To His disciples and to the crowds. Why is it that He chooses that mode of communication? What's the purpose? What's the reason for it? And we looked at verses 10 through 17 of this chapter. And today we continue our study. in the parables, and we are specifically looking at this idea of the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God. And I do believe that it is a timely message. Well, for one, because we are in a season of election, a season that, for better or for worse, forces us tries to do everything it can to draw our attention and focus our attention on the visible realities, forgetting the supremacy, the power, the glory of God. It is also a timely topic because for as long as the church has been thinking of this kingdom of heaven, There have always been two ways to kind of extreme reactions to it or extreme ways to understand it. On the one hand, many have seen this idea of the kingdom of God as strictly present. That it has to do with what the church, as God's people, do in the present and the surrounding world. In the 20th century, we saw churches take social action. I have nothing against church's work in the present, church's transformational power in the culture, but that was the sole understanding, the sole meaning of the kingdom of heaven. And if we think about ourselves, we might not place ourselves by any measures on the liberal side of churches. And yet, when we think of where we are, and when we look at the candidates we support, and when we look at the policies that we want to be, and the bills we want to see passed, or we want to keep from passing, we might be tempted to feel as though or act as though really the kingdom of God must work out through present means and actually must work out through those physical means, the powers of the world. And it's all or nothing right now, right here in this moment. There is the other extreme. where this kingdom of God is seen as completely futurist, something that does not happen until the end of the age. And therefore, the response of the church in that case usually has been the one of withdrawal, of removing itself from the world altogether. So the church would either be on one extreme indistinguishable from the world, or completely withdrawn from it. And yet Jesus' view of the kingdom is neither, because it is both present and future. Or rather, he understands the kingdom of heaven as a future reality in its fullness, revealed in the future, and yet something that has broken into this present world. And as we look at this huge chapter, and really as every single parable in this chapter, although they all speak and tell us something about the kingdom of heaven, could take a sermon of treatment on its own. There is a unifying theme. As we look at the kingdom revealed to us in this chapter, we see that as one minister put it, that the kingdom is hidden and yet active. that we don't always see it at work with our fleshly eyes, and yet it never stops. It always grows, it always moves, it is always present and always at work. Now, let me propose a definition of this kingdom. It is not necessarily a physical entity in this world, but it is rather the kingship. It is the power. It is the authority of God as shown through Jesus Christ. It is the kingship. It is the power. It is that authority of God. that is shown through Jesus Christ. It is shown then in Jesus's time in the flesh, in history. It is shown now in people's lives, and it will be shown in the future in the culmination and consummation of all things. And so as we consider the kingdom of heaven, let us ask three questions of our text this morning. What is the effect of the kingdom? Where is the power of the kingdom? And what is the price of this kingdom? What is the effect of the kingdom, its power and its price? Now we come to our first parable, the parable of the sower, or as it also is known, the parable of the four soils. Now here's the sower. He goes out. He sows, he throws the seed, it falls on different ground. Before the ground is even plowed, some of it is snatched away by the birds. Jesus is telling this picture of something that's really familiar to the people at his time. And it is not really that distant even from us here in Springfield, Ohio. We still understand some of the principles, the principles of, so sowing seed. And whatever else this parable teaches us, I believe contextually Jesus is actually here giving an explanation to an unvoiced question. You see, if we look at Matthew 11 and 12, the chapters that precede our text, we will see that those chapters record one of two responses to Jesus and his message. It is either one of acceptance of praise and worship or one of rejection, a one of indifference, one of outright opposition. And among others, the religious leaders by and large responded in that latter way. And so if we can, for a moment, put ourselves in the shoes of Jesus's disciples and maybe even the wider crowds, we see Jesus here standing before them and saying, behold, the kingdom of God has come. The kingdom of heaven is here. And yet they look around and they see this response. They see that here's this good thing Jesus is claiming. This is the kingdom of kingdoms, the glory of glories. This is the highest power in the world. And yet people are not responding to it with exclamations of joy. In fact, we have mixed responses. And so that first question that we're asking is really the question on the disciples minds is that what is the effect of kingdom? Or in other words, why is the response to something that is claimed to be so good so mixed? Why don't more people believe this? And we can sympathize with this question, can't we? Even if there are some of us today who actually don't confess to be Christians, we might be wondering, well, this is a legitimate question to ask. If this is such a good thing, if this is such a powerful thing, why don't more people believe it? And so Jesus is actually addressing this question, addressing this concern. And he draws our attention to the fact, if you will look at the imagery he gives us, we will see that the things that are the same, that don't change in the parable, are first the sower