Jesus Wants to Help Us Understand the Kingdom of Heaven - Part 2
The Gospel of Matthew
Matthew 13:31-46
Sermon by Rick Crandall
(Prepared May 19, 2022)
BACKGROUND:
*Please open your Bibles to Matthew 13. Here Jesus told a series of 8 parables to help us understand the Kingdom of Heaven. The Lord told these simple stories to reveal spiritual truth to His followers. But Jesus also spoke in parables to conceal these truths from hate-filled people like the scribes and Pharisees who were plotting to kill Him.
*The Lord had already worked countless miracles and fulfilled many prophecies about the coming Messiah. Why did the Jewish elites so strongly reject Him? One reason why was because Jesus rejected the ridiculous traditions the Pharisees had added to God's Law.
*For example, in Matthew 12:9-14 Jesus was in a synagogue with a man who had a withered hand. The Pharisees there were trying to find a way to accuse the Lord of breaking God's Law, so they asked Jesus, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?'' And Jesus wisely replied, "What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.''
*"Then He said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other. Then the Pharisees went out and took counsel against Him, how they might destroy Him." Luke 6:11 tells us that the Pharisees were filled with rage to the point of madness that day. And Mark 3:6 says they "went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him."
*There were only a few thousand Pharisees in those days, but they held religious, social, and political power far greater than their numbers. For over a hundred years they had basically been in charge of telling all the other Jews what was right and wrong. Then this random, unschooled carpenter from Nazareth showed up and rejected their precious traditions. They couldn't stand it! (1)
*But there was a bigger reason why the elite Jews hated Jesus, and it's because He rightly claimed to be God. We can find the Lord's claim many times in the New Testament. For example, Mark 2:1-12 tells the story of Jesus healing a paralyzed man who was lowered into a crowded room by 4 friends who took him to see Jesus. There God's Word says:
1. And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house.
2. Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them.
3. Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men.
4. And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. And when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.
5. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you.''
6. But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts,
7. "Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? WHO CAN FORGIVE SINS BUT GOD ALONE?''
8. And immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, "Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?
9. Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up your bed and walk'?
10. But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins'' He said to the paralytic,
11. "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go your way to your house.''
12. And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!''
*Who can forgive sins? Jesus Christ can because He is God! Jesus is the eternal Son of God, who took on mortality so that He could die on the cross for our sins. Jesus is God. That's why our risen Savior can forgive sins. And Colossians 2:9 confirms that "in Him (that is, in Jesus Christ) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." But most of the Pharisees rejected this vital truth. And this was the main reason for their unquenchable hatred.
*In today's Scripture, Jesus the King of Kings tells us 4 more parables about His everlasting Kingdom. Please listen to the Lord in Matthew 13:31-46.
MESSAGE:
*I've got to tell you that I am glad the United States is not a kingdom. Our first President, George Washington, probably could have been crowned as king of our country. But Washington's great character kept him from making that terrible mistake.
*The problem with earthly kingdoms is the king. So often throughout history they have been wicked and brutal tyrants. Thank God there is a good King, a perfect King who will reign forever! His name is Jesus Christ, and He wants to teach us about His Kingdom. That is great because the Kingdom of heaven is the only place where we can live forever.
1. AND IN TODAY'S SCRIPTURE, JESUS WANTS TO TEACH US ABOUT THE GROWTH OF HIS KINGDOM.
*We can see this growth in vs. 31-32, where Jesus told the parable of the mustard seed:
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.''
*There are some very different interpretations of this parable. But the simplest explanation is that Jesus was explaining how His Kingdom would surely grow on earth. For 2,000 years now, this growth has been through the Lord's Church. And the Church is a crucial part of God's Kingdom, because the Church is the Bride of Christ. The Bible makes this truth very clear in Ephesians 5:22-33.
*But God's Church started out on earth as a tiny thing: Twelve Apostles, and about 120 men and women in total who followed King Jesus. The Church started small, but it has grown into millions and millions of people around the world who follow the King. And God's Kingdom on earth is still growing through His Church! (2)
*Some of the most encouraging Kingdom growth this century has happened in Communist China. In 2014, Tom Phillips reported the good news in an article in the "UK Telegraph." And although China is officially an atheistic country, Christianity has been rapidly growing there.
*Many in China are seeking the meaning and spiritual comfort they could not find in Communism or in business. Purdue professor, Fenggang Yang is a leading expert on religion in China. And he said, "By my calculations China is destined to become the largest Christian country in the world very soon. It is going to be less than a generation. Not many people are prepared for this dramatic change."
*In 1949, China's Protestant churches had just one million members, but in 2010, there were more than 58 million Protestant Christians in China. Professor Yang believed that the number of Christians will grow to 160 million by 2025.
