Matthew: The World and the Kingdom (14:24-43)
This sermon was preached to Grace Church Guildford on 19 March 2023. The audio recording of the sermon can be found below along with the transcript.
Is your glass half full? Or is it half empty? Do you lean more towards optimism or pessimism? If you were in the classic children’s tale, Winnie-the-Pooh, would you be Eeyore or Tigger? I imagine most of us sit somewhere in between those two extremes. whether we are optimistic or pessimistic changes based on what we’re talking about. We are optimistic about new opportunities at work or a new relationship. And yet, at the same time pessimistic about others matters: the future of the English rugby team, the state of UK politics, the trajectory of the economy or housing market. I wonder this evening, whether you feel optimistic or pessimistic about the church. Not this church, GCG, but the church more broadly. Christianity in general. When you consider the current cause of Christ in this world, do you feel hopeful or are you disheartened? Do you sense Christianity is advancing or declining?
We pick up the story in Matthew’s Gospel tonight, at a point when it would have been easy for Jesus’ followers to feel pessimistic, be discouraged. Last week we started looking at Matthew 13, a sermon known as the Parables of the Kingdom, which is a key turning point in the book. So far, Jesus has preached many powerful messages and performed many mighty miracles. He has now given more than enough evidence that he really is the Messiah: God’s Son sent to save his people from their sins. And yet, despite this remarkable ministry, he has been rejected by his generation, and even forsaken by his family. Oh yes, the crowds are keen to come and hear him speak, but they do not understand in their hearts what he is saying. They refuse to believe, trust him as their Messiah. Jesus has many hearers, but few followers. And so, we can understand if his few followers feel discouraged. The one they believe to be the Messiah isn’t making headway. God’s King has come to bring in God’s Kingdom, but he is being rejected. As John put it in 1:11 of his Gospel, “He came his own, and his own people did not receive him.”
It is at this low point in Jesus’ ministry, that we see his strategy begins to shift. Up to now, Jesus has been proving he is the Messiah, conversing with the crowds to convince them that he is the Christ. However, now Jesus begins to focus less on the crowds, and more on his disciples. He puts his energy into privately training those who believe in him, rather than spending his time speaking to those who reject him. To oversimplify it, if Matthew 1-12 focuses on proving Jesus is the Christ, Matthew 13-28 focuses on preparing disciples to be the church. [...]
We saw this last week as Jesus began his sermon in 13:3. Previously, Jesus taught the crowds plainly, but now he does so in parables, stories that illustrate his teaching, but are only interpreted for his disciples. Matthew stresses this again this evening, reminding us in 13:34: [READ]. The crowd get the stories, but only the disciples get their meaning explained to them. As Jesus said back in 13:11, only his disciples are given the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. What are these secrets? What are these truths Jesus tells his followers at this difficult time? Well in the sermon, Jesus tells them seven parables, teaches them seven truths. The first parable we thought about last week, was a kind of introduction, a parable about parables, for it pictured how people can respond to Jesus’ message of the Kingdom. It explained what was happening in Jesus’ ministry, why so many were rejecting him. Now, after this introduction, the other six parables all follow a similar pattern, all starting the same way. We see it in the three we read this evening. The parable of the weeds in 13:24: [READ]. The parable of the mustard seed in 13:31: [READ]. The parable of the yeast/leaven in 13:33: [READ]. And the same is true in the other three parables we will cover in a few weeks’ time. These six parables all tell us something about what Christ’s Kingdom is like, they show us six secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, three of which we will consider now.
What are these three secrets we see in our passage? (1) The Increase of the Kingdom (Parable of the Mustard Seed); (2) The Impact of the Kingdom(Parable of the Leaven); (3) The Integration of the Kingdom (Parable of the Weeds). We will see these truths provide comfort and courage to those who follow Jesus, should make us both optimistic and realistic as we live in this world. Tonight we can draw two lessons from these parables: (1) We can be confident in Christ’s Kingdom (13:31-35); (2) We must be patient for Christ’s Kingdom (13:24-30, 36-43).
