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Big Things in Small Packages Luke 13:18-21 18 Then Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? 19 It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air perched in its branches.” 20 Again he asked, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? 21 It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.” World’s tallest mountain? Mt. Everest, 29,028 feet. World’s tallest building? The Taipei Tower in Taiwan, 1667 feet. Tallest building being constructed is in UAE, it will be 2300 feet tall, a full 1000 feet taller than the World Trade Center. World’s richest man? Bill Gates, worth $51 billion, in addition, he has a charitable foundation worth $29 billion. World’s largest ball of twine—Cawker City, KS. It weighs 9 tons and has 7 million feet of twine. World’s largest church? Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, South Korea, 850,000 members. America’s largest church? Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. They have a weekly attendance of 32,000 and meet in the renovated Compaq Center where the Houston Rockets basketball team used to play.
We are enamored with big things. We have bigger houses and bigger cars then the rest of the world. Marketers naturally take advantage of big size. If you are the world’s largest maker of widgets, then you will advertise your company that way—“Buy from us—we make more widgets than anyone else!” You never see any advertisement claiming to be the smallest of anything. Forbes has their lists of the 500 richest people in the world, but you will never see them print a list of the 500 poorest people in the world. Small companies, small buildings and small churches don’t get noticed. That is why the pastor of the largest church in the country gets interviewed by Larry King and the pastor of Grace Church never will. Not that I have any desire to be on the Larry King show J, but it illustrates my point—bigger is better.
That is why it is obvious that Jesus was a lousy marketer. What was Jesus’ product? His ‘product’, if we could call it that, was the kingdom of God. He came to preach the good news of the kingdom. Everything Jesus did was for the purpose of advancing the kingdom. So how did Jesus ‘advertise’ the kingdom? He said, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? 19 It is like a mustard seed. You have no doubt heard how small a mustard seed is. Thousands of mustard seeds could fit into the palm of my hand. It doesn’t sound very impressive, does it?
Imagine a corporate boardroom where a dozen high-powered executives are listening to Jesus sell his product. “Ladies and gentleman, I would like to tell you about my kingdom.” I think the executives would have liked the word “kingdom”, don’t you think. They would have been used to hearing about numerous, wildly successful businesses, but no one had ever had the guts to call their business a kingdom before! They would have been sitting on the edge of their chairs anticipating what he would say next. Then Jesus would lay a tiny seed on the edge of the enormous mahogany table and say, “My kingdom is like a mustard seed?” Do you think the executives would have been impressed? They would have probably given Jesus a strange look and then called for security to escort this madman out of the building. That is not how you sell a business, let alone a kingdom!
Herod Agrippa would never have done that. In Acts 12 the story of his kingdom is recorded for us. On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. 22 They shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.” Now that’s how to sell your kingdom. They were so impressed with the splendor of his robes and the words of his speech that they elevated him to divine status. I am not one of those high-powered executives, but I think that if following your presentation the people call you a god, you are doing pretty well. Here’s another example of how to really promote your kingdom from the book of Daniel. As King Nebuchannezzar was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, 30 he said, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?”
Now that Nebuchadnezzar—he’s impressive. He knew how to paint a big picture. I can’t imagine Neubchadnezzar saying that his vast kingdom was like a mustard seed! But that is what Jesus did, (I should remind you that Herod was struck dead by the Lord a few days after he spoke and Nebuchadnezzar was humbled and spent the next seven years roaming around like a wild animal) and the second example is even worse than the first. Again he asked, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? 21 It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour. If you thought a mustard seed was small, what about a yeast cell. This small packet of yeast I am holding contains over 100 billion yeast cells. http://byo.com/feature/1098.html Jesus would have probably have gone even smaller if his audience would have been able to understand the concept of sub-atomic particles.
Of course, the relative size of the kingdom was not the main point Jesus was making. Yes, the kingdom did start small. When Jesus ascended to heaven he only had eleven apostles and less than a thousand followers. Compared to the growth and influence of Judaism this was small potatoes. But Jesus’ analogies are not about how the kingdom started, but their inherent power to grow and transform. The mustard seed grows into a ten-foot tall bush which was large enough for birds to nest in it. The small amount of yeast was sufficient to penetrate 50 pounds of flour and turn it into something new. In terms of size, taste and chemical composition, leavened bread is very different from unleavened bread.
Here is how I would summarize Jesus’ analogies. The kingdom of God is filled with inherent power. Just as a mustard seed contains everything it needs to become a small tree, so the kingdom of God has everything it needs to grow. Just as a yeast cell contains everything it needs to leaven bread, so the kingdom has an inherent power to accomplish its purpose. God created the kingdom with this inherent power and it will succeed. Despite its humble looking appearance, the kingdom of God cannot fail.
How would you evaluate the kingdom of God in the Viroqua area? Does it look like a large mustard plant, or is it still a seed? How do we even evaluate such a thing? Now don’t confuse the kingdom with the local churches. I love the local church because God has ordained it as the primary way to build his kingdom, but the kingdom is bigger than the local church. There are those in every local church who are not a part of the kingdom, and there are some in the kingdom who are not in a local church. The kingdom will last for all eternity, but the local church as we know it will come to an end. We have to be very careful trying to evaluate the kingdom potential or kingdom growth by the local church.
