THE KINGDOM ILLUSTRATED

THE METAPHORS OF

THE KINGDOM

The Kingdom of God is like…

GOD IS SOVEREIGN OVER HISTORY

The Old Testament view of history is that we live in what one biblical author calls “this present evil age”—an age dominated by rebellion and evil.

But God is sovereign over history, and one day He will replace this present evil age with His own righteous and loving reign.

The event that separates these two periods of history is the coming of God's Messiah.

THE KINGDOM IN THE O. T.

Most of the Old Testament prophets foretold Jesus’ First Coming, not as a reigning King but as suffering Servant—to die for the guilt of a rebellious humanity who God loves.

His first coming would usher in an unanticipated form of God's kingdom that is different in important ways from the kingdom in its fullness, which will happen after His second Coming.

It is a kind of an “in between” kingdom. Some Bible students call it “the already and not yet” period.

THE MYSTERIES OF THE KINGDOM This is what Jesus calls “the mysteries of the

kingdom” and describes through the Gospels parables.

Through these parables, then, we learn about how God's kingdom is at work in the world today (crucial for the purpose of the church).

We also learn about how we can individually benefit from and cooperate with His activity. In the world today.

The church can experience some benefits of his Kingdom already: righteousness, justice, holiness, forgiveness, power, authority, joy, peace, etc.

HOW IS THE KINGDOM OF

HEAVEN LIKE?The kingdom of heaven is

like…

THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS

LIKE…Yeast in the dough

THE YEAST IN THE DOUGH  33He told them still another

parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.“ (Matthew 13:33)

UNDERSTANDING IT: The K.O.G. is pictured as yeast The yeast has in itself all the

elements to rise the dough Yeast makes bread dough rise

because it is a live single-celled organism, which reacts to the ingredients inside the dough and makes it grow. Then, it goes through a quick death when exposed to oven heat.

The dough will be transformed into bread.

DO YOU UNDERSTAND IT? If you understand this, it has to transform your

life and to prevent you from settling down into the “American Dream” of personal peace and riches.

This is God's purpose for your life—to contribute to his worldwide plan for this age. When you stand before Jesus at the judgment-seat, He's not going to ask you how low you got your golf score, how wisely you picked your stock portfolio. He's going to ask you, “How did you invest the life and resources I entrusted to you to my plan to take the gospel to every people group?” Give up your small ambitions and give your life to the expansion of the K.O.G.!

JESUS IS THE YEAST SEED OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD ON EARTH Jesus was sent by God from heaven to

be the Divine Yeast in the dough of the world.

Through Him, those who accept Him as the Son of God, receive the Yeast of the Kingdom, and let the Kingdom grow in the world.

THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS

LIKE…

a mustard seed in the field

A MUSTARD SEED IN THE FIELD

THE MUSTARD SEED IN THE FIELD

31He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches." (Matthew 13: 31-32)

UNDERSTANDING IT: Again the theme is a seed in the field. It starts small but it will become the

largest plant in the field. The K.O.G. will grow to the point to be

the largest kingdom on earth. The world can wait for this will happen

for sure: the K.O.G. will grow in the whole earth__ it is just a matter of time.

THE THEME OF THE PARABLE

Through these 2 parables we learn about how God's kingdom is at work in the world today

The key to understanding these parables is to ask: What do they teach about this “mystery” phase of God's kingdom that is different from its completed phase?

THE THEME OF THE PARABLES

The parables of the mustard seed and the yeast—a pair of mini-parables that make the same point.

Jesus supplied the interpretation of the first two parables.

We should ask:

WHAT IS THE MAIN POINT OF THESE TWO PARABLES?

The mustard plant ends of being the biggest plant in the garden—but it starts out as the smallest seed.

The woman places a tiny pinch of yeast into a big vat of dough—but eventually that yeast affects the whole batch.

There is the contrast between how small they start and how big and influential they end up being.

“BIG OUTCOMES OFTEN HAVE SMALL BEGINNINGS.”

WHAT IS THE NEW INFORMATION ABOUT THE KINGDOM OF GOD?

