WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:03.040 We've been going through a few weeks here, uh Matthew chapter 13. 00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:08.720 So Matthew chapter 13, we have this chapter where Jesus is teaching, and he's he's going through these parables. 00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:21.440 And so this is him telling stories, and he's telling stories to tell a story to tell us about something else, something much more profound than the story he's actually telling. 00:00:21.600 --> 00:00:27.120 Um these are kingdom of God parables. 00:00:27.359 --> 00:00:32.000 And so what that means is it this is about the kingdom of God, the power of God entering the world. 00:00:32.159 --> 00:00:33.039 What does that look like? 00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:34.560 How do we think about that? 00:00:34.799 --> 00:00:41.200 So this is about the power of God in you and the power of God in this world and what that means and how that works itself out. 00:00:41.280 --> 00:00:48.159 So this is about the forgiveness of sins, this is about the taking away of condemnation and shame, but it's also about kind of what we talked about last week. 00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:57.600 It's also about how's all this junk that's going on in the world, this mess, this injustice, how is this ever going to be made right? 00:00:58.159 --> 00:01:00.079 It's also about that. 00:01:00.719 --> 00:01:02.560 It's about what does it mean for God? 00:01:02.640 --> 00:01:04.319 This is what we've been saying the last few weeks. 00:01:04.400 --> 00:01:07.599 It's about what does it mean for God to reign in you? 00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:08.079 Right? 00:01:08.239 --> 00:01:14.400 And it creates the question: what does it really mean for God to be in control of my life? 00:01:15.359 --> 00:01:24.959 Is it just walking an aisle, accepting Jesus as Savior, and then kind of working harder and harder and harder to become a better person, or is it something else altogether? 00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:29.200 So Matthew 13, verse 31, let's jump in there. 00:01:29.439 --> 00:01:41.280 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. 00:01:41.760 --> 00:01:52.640 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. 00:01:52.879 --> 00:01:55.359 So this week I rounded up some mustard seeds. 00:01:55.439 --> 00:01:58.079 Thank you, Megan Respus, for dropping this off at my house. 00:01:58.319 --> 00:02:00.319 Uh I don't know how many are in here. 00:02:00.560 --> 00:02:01.920 Probably a few hundred. 00:02:02.159 --> 00:02:11.199 Um these people, they when it came to the kingdom, these people were thinking about something massive, right? 00:02:11.360 --> 00:02:16.080 Like a political revolution, like rescue us from Rome and the Messiah's coming. 00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:28.159 So there were their thoughts were like fireworks and and hugeness and bigness, and and then he he says, here, here is the kingdom. 00:02:29.439 --> 00:02:33.919 And they, you know, they're farmers, they're all into agriculture. 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:36.960 I mean, they they understood this and they're going, well, wow. 00:02:37.599 --> 00:02:42.800 So the kingdom is small, but it's powerful. 00:02:43.280 --> 00:02:44.960 And it's hidden. 00:02:45.360 --> 00:02:46.800 And it's kind of mysterious. 00:02:46.879 --> 00:02:49.680 Like it's it's working when you don't see it. 00:02:54.000 --> 00:03:02.560 The mustard seed was a popular metaphor at the time, and so Jesus was using the mustard seed, he uses it another place, right, where he says you'll be healed if you have faith like a mustard seed. 00:03:02.719 --> 00:03:12.080 And so a mustard seed is kind of a popular metaphor for smallness and hiddenness, and yet it grows up into something big, and this is so freeing for us. 00:03:12.159 --> 00:03:13.680 And this is the one point of the whole sermon. 00:03:13.759 --> 00:03:14.479 So just listen to this. 00:03:14.560 --> 00:03:16.479 You can fade away if you want to after this. 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:17.840 This is the point. 00:03:18.080 --> 00:03:24.080 The seed is the thing sown, not the result of something else sown. 00:03:24.719 --> 00:03:25.520 Meaning this. 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:36.319 Well, it means you can rest, and here's why, uh, because the kingdom coming into your life, that's the seed sown, not something else sown. 00:03:36.879 --> 00:03:39.599 The kingdom is the seed sown. 00:03:40.479 --> 00:03:45.840 So the kingdom coming into your life and into this world is not on the shoulders of your cleverness. 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:52.639 Your cleverness and your control is not the thing sown, and the seed being sown is not the result of your cleverness or your control. 00:03:52.879 --> 00:03:56.319 This kingdom being sown is the result of the kingdom. 00:03:56.879 --> 00:03:59.280 It's the nature of the seed. 