Humble Beginnings

If you have your Bibles, please open them to Matthew 13:31. We are in our series called ‘A Rock of Offense’

We are calling our series this because though ch 11-13 are about the offense that crowds took at Jesus teaching.

Here’s the thing: Christianity is not popular in our culture. We might hear our parents and grandparents talk about how the world is getting worse as more and more people turn away from the Lord… and while it is true that the world growing in darkness as more and more people reject God and his statutes, this is not new to our day.

When Jesus came onto the scene, he was incredibly popular at first. Crowds flocked to him to hear him teach and to be healed by him. But his popularity did not last long. For a time Jesus grew in popularity through his public ministry, but by chapter 11, things take a sudden turn as the crowds grow more and more offended by Jesus actions and his teachings.

As Jesus grew in unpopularity, he began concealing his teaching through parables… That is, Jesus stoped speaking plainly and instead he spoke to the crowds in riddles. These parables served two purposes;

Jesus parables hid the truth of God’s kingdom from his enemies

the parables also taught Jesus disciples more about his coming kingdom

And while we are to learn from these parables… they can be confusing all the same. So we need to examine theme carefully and ask the Lord for help so that we might have ears to hear what he is saying.

So let’s stand together for the reading of God’s Word, and let’s listen carefully and ask the Lord to help us understand what we are to hear from his Word.

Matthew 13:31–33 ESV

31 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” 33 He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”

Let’s pray.

If I were to put up a logo of an apple with a bite taken out of it, I’m sure we would all recognize the company which that logo represented…

Apple of course… and you likely know not just the company name, but you would also know what products they sell…

Computers, cell phones and tablets, headphones, and the like…

Apple is a company that is recognize throughout the world.

But they didn’t weren’t always as big and well known as they are today. In fact, Apple had quite humble beginnings. Urban legend says that they started out in the garage of a small home in CA. Some have doubted the truth of that story, but what is undeniable, is that when Apple started, they were hardly worth anything.

But today, Apple is one of the most successful and one of the largest businesses in the world.

It’s impressive to consider how the humble beginnings of Apple in light of where they are today.

So it was, and is of God’s kingdom. God’s kingdom had the humblest of beginnings… but despite his small and slow start, God’s kingdom is, and will be more glorious than any kingdom that has ever been seen in the history of the world.

That’s what tonight’s Scripture and parable is all about.

At this point in Matthew 13, This is the third parable that Jesus has taught us, and each of them have this in common… they all have an agricultural setting where seed(s) is being planted.

But even though the parables have similar settings, each of them is teaching us something very different about the Kingdom of heaven.

Listen again to the parable that Jesus taught, and notice how small and insignificant the beginning of God’s kingdom had:

Matthew 13:31–32 ESV

31 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

How small is a mustard seed?… well if I were to hold it up in front of you all, you wouldn’t even be able to see it… so let be blow up a picture of a mustard seed so we can get a sense as to how small it is.

It’s insignificant… so much so, that if all you had to eat for dinner tonight was a mustard seed, well you may as well have had nothing to eat at all.

Jesus tells us a second parable that makes the same point of the humble beginnings of his kingdom.

Matthew 13:33 ESV

33 He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”

Now leaven would have been a small and old piece of dough that would have been added into a larger lump of fresh dough to cause it to rise. What you should note for now, is that leaven would have been an insignificantly small lump of dough compared to the three measures of flour that it was added to… three measures of flour would be something like 50 pounds of flour… that’s a lot of flour compared to the small amount of leaven that the woman had.

Here’s the point.

1. God’s kingdom started off small.

Consider why this would have been so important for Jesus’ disciples to hear. The disciples had been waiting for God’s kingdom to come. They expected God’s kingdom to come and fill the whole earth… kingdoms are supposed to be big after all… kingdoms are not small are not by nature small and insignificant. If there is a king, and a kingdom, they are supposed to have power and authority.

But even compared to kingdoms of this world… God’s kingdom was expected to be even greater!

Listen to the prophesy that we often read during this time of year.

Isaiah 9:7 ESV

7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Understand what the disciples expected from Jesus as the Messiah and the king… they expected him to overthrow all the wicked… like the great and powerful Roman empire… and they expected Jesus to rule instead of Rome.

And for a while, it seemed like this was going to happen… Crowds were flocking to Jesus left and right. Well they were, until they all began to take offense at Jesus. And people took offense at Jesus, the crowds dwindled down more and more.

But Jesus taught the parable of the sower that showed that not all the seeds that are planed will in fact endure.

And so it was, that many of those who heard Jesus did not endure with him, but instead left him.

Jesus also taught the parable of the weeds, where he said that not all the plants that are growing are good plants to be kept…

So it was of those who Jesus and his disciples dwelled among. Not all the people among Jesus were in fact believers who Jesus was going to save.

As Jesus’ popularity diminished, I imagine the disciples faith did as well. I imagine that they began to doubt that Jesus was in fact the Messiah, the king who’s reign would fill the earth and be without end. Because he hardly looked like a king to them.

But in this third parable, Jesus teaches us that his kingdom has humble beginnings.

Let’s not be surprised that God’s kingdom had small beginnings…

When God chose a man from among the people of the earth to establish his covenant… did he chose a man with a big family who had influence and power over the other nations?

Abraham

Old

W/o kids

His wife was barren

When God chose a man to redeem his people from their slavery in Egypt, would he choose a king with power and strength to destroy Egypt and deliver God’s people?

