Introduction

Let us turn now to Matthew 13:31-33, here is the word of the Lord,

Matthew 13:31–33 ESV
³¹ He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. ³² It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” ³³ He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”

• Here we have the next two parables regarding the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God. These parables do not have an explanation like the other two that we saw, and that is probably because the reference Jesus makes here was pretty obvious to Jesus’ disciples.
• Each of these parables gives us a glimpse of the nature and pattern or the strategy of how God’s kingdom is being established on earth. When we talk about the kingdom of God, we use the phrase “already, yet not already” to refer to the kingdom as a reality that has already come and is being built up, yet it has not come to its completion.
  In other words, the Kingdom has been inaugurated and its rule has begun, but it is still expanding and its towns are still under construction.
  And these two parables are responsible for explaining to us this reality of kingdom growth.
• And so, I’d like to take you through the parables and point out 5 points of strategy for kingdom building according to the text before us today.

Exegesis

Let us read the two parables again,
Matthew 13:31–33 ESV
³¹ He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. ³² It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” ³³ He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”

• Jesus uses the example of a man sowing in his field, or a woman preparing the meal in the kitchen. What a narrow-minded patriarchal guy this Jesus was right? Men in the field and women in the kitchen? To even suggest such a thing.
  • Now I don’t want to deviate from the intention of this passage, but I do want to point out that we live in a world today where language such as this is offensive.
    And a major part of the reason that has been the case is a poor biblical understanding of gender roles. We either have those that believe women are to be locked up in the home or those who believe “Why should men have all the fun?”. Neither is helpful or biblical.
    The point of the matter is domain and responsibility, not geography and dignity. The field is the primary domain and responsibility of the man, and the kitchen or the home is the primary domain and responsibility of the women.
    • The woman of Proverbs 31 is one who is the marketplace. She trades, does business, buys real estate, provides charity, and is free to do whatever activity she desires, but is ultimately responsible for managing the household. And she does all that she does towards that end.
      But that is in stark contrast to the teaching of culture today where women are pursuing their careers at the cost of their households.
  • The same applies to men. An increasing number of men would rather sit at home and manage the household and send their wives to work. This must not be. Men are leaders, heads of their homes and as such are held responsible for the sustenance and for all the workings of their homes.
    • They are to delegate the management of the household to their wives as a King delegates the responsibility of the rule of different regions of his kingdom to his nobles under him. She rules that domain on your behalf, and you have to go out and plough the field and provide for the family.
      1 Timothy 5:8 ESV
      ⁸ But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
  • Now, coming back from my deviation, we have Jesus use the examples of a man in the field, and a woman in the kitchen (which is a biblical picture of the domain and responsibility of a man and a woman), to teach us about the kingdom of heaven.
    • In the first parable, you have the smallest seed growing to become the biggest tree, and in the second parable, you have the little leaven that leavens the whole lump of flour.
    • Both parables are a picture of small beginnings and extravagant outcomes.
  • From the ground up (Man sowed in his field)
    Matthew 13:31 ESV
    ³¹ He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field.
    This is similar to the previous two parables, of the sower and of the weeds. In the parable of the weeds, we have God sowing in his field which is the world. If we take a similar approach to this parable, the kingdom of heaven is like a seed God has sown in this world.
    So the kingdom would not in that sense appear to descend from the heavens but would rather grow out of the ground. It is not a picture of foreign invading armies but a plant that grows within the land.
    God in his sovereign plan has chosen to build and reveal his kingdom from the ground and not from the heavens. That gives me the picture that heaven will rise and not descend. Heaven will grow on earth. That the world we live in will become more heavenly as time goes on.
  • Small Beginnings (Mustard Seed)
    Matthew 13:32 
    ³² It is the smallest of all seeds…
    The Jewish world in Jesus’ time was thoroughly convinced that the Messiah would bring his kingdom in apocalyptic power. They were expecting a sudden and severe intervention of heaven on earth.
    Jeremiah 23:5 ESV
    ⁵ “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
    Isaiah 9:6–7 ESV
    ⁶ For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ⁷ Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
    All these extravagant promises of glory and power and redemption and dominion, and it was all, to begin with a mustard seed.
    The insignificant beginnings of the kingdom of heaven were not something any of them were prepared for but that was God’s divine plan.
    God intended not just to use the smaller of the seeds, but the smallest of them all. This is how God’s glory is made known to the ends of the earth.
    1 Corinthians 1:27 ESV
    ²⁷ But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;
    What we often fail to see is that our fragilities, weaknesses and vulnerabilities cannot keep the secure, strong and confident power of God from working in our lives.
