Matthew 13 and verse 31 and 32.
I'll just read these verses to you.
Another parable put he forth unto them, saying,
The kingdom of heaven is like to a
grain of mustard seed, which a man took
and sowed in his field, which indeed is
the least of all seeds.
But when it is grown, it is the
greatest among herbs, and becomes a tree, so
that the birds of the air come and
lodge in the branches thereof.
Reading from the King James Version.
Now this morning we come to the third
of the four parables that were told to
the crowd.
As I've said to you before, these are
teaching us something of the outward progress of
the kingdom of God until the Lord's coming.
And the second four, the inward secrets of
what God is doing, taught to his disciples.
Now this morning we need to proceed with
some care and dependence upon the teaching of
the Holy Spirit in our approach to this
parable.
The story of a grain of mustard seed,
a tiny grain, which, when sown, became not
only the greatest among shrubs, but a tree,
in which birds came to shelter.
There's a message here for all of us,
all our hearts.
A message of warning, perhaps, against shallow notions
of what is real greatness.
A warning against shallow ideas of what real
greatness is.
A message to all of us, a challenge
to attain to a life which is great,
in the deepest sense of the word.
So here's a warning, both ways.
Shallowness of what greatness is, and a challenge
to attain to real greatness.
Now we want to emphasize this morning the
need for care in our interpretation of this
parable, and each of them all, because the
Lord gave no interpretation of it.
He gave us the meaning of the parable
of the sower and the parable of the
tares, but not of any of the others
which follow.
So will you just suffer a preliminary word
on this point of interpretation, which I trust
will help us to get the real message
of the Holy Spirit to our hearts.
That means, I'm sorry about that, this, I'm
going to work you rather hard this morning,
but I thought, well, the first lecture is
probably the best time to do it, and
so I've got rather a lot of writing
for you.
I'll go fairly slowly.
If I go too quick, holler, shout at
me, and I'll slow down.
But at the moment, I'll tell you when
we stop this, you're going to, I hope,
be able to take down everything.
So you're ready for it.
Just give your hand a good shake, and
your brain a little turning around.
You ready?
Ready to go, right.
In our study of these parables, particularly those
of which the Lord gave no interpretation, there
are perils of interpretation to avoid.
This is where you begin.
There are perils of interpretation to avoid, and
principles of interpretation to follow.
I'll give it to you again.
There are perils to avoid, and principles to
observe.
The chief peril is that of accepting the
popular opinion of the majority as to what
the parable teaches.
Say it again.
The chief peril is that of accepting the
popular opinion of the majority as to what
this parable, a parable, teaches.
Right?
Remember, it was the popular interpretation of Old
Testament scripture which led to the crucifixion of
Jesus.
They got it all wrong.
It was the popular interpretation, repeating, of Old
Testament scripture which led to the crucifixion of
the Lord.
The opinion of the majority is not always
right.
Now that's the chief peril to avoid.
Anybody all got that, or anybody not got
it?
No repetition necessary, or is it?
Popular.
What do I mean by popular?
Popular, yes.
That was the girl who had a birthday
this morning.
She must be popular.
What do you think I said?
It doesn't matter.
Go on.
Okay.
The last sentence.
Hold it.
The opinion of the majority is not always
right.
Okay.
The chief principle to observe, the chief principle
of interpretation to observe is, ready for it,
that we must expect to find harmony of
teaching with all other parables, and
we ought to be very suspicious, s-u
-s-p-i-c-i-o-u-s,
I don't know why, but that's how you
pronounce it, suspicious, ought to be very suspicious
of any interpretation which contradicts another.
Of any interpretation of a parable which
contradicts another.
We may safely assume that the Lord Jesus
was consistent in all his teaching.
We may safely assume that the Lord Jesus
was consistent in all his teaching.
And in his use of pictures of everyday
life, to illustrate his meaning.
His use of pictures of everyday life to
illustrate his meaning.
So we see the value of his
explanation of the first two parables.
Come again.
Yes, that's right.
In his use of different pictures or illustrations
from everyday life, to illustrate his meaning.
Any interpretation we place upon the
other parables which contradicts his teaching must be
untrue.
Got that?
Any interpretation we place upon the others, that
is after the first two, which contradicts his
teaching must in necessity be untrue.
So whatever picture he uses is used in
one sense, always.
That's a principle to observe throughout the Word
of God.
For example, the sower is found in the
first three parables, and must be the same
person in each.
The seed is used in these parables with
the same significance.
The field and the soil are used also,
with the same meaning and so on.
