Jesus'
Parable of the Mustard Seed & Leaven
Matthew 13:31-33By Gary
DeLashmutt
Teaching t08821
watch | download | PowerPoint | video
IntroductionWe
are three weeks into a series on Jesus' parables of the kingdom of God—which
are found in Matthew 13,25. I noted that the seven parables in Matthew 13
have a common theme—“the mysteries of the kingdom” (13:11a). That
is, they reveal a portion of God's kingdom that had not been revealed in the Old
Testament. Before we go on to the next parables, let's briefly review some general
observations about this important issue. The Old Testament
view of history was that we live in what one biblical author calls “this
present evil age”—an age dominated by rebellion and evil. But God is
sovereign over history, and one day he would replace this present evil age with
his own righteous and loving reign. The event that separates these two periods
of history is the coming of God's Messiah. Jesus affirms the Old Testament
view—but he adds some crucial additional information. What the Old Testament
prophets called the coming of Messiah is actually his Second Coming. Prior to
that time, Messiah would come—not as a reigning King but as suffering Servant—to
die for the guilt of a rebellious humanity who God loves. His first coming would
usher in an unanticipated form of God's kingdom that is different in important
ways from the kingdom in its fullness. This is what Jesus calls “the
mysteries of the kingdom” and describes through the seven parables in Matthew 13. Through
these parables, then, we learn about how God's kingdom is at work in the world
today, and about how we can benefit from and cooperate with his activity. The
key to understanding these parables is to ask: What do they teach about this “mystery”
phase of God's kingdom that is different from its completed phase? Let's look
the parables of the mustard seed and leaven—a pair of mini-parables that
make the same point. And while Jesus supplied the interpretation of the first
two parables, we're on our own now! ExplanationRead 13:31-33. Remember
that parables have one main point, and that many of the details are usually just
local color. Therefore, rather than speculating about the meaning of the birds,
the nest materials, the woman, and the size of the basket, we should ask: What
is the main point of these two parables? In both, it is the
contrast between how small they start and how big and influential they end up
being. The mustard plant ends of being the biggest plant in the garden—but
it starts out as the smallest seed. The woman places a tiny pinch of yeast into
a big vat of dough—but eventually that yeast affects the whole batch. “Big
outcomes often have small beginnings.” What new
information does this give us about the kingdom of God? In this case, it's all
new information. The Old Testament prophets taught that when
God's kingdom comes, Messiah will exercise immediate, worldwide dominion (Daniel 7:27;
Zechariah 14:9; Isaiah 11:9-10). The new information is that God's
kingdom will not start this way. Rather, in the “mystery” phase of the
kingdom, it will start (like the mustard seed and pinch of leaven) in very small,
virtually invisible way—but (like the mustard plant and the leavening process)
grow to extensive size and influence prior to its worldwide dominion at Messiah's
Second Coming. Now let's consider two different ways we see
the fulfillment of this prediction . . . MACRO-FULFILLMENT:
Jesus & the worldwide Christian movementThis is certainly an accurate
description of the beginning of the Christian movement. I doubt that any of us
would have devised God's invasion of human history the way he did.
Jesus was born as an apparently illegitimate child to an unmarried couple who
were obscure members of a small nation on the outskirts of the Roman Empire. He
lived in such obscurity that apart from the New Testament we know very little
about him (although the Roman and Jewish historical references corroborate the
New Testament). His brief three-year public ministry ended apparently in complete
failure: rejected by his people, betrayed by one of his disciples, deserted by
the rest, condemned by Rome, and erased in the most ignominious form of execution.
Even though his disciples claimed he was the Messiah who was raised from
the dead, they were hardly the kind of people you would expect to start a worldwide
movement. They were blue-collar workers who came from the wrong part of Israel
and had no formal education, military might, or political clout. This movement
should have evaporated like hundreds of other small religious sects. But
like the mustard seed and leaven, Jesus predicts that this "mystery"
phase of God's kingdom will become very large and far-reaching in its influence.
As we saw last time, Jesus proclaimed Matthew 24:14 and 28:19,20 (read).
Note carefully what Jesus is predicting as the key development
in human history between his two comings. Not Christian political domination or
military conquest or cultural imperialism, not simply a church building in every
political nation, not the whole world Christianized—but world-wide, cross-cultural
evangelism resulting in an indigenous community of true believers in Jesus for
every ethnic group. What an amazing and polarizing claim! What kind of
person insists that his followers will take the good news about him to every people-group
in the world, and that this mission is the most important factor in determining
the duration of human history? Only a deluded egomaniac or the Lord of human history!
Twenty centuries later, we are in a good position to evaluate the accuracy
of this prediction and the authenticity of the One who made it. Let me summarize
for you some of the least publicized, but most important information in the world
today . . . COMMENTARY ON “PROGRESS IN FULFILLING
THE GREAT COMMISSION” CHARTPrior
to 1800, the gap between the number of people-groups and those “reached”
was actually widening. Evangelical Christians have made amazing progress
in the last 200 years. Only 3500 of the world's 13,000 people groups do not have
an indigenous church capable of evangelizing their people group without outside
help. To temper this chart, realize that about 40% of the world's population
(2.4 billion people) lives in these unreached people groups. COMMENTARY
ON "GROWTH OF EVANGELICALS 1960-2010" CHARTDefine
“evangelical Christians”—decision for personal relationship with
Jesus Christ, high view of the Bible, and desire to share gospel with others. Evangelicals
are growing at over three times population growth rate and are the world's only
body of religious adherents growing rapidly by means of conversion.
