Sermon Tone Analysis

Scripture: Matthew 13:31-35; 44-58

Big Idea: Christ’s Kingdom

Attribute: Incomprehensible

Doctrine: The Kingdom of God

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Hello- I am so glad that you decided to engage in the lecture this week.

If we haven’t met, my name is Megan Hutchison and I am one of the substitute teaching leaders of our class.

As you know, we quickly pivoted our groups to zoom this week because of the COVID-19 surge in our area.

Our plan is to be online for one more week and then, Lord willing, resume in-person BSF on January 26.

If this changes your group leader will be letting you know, so you can look to her for the latest information.

We recognize that moving our groups to zoom also meant that our children’s and school program did not get a chance to meet.

If you have a child in the children’s program you can still engage in God’s word with them by going to youtube.com and searching for bsf kids and looking for lesson 14.

There is a story geared towards infant and toddlers and another story for children ages 2-5.

You can also find all of your child’s favorite BSF songs on there as well.

If you have a child in the school program you can still complete their lesson for the week which can be found on the mybsf.org

website!

We hope that you will take take advantage of these resources while we are meeting online!

Alright, let’s pray and then dive into God’s word.

I. Introduction:

This morning I asked my daughters who are 7, 5, and 3 what they would want if they were in charge of a kingdom.

My 7 year old initially told me that she would make sure that everyone was kind to each other.

While my 5 year old jumped straight to the good stuff- announcing she would want watermelon and cookies.

My 3 year old thought that line of thinking was more her style and announced that she would want pizza.

unfortunately for my 5 and 3 year old, the book of Romans squashes their idea of kingdom saying in Romans 14:17, “...the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

While God’s kingdom doesnt promise cookies or pizza today we are going to see that the kingdom of God is bigger and better than anything we could come up with ourselves.

So, what exactly is the kingdom?

As we work through this chapter we see Matthew consistently use the language of Kingdom of Heaven instead of Kingdom of God.

Matthew is speaking primarily to a Jewish audience and they considered God’s name holy and sacred.

So, in order to not offend his Jewish readers, he says Kingdom of Heaven in place of Kingdom of God but know that they are interchangeable and all referring to the same kingdom.

In the 4 gospels, the first 4 books of the NT: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John the coming kingdom is referenced 126 times

and 55 of those references are found in the book of Matthew.

When we talk about kingdom we are not talking about a specific geographical location, but instead about the redemptive rule and reign of God through Christ.

I’m going to say that again....The Kingdom of God is the redemptive rule and reign of God through Christ.

When we talk about kingdom- we are talking about the sovereignty and authority of God as King.

It is about God’s reign- the one who is on the throne.

The story of the Bible is about the coming of the Kingdom of God.

It’s about God with us.

When Jesus came to earth he brought kingdom to us...

Jesus constantly talks about Kingdom- because the kingdom of God comes through Him- he is the King.

So- King Jesus, with all power and authority to do whatever he wants, doesnt choose pizza…but instead chooses to come to earth with the purpose of redeeming his people…he chooses to come and die a brutal death on the cross…he came to make order out of chaos.

light out of darkness.

to restore. to redeem…He came for you…this is the message of the gospel, and why we refer to it is “good news”

I dunno about you, but that is a king I want to follow- that is kingdom I want to be a part of.

Where the king who could do anything he wanted with his power and authority, he chose to sacrifice himself for his people…

But, in order to be apart of the kingdom- it means that we have to acknowledge Jesus as our king.

Which means that we must first remove ourselves as ruler over our own lives- to relinquish control to him.

In our scripture today- Jesus is going to use parables to reveal the realities of the kingdom and the responsibilities of those who are a part of the kingdom.

We are going to look at our scripture in two sections.

Kingdom Realities (Matthew 13:31-35, 44-46)

Kingdom Responsibilities (Matthew 13:47-58)

If you haven’t already, get out our Bibles or phone and open them with me to Matthew 13.

1. Kingdom Realities (Matthew 13:31-35, 44-46)

13:31-34: Parable of the Mustard Seed/Parable of the Yeast (WORLDWIDE IMPACT)

So, unlike last week where Jesus gave us his intended meaning of his first two parables- in all but one of the remaining parables, we are left to discern what he was trying to tell us.

