us. They get in the way. We love them. They hurt us. We want to be involved w/ them. But the more we are, the less effective we are for Christ.

Many look good. Some, are just bad. Thru and thru, bad. And the bad they produce hinders the good we can produce.

Many good ppl get caught up in the bad stuff bad ppl produce. It’s hard not to.

Good ppl use porn, are not faithful to their spouses and family, drink too much, end up too deep in debt, and play too hard.

We spend too much time, working too long, making too much money to spend on too many fruitless endeavors.

Most of it starts innocently enough. We start out good. But somewhere, we cross a line into bad.

The presence of the weeds crowds out the good plants. There is a finite amount of space, time, and resources to do the good stuff we want to do.

The weeds retard our spiritual growth. Our roots intertwine to the point it is impossible to distinguish between the two plants in our communities. It limits our ability to spread and reduces the amount of fruit we produce.

If our lives are corrupt, even as saved ppl, and if those who don’t know Jesus can’t tell the difference between us and them they will be much less likely to want to hear our story about whatever power of Jesus we possess.

The gospel will not spread as far as it otherwise might.

And if we lack patience, self-control, lack the ability to love difficult ppl, lack an attitude of joy, lack the ability to be good in all situations, lack wisdom, and the courage to do what we know is right. If too often we use unkind words and unkind actions. Then, maybe, our fruit has been too affected by the bad plants around us.

This is our reality living in this present age while waiting for the kingdom of Jesus to be brought to earth.

It’s not entirely our fault. The enemy is wise and powerful. But we are responsible for the choices we make.

The separation will take place at the end of this age, when Jesus returns. After the tribulation and before his throne is established on earth.

Then, the weeds from all history and all nations, will be separated out and be thrown into a blazing furnace, burned w/ fire. It will be painful.

And you think PHX is hot this time of year.

But once these are removed. We will spread our wings. The kingdom will be populated only with believers, at first at least. More on this another time.

Our fruit will no longer be hindered from development. The spiritual nourishment we need will be freely available. Those things that tempt us and take us away from what feeds us will be removed forever.

So, if you’re frustrated now, frustrated that you can’t accomplish more for Christ, don’t have more fruit, don’t see more churches planted and believers going to places where there aren’t any; understand the opposition is fiendish and fierce.

We are responsible for our own decisions. But there is plenty of opposition to us making those decisions. That opposition will be defeated in time.

There are 2 more parables in this context, between the parable of the weeds and its explanation. They will shed light on how the kingdom grows even in the face of such opposition.

The Mustard Seed

Matthew 13:31–32 NIV

He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”

During this age, the kingdom is like a mustard seed.

The mustard seed was the smallest seed known to the disciples at that time. Jesus knew of smaller things. But it would have done no good to use them as the illustration b/c the discs didn’t know anything about them.

Atoms, black holes, germs. Things that start microscopic that grow into big things.

Here’s a pic of a mustard seed:

Here are pictures of what it grows into:

1.

These plants are 2 to 3 months old, since the seed was planted. They are thick and prolific reproducers.

Or, a hedge like this grows over the years. Up to 20’ x 20’.

2.

A small, humble seed that grows into a huge plant.

The kingdom began humbly and small. The son of a carpenter who couldn’t afford a proper sac when he was born had to settle for 2 pigeons.

11 uneducated, hard-working, mostly blue collar guys who did more w/ less than any dozen ppl in history. Judas was replaced. But we don’t know much about what Matthias accomplished in ministry during c.1.

A few outcast women tagged along.

Today, it’s already huge. The harvest will be massive. By the time the angels of the last parable complete the harvest, it will be amazing.

The first part of the parable has to do w/ something so small that grows so large. The second part has to do w/ the birds.

Most empires have been established by military might.

Babylon was crushed by the Medes and Persians

The M & P’s were crushed by Alexander the Great for the Greeks

Greece was overwhelmed by the Roman army.

Each emerging empire more powerful than the last.

But the kingdom of God has been established by a suffering servant, quietly, who recruited a few outcasts. It will be the most powerful of all when all is said and done.

Birds, representing ppl of all nationalities, backgrounds, ancestry, who come to Christ in faith; leaving whatever they grew up believing and coming to the cross and becoming a member of the church; there is room in the branches of this tree and it its shade for everyone.

What at one time was believed to be room only for Jews and those who converted to Judaism; now we know, while it will be only Xians, but we will come from every corner of the globe and every year since creation.

Who knew a few fishermen, a tax-collector, a teenager, and similar simpletons could be the foundation of something that has grown to this, including us here today in MP?!

In the face of all the opposition, while we get frustrated and maybe complain a little too much about how limited we are, the kingdom will grow in spite of it all.

Opposition will retard its growth, but it will grow. How?

Yeast

Matthew 13:33 NIV

He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

Often times, mostly in the OT, yeast is seen as evil. A little yeast corrupts the whole lump of dough (Gal. 5:9) implied a little yeast will ruin a lot of good dough.

This parable is not about the yeast itself, but its process in the dough.