The Old Testament prophets taught that when God's kingdom comes, Messiah will exercise immediate, worldwide dominion (Daniel 7:27; Zechariah 14:9; Isaiah 11:9-10).

The new information is that God's kingdom will not start this way. Rather, in the “mystery” phase of the kingdom, it will start (like the mustard seed and pinch of leaven) in very small, virtually invisible way—but (like the mustard plant and the leavening process) grow to extensive size and influence prior to its worldwide dominion at Messiah's Second Coming.

MACRO-FULFILLMENT: JESUS & THE WORLDWIDE

CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT Now let's consider two different ways

we see the fulfillment of this prediction . . . 

This is certainly an accurate description of the beginning of the Christian movement.

I doubt that any of us would have devised God's invasion of human history the way he did.

A HUMBLE APPEARANCE Jesus was born as a child to an unmarried

couple who were obscure members of a small nation on the outskirts of the Roman Empire.

He lived in such obscurity that apart from the New Testament we know very little about him (although the Roman and Jewish historical references substantiate the New Testament).

His brief three-year public ministry ended apparently in complete failure: rejected by his people, betrayed by one of his disciples, deserted by the rest, condemned by Rome, and killed in the most disgraceful form of execution.

HUMBLE DISCIPLES Even though his disciples claimed he was

the Messiah who was raised from the dead, they were hardly the kind of people you would expect to start a worldwide movement.

They were working class men who came from the wrong part of Israel and had no formal education, military might, or political power.

This movement should have evaporated like hundreds of other small religious sects did.

LARGE AND FAR-REACHING INFLUENCE

But like the mustard seed and the yeast, Jesus predicts that this "mystery" phase of God's kingdom will become very large and far-reaching in its influence.

Jesus proclaimed it: Matthew 24:14. 14And this gospel of the kingdom

will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

WHAT IS THE KEY DEVELOPMENT IN HUMAN HISTORY BETWEEN HIS TWO COMINGS?

Not Christian political domination Nor military conquest Nor cultural imperialism Not simply big and majestic church

buildings in every political nation Not the whole world Christianized as it has

happened in the past

WHAT IS THE KEY DEVELOPMENT IN HUMAN HISTORY BETWEEN HIS TWO COMINGS?

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.“

(Matthew 28:18-20)

THE KEY DEVELOPMENT IN HUMAN HISTORY BETWEEN HIS TWO COMINGS.

But world-wide, cross-cultural evangelism resulting in communities of true believers in Jesus for every ethnic group.

What an amazing and polarizing claim! What kind of person insists that His followers

will take the good news about Him to every people-group in the world, and that this mission is the most important factor in determining the duration of human history?

Only the Lord of human history could ask that!

THE KINGDOM TWENTY CENTURIES LATER

We are in a good position to evaluate the accuracy of this prediction and the authenticity of the One who made it.

We can better understand the parables of the mustard seed and of the yeast in the world.

Let me summarize for you some of the least publicized, but most important information in the world today. 

SOURCES Patrick Johnstone, The Church is Bigger

Than You Think

"Status of A Church for Every People and the Gospel for Every Person" – www.ad2000.org/status.htm

KINGDOM PROGRESSFULFILLING THE GREAT COMMISSION

Prior to 1800, the gap between the number of people-groups in the world and those “reached” by the Gospel was actually widening.

Earth’s Population: As of 23 January 2010 is estimated to be 6,798,100,000.Source: United States Census Bureau

It is understood that about 40% of the world's population lives in these unreached people groups.2

THE MUSTARD SEED AMONG THE UNREACHED GROUPS

Evangelical Christians have made amazing progress in the last 200 years:

Only 3500 of the world's 13,000 people groups do not have an indigenous church capable of evangelizing their people group without outside help.

YEAST GROWTH AMONG EVANGELICALS 1960-2010

Evangelicals are growing at over three times population growth rate and are the world's only body of religious adherents growing rapidly by means of conversion.

The big news is that Christianity is growing fastest in the non-western world—by 2010, there will seven times more non-western Christians than in the west (predicted in 2001).

From a tiny fraction at the turn of the century, over 50% of the population of Africa has now turned to Christ. Unfortunately, evangelical churches have had little impact on political structures and attitudes.