So, how do we do this.

I think there are a couple of important steps we need to keep in mind as we read parables.

We touched on these last week but just as a reminder...

1.

We need to take into account the original audience Jesus was speaking to and ask ourselves- what would they have heard?

2. We need to make sure that the interpretation we arrive at does not contradict other parts of scripture- if it does- we need to keep digging.

Scripture never contradicts itself and God’s word is perfect and true all of the time.

3.

There might be multiple interpretations...

I can tell you that scholars have differing views on the meaning of some of these parables we are studying today.

For sake of time I am not going to able to unpack every parable and give you all the viewpoints, your notes briefly unpack some alternative viewpoints so make sure you read those for further study.

So with those things in mind, lets dive in…starting in Matthew 13:31

“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, 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.”

In my quick google search about mustard plants I found that some species can have up to a 25 foot expanse, one website referred to them as an invasive species.

In Jewish culture, a mustard plant was a weed and would have been forbidden in the garden because it would spread and take over the vegetables.

Jesus also adds an interesting detail that their are birds perching in the branches...

First, the fact that birds can perch in the branches gives you some context into the size of the tree- this isn’t a small bush, but a large tree big enough for birds to rest on.

One thought is that the birds represent the vast nature of the kingdom- that is open to not just Jews, but gentiles.

What a cool visual of the kingdom of heaven....

The Kingdom of heaven, which starts as a tiny seed, will grow exponentially, invading every nation, tribe and peoples…God’s kingdom is unstoppable and will flourish no matter what is going on around it…nothing can stop the kingdom from coming and growing.

Listen to this verse about the kingdom from the book of Revelation:

Revelation 7:9 says: “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and nations, standing before the throne and before the Lamb...

Your lesson this week also took you to Ezekiel 17:23 “On the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it (it here being the kingdom); 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 (sound familiar…birds nesting in the branches)

Ok so we have a flourishing mustard plant and then Jesus tells another parable in conjunction with the parable of the yeast.

These parables have a central theme and are known as “couplet parables.”

So Matthew 13:33 says: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about 60 lb’s of flour until it worked all through the dough.

Now, just take a moment and imagine 60 lbs of flour with me.

When I make bread I let it rise overnight in a huge bowl.

When I go to bed, the dough is small, but with time and patience, the dough grows and grows until it more than double in size.

The work that occurs is internal- to the naked eye you don’t see the yeast proliferating and making the dough grow...

When you start to work yeast into dough it literally permeates all of the flour- and then, before you know it, the dough begins to grow- the kingdom of God begins to grow

So, lets put ourselves in the shoes of the original listeners.

When they heard yeast…what would they think?

Typically in the OT, references made to yeast were negative because yeast represented sin.

The Jewish people were called to “remove the leaven” or “remove the sin” from their lives.

But, not all instances of yeast in the Bible were negative.

Jesus here makes an interesting statement that may have sparked a Jewish listener to think of another story in the Bible.

Now, the NIV doesnt do the greatest job translating this, the ESV says “3 measures of flour”- but, hopefully your Bible has cross references in it…so, if you look you will see that it takes you to Genesis 18..

Jesus referencing 60 lbs of flour, or 3 measures of flour, would have been the same thing as 3 seah’s of flour- which is the exact amount of flour from Genesis 18 that Abraham’s wife Sarah used when she was making a large amount of bread for the angels that had come to visit her.

The angels were there to initiate the promise given to Abraham to make him into a great nation by revealing to Sarah and Abraham that they would have a son.

As a Jewish listener, you would not necessarily see the yeast here as something negative, but as a reminder of the promise given to Abraham in Genesis that his family, God’s family would grow into a great nation- a great kingdom.

Remember when I said the story of the Bible was about the coming of Kingdom…well that promise started way back in Genesis- when God promised that his Kingdom would come through Abraham.

And Jews, who knew their text, would have known this reference...

So, what is the kingdom of heaven like..it is a flourishing nation that grows with our King Jesus, our Bread of life at the center....

Before Matthew moves to the next set of parables he pauses…this verse made me laugh when I read it…

13:35: Fulfillment of Prophecy