Matthew: Parables of Jesus 2023

Matthew 13 verses 24 to 43.

Jesus told them another parable. The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. When the weeds sprouted and formed ears, then the weeds also appeared. The owner's servants came to him and said, sir, Didn't you sow good seed in your field?

When then did the weeds come from? And then an enemy did this, he replied. The servants asked him, do you want us to go and pull up pull pull them up? No, he answered. Because while you are pulling up the weeds, you may you you may uproot the weeds with them.

Let's both grow together until the harvest. At that time, I will tell the harvesters first collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned, then gather the weeds and bring it into my barn. He told them another parable. The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds.

Yes. When it grows, it's is the largest of garden plant and becomes a tree so that the birds come and perch in his branches. He told them still another parable. The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about 30 kilograms of flour until it's worked all through the dough. Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables.

He did not say anything to them without using a parable. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet. I will open my mouth in parables. I will utter hidden I will alter things hidden since the creation of the world. Then he left the crowd and went into the house.

His disciples came to him and said, explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field. He answered, The 1 who sowed this good seed is the son of man. The field is the world. The good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil 1, and the enemy who sows them is the devil.

The harvest is the end of the age and the harvesters are angels. As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The son of man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father, whoever has ears led them here.

Well, good evening from me. May I add my welcome to you all. My name's Rory Kanard. I'm 1 of the members of staff here. And this is our third sermon, in the parables of Jesus in the in the book of Matthew.

We're not gonna be looking at all of that passage. Just thought it was quite good to set it in its context, we're only gonna be really focusing on verse 31 to 33. So you might think, oh, it's gonna be a mess massively short sermon. Well, we'll see if I can make it long. No.

Let's, let's pray for our time together now as we start, and then we'll get stuck in. Let's pray father. We thank you so much for your word. We thank you that in it, it shows us how powerful it is. And we pray father that as we look, now at this that we will see and have confidence in it.

May we trust in it? May we believe on it, may we take it and apply it to our lives, and may we take it out to people so that they may believe on it as well. So we do pray that you'll help us now in understanding that these these 2 lovely parables and we pray these things in Jesus' name are men. You may have noticed as, as Abre read, the the the the passage there that this term comes off again and again, the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of heaven. You'll notice that it starts straight away, really, in chapter 13 before we even read, what we read today, it says in verse 11 because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven then you go to verse 24.

He says the kingdom of heaven, in verse 31 and 33, what we're reading today with the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of heaven verse 4 for the kingdom of heaven. Do you see? So we get this repeated phrase, the kingdom of heaven. That's what these parables are all about, the kingdom of heaven. So I want us to think a little about kingdoms.

What is what is it that you think about when you think about kingdoms? It's interesting. You may have seen recently, if you know anything about social media trends, there's a question going around that it might annoy some of you. About how many times men think about the Roman empire? Yes, has anyone heard this?

And apparently, they think about it a lot more than you would think. Mean, I hadn't thought about it at all. I I thought. And then I realized because I'm a history teacher. I probably do think about it more than the average man.

But apparently, This is going around that men just think about the Roman Empire all the time. They they think that on, on average, men think about the Roman Empire at least once a day. We were talking about this in the public of the week, Danholm and says, I'd never think about it. So you're you're you don't think about it, mate. But apparently, people like it because it they they remain they're remembering that they created aqueducts, Roman Empire.

They're running water, the irrigation systems, the making of concrete. Wow. They're Roman Empire. I was talking to, 2 people from this church, and I said, how often do you think every time I'm on a straight road, I think about the Roman empire. So this is really taken off.

There was 1 person who says he thinks about at least 2 or 3 times a week and to prove it, he showed on his game Minecraft that he's recreated the coliseum on it. There's a great video as well that where some Ben have got the the the significant others involved in this, and there they are. These men are there watching the TV, the watching football. And as then the women leave, and as soon as the women leave, do you know what they do? They put a row and a documentary on about the Roman Empire.

So apparently, we we we do think about the Roman empire all the time. Drew was watching a video this morning that said, what is the the woman the woman, equivalent, and apparently it's murder. That's what women think about all the time, murder, but you you can tell me if that's true or not. So let's have a think about empires and kingdoms. When we think about them, there's there's many great ones that we could talk about.

We could talk about the Persian empire, the Greek empire, and Alexander the great and the great exploits he he had, and or maybe we think about we do think about the Roman empire. And the and Julius sees it, what a fantastic well, may well, he wasn't a great person, was he? But he was a pretty good military leader or or or the French empire with Napoleon or the British empire. The empire, you know, the sun never set on. Biggest empire ever.

