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THE PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED – THE EXTREMES OF GOD’S KINGDOM

THE PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED – THE EXTREMES OF GOD’S KINGDOM. Penge Baptist Church 21 st August 2011. The Parable.

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THE PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED – THE EXTREMES OF GOD’S KINGDOM

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  1. THE PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED – THE EXTREMES OF GOD’S KINGDOM Penge Baptist Church 21st August 2011

  2. The Parable • He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.” (Matthew 13:31-32)

  3. The kingdom • Disciples expected a warlike Messiah who would eject the Roman occupiers…. • ….how could Jesus convince them that his kingdom was “not of this world” – and far more important?

  4. The image • One of Jesus’ favourites: • I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.’ (Matthew 17:20) • He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you. (Luke 17:6)

  5. The initiative • “a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field”

  6. The intervention • “when it grows”

  7. Extremely small • “it is the smallest of all your seeds” • “Who despises the day of small things?” (Zechariah 4:10) • “He grew up before him like a tender shoot,and like a root out of dry ground.” (Isaiah 53:2)

  8. Extreme variation • “it is the smallest of all your seeds…. it is the largest of garden plants” • Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” (Mark 9:35) • “unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” (John 12:24-25)

  9. Extremely fruitful • “becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches” • you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8) • “that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God” (Romans 8:21)

  10. Extremely slow • “when it grows” • “But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” (Romans 8:25) • “What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?” (Romans 9:22)

  11. God’s kingdom is underway! • “as the Lord has assigned to each his task, I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow” (1 Corinthians 3:6-7) • “the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” (Matthew 4:16)

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