Kingdom Seeds
Notes
Transcript
Kingdom Parables of Jesus
Kingdom Parables of Jesus
I want to begin this morning with a claim. It is not actually my claim but a claim made or implied by Jesus Himself over and over again.
And that claim is this: There is a special kind of life that can be found in the Kingdom of the heavens that is now available and at hand through Jesus.
I think we would all have to admit that some Bible terminology can seem strange to our modern ears. We are so removed from the original time and place in which it was written, understanding its meaning can require some work. I think this is true about the phrase “the kingdom of heaven.” or the “kingdom of God”.
The truth is, the kingdom of heaven is a central theme running all the way through the Gospel of Matthew. In fact, the phrase “the kingdom of heaven” is used over thirty times in Matthew’s Gospel. But as I talk to folks it is pretty clear that many Christians are confused about what it means.
The Kingdom has been Proclaimed
Both the introduction to John the Baptist and the initiation of Jesus’ ministry are accompanied with the proclamation to “repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 3:2; 4:17).
Just a few verses later, Matthew writes, “And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people” (Matt. 4:23 cf. Matt. 9:35).
Using the phrase “the gospel of the kingdom,” Matthew explicitly connects the kingdom of heaven with the gospel.
When Jesus sends out His disciples, He also commissions them to proclaim, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 10:7).
It is significant that John the Baptist, Jesus, and the disciples all preached the same message and each follows with the command to repent. In fact, the call to repentance is grounded in the imminent coming of the kingdom of heaven. Everyone must repent because the kingdom of heaven is near.
There are stern warnings not to draw people away from the kingdom of heaven by presuming that one can enter the kingdom by his own righteousness. In fact, Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 7:21).
Entrance into and experiencing the kingdom now can only come by hearing the Word (Jesus), accepting the Word (Jesus), and placing yourself under the authority of the Word (King Jesus) So the Kingdom has been proclaimed.
The Kingdom has also been described
Jesus’ description of the kingdom of heaven almost seems upside-down. Jesus instructs His disciples, saying, “Among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he” (Matt. 11:11–12). Here Jesus is contrasting the natural birth into the world with the spiritual birth into the kingdom of heaven.
Multiple times in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells His listeners that they must become like children in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. He says, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3–4).
He also said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 19:14–15). In the same way little children rely on the help and direction of their parents, citizens of the kingdom must rely on their Heavenly Father for everything. Jesus is commanding childlike trust in God to enter the kingdom.
Many of Jesus’ parables focus explicitly on the kingdom of heaven. More specifically, there are a series of references to the kingdom of heaven in Matthew 13 and again in chapters 20 and 22. Each of these gives a glimpse of what the kingdom is like.
In describing the kingdom of heaven, Jesus draws comparisons to everyday experiences. He compares the kingdom to sowing seed in a field, which produces weeds with the wheat. The weeds are allowed to grow up with the wheat until the harvest; however, they will ultimately be bound into bundles and burnt (Matt. 13:24–30).
The kingdom of heaven is described as a valuable hidden treasure, which is worth more than all that one owns (Matt. 13:44) and something that should be sought after like a merchant in search of a pearl of great price (Matt. 13:45–46). The listener is meant to see how something that appears insignificant and small is actually of greatest value.
In the parable of the laborers in the vineyard, Jesus makes it clear the no one enters the kingdom based on their accomplishments. Instead, Jesus looks at the heart’s response to His grace. From a human perspective, this seems counterintuitive. However, this parable displays the generosity of God as He gives out more grace than anyone deserves. In fact, the kingdom of heaven is precisely for those who do not deserve it but choose to put their faith in God (Matt. 21:31–32).
Scripture also reveals to us ...
The Timing of the Kingdom
The kingdom of heaven is spoken of in both present and future tense. The phrase is repeated that the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matt. 4:17). Jesus’ first coming is the inauguration of the kingdom. This means that Jesus is the immediate, present experience of the kingdom of heaven.
For those who submit to Jesus, He will rule over their lives.
