Matthew 13:44-46

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This is one of the most fascinating observations about how people actually receive the message of the kingdom. He offers two ways:

44 ``The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

45 ``Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, 46 and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

BY SURPRISE Here is a person, not particularly looking for it, yet finds it hidden in a field. He is overjoyed with his discovery. He hides it again. Then sells all that he has to buy the land where it is!

BY SEARCHING Here is a merchant who has been searching for fine pearls. He finds a fine pearl of great value. Then goes, sells all that he has to buy this valuable pearl!

Do you know people who are like these two? The one who by surprise discovers the kingdom treasures. The one who never would have imagined being 'caught dead' sitting among a group of believers. This person, along with many onlookers, are quite surprised that this person found it.

OR the one who by searching out truth or the meaning of life or whatever finds himself delighted to have found a satisfaction that no one can take away.

NOTE both have the same response. They each sell all they have and buy their new-found treasure! Now this has nothing to do with purchasing or performing well enough to gain a place in the kingdom. However, it has everything to do the comparable value of being with the King in the Kingdom rather than rocking along, living a life that is routine and predictable with all of the traditional comforts of life, without the King and outside the realm of His Kingdom.

So, how do you value your relationship with the King and His Kingdom? Is it the most valuable, priceless, place to be, ever? Or, is it a convenient place to visit from time to time? This is the difference between being a spectator and a participator!

Matthew 13:36-43

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Matthew interrupts the series of parables by inserting what Jesus said concerning the wheat and the tares (false wheat).

36 Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, ``Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.'' 37 And He said, ``The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, 38 and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. 40 ``So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. 41 ``The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, 42 and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 ``Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

NOTE that it is Jesus-the Son of Man-Who is the Sower of the good seed and the devil is the sower of the seed that is called the tares-false wheat. Jesus is the sower. So, how does He do this through us? 1. Jesus works in us through Incarnation. (Seeing Jesus in you!) You are to take on being like Jesus in everything you do!

2. Jesus works through us through the process of Infiltration. (Seeing Jesus with you!) You're a part of God's movement-kingdom on earth!

3. Jesus works in and through us through a universal Invitation. (Seeing Jesus in others!) Can I help you in any way?

THINK ABOUT IT THIS WAY. #1-Jesus is calling you today! a) You who are interested-Believe in Me!-whosoever will!

b) You who are believers-Follow Me!

c) You who are followers-Make Disciples of Me!

#2-Jesus believes those He calls are good enough-you can do it!

#3-Jesus believes you can be like Him-to perpetuate His yoke!

#4-Jesus empowers you by His presence as 2-3 gather together in Him!

"The Lord says, 'this is a special invitation to all of you who don't have all the answers. Who struggle with life. Who are tired. Who are burned out. Who are bruised. Who struggle with grief. Come to me I will teach you how to trust. I will teach you how to learn. Walk with me, work with me. Watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn how to trust and live with joy and freedom.'"

Matthew 13:33

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So, now we are at the 4th of 7 parables. 1. Sower-the kingdom will now be characterized by a massive sowing-an invitation for all to receive the message of the Gospel-Jesus.

2. Wheat & Tares-the kingdom will have many imitations that spring up all around the wheat. This is none of your business, just beware.

3. Mustard Seed-the kingdom enjoy incredible growth. Don't be concerned with a small number at first. The kingdom of God will grow immensely from very small to very great.

33 He spoke another parable to them, ``The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened.''

4. Leaven-the kingdom of God will be irreversible. Nothing and no one can stop it from spreading-not communism, fascism, racism, religiosity, cults, false religions, or churchianty. You see, when the kingdom spreads it supersedes all sorts of movements and organizations. This is why to follow Jesus most effectively, we must be kingdom people first and foremost. To be anything else is to be so much less! This is why your allegiance to a denomination or to a local church (a localized assembly in the name of Jesus) over the kingdom is foolishness and will be proven to be so.

When you meet King Jesus personally, you must sign off as king of your personal kingdom and submit to your new King-Jesus. We then move into 3 natural, action steps:

First-seek His kingdom and His righteousness (Jesus, Himself) before and above all others! You are now in partnership with Jesus.

Second-share in His kingdom with all of the other kids of the kingdom! You are now in fellowship with all other followers of Jesus.

Third-spread His kingdom everywhere by the sowing of seed-being salt & light where you are! You are now into discipleship of those Jesus brings your way.

Partnership. Fellowship. Discipleship. That's the way of the Kingdom as it grows irreversible.