Did you know that the Disney Corporation is now in the business of panting new churches? Well not exactly, but a man named Al Weiss is absolutely sold out to church planting. Al is the president of worldwide operations for Disney theme parks and resorts, but he is also the chairman of the board for a church planting ministry called Vision USA. As World Magazine reported, this ministry “aims to raise $300 million over the next 10 years for aggressive church planting in 50 of the country's most influential cities. The project is well underway in Orlando, where several million dollars of grant money will help open eight to 10 churches by the end of the year.” http://www.worldmag.com/displayarticle.cfm?id=11339 I thought Ray Olson should know about this since he is the director of church planting of Wisconsin, so I emailed him the article. He emailed back and told me that church planters who are approved with Vision USA earn an annual salary of $125,000. It’s not easy to meet their requirements, however. In order to be approved, you had to have planted a church that grew to one thousand in attendance which also planted another church. If you know me, you know that I am all for church planting, but this sounds like they are attempting to plant full-grown redwood trees instead of mustard seeds. I don’t want to be overly critical though. I like this quote from the article. “The leader of the Magic Kingdom has resolved to employ his influence for another kingdom. ‘I could do this for the rest of my life," said Mr. Weiss.’”
Now compare that strategy to the organic church model. The author of Organic Church has helped start over 700 hundred churches in 32 states and twenty three nations in six years, but the average size of each “church” is only 25-30 people. The kingdom of God is growing in both cases, but the concept and appearance of the local church is vastly different.
So how do we apply this to Grace Church? On one hand we can be confident that a local church with a weekly attendance of 32,000 is not necessarily better than our church with a weekly attendance of 80. Big is not always better, but small is not always better either. Many large churches run on their own power and have enough money and influence to continue without the presence or power of God. On the other hand, every year about 3000 small churches closes its doors and almost always that is a good thing. Many local churches died years ago and they simply refuse to bury the corpse. So again I ask, are we a small mustard plant or are we still a seedling? What is the application to our church and our community?
The kingdom of God cannot fail, but does that mean that it will prosper in every town throughout the whole world? Take the example of Saudi Arabia. It is a Muslim country where every other religion beside Islam is outlawed. There are very few believers in this country. What do we say about the kingdom of God in Saudi Arabia? Have they rejected the gospel permanently? Are they a mustard seed waiting to spring forth one day? Or what about the New Testament city of Korazin. Let me read about this city from Luke 10. Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. Did the kingdom fail to take root in these cities? You see the haunting question for me is, since the kingdom of God is not overwhelmingly strong in Viroqua, what if we are destined not to grow? What if Viroqua is too much like Korazin or Bethsaida? It’s a scary question, is it not? Christians have labored in unfruitful areas for decades or more. What if the same fate awaits us in this area? The gospel will grow into a mustard tree. The gospel will leaven the entire lump of flour, but will it necessarily be true for us?
I tell you, this passage has raised more questions for me than it has answered. We must stand on the promise that the kingdom has an inherent power to prevail, but we must also try to explain how the kingdom is at work in our community in the year 2006. Do you feel this tension between this Biblical promise and the present reality? The kingdom of God will grow. The kingdom of God will penetrate. The kingdom of God cannot fail. But rather than speculate about the future in Viroqua, I would rather that we move ahead with obedience to what we know and not worry about what we do not know.
Here are several principles about the kingdom of God that we can be obeying right now. If God chooses to grow our seed into a full grown mustard tree, then we will be greatly blessed. If we don’t move beyond the seedling stage, then we still must do what God requires. Here are several “kingdom questions” to help you evaluate your life.
1. Have you entered the kingdom? Don’t take this for granted because there are several warnings about this. John 3:3 No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. Mark 10:15 Anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it. Mark 10:23 How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. Matt. 7:21 Not everyone who says to me “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven.
2. Are you good soil? The seeds of the kingdom will grow, but they require good soil. Luke 8:15 But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a good crop.
3. Are you multiplying a harvest of righteousness 30, 60 or 100 times over? Matt. 13;23 He produces a crop yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. An unfruitful Christian is an oxymoron. If you don’t produce any fruit, then the good news is being choked out of your life.
4. Are you scattering seeds? The seeds require good soil, but they also require those who will sow the seed of the kingdom. Matt. 13:3 A farmer went out to sow his seed. 1 Cor. 3:6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.
5. Are you enduring hardship for the kingdom? Acts 14:22 We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God. Is the kingdom so valuable to you that hardship is a joy?
6. Do you treasure the kingdom and the King? Matt. 13:44 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. Hebrews 12:28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.
The kingdom of God will grow. The kingdom of God will penetrate. The kingdom of God cannot fail. For the last time I ask you, are we a small mustard plant or are we still a seedling? It doesn’t matter as long as we are following the king and doing his work.
Rich Maurer January 8, 2006 |