The passage of Scripture that we will view tonight contains two short parables – “The Mustard Seed” and “The Yeast.” I have entitled our sermon “Feeling Small, Walking Tall,” and the passage that we’ll be studying provides a great opportunity for sharing a motivational message.
You are probably wondering, “Why does the pastor feel that we need some encouragement?” The reason why is because there is a huge misconception about the church floating around today; one which says that the traditional church, and even small congregations, are ineffective at reaching people in our rapidly changing culture. If you are someone here tonight who holds this misconception, or fears that perhaps it might be true, then the words of Jesus should convince you otherwise.
A short definition of a traditional church, according to Thom Rainer, is one that is older than ten years. It makes use of Sunday school as its primary small group Bible teaching ministry. It has Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday evening services; and it shows a greater resistance to change than younger churches do.(1) Based on this information, I think we can easily say that our church is traditional.
Skeptics are saying the traditional church can’t reach the world for Christ effectively anymore, but is this really true? Thom Rainer did a survey of nearly two hundred churches of various sizes, denominations, worship styles, and ministry approaches; and here is his conclusion in his own words: “There was virtually no correlation between the growth and outreach of the church and the type of church – traditional or nontraditional.”(2)
Did you hear what he said about growth? There isn’t much difference between traditional and nontraditional churches; and this observation could also be applied to small and large churches. Growth is about the same proportionately. If you are feeling too small to be effective for the kingdom, then hopefully this evening, the words of Jesus Christ will have you convinced that you can begin walking in confidence, knowing that you are useful to the Lord.
Feeling Small (vv. 31-32)
31 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, 32 which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”
We have here “The Parable of the Mustard Seed.” The mustard seed appears to be tiny and insignificant, but “God transforms a tiny speck of mustard seed into a six-to-ten-foot-high shrub.”(3) David Garland says, “Even modern scientific knowledge of the DNA structure of the mustard seed does not dispel the mystery of its growth . . . One could dismiss the microscopic seed as something inconsequential, but it has a power within itself to [grow] into something that one cannot ignore.”(4)
I have never seen a mustard seed before, but growing up on a tobacco farm I observed something that I imagine is quite similar. My dad used to take two small packets of tobacco seeds, containing perhaps two or three teaspoons in each one, and he would empty the contents into a bucket half-full of fertilizer. He would then mix the fertilizer and seed by hand, and then broadcast the mixture across his tobacco bed. Within a few short weeks, these small seeds no bigger than a pinhead, would completely fill an area of ground about one hundred feet long and six feet wide. These plants would later grow to about seven feet in height.
What meaning does this parable have for both small and traditional churches? In reference to this particular parable, Henry Blackaby asks the following questions: “Do you feel like you are not strong enough or influential enough? . . . Does your church feel like it is too small to do much?”(5) If we feel like we are too small or not strong enough as a congregation, then listen closely as I share some good reasons why both small and traditional churches can be effective:
The first reason why both small and traditional churches can be effective is because many of them are located in small towns. In the book Faithquakes, Leonard Sweet says, “People are moving to small towns because of atmosphere, lower taxes, smaller more responsive and safer school districts, and so on.”(6) The thing we need to understand is that there are actually people coming to us; and therefore, our church field is becoming more diverse, providing more people resources from which to draw. As you well know, our church is located in a resort community, and you see new people moving here all the time from some other city or state.
The second reason why both small and traditional churches can be effective is because, according to Leonard Sweet, “The smallest ripple can make the biggest waves in postmodern culture.”(7) Let’s look at the business world. John Naisbitt tells us, “Small companies, right down to the individual, can beat big bureaucratic companies ten out of ten times. Therefore, unless the big companies reconstitute themselves as a collection of small companies they will just continue to go out of business.”(8)
In the book Aquachurch, Sweet says, “You can change the world, literally. Small companies are changing and re-creating the global company. In fact, ‘50 percent of U.S. exports are created by companies with nineteen or fewer employees. Only 7 percent are created by companies with five hundred or more employees.’ Small players are dominating the twenty-first century global economy, which should make the small-membership church reconsider its futures.”(9)
We may be a small or medium sized church, but don’t let that fool you. “Even though you may feel small and insignificant, you can find hope in the story of the mustard seed. God can take something small and seemingly insignificant and use it to produce something large and helpful.”(10) We can easily become discouraged when we look at a large church and the ministry resources it has, but let’s not be fooled by what looks to be grand and marvelous. Men perceive things totally different than the Lord.
