Lord, Your faithfulness is great. And Lord, we look even as how many times Israel in the Old Testament sinned against You and how many times they abandoned You yet You loved them and You were faithful to them, Lord. And so we just say thank You for Your faithfulness to us in keeping us and keeping the local church. Lord, we just pray this morning You would take our tithe, our offering. Lord, all that You’ve asked us to give and You would take it and You would multiply it for Your kingdom. And Lord, we just pray You would open our ears to hear Your Word this morning. We pray that in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Well, good morning. You should be extra alert since you had an extra hour of sleep. Or maybe you knew that so you stayed up an extra hour and now you’re sleepier than usual. So, one of the two there.
We’re going to be in Matthew 2. Matthew chapter 13 this morning. Verses 31 and 32. Matthew chapter 13. Verses 31 and 32. If you want to turn there with me in your Bibles.
Verse 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. 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.
This past Wednesday on our online discipleship training group, we did something a little different. If you were there, you know. We just took turns sharing our own stories, our own testimonies, and that was really encouraging to me just to hear just the different ways how the Lord has brought different people to the faith. But I wanted to just connect a dot this morning because it just went along with what Jesus was saying. She’s not here this morning, but Miss Patty was telling us how when she was just a little girl and a family across the street just invited her to go to church. And it was just through that small little invitation to go to church, that she came to know Christ.
And that’s just a testimony to me of how the Lord always works in really small ways to do great things for His kingdom. It’s how God works.
God uses the low and the weak and the small for His kingdom and the sake of His kingdom’s advancement. And I don’t want us this morning to fail. I want us to really grasp that, to know how God works in bringing and advancing His kingdom because I don’t want us to fail to live according to how God would have us live for His kingdom. So I want us to consider this morning the smallness of the kingdom. That’s what Jesus is trying to talk to us about in this little small parable. The smallness of the kingdom.
He says, the kingdom of heaven, it’s like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It’s the smallest of all seeds, but when it grows, it’s larger than all the garden plants. And there comes a tree. So this is the third time Jesus is using agrarian imagery for us. If you remember back, we talked about
the wilderness, the weed and the wheat last week. And before that, we talked about the varieties of soil that the gospel seed can be spread on. So one more time, we see that. And I think it really is a grace, honestly, that Jesus talks to us in simple, plain language. Because Jesus is not trying to keep the truth from us. Jesus is not trying to hide it for a special, secret, elite people who have special faculties. It’s true. You and I, we need to have a special awakening by the Spirit to grasp spiritual truths. But Jesus isn’t hiding Himself. He’s speaking in plain language. He said earlier back in chapter 13, it’s the people’s dullness that they can’t perceive it. So Jesus is speaking to us in plain language. Are we listening to the plainness of it? And so He employs this imagery to kind of lift our mind to the reality of the kingdom of heaven, how it works. He says, imagine a man and this man, he throws out, he sows a mustard seed. Now, it wouldn’t be lost on Jesus’ hearers. So don’t let it be lost on you this morning. And again, we’re kind of removed, aren’t we, you know, in our suburban culture from how, you know, farming works, how things grow, period. I wouldn’t survive if I didn’t have a grocery store. I don’t know how to grow things. But He talks about a mustard seed. And a mustard seed, it’s the smallest seed they would have known of. It’s a very, very, very small seed if you have ever seen one. If you see a mustard seed and you know nothing about vegetation or herbs or plants, at face value, it looks like nothing. At face value, it’s very small. At face value, the mustard seed is inconsequential. But the mustard seed, it’s small. As it is, grows to be three feet tall at least. And if it’s in the right soil, the mustard bush can grow up to be even 12 feet tall. So what starts so small becomes so large and what seems to be of no consequence becomes the most consequential thing.
In the same way, Jesus is saying to us, the kingdom of heaven, may often seem inconsequential. The kingdom of heaven may often seem inconsequential. How does He mean so? I think when we rediscover for ourselves the grand redemptive narrative of the Scriptures, I think about Abraham and Sarah. There seems to be an insignificant couple. You have an old man. And a growing old woman who is barren, chronically. Now how in the world could these two insignificant people wandering on a land that is not their own be a blessing to the nations as God said? They’re insignificant for that task. And what about the man Moses who even after God showed him signs and wonders was still too bashful to go and speak to the king of Egypt so that God said, fine, take your brother Aaron with you. How could this, this scared man, this feeble man Moses lead God’s people out of slavery? And then I think about King David who was a ruddy, overlooked boy who Samuel didn’t even think to consider what good could come from this little shepherd boy. And even in his days as a king, how hard was his fall through murder and adultery. What could this Aaron king establish?
