WHAT DOES GOD EXPECT FROM ME?
Matthew 13:31-33;44-50
July 14, 2002
Pastor Steve Dow
INTRODUCTION:
Too many Christians today take their religion too lightly. Commitment among Christians is at an all time low? The Bible commands us to give ten percent of our income to God and yet the average Wesleyan gives only three percent and that is higher than many other denominations. The Bible tells us that we are to minister to one another and yet few are actively involved in local church ministry and yet they expect to be ministered too. There is little or no statistical difference between the way the average professing Christian lives and the way the average unbeliever lives. Both divorce at the same rate. Both cheat on there taxes at the same rate. Both attend dirty movies at similar rates. Why is that you ask? Well, as we look through these parables today we will discover that it is in part due to the fact that the kingdom is easy to overlook. It is easy to overlook for at least three reasons. First, the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which was the smallest known seed at that time. It is easy to overlook the small things in life. Second, the kingdom of heaven is like a hidden treasure. If you’re not looking for it, you will probably miss it. Third, the kingdom of heaven is like a fisherman’s dragnet, which is easy to overlook because it does it’s work below the surface. Jesus said, “...the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). Because the kingdom of God is not an external, physical kingdom many people today overlook it’s importance.
However, as we talk through these parables together we will also see that they teach us about the greatness of God’s kingdom. Because God’s kingdom is so great we cannot afford to take it lightly. Because God’s kingdom is so great, there are high expectations placed on those who would enter in.
An interesting cartoon shows a fourth grade boy standing toe-to-toe and nose-to-nose with his teacher. Behind them stares a blackboard covered with math problems the boy hasn’t finished.
With rare perception the boy says, “I’m not an underachiever, you’re an overexpecter!” (Today in the Word, MBI, April, 1990, p.30)
Many professing Christians are just like that little boy. They deny that they are underachievers in the faith while at the same time accusing God of being an overexpecter -- of setting his expectations for them too high. Unfortunately this attitude is running rampant in our society these days, especially in some educational circles. Some educators believe that you shouldn’t tell a child if she got an answer wrong. Rather you should just encourage her for even trying so that you can boost her self-esteem because feeling good about yourself is more important than getting the answer right. I think students should feel good about themselves because they got the answer right. This type of education has led America to be ranked number one in several academic categories. For example, America is ranked number one in illiteracy for all developed countries. Now there’s something to feel good about! Unfortunately, this attitude has crept into many Christian circles as well and as a result we Christians who are interested in a religion that makes them feel good about themselves rather than a religion that changes their lives. However, a religion that does not transform every area of your life is a religion that is not worth having.
GOD EXPECTS ME TO . . .
1. SACRIFICE ALL I AM AND HAVE FOR HIS KINGDOM. (13:44-46)
THE PRICE OF GOD’S KINGDOM
Let’s begin by looking at the Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl. From these parables we learn that it is easy to overlook or dismiss God’s kingdom because it is hidden. The man who found the pearl of great price was the man who looked for it. So it is with with finding God’s kingdom. We also learn from these parables that the kingdom of God is incredibly valuable. The treasure and the pearl were both so valuable that the men who found them were willing to sacrifice everything they had in order to obtain them.
All too often Christians fail to realize the value of God’s kingdom. They are like a man I read about recently who had thrown out an old Bible that had been stored in the attic of his ancestral home for generations. He met an acquaintance who loved old books.
“I couldn’t read it,” he explained. “Somebody name Guten-something had printed it.”
“Not Gutenberg!” the book lover exclaimed in horror. “That Bible was one of the first books ever printed. Why, a copy just sold for over two million dollars!”
