Citizens In God?s Kingdom
"Growing in God?s Kingdom"
Matthew 13:31-33
June 9, 2002
Harry Hebert
Intro
I can remember as if it were yesterday, the morning that Ali was born. We knew the night before that the doctor was going to induce labor early in the morning, and right after noon on November 26, 1989, we welcomed Alisonde Lee Hebert into the world.
I was a proud Daddy! I walked taller. I smiled bigger. I stuck my chest out farther. Life was good.
And then we let the family into the delivery room to see our new bundle of joy. I had been a new Dad for all of 20 minutes when Robin?s father said, "Son, I?m going to only give you one piece of advice. Enjoy every minute, because she?ll grow up before you know it and be gone."
(Disbelief!!) I remember vividly what I was thinking .... "YOU OLD FOGEY" How dare him try to rain on my parade!?! Who did he think he was to try and bring me down at such an exciting moment? How cruel! How mean! ...... How right!
Twelve and half years have passed like twelve and half minutes, and I?ve had the incredible blessing of celebrating two more days just like that one --- but that hasn?t slowed down time. Or what happens with time.
T/S: My daughters are growing up -- and they are not waiting for my permission to do so! They are a living demonstration of a unbreakable truth: living things grow!
It doesn?t matter if I understand it or if I can explain how it happens -- God?s plan is that children grow up into adults. From helpless, totally dependent infants, people grow to maturity: able to care for themslves and in fact, help care for others. From helplessness to helpfulness.
In Matthew 13:31-33 we see a contrasting lesson illustrated in the truest sense by a parable. Two short, simple word pictures that serve to remind us this morning that God?s plan is that we grow. A mustard seed and some leaven, or yeast, in bread. From small, humble beginings to purposeful, useful maturity -- God has designed the Christian experience to be one of miraculous, often unexplainable growth.
And the alternative is pictured as well. That is the gradual, pervasive corruption that consumes everything if left unchecked. My paraphrase of these verses is : Do you want to grow into a tree, or swell into a doughball?
Let?s look at these three verses, Matthew 13:31-33.
He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches." He told them still another parable: "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." Matthew 13:31-33 [NIV]
Have you ever seen a mustard seed? If you were to go by a pack of mustard seed at Wal-Mart, and pour them into your hand, you?d would have a nickel-sized spot of black powder, that would seed hundreds of mustard plants. A single seed is almost invisible, yet it produces a plant that routinely is two feet tall. Isn?t that amazing?
Now, you migh be thinking, Harry, two feet doesn?t make a tree, much less a place that birds can make nests, but you?ve missed the point. Anybody can plant a musard seed and grow a two-foot tall mustard plant ... but how many of you can plant a mustard seed and grow a tree?
God can. Growth is natural. Growth is expected. But the result of growth in the kingdom of God is not explainable except by factoring in the power of God.
Think for a minute about what happens in an individual?s life, when he or she comes into a relationship with Jesus. The Bible says that we are all sinners, and that the wages of sin is death. In fact, Scripture teaches that before we are saved, we are spiritually dead.
Though we were spiritually dead because of the things we did against God, he gave us new life with Christ. You have been saved by God's grace. Ephes. 2:5 [NCV]
Getting your mustard seed to sprout ad grow assumes that your seed is alive. If you let your seed get too hot, or too cold, it will die, and you can plant it, water and fertilize it ... but it will never grow.
Our spirits, apart from God, are lifeless. On our best day, we are not able to be holy and blameless and therefore, pleasing to God. And yet, out of that beginning, God breathes into us His Holy Spirit and are hearts are made new and our spirits are made alive. What was useless and condemned, now inherits the rewards of heaven. We become heirs, with Jesus, of Our Heavenly Father. Isn?t that amazing!!?
It?s also informative. It becomes critical to see our own futility in attempting to fix ourselves, or grow ourselves, to God?s specifications. That?s often the reasoning that people express to me when I talk to them about their walk with God. "I?m going to get myself straightened out, and then I?m going to come to church." That logic demonstrates that they have missed the whole point - if we were able to get ourselves straightened out, we wouldn?t need Jesus.
