As those kids are heading out, you can turn with me in your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke. You can hear me over the stampede. We're going to be looking in Luke's Gospel at chapter 13 this morning, continuing in our series, "Kingdom Come."
Now, the title of our sermon series, "Kingdom Come," is going to be seen in the text itself. We're going to be seeing again this morning that idea of the Kingdom of God coming to the forefront. It's one of Luke's favorite themes in the entire Gospel.
What does the Kingdom of God mean? I can remember all the way back being in university, being in college and sitting in a class on the life and teachings of Jesus and trying to unpack this notion of the Kingdom. We spent a whole week just looking at the notion of the Kingdom. It's a tricky thing to understand for a variety of reasons. First, it's a little bit elusive for us because we're not really used to thinking about kingdoms. Or about the kings who rule them? When we think of kings and queens, we tend to think of impotent figurehead monarchs in Great Britain, right? And maybe you think of tabloids or weddings or big hats and dresses when you think of monarchs. That's kind of really all we associate with it. In Jesus' day though, the kings held absolute power. There were no parliaments to check that power. And so when Luke writes about the kingdom, His audience isn't thinking of royal weddings. They're thinking of something much, much more significant and substantial.
The notion of the kingdom is also elusive because this idea isn't really talking about the place where God rules. We hear kingdom and we kind of associate with the idea of nation and we think of boundaries and borders, right? But the Kingdom of God isn't about a boundary or a border. The Kingdom of God is about the reign of God, about the kingship of God. It's talking about the reality that God does, in fact, rule. It's not talking about the reign of God on a map. It's talking about the reign of God, especially in the hearts of men and women.
More than all of this though, the Kingdom in Luke's Gospel is an active thing. Throughout the Gospel, Jesus speaks of the Kingdom and He regards it as this powerful thing that He's trying to describe to the disciples. And at the same time, it's frustrating because He keeps telling the disciples and the crowds that they're not grasping what the Kingdom is. They don't seem to understand what He's talking about, and so He tries different techniques and parables to to help them understand what this thing is.
What is clear is that Jesus is central to the kingdom. Jesus, God's word, Luke's Gospel shows us, is the primary agent of the kingdom. His ministry and the good news he proclaims is actually bringing the kingdom to bear. In a way that's never happened before in the history of the world.
6 · Clarifies the relationship between the Kingdom and the Church
And it's this Kingdom, Jesus teaches us, that actually creates the Church. The Church is made up of citizens of the Kingdom. But it's also important to realize that the Kingdom isn't synonymous with the Church. So while the Church bears witness to the Kingdom and is an instrument of the Kingdom, it's the Kingdom that creates the people of God.
7 · Transitions from the introductory exposition on the nature of the Kingdom to the reading of the primary text
So with all of those things in mind, those kind of frames of reference for what the Kingdom is, let's look at Luke 13:18 and following.
8 · Full reading of the primary text, Luke 13:18-35
Hear God's holy and authoritative Word. "He," Jesus, "said therefore, 'What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed.'" The man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.' And again He said, 'To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in 3 measures of flour until it was all leavened.' He went on His way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying towards Jerusalem. And someone said to Him, 'Lord, Will those who are saved be few?' And He said to them, 'Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, "Lord, open to us," then he will answer you, "I do not know where you come from." Then you will begin to say, "We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets." But He will say, 'I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from Me, all you workers of evil!' In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves cast out. And people will come from east and west and from north and south and recline at table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, And some are first who will be last. At the very same hour, some Pharisees came and said to Him, get away from here, for Herod wants to kill You. And He said to them, go and tell that fox, behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish My course. Nevertheless, I must go on My way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is forsaken! And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!' The word of the Lord, may He write its truth upon our hearts.
9 · States the sermon's controlling proposition: the Kingdom of God begins small and contrary to expectation
We see in Luke 13, the notion of the Kingdom comes back to the forefront. We also see here that the Kingdom is not what we expect. It's not this grandiose thing, at least as it first appears. It's actually a Kingdom of small beginnings. Jesus shows us the Kingdom is something of small beginnings.
10 · Draws attention to the narrative context — Jesus is responding to immediately preceding events
Now the context is important. He pauses in the middle of an ongoing narrative to tell His disciples about the Kingdom. And He says, "Therefore, He began to tell them or wondered, 'How shall I describe the Kingdom?'" Well, that tips us off. He's saying this in the context of what's immediately happened.
11 · References the previous week's sermon to establish narrative continuity
You remember, we looked just a week ago at Jesus healing a woman who was bent on the Sabbath.
12 · Exposits the narrative context that provokes Jesus' Kingdom parables
18 years she was afflicted. A demonic oppression. And so Jesus heals her. And what happens then? Well, all the religious rulers begin grumbling that He shouldn't be healing on the Sabbath. There's backlash from the religious leaders. This is becoming a trend. The leaders of Israel don't trust Jesus. They're not buying into the message. In fact, they're starting to oppose it and the crowds are starting to be swayed by it. And so if the entire leadership apparatus of Israel is on one side and you're over here, 12 men with Jesus on the other, it's probably a little bit discouraging.