*And the professor said, "Mao thought he could eliminate religion. He thought he had accomplished this. It's ironic. They didn't. They actually failed completely." (3)
*Since that time, the Communists have started widespread persecution against Christians in China. And we need to pray for them. But on a long flight last fall, I sat next to a Catholic official from Arkansas. He was a very friendly and humble man. We didn't debate theology. He told me about his ministry, and I told him about mine. Then we talked about the world situation, and he told me that in spite of the persecution in China, there is a great revival going on in both the Catholic and Protestant Churches. That blessed my heart. It was the most encouraging news I had heard in a long time, and that man was in a position to know.
*God's Kingdom is going to grow! And He wants us to be a part of that growth. In vs. 32, Jesus talked about "the birds of the air" coming and nesting "in its branches.'' Those birds nesting in that tree remind me of people who need shelter, people who need a spiritual home and spiritual food.
*The little birds also make me think of the children who need to know the Lord. And this is the reason why we invested so much in things like Orange, VBS, and Upward. These things are not just about fun and football. They're about Kingdom growth, the kind of growth we can be part of all over the world. And Jesus wants to teach us about the growth of His Kingdom.
2. HE ALSO WANTS TO TEACH US ABOUT THE POWER OF HIS KINGDOM TO CHANGE OUR LIVES.
*In vs. 33 Jesus spoke another parable 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."
*William Barclay explained that "in Jesus' day bread was baked at home. Three measures of meal was the average amount needed to bake bread for a fairly large family, like the Lord's family at Nazareth. Jesus took His parable of the Kingdom from something that he had often seen his mother Mary do.
*Leaven was a little piece of dough kept over from a previous baking, and that dough had fermented over time. In Jewish language and thought, leaven was almost always connected with evil. That's partially because fermentation was connected to rot and decay, but mostly because the Lord strictly forbade leaven during the annual Feasts of the Passover. For example, in Exodus 12:15 the Lord said, 'Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel."
*So, one of the ceremonies to get ready for Passover was to remove every scrap of leaven from the house and burn it. And this parable must have been shocking to the first people who heard it. No doubt some were offended to hear the Kingdom of God compared to leaven. But the people certainly used leaven most of the time. They were well acquainted with how it worked, and the point of the parable was simply the power of the leaven to transform. Leaven drastically changes the character of the whole batch of bread.
*Unleavened bread is a hard, dry, tasteless slab, like we have at the Lord's Supper. But bread baked with leaven is soft and porous, tasty, and good to eat. The introduction of the leaven causes a transformation in the dough. And God's Kingdom coming into our hearts causes a transformation in our lives." (4)
*The question is: How much influence does God's Kingdom have in our lives? Is the influence of God's Kingdom spreading wide in our hearts, and habits? Is it spreading in our families? And in our community?
*God's Kingdom is about transforming lives. And Dot Van is a good example for us today. For many years, Dot was one of those misguided people who thought you had to earn your way into Heaven. And she felt like she was good enough to go.
*I witnessed to Dot several times back in the 1990s. Her son went to church with us at Emmanuel Baptist. She had some good qualities, but had also made some very bad choices in life. And she was always very hard-hearted when we talked about the Lord. She didn't want anything to do with Jesus Christ.
*But the last time I saw Dot, she had completely changed. It was an astounding, glorious change! Dot was very sick with cancer at the time, but she did not complain. Instead, she took the time to tell me how she had been saved. God had started working on her heart 6 months earlier. The Lord showed her that she wasn't good enough to get into Heaven on her own. So, around Christmas in 1998, she asked Jesus to save her, and Dot told me, "I know that He has."
*You could hear it in her voice, and you could see it in her eyes. It was an amazing transformation! And I walked out of that hospital room a foot off the ground!
*That day, Dot also told me that when she got her cancer, God told her that it was going to be bad, but that was okay because He was going to be with her. And He was! As her son bent down to rub her forehead, Dot's last words were, "Jesus is with me son. -- Jesus is with me." And then she went home to be with the Lord.
*Dot was transformed by receiving Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. And God will transform you too, when you put your trust in Him. That's why Jesus wants to teach us about the power of His Kingdom to change our lives.
3. HE ALSO WANTS TO TEACH US ABOUT THE GRACE THAT GIVES US A PLACE IN HIS KINGDOM.
*In vs. 34-35, God reminds us of the amazing grace that lets us hear and understand these Kingdom truths. Matthew wrote:
34. All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them,
35. that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: "I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.''
*Remember that the Lord spoke in parables not just to reveal the truth, but also to conceal the truth from those who had rejected Him. As Jesus said back up in vs. 13-15:
13. I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
14. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: 'Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive;
15. for the heart of this people has grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their heart and turn, so that I should heal them.'"
*No matter how many miracles Jesus worked, and how many prophecies He fulfilled, people like the hardhearted Pharisee completely refused to receive the Lord. Romans 10:21 reports God's frustration from Isaiah 65:2, and "to Israel he says: 'All day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and contrary people.'''
*But not long after Jesus went back home to Heaven, thousands of the Jews would put their trust in the Lord. Now many millions more people have been saved. And all true believers would say, "What a blessing to hear and understand the good news about Jesus Christ! What a blessing to learn about the Kingdom of Heaven! This is the amazing grace of Almighty God!"