1. WE CAN BE CONFIDENT IN CHRIST’S KINGDOM (13:31-35)
When I say ‘Amazon, Apple, Facebook’ you all immediately know what I’m talking about. These are household names and represent some of the biggest companies in the world today. Organisations like Amazon, Apple and Facebook are more influential than entire countries, and dominate our news and economies. And yet, if I were to say those same words to you a few decades ago, you wouldn’t think about big companies, for they barely existed. For most people 30 years ago, the Amazon was a rainforest or a river, Apple was a piece of fruit, and the word Facebook wouldn’t have made any sense! Yet, within my lifetime, these companies have not only spread across the world, but changed our world. They have brought in a new method of connecting with each other, new kinds of technology, a new way to purchase goods. 30 years ago, Jeff Bezos was starting to sell used books from his garage. 20 years ago, Mark Zuckerberg was just a student building a website for his friends. And yet, from these small beginnings, only a few decades later, great, even global things have come, and our world has been changed.
When Jesus wanted to illustrate this possibility to his disciples that day, he obviously couldn’t reach for examples like Amazon and Facebook, which are familiar to us. Instead, he turned to what they knew, the plants they put in their field and the ingredients they used in their kitchen. First, in 13:31-32 we read: [READ]. The mustard seed is used by Jesus to emphasise the increase of the Kingdom, to teach that from small beginnings something great will come. And it was the perfect illustration for this, as the mustard seed was the smallest seed known to them at the time. A mustard seed is barely visible when you put it in the palm of your hand. It takes around 500 of them to weigh even a single gram. It is about as small as a seed can come, and yet from that seed the plant produced can reach 9-10 feet in height. Mustard plants were so large, ancient gardeners warned people not to plant them in their gardens, as they outgrow and overshadow everything else. And Jesus uses this to explain to his disciples what his kingdom is like, for it too starts small, so small it can barely be seen, yet will grow to overshadow everything else.
We’ve certainly seen this small start in Matthew so far. As we look back now, we see the theological significance of what was happening. But it is so easy to forget just how obscure Christ’s life and ministry really was! Born as a baby in a manager, the wise men could not find this king in a palace at Jerusalem, for he came to the little town of Bethlehem. For 30 years he grew up and likely worked as a carpenter in Nazareth. Indeed, these years are so insignificant Matthew doesn’t even record them for us. Even now, after he starts his ministry, preaching great messages and performing great miracles, he only does so in the backwater area of Galilee, and his true followers can all fit into a single house. If ever there was a mustard seed beginning for a kingdom, surely this is it. Jesus did not go to Rome to mingle with the great and good. He ministered to peasants in a long-forgotten outpost of the empire. What’s more, when we fast forward the story, it only gets smaller. Near the end of the book, Jesus is executed on a cross, and his few remaining followers flee and go into hiding. Christ’s kingdom, his rule and reign, could not have had a more lowkey beginning! A mustard seed is a pretty good way to illustrate its small start!
And yet, as Jesus points out, the seed doesn’t stay small. But amazingly, remarkably, it rapidly grows into a large plant. Indeed, Jesus presses on in 13:32 to say it “becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.” Here Jesus is picking up on language from the Old Testament, language you find in Ezekiel 17 and 31 to describe a global kingdom, with all the birds that come representing the nations who are brought under its control. Perhaps you remember the same image in Daniel 4, when Hugh preached to us from that chapter last summer. Again, it has this imagery of a great tree to which birds come, which is used to refer to the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar, whose dominion Daniel says in 4:22 has “extended to the distant parts of the earth”. And here Jesus is declaring that his dominion, his Kingdom, will grow into the same. That though it starts small, it will soon expand and will become an empire that extends to the edges of this earth. As we heard last week, this is emphasised again at the end of Matthew, where after dying on the cross, Jesus rises from the dead and declares to his disciples in 28:18, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations...”.
That is the moment when this mustard seed begins to grow into the great tree, for when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost, and Peter begins to preach, a few hundred followers become a few thousand. Then as you read through the book of Acts you hear how a few thousand become many thousands, and not just in Jerusalem, but across the Roman empire. Indeed, by the end of the book, Paul manages to penetrate the capitol itself. Fast forward less than 300 years from when Jesus stood on this shore in Galilee, predicting the great growth of his kingdom, and you will find the faith of his followers has become the official religion of the empire. The empire of Rome falls under the control of the Kingdom of Christ. And his kingdom has never stopped growing in the centuries since. Indeed today, millions of Christians can be found in China, India, and in the far corners of the world. Surely what Jesus promises, predicts here in this parable has come to pass, for his kingdom remains a tree to which birds flock from every tribe, and tongue, and people and nation. There has never been a success story like Christianity. As remarkable as the origins of companies like Facebook, Amazon or Apple are, they are nothing in comparison to the origins of Christianity, for from the most unlikely of circumstances has grown a movement, come a great kingdom, the like of which the world has never seen. From this mustard seed of a little-known teacher in a rural region of 1st century Palestine, has come a king and a kingdom that will one day cover the whole world.
