Yeast and Mustard

Parables

Mustard

Matthew 13 tells us that

Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables

During this time on the lake he told eight parables.

I want to speak about two of them.

The first concerns a mustard seed and can be found in verses 31 and 32

Matthew 13:31–32 CSB

31 He presented another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It’s the smallest of all the seeds, but when grown, it’s taller than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches.”

The mustard seed was the smallest of all the seeds Refers to seeds planted by farmers in Galilee. Rabbis used the mustard seed as a proverbial object to denote the smallest possible amount or size of something.

This parable speaks of unusually small things that grow large.

The parable of the mustard seed stresses the great results that can come from small beginnings.

Jesus used this parable to to reveal that the Kingdom may appear to be small as a mustard seed, one of the tiniest seeds but it would be come mighty like the mustard plant. - I think the metaphor may be lost on us sometimes as we don’t have the right view of mustard.

We may think of a saucer with cotton wool with a few straggly shoots growing out of it when we think of mustard. Or for those of us who have been to Norfolk may have seen mustard plants growing, though at a distance you may be hard pressed to spot the difference between them and the familiar oil seed rape we see in the fields here. Bigger than a sprout but not that impressive. The mustard plants, in the bible though were not this variety of plant. There are two contenders for the plant both referred to a mustard, one grows into a sprawling shurb, the other into a twenty foot tree both of which would easily allow the birds to come and rest in the branches.

Yeast

The other parable can be found in verse 33

Matthew 13:33 CSB

33 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and mixed into fifty pounds of flour until all of it was leavened.”

The parable of the leaven the yeast is similar in meaning. Though the leaven is very small in relation to the large amount of flour, it will eventually leaven the whole of the batch by working from within.

Parables reveal truth that has not previously been understood and today I want to look at how the smallest of things can bring about a difference, a growth in our understanding of God, our relationship with Him and the impact that this can have.

SEGWAY INTO WORSHIP

So why the mustard seed and the yeast?

I spoke last week about people saying I would ask for prayer or I would pray about this or that but there are more important things that need. Prayer. Last week we looked at how this did not make sense in context of a loving, compassionate and interested God.

This week I want to ask the question of How does this fit with an all powerful God?

I’ll also get to where the yeast fit in.

First though I want to as a question;

When we hold back prayer because there are other needs that seem greater or harder to achieve Is that not just a shrouded way of saying God doesn’t have a enough power to go around. Are we not denying the omipotence (the all powerfulness) of God?

Trust

When it comes to the things of God, the question of trust is a critical one. As believers in Jesus , we’re trusting not only in His love for us, but we’re trusting in His wisdom, and we’re trusting in His power, and His sovereignty.

If any of these foundational truths about our great God -

He is sovereign

He is infinitely powerful

He is infinite in His wisdom

He is absolutely perfect in His love

if any one of these things about God are not true, we cannot trust God….He isn’t completely worthy of our trust.

What’s more, if we don’t really believe these things are true, then, again, we are not able to trust God.

If they’re just not true, or if we just cannot believe these things are true, then we cannot trust Him.

For anyone having a crisis at this point over that statement let me tell you that those foundations are true - God is worth of trust and learning to trust Him is a journey - so relax, don’t panic but ask the Holy Spirit to help reveal the truths to you and to help increase your understanding and your faith. We are told to ask for wisdom and faith is a gift of the holy spirit.

Well I may say they are true but lets look at the bible, although there are four truths we are only going to focus on the power, or in this case, the omnipotence, the all-encompassing power, of God. He’s omnipotent, and I’m not.

Genesis 17:1 (NIV) When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty;

Note: this is the first reference to God as Almighty.

Genesis 18:14 (NIV) Is anything too hard for the LORD? - the answer is no, if you are wondering

Jeremiah 32:27 (NIV) "I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?

Job gives us the answer : Job recognised the truth of God’s omnipotence. After God asked Job a series of questions about creation Job could not answer, Job said to God:

Job 42:2

 (NIV) "I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted

Job recognised that even when his life was not going so well, and if you know the story of Job you will recognise that as the understatement of the week, that did not demonstrate a lack of power on Gods part.

I am not sure that people to day are as sure a Job was. With all the issues of Covid both on an international scale and where it touches us personally, it is easy to to consider God to be non powerful or to kindly consider that God is doing his best but can’t do everything.

Christians as well as non-Christians frequently speak of misfortune and accidents, of circumstances beyond our control (and presumably beyond God’s), of things happening by chance. The implicit assumption in the minds of many is: If God is both powerful and good, why is there so much suffering, so much pain, so much heartache in the world? God is either good and not all powerful, or He is powerful and not all good. You can’t have it both ways (goes the thinking).

The extension of this is God is not powerful enough to deal with everything

I see this as quite simply wrong

The four passages of scripture we just read are all Old Testament passages. I don’t know how else to read or interpret those, except to take them at face value. What does almighty mean if it doesn’t mean all mighty, omnipotent? All mighty. All powerful. What part of all means limited.

The word omnipotent is defined by the biblical word, “Almighty.” This word occurs 345 times in the Bible, and is never used of anyone but God. The truth of God’s omnipotence is assumed everywhere in the Bible. The actual word omnipotent is not in our modern translations, but it is found in the King James Version of Revelation 19:6 - don’t get hung up on the word the idea behind it is the important truth

“The Apostle John heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and loud peals of thunder shouting out: “For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.”

You may recognise that last phrase from the Hallelujah Chorus around this verse.

Sovereignty and omnipotence are intrinsically linked.

The sovereignty of God, and the omnipotence of God, are two closely related concepts. You can’t really completely separate one from the other.

