Mat 13:31-35; The Plain Things Are the Main Things (Mustard and Leaven).

Class Outline:

Thursday April 3, 2025

 

Main idea: The church was to vastly grow and contain both good and bad.

 

The NT clearly tells us how each of us can contribute to the good of this vast body of Christ.

 

Matt 13:31-35

 

The kingdom of heaven is like (not is). 

 

Parable of the mustard seed:

 

Is He referring to the literal kingdom of heaven on earth, which will certainly encompass the entire earth or is He referring to the interim age of the church? 

 

Maybe He means that Christianity will infect the world. (It certainly has.)

 

“If you’re a Westerner - whether you’ve stepped foot inside a church or not, whether you’ve clapped eyes on a Bible or not, whether you consider yourself an atheist, pagan, or Jedi Knight - you are a goldfish, and Christianity is the water in which you swim.” [Glen Scrivener]

 

Scrivener goes on to list: equality, compassion, consent, enlightenment, science, freedom, and progress as all Christian values that have become the air or water of Western civilization.

 

Let’s focus for a minute on the kingdom of heaven. 

 

When it comes to earth it will be the kingdom of God set upon the earth in fulfillment of all covenants given to Israel. It will be worldwide and righteousness will reign.

 

ISA 52:10

The Lord has bared His holy arm

In the sight of all the nations,

That all the ends of the earth may see

The salvation of our God.

 

ISA 32:1

Behold, a king will reign righteously

And princes will rule justly.

 

PSA 89:14

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne;

 

A worldwide righteous kingdom and King from David was no mystery to the OT prophets. 

 

The “mystery” of the kingdom of heaven is the age of the church.

 

The mustard seed means growth - plain and simple.

 

The mystery is the age of the church in which the promise of the kingdom of heaven was taken away from “this generation” and postponed to another “who would produce the fruit of it” (MAT 21:43).

 

The birds perching in the branches is a quote from Dan 4, which represents the vastness of Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom.

 

Some liken the birds as being the same as the birds in the parable of the sower. In this interpretation, the seed snatchers, those who take the word of the kingdom away and teach falsehood, are hiding out in the church. While this has actually happened and was prophesied by Paul (ACT 20:29-31) ... 

 

ACT 20:29-31

"I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 "Therefore be on the alert…

 

We cannot say for certain if this is what the birds represent. 

 

The fact that the tiny mustard seed grows to a tree means that the church would grow and it has. It would not remain in Jerusalem.

 

There are four kinds of soil. The world is full of tares. Satan continues to sow deceit. The church grew - some parts good, some bad.

 

Perhaps Jesus thought that the disciples would see the church as Israel was - confined to certain people in a certain place. The disciples seemed glued to Jerusalem, even though the Lord gave them the commission to go to all the nations. So God forced them to move. 

 

ACT 8:1

And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

 

Soon after this, Saul becomes Paul, and then things really start to expand. 

 

Interpreting the Bible (Hermeneutics).

The plain things are the main things.

 

The Bible is not always plain, but most of the time it is. In Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics, Silva writes: “While there are indeed some passages of Scripture that, because of their subject matter, are intrinsically difficult to understand, most passages do not belong in this category. Fundamentally, the Bible is quite a simple and clear book. We, however, are sinful and ignorant. Whether because of our limitations or our laziness, we often fail to bridge the distance that separates us from the biblical text, and that is what gets us in trouble.”

 

God has given the church pastors and teachers to guide them. Laziness is not checking. Ignorance is not listening or coming to know more and more over time.

 

Interpreting the Bible (Hermeneutics).

 

Your desire: interpreting according to what you want it to say rather than objectively reading and accepting it plainly. 

 

Your logic: interpreting according to what you think it should say. Here your reason comes into view and you conclude things that you don’t think God would say or do. Would you sacrifice your son to die for your enemy? My thoughts are not like your thoughts …

 

Your experience: interpreting according to your tradition. Here you allow what you have learned about a passage before to be the only true interpretation. Someone already told me what this passage means. This could also refer to horrible experiences in the past where people used Scripture to justify evil, or you had bad church experiences where leaders, say, used Scripture wrongly. 

 

Some things are plain and do not need to be interpreted. As is often stated, “If the literal sense makes sense, seek no other sense.” 

 

Oftentimes people dive into interpretation and they don’t tremble at it. 

 

ISA 66:2

“But to this one I will look,

To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.”

 

That kind of awe before God’s Word can be easily lost when we start thinking that our intellect and interpretive skill are what matters most.

 

Looking to this short parable, unexplained by our Lord, I think we can confidently say that what we can know is that the church would expand from the small beginning it had to the worldwide phenomenon that it is. 

 

The Scripture sees the world getting worse as the end of the age approaches, not better (1TI 4:1-3; 2TI 3:1-5).

 

1TI 4:1-3

But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, 3 men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth.

 

2TI 3:1-5

But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.

 

And, since the end of the age is the judgment, then we have to tack on the Tribulational period before the Second Coming, and that is the worst time on the earth (Jacob’s trouble). 

 

LUK 18:1

However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?" 

 

The parable of the sower is mostly bad soil (3 out of 4) and the parable of the tares is not fully good, and the parable of the net is not all good either (very similar to the tares). And so, the four uninterpreted parables do not have to be, and likely should not be, all good. 

 

Application:

 

Good and bad can grow along with the church. You want to be a contributor to the good.

 

You contribute to the good of your church by:

 

Spiritual growth (studying God’s Word filled with the Holy Spirit and applying that truth filled with the Holy Spirit).

 

Serving your local church in your spiritual gift in whatever capacity is available (volunteerism and sacrifice).

 

Praying for the members of your church; their needs and how you can help them in their own spiritual walk.

 

Praying for people to come to your church.

 

Being thankful for your church (or find one you are thankful for).

 

Giving grace to its members.

 

Being examples to the flock.