    God is forever passionate about taking empty and broken vessels to display his excellence in power and grace.
    And he has decided to do the same with establishing his kingdom.
  • Hidden in the world (Woman hid the leaven in the flour)
    Matthew 13:33 ESV
    ³³ He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”
    I agree with John MacArthur that the reference to hidden here is not that of secrecy or keeping out of sight, but rather of the deep penetration of the leaven in the dough, of the seed of the kingdom in this world.
    It is a reference to burying this seed deep within the world so that its unstoppable influence will spread across the whole world.
    However, in a way, the effects of this kingdom’s growth are also hidden from the world at large. The Christian worldview is the only true worldview. It is the Christian faith and only the Christian faith that can make sense of the world and of the times.
    Therefore, whenever the unbelieving or secular world wants to have a positive effect on this world, they have to borrow from our worldview.
    True virtue, meaning, purpose, belief and reason, all come from the gospel of this kingdom.
    We’ve come a long way as a global society and the world is a far better place than it used to be in centuries past, and in all the progress that we’ve made, the secular world glorifies the achievements of mankind, but the Christian sees the leaven spreading. We glorify God and the spreading of his Kingdom.
  • The Extent of its growth (the biggest tree and the whole flour)
    Matthew 13:32 ESV
    ³² It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, …
    The seed will sprout and the plant will grow. The smallest of beginnings will have the gloriest of endings. God’s intention is to raise his kingdom from the smallest to the greatest, and he will accomplish his will.
    The parable at this point is prophetic. When this seed has grown, it will not just be large, but it will be larger than all. The kingdom of God will be larger than all the other kingdoms of this world. The Christian worldview will dominate all the other fashions of thought that men have conjured up in their folly.
    God has sowed this seed with a prophetic intent and we are told here how that will be. All of the promises of the Messiah and his Kingdom that have been foretold will come to pass with all the glory and power it proclaims. What the Jews expected to see will happen. That’s the endgame, the finale, the great and final revelation.
    That means that the kingdom of heaven will rise from the earth and expand to the final revelation of the glory and might of its King.
    It is in light of this promise that I read the great commission,
    Matthew 28:18–20 ESV
    ¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
    Unlike most of the evangelical world, especially in our culture, I do not believe that the great commission is an evacuation of the saints from a sinking ship. I believe it is the seeding of the nations with the kingdom of heaven.
    Unlike most, I do not believe we will lose the battle down here on earth before Jesus comes. We won’t lose down here, we will win.
    Matthew 16:18 ESV
    ¹⁸ And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
    From the smallest seed to the biggest tree, and from the hidden leaven to the whole lump, the kingdom of heaven will spread and rise in glory.
    This is redemptive history.
  • The shadow of the church (Nest in its branches)
    Matthew 13:32 ESV
    ³² It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
    The birds of the air, the nations of this world will come and take refuge in the branches of this kingdom.
    When Jesus shared this parable, it would have no doubt reminded his disciples of several OT passages of similar reference to the Messianic kingdom. One such place is,
    Ezekiel 17:22–24 ESV
    ²² Thus says the Lord God: “I myself will take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar and will set it out. I will break off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain. ²³ On the mountain height of Israel will I plant it, that it may bear branches and produce fruit and become a noble cedar. And under it will dwell every kind of bird; in the shade of its branches birds of every sort will nest. ²⁴ And all the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord; I bring low the high tree, and make high the low tree, dry up the green tree, and make the dry tree flourish. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.”
    • Here, the birds refer to the Gentile world at large.
  • Now, we must not forget that the primary nature of this kingdom is not political, economic or social. It is spiritual.
    1 Corinthians 2:14 ESV
    ¹⁴ The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
    However, the leaven of this kingdom will affect all of life for all of Christ. Those who are spiritually reborn (the born-again) will congregate in local churches, and the local church is the primary vessel that will build God’s kingdom on earth.
    Matthew 16:18–19 ESV
    ¹⁸ And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. ¹⁹ I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
    The birds will come and nest in the shadow of the church. And the teachings and life of the church will impact politics, society and the economics of the world.
    Going back to Isaiah’s prophecy,
    Isaiah 9:6–7 ESV
    ⁶ For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ⁷ Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
    Another glimpse of this glorious outcome of the grown kingdom is given to us in
    Isaiah 65:25 ESV
    ²⁵ The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,” says the Lord.
    Or
    Isaiah 11:6–9 ESV
    ⁶ The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. ⁷ The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. ⁸ The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. ⁹ They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Conclusion

Christ is the seed that redeems the world.