Restoration: Kingdom of God is like Seed and Yeast

Introduction

Movie: Restoration

Good Morning Church, how are we doing this morning? Trusting in “Our God of Peace, our God of Hope, and our God of Restoration.”

As I prepared for the message week, I just couldn’t get this word “Restoration” out of my mind. The truth is that our text this morning is not well known to direct people to this principle, but for whatever reason in kept driving me there. Of course my hope is that God has something in it for us, and that is why He would not let me cast it aside for some more obvious connections.

If we were to open a Webster Dictionary to find the word, we would read first that “Restoration” is: a. “an act of bringing something or someone back to a former position or condition”. But if we kept reading we would find that it can also go further than that. Sometimes restoration goes beyond the former condition and it can “bring something back” to an improved condition.

It is this second understanding of “Restoration” that the Bible so often uses. The biblical meaning of the word "restoration" is to receive back more than has been lost to the point where the final state is greater than the original condition. The main point is that someone or something is improved.

We have had a difficult time this past year, and when it comes to the effects of the pandemic we are just now starting to see some signs of relief in the public square. There are signs that some of the things that we have struggled through over the past 12 months are at least not going to take center stage for the next 12 months. But now that restrictions are beginning to lighten up and people are beginning to get out and connect more, what kind of “Restoration” are we hoping for?

Are we hoping to just go back to where we were 18 months ago, or are we hoping for something more? Do we even dare to hope that God would “Restore” us to a place where “the final state is greater than the original condition” or are we so desperate to see our “normal” swing back into place that we are willing to forget how much God has taught us about ourselves and our world this past year?

And this is where I see connection with Jesus’ many parables on the Kingdom of God, including the two that we are going to look at today. God’s people had been struggling for much longer than we have. They had been oppressed for generations under the weight of several different empires who came in and changed their “normal” in so many ways that they hardly remembered what it felt like to not have an Empire looming over them…they may have forgotten what it felt like, but they remembered what it looked like!

They were inspired by God’s Holy Scriptures where they read of the glory days of the Kingdom of Israel when the whole world recognized their little nation as a world power. They told the stories of their conquering kings like the mighty King David or the wise King Solomon and they longed for the “Restoration” of those days. As they told the stories to one another, they hoped together in the coming Messiah who would put an end to the oppression of God’s people and restore the Kingdom of Israel to it’s former glory.

But Jesus’ many descriptions of the Kingdom of God never sounded like their expectations. He never talked about coming military victories or the humiliation of the Romans at the hands of the faithful and devout followers of God. Instead, He brought “restoration” in many other ways. One by one...

He restored health

He restored sight

He restored hearing

He restored life

And then He preached of the Kingdom of God…NOT as something that would dominate the outside world, but as something that would plant itself inside and then grow out faithfully and steadily until it had effect on the entire world.

And it would be that second kind of “Restoration”, one that went further than just restoring the Kingdom of Israel as it once was, to restoring it to something even better. Because the truth is...the “record” of the so called “glory days” of Israel was full of as many devastating failures as it was celebrated victories. The restoration of the “Kingdom of God” would bring God’s people into a greater “restoration” than that.

So as we continue this morning in our Christos series on the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, we will once again see Jesus’ heart to restore people. Not only does he restore something of their physical bodies, but he uses those miraculous restorations to cause the people to long for an even fuller one.

Let’s take a look at Luke chapter 13 starting in verse 10, it is page 872 in the Bibles in the chairs if you wanna grab one of those and follow along…otherwise the words will be on the screen for you was well. Let’s pray and then we will get into the text together.

Truth

So ultimately we are after the parables that begin in verse 18 of this chapter, but starting there will only loop us back here. Let me show you what I mean, verse 18 reads:

Luke 13:18 ESV

18 He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it?

One of the more useful Bible Study tools you can develop is to have a little red flag go off in your head every time you see the word “Therefore”. This word should always prompt the question in our minds “What is the therefore, there for”. I know it’s corny, but it works because whatever Jesus is about to say is built on what he has just said or done. It is a needed connection, a bridge, and we won’t be able to really get what Jesus is talking about here if we miss what He did or said back there. With that said, let’s go back to verse 10 where we read...

Luke 13:10–13 ESV

10 Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” 13 And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God.

Here we read one of many times when Jesus “Restored” the health of someone. This particular time, she didn’t even ask Him for the help, it was Jesus who initiated it. He called her over, He laid on his hands and declared her “restored” and she was. Then she glorified God. How cool is that?