I'm just stressing that because in order to
understand the teaching of these parables, we must
carefully watch for consistency in interpretation.
Now that's the end of your writing.
So if you get that down, that's a
lot.
Yes, repeat.
Yes, yes, here we are, coming again.
Ready?
The field and the soil are used with
the same meaning.
So, the principle, the point is, in order
to have a clear understanding of the teaching
of the parable, we must carefully watch consistency
in interpretation.
Got that?
Now if there's anything you haven't quite got,
come and ask, and I'll give it to
you later.
Ready?
Now, bearing all that in mind, let's look
at this third parable.
That's the end of, you know, what you've
been doing.
So, I'm going a bit faster now.
You don't need to take word for word.
Now the popular idea about the teaching of
this parable of the mustard seed is something
like this.
Our Lord was teaching that outward growth of
the kingdom would become so consistent that it
would dominate the world.
And from the insignificant beginning of a little
mustard seed, it became a great tree, of
great magnitude and great authority.
Now at once that faces me with a
tremendous problem, because the first two parables which
we've studied clearly taught that there was apparent
outward conflict and failure.
Three quarters of the seed in the parable
of the sower was ruthless.
The enemy's tares sprang up among the good
seed, and separation of the two was to
be postponed until the end of the age.
At once, therefore, I see that the popular
interpretation of the mustard contradicts all that.
And therefore, although it be popular, it's not
correct.
And I have to look at the parable
again.
Now notice in these two verses some illustrations
which have been used before.
Well, there's the seed.
And remember, that the Saviour always spoke of
that as being men or people, in whose
hearts the Word of God had become alive,
incarnate.
People who were thrown into the generation in
which they lived, to make an impact for
the glory of God.
That's the seed.
Then there's the sower.
And the Saviour taught us that that is
Himself.
Then there's the soil.
And we heard Him say, the field is
the world.
And then there are birds.
And according to His interpretation, already given in
verse four, these birds snatch away the seed,
and they hinder rather than help.
They're symbols of evil and not of good.
The birds snatch away the seed.
And finally, there is the seed which has
become a tree.
Now, mustard is not a tree.
It's a shrub.
If ever you look at the library here,
there is a book in it, or there
used to be, I think it's still there,
called The Land of the Book by Dr.
Thompson.
Just bear that in mind, The Land of
the Book.
And in it he suggests that there was
occasionally, and exceptionally, a mustard seed which grew
to be a large tree.
But such a growth is abnormal, unnatural, something
which is by no means the original intention.
A mustard seed cannot properly and normally produce
a magnificent and fast-growing tree.
And should it pass out of the stage
of being a flowering shrub, and become a
great and mighty tree, then the process is
entirely abnormal.
Now this is exactly what the Saviour is
describing.
The mustard seed hasn't had an abnormal growth
and become a great tree.
Now, if you could collect together in your
mind all these pictures, interpreted elsewhere by the
Lord, and remember this abnormal growth, what do
we find the true teaching of this parable
to be?
I'm just going a little slower now.
I hope.
Slow down.
I'm sorry, I'm speaking to myself.
Isn't that stupid?
Excuse me.
That's what happens when you get to my
ancient years.
The outward manifestation of the Kingdom of God
on earth right now has become abnormal in
its growth, and it has become a refuge
for what is destructive and harmful.
The mustard seed suggests lowliness, meekness—long word coming,
but I can't think of a short one—
unobtrusiveness, u-n-o-b-t-r-u
-s-i-v-e-n-e-s, which
simply means not wanting to show yourself, display
yourself, being unobtrusive, not pushy.
The mustard seed therefore suggests lowliness, meekness, a
willingness not to be a big thing.
But it's become a great tree, which is
a picture of pride, dominance, and authority.
Now, you see that fulfilled today.
In national life we speak of, or do
we, Christian countries?
There isn't such a thing.
The Queen of Britain is on our coinage
described as defender of the faith.
What faith?
In almost every school in the country, you
have every kind of faith taught, every kind
of religion.
You don't have, these days, a Christian country.
The Christianity revealed in national life is poor
stuff.
The world has never seen a truly Christian
nation.
The nearest, the nearest, I'm sure, is Korea.
You ought to see someone from Korea here,
isn't there?
Where is she?
Oh, he, yes, bless your heart.
Well, I've been there, and a nation of
about 38 million people, of whom well over
10 million are Christians.
And it's a thrilling thing to be in
a country like that and see what God
is doing.
That's the nearest, but you don't see it
these days.
