How many of you like mustard on your sandwich? How many of you like it on a grilled cheese sandwich?
Mustard is one of those things that you either like or you don’t.
Jesus compared the Kingdom of God with a tiny mustard seed, so today we are going to learn some life lessons from what Jesus taught.
Jesus often used agriculture as a backdrop for His parables. Since the whether has been so pleasant lately, I know many of you gardners out there are chomping on the bit to start planting.
Turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 13:1
Before Jesus gets to His mustard parable, he first addresses mankind’s basic need for God.
13:1 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them-do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."
Jesus cuts right to the heart. He breaks the happy little bubble most people walk around with. He does it by asking the question – “were these people worse than anybody else?” In other words, were they more evil and more deserving of punishment than the average citizen? The answer of corse is no!
Ask the average American what makes them eligible for heaven and they’ll tell you that they believe God will allow them into heaven because they’ve been “good” or that they’ve “done their best in life and never hurt anybody.”
Save you’re “I’ve been good” stories for Santa Clause, because the Bible says that there is no one who is good enough to get into heaven. There is only one way into heaven and that is by first of all getting to know Jesus and then following Him as a disciple.
Jesus uses the word “repent” here. What exactly does he mean?
What do you think of when you hear the word “repent?”
I think of some fired up preacher screaming out, “Turn or burn!”
To “repent” means to turn, to change course, to go a different direction. It involves your total being. You repent with your mind, your body and your soul.
Repentance is a two step process. First, you turn away from the direction your life is taking and Second, you move yourself in a direction back toward God.
Maybe your life is falling down around you and you’re wondering what to do.
Perhaps your life is great right now, but you have an empty feeling inside that you can’t seem to fill.
Or, you could be going through life happy as a clam. Watch out, because eventually someone will come along and dig you up and throw you into their chowder pot. Then what will you do?
May I make a suggestion here? (softly) Repent. Stop what you’re doing and turn away from your lifestyle and start heading toward God.
Everything else has disappointed.
All the money in the world can’t make you happy.
All the drugs and booze can’t make you happy.
All the wild living can’t make you happy.
There is only one way to be truly happy and that is to turn to God.
And when you turn to God, don’t just do it 25% - 50% - or even 75%, but turn to Him %100 – and He won’t let you down!
Alright, back to the garden.
Luke 13:6-9
6 (Jesus) told this parable: "A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, `For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’
8 "`Sir,’ the man replied, `leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’"
In this parable God is the owner of the vineyard. He had you and everybody else planted in His vineyard. He is a proud vineyard owner. The implication of this parable is that God is full of anticipation about his plants. He expects His plants to grow and to bear fruit. He wants you to grow. He’s on your side. He’s for you %100. He keeps checking for your life to see if it is bearing fruit.
There are a lot of people in this world who are empty fruit trees.
They do all the “fruit tree” stuff. They start out looking good, budding, filling out with leaves. Oh, they look the part on the outside, but inside they don’t have the right stuff. Try as they may, they still come up empty at the end of the season.
God gives them several chances – still no fruit.
Finally, God gives up on the tree and gives the order to remove it. He’s thinking that He will replace it with another plant or tree that will bear fruit.
Jesus (represented as the gardner in the parable) steps in and prevents you from being pulled up by your roots. He pleads your case and is able to get you one more chance.
He tells God that He is going to dig around your root system, ariate the soil, fertalize you real good, water you, prune you, keep the bugs off you, do everything He can to get you to produce fruit – any fruit.
The agreement is that if you produce fruit by this time next year – great, if not (pause) you’re out-O-here!
Cut down and cut up for fire wood. (Get the picture?)
As a Pastor, I see people heading in the wrong direction all the time. Sometimes I have the opportunity to warn them and they change course before it’s too late.
For many people it’s already too late. They took the wrong turn, headed down the wrong road and as a result their lives are more tangled up than a jumbled ball of string. Perhaps that’s you today.
The good news is that Jesus has already talked to God about you. Jesus was able to win a reprieve for you. You have another chance!
Jesus wants, to work your roots, improve your soil conditions, prune you, and care for you like a master gardner.
Listen, if you’ve ever had God prune you, it’s a painful process, but a necessary one. It’s for your own good.
Give Jesus the Master Gardner, a chance to work with you. Turn away from your present lifestyle and turn your life over to Him.
