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We're back in Luke chapter 13 this morning, and I want us to jump right in at verse 10
of Luke 13, where King Jesus begins a show and tell, as it were, about His kingdom.
He wants us to see some really awesome, challenging, hopeful things about His kingdom.
And I'll give you some review and context as we go.
So verse 10, we're going to read the passage in pieces along the way this morning.
First, Jesus shows.
This is the kingdom on display.
Now, He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath, and there was a woman who had
had a disabling spirit for 18 years.
She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself.
And when Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, woman, you are freed from
your disability.
And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God.
Here's Luke again calling us to Jesus, right?
Calling our attention to focus on Him.
He wants us to take in for just a minute the marvel of who Jesus is.
Jesus is the one bringing God's kingdom to us in powerful ways.
So here He is.
He's in church one morning, and He's teaching.
So He's the center of attention.
All eyes are on Him, but His eyes are on a woman no one else seems to notice.
He calls her up.
He brings the overlooked woman up front with Him, and what happens?
He heals her right there in front of everybody.
He sets her free from a disability that she's had 18 years as a result of Satan's oppression.
Now, it's not casting a demon out.
This is not demonic possession.
But Jesus makes it clear later that this is a quick and clear and powerful victory over
Satan in the sight of everybody.
Here Jesus is in what will actually be the final synagogue appearance that He makes in
the Gospel of Luke.
And as He's there, He recalls what He said in His first time in the synagogue in Luke 4,
that He comes to set captives free.
This is what He's doing, right?
This woman is freed, freed from her oppression.
And as we've seen Jesus do over and over, He doesn't merely set her free, but He restores
her in community.
He brings her up, welcomes the outsider in, into His kingdom community.
He touches her.
He brings her visibly into a place of prominence to everybody's attention, right in front of
those who'd stopped noticing her after 18 years.
Jesus is showing us His kingdom and what it looks like.
And it's so important for us to see this morning that it's King Jesus' power over Satan and
the kingdom of evil that is what we are celebrating whenever the kingdom advances, right?
He is the source of that growth, that victory, whenever it happens.
But notice also that this powerful healing happens when?
Amen.
On the Sabbath day.
Last week as we arrived at this passage, Ron so helpfully reminded us of a biblical perspective
on the Sabbath as a gift to us.
God's gift to us that among other things we would celebrate God's redemption so that our
hearts, our minds, our bodies could truly rest in Jesus and in our Father's good care for us.
So here particularly, Jesus is highlighting the value of kingdom activity on the Sabbath.
When you engage in kingdom advancing activity with a heart for the King, you celebrate the
Sabbath and the Lord of the Sabbath, the King Himself.
See, the Sabbath, we sometimes get confused.
It's not so much for focusing on all the things you must avoid doing, but rather here for focusing
on all the things you can enjoy doing to celebrate the King.
Of course, public worship must be a big part of that, but there are so many other things that
demonstrate and remind us of our trust in the power of King Jesus, that it's about Him and not
about a dependence on ourselves, like freeing someone from bondage, praying for those who
are hurting, visiting those who are lonely, caring for those who are needy.
You could go on and on.
Have you thought intentionally about your Sundays in that light, not just the things I can't do?
What are the ways I can enjoy celebrating rest and trust in Jesus?
What could a day that points you to deep rest in Jesus because you are sharing His power
and joy in His kingdom with others, what could that look like?
Talk about that with your family or with your small group.
Those are really fun, rich conversations.
But back to this story, here's this miraculously healed woman now standing straight up front with
Jesus.
And after 18 years, it seems just obvious that kingdom celebration is going to erupt now, right?
This is the time.
We're all going to rejoice in what's happened.
But our hearts are so bent towards ourselves, we often miss the kingdom when it's right in front
of us.
That's why I said even kingdom advancing activity with a heart for the king.
Because our hearts are what's really at issue on the Sabbath and all the time.