The kingdom of heaven is also spoken of in the future tense. One of the most notable instances of this takes place when Jesus is instructing his disciples on how to pray. Jesus prays, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). This prayer only makes sense if the kingdom has not yet fully come.
Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is both now and not yet. It is present AND it is future. It will finally culminate with the second coming of Jesus Christ. Jesus says,
When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne…. Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (Matt. 25:31, 34)
So the Kingdom has been proclaimed, it has been described, we are told about the timing of its arrival and we are also told how the kingdom is to be applied today.
The Kingdom Applied
The kingdom of heaven has important applications for us today.
First, the message of the kingdom of heaven is a genuine offer from God to rule in the hearts of those who believe in His name. Submission to the kingship of God is what brings true freedom. Those who resist and reject God’s kingdom are in bondage. This may sound counterintuitive, or extreme but those operating outside the kingdom of God are, by default operating INSIDE the kingdom of Satan (Eph. 2:1–3).
Eph 2:1-3 ESV - 1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Second, as citizens of the kingdom of heaven, believers should be motivated to build the kingdom through proclaiming the kingdom. This was the central message of Jesus and the disciples, and it should be our message too.
Third, the kingdom of heaven provides comfort and hope for Christians who are suffering. God is King over all circumstances. No matter what happens in this life, all will be made right when God’s kingdom fully comes.
Now, having said all of that, I want to offer us a simple working definition of the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven.
In is simplest form, the kingdom of Heaven or the kingdom of God the range of God’s effective will. It is where what God wants done IS done. To make it even simpler, The Kingdom of God is that place where God rules and reigns.
The Kingdom of God is the range of God’s effective will.
Now, nearly everything automatically falls under that. But there is one exception and that is with regard to human beings.
Human beings have the option of living in the range of God or not, and many have chosen not to. There is an instigator of that because apparently this issue of “who's the ruler” predates us. Some angelic beings decided not to be ruled by God and that was an unhappy choice for them but they're still trying to do that and the main way in which they do that is by influencing human beings
You and I were given a Kingdom. Its the only other Kingdom that actually exists besides God’s Kingdom. God has given us the choice to have a kingdom where WE rule and reign and we come by that easily. In fact, ironically, we were created to do it.
What did God say when he created us? Remember back in Genesis?
Gen 1:26 NLT - 26 Then God said, "Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground."
So we were made in God’s image. What is the image of God in us? To have dominion. That is what God says. Lets make humans beings in our image, what is that image? To rule and reign, to have dominion over everything else that God had created.
So really, we were created to have dominion. God actually put into us the ability to rule over things. When He allowed us to disobey Him, that second Kingdom was created. The Kingdom of self.
Oh, in case you are feeling kind of proud about that, the kingdom of self is actually synonomous with the kingdom of darkness. See we WANT there to be three kingdoms but there are actually only two. The Kingdom of light (God’s Kingdom) and the kingdom of darkness, that kingdom that belongs to those who choose not to live in the Kingdom of light. Do you see what company that puts you in? Satan and His demons. My friend Jeff Christopherson, in his book Kingdom Matrix, puts it like this...
At any given moment, you are either expanding the kingdom of Light or you are expanding the kingdom of darkness. There simply is no third kingdom.
- Jeff Christopherson -
God’s Kingdom is in fact where we flourish as human beings.
Mat 5:14 ESV - 14 "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
Phl 2:14-15 NLT - 14 Do everything without complaining and arguing, 15 so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.
The Gospel of Jesus tells is clearly that life in the Kingdom of God is available to us now. We can experience the Kingdom and live in it by placing confidence, not in ourselves, but in Him for everything. and by being His constant students precisely BECAUSE we have confidence in Him.
This is what we have been talking about since April in this discipleship series.
The reward of being a true disciple of Jesus is to experience the Kingdom of God in the here and now!
Beloved, the only saving advice is simple. Trust Jesus. Not just something He said or did, but Him!
Acts 4:12 NLT - 12 There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved."
