CHALLENGE: Be a Good influence for Jesus!
Vv31-35 – He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.” 33 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.” 34 Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. 35 So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet “I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”
The kingdom of heaven is like. I love thinking through how Jesus describes the kingdom of heaven. I mean, who doesn’t want a slice of heaven on earth? Right?! Since that means God’s rule, it has to be a great thing! And as Jesus said, it’s not a place, it’s in your midst. All around us. Beside us. With us. Wherever we go.
In this parable, Jesus compares the kingdom of God to a mustard seed and then yeast. Both have small beginnings with a profound impact. This is the kingdom of God; It may seem unassuming but the changes that occur are profound. A handful of Christ’s followers will become one of the world’s largest religions – it’s truly amazing. It’s small now, but it’s not staying there.
A little seed turns into a tree or a bush. A little yeast causes all this dough to rise. We see the concepts of growth and transformation.
- UNDERSTAND THAT SMALL THINGS BECOME BIG THINGS
- The Mustard Seed
Let’s talk about the mustard seed and the yeast. One of the points that you cannot deny is the small beginnings of both a mustard seed and the yeast. The mustard seed was tiny and used proverbially as it was the smallest seed when compared to every normal seed that they could plant in Palestine. That’s the point of the analogy. It’s apples to apples with the region in which Jesus lives.
However, it becomes big. And birds rest in the branches. This was often an analogy in the Old Testament for a great kingdom. A great kingdom was likened to a tree with branches where birds fly to it and rest in it.
Ezekiel 17:22-24 – “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will take a shoot from the very top of a cedar and plant it; I will break off a tender sprig from its topmost shoots and plant it on a high and lofty mountain. 23 On the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it; it will produce branches and bear fruit and become a splendid cedar. Birds of every kind will nest in it; they will find shelter in the shade of its branches.
And this really is something the Israelites were looking for God to do. They wanted a Messiah to bring a real kingdom. A political kingdom with a victorious king. And this cedar, wow! Those trees grow 100-130 feet tall. The diameter of the trunk could be up to 6-8 feet. They are huge.
A mustard tree was more of a shrub that grew about 4 feet … maybe ten to twelve feet. Why not talk about cedars in this story? That would be SO much more impressive. By way of analogy, a mustard plant would be larger than any of the spices and herbs that grew along with it even though it was the smallest seed. In addition, it had an impressively fast growth rate if it could grow to be a shrub that birds could land on within a single season.
Since it was an annual rather than a perennial, you’d have to replant the seed yearly. When it comes to the gospel, it’s going to be something that we plant over and over again in the soil … the field … which stands for the world! It stands specifically for the people all around us.
Christ’s work would expand. Let’s pray that this will continue to be true.
(trans.) The second comparison is with yeast
- Yeast
“Yeast is any number of different fungi that multiply rapidly”. Homemade bread required a baker’s yeast to cause it to rise. “The mustard seed emphasizes growth, while the yeast suggests permeation and transformation. In spite of its small, inauspicious beginnings, the kingdom of heaven will permeate the world”.
Often times yeast was used negatively. It’s compared to sin which can get hold of your life and be highly influential in decisions. Jesus specifically warned of the yeast of the Pharisees and that was the danger of their inaccurate teaching – their legalism and manmade rules that created distance between God and man. Bad thinking can permeate good thinking. Be careful!
Jesus uses the analogy of yeast positively here to talk about the transformation of the individual. The mustard seed is small, yeast is small but BOTH make a huge difference!
This kingdom of God is connected to the gospel and the teachings of Jesus Christ, and once planted in a heart, it has the ability to increasingly impact that inner spiritual landscape. It’s growing! When I plant a garden every year, you see garden boxes and green leafy sticks (the plants). By end of season you can barely see the path. It’s just how it is. It grows! That’s the kingdom of God – it becomes more and more visible and noticeable in your life.
James 1:21 – Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
There is something inside of you that will change you! The word of God is planted in your heart like soil and the truth has the ability to change your life.