Small people.
Faulty people. Inconsequential people.
And then we have Jesus from nowhere Nazareth. We have Jesus the son of a carpenter. We have Jesus who didn’t look like anything great, who didn’t look like royalty, who didn’t have a bunch of money. Even Nathanael said, what good could come out of Nazareth?
The significant, the consequential, the important people of Jesus’ time thought that Jesus was of no consequence. So much so, they thought they could just nail him to a cross and stick him in a hole in the ground and forget about him.
But that didn’t work out so well, did it? Because what seemed inconsequential, what seemed small, what seemed foolish, what literally died, came up out of the ground with an eternal consequence for all people. What died came up out of the ground, an eternal life according to the eternal wisdom of God. Jesus is the son of Abraham. And yes, in Abraham’s time, God did the miracle and gave Abraham and Sarah a son. But oh, how that pointed to Jesus who would be the son of Abraham to bring a blessing of salvation to the nations. Yes, God gave Moses the power to lead God’s people out of slavery to Egypt. But Jesus is the greater Savior who leads God’s people out of slavery to Egypt. To sin and death. And yes, David was the greatest of the ancient kings. But Jesus is the far greater king, the far greater son of David to rule in equity and justice and establish a kingdom that will have no end. You see, what seemed so inconsequential in Christ Jesus, what died came back to life as the most consequential thing, the most consequential person every human soul will face. Every human soul will face.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5.10, For we must, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. We’re all coming, friends, to the exact same end.
But it’s quite easy, isn’t it, for a lot of people to live in the present as if it were not so.
Folks live by what they feel is right. People live by what they see is right. People determine their own standards of judgment. It’s a growing phrase. You’ve probably heard people say, well, that’s your truth. This is my truth. Something people say now. Well, those are your facts. These are my facts. And you know, we can find a thousand different ways with a thousand different people with a thousand different opinions on what is and isn’t right, what isn’t permissible from a range of subjects. From the ethics of cheating on your taxes to cheating in card games to what to do with unborn children in the womb to a whole slew of things.
But the proverb writer says there is a way that seems right to a man.
But its end is what? It is the way of death. Friend, at the end of all conversation that we can have as people, there’s one eternal, unchanging plumb line against which all things will be judged. And it is the judgment of the Lord Jesus Christ. So why is it then that people can cast Him off so easily as if Christ is not consequential? Well, I think the answer is one coin with two. The first side of the coin is delayed consequences. The smoker is just fine until his lungs aren’t. The alcoholic is just fine until his liver isn’t. And the sinner is just fine up until the moment of judgment. If the sinner really grasped his dreadful end of judgment, he would surely forsake his way. But that’s the other side of the coin. That means he would have responded to the grace of God in faith and surrendering it doesn’t always happen. And it’s why Paul tells us in Corinthians, who’s wise? Where’s the scribe? In 1 Corinthians 1, where’s the debater of the age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. The folly, friends, of the gospel. God does what God does in a way that seems foolish to man to confound your wisdom, to confound your pride, to confound mine. That one when the sinner does come to saving faith, he says, wow, look at the wisdom of heaven and how God has saved the people through His Son.
And it’s foolish to the world. A Jew, you’re telling me a Jew from ancient Israel is the answer to life. You’re telling me some Jew died and came back to life and that’s my salvation. That’s God. You’re telling me there’s this place called heaven and hell and I’m supposed to believe in these places? Come on. Calvin’s commentary says, let us leave to proud men their disdainful laugh till the Lord at an unexpected hour shall strike them with amazement. Meanwhile, let us not despond, but rise by faith against the pride of the world. So church, what are we to do but rejoice in the foolishness of the cross? The foolishness of the gospel that saves the foolishness that really is the wisdom of God that is life for us in Christ. How will you not come to judgment day? And Bill talked about that last week. Will you show up to judgment as wheat? Something God gladly carries in as a sheave and brings into a storehouse? Or will you come as a weed? Something He wants to bind up and cast out. Something He wants to bind up and throw in the fire. Every judgment, hear this, is just as fixed as God’s eternal kingdom is. As much joy as there is for a saved person, so there is that much dread and terror for the fixed judgment of every soul in hell.
