Hope Church's Church
5.10.26 Sunday Morning Worship
  • Great Are You Lord
  • Be Thou My Vision (Lord You Are)

      • Matthew 13:24-26ESV

      • Matthew 13:27-29ESV

      • Matthew 13:30-31ESV

      • Matthew 13:32-33ESV

      • Matthew 13:34-35ESV

      • Matthew 13:36-38ESV

      • Matthew 13:39-41ESV

      • Matthew 13:42-43ESV

  • Intro v34-35

    Today, we continue with Parables in Matthew chapter 13.
    Parables are meant to jar us awake. They are meant to be relatable, but odd pictures to cause us to think more deeply about our lives in light of who God is and who he has called us to be.
    Last week, we looked at the parable of the four soils, this week, we are going to be looking at three parables that I believe communicate the same idea.
    Barna is a research group. They recently did some research to see what would be the top reasons for some leaving a belief in God or Christianity. In past centuries, reasons would have been science, lifestyle, politics. But with Gen Z, there has been a change. The number one reason for people leaving Christianity is the problem of Evil in the world.
    Check out this data. It’s a lot of data, but what i want you to see as it is relevant to todays text. With the younger generation today, the number one stop to faith is the existence of evil in the world.
    This isn’t just an American problem, it’s a global problem. And even more so in other countries. Blessing Ukertor is a 20 year old who was living with her family in Nigeria. Nigeria is one of the worst places on earth to be a Christian. During one reporting period, of the 4, 849 Christian who lost their life because of their faith in Christ, 3,490 of them were from Nigeria. Nigeria leads the world often in Christian deaths. The previous reporting period saw 3,100 deaths from Nigeria alone. Her and her family were farming yams in the morning, when a Muslim anti-Christian hate group called Fulamis surrounded them with guns and machetes. To late for them to get away. In front of her, she saw her mother loose her head with a machete, and her father die by gunshot, their blood splattered on her face. The group would then turn to her and abuse her, leaving her to be hospitalized for a long period of time.
    After the event, in an interview, she is wondering how a good God could allow such evil to exist in the world. In the interview, she really struggled with this question.
    Many of us have spent time wondering. Why is the world the way it is? Why do things seem so divided? If it has been 2000 years since Christ, why is he not completely winning in the world?
    Thankfully, the problem of evil is not something the scriptures are silent on.
    MAIN POINT: Believers embrace the kingdom of God with patience as it grows in our hearts and in the world.
    Remember the connection we looked at last week of hidden knowledge and parables.
    Look at verses 34 and 35. Jesus spoke in parables to the crowd, and this fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet. Look at this quote from Psalm 78.
    Matthew 13:35 NET 2nd ed.
    35 This fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables, I will announce what has been hidden from the foundation of the world.”
    We might ask, why does Matthew say prophet if it came from the psalms?
    We often think of the narrow job of a prophet to predict the future. We see this many times when Matthew is quoting from the Old Testament prophets to show how they predicted something about Jesus.
    But prophets in the Old Testament had a much larger job. Rather than thinking of prophets as prediction oracles, think of them as proclaimers of God’s truth. The prophets in the Old Testament communicate God’s message to people, and warn of judgement, and tell of the greater purposes of God’s plan.
    So in that way, Asaph in Psalm 78 is doing this. He is showing hidden truths through the narratives of the Israelites.
    Remember the point of Parables is revealing.
    God’s intended purposes is that we would not be kept in the dark, but have revealed to us what has been hidden.
    Just as Asaph did this, Jesus is using parables to announce and reveal the kingdom of God.
    But this revealing does not happen for everyone. For Jesus’s audience, the parables either enlighten or confuse. Enlighten the ones who have faith, and confuse the ones who want to stay in sin.
    Parables are not sermon illustrations, they are not allegory. They are typically about one main point but give us multiple take aways.
    Parables also help us to understand heavenly truths. One way to think about parable is that they are a heavenly truth communicated with earthly elements.
    Parables cause us to stop being spoon fed with our Christianity, and start working the gospel our in our own life and what it really means for you to follow Jesus.
    If Parables are to have any affect on your life, you should not hear them as Craig just read them, listen to the sermon, then right them off. You should talk about them on the car ride home. Reflect on the parables as you go to bed. Wake up the next morning with it on your mind as you assess your own life in alignment with the Kingdom of God.
    If parables go in one ear and out the other, you need to carefully assess if you are with Jesus or against Jesus.
    Parables remind us to think deeply about our spiritual life. That we are intended to see all of our life in light of the kingdom.
    So lets jump into it today.

