The Influence of Christianity
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2013 · 7 July 2013
Let us now read two parables that really must be understood together in Matthew 13:31-33, “Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, 32 which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.” 33 Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.”
Small things can have very large effects. All music, all symphonies, concertos, hymns and songs come basically from eight notes. All the profound words that have ever been uttered or written in the English language come from only 26 letters. That is really the lessons of these parables. Now let me give you some background so that you will understand the disciple’s feelings as Jesus was teaching them.
The disciples believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the promised King who would set up the kingdom. But for them, the kingdom had very clear definitions. It would come in glory and in power. There would be great cataclysmic events. And there would be the punishment of evil doers. They were looking for the music, the triumph, a blazing display of power and glory as the Messiah established His kingdom.
But, it didn't happen that way. And that's why they kept asking themselves -Was this the Messiah? And even though He would tell them again and again that He was; they would still struggle with it. And even into Acts 1:6 they were still asking – “Will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” They never quite understood it because their expectations were so different from what they were seeing.
The Jewish rejection kept mounting and getting more violent and more overt. And instead of Jesus talking about what He would do to them, He started talking about what they would do to Him. And instead of Him saying - He was going to kill them, He started saying – They are going to kill Me. That was very hard for the disciples to handle. And so Jesus teaches them why in Matthew 13.
He says - before the kingdom comes, here is a form of the kingdom which now exists which you must understand. And He calls it the mystery form in verse 11. And now Jesus says I will unfold it to you. And so He gives them seven parables which explain to them the kingdom in its mystery form, prior to the blaze of glory that they were anticipating.
The first parable He gives them is about four kinds of soil. Three of these soils do not receive the seed. That tells them that this form of the kingdom will include much rejection. In fact, most of the world rejects it. The world is either the hard soil that doesn't even let the good news in or the rocky soil that lets it in a little while and then it withers, or the weedy soil that finally chokes it out because of the love of this world and the cares of this age.
And the immediate question would be - what's going to happen to those who reject? And so the Lord tells them a second parable. The wheat and the tares, the kingdom citizens and the rejecters are going to grow together until the judgment. And He is saying is it is not your job to be the executioners, which is for the angels in the judgment. Your job is to keep on being the wheat in the midst of the world so that you will influence the tares that are all around you.
Now, what do you think the next question is that they are going to ask? We've got all these people who reject and they're all over the place because the tares were sown throughout the field. And evil is so powerful and evil is so dominating in its influence, if these two things are going along together, isn't that going to strangle the power of Christ in the world?
And so, Jesus teaches them these two parables that show from very small beginnings, things very insignificant, the kingdom is going to grow in spite of the opposition to ultimately influence the whole-wide world. These parables talk about the victory of the right. That in the end, the little tiny mustard seed fills the earth, the little piece of leaven, leavens the whole loaf of bread. The power of the kingdom, in spite of its smallness, will sweep the world.
The first parable of the soils talks about the breadth of the kingdom. The seed is sown in the whole world. The second parable talks about the length of the kingdom, it will go on until the harvest. The third parable about the mustard seed talks about the height of the kingdom. And the fourth parable of the leaven talks about the depth of the kingdom as it is hidden in the dough and influences from within.
Now the Lord does not explain to us these two recent parables, but don't feel bad. The Lord gave us the Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us He explained all of these things to them. But for us, we have the resident Holy Spirit and we, because we are taught the mind of God as revealed in the Word of God, can understand this in as His plan.
The mustard seed describes the external power of the kingdom. Matthew 13:31, “Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field.” Here's a farmer, who is going to plant a crop of mustard. Why? Well, it was used for its oil, medicinal use and also for flavoring. Even today, they still raise mustard crops.
Verse 32, says that, "which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.” This particular mustard seed grows to a bush, about eight feet in height. But sometimes it will grow to 15 feet in height. The Lord is saying there is no connection between the smallness of the seed and the largeness of the end result.
Jesus in verse 32 says, "This is the least of all seeds." Now critics who want to attack the Bible pounce on that statement. See they say, that proves the Bible is not inerrant, because a wild orchid seed is smaller than a mustard seed, therefore if Jesus didn't know that, He is not God. The critics say - Jesus is wrong, either because He's ignorant, or He's wrong because He's going along with their error.
Now listen, of all of the seeds that were sown in the past untill today in 2013 to produce edible products, the mustard seed was and still is the smallest. Recently this was affirmed by Dr. L. H. Shinners who is a director of the largest herbarium in the southwest USA, having 318 thousand botanical specimens from all over the world. He said, quote: "The mustard seed would indeed have been the smallest of those planted as a crop at the time of Christ.”
Now, Jesus was also speaking proverbially. To the Jew, because the smallest seed he ever dealt with was a mustard seed, it was used to describe something small. For example, the Jews talked about a tiny breach of the Mosaic Law being a defilement the size of a mustard seed. They talked about a blemish on an animal the size of a mustard seed. To this day the Arabs talk about faith weighing the amount of a mustard seed.
And our Lord even used the same in Matthew 17:20 where He said if you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, “Be moved, and it would be removed.” So, it was proverbial. And He was using a story with a proverb that they used, but in His marvelous infinite wisdom, He happened to pick a proverb they used that was right. Now everyone understands what the parable says.