John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
That was such a simple truth that I learned as a young boy but it connected me to God and it changed my life. It’s given me a lot of hope.
My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus Christ, my righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand.
And there are many small kingdom things that we do as Christians. Sometimes the small things in life make a profound difference. There are times where you hear some high praise for a simple action on your part. You think, I didn’t really do anything. It was such a small thing really. But the impact was enormous! Small things turn into big things. Never underestimate the power of praying with someone. Of a word of kindness. Of giving someone a little bit of time. Or of the truth of God’s word.
Small things and small actions are powerful. Both positive and negative things make a big difference to someone.
- COMPLETE CONFIDENCE IN THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL
The person who plants a mustard seed knows exactly what’s going to happen. It’s not like – “Did you see that”?! This mustard seed morphed into a bush and birds landed there and stuff. So shocking! Who knew? The person planting planted because they knew that’s exactly what would happen. The only shocking thing would have been if that DIDN’T happen.
Someone using yeast would not be shocked that the bread rose into a loaf of bread. Can you believe it? I put some yeast in there, got up this morning and bam! There it was! Honey, load the shotgun – some critter is in my dough! No way – yeast just does what yeast does. It transforms the dough.
The seed was planted because the farmer knew how powerful it was. The woman works yeasts into the dough because she knows exactly what it’s going to do. It makes a powerful impact!
The Kingdom of Heaven is God’s truth and the gospel. There is something about that good news in Jesus Christ that connects us with God in real and life changing ways. Jesus described it as rivers of life flowing from within as His Spirit makes a powerful difference. There is life that is associated with rivers anywhere you see water! There is a spiritual dynamic in Jesus.
Love is certainly impactful! God’s love is life changing and life giving. The kind of love we receive is the kind we give. Jesus gave a new command that we are to love one another and that way the world will know that we are his disciples. It’s transformational. It’s powerful.
The kind of forgiveness we receive, leads us to forgiving others. And that’s life changing and freeing as well. God knows His word and work are effective. Mix that in.
Be righteous and mix that in!
(trans.) Let’s a make a few observations
- Confidence Doesn’t Mean You Don’t Have to Do Anything
The story that Jesus shares relies on an action; cause and effect. A seed outside of the person was planted in the soil. Or yeast which existed outside of the woman was mixed into the dough. In the story the woman mixes it into sixty pounds of dough! Effort is put forth. I can just imagine the hands kneading it in.
They knew the end result they wanted and they did what was required to get that end result. You want a mustard plant, you need to plant the seed. You might be struggling in marriage and you want a better relationship. What action do you need to take? What good seeds are you planting in the belief that good will come? Confidence.
Sometimes we stand back too much and just take it. Why only be reactive? Why can’t we be proactive? And this is where you cannot always wait for something to happen. You need to take positive steps.
The kingdom of God is done in hopeful confidence that you’ll have positive results. I believe in truth, and love, and service, and prayer. Don’t grow weary in doing well.
- Confidence Doesn’t Make It Happen Overnight
The seed analogy doesn’t happen overnight but it’s a step in the right direction. It doesn’t necessarily happen immediately. The yeast will work over several hours. This is where we have to believe in the process so to speak. We do the right things in belief.
- Confidence Knows that Good Spiritual Practices Bring About Good Results
For instance, prayer is a kingdom practice and we believe that prayer works. It’s a small thing really, to take some time and pray but those prayers are yeast working into the dough. The differences can be profound.
There was a man who stopped by this week and he needed prayer. He didn’t tell me his story but he was running from something. He was edgy, emotional, perhaps scared. He grabbed my hand and I prayed for him. It’s such a small thing really but we believed that it would work. Confidence.
Jesus said to love others and that can show up in the smallest of ways. Speaking kindly with someone. Supporting them in something. It’s huge! It might not seem like it but it really does make a difference.
Whatever the spiritual action is, it’s rooted in hope. They take steps believing in a positive outcome.