himself, that Christ is going through the world and he's sowing the seed. And the seed is the same. It is the message of the kingdom. It is the gospel. What is different? In the parable are those 4 soils. Those 4 soils really boil down to those same 2 responses to Jesus Christ. There are those who reject the message of Christ. And there are those who receive it. Those who despise the idea both of the coming judgment that Jesus proclaimed and the salvation that he offered. They reject the idea of one and therefore don't see the need for another. And then there are those who understand the predicament, who see the reality of the fallenness of their own heart and the world, who receive both this idea of judgment and then in turn find comfort in the offer of salvation. There's always these two groups. And so the gospel goes through the world at Jesus's time. The gospel even goes through the world today as the many versions, many of the sower, we as his disciples keep proclaiming it. And yet, wherever we go, wherever it goes, there will always be this twofold response. And therefore, Jesus says there's nothing wrong with the message. There's nothing faulty with the messenger. But it is the heart that responds to the message, and it responds in one of those two ways. And I do believe that there's some pertinent application. for us in that today. First, it is a message of comfort. Again, the disciples are looking at what's happening around them and they're confused. And so Jesus brings the word of comfort. The message does not fail. If it is rejected, it is because of the soil into which the seed falls. The message will always achieve its purposes. There will always be the receptive soil. Individuals whose lives, when changed, bear so much fruit, as our text says, that in some way we could say they more than compensate for all the rejection of God's Word in the world. And so what we are called to do is not trying to pry into who is what kind of soil. This is not what we're called to do. We trust God that he is working out his purposes and we do our job. The little imitator sowers. We live our lives consistent with the message of salvation that we believe. And we share both our message, the message that has been given to us, and the lives that have been gifted to us with the watching world. The parable is also relevant to us because it calls us to examine ourselves. You see, we have four soils, ultimately two responses. But we have four soils, which means that this rejection of Christ and the kingdom of God does not always initially appear as such. We have those who receive it with initial excitement. Maybe because everyone else does. Maybe because there's a certain appeal. There's a certain draw in this idea of Jesus as compassionate, as loving, as kind, as standing in opposition to the religious authorities. This idea of subversiveness. But then Jesus says there are trials. There's persecution, there's discomfort, and then comes disappointment and disillusionment with this idea, and there comes rejection of Jesus's message. There are those who receive that message, but they do not give it the primacy it deserves. There's already something in their life that they cherish and love more than Jesus than the message of the kingdom. And so again, they make a choice and they make a choice against this kingdom. And so we are called to examine ourselves whether we are the soil that we might be thinking of us as. Yeah. The rest of the passage, this is the beauty of chapter 13, that Jesus not only names these soils, he doesn't only name the different responses, but he immediately brings comfort in the following text. And he's beginning to address, and we will see, he's addressing these different soils and their kind of different reactions and their false perception of the kingdom. He's challenging them. He's calling people, even with these parables. These are words intended to call people out of their slumber, out of their blindness, and to respond to him in the way that the good soil responds. And so, here's the effect of the kingdom. Everywhere it goes, there's a truthful answer. But then, where's the power of this kingdom? I think we underestimate, because of where we are in the redemptive history, in the fact that we are on this side of the Pentecost, we tend to undermine, we tend to misunderstand and downplay just how counterintuitive Jesus' arrival on earth was, how expectation-defying his self-presentation was. We know that even John the Baptist wondered about this. He was asking, well, are you the one or should we be waiting for the other? And the same wonder was in his disciples, in the crowds. Well, again, if this is the kingdom of God, why is it not overthrowing the Roman leaders? Why is it not coming with lightning and thunder? And so when we look at the next three parables, briefly, we find in them Jesus' compassion. Because he is, although using the parables, but he's sharing a simple yet deeply profound truth. That this kingdom is in some way hidden. And yet it always is at work. And that there's going to be a day when it will be revealed in its fullest glory. We have the next three parables grouped together. The parable of the weeds of the mustard seed and of the leaven. The first one really calls to patience. It calls to patience those who might expect the kingdom to come here now, drawing their attention to the fact that God is working his purposes out in the way that he sees fit. So, the parable of the tares is calling us to patience. Jesus is saying, here are two seeds. There's a sharp contrast between the two. One is sown by the master of the field. And another one by the enemy. Yet, when they grow enough, they look indistinguishable. Even though one carries life. carries food, carries nourishment. The other one is toxic and even poisonous. But until they ripen, until they fully grow, we won't be able to tell. There is that contrast. Jesus is already explaining this. Yes, you might look around and you might wonder, well, why is society not being changed? Why is the transformation not as visible and as powerful, as potent as I might want it to be? And yet, Jesus is saying, yes, that might