Big Things From Small Beginnings

By: Robert Heerspink

Scripture Reading: Matthew 13:24 - 35

July 30th, 2007

TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE


The letter in the mail sounded too good to be true. “Yes, Mr. Heerspink, you have already won one of the following grand prizes:
A trip to Acapulco or
A 35 inch color TV or
A deluxe camcorder or
A life—time supply of free film.


It was a letter to make your day! Until, of course, you figure out the catch. The prize almost everybody wins is a life—time supply of free film, supplied one roll at a time as you pay the high processing fees for your previous roll.


Deceptive advertising—that’s what it is. Have you ever gotten stung by deceptive advertising? I suppose we have all been taken in, one time or another. The toy shown on television promises to entertain your child for hours on end. Yes, and you, the parent, can enjoy hours of quiet as your child plays enthralled with this superior educational offering. So the toy is purchased and wrapped as a birthday present. And fifteen minutes after he rips open the paper, you discover your child is bored silly by the toy. Instead, he is squealing with delight as he plays with the box and paper.


Or consider the claims of products you use around the house. Maybe it’s different for you, but in our washer, that name brand soap never takes grease out of shirts the way it does on the TV commercial. And the super—glue that holds a thousand pounds in the newspaper ad? It wouldn’t even stick that little chip back into the plate. And who of us still believes the words, “Easy to assemble?“ Frankly, the warning, “Some assembly required“ makes my blood run cold.


TRUTH IN RELIGION?


False advertising is everywhere. How about in religion? There is a lot of hype out there in the religious marketplace. Spirituality has become big business. Everything from tarot cards to horoscopes promises to predict your future. A wealth of new age remedies promises to protect your health. A host of spiritual practices promise spiritual enlightenment and connection with your own inner divinity. Do you believe such hype? I hope not.


But what about Jesus and his teachings? What about the Christian faith? Is JESUS guilty of false advertising? Consider. Jesus brings the remarkable news of the coming of the reign of the Living God. The grand day of salvation for which Israel awaits is here. In his ministry, in his very person, the rule of God has broken into the world. The Kingdom of God has come to earth. No wonder the crowds who followed Jesus are flying high. This is the good news for which God’s people had been waiting for centuries.


But as weeks turn into months, a lot of people begin to mutter about truth in advertising. Disillusionment begins to settle in like a dark cloud on a January day. The facts suggest that Jesus has over—promised and will under—deliver. The message seems hyped. Sure, some people have been helped. Over there John is back on his feet. And someone knows a Mary who has been cured of her blindness. But surely, this cannot be God’s whole game plan! The religious intelligentsia wants nothing to do with Jesus. The Roman authorities in Jerusalem act as though he doesn’t exist. Jesus says God’s Kingdom has come, but where? A bunch of fishermen have become his followers. Some sick folk healed of disease. But certainly these meager results aren’t something to stake your life upon! What gives? Isn’t this a case of false advertising?


TODAY’S COMPLAINT


I think sometimes we who confess Christ today are tempted to the same complaint. We gather to worship Sunday after Sunday to hear the Kingdom announced. We rejoice that Christ is the King of the cosmos. But when we go out into the week, doesn’t it seem that your confession is far removed from fact?


Christ has triumphed over the forces of evil! Really?! Then why in the papers are more kids dead in Iraq? Why do tyrants sit upon their petty thrones for decade after long decade? Why, as the papers report, are 33 dead in a shooting spree on a college campus in Virginia. The gates of hell cannot prevail against the church of Christ. Really?! Then why can’t Christians even figure out a way to get along with each other? The joy of the Kingdom has broken into the world! Really!? Then why do I end my day with a migraine and wake up tomorrow with the Monday morning blues.


What gives? Are we telling it the way it is? Or is this false advertising? Helmut Thielicke, the German pastor, tells of working in the church during the terrible days of the Third Reich. About the time the Nazis came to power, Thielicke was ordained a pastor in the Lutheran church. He tells us he was on his way to his very first Bible study in that church. He went with the determination to trust the claim of Jesus: “All power is given to me in heaven and on earth.“ He went determined to confess that Christ, not a Nazi madman—but Christ is Lord.


And at that Bible study there were three persons. Three. Two elderly women. And an elderly man. And Thielicke said he was shaken. Three people were all the Kingdom of the cosmos had called out that night. And while they met he could hear outside the young men, in their Nazi uniforms marching row after row. Where was the power of the Christ who claims that the kingdoms of this world are under his control?