For example, Jesus’ own ministry seemed small and insignificant to the world in which He lived. He didn’t fit people’s expectations of what the Messiah should be like. Jesus was too meek and lowly in the eyes of the world to be considered the Messiah. But think about the long-lasting effects of His ministry. The things He shared with His twelve disciples, and the work He did on the cross, have saved the souls of countless people who are now His followers, and who will live with Him for all eternity.
Consider the mustard seed. When we think of the mustard seed and what it grows into, we might imagine a great redwood which is bigger than all other trees, but that’s the wrong picture of a mustard tree. David Garland says, “The tiniest of seeds becomes the greatest of all shrubs, but a shrub is still a shrub . . . The kingdom will not fit our expectations or specifications. For those who want to be the top cedar in the world . . . the kingdom of God as it is manifested in our world will be mostly disappointing.”(11)
When he says the kingdom will be “mostly disappointing” he has in mind 1 Corinthians 1:18, which says, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” When the Lord does not meet the world’s expectations, then He may appear as “foolishness” or “disappointment.” We know, however, that the kingdom has come in great power to deliver those who “were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2:15), for the kingdom brings with it “the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).
What we perceive to be great, like a large church, might be far from the will of God; and what appears to be insignificant, like a small church, could be where the Lord is really at work. But like with Jesus’ ministry, the results might not be seen in our lifetime. The effectiveness of our church might not be readily visible, but that does not mean that God is not at work here.
Feeling Ineffective (v. 33)
33 Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.”
We have here “The Parable of the Yeast,” which moves into the same train of thought - that what is small may be effective, but not readily visible. Before we interpret this verse further, let’s consider the properties of yeast.
In ancient Palestine, yeast was not what comes in those tiny packs that you pick up at the grocery store. “Leaven was produced from bread flour kneaded without salt and kept until it passed into a state of fermentation. In bread making the leaven was probably a piece of dough, retained from a former baking, which had fermented. This was then either dissolved in water in the kneading-trough before the flour was added, or was [placed] in the flour . . . and kneaded along with-it.”(12)
In Matthew 13:33, the yeast was fermented dough which was placed in unfermented dough. Let’s now consider that our church is a hunk of leavened dough placed in with the unleavened dough of the world. We are leavened with Christ, growing spiritually, and gaining a nice full shape; but the world is just plain flat, because there is no living and breathing yeast, as the leaven has been rendered ineffective by sin, and everyone is dead in sin.
What happens when leaven is placed in with unleavened bread? Henry Blackaby says, “Yeast effects the dough nearby. Then that dough effects the dough nearest it. Before long a little yeast can bring about change in the whole lump.”(13) The size of the dough ball doesn’t matter. Our church is a medium-sized ball of dough, but each little bit of yeast, or each individual can come into contact with other people, and thereby leaven them. What you get is a chain reaction.
Like the small ball of dough that is hidden in the large hunk of unleavened bread, a small church is often hidden and unseen, but it can still make a huge impact in the world. We are somewhat small and unseen, but not insignificant. Blackaby encourages us, “Be patient and faithful to the Lord. God will cause your small influence to have far reaching effects in His timing.”(14)
Time of Reflection
Hopefully by now we can see that our size doesn’t determine our true effectiveness. We have the potential to reach our entire community and even the world for Jesus Christ. Remember how Jesus said, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). We are never too small to be used by the Lord. Ponder these two parables this week and pray that God would use our medium-sized church to impact this community, and that our witness would eventually carry over to the entire world.
If someone here tonight has been touched by the leaven of this church, and the love of Jesus Christ, and you wish to know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, then the opportunity stands for you to know Him this evening. If you wish to receive Jesus, then you need to repent of your sins, believe that Jesus is the Son of God who came and died for your sins and rose again from the grave victorious over sin and death, and then confess Him before all men, and you will be saved (Romans 10:9-10).
NOTES
(1) Thom S. Rainer, Giant Awakenings (Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 1995), 4-5.
(2) Ibid., 2.
(3) David E. Garland, “Mark,” The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 180.
(4) Ibid., 180.
(5) Henry Blackaby, Experiencing God (Nashville: Lifeway Press, 1990), 188.
(6) Leonard Sweet, Faithquakes (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994), 138.
(7) Leonard Sweet, Aquachurch (Loveland: Group, 1999), 97.
(8) Ibid., 97. Taken from John Naisbitt, “From Nation States to Networks,” in Rethinking the Future, ed. Rowan Gibson (London: Nicholas Brealey, 1997), 214.
(9) Ibid., 97.
(10) Blackaby, 188.
(11) Garland, 182-183.
(12) The New Bible Dictionary, (Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1962.
(13) Blackaby, 189.
(14) Ibid., 189.