And you see the same thing happening, alas,
in the visible church, expressing itself, of course,
a long, long time ago, first of all
in the time of Constantine, the Roman Emperor,
when the church is elevated to a position
of worldly authority.
And it's evidenced in lack of real conviction
about the message it should preach.
Wherever the church has become a worldly power,
it's been a refuge for what is unclean
and destructive.
Long, long, long years ago, I used to
go to school at Durham and attended Durham
Cathedral twice every Sunday for four years.
A great opportunity to go to sleep, as
practically all of us did.
You could hardly blame us.
It's fantastic to know that at Durham Cathedral,
you had bishops like Handelmo, Westcott, whose books
are really tremendous, and whose ministry was nationwide.
Now you have a bishop who doesn't even
believe the resurrection.
And he's not sure about anything.
And that's the kind of thing that goes
on when you have a church that becomes
authoritative in worldly power.
It admits that which is unclean.
But alas, you see the same thing happening
in the lives of Christian people.
Sown by the sower into the world, flung
out into the world to preach Christ.
Just a tiny grain of mustard seed, but
whose lives, instead of being dominated by mustard
seed growth, and I'll explain that later this
morning, instead of being dominated by that principle,
loneliness, meekness, unobtrusiveness, become possessed of a spirit
of pride and dominance, authority, and look for
power instead of service.
For possession instead of sacrifice.
Abnormal growth outside of God's intention.
And all the time they're simply giving away
that they're sheltering inside their hearts something that
is destructive and unclean.
That's a tragedy.
The principles of loneliness and meekness are forgotten.
The desire to be somebody, have your name
in the press every week, be somebody who
has a great following, be an important person.
Always that is found to be because they're
hiding something that is unclean.
Don't let me get you to imagine for
a moment that that means ultimate failure of
Christianity.
The Lord isn't dealing with ultimate issues here,
he's tracing its development in the time in
which we live.
And to the truth of all that I've
said, history, present day experience, they are tremendous
testimony.
Yes, his kingdom shall be set up, and
his reign shall be established, the ultimate is
sure.
But people have misunderstood true principles of what
it is to be great.
They've always thought it meant imposing your will
on somebody else, dominating a situation.
And the outcome has been abnormal growth, without
strength, and sheltering sin.
And the result is that some people never
get up anyway because they refuse to go
down.
The way to up in the Christian life
is down.
Oh, how important that is.
I'll say more about in a moment.
Because there's something very personal and wonderful right
at the heart of this parable.
Let me read.
The kingdom of heaven is like a grain
of mustard seed.
Now this is you and me in God's
mind.
And he's taken us and thrown us into
the world.
Now what's been the result?
Have I, and are you about to, seek
greatness along the line of personal self-will?
Are you the kind of person, and I
speak to myself very much in these lectures,
I assure you, are you and I the
kind of people, should I say, who seek
to lord it over others?
You know what I mean?
Dominate any situation.
You want to be the center, are you?
And you can't exercise authority over other people
except you do it in a manner which
is distasteful to everybody.
May I just repeat that?
The kind of person who just can't exercise
authority except in a way which is distasteful
to anybody.
Mark 9, 34.
The question was, who's the greatest among us?
Who shall sit at the Jesus' right hand
in power?
Oh, how they wanted to be prominent.
That's not greatness.
That kind of thing always is sheltering something
destructive.
Listen to the Master's reply, telling them where's
the secret of real greatness.
Listen to it.
Luke 22, 27.
I am among you as he that serves.
Whoever will be great among you, let him
be your servant, your minister, even as the
Son of Man came, not to be served,
but to serve, and to give his life
a ransom for many.
Matthew 20, verses 7 and 8.
In other words, in the Christian life, there's
to be no status-seeking.
No status or status, S-T-A-T
-U-S, no status-seeking.
Greatness is measured
not by my capacity to rule, but by
my willingness to serve.
Just a small picture.
Some years ago in the States, in California,
I went to see what was happening in
Chuck Smith's church.
I don't know if some of you may
know that name.
What's the name of that place?
Come on, Sam, no, not Sam.
Sam, pardon?
That's it.
And it's located at Costa Mita, near California,
near LA, Los Angeles.
And at that time, it was a tent
packed with people.
And people were being converted and blessed and
baptized in the sea and all that, very
thrilling.
And they were building a new church.
And the new church was built, holding, I
suppose, about three or four thousand and full.
And the Sunday it was opened for the
first time, it was crowded with people.
And there came in lots of hippies.
