May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing to you, O Lord. Amen.
When we look at the great inventions of humanity, we often find that there is a common desire behind most of them. Often the desire for more efficiency or the desire to do things, which have a wide impact on a worldly scale, drives the invention of many good things.
Today, we will be looking at the series of parables about the kingdom of heaven. In addition, we will explore how the kingdom of heaven can work efficiently at all, when it relies upon people like you and me -
Christians spread out all over the world and somewhat loosely connected in the form of different churches, house groups or denominations. We will look at how all this has an impact on the worldly scale.
So, to begin with we really need to understand, what the expression "Kingdom of heaven" means and what relevance it really has in a Christian's life. The short answer to this is that the kingdom of heaven is a Christian's only true home and the establishment of this kingdom should be every Christian's earnest desire.
Why? Because the kingdom of heaven is the spiritual realm over which God reigns as king and at the same time it is also the fulfillment of God's will here on earth.
The Kingdom and everything it stands for has three aspects of time to it. The aspect of the past, the present and the future.
The past, because the kingdom of heaven was already partly realized on earth through Jesus' life and ministry.
The present, because the kingdom of heaven is partly realized today – through the life and ministry of the church.
And the future, because the kingdom of heaven will be fully realized at Jesus' second coming, when he establishes his eternal kingdom once and for all.
Therefore, in a way, I would say, that knowing about this future aspect of the kingdom of heaven is key for every Christian - because my personal faith would be just a nice pastime hobby if it had no influence whatsoever on the future.
The truth is that my personal faith has an impact on myself because through Christ I get to enjoy eternal life. It has also an impact on the course of humanity, as more and more people will be able know Jesus as their loving Saviour. Therefore, in many ways understanding the kingdom of heaven, how it works and of how we can rely on its process to achieve real results is very important.
Let us look now at how Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to things and situations to help us understand it better.
There are mainly three characteristics about the kingdom, which stand out from the parables we heard today.
The kingdom of heaven is:
Let me break that down for a moment.
1. It is ever growing
Now to illustrate, that the kingdom of heaven is ever growing Jesus turned to the mustard seed. The mustard was proverbial for its smallness. Yet, of all the herb plants, the mustard is the biggest.
So in effect, Jesus was saying about the kingdom of heaven that though, its beginning might look small and irrelevant we should never underestimate what God can do using a small and humble beginning.
When we think about Jesus' 12 disciples our God's ability to turn humble beginnings into something, which turns the world upside down becomes very evident. By any human standard of measuring, the witness of a bunch of people does not seem efficient or even relevant on a worldly scale. Yet, we learn that when we factor in the invincible power of Christ otherwise impossible things really begin to happen.
This is very encouraging because often we wonder whether our faith really makes a difference.
Does it make a difference when I witness to my colleagues at work about how completely I can rely on God to carry me through though situations?
Does it make a difference when I tell my neighbour or a family member that there is hope for them to have eternal life through Christ?
Does it make a difference when about sixty people worship here at St. Ursula's in Berne Sunday after Sunday?
Well, the answer from the parable is more than clear:
It does make a huge difference on the world scale - Not because of me or because of you but because of God who makes sure that the kingdom of heaven is ever growing.
2. It is ever transforming
The parable comparing the kingdom of heaven to the yeast mixed with three measures of flour, tells us that the kingdom of heaven works itself through my whole being. Every bit of myself is transformed to make something new, tasty and useful.
When it comes to bread, we need to let the yeast work its way through the batch for some time to get good results. In the same way when people accept Christ as their Saviour, they do become saved instantly but their character and habits do not change immediately. As we learn through this parable, the transformation into a godly character takes the time and the effort of the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, after all, this too is good news because there is hope for us.
3. It is of immeasurable value
In one of the parables Jesus tells us that the kingdom of heaven is a treasure. Why is it a treasure?
Because it is the only power on earth to make us stand fearless and hopeful even in the face of calamity, death, opposition and persecution. What greater treasure is there than this? If we have that treasure of knowing the kingdom of heaven AND the love, grace and mercy we find in the arms of God, it gives us the power to overcome any situation thrown at us – not because it does not hurt but because we know for sure that God loves us. Therefore, in the parable, the person who finds this treasure sells everything he has to buy and enjoy it – not grudgingly but joyfully – because what he gets in exchange for it is more than worth it. This doesn't mean necessarily that we go out and sell everything we have but it means that if the need arises it's definitely worth forsaking all that we have in order to be part of the kingdom.
The kingdom of heaven requires such a wholehearted commitment and devotion in turn for the incredible joy and peace it promises.
The good thing is that our devotion, commitment and love are not a one sided thing. Jesus says, that the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. This tells us, that Jesus, the ultimate ruler of this kingdom places immeasurable value on the citizens of his kingdom. He sees us as fine pearls of great value. He too is willing and very happy to search us out He comes after us and never gives up on us. Moreover, once he has found us He is willing to give everything He has in exchange for the right to call us his own. Moreover, this is exactly what he did when he gave his own life in exchange for ours.
So then, when we put all this together there is only conclusion we can make: We can never afford to hit the pause-button in our walk of faith.
Here is why:
Because if we do, we miss the opportunity to be part of the kingdom of heaven all together.
King Solomon is one of the greatest examples for this. We heard today how well he started out on his journey of faith. God gave him the opportunity to ask anything he wished. Solomon chose to ask for wisdom and discernment to govern God's people. This pleased the Lord so much that He not only gave him wisdom and discernment but also the things he did not ask for, e.g. wealth and honor.
Yet still the wisdom and discernment did not stop him from making bad choices though he had the God-given capacity to discern between good and bad. We read in the Bible that later on in his life, King Solomon drifted away from God's commands. Not only did he have many wives but also did he marry many foreign women who worshipped other gods. Then, one compromise led to another and Solomon built temples and altars to these other gods. Finally, he even worshiped together with his wives there! That in turn caused the entire nation Israel to stumble and fall apart because they followed the example of their leader.
So really... We can never, ever afford to hit the pause button on our journey of faith. As we end today, I will use the words of St. Paul who reminds every Christian to keep their faith to the end and hold the course steady:
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain. - 1 Corinthians 15:58
Let us pray then, that we too, like St. Paul will be able to say at the end of the day:
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me - 2 Timothy 4:7-8
Amen.
Archana Jacob