TEXT:
‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ (Matthew 6:10)
THOUGHT:
The Kingdom of God is revealed on earth in two ways. The Kingdom that now is – spiritually, and the one that is to come – literally. We are to pray for the latter to happen, but we live according to the spiritual principles of the Kingdom of God until then.
Part 1 was about how a person has to be born again to become a citizen of the Kingdom of God and the barriers they may encounter to stop them from doing that. Part 2 focused on the priority we must give the Kingdom of God and how its power is available for evangelism and everyday living.
Part 3 looks at the illustrations Jesus used to describe the Kingdom of God and how through preaching the message is spread throughout the world.
5. The Parables about the Kingdom of God
Jesus taught many parables. Although Matthew’s gospel refers to “The Kingdom of Heaven”, this study will look at six scriptures that include the phrase, “The Kingdom of God”. Jesus wanted His disciples to understand each parable. ‘You are permitted to understand the secret of the Kingdom of God. But I use parables for everything I say to outsiders’ (Mark 4:11 NLT). When He was alone with them, He explained what they meant.1
The Kingdom of God is likened to Seed
- The Sower (See Mark 4:3-9)
Where the seed is sown determines its fruitfulness. On stony ground it cannot take root; in shallow ground its life is short-lived; amongst thorns and thistles it produces no crop; but in good ground the harvest can be 30, 60 or 100 fold. Jesus explained this is how people react to the message of the Kingdom of God. If they do not understand it, Satan can snatch away the seed. Shallow Christians easily become offended by persecution and give up the faith. Other Christians allow the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things to fill their life and choke the seed so that it is unproductive. The goal is to be a Christian who hears the Word of God, receives it into one’s heart and out of obedience, brings forth a harvest.
The power of the Kingdom of God is the Word of God. The Word will work anywhere in the world and in anyone who believes it. God created our world through words and will change our world through words too, when we believe it.
- The Growing Seed (See Mark 4:26-29)
We can prepare the ground, plant the seed and water it, but only God can make it grow. Just as He has put life within each seed, so there is life within His Word.
‘The seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how’ v27. We do not have to work out how it will grow. Paul taught the Corinthian Church that ministries sow and water but it is God who gives the increase.2 So often what we think will work, will not, but what we think will not work, does. That’s God letting us know it is Him who is responsible for the increase.
- The Mustard Seed (See Mark 4:30-32)
The smallest seed outgrows all the other seeds. Who would have thought that after Jesus ascended, one hundred and twenty disciples locked indoors through fear, would influence the world so much through the power of the Holy Spirit that the number of believers today is at least one and a half billion people?
Seeing we will reap what we sow, it is important to use the right seed! 3
The Kingdom of God is likened to Yeast
‘What else is the Kingdom of God like? It is like the yeast a woman used in making bread. Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough’ (Luke 13:20-21)
Jesus said, ‘The Kingdom is within you’ (Luke 17:21). So the Kingdom of God influences a person from the inside out, every part of our life.
The Kingdom of God is likened to an Important Invitation (See Luke 14:15-24)
It really will be wonderful to be in that future Kingdom of God but many despise the invitation and opportunity, making ridiculous excuses for not wanting to go there. If someone will not come, God will find someone else to take their place, for He wants His house to be full!
The Kingdom of God is likened to Making Increase (See Luke 19:11-27)
People were entrusted with different amounts but everyone had something to work with to produce an increase. Jesus was only displeased with the one who hid what he was given instead of using it. The question we need to ask ourselves is, “Am I using what God has given me or have I buried it?”
6. The Preaching that will reveal the Kingdom of God
‘God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never find God through human brilliance, and then he stepped in and saved all those who believed his message, which the world calls foolish and silly’ (1 Corinthians 1:21 TLB).
Whatever ways Christians think of to communicate the Kingdom of God, God has decided to use the “foolishness of preaching” to save people. ‘Now it came to pass, afterward, that He went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God’ (Luke 8:1). Jesus did not stay in one place and expect people to come to Him. ‘I must preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God in other towns, too, because that is why I was sent’ (Luke 4:43).
‘You go and preach the Kingdom of God’ (Luke 9:60). Jesus expects every Christian to do the same. Paul, under house arrest, did not change his message or compromise. ‘He welcomed all who visited him, boldly proclaiming the Kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ’ (Acts 28:31 NLT).
If one place or person will not listen, move on to someone or somewhere else. What villages, towns or cities near where you live, are not hearing about the Kingdom of God?
Finally:
‘One day the Pharisees asked Jesus, “When will the Kingdom of God begin?” Jesus replied, “The Kingdom of God isn’t ushered in with visible signs’ (Luke 17:20). That time will come later, but for now it is invisible. We see it by faith!
‘When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God’ (Mark 12:34). Yet being near is not enough, a person has to be in it to be saved.
‘Then Jesus called for the children and said to the disciples, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”’ (Luke 18:16-17 NLT). Use the God-given, childlike faith to believe and receive the Kingdom of God!
Endnotes:
1 Mark 4:33-34
2 I Corinthians 3:5-7
3 Galatians 6:7-8
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