RPG Adults
THE MUSTARD SEED: ITS MEANING
SATURDAY, APRIL 11
Matthew 13:31-32
Memory verse: Matthew 13:31
“…The kingdom of heaven
is like to a grain of mustard seed…”
THE MUSTARD SEED: ITS MEANING
The Parable of the Mustard Seed is the first parable spoken by Christ without an explanation. He has taught us how to interpret parables through the explanation given in the Parable of the Sower and the Parable of the Wheat and Tares. Like the Parable of the Wheat and Tares, this parable is also about the Kingdom of Heaven. This parable reveals to us that the Kingdom of Heaven is found on earth. Even though the Kingdom of Heaven in heaven is indescribably large, it begins on earth like a tiny mustard seed. A man took this tiny mustard seed and planted it in his field. Compared to all the herbal seeds in the Israel of Jesus’ time, it was the smallest. When this mustard seed grew, it grew into a tree. Herbal plants grow to the height of bushes. But this mustard seed that Jesus used in this parable grew to look like a tree with a tree trunk, branches and foliage. This mustard tree became the lodging place for birds that came to eat the mustard seeds and find shelter.
The field is the world. The mustard seed is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The man who took the seed and sowed it is God the Father or the Lord Jesus Christ. The growth of the mustard seed into a tree is visible. It starts small when the Gospel is preached. One soul is saved. From that one soul who shares the Gospel with another and the next, the Gospel grows from a family who is saved to a city, a nation, and the rest of the world. The spread will be from small to large. This Parable of the Mustard Seed speaks of a future event from the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 to the present. The growth is guaranteed. It transcends nationality, language, and culture, and no sinner is too sinful to be saved by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The key is the Gospel seed. It must not be tainted or tampered with; otherwise, there will be no true growth. It is the growth of true Christianity, for the devil will fill God’s church with tares.
Church history confirms the truth of the Parable of the Mustard Seed. Every continent on earth has heard of Christ.
THOUGHT: The world today, with all her modernity, is due entirely to the spread and impact of the Gospel of Christ.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, grant me the discernment to see Thy Almighty hand in today’s events, for Christ’s sake.