And even when we're doing kingdom advancing things, good things, we can get our hearts focused on
ourselves and so miss the kingdom.
It's exactly what happens in this story.
Verse 14.
But the ruler of the synagogue, the guy who was in charge of the service, indignant because
Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, there are six days in which work ought
to be done.
Come on those days and be healed and not on the Sabbath day.
Then the Lord answered him, you hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox
or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it?
And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for 18 years, be loosed from
this bond on the Sabbath day?
As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame and all the people rejoiced
at all the glorious things that were done by him.
Some of them realize here is a Sabbath opportunity to celebrate God's redemptive work if ever there
was one right here delivered to us at our worship service this morning.
But the pastor misses it.
It's a reminder that I need your help.
A member of his flock healed, set free after 18 years of bondage.
And what does he do?
He rebukes her rather than rejoicing with her.
Come get healed on another day.
The Messiah King himself is in his synagogue and he's hung up on himself.
Stop for a second and ask ourselves, could we be like him?
I mean the vision of Southwood is to advance the kingdom of God.
It's all about him and his kingdom.
That's what we want to see happen, what we want to be a part of.
I bet that was the desire of the synagogue ruler too.
He might have liked that vision to see the kingdom of God advance.
And yet the kingdom advances right under his nose in great power and he misses it.
Why?
How do we miss the kingdom?
Well, one way is by clinging to self-promoting religiosity.
Ron mentioned this last week as a consistent issue that the religious leaders had with the Sabbath.
This ruler is obsessing over extra-biblical restrictions.
Things that you couldn't do on the Sabbath.
Not God's law as Jesus will point out.
He's doing it in an effort to keep himself important and at the center of attention.
Self-promoting religiosity.
He's missing out on the celebration, the joy of the kingdom because he's too focused on himself.
Can I imagine God seems to be really working in a church across town and great things are happening,
but their theology is worse than mine.
So I'll just focus on that and critique rather than celebrate.
Not that I've ever done anything like that.
Not that your heart would ever be so focused on yourself that you wouldn't be able to rejoice with God working in another place.
Listen, if our Sabbath keeping, if our theology of baptism,
if our godly parenting is resulting in us feeling better than others,
then it's causing us to miss the kingdom and the king.
If we think we're better than other people because of something we know,
something we've done, something we believe,
then we're actually missing the kingdom and the king like the synagogue ruler.
But notice as Jesus responds to him that others in the room have followed their leader and missed the kingdom.
You hypocrites, Jesus says, and he continues to address them in the plural.
It's not just the one guy.
There's a lot of people who are nodding their heads with him, right?
They're supporting the blind leader rather than rejoicing with their healed sister.
We miss the kingdom when we overlook the seemingly insignificant.
Only the important people can advance God's kingdom, we think.
Only the wealthy, only the public speakers, only those with position and influence.
It's this complex we can get after the national championship game when Tua stands in front of a microphone and says,
I want to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
And we think, yes!
There goes the kingdom advancing.
That's good, but stop and think what we could be doing.
Now if I'm a young person, now to be a significant part of God's kingdom advancing,
to be something people are really excited about and really see the kingdom moving forward,
not only do I have to love Jesus deeply and share him passionately with others, that's not enough.
Now I have to be a quarterback who wins a national championship and does it on TV.
No!
That's not what it takes.
That's not required.
We miss the kingdom advancing through the seemingly insignificant.
And Jesus is going to bring us back to this.
But one last way we can miss the kingdom that I see here,
and that's by assuming that some brokenness is beyond help.
Why had all these people not been noticing the woman that Jesus noticed?
I don't know for sure, but perhaps after 18 years they gave up hope that she could be healed.
They'd just gotten used to the brokenness around them every day.
It's easy to do, isn't it?
Well, the kingdom of God is not working here, I guess.
You ever thought that?
Jesus says she's a daughter of Abraham,
which may be an indication of how he comes to set all of Israel free from their bondage and their hopelessness.
