Repentance, Hypocrisy & Christ's Kingdom

We're in Luke chapter 13 tonight, so I invite your attention to that passage of scripture. We've been in a section of our Lord's life toward the end of his life within the last three or four months of his life where he is taking on the Pharisees, head on. There's a lot of conflict in this section of our Lord's life. And the amazing thing about that to me is that he does not back off one bit. Jesus knows where this is headed. He knows how this is going to end. He knows he's going to end up on the cross. And he knows they're going to put him to death. He knows they're after him now, but he never backs off. He never lets up on the Pharisees. And we're going to see that again tonight where Jesus is warning about the hypocrisy and the legalism of the Pharisees and of the religious system that they forced on the people and held over them in bondage. But he's also using this time to instruct his disciples. So we found last time in Luke 13 that Jesus is thrown a hot potato. This is a warning about repentance. And in discussing the need for repentance, Jesus is given a political bomb. He has given something that had he said the wrong thing, and obviously we know he wouldn't, but that was the attempt to try to trap him into saying something against Pilate. He could have easily been arrested. And so he deals with this political hot potato by taking it to a deeper level. We saw last time he's teaching about repentance. Jesus talks about the fact that we have an tendency to judge wrongly about why bad things happen to people. He's taking on the Jewish frame of mind as we saw last week that always said people suffer because of sin. Direct relationship. If something goes bad, it's because you must have sin in your life. And Jesus basically says, I want to let you know that's not the issue. The issue is we are all sinners unless we repent. We will all spend eternity separated from God. So that's the issue you need to focus on. Not who's done worse so that they're suffering. That's not the issue of all Jesus. Jesus says and then he talks about what repentance really is. And we're going to talk about that tonight. The fruits of repentance in verses 6 through 9. So let's pick up in verse 6. Jesus has just warned them unless twice, unless you repent, you too will all perish. And verse 6 says, then he told them this parable. Now you remember what a parable is? What is it? Earthly story with a spiritual meaning. Okay, that's a good description. What's the purpose of a parable? What does it do? What does it help us with? It explains. It illustrates, doesn't it? It draws a word picture or a picture in your mind that you can then latch on to and identify with a truth that Jesus is teaching. And so the picture helps you grasp the truth. It's like an illustration today. When someone who's teaching the Bible or preaching a message gives an illustration, it's the same thing. That's what Jesus is doing here. He's impressed the truth on them. You've got to repent. Now he's going to tell them a story that illustration that will help turn the light on. And they'll grasp it. And he does this in verse 6. When he says, a man had a fig tree. Growing in his vineyard and he went to look for fruit on it. But did not find any. on it but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard for three years now, I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down. Why should it use up the soil? Sir, the man replied, leave it alone for one more year and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, find if not then cut it down. Let me show you a picture of a fig tree. Here's a fig tree in Israel and you can see that it's a very healthy tree. Lots of green leaves, you can't really see the figs on it but they're there. They're tucked under some of the leaves. You can identify some figs there. This would be the kind of tree Jesus was talking about. Very common in Israel and is still today. There are groves of fig trees like you would find apple orchards or groves of orange trees in our country. You'll find fig trees and olive trees a lot in Israel. What Jesus is going to do with this story, the basic interpretation of the stories for Israel, he's looking for fruit. He's looking for some evidence that there's been genuine repentance and he's not finding it. Obviously in individuals there is some fruit but the nation as a whole has not demonstrated the fruit that they've turned toward him, toward the Lord, so they've not repented. Jesus, the basic point of this parable is a warning to Israel. If you don't repent, he's just said you perish. The story is if there's no evidence of repentance, the tree gets cut down. The tree being cut down is a sign of judgment and so that's what the story is all about. But there are a couple of lessons that we can learn for ourselves from this parable. The first one is that true repentance brings fruit. True repentance does bring fruit. In other words, there's going to be some fruit there on a fig tree if the tree's really alive. If there's no fruit, then there's something wrong with the tree. According to Leviticus chapter 19 verses 23 to 25, Israelites were commanded not to eat any fruit