    I. Flourishing of the Mustard Seed v31-32

    First, we will look at the flourishing seed.
    I believe all of these parables have a similar theme, similar main point, but just showing a slightly different aspect.
    But all of them are meant to show us what it looks like for us to be part of the kingdom of heaven. Inviting us into it.
    In verses 31-32, we see the mustard seed is like the kingdom of heaven. And to continue with this theme of planting, a mustard seed is planted. And though it is smallest of all seeds, it grows larger than all the plants in the garden. Large enough that birds come and rest in it’s branches.
    Some might argue that a mustard plant is more of a bush than a tree, but some of them can be taller than 20 feet. Which to me feels more like a tree.
    Just like the other parables that we will look at, something that seems insignificant actually becomes very significant, more than anyone would have throught.
    Who would have thought that a small town backwoods carpenter’s son would take bunch or ordinary guys, people that were more unqualified than anyone else of the day, call them disciples, and change the world?
    This parable is about an insignificant start, that eventually changes the whole world. And it continues to grow!
    In the 1600s, the nearly the whole contenent of Africa was truly unreached with the gospel. It was David Livingstone who took the gospel deep into the heart of Africa, and today, in sub-Saharan Africa, an estimated 780 million people follow Jesus. Just for reference, when i was born, that number was only 230 million.
    In the 90s, there was less than 5000 believers in Iran. Despite the intense persecution that converts from Islam experience, today, that number is estimated to be about 1 million.
    China had essentially lost the gospel for centuries until missionaries in the 1800s took the gospel to China. Estimates show that by 2030, China will have more Christians than the USA.
    Certainly Jesus’s parable of the small mustard seed growing to be the largest tree in the garden, to overshaddow all others, is perfect to describe what we have even seen in our life time and how Christianity continues to grow.
    I believe that the birds that come and gather are the nations. Remember the long quote from Isaiah back in Chapter 12 where the gentiles are also getting included.
    This is a common picture from the Old Testament. A great tree where the birds and other creatures find rest, security, comfort, and life.
    But what this tree does is also significant. It nourishes. It enables others to flourish. It isn’t just growing itself, it is helping others have abundant life.
    Zechariah 3 tells of a great picture, the work of God, symbolized through a great tree where all people can find safety and peace. In Daniel 4:12, 21, Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom are a picture, and imperfect picture, of a tree that all the creatures of the world are a part of his kingdom. Ezekiel 17:22-24 is a picture of God’s work in the Gospel and birds coming from all over to enjoy the tree symbolizing that the nations and many people will find a flourishing life in the gospel.
    This is what we find in Jesus and the life he has come to bring us. While the gospel may look like a small thing, it is the power of God unto salvation.
    We may feel like there are a lot of other things in our lives to pursue. And this Jesus thing, this bible thing, this church thing, the gospel itself, is so small. Look at all this other stuff we could be pursing.
    The culture around us tells us that abundant life is found in pursuing my career. Money. Vacations and Travel. Fitness. Family. Relationships. My own happiness. You can pursue all of this stuff.
    And we might be here wondering “Which of these things that I could be pursing are really going to allow me to flourish and be fulfilled? How will I make the world better of my own life better? What will eventually help me to come out on top?”
    Jesus gives us the answer in this parable. The gospel of Jesus and submission to his kingdom will be worth it. Though it seems small and insignificant, making it the most important part of your life, Jesus has promised that his kingdom will eventually over shadow everything. Your career, overshadowed by the tree of the kingdom. Travel and Vacations? nothing compared to the gospel. Family and relationships? Just a small shrub under the tree that Jesus invites you to be a part of.
    Do you want to be a part of the lasting gospel growth that Jesus is calling us to? Or will we continue to pursue parts of our lives that Jesus tells us will be overshadowed by his kingdom?

