Kingdom-Week 3

The Kingdom of Heaven is Like… Week 3

The parables of Jesus PT 1 and 2

We’re gonna take a look at Jesus’ parables here.

Now, we need to ground ourselves a bit here.

Jesus didn’t speak in parables so that we could interpret it any way we wanted. He spoke in parables so that

Those who sought would find, and those who rejected would miss

Matthew 13:10–12 NIV

The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?” He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.

Then Jesus goes on to quote Isaiah. Isaiah was sent out as a prophet, and God gives Isaiah this message to preach. and it says this:

Isaiah 6:9–10 NIV

He said, “Go and tell this people: “ ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

Now the point here wasn’t, God is making people turn away. The point was that, God could present whatever truth he possibly wanted, and some people are just committed to not understanding it.

But this process of not understanding - it leads to calloused ears and hearts.

God isn’t saying, I don’t want them to turn, understand, and be healed. He’s saying - the problem IS the callous. But if they weren’t - they might actually see, understand, turn and be healed.

So in that light, we see Jesus speaking in parables, not to be confusing, or to open up whatever he said to whatever truth anyone wanted. We see him speaking that way to show people -

Are you actually understanding? Or are you just hearing? Are you actually perceiving? Or are you just seeing?

Parables are a heart check. They’re a thermometer to let us know when we’re really seeking, or we’re just in earshot.

So, talking about the parables. There are many times that Jesus utters this phrase:

The Kingdom of God is like...

sidebar - in some places, he says kingdom of heaven. No real difference - just, especially in matthew, sometimes the authors wanted to respect the jewish audience by not writing out the name of God.

Now, there’s two senses he uses.

The Kingdom NOW and the Kingdom THEN

NOW means What jesus is bringing now.

THEN means the full realization of God’s plan LATER.

This week, we’re talking about NOW.

Matthew 13:44–46 NIV

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

The Kingdom is More Valuable Than Anything

Jesus describes the kingdom like something that’s worth you selling absolutely everything you own to get.

That’s great to say - but if we check our hearts, do we actually act like that?

This is what drove the disciples. Beatings, shipwrecks, persecution, sword - VS the kingdom? There’s no math there.

Being able to say, ‘I’m in the kingdom of God’ should drive us to so much joy that even giving up everything we have is easy.

Matthew 13:31–33 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.” 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.”

The Kingdom may look small - but it’s going to be huge

Mustard seeds are ridiculously small. Mustard Trees can be 30 feet tall.

The bread analogy is good too. I swear, if you put one granual too much of yeast into bread, it just…sucks.

The kingdom of heaven - even the tiniest piece of it - is powerful and growing.

Have you ever felt in a place that you didn’t feel a lot of access to God, or the kingdom?

What if we held the conviction that even the tiniest piece is more than enough?

The disciples were jailed, and sat in their chains joyfully singing. Because they may not have had their freedom, they may have had pain - but even the smallest shred of the kingdom was good enough!

Matthew 18:23–35 NIV

“Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’ “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

The Kingdom is Generous and Forgiving - And expects the same from us

We don’t quite get the grasp here. This is like, being forgiven millions and millions of dollars (more than you could ever earn in your life), and choking someone out for a couple hundred dollars.

We need to understand how much God has forgiven us.

We need to understand how much God expects us to forgive.