The Parable of the Mustard Seed
Matthew: The King and His Kingdom • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 43:02
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· 7 viewsThe kingdom of heaven begins small and spreads undetected, yet it will expand to have dominion.
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Call to Worship
Call to Worship
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,
4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints,
5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel,
6 which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth,
7 just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf
8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.
Adoration
Adoration
“Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever.
11 Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.
12 Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.
13 And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.
Confession
Confession
14 “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you.
15 For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding.
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone,
24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord,
25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
Message
Message
31 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field.
32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
33 He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”
How do we measure success at GLBC?
The way we answer that question reveals much of our theology.
If we measure it by human accomplishment or achievement we may see a high output—many programs.
If we measure it by activity we may be busy—frequent services.
If we measure it by our sacrifice we will be servants of all—valued service.
There are many answers to this question of the measure of greatness.
Many of them could be good.
But I wonder if we share Jesus’ measure of greatness.
Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary (c) The Yeast (13:33)
Little
12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
You and I are prone to despise, distrust, or even overlook God’s work because it begins small, hidden, and unimpressive
I wonder what would happen in our church if we saw the kingdom of God in every aspect of our lives.
It would transform the ordinary.
Our meals wouldn’t be the same.
Our trips to the grocery store wouldn’t be the same.
The kingdom of heaven begins small and spreads undetected, yet it will expand to have dominion.
The kingdom of heaven begins small and spreads undetected, yet it will expand to have dominion.
If we think of the parable of the soils of how a person hears the Word of the kingdom initially...
Then the parable of the weeds the destiny of those in the kingdom…
This parable will focus on the way the kingdom grows in this present age.
God with Us: Themes from Matthew The Parable of the Weeds
“Church” refers to Messiah’s people;
“kingdom” refers to God’s (or Messiah’s) reign.
31 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like…
This parable does not hinge upon the seed.
It depends entirely on the effects of the seed in the garden over time.
“The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field.
The Kingdom of Heaven has the smallest beginning.
The Kingdom of Heaven has the smallest beginning.
A mustard seed was popularly viewed as the smallest seed in the garden.
Immediately all the agronomists arise and try to correct the Scriptures,
“See, the mustard seed isn’t the smallest seed in the world!”
And they completely miss the point that Jesus is trying to show His first century listeners what the kingdom of God will grow like.
In Jewish thought, the mustard seeds was proverbially the smallest seed.
Jesus is not making an agrarian argument, but proverbially says that the kingdom of God begins in the smallest way imaginable.
32 It is the smallest of all seeds…
The kingdom of God will begin in smallest way.
Unlike the kingdoms of this world that begin with force, strength, power, and significance.
The kingdom that Jesus is bringing begins in the tiniest fashion imaginable.
This is shocking for a first century reader that would think that the kingdom of God would come immediately in a blaze of glory.
Small beginnings appear insignificant.
Small beginnings appear insignificant.
One of the clearest parallels for what Jesus describes in the OT is in Daniel 2 in the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar.
In Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams, we see multiple kingdoms represented as an “image” or a statue of four layers.
31 “You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening.
32 The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze,
33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.
Gold – Babylon with king Nebuchadnezzar as described to be this layer.
Silver – Medo-Persian with king Cyrus
Bronze – Greece with Alexander the Great
Iron & Clay – Rome as the divided kingdom.
The layers decrease in value as they go toward the feet.
The final kingdom to be set up is the Kingdom of God (Daniel 7:9-14) and it corresponds to the Stone cut without human hands (Daniel 2:44-45).
34 As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces.
You can see why the expectation of Jesus’ day is that the Kingdom of God would come and destroy all the kingdoms of this earth.
But if you pay close attention, Daniel describes this Kingdom that God brings as having small beginnings.
But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
It didn’t start that way! But it became a great mountain!
"Great oaks from little acorns grow" —14th Century Proverb
If the kingdom of heaven comes in small and almost unnoticeable ways, it reshapes how people will see the impact of what Jesus is bringing.
Small beginnings were detestable.
Small beginnings were detestable.
People hate the ordinary.
This is one of the reasons they hated Jesus.
He was ordinary in His education.
He was ordinary in His outward appearance.
Even in His death,
The Kingdom of Heaven will grow dramatically over time.
The Kingdom of Heaven will grow dramatically over time.
32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree…
Dramatic growth organically as a tree or yeast.
Dramatic growth organically as a tree or yeast.
Jesus uses two examples of living things in this parable.
A mustard tree and leaven.
Both are living.
Both are expanding.
But both happen organically meaning it grows and expands gradually.
If you’ve ever cut down a hundred year old tree their rings that represent every year of growth.
Trees don’t grow drastically.
Leaven doesn’t grow dramatically.
Growth in overseas missions.
“Sadly, the Western church’s obsession with numbers has had a destructive effect so that the name of Christ is blasphemed in India.
“A sinful craze for bigger and better numbers has tainted both indigenous ministries and the work of Western missionaries in India.
The notion that numerical growth is an indicator of faithfulness is foreign to the Scriptures and actually arises from the “church-growth movement.”
