Beloved Creator, God of all things big and small, we come before you today to worship you. We come with things on our hearts and in our minds. We come seeking wisdom. We come seeking healing. But most of all, we come to be with you. Be with us today as we meet. (Prayer Requests prayed for)
Lord’s Prayer
Call to Worship from Psalm 105:1-5
O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name,
make known his deeds among the peoples.
Sing to him, sing praises to him;
tell of all his wonderful works.
Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
Seek the Lord and his strength;
seek his presence continually.
Remember the wonderful works he has done,
his miracles, and the judgments he has uttered,
* Fairest Lord Jesus 50/630
Confession
Lord of all things, Lord of us, too often we forget what is valuable, and turn our thoughts to our own treasures.
Forgive us when we turn aside from you.
Turn our hearts to you. Show us the seeds you want us to plant. Show us the neighbors you want us to treasure.
Show us the things that we treasure that are unimportant.
Teach us to share your love with others. Amen
Declaration of Forgiveness
Hear the good news from Romans 8: I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Know that you have been forgiven and be at peace.
Gloria Patri
Children’s Sermon: Mustard Seeds and Trees
Prayer for Illumination
Standing on the Promises 175/838
Sermon & Scripture: Standing on God’s Promises – The Kingdom of Heaven
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
Today’s lectionary passage has a series of parables about God’s Kingdom, the promise of God for us. Let us begin with verses 31-33, the promise that the Kingdom of God starts small and grows … beyond our expectations.
The Kingdom of heaven starts small and grows
13:31-33 He put before them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches." He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened."
Jesus begins with two very common items, the mustard seed and yeast, not only common but also very small.
The seeds I shared with the children today were common yellow mustard seeds. Mustard has many uses, it’s leaves can be eaten, the seeds are used in common medications and spices. Outside of it’s normal element, however, it is a weed that takes over. Growing to 5 ft tall. Each plant produces 2,000 to 3,000 seeds in its lifetime.
In the Mideast, there is a different variation of mustard, also a bush, but growing not 5 ft tall, but 25 ft. The center stem, or trunk, is about a foot around. The seeds are even smaller than the common yellow mustard seeds and are loved by birds. It is also officially a weed, and you can only imagine this towering 25 foot beast growing among your corn. It would be hard to miss.
So when we look at the promise of the kingdom of God as a mustard seed it grows two ways. It grows up, and it spreads easily. Those same birds Jesus mentions are a part of the spreading, carrying the seed with them and dropping it in other locations where you do not plan. We spoke a couple of weeks ago about the sower tossing the seed along the way, hard soil, stony soil, weedy soil … this takes it even further.
The kingdom of heaven is like a weed, growing quickly and taking over even where you didn’t intend it. It crosses boundaries, and is uncontrolled in its spread.
Then Jesus uses another common element that the women listening to him would understand, yeast. Now, I don’t know if you know, but yeast and flour disappeared from our store shelves along with toilet paper last March. No one is certain why, but the theory is that people expected to be cut off from bread supplies.
And so promptly there came another group of people that formed, people who decided to make bread the old fashioned way, sour dough bread, not made from carefully produced yeast, but from yeast found in the air around us.
Because yeast, like weeds, is everywhere. You simply need to create a starter using only flour and water. This is the way it would have been done in the days of Jesus. Each day the women would set aside a small portion of the dough to use as a starter for the next batch. And they would understand that the small portion of yeast in the starter would spread until it was throughout the new batch, causing it to raise and become a loaf.
Both the bread and the mustard seed had something else in common. The seed would nourish the birds, the bread would nourish the women’s families. So, both grew until they were large enough to nourish the world around them.
The first promise here is that the Kingdom grows wildly, and nourishes the world.
Our second promise comes in verses 44-50 and is this:
The Kingdom of heaven is so valuable, it is worth everything you own to own it. It is so valuable, that you cast aside anything less.
13:44-46 "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
13:47-50 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad.
So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
The first parable is about a man who is a bit of a rogue. No one tells us what he is doing digging in a field that belongs to someone else, nor why he was looking for treasure there. Even more, why he would cheat the rightful owner by buying the land without telling him of the treasure.
But treasure on land isn’t always about something hidden. There are many centennial farms around here where generations have farmed the same land.
Replacing the rogue in the story Jesus told, The Kingdom of God is like a farmer who saw a good piece of land and invested his life, everything he had to make it profitable. And when he was done, he passed it on to his family so that they could continue to treasure it.
In this way, it is the same as the story of the pearl of great value, that the pearl merchant found, and he sold all of his other pearls to own and treasure that one.
Similarly, the catch of fish is a part of this understanding of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is so powerful that we cast aside everything that doesn’t measure up. Just as the angels will eventually sort out the good and the bad, we do it because we treasure that which God has given.
