Mixing Species

Parables – No 3

Reading: Matt 13:1-43

What’s it like to live in the United Kingdom?” suppose you needed to explain that to someone – I wonder what you’d say.

Some of us would talk about the monarchy – others about democracy, s
some would talk about the shops
all of us would get the weather in there somewhere!

That’s the situation Jesus found himself in when it came to talking about God’s kingdom – what’s it like to be part of it? What does the kingdom of God look like?

In today’s parables we’re hearing Jesus describe what it’s like to live in the Kingdom of God

Big picture

Huge crowds >>>

so great was the crush that Jesus was in danger of being pushed into the lake so he got into a boat.

I want you to notice what Matthew says about this

Matthew 13:1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake.

This was probably going to be a pleasant morning sitting by the lake talking to a few people. However

2 Such large crowds gathered round him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables,

Now compare that with v36

36 Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, ‘Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.’

So the parables we have here were all told between Jesus leaving the house and returning to it. So to begin with, we have Jesus talking to the crowds

And with much of Jesus teaching we’re meant to spot the common threads in what he said.
E.g. Luke 15 – stories of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son – they have a common message!

2 Such large crowds gathered round him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables,

<ppt>Sat => the rabbi’s posture

parables => this was Jesus method of teaching here –

not just one story, but many stories
not just one message but many massages – all with a common theme.

why use stories? The disciples wanted to know – and the asked him in v10

10 The disciples came to him and asked, ‘Why do you speak to the people in parables?’

<ppt> why did Jesus speak in parables here?

Jesus spills the beans in v13

13 This is why I speak to them in parables:

‘Though seeing, they do not see;

though hearing, they do not hear or understand.

There are some people who will hear God’s word, but not take it on board as God’s word. Not give it the importance – the gravitas that is needs

14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:

‘“You will be ever hearing but never understanding;

you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.

<ppt>So Jesus used parables both to clarify and to obscure

With our modern ears we hear that and we say “That’s not fair!” It’s not being transparent

Why?

Jesus answer is in v15

15 For this people’s heart has become calloused;

they hardly hear with their ears,

and they have closed their eyes.

Otherwise they might see with their eyes,

hear with their ears,

understand with their hearts

and turn, and I would heal them.”

That last phrase is twist on Isaiah’s original!

Isaiah heard God say “people who hear will be healed – by God!

Jesus is saying they could be healed by Me!
So who does that make Jesus?

BUT, says Jesus it’s different for you! (=the crowd)

16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17 For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

So Jesus uses parables to get the message through to the right people!

Because they engage us! Because they leave some things unsaid

Which parables?

Tale of the seed and the soils

Sower sows seed – some falls on path, on shallow ground on rocky ground etc. (Andy covered this last talk)

Seed = the message of the kingdom – let Almighty God rule in our lives and He will transform them!

Soil = human heart – some are receptive

others are resistant – and resistant for some very contemporary reasons

They’d been affected by some very contemporary toxins.

Persecution / losing face for being knows as a Christian
worries of this life >>>
trickery of riches >>>

However, when the message of the kingdom takes root, it grows massively – 30, 60 or 100 times more

Tale of the wheat and the weeds

Here the soil is all good! >>>

growing 30, 60 or 100 times

All the seed is good! >>>

fertile, takes root and grows as the farmer expects

But something causes a problem – so what makes the growing plants to fail?

In the previous parable it was all external forces that we allow ourselves to be affected by – worry, riches and so on
But here it’s direct opposition – an enemy comes to sow different seed.

It’s quite likely that the seed Jesus had in mind was darnel.

Darnel is a poisonous plant – related to wheat and as it grows it’s hard to distinguish from wheat until it’s mature

In Roman law it was a punishable offence to maliciously plant darnel in someone’s field – so Jesus is probably referring to a situation they would know about.

IF you get a few darnel plants in a field, it can be tackled with a few hours of meticulous weeding. But is you suffer a major outbreak – particularly if it’s been deliberately sown when you weren’t guarding the field there was nothing you could do about it.

Darnel roots are stronger than wheat and the good plant would be dragged out of the ground as you pulled up the darnel.

So Jesus is describing deliberate opposition here. “An enemy has done this!”

The disciples think they get the import of the story – but aren’t quite sure.