For all have sinned; all fall short of God's glorious standard. Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins. For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God's anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us. ... Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on our good deeds. It is based on our faith. Romans 3:23-27 [NLT]
Salvation?s work was done at the cross, by Jesus, and when He declared that "It was finished" it really was. Sin was dealt with and Satan was defeated. What remaineed was for you and me to trust , or put our faith in, Jesus death. As we take that step of faith, the work of he cross is applied to our lives and we are saved. By grace. Even though we don?t deserve it.
In a moment, I?m going to open the front of this church for a decision time, so that if you have not ever trusted Jesus as your Savior, and believed that His death paid for your sins, you will be given the opportunity to do that. The Bible teaches that we are saved by grace, through faith. And that faith is demonstrated by turning from your sins, confessing, or declaring, Jesus as your Savior and being baptized into His death, burial and resurrection. If the Holy Spirit is dealing with you this morning, it?s just a mustard seed in your spirit that He?s trying to sprout!
We are saved by grace, through faith ---AMEN?! I am so glad that God loves me, cleanses me, forgives me and redeems me -- even though I?m not perfect. I?m so thankful that my salvation depends on Jesus? work, and not my own.
I wonder why it comes so easily, then, for me to try and grow in Christ, by my own efforts? I?m saved by grace, but I get caught up in trying to live by my own efforts.
EX: When I sin, I sometimes find myself promising God, "If you?ll forgive me, I?ll try really hard not to ever do that again."
I have bartered with God, praying "Lord, I?ll read my Bible twice as long tonight. By the way, will you bless me tomorrow as I do such and such?"
The Holy Spirit convicts me of a smugness that I have developed in my thinking. "God aren?t you pleased with me! I?ve been in church every time the doors were open. Not very many others can say that."
Without really realizing it, we start to emphasize the things that we do, as a reason for God to be pleased with us and bless us. Our efforts in prayer, Bible study, church attendance . even church work.... all become currency with which we try and buy God?s favor. We use them as tokens to buy or bargain our way closer to God.
And the truth is, if we did all the right things, we could only grow a two-foot tall spiritual life. Our best efforts, our good deeds, our determined will to do better -- are no match for the miraculous, unexplainable power of God. When we hit spiritually ?dry? times, or periods of testing -- we intensify the process. We try to ?speed God up? by being really ?goood!?
How does the Bible teach us to to take advantage of God?s power, and grow in Christ, through the Holy Spirt? Let me use an analogy to give you a mental reference point. Suppose I told you that all the answers to life?s problems were up on this platform? All you had to do to reach these answers was stand right next to the communion table and jump up on the stage. The good news thhat there are answers available is swallowed up by the fact that I can?t jump that high!
Here?s the catch -- there will be two big strong men on either side of you to make sure that when you jump, you get on the stage.
Here?s the translation: the answers to life are in Christ. And we are not able to reach Christ on our own. But God has promised to carry us along into His very presence, if we?ll allow Him. *8 Let me boil this down into some principles that hopefully you can apply this week.
1. Admit your inability. (analogy = "I need to get on the stage!")
A spiritual life "in Christ" must begin from this point of saying "God, I can?t."
-God, I can?t overcomoe this temptation on my own.
-God, I can?t fix my marriage on my own.
-God I can?t figure our this financial mess on my own.
-God I can?t combat this depression or lonliness on my own.
Detemined humility focuses us where there is help and power. (ill) How many of us have ever left the house undressed to go to work in the morning? Strip, stark naked? Why not? Because it doesn?t matter what else is going on in the morning, how busy things are, how hectic the house seems -- you know, way down deep -- I can?t do this!
* You are convinced that it is not in your best interest to go to work naked!
T/S: We need the same conviction that it is not in our best interest to leave the house and face the day without being completely, dependently annd totally dressed in Christ. Instead of saying, "Lord, I?m going to work harder at my marriage," we need to be convinced of the need to say "Lord, I?m giving my marriage to You."
Because, look, if you work harder at your marriage, you might makee a little progress -- but only if you give your marriage to God, praying "Lord, I can?t love him the way You want. Lord, I can?t be as unselfish as You desire. Lord, I don?t have the patience I wish I had."
You may make some progress ?working hard? at life --- but only God can fix it. Make it complete and fulfilling!!