Did they have that? Well, Britain's great, isn't it? Anyway, that's why it's called great. So we have these empires. And when we think about the these empires, what what are they?

How are they established? Well, they're established with power. They're usually established with power and force and there's usually violence involved And they take over everything. The the empire that the sun never set on, the British empire. And there's usually a a a great ruler in charge of this whole kingdom that covers vast areas Napoleon, Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great.

And that idea of Kingdom is the sit is a similar thought process to a Jewish audience. To the Jewish audience had a promise about Messiah. They had Messiah coming, a king, a king that was gonna come. And their thought about Messiah was very much like this. He's gonna come and he's gonna bring a new kingdom.

Powerful, all encompassing, all embracing, getting rid of the Roman empire that said that was in power at the time, kicking them off the throne and himself unthrown and his rule will will be all over the world. And this is the this is the Messiah that the Jews would have been thinking. That's the 1 we're thinking about. And then Jesus comes along. And it's very, very different, isn't it?

If you read through this book, you haven't seen 1 coming in kicking the door down and booting the Romans hour. How are you? And that's what he's gonna show in these parables. He's saying, that is not my kingdom. That is the kingdom of these worlds.

This world. They they're the kingdoms of this world. My kingdom is not like that, and the point of these 2 parables is that Jesus is going to correct that. He's gonna correct that thinking. My kingdom's not like that, and he uses these 2 parallels.

And basically, these 2 parables are just giving us the same point. Because Jesus wants us to understand Jesus wants to say, what is my kingdom really like? And he makes sure that all people can get this. Did you see he use he uses 2 parables. 1 is about the mustard seed, and another is about yeast.

And apparently, I was reading, reading before the sermon, this encompasses all people. The seed, the sower would've been a a a a a male job in those times. So a male Here you go, men. If you want to understand what my kingdom's like, here you go. The the the baking of bread, the yeast would have been a a female role in society.

So look, you can get this too. I'm preaching to all this is not for 1 person. This is for all people to understand what my kingdom is like, and it's shocking. This should be remember, we think of kingdoms as powerful, as strong, as big as all of these things. And then Jesus tells these 2 parables to shock us.

I say, nope, you got it wrong. So what is the kingdom of heaven like? What is the kingdom of heaven like? Well, here's my first point the kingdom hidden, the kingdom hidden with very very meager beginnings. See, both parables start with things that you can hardly see.

It's tiny. It's it's minuscule. Did you notice this? So the first 1 in verse 31, he told them another parable The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a a man took implanted in his field, though it is the smallest of seeds. Then you go to verse 33, he told them still another parable.

The kingdom of heaven is like yeast. Okay. So you've got 2 tiny things the mustard seed. Apparently, the mustard seed in these days was the smallest that they knew of. There are smaller seeds than the mustard seed, but at time, that would be the thing that would be the smallest.

It's about a millimeter in diameter. Tiny, middle school. In fact, they would use, as small as a mustard seed would be the, like, common simile. There you go. A bit of English for you.

Love a simile. As we might say, as small as a mouse, as small as an animal, this is what they would say, as small as a mustard seed. The rabbis would say that as small as a mustard seed. You know Jesus, when he's talking about faith in chapter 17, what does he say? If your faith is as small as a mustard seed, we're meant to get the picture here.

It's tiny. It's little. And the yeast, I mean, you yeast you can hardly see is like dust. It's it's it's it's minute. And that's what Jesus is saying the kingdom of heaven is like.

That's how his kingdom starts. It's not this great, big, powerful kingdom No. Jesus' revolution is tiny. And and you'd think about the gospel story, right? It's not a it's it doesn't start off with a huge bang, does it?

It's a a birth in Bethlehem to a very obscure parentage. Nobody knows them. It's sort of in the back alley of nowhere. No 1 know it's in stable of all the places. It's not a great grand entrance, is it?

If you think about this time here, it's just Jesus and 12 disciples. It's not he's not causing earthquakes by running around. He's tiny. It's tiny. You think about the gospel message.

It's a message about a man dying on a cross. It doesn't feel big. It doesn't look grand. It looks foolish. It looks weak.

And and that's what it can feel like. I mean, you think about what we just heard about in Morocco. How many was it 31000 Christians? 31000 Christians? What was the population again?

