THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN (part 3)

During the time that Jesus walked on the earth in flesh and blood, He taught many parables about the kingdom of Heaven.  He wanted His disciples at that time (and all of His disciples down to this current age) to understand how the kingdom works, and how we should function as citizens of that kingdom.  The longer we consider God's kingdom only as a place we will inhabit one day after Christ's return, the longer we hinder enjoying the blessings and power of that kingdom in this life.  We are waiting for Christ to return, but God is waiting for us to grow up into Christ and become mature sons of God (Ephesians 4:14-16).  "Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God." (2 Peter 3:11,12a).

 

In Matthew, we find a very simple parable that speaks of the mystical nature of the kingdom of God.  "Another parable spake He unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." (Matthew 13:33). 

 

In this illustration, the Lord likens the kingdom to the yeast that is mixed into bread dough to cause it to rise.  When our children were younger, my wife would make homemade whole wheat bread almost every week.  She would mix all of the ingredients together, distribute the fresh dough into loaf pans, and then set the pans with towels over them to rise on top of the furnace registers.  After a while, the loaves would puff up twice their size as the yeast would work its magic over the dough.  When the loaves were ready, she would slide them in the oven, and soon the house was filled with the aroma of fresh-baked bread.

 

What does this all have to do with the kingdom of God?  The answer is both simple and complex at the same time.  First of all, let's consider the active ingredient in this parable: the leaven or yeast.  It is at the center of this illustration.  Without it, all of the other ingredients will not have the desired effect.  No matter how fresh, or how quality, the other ingredients may be, they are powerless to raise the loaf without the leaven. 

 

After Christ's resurrection and ascension to heaven, the newly-formed church in Jerusalem was both aimless and powerless.  Jesus had promised them, however, that they would receive power and direction if they would wait in Jerusalem until the Spirit would be poured out upon them.  This they did, and on the day of Pentecost the Spirit came upon each of them, filling them with spiritual power and anointing.  Three thousand people were converted to the faith that day as Peter preached the gospel of the kingdom to them.  After that day, the church continued to grow and spread as the Holy Spirit enabled and directed the work.

 

The Holy Spirit is the critical element that makes everything else alive in the church.  Every other ingredient may be good, but they are all useless to raise the "loaf" without the Spirit working secretly in the lives of the believers.  Education, Bible knowledge, oration, talent, leadership, and anything else that can be named, can never accomplish God's purpose for the Church.  Only being filled with God's Spirit can prepare the church to work God's will on the earth. 

 

We read that the leaven was hidden in "three measures of meal, till the whole [loaf] was leavened [raised]."  The Word also tells us, "For we being many are one bread, and one body." (1 Corinthians 10:17).  In other words, we Christians all make up the same loaf of bread, and the same body of Christ.  Jesus' body is not divided.  Yet, at the same time, we are multiple measures of wheat that make up this one loaf.  The Holy Spirit is hidden in every measure of wheat, and then made into a single loaf.  "But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal."  "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body." (1 Corinthians 12:7). 

 

So, what we learn from this parable is that the Holy Spirit wishes to work in the lives of every single believer in order to minister grace to the whole body of Christ and bring it into maturity.  What the Spirit works through me helps raise you up, and what the Spirit works in you helps raise me up, so that we may all "grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: from Whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love." (Ephesians 4:15b, 16).

 

Jesus prayed to the Father that all believers might be one so that the world would know that God did indeed send His Son to them. (John 17:21).  The early church was at its most powerful when it was said of them that they were of "one mind," and "one accord."  Paul pleaded with the early Christians to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:3).  Today, however, the church is divided.  Instead of embracing our diversity and realizing that it's the differences in all of us that the Holy Spirit wishes to use to shape and refine us, we use that diversity as a reason for separation.  Baptist, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Holiness, non-denomination, rich, poor, black, white, old, and young: they all become sources of schism in the body rather than opportunities to grow and learn to love one another.  Beloved, it is not God Who wishes to see His body fractured.  The only one who profits from our intolerance is Satan!  Christ is not divided!  And if you are one in Christ, and I am one in Christ, then we are one despite what labels man would choose to put over the door.  It is the kingdom of heaven that we owe our allegiance to, and not any other kingdom.  If you have been born again, you are a member of THE church, and a citizen of God's kingdom.  Your name has been written in heaven.  You are one with every other believer in Christ. 

 

When we separate from other Christians because we think we have more truth, we are not more spiritual, but more carnal.  "For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?" (1Corinthians 3:3).  Today, let us take this simple lesson to heart, and look for ways to foster unity and love with our brothers and sisters who do not see things exactly like us.  Let us learn to open our hearts, minds, and ears to what the Spirit may be speaking to us through these "unlikely" sources.  Balaam was so sure he was right that he would have cursed God's people had God not used an ass to speak to him, and set him straight.  Truly, we need a healthy dose of humility in our dealings with one another.

    

This parable that Jesus used may seem very simple, but it holds some very profound ideas that the church by and large still struggles to embrace.  May God grant us grace to live in all the fullness of our Lord Jesus Christ.