We hear Jesus say the Kingdom of God is upon us. The blessings of God’s rule are here! And still we struggle with death and disease. Our marriage crumbles. Our hopes for a bright future fade. And we face a harsh challenge to our faith: Does Jesus really have his facts straight? Are his claims true?


A SIMPLE STORY


Now to peoples then and now, Jesus tells a very simple story. A farmer opens his bag and takes out his seed. Now, this is not any seed, mind you, but mustard seed! A seed so small, that if you are nearsighted like me, you had better put on your glasses if you want to spot the individual specks in the palm of your hand. Seeds so small that you can hardly pick up only one. It takes thousands of these little seeds to make an ounce.


Now, the farmer takes a single seed. This insignificant particle. This apparent speck of dust. And he puts that seed in the earth. And what happens?

Something mind—boggling. What grows is not a little plant. Not just a short little shrub. What springs up is a virtual tree. In the Middle East, the mustard plant could grow twelve feet tall or taller. It became so great that the birds—the same birds that would have picked up hundreds of these little seeds for their breakfast—now make their home in the branches. A tree so vast, so tall, that a man on horseback can ride beneath it.


The little seed—the great tree. But Jesus isn’t just spinning stories about contrasts. He isn’t merely saying—big trees from little acorns grow. He isn’t merely saying—little investments pay big dividends. No, Jesus says what he is really talking about is the Kingdom of God. The way God works in the world—the way God’s reign of peace and blessing in this broken, evil world—it’s like the working of a mustard seed!


From all appearances the kingdom at its birth is as small as a speck of dust:


Well, as small as a baby laid out in a manger
As small as a toddler running around the back streets of Nazareth
As insignificant as a rabbi with an entourage of unschooled Jewish peasants in his train.


And yet, says Jesus, something staggering has begun. The Kingdom of God is working its way in the world. A kingdom, where evil totters, and goodness grows. A kingdom where men and women gather under the sign of the cross to acknowledge Christ as their king. A kingdom where people on the outs with God discover what it means to be welcomed into the family of God. A Kingdom where broken lives are mended, and where men and women learn that in serving others in Jesus’ name, they find true meaning and purpose. It’s a kingdom so vast that one day it will engulf the whole creation. We look for a day, writes John in Revelation, when King Jesus will return to earth. When God will make all things new. When Death and sorrow will be no more. There will be a new heaven and earth where promises of peace and blessing are perfectly fulfilled.


PUT OFF BY THE KINGDOM?


Until then, do not be offended by God’s timetable. Do not be offended by the size of the mustard tree. You know, most protestant congregations in North America have fewer than 100 worshippers on a Sunday morning. When I visited Japan last year, I found that average congregations might number only fifty. Compare that to a crowd of over 100,000 who gather to watch an NFL football game where the rituals almost appear to have a religious tinge to them.


No, the people of the Kingdom aren’t always very great in numbers. The church isn’t very impressive in the eyes of the world, nor sometimes is the church’s accomplishments. But Jesus says: “Don’t let the smallness of the Kingdom offend you. Don’t let the size of the gatherings of God’s people discourage you. My kingdom is NOT of this world. It cannot be judged by human standards. For my kingdom has within it a divine dynamic. The seed has sprouted. It is growing and one day it will fill the earth.


THE GRAND ASSURANCE


But maybe you say—how can I be sure of that? How can I know that Jesus’ parable isn’t just a pipedream? After all, the world is filled with people who make grand predictions that never happen. The National Inquirer is filled with them every January 1. Maybe you have become a cynic when it comes to promises. You’ve heard the promises of investment counselors assuring you that their formulas deliver independent wealth by the time you are forty. You’ve heard info—mercials that promise if you respond to the pitch, you can set up a home business and pull in a six—figure income. You’ve heard the pledges of politicians assuring you that if they are elected, you’ll be noticeably better off. And you’ve turned cynic. You don’t believe anymore.


Why be Jesus’ follower instead of his cynic? I’ll tell you why. Because JESUS is the Sower in this parable. And the seed which Jesus plants is nothing less than the Word of the Living God. In Scripture, the Word of God is alive. It has life. Just as the rain does not return to the clouds until it accomplishes its purpose, so too the word does not return to God empty. It has power to accomplish its purpose. And its purpose is to bring in God’s Kingdom!