THE YEAST IN THE GLOBAL CHURCH

According to veteran researchers Patrick Johnstone and David Barrett, who have been tracking global church trends for nearly three decades, as late as 1960 more than half of all professing Christians still lived in North America and Europe.

But, says Johnstone, by the early 1970s, the "center of gravity of Christianity" began moving toward the Eastern and Southern Hemispheres. By 1990, only 38 percent of all Christians lived in Western nations, and by 2000, Johnstone the figure was estimated to be down to 31 percent.

THE YEAST IN THE WEST Johnstone says there has been a "slow, but steady growth" in the number of evangelicals in the West though.

THE YEAST EXPLOSION IN OTHER CONTINENTS

Within the past 20 years, he says, there has been a virtual explosion of evangelicalism in Latin America, Asia, and Africa.

THE YEAST IN LATIN AMERICA Over the 20th century, the number of evangelicals in Latin America increased from under 250,000 in 1900 to around 60 million in 2000.

THE YEAST IN BRAZIL In 1960 there were 4 million evangelical

Christians in Brazil. By 1990, that number had risen to 26

million evangelicals, about 18 percent of the population.

In fact, Brazil now has the third-largest national evangelical community in the world, after the United States and China.

It is estimated that at least 30% of the population (about 55 million) was Christian by 2000.

THE MUSTARD SEED IN AFRICA In 1900, there were about 8.8 million

Christians in Africa, composing less than 2 percent of all the world's Christians.

By 2000, there was predicted to be about 338 million Christians in Africa, nearly 17 percent of the total global population.

In Uganda alone, more than 80 percent of the nation's 22 million people are Christians.

THE MUSTARD SEED IN ASIA

At the beginning of the century, only 4 percent of the world's Christians lived in Asia. Today that number is close to 20 percent.

Evangelicals in Asia have now become more numerous than in North America (though they are still a smaller minority of the total population).

Christianity is exploding in China and Indonesia.

THE MUSTARD SEED IN SOUTH KOREA

By 1890, Korea had no Protestant church, and was deemed “impossible to penetrate” by missions experts.

South Korea, where the first Protestant church was planted in 1884, is now home to 10 of the 20 largest congregations in the world, including the single largest congregation, Full Gospel Central Church in Seoul.

Today, 35% of S. Korea is evangelical, with 7000 churches in Seoul alone--including 7 of the 10 largest evangelical churches in the world.

THE MUSTARD SEED IN SINGAPORE The evangelical church in Singapore

has now become the most missions-minded church in the world—sending out 1.44 missionaries per congregation (10 times the rate in the USA).

SERIAL MOVEMENT OF CHRISTIANITY

Some suggest this southern and eastern trend is part of the "serial movement" of Christianity that has characterized the faith since its very beginnings.

According to the Mission Advanced Research and Communication Center (MARC) at World Vision International, the church may have begun as a Jewish movement in Jerusalem, but the center of gravity quickly moved to the Greek world as Christianity spread into Greece and Turkey.

A DEMOGRAPHIC SHIFT

Then for many centuries the church was a Roman-dominated movement, until the period of the Reformation, when a new center of gravity moved into northern Europe and England.

In the modern era, the demographic center shifted to North America.

THE YEAST GROWTH IN THE UNDERDEVELOPED WORLD

With the explosive growth of evangelicalism in the economically underdeveloped countries it appears that Christianity is again heading into a new dispensation, although its final composition may not yet be set.

"A demographic shift that is as significant as this will take some time to play itself out, but we're not far enough into it to be able to comment with any certainty.“ (MARC)

THE YEAST IN WORLD MISSIONS Overwhelming numbers of evangelicals

from Africa, Asia, and Latin America are indeed taking the gospel around the world.

A vibrant missions force from developing countries has been one of the hallmarks of the past decade.

It is estimated that by the end of the century there were as many missionaries from the underdeveloped countries as there are from the West.

THE YEAST IN WORLD MISSIONS "It's not a competition, but simply a growing

awareness on the part of the Third World countries to pay their global debt to the gospel, to reach their own neighbors, and contribute to the task of proclaiming the goodness of Jesus to all the world," Vencer says (MARC)

“This is the yeast of the Gospel of the Kingdom planted in the good dough of the underdeveloped countries growing and expanding.” (Izes Calheiros)

YEAST GROWTH IN INDIA In some cases, Christians within the

developing world are ministering to unreached people and language groups within their own borders.