The promise of the kingdom of heaven is worth taking all that we have, our entire lives, and is so precious that we should be willing to set aside everything else so that we can treasure it.
The final parable isn’t as familiar. It is the Parable of the Scribe, and is a promise that we can sharers as members of the kingdom of Heaven. Let’s read verses 51-52
The Kingdom of Heaven is to be Shared
13:51-52 "Have you understood all this?" They answered, "Yes."
And he said to them, "Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old."
Have you understood all this? The disciples carefully answer: “Yes.” It is strange that after asking him to explain things so often, this time they say “Yes.” Maybe he said it enough times they did get it. Maybe they just were embarrassed enough that they were afraid to say “no.”
And so Jesus then gives them an assignment. They are to be the “scribes” of the kingdom of heaven. Last week I ended with a poem called, “I am my neighbor’s Bible.” We, too, are scribes of the kingdom of God. We are called to be the word of God to the world.
And here Jesus tells us that we are like the master of the household, and we are to bring out of our treasure what is new and what is old.
What is new is how God is working in our lives today. What is old is what God has spoken in God’s word to us, the Scripture. For when we combine the two, we have God’s word for us today. This is, by the way, the definition of a sermon for those who give them. Take the word of God in the scriptures, and take the lives of the people. Your sermon is the point where the two connect.
The final promise, God’s Word is sharable assumes something powerful. That God’s word is timeless, and that God’s word will always intersect in our lives.
If you want to share the kingdom with your neighbor, you don’t need to make your neighbor understand the old. You make the “old” relevant to your neighbor by sharing how it is relevant to his life today. Because God’s “old” word will always be relevant and will never be out of date.
Three important promises.
The kingdom of God will grow, wildly, even without our help.
The kingdom of God is worth everything we own, and we can cast aside the worthless to own it.
The kingdom of God is relevant, in the past and in the present and we can share it today knowing that.
Let us pray:
Beloved Creator, we stand on your promises today. Be the mustard seed and yeast in our lives, growing wildly, spreading throughout our being. Be the treasure and pearl that we seek with all that we have. Be the new and the old that we take out and share with others. In Jesus name, Amen.
Apostles Creed
I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth,
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell;
the third day he rose again from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic Church;
the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins;
the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting.
Amen.
Dedication of Offerings/Doxology
* Breathe on Me Breath of God 164/286
* Benediction/Passing the Peace
One of my favorite songs has these words:
Freely, freely, you have received, freely, freely, give.
Go in my name and because you believe
Others may know that I live.
May the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you
And also with you
Lord’s Prayer
Call to Worship from Psalm 105:1-5
O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name,
make known his deeds among the peoples.
Sing to him, sing praises to him;
tell of all his wonderful works.
Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
Seek the Lord and his strength;
seek his presence continually.
Remember the wonderful works he has done,
his miracles, and the judgments he has uttered,
* Fairest Lord Jesus 50/630
Confession
Lord of all things, Lord of us, too often we forget what is valuable, and turn our thoughts to our own treasures.
Forgive us when we turn aside from you.
Turn our hearts to you. Show us the seeds you want us to plant. Show us the neighbors you want us to treasure.
Show us the things that we treasure that are unimportant.
Teach us to share your love with others. Amen
Declaration of Forgiveness
Hear the good news from Romans 8: I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Know that you have been forgiven and be at peace.
Gloria Patri
Children’s Sermon: Mustard Seeds and Trees
Prayer for Illumination
Standing on the Promises 175/838
Sermon & Scripture: Standing on God’s Promises – The Kingdom of Heaven
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
Today’s lectionary passage has a series of parables about God’s Kingdom, the promise of God for us. Let us begin with verses 31-33, the promise that the Kingdom of God starts small and grows … beyond our expectations.
The Kingdom of heaven starts small and grows
13:31-33 He put before them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches." He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened."
Jesus begins with two very common items, the mustard seed and yeast, not only common but also very small.
The seeds I shared with the children today were common yellow mustard seeds. Mustard has many uses, it’s leaves can be eaten, the seeds are used in common medications and spices. Outside of it’s normal element, however, it is a weed that takes over. Growing to 5 ft tall. Each plant produces 2,000 to 3,000 seeds in its lifetime.
In the Mideast, there is a different variation of mustard, also a bush, but growing not 5 ft tall, but 25 ft. The center stem, or trunk, is about a foot around. The seeds are even smaller than the common yellow mustard seeds and are loved by birds. It is also officially a weed, and you can only imagine this towering 25 foot beast growing among your corn. It would be hard to miss.
So when we look at the promise of the kingdom of God as a mustard seed it grows two ways. It grows up, and it spreads easily. Those same birds Jesus mentions are a part of the spreading, carrying the seed with them and dropping it in other locations where you do not plan. We spoke a couple of weeks ago about the sower tossing the seed along the way, hard soil, stony soil, weedy soil … this takes it even further.
