Sermon Tone Analysis

Scripture Reading

When our Lord was upon earth, although he is the Prince of the kings of the earth, yet he walked the footpath of weariness and service as the Servant of servants: what wonder is it if his followers, who are princes of the blood, should also be looked down upon as inferior and contemptible persons?

The world is upside down, and therefore, the first are last and the last first.

The Bread of Life

My Cooking

I am often asked, do I cook?

I like to respond, “Define Cooking?”

I also now quote a phrase I heard some time ago

“A man who cooks is wonderful, but a man that cleans up is extraordinary”.

I fall into the latter category, so I am extraordinary.

As for the man that does both, please, just keep quiet.

We don’t need to know.

TMI.

But my wife is such a person.

I am truly blessed.

When Pearl asked me to do a Veg cooking demo, well it was with much fear and trepidation that I agreed and the hour came.

Jesus uses a Cooking Demo for the Kingdom of God

In the parable today, Jesus uses cooking demo.

Jesus uses ingredients and a verbal cooking “demo” to illustrate spiritual truth.

His list of ingredients is huge, enough to feed over 100 people.

That would have got people’s attention.

You can just imagine that diverse, listening crowd.

And Jesus uses the most common of stable foods.

Bread

Who does not like Bread?

The Parable of the Leaven

We read,

(Slide)

But Jesus also does something unique here.

Yeast or Leaven as a symbol of Sin

But Jesus does something different here.

We are used to thinking of Yeast or Leaven in terms of its pervasiveness.

In spiritual matters, we are used to thinking of Yeast or Leaven as a symbol of the pervasiveness of sin

In , we read,

(Slide)

The communion bread, with which we celebrate the Lord’s supper, is flat, without leaven, to represent the sinless perfection of Jesus.

So we are used to thinking of purity as the absence of Yeast or Leaven.

Yeast or Leaven as a symbol of the Kingdom of God

But here Jesus uses the symbolic nature of leaven or yeast in a completely different way!

He used the making of one of the most common foods to illustrate,

BTW, that is a warning to us because we can get too hung up on the symbol and not the truth the Lord is trying to get through to us.

Jesus uses Yeast or Leaven to illustrate something different.

Something extraordinary.

Something extraordinary.

To illustrate something extraordinary.

Something that is hidden in may ways.

Something mysterious.

Something we can put our faith in.

That is, the Kingdom of God!

Within us, yes.

But also, and maybe more importantly here, at its consummation, at the end of this present age, when Jesus comes again.

When the Kingdom of God will be visible to all.

When there will be a “large leavened mass”

One writer says,

The main point seems to be comparing how it starts (small amount of yeast in large amount of flour), to what it will be like, when the harvest comes, “a large leavened mass”.

Just as in the parable of The Mustard Seed, it starts with the the small seed and becomes a great tree.

Our world is upside down

In Ecclesiastes we read,

(Slide)

Our world is upside down!

When our Lord was on earth, although he is the Prince of the kings of the earth, yet he walked the footpath of weariness and service, as the servant of servant.

The first are last and the last are first.

Our world is upside down.

Haman is in the court, while Mordecai sits in the gate; David wanders on the mountains, while Saul reigns in state; Elijah is complaining in the cave while Jezebel is boasting in the palace

Haman is in the court, while Mordecai sits in the gate; David wanders on the mountains, while Saul reigns in state; Elijah is complaining in the cave while Jezebel is boasting in the palace

Our world is upside down!

What we see today is not the whole story.

Gaining Grond

A little mustard seed will become the largest tree and home for all.

The little yeast will eventually work through the bread to make more than

enough to feed many people.

What we see is not the reality or the true picture.

There is so much we do not see or understand.

Such calls for waiting, and faith, and patient, and perseverance.

Let the yeast work through all the flour.

Let the tree grow from that tiny mustard seed.

Such calls for believing steadfastness.

The Lord will accomplish all this and more.

That is why I called today’s sermon “Gaining Ground”

Digging Ditches

Digging Ditches

Let us look at an account in 2 Kings

called the divided kingdom.

Set during the period when Judah and Israel were part of what is now called the divided kingdom.

(Slide)

Map of Judah, Israel, Edom and Moab

King of Israel, King of Judah and King of Edom

Go to sort our the rebellious Moabites.

By the roundabout route.

Jerusalem, Dead Sea

Dry and hot place!

(Slide)

Warning as Enemy Territory

But they hit a huge logistical problem.

They had no water for the army.

(Slide

We can be sure that when we are going into enemy territory, trouble will come.

When we are trying to gain ground for the Lord, trouble with come.

We dedicate our lives to the Lord, but soon trouble comes.

We rededicate our lives to the Lord, we put aside something the Lord has been convicting us about, we pray and expect all will get better, but instead, trouble comes!