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:09.039 So this doesn't mean that we don't pray or we don't read or we don't meditate on scripture, it doesn't mean we don't worship, it doesn't mean we don't fellowship, it doesn't, it doesn't mean any of that. 00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:18.720 But what it means is we let go of our love of merit and our addiction to control that we we put forth in every other area of our lives. 00:04:18.800 --> 00:04:21.759 But when it comes to spirituality, it doesn't work. 00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:40.079 And we have to take on a posture where we receive what the kingdom is already doing in us, what God's control in our lives is already doing because the seed is the thing sown, not the result of something else sown. 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:47.040 So here's how I'm starting to understand this this week is that last Saturday morning we had great plans. 00:04:47.199 --> 00:05:06.959 We were going to ride our bikes to the square, we were gonna get peaches and eat popsicles, and we were gonna do all of this, and literally right before we leave, Christy's laptop gets knocked off the end table, falls onto the hardwood floor, huge noise, and then a coffee cup falls on top of it. 00:05:07.199 --> 00:05:07.680 Right? 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:10.319 Double trouble, bad news. 00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:18.319 We're freaking out, we're yelling, we're getting the laptop off the ground, we're wiping it off, and it won't turn on. 00:05:19.519 --> 00:05:20.959 You know, you're like, do you hear noise? 00:05:21.040 --> 00:05:21.600 Do you hear noise? 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:22.160 What do you hear? 00:05:22.240 --> 00:05:22.720 Do you hear something? 00:05:22.800 --> 00:05:23.600 Do you not hear something? 00:05:23.680 --> 00:05:32.800 I think I hear something, you're pressing the button, pressing it longer, you know, and and we're not real savvy at this, and so it doesn't take very long for me to call a friend, like, hey, what do we need to do? 00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:33.920 And what's the first question? 00:05:34.079 --> 00:05:35.680 The first question is well, what's on it? 00:05:35.759 --> 00:05:36.720 Like, like, what's on it? 00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:38.399 When was the last time you backed up? 00:05:38.720 --> 00:05:39.040 Right? 00:05:42.079 --> 00:05:42.879 What do we need to do? 00:05:42.959 --> 00:05:44.000 We need to make an appointment. 00:05:44.160 --> 00:05:44.560 You know what? 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:49.920 Well, fortunately that night, miracle, Mac healed itself over the course of the day. 00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:57.600 No idea how that happened if somebody snuck in our house and fixed it, but all I know is that night it worked and it didn't work all day, and all of a sudden it started with healed thyself. 00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:04.399 So I I just tell you that because that means Monday morning I walked into my office, and what did I do on my laptop? 00:06:04.639 --> 00:06:18.959 I updated that backup carbonite program, and so I'm I'm I'm I get back on and I let it expire, and so I get back on and I gotta upgrade the software on my computer, and so I start to do that, it doesn't take me long, and this is not working out for me. 00:06:19.120 --> 00:06:24.480 I'm not good at it, I'm in over my head, and so I I do the little chat, you know, where we can chat with somebody right away. 00:06:24.720 --> 00:06:25.279 Corey. 00:06:25.519 --> 00:06:32.879 Corey came online and it only took like a minute, and Corey's like, hey, can I just take over your computer? 00:06:33.680 --> 00:06:37.519 And I'm like, uh-uh, you know, wow, you know, it's kind of like first date. 00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:39.279 I'm like, I'm not sure. 00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:43.120 Like all this fear, I'm sitting in my office, and he asks me that. 00:06:43.279 --> 00:06:46.800 I kind of look around, like, is anybody am I gonna let him do this to me? 00:06:46.879 --> 00:06:47.680 I don't know. 00:06:47.920 --> 00:06:51.920 All this fear just showed up into like because it's this feeling, right? 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:52.879 Have you ever done this? 00:06:53.040 --> 00:07:03.120 Have you ever let somebody take control of your computer when you're sitting there and you say yes, and and they're moving the mouth mouse around, they're controlling stuff and opening stuff and changing stuff, and you're just sitting there. 00:07:03.199 --> 00:07:05.439 You you feel like you're like, can I do anything about it? 00:07:05.519 --> 00:07:06.399 Can I stop this? 00:07:06.480 --> 00:07:09.199 You know, it's a feeling of being powerless. 00:07:09.279 --> 00:07:10.160 And who is this guy? 00:07:10.240 --> 00:07:12.399 I don't know who he is, I don't know where he lives. 00:07:13.439 --> 00:07:15.199 And you're just watching, right? 