13 · Explains the pastoral function of the parables — they are meant to combat the disciples' discouragement
So Jesus tells two brief parables about a mustard seed and about leaven to help battle that discouragement. The backlash from the rulers and the outward appearance of the kingdom and its power and influence Jesus is telling them is not an accurate measure of the effectiveness of the Kingdom. Yes, everyone who's influential today seems to be against us. And yes, we're talking about big, grand, glorious things, and it's still just this small group of people. But don't be deceived by first appearances.
14 · Pivots from the disciples' context to the contemporary application
And that's actually really helpful for us.
15 · Applies the disciples' discouragement to the contemporary situation
There's no denying that we live in an increasingly post-Christian culture in the West and in America. So Christians and Christianity don't hold the position of dominance we once did. We aren't in the majority any longer. Polls tell us this all the time. Not only aren't we in the majority, there's increasing opposition from people who are in those positions of power. And you can look at that and you can look at the world or you just watch the news And it can become discouraging. You start to have a sense of what the disciples are feeling. It can lead to uncertainty, to questioning.
16 · Asserts Jesus' sovereign unconcern about cultural opposition and numerical smallness
But none of that concerns Jesus. Because you see, the kingdom is a thing of small beginnings.
17 · Exposits the mustard seed parable by explaining the agricultural reality
It's like a mustard seed. Now, a mustard seed, if you've ever seen a mustard seed, you could put it in the palm of your hand and it would look like a grain of sand. It's that small. It's a tiny, tiny herb seed. You can barely see it. And yet it grows to 10 to 12 feet in height. It's this massive herb that grows so large it almost looks like a tree and birds can actually rest in its branches.
18 · Applies the mustard seed imagery to the Kingdom
Jesus says the kingdom is like this inconsequential mustard seed. It appears small. It looks wholly insignificant. But even from something so small, God can bring about something of cosmic significance. Small, insignificant things can have incredibly large effects. Jesus is saying, don't despise the potential of small beginnings. They can achieve profound and extensive results.
19 · Illustrates the mustard seed principle through the church in China
A helpful example of this is the church in China. At the start of the 20th century, there were a mere 2 million believers in the entire country of China. Up to that point, they had already faced significant persecution. There had already been growing pressure against them. And then when the Communists came to power, the backlash became even more severe. Now, 2 million sounds like a big number, right? But when you think of that in the context of China, it means that Christians make up less than 0.5% of the population. So less than 0.5% of the population of China was Christian. And now as governments were changing and communism was coming into power, they were facing stiffer and stiffer persecution. They were being put to death and imprisoned. Part of the goal of Communist China was to literally eradicate it and push it out to squelch its power. You want to talk about mustard seed type stuff? We lament that evangelicals make up less than 50% of the U.S. What if the polls were saying we make up less than 0.5%? How do you think about the effect of what God is doing in the midst of your nation when that's the context? And yet you fast forward today and believers in China, estimates say, are now more than 100 million. They've gone from 2 million to more than 100 million. No one would have predicted this 100 years ago. And this cultural ascendancy didn't happen because they took the reins of power from the communists. It wasn't that they suddenly gained favored status. Persecution and restriction still reigned, but the mustard seed power of the Kingdom of God was at play. And so 2 million beleaguered, persecuted believers multiplied. And grew and expanded. Now China has more Christians than any other nation on earth. It's a remarkable thing that's happening in that context. The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed.
20 · Introduces the second parable — the Kingdom as yeast
It's also like yeast. Now yeast is something that works silently. It's unseen. It works from the inside, but it affects everything. It wields, yeast does, this incredibly transforming power.
21 · Exposits the yeast parable in detail
Jesus says the kingdom, the kingdom of God is like a small amount of leaven, a little bit of yeast that's put in the midst of flour. And if you leave it alone, it's going to spread throughout the entire loaf of dough. And he says it's like taking a little yeast and putting it in 3 measures. What are 3 measures? 3 measures means it's enough dough to feed 100 people. So Jesus says the kingdom of God is like taking a small amount of yeast and putting it in the midst of a significant amount of flour, and it will spread and transform and infect all of the bread.
22 · Clarifies that the Kingdom's expansion is not about God becoming more sovereign (He is already absolutely sovereign) but about His reign unfolding and being increasingly recognized
The parable of the yeast explains that like yeast, The reign of God transforms human history by infusing into its activity the invisible spirit and power of God. It's the expanding recognition of God's reign. It's not that God is becoming more and more sovereign as history unfolds, right? It's not like God is more sovereign in China because now there's 100 million Christians versus 2 million, or that he's less sovereign in the US as Christians seem to be diminishing in political power. That's not the case at all. Rather, Christ's sovereign reign is unfolding and coming more and more to bear. More and more people are surrendering their hearts in faith.
