The Secrets of the Kingdom

“The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.” Matthew 13:11

“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.” 1 Corinthians 4:20

“For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Colossians 1:13

If there was anything that Jesus preached more than any other topic in the gospels, it was the message of God’s coming Kingdom! Genesis 12:1-3 prophesied that a coming King (Jesus) would come and bless the nations through His kingdom. Isaiah and Daniel depict it as a mountain that fills the whole earth for all nations. In Matthew 4:17, Jesus warns people to repent and get ready for the kingdom of God. All of the parables give us insights into this coming kingdom, how to get into it, how to stay in it, the nature of it, and much more. Even after Jesus’ resurrection the Holy Spirit records in Acts 1:3, “He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.” The message of the kingdom was of crucial importance to Jesus. Acts 2 records the coming God’s kingdom in a powerful way, as the Holy Spirit sparks the first century movement of God. The kingdom of God on earth is the church Jesus built and began on that day of Pentecost in 33 A.D. (Matthew 16:17-19). From here, 3000 are baptized and the rapid movement continues to grow until we read in Colossians 1:23b, “This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.”

The church’s mission was clear (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:4-5), and when lived out becomes that mountain that fills the earth; kingdom of God. Jesus tells us to pray in Matthew 6:10, “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus knew that God’s kingdom was to be here on earth, yet men in their sin can pervert the gospel and cease to be a part of God’s kingdom on earth thus ceasing to be the movement of God and a true church. Let us, continue to pray for the kingdom to come all over Orlando, and to the ends of the earth. This past 10 weeks alone we have seen 7 place membership, 3 restored and 19 baptized into Christ! In Matthew 13:11, Jesus lends us secrets that disciples need to understand to forcefully advance His kingdom. (It should be noted here, that Matthew uses the term “kingdom of heaven” instead of “kingdom of God” since it is written to a Jewish audience to not use God’s name out of reverence, though both terms can be used interchangeably.)

Read: Matthew 13:11-15. Secrets in the time period of Jesus were for the elite class only, and it was a huge deal to be let in on a secret. Gnosticism was a false teaching of the time that was very popular. It taught that those who were really spiritual and high up in rank had a secret knowledge in regards to life and spirituality. Jesus takes a play off this idea showing us that disciples are the elite, chosen, people of God, let in on the secrets of the kingdom revealed in these parables. Verses 12-13, show that those who accept Jesus as king will have more, meaning the Jews who already had the law will now even have more since they understand the mystery the law points too. Those who reject Jesus will not understand the kingdom, and in fact even what they do understand (the law) becomes meaningless now, or in a sense is taken away. It becomes a man-made religion now. Their hearts are hard and ears are dull. Let’s look at the secrets of the kingdom:

Wherever, Whenever, Everywhere (Matthew 13:1-9)

A lot of times we read this parable and focus on the different hearts, but forget to look at the main character of the parable: the farmer who is sowing the seed. The seed is the word of God. What farmer in their right mind just throws seed all over these different type of terrains? Understanding farming in the first century time period gives us insight to Jesus’ “secret”. Most farmers did not have walls but hard paths of compressed dirt from people walking on it that served as boundaries for their land. Next to these paths many farmers piled rocks that were gathered out of the soil and put alongside the path (in some cases these rocks would look like a fence). Thorns and weeds would grow alongside these rocks walls as well but the farmer would make sure the soil within these boundaries was good. When scattering seed it isn’t hard to imagine some would fall “by the wayside” (Mark 4:4 KJV), outside the boundary. The rest would hit the rocky places causing quick growth with no deep roots. The point is the farmer wasn’t meticulous about putting the seed exactly in the good soil, he just threw it everywhere! This is the secret Jesus shows us to growing the kingdom, preaching the word wherever (don’t try to figure out if they look open or not!), whenever (there is no “convenient time” to share, share always!), and everywhere (at work, school, shopping, etc.). Everywhere, anywhere, and all the time he is sharing his faith. Mark 16:16-20 & Acts 8:4 shows the first century disciples imitated this farmer preaching the word everywhere they went, and God added to their number. Do you only share with people you are comfortable with or with everyone? Do you only share in certain places or is it a lifestyle of evangelism? The first secret is imitating Jesus, the farmer who throws the seed everywhere!