    II. Permeating of the Leaven v33

    Next, we look at the Permeating of the Leaven in verse 33.
    Matthew 13:33 ESV
    33 He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”
    I’m glad for my wife knowing more about this than I do. Bread making has always been a hobby and pursuit for Erika. Maybe you are here today and buy bread from the store like a normal person and don’t worry about the window transparency affect and the stretch gluten of a perfect bread dough. I would also have no idea except for my wife and what she has told me. There are two ways you can make bread rise and have texture. Yeast or leaven. Yeast is like the small yellow packets. You can throw it into a bread machine and get a pretty quick and easy loaf of bread.
    But if you want to double down and go all out, you can use leaven. Which today we call sourdough. A fermentation batch of goo which often times gets named and has it’s own personality. It has to be fed and looked after. To have a sour dough starter is to adopt another child.
    Erika tried sour dough in Colorado before we moved here, but could never get it to work. Something about living at 10000 feet, the temperature, and maybe the barometric pressure.
    But someone recently gifted her some leaven. And she has been feeding and taking care of this small lump of goo, and it is alive. Actually living. And we get wonderful loves of bread from it.
    And while you could use yeast and whip up a quick loaf of bread, sourdough, or leaven takes a long time. Sourdough fresh milled flour loafs have a significant health benefit, but they take a long time. Erika has to mix ingredients, add the leaven, and then this long period of resting and mixing and resting and mixing. A sour dough loaf might take 24-48 hours.
    Our passage says three measures of flour. This is about 50 pounds of flour. I don’t know how long leaven would take to affect 50 lbs of flour, but it would be a long time.
    But eventually, the living fermentation of leaven would affect every part of the bread.
    This is what the gospel looks like. It isn’t like a quick dump yeast, bake, and then done. It is a slow process of waiting and allowing it to permeate the entire dough.
    So is the gospel for the world, for our church, and for our hearts. It is small. But will permeate all of it.
    Our society today has been directly shaped by Christian values. Hospitals exist because of Christian values. Education exists because of Christian values.
    Modern science is a result of Christians encouraging knowledge of the universe.
    Human rights and equality, including the abolishment of slavery is a result of Christianity and the Bible.
    Our legal system is a result, and necessitates Christian values as the founders intended.
    Social safety nets for those less fortunate, orphans, widows, dying, care exists because of Christian values.
    And many other changes in humanity can be tied back to Christianity.
    But most importantly, lives are changed by the Gospel of Jesus’s kingdom.
    And not in small ways, but in large ways.
    Remember that Paul tells us the mercy of God is transforming us so that we will know the will of God and do what is pleasing and perfect?
    Working out our salvation, or our christian life with awe and revenge so that we will know how to please God?
    But we know that there is a joint effort in this permeating. It is ultimately God who gives both the desire and the ability for this change. This permeating.
    Just like how the bread dough is slowly taken over by the leaven, so our lives will be taken over by the gospel of the kingdom. While this is God’s work, we get to participate in it.
    So I will ask us. What parts of our life are we afraid to have the Gospel reach?
    You will remember Jesus’s message and what it looks like to accept the Kingdom of Heaven. It is realizing that Jesus is supreme, and submitting to what he has called us to do. Submitting to his ways.
    What ever it is holding us back. Give it to Jesus. We can be thankful that he is doing the work and will not be satisfied till the whole lump of dough, our lives, are completely saturated with the gospel.
    We can also work towards this goal in our Christian lives through prayer, being in the word, growing with the people of God!
    This process of permeating happens with the people of God in the church, not apart from it. I was so encouraged this last Wednesday as we were working through what does lying and deception look like in our lives, and together we were working through the practical implications, and then prayed for each other on this point.
    If you are coming to Wednesday to learn and grow together with us, we permeate the gospel with our lives.