*Years ago, "The Baptist Message" reported on one of the many miraculous testimonies of Muslims being saved. This report came from a North African country where our missionaries are not welcomed, and it told the story of an unnamed Muslim man.
*One night this man dreamed he was in a boat on a river. In this dream, he was holding books about his Islamic religion. Then he looked up and saw Jesus coming toward his boat, walking on the water. Then Jesus gave the man another book and said, "Read this. It is the Book of Life."
*In his dream, the man threw his Islamic books into the river, and accepted the book from Jesus. Later, the man told his Muslim teacher about the dream. The teacher warned him that Christianity was dangerous and that he should ignore the dream. But that night, he had the same dream again!
*The next morning, he was disturbed as he went to his job selling cigarettes from a stand near the street. That day, the dreamer noticed a stranger sitting next to him at a stand that sold cigarette lighters. The stranger was reading a book. And when the dreamer learned that the book was a Bible, he asked the stranger where he could get one for himself, since Bibles are very hard to find in his country.
*That stranger gave him the copy he was reading! And the dreamer never saw that stranger again, but he started reading the Bible. And after several months he gave his heart to Jesus Christ! (5)
*No doubt, that was a miracle of God's amazing grace. But every salvation is a miracle of God's grace! Christians: Down through the centuries, God arranged a million or more circumstances to make sure that you were at the right place at the right time to hear, understand, and receive the truth about our crucified and risen Savior! God surely wants us to recognize the grace that gives us a place in His Kingdom.
4. AND HE WANTS TO TEACH US ABOUT THE VALUE OF HIS KINGDOM.
*In vs. 36-43 Jesus explained the parable of the wheat and the tares to His disciples. Then the Lord began to teach about the infinite value of God's Kingdom, and He helps us with two more parables.
*In vs. 44-46, Jesus said:
44. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
45. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls,
46. who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it."
*Why did the man have such great joy in vs. 44? -- Because he realized the value of the treasure. Both of these men were willing to sell everything they had to buy the treasures they had found. Have you discovered the treasure of God's Kingdom?
*My favorite treasure story is about Craig Randall. Back in 1996, Craig was 23 years old, and he drove a garbage truck for Waste Management near Boston. Sometimes Craig liked to bring his "work" home with him: There was an old-fashioned sewing machine he salvaged, also some books that he got from the trash.
*Then one day, Craig lifted a cup off a pile of trash. It was a contest cup from Wendy's. The week before, Craig had found another cup, and when he peeled the sticker, he won a chicken sandwich. This time, he figured he'd win some fries to go with it. But this time the sticker said: "Congratulations -- You have won $200,000 toward a new home." Church, that would be almost $350,000 in today's money! (6)
*That was a great treasure, but there is an infinitely greater treasure in your reach today. It's the Kingdom of Heaven. It's greater than anything else you could possibly have! God wants to give you the rich treasures of His Kingdom, and you can have them by receiving King Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
*This is why Romans 10:11-13 says, "'Whosoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.' For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For 'whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.''' And 2 Corinthians 8:9 tells Christians, "You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich."
CONCLUSION:
*The price for us to have the treasure of God's Kingdom was the blood Jesus shed for us when He died on the cross for our sins. But three days later, Jesus rose again from the dead, and He wants you to have a part in His Kingdom.
*Don't miss the treasures of the Kingdom of Heaven! Don't miss the best life you can have in this world and eternal life in the next. As we go back to God in prayer, call on King Jesus to save you, and start serving the King of all Kings.
(1) Sources:
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharisees
-BibleVerseStudy.com - "Who Were the Pharisees?" - https://www.bibleversestudy.com/johngospel/john7-pharisees.htm
(2) Tremendous in-depth explanation here: JOHN GILL'S EXPOSITION OF THE BIBLE by Dr. John Gill, D. D. - 1697-1771 - Published in 1746-1766, 1816 - Matthew 13:32 - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2021
(3) "UK Telegraph" - "China on Course to Become World's Most Christian Nation within 15 Years" - By Tom Phillips, Liushi, Zhejiang province - 19 Apr 2014 - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10776023/China-on-course-to-become-worlds-most-Christian-nation-within-15-years.html
(4) Adapted from BARCLAY'S DAILY BIBLE STUDY SERIES (NT) by William Barclay, Revised Edition (C) Copyright 1975 - First published by the Saint Andrew Press, Edinburgh, Scotland - The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, PA - "The Transforming Power of Christ" - Matthew 13:33 - https://bibleportal.com/commentary/chapter/william-barclay/matthew/13
(5) "The Baptist Message" 2001 - Exact issue unknown
(6) "Lexington Herald Leader," Lexington KY, Oct. 27, 1996, p. A8 - Source: Sermon: "The Cross We Do Not Want to See" by King Duncan - Passion/Palm Sunday, Matthew 26:14-27:66 - Source: "Dynamic Preaching" - March 1996, Vol. XI, No. 3
