Our passage: Matthew 13:31-35 (OT Reading: Ezekiel 17:22-24).

GCW Sermon – Preacher: Ian Bayne, 19/01/2019.

The notes below were taken live during the sermon, and have been adapted for the website; they should not be considered an accurate transcript.

Introduction

These two parables about the kingdom are giving the same truth. The kingdom starts small and becomes large.

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Matthew 4:17 ESV

We are part of the kingdom.

Explanation

The first parable concerns the outward appearance of the kingdom and the second is about the inward working. The first comes about because of the second.

First parable

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 [other] 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.”

Matthew 13:31-32 ESV

While the mustard seed is not the smallest of all seeds as some translations say, it is a very small seed and the plant then grows up to 2 or 3 meters providing shade and shelter for birds, making it one of the largest plants in a middle eastern garden at the time.

Christianity started small: Jesus had a small group of disciples for three years, then gave them the Holy Spirit, and then the gospel went out to pretty much the whole known world within 400 years, so much so that Rome, despite initially persecuting Christians, was eventually overtaken by the gospel. Now Christianity is the world’s largest faith group.

The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. [20] Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” [21] Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. [22] You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.

John 4:19-22 ESV

The Jews were given the oracles (scripture; the Word of God), but were not supposed to keep it to themselves. Abraham was to be a blessing to all nations, but in practice the nation of Israel was not the shining light that it was intended to be, so this promise wasn’t ultimately fulfilled until after Jesus’s ministry when God sends for Peter via an angel to preach to Cornelius who was a gentile (Acts 10).

A small seed planted in the ground eventually becomes a place of rest.

Second parable

The second parable is of a woman taking a large quantity of flour and putting leaven (yeast) into it. She hides the yeast into it until it was all leavened (risen).

In the NT yeast isn’t normally associated with good things, for example:

Jesus said to them, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Matthew 16:6 ESV

But here leaven is referring to a good teaching.

Application

1. Don’t despise small beginnings

Insignificant starts in God’s hands always produce spectacular results, such as:

• 70 people went down to Egypt under Joseph’s care. 1 million people returned.
• Elijah was one man who prayed and brought a whole nation to its knees.
• Jesus grants us salvation.

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Philippians 2:8 ESV

At the time of the Cross, Jesus’s disciples left him and Peter denied him – the kingdom was very small indeed. This started the process of billions of people eventually coming into the kingdom.

Even a little faith can achieve great things.

It’s good to grow in our faith. Faith comes from the Word of God. Just a little faith can transform a life because that faith is in Christ so it will work.

One regret older Christians often have is not serving the Lord more when they were younger. Younger Christians should therefore get going and serve the Lord. As Paul tells Timothy: don’t worry about age.

2. Don’t be discouraged by slow progress

Older Christians often also regret that progress in battle with sin can seem slow. It can be frustrating that the more we grow the more we see how we disappoint God. But we shouldn’t be disappointed: good works take time.

Be warned: sometimes quick turnarounds can be shallow-rooted.

Battling sin takes effort: we’re paddling upstream against our human nature. Good change is hard and must be fought for.

For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. [19] For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.

Romans 7:18-19 ESV

Even the apostle Paul struggled with his own sinfulness. We are in good company.

3) Have confidence that God will complete the work he started

God doesn’t do half a job. He will complete it.

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 1:6 ESV

We are protected by His power. We need never be without hope. We should turn defeats into opportunity to praise God and seek his mercy and grace.

Remember that God’s gift of salvation and a relationship with Him is by grace. Grace is unmerited favour – we do not deserve it and cannot deserve what God offers us. Therefore we shouldn’t retreat. God loves us in spite of our sinfulness.

His mercy is great – He takes away the punishment we do deserve through Christ dying for our sins. The righteous died for the unrighteous, paying our penalty on the cross. This demonstrates that He has such a large fountain of forgiveness; His goodness will never end.

We can also praise God for His patience while He works through us and helps us deal with our sin. We each deal with certain sins that are personal to us. We know what pleases God and what doesn’t, and yet we still are tempted to sin.

