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The Mustard Seed & Leaven
This morning we dive right back into what Jesus is teaching
Again church if you and I are to be sharing the Gospel and Making Disciples
Part of making disciples is to share with them what we know about Jesus
What better way to do that then to go directly to Jesus’s teachings themselves and start there
So that is what we have been doing and what we will be continuing to do
This morning we continue with Jesus’s Parables
The parable of the Mustard Seed and the Leaven
But lets start with the mustard seed
31 He presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; 32 and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”
The mustard seed is super duper small and it grows very very big
It would appear that the size of the seed has no bearing on the out come of the tree or bush
The size of the seed does not determine the size of the plant
If that were the case small churches would not exist but the small church does exist because it doesn’t matter the size of the seed but the obedience of the seed
If that makes any sense at all
The seed is put into the ground
For the seed to grow it must stay in the good soil
We may be small, you may be the only believer in your place of employment or the only believer in your school but you can have huge eternal impacts
Because of your obedience
As believers you and I are not concerned with the outcome but we should be concerned with simply being obedient to God
Peters life is a living example of being small
Peter was not educated, often times people would put his foot in his mouth when he spoke
It is as if Peter would try and almost be out in front of Jesus to show Jesus how loyal he was
Peter was one of 12 people that dropped everything to follow Jesus
Peter denied Jesus 3 times public ally
Peter wasn’t even there when Jesus was crucified or buried
But Peter was restored and remained faithful to God
14 But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. 15 “For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day; 16 but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: 17 ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says, ‘That I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, And your young men shall see visions, And your old men shall dream dreams; 18 Even on My bondslaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit And they shall prophesy. 19 ‘And I will grant wonders in the sky above And signs on the earth below, Blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. 20 ‘The sun will be turned into darkness And the moon into blood, Before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come. 21 ‘And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ 22 “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— 23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. 24 “But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. 25 “For David says of Him, ‘I saw the Lord always in my presence; For He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken. 26 ‘Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted; Moreover my flesh also will live in hope; 27 Because You will not abandon my soul to Hades, Nor allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. 28 ‘You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of gladness with Your presence.’ 29 “Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 “And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay. 32 “This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. 33 “Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. 34 “For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, 35 Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” ’ 36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”
This is the same Peter
But Peter who remained faithful to God had the Spirit of God poured out on him and was used by God to give this sermon at this appointed time to that appointed people
And look what happens
This is the same peter who is still not formally educated
This is the same peter who left everything to follow Jesus
Still the same Peter about 2months prior to this denied Jesus publicaly but is not publicaly proclaiming Jesus’s saving power
37 Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” 38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 “For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” 40 And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” 41 So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.
This is what happens
By all accounts Peter probably was not very qualified according to the world to lead this group of men
It doesn’t matter the size of the seed what does matter church is the obedience
Jesus again tells the same sort of parable about the leaven
Leaven was often used to highlight evil and how easily it has spread right
Remember a little leaven leaven the whole dough
Now on the leaven parable
33 He spoke another parable to them, “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened.” 34 All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables, and He did not speak to them without a parable. 35 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world.”
It is as if Jesus is trying to explain the power of the Kingdom of God
When Jesus uses the leaven He is simply showing how you and I cannot contain the power of Jesus
It is just to powerful and to big for us to contain
If you are truly saved then you cannot compartmentalized Jesus in your life
Just like when you mix the leaven with your dough you can’t keep the leaven from effecting the entire dough
You and I cannot keep Jesus from effecting our whole life
The power of Jesus is bigger than you and I can ever begin to image or think about
Are you starting to understand this morning that you and I are not responsible for the outcome that we need to be obedient seeds no matter how big we are
And that we cannot contain the power of Jesus
He will spread!
But the religious elite sure tried to stop the spread of Jesus didn’t they
33 But when they heard this, they were cut to the quick and intended to kill them. 34 But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the Law, respected by all the people, stood up in the Council and gave orders to put the men outside for a short time. 35 And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you propose to do with these men. 36 “For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a group of about four hundred men joined up with him. But he was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. 37 “After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census and drew away some people after him; he too perished, and all those who followed him were scattered. 38 “So in the present case, I say to you, stay away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or action is of men, it will be overthrown; 39 but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found fighting against God.”
They couldn’t stop the spread of Jesus because
Jesus is the son of God
Jesus is the alpha and the omega the beginning and the end
Jesus was there when stuff was created
They could not stop the spread of Jesus and the growth of Jesus followers because Jesus is the real deal
See it didn’t matter the size of the seed
It doesn’t matter your education status or social status or financial status as long as you are obedient
As long as you stay in the good soil
That means that you need Sunday School, you need Bible Study, you need church, you need prayer meetings, you need personal time with Jesus each and every day, and church you need to serve
And as we are doing that we understand that God is to big for us to contain
Stop trying to contain Jesus to only Sundays
Stop trying to have a work life, and family life, and church life
We are alive because He is alive
I left you with this verse last week
20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
But what a great verse it is
This is what it is to walk with Jesus
This is how powerful the power of Jesus is to take dead people and make them alive
So as we move into the time of invitation
Maybe that you this morning
Maybe you are a dead person and there is no relationship with Jesus
I would invite you to the front and we can help introduce you to Jesus this morning
You can know Jesus personally by turning from your sin and trusting that Jesus is who He says He is and did what He said He did
Or maybe you simply need to spend time in prayer at the altar
The altar is open