It was the days of hippies.
And lots of hippies came in, all with
bare feet.
And they came in and ran up the
stairs, and they made the carpets absolutely filthy.
New carpets, of course.
And the deacons were furious.
And the next Sunday, there was a great
big notice on the door, no bare feet
allowed.
Chuck Smith saw that, the pastor.
And he said publicly, either that notice is
removed, or I cease to be your pastor.
And the next Sunday, when masses of hippies
again came in, what should they find on
the doorstep?
Chuck Smith.
Kneeling, kneeling at the door with a pail
of water, a sponge, and a towel.
And he washed all the hippies' feet before
they went in.
He never had one more argument.
A man who knew what it was to
get down and humble himself.
And then the authority of the Spirit of
God came through.
That's just one small example.
But it's the principle of real greatness shining
out through the word.
A great man is not somebody who has
mastered other people, but somebody who has served
in loneliness and meekness.
Now, we need to ask if in our
individual lives we're realizing the purpose of Christ.
Are we turning from false greatness, which he
disowns, to true greatness, which he recognizes?
Are we concerned about our rights, our authority,
our position, our self-importance?
If so, we're sheltering something unclean.
Or are we ready to pour out our
lives in meekness, sacrificial toil, running on his
errands, never thinking about ourselves or our greatness?
In other words, just being like Jesus.
And I read to you Philippians 2, verse
5 to 9.
Let this mind be in you which was
in Christ, who, being in the form of
God, thought it not a thing to be
grasped after, to be equal with God, but
made himself of no reputation, took upon him
the form of a servant, made in the
likeness of men, humbled himself and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross.
Therefore God hath highly exalted him and given
him a name which is above every name.
That's greatness.
Greatness by calvary.
There's no way to the throne but by
the cross.
No way to greatness but by death.
The greatest menace in the world is religion
without a cross, a desire to go up,
an unwillingness to go down.
1 Corinthians 1 Peter 5, 6.
Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God
that he may exalt you in due time.
So you see, I've got to pray that
this parable, as it really is interpreted, should
never be fulfilled in your life and mine.
And it means that I'm willing to say
to the Lord, I tell you it's easy
to say it, but boy, to live it
is different.
Lord, I'm willing to be a doormat that
other people may wipe their feet if they
want to.
The greatest thing that could ever happen to
any of us is that we may be
a stepping stone to Jesus.
And stepping stones are meant to be walked
on.
And that hurts when the people who walk
on you are your friends.
Just one other thing.
What time is this lecture supposed to finish?
Am I on time yet?
Five minutes more?
Five?
Ten twenty.
Right.
Get your pens and get yourself into overdrive.
Top gear for the last five minutes.
Ready?
I don't know how much to say, how
much not to.
Um, you remember when Jesus said concerning the
devil-possessed child, Matthew 17, 20, why, why,
when the disciples asked, why could not we
cast him out?
You remember the answer of Jesus to that?
Because of your little faith.
And listen, truly I say to you, if
you had faith as a grain of mustard
seed, you will say to this mountain, I
move into another place.
And it will.
Nothing will be impossible to you.
Did I imagine that mustard seed faith was
a little thing?
Only a little bit?
Only a little faith that wouldn't do very
much for me?
No, it's mighty faith.
It's a mountain-moving faith.
Faith like a grain of mustard seed.
Yes, it could move mountains.
Why doesn't it?
Have I ever asked myself why doesn't it?
Have I ever argued about it?
Oh, I've got more faith than a grain
of mustard seed.
That would never get me anywhere.
Sure, you're certain about that?
No.
Mustard seed faith is not a little faith.
It's mighty because it's governed by the principles
of meekness, loneliness, unobtrusiveness, qualities
that are only, how do I say this,
only evident by the crucifixion of ourselves.
Mighty faith.
Because I've learned to die completely to myself
and live to Jesus.
Be much more concerned about your daily dying
than your living rights.
Let me just say that again.
Be much more concerned about dying daily, personal
crucifixion, dying out to myself rather than my
right to live.
Maybe, hopefully, if that quality was governing, allies,
we'd see mountains be shifting, miracles in the
church, the supernatural, the thing that can only
be explained because God has done it.
And the desert would rejoice and blossom as
a rose.
Faith, mighty faith, the promised sees and looks
to that alone and laughs at impossibilities and
cries, it shall be done.
Lord, give you and give me mustard seed
faith.
Get it?
I hope so.
Amen.
Lord bless you.
Time?
10.20?
Coffee?
Relax?
Another lecture?