- Confidence in Persistence
You’ll plant mustard every year. You’ll continue to make bread. We need to constantly be planting the seed of the gospel. It all requires a certain amount of repeat work. Stay after it. I wonder if we’ve done enough to plant that seed of the gospel? Are we staying after it?
Persistently pray. Persistently love. Don’t give yourself a day off.
- WE PERSONALLY HAVE A POSITIVE IMPACT IN THE LIVES OF OTHERS
The yeast is indispensable to the dough. It’s transformational.
I would like to look at the power of this parable from two perspectives. Personally and collectively.
- Personally Influential
Let’s acknowledge that it’s individually impactful. If you think back to the seed sower parable, the seed is sown in a heart. The gospel has to impact me before I can impact someone else. And how can it not? Yeast impacts dough. A seed impacts the surrounding.
My first experience with the kingdom of heaven may be with what God does in my own life. I put my faith in Jesus Christ as a boy. I knew it required change and what was the change? I did stop calling my brother’s pigs!
The kingdom of God is inside a person’s life, not outside. If like yeast – that means it’s going to impact all of me, right? That would include my heart, my words, my thoughts, my actions, and my attitude. The word of God is going to impact me. Are we truly connected with God?
One of the things about it is that it brings about complete and utter change. It’s revival. It’s reform. So if I’m only going to church but act just like the world, I’d say that you need to connect with Jesus. There’s true life in this kingdom of heaven. Something is different because who I was yesterday is not who I am today and wouldn’t it be nice to acknowledge that daily.
- Collectively Influential
I’m impacted inside but I’ll impact people outside of myself as well. I will influence others around me. And we together will impact other people as a church.
When a Jewish bride would get married, the family gave her some dough with yeast in it and they’d hide that in the dough and work it in. They always kept a ball of it to use for the next batch and it passed on and on and on. They said it was often the most treasured of gifts.
The kingdom of heaven is like the yeast. You’re the ball of dough that’s mixed in and you have such a great chance to influence other people. It reminds me of the salt and light analogies. Salt tastes good but salt is also used to preserve as well. The church is a representation of God’s work on earth. There are times when we as a church call out nonsense and expose it for what it is. That’s the job of the light.
As Christians, we are informed by the Bible. I’m not informing God, rather, He’s telling me. And God sets the rule not a God forsaking society around me. We live in a “woke” world and it seeks to be the gospel. It expects to be! And that includes erasing gender and re-defining marriage and ignoring that a child in the womb also has rights. That’s not the kingdom of God. God’s truth sets the pace.
I just talked to someone who told me that church has changed their lives and that’s what I love to hear. It’s church. It’s small groups. It’s sermons and music. It’s relationships. All of it together grows and branches out!
The kingdom of God does not start in the church parking lot and work it’s way inward. It really is wherever you are. We represent it everywhere we go. As we work shoulder to shoulder with people. As we impact others relationally, truth from us will impact them. Paul calls us the ambassadors for Christ. You can’t stay in a bubble – you have to be an influence. As believers, we get worked into the world around us. You’re impacting others. We will rub off on each other.
My attitude rubs off. I used to tell my kids all the time that each one is a pace setter. If you have a good attitude, it will rub off on others. If you have a bad attitude, that will rub off on others as well.
Since the Kingdom is benefiting others, that means that good can happen on earth! The kingdom of God is here. This is not a bad world. We should not have a hopeless view. We are persistently hopeful. How can it be totally dismal when the kingdom of God is a tree where birds can rest? When we are here supporting and helping each other.
I think of a funeral I did this week. It’s nice to listen to the impact a grandparent made on the grandchildren. It’s truly remarkable. And all that investment of wisdom sewn. Of love shown. It made such a huge difference in their lives.
I love how great God’s kingdom can be! All the birds can come and perch in the branches. This indicates that there is a positive impact to the world around it.
As you look at history, you see the twelve disciples transform the world with the message of the gospel. It was so prolific that even the Roman Empire would later convert to Christianity. Europe was transformed. America was settled by people of faith.
How are you making a difference. Are you personally being impacted? We have to start there before God impacts others. Have you believed in the gospel?