SERMON III
SERMON SERIES: “Loving People into the Kingdom”
“Don’t Just Go To Church Be the Church”
SERMON TITLE: “Small Acts Can Make a Big Splash”
OPENING COMMENTS AND REVIEW
We have been preaching this month on the subject, “Loving People into the Kingdom.” “Don’t Just Go To Church Be the Church”.
We have looked for two Sunday’s basically at the story of the Good Samaritan told by Jesus in Luke 10, where the Priest and the Levite both workers in the temple in Jesus day who both went out of their way to avoid helping a man who had been robbed and wounded on the road that led from Jerusalem to Jericho. They were so set on not helping this man that they crossed the street when they passed by him. However Jesus said, a Samaritan came along, had compassion on him, went to him, bandaged the wounds, poured oil and wine into the wounds, set him on his animal and took care of him.
The whole climax of the story was this, Jesus said, “You go and do likewise.”
TODAY
We are looking at the idea that it doesn’t take big things all the time to make a difference. God often uses small things in His Kingdom.
There is a passage of scripture that is found in Zechariah 4:10, Zachariah is receiving a vision, concerning the work of a man named Zerubbabel in restoring the temple and the angel asked, “Who has despised the day of small things?” The truth of the matter is, we have in America.
• We have come to believe that bigger is always better.
• We tend to recognize, respect, and remember those things in life that are big, while we tend to give little thought to the small things.
• Our secular world is mandated by the “Big I little you syndrome.”
• The Devil loves to use this false theology against us as Christians by saying things to us like:
o You are not good enough
o You are not significant
o You don’t have enough money
o You don’t have enough talent
o You just aren’t important enough to be used by God in a meaningful way.
• When it comes to spiritual matters bigger is not always better
• God does not look at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart.
“God will not look you over for medals, degrees or diplomas but for scars.” Elbert Hubbard an American Philosopher 1856-1915
TEXT
This brings us to our text this morning found in the book of Luke chapter 13.
Jesus tells two parables back to back. Luke 13:18-21.
1. One was the Parable of the Mustard Seed
2. The second one was the parable of the Leaven
FIRST PARABLE
18 Then He said, "What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it?
I think Jesus was probably looking around and saying, “Um, let me see, and he saw a mustard bush and said, “ It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and put in his garden; and it grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches."
In this first example Jesus said, God’s working is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden, it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air perched in its branches.
The mustard seed is very, very small. When I was in Israel they had a bag of mustard seeds and they are actually smaller than the ones shown on the power point back drop this morning. They actually looked like coffee grounds and to get one you had to wet the tip of your finger and let them stick to your finger.
The mustard seek was the smallest seed ever sown by first-century farmers in Israel when Jesus was here upon the earth.
You have used or heard the expression about someone, “That person has a pea brain.” If you were here in Jesus day you would have said, “That person has a mustard seed brain.”
That may have been what Mary said to Joseph when they forgot Jesus and left him in Jerusalem when he was only 12 years of age. I can just hear her now, “You mustard brain.”
When I think of that story I always feel like Joseph got the blame for it.
Here is the comparison in the parable, even thought the mustard seed was the smallest seed it grew into the largest of herbs grown in that area. It grew anywhere from 8-12 feet tall and its limbs were so big birds would come and nest in it.
So you have the first comparison that Jesus was making, “I am taking something very small and making something very large out of it.”
20 And again He said, "To what shall I liken the kingdom of God?
I don’t know, I am reading between the lines here, but I think Jesus thought they aren’t getting this so I have to give them another illustration.
Again, He used something they were used to seeing. Ladies bake bread, because of the lack of preservatives they had to bake bread everyday when Jesus was here upon the earth.
When a lady would bake bread today she would take a little bit of the dough and put it back to put in her dough the next day. She would take that small lump of dough and knead it into the new mixture and that little bit of dough would influence the entire batch of dough.
21 The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened."
Even though the original ball of yeast was small, it would have a huge influence.
WHAT WAS JESUS TEACHING.
What was Jesus teaching, it wasn’t about horticulture or baking. He was revealing a kingdom truth and it was this:
“When it comes to spiritual things, God uses small things to do BIG stuff.”
• When God wanted to create a new nation to call His own, He didn’t use a large established family, instead he Abraham and Sara who appeared too old to have children.
• When God wanted to lead his people out of slavery in Egypt, He used Noah rejected by his own people, felt like he was a failure and had spent 40 years keeping sheep.
• When God decided to send a rain at the end of the drought in the days of Elijah, he used a cloud about the size of a man’s hand to declare the sound of abundance of rain.
• When Jesus wanted to feed 5,000 people, he used a small boy’s small lunch to do it.
• When Jesus was watching people give, he wasn’t impressed by the bid donors but a widow’s penny.
• When God came to earth as a human He didn’t choose a rich and famous family to be a part, He came as a baby born in a barn to a poor family living in Nazareth.
“When it comes to spiritual things, God uses small things to do BIG stuff.”
What we might see as too small insignificant to matter, God sees as something He wants to use to accomplish His purpose.
I WANT TO LEAVE YOU WITH SOME SCRIPTURES
I want to leave you some scriptures this morning that when doing the Lord’s Work you need to keep in mind. There are 3 of them.
In I Corinthians 1:26-27, the Apostle Paul wrote these words, “26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.
27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;”
Back in Zechariah chapter 4, the angel told Zechariah the following message for Zerubbabel and recorded for us in verse 6, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the Lord of hosts.” Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain!”
The last passage I want to give you this morning that you should keep in mind when it comes to ministry. You should also keep these passages in mind when the devil for one reason or another is telling you that you aren’t good enough.
It in I Samuel 16, Samuel is on a search to find a new King for Israel. Because of Samuel’s disobedience he has been rejected and God has sent Samuel to Bethlehem to a man’s house named Jesse who had 8 sons. The first son of Jesse whose name was Eliab and Samuel thought sure that was the one that was to be anointed King but the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
I have written in the margin of my Bible, “God is a God of hearts.”
WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND WHAT MINISTRY IS
We just need to understand what ministry is.
See what I am doing this morning is not ministry, what I am doing is preaching, teaching, what we do during the week to make a positive difference in others lives is ministry. “Ministry is involved in small things, little acts, small gestures, in everyday service.”
LET ME GIVE YOU A LITTLE QUIZ THIS MORNING.
Don’t you just love pop quizzes?
1. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.
2. Name the last five winners of the Miss America contest.
3. Name 10 people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize
4. Name the Academy Award winners for best actor and actress in 1982.
Here’s another quiz four more questions
1. List a teacher who aided your journey through school.
2. Name a friend that helped you through a difficult time.
3. Name someone who taught you something worthwhile.
4. Thank of someone who made you feel appreciated and special.
The people who made a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards. They are the ones who do the little things with a big heart.
Mother Teresa- “We can do no great things; only small things with great love.”
Most of the times we don’t realize we are even doing the things that makes the greatest impact on someone’s life.
ILLUSTRATION
Linda and I got a text message this week from a Pastor’s wife. I can’t share all of the text but she told us in one of our former pastorates the impact we had made on her life. In the text message she put, “You all was so good to me, I know I wouldn’t be where I am just thought I would tell you.”
Strange thing is this, I don’t remember every technically being her pastor. She visited the church often at Russell with family and I guess in the my last days there as we knew were transitioning to the church of the Nazarene she had decided to make Russell her home church but I never knew that our ministry had that much affect on her life.
ILLUSTRATION