seem true. You might look at other Christians and think that they don't look that different from people around them. And yet, the seed is different. And yet, God is at work. And yet, the kingdom is progressing. And there's going to be a time when we will see both seeds, both groups in full light. And then we will see the glory of God's people. The other two parables kind of piggyback on that. But they draw a sharp contrast in a slightly different way. They show the contrast between the smallness of the initial kingdom manifestation and the ultimate glory. If you think about it, Jesus is here dealing with those who, essentially, he's addressing the rocky ground. Those who are excited about the promises of the kingdom, but then face disappointment of their expectations, face trials, face temptations, and eventually give it up. And Jesus is speaking against that. He says, no, look, right now, this kingdom might look like the smallest seed, this mustard seed. It is extremely small, like this little lump of leaven. But there's going to be a day, and here he's making an overstatement, there's going to be a day when this mustard seed will turn into a tree. Something that's really essentially supernatural. Some of the commentators say that, well, mustard seed would at best grow into this overgrown bush. But a tree, that's really unlikely. And so Jesus is saying, making a deliberate overstatement, that this, the smallest of seeds, will produce supernatural results that are not visible in the moment. This small lump of leaven, this sourdough starter, will leaven enough bread, 50, 60 pounds worth of bread, enough to feed a small village. There's a deliberate overstatement. These parables really, as we look at them, the two parables, they tell us two things, that this kingdom has an enormous growth potential, and that this kingdom is extremely pervasive. And it is helpful not only for the disciples then, especially of course for them, because again, they're looking around and they're not seeing Anything resembling the actual earthly kingdom, the actual earthly powerhouse. And so the question is before them. And Jesus is coming to comfort them and say, yes, what I'm saying sounds excitement. You might be projecting your expectations into it. And those might not match what you're seeing right now. But trust me, trust me. The kingdom has this massive supernatural growth potential. One day, it will be the only kingdom in the universe. It never stops. Like leaven, it never dies. Once it's in the dough, it permeates it until every ounce, every corner is leavened. And the leaven does not stop until it achieves it. You see, here is a man on the outskirts of the Roman Empire, claiming to be God. A man who will soon die in the most humiliating death. In time, his disciples will claim his resurrection, his ascension to heaven. And within a single generation, the core message of this kingdom will reach the core of the greatest empire at that time. It will reach Rome. It will do so without a single shot fire, without a single march of an army. And what is more, we live in a day when we look back and we see that it is not Caesar Augustus, it is not any other leader, but it is the birth of this man, this seemingly nobody at the moment. It's that event on which we count our years and the division of eras. The kingdom grows secretly. It grows through the word of mouth, from lips to heart, with a message that transforms the likes of the woman at the well. When she says, Christ told me everything about me. No revolution started, no thrones overthrown, but mere lives transformed. It is the same message even to this day, every week, every Sunday, till the end of the world. It's at work. the kingdom's growing, even if we here today in the West might feel discouraged and feel like Christianity is on the decline, even if we look at the state of the church in the society and we feel like it's beginning to resemble that small mustard seed, and we begin to doubt How that mustard seed could again grow into this big tree. It is at that point where we need to take Jesus' words to heart. When we need to remember that we, even today here in the West, we might see the decline of the church. And yet, Christianity is growing. Christianity is growing in Africa at a pace unheard of. It's growing in South America. It's growing in China. The kingdom of God never stops growing. We might also be tempted during those better times of the church. We might look at its growth when it's really growing and say, oh, this could never come from that small seed. We might be tempted to trust. other things to contribute to this growth. We might be tempted to find formulas, to find strategies, to build these elaborate plans of how this growth should be maintained. And yet, even then, we must remember that it is the power of the Gospel through the work of the Spirit. That changes lives and that pushes this kingdom forward. We must remember what Paul heard from God. Pleading with him to remove the thorn in his side. When God's answer was, my grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in weakness. This kingdom is hidden. It shows up here and there. It's visible more at other times, less at other. But it's always growing, it's always spreading, and its end is going to be like this huge tree, the greatest tree in the garden, on the branches of which the birds will find their home. Here's the power of the kingdom. Well, finally, what is its price then? And here, Jesus is addressing the thorny soil, those who already have something in their lives that is so valuable to them that when they hear about Christ, whether they're attracted to it or not, even if they are, their love for something else chokes out the message of the gospel. And so we come to another pair of the parables of parables in versus 44 and 45. And here is the third question before us is what it will take. What will it take for us to acquire or gain the kingdom? What is its price? Let me just quickly read those two verses. Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls who on finding one pearl of great value went and sold all that he had and bought it. Two pictures communicating the same truth. Once it has come across, the kingdom of heaven will cost us all that we have, just like the accidentally found treasure or intentionally sought after pearl. Now, we are not told here to abandon all of our possessions, to sell everything, to move into this remote monastery and to live a life of complete poverty. Rather, The issue is one of priorities, one of ultimate priorities. You see, Christ is not the only beautiful thing in this life, but he is the most beautiful. In fact, he is the only one through whom the true beauty of all other things is revealed. It is a little bit like falling in love that suddenly heightens your senses to everything else. The world around you suddenly feels more lovely because of the loveliness of the one you're in love with. And so it is with Christ. He gives real color to all else that is true and beautiful. But there's a but. Everything has to come his way. He must be our highest good. To find true enjoyment in other things, we have to find fulfillment in Him. And it cannot be the other way. He must come first. And this is where things get costly, don't they? Because if we look at our lives for one reason or another, it so often feels like we have to make a choice. While it is a matter of priorities, it oftentimes does feel like it's one or the other. Maybe today what stands between us and Him, between us and the kingdom of heaven, is the approval of our unbelieving family members. Maybe it is an ultimatum of our child who wants to transition from one gender to another. Maybe it is a romantic relationship that damages our love. for Christ, a work promotion, perhaps that comes through betrayal and backstabbing. You know, if we think about it, this is why Christ used this language of absolutes. This is why, when he meets the young rich ruler, he tells him to give all his riches away to the poor and come follow him. This is not because riches are bad, but it is because they are so potent to become our number one. This is why he speaks in absolute language when he says that we must even hate our family members, even our own lives to be his disciples. Now, he's not saying this because love relationships in life are bad. They are God's gift to us, but because they are so potent to become our number one. This is why Christ told his disciples that they must lead by humble serving as he was washing their feet. Again, not because power is bad, but because it is as potent as anything else to become our number one. You see, the choice often feels absolute because it fundamentally is. To follow Christ will cost us everything. Christ will not be anything less than our number one. The choice is real. And if you read through this chapter again, what you also will see that that choice is ever before us, that among other things, Jesus is repeatedly calling people, warning them of the coming judgment of the coming consequences of our present choice. It is a choice of life and death and eternal for that matter. This is why we have the parable of the net. The seventh one in this chapter where the crowds are warned that there are really just two options. Either we commit our whole lives, our whole selves to Christ and thus have Him, or we prioritize something else over Him and ultimately have neither Him nor that other thing. Let me remind you again of the parable of the soils. It shows us that half-baked commitment is no commitment at all. Now, this might feel burdensome. And trust me, you are not alone. If you're wondering why you would want to choose this kingdom, if it's so weighty, why you would want to choose Christ. I'd like to draw your attention, lastly, to one more thing in these two parables. of hidden treasures. It is the reality that is very easy to overlook. It is the fact that neither the field worker nor the merchant showed any sense of burden. You see, we might feel crushed by the sense of obligation, but the sacrifice in these parables Of all that was sold was no hardship. It was not done out of a sense of obligation, but out of delight. Once the kingdom of heaven is truly understood, nothing else can compare with it in value. We choose Christ not because we have to, but because we want to. One commentator put it really well, and it is a lengthy quote, but I'd like to read it in full. This is what he said. He said, some people discover the worth of the kingdom by accident. They're plowing the familiar furrow of life when suddenly, against all expectation, they find treasure. What a marvelous picture of discovering Jesus. He's worth every sacrifice to secure. The pearl of great values found by a rich man. He came across it after a long and patient search. A pearl fancier by profession. He knew perfection when he saw it. And he never had seen it until he discovered this pearl. The most illuminating picture of the kingdom and the king. There are those pearls in the market. There are other things of great value. There are other pearls in the market. There are other great things of value. But none is to compare with the pearl of great value. That is how some people find the kingdom of God. They try many faiths, they try many ideologies and they gain much from them. But one day they find the loveliest thing in all the world and they give all to gain it. I would have you recall that Jesus' parables both offered salvation. and warned of judgment. Both reminded people that they are naturally a bad soil, that they are naturally a weed, that there are naturally a bad fish in a net. But Christ also offered a way out. Life through death, power through weakness, joy through sorrow, glory through humiliation. Most of all, he did not do anything he's not asking of us today. In his earthly life, and especially on the cross, Jesus gave his all to gain us for himself so that we would gain all of him and in him everything else. The words of the famous hymn are appropriate here to end with. It says, when I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, my riches gain I count but loss and poor contempt and all my pride. Where the whole realm of nature mine, that where a present far too small, love so amazing, so divine, demand my soul, my life, my all. Let's pray.