Chase sent me a video this past week. of Darcy and Dawson from years ago. I think Darcy was probably, I don’t know, five and Dawson was like two. And they were just being silly in this video. And it was funny to see it. But I’m like, oh my goodness! How did I? And now they’re seven and four. And it’s a reminder, time goes so fast, doesn’t it? You think, oh, I remember that. When did that happen? And it’s gone. And I’m like, turn back into a toddler, please. I want you to be a toddler forever. You know, you can’t do that. But it’s a reminder, we are all on the fast track to judgment. No one can slow it down. Friends, we’re all moving quickly to that moment. I want to say to us this morning, live for that consequential moment.
Don’t live for the moment you’re in. Live for that consequential moment when you will meet your Maker. Let the shame that the world throws on you because of your belief in this silly, foolish gospel, let it be your honor for what you will experience on the day of Christ. Let your denial of pleasure now be the acceptance of the heavenly treasure you will receive in Christ Jesus. Let your suffering now be a reminder of the future rest you will have because of what the foolishness of the gospel has won for you.
If that day of judgment is so great and it is coming and it is so consequential,
church, what sin in your heart must you rid yourself of? Now, what truths of Scripture must you learn now? What steps of obedience must you take now if we’re really living for that moment? Surely we won’t put it off till tomorrow to live for that consequential moment. Live for the consequential kingdom of God right now. How do I know I believe the moment of judgment is consequential? Because I live for it now. I live for it now. Remember Jesus elsewhere says, you know, the servant, he said, ah, my master is delayed in coming and the master comes back in an unexpected hour and the servant’s found wanting. Don’t be found wanting. Oh, the kingdom may seem small and it may seem invisible to us, but oh, it’s coming and it’ll be in full force at the return of Christ. Are you living for that moment?
Verse 32,
Jesus says, 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.
I read a story this past week. A man was standing on a sidewalk in New York City in the Bronx waiting for the bus to show up and there’s just a video having to catch it and he disappears instantly and the ground beneath his feet, it caved in. There was a sinkhole there and he disappeared. He disappeared. Everybody looked in and he was covered in rats instantly and he couldn’t move and he said he was too afraid to even scream for help because the rats would have gone in his mouth so he had to stay in that position for 30 minutes until these first responders came and pulled him out.
Concrete’s supposed to hold you up, isn’t it? Seems like it is. But Jesus talks about this ever so unimpressive little mustard seed. Growing up to be greater than the other herbs of the garden variety. He talks about it growing up to be so strong it can support life. It supports life not just because it gives rest to the birds on its branches but even it’s true that the birds then would have eaten the mustard seeds off the plant itself for nourishment.
But secondly then we’re faced with this truth. The kingdom. The kingdom of heaven as it advances through the local church it often seems weak. The local church often seems feeble. I read a story last week about a man named Justin Patrick 25 years old living in Nigeria as a Christian. He was ambushed and murdered by radical Muslims. Doesn’t seem like the church is very strong, does it? I read another story this past week about two Christians worshiping a man named Justin Patrick in their home in Chengdu, China and they were detained by police for watching an online worship service.
You know as much as I do about the moral decadence in our own society about the carelessness of right and wrong the ever shrinking interest of younger generations in God period much less the Christian church. It sure seems like, doesn’t it, at times the kingdom of heaven has no power.