When things don’t go well, we should remember to give Him praise for his mercy, grace and patience.

To use a baking analogy: He provides individual attention to knead great results into us. Our walk with Him is a relationship. Isn’t it amazing that He cares for us so much that He’s prepared to spend time working on each of us individually?

Resources

Questions? Please contact us. Inspired? Come and worship with us on Sundays.

Our passage: Matthew 13:1-8; 18-23 (OT Reading: 1 Kings 11:1).

GCW Sermon – Preacher: Ian Bayne, 15/12/2019.

The notes below were taken live during the sermon, and have been adapted for the website; they should not be considered an accurate transcript.

Introduction

The Kingdom of Heaven is not some remote or academic concept: it is both future and current. It’s here and real now: we have the privilege of fellowship with God now!

Last week we looked at the great similarities between the Laodicean church and our own (Revelation 3:14-22). Jesus offered them fellowship despite their lacklustre worship of Him, so there is hope for us all.

This theme is reiterated throughout the gospels. The kingdom parables are for our current times, written to the members of the kingdom: Christians today.

Explanation

Jesus’s parable will be familiar to many of us, telling of seeds scattered over different types of soil.

Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil,

Matthew 13:5 ESV

The different seed types show the different types of believers.

1) Soil type 1: seeds falling on hard ground

Hard ground represents a hard heart; a lack of understanding.

When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path.

Matthew 13:19 ESV

An example of this is found in Acts:

And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship [28] and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. [29] And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” [30] So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” [31] And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

Acts 8:27-31 ESV

How can we understand what we read in scripture unless people explain it to us? Lack of understanding can be either due to lack of knowledge, or a hardness of heart that blinds us to the truth. Sometimes we don’t understand because we don’t want to understand. This is because we know truth demands a response.

It’s therefore easy to tag Jesus as a spiritual add-on to our lives, rather than being at the centre, to avoid the response we know we must give.

2) Soil type 2: seeds falling on rocky ground

The rocky ground represents rials and persecution.

Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, [20] As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, [21] yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.

Matthew 13:5,20-21 ESV

In rocky or stony ground we get quicker growth, because the shallow ground is warmer, but the plants struggle because there is no depth for their roots.

Sometimes the word of God strikes us, but we have no commitment. As we follow Jesus there are afflictions and persecutions. This is what tests the strength of our roots.

3) Soil type 3: seeds falling amongst thorns

The thorns represent the things of the world that distract us from the truth. A cluttered heart is worried about the things of the world.

As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

Matthew 13:22 ESV

A cluttered heart worries about the “cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches” which “choke the word”. This means we will be “unfruitful”, not living according to Christ.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

1 Timothy 6:10 ESV

Riches themselves are not necessarily bad, but they provide a significant source of temptation. They are like a snake hidden in the grass.

No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

Luke 16:13 ESV

Weed creep is a problem, because weeds are native to our hearts. We’re born sinful and have to work at being good. Weeds creep up on us by occupying our attention and deceiving our affections.

They reduce our time to meet with God’s people and study his word. Riches cannot deliver peace, security, love or eternity?

They seem to offer us so much but deliver so little.

True riches and satisfaction are found by planting God in the soil of our heart.

As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

Matthew 13:23 ESV

Application

1) Be careful

As a church we embrace the deity of Christ and the nature of God, but we are prone to have hard headlands in our hearts. In agriculture, these hard headlands are where the stock and tractors go up and down making paths. We also can have hard portions in our heart and need to make sure we plough these up to receive all of God’s Word.

2) Take care that we have good roots

We need a greater appreciation today of God’s grace to counter how deeply we are into sin. We’re worse than we think we are.

But no matter what mistakes have been made: God’s grace and forgiveness are big enough. Keeping this at the centre of our mind can help us battle temptation.

3) Avoid the weeds of the world

Well prepared land is productive land. We need to plough it deep to kill all the weeds. We need to maintain the land, continually weeding. Sometimes weeds are missed. Putting fertiliser on the garden also fertilises the weeds. Good soil will always be productive.

Resources

Questions? Please contact us. Inspired? Come and worship with us on Sundays.