Sunday Service – LIKE A MUSTARD SEED AND LIKE LEAVEN – Matthew 13:31-33 | ss 20260726

Like a Mustard Seed and Like Leaven       

Matthew 13:31–33 ESV

When I started attending this church … one of the first booklets I read was  What Is The True Gospel?  According to that booklet, the true Gospel NOT so much about Jesus Christ, BUT more about the Kingdom of God.  One of the concerns raised in the booklet was that Christians, in general, had focused so much on the Messenger that they had neglected (somewhat) the Message. 

So, for many years, I believed and taught, that the Gospel that Jesus preached was the Gospel about the Kingdom of God … and that was true … to a degree … “to a degree” because we were thinking of the Kingdom of God in earthly terms … as if the Kingdom of God was an earthly kingdom … with a king, a territory, subjects and laws.  I now view the Kingdom of God differently than I did then … because I now see the King of that Kingdom a bit differently than I did back then.  

Today, we’ll talk about God’s kingdom … NOT to spend a lot of time explaining what the Kingdom is like … BUT to notice something about what the Kingdom is like. 

It may be that the idea of God’s Kingdom is a new concept for you … but it could also be that you’ve already learned many things about the Kingdom of God.  Whatever your situation, it is possible that my message today will help you see God’s Kingdom from a fresh perspective.

Let’s read our passage for today from Matthew 13:31-33 … 

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.”  Matthew 13:31–33 (ESV) 

Jesus speaks to the crowd and his disciples using parables.  He tells them about the kingdom of heaven (another way of saying the kingdom of God).  

So, what exactly is the kingdom? 

• The people of Jesus’ day believed the Kingdom involved a human government which would overthrow all oppressors.
• Jesus, however,  knew that the Kingdom of God involved a lot more than just an earthly kingdom.       
• Jesus realized the people of His day needed to see the kingdom from a new perspective … so that they could be freed from their assumptions and expectations about the kingdom.   So it was that Jesus told multiple parables about the Kingdom of God … It was because He wanted them to embrace the truth about who He was and what He was on earth to do.       
  • •  That said, when we understand what parables were … and what Jesus said about them … it is fairly obvious that Jesus wasn’t expecting all who heard Him to accept the truth about who He was.  
    • A parable is a type of teaching or storytelling that places two things side-by-side so that one sheds light on the other.  For example, we see Jesus placing the kingdom “beside” a mustard seed, and saying, “It’s like this…” 
    • But parables are more than merely straightforward comparisons.  Jesus used them to create tension and surprise.  His parables often contain unexpected elements that challenge opinions and disrupt notions.
    • As we discussed last week, the kingdom involves mystery because it is often hidden and is still unfolding.  So, the parables about God’s kingdom involve mystery, too. 

So, what exactly is the kingdom? 

• Notice something Jesus said in the model prayer that He gave His disciples …
  • • Matthew 6:9-10   After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.  ¹⁰ Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.     
• We understand God’s kingdom as God’s gracious rule, already present in Christ. 
• God’s Kingdom is the reality of God renewing the world according to his love and purposes.  
• If the kingdom is ruled by Jesus, that’s good news. 

Today, we want to look at how the kingdom of God begins. 

Today we hear that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed and like leaven. 

Let’s look at the first parable Jesus tells:  

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.  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.” Matthew 13:31–32 ESV  

What is interesting about seeds is that when planted, they stop being seeds.  They, in essence, die and become something new.  New life springs from what is placed in the ground.  

Often in his parables, Jesus uses the word “seed” or “seeds” to represent himself.  Jesus is the Word of God.  He knew that to inaugurate his Father’s kingdom in blood, he would have to die.  Jesus would be planted in the grave after his crucifixion and would soon rise again.  

In Jesus’ death, all humanity would die.  In his resurrection, we would all rise into new life.  By faith, we share even now in Jesus’ new life.  We are actively part of God’s kingdom already, and we receive this by trust in Jesus and his finished work.  

Going back to the mustard seed.  Notice that Jesus uses an exceedingly small seed to talk about God’s kingdom.  Such a small seed, when dropped on the ground, would be impossible to spot.  

Jesus says that the mustard seed would become a large tree, larger than all the garden plants that it was sown alongside.  But it does not begin this way.  

This would have disrupted or interrupted his listeners’ assumptions if they expected the kingdom’s arrival to be establishing a powerful nation that was impossible to miss.  If they expected to witness the establishment of the kingdom all at once and immediately, the image of a small, hidden seed would have been shocking.  

The kingdom accomplished the impossible.  The kingdom is like King Jesus.  

Let’s move on to our next parable: 

“The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.” Matthew 13:33 ESV  

This parable reminds us of the universality of God’s kingdom.  This is the reality that the Son of God, who became human, came on behalf of all.  

Jesus lived our human life, died our human death, and he rose again.  Jesus includes everyone in his saving work.  He leaves no one out.  Even creation is included.  

The kingdom includes all.  The kingdom is like King Jesus.  

Leaven is a unique substance which, when added to dough, causes carbon dioxide bubbles to form.  These bubbles cause the dough to rise.  

After we add the leaven to the dough, it transforms the dough; it is one with the dough. 

• • • In the same way, the kingdom of God, in Christ’s death and resurrection, was hidden in this cosmos, transforming it.  

Today, God’s kingdom is at work in people’s lives and hearts by the Spirit.  Our true life is “hidden with Christ in God.”  Wherever we look today, God is at work in our world.  The Holy Spirit is present and active, bringing about healing and transformation.  

We take active part in God’s kingdom now  by faith in Christ.  Even though the fulness of God’s kingdom isn’t evident right now, God’s kingdom is at work in human hearts.  By “fulness of the kingdom” we mean the day when everything Jesus accomplished on the cross reaches its final goal throughout all creation.  It’s the coming time when God’s peace and love is fully seen and experienced everywhere.  

We respond to Jesus in faith.  We express this through our baptism and our ongoing taking part in communion.  

And we honor Jesus as Lord of all, King of the cosmos, by how we live our lives.  We do his will.  By doing so, we take an active part in God’s kingdom.