Now, when Jesus came, He essentially told people to forget what they thought they knew about God because no one knows the Father truly like Jesus. He said...
Mat 11:27 NLT - 27 "My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."
You and I are not going to understand God OR His Word by being clever, by being intelligent or scholarly, or even by studying very hard because, the instruction of God to us through His word is a personal matter. It depends on the condition of our hearts, of our minds and our lives.
So the first kingdom parable I want us to look at is the Parable of the Sower.
The extended record of Jesus teaching recorded in the book of Matthew, especially about the Kingdom of God begins in Matthew 13 where this first recorded parable appears, the parable of the sower.
Now as Jesus ministry had progressed to this point, He began to notice people’s different reactions to what He was saying. Not everyone could receive His words, and those who did receive His words received them in differnt ways. Those whose hearts were set against God, insisting on having their own way, were hardened by the message of Jesus. He sensed their resistance and in the parable of the sower He portrays the different reactions to His teaching that He had seen.
So as Matthew 13 opens, we see that large crowds followed Jesus because of His preaching, teaching and healing.
Mat 13:1-3 NLT - 1 Later that same day Jesus left the house and sat beside the lake. 2 A large crowd soon gathered around him, so he got into a boat. Then he sat there and taught as the people stood on the shore. 3 He told many stories in the form of parables, such as this one: "Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seeds.
Sowing seeds was the act of scattering seed where they would have a chance to germinate. It was a common practice and Jesus listeners knew what sowing was. Jesus continues in verse 4.
Mat 13:4-7 NLT - 4 As he scattered them across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them. 5 Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. 6 But the plants soon wilted under the hot sun, and since they didn't have deep roots, they died. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants.
I imagine as these folks were listening they were nodding their heads and saying, “Yes, we know what that is. We’ve seen that happen. Then Jesus concludes...
Mat 13:8-9 NLT - 8 Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted! 9 Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand."
What stands out to me here is there is not one religious word in Jesus story. He did not read scripture. he didn’t pray. He just told them a story in the context of the ordinary life of a farmer who was sowing seed.
Apparently this stressed His disciples out a bit. They may have said among themselves…”what in the world is he doing? Is He slipping? Is something wrong? There is no scripture in this message!
So when they got alone they asked Jesus...
Mat 13:10 NLT - 10 ... "Why do you use parables when you talk to the people?"
Jesus offered the following explanation...
The “seed” in this parable is the Word of God. Drop down to verse 18.
Mat 13:18-20 NLT - 18 "Now listen to the explanation of the parable about the farmer planting seeds: 19 The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the Kingdom and don't understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts. 20 The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy.
When the Word of God comes into an individual’s life, it begins to feed on the soil that is there. This is why it is so important to understand this parable. If the person is too busy with other things to receive the Word of God, the Word simply will not take root. Or if it does take root, it will be starved and anemic.
A lot of folks today are like those starving crops. Part of the reason is free will. I think this parable is one of the most important parables Jesus gave about the Kingdom of God because it answered the question”Why doesn’t the Word of God have the effect on people that we might hope for? It can cause us to think man, why doesn’t God just change people?
Rest assured, this does not reflect a lack of power on God’s part. If God wanted to, He could have rewired every one of us to be faithful followers.
This is not about what God CAN do, it is more about the exact manner in Which God CHOOSES to interact with us in order to accomplish his purposes. If you and I are going to work with God in His Kingdom, then we are going to have to find the ways He has chosen to work, and then work with him in those ways.
The Kingdom of God is a kingdom of love and understanding and maturity where people live together under the governance of the most glorious Being in all of reality - God Himself.
Think about how God presented Himself and His kingdom in the long processes of history and then in the fullness of the Son of God himself. He did it in such a ways as to win hearts and capture minds, but also to give those who wished to turn away a chance to do so. When we say, “I want to have MY way” God says, “Okay, you can have it your way.”
Sadly, the very worst thing that can happen to a human being is to have their own way, when that way does not include God. [Pause]
So, let’s look at Jesus explanation of the parable of the sower and how it addressed the receptivity of people’s hearts.