or not to even look for any fruit on fig tree for the first three years after it was planted. That was obviously time to give the tree opportunity as it was trimmed and pruned and so forth to develop well before it started producing fruit. In the fourth year of fig trees fruit was devoted to God. In this story, the guy says, I've been looking for fruit on it for three years. He's probably talking about year 5, 6, and 7 of this tree's life. It's not like, well, the tree's just been planted a year ago. You can't expect fruit. No, this is years 5, 6, and 7 probably that he's been expecting to get fruit for himself. That's obviously plenty of time for a healthy tree to start producing fruit. If there's no fruit, there's obviously something wrong with the tree. The tree is no good. It's not an issue of time. There's been plenty of time. Been plenty of opportunity. Do you see the parallel to Israel? There's been plenty of time. Hasn't been plenty of opportunity. Jesus has already been ministering three years. There's been plenty of opportunity. But there's no sign of any fruit. There's no sign of any genuine repentance. So the story is very appropriate to what Jesus finds in Israel. Now, here's the principle. True repentance brings fruit. The Bible teaches that if a person truly repents, if they truly turn from sin to the Lord, there will be some fruit, some evidence of that in our lives. John the Baptist preached that. Look at this verse on the screen in Luke chapter 3 and verse 8. This is John's message. Produce fruit in keeping with repentance, John said. And do not begin to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father, where I tell you that out of these stones, God can raise up children for Abraham. In other words, don't claim I'm religious. I have a good heritage. That's not enough. You've got to show signs of life, fruits of repentance. Paul preached the same thing. This was not just a message of John the Baptist. Paul preached the same thing. Acts chapter 26 verse 20. Paul is summarizing his message throughout his missionary journeys. Notice what he says. He says, first to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem, and in Al Judea, and then to the Gentiles. He's describing how his ministry career. I preach that they should repent and turn to God and then notice what he says and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds. Paul preached the same thing. John the Baptist preached. The message of the gospel of grace is consistent with this message of repentance that shows evidence in your life. And that is, if you're truly born again, if you truly turn away from sin to the Lord, there will be fruit. There will be some evidence of that in your life. If over a period of time, and that's the key thing about this parable, there's been seven years, basically, for this fruit to really be coming in. If over a period of time there's no fruit, then there's something wrong with the tree. There's no life in the tree. And that's the point Jesus is making about, first of all, Israel, but also about us. If there's no fruit, no evidence of new life, then there's something wrong at the core. There's no life there evidently. Now, before we jump to conclusions and start pointing fingers at other people and saying, well, you know, I wonder about that person. I wonder about that person been watching them for two years. And I don't see much. Before we begin to make those kind of conclusions, look at the second principle. It's in verses eight and nine. And that is, God is more patient with fruit bearing than we are. He really is. The end of the parable where the man replies, sir, leave it alone for one more year because the guy's about ready to cut it down. It should be producing fruit. There's no fruit. Let's cut it down. And the man says, leave it alone for one more year. I'll dig around it. I'll fertilize it. In other words, I'm going to give some special effort to this tree that bears fruit next year. Fine. If not, yeah, okay, it's time to cut it down. Then cut it down. God is much more patient with fruit bearing than we are. When there seems to be no fruit, God gives us time to prove that we truly are His. All of us have bad years, right? All of us have dry spells in our lives. All of us have times when we're not walking as close to the Lord as we were at one time or we should be. And so God is more patient with that sometimes than we are. It's easy for us to pass judgment quickly and to say, you know, I just don't know about that person and God says, now hold off second. I'm going to, I'm going to till the soil around their heart. I'm going to give them some special conviction to the Holy Spirit and I'm going to fertilize them with the word of God so that they soak in my life changing principles and I'm going to water them with the conviction of the Holy Spirit and working with the Holy Spirit in their lives. And let's give it a little more time. And if after all of that effort, there's still no response, then okay, it's judgment time. Cut the tree down. But God is patient, more patient than often we are with people. And I'm thankful for that. God's more patient with me than I am with myself. I'm certainly