23 · Establishes the eschatological dimension of the Kingdom
Part of the Kingdom is looking forward. That now, in certain places, in certain contexts, it looks like a mustard seed. It looks like a small amount of yeast. But at the final consummation when Christ returns, we're going to see that it has had massive transforming effects. And so awareness of this rule and reign expands. Where the kingdom of God is revealed, it transforms everything around it.
24 · Personal story (from the pastor's professor) illustrating the yeast principle through one woman's witness in Communist China
I had a professor in undergrad, he was a Greek professor. And he was a remarkable man. He was just a quiet, godly man. And it was just a pleasure going to class and learning with our little cohort of Greek students. But before he had come to be a professor at Bethel, he had actually served as a missionary in China. And so to get like an idea of the man's brilliance, he was teaching Greek in Chinese to Chinese seminarians. So he had some game. But I remember him telling us a story and it was related to this notion of how we perceive things, how we look at the world and think of what success is versus what God is doing. And he told the story of when the communists came to power in China and there was a woman, she had been a professor, a tenured professor at one of the larger universities in Beijing. She was renowned in China in her field, but she was also one of those 2 million believers in Jesus. And so when the communists came to power, one of the first things they did was anywhere that you were in a position of prominence, if you wanted to keep your tenure, tenure, you had to become part of the Communist Party. On the flip side, if they found out you were a Christian, a believer, they would strip you of your position. And so the first thing that happened to her was she lost her job. Her job was taken away. They took her job thinking this will diminish her. And yet, she seemed to have this stability or this faith that couldn't be buffeted even by the trial of taking away her means of employment. And so then they decided that they would relocate her. She lives in Beijing, this cosmopolitan city. So they relocated her to this remote village. The thought being, well, if we take her out of a city of prominence and we just, you know, we're going to take her move her to the sticks, to a place where most people are illiterate and can't even read and write. She would feel totally out of place. This will be part of what breaks her. But even as they moved her to this remote village, she had this unflappable joy that they couldn't account for. And he just described this woman. He just said she would go about her day and it was just so clear that her love for God couldn't be assailed by the trials around her. That it befuddled and really just ticked off the Chinese authorities. So their next decision was, if taking her job won't crush her, if moving her to this remote place where there's none of the comforts of life, it's an illiterate place where no one recognizes the power of her former position, if that won't do it, then we're going to assign her a new job. And they gave her the job of latrine duty. So she went from being a tenured professor at one of the largest universities in Beijing to having the job of cleaning the latrines. And think rudimentary outhouses in this little Chinese village. And yet even in this, she had this joy that testified that there was something about her that they couldn't touch and couldn't reach. And he said this amazing thing began happening in the village. The villagers noticed. Here was this educated woman who'd been stripped of everything, moved to this remote place and now given the lowest, most menial task possible, and she was still joyful. And instead of diminishing her, she was yeast. And through time, the entire village was soon converted to the gospel.
25 · Synthesizes the yeast parable's teaching
The kingdom of God is like yeast. Its power to transform is immeasurable. And we see from these parables that the Kingdom of God will go out to all the nations and its effect will be vast and profound.
26 · Connects the parables back to the immediate narrative context of the healed woman
The crippled woman stretching to her full height and standing tall and giving praise to God in the previous passage, that's what the Kingdom does. It works individually, a life here and a life there, a transformed man, a transformed woman, creating lovers of God who spread the good news.
27 · Defines the relationship between the local church and the Kingdom
The global church is related to the Kingdom of God, and we are a local expression of that. We are a local expression of what God is doing in the world. The church, though, as an institution, shouldn't be seeking to seize power or exercise sovereign rule over other people on the earth. Instead, we bear witness to the kingdom. As citizens of the kingdom, we serve and we love and we call people back to God. And in this, the power of the mustard seed has its effect. The power of yeast begins to transform.
28 · States the congregational goal — that Providence's gathering as believers provides a glimpse of the Kingdom, both in its local expression and as part of the global church
Our goal should be that people see a glimpse of the kingdom in our gathering together as believers. Both locally here at Providence and globally.
29 · Applies the mustard seed and yeast teaching to the church's self-understanding
So the dream of the mustard seed isn't that we're the biggest local church or that we're part of the biggest denomination, or for that matter, that we're the smallest. You can idolize the other end of the spectrum too. The goal isn't that we become the most politically powerful or culturally relevant. This is how we're going to advance God's agenda. The thought goes.
30 · States Christ's vision for the church — to be beacons pointing to the Kingdom, though imperfectly ("through a glass dimly")
What Christ envisions is that our churches would be beacons to the kingdom, though somehow viewed through a glass dimly. The Christian life is about more than having your daily quiet time. It's about preparing to rule and to reign with Jesus in his kingdom by the power of the Spirit.