As followers of Jesus lets do all we can to be followers that make followers, teaching them to obey all Jesus commanded as we seek to obey him in our lives too.
The saying goes a picture paints 1000 words. It means that sometimes a picture can communicate something in a snapshot thousands of words take to describe
I’ve got some pictures on our screen this morning, hopefully when you see those pictures it conjures up what they mean what the thing is about. The road sign of a girl and a boy holding hands walking along, When we see that sign, what does that communicate?
The green cross often lit up, but not always, no matter what country we’re in. We know what we can get when we see that green cross. A pharmacy.
My third picture is the baptismal font similar to the one at the back of Church, and for us, as Christian, the baptismal font is a place of welcome, a place where we welcome people into the church family of God, and it’s a representative of what all that means
In the baptism that we’ve had this morning. There were two signs within the service, the sign of water and the sign of the cross. The water is a symbol. A picture of being washed clean, have been cleansed. The Christian faith talks about forgiveness, being made clean in the eyes of God. An image of the cross shows that it was Jesus, dying on the cross, coming back to live, defeating sin and death, and being raised to heaven to reign with God, who made it possible for us to have a right relationship with God once more.
The baptism has the signs and pictures that start us out on a journey of faith & signs us up to be followers of Jesus, following in Jesus’ steps. As Christians, we believe that Jesus is our king. He’s the king of Gods kingdom, and those that believe in God, and follow him are living under Jesus’ rule and reign.
When Jesus was on Earth, he taught his disciples, and the crowds gathered around him, about the reason he had come to earth, and about what he was gonna do about the kingdom that he was going to bring in. He often taught using parables, stories, and these parables often used pictures/imagery, to communicate truths about Gods kingdom. In Matthews gospel, Jesus often begins His parables with “the kingdom of heaven is like”, and over the summer we’ve been looking at several of them. We’ve had the kingdom of heaven is like the merchant, he goes looking for a Pearl and finds one of great value. We’ve looked at how the kingdom in heaven is like a net that caught many fish which were separated out once the net was on shore. There was the parable of the yeast that was hidden in the dough and worked its way throughout the whole batch, and we’ve had the parable of the soil where seed was sown and when it was on good soil produced lots and lots of grain. It multiplied.
Today’s parable is slightly different to all of those previous parables that we have looked at in Matthew chapter 13. Whereas the previous parables have said, “the kingdom of heaven is like”, today’s parable has the phrase “a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like”.
Jesus is moving from teaching about what the kingdom he’s bringing in will be like, a kingdom that will multiply and grow and spread, that is precious, and is above every ideology that exists, being planted by God, who looks over all that he has created and made. He’s moving from that to what a follower of the kingdom is to be like. There is no doubt in this parable that action is required. There is a sense that belief in Jesus, and who he is and what he’s come to do isn’t passive but needs a response.
The parable starts: the teacher of the law, who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven.
It’s likely Jesus is talking to his disciples at this point, and it makes me ask the question when he says teacher of law who does that include? There wasn’t to my knowledge, a teacher of law amongst his disciples. There were a fair few fisherman, we know there was a tax collector. if there was a teacher of the law, it was never mentioned. Jesus’ followers were ordinary men who had humble jobs and left them to follow Jesus. So if we read this parable and think, well it’s just talking about preachers like Paul, like Clare, Colin Bruce I think we’re wrong because this was first spoken to the disciples who were ordinary men. they hadn’t gone to theological College. They hadn’t learnt how to preach and put together a sermon. They were just walking alongside Jesus. We’ve seen that those walking alongside Jesus, seemingly ordinary, are used by God for his purposes.
Just before Jesus went up to heaven after he’d been raised from the dead He spoke with his disciples, and he said this to them all authority in heaven on Earth has been given to me, therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you and Surely I’m with you always to the very end of the age.
They might not have gone to theological College, but they’ve been given this command by Jesus to make disciples of others to baptise and teach them everything Jesus had commanded.
In this parable it starts, the teacher of the law has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven. Being a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is someone who is following Jesus, who is learning his teaching, obeying his commands and baptism is a sign of this. Jesus’ disciples were in this category. They were followers of Jesus, who were to make followers of Jesus, who were to make followers of Jesus all the way down to us here today.
So this parable talks of a teacher of the law who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven, and it says that this person is like the owner of the house who takes from the store houses, both new and old treasures. So what does that mean first for the disciples, and then for us as disciples of the disciples of the disciples?
