Over 200 years ago, Thomas Jefferson commissioned Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to find the source of the Missouri River, and from there to discover a relatively easy water route west to the Pacific. Such a waterway, they discovered, doesn't exist. But they did succeed in mapping the Northwest and, 15 months after they began pushing themselves upstream, they found, near today's Montana-Idaho border, the source of the mighty Missouri.
Lewis's journal records that on August 12, 1805, a member of the expedition, Private Hugh McNeal, "exultingly stood with a foot on each side of this little rivulet and thanked his God that he had lived to bestride the mighty and heretofore deemed endless Missouri."
The Missouri at its source looks a lot different than the powerful current that flows into the Mississippi River near St. Louis!
And in the Kingdom, too, many great things start out small.
Mar 4:30 And he said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it?
• Notice Jesus’ cautious and loving interaction with his audience.
• He poses the question, “what can we compare?”
• Such wording included the listener into the puzzle of the teacher.
• The teacher partners with the students and says, let’s do this together.
• “What parable can we all agree to use?”
• A teacher involves the students in the learning and decision making process.
• This is hard for some of us to do. Others, it is natural.
• Once the student is sitting on the front of the chair, listening with bated breath,
• The lesson is presented.
Mar 4:31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, 32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade."
• The mustard seed was the smallest of the domestic seeds used in the area.
• It grew rapidly into a tree.
• Despite being an annual tree, it grew very large in one season.
• The tree can grow to 12-15 feet in a year.
• It was popular with the birds because of the mustard seeds and the shade.
• It went from the smallest seed to the largest garden plant or tree.
• The tree was a marvel to the farmers and observers of that day.
• Thus, it’s comparison to the kingdom of God.
• When the bible refers to the Kingdom of God, it is typically not speaking about Church.
• The Kingdom of God is far larger than the Church.
• But the beginning of the reign of Christ is common with the Church.
• That is the discussion here.
• Out of nowhere, it seemed, a single man began to walk the land around Jerusalem and Canaan.
• He began to teach and heal. His popularity grew, but only temporarily.
• He selected 12 men to help Him start a work.
• It was truly a humble beginning.
• That beginning was not managed like we would have managed it.
• Often, when Jesus could have been raising crowds or funds, he chose to associate with the few.
• Zacchaeus, a tax collector named Matthew; a woman at the well, or running everyone out of the temple except one caught in adultery and speaking with her…
• Jesus never worried about humble beginnings.
• He was born in a manger, not a castle.
• He lived as a laborer, not a prince.
• He spoke the truth of His own authority, not quoting notable authors.
• He focused on the individual, not the crowd.
• Yet, someday, He will assume reign over all, physically.
• The Jewish people had a passion for a king.
• In the early days, they wanted a king to be like other nations.
• They wanted someone to fight their battles, manage their economy, administer their justice.
• 1Sa 8:7 And the LORD said to Samuel, "Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.
• 1Sa 8:10-20 So Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking for a king from him. 11 He said, "These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. 12 And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. 15 He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. 16 He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. 17 He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. 18 And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day." 19 But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, "No! But there shall be a king over us, 20 that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles."
• God had planned on giving the nation of Israel a king, but the people were impatient to wait on Him.
• The choice was costly, as they selected Saul, a perfect selection according to the flesh, but a poor choice spiritually.
• God would make His choice later in picking a simple shepherd boy.
• God selected David, and through David, He set up His throne.
• Isa 9:6-7 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
• That was the prophecy. And then God became man. First the announcement.
• Luk 1:30-33 And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."
• And then, as you know from the Christmas story, Jesus was born.
• 30 years later, He was seen by John the Baptist. He was baptized, and began the simple work of calling 12 men to follow Him.
• 12 men! A mustard seed. An humble beginning.
• Now, the entire world has access to His message and delivering power.
• No spot on earth is isolated from the truth.
• Mat 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
• According to one well known source: The Christian Almanac for 1990 reports that the Gospel has been preached to over 4 billion people, and Christian churches now exist in all 251 countries of the world.
• Every year about four billion Gospel tracts are distributed around the globe and over 120 million Bibles. The entire Bible, or portions of it, have now been translated into some 2,062 different languages, and is available to around 98 percent of the world's population.
• The Gospel is also preached from over 2,000 Christian radio and television stations, and religious shows can be seen on many more thousands of secular stations.
• On the internet, which can be accessed around the world, there is no shortage of the gospel.
• Never in the entire course of history has the Gospel been preached in all the world to all nations as it is right now! Every nation on the face of the earth today has heard the Gospel as Jesus prophesied they would before the end comes.
• So if Jesus was right and the Bible is true, we are now living in the time of the End!
• I am not going to make any prediction about how much time you have before the end of time.
• It could be today. It could be next year. It could be in 15 years.
• Mat 24:36 "But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.
• What I want to conclude this message with is the thought in verse 32.
• ….so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade."
• It is really a simple message. DON’T BE A BIRD!
• The final scene in this parable is a mustard tree with birds in it.
• Basically, there are three things in the scene.
I. A Tree.
• Productive, alive, growing.
• It is drawing it’s nourishment from that which God supplied and is productive with it.
• This, in the Parable, is the picture of the kingdom of God.
• To be a part of it, the intent was to draw from God’s strength and be productive.
II. Fruit.
• In the scene, the tree produces mustard seed.
• Jesus is saying, “Don’t worry about my work producing fruit. It will be there.”
• And, as He promised, there is much fruit from the work of Christ.
• Official reports are that in world crisis events, such as Rita, Katrina, earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, etc… 97 cents out of every $1 given for aid are from, or go through, Christian organizations.
• How much from atheist organizations? Zero.
• The fruit of Christ living through His people has been and always will be compassion and love that is sacrificial.
III. Birds.
• In the scene Jesus describes, there are also those who are attracted to the kingdom of God for other reasons.
A. Some for shade and comfort from the heat of life.
• The same it true today.
• Many church members have just enough theology to be comfortable with themselves.
• Many have been raised to believe that being a church-goer makes them respectable.
• Looking for the status, comfort, and pleasure of being able to look respectfully at themselves brings them to the tree.
• But they are not part of the productive system of the tree.
B. Some come for rest.
• I am glad our Church is a place where you can leave the worries outside the building for a time of worship and fellowship.
• However, in our society, this attraction is diminishing quickly.
• There are plenty, too many, distractions from the battles of life now days.
• Because of that, many of those birds have left us. They don’t need us any more.
• 1Jn 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.
• But there are still some of those birds.
• They go where they can feel good.
• Church is a welcome respite from their crazy lives.
• That is not a bad thing, but what is bad is if that is the only thing they are getting from their Christianity.
C. Some come for the seeds.
• This group is the ones who migrate to the Church where they “get something out of the service.”
• They consume, but don’t produce.
• The believe Church is for the benefit of self, just like anything of value in their lives.
• Forget obedience, servanthood, responsibility, faithfulness and sacrificial acts of love to God.
• It’s about ME, number one.
• Today, I ask you, are you part of the tree or are you a bird?
• Don’t be a bird!
• If you are a bird, coming here to sit and soak, our desire is not to shoo you away.
• Instead, we want to continue to offer the invitation of Jesus. Come and join in the work of the tree.
• Basically, those who are here for a weak reason are here for what Christianity can protect them from or what they can get out of it.
• The parts of the tree are seeking how to produce.
Two men were out hunting. Neither was a good shot. After they had tramped through the fields for hours, they had seen plenty of rabbits but had yet to hit one. With evening coming on, both were getting tired. One turned to the other and said, "Tom, what about it? Let's just miss two more and call it a day."