But not everyone thought it was an acceptable addition to the service that day, which is probably why Jesus had to initiate it instead of the woman.

Luke 13:14 ESV

14 But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.”

The “ruler” was the one who was responsible for the order of service in the synagogue. He had the honor of caring for the “Ark” of the synagogue, or the cupboard where their copies of the Hebrew Scriptures were kept. He would have been the one who invited the visiting rabbi Jesus to speak that day and laid out the part of the Hebrew Scriptures that Jesus would have used.

So in essence, Jesus was a guest speaker. A popular Rabbi who had probably filled the synagogue that day - and the “ruler” condemns Jesus’ action by appealing to the fourth commandment. And Jesus responds:

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?”

Notice that even though it was just the ruler of the synagogue who is accusing Him, Jesus is clearly responding to a group here. This was just one of several times when Jesus publically healed someone on the Sabbath day, only to be criticized by religious leaders directly following. He did this very intentionally to show the hypocrisy of these religious leaders, as they would have no trouble “bending” their legalistic interpretation of God’s law if it helped to care for the needs of their animals, but they would condemn Jesus for caring for the needs of this woman and others on the Sabbath day.

They should have celebrated for God’s hand to move in their midst. They should have said, that was awesome! And start looking around the room for someone else who needed “restoration” of some sort…but that was not how their services were done. Healing was not scheduled in the bulletin so the next needy person will just have to suffer on until sometime next week.

Jesus’ healing was a small, but powerful act of kindness compared the the huge religious structure that Judaism had become. This should give us pause to consider…could we loose sight of our savior for the safety of the the familiar? Could we be missing opportunities for God to do wondrous things in our midst because it doesn’t fit our weekly routine? What are we expecting God to do in our midst each Sunday? How much room have we given Him to move beyond our expectations?

Well the people seem to be getting tired of all the hypocrisy too, because the very next verse says:

Luke 13:17 ESV

17 As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.

And with this context ringing in our minds, we can finally circle back to the “therefore” in verse 18...

Luke 13:18–19 ESV

18 He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? 19 It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”

1. The Kingdom of God grows exponentially from small beginnings. (Luke 13:18–19)

It is a great time of year to be drawing our attention to planting gardens. A lot of people have started to prepare and even plant some of their gardens…although the cold nights this past week have been a bit troubling. In our home, my wife Rachel is the gardener and I am just the hired hand. She says dig, I say where? She says pull these weeds, I say “which ones are the weeds again”, but that is just me, there are many men who really enjoy gardening and are skilled at it, and certainly in Jesus’ day, gardening was something that men primarily held the responsibility for.

So what is Jesus trying to tell these men in this parable? Well you can find a lot of different interpretations for this parable, they branch out in every direction...but at it’s root (Your welcome Nick) what we have here is the story of a small seed making a big impact over a relatively short period of time. The Mustard “seed” while not the smallest seed to us today was the smallest garden seed that Jews were familiar with in Jesus’ day and to “sow” or plant it in you garden was to guarantee a significant outcome - at least if you like mustard plants growing in your garden.

Ultimately Jesus is linking the “restoration” of the woman to full health to the even greater “restoration” found in the Kingdom of God. Like the mustard seed, it will start off small and seemingly insignificant.

We aren’t even given this woman’s name, so what leverage would her healing bring in trying to establish a Kingdom. Very little at first, but God’s Kingdom on earth will grow from small beginnings like this. It will not be about recruiting generals with their armies or kings with their kingdoms, it will be about restoring the broken to an ever greater condition than before.

After his Gospel account, Luke wrote a book in the Bible called Acts. While his Gospel was all about what Jesus said and did while here on earth, the book of Acts is about what the early Church did after Jesus ascended into heaven. But in chapter 1, Jesus has not yet ascended back to heaven and He is meeting with the small group of His followers and it says:

Acts 1:6 ESV

6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

Even now, after Jesus has raised from the dead and He has taught them all the place in Scripture that point to how everything that happened to Him was fulfillment of what was said about the coming Messiah and the Kingdom that He will bring…even now they are hoping that His next step will be to “restore them to their old condition”. But the Kingdom of God is a “Restoration” that will go much further than the mighty, yet fallen Kings of Israel ever did. Jesus has a greater goal in mind, and...

Acts 1:7–8 ESV

7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

It is so amazing to me that everything that a plant needs to grow is contained in those little seeds. I mean there is often not much difference between the look of a tiny rock and one of those tiny seeds, yet if you plant a rock in the ground all you will get is a dirty rock. Plant the seed right next to it and in God’s design a plant bursts forth.