thankful for that. But there is a time, isn't there? When God says, okay, cut it down. There's a time for judgment. Okay? Any questions about the parable? Comments about the parable and it's setting here what it's intended to teach us. Is he talking to believers only? No. He's talking to a mixed group. Remember, it's been, we've stretched this out so long, but sometime back we talked about the fact that it was the beginning of chapter 12 where there's a large crowd of people around Jesus so much so that they were trampling on each other. And that's a really mixed crowd. Some of them are his opponents, the Pharisees. Some of them are people who want to see some action. They want to see what's going on between Jesus and the Pharisees. Some of them are just interested. What's this all about? I've heard about this guy. And some of them are true followers and then there's his group of disciples that he's using all this to train and teach. So it's really a mixed bag. There are believers and unbelievers that are listening to him. So the warning really is to the unbelievers in the crowd. Don't claim your children of Abraham just like John preached. Don't claim religious affiliation. If there's no fruit on the tree, it's going to get cut down. There's no life if there's no fruit. And genuine repentance will demonstrate it in its fruit. And that's really I think a warning to the unbelievers in the crowd. But also a lesson for his disciples as they get ready to minister. Okay, I may not have given you time to ask your question fully John. There's something else there. That's a great question. Why would he do that if he knows they're not going to come to him? God knows who's not going to come and who is going to come. In fact, that's been determined from eternity past. But God still gives everybody the same chance. And it's that balance between human responsibility and God's sovereignty that we can't fully understand or explain. But you know, right up at the end, right up at the very end when Jesus is riding into Jerusalem on the six days before he'll hang on the cross on Palm Sunday. He says, Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered you under my wings, but you would not? Yes, God knows who's going to be saved. And I'm convinced that God determines that. But he throws out the invitation to everybody. And that's consistent throughout the scriptures. And I think that's still what's going on here. He's going to throw out the invitation and the warning even to unbelievers. And here's something else where we could go a lot of directions with this. It dot tails with the warnings in the book of Hebrews. There are four warning passages in the book of Hebrews and they've caused great consternation. But basically, have two purposes. One is to seal the judgment of those who are not true believers and to demonstrate the reality of the profession of faith for those who are true believers. That's the warning passage in the book of Hebrews. And if you understand that, that a person who is warned, if they are true believers, they'll respond to the warning, they'll stay faithful if they're not true believers. They'll continue on their way. And Jesus is warning people who are not true believers. He's still offering them the opportunity to come. But if you don't come and don't genuinely repent, there's going to come a time when I'm going to cut down the tree. I think that's really what's going on here. Okay? Anything else? I need to pursue further there. All right, let's look at the next story. Verse 10. And what we have here is a warning about hypocrisy. Verse 10 through 17. Verse 10 and 11, talk about the issue Jesus faced. Look at what it is. On a Sabbath, Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues. And a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for 18 years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. Now, think of this issue Jesus faced. Interestingly enough, on a Sabbath, Jesus is in the synagogue and he's teaching. Now, think about that. He's not in Galilee. He's not in his home territory. He's not in the synagogues that he typically, like Capernaum, where he typically taught. He's in Judea now. He's in the southern part of the land around Jerusalem somewhere. But when it comes time for the Jewish Sabbath day, he's in the synagogue and he's teaching in the synagogue. Interestingly enough, this is the last time in the gospels that we will find Jesus in the synagogue. Now, he may have gone, you know, we've got three to four months left of his life. He may have gone other times, but it's never mentioned that he did. And probably the opposition of the Pharisees becomes so intense, this may well have been the last time Jesus was able to go into the synagogue and teach. If we get through this passage, verse 21, what we will find happens next is that Jesus leaves Judea and goes to Peria, which is basically Gentile territory because the opposition is so intense, you have to get out of town. So it's really hot and heavy here and Jesus, this may be the last time he's in the synagogue, but but look at what he encounters in the synagogue. A woman who has been crippled by a spirit for 18 years, bent over, could not