Just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ... Col. 2:6-10 [NIV]
2. Be willing to receive His help. (analogy = I need to stand next to the table and get some help jumping!)
If you want what God has for you, then you need to put yourself in the right place to receive it. Even with help, you can?t jump onto this stage from your seat. Let me offer three practices that put in you in place to receive strengthening from God, as you grow in Christ.
#1. Become involved in the local church.
A lot of sermons come down to go to church, read your Bible and pray. And you might leave church discouraged because you already knew that and now you get to take home some guilt along with your problems. Hear me well -- I?m not fussing at you saying "You better start coming to church." What I?m saying is that the Bible teaches that your growth in Christ, and conssequently your ability to bee victorious over life is dependent on being involved in church. Not just coming, but recognizing what?s available in the Body of Christ.
It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Ephes. 4:11-16 [NIV]
Every body has a gift that is to be used in service.
As you use those gifts you grow to maturity. (Aided through the efforts of others.)
As you use your gifts, others are brought to maturity through you.
I, as your pastor, would love to see you every time the door is open. I know that is not always realistic, nor possible. Here?s what I would like you to prayerfully commit to:
- at least one hour a week in corporate worship (Sun Am or Sun PM)
- at least one hour a week in small group Bible Fellowship (SS or CONNECTION)
- at least one hour a week in service/ministry
#2. Make a prayer connection.
build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Jude 1:20 [NIV]
Again, this is not a generic "Go pray" suggesttion, rather, I am directing you to a Biblcal principle that ties your faith and your prayer life together in the Spirit. What does it mean to pray in the Holy Spirit? I?ll tell you what it?s not -- it?s not unloading a laundry list of Honey-Do?s for God to take care of today. (Does God want you to bring your cares and concerns to Him? Absolutely, but that is only a portion of what prayer is about.)
Praying in the Spirit is as much about listening as it is about talking. (ill) My children and I communicate better when they are closse to me. I don?t respond well to my daughters yelling at me from the comfort of their rooms "Daddy, bring me a glass of water."
But if they are in my lap, and say "Daddy, would you get me some water" I?m much more in tune with them.
T/S: Concentrate a portion of your prayer life on just being -- putting yourself in and sensing God?s presence. The Holy Spirit resides in you if you are a Christian, but we are not in the habit of giving Him room to work. (ill) Elijah sought the Lord in a whirlwind, an earthquake, and a fire --- but he found God in a gentle breeze. *** Create space in your life to feel God?s gentle breeze!
#3. Put your mind in the right place.
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. Col. 3:1-3 [NIV]
We?re talking about keeping your mind on Christ, so He can draw your heart closer into His. Surround yourself and saturate yourself with positive, Christ-like influences. It?s hard enough to stay hopeful and encouraged, without immersing yourself in 24 Hour FoxNews coverage. Or 24 hour a day negative talk. After all, you have been immmersed in Christ whhen you were baptized ... now immerse your mind in Christ.
How?
The music you listen to
The people you surround yourself with.
The TV and movies you watch.
The conversations you have.
Take every thought captived to the obedience of Christ Jesus.
3. Celebrate hope!
The opposite of hope is giving up, and this week, don?t give up!
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9 [NIV]
What a great promise?
You hang in there, and God will insure a harvest.
You keep gardening and God will give you a crop.
You keep loving Him and God will reveal Himself to you.
You keep giving Him your marriage and He?ll develop love and intimacy.
You keep giving Him your finances and He?ll provide for you..
You keep giving Him your children and He will make you a better parent.
You keep giving Him your emotions -- your depression, your lonliness, your heartache -- and He will create in you a new heart.
Does that seem overwhelming? We?re back to square one, recognizing that I am unable to do this on my own. And if I left off the end of this message, we would indeed have no reason to hope. But the good news is that God will do in us, what we cannot do ourselves.
Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philip. 1:6 [NIV]
Who began the work? God
Who carries the work on in us? God
Who will complete the work? God
Conclusion
This message comes down to doing things that submit yourself to God?s work in your spirit. The most basic step is a decision to entrust your life to Him. For the first time. For the 100th time.
Working In God's Kingdom Matthew 13:3-9,18-23
