Grace affects the heart as leaven dough
15 Dec. 1946
‘Then said He, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? And whereunto shall I resemble it?
‘It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it.
‘And again He said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God?
‘It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.’ (Luke 13:18-21)
How should we understand the kingdom of God as a mustard seed - as a big branchy bush growing from a little mustard seed? What does that mean?
Here’s what it means.
I already spoke about Christ’s words, ‘The kingdom of God is within you’ (Luke 17:21), and explained what that meant. Don’t forget that: the kingdom of God is within you. By comparing the kingdom of God to the way a mustard seed grows into a tree, the Lord is giving us a picture of what happens to the human soul when it takes in the seed of God’s word.
In his letter to the Hebrews, the apostle Paul said something astonishing about the word of God: ‘For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.’ (Heb. 4:12)
Time and time again just one of God’s words, just one phrase from the Gospels, overheard by a good man, has been enough to bring about a complete change in his soul. I will give you just one example, it happened in just such a way with one of God’s greatest saints – Anthony the Great. He was nobleman, powerful and very rich. One day in church he heard the following words from the Gospel: ‘if thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor’ (Matt. 19:21). And these words, this little seed of God’s word, had such an unexpected effect on his soul that he immediately went and carried out what he had heard. He sold everything that belonged to him - which was not at all insignificant - gave it to the poor, and went to spend the rest of his life in the desert, wild and terrible. He is proof of the words: ‘For the word of God is sharper than any twoedged sword.’
Just how does the growth of God’s grace in a person - the kingdom of God inside him - take place once he has taken in the seed of God’s word? The process is similar to that which happens when a seed has been buried in the ground. The Lord sends His rain, and the light and warmth of His sun. And the grass of God grows and grows under His blessed influence. All of this happens with His help.
And God’s word, once it has been taken in by a person, grows in the same way. It grows like a seed that has been taken in by fruit-bearing, tilled land. It is absolutely vital that the land be fruit-bearing. And if it is so, then God’s word will grow, just like the mustard seed, it will grow under the influence of God’s grace, just like the mustard seed grows in the ground under the influence of the sun’s warmth and light, and under the influence of the rain. It grows and yields a rich harvest in the soul of the one who has taken it in. And love grows ever more abundant in his soul, as does charity, and humility, and meekness.
The seed gradually pushes up out of the earth, a little blade of grass appears, a little stem, then a bigger stem, the plant starts to turn green and become leafy and then – gives off fruit. And it works the same way in a person’s heart. It grows and perfects itself spiritually: his heart becomes pure, his mind becomes enlightened, and it becomes - to a certain degree – similar to Christ’s. Christ directs all his thoughts, as needed, and controls his mental, moral, and spiritual growth. That’s what is meant by likening the kingdom of God to a mustard seed.
And what does the other likening mean?
You add yeast to flour, leave it somewhere warm, and an astonishing thing takes place. A little bit of leaven, the tiniest little piece of yeast brings about a big change: little bubbles of gas run through the entire dough, and it turns sour – it turns into the good dough you use to bake bread.
And the word of God is like this little bit of leaven. When it penetrates into a person’s soul, it causes something great and holy to take place there, similar to what takes place in the dough. Everything changes; everything is filled up and pierced by the blessed word of God, just like by so many bubbles of gas. Everything undergoes a complete change in the person’s soul, just like the dough is changed. The person starts to grow spiritually, and expand, in the same way the dough goes sour.
And you know that if you leave the dough in a cool spot, the yeast doesn’t do anything, it doesn’t rise. You have to put it somewhere warm, and only then does this astonishing process take place. And so it is with the human soul: only when the heart that receives God’s word is warm, only when it is hot, and full of love, does this astonishing process of rebirth take place.
And then the process begins – the rebirth of the soul.
Once the seed has been sown in the ground it needs to be cared for if it can hope to grow.
The landowner or gardener accepts great responsibility: he has to fertilize the soil the seed has been sown in, and water it, and dig around the shoots when they start to sprout up. It takes a lot of care to see a seed grow. And so must we take upon ourselves a great many cares to see the word of God grow in us. We cannot place all of the responsibility on God’s grace and hope that the Lord will do everything Himself to ensure that the plant doesn’t become stunted, or that the frost and the cold don’t kill it, or the thistles and thorns of this world don’t strangle it.
How often it happens that the word of God is heard and drives straight into a person’s heart only to find the soil rocky and shallow! And the seed cannot set its roots down deeply, and they remain weak and stunted, the plant becomes stunted and when the sun starts to beat down it withers, and if the winds pick up it is destroyed. And this is exactly what happens with all those who, having taken in the word of God, nonetheless are too much worried by the things of this age to see to the growth of the seed. How many people abandon the needs of God’s word for the needs of this world – leaving God’s word to become stunted, and its sprouts to wither.
Can you see how important it is, why it is essential that we guard these little sprouts of God’s word? How important it is to gently care for them, to groom them with all our energy, to do everything to see them grow?
