Woman Working Leaven into a Bowl of DoughBible World
13:20Luke 13:20
And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God?
Christ asks what can picture God's kingdom because no earthly government or human society gives a fitting likeness, since His kingdom uses no force but works by grace, love and compassion. He answers with leaven hidden in meal that works through the whole mass until all is leavened, following the mustard seed as a picture of a spreading work to be continued in His example of teaching and helping. Here leaven does not mean sin as at Passover or the leaven of the Pharisees, but the opposite power of holiness, the quickening grace of God received into the heart to implant new life and restore His image. That truth works from within outward, secretly, silently and steadily renewing desires, thoughts, motives and character until the whole life is transformed, which no mere correction of habits or power of will, culture or education can do. Once hidden in one truly converted soul, the same power spreads outward by itself, leavening other persons, communities and new fields as the gospel is carried beyond one center with the Holy Spirit.
Question's Setting and Sense
The question was asked by the sea before a great throng of all classes of society, poor and rich, low and high. It answered the unspoken question of educated and influential onlookers who wondered whether the kingdom of God could be made of such lowly material as gathered around Him. That material was the poor, the illiterate, beggars, criminals, the maimed, and the dissipated.
It was asked because no earthly government or human society provided a fitting likeness for the kingdom of God. The kingdom does not resemble the kingdoms of the world, for it has no coercion or force. Its gospel is a power in itself, grounded in God's unchanging principle and expressed in grace, love, and compassion that break down barriers.
The question follows the image of a mustard seed growing into a tree and introduces the comparison of the kingdom to leaven working through meal until all is leavened. That spreading work is to be continued after Christ's example of teaching and helping people, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit is needed for that work. The question also introduces lessons from seed-sowing about growth in a cultivated hillside field where a laborer works among long rows of furrows and planted crops. In this use leaven does not mean sin as at Passover or as in the leaven of the Pharisees and of malice and wickedness, but the opposite power of holiness.
Heart's Inner Transformation
The leaven is the kingdom as the quickening, assimilating power of God's grace working from without to transform the heart. It is grace received by the sinner to fit him for the kingdom of glory, implanting a new principle of life by the Holy Spirit and restoring the lost image of God in humanity. No one is so vile or has fallen so low as to be beyond this power, yet all, high or low, rich or poor, must submit to its working. No one can transform himself by will, culture, or education, for the renewing change can come only from God.
The kingdom enters as truth received into the heart and works from within outward by renewing the heart through grace to transform the life. No mere external change brings harmony with God, so trying to become Christian by merely correcting this or that bad habit begins in the wrong place, because the first work is with the heart. Like leaven hidden in flour working invisibly to bring the whole mass under its process, the leaven of truth works secretly, silently, steadily and progressively in honest hearts to bring a radical change throughout nature and life. The person may look the same outwardly while inwardly renewed by heavenly principles.
Within, it regulates desires, purifies thoughts, and sweetens the disposition. It softens and subdues natural inclinations and feelings, consecrates the affections, and elevates the mind. It implants new thoughts, new feelings, and new motives, and sets up a new standard of character, the life of Christ. It quickens the faculties of the mind and the energies of the soul, and enlarges the capacity for feeling and for loving. It changes the mind and rouses the faculties to action in new lines, not by endowing new faculties but by sanctifying those already possessed, awakening the conscience and giving traits of character that enable service for God.
Where truly hidden, the truth does its work by transforming power that reforms words, spirit, and character. It subdues love of self, selfish indulgence, unholy temper, harsh, overbearing and passionate words, inability to bear opposition, sensitive pride, yielding to natural inclination, and perversity of character. Truth must take first place in life and keep working until the whole character is transformed, for religion is not merely professed but lived, with sin put away and God's law obeyed. Those who profess belief yet show the same selfishness and temper as the world show they are not converted, have not hidden the leaven in the heart nor submitted their natural and cultivated tendencies to evil to its power, revealing the absence of grace and unbelief in its power to transform character.
The love of Jesus, when presented to people who do not know the truth, works within them like leaven to transform their character.
Kingdom's Spreading Outward Work
Whereunto the kingdom of God shall be likened is answered by leaven, for truth once planted in a new field works quietly and then spreads, and after it is sown the Lord brings the increase and progress. The truth must first be received, and then it spreads through the whole person or community, and when the gospel is fully preached with the Holy Spirit, people of every class can embrace it.
The leaven put into the mass is one soundly converted soul introduced among others, and it must not be withdrawn to leave the mass without a correcting influence. The consistent example of one truly converted soul carries a moral power from God whose value no human can estimate, and even the lowest person, if properly instructed, becomes an instrument of righteousness.
The kingdom grows as truth is carried into places where people have never heard it, so that introducing the message in one new field acts as leaven working by itself to leaven all around it. Surrounding suburbs, towns, and regions beyond are thus reached and new territories are added to the kingdom. The leaven is truth and the meal is the cities and people where it is placed, and once introduced it absorbs the meal in a soul-saving work that is seen decidedly. This requires carrying heaven's truth beyond one established center and establishing institutions in many places, so its influence can spread widely. Each plant set up and doing its work brings strength into the whole cause, shines stronger beams of light through the surrounding darkness and sheds light afar off, kindles other lights in many places, and brings the working of the Holy Spirit upon minds, while leaving other portions of the moral vineyard unworked in order to center many interests in one place neglects this leavening work and displeases God, and God will scatter.
The kingdom's influence is to be introduced through personal work and the influence gained in associations, with personal consecration and sanctification enabling each person to share in Christ's work. The same leaven-like spreading through many minds can also illustrate how ideas spread to lead to deception.
