Do You Understand?

Introduction

Today, we are going to be covering all of Matthew 13. I realize we’ve been in the chapter, but Jesus’ final words to His disciples bear us reviewing the content as a whole. These parables were, after all, probably all taught on the same day.

Our goal today is to look at the whole of the chapter in summary and theme. I have divided the parables into three general sections, all in the realm of the Kingdom of heaven. They are:

How the kingdom grows

How the kingdom is purified //and//

How valuable the kingdom is

Finally, our focus today will be on “understanding” these things. Or: The treasures in the kingdom.

Let’s read our verses and dive into the deep end of the pool together:

Matthew 13:51–52 ESV

51 “Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” 52 And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”

“You” and “They” (13:51)

In verse 51 you have Jesus addressing a particular group of people. If we have read Matthew 13 closely, we would notice a shift in audience in v. 36. We read:

Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him...

Everything after v. 36 is no longer public preaching, it is now private teaching. And there was an interlude earlier in verses 10-16 that was a private conversation Jesus’ disciples had with Him, but then Matthew switches to more public parables. We know this particularly because of what is said in v. 34 where we see that Jesus is addressing the “crowds in parables.”

So, what does this mean? It means that Jesus taught both His audience and His disciples in parables.

Why? we might ask. Well, that answer comes at the end where Jesus raises the question: “Have you understood all these things?”

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The disciples were meant to listen carefully. These illustrations, these stories, these parables that Jesus gave were meant to cause the disciples to think. They were to use their imaginations to see what Jesus was referring to, but they were also to confine their imaginings to the true lesson that Christ was giving them.

How wonderful a teacher Jesus is to employ the whole sense of the mind in His teaching!

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But we also know from that interlude in 10-16 that Jesus also taught in parables in order to hide information from those who didn’t want to know Him deeply. “To you (disciples) it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.”

Therefore, my endeavor this morning is to declare some of those secrets. I want to show the brilliance of the Lord in what He said, how He connected similar dots and how those themes of the kingdom I just stated are meant to spark our whole minds and inflame our hearts to worship our King in His majesty and glory!

How does the kingdom grow? (13:1-9, 18-23, 31-33)

Jesus answers the question “How does the kingdom grow?” in three parables. They are the Parable of the Sower in vv. 1-9, and the parables of the Mustard Seed and Leaven in vv. 31-33.

Jesus privately explains the Parable of the Sower in 18-23. Using imagery of His day where a person who would plow his entire field (including the walking paths around it) twice. The sower would till it with oxen and a cart before He planted, then after he planted in order to stir the seed in with the ground. We find that the gospel, which is the seed (v. 19), has varying types of soil that it takes root in.

In some soils, it grows and gets choked out by worldly cares. In other soil it can’t get deep enough and gets snatched up by Satan and not understood, and so on until you get to the good soil where the gospel takes root and grows. The Good News of the kingdom of heaven grows, flowers, buds, and bears fruit. That fruit spreads more seed of the gospel!

Which are you? How has the gospel taken root in the field of your heart? Is it growing or being choked out? Are you here against your will because you don’t understand the gospel? Are you like the public who doesn’t seek to know God and His gospel? Or like the disciples who seek to know more?

The gospel is a treasure both old and new. It is the seed from where the plant sprouted, but the base it germinated into is where the roots still hold firm. You will never move beyond the Good News of Jesus the King and His sacrificial death on your account.

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Speaking of disciples and their growth, we have the two remaining parables of the Mustard Seed and Leaven. Those are found in vv. 31-33. What we read in these verses is on the inevitable growth of the Kingdom.

A mustard seed begins extremely small, but grows to be a place of nesting and respite to birds. Leaven (or yeast) works its way through dough the moment it’s kneaded in and will continue working its way through until its baked.

Such is the way the kingdom grows. It began small; a rag-tag bunch of disciples that grew into global Christianity. The invisible church, as theologians call it. There are believers in Christ all across the globe that you and I will never know, but God knows them and has worked His leavening into the dough of their hearts.

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You see, the first parable about the kingdom and its growth are about possibility of growth, but the second set are about the inevitability of its growth. We are responsible for bearing fruit, if we truly embrace the gospel and the mercy of God hidden in it, but we can also rest assured that nothing will stop the kingdom from growing.

This is how the kingdom grows, says Jesus through His parables. The gospel is given to those who welcome it and those who don’t, but nothing will stop those who welcome it from joining and uniting to their King in salvation by grace through faith.

For now, we worry and do not see how the kingdom is growing. We do not see how the Good News of salvation takes root in someone’s heart. We fret about whether or not our children truly accept this news, we are nervous to declare the gospel to others for fear of rejection.

But, one day there will be no more fear or shame in believing and loving the God of the gospel. The kingdom is growing, even though you don’t see it.

How is the kingdom cleansed? (13:24-30, 36-43, 47-50)

The next set of parables cover the question: “How is the kingdom cleansed?” Cleansing is one possible word, but the parables also imply a “sorting” or a “purifying.” The parables that answer this question are found in vv. 24-30 with the Parable of the Weeds vv. 47-50 in the Parable of the Net (or Dragnet). The Parable of the Weeds is also explained in vv. 36-43.