Moses

Failed to deliver God’s people

Fled from Egypt to save his own life

Was a measly shepherd in obscurity

We could go on, and consider the insignificance of David amidst his older and stronger brothers let alone the great strong and tall king Saul. The pathetic battle strategies of the weak and terrified Gideon that defeated a great and mighty army. But we will find time and time again, God uses what is weak to destroy the strong.

This is demonstrated most clearly through the life and death of Jesus.

Consider the birth of Israel’s king and redeemer.

Jesus was not born in a castle, and his birth was not welcomed by all the princes and kings of the world.

Rather, he was born in a stable among dirty animals. And he was welcomed by the dirty shepherds.

And this small beginning of Jesus’ kingdom is demonstrated yet again through his’ exultation…

When a king takes the throne, he is given a robe, and a crown… and then he takes the seat of the throne before his people who give him praise.

But when Jesus took the throne, he was stripped down, and given a crown of thorns… And then, the king of the Jews was mocked by the crowds and hung on the cross. This was hardly the exultation that any one would have expected from their Messiah king

But don’t let the humble beginnings of Jesus’ reign fool you! Jesus kingdom is hardly small or insignificant.

Listen again to the parables that Jesus gave.

Matthew 13:31–32 ESV

31 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

Though the mustard seed is the smallest of all seeds, it ends up growing to be larger than all of the other plants in the garden.

And again

Matthew 13:33 ESV

33 He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”

Even though the leaven is small compared to the sizable 50 pounds of flour, the leaven spreads and effects the entire lump of dough causing the lump to double, or even triple in size.

2. God’s kingdom will grow to be more glorious than any kingdom that the world has ever known.

When things are weak, small, or insignificant, we tend to grow ashamed of it.

Listen, in the last 5 years or so, I have followed the Seahawks closely, because they have generally been a good team to follow… but this year, well I am ashamed to follow them, because they are playing a terrible season.

We are often ashamed to associate ourselves with that which others deems as weak/offensive/unpopular.

Listen, it’s not culturally acceptable to pick your nose and eat it...

So if you ever get caught picking your nose, it can be quite embarrassing

So too, it’s not culturally acceptable to follow Jesus and do that wich is good, right and pleasing to him.

Often times, we can be ashamed of our own faith… we might be ashamed to follow Jesus when the rest of the world mocks him and laughs at him.

The disciples certainly were…

When Jesus went to the cross, the disciples fled from and denied their king.

Certainly as our faith is mocked and as it goes out of season in our own day, we too might be tempted to flee from and deny Jesus as well…

Listen, as others are offended by Jesus, do not stop following Jesus… as greater criticism comes against the gospel of Jesus Christ and his people, do not let that make you ashamed of the gospel!

Romans 1:16 ESV

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

1 Corinthians 1:27–29 ESV

27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

Do not be ashamed of the humble beginnings of God’s kingdom…

Consider the small beginnings of Christ’s Church… When Jesus was buried in the tomb, it seemed as if the Church was destroyed. All the apostles fled for the fear dying with their king. But after the resurrection of Jesus and after he gave his people his Spirit, the church grew and grew and grew…

After the day of Pentecost, the church grew from the number of small prayer-meeting in the upper room to having 3,000 people in the church…

Acts 2:41 ESV

41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

And by the end of the book of Acts, the church had grown so much that the gospel had reached reached Rome before the apostles ever set foot there.

Even though God’s kingdom was as small, and nearly extinguished by the time of Jesus’ crucifixion, it would grow to fill the known world at the time. And it hasn’t stoped growing. Even today, Christ worshiped and proclaimed on every continent. And as the gospel goes forth, God’s kingdom continues to grow. And it will only continue to grow until the day comes when every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

So do not be ashamed of the gospel, or discouraged by the apparent decline of God’s kingdom today, but instead press on and pray all the more that God’s kingdom would come on earth as it is in heaven. Believe what God says, a day will come when he will rule over all creation.

And know, that this coming kingdom is incredibly good news… listen again to the parables.

Matthew 13:32 ESV

32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

Notice, the growing kingdom is a home and a shelter to all the birds of the air.

And again,

Matthew 13:33 ESV

33 He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”

That small bit of leaven is enough to prepares enough bread to feed a crowd. So too,

3. God’s kingdom will fill and bless the world.

Here’s the deal… the kingdom is not just another growing kingdom… rather, God’s kingdom will be an all consuming kingdom that will fill the earth that will establish peace throughout the world. God’s kingdom is a kingdom that is growing for the good of all who are a part of it.

All the birds that make their home in this tree is an allusion to the OT prophet Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 17:23 ESV

23 On the mountain height of Israel will I plant it, that it may bear branches and produce fruit and become a noble cedar. And under it will dwell every kind of bird; in the shade of its branches birds of every sort will nest.

This is a prophesy that speaks of God blessing the nations… and God has promised that he will… Remember the humble beginnings of Abraham? Before he had any children of his own, God told him;

Genesis 22:17–18 ESV

17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”

So it is, more and more people are receiving this blessing even today. As the gospel goes further, more and more people are placing their faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness their sins and eternal life.

And with the growing blessing of the kingdom, so will a knowledge of God’s glory fill the earth.

Habakkuk 2:14 ESV

14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

If you’ve ever been out in the ocean, you know what Habakkuk is describing…

So let us not be ashamed of the offense that the gospel might cause… but instead let us continue to proclaim the gospel loud and clear. For the gospel will go forth, and as it does God’s kingdom will grow. And as his kingdom grows, a knowledge of God’s glory will continue to fill the earth. And one day, God’s kingdom will come in it’s fulness. But in the meantime, do not lose heart, but instead, let us continue to follow and submit to the rule and reigns of King Jesus.

Let’s pray.