37000000. They know your thing about the new mate. Yeah. 31000 of 37000000. I bet they feel tiny.

They feel tiny. This little thing that we've got. There they are in a in a place where no 1 believes in Jesus, they must feel tiny. You might feel tiny. You may feel the word of god is so small and so tiny and and the people that you wanna tell about the lord Jesus Christ have so big and they're so clever and they've got intellectual arguments and they seem to run rings around me.

And I well, I've only got this little message about a man crucified on a cross. And we can feel so weak and insignificant. I'm I bumble over my words. I say the wrong things. I I I'm so weak.

Yeah, even though it's small, the sower plants it, and the woman mixes it in. Yes, it's small, but they do something with it still. It's interesting. If you go to 1 Corinthians chapter 2, Paul felt this. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 1 to 5, Paul says this.

When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaim to you the testimony about god. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the spirit's power. So that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on god's power.

Did you see that? He comes trembling? I haven't got eloquent words. I haven't got lots of things that can show you I haven't got lots of similes, maybe. I haven't got lots of, persuasive, speech, but I have a message, a tiny message about Christ crucified.

It's meager, it's tiny, the hidden kingdom, but it doesn't stay tiny. Here's my second point, the kingdom of growth. The kingdom of growth. See, it doesn't stay small, does it? Look look at that back down at the the parable, the first 1.

The man takes the mustard seed and plants it in the field. Verse 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 small. But it comes and and it's got so much life in it as we saw that the wheat, the seed, the word of god is it may be tiny, but it is absolutely jam packed full of life. And then when it's planted, it grows and it comes into the largest of garden plants.

The the mustard plant, it it might be 1 millimeter as a as a a seed, but it can grow up to 6 feet. And actually, it can grow double that to 12. And and as it grows, it has like, I was reading about this. I was reading this, in a commentary, and it was by the Israeli botanist. What name that is?

I'd like to be called the Israeli botanist. But if you look at the mus, it's got an enormous amount of yellow, yellow flowers. And and in that, there's these these small, many seeded linear fruit. So it's it's got so much life in it. Do you see this?

And that's the power of the word. Did you hear when we when we read the the testimony of Paul? He said that I came with the with Christ crucified and the power of the spirit. Yes. It's it's he's small, and he feels weak, and he's trembling, and he might be scared, but he's gonna preach it.

And he knows that if he preaches the word of god, there is power in that. And that is the gospel message. The gospel message is is the truth of the lord Jesus Christ who comes to die for us to save us from our sins. And as an individual that they trust in that word, If they trust in the word of god about his son, the lord Jesus Christ that he died on a cross for them, then they're saved out of kingdom of this world and are saved into the kingdom of heaven. No longer are they serving the kings of this world.

The rulers of this world, the the desires of their heart, they're now following King Jesus. He is their ruler now. He is the 1 who is in charge. He is the 1 that they're gonna listen to now. He's a saver, and he is the lord.

That's what the word of god does. If we have good heart in verse 23 of the parable of the sower, we have good hearts. If we have a good soil, the word of god grows, it brings roots down, and it grows up to be a marvelous tree. This would have reminded the readers or the listeners sorry. About ezekiel, in ezekiel 17, god talks about taking a little tiny cedar plant.

And he plants it, and it grows into a marvelous tree. Huge. Wonderful. This is the growth. This is the gospel.

This is the word of god. The word of god is the thing that transforms people's lives. The word of god is the thing that saves people and grows them. And it doesn't just grow 1 individual but all sorts of individuals. They are they are saved out and they are brought into the kingdom of god, and then they brought into a church.

That is the word of god. And that's what Jesus says. Is the kingdom of heaven. And do you know where the evidence is for that? That that is true?

Do you know what the evidence is? I'm looking at the evidence right now. New brothers and sisters are the evidence of this. This hap has happened all throughout church history what happens in acts chapter 2? Peter gets up.

He takes this what a great, fantastic chapter 2 is of acts. He gets up and he just preaches the word of God. He might be remember the other week before this, he'd been denying Jesus. Now he's getting up saying, you gotta believe on Jesus. And he's preaching the gospel and how many people have saved that day?

3000. Gospel growth. And it goes to the ends of the world, and it transforms the world. It comes to this country, and we have such a rich history of people being converted to know the word of god. It happens in in the persecuted, the persecuted church.

You think about Morocco. If they keep persecuting the church, we'll see gospel growth. I remember, a few years back we were on revive, and we were praying for the persecuted church but in the midst of persecution, god was growing his church. So we were talking about China. And in China, they had house churches, and they were allowed to have the house churches.

But as soon as those churches got too big, do you know what the government did? Split them up. Now you've got 2 churches. They get too big. What do they do?