Do you give up on some people in your life?
Do you get discouraged about the kingdom of God as a whole when you look around at our culture?
No one, no one is beyond the reach of Jesus,
of the king and his transformative power.
God's kingdom is still advancing.
Sometimes it's easy to believe the narrative that the next generation of Americans are leaving the faith,
caught up in secular intellectualism on college campuses.
And then you realize how many UAH rocket scientists are sitting just in this section of this sanctuary almost every Sunday.
We're so glad y'all are here.
Then I talked to my sister at Washington University in St. Louis where she works on campus
with some of the brightest students from around the world
and says they're coming to know Jesus and worship him in larger numbers than they've ever had before
and getting connected to the church there.
Chase Dawes represents this congregation on the campus of UC Berkeley in California.
And he reports that the kingdom of God is advancing even there, even in California.
Among those students that we'd rather make fun of when we see them on the news and say that's what they're all like.
No, the kingdom is advancing.
But we know that true biblical Christianity also struggles in our country in many ways.
Sometimes we lose hope.
We lose hope because we forget what we get to see next weekend.
Y'all, please don't miss next weekend.
It's going to be so exciting.
Don't forget what God is doing around the world.
In the global south, in Peru and India and other places, the church of Jesus Christ is exploding.
We're going to hear about that from people who are over there.
Don't miss that.
See, this is what Jesus wants to make sure that we don't miss.
We're about seeing his kingdom advance.
It's what we want all of our lives to be about.
And so he wants us to know what it looks like so that we don't miss it.
He wants us to join in the celebration, the joy of the kingdom, not miss what's going on.
He wants that for his disciples and the people at church on this morning where he heals this woman and rebukes the synagogue rulers.
So having shown them the kingdom but knowing they're still confused, he now tells them about it.
He tells two short parables to help explain what's going on in his kingdom.
He's explaining it to them.
He's explaining it to us.
Verse 18.
I don't know for sure if the woman's still standing there but it seems like maybe she is.
There's a therefore connecting these parables.
It sounds like Jesus is continuing his teaching there up front.
He said, therefore, what is the kingdom of God like?
And to what shall I compare it?
It's like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden and it grew and became a tree and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.
And again he said, to what shall I compare the kingdom of God?
It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until it was all leavened.
Jesus stopped his sermon to heal the woman but I don't think he was through teaching.
He says, let me help you all out.
I want you to understand what's going on here right in front of you.
Let me tell you about my kingdom.
It's so important that I don't want you to miss this.
Both these parables contrast small, humble beginnings with big, glorious growth.
That's what they're teaching us.
First, that the kingdom will grow.
That the power of Jesus that claims victory over Satan will transform people and places.
It can't be stopped.
The kingdom, like the tiny mustard seed, grows into a full tree.
Probably a tree about 10 to 12 feet tall.
But it's not just about the size of the tree, is it?
But also its impact.
The birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.
It's an Old Testament image of the nations benefiting from the flourishing of God's kingdom.
And coming in to find refuge and rest in that kingdom.
Remember, Luke is telling us of good news, of great joy for all people.
When this kingdom comes, it's going to bless the nations.
They're going to be gathered in and find that joy and rest.
And similarly, the little bit of yeast works its way through dough and transforms mere dough into bread.
The transformative power of Jesus produces growth and change where agents of his kingdom,
little beacons of kingdom light and hope, infiltrate society.
And families, neighborhoods, workplaces, cities begin to look different and feel different.
And they're never the same because the power of the king is incredible and unstoppable.
And it shows up and works.
And then notice especially what Jesus doesn't want us to miss about his kingdom.
Yes, it will grow.
And you can be hopeful and encouraged because of that.
But don't miss that this amazingly transformative power,
this unstoppable kingdom advance,
often comes through the apparently insignificant or overlooked.
When people in Jesus' day heard mustard seed,
they thought small.