His friend was unimpressed. “Mine wouldn’t have brought a dollar. Some guy named Martin Luther had scribbled all over it in German.” (Our Daily Bread, June 7, 1994). Someone once said, “We know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.” This man had taken an invaluable treasure and treated it like common garbage. Too many do the same with God’s kingdom. But the scripture says that it should be the other way around. We should treat everything else as garbage that we might have the kingdom of God. The apostle Paul said, “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ...” (Philippians 3:8). In fact the kingdom of God is so valuable that it is completely beyond your ability to comprehend it. “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
No person, position, or possession is worth missing out on God’s kingdom. You may not have to give up everything for God’s kingdom, but you must be willing to. A student at Dallas Theological Seminary several years ago was struggling with God’s call on his life. He had told God that he was willing to go anywhere to serve him, but Africa. He struggled with this for months as his graduation approached. But finally he was able to tell God that he was willing to go even to Africa for Him. As soon as he had settled that in his heart he had total peace. And guess what? God didn’t send him to Africa. After is graduation he got a job teaching at that same seminary. God didn’t want him to go to Africa, but God wanted him to be willing to go to Africa. Is there anything in your life that you would be unwilling to give up if God asked you to? If there is, you need to confess this to God as sin and ask for his forgiveness. You also need to ask Him to help you to be released from the hold that this thing has on your life so that you can truly give Him first place. It’s time to stop taking your religion so lightly and sacrifice all you are and have for God’s kingdom.
2. SEEK AFTER PERSONAL HOLINESS IN MY LIFE.
(13:47-50)
THE PURITY OF GOD’S KINGDOM
Now let us turn our attention to the parable of the net. The net in this parable is a dragnet that would be drawn between two boats in a wide semicircle. The net would be easy to overlook because it does its work below the surface yet without it the fishermen would soon be out of business. The Bible tells us that this net caught all kinds of fish, but when it was dragged to shore and the fish were sorted there were only two categories that mattered -- good or bad. The meaning of the parable is that only good people will ultimately enter God’s kingdom. Before you get smug and think that you’re a good person and so your all set, let’s take a closer look at what the word ‘good’ actually means. The word ‘good’ literally means “to have excellent qualities, pious, moral, unblemished.” This word means a great deal more than we typically think it does. It also means “fit for.” In other words only those who are “fit for” God’s kingdom will be able to enter it. Because of the purity of God’s kingdom we must seek after holiness. The Bible tells us to “Pursue...holiness...” (Hebrews 12:14). The Phillips paraphrase of that verse says, “Let it be your ambition...to achieve holiness...”
In the forests of northern Europe and Asia lives a little animal called the ermine, known for his snow-white fur in winter. He instinctively protects his white coat against anything that would soil it. Fur hunters take advantage of this unusual trait of the ermine. They don’t set a snare to catch him, but instead they find his home, which is usually a cleft in a rock or a hollow in an old tree. They smear the entrance and interior with grim. Then the hunters set their dogs loose to find and chase the ermine. The frightened animal flees toward home but doesn’t enter because of the filth. Rather than soil his white coat, he is trapped by the dogs and captured while preserving his purity. For the ermine, purity is more precious than life. (Our Daily Bread, April 21, 1997)
God commands us to be holy. “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all your do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:15,16). Steve DeNeff, a Wesleyan pastor, gives us some advice on how to pursue holiness in his book “Whatever Became of Holiness.” He advises us to do the following: study the Bible as though your life depended on it, pursue all the knowledge of Christ you can, show up for church services with inquisitive minds, schedule “hour-long monasteries,” expose yourself to great Christians of the past, pray more and pray longer, travel in pairs (have an accountability partner), take your religion literally, and stay alert for the moment when God would sanctify you. This is not a legalistic list of things you must do in order to be considered “holy” by the people in our church. Doing them simply for the sake of doing them will never make you holy -- so it isn’t a magic formula for holiness either. It is simply sound, biblically based advice for those who wish to pursue a deeper relationship with their God.
It is time to stop taking your religion so lightly, sacrifice all you are and have for God’s kingdom, and seek after personal holiness in your life.
3. SERVE THE NEEDS OF OTHERS. (13:31-33)
THE POWER OF GOD’S KINGDOM
Finally, let’s turn our attention to the parables of the mustard seed and the yeast. The mustard seed is not the smallest seed in the world, but it was the smallest known seed in Jesus’ day. These seeds are so small that it would take 20,000 of them to make one ounce and yet this small seed will grow into a twelve to fifteen foot tall tree. They become large enough to provide shelter for the birds. The kingdom of God may seem small in the beginning and, therefore, easy to overlook, but the kingdom grows to dominance and has the power to provide shelter for the needy people of the world.