We discussed the Parable of the Weeds a couple weeks back, where Satan sows weeds among the good seed and the Sower, who is Jesus in the parable (v.37), decides to let the what grow among the weeds until it is ready for the harvest. The harvest is the “end of the age,” the culmination period where Christ returns and brings about the New Heavens and New Earth.

The application we were to have is that we need to remember to “grow anyway” even though the weeds of the unrighteous choke in around us.

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Jumping to the second parable, though, we find another example in the Parable of the Dragnet. Unlike most of our previous examples, it’s not an agricultural example, but an example that would be common to a lot of Jesus’ listeners considering they were near the sea.

What fishermen would do at the time is place something heavy on a rope tied to a woven mesh net on the shore. It had weights on one end and floats on the other, creating a giant wall that would run from the floor of the sea to the top. They would then take the other end and “drag” the net out into the sea, circling back in order to bring the fish from the sea onto the land.

The parable that Jesus gives to His disciples would’ve been common knowledge to them, considering many of them were fishermen. So, this is the parable that Jesus gives:

Matthew 13:47–50 ESV

47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. 48 When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

This parable has a similar meaning to the weeds, explaining how the kingdom of heaven will be purified. “Fish of every kind” are gathered into this net. Curiously, Jesus more literally says “fish of every race/ethnicity,” implying that all kinds of people will be in this kingdom. It’s only curious because that’s not the normal way to refer to kinds of fish.

But then when we read that the men sort the “good” from the “bad” in v. 48, the words are more literally the “clean” from the “unclean.” He uses words of “ritual purity,” drawing the disciples’ attention back to language common in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. This is a little different from the comparison of “wheat vs. weeds” in other other parable. Jesus is being more clear to His disciples than He was to the crowds.

The point is this: Only the purified and righteous are placed into containers, but the unrighteous are thrown into the fire where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. That means Hell.

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Do you understand this? That Jesus will purify His kingdom? That we have no worries of any enemy sneaking their way into God’s kingdom? Here on earth, and even in the church we are warned that people will sneak their way into our midst. They will be a corruption to God’s people, like wolves dressed in sheep’s clothing (Mt. 7:15), they will be false prophets in need of testing (1 Jn. 4:1).

But in God’s consummation, there will be no wicked person who sneaks their way in! What a glorious day this is to God’s saints, but a terrifying day to the false believer. The person who worships a false god and tries to convince God’s people to worship that same false god. The person who seeks to gain profit from God’s people while not carrying their cross and casting aside their sinful passions (Mk. 8:34). The person who engages “foolish controversies” about the law and creates division (Ti. 3:9-10) in a church body.

For now, Christians suffer with these men and women in their midst. But, one day they will be no more. they will be separated entirely and we will no longer suffer their presence. Therefore, remain hopeful and steadfast, saints. Find your rest in the sower of good seed and in the captain of the fleet.

How valuable is the kingdom? (vv. 44, 45-46, 52)

Our final two parables are found in verses 44-46. These were our topic for last week, so I will simply summarize them. They attest that those who stumble upon the kingdom, and those who seek for the kingdom of heaven are rewarded by God’s incredible grace. But they are both to count all they have as loss for the sake of obtaining the treasure of the kingdom.

Christians are to be willing to give up everything they have in order to hold that treasure, do everything they can to obtain it. Casting aside worldly goods and pleasures because they lose nothing, but gain everything when they gain the kingdom.

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Do you understand this? Do you understand how precious the kingdom is? Then forsake the treasures of this world; the things that grow pride, the things that do not help you worship the King, the things that will inevitably fade or be stolen from you.

In Matthew 6, Jesus said this:

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

(Mt. 6:19-21)

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For now, we have competing affections. We struggle to see, with clarity, what’s most important. So Jesus gives us this parable to clear our vision, to remind us of what’s really important. It’s not treasures of this world, but the treasure of God and His gospel!

One day, we won’t have to wrestle with these things anymore. We will understand how precious of a treasure we have in Him. Not with our minds and hearts partially, but with the whole fiber of our being! What a wonderful day this will be!

Conclusion

So, how do we put these parables together? What do we learn about the kingdom of heaven through these parables?

Well, we find that God’s kingdom of heaven is powerful, precious, and pure. It is both powerful and precious now, though it will be more so when Christ returns. It is also pure now, but will be made more so at the coming of Christ when He finally sifts and separates the ungodly and unrighteous out of it.

One day, He will purify His harvest, emptying His net of garbage. He will remove the false believer, the wolves in sheep’s clothing from the midst of His church. He will purify it in this way because of how precious His kingdom is, and He will do it powerfully.

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All the parables have an air of earthly struggle in them. They all, implicitly or explicitly, talk about the struggles we have on this earth and fill our minds and hearts with reminders that we most desperately need in this life.

The kingdom of God is powerful because its King is powerful. The kingdom is pure because our King is pure. The kingdom is precious because its King is precious. For now, we don’t see that fully, but one day sinners ransomed from their due judgment will see these things clearly.

These parables should have us look forward to it. These parables should evoke in us a desperate plea to cry out to the Lord and say, “Yes! Yes, Lord! Remind me of these things and carry me to their completion!”

Let that be your application: Pray to the King of heaven that His kingdom might be seen by you as powerful, pure, and precious. That every day you might see that more clearly as you move closer and closer to that day of judgment.

Pray also that we might spread this Good News to others.