Open & Closed Hearts: Reading Men and Women (Matthew 13:18-23)

Jesus now breaks down the parable showing us that all men and women fall in one of four places. Three of the four soils become disciples while the seed on the path is outside the wall (outside the kingdom) and the birds of the air (Satan) snatch away the word since their heart is hard preventing them from ever becoming disciples of Jesus. The seed along the rocky places has no root and is in a dangerous place since as discussed above, they are at the edge of the kingdom right by the path, a dangerous place to be! This disciple is not rooted in the word and allows emotions, persecutions, and trouble to take him out. The seed among the thorns allows the worries of life, and the deceitfulness of wealth to choke it out. They as well are still at the outer edge of the kingdom. The process of falling away is more deceitful since choking takes some time. The good soil understands the seed/message and multiplies by producing fruit. Which heart do you lean more towards? A secret of the kingdom is reading the hearts of men and women. Do you know where the people you study with and the disciples in your ministry fall so as to help them? If disciples aren’t being fruitful, it may be wealth, worries or persecution that is taking them out. Understanding this secret will help us water each other’s hearts with the word of God to produce good soil and multiply. It is simply identifying the rocks and thorns and removing them to the wayside so our disciples will be fruitful!

Ready, Alert, and Awake! (Matthew 13:24-30; 36-43)

Many get confused when reading this parable and even shocked that there can be bad seed in God’s kingdom, the church. Yet, we know from the word of God that Jesus calls all people to be sold out with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength as we build a church of only disciples (John 13:34-35; Acts 2:42). So how could this happen, that weeds planted by the devil grow up in the church? The key is in verse 25, “But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.” As disciples, we must be ready, alert, and awake so the enemy doesn’t enter our fellowship to weaken the church. We are to keep preaching the standard and calling others to repent and allow God to deal with the weeds. Just because you attend the church doesn’t mean you are right with God. It is easy to get comfortable being part of the movement of God, yet we can’t forget although the church is the plan of God, He judges individuals, not churches. What about the bad seed then; who are these “disciples”? John 8:31-32 is interesting because the audience is the Jews who had believed in him … meaning Jews that believed intellectually in Jesus. They weren’t disciples because they didn’t hold on to His word. Yet in verses 42-47, Jesus talking to the same audience says they don’t really believe in Him although above it says to the Jews who believe! Is there a contradiction? Of course not, the issue is they only believed some parts about Jesus, but refused to accept all of His teachings, thus were sons of the devil (v.44) and not real believers. As a church, let’s pay heed to the secret Jesus lends us to stay awake, so that we never allow the standard to be lowered causing weeds, instead let’s build a church glorifying to God. Are you ready, alert, and awake?

Know Fine Pearls (Matthew 13:44-46)

There are two types of people in the kingdom: those who stumble upon it and find it, and those who seek for it and find it. Interestingly in both cases, the man and the merchant sold all they had in order to have the treasure that is the kingdom. The kingdom is such a special place. How much do you love God’s church? Will you give up everything to be a part of it? Some interpret the merchant as Jesus seeking fine pearls and when He finds a soul, he was willing to give up his life to save it. Both interpretations have the same secret; Jesus is looking for fine pearls! Are you looking for treasure and fine pearls? Jesus built his Kingdom from hard-working fishermen and tax collectors. These were men of character. Even Paul was an educated man, well-versed in the law. Many of the conversions in Acts were of people of influence that propelled the movement of God. Jesus showed no favoritism and a soul is a soul, yet he knew a secret to building the kingdom is searching for fine pearls and being grateful for your salvation. Challenge yourself to share with someone of influence this week. Get to know people of impact, who will in turn impact God’s kingdom.

Many more secrets of the kingdom are revealed through His parables, which were intended only for disciples to understand. Ultimately if you take the first letter of all four secrets, you get the ultimate secret: WORK. It takes hard work to move God’s church. Jesus calls us workers in Matthew 9:37. Will you decide this week to work hard to scatter the seed of God’s word, reading hearts, being alert against the devil, while searching for fine pearls? Now you know the secret.

To God be all the glory,

Campus Minister- Mike Patterson