00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:18.319 And they're just feeling like, oh, like, does he need my help a little bit? 00:07:18.480 --> 00:07:20.800 Like maybe he needs me to show him the way around. 00:07:20.879 --> 00:07:23.279 Like, does he know that's those are my pictures over there? 00:07:23.439 --> 00:07:24.639 Don't go over there. 00:07:24.800 --> 00:07:29.519 I don't want you messing with that stuff, and he's opening stuff and he's changing stuff. 00:07:29.680 --> 00:07:35.680 And it was this feeling, like, and I just read this passage about this the seed is the thing sown. 00:07:35.920 --> 00:07:40.959 It's this feeling like, oh, this is happening to me. 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:46.160 Like the work is happening to me. 00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:56.319 And if I can mix metaphors here a little bit, it's hard to let a savior into my Mac laptop because you just feel so powerless. 00:07:56.560 --> 00:08:00.639 And to take on that posture of receiving is very difficult. 00:08:01.360 --> 00:08:13.279 And that's what these parables are about, is that the kingdom is powerfully and mysteriously and in hidden ways at work in you and in your friends' lives and your family's lives and in this world. 00:08:15.040 --> 00:08:17.360 It's happening to you. 00:08:18.399 --> 00:08:19.839 And see, this is the difference. 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:31.600 This is the difference between you smothering to death your spirituality and your transformation as a Christian, or you finally becoming quiet enough, dead enough, right? 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:39.360 And that's what the scriptures say, die to yourself, dead enough, free enough for the kingdom to be sown in you. 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:42.240 So Jesus wants to drive this point home even further. 00:08:42.399 --> 00:08:48.799 So verse 33, he starts to talk about bread and leaven, and he says, he told them another parable, verse 33. 00:08:48.960 --> 00:08:57.360 The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour till it was all leavened. 00:08:58.159 --> 00:09:03.360 Now, maybe you've read over that a million times that Jesus uses a woman to portray God. 00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:05.440 I don't know how that settles with you. 00:09:05.519 --> 00:09:12.399 Maybe you've raised like conservative, like me, conservative, southern, you know, like how dare we even mention something like that? 00:09:12.559 --> 00:09:15.519 Here's Jesus, um, because the baker is God. 00:09:15.679 --> 00:09:40.320 So in this story, God is a woman baker pounding out some dough because this is three measures of flour, which is a bushel of flour, which is 16 five pounds, five-pound bags of flour, which takes 42 cups of flour, which is about 101 pounds of dough that this lady is pounding out. 00:09:40.960 --> 00:09:45.519 And Jesus talks about the dough to talk about leaven or to talk about what we would call yeast. 00:09:45.919 --> 00:09:50.240 And by talking about yeast, Jesus takes this hiddenness a step further, right? 00:09:50.320 --> 00:09:58.799 Because if you planted a mustard seed and soil, you could technically find it eventually. 00:09:59.279 --> 00:10:00.240 Eventually. 00:10:00.480 --> 00:10:04.480 But yeast and dough, once it's in, it doesn't come back out. 00:10:05.759 --> 00:10:07.919 Yeast happens to dough. 00:10:08.080 --> 00:10:13.679 The parable insists again that the kingdom is something that happens to you. 00:10:15.360 --> 00:10:21.120 I know you don't, I know you feel like you don't do enough to help God transform you. 00:10:21.279 --> 00:10:24.480 And don't we feel like we need to help God transform us? 00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:37.759 And I know you feel like you don't do enough because you see somebody else, you see their life, you see their practices, you see something, and you go, well, I'm not doing enough, and you feel unworthy, or you just feel like you're never quite enough when it comes to being a Christian. 00:10:38.639 --> 00:10:40.480 Nobody feels like they're enough. 00:10:40.639 --> 00:10:44.720 Either they're delusional or prideful or something, and just don't talk to them, talk to somebody else. 00:10:44.879 --> 00:10:45.919 It's just not real. 00:10:46.080 --> 00:10:56.720 Spiritual life as a Christian is about the reality that we feel like we don't do enough, and yet He has already done enough for us, and so we're in this posture of receiving the kingdom. 00:10:58.320 --> 00:11:10.799 And is learning this posture of no control, no merit, full rest and reliance on God's work for you in Jesus. 00:11:12.639 --> 00:11:20.399 Though I'm not righteous, he is righteous for me, and I will refuse a spiritual path of self-sufficiency and self-reliance. 00:11:20.720 --> 00:11:26.399 About five years ago, a friend of mine, a brilliant guy, he went to law school at UVA, so brilliant guy. 00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:32.399 Let's call him Johnny just for the sake of it, because his name is not Johnny, but this will help out so he's not embarrassed if he ever listens to this podcast. 00:11:32.960 --> 00:11:34.559 He said, Hey, can we grab some pizza? 