The Parable of the Mustard Seed and Leaven

Today, we are going to study about a topic that I believe may

change your life. That’s why it’s so important that you take notes. Let’s
start off by reading Matthew 13:31-33.

Matthew 13:31-33
He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a
mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though 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."
He 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.

Jesus is speaking here about the kingdom of God, which is

wherever Jesus is King. For example, the kingdom of God can be in our
hearts or in our church if we submit ourselves to Him.
Jesus says the kingdom of God always begins small, seemingly
insignificant and even hardly noticeable. But, it grows, driven by a
mysterious force. It grows gradually, relentlessly, at a constant pace,
and powerfully so that it works around obstacles. Eventually, it will
become like the largest of all garden plants, or will work through the
entire bread dough.
How do we see the kingdom? Like we said earlier, it can be seen
in two places: in people’s hearts and in the church. The mysterious
force that grows the kingdom is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit works in
people’s hearts and in the church the same way.

Philippians 2:13
… for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his
good purpose.

Colossians 1:29
To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully
works in me.

We may not even notice the work of the Holy Spirit sometimes,
but God continues working nonetheless. In the end, when we become
more mature Christians, we realize that if there are any lasting and
good results, it has been God working all along. Furthermore, we
realize that our own efforts apart from God yield nothing. Have you
ever seen someone build a tree after planting it? Does the baker do
anything in the oven to make the dough rise? In the same way, we
cannot claim any credit for the things that God does in us and through
us.

Mark 4:26-29
He also said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters
seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the
seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the
soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel
in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it,
because the harvest has come.

1 Corinthians 3:6-7
I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So
neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God,
who makes things grow.

What is the point of this sermon? Once we understand how the

kingdom of God works, how can we adjust our thoughts and actions
accordingly? There are many implications to this principle, but today, I
want to focus on the “mustard seed principle” and church-planting.
Church-planting is essential to fulfilling the Great Commission.
The idea is that you or I can move to another place and start a
Christian fellowship that will grow into a church. In this way, the entire
body of Christ grows according to the mustard seed principle, and each
new church will grow according to that principle as well.
The reason I’m so excited about it is because:
1. Church-planting, along with discipleship, is the way the disciples
went about fulfilling the Great Commission, as we will see soon.
2. It doesn’t depend on our own effort, but on God, who makes the
things of His kingdom grow by Himself. Remember, the church is
also part of His kingdom when the church submits to Him.

Let’s look at the Bible and see how church-planting follows the
mustard seed principle.

Acts 1:8
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you
will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to
the ends of the earth.

It is very likely that Jesus said this to His disciples when He also
gave them the Great Commission recorded in Matthew 28:19-20. The
Great Commission is about making disciples of every nation. Acts 1:8 is
about how to get that done.
 Jesus tells the disciples to start in one city, then go to the
surrounding area, eventually saturating the entire world. Does this
sound familiar? Is it not like the yeast that the baker works throughout
the dough, or the seed that starts small, but keeps growing till it
becomes the largest of all garden plants?
I want to emphasize that planting churches is essential to
fulfilling the Great Commission. It is how we harness the principle of
the mustard seed. Consider Paul, the greatest missionary ever. His
work was not finished in an area until he had established local
churches.

Acts 14:21-23
They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of
disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch,
strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to
the faith. "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom
of God," they said. Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in
each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord,
in whom they had put their trust.

Titus 1:6
The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what
was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.

The reason why church planting is essential is that churches

make disciples, but all other methods of missions make converts. It is
good to short-term missions, radio broadcasts, and crusades, but the
biblical model is to take converts from these efforts and form a church
where they can become disciples. A disciple is someone who follows
Christ or imitates Christ, and eventually brings others to do the same.
Moreover, church-planting enables multiplication, just like
discipleship does. It is the principle of the mustard seed at work. A
mustard seed has all the potential for the big tree inside of it, including
the ability to produce more mustard seeds. Every church that
understands and embraces the biblical concept of church planting can
produce other churches.
I hope you can understand this is our motive in expanding up
north. Eventually, we would like to expand to other areas around the
Puget Sound region to saturate the entire area. Consider this: A small
church that embraces church-planting and encourages all its members
to participate can have a great impact for the Great Commission. You
could have a church with tens of thousands of people, but if that
church doesn’t teach or train its members for church-planting, its role
will be limited.

Habakkuk 2:14
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD,
as the waters cover the sea.

How can you get involved in church-planting? I believe that

everyone can be involved in church-planting. How many people here
have ever lived in another city, or moved here to Seattle from
somewhere else?
Church-planting can be deliberate moving or can happen as
circumstances force us to move somewhere. Wherever we go, we can
help to start a church. If you look at Pricilla and Aquila in the Bible,
they had a church fellowship in their home in Corinth, in Ephesus, and
in Rome—wherever they went. The church in Antioch started after
some Christians were scattered by persecution in Jerusalem.
Sometimes, you don’t even have to move! You can help to start a
new church in the same city, just like we have with the north campus!
Here are some practical things you can do:

1. Build your current local church. You may not have seen it this
way, but you are building the body of Christ the same way
whether you are working in this local church or overseas in
another city. We should not think that working in one local church
is more valuable than working in another. What we are doing
with church-planting is expanding the same body of Christ.
2. Build your caregroup, or better yet, host a caregroup. Nothing
prepares you for planting a church like planting and growing a
caregroup. In many respects, you face the same challenges.
3. Ask God to give you a vision and direction. Pray for God’s work in
other areas.
4. Read biographies of Christian missionaries, like Hudson Taylor.
5. Learn a foreign language. (Many of you already know two, three,
or more languages!)
6. Reduce your personal debt and try to move into a career that will
allow you to get a job in another city. Paul was a tentmaker, an
occupation that probably allowed him to be employed pretty
much anywhere.

What I want to say to you, brothers and sisters, is that “from the
time of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of God has been
forcefully advancing, and forceful men and women take hold of it.”
Now is not the time to be fearful. Now is not the time to delay.
Let’s be deliberate about fulfilling the Great Commission in our lifetime.
You have one go at your life here on earth—live it so that you will have
no regrets.