From our Sunday service on August 31, 2025, Mark 4, Ezekiel 17, Matthew 13, and Luke 14. This is part 3 of our Parables of Christ series. Watch the full message: The Ever-Growing Kingdom – The Parables of Christ #3 on YouTube.
We have been talking about the value of the kingdom of God, and how God wants us to abandon everything in pursuit of His eternal kingdom. Once you have made that decision, the next question is how the kingdom grows, and where. God wants you to know that He is always growing His kingdom, and He wants you to be a part of it.
The Secretly Growing Seed
In Mark 4, Jesus says the kingdom of God is as if a man should cast seed into the ground, and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. The earth brings forth fruit of herself, first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. When the fruit is brought forth, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest is come. There is a time to sow, and there is a time when God brings the harvest, and the farmer has to be ready for both. Everybody knows the first step is plowing and putting in seed. Then what does the farmer do while it grows? He does not sit in the field and pull on the stalks. He sleeps and rises, and the seed grows, and he does not know how.
Today we understand plant science better than they did in the first century. Even so, you cannot make a seed grow by force. The earth produces the fruit without our manufacturing it. Who is the man spreading seed? Looking back at the parable of the sower in the same chapter, the seed is the word of God being sown. The mystery is that the earth produces the fruit without any human intervention. If you left a wheat field alone, the seed would still sprout. Our responsibility is to share the gospel, and the results are in God’s hands, not ours. A lot of times we are discouraged about giving the gospel because we do not see instant results. When I was a teenager working in vacation Bible school, I would give the gospel to a child who was distracted and just wanted to get back to playing games, who only wanted to get saved because a friend did. It was discouraging. But the effects of salvation do not come from our efforts. They come from God. A seed may have been planted that I never saw sprout. At the same time, we cannot convince ourselves that we are the ones who bring people to Christ, as if the right wording would do what only God can do. If I could just say it in a way they could understand, we think, then they would believe. That puts the power in our mouths instead of in the God who gives the increase. We scatter seed. He brings the harvest.
The Mustard Seed
Jesus then turns to the scale of the kingdom’s growth.
And he said, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth: But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it.
Mark 4:30–32
He is talking about black mustard, a very small, almost unnoticeable seed. If it were on the ground you would walk by it. Mustard plants are also highly invasive. Jewish farmers would have known this well. Under Jewish law you could plant only one type of crop in a field, so if you wanted mustard for spice you needed a field dedicated to it, and you had to be careful it did not overtake the wheat. The second you planted mustard, it would spread. The illustration for the gospel is clear. The gospel is not just a big tree. It is more like an invasive species. When the seed is planted, it continues to spread and overtake, and nothing else in the garden can stand against it.
The fowls of the air that lodge under its shadow represent individuals from all the nations of the world. We know that because we compare Scripture with Scripture. In Ezekiel 17, God takes a tender twig from a high cedar, plants it on a high mountain, and it becomes a goodly cedar, and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing. That is a prophecy about God’s future work through the Messiah, sheltering the nations. Why mustard? At this time it was used as a seasoning, but also as a medicine for chest congestion and inflammation, and mustard oil was used to improve circulation. The gospel is not just something that tastes good. It helps. It provides renewal.
The Leaven
Matthew 13 adds another short picture.
Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
Matthew 13:33
In the first century you could not buy a packet of active dry yeast. You went to a baker and bought a piece of starter dough. Three measures of meal sounds like three cups. That is what I thought, too. Three measures is the equivalent of about sixty pounds of flour, enough food to feed hundreds of people. A tiny bit of starter is hidden in that much flour and worked through it. Once the woman kneads it in, she can no longer see where it is or what it is doing, but over time the bread is no longer a flat, cracker-like pita. It becomes something completely different. The effects of the gospel are not always immediately evident. It takes those who have already received the leaven to pass it on to dough that has none. You cannot leaven a lump with what you do not have. And when the gospel takes effect, it completely transforms us. The bread that received the leavening agent is no longer what it was.
The Great Banquet
In Luke 14, Jesus is at a Sabbath feast. In the first century these feasts took a lot of effort. You could not work on the Sabbath, so the host had to prepare everything in advance, invite the guests, and have the meal ready when the day came. Someone at the table says, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. Jesus tells of a certain man who made a great supper and invited many. When the time came, they all began to make excuse. One has bought land and must go see it. That is the cares of the world. Another has bought oxen and must prove them. That is the pull of new possessions. Another has married a wife and cannot come. Even a good relationship can crowd out the invitation. These excuses line up with the parable of the sower: the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, or the things that choke the word. The host is angry. He has the servant bring in the poor, the maimed, the halt, and the blind from the streets of the city, and then go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, that his house may be filled. The poor represent the sinners, which is each and every one of us. The people invited to begin with were the religious leaders and the Jews who were entrusted with the gospel and decided not to follow it. The city is implied to be Jerusalem. When that was not enough to fill the kingdom, God opened the invitation to the whole world. There is plenty of room for salvation. The mansion in heaven has a lot of rooms, and God is more than happy to build a few more for a few more people. None of the first guests who refused will taste that supper, but the house will still be filled.
God has created this great kingdom for us to be part of. The secretly growing seed reminds us that the kingdom grows by God’s power, not our own. We plant the seed of the gospel, but only God can make it spring up into life. The mustard seed reminds us that what starts small and almost unnoticed can grow until it shelters people from every nation, and that once it takes root it keeps spreading. The leaven reminds us that a little of the gospel, worked faithfully through the lump, transforms the whole. The great banquet reminds us that those who make excuse will miss the supper, and that the invitation now runs out to the poor, the broken, and the nations. Together these parables assure us that God’s kingdom is a reality. It is ever growing, transforming, and inviting. The work is driven not by our hands but by God, and He wants us in it. God wants you to know that He is always growing His kingdom, and He wants you to be a part of it. Will you be a part of it today?
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