Spell them up. Now, we've got, like, 4? Do you know I actually teach math sometimes? I'm gonna yeah. No.

I've got a clue. That's growth, isn't there? Even in the persecuted world, God says, I will grow. My word is powerful. Just reflecting this church.

Isn't it? I think we can grown on me and me and Jerusalem were talking about this before. We can easily forget what the word of god is doing through the church. It's amazing that there are people who have come into this church, and they've come to know the lord Jesus as a Savior. How good is that?

That that we've had people stand up and say, just the other week. I've come to know Christ, a savior. It's a it's a joy. 1 of the 1 of the my greatest joys is when I'm at contagious. We have a response meeting and and, we preach the word of god.

We preach the word so faithfully. We try and share what the word of god says to these to these young people And nearly every year, we hear that someone comes to know Christ's Savior. That's so good. That's the word of God. And we have to have confidence in it.

It's the word of god that saves people. It's the word of god that is the answer. Is the word of god that actually causes real growth in this world. So much growth that it's a mustered mustered plant tree thing. And and not only is it is there growth like that in terms of this gospel conversion, but you get this image of the yeast as well and the yeast is mixed into the dough and it works all the way through the dough.

So it's not just it's not just in 1 place, but actually the yeast goes everywhere. And so the word of god permeates all areas of life. Every facet of life, it permeates and it speaks into my life and so My thoughts need to be captivated by the word of god, the way I speak, the way I act. I take the word of god. I listen to god's word because Now I'm in the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus is my ruler and my king, so I must listen to him and obey him. And so now I'm thinking as I go into work, how do I work? For god. How do I relate to people in a way that is god honoring? How do I make sure that I think godly things?

How do we make sure that as a church, were living the gospel out. It goes through every area of life. That's the gospel. That's the power of the words. Isn't it great?

This is the power of the word. We don't need to worry about the kingdoms and their power. We don't even need to worry about how I have to present the word of god, and and I need to do I need to help the word of god out a little bit. And I I might just do some things to maybe soften or actually, you know, what can I do to make people believe this? You don't need to do that.

Do you know what you need to do? You just go and plant the word of god. And you have confidence, every confidence that it will work. It has power. I was, I was given a recommendation about a book.

It was called Surprise by Oxford. I don't know if anyone's heard of it. I've not read it, but it's a great story. There's a lady called Carolyn Weber, and she comes to university as an agnostic. And she meets Christians and she thinks, what's going on with these people why do they believe in this Jesus?

And so she says, well, I'm gonna find out. And so she would go to Saint Mary's nearly every day with her coffee, because she didn't wanna buy a Bible. So she thought, I'll just go to the church and read it. She read from Genesis to Revelation. I mean crazy lady, I think.

Genesis to Revelation, and she comes out and she says, the fact that there's these wacky stories that these lists it tells me that this is true and she becomes a Christian. There is power in the word of god. There's power. In the word of god. So plant it, mix it.

And thirdly, the kingdom of life the Kingdom of life. So there's blessings of the gospel here. Do you see this? It is the smallest of all seeds yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree. Why?

So that the birds come and perch in its branches. Verse 33, the kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took, a mix into about 30 kilograms of flour until it worked all through the dome. There's life. There's life now. There's a tree that birds come in apparently.

This is what used to happen with mustard trees. They would grow up and you could get flocks of gold finches and limits and they would just be tweeting around coming in to perch in that in that in that tree. Got there in the end. Perch in that tree and they could eat the little fruit and they could eat there. Because there's life here for them.

There's flocks of these birds and they're finding life and they're finding refreshment and they're finding satisfaction. And the the story of the yeast, do you know how much bread that's gonna be for? Well, there's about 50 pounds of flour being worked here, that would feed around a hundred people. Yeah? We could do this all here.

Hundreds, there's there's bread, there's what you need in life, there's life, there's satisfaction, and this is what the kingdom of heaven does. The gospel changes and transforms people, and it, and it makes them more it's so wonderful to see that the the word of god permeates people's lives, and they they become more and more like the lord Jesus Christ, and they and they live out the gospel And so as that happens, people will come into contact with the church and they will be blessed by it. That's what the the king of heaven does. That's what this word does brings people into the kingdom, and it's a kingdom that is bursting full of life for all who are affected by it. And so they become a blessing to the world.

Isn't it a blessing in Morocco when an earthquake hits? Who is it the who is that the forefront of aid Christians? And that's how it's always been. You go back to the Roman empire. We're thinking about it again, man.