And from the amount of mustard seed and yeast that I could hold between my fingers,
Jesus says comes a big tree and bread to feed,
a hundred more loaves of bread.
It's what's described in this parable.
The kingdom you should be on the lookout for will not usually look impressive.
You may be tempted to overlook it.
The numbers may not be initially impressive when you hear about it.
It may come through people and in places that appear insignificant.
But Jesus says my power shows up and makes the insignificant eternally significant.
The king shows up and brings the neglected into the spotlight.
Jesus brings his kingdom power to bear
and your mundane and normal becomes supernatural.
Where do things feel small in your life?
Where have you lost the joy of kingdom celebration?
Where have you concluded what you're doing or who you are is insignificant?
Jesus wants to give you kingdom eyes to see,
to believe his power is working in big, significant ways.
Because remember, it's about his power.
That's the one at work when the kingdom advances.
Maybe for you it's as you talk month after month
with one single mom from Jobs for Life
and you struggle to see the generations who will be impacted by the gospel
through your small, inconsistent presence in her life.
Because the king's power is great.
Maybe it's when you lead in a church or ministry
that's smaller than what you're used to.
In a smaller city than you're used to.
And you think, am I really making a difference
if the numbers are small,
if there aren't as many people in the room?
And God's power is big
and multiplies those for his kingdom.
Maybe it's when you used to work
in an important position for a big company
and you felt like you had a purpose
and now you're just stuck at home.
You're nap trapped a lot of days.
Sometimes you smell like diapers.
And God's power says,
watch me do big things
through small faithfulness.
Maybe it's a season of life
where you can't get out and about much anymore
and all you can do is pray.
Maybe it's a morning with you and two kids
in the nursery room.
Maybe it's a job every day,
day after day,
with no funding and no deep purpose
and no sense that this project
is ever gonna be used for anything.
And Jesus is showing up this morning
to tap you on the shoulder
and whisper,
mustard seed.
Leaven.
Trust me.
Trust my power.
When I show up with people
others have overlooked
or deemed insignificant,
do you see how big things happen?
Will you trust me
that as you bring me with you
where I've placed you every day,
I can handle how important you are
and the things you do are?
I've got that.
One person at a time.
One day at a time.
Francis Schaeffer said,
there are no little people
or little places.
That's how the kingdom advances.
One person,
one day at a time
and it's because
the king's power
is so great.
He's the one who heals.
That's why in undeveloped
Peruvian mountain regions
and remote Indian villages
without electricity,
the king's power explodes
and people are never the same.
That's why as we seek
to advance God's kingdom,
we expect to find ourselves
in the midst of the least
and the lost,
the littlest,
the lonely
and the left out
because that's where
King Jesus shows up powerfully.
That's who's standing with him
at the front of the church.
That's how he works.
That's where his kingdom power
comes to bear.
He's always been like this
in building his kingdom,
hasn't he?
I love how British pastor
J.C. Ryle says it.
He writes this,
Christianity is a religion
which at first seems
so feeble and helpless
and powerless
that it could not live.
Its first founder
was one who was poor
in this world
and he ended his life
by dying the death
of a malefactor
on the cross.
Its first adherents
were a little company
whose number probably
did not exceed a thousand
when the Lord Jesus
left this world.
Its first preachers
were a few fishermen
and publicans
who were most of them
unlearned and ignorant men.
Its first starting point
was a despised corner
of the earth called Judea,
a petty tributary province
of the vast empire of Rome.
Its first doctrine
was imminently calculated
to call forth
the enmity
of the natural heart.
Christ crucified
was to the Jews
a stumbling block
and to the Greeks
foolishness.
Its first movement
brought down
on its friends
persecution
from all quarters.
Pharisees
and Sadducees
and Jews
and Gentiles,
ignorant idolaters
and self-conceited philosophers
all agreed
in hating
and opposing Christianity.
It was a sect
everywhere spoken against.
These are no empty assertions.
They're simple historical facts
which no one can deny.