straighten up at all. Just let the condition of this woman really hit your heart for a minute. Just think about this. Here is a woman who has crippled and bent over. And the Bible says that this was caused by a demonic spirit. Not every physical ailment is caused by demonic spirits, but there are occasions in the gospels where we find that to be the case. And most Bible scholars believe there was a sharp increase in demonic activity during the time that Jesus was on earth because of the intense opposition of Satan's program against Jesus, God on earth, there's this intensity of spiritual battle and warfare. So what we see in the Lord's ministry may not be typical of every time period, including our own, but certainly you see a lot of it in Jesus' ministry. This has been caused by a demonic spirit. But it's a very severe case. She's been this way for 18 years and you can just sense that this spirit has been bending her spine like an iron rod, little by little, until the Bible says she's bent over. She's completely stooped over. And so her world is looking at the ground. Her whole world is gravel and dust. That's what she sees, but she's still in the synagogue. Now that says something, doesn't it? She's still there. Whatever is going on in her life, she has not allowed that to keep her from going to the place of worship. Even though as she goes, she's bent over. Her life is one of seeing the gravel and dust in front of her. And that's about it. But she's there. By the way, there are lots of things that can bend us over, aren't there? Lots of things that can bend us over and cause us to only look at this ground. Only look at the earth. Only look at what's right in front of us. Interesting study. Some time, look through the, particularly the book of Psalms, at the things that bend you over. And you'll find that guilt bends you over, grief bends you over, sorrow bends you over, sand bends you over, all of those things. The Psalmist talks about, I am stooped over, I am bent under this pressure. There are lots of different things that can bend us over. And causes to have an earthly perspective and just see what's in front of us. But none of this keeps this woman away from the synagogue. And I think that's pretty significant. Well, that's the issue that Jesus faced. Notice the response of Jesus in verses 12 and 13. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, woman, you are set free from your infirmity. Then he put his hands on her and immediately she straightened up and praised God. What stands out to you about Jesus response? What sticks out to you about those two verses? His compassion? Yes. When Jesus saw her, he couldn't help but do something. His heart is full of compassion. Anything else stand out to you? Did you notice that Jesus took the initiative here? This woman does not ask him for anything. But when Jesus saw her, notice what he does. He calls her forward. He initiates things. He asks her to come. She doesn't come asking for anything. He asks her to come and then he says to her, woman, you are set free from your infirmity. Then he puts his hands on her. That communication evidently of power that we see in other parts of the Gospels where when someone touched Jesus or he touched them, he could fill power, go out from him. That's evidently what's happening here. Immediately she straightened up and praised God. Can you just think about that scene for a moment? Here's a woman's been bent over, maybe increasingly lower for 18 years. Now all of a sudden, her tightened muscles are loosened, her hard skeleton is loosened and she straightens up and praises God. Can you imagine the joy in that woman's heart? Now I know some of you are thinking of a grandmother, a mother, a grandfather, a father right now that is stooped over with arthritis or some degenerative disease. Wishing you could see this happen. You can just imagine this woman uncoiling, if you will, or just blooming like a rose. Right in front of you, you could see that. We're going to get to see that someday. We're going to get to see all of that. We're going to see people that we knew has bent over, straightened up again and praising God. We're going to get to see all of that kind of thing. Yeah. I think you're on target when you say Jesus may have been spoiling for a fight here, because he takes the initiative to do something that he knows is going to be criticized, but he's ready for them. We're going to see there's a response here that Jesus just dives right into and answers the response of the guy. There's a sense in which maybe spoiling for a fight, maybe it's a little strong, but at least we could say Jesus is not backing off. He's going to demonstrate compassion and do what he knows will bring an angry response. He's ready to take it on. So in that sense, yeah, he's ready. He's spoiling for a fight. I think that's true. And certainly the fact that praise is given to God, and there's another evidence of who he is and his deity is a wonderful confirmation at this point in his ministry when he's under such attack. That's an interesting observation, John. Jesus has told a lot of people. Don't tell anybody. Yeah, I didn't work. They told people anyway. But I think