00:11:34.639 --> 00:11:36.159 I want to grab some pizza. 00:11:36.480 --> 00:11:43.519 And he was down and he was defeated, and he was pretty much at this point ready to walk away from Christianity. 00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:52.559 And he just said, you know, I look at other people and I look at their experiences and I see how passionate they are, how emotional they are about the Lord, or how radical they are. 00:11:52.639 --> 00:11:55.120 And he's like, I feel like I never get there. 00:11:55.279 --> 00:11:57.519 I feel like I'm just never getting there. 00:11:57.600 --> 00:12:01.039 And he's like, I'm doing the Bible study thing, like I'm doing the prayer thing. 00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:05.120 I'm, you know, I'm like, I'm getting the next book and the next book and the next book and the next one. 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:15.440 And he, no matter what he read, how long he prayed, how many Bible studies he joined, he just felt like he could never reach what he thought he was supposed to be reaching. 00:12:16.159 --> 00:12:22.799 See, he thought he could bring his brilliance and his control and his love of merit and achievement, because that's what he is. 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:24.559 He does that so wonderfully in the world. 00:12:24.720 --> 00:12:31.679 He thought he could bring all that into his relationship with God and that it would work, that it would earn the kingdom. 00:12:32.559 --> 00:12:35.279 And all he did was wearing himself out. 00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:38.399 He was becoming more tired and more confused. 00:12:38.799 --> 00:12:43.120 And so, over a few slices of pizza, I love this conversation. 00:12:43.200 --> 00:12:45.360 This is my conversation, if you haven't picked up on it. 00:12:45.440 --> 00:12:48.399 I mean, this is the conversation I wait for. 00:12:48.879 --> 00:12:54.559 And it's because it's the thing that I wrestled with for years: the treadmill of spirituality by self-effort. 00:12:54.639 --> 00:12:56.639 Like I am ready for this conversation. 00:12:56.879 --> 00:13:01.279 If I just did a little more, if I was a little more passionate, if I was a little more radical. 00:13:01.679 --> 00:13:05.200 Did you see the amount of self-centeredness in all of this? 00:13:09.519 --> 00:13:14.399 And so I just asked him, I said, Well, do you believe do you believe Jesus died for your sins? 00:13:14.720 --> 00:13:22.159 Like, do you believe you're a sinner and you really need the work of Jesus and his righteousness for you, for your position with God to be a beloved child? 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:22.879 Do you believe that? 00:13:23.120 --> 00:13:23.600 He says, Yes. 00:13:23.759 --> 00:13:25.360 I said, Okay, okay. 00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:27.039 We're good. 00:13:29.039 --> 00:13:29.759 You are good. 00:13:30.320 --> 00:13:43.039 Are you at this point ready to just stop constantly trying to do more or add to that work and just rest in the work that's been done for you and let it work itself out in you? 00:13:44.799 --> 00:13:56.320 See, he was doing what I used to do, what maybe you're doing, what I still try to do a lot of days, and that's smothering the work of the kingdom with my own self-reliance. 00:13:59.360 --> 00:14:00.559 You know what this is like? 00:14:00.720 --> 00:14:08.399 It's like um, this is why Jesus is using this idea of bread, because it's the difference between bread with yeast. 00:14:08.639 --> 00:14:13.120 Yeah, I went to the grocery store, it's been a while, um, but I found these items in there. 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:18.639 Uh it's the difference between bread with yeast and bread with no yeast. 00:14:20.799 --> 00:14:26.159 One has room and space, and one's just flat. 00:14:28.799 --> 00:14:36.480 Spiritually you're smothering the work of the kingdom with your own self-reliance. 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:47.840 And the difference here is that the yeast happens to the dough. 00:14:49.120 --> 00:14:54.240 And all of a sudden that flatness you've been feeling has been relieved, not because you've done something more. 00:14:54.399 --> 00:15:03.120 It's actually just the opposite, as you realize that all this time, the work's already been done, and it's inside of you. 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:08.080 And all of a sudden, space starts to get created in your heart. 00:15:09.279 --> 00:15:10.879 Things start to change. 00:15:12.879 --> 00:15:16.799 Christians, we should be the most secure of people. 00:15:17.360 --> 00:15:27.679 Because the kingdom, God's reign in your life, it's already in there and it is working no matter what your emotional state is that day or that week. 00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:34.399 Because while we're imperfect, we know the kingdom is at work in us. 00:15:35.200 --> 00:15:51.840 Every failure, every success, making things right, forgiving sins, cleansing the slate, wiping it clean constantly, always, relieving shame, deeming us righteous, even when we're unrighteous, and making us beloved. 