The parable of the mustard seed.

31 He told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.’

The smallest of things (the mustard seed) becomes the biggest of things – a tree

Actually the literal translation is ‘bigger than the vegetables’

So of all the plants in the garden the one that shows the most phenomenal growth is the mustard seed

that’s what the Kingdom of God is like!
It starts smal and hidden and (as if from nowhere) becomes a huge and useful plant!

Tale of the yeast and the dough.

‘The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.’

3 satas – that’s between 30-40 Kg

she’d be baking for ever! – It’s enough to feed about 100 people!
And she worked it ‘all through the dough’ – every last gram!

What do these tales have in common?

Kingdom of heaven – God’s kingdom – the kingdom we become part of when we let God be our king – Jesus our Lord

It’s like seed – like a man who sows

like a mustard seed

like yeast

You can’t always tell it’s there!

These parables are there to tell us about the hidden-ness of the Kingdom!

The full growth of the seed is assured from the moment it’s sown, however unpromising it may appear, or whatever opposition is ranged against it!

Also about it future revealing!

Given the right conditions God’s kingdom will always grow!

And this is not modest growth it’s massive growth

This is not occasional or sporadic growth – it’s consistent and thriving growth

This isn’t growth that we have to ‘talk up’ to make it sound impressive, it’s so obvious that everyone can see it with their own eyes.

There is a worrying trend in some parts of the Christian church to talk up growth when actually it’s not there.

One of the major reasons Dr Billy Graham and his associates have avoided scandal and been seen as honest brokers goes back to November of 1948 and what took place in an obscure hotel room in Modesto, California.

At this time Graham and his team were becoming famous in America and internationally.

In this hotel room they decided on some ground rules that would characterise their ministry. It later became known as the ‘Modesto Manifesto’ and it consisted of rules they agreed to impose upon themselves to avoid misunderstanding or scandal.
One of them was honesty about numbers. They had seen so many evangelists exaggerate attendance at their meetings or talk up their achievements to sound more than they actually were that they decided they would always be scrupulously honest about what had happened. If there were only 27 people at a meeting, that is what they would say.

So their growth could be seen to be honest, authentic kingdom growth

When the KofG is coming in, and it has the right conditions it will always grow.

That’s our task as a church with each other – to provide the right conditions for personal and corporate spiritual growth to happen.

To avoid distractions

<ppt> What do these parables teach us?

There’s a contrast between this and the parable of the sower:

v18 ‘Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 when anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path.

Now compare that with the parable of the weeds;

37 He answered, ‘The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

So in the first tale the good seed (God’s word) is snatched away by the evil one – in the second, the bad seed is sown by the evil one.

<ppt>There’s a real enemy out there – the devil himself

The devil becomes a sower and his seed is toxic!

How can we understand this?

Some people will argue that the toxic seed stands for people in the church who may look like believers, but actually aren’t
so the field is the church, the good seed is God’s faithful people and the bas seed are imposters, however convincing they may look on the surface. (you may have heard that!)

Beware! – The trouble is, that’s not what Jesus actually said. “The field” he said is not the church it’s ‘the world’

So God’s people are placed in the world to be his seed, growing all the time

<ppt>there will always be a mixture of God’s people and evil

It happened in the Bible

Cain and Abel >>>
Haman and Modecai >>>

And today

God’s people in the middle east, literally in the furnace of opposition.

There will come a day of reckoning

40 ‘As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42 They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.

Let him work it out for himself!

Imagine the scene – Jesus is in the house explaining the tale of the weeds to his disciples.

And he gives them two more illustrations for good measure

44 ‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

The king-ship of God is something that can’t be found everywhere – so go looking for it!

>>>

And Jesus throws in another one for good measure!

When you find the seed

This tiny little seed – the seed of God’ kingdom – the lifestyle that puts Almighty God right at the centre of my life – so He is king

… this seed is incredibly valuable!

45 ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

Don’t skimp of paying the cost of the kingdom – whatever it costs to grow – pay it!

Buy yourself a decent study Bible – go to Spring Harvest! – It’s worth every penny!

Lessons for us

when life gets tough, believers will be resilient and patient

Let me ask you

Have you found the kingdom?
Are you growing and helping others to grow?

What’s your response – write it down

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