you're right on when you say that this is part of what Walt's talking about. He's doing something that he knows will bring the opposition and he's ready to answer it. But I think there's another factor here, and that is remember Jesus started telling people not to go tell anyone at the same time he started telling people you're not going to get any more signs. And they were still asking for signs of who the Messiah was. You remember that? Jesus very clearly made a turning point in his ministry after Matthew 12, where they had officially rejected him as Messiah, and Jesus says, you will not get any more signs after this. So he's not wanting the miracles now are not to serve as credentials that he's the Messiah. That's already been turned down. The miracles now are miracles just strictly of compassion. And that's what you see here. He just has such compassion. Here's a woman for 18 years, all she's seen is the ground. And he just can't let that go. And it's just out of his heart of compassion, he heals her. Now he knows what's going to happen, and he's ready to take them on. But I think it's not a sign. He's not doing this to say, okay, I want you to know on the Messiah, that's already been rejected. He's doing it because he has compassion for this lady. Obviously people whose hearts are right with God are going to realize, wow, look at what he did. That's another confirmation to them that he is the Messiah, but for unbelievers, it's not going to make any difference. Yeah, how hard their hearts are. Even even a few weeks later, when Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, the Pharisees will try to use that as a point of contact to arrest him and killing. And I mean, you were thinking, wait a second, he raised somebody from the dead. What is that show? I don't care. We're going to kill him. Yeah, their hearts are very hard, very hard. You know the last one was that he is the number one to rule the Sabbath. Yes. Yes. He is demonstrating the fact that he's Lord of the Sabbath. In fact, that's the fight. If he's itching for a fight, that's the one he's ready to fight. And that's what's going to happen. So let's move on to the verse 14, where we find the resistance of a leader. This is really an amazing scene. Verse 14 says, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader, synagogue ruler, synagogue officer or official, some translations will say, he's the guy who was in charge of putting together synagogue service and leading it. Okay. So the synagogue leader said, now notice, said to the people, there are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath. All right. What stands out to you about what this man does and what he says? Anything sounds peculiar here? Get sick on the Sabbath. Don't get sick on the Sabbath. Okay. Or at least don't come for any help on the Sabbath. On the Sabbath? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, any, I mean, the Pharisees had all kinds of layers of definitions of work that you could not perform on the Sabbath. And Jesus healing violates in their minds working on the Sabbath. So I'm assuming it would for a doctor as well. You know, one of the things that stands out to me is this guy is a coward. He doesn't address Jesus. He addresses the people. Did you catch that? Verse 14, indignant because Jesus is healed on the Sabbath. synagogue rule to turn on the people and says, quit bringing sick people on the Sabbath. Jesus is the one that's picking the fight. But this guy's a coward. He won't address Jesus. He chastises the people. That's a coward. And think about what he says to the people. There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days. Does he really mean that? I mean, if somebody brings a sick person to him on Tuesday, is he going to heal him? No. And the guy, this is a beautiful, not beautiful, tragic and ugly picture of legalism. What this man does is he claps the rulebook over the crowd and says, this doesn't fit in my box. This doesn't fit the way it's supposed to be done. I don't care if it's the son of God performing miracles. It doesn't fit into my box of what God should do. And he claps the rulebook over the whole service and the assembly and says, you got to stop this. That's a classic illustration of legalism. In fact, this man is under bondage worse than the woman that Jesus healed was. Hers is physical. His is spiritual. And he's been bowed down to where all he can see is his rules and lists of do's and don'ts. And how you put God in a little box. His mind, his heart is shackled. He's in bondage worse than this woman ever thought about being. He's blinded by tradition. He's blinded by the Pharisees lists of rules so much so that he can't see when God is at work. Here's God doing something in his midst but because it doesn't fit my little rule box. You can't do this. Bring them on Tuesday. Come on. And you see, that's exactly what legalism does and tradition does. It forces God into my box of how God ought to operate. And if he does not operate according to what I say he should do, I'm going to come down on it. My way of doing things. God's got to work in my ways, not his ways. Now be careful with that because God always works in ways that