Brothers and sisters, do you see how this parable would have given great confidence to the disciples that day? No matter how small and insignificant they might have felt, they were told they belonged to a kingdom that would cover, even conquer, the world. And do you see how it should continue to steal us with courage and confidence today? Are you the only Christian in your year at school, one of the only Christians in your family, or in your workplace? Like these disciples, you are growing conscious of following Jesus in a nation that increasingly, overwhelming, seems to reject him. If so, see here that you are part of a kingdom that can neither be shaken nor stopped. Surely this parable in God’s Word proclaims, and the history of God’s world proves, that even if what you see of Christianity seems little more than a mustard seed, you can be confident it will still triumph in the end. For here we see that Christianity will conquer the world. As Jesus himself promised in Matthew 16:18, “I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not overcome it.” Or as we heard in Revelation 11:15 at the start of our service, “The kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever.” Long after Amazon, Apple, Facebook are forgotten, like every other development before them. Passed into the past, like every earthly kingdom there has ever been. The kingdom of Christ will still be advancing. Christianity will conquer the world, and when it does, Christ’s kingdom will have no end. He will reign for ever...
The parable of the mustard seed shows the increase of Christ’s kingdom, that Christianity will conquer the world. However, see that the parable of the yeast/leaven builds on that, teaches us about the impact of Christ’s Kingdom. Christianity will not only conquer the world, but it will also change the world! Perhaps, like many, you took up breaking bread during the pandemic. If so, you will know the difference that adding yeast makes. Without yeast, bread becomes dense and flat. But just a little yeast, and the whole mixture rises during cooking to create an airy loaf of bread. Just a little yeast transforms the flour. And it is this transforming effect Jesus highlights in 13:33: [READ]. Once again, we have something small, the yeast, and something large, 30 kg of flour. Imagine pouring out 30 bags of flour into a pile – that is a lot of flour. It would make enough bread to feed around 150 people! As in the parable of the mustard seed, we have something small and something big. However, here the small thing doesn’t change into the big thing. No, the small things changes the big thing. And here Jesus says this is what his kingdom is like. His kingdom, while it looks small in comparison to the world, is able to transform and change it. Christianity not only conquers, but indeed it changes the world. This is what Jesus promised, predicted, that day in his parable. And when we stand back and look over the last 2000 years of history, is this not what we see?
Back in 2019, the award-winning historian Tom Holland released a book titled ‘Dominion’. If you are into history, I’d highly recommend you give it a read. Tom Holland’s not a Christian, he is an atheist, and yet the book argues that Christianity really has changed the world. As Holland considers the last 2000 years of history, he concludes that Christianity laid the foundation for Western civilisation and continues to shape many of the best parts of our world today. It led to developments such as modern democracy and human rights, brought down slavery, provided equality to women, prevented child labour, provided the spark for modern science and the enlightenment, fought political tyranny and oppression throughout the centuries. Again and again, Holland proves that Christianity really has changed the world, and has changed it for the good. Though he is an atheist historian, he concludes this world is a better place because it has Christ’s kingdom in it. It can become so easy today to believe the narrative that is increasingly pushed on us that Christianity is dangerous, damaging for people, prevents us from being who we were made to be. And yet when we look at the history books, it is clear that where true Christianity has flourished, humanity has flourished. That Christ’s kingdom is good for this world, good for those who come into contact with it. Friends, we must never allow ourselves to be convinced that Christianity is some obscure cult at the fringes of Western society. For the fact of the matter is, that Christianity provided the foundation for Western society, and many of the best features of life today are fruit from the lives of Christian men and women who came before us.
Christianity has changed the world, changed it for the good, and continues to do so today. Of course, this is rarely headline news. And yet, like yeast silently working its way through flour, Christianity is transforming this world bit by bit. As CAP help people get out of poverty. As prison chaplains come alongside offenders. As Christian politicians fight and lobby for what is right and just. And most importantly, as the good news of Jesus Christ comes and not only changes our outward circumstances, but even changes us on the inside. The hopeless given hope, broken hearted made whole, those who have sinned against a holy God, forgiven and enabled to lead fruitful lives for him. Little by little, life by life, Christianity is changing the world. Like the salt of the earth and the light of the world that we read about in chapter 5, we see here that Christ’s kingdom has an effect, an impact on those around it. Christian, you can be confident that Christ’s kingdom will conquer the world, will change the world.
