What is the Kingdom of Heaven Like?
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
by Jim Westmoreland
Have you ever thought of questions that you really didn't want to know the answer? Many of them probably fall into the health and relationship categories. Doctor, what do I need to do to be and feel more healthy? Do any of us not know what the doctor is probably going to say? Or, what do I need to do to improve the intimacy and caring in my close relationships? Were it not for the blinders that we rigidly put on each morning we could probably see things about our relationships more honestly and clearly.
Do we really want to know the answers so that we will value the answers and act on them? How much will we change in our lives to live healthier? Some things, but not every thing . . . What's in our "not everything?" How much will we change in our own lives to improve our relationships? Some things, but not everything. Again, what's on our "not everything" list that we won't change?
In our relationships sometimes we are emotionally far-sighted, which means we don't see very clearly up close. We human beings have a perception problem. We often think we have the proper perspective on an issue when in fact we are way off.
There's a charming story that Thomas Wheeler, CEO of the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, tells on himself: He and his wife were driving along an interstate highway when he noticed that their car was low on gas. Wheeler got off the highway at the next exit and soon found a rundown gas station with just one gas pump. He asked the lone attendant to fill the tank and check the oil, then went for a little walk around the station to stretch his legs.
As he was returning to the car, he noticed that the attendant and his wife were engaged in an animated conversation. The conversation stopped as he paid the attendant. But as he was getting back into the car, he saw the attendant wave and heard him say, "It was great talking to you."
As they drove out of the station, Wheeler asked his wife if she knew the man. She readily admitted she did. They had gone to high school together and had dated steadily for about a year.
"Boy, were you lucky that I came along," bragged Wheeler. "If you had married him, you'd be the wife of a gas station attendant instead of the wife of a chief executive officer."
"My dear," replied his wife, "if I had married him, he'd be the chief executive officer and you'd be the gas station attendant!"
Yes, we often think we have the proper perspective on an issue when in fact we are way off. Jesus understood this tendency for us to get it wrong. Especially when it comes to spiritual things.(1) So, he often taught by telling a parable. In today's lesson Jesus used the poetic device of a simile. In English class we learned that a simile is a comparison using the words "like" or "as." He said the kingdom of heaven is like:
1. A small seed
2. A pinch of yeast
3. A hidden treasure
4. And a pearl of Great Price
The first two comparisons are about small things, things that you might not see or give any thought to. "It's the little things. Tiny viruses the size of a pin head, heart valves no larger than a man's thumbnail, single votes in an election, an ill-chosen word spoken to or received from a loved one -- little things have tremendous power. Matthew 13 records the story Jesus told about the smallest thing His audience could identify with--a mustard seed." This was a parable about hope, about mighty growth from small beginnings. The Gospel, itself, began with a tiny baby in a manger. What small seeds in us can grow into something special if we give it to God? Now, we think we are small and insignificant, but with God things change.
The second story about small things is the little pinch of leaven that is used to leaven a whole bushel batch of bread. Something so small can have such great influence. If you had ventured a guess about the future of Jesus' kingdom two thirds of the way through his ministry, how optimistic would you have been?
He grew up in a despised province of the Roman empire. He did not appear publicly until he was thirty years old, and he spent most of his time in northern Israel, away from the religious power center in Jerusalem. After two years he'd gathered a dozen unimpressive disciples and gained a few converts, mostly among the poor and the unlearned. At three years His ministry was cut short by His execution on a cross, and His disciples scattered.
Who would ever predict that from such bleak beginnings a great kingdom would grow? Who would look at the early disciples and predict the spread of the Gospel throughout the world? Jesus did. He said, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven or yeast, which a woman took, and hid in three pecks (about a bushel) of meal, until it was all leavened."
The next two comparisons, or similes, that Jesus used were about discovering something special and of great value. The first is about the treasure hidden in the field for which a man will sell everything he has to obtain. It is a story about dreams and values. Yet, sometimes, what we want the most is not far away, but we do not see it.
There is a story by Dr. Russell H. Conwell, the founder of Temple University, that has been told thousands of times. It is called, "Acres of Diamonds." It is about an ancient Persian, named Ali Hafed, who was a contented and wealthy farmer with a very large farm with orchards, grain fields and gardens. One day, he heard a story from a Buddhist priest about how the world was made, which included a comment that a diamond was the last and highest of God's mineral creations. The old priest told Ali Hafed that if he had a handful of diamonds he could purchase a whole country, and with a mine of diamonds he could place his children upon thrones through the influence of his great wealth. In his excitement, he sells his farm and uses the money to travel all across Asia Minor and Europe to the coast of Spain in search of diamonds. But the former farmer never finds his fortune, and he dies as a poverty-stricken, heart-broken man.
But, it just so happens that the fellow who purchased the farm from the fortune seeker was one day crossing a stream on his newly acquired property when he found a big, beautiful rock. The fellow placed this strange rock on the fireplace mantel. Several weeks later, a visitor noticed the rock and just about fell over. He recognized that this wasn't just an ordinary rock; it was a diamond. In fact, it happened to be one of the largest diamonds ever to be found. And the farm turned out to be the prestigious diamond mines of Golconda, which produced the great Kohinoor diamond in England's crown jewels and the largest crown diamond on earth in Russia's crown jewels.
The reason this story is told so often is that we all have our own "acres of diamonds" within ourselves waiting to be discovered. And we think that what will make us happy and contented is outside of us, something that we don't have, and so we work and dream and search for the "hidden treasure" which is always just beyond our reach.
What I am saying is this. Surrender your hearts and lives fully to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and you will begin to discover the treasure hidden in your own life. You will discover that the "acres of diamonds" that God has for you is right there with you already.
The second parable about valuable things is the one about the pearl of great price. Here, the merchant is pictured as constantly searching for great values in pearls. One day, he finds one bigger, purer and more valuable that anything he has ever seen before, and he sells everything in order to buy it. He is determined that he must have it. What do we value like that? And, what would motivate us to be so committed to doing it?
There is a story from the Desert Fathers about a young monk who asked one of the old men of the desert why it is that so many people came out to the desert to seek God and yet most of them gave up after a short time and returned to their lives in the city.
The old monk told him, "Last evening my dog saw a rabbit running for cover among the bushes of the desert and he began to chase the rabbit, barking loudly. Soon other dogs joined in the chase, barking and running. They ran a great distance and alerted many other dogs. Soon the wilderness was echoing the sounds of their pursuit but the chase went on into the night.
After a little while, many of the dogs grew tired and dropped out. A few chased the rabbit until the night was nearly spent. By morning, only my dog continued the hunt. "Do you understand," the old man said, "what I have told you?"
"No," replied the young monk, "please tell me father."
"It is simple," said the desert father, "my dog saw the rabbit."
Jesus told a parable about a man who one day in the market place saw the pearl of great price. The merchant understood at once the value of the commodity before him and he sacrificed everything to obtain it.(2)
When we follow Jesus, he shows us the person we will become in Him. We see a picture of gifts, joys and blessings that come from following Christ. There is nothing to compare to! Our daily walk with Christ is the pearl of great price!
What is the Kingdom of Heaven like? It is like small things that become big and influential when God is in charge. It is about things so valuable that we would give up everything to have them. And so, we have a choice to make. Is the Kingdom of Heaven something to talk about, or is it something we do? Like the hunting dogs, it makes a difference if we have spiritually seen the life that Christ offers to us. If we've seen it, then let's go for it!
Century Christian Church, July 24, 2005 - Sermon by Jim Westmoreland
www.centurychristian.org
1. Brett Blair, eSermons.com, retrieved July, 2002.
2. Ibid.