This is the key to understanding all the parables. Jesus was teaching to “those who had ears to hear, but also in a way that would hopefully penetrate other soils.
Jesus began His explanation in verse 19 with these words..., “When anyone hears the Word and does not understand it...” When Jesus said the Word, logos, He was talking about a personal power going forth. He was talking about Himself.
John 1:1, in the beginning the word (Logos) already existed. The Word was with God and the Word was God
First off. When we hear the Word, we have to decide to listen. Hearing and understanding the message involves the mind AND the will. The will has very little power in and of itself. A lot of people overestimate the power of their will. They think they can accomplish much more with it than they actually can.
When the Word of God comes into our minds, we decide how important it is to hold onto it. That’s why the first important question is, “What am I choosing to do with the Word that has come into my mind? If your will is set against understanding it, you will get nowhere in understanding it. This parable is really about how the will responds to God.
Will we insist on being king in our kingdom, or will we allow Him to be King and respond to his authority in His kingdom. The moment we decide that we will lean into Him as King, do what He has said we should do, in that moment, we begin to traffic in and realize the beauty of the Kingdom of God.
So in the time we have left, let’s unpack the wayside ground, the stony ground, the thorny ground and the fertile soil.
Wayside
Mat 13:3-4 NLT - 3 ..."Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seeds. 4 As he scattered them across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath (wayside), and the birds came and ate them.
The birds, our enemy, is watching and in a lot of ways He simply snatches the word out of our mind. This may be a simple as suggesting we have something more important to do. In the screwtape Letters, CS Lewis describes a man who who was working on a line of thought and was just about to conclude that God is real, but then it struck him it was lunch time. He did not pursue the thought any further. That is the way the mind works. A minor distraction can completely derail or thought processes.
Another tactic Satan uses in the day and age in which we live is loneliness. The greatest disease in the west today is a sense of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for. Our enemy is hard at work keeping us apart from one another. In workplaces, families, schools and even churches.
We are so busy letting feelings run our lives and doing things OUR way that we can’t hear any messages about love, or unity, forgiveness and acceptance. Those notions just get swept out of our minds.
Next Jesus talks about the ...
Stony Ground
Mat 13:5-6 NLT - 5 Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. 6 But the plants soon wilted under the hot sun, and since they didn't have deep roots, they died.
In the stony ground, the people hear the Word and say whoopee! To them it is something new and exciting. But they don’t receive the Word at any sort of deep level that would cause them to really meditate on it and think about it. The seeds don’t take root because there is nothing within the person’s character to take hold of.
Our character is what runs our life. It shows itself in our thinking and choices and in our habitual ways of behavior. If you want to take a look at your character, have a look at the kind of things you seriously think about. Your thought patterns. What occupies your mind most of the time.
Here is why knowing this about yourself is important. The way our thoughts are directed affects our FEELINGS before and apart from the point where they settle into our habits and our social relationships.
Example. This is why people jump up and down when they win the lottery. But then very often their winnings ruin their life because their feelings were one thing and their character was something else.
That’s what we see happening in this second category of soil. The feelings come in response to the Word of the Kingdom, but there is no repentance - probably because they have other things on their mind. Their faith lasts for a little while, but when trial or persecution arises because of the Word, they are offended. They turn away and say, “Well I didn’t sigh up for that!” Without roots of character, the good news withers.
Next is the...
Thorny Ground
Mat 13:7 NLT - 7 Other seeds fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants.
Here Jesus is saying that in the thorny ground, the Word actually took root. But other things crowded out the Word. later in verse 22, Jesus describes these “thorns” as the “worries of this life”, the “lure of wealth or the deceitfulness of riches”. Mark and Luke added “the desires for OTHER things” and the “pleasures of life”
The “thorns” represent all the things that keep us too preoccupied to give much thought to the Word when it presents itself. Remember, the word here is Logos. It is a reference to Jesus Himself. All through this series we have been talking about the importance of spending time with Jesus and the importance of certain practices like solitude and meditation. It is the “thorns” that will keep you from it.
