God's Mysterious Kingdom

  

Text: Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

Focus: the kingdom of heaven

Function: to see the mysterious way we enter

³¹He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; ³²it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

³³He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”

⁴⁴“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and reburied; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

⁴⁵“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; ⁴⁶on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

⁴⁷“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; ⁴⁸when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. ⁴⁹So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the just ⁵⁰and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Good morning beloved children of God.

Today’’s passage is about the Kingdom of heaven. I don’t want to confuse the thought with going to heaven. We are going to do a little bible study on these parables.

The Kingdom of heaven is a reference to the way God does things in the spiritual realm. Don Kraybill, a Brethren historian calls it an upside down kingdom because the principles involved are oftentimes opposite of what the kingdoms of this world value.

When we look at the individual parables, and we’ll look at a few this morning, we learn principles about the kingdom. When we look at them all together, we see the spiritual trend of them and they point to what one of my head deacons said one time while teaching Sunday School: “The point of the whole bible is that God wants everyone back.”

But let us carve out the two parables about the pearl of great price and the hidden treasure.

The kingdom of heaven is like these and when we first read the parable we get the impression that the Kingdom of heaven is so valuable that it is worth everything we have in order to obtain it.

And that is born out in Jesus’ encounter with the rich young ruler who opted to keep his fortune instead of following the teachings of Jesus.

For years I read that passage and said to myself that I haven’t given all, and Satan has made me doubt the sincerity of my faith.

I would feel ashamed. But then I remember that shame does not come from God, it comes straight from the pit of hell itself.

It wasn’t until one of the meditations at Kairos where I learned the real meaning of the pearl of great price and the hidden treasure.

We are the pearl, we are the treasure. And Jesus is the merchant who gave his all to redeem us.

We are God’s treasure! You are God’s treasure!

I gave up my shame based approach to this passage and let the Holy Spirit give me the freedom from shame that is promised when we experience God’s forgiveness.

I came to Jesus for healing and restoration and by following the teachings and example of the Christ, I find that freedom in God. Praise God!

When he speaks of the Kingdom being like the mustard seed which is tiny but grows big, he reminds us that even when we are small, we are still gathering in the power of the Holy Spirit and God is indeed with us. We sense it in worship, but we sensed it more last night in service to others because we were letting the Spirit lead us to sacrifice and give for others.

That is why the prophet Zachariah said that we shouldn’t be afraid when our numbers are small.

And then we move to the parable about the yeast in the bread. I used to think that a great sermon, a pleasant temperature, compelling and joyful singing would automatically build the church as if it was all up to me as the pastor.

And all of those things are important, but this parable teaches us that the kingdom grows on a cellular level. Yeast spreads from one cell to the next converting them to the risen bread.

Our sense of hope and peace in Christ, the knowledge that we are accepted and loved is magnanimous and draws others in to Christ.

Our light shines in the darkness and people are drawn to the light and find the same peace and hope that we have.

So I realized that although I was filled with the Spirit at a young age, the growth of God’s family, God’s kingdom, God’s way of doing things is individual, one on one, the members shining their light of love and letting that light of love draw people to Christ.

Now I mentioned that in the kingdom of heaven, there is no shame. But there is cleansing.

The next parable speaks of the net cast into the sea and returning good and bad in the same load and the angels separating them.

When he speaks of the separation, he speaks of separating people who commit evil from those who love to do the right thing.

He is speaking of our actions, our deeds.

The good deeds are kept and the bad deeds are burnt up in the fire.

We looked last week at how Paul explained it to mean the if we suffer loss because our works did not follow the principles of love set forth in the kingdom of God, we ourselves will be saved, but with a loss. Hence, the weeping and gnashing of teeth.

That is why Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount to live for the kingdom of heaven and we will have real reward that will survive the test of fire.

Again, this isn’t about living merely for reward in heaven. The reward happens here and now in a life filled with the sense of God’s peace, presence and purposes in our hearts.

And to end. I hoped that this sermon would help us see the mysterious way we enter the God’s kingdom. God seeks us out and restores and heals us.

And then, we have a story to tell of restoration and healing in Christ.

Our light shines and the kingdom grows.