Likewise, the yeast may seem like a small and insignificant ingredient, but it has a big role to play. The yeast does not change the dough into something else, but it does transform it and give it new power. Only with the yeast does the dough have the power to rise. So only by the grace of God does man have the power to rise above his sinful nature and begin to live a life pleasing to God. But before this can happen the yeast must first be worked into the dough. So we are to be in the leavening business -- leavening souls. Both of these parables speak of the awesome power of God’s kingdom and both point to the fact that this power is to be used in the service of others. That is whey the Bible says, “...serve one another in love” (Galatians 5:13). Paul also said, Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). Because God commands us to use His power to serve others, we should not be surprised that a life of service is essential to a spiritually productive life.
Unamuno, the Spanish philosopher, tells about the Roman aqueduct a Segovia, in his native Spain. It was built in 109 A.D. For eighteen hundred years, it carried cool water from the mountains to the hot and thirsty city. Nearly sixty generations of men drank from its flow.
Then came another generation, a recent one, who said, “This aqueduct is so great a marvel that it ought to be preserved for our children, as a museum piece. We shall relieve it of its centuries-long labor.”
They did; they laid modern iron pipes. They gave the ancient bricks and mortar a reverent rest. And the aqueduct began to fall apart. The sun beating on the dry mortar caused it to crumble. The bricks and stone sagged and threatened to fall. What ages of service could not destroy idleness disintegrated. (Resource, Sept./Oct., 1992, p. 4) If you don’t use it, you lose it. If you don’t use God’s power to serve the needs of other, you will lose His power in your life.
In what ways should we use God’s power to serve other? Well, I believe that there are at least two ways that are suggested by these parables. First, I believe we are to minister to the felt needs of our community. The tiny mustard seed grew into a tree and provided shelter for the birds. Over and over again throughout his ministry Jesus provided for the needs of those he came in contact with. When people were hungry and there was no food to be found, Jesus fed them. When people were hurting and there was no known cure, Jesus healed them. If we are to follow in Jesus footsteps, we must use his power to continue his ministry of service to the community. Second, just as the woman worked the yeast into the dough so we must work the gospel message into our community. Community service will open doors for us to share the gospel with people who otherwise never would give us a hearing. John Maxwell says, “People don’t care how much know until they know how much you care.”
CONCLUSION:
On a trip to Haiti, Dale A. Hays, heard a Haitian pastor illustrate to his congregation the need for total commitment to Christ. His parable:
A certain man wanted to sell his house for $2,000. Another man wanted very badly to buy it, but because he was poor, he couldn’t afford the full price. After much bargaining, the owner agreed to sell the house for half the original price with just one stipulation -- he would retain ownership of one small nail protruding from just over the door.
After several years, the original owner wanted the house back, but the new owner was unwilling to sell. So the first owner went out, found the carcass of a dead dog, and hung it from the single nail he still owned. Soon the house became unlivable, and the family was forced to sell the house to the owner of the nail.
The Haitian pastor’s conclusion: “If we leave the Devil with even once small peg in our life, he will return to hang his rotting garbage on it, making it unfit for Christ’s habitation.” (Dale A. Hays, Leadership, vol. X, No. 3 [Summer, 1989], p.35)
It’s time to stop taking your religion so lightly, sacrifice all you are and have for God’s kingdom, seek after personal holiness in your life, and serve the needs of others because that is what God expects.
Pastor Steve Dow
Heritage Wesleyan Church
www.forministry.com/80909hwc
heritagewesleyan@hotmail.com
Please email me if you use this sermon or a revision of it in your church. Thank You.
STUDY GUIDE:
HOW TO MEET GOD’S EXPECTATIONS
Matthew 13:31-33,44-50
July 14, 2002
God Expects Me To . . .
1. _______________ All I Am and Have for His Kingdom.
(13:44-46)
THE PRICE OF GOD’S KINGDOM
“I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ...” Philippians 3:8
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9
2. _______________ After Personal Holiness in My Life.
(13:47-50)
THE PURITY OF GOD’S KINGDOM
“Pursue peace with all men, and holiness...”
Hebrews 12:14 (NKJV)
“Let it be your ambition...to achieve holiness...” (Phillips)
“But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’” 1 Peter 1:15,16
3. _______________ the Needs of Others. (13:31-33)
THE POWER OF GOD’S KINGDOM
“Serve one another in love.” Galatians 5:13
“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
Galatians 6:2