The cares of the world. Wars, social tensions, pending economic failures, elections....all keep us in a worried state.
Riches are not “thorns” in and of themselves, but the danger of riches is in their deceitfulness. Riches create an illusion of power, security and merit. All things that only belong to and can come from God. Our tendency with riches is to trust them, think about them, become obsessed with them, and a willingness to do anything for them. Jesus addressed this earlier in the Sermon on the mount.
Mat 6:24 NLT - 24 "No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Jesus is describing how disjointing it is to deeply desire to serve God and to deeply desire wealth. It’s not just that you shouldn’t do it, it’s that no matter how hard you try, you can’t do it.
We just looked at this last week in Matthew chapter 6 where Jesus told us not to worry about your life, food, drink and clothing. He was not saying don’t iron your clothes or don’t think about cooking dinner. He was saying if thoughts of food, clothing and material goods are uppermost in your mind, those thoughts will run your life.
What was Jesus command to us in that passage? Seek first the Kingdom of God.
These thorns of life will absolutely keep us from bearing the fruit of the good news.
Now let’s talk about the ...
Fertile Soil
Mat 13:8 NLT - 8 Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted!
Luke puts it this way...
Luke 8:15 NLT - 15 And the seeds that fell on the good soil represent honest, good-hearted people who hear God's word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest.
Receiving the Word with an honest and good heart means not only hearing the word, but also holding onto it and acting in connection with it. It means we join our will with His Word when we receive it. It is about giving up our Kingdom where we rule and reign, and stepping into His Kingdom where He rules and reigns.
This is one of the ways the will affects how we hear. Your will can be set on believing you don’t need help or need other people. This is a folly that many of my own gender struggle with a lot.
But a humble person reaches out for help when they need it. When we use our God given power of choice to turn our minds to God, we have greater contact with Him all day. We can develop a conversational relationship with him. We bring the reality of God into our lives by making contact with him through our minds, and then we take actions that are based on the understanding we receive from the fullness of that contact. You decide. You respond to the Word and God takes you further.
And here is the thing. There is nothing mysterious here. This is why our mind and what we turn our minds to, is the key to our lives. The result is an abundant harvest, thirty times, sixty times, an hundred times more.
Closing
So let me leave you with this encouragement.
If your desire for God resembles any of the first three soils in this parable, that does not mean you will stay that way forever. Jesus didn’t say the heart never changes. There is good reason to have hope for ourselves and for others. What a person couldn’t hear yesterday, they may be very open to hear today.
As disciples, we need to understand that the parable of the sower applies to each of us all the time. The Sower is Jesus. And He works with people, speaking through them to sow the word of the Kingdom. What we have been given by others who have sowed into us will be added to greatly, as we pursue life in the Kingdom of God. But if we don’t listen with care, even what we have heard may be lost. The Word of God comes to us in a hearing kind of life, a life lived in the Spirit with a mind attuned to the Trinity. The word of God comes and fills our lives if we want it, but we have to want it and we have to seek it. And if we don’t want it, God will allow us to live a “with ME” life (which is the source of all of our troubles), instead of the “with God” life, which is a life of growth and abundance.
Remember the claim I started with:
There is a special kind of life that can be found in the Kingdom of the heavens that is now available and at hand through Jesus.
Folks, make no mistake about this. There is a kingdom of God that we are all being invited to live in. And we can know by experiencing its reality. We CAN come to know the presence of the King in our lives with such consistency and power, that even when we are suffering great pain, or lying down to die, we can know and feel the presence of His Kingdom and be blessed.
And when we turn to God, He enables us and gives us a desire to turn toward others. And there is nothing like the redemptive fellowship of the body of Christ as it operates in complete harmony with Him. When we leave our own kingdom behind, It heals our loneliness and we move into a kingdom where we don’t have to carry our burdens alone.
It is a wonderful thing to be loved to the point where you never feel alone again. That’s Kingdom living!
Let’s pray.