The kingdom of heaven is like a weed, growing quickly and taking over even where you didn’t intend it. It crosses boundaries, and is uncontrolled in its spread.
Then Jesus uses another common element that the women listening to him would understand, yeast. Now, I don’t know if you know, but yeast and flour disappeared from our store shelves along with toilet paper last March. No one is certain why, but the theory is that people expected to be cut off from bread supplies.
And so promptly there came another group of people that formed, people who decided to make bread the old fashioned way, sour dough bread, not made from carefully produced yeast, but from yeast found in the air around us.
Because yeast, like weeds, is everywhere. You simply need to create a starter using only flour and water. This is the way it would have been done in the days of Jesus. Each day the women would set aside a small portion of the dough to use as a starter for the next batch. And they would understand that the small portion of yeast in the starter would spread until it was throughout the new batch, causing it to raise and become a loaf.
Both the bread and the mustard seed had something else in common. The seed would nourish the birds, the bread would nourish the women’s families. So, both grew until they were large enough to nourish the world around them.
The first promise here is that the Kingdom grows wildly, and nourishes the world.
Our second promise comes in verses 44-50 and is this:
The Kingdom of heaven is so valuable, it is worth everything you own to own it. It is so valuable, that you cast aside anything less.
13:44-46 "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
13:47-50 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad.
So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
The first parable is about a man who is a bit of a rogue. No one tells us what he is doing digging in a field that belongs to someone else, nor why he was looking for treasure there. Even more, why he would cheat the rightful owner by buying the land without telling him of the treasure.
But treasure on land isn’t always about something hidden. There are many centennial farms around here where generations have farmed the same land.
Replacing the rogue in the story Jesus told, The Kingdom of God is like a farmer who saw a good piece of land and invested his life, everything he had to make it profitable. And when he was done, he passed it on to his family so that they could continue to treasure it.
In this way, it is the same as the story of the pearl of great value, that the pearl merchant found, and he sold all of his other pearls to own and treasure that one.
Similarly, the catch of fish is a part of this understanding of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is so powerful that we cast aside everything that doesn’t measure up. Just as the angels will eventually sort out the good and the bad, we do it because we treasure that which God has given.
The promise of the kingdom of heaven is worth taking all that we have, our entire lives, and is so precious that we should be willing to set aside everything else so that we can treasure it.
The final parable isn’t as familiar. It is the Parable of the Scribe, and is a promise that we can sharers as members of the kingdom of Heaven. Let’s read verses 51-52
The Kingdom of Heaven is to be Shared
13:51-52 "Have you understood all this?" They answered, "Yes."
And he said to them, "Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old."
Have you understood all this? The disciples carefully answer: “Yes.” It is strange that after asking him to explain things so often, this time they say “Yes.” Maybe he said it enough times they did get it. Maybe they just were embarrassed enough that they were afraid to say “no.”
And so Jesus then gives them an assignment. They are to be the “scribes” of the kingdom of heaven. Last week I ended with a poem called, “I am my neighbor’s Bible.” We, too, are scribes of the kingdom of God. We are called to be the word of God to the world.
And here Jesus tells us that we are like the master of the household, and we are to bring out of our treasure what is new and what is old.
What is new is how God is working in our lives today. What is old is what God has spoken in God’s word to us, the Scripture. For when we combine the two, we have God’s word for us today. This is, by the way, the definition of a sermon for those who give them. Take the word of God in the scriptures, and take the lives of the people. Your sermon is the point where the two connect.
The final promise, God’s Word is sharable assumes something powerful. That God’s word is timeless, and that God’s word will always intersect in our lives.
If you want to share the kingdom with your neighbor, you don’t need to make your neighbor understand the old. You make the “old” relevant to your neighbor by sharing how it is relevant to his life today. Because God’s “old” word will always be relevant and will never be out of date.
Three important promises.
The kingdom of God will grow, wildly, even without our help.
The kingdom of God is worth everything we own, and we can cast aside the worthless to own it.
The kingdom of God is relevant, in the past and in the present and we can share it today knowing that.
Let us pray:
Beloved Creator, we stand on your promises today. Be the mustard seed and yeast in our lives, growing wildly, spreading throughout our being. Be the treasure and pearl that we seek with all that we have. Be the new and the old that we take out and share with others. In Jesus name, Amen.
Apostles Creed
I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth,
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell;
the third day he rose again from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic Church;
the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins;
the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting.
Amen.
Dedication of Offerings/Doxology
* Breathe on Me Breath of God 164/286
* Benediction/Passing the Peace
One of my favorite songs has these words:
Freely, freely, you have received, freely, freely, give.
Go in my name and because you believe
Others may know that I live.
May the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you
And also with you