The Kingdom of Heaven is like...

• 32^nd Sunday of Ordinary Time

on Matthew 13:31-33, 44-53

in which Jesus speaks six short parables 

about the Kingdom of Heaven

www.FirstChurchBville@gmail.com  @FirstUMCBville  @kerrfunk

• How would YOU describe the Kingdom of Heaven? (KOH)
“The kingdom of heaven is like...”

(by the way, in Matthew, KOH and Kingdom of God are the same.
Matthew uses the word “heaven” out of respect for the name of God)

• My wife bought a new car 5 years ago.

Some time in the first week... I scratched it.

KOH is like a new car with a scratch.

Not about the package but utility. Relationship.

• KOH is like a teen driving the car Mom & Dad bought for him,

and getting into a fenderbender on the first day.

When he reached for the insurance information in the glovebox,

he found a note from his parents saying We love you.

This is KOH. Recognizing relative value.

• KOH statements seek to describe something about God,
something about shalom.

God is not neat. God is messy.

When we try to neatly define God, we fail. Because God is alive.

• Yeast. Small contaminant (no yeast for passover!)

Mustard. Small contaminant. A weed, plus a little goes a long way.

Yet Jesus offers these as parallels to KOH.

God has a kind of preference for underdog.
Hates arrogance. Loves lifting up.
These parables lift up the low.

• Hidden treasure.
God's people ordering their lives after God. God = #1.

Precious pearl.
God's people ordering their lives after God. God = #1.

• KOH is what it looks like when God's people take action.
When disciples are being disciples, living Christ-like
generously, selflessly, with genuine concern for others,
especially the least of these.

The catch of fish, separation of good and bad:

There is good and bad in the world,

and God desires followers who take action.

• KOH is Operation Christmas Child gift that inspires a world leader.

It is the fruit of Thy kingdom come, 

thy will be done on earth as in heaven...

• KOH is son of God living a humble life of lifting others up while bringing arrogance down and getting killed for it. 

KOH is people patterning life after him.

• Hymn 163 Ask Ye What Great Thing I Know

Matthew 13:31-33, 44-53 CEB Nov. 9 / 32^nd Sunday of Ordinary Time

31 He told another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and planted in his field. 32  It’s the smallest of all seeds. But when it’s grown, it’s the largest of all vegetable plants. It becomes a tree so that the birds in the sky come and nest in its branches.”

33 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast, which a woman took and hid in a bushel of wheat flour until the yeast had worked its way through all the dough.”

44 “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure that somebody hid in a field, which someone else found and covered up. Full of joy, the finder sold everything and bought that field.

45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls. 46 When he found one very precious pearl, he went and sold all that he owned and bought it.

47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that people threw into the lake and gathered all kinds of fish. 48 When it was full, they pulled it to the shore, where they sat down and put the good fish together into containers. But the bad fish they threw away.49 That’s the way it will be at the end of the present age. The angels will go out and separate the evil people from the righteous people, 50 and will throw the evil ones into a burning furnace. People there will be weeping and grinding their teeth.

51 “Have you understood all these things?” Jesus asked.

They said to him, “Yes.”

52 Then he said to them, “Therefore, every legal expert who has been trained as a disciple for the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings old and new things out of their treasure chest.”

53 When Jesus finished these parables, he departed.