00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:54.320 We should be the most secure of people. 00:15:56.159 --> 00:15:58.639 This is so hard for us. 00:15:58.799 --> 00:16:01.919 Not just as Americans that are pull your bootstraps up. 00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:04.720 I mean, as human beings, this is hard. 00:16:05.679 --> 00:16:11.039 Because we love to smother the dough before it rises with all of our self-reliance. 00:16:11.120 --> 00:16:13.600 And the big question is it's just like, will you trust the leaven? 00:16:13.679 --> 00:16:14.879 Will you trust the yeast? 00:16:15.039 --> 00:16:22.720 Will you trust that the kingdom is being sown in you even when you feel like you'll never get any better? 00:16:23.919 --> 00:16:27.600 Even when you feel like you'll never get over that. 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:33.919 Even when you feel like you're never quite enough. 00:16:36.080 --> 00:16:41.200 Robert Capin, who wrote this great book on the parables, I've been reading alongside Matthew 13. 00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:43.279 He was a theologian and a pastor and a writer. 00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:45.759 He's also a baker, which is a great combination. 00:16:45.840 --> 00:16:48.159 He actually wrote a book about baking as well. 00:16:48.960 --> 00:16:59.440 And he writes about the bread, and he says that the leaven lightens the dough by filling it with thousands of tiny pockets of carbon dioxide. 00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:00.320 That's what's happening. 00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:03.279 That's what causes the dough to rise. 00:17:03.440 --> 00:17:06.960 And then those pockets of air they expand when they're heated. 00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:11.359 So the warm air, the breath, causes the dough to rise. 00:17:11.519 --> 00:17:17.440 Now, the scriptures say that God breathed the word Jesus into existence. 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:34.640 And he put forth Jesus into existence for us, and then he sent his Holy Spirit as a rushing wind, breath, who resides in us, creating thousands of tiny air pockets inside of you. 00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:38.000 I don't know about you, but I know about me. 00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:53.519 And I spent a lot of time spending a lot of breath trying to breathe a word of my righteousness to God or my value to somebody else, to prove myself, to feel better than maybe I really am. 00:17:54.480 --> 00:17:57.519 And it's like I never catch my breath. 00:18:00.640 --> 00:18:04.880 Will you receive the breath of God? 00:18:05.599 --> 00:18:06.720 The grace of God. 00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:08.400 Jesus is still breathing today. 00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:10.799 He'll be forever breathing on your behalf. 00:18:11.039 --> 00:18:12.400 And you know what he's saying? 00:18:12.720 --> 00:18:16.640 He's saying, I know that boy. 00:18:18.319 --> 00:18:20.720 Yeah, I know he's not perfect. 00:18:21.200 --> 00:18:22.720 I know, oh, I know I know her. 00:18:22.880 --> 00:18:25.359 And he's breathing it to God, the just God of the universe. 00:18:25.440 --> 00:18:26.640 He's saying, Oh, yeah, I know him. 00:18:26.880 --> 00:18:27.839 I know her. 00:18:28.799 --> 00:18:29.839 They're mine. 00:18:30.799 --> 00:18:33.759 I have deemed them righteous. 00:18:33.920 --> 00:18:37.279 I have covered them with my righteousness. 00:18:37.920 --> 00:19:00.799 So, my brothers and sisters, may you receive this kingdom to live and to know victory, not because you will white-knuckle yourself into perfection, but because the one who is righteous deems you righteous and has created inside of you thousands of tiny air pockets of life and his breath lives in you. 00:19:01.279 --> 00:19:04.160 The kingdom is at work in you. 00:19:04.400 --> 00:19:05.759 Let's pray together. 00:19:09.279 --> 00:19:16.480 God, we thank you that we are not in this without you and without your work. 00:19:16.799 --> 00:19:35.759 We are not on a track of making ourselves better by our own work, but we are put to rest from our obsession with merit and our obsession with achievement, and that when it comes to spiritual life and position with you, your kingdom is sown in us. 00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:40.799 Would you help us to receive the work already done? 00:19:41.440 --> 00:19:42.960 Would we would we pray? 00:19:43.119 --> 00:19:43.759 Would we meditate? 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:44.640 Would we read? 00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:47.039 Would we would we be in fellowship? 00:19:47.200 --> 00:19:51.839 Would we do these things as postures of receiving the kingdom? 00:19:53.039 --> 00:19:57.759 And would we know great freedom and great transformation because of it? 00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:01.920 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:02.799 Amen.