A Christian Influence

Introduction

In honor of football season beginning I’d like to tell you a story that I read about that I can’t verify as true but I enjoyed it anyway.

There’s a story about a student from MIT who spent an entire summer going to the Harvard football field every day wearing a black and white striped shirt walking up and down the field for ten or fifteen minutes throwing birdseed and blowing a whistle. Then he would walk off the field.

At the end of the summer, it came time for the first Harvard home football game. As the game was about ot begin, the referee walked onto the field and blew the whistle... (pause).

The game had to be delayed for a half hour to wait for the birds to get off of the field.

The story states that the student who pulled this prank off would later write his theses on pavlovs response in birds or something and graduate with honors from MIT.

Now if this story where true, the student would have pulled off two great feats with some small little seeds.

He would have graduated from MIT by capturing the power of seed to illicit a pavlovs response in birds.

He would have annoyed the students at Harvard.

I mentioned this morning that the parables of Jesus often employed agricultural themes and concepts in order to make a point about a larger spiritual truth.

I mentioned this morning that the parables of Jesus often employed agricultural and household themes and concepts in order to make a point about a larger spiritual truth and we are for sure going to see that as we look at the two parables tonight.

Turn with me to

Context

Context

We begin tonight where we began this morning, noting the context of these particular parables, and the good news is that they haven’t changed much from this morning since we are staying here in the book of Luke.

Jesus is still heading toward Jerusalem.

He’s stopping and teaching along the way.

And in :10 we find Jesus teaching in a synagogue on the Sabbath where he heals a woman with a disabling spirit that has ailed her for 18 years where she couldn’t straiten herself up.

In response to this healing the ruler of the synagogue rebukes the people for desiring to be healed on the sabbath, and Jesus answers him

Luke 13:15–16 ESV

15 Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? 16 And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?”

Which Luke says puts all his adversaries to shame, and that the people were rejoicing and celebrating all the glorious things done by Jesus.

Now remember that what we see in our scriptures as far as chapter separations and verses and those little headers over certain parts of scripture are not inspired and not part of the original text.

So when we see verses 18-19 separated out the way they are, we might get the impression that this took place at a different time or place than what has happened above, but there is really no indication from the text that is the case.

In fact, it doesn’t appear that he has left that place until verse 22

So here we find ourselves again sitting around Jesus, having witnessed him cure this woman of this terrible disability, having heard him put the synagogue ruler in his place by showing that the same compassion we have for animals should extend to our fellow man, and in response to this healing and his wisdom, the crowds are rejoicing at what is being done by Jesus.

I don’t know about you, but if I’m in that environment my eyes are intently focused on this man Jesus.

What will he do next? What will he say? You, me, and everyone there would be hanging on every word.

Which leads us into our parables tonight found in v. 18-21

The Kingdom of God is like a grain of mustard seed

The next words out of Jesus’ mouth with us hanging on every word is

What is the kingdom of God like?

Oh man! You have my attention Jesus! I’ve seen you do amazing things, I’ve heard your incredible wisdom in answering your adversaries, I’ve come to believe that you really speak with authority and are sent by God, and now you are going to tell us what the long awaited and prophesied kingdom will be like!?

I’m all in! I’m all ears and I bet you could hear a pin drop as they waited to hear what Jesus is going to say.

The kingdom of God is like a grain of mustard seed.

Well that is kind of underwhelming. I mean a mustard seed is a tiny little thing, and while I like mustard as much as the next guy, I’m not overly excited about it.

I mean you can take a mustard seed and place it in between your thumb and index finger and you’ll almost hide it from view.

And even when you can see it, there’s nothing remarkable about it. It’s round, and it’s small, it’s a seed.

But thankfully Jesus isn’t finished, and goes on to remind us something that we already know, but probably take for granted in our daily lives.

That all complex and amazing living things come forth from incredibly small things.

You, me, the trees outside, the elephants in Africa, all had amazingly small beginnings.

There is within seeds an incredible amount of power to change the world.

The famous writer Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote “The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn” Which is true, but not something that is a unique observation. We know this, but Jesus reminds us of it here.

The mustard tree is not really a tree so much as it’s a large bush, but there are written accounts in the middle east of mustard “trees” growing up to nearly 20 feet tall, tall enough that a man on horseback could ride under them without issue.

All from a tiny little seed. That’s pretty incredible, but it’s something we often forget.

But Jesus isn’t finished, He goes on to say:

The Kingdom of God is like leaven hid in three measures of flour

Luke 13:

Luke 13:20–21 ESV

20 And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? 21 It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”

Leaven is often referred to in bad terms

Luke 12:1 ESV

1 In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

Luke 12:

Conclusion: God can do incredible things with just a little

So what do we gather from these two small parables regarding the Kingdom of God?

Well it’s important to remember that Jesus is speaking about the church here.

In Jesus said,

Mark 9:1 ESV

1 And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”

Have you ever thought about how everyone that you know that is a Christian, every one of your past family members who were christians, All people everywhere who became Christians only did so because of the Holy Spirit inspired men that preached on the day of Pentecost, the day the kingdom came with power?

I mean that is an incredible thing, it started off small and became a booming and growing movement the likes the world has never seen.

God can do amazing things with just a little.

Planting seeds in hearts of men - examples -

Softball

Thailand

Matthew 5:14

Entire families, entire generations become Christians because of one small seed planted within their hearts.

Church I believe that God can do a whole lot with just a little.

But the question is, are we willing to spread the seed?

You know it’s a funny thing about seed, it doesn’t grow in our hands, we have to sow it first.

Matthew 5:14–16 ESV

14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 13:1–9 ESV

1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6 but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears, let him hear.”

Matthew 13:1-

Matthew 13:18

Matthew 13:18–23 ESV

18 “Hear then the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 23 As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

Mark 9:1 ESV

1 And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”