Luke 13:10-17
10 On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, 11 and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, "Woman, you are set free from your infirmity." 13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.
Some of you may know someone who has been emotionally crippled for years. Someone who has suffered emotional pain for so long that their physical condition is affected by it.
Perhaps they are all bent over with a spirit of addiction, bitterness or self pity.
They live hopeless lives – joyless lives.
But listen, there is good news, Jesus is still in the business of setting people free.
He set this woman free, and he can set you or anyone else free and the result will be that they will straighten up and praise God. Aman !??
14 Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, "There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath."
The Old Testament Law required that the Jewish people set aside the sabboath day as a special holy day. A day of rest, worship and family time. No commercial work was to be done on the sabboth day.
Over time the Jews kept adding to this basic law, making man-made rule after rule until it was just rediculous. The Jews wern’t worshiping God – no, they were worshiping their ritual and customs. They wern’t honoring God, they were instead making it harder for people to truly worship God.
So this guy stands up and criticizes Jesus and accuses Him of working on the sabboth which would be a violation of the Old Testament law.
You know, when ever God starts to move, there is criticism.
When God starts to move, there are those people who try to put a wet blanket over the whole thing. Wellllllll – This is what God has to say to that.
15 The Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? 16 Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?"
17 When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.
Jesus is still doing wonderful things today.
Luke 13:18-21
18 Then Jesus asked, "What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? 19 It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air perched in its branches."
20 Again he asked, "What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? 21 It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough."
This parable has a multiple meaning.
Given what just happened when He encountered opposition in the synagogue, He tells this parable to demonstrate that nothing can stop the Kingdom of God.
Jesus insists that the Kingdom of God will grow. It started small with a baby laying in a manger (like a small mustard seed) and it grew quickly and spread all over the then known world.
The mustard seed is an annual, and it’s seeds are tiny. Yet when fully grown several varrieties of mustard plants get ten to twelve feet high in one growing season!
In the same way yeast permiates dough and causes it to rise, so to the Kingdom of God spreads all over the world.
Now, that’s the first meaning.
The second meaning is that God plants a small seed in our hearts and lives and it grows. If we are careful to tend that tender plant of faith, we will see it grow strong, branch out and bear fruit.
In the same way the yeast of God will permiate our lives and make us mature and ready for the oven.
Wait a minute – did you say ready for the oven?
That’s right, Jesus doesn’t promise you a rose garden. He doesn’t promise to solve all your problems and make life an easy path, No, He actually promises you tribulation.
What kind of good news is that preacher? It’s great news, because #1 He will prepare you for the trials ahead.
How many of you know it’s better to be prepared for an emergency than not?
And #2 He will see you through the trials in your life.
He was there in the firery furnace with the Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego and He’ll be there with you.
Now what happens when you put dough with yeast into the oven?
Right – you get bread.
What is the Kingdom of God like? I’ll tell you what it is, it’s Jesus making something special out of your life.
It’s Jesus mixing all your ingredients together with his yeast and then kneeding you, letting you rise, thrusting you into the oven and bringing you out again a finished product. Healthy, mature and able to feed others.
It doesn’t matter how messed up your life is, Jesus can mix in the right ingredients to salvage you and give you purpose and meaning in your life.
Let Jesus kneed you, let him mould and shape you, trust Him in the fires of life’s difficulty and you will emerge a new person.
INVITATION:
Perhaps you are a person who is considering Jesus. Maybe you’ve heard invitations to become a disciple of Christ before, but you didn’t see a need at the time to make a decision to turn toward God. It’s time. It’s time for you to come home to Jesus.
Perhaps you’re a person who knew Jesus at one time of your life, but for a lot of reasons, you stopped following Him and took the wrong turn, went down the wrong road, and now you want to get back on the road with Jesus.
If you want to become a follower of Jesus today say this prayer quietly there where you are seated. Follow after me as I lead you in the prayer of faith:
O God, I recognize that I am a sinner,
that I stand in peril of suffering eternity in hell.
Please forgive me of my sins.
Jesus, come into my heart and be Lord of my life.
I renounce my old way of life and turn away from it.
Now I confess you as my Lord and savior.
Thank you for loving me and dying on the cross for me.
Holy Spirit, please lead and direct my life from now on. Amen
If you made a commitment to follow Jesus today, please mark that on the back of the attendance card and put it into the offering when it comes by.