Matthew 13:31-32

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So far we know that the primary activity of the Kingdom is the sowing of the message of Jesus, that there will be genuine believers and imitation believers in the kingdom AND NOW the kingdom will enjoy incredible growth.

3. MUSTARD SEED (Incredible growth). 31 He presented another parable to them, saying, ``The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; 32 and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that THE BIRDS OF THE AIR come and NEST IN ITS BRANCHES.''

The mustard seed is one of the smallest seeds of all-almost as small as a grain of pepper. When this seed grows, it will grow into a large garden plant or a small tree. This is what is going to happen now in the kingdom. The kingdom of God is going to experience incredible growth!

This has nothing to do with the mega-churches of the USA. In fact, this is not speaking of the organized church at all. The organized church with its signed-in membership may grow locally, but has no chance of penetrating the culture or the marketplace. This is because the organized church tends to have a "holy" facility that must be used, filled and paid for. Therefore, it becomes a paramount thing to invite people to "come to church" and join it to make it a stronger entity in the community. Jesus' thinking always has to do with "going" not "coming". The only "coming" is to "come" to Jesus, Himself.

The kingdom is a completely different thing. The kingdom of God or the kingdom of Jesus is where the King resides, where the King's presence is. The kingdom is invisible. You certainly don't expect a massive growth, but it occurs silently and covertly, but it is the real thing. The kingdom can penetrate any culture and supersedes any organization, no matter how large or active it may be.

By the way, this is why throughout the book of the Acts of Jesus, there is a constant emphasis and demonstration of two themes-the person of Jesus and the kingdom of God. There is no talk of building the church, well, there is, but it was Jesus Who said, "I will build My church!" What He wants from us is to BE THE CHURCH OF JESUS and to be the church of Jesus is to participate daily with the King, with the King's kids and to embrace the principles and teachings of the King and His Kingdom as a lifestyle.

So you can join a church built by man or join the Kingdom of God, which is the church (assembly or gathering) which Jesus is building!

Matthew 13:24-30

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2. Wheat & the Tares (Imitation). 24 Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, ``The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 ``But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went away. 26 ``But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. 27 ``The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, `Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?' 28 ``And he said to them, `An enemy, has done this!' The slaves said to him, `Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?' 29 ``But he said, `No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 `Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, ``First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.'''''

The parable of the Sower was the key parable of the seven! The seed is the word-the message of the kingdom-the Gospel. Sowing in those days was done by scattering seed widely, not by carefully placing a seed into a pre-dug hole, hoping to water and watch the plant grow up. Sowing is the only action step Jesus sets up for the Kingdom. Sowing is THE KINGDOM ACTIVITY! In other words, we as disciples are to be sowing the seed of the Gospel indiscriminately in all that we do. The Gospel is the most important thing! And remember, THE GOSPEL IS JESUS, the seed is Jesus. We are to share Jesus-the life of Jesus, the teachings of Jesus, the love of Jesus, the light of Jesus-simply Jesus to our world. The 4 soils describe the ways in which the seed is received as it is sown.

Now, Jesus' second parable makes an observation and gives a caution: The observation-When you are doing the work of sowing, you will likely find tares that are sown along side the wheat. Tares are empty wheat pods-chaff without wheat kernels. False wheat looks like wheat, but isn't. He applies this observation in that the genuine wheat are those who believe in the Gospel and the tares are those who look good, but are not true believers. They are all together in the same field and it may be difficult to tell the difference.

The caution-The disciples ask Jesus if He wants them to gather up the tares out of the wheat field-to separate the wheat from the tares. Jesus quickly responds, "Allow both to grow together until the harvest." The reason being that if you attempt to pull out the tares from the what, you are likely to uproot the genuine wheat along with the tares. In other words, it is none of our business who is IN and who is OUT. Only Jesus knows for sure! And, if we try to separate the real believers from those who seem to be but are not, then we will most likely damage the genuine wheat in the process.

By the way, this is a favorite pastime of church leadership and it must be stopped! Jesus wants us to sow the seed and He will take care of the results. It's that simple, yet I find it most difficult for a control-freak like me. I want to help Jesus out a bit. BUT I must discipline myself to stick to sowing the seed of Jesus in the lives of everyone I meet-from the bank-teller to the toll-booth clerk to your superior to the policeman to the store clerk to the cleaning lady to your fiercest competitor. Sow the seed of Jesus everywhere you go! That's the action of the Kingdom!