The big news is that Christianity is growing fastest in the non-western world—by
2010, there will seven times more non-western Christians than in the west. From
a tiny fraction at the turn of the century, over 50% of the population of Africa
has now turned to Christ.
Unfortunately, evangelical churches have had little impact on political structures
and attitudes. Over the 20th century, the number of evangelicals
in Latin America increased from under 250,000 in 1900 to around 60 million in
2000. Evangelicals
in Asia have now become more numerous than in North America (though they are still
a smaller minority of the total population).
In 1900, Korea had no Protestant church, and was deemed “impossible to penetrate”
by missions experts. Today, 35% of S. Korea is evangelical, with 7000 churches
in Seoul alone--including 7 of the 10 largest evangelical churches in the world.
The evangelical church in Singapore has now become the most missions-minded church
in the world—sending out 1.44 missionaries per congregation (10 times the
rate in the USA).
Christianity continues to explode in China and Indonesia. COMMENTARY ON
"LANGUAGES WITH BIBLES 1500-2000" CHART8
out of every 10 people now have access to the entire Bible in their own language.
94 out of 100 people have access to the New Testament in their own language. COMMENTARY
ON "PRESENT ALLOCATION OF MISSIONARY RESOURCES" CHARTThis
is the bad news—the people groups that most need missionaries have the fewest
resources. 1.2 billion Islamic people have only 900 missionaries (6 from Xenos). The
good news is that there are more than sufficient resources to complete the task.
While in 100 AD there were 12 unreached people groups for every local church,
today there are 600 local churches for every remaining unreached people group.
The resources are fully sufficient to complete the task! And because mission agencies
are tuned into this problem, about 99% of the world's population live in a people
group that has a commitment for church planting in the near future—as soon
as the resources can be mobilized. If
you understand this, then you understand why this church is deeply committed to
in world missions. It's not enough for us to be a local movement of home groups
reaching out to our neighbors; we need to intentionally invest our resources to
do the same with the poor in Columbus (Urban Concern) and with some of the unreached
people-groups of the world. This is why we have five teams
(26 adults) among unreached peoples in South America, Eastern Europe, Asia and
Southeast Asia. This is why we are sending a team to another Southeast Asian country
(Cambodia), as well as reinforcing some of our other teams (14 more adults total).
This is why we give almost $750,000 every year to support these teams. This why
we have so many short-term missions trips for adults and students—so they
can catch the vision for what God is doing world-wide and play their part in it.
If you understand this, it becomes an itch in your soul that
prevents you from settling down into the “American Dream” of personal
peace and affluence. This is God's purpose for your life—to contribute to
his worldwide plan for this age. When you stand before Jesus at the judgment-seat,
he's not going to ask you how low you got your golf score, how wisely you picked
your stock portfolio. He's going to ask you, “How did you invest the life
and resources I entrusted to you to my plan to take the gospel to every people
group?” Give up your small ambitions and give your life to Jesus' global cause!
If you want to get more information on how you can be involved in missions
through Xenos, stop by the missions booth (in the main lobby) after the meeting . . . MICRO-FULFILLMENT:
Individual livesThere is another way that we see these parables fulfilled.
Not only does it describe the development of God's kingdom worldwide, as
we have seen. It also describes the development of God's kingdom in individual
lives. It only makes sense that God's MACRO movement is based on millions
of individuals being changed for good. Paul speaks of both of these in Colossians 1:5-6
(read). There are important differences between how Jesus will affect his
followers at his return and how he affects us during this “mystery” phase
of his kingdom. When Christ returns, each of his followers will see him
physically and be immediately and visibly transformed (1 John 3:2; Philippians 3:20-21).
In this “mystery” phase of God's kingdom, however, it doesn't work
like this. You don't see Jesus physically; you hear a message from him
(from a friend, through a teaching like this, by reading the Bible or a Christian
book) inviting you to receive his forgiveness and to become members of his kingdom.
When you respond to this invitation, you aren't changed visibly; you are
invisibly indwelt by his Spirit (like the mustard seed sown in the ground, and
like the yeast “hidden” in the dough). Others (and you yourself)
may notice hardly any change initially. But (like the mustard seed and leaven)
God's Spirit begins to initiate a gradual process of spiritual transformation
that radically changes your thinking, attitudes, values, relationships, goals
and plans, etc.—so much so that a few years down the road you are amazed.
Nothing delights Jesus more than taking people who seem least likely to be able
to represent him—and transforming them into people who are so permeated by
his influence that they become powerful witnesses of his transforming power. We
asked Eric Schroer to share his own experience of this transformation (VIDEO) . . . This
is exactly what God can and will do in your life—if you permit him. But here's
where the parables break down. The farmer and the woman jam the seed and the leaven
into the field and the dough without any permission by them. But if you want to
experience Jesus' transforming presence, you must ask him into your life. It doesn't
matter how old you are, how much you've goofed up your life. If you are willing
to give yourself to Jesus, he will give you a new start and a new purpose for
your life! Footnotes Copyright
2001 Gary DeLashmutt
| 