First, the kingdom will start small. Can you imagine how this is important to tell the disciple? They were being smothered by oppression, rejection and blasphemy. And Jesus says - It's okay. That's the plan; this will start from something very small. In Luke 17:20 it says, “Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation.” You can't see it. Not in this form.
The kingdom is already here, but it's a little seed starting very small, you can't see it yet. Just like when you plant that mustard seed in the ground, you can't see it, but it's there. And in that seed is the potential for a massive tree. And in that little seed planting of the kingdom is the potential for a kingdom that extends to the ends of the earth.
And think of those disciples. All of them put together wouldn't add up to a mustard seed. They were so small, so inadequate, so unqualified, so fearful, so faithless and so weak. And that was the form of the kingdom that was planted. But in the heart of that little infant in that manger was eternal life that would burst forth into an eternal kingdom.
This is a marvelous truth because this is not seen in the Old Testament. This is mystery revealed. If we talk to a pastor today who has a church of 60, maybe he feels inadequate. You'll hear people - well, our church is so small. But when the kingdom started it only had 12 and so far it's doing very well. Before it's done it will cover the entire globe.
The kingdom started very small, but the kingdom ends up very large. In Psalm 72:8-11, it says, “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.9 Those who dwell in the wilderness will bow before Him, and His enemies will lick the dust. 10 The kings of Tarshish and of the isles will bring presents; the kings of Sheba and Seba will offer gifts. 11 Yes, all kings shall fall down before Him; all nations shall serve Him.”
Isaiah 54: 2-3, “Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; do not spare; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. 3 For you shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities inhabited.” Jeremiah saw it. Amos saw it. Micah saw it. Zechariah saw it. Ultimately the millennial kingdom comes; Jesus reigns over the whole earth.
Revelation 11:15 says, “Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” Jesus says - this thing gets so big that the birds of the air come and build their nests, and live in its branches.
So what do these birds represent? Look at Ezekiel 31:3, 5-6, “Indeed Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon, with fine branches that shaded the forest, and of high stature; and its top was among the thick boughs. 5 ‘Therefore its height was exalted above all the trees of the field; and its branches became long because of the abundance of water. 6 All the birds of the heavens made their nests in its boughs; under its branches all the beasts of the field brought forth their young; and in its shadow all great nations made their home.” All this is saying is there is one great dominant world power, a whole lot of other little ones get sheltered in the branches.”
So let us look at a very similar lesson in the parable of the leaven. Matthew 13:33, "Another parable spoke He to them saying, The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened.” When we take a piece of fermented dough and place it in that new loaf and it permeates until it leavens the whole loaf and causes it to rise.
Now, the leaven used is very small. But you'll notice that it is hidden in a massive amount of dough. This is indicative of the enormity of the task accomplished by a little bit of leaven. Now frankly leavened bread is superior to unleavened bread. So secondly, it has a positive affect; it makes it better and tastier. Sometimes leaven is used as an example of the influence of evil, but here the leaven represents the good influence of Christ, His kingdom, His gospel and His subjects in the world.
Jesus knew that the Jews understood the analogy of leaven related to evil and that they perceived the massive moving spread of evil and what better thing to grasp that which they understood and say - that's exactly how fast and how unstoppable and how penetrating will be the spread of the kingdom.
After Jesus went to heaven there were only 120 little disciples, banded together in Jerusalem, and look today millions across the face of the earth have been influenced by Christianity. All of the caring and benevolent organizations, all of those things that help the poor and give aide to those that are down-trodden and depressed and so forth, comes out of the Spirit of Christ put through the hearts of His people are leaven in the world.
Second lesson, the positive influence of the kingdom comes from your heart. God has to plant His leaven inside the people of the world. This is the time for men to be saved; this is the time for Christianity to do its work. The world has been injected with eternal life and it's spreading everywhere. Ultimately every knee will bow and here we are extensions of that same eternal life, Christ Spirit dwells in me.
Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” We don't need political positions; we don't have to be the President of the United States. We don't have to have laws and guns and soldiers to dominate the world with Christianity.
No, we can just begin to move from a small beginning. You know, before the Lord returns the second time, it says in Matthew 24:14, this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world. It's going to extend, it's going to go and permeate everybody. And then, finally, our Lord will come again and set up His kingdom.
Let me close with these thoughts. We have 300 thousand missionaries globally in the earth for Christianity in 2010. Approximately 78 million bibles are distributed every year. They estimate right now that there are several million house churches meeting in China with approximately 160 million Christians. Some say that there are more Christians in China now than in the United States.
Do you realize that when the church started in Jerusalem, it took them seven years before they established the first mission church in Antioch? Ninety-five percent of the population of the world has all or part of the Bible in their own language. And ninety percent of all the tribes on the face of the earth have had the opportunity to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. Isn't that amazing?
It sums up really what our Lord said in Matthew 16:18, "I will build My church and the gates of hell will not hold it in." Doesn’t that show confidence? Christ is building His kingdom. And the day will come when it all climaxes and it's indicated in Revelation 11:15, “Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!”
That's where it's going ultimately. Christianity will win, Jesus will reign, evil will be destroyed, evil men will be sent to hell and the kingdom will come in its eternal fullness. What a hopeful parable. Next Sunday, we're going to find out how you and I personally deal with the kingdom in our lives. Bow with me in prayer.