I think it saying that those who become a follower of Jesus, are like the owner of a house, owning a house is a great responsibility and Jesus is saying that Jesus disciples were to be given responsibility for Gods kingdom as he commands later on in Matthew 28. As we read through the rest of the new Testament, we see the account of the disciples going out and sharing the good news of who Jesus is for the whole world. if you haven’t read the book of acts, it’s a great account and we have letters written by Church leaders to churches to give encouragement and instruction to remind them of who Jesus is to interpret for them what is come before and help them move through what they’re currently going through into a future they will see Gods kingdom come into completion when he comes again to bring about a new heaven and a new earth.
And the parable says that a follower of Jesus is like this homeowner who takes from the store house both new and old treasures.
Storehouses weren’t necessary just for treasures in terms of monetary value pearls, gems etc. There were storehouses for food, maybe store houses for furniture, treasured possessions, even store houses for important paperwork.
I think this idea of a teacher of the law who is a disciple of the kingdom of heaven being like a homeowner who takes from the store houses both old and new treasure is given to emphasise to Jesus’ disciples the importance of the Jewish roots that Jesus and they themselves had. The kingdom of heaven for Jew and Gentile is a continuation of the story of God and his people, his chosen people who are the Jews. And the New Testament shows that Jesus is the fulfilment of the promises and it’s continuation.
The gospel of Matthew that we’re looking at today, the letters, the majority which Paul did write one being to the church in Rome, for example, were written with the backdrop of the old Testament of the story of Gods people
And as we read the new Testament, which was written after Jesus, we see so much use of the old Testament and interpretation of the old testament prophecies, pointing to Jesus, being the fulfilment of God’s promises. Because of Jesus, Gods story was continuing for both Jew and Gentile, and the disciples were to take what had been told, and handed down through Jewish history, and in light of who Jesus is, and what he done, and teach all the truth of that.
The teacher of the law who becomes a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a store house who takes out both new and old treasures. This was the instruction. The picture given to Jesus’ disciples, they were to teach about Gods kingdom that Jesus has brought in to happening. Looking back at the old Testament and interpreting it in light of who Jesus is and what he came to achieve.
What does that mean for us? This morning as we’ve baptised Halle and welcomed her into the family of God, we’ve welcomed her to be a lifelong learner about Jesus. The same is true for all of us who see ourselves as followers of Jesus.
Yes, we may not have gone to theological College, but this parable gives a sense that today all of us are house owners to some extent in Gods kingdom, where we do hold responsibility, as a house owner in the families that we are part of, our friendship groups, work, school, volunteer roles.
We said at the beginning that a picture paints 1000 words. The picture of the parable today was the Storehouse in the idea that disciple of the kingdom of heaven, someone he takes both new and the old out of the store houses. That precious thing is being used.
As for us, as followers of Jesus what do we keep in our storehouses – can we access the treasure within. What do we really know about our faith, our God? Is it from what we read on social media, what others tell us, or have we studied it for ourselves. I’ve said it before – but don’t just trust what we’re being told up here. Investigate for yourselves.
A lot of people have said to me that they do struggle with the old Testament and it can seem to read very differently to the new Testament, but it’s actually part of God speak story and there is so much of the old Testament quoted in the new so much interpreted in the new Testament in light of who Jesus is and what he’s done for the world.
Matthews Gospel alone , quotes over 60 times from passages of the old Testament, showing how Jesus fulfils the old Testament writings. In Paul’s letter to the Roman church, he quotes the old Testament, 69 times – showing Gods kingdom is for Jew and Gentile.
I think a lot of us can be put off reading the old Testament. It can seem outdated, lots of bloodshed, lists of names and family trees that we get confused by and lost in, but it’s exciting part of God’s word and it gives this big picture of the state of humanity, if left to his own devices and how God wants to restore that brokenness to bring bloodshed to an end to rule the kingdom of love and peace. We are lucky that we are in a day and age where lots of scholars have wrestled with these passages over centuries and there are things for commentaries which are peoples thoughts on Bible passages. If you’ve never picked up a commentary do try sometime, it might help particularly in assessment passages to just give another insight. Some bibles actually show us when the autism has been created and say if you are reading the new Testament have a look at when these crates are being made and maybe look back at what is being created read around and see what the context is in.
As followers of Jesus lets do all we can to be followers that make followers, teaching them to obey all Jesus commanded as we seek to obey him in our lives too.
St. Luke's Church Ramsgate 