    III. Acquiescing of the Harvest v24-30 v36-43

    Third and last today, we see acquiescing of the Harvest. And these verses are split between the parable told in 24-30 and the explanation in 36-43.
    You may think “why acquiescing?”
    It communicate this message well. Acquiescing means we accept, comply, or agree to something reluctantly, passively, or without protest.
    Notice how Jesus gives these parables. It says he set it before them. Other places where verb is used verb is used, it means to put food before someone, or maybe a gift before someone.
    Jesus gives the parables as a gift for our lives, and a meal for us. It is meant to nourish us. But he isn’t spoon feeding us, we are meant to chew on it, and eat what he has presented.
    This again is a cosmic parable about the eternal kingdom of Jesus.
    After the parable of the four soils. you might have been asking the natural question. Why doesn’t Jesus bring the harvest right now? Why the wait? While the gospel may be slowly growing and permeating culture do you know how much evil still exists in the world? Why doesn’t God just pull the plug?
    But the kingdom of heaven, is like a man who sows in a field, but then his enemy throws seeds for weeds among the wheat that he has planted.
    The actual plant mentioned here is Zizanion or Darnel. And it actually looks quite like wheat in its early stages. But while grain is beneficial, Zizanion is actually poisonous.
    The wheat and the weeds would not only have been bad for the farmer, it would be harmful and dangerous, and hard to tell the difference between the two.
    And this story that Jesus tells seems weird to us, but first century farmers would have resonated with this story more. Roman law prohibited the sabotage of another persons field in this way of planting Zizanion.
    In verse 27, the servants ask why this happened.
    On verse 28, the blame is not put on the master, but on the enemy. The enemy is the devil who works against God’s plans, but will not succeed.
    Some may ask questions like “If God exists, why is there so much evil in the world?”
    But right here, we are being reminded that God is not the author of evil. God created everything good. Satan is the one who has brought evil into the world. But not just satan, we also know that humanity, by our free will, we have chosen to do evil. God determined that it would be better for humans to have the ability to choose than have robots with no choice. Unfortunately, we chose ourselves and evil after Satan rather than God.
    And if God interviened everytime we chose against his desire and intent, would we really have free will?
    The servants want to go pull up all the weeds, but the initial phases of growth make them more diferenciate, and the wheat would also be rooted out.
    So they will be allowed to grow to gether until they mature and reach the stage of being separated out.
    While they two plants might look the same initially, they will eventually be shown at the harvest to be poison or nourishment.
    There is not half in half out. You cannot say “I’ve got a little wheat and a little weed in me.” You are either the wheat or the weed. There is no, believing in Jesus and still continuing to grow like I want to. You are either a wheat or a weed. You might look the same for a while, but eventually, at harvest, it will be obvious.
    Notice a significant emphasis in this parable is put on the weeds getting plucked out, gathered, and burned with the contrast of the wheat being put into the masters barn.
    In verse 41, we see that all those who cause sin and break God’s law are gathered, thrown into the fiery furnace where the continual suffering is described as teeth gnashing. This information is not new to us.
    For the Fiery Furnace, Daniel 3:6 might be in mind here. That all those who do not give God glory will be cast into the fire.
    We have already seen this in Matthew 7. The ones who continue in sin are cast into eternal fire.
    This parable might make you think of Sodom and Gamorrah. Lot dwelling amount sinful and wicked people. But the angels coming to separate lot and his family from everyone else. And everyone else is burned in fire and brimstone.
    This strong judgement language is meant to do two things. Wake up those not living for Christ, or those who think they are half in, or good enough. But this judgement language is also an encouragement. It’s a reminder that God is not tollerant of evil. While he permits it for a season, it will not go unpunished.
    When we see evil happening in the world, we can rest in the knowledge that God will not let any evil slip by.
    -We might be tempted to see the field as the church, and believers and unbelievers being in the church. This would certainly affect the application. Good people throughout history have believed this view. Some might also see the leaven as sin and the dough as the church.
    But this viewpoint is not what Jesus is trying to communicate in the rest of the context.
    Here’s three reasons for why these parables are communicating God’s kingdom permiated the world, not sin impacting the church.
    Jesus directly says in verse 38 that the field is the world.
    Jesus tells the weeds to grow among the wheat, if this is the church, Jesus will contradict himself in Matthew 18 where the ones continuing in sin are clearly not a part of the church to remain purity.
    The church and the kingdom are two different ideas conceptionally in Matthew’s Gospel. The kingdom of Heaven as a concept has been God’s reign being realized in the world. Jesus’s focus is eschatological expectation, not ecclesiological deterioration. Jesus’s focus is gospel hope, not church decline.
    What we see is that opposition to the kingdom will still exist, even to the end. That at the end of time, wheat and tares exist.
    This parable is helpful for us to rest in God’s Wisdom. We might question at times about the way the world is. Why does God allow evil to continue? Why does a good God allow bad things to happen? Where is the kingdom Jesus promised? Why doesn’t God destroy all the sons of darkness right now?
    These questions are answered with this parable and a reminder for us to Trust, and be patient.
    Following Jesus requires patience with his timing.
    And a purpose is seen in verse 43. The ones who God has made righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father.
    This is a reference to Daniel 12:3
    Daniel 12:3 ESV
    3 And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.
    Consider God’s promise to Abraham. Your descendants, including the Gentiles, will be like the stars of heaven. They display the glory of God in their connection to God and his people.
    -Then consider Philippians 2:15 “15 so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without blemish though you live in a crooked and perverse society, in which you shine as lights in the world”
    -As we live holy lives after God, we display his glory to those around us. We shine like stars against the black background of the world and unbelievers.
    While it may be hard to see in this moment of the World, at the end of the age, we will see and know that God has worked all things for our good and his glory.
    This parable comes down to realizing that God is good, and we trust him in patience.
    2 Peter 3 deals with this same concept, and Peter would no doubt have had this parable in mind. This chapter fortells that some mockers will come and ask how God could exist when the world continues in such evil and chaos. But the reminder for us is that God is not slow concerning his promise, though it may seem slow to us. Rather, he is patiently waiting for his people to repent and turn to him in faith. He is allowing the weeds of evil to exist, so his people will come to faith and repentance.
    Another application for us is not to be so focused on the negative aspects of the world that we neglect the work that God is doing.
    Sometimes, we might be so focused on the the opposition to Christ, that we are not helping the growth of the wheat.
    As believers, we are called to protect doctrine, remove wolves. But if this is our only focus, and we are not looking to spiritually feed one another, we have missed what Jesus is saying.
    Don’t pull up the tares to jeperdize the growth of the wheat.
    Kingdom life looks like encouraging and building up one another as we grow together. It would be good for us to ask ourselves, how have i built up other brothers and sisters in Christ this week? What do I need to change in my life? How can i help others grow in their walk with Christ this next week?

