Seeds and Yeast

Intro:

I love the stories of people finding valuable stuff in the attics of grandparents or at garage sales.

Back in 2012, a guys and his family were cleaning out their grandpas attic when they came across a box of around 700 baseball cards.

He put the box aside for a couple weeks since they were busy cleaning out the house.

When he opened it, he found 16 Ty Cobb cards, a Honus Wagner card, Cy Young, and others.

He figured a few of them should be worth something, so he sent them to a card expert to get his estimate.

For a couple days the card laid on the expert’s desk, but once he opened the box, he quickly rushed them to a bank security box for save keeping.

Thus far, as far as I can tell, the lot has already brought in over $500,000, but estimates say they could bring more the $3 million.

A box of cards, hidden under a dollhouse in an attic in Ohio, worth $3 million… no one was expecting that.

That is more than meets the eye right?

Intro to Parables

We are looking at Jesus’s parables.

Stories Jesus told that give us glimpses at His kingdom.

Today’s parables are 2 of 4 from Matthew 13 that are short, but packed with deep purpose and meaning.

Matthew 13:31–33 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.” 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.”

Explanation and Confrontation

1) God’s Kingdom Grows INAUSPICIOUSLY

Inauspicious refers to something that does not show or suggest that future success is likely. This is where you look at something and think there is very little chance this will amount to much.

It seems to be insignificant and unpromising, especially consider what the Jews in Jesus’s day were expecting.

They believed the Kingdom would come loudly, powerfully, and rapidly.

They were waiting for a conquering king and a military takeover.

But that was not who Jesus was and the was not His purpose in coming.

A mustard seed isn’t actually the smallest seed in the world, nor does it grow into a huge tree, but in the world of Jesus’s day, the mustard seed represented smallness.

There is nothing impressive about a mustard seed, it seems almost insignificant, and that is Jesus’s point.

Likewise, a small amount of yeast is added to 50 pounds of flour. enough flour to bake 50 loaves of bread, yet only a small amount of yeast

what would seem inconsequential spreads throughout and permeates the entire mixture.

Jesus’s point is not to discourage us, but to reframe our expectations.

It might seem the kingdom of God is small and insignificant, not even noticeable at times.

But God’s kingdom likes to take the small and unexpected things and use them for great and mighty things.

Jesus is confronting us with the question: What are we looking for?

Have you ever notices something for the first time and thought “wow, I don’t think I will ever see another one of those again!”?

And yet you start to see them almost everyday.

This has happened to me countless times and what I have come to realize is that these things didn’t just appear (Volts-wagon Bug in high school), I was just not looking for them.

I think that is our struggle with the Kingdom.

It isn’t that God isn’t working, it is just that we are looking in the right places or we are expecting Him to be doing something totally different.

Jesus is challenging us to look for God’s kingdom, even if it is in unexpected places.

2) God’s Kingdom Grows STEADILY

The mustard seed starts as one of the smallest seeds in the garden and yet it grows steadily and resolutely to become one of the largest plants in the garden.

The leaven starts as a tiny part of the whole mixture, but as it is mixed it grows to saturate the entire batch.

though it might be hard to see and hard to believe anything of real significance is happening, what Jesus is telling us is that the kingdom, God turning over this evil, broken, and sin-infected world, is growing, slowly yet steadily; silently, yet steadfastly.

Jesus confronts us with the question: What are we working for?

it is challenging to wait, patience is difficult, especially when it seems like nothing is happening, or that things just seem to be getting worse.

Jesus is teaching us to not lose heart, do not grow weary, don’t lose hope.

He is working around us, in us, and through us to His kingdom here

It might not look like what we thought it would or come in the time-frame we would prefer, but God is working, and so should we.

what we long for is what we work for.

Jesus told the group he had fed the day before in John 6:27 “Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life. ”

They had worked so hard to get to Jesus because he fed them and they were hungry again, yet Jesus was offering them the bread of life that would satisfy their appetites forever, he was offering them himself, his kingdom.

Long for the kingdom and then we will work for the kingdom.

3) God’s Kingdom Grows EXTENSIVELY

The mustard seed grows into a plant that provides a home for the birds, shade for the garden, and herbs for the farmer.

The leaven grows in the dough in order that it produces enough bread to potentially feed 50 families.

Though seemingly insignificant and meager, the kingdom of God grows among us and in us in such a way that it saturates and influences areas of life and of our hearts we may not even realize.

Jesus is confronting us with the question: what do we really need?

An Invitation

The truth we see in this parable: small things can have an enormous impact.

A small, seemingly insignificant seed will grow to be a place for birds to nest.

A seemingly inconsequential amount of yeast will spread until it affects the whole batch.

“In his wisdom, God has crafted a life for us that does not careen from huge, consequential moment to huge, consequential moment. In fact, if you examine your life, you will see that you have actually had few of those moments. You can probably name only two or three life-changing situations you have lived through. We are all the same; the character and quality of our life is forged in little moments.” — Paul David Tripp

Life is not made up of large, consequential events, praise God!.

imagine if it were! We would be exhausted.

rather life is made up of small, everyday moments, events, opportunities, actions, and decisions.

each one of these decide things about our lives with every brick that is laid.

these Parables speak to the significance of small things in our lives.

Habits and disciplines we build in our lives influence the growth of God’s Kingdom in us.

Decision we make and time and energy we put in to things impacts how we grow in our walk with Jesus.

Going to church doesn’t save you, but it does put you under God’s Word and around Christians who will encourage you and hold you accountable.

Reading your bible will not guarantee spiritual wisdom and insight, but doing it will saturate your heart and mind in God’s wisdom and truth.

Choosing the righteous/Godly path over the easy path doesn’t mean thing will go well for you, but it does mean you are placing yourself where God can use you and shape you.

God designed us to develop habits of obedience and holiness slowly and incrementally because the process teaches and trains us to live by faith rather than by our often inaccurate perceptions and emotions. The waiting teaches us to trust more in the truth of what God says than the impulses of what we see or how we feel. — Jon Bloom

God is molding an shaping us to be more like Jesus (roman 8) but that isn’t an instant thing, it is a process that is like yeast in bread dough or a seed growing in a garden.

Be patient, be committed, be humble, and be looking for God’s hand in your life and His truth in your heart.