But I don’t think so. I want to remind you this morning so did it seem when they put Jesus in the ground. So did it seem for those three days when Jesus was in the ground. But what do we read that the power of God’s Spirit did what? Raised Him up out of the ground to an eternal indestructible life Paul says in Romans. I love how Paul says that. To an indestructible life. And you know the disciples boy did they seem feeble and weak. All is lost. What’s happened. All is done for. He’s gone. But Jesus comes back and He says go and just go wait. Go pray. And they’re up there praying together. What’s that going to accomplish? Well the Spirit fell on with tongues of fire and it was a revival and 3,000 people got saved. And you know the church seemed weak too when Saul of Tarsus was persecuting and killing Christians. Who could stop this man? Jesus can. Knocked him off his donkey. And said hey you’re going to suffer for me is what’s going to happen. You’re going to become the Apostle Paul. You’re going to write the majority of the Scriptures. You’re going to plant churches all over the known world. Look at how the Spirit’s strong when the Spirit wants to be strong.
John chapter 3
verse 8 Jesus says this The wind blows where it wishes. You hear its sound but you do not know where it comes from where it goes. Because so it is with everyone. Who is born of the Spirit.
Friends all the ground the church seems to lose. All the victories the church or the enemy seems to have. All the apparent reasons you and I think we should despair because we don’t see the kingdom of heaven grow. The propagation of the gospel. The way we want to be at peace. The Spirit of God knows how He’s grown the church and there is no force in the universe that can stop His power.
Well why does He let things happen the way why couldn’t He just convert Saul and then Saul never did the bad stuff because it’s a mystery the way God’s Spirit works and you and I don’t need to understand mysteries you and I need to submit to mysteries in the Scripture. That’s why.
But what this means for you and I it’s a wonderful truth that gives us boldness to take up new ventures for God. Because you know it doesn’t depend on you to grow God’s kingdom. It depends on the Spirit who’s you. Using believers when they say here I am. So you and I don’t need to worry about why things are happening. You and I don’t need to say Lord here I am I’m usable. I got a sword in this hand to cut through the thicket and I got a trowel in this hand to plant some seeds. So Lord here I am. Use me. You don’t need to wonder if you’re strong enough. You’re not. You don’t need to wonder if you’re smart enough. You’re not. You just need to be ready to be used by God. Used by God. He’ll do it. You know Jesus said wait for the Holy Spirit. He didn’t say alright go. He said go and wait for the Holy Spirit. I need the Spirit. I need the Spirit. You need the Spirit’s power. And we’ve got that power in Christ Jesus. But you know the second grand truth about the Spirit growing the church and not you is you don’t need to despair when you see failures. When you experience failures. You know. You share the gospel with that guy. You were praying a long time. You were excited to see him come to faith and all in a moment he said no thanks.
You know. You were so excited you know maybe to see this thing happen for the Lord. Something you had planned on came to nothing. You read about more persecution in more countries. You read more news about the church. Maybe you didn’t hear of providence. Like Lord what’s the future hold? You know what are you going to do? What’s this going to happen? And you start peering into the future and you realize oh I don’t have the ability to peer into the future at all and that’s okay. Have peace because the Spirit knows. The Spirit knows and the Spirit’s going to do what the Spirit wants to do and that’s great. So you and I just have peace and say Lord here I am. How do you want to use me for your glory? And the way that God’s Spirit does what God’s Spirit does you know what? It’s always going to result in an end and a glory far superior to how you and I wanted things to work out.
Those disciples in the upper room they’re just praying. Man we saw Jesus. We thought it was over with. But He came back. Everything. Everything was always according to God’s plan. How amazing. What was sown in weakness was raised in strength and power. What was sown in dishonor was raised up in glory.
Lastly let me say to you friends go purchase a mirror and look in the mirror. You’re sitting in this room. There’s all the proof you ever need. God’s Spirit can work. You know how sinful you are. You know how weak you are. And you’re sitting here. Surely God has all power to do all things. If you and I could be called part of the family of God. If He could woo us to saving faith. Nothing can stop God. God is working for His glory to save a people for Himself. And it’s going to happen through the local church the way He said it’s going to happen. And so we can just well I’m along for the ride. Lord you want to use me? Use me. Here I am. It’s your Spirit. And you’re going to get all the glory.
Jesus doesn’t always feel that way. The way though does it. Have you ever cut down like a tree and the stump’s there forever and eventually the stump it gets kind of like dry rotted and you can almost just stick your finger through it if you want and just kind of it falls apart on its own. I feel like that sometimes as a Christian. It just doesn’t always feel like I’m this big tree Jesus talks about. I don’t have this big thing sticking out of my heart like oh the kingdom. Like I just feel like Lord I don’t know I’m just in a season and I don’t feel passionate. I’m struggling maybe with this sin and I just I’m trying to just stay awake today God and I just I feel like some beat down stump.