The India Missions Association, lists about 100 indigenous agencies, all headquartered inside India and largely financed by Indian churches. Most are working with India's many ethnic groups.

YEAST IN TENT MAKING MISSIONS Another widespread trend is the growth of Third

World and developing world tent making missions. With the rise of labor migration, many contract

workers from the third world and from developing world countries are finding ministry possibilities in the wealthier nations where they work.

Thousands of Filipinos, Indians, and Ethiopians are hired annually in Muslim Gulf States.

Peruvians with a Japanese ethnic background are going to Japan in search of jobs. Some of these overseas workers are Christians committed to sharing their faith, planting house churches, and forming cell groups in their new environments.

YEAST IN CHURCH PLANTING

Increasingly, Third World churches are following the more traditional route of sending missionaries "abroad."

A church in Malaysia has planted four churches in Cambodia and is helping those local Christians establish income-generating projects.

Many Latin American missionaries have effectively worked in Muslim nations, and missionaries from South Korea and Singapore are working around the globe.

THE YEAST IS EVERYWHERE

"I find that what God is doing today is moving people outside their cultural comfort zones to peoples and language groups different from their own, and that is happening from everywhere to everywhere," says Edwina Thomas, national director for the U.S. branch of SOMA, Sharing of Ministries Abroad, an Anglican mission facilitating group.

"From everywhere" includes missionaries from the Third World coming to the West. According to David Barrett, there are about 16,000 non-Americans working in the United States as missionaries.

THE MUSTARD SEED AMONG WOMEN There are indications that the

future of global kingdom growth is encouraging.

Many analysts say one hopeful sign is the growing international awareness of the role women can play.

"Nowadays, there are women leaders as well as men leaders," says David Barrett.

THE MUSTARD SEED AMONG WOMEN

The World Evangelical International Council announced that there is a growing awareness that "when God chooses to put a woman into a leadership position, we need to honor that."

TECHNOLOGICAL YEAST The expansion of technology, particularly

of the Internet, is making numerous positive contributions to the global kingdom movement.

Increased communication is breaking down barriers and bringing church leaders around the world closer.

Churches and Missionary agencies’ offices are likely to be in touch by electronic mail, fax, or telephone with missionaries in the Philippines, Singapore, China, England, Finland, and Germany.

YEAST IN COMMUNICATION Such information exchanges have radically

transformed evangelization efforts. Massive amounts of anthropological,

linguistic, and social background research about unreached people groups are easily available by computer, and with improved communication, missionaries can better coordinate information and efforts.

Technology has also facilitated the translation of Scriptures and other theological training materials.

TECHNOLOGICAL YEAST "For the first time, we've got a fairly

clear picture of the boundaries of the task that remains before us [for world evangelization]," says Johnstone.

"The fact that we have the information enables us to plan for the finishing of the job that Jesus gave us to do.”

YEAST IN GLOBAL PRAYER In addition to missions, evangelicals also

have been developing coordinated international strategies on other fronts, such as global prayer and intercession movements and responding to religious persecution.

YEAST IN GLOBAL PRAYER Numerous international projects have

been established to pray for world evangelization. In addition, global prayer strategies are launched on behalf of particular emergencies.

In March, as civil fighting in Albania reached a crisis, church leaders and missionaries caught inside the country sent urgent appeals for prayer that were forwarded around the globe in minutes.

THE YEAST IN PERSECUTION

“Last September, WEF's Religious Liberty Commission sponsored an International Day of Prayer for persecuted Christians, and evangelicals from more than 100 nations participated. Through the use of e-mail (religious-liberty@ xc.org), the Religious Liberty Commission forwards information about specific incidents of persecution and suggests international responses.

THE TRANSFORMING YEAST

For Christians, the greatest hope for the future is the faith itself. "We preach a gospel that transforms. That is a reality in Africa, in Asia, in Latin America, and in the United States also," says Samuel Escobar.