are consistent with his word but not necessarily my way or my tradition or my box of how God ought to do things. I've got to leave room for God to be God. He'll always be consistent with his word but he's God. And sometimes our traditions about what's the right way to reach out to people, what's the right way to do ministry, what's the right way to do this or that or the other may not be God's way at all. And if God chooses to do it a different way we'd better let him do it. Let him do it. Sometimes we don't recognize God at work because it doesn't fit our traditions of how we think God should work. That's a very dangerous place to be. So Jesus takes that on, head on. Notice the rebuke Jesus gave in verses 15 and 16. The Lord answered him, you hypocrites. Doesn't each of you on the Sabbath and notice the beauty of this illustration. Doesn't each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water. Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, using their own term, their own terminology, work children of Abraham they say. A daughter of Abraham whom Satan has kept bound for 18 long years be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her, what an amazingly brilliant response. Jesus takes their own traditions and cooks them in it. Using their own terminology, using an illustration that is analogous to what he has done with this lady. Basically he's saying, I've untied her from her bondage. You do the same thing with your donkey, but you won't allow it for a woman made in the image of God. What hypocrisy? What hypocrisy? You know, one of the things about legalism is it's so hard to live by all the rules. You're going to end up being a hypocrite. You're going to end up breaking some of them yourself. And that's exactly what Jesus is getting at here. What he says basically is you value animals more than you value image bears of God. More than you value people made in his image. Any tradition that keeps us from reaching out to others, getting the gospel to others, helping others to get the gospel to others leads to hypocrisy. That's exactly what Jesus is getting at. So it's a strong rebuke. And then notice, real quickly the reaction of Jesus here in verse 17, when he said this, all his opponents were humiliated. I guess so. I mean, he called them on it. He said, basically, you're concerned more about your donkey than you are this woman. You'll do this for your donkey on the Sabbath, but you won't let her be untied on the Sabbath. So they're humiliated. They realize they've been cooked. But the people, the average person sitting in that synagogue, that they, the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing. And by the way, this is going to increase the hatred of the Pharisees. It's going to continue to increase till the end of his life because they see the the average person being being swayed over to Jesus. And they're losing their grip. They feel on the on the populace. Huh. Exactly. Good point, Jim. I mean, Jesus has only been teaching and ministering about three years. And he hasn't been in Judea that long. But he knows this woman has had this affliction for 18 years. Again, demonstrating his omniscience. Yeah. Good point. There's so many evidences of who he is that people are just missing. Well, the reaction is twofold. And again, it shows the division of people. And Jesus creates this division of people who are either solidly with him or being drawn that direction. And people who are against him and humiliated at what he's doing and what he's teaching. All right. Let's let's try to finish up versus 18 to 21. This is a warning about his kingdom. And what Jesus does again, he does this with parables or at least illustrations here. He describes what his kingdom is like in two ways. First of all, it's kingdom of growth. He's going to use common everyday things that they're used to in their backyard and in their kitchen to describe what his kingdom is like. Jesus asked, what is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree and the birds perched in its branches. Now quickly, mustard seed was the smallest known seed in the Middle East at that time. It's not the smallest seed in the whole world, but for the average Jewish person, it'd be the smallest seed they would ever encounter. And so Jesus picks out this very small seed and he says, that's like my kingdom. You plant it. It has a very small beginning, very humble beginning. And I think Jesus is pointing toward not the kingdom he will set up on this earth because that does not have a humble beginning. That kingdom is set up by Jesus coming and setting it up at the second coming. I think Jesus is referring to that mystery form of the kingdom that he introduced in Matthew 13. We've seen some time ago where Jesus is saying, okay, the kingdom that I came to set up on the earth has been rejected. So my kingdom is taking a different form. And it's a mystery form that's not been revealed before. Basically, he's talking about the church. Now, the church and the kingdom are not the same in the sense that there is still a literal kingdom in the future for Israel. No question about that. But there is a form of the kingdom that's taking place right now. And I think that's what Jesus is talking about here. And he said, okay, basically my kingdom, my church is going to start very small and inconspicuous, like a little seed, but it's going to grow. It's going to grow over time. It's going to grow to be a big tree. And it will shelter a lot of birds. That's true. A lot of strange birds. And then that tree. A lot of good ones too. God's kingdom starts inconspicuously. It starts insignificant. It grows and grows and grows through time. And that's what Jesus says. Kingdom of growth. Secondly, it's kingdom of power verse 20. Now he goes from the backyard into the kitchen. And he says, again, what shall I compare the kingdom of God to? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about 60 pounds of flower until it worked all through the dough. This is not only a kingdom that will grow from small beginnings. It's a kingdom that grows in a certain way. It's a kingdom that grows not by external force. It's a kingdom that grows from within. It's internal growth. The yeast here, and there are different ways that yeast is used in the scriptures. Most of the time it's a symbol of evil and bad influence. But here, Jesus is simply saying, the kingdom of God is like a woman who takes yeast, puts it in a big batch of dough and eventually spreads throughout the power of the kingdom of God. The power of his work is internal power, not external power. It starts inside and it grows from the inside. The way God works is he penetrates the heart. He changes the attitude, which then influences our actions on the outside. We are transformed and then that spreads. That is so important to understand because it's easy to become preoccupied with other kinds of power. In the world today, it's easy to think that the way God's kingdom works is we've got to change from the outside. We've got to change political structures. We've got to change societal structures. And if we pass the right laws and get the right people in office and change this in Washington or wherever, then God's kingdom will come. God says, it's not how I do it. That's not how I do it. Boy, do we ever need to understand that. God's kingdom works from the inside out and it starts in the heart. God changes hearts. That changes families. That changes churches. That changes areas. God's kingdom works that way from the inside out. If we would spend half the energy on heart transformation that we spend seeking political change, we might see something happen. We might see God do some great work. I love what Ken Geier says about this. Ken Geier has written several books on the life of Christ. Really interesting books says this. Oddly, Jesus addresses none of the pressing issues that plague the first century. Now listen to what he's saying. He's right on target. The government was godless, yet he led no revolt over through it. The populace was heavily taxed, yet he led no rally for economic reform. Many of the people were slaves, yet he led no movement to liberate them. Poverty, classism, racism, the list of social ills was as long as it was ugly. And I'm not here tonight and neither is Ken Geier saying those things are okay. It was just leave me alone. They're wrong. They're sin. But here's how Jesus attacked them. Instead of making that list, his political agenda, Jesus was content to plant the tiniest of seeds in the unlikelyest soil to hide a lump of grace in the life of a nobody, a fisherman, tax collector, a centurion, heart by heart. That's the way the kingdom of god grew, quietly reaching for the sun, spreading throughout history so people from every tribe and nation would one day roost in its branches. That's the way god's kingdom grows. Let's make sure we're not working for the wrong kingdom. Okay. Earthly kingdoms are not what we're about. God's kingdom is different. And it grows differently. It spreads differently. And that is where our passion and effort needs to be focused. I'm fully aware. I'm not from Mars. I'm fully aware we're in an election year. And I will not give in to demands to make that my priority because my priority is going to be building the kingdom of god. Now I think as citizens of this great country we ought to do everything we possibly can to influence policy and get people who share biblical values into office. I'm all for that. But this church is not going to become a political crusader, not under my watch. This church will seek to do all that we can to build the kingdom of god. It's a different kingdom. It starts a different way. It grows a different way. It has a different kind of power. And Jesus is warning us about what his kingdom is like. Okay. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the penetrating, searching warnings and teaching of our Lord. So very appropriate for us today, even as it was so many years ago. Lord, help us to be mindful of the need for the fruit of repentance. Help us to be mindful of the compassion that Jesus had to reach out to hurting people. Even if it didn't fit the boxes of tradition and legalism of the day. Help us to be mindful of what your kingdom is all about and to focus our efforts on the growth of that kingdom. Lord, help us to learn, listen and learn from what Jesus.