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Sunday 22 December 2013

Luke 13:18-30 - The Kingdom

Jesus now uses one of His "what is the kingdom of God like" parables. A mustard seed was small, but grew into a large tree so that birds made their homes in it. Then he uses yeast as a good indicator. Often yeast is used in warning parables about the pervasive effect of hypocrisy, but not here. This should act as a warning about over interpreting parables. The kingdom of God can start off seemingly small, but then work its way through the whole batch of dough. The church did start off small, but has now spread throughout the world, and is continuing to do so. 
Jesus then continued his missionary journey. Someone asks about how many will be saved. Jesus turns the question round. What the questioner needs to be concerned about is whether or not he will be saved. Likewise today people often ask questions like "what about those who have not heard". Well, you have heard, so the key thing is first how do you respond. And if you respond positively to the gospel then you can go and tell those who have not yet heard. 
Jesus warns the man that just being associated with the kingdom is not enough. We need to make a decision. 
Notice how Jesus uses the analogy of a narrow door, then finishes by talking about people coming from all over the world. The debate about whether many or few will get saved is sterile, we need to respond, then we need to act. 

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