If 30 years ago you had known that man selling books out of his garage, called Jeff Bezos, would one day become the richest man in the world, what would you have done? Well, if you had any sense, you would have emptied the bank and put all your savings in Amazon shares. If you had realised that the student, Mark Zuckerberg, who was building that website for his friends at university, was about to start the largest social network in history, with 1/3 of the world’s population belonging to it today, you would have wanted to get involved. Oh Christian, see that if you have confidence in Christ’s kingdom, it should make a difference to your life. If Christianity will conquer the world, if Christianity will change the world, then that surely must have an effect. We should share the gospel with boldness, sacrifice our time and money will gladness, suffer mocking and ridicule with sureness, all because we are confident in Christ’s Kingdom. We can leave loved ones and home comforts behind, to go to the mission field, for we know the Gospel must go, indeed will go, to all the nations. We can pour our energy and effort into our local church, for we know that it is part of Christ’s Kingdom, which is little by little is changing this world.
Brothers and sisters, do you see that if this is true, if we can be confident in Christ’s Kingdom, then the real Christian life, the fully committed, wholehearted Christian life, is the only life it makes sense to live. If the Gospel is true, if Jesus is the Messiah, if his Kingdom will conquer the world, then we need to get in on that, be a part of it. None of this half-hearted nonsense. If Christianity is the real deal, big break, the only hope for this whole world, a sure bet to change the world, then we must do something about it, something with it. Friends, do you believe what Jesus says here? Are you confident in Christ’s Kingdom tonight? Well then, if you are, go and live like it.
2. WE MUST BE PATIENT FOR CHRIST’S KINGDOM (13:24-30, 36-43)
Like those disciples that day, when Jesus told these parables, I think we are more likely to be Eeyore than Tigger, more likely to be too pessimistic about the cause of Christianity, than too optimistic. Afterall, like them, we are surrounded by a society who are rejecting Jesus. Even if we know many birds from all over the world are nesting in this tree, Christ’s Kingdom often seems more like the mustard seed: small, forgotten, overlooked by those round us. And yet, there have been many periods of history where parts of the church have fallen into the opposite error, become overly optimistic, Tigger-like, for they have begun to believe that through their own efforts, they might bring about the final triumph of Christ’s Kingdom. After the Roman Empire was Christianised in the 4th century, it fell into this error, forcing mass conversions of pagan nations at the point of the sword. A similar mistake was made when it came to the time of the crusades, as armies fought to seize control of Jerusalem and literally establish the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. In the last few centuries, it has been liberal Christianity making this mistake, seeking to so change our society, through charity and good works, that many believed it might be possible to bring about the conditions of heaven here on earth, create perfect peace and harmony between nations and mankind. And it seems Jesus knew this danger, for he places the two powerful parables of the mustard seed and yeast within the much larger parable of the weeds to balance them. He tells the parable in 13:24-30, and explains in 13:36-43. And by wrapping the other two parables inside it, he balances them out for us. Yes, Jesus teaches we should be optimistic, but he also teaches us to be realistic. Yes, we can be confident, but we must also be patient.
The parable of the weeds is perhaps Jesus’ most detailed parable, with lots of different elements representing lots of different things, it is almost allegorical in its approach. Like all of Jesus’ parables, the imagery was familiar to his hearers. This danger of an enemy sowing weeds in your field was real one – the Romans even had a law against it! And it gives us with a wonderful picture of what happened to our world (which Jesus says the field represents) in Genesis 3, for after God created this earth and prepared it to bear much fruit for him, the evil one snuck in and spoiled it with sin. The enemy came and established his own kingdom amid God’s kingdom, and ever since that moment, this world has been a world of two kingdoms, two realms that have battled against each other. Like two armies fighting over the same piece of land, this world is a warzone between the people of God and those of Satan.
The basic point of the parable can be found there in 13:29-30. When his servants offer to rip the weeds out of this field, the farmer replies: [READ]. The implication is clear: this world is a world caught between two kingdoms, like a field filled with two different crops, and it will remain like this until the end. Until the farmer is ready to send out his harvesters. It is only then that a great separation, final division, will take place. And so, if the previous parables taught the increase and impact of the Kingdom, here we see the integration of the Kingdom. The truth that though Christianity will conquer the world, and change the world, it will only do this completely at the climax of history, and the end of time, when Christ returns to reign and rule forever. Contrary to what liberal Christianity has taught over the years, this earth will not become more and more like heaven, rather heaven will come down to this earth, Jesus will return and bring his final rule and reign with him. The question is not whether the church will triumph, but when will it triumph. It is not the outcome that is uncertain, it is just the timing that is unclear. Jesus said I will build by church. However, like most building projects, it may take longer than we first think. And so, we must be patient. Yes, confident in Christ’s kingdom, but ultimately patient for Christ’s Kingdom as well.
