The Kingdom Parables #8
- The goal was to understand the nature, the character of God's kingdom from the teachings about it found in these kingdom parables.
- We are the kingdom, every time Jesus says, "The kingdom is like," He is also saying, "The church is like," or ".. in the church this is the way things happen or this is what will take place."
- Studying these is really studying ourselves and what we've learned so far is that:
Small → Powerful 1. Although small in comparison to others in this world, the church has greater proportional influence - even if it is unseen.
Great Privilege 2. It is a valuable privilege to be a member of the church.
Different Rates 3. People in the church grow at different rates depending on
Of Growth how they respond to God's word. Greater obedience, greater growth.
Mercy - First & Last 4. God's mercy is what allows you entry into the church; your faithfulness toward God and mercy toward others is what keeps you in the church.
God will Judge 5. God will purify His church at the coming of Jesus by removing all the hypocrites, disobedient and unfaithful.
v In our final lesson taught, we'll add a few more insights to make our study complete.
I. Parable Of The Seed - Mk.4: 26-29.
- Read Mk.4: 26-29
- This parable is one of he simplest and most ordinary of stories.
- He simply recounts the cycle of planting and harvest.
· Once the seed is planted the farmer waits (sleeps) without worry for the harvest to come.
· The seed and soil do their work independently of the farmer's concern or lack of concern.
· In the end the harvest will announce itself and it will be time for the farmer to do his work of collecting the crop.
· A natural cycle with each thing happening in order and in its own time.
- As a parable about the kingdom, Jesus is saying:
· Once the seed of the kingdom is sown, the cycle of reproduction and harvest has been set in motion.
- Despite storms, trouble, time delay the work will come to fruition.
· The job of the farmer (the workers) is not to figure out how the seed grows, or worry about its rate of growth, or force its growth - but simply to plant the seed and wait for the harvest.
- There will be a harvest.
- In a larger sense God's plan of sending Jesus to plant the kingdom and then return for it, this plan will come to fruition, nothing will stop it once it has been set into motion.
- In a personal sense it promises all the workers that their planting will be rewarded with a harvest of some kind. They need not worry or become impatient.
· The growth of the kingdom is imperceptible it seems, even to those within the kingdom, but the harvest (good works, changed lives, new Christians etc.) is always visible in the end.
v This parable adds the idea that the church is fruitful if it follows the natural cycle of planting (the seed / word) and harvesting (good works, saved souls).
II. The Parable Of The Mustard Seed - Mk.4: 30-32
- Read Mark 4: 30-32
- It's interesting that this is the only parable about the kingdom mentioned by three of the four gospels. (There are no kingdom parables in John).
- The story in the parable is of the mustard seed, truly a small speck of a seed compared to other types of plant seeds.
- However the plant / bush could grow into a shrub of over 10ft. in just a few weeks in the proper conditions.
· People of that place knew of the amazing growth rate of this shrub that Jesus described.
- The point of the story was that such a small and insignificant seed could in short order provide shelter for the birds of the air.
· Something that took regular tries years, even decades to accomplish.
- Again the parallel is with the kingdom and for those of us who see this in the context of what happened during and after Jesus' ministry here on earth - there is a vivid description of the speed of growth the church had in the beginning.
- The parable speaks of rate of growth and provision for the birds in short order.
· The church began when 3000 were converted in one day at Pentecost.
· Within a few years there were nearly 50,000 converts in the area.
· Within thirty years it had spread throughout the Roman Empire.
· After four centuries it was the official religion of the Roman world.
- Judaism, or any other religion had never grown so big or so fast as Christianity.
- The birds finding shelter can be the lost finding shelter or safety in the kingdom or can refer to the fact that the Gentiles found rest and protection within Christianity - something they never found in Judaism.
- The church began with an executed leader and 12 Apostles preaching His message and overcame every religion and political and philosophical group in its way.
v This parable reinforces an idea about the church already made in other kingdom parables - that the church is small and weak looking in comparison to other things but it has great proportional influence and growth and strength.
II. Parable Of The Workers - Mt.20: 1-16
- Read Mt.20: 1-16
- The story is an unusual one.
· A man hires people at different times of the day to work in his field.
· He pays all of them the same wage even though they worked different hours.
· The first crew grumbled feeling that it wasn't fair that they received the same amount for working all day as those received who only worked an hour.
- The landowner replies that he has been fair.
- He's paid the first crew what they agreed upon for the work they had been contracted for (A denarius was above average for that time).
- He paid the other men the same amount not because of their work, but because he wanted to be generous.
· He finishes by warning his audience that not all things will be as they seem. Sometimes the first end up being last and those who are last are given a better position.
- Unlike the parables of the harvest or the mustard seed, this parable has no easy or natural application / parallel in the everyday world.
- For the kingdom however, this parable teaches us several things:
1. Being In The Kingdom Is A Matter Of Grace.
- The workers had no jobs (any of them), the money was more than any of them (even the 1st crew) would normally receive.
- Being in the church is a matter of God's grace. He finds us through His gospel; we enter in through the blood of Christ; we remain because of His grace; we receive more than we even deserve in material and physical blessings.
v God initiates our entry into the church, enables us to remain and blesses us every moment of our lives forever all because of His grace.
2. The Order In The Kingdom Is Not Like The Order In The World.
- The first crew's attitude was indicative of a worldly attitude:
· I was first, I worked longest, I worked the hardest - I deserve the best, the most.
- This may be logical and just in many ways but this is not the way things work in the kingdom.
- In the kingdom or church:
· The prize goes to the one who believes, not the one who deserves.
· The reward is for the one who trust God not the one who trusts in his work.
- The one who pays His workers does so based on His goodness, not the goodness or value of the work of His workers.
- This is why some who think they are first in God's eyes (like the Jews in the 1st century; or self-righteous people of today) may be last in His eyes; and those who seem to be last (sinners, those who struggle, those who come to Him late in life, those who have little to offer) may be first -- because of His kindness.
v In the church the rules of the world are turned upside down:
- The first are last; the last first
- The weak are strong; the strong are blind.
- The leaders are servants etc.
Summary / Invitation.
- So as we finish the series we add two last ideas to the five major ones we have drawn from the parables about the kingdom:
A. - The church will continue to grow until its final harvest when Jesus comes
- Nothing will stop it because God is the one who began it and He will be there for the end.
- Don't worry about the destruction or failure of the church.
B. - The church operates based on a different principle than in the world.
- In its best mode the world operates on a principle of justice or fairness.
- In the kingdom everything operates on principle of grace. God's grace for us, our grace towards each other.
- Jesus provides the conclusion and encouragement for these kingdom parables in Mt.13: 51-52 (Read).
- If you understand these things (kingdom parables) you are now like Scribes (those who taught and copied the scriptures) able to teach not only what the O.T. said and meant but now you can add this new knowledge concerning the fulfillment of the Old Testament in the person of Jesus and His kingdom.
v If someone knows these things he knows the full gospel, the revelation of God in Christ and now is qualified to teach the Bible accurately.
→ I hope each person here will find encouragement and security in the knowledge of these things about the kingdom / church.
→ I hope also that if you are not a member of Christ's church you will come confessing your faith and repenting of your sins and accept baptism -- for this is the only way you can become a member of the kingdom, a member of the church.
→ Come now