Sermon Cloud

On Sunday, July 6th, TFC worshipped at Celebration Park, so we did not have our recording equipment.  The following is a manuscript of Pastor Donnie's message from that day.

            We tend to judge the importance of things by their size.  The larger it is, the more significant it is.  The smaller, the less significant.  A good example of this is the musical Erin and I are in this summer.  Gardner Community Theatre's production of "The Music Man."  This is the 3^rd season for GCT and I learned this is the first year enough people auditioned that they had choices for the main parts.  Our producer is hoping we sell between 1,500 and 2,000 tickets for the weekend show, I'm really not sure what to expect.  If word of my dancing skills gets out, ticket sails might sore.  I'm excited about it, but it's not as big of a deal as Theatre in the Park's production of "The Music Man" we watched in 2002.  Three weekends worth of shows, each show with several thousand people.

            And the weekend we're doing "The Music Man", Starlight Theatre is as well, which I'm sure will hurt their ticket sales.  Starlight is a huge deal.  Thousands and thousands of people at each show.  The cheapest ticket is about $20 more than a ticket to our show.  And I'm guessing the thousands of people at Starlight are expecting a bit more from that Harold Hill than from my interpretation. 

            We tend to think if something is bigger, it must be better.  But have I ever mentioned that the way of Jesus is counter-cultural?  That the Kingdom of Jesus stands in contrast to the "common sense" of our world?  We're taking the rest of the summer to look at some ‘glimpses of the Kingdom' seen through Jesus' parables.  For the 3^rd week in a row, we're looking at some parables from Matthew 13.  Matthew 13:31-33

            If you were a Jewish gardener in Jesus' day, the smallest seed in your spring planting would've been the mustard seed.  So small that a bird come easily snatch it up and you might not even notice the bird had dug into the ground to get the seed.  But this little seed produced the biggest plant in the gardener.  A large bush/ small tree - big enough for the birds that would've eaten the seed to now build a nest.

            The same happens with that yeast.  The woman baking (and isn't it interesting that Jesus uses a female figure to represent God) uses just a bit of yeast in 3 measure of flower.  3 measures was about 50 pounds.  Enough to feed about 100 people.  A seemingly small amount of yeast was all that was necessary to make a cake to feed 100 people.  And as an interesting side note, Jesus was taking a popular Jewish saying and turning it upside down.  Bread without yeast as an important part of Jewish dietary laws.  Bread with yeast was not a good thing, like we'd think of it.  Yeast was thought of as an unhealthy mold.  To call someone a little bit of yeast would be like calling someone a "bad apple" that would spoil the whole barrel of apples.  Jesus is picturing the kingdom as a subversive, counter-cultural movement that goes against the ways of the world.  Followers of Jesus are like "bad apples," we change the status-quo.  I  love that. 

            But the main theme here is that something small and seemingly insignificant eventually becames large and incredibly significant.  Meaning it was significant the entire time, it's just that most people failed to grasp its significance.

            When we compare the Kingdom of Jesus to the Kingdoms of this world, it seems really small.  The way of Jesus doesn't seem to get you anywhere.  It seems that the only way to be successful, is to serve self first.  The self promoters are making money and making headlines, no one hears about the servants.  It seems that the only way to get want you need is to push others around, maybe through shady business deals or physical violence.  Jesus' command to love your enemies seems so small and insignificant compared to the way of the world. 

            But a Kingdom seems small, insignificant and counter-cultural now will one day rule the world.  It's what theologians call the "already but not yet" of the Kingdom.  The Kingdom is here among us right now, but it has yet to envelop the whole world.  It will someday.  In the meantime, as people living in the Kingdom, we have the responsibility to spread this "domain where the King rules" both in our hearts and in the hearts of others. 

            Parents, this is especially true in your role.  Our world may not value what you do.  Men, you won't make the cover of Money Magazine for leaving work early to be with your kids.  Moms, paparazzi won't follow you to publicize your diligent commitment to guiding your kids.  But what may seem small is the most significant thing you could ever be doing. 

            We see this in the story of a mom named Susannah.  Susannah was a pastor's wife in 18^th century London.  She gave birth to 19(!) children, 9 of which died as infants.  She basically raised these 10 kids on her own.  Her lose husband lost what little money they had in a bad business deal, he was twice thrown in jail for not paying his debts and he even left the family for an entire year because he couldn't handle the pressures. 

            Despite all of her hardships, Susannah was faithful.  She worked out a schedule for spending one-on-one time with each of her kids.  She made sure her children followed the regular school curriculum of the day.  She also made sure her children received biblical instruction.  She lead a Sunday afternoon worship service and read sermons from strong preacher.  I'm sure Susannah wondered whether it was all worth it.  Whether anything was getting through.  It was. 

            Trinity Family Church is one small part of Susannah Wesley's Kingdom legacy.  One of her sons was John Wesley.  One of the greatest leaders, preachers and theologians in church history.  He traveled all throughout England on horseback, preaching and establishing small group bible studies and accountability groups.  He insisted people follow regular spiritual disciples that would nurture their relationship with God.  His critics called these habits "methods" and by the time of Wesley's death, there were several hundred thousand Methodists. 

            Historians believe the spiritual renewal lead by Wesley prevented England from experiencing the same bloody revolution that was happening in France.  As well as helping bring about the end of slavery in the British Empire. 

            TFC stands in the Wesleyan tradition a love for God and neighbors so strong it can't help but bring about the Kingdom.  The hero of the Wesleyan movement was Susannah.

            Reading a bible story, praying with your kids before bed may not seem very significant, but you're teaching your kids to hear God's voice.  It may seem that all you're doing is putting them in time-out for the millionth time that day, but you're actually teaching them the discipline of submitting to the rule of a higher authority.  Having them share with a sibling may seem small, but putting others first is foundational for kingdom life. 

            Parents, you are God's representative you your children.  What may seem small is actually birthing the life of the Kingdom in their lives. 

            I'm using parents as an example but that's true of all of us.  Kingdom life is lived-out in the small, daily, seemingly routine choices that consistently come our way.  Are we being faithful where we're at right now.  Small things are the training ground, where God discovers whether we can be trusted with more. 

            This week's kingdom challenge is to be faithful in the small things.  Be a good manager of the little responsibilities God has given you.  Because it's pretty likely that they aren't as small and insignificant as they may seem.