You go back to the Roman empire, And there was a whenever there was a horrendous plague, it was Christians who stood in that city to look after those people, willing to die. Because that is what the gospel does to people. It transforms them. You see Christians in that in that culture as people throw babies away because they're girls and they're there saving those baby girls. You look at the the blessings, the the benefits of this country because Christians are being grown and they bless this world, but most of all, they give the blessing of the good news about the lord Jesus Christ.

That is the chief way that we bless. As we live out the gospel together, as we speak out the word of god, the powerful word of god. We bless people as we offer the way of salvation to all. So that's the kingdom of heaven. It's not a powerful, violent, forceful kingdom.

It's not even a spatial place that really the kingdom of heaven in this world, we cannot feel in 1 sense. Now, the kingdom of heaven is a dynamic rule of the lord Jesus Christ over people's hearts. That's what god's word does. It goes to take people from the kingdom of this world and snatch them out of this kingdom, get out of there and put them firmly into the kingdom of heaven and has Christ as king. It saves them from their sin, and it brings them into god's wonderful family.

See, it's small. It looks small. Doesn't it look small? It's tiny, but there's so much power in it. It has the power to turn people.

It has the power to save and transform. It has the power to give real growth and life. This is the kingdom that you wanna be a part of. I don't wanna be part of the Roman empire I don't wanna be part of the British empire. I don't wanna be part of any of the empires in this world.

I wanna be part of the kingdom of heaven. And I would love it if you would want that too. You might be here thinking, oh, I realized that this world is not all that there is. I realized that this world hasn't got the life that it it so tries to promise me that it has. I realize that I don't grow and progress as I wish, while the kingdom of heaven has all those things and more.

The kingdom of heaven is a place where you may find refreshment for your soul. The kingdom of heaven is where you find satisfaction. The kingdom of heaven is the thing that is worth being in. So turn and trust in the lord Jesus Christ, hear the word of the gospel, hear that Christ was crucified for you, that Christ rose again, to prove that he defeated death, turn to him, trust in him, and know what it is to be in the kingdom of heaven. Have him as king.

Don't be king of your own life. Don't follow the kings of this world. It only leads to death and destruction, but Jesus as your king, as your loving ruler, will give you life and life eternal. Until the day when he gives us his eternal kingdom, which will be with him forever and ever. Will you be part of that kingdom?

And Christians It would be easy for us to say, actually, maybe the old way isn't working anymore. Maybe we have to do something else. Maybe we need to explore different ways of getting people into church. No. You have confidence in the word of god.

You have confidence in it. It is the power to save. If if a church loses the word of god, the church dies. I remember in, I remember hearing 1 commentator talking about, some of the state of churches, and and they're just trying to aid the world. And they and I think, 1 1 commentator said that they're just trying to be the world, but they just do it worse.

And what's going to the numbers they're falling. If you lose the word of god, if you lose confidence in the word of god, if you lose that, you will die. Have confidence in the word of god. Have confidence to take it out and hold it out to people. Have confidence that it's this that will transform your life.

Listen to the word of god. Listen and live it out. And as we try and endeavor to do this together, as we try and commit to the word of god and have the confidence that it is the only thing we need. And as we try and live under Christ's rule, in his kingdom, as we try and listen to him, and we try and live out the gospel with 1 another. Then as Paul says, people will come in and they will say god is really among you.

And as Peter says, people will come and they will see, and they will glorify god. That is our prayer. No? That as the word of god takes root in our lives as we grow in our love for the lord jesus Christ, as we try and enact that with 1 another, that people see, and they believe, and the word of god has power again. Let's pray together.

Father, we thank you so much for your word. And we ask for your forgiveness for when we don't have confidence in it, and we believe that we need to help out, or we believe that we need to go for different answers elsewhere. Help us to have utter, hundred percent confidence. That it is powerful beyond measure. We pray father that you will help us to be those who are so committed to this gospel words that we go and take it out to those around us and that we hold it out to them.

And we pray father that as you promised, the word of god will go It will not return empty handed. We pray father that you will take it and that you will convert people, that you will bring them into your kingdom that they will turn and know Jesus as a savior and as their king. And we pray father as well, that you will help us to keep on coming back to the word so that it may grow us and transform us more into the person of the lord Jesus Christ. And we pray father that as we as Cornerstone, commit to your words. And as we live out your word together, people will see us.

They will see the church, the great, the great light of your gospel, and they will come on, and they will know Christ as savior. And so we pray these things in Jesus' name, our