    Beyond the Walls (Grace and Growth)

    What did the birds do to enjoy the tree? The safety, comfort, rest, nourishment, flourishing. The birds didn’t do anything. They just get to enjoy it.
    Is this not also the gospel for us? While we get to receiving and be a part of the gospel, we aren’t the ones who sow the mustard seed. Jesus has done all of the work. The gospel is the new covenant in his blood. He was crusified and burried to put our sins to death. He was raised to new life. And now we get to join him, nothing that we have done, in this flourishing life.
    The gospel of Jesus is not something that happens seperate from us, but something that we get to be a part of and enjoy.
    If you have yet to join Jesus’s kingdom, come and talk to us today.
    Notice in the passage of the wheat and the weeds, there is a permanence aspect. We should critically assess our lives to see if we are the wheat or the weeds. If you are holding on to sin, you are acting like the weeds and at risk of judgement and destruction.
    I know some of us would love to see our families reached, community reached, Maine reached, our church grow. Sometimes we can get frustrated that the gospel is not growing the way we want it to and in the timing we want it to. But we remember that the gospel is slowly growing. We are faithful to God and trust him in patience in his timing to bring about his glory and our good.
    We can also stop fretting about the way the world is. When we look at the world, we don’t live in discouragement or fear. But trust that at the Harvest, God will make all things right.
    If it is true that God is going to make all things right at the harvest, what are we going to do with it right now in this moment? Will we be patiently faithful to what God has called us to?
    Let’s bow our heads and close our eyes as we respond to the text together today.
    Father, thank you for working your kingdom in the way you want it.
    Jesus, help me flourish in the life you have given me as i faithfully live for you.
    Spirit, help the Gospel to permeate every part of my life.

      • Matthew 13:35ESV

      • Daniel 12:3ESV

  • Good Ground
  • Before The Throne Of God Above
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