As we take this truth and apply it to our lives, we could draw out many different applications and implications. There is a warning about being too forceful in how we try to advance Christianity: by dealing harshly with others, we can actually damage Christ’s Kingdom. This is what happened when Rome and Christendom sought to forward Christ’s Kingdom through the power of the sword – by ripping out the weeds, they ended up damaging the wheat. And although we are unlikely to go around forcing people to convert at sword point, we must take care that in our interactions with others, we do not tend towards the same kind of harshness. We must learn how to live like wheat alongside weeds, with lives intermingled with those who do not know Christ, and interactions that yes seek to win them, but graciously and gently. The way we interact with this world must be constructive, not destructive. Think of how gently Jesus has dealt with bruised broken reeds so far in Matthew. That is how we are to live in this world – graciously growing alongside those from a different kingdom, learning to live in the middle of this battlefield.
See too that this parable helps us set realistic expectations. The triumph of Christ’s kingdom will not be smooth sailing, there will be ups and downs, moments when the kingdom advances rapidly and other times when it slows and stalls, as wheat is outgrown and outnumbered by weeds. Someone will not get saved every time you share the Gospel, for there are weeds as well as wheat in this world. Not every local church will grow and flourish, no sometimes they will decline and close, for there are two kingdoms growing in this world, and as the battle rages, sometimes hilltops will lost for a time, parts of the field will be overgrown with weeds rather than wheat. Yes, we must engage in the battle - but we must not think we will win this war before the army of heaven arrives, before our King comes at the very end. Our job is not to win the final fight, but to fight the good fight. To patiently persevere, through all the ups and downs, until our King comes and brings in the culmination of his Kingdom.
It is this certain conclusion that Jesus concentrates on when interpreting the parable at the end of the passage. What can be confident in? What must we patiently wait for? In 13:40-43, we read: [READ]. If you are here tonight and you are not a Christian – what does all this mean for you? Well friends, this field that we are speaking of represents the world that you are living in. The Bible teaches that you are living on a battlefield, and that there are two sides, two kind of crops you can be, two kingdoms that you can belong to. The Bible is clear that we are all born as weeds, born disobeying God and following the sinful ways of Satan. We are born as people of the evil one. And yet, through the gracious work of Jesus, through his perfect life and atoning death, weeds can be come wheat. God is gathering a people, constructing a kingdom, all those who repent of their sin and trust in Jesus, are transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of his beloved son. And that kingdom, Christ’s kingdom, will conquer the world, will change the world. We have seen tonight that we can be confident in that. Though the growth may be gradual, though we must persevere with patience, the outcome of this battle is certain. Harvest time will come, Jesus will return and the kingdom of this world, will become the kingdom of the Lord and of his Messiah. One day, God’s kingdom will triumph over this world’s Kingdom. And so you need to work out which side you want to be on on that day.
If you remain in the kingdom of darkness, following the sinful ways of Satan, rejecting Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, then when harvest time comes, you will be treated like a weed. Thrown into a fire to be consumed for ever and ever. That’s what Jesus declares here in 13:41-42: [READ]. What terrible horrible shocking imagery is used to described the fate of those who fight against Jesus, who grow as weeds in this world. And yet, as terrible as this description of Hell is, surely the description of Heaven is just as wonderful. For in 13:43 we read: [READ].
Just as the sun slowly dawns over the world, first sends dim rays of light, but eventually appearing over the horizon, lighting up the whole sky, on that day the Kingdom that has been gradually growing over the centuries, casting its dim light across the ages, will explode with blazing sunshine that will go on and on and on for ever. And those who trust in Jesus, follow him, will be part of that forever kingdom. Be part of the sunshine that lights up that day without end. That eternal Sabbath.
Our passage tonight teaches us that we must be patient for Christ’s kingdom, and yet we can be confident in it. That though there are two kingdoms in this world now, there will only be one that reigns and rules across it forever. Though two crops grow in this field now, harvest time will come, and those two crops will have very different destinations. […]
We can be confident in Christ’s Kingdom. We must be patient for Christ’s Kingdom.