Christ asks what can picture God's kingdom because no earthly government or human society gives a fitting likeness, since His kingdom uses no force but works by grace, love and compassion. He answers with leaven hidden in meal that works through the whole mass until all is leavened, following the mustard seed as a picture of a spreading work to be continued in His example of teaching and helping. Here leaven does not mean sin as at Passover or the leaven of the Pharisees, but the opposite power of holiness, the quickening grace of God received into the heart to implant new life and restore His image. That truth works from within outward, secretly, silently and steadily renewing desires, thoughts, motives and character until the whole life is transformed, which no mere correction of habits or power of will, culture or education can do. Once hidden in one truly converted soul, the same power spreads outward by itself, leavening other persons, communities and new fields as the gospel is carried beyond one center with the Holy Spirit.
Question's Setting and Sense
The question was asked by the sea before a great throng of all classes of society, poor and rich, low and high. It answered the unspoken question of educated and influential onlookers who wondered whether the kingdom of God could be made of such lowly material as gathered around Him. That material was the poor, the illiterate, beggars, criminals, the maimed, and the dissipated.
It was asked because no earthly government or human society provided a fitting likeness for the kingdom of God. The kingdom does not resemble the kingdoms of the world, for it has no coercion or force. Its gospel is a power in itself, grounded in God's unchanging principle and expressed in grace, love, and compassion that break down barriers.
The question follows the image of a mustard seed growing into a tree and introduces the comparison of the kingdom to leaven working through meal until all is leavened. That spreading work is to be continued after Christ's example of teaching and helping people, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit is needed for that work. The question also introduces lessons from seed-sowing about growth in a cultivated hillside field where a laborer works among long rows of furrows and planted crops. In this use leaven does not mean sin as at Passover or as in the leaven of the Pharisees and of malice and wickedness, but the opposite power of holiness.
Heart's Inner Transformation
The leaven is the kingdom as the quickening, assimilating power of God's grace working from without to transform the heart. It is grace received by the sinner to fit him for the kingdom of glory, implanting a new principle of life by the Holy Spirit and restoring the lost image of God in humanity. No one is so vile or has fallen so low as to be beyond this power, yet all, high or low, rich or poor, must submit to its working. No one can transform himself by will, culture, or education, for the renewing change can come only from God.
The kingdom enters as truth received into the heart and works from within outward by renewing the heart through grace to transform the life. No mere external change brings harmony with God, so trying to become Christian by merely correcting this or that bad habit begins in the wrong place, because the first work is with the heart. Like leaven hidden in flour working invisibly to bring the whole mass under its process, the leaven of truth works secretly, silently, steadily and progressively in honest hearts to bring a radical change throughout nature and life. The person may look the same outwardly while inwardly renewed by heavenly principles.
Within, it regulates desires, purifies thoughts, and sweetens the disposition. It softens and subdues natural inclinations and feelings, consecrates the affections, and elevates the mind. It implants new thoughts, new feelings, and new motives, and sets up a new standard of character, the life of Christ. It quickens the faculties of the mind and the energies of the soul, and enlarges the capacity for feeling and for loving. It changes the mind and rouses the faculties to action in new lines, not by endowing new faculties but by sanctifying those already possessed, awakening the conscience and giving traits of character that enable service for God.
Where truly hidden, the truth does its work by transforming power that reforms words, spirit, and character. It subdues love of self, selfish indulgence, unholy temper, harsh, overbearing and passionate words, inability to bear opposition, sensitive pride, yielding to natural inclination, and perversity of character. Truth must take first place in life and keep working until the whole character is transformed, for religion is not merely professed but lived, with sin put away and God's law obeyed. Those who profess belief yet show the same selfishness and temper as the world show they are not converted, have not hidden the leaven in the heart nor submitted their natural and cultivated tendencies to evil to its power, revealing the absence of grace and unbelief in its power to transform character.
The love of Jesus, when presented to people who do not know the truth, works within them like leaven to transform their character.
Kingdom's Spreading Outward Work
Whereunto the kingdom of God shall be likened is answered by leaven, for truth once planted in a new field works quietly and then spreads, and after it is sown the Lord brings the increase and progress. The truth must first be received, and then it spreads through the whole person or community, and when the gospel is fully preached with the Holy Spirit, people of every class can embrace it.
The leaven put into the mass is one soundly converted soul introduced among others, and it must not be withdrawn to leave the mass without a correcting influence. The consistent example of one truly converted soul carries a moral power from God whose value no human can estimate, and even the lowest person, if properly instructed, becomes an instrument of righteousness.
The kingdom grows as truth is carried into places where people have never heard it, so that introducing the message in one new field acts as leaven working by itself to leaven all around it. Surrounding suburbs, towns, and regions beyond are thus reached and new territories are added to the kingdom. The leaven is truth and the meal is the cities and people where it is placed, and once introduced it absorbs the meal in a soul-saving work that is seen decidedly. This requires carrying heaven's truth beyond one established center and establishing institutions in many places, so its influence can spread widely. Each plant set up and doing its work brings strength into the whole cause, shines stronger beams of light through the surrounding darkness and sheds light afar off, kindles other lights in many places, and brings the working of the Holy Spirit upon minds, while leaving other portions of the moral vineyard unworked in order to center many interests in one place neglects this leavening work and displeases God, and God will scatter.
The kingdom's influence is to be introduced through personal work and the influence gained in associations, with personal consecration and sanctification enabling each person to share in Christ's work. The same leaven-like spreading through many minds can also illustrate how ideas spread to lead to deception.