"Kingdom Living" July 27 Readings: Matthew 13:24-52, Mark 4:26-34

Today's Reading - Matthew 13:24-52, Mark 4:26-34

Background

The parade of parables continues in today's readings. Matthew records six different parables here, and Mark has two of them, variations on those that Matthew told. Here are some principles for reading the parables and understanding them.

• Jesus, according to his own words, told parables to communicate truth to his disciples while hiding it from the world. Only those whose minds are illumined by the Spirit can hope to understand the truths of God. 
• The parables explain life in the kingdom of heaven. The focus of this is argued, and beyond the scope of a brief note. But the kingdom of God is anywhere Jesus rules - your heart, the church, and eventually the millennial kingdom. 
• Life in the kingdom is diametrically opposed to life in the world. Jesus does things differently. Look at the mustard seed principle. We want to make a big splash; Jesus says plant a small seed. 
• The most important principle for understanding parables may be that they are not intricate allegories; they are illustrations. They make a point. Don't try to assign each character an identity or draw secondary or tertiary applications. Just look for the point Jesus was making. 

There is great truth in the parables, when properly understood. They explain life as Jesus intended, as Jesus will one day make it be.

In fact, Southern Hills folks, I think I want to do a sermon series on the parables of Jesus one of these days. There's only 12 or 15 total parables. It should only take me a year or two to preach them, right?

Devotional - Kingdom Living

You want Jesus to be part of your life? Sorry, that's not how God works. He does not influence us, he redirects us. He takes charge. He moves us in a completely different direction. That's what the parables are all about - completely changing the way we think, the way we view life. In Matthew's reading today there are six parables, three pairs of two parables. Three points. Three lessons about life as God designs it; life as God will make it when Jesus rules.

Lesson 1: In the first and last parables, the parable of the weeds and the parable of the net, Jesus reminds us of a reality that was true even in his own inner circle.

Have you ever been frustrated with all the "false brethren" in the midst of the church - those who claim Christ but don't live him, who call Jesus their Lord but live lives that turn that give the lie to their words. Some in the church make it their duty to try to weed out (pun intentional) anyone they think isn't real, isn't genuine. And certainly, the practice of discernment is important, comparing all things against the word of God.

But these parables give us a reminder; that it will be Jesus at the last day who will separate the sheep and the goats. He is the one who will separate the weeds from the good seed, and will gather the fish in the net and separate the good fish and the bad. Remember, Jesus selected 12 disciples and one of them betrayed him.

Should we hold all things and all people accountable to God's word? Absolutely. But we must also remember that ultimately it is God who sees hearts and can rightly divide the righteous and the unrighteous.

Lesson 2: "Let's do something to draw some attention." "Maybe we could have a big event." "If just one life is touched, it will all be worth it." That is the way of the world and the way of the church today. Do something big. Make a splash. I've been in churches that put hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars into productions that drew crowds, but generally produce little lasting result.

That's not the way of the kingdom, according to the parables of the mustard seed and the leaven. We are walking in the flesh we have to do a lot to produce just a little. But in the kingdom of God the King is working! We plant a small seed and it becomes a large seed. We are the small amount of leaven that leavens the entire lump of dough.

Have we become so used to operating in the flesh that we have accepted it as the norm? When Jesus is King, it is not our much that becomes a little, but our little that becomes much.

Lesson 3: I will never forget a shopping trip with my mom back in the good old days. We were at K-mart and found a pair of pant my size at a great price. This was before computerized, bar-coded tags. It was just a sticky price tag affixed to the pants. We went up to pay for them and the lady looked at us suspiciously. Someone had switched the price tag - a common thing back in those days. We did not get the pants!

The enemy has gone through this world and switched the price tags on everything. He has labeled pride, pleasure, material success, selfish ambition as things of high value. God says they accomplish nothing eternal. He has labeled purity, passion for eternal things, self-sacrifice, and other kingdom values as worthless.

In the parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price Jesus reminds us that the highest value in this world is serving the kingdom of God. Seek God, seek the things of God - these are the things that really matter. 

Father, may my mind be formed by the word, not the world. May I walk in Christ and by the ways of the Kingdom, not the ways of this world. 

Think and Pray

Is your thinking and belief formed more by the world or by the ways of Christ and the word of God?
Think through the balance between accountability and "seeking to be someone else's Holy Spirit." It is a difficult balance - how can we maintain that?
If a "kingdom life" is marked by God pouring his power into our efforts and adding his much to our little, does your life show more of the flesh or the Spirit, the world or the word?

Do  you have the price tags set properly in your life, valuing what God values?