PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM – THE THIRD - THE MUSTARD SEED - PART 4 of 4
We continue from last time and begin with practical matters to help prevent the evil of the mustard seed for gaining control. These will help in being overcomers.
COMING DOWN TO PRACTICAL ISSUES
The mustard seed started growing from the time of sowing which was in the Apostolic period, and slowly kept developing, but it was with Constantine that growth took steroids and grew into a monstrosity from then, and over the coming centuries, it took into its branches more and more foul birds of the air. The church became an utter disgrace with only a few who could be termed overcomers. Many of those foul doctrines and practices remained and are with us today.
Christians, especially young ones, must be nurtured and given the correct manna so that the young and the older members of Christ’s body are able to combat these birds of the air; that is, combat error. I have a few pointers that could assist.
[1]. KNOW YOUR BIBLE. A person who does not eat will starve. How many starving Christians are there on starvation rations because they deny themselves the true manna of the scriptures? We must know our bibles and not to do so is disgraceful. Ministers will be accountable for how they handle the word of God and the instruction in their churches. Going to church for a small ration on a Sunday, then for the rest of the week, the intake is nothing, is failure. You physically don’t eat that way, so don’t do it spiritually.
[2]. READ GOOD BIBLE COMMENTARIES. Don’t be waiting around to be spoon-fed like a helpless baby. The imperative is this – {{Romans 15:4 “Whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE SCRIPTURES we might have hope.”}} It is our responsibility to know the scriptures.
In my early Christian life starting as a teenager I was led to good commentaries by a godly man – I am speaking of the 1960s when books of that calibre were around. Today I am disappointed with a lot of the superficial stuff that is found in bookshops. Try to get older commentaries by reputable men.
When I was putting together material for my large series on Revelation that would extend for several years, I was pleasantly surprised with what I found on the site operated by The Singapore Bible College. They have a lot of resources. I could commend them. Of course you have SermonCentral obviously, but pick and choose there.
[3]. ATTEND REPUTABLE BIBLE STUDIES. This is a difficult one to say. I know the difficulty in finding one. Ask around trusted Christian friends. I hope you belong to a good bible believing and teaching church. We all come from different nations so there is nothing really I can recommend for your area.
[4]. KEEP YOURSELF INFORMED OF EVENTS. For any who might follow my writing and messages you know I have as one of my interests, current affairs. I like to keep abreast of what is happening, especially in the Midddle East and write on this sometimes. I also follow good sites on YouTube that keep you up to date. Again I mention Justin Peters and also TBN for what happens with Israel. I recommend Charles Stanley but not his son. Current events shed light on bible prophecy. I would issue a caution about some sites on YouTube. Be wise.
[5]. TRAIN YOUR OWN CHILDREN. In my nation (Australia) the whole of the education curricula is now a socialist and WOKE exercise. It is disgraceful. Decency has gone and all these social abnormalities are being pushed in the classroom and by governments. It most certainly is anti-Christian and anti-Israel. It is run by humanism. I can not speak for your own particular nation. This is the reason why some Christian parents send their kids to “Christian schools”, even the Catholic ones in the hope a more moral and biblical standard is maintained.
However parents must supervise their children and examine what the school agenda is. Keep an eye on things. Guide your kids.
[6]. STUDY DOCTRINE AND HISTORY. What??? Some people think this just too boring, but let me tell you, what goes around comes around. There is nothing new under the sun. You really need to study doctrine, but from only top sources. You want men of standing. When you study doctrine ALONG WITH YOUR BIBLE you will understand the foundations of your faith, and error will not creep up on you to overcome you. Be will informed.
I can’t quite recall the words but they go something like this – “Doctrine is the skeleton on which your faith is built up to become a whole man.” Without the correct biblical doctrinal stance you collapse in a heap. That is one of the problems with many of these mega churches – plenty of hype but little foundation. Skeletons with VERY impoverished bones that keep collapsing.
Church History is very helpful. As you read systematically through some of those you can see all the problems and the efforts to combat them by ones through the centuries. There are some good church histories available and I have a couple of good ones. Sadly, in these days more and more good books of the past one to two centuries are now out of print.
You can ask at certain conservative colleges and institutions for help with this. I have mentioned Singapore Bible College and I would thoroughly recommend Dallas Theological Seminary. Moody Bible Institute used to be good. I am not sure where it stands today – I have not looked into it. Again – very sadly – news has been coming to me that is disturbing about some of the great strongholds of fundamental conservative teaching in the past now becoming more liberal. This applies to one of the top Southern Baptist theological colleges in the USA and one top man.
[7]. SEEKING CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. To ensure against the doctrines of foul birds of the air you (as the wheat plant) must be strong to combat the thorny attack and to do that you must have (a) good roots in the soil and (b) stand up tall to seek the sun.