Yeast has a dynamic character. Once it’s introduced into a lump of dough it is impossible to stop its spread. It gets hidden in the dough. It’s how it works.

If you’re making bread, and you dump too much yeast in, or want to start over, there is no way to remove what you put in and prevent the process from taking place.

So, once the yeast is introduced into the dough, the process begins causing the dough to rise. It is steady, continuous, and irreversible.

The focus of this parable is the process of the yeast. The point is, the kingdom will not grow due to outward means. No external force can cause the dough to rise. The emphasis is on the internal work of the HS who works thru us to cause the kingdom to spread, sprouting enough branches to allow innumerable birds to nest w/in.

In the face of the opposition of the weeds planted by the Enemy, while our growth is retarded, our fruit underdeveloped, and our spread limited; we still will see huge growth b/c the HS is at work in us and is more powerful and capable than the opposition.

W/out the opposition, more would be done sooner. But in spite of the opposition, a miraculous amount of kingdom work is accomplished to allow for all the good plants to find a place to nest in it forever.

God is doing this work thru you and me.

Nothing can stop it. The process in in process. The lump is growing.

Your gifts. Your talents. Your time and money. Your abilities are being enhanced and used by God to do what is inevitable.

Do not believe you are worthless to God in service in His kingdom. Just be available.

We are only 6 parables in, but let me show you the bigger picture so far.

Bigger Picture

The Sower/Soils

We cast seeds. The seed is our story of Jesus. My story. Your story. We cast it out by telling ppl our story of the Power of Jesus to save us and help us.

Most will reject Jesus. We will feel like they are rejecting us. But they aren’t. It’s him.

Some will accept and will join us in casting more seed as they tell their story.

The Lamp

God sent the Lamp. The Lamp is Jesus. God did not set up the Lamp to cover it up and hide its light. The Light is shining. It will shine brighter in time. But now it’s bright enough for everyone who’s looking to see it and believe in it.

The Seed

The sower casts the seed and it settles into the soil. Then, no matter what the sower does or doesn’t do, the seed sprouts and grows a plant that produces its fruit.

The kingdom has more to do w/ the seed than the sower. It’s been pre-programmed and written into its code. The kingdom will grow no matter how much or how little we do.

The Weeds

God cast good seed that produces good plants. The enemy casts bad seed that produces bad plants. The weeds prevent us from living up to our spiritual potential. We produce less fruit. We don’t spread as far. We don’t grow as fast.

The Mustard Seed

The kingdom started out small and humble. It will grow to massive proportions and ppl from all corners of the world and from all years in history will come live in it and under it.

Yeast

The process. In spite of the opposition. In spite of the rejection. The kingdom will grow from w/in as the HS works thru the good plants to reach more bad plants and introduce them to the One who can save them.

God is building something special.

Some Xians fall into the Babylon trap thinking we are doing more on our own that we really are. Some think we are more responsible for the construction that we really are.

We can’t get ahead of God. But when we follow, we will see the most marvelous construction project ever completed w/ human hands. Human hands in the hands of God.

We will live in it forever.

Applications

Weeds

Get out of the weeds. They are strong. They are very alluring. The Enemy is wise and powerful.

But we are still responsible for the decisions we make.

If your fruit is lacking, maybe you’re infested w/ too many weeds.

Too many of us spend too much time making too much money to spend on too many fruitless endeavors.

Pull the weed.

What do you need to get out of your life?

Process

In spite of all the weeds and opposition the kingdom will grow b/c the HS is working thru ppl just like us.

One weed might be insecurity. Another might be a lack of confidence. Don’t beat yourself up or down. If you feel like you can’t, then you’re just the person Jesus is looking for who can.

2 Timothy 1:7 NIV

For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

Do you need to get deeper into the process? The HS is doing a little thru you. Is it time to let Him do a lot?

Don’t believe in yourself. Believe in the HS is at work in you. He has gifted you. Empowered you. Seen that you are trained. Will advise you as you go.

Do you now need to get up and go? Is there more you could be doing to be involved in the process of the yeast spreading thru whole lump?

Tool

Be a tool. Some of you are going go tell your friends you came to church and pastor called you a tool.

Tools don’t think for themselves. Tools don’t get up off the workbench, out of the tool box, and build anything on their own. But in the hands of the Master, they do great work.

We are capable of great things when we let the Master Builder use us. He equips us, empowers us, gives us the plans, and opportunities.

All we have to do is be available. This has something to do w/ pulling the weeds in your life.

What can you do to be more available to be used by God to contribute to what He’s building?

We’ve come a long way since Babel.

Architectural marvels. Imagine being the first to imagine a building like any of these. You’d be called crazy. Impossible. It will collapse, blow over.

Some Xians fall into the Babylon trap thinking we are doing more on our own that we really are. Some think we are more responsible for the construction that we really are.

We can’t get ahead of God. But when we follow, we will see the most marvelous construction project ever completed w/ human hands. Human hands in the hands of God.

God is designing, engineering, and building something special. The HS is equipping, empowering, and using us to do it.

We are tools in His hands.

When it’s done, we will occupy it forever.