Christ sows the Word of the Kingdom. And that Word will not return empty. The power that is unleashed by the church—the people of the kingdom—is not OUR power, but God’s. Never shortchange God and his Word. Never shortchange the gospel’s ability to change lives. Today there are people saying that if you want to grow the kingdom, you need to take the edge off the gospel. People don’t want to hear about sin any more. People don’t want to hear about something as old—fashioned as grace. But we dare not tinker with the gospel, my friends. Because the power to grow the Kingdom is found in being true to this Word—the Word of the Lord.


Those little gatherings of believers who come together and worship? Something big and great is happening where they assemble. God’s Word is being shared. A Word so powerful God promises that it will change the world. A word so powerful that if you take time this week to read that Word, and gather where that Word is being taught, it will change you too!


TAKING REFUGE UNDER THE BRANCHES


Let me ask you——where do you stand with regard to Jesus and his Kingdom? Have you found shelter under the branches of this kingdom?


You know, in the Old Testament, you twice find a picture of a great tree where the birds of the air dwell. Both times, the tree is symbolic of a mighty empire. In Daniel 4, it’s a symbol of Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom. “I looked, and there before me stood a tree in the middle of the land. Its height was enormous. The tree grew large and strong and its top touched the sky. It was visible to the ends of the earth . . Under it the beasts of the field found shelter, and the birds of the air lived in its branches . . .“


And again, in Ezekiel—the same picture—this time of the branching tree that was Assyria.


“Consider Assyria, once a cedar in Lebanon,
with beautiful branches,
overshadowing the forest.
It towered on high,
Its top above the thick foliage,
All the birds of the air
nested in its boughs . . . “


The peoples of the world gather under the branches of those national redwoods. They found in the shelter of these towering redwoods an identity, a future, a safety.


But something happens to these great trees. A mighty woodsman moves through the forest. He swings his mighty ax. The trees tremble. They totter, they fall. These mighty giants are reduced to kindling wood.


Today, that story repeats itself. The peoples of the world hide beneath the branches of great nations. Here, they say, in the shelter of mighty nations, we will be safe. We will find a political identity. We will find our salvation. We will have hope and a future. Here are the resources to solve our problems, to build a kingdom that will withstand the ages.


And one by one the kingdoms totter. Assyria. Persia. Greece, Rome. And the great kingdoms of today have no better future. And all who place their ultimate hope in the political kingdoms of this world will find they have landed upon a precarious perch indeed.


THE KINGDOM ABOVE ALL KINGDOMS


There is only one kingdom that will endure eternity. And that kingdom also is symbolized in the Old Testament as a mighty cedar. You find it described in Ezekiel 17:


This is what the Sovereign Lord says,
“I myself will take a shoot from the very top of a cedar and plant it;
I will break off a tender sprig from its topmost shoots and plant it on a high and lofty mountain;


On the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it;
it will produce branches and best fruit and become a splendid cedar.
Birds of every kind will nest in it;
they will find shelter in the shade of its branches.“


From small beginnings, to the greatest tree in the forest! It’s the tree of the Kingdom of the Living God. That kingdom is here. And it is growing. It is spreading out its branches. And look, look how the peoples of the world are already finding a home among its leaves. It doesn’t matter where you live. It might be in Africa or China. In India or Indonesia. In Brazil, Argentina, or Mexico. Everywhere peoples are finding TRUE shelter, TRUE security, TRUE hope, under the spreading branches of the tree of the Kingdom of Christ.


My friends, take heart. Do not be deceived by small beginnings. Don’t be impressed by what doesn’t impress God. Instead, be impressed with the gospel. Be impressed with the way the tree of the Kingdom grows up toward the heavens with such fast growth that there is no rival.


If you are living out in the open, apart from the shelter of God’s care, its time to make your way under the branches. If you make that way to the shelter of that tree, you’ll find a vast crowd assembled there already. They’ll welcome you. They’ll encourage you to discover what remarkable blessings come to those who live within the care of Almighty God.

About the Author

Robert Heerspink

Rev. Robert Heerspink is a native of west Michigan. He completed his undergraduate studies at Calvin College and holds the degrees of Master of Divinity and Master of Theology from Calvin Theological Seminary. He has also received a Doctor of Ministry degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Bob was ordained a minister of the Word in the Christian Reformed Church of North America in 1979, and has 26 years of parish experience, having served four churches throughout west Michigan. He was appointed the Director of The Back to God Hour in 2006. Bob has written several resources related to congregational stewardship, including the book, Becoming a Firstfruits Congregation. He is a regular contributor to TODAY, the monthly devotional of The Back to God Hour. Bob is married to Edith (Miedema) and they have three children. His hobbies include reading fictional and historical works, watersports, and occassional golfing.

More >>