(a). Translating that to Christian behaviour, put your roots down into the Lord through faith and don’t forget the streams of living water. {{Psalm 1:3 “and he will be like a tree firmly planted by STREAMS OF WATER which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither and in whatever he does, he prospers.”}} {{Jeremiah 17:7-8 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD and whose trust is the LORD, for he will be like a tree PLANTED BY THE WATER, THAT EXTENDS ITS ROOTS BY A STREAM and will not fear when the heat comes, but its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought, nor cease to yield fruit.”}} The stream is the Holy Spirit’s supply for you and the nourishment coming from the Lord. Your roots into God’s provision must be strong.
(b). Then the second one - stand up tall and seek the sun. In that way you will not be choked by the evils of the world we looked at in the Parable of the Sower. In faith you will rise up and defeat those insidious doctrines of the birds of the air that have taken lodgment everywhere.
With caution I will tell you about myself. One of the most blessed times I have ever had was when I was about 18 to 20 in Brisbane. A couple had come from Northern Ireland with a whole lot of reel-to-reel tapes on a Baptist preacher called Willie Mullan. I am speaking or around 1962. I used to walk every week to his place to listen to those tapes and they built me up far more than I can say. Just after that I had my own reel-to-reel tape recorder – YES!! That was old technology, but the recent then.
About that time I began obtaining good bible commentaries and these really blessed me. You might go to church to be fed but you must definitely feed yourself. God does that through His word and through the ministry of others. Seek out knowledge so you will stand tall so you can look unhindered to the wonderful Lord.
The following two verses I have taken a little bit of liberty with. I know what they mean but I also like to think that the Lord’s light has come for me and His glory has risen for me. You will not see that if your outlook is darkened by birds of the air, and you are looking elsewhere. LOOK TO THE LORD! – {{Isaiah 60:1-2 “ARISE, SHINE, FOR YOUR LIGHT HAS COME, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. Behold, darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples but the LORD will rise upon you and His glory will appear upon you”}}
Although this next verse applies to the Lord’s Second Coming, I like to make a small application from it. For those who fear (and love) the Lord, the sun of righteousness (more accurately the Sun of Righteousness = Messiah) will arise and we stand up tall to accept the glory of the Lord Jesus. {{Malachi 4:2 “But for you who fear My name THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.”}} Stand up tall and look to the Sun/Son of Righteousness.
In seeking Christian ministry, do not be lazy. Do not have confused priorities. Do not have your fingers in the world as your first love. Do not accept the evil doctrines from the mustard tree. Rather, seek good ministry. Study the word carefully. Obtain good Christian publications and newspapers if you can. There is plenty on the Internet, but be VERY cautious for many deceivers are out there who have lodged in the mustard tree.
THE CONCLUSION – WRAPPING IT ALL UP
When the Sower planted the mustard seed it was never meant to grow more than 3 to 6 feet in height, a mustard shrub. It became a monstrosity, and in doing so, it made way for the evil birds of the air (usually unclean birds of prey) to take refuge in its branches and thrive. The normal teaching on this parable is not correct. That incorrect idea has remained with the church for centuries.
All these parables of the Kingdom span the facets of the Kingdom and the place they have in Church History. We saw that for the Sower, and the Tares, and for this current parable. Each of the 7 churches of Asia matches the parables, AND IN ORDER. The mustard seed matches the church at Pergamum with its problems we looked at.
True Christianity became Professing Christianity, which permeated throughout the whole world where the gospel was known, caused by all the unclean paganism entering in, changing it into a monstrous thing. This all happened after Constantine entered the church, an unsaved pagan who brought Babylonian beliefs into the church. He married the church to the world and to false teaching and practice. Pergamum means “married twice” and Constantine was responsible for the second marriage. One evil bird after another took lodging in the mustard tree and over time started to take control. Paganism was continuing to be added into the life of the church. Indeed the church was twice married and the world and paganism was gaining the upper hand.
Nevertheless, there were still those who like the faithful in Pergamum, remained faithful to the Lord in that period, though their numbers were small.
THE PERIOD OF CHURCH HISTORY
We saw that the Sower (Ephesus church) covered the Apostolic period.
We saw that the Tares (Smyrna church) covered the great persecutions of the suffering church up to A.D. 312 under 10 severe Roman edicts.
Now the Mustard Seed (Pergamum church) covers the historic period from 312 A.D. up until when? Well there is no cut off point but this historic period lasted for centuries until the early growth of the distinctive Roman Catholic church. Over the centuries many non-biblical doctrines and practices were added. It grew into the world dominated by the awful church of the Middle Ages and beyond. I think Pope Gregory the Great had something to do with the change, but we will do that next time when we look at the Parable of the Leaven.
God bless you all.