The Kingdom of God works the same way. When we have the Holy Spirit planted in our lives, we have everything we need to become all that God has designed for us to be and do in His Kingdom.

And that is exactly what the book of Acts records happened in the early Church. There are only 120 followers here in Acts Chapter 1, but the Holy Spirit comes in Chapter 2 and by chapter 3 the Kingdom of God has grown to include more than 3,000 people. That is exponential growth, just like we see with a mustard seed.

1. The Kingdom of God grows exponentially from small beginnings.

Luke offers us a second parable that shows how

2. The Kingdom of God grows throughout us to change our very nature (Luke 13:20–21).

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.”

of Jesus where He compares the Kingdom of God to something simple in the daily lives of Jews of His day. While the gardening parable was offered as a relatable story for the men, Jesus tells the Parable of the yeast to relate to the women who were there that day.

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.”

Our second theme for the week is that

2. The Kingdom of God grows throughout us to change our very nature (Luke 13:20–21).

When it comes to relatable illustrations, this has just not been my week. I know next to nothing about gardening and I know less than that about baking bread, but as best as I can understand it…leaven is something similar to what we would typically call yeast today and it works by releasing carbon dioxide as the loaf warms, filling the loaf with thousands of little pockets of air and fundamentally changing it’s nature from one state to another. It is the difference between a tortilla and a french loaf. They are not only different in size but also structure.

I was also able to learn that the “three measures of flour” mentioned here is enough bread to feed about 100 people, so this is not a kiddie loaf. This woman is baking up a storm. And Jesus was making all kinds of prophetic connections with the Old Testament in using this amount of dough.

Gideon made this much (unleavened) bread for the angel of the Lord (Judges 6:18-19).

Hannah brought this amount of flour up to the tabernacle at Shiloh when she brought Samuel there (1 Sam. 1:24).

This is an amount Ezekiel mentions presented in sacrifice (Eze. 45:24).

So even the non-bakers would have recognized that Jesus was saying something significant here in comparing “The Kingdom of God” with the effect of leaven in this big batch of dough.

The big idea here is that even in all of this dough, a little leaven can work to change the internal nature of the dough and causes it all to rise. What is happening on the inside as the air permeates through the dough will alter the external appearance as well. This can be so clearly seen as the process of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. The Kingdom of God isn’t something that you belong to on the outside, it is something that is living and breathing and at work on the inside - even though it produces an effect that is observable on the outside.

The other aspect of leaven that I found compelling was that once it begins it’s work, you can’t remove it. Once that leaven or yeast begins working in the bread, it is there to stay. It is not like the seed that was scattered on the ground where the birds can come in and snatch it up. Once the leaven get’s it, that’s it. It is going to make the change.

Reminds me of Philippians 1:6

Philippians 1:6 ESV

6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

The Kingdom of God continues to grow today. We can never perceive how large the Kingdom will be when it reaches its final point in God’s plan, but our desire should be to do all we can to help facilitate that growth—both within ourselves and throughout the world.

Gospel Application

One of the ways that theologians talk about the Kingdom of God, is to say that it is “already” and “Not yet”. The idea being that the Kingdom of God is operating in the life of the believers, much like the leaven or mustard seed, but it will not reach it’s full expression until sometime in the future. In other words, we are “already” in the kingdom that Jesus innagurated, but we do “not yet” see it in its full glory.

That is why that second defintion for the word “Restoration” is the preferred one in Scripture. God did have His purposes in establishing the earthly Kingdom of Israel, but the Kingdom of God is not a second go around of that earthly Kingdom. Earthly Kingdoms usually come on fast and strong and then over time they self- destruct. But the Kingdom of God is different.

In John 18:36 Jesus said that his “kingdom is not of this world” and His “kingdom is not from the world” because He is restoring his children to an even better Kingdom.

And John reminds the Church in 1 John 3

1 John 3:2 ESV

2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

We are God’s children now, and as such the Holy Spirit is working in and through us to make us more like our King. And finally 2 Cor 3...

2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV

18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Landing

So even as we say an impassioned goodbye to the stuggles of last year, let’s not just hope to be restored to where we were 13 months ago. Let’s recognize how the Holy Spirit has been working in and through us, and look for the ways He has and is changing us to be more like our King, knowing that God delights to use our seemingly small progress to bring progressing beautiful things into His Kingdom.