Yes, but the Word says Jesus is the author and the perfecter. So I’m going to believe God’s going to do His work in me. I’m going to believe God’s going to do His work through the local church. So let’s keep going. We need more birds in the tree. I hope I’m not peering too deep in the parable. We need more birds on the tree. More people need to feed off of the life of Jesus. More people need to come into the church. More people need the nourishment of the kingdom. That tree that grows up and it sticks out as branches and it’s so much bigger and better than any other kingdom and any other thing that any other person could have. Friends, let’s go and tell the people let me tell you about Jesus the life of Jesus. Let me tell you about the kingdom. He is true life. Jesus said what? My flesh is true food. My blood is true drink. So let’s go and preach the kingdom. Let’s pray because you know when the Spirit moves often when we ask Him to it doesn’t mean He’s going to move the way you want Him to move but He’s going to move to do His work according to God’s will. So let’s be a praying people. Spirit of God move. You know in Acts when the church was afraid when they were persecuted for the first time what did they do? Alright, let’s have a whiteboard meeting and let’s figure out how we’re going to respond. We could put together a campaign and we could protest. That’s not what they did. It’s just they got in a room and they prayed for boldness and the Spirit gave it to them so much so the place shook.
Let’s keep believing because believing the gospel will stay the course. And lastly, let’s keep rejoicing because the joy of the Lord is our strength. I have joy because what Jesus did and what Christ has promised it cannot be changed. So let’s keep going. Let’s keep praying. Let’s keep believing. Let’s keep rejoicing.
So the smallness of the kingdom, church it will result in God’s great and glorious end. The smallness of the kingdom oh, it may seem small now but it will result in God’s great and glorious end. I want you to see the Trinity in all this. This kind of hit me as I was studying. Way back in the garden you know, Adam and Eve fall and what’s God? He wills it, doesn’t He? He said, well, seed’s going to come from the woman. Boy, it was long in coming, wasn’t it? And Israel’s a mess most of the time. You know, by the time Jesus shows up Israel’s a beat down, you know, slave state. But man, Christ came. And Christ lived a perfect life. Ah! We got Him. We killed Him. Nope. But He came back to life. And He sent His Spirit in the church. Since the time of the apostles it’s been growing and it’s been coming and it’s going to happen that way until Jesus breaks through the clouds. See the operation of the Trinity and bring the salvation of God’s people. And nothing, nothing and no one is going to stop that. Does the kingdom seem foolish now? Believe the wisdom of God will confound the whole world on the day of Christ. Does the kingdom of heaven seem foolish now? And weak? God will arrest every human mind, heart, and soul at Christ’s returning. But I want to ask you how will you be arrested on the day of Christ? Will you be arrested with joy because your Lord has returned? Or will you be arrested with dread because your judge has come? That’s the great question for you. And that’s the great question for us as we go into the world. Are we willing to love people enough to ask them that question? What will the day of Christ be? When that tree plants itself eternally and nothing and no one can stop it? Is it a great joy for you? Or will it be a great dread? Friends, let it be a great joy that now we believe that foolish gospel. Now we live in the power of the Spirit. And it will be to our eternal joy in life at the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s pray together.
Thank you for your Word, Lord. Thank you for your Word that constantly nourishes us. It constantly gives us more food. It constantly gives us more drink. It constantly encourages us. It corrects us. It shows us the way we ought to go.
Lord, Father, we ask that we be able to live in the power of the Lord. We would not lose what’s so easy to lose and that is faith in what You’ve said and faith in what You’ve done. But Lord, also faith in what You’re going to do. Lord, let us not despair because of what we wished we saw now, what we wished we felt now. But keep our eyes and our hearts fixed on Your return, Lord. And I pray that Your Spirit would put in us a holy passion and zeal, Lord, to be surrendered to Your Son, O Father. That we would together as Providence Fellowship, we would live for that great day and that great moment when we meet Jesus and we meet You, Lord. Let us be found faithful by Your grace, Lord.
That’s why we just pray these things in Jesus’ name, Amen.