But sadly, most churches—even those that hold to a more robust God-centered theology of the gospel—have bought into this false idea that “rapid growth” is the primary sign of God’s blessing. The faster you grow, the more faithful you are.” —Aubrey Sequeira, 9 Marks Article
Dramatic growth to greater maturity.
Dramatic growth to greater maturity.
Though the mustard seed has small beginnings, its end is a mature garden tree.
Nobody disagrees that the kingdom of God will eventually become glorious.
It’s not surprising that the kingdom of God will even fill the whole earth.
14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
What is shocking to know is that the kingdom of God that comes in a tiny seed will eventually lead to a mature plant.
How drastically different you would view the world if you grew up with a mindset that said,
“The kingdom of God is going to hit the earth like a giant astroid! Destruction, chaos, and final glory would be here!”
But if instead it said something like…
“The kingdom of God will grow up in your midst like a forest has undergrowth grow up slowly amongst it!”
Do you see how different of a mindset would shift for Jesus’ readers?
How fast does a tree grow?
A long time!
Application to young believers
A long obedience in the same direction.
Application to parents
We ought to pursue the same thing in our children.
The Kingdom of Heaven will extend to the ends of the earth.
The Kingdom of Heaven will extend to the ends of the earth.
33 He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”
In our own modern contexts, we think of the little packets of yeast that we buy from the store.
But in the first century, leaven would be kept in a small chunk of dough.
The same leaven would sometimes be used for generations.
You may think…
“The Bible mentions leaven a lot and it’s always negative!”
Leaven can be a reference to evil things in Scripture.
In the Exodus we see Israel is commanded to get rid of their leaven because it was a sign that they were living in unbelief waiting for the bread to rise (Exodus 13:3).
Paul even commanded the Corinthian believers.
7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
As a lion can reference Satan (1 Peter 5:8) or the Lord Jesus (Revelation 5:5) (A. T. Robertson, D.A. Carson), so leaven can be a reference to evil as well as good.
Only the context can tell how the word functions in the passage.
And here we can see that Jesus is referring to yeast in the positive sense of the pervasiveness of it over the lump it is placed in (R. T. France).
Though leaven is often incredibly small, the effects far outpace the initial size.
33 He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”
Exponential growth discreetly.
Exponential growth discreetly.
We’re reminded what Jesus has already said in Matthew 11:25
25 At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children;
26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.
In the same way, we see Jesus describe the kingdom of God as being hidden in a lump of dough.
Leaven is a small portion but great power within a lump of dough.
A lump of dough looks identical with or without leaven.
Only after the lump has risen does it become clear that leaven was present.
And here Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to leaven in a lump of dough.
So accordingly the power also of the righteous has its force not in the magnitude of their number,
"Some believe it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. It is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love." — The Hobbit
There is application for us as Christians to consider here.
It’s not our great number in the city of Keyser that brings transformation, but the power of the Holy Spirit working in a few people.
If God could transform the world through twelve ordinary men, certainly He could do the same work again among people empowered and enabled by the Spirit of God.
33 He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”
It’s interesting that Jesus picks up on a woman hiding the leaven in “three measure of flour.”
Jesus reminds us again of His distinctively human origins, who undoubtedly watched His mother make bread in this way often.
What does Jesus mean by the “three measures of flour”?
Some have said this is a reference to the Trinity (Glover, referenced in Robertson).
It could be referring to the amount of dough Sarah received the guests in Genesis 18:6 with, but it’s difficult to know.
Instead of focusing on the “three measures”, we ought to see…
Exponential growth is unstoppable.
Exponential growth is unstoppable.
The kingdom of God will truly grow exponentially.
How foolish would it be for a person think they can stop a lump of dough from rising?
After leaven has been placed into the dough, what can stop it?
Nothing!
Everything the kingdom of God touches is changed.
16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
How large will the kingdom of heaven grow?
As we saw earlier in Daniel 2, the kingdom that is presented as a perfect cube which is not cut with human hands results in the destruction of the nations.
44 And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever,
45 just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold.
Jesus doesn’t give us a limit here and we ought not push the parable further than it can be tenably taken.
But I think it is important to see the results of the kingdom that Jesus has inaugurated.
Exponential growth for the nations.
Exponential growth for the nations.
32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
In the OT, there are many passages describing the kingdom that Yahweh is bringing in terms of a large tree.
Likely the most famous passage about the great trees of the royal kingdoms of the earth is found in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of a great tree.
He dreams of a great tree which Daniel (Belteshazzar) interprets for him.
The kingdom of Babylon is described as a great tree with beasts and birds in the shade of it.
The prophecy was about the destruction of the kingdom of Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar’s episode of insanity.
Some have understood the language of “birds of the air come and make their nests in its branches” to be the following.
The birds are a reference to the nations taking up residence among them.
The second view is preferable because it seems to fairly treat the language of the OT contexts where it’s referenced.
The kingdom of God will expand exponentially to the point that the nations will inhabit the tree that Yahweh is planting in Israel.
The kingdom of heaven begins small and spreads undetected, yet it will expand to have dominion.
The kingdom of heaven begins small and spreads undetected, yet it will expand to have dominion.
Benediction
Benediction
