Luke 13:18-21 (ESV)
[18] He said therefore, “What is
the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? [19] It is like a
grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and
became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”
[20] And again he said, “To what
shall I compare the kingdom of God? [21] It is like leaven that a woman took
and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”
The crowds following Jesus were
celebrating him, but the Pharisees and Jewish leaders were offended by him. His
followers were sensing the opposition and oppression coming from the leaders.
It is then that Jesus makes this surprising statement. The kingdom of God is
like a mustard seed and like leaven in flour. They both seem small and
insignificant, but they produce great results.
I heard recently that in my
lifetime the percentage of Christians in the world had grown from 3% to 12%. That
surprised me. I assumed that as our country has moved toward secularism that
number would be lower. But that demonstrates two errors. First, what happens in
the United States is not indicative of what is happening in the world. Second, What
God is doing is not splashed across our news sources, but that does not mean he
is working. Because we don’t see it does not mean that the influence of the
gospel is not growing. There are over 8 billion people in the world, and 1
billion of them are Christians. There are still 7 billion that need to hear the
gospel, many of whom have no Christian witness anywhere near them.
In Matthew 9:37-38 Jesus said, “The
harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the
Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Like yeast in flour
and a mustard seed in soil, the work is done quietly, silently, almost unseen,
yet the kingdom grows. Pray that God would raise up more workers.
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