If ever
there was a religion
that was a little grain
of seed
at its beginning,
that religion
was the gospel.
But the progress
of the gospel
is great
and steady
and continuous.
Great
gospel progress
from a little grain
of a seed.
That's the story
of Jesus, right?
Bear with me
just a couple minutes
while I take that story
back even further.
The beauty of this
and the way that
God has always been
building his kingdom,
I'm not going to mention
every place in the story
where the insignificant
becomes significant
but consider these
and be encouraged
by some of these chapters
in the story.
I think you're going to
hear yourself
in some of these.
God starts building
his kingdom,
his people
in many ways
with Abraham.
An old man
passed his prime
in a rocky marriage.
There's a young woman
named Leah
in a chapter
shortly after that
who is rejected
by everyone.
She's neglected
by her husband
after he's tricked
into marrying her
because he wouldn't
have otherwise.
And yet,
God chose her.
God chooses her
to be in the line
of the Messiah King,
to be blessed by him
when she was cursed
by everyone else.
You may think of David
as a mighty king
but he was a young,
scrawny,
shepherd boy
that even Samuel,
when he comes,
never thought God
would have his eye on
to be the king.
But God gets David's heart
and the kingdom
moves forward in power.
There's an unnamed
Jewish servant girl,
captured,
mistreated,
torn from her family
by an invading army
and she becomes a servant
to a Syrian general.
Easy for her to decide,
forget it with this God.
Who is he?
Why would I trust him?
But instead of turning
from God,
she brings the hope
and healing of Yahweh
to the nations
by telling this Syrian general
named Naaman
where he can find a cure
for his leprosy
from Yahweh.
And of course,
you know the young
single girl
from Nazareth,
nowhere town,
who became pregnant,
nearly found herself
put aside
by even the man
who loved her,
who simply says
she will trust God
and becomes the mother
of the Son of God.
And it's ultimately
that child, isn't it?
Who himself is born
in a stable
in middle of nowhere,
Bethlehem,
and grows up
as a son of a carpenter?
It's that child
through whom God does
the most significant thing
that has ever happened
in the history of the world.
It's through him.
God does that most significant thing
through someone
no one else would have seen
as significant.
Ryle is right.
He was rejected by the world,
hung on a cross to die,
and in that moment,
at his lowest seeming point
of insignificance,
he actually conquers
and brings the power
of his kingdom
to its fullness.
In that very moment,
it's that king,
it's that Jesus
who wants us to slow down
this morning
and come back
to a woman
bent over
for 18 years,
looked over
by everyone else,
and realized
she's a daughter
of Abraham.
She's yet another character
in that great story
that God started
in many ways
with insignificant
nobody,
Abraham.
She's insignificant
to many,
but a perfect place
for the power
of Jesus
to transform
and demonstrate
his kingdom.
you're like her.
Do you know
what it feels like
to be invisible
to everyone else,
but noticed
and adored
by Jesus?
Do you see
how his power
over sin
and death
and Satan
brings hope
into every hopeless situation
that it's so great
you could never give up
that the kingdom
might show up there?
can you believe
that this powerful king
goes with you
into every moment
of every day
and every situation
to transform
your mundane place,
to make it
eternally significant
because of his power,
for the sake
of his kingdom,
even when you can't see it?
Can you believe
he goes with you
like that?
This is our king.
Let's pray.
King Jesus,
we worship you.
We thank you
that you would
love
and dwell in
and work through
even very
ordinary
insignificant
people like us
who a lot of times
fail,
who sometimes
even miss
what you're doing
in our lives,
that you keep
forgiving,
you keep
bearing with us
and you keep
bringing your power
in great ways.
Jesus,
give us hope
that we might
live for your kingdom
because we love you
and because we trust
your power
to be at work.
Show up in ways
that we don't expect,
even this week,
and help us
to trust you
and see you
as great.
We ask it
in your name.
Amen.
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