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Introduction

Review: Parables. What is the kingdom like? You want to be in it. Like for real in it.

I want to ask a question: What is something that is a part of the kingdom of God, but is not a part of your school?

Does that surprise you? It surprises me. First of all, I think Jesus is so amazing, I don’t know why people don’t follow him. Secondly, this is a very Christian community. Why do many parts of the kingdom still seem like they are distant?

Matthew 13:

Matthew 13:31–33 NLT

Here is another illustration Jesus used: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of garden plants; it grows into a tree, and birds come and make nests in its branches.” Jesus also used this illustration: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like the yeast a woman used in making bread. Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough.”

The kingdom is small and hidden

The main point of Jesus choosing the mustard seed is how small it is. The mustard seed is the smallest thing he could think of. Why would Jesus compare his kingdom, his revolution, to a tiny seed?

Imagine for a moment that you want to run for class president. You want to start a movement to make all the water fountains have chocolate milk instead. And you’re giving a speech for your chocolate milk fountains and you say, “In this vast ocean of middle school, our movement is like one tiny shrimp.” Why in the world would you say that?!

Jesus wants to acknowledge the reality of the situation. When it comes to the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world, right now the kingdom of the world is far bigger. Jesus says elsewhere that the road to heaven is narrow, while the road to destruction is wide. Many people choose the way of the world. Look around at your school. If you really follow Jesus, you will be in the minority. Listen. Jesus will change the way that you speak to others. Most people at your school will gossip about others. Most people at your school will make fun of other kids. Guys, most of the other guys at school will speak terribly about girls and the way they look. Sometimes, it will feel like you are the only one trying to follow Jesus.

This isn’t reason to feel like your better than others, or to judge everyone around you. It’s just to say that we shouldn’t be surprised when the kingdom seems small around us. It’s small even in our own lives. There are areas of our life that we haven’t yet surrendered to the kingdom.

The kingdom is hidden

In the second parable, the yeast in the bread, the idea is pretty much the same. The Kingdom is not what we expect. When you compare the amount of yeast to the amount of flour, the yeast is far less. It’s tiny. It’s the small kingdom. But there’s also something interesting here. If you read it in a different translation, it says that she hid the yeast in the flour. Often, the kingdom feels hidden. The world is so obvious. But what is God doing? Where is the work of the Spirit in the world?

The kingdom will win

But the point in both of these parables is not where it begins, but where it ends.

The mustard seed doesn’t stay small. The yeast fills all the dough. The kingdom of God may seem small now, and it may seem hidden now, but in the end, the kingdom of God wins. In the end, the kingdom will be the only thing there is.

We have to be future thinkers in the kingdom of God. We have to be able to see things, not as they are, but as they will be. Have you ever seen the show Fixer Upper? Your parents probably love it. They find an old broken down house, and they fix it up and make it look amazing. What’s funny is when I watch the show, I’m like Oh yeah I could do that. Karly, let’s flip houses! No. Bad idea. I would ruin it. Because I don’t have the vision to see what they see. They can look at a terrible house and see what it could look like.

When we look at the world, we don’t look at it the way it is, but the way it could be. And that means that we should be able to see people, not necessarily as they are, but as they could be. When you see someone who always talks back to teachers and gets in arguments with people, you can see them in the kingdom—a peacemaker. And on and on.

You can have hope and courage that what you do now for the kingdom will matter in the end.

We can think this way because of Jesus. Think about Jesus. He was not powerful compared to the world. His movement was not large. Even the followers he had quickly fell apart after his arrest. And he was the king, but that fact was hidden from so many. So he died, and they made fun of him, thinking that he was nothing. But on the third day, he rose from the dead and defeated sin, Satan, and death. He is the mustard seed planted in the ground. He is the yeast in the flour. And his kingdom will win in the end.