THE MUSTARD SEED IN REVELATION And because of that reality, Escobar

says he is heartened by Revelation 7:9 where John describes a great multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language praising God together in one voice. "Today, we are closer than ever to that vision.”

LANGUAGES WITH BIBLES 1500-2000

8 out of every 10 people now have access to the entire Bible in their own language.

94 out of 100 people have access to the New Testament in their own language.

PRESENT ALLOCATION OF MISSIONARY RESOURCES

This is the bad news—the people groups that most need missionaries have the fewest resources. 1.2 billion Islamic people have only 900 missionaries.

The good news is that there are more than sufficient resources to complete the task. While in 100 AD there were 12 unreached people groups for every local church, today there are 600 local churches for every remaining unreached people group.

PRESENT ALLOCATION OF MISSIONARY RESOURCES

The resources are fully sufficient to complete the task! And because mission agencies are tuned into this problem, about 99% of the world's population live in a people group that has a commitment for church planting in the near future—as soon as the resources can be mobilized.

THE YEAST IN S.O.N. If you understand this, then you

understand why this church should be deeply committed to in world missions.

It's not enough for us to be a local movement of home groups reaching out to our neighbors; we need to intentionally invest our resources to do the same with the poor in Houston now and with some of the unreached people-groups of the world in the future.

“BIG OUTCOMES OFTEN HAVE SMALL BEGINNINGS.”

THE YEAST IN US If we understand these parables, it

becomes very important that we understand God's purpose for our lives—to contribute to his worldwide plan for this age.

Let the yeast of the Kingdom grow inside of us and give our lives to Jesus' global cause!

The mustard seed is becoming a huge tree in the world. Its branches are extended to all nations and are offering salvation and rest to humanity, preparing the nations to receive the King of Glory.

THE YEAST IN US There is another way that we see these

parables fulfilled. Not only does it describe the development of God's kingdom worldwide, as we have seen.

It also describes the development of God's kingdom in individual lives. It only makes sense that God's MACRO movement is based on millions of individuals being changed for good. Paul speaks of both of these in Colossians 1:5-6

THE YEAST IN US IN THE FUTURE There are important differences

between how Jesus will affect His followers at His return and how He affects us during this “mystery” phase of his kingdom.

When Christ returns, each of His followers will see Him physically and be immediately and visibly transformed (1 John 3:2; Philippians 3:20-21).

THE MYSTERY PHASE In this current “mystery” phase of God's

kingdom, you don't see Jesus physically; you hear a message from Him (from a friend, through a teaching like this, by reading the Bible or a Christian book) inviting you to receive His forgiveness and to become members of His kingdom.

When you respond to this invitation, you aren't changed visibly; you are invisibly indwelt by his Spirit (like the mustard seed sown in the ground, and like the yeast “hidden” in the dough). The kingdom is hidden inside of you.

THE MYSTERY PHASE Others (and you yourself) may notice hardly

any change initially. But (like the mustard seed and the yeast) God's Spirit begins to initiate a gradual process of spiritual transformation that radically changes your thinking, attitudes, values, relationships, goals and plans, etc.—so much so that a few years down the road you are amazed.

Nothing delights Jesus more than taking people who seem least likely to be able to represent Him—and transforming them into people who are so permeated by His influence that they become powerful witnesses of his transforming power.

BE A SEED OF THE KINGDOM

This is exactly what God can and will do in your life—if you permit him. But here's where the parables break down.

The farmer and the woman jam the seed and the yeast into the field and the dough without any permission by them.

But if you want to experience Jesus' transforming presence, you must ask Him into your life. It doesn't matter how old or younger you are. If you are willing to give yourself to Jesus, he will give you a new start and a new purpose for your life now and in the future!

THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS

LIKE…a treasure hid

in the field

THE TREASURE HID IN THE FIELD

 44"The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.  

(Matthew 13:44)

THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS

LIKE…a pearl

of great value

THE PEARL OF GREAT VALUE  45"Again, the kingdom of heaven is

like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. (Matthew 13:45)

THE FISHING NET

THE FISHING NET 47"Once again, the kingdom of

heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. 48When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. 49This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous 50and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 13: 47-50)