Omnipotence has to do with God’s power and ability to accomplish what He wills. Sovereignty has to do with His purposes and His will, and of course, He accomplishes His purposes by His power (omnipotence).

There’s is some inevitable overlap. As we look at God’s all powerful nature, we cannot help but also reference His sovereignty. If we look at God’s sovereignty, we can’t help but reference His power to accomplish His purposes. You might think of omnipotence as His power, and sovereignty as His purpose, accomplished by His power.

Scripture often affirms that all power belongs to God (Psalm 147:5),

that all things are possible for God (Luke 1:37; Luke 19:26), and that God’s power exceeds what humans can ask or think (Ephes. 3:20). For Scripture, God’s omnipotence is not a matter of abstract speculation but a force to be reckoned with. God’s power is revealed in God’s creating and sustaining the universe (Psalm 65:6; Jeremiah 32:17; Hebrews 1:3), in God’s deliverance of Israel from Pharaoh’s forces (Exodus 15:1-18), in the conquest of Canaan (Deut. 3:21-24), in the incarnation (Luke 1:35), in Christ’s death on the cross (1 Cor. 1:17-18; 1 Cor. 1:23-24), and in the ongoing ministry of the church (1 Cor. 2:5; Ephes. 3:20).

So, power, in the Word of God, is the ability or strength to perform an activity or deed

So, when we say that God is omnipotent, we’re saying that He has the ability, or the strength, to perform anything He needs to perform, to accomplish His purposes. In other words, He is able. Here’s another definition, from theologian Henry Thiessen:

By the omnipotence of God we mean that He is able to do whatever He wills; but since His will is limited by His nature, this means that God can do everything that is in harmony with His perfections.

God Cannot do some things

There are some things which God cannot do: (1) Such as are contrary to His nature as God, as, for example, look upon iniquity

(Hab. 1:13), deny Himself (2 Tim. 2:13), lie (Heb. 6:18), or commit sin (Jas. 1:13), and (2) such as are absurd or self-contradictory, as, for example, making a material spirit, a sensitive stone, a square circle, (a rock He can’t lift) etc. These are not objects of power and so denote no limitation of God’s omnipotence.

So, God’s omnipotence….His state of being all-powerful, is seen as a force to be reckoned with, throughout scripture, throughout the history of His chosen people, and throughout the history of the church.

I believe this is still true today. God has not changed, he has not suddenly become old and less strong or able.

I don’t have a complete understanding, or in some circumstances, any understanding of the ways of God, but I think we need to recognise that it is the fact that He is all poweful (Almighty) that:

Gives events a purpose, either now, or ultimately…

That guarantees the prophecies or promises of scripture are true.

How about his promise: “I’ll never leave you or forsake you?” If He’s not omnipotent, how can we be sure He’s able to carry out that promise?

It is his almightyness (if that is a word that) means the things that are yet to come will happen… it means God is able able to accomplish all He promised.

The coming in the clouds to take us home

The defeat of the devil

The new heavens and new earth

If he’s not all powerful, omnipotent, how do we know with certainty He can make those things happen? How do we know with certainty He can make anything happen? How do we know He really defeated sin and death at the cross, if he’s not omnipotent?

It is the fact that God is almighty that means it is not just a temporary victory, over sin, death and the enemy

It is God’s Omnipotence that was at play when He created the universe, flung the stars, lit up the sun? - if we discount God as being all powerful, where does that leave us? Maybe we are all accidental randomness

How can we take anything in the Bible for granted, if he’s not all powerful? We might as well call it historical fiction at best, total fiction at worst.

On the other hand, if He is omnipotent, He’s worthy of our trust, and worthy of our obedience.

Theologian Albert Mohler, wrote this:

The Bible simply does not leave room for the suggestion that God is doing His best under the circumstances. Nowhere is an event -- tragic or otherwise -- explained as due to God’s inability to prevent what happened.

Biblical Christianity does not find refuge in redefining God’s power or in flippant interpretations of God’s will.

Instead, it points us to the fallenness of the created order and the created order’s need for redemption.

The Bible claims that God is both omnipotent and all-loving. The fact that these twin truths sometimes lead us into intellectual difficulty is no excuse for surrendering the Bible’s assertion of unlimited divine power and authority. The problem lies with our limited understanding -- not with any limit on God’s power.

We have lingered perhaps too long among the gentleness of God; we need today the bracing vision of His majesty and power.

Perhaps we have focused too long on the meek and lowly Jesus we see at Christmas; the vision we need to see today is that of the glorified Christ. The Christ described at the close of Mark’s Gospel

Mark 16:19–20 CSB

19 So the Lord Jesus, after speaking to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word by the accompanying signs.]

It is this Vision of Jesus enthroned, all powerful, equipping his people to be in the world that is the antidote to fear.

Wrap up

So what’s all this got to do with mustard seeds and bread?

Simply this - the all powerful nature of God is a huge concept.

Too big for us to apply. So start with a mustard seed sized bit of it.

Apply this to single prayers.

Start by taking things to God even when you think he may be busy with other things. He has enough power to go around.

As you do this, as you recognise God’s unlimited nature, it will transform your prayer life, it will grow in size and stature. It will, like the mustard tree start to cover you and give others a place to rest as you pray for others.

As you start to inject an expectation of God’s power into your prayer life, it like the yeast in the dough will spread through your whole life. The HS will transform your view on situations as you see them in the context of an all powerful God.

will it mean all your prayers are answered, no. but it will mean that when you pray you will do so with the authority given to you by an all powerful sovereign God. who will deem to act or not based on His sovereignty alone.

Pray