It is the purpose of our life to become sons of God, to become friends of God, to get closer to Him. And this purpose will be fulfilled and achieved only when we have accomplished all our work, when we have focused all our effort and all of our attention on seeing the holy seed of God’s word grow in us.
May it not be fruitless in your hearts!
May you always be watchful, and carefully guard with all of your strength the grace of God, which you have received from the Lord Jesus Christ. In order that the chosen, those capable of approaching God, might receive this grace, God did something glorious: he gave us to drink of His Blood, which was spilled on the Cross on Golgotha. In order that we might grow as pure and holy plants before God – God’s Son gave us to eat of his Body.
You take in this Body and Blood in the great Sacrament of Communion.
Never approach the cup with a light heart. Approach it with trembling and great fear. Take the Body and Blood of Christ and know that they are for the growth of great and holy seeds in your heart.
‘Then said He, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? And whereunto shall I resemble it?
‘It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it.
‘And again He said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God?
‘It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.’ (Luke 13:18-21)
How should we understand the kingdom of God as a mustard seed - as a big branchy bush growing from a little mustard seed? What does that mean?
Here’s what it means.
I already spoke about Christ’s words, ‘The kingdom of God is within you’ (Luke 17:21), and explained what that meant. Don’t forget that: the kingdom of God is within you. By comparing the kingdom of God to the way a mustard seed grows into a tree, the Lord is giving us a picture of what happens to the human soul when it takes in the seed of God’s word.
In his letter to the Hebrews, the apostle Paul said something astonishing about the word of God: ‘For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.’ (Heb. 4:12)
Time and time again just one of God’s words, just one phrase from the Gospels, overheard by a good man, has been enough to bring about a complete change in his soul. I will give you just one example, it happened in just such a way with one of God’s greatest saints – Anthony the Great. He was nobleman, powerful and very rich. One day in church he heard the following words from the Gospel: ‘if thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor’ (Matt. 19:21). And these words, this little seed of God’s word, had such an unexpected effect on his soul that he immediately went and carried out what he had heard. He sold everything that belonged to him - which was not at all insignificant - gave it to the poor, and went to spend the rest of his life in the desert, wild and terrible. He is proof of the words: ‘For the word of God is sharper than any twoedged sword.’
Just how does the growth of God’s grace in a person - the kingdom of God inside him - take place once he has taken in the seed of God’s word? The process is similar to that which happens when a seed has been buried in the ground. The Lord sends His rain, and the light and warmth of His sun. And the grass of God grows and grows under His blessed influence. All of this happens with His help.
And God’s word, once it has been taken in by a person, grows in the same way. It grows like a seed that has been taken in by fruit-bearing, tilled land. It is absolutely vital that the land be fruit-bearing. And if it is so, then God’s word will grow, just like the mustard seed, it will grow under the influence of God’s grace, just like the mustard seed grows in the ground under the influence of the sun’s warmth and light, and under the influence of the rain. It grows and yields a rich harvest in the soul of the one who has taken it in. And love grows ever more abundant in his soul, as does charity, and humility, and meekness.
The seed gradually pushes up out of the earth, a little blade of grass appears, a little stem, then a bigger stem, the plant starts to turn green and become leafy and then – gives off fruit. And it works the same way in a person’s heart. It grows and perfects itself spiritually: his heart becomes pure, his mind becomes enlightened, and it becomes - to a certain degree – similar to Christ’s. Christ directs all his thoughts, as needed, and controls his mental, moral, and spiritual growth. That’s what is meant by likening the kingdom of God to a mustard seed.
And what does the other likening mean?
You add yeast to flour, leave it somewhere warm, and an astonishing thing takes place. A little bit of leaven, the tiniest little piece of yeast brings about a big change: little bubbles of gas run through the entire dough, and it turns sour – it turns into the good dough you use to bake bread.
And the word of God is like this little bit of leaven. When it penetrates into a person’s soul, it causes something great and holy to take place there, similar to what takes place in the dough. Everything changes; everything is filled up and pierced by the blessed word of God, just like by so many bubbles of gas. Everything undergoes a complete change in the person’s soul, just like the dough is changed. The person starts to grow spiritually, and expand, in the same way the dough goes sour.
And you know that if you leave the dough in a cool spot, the yeast doesn’t do anything, it doesn’t rise. You have to put it somewhere warm, and only then does this astonishing process take place. And so it is with the human soul: only when the heart that receives God’s word is warm, only when it is hot, and full of love, does this astonishing process of rebirth take place.
And then the process begins – the rebirth of the soul.
Once the seed has been sown in the ground it needs to be cared for if it can hope to grow.
The landowner or gardener accepts great responsibility: he has to fertilize the soil the seed has been sown in, and water it, and dig around the shoots when they start to sprout up. It takes a lot of care to see a seed grow. And so must we take upon ourselves a great many cares to see the word of God grow in us. We cannot place all of the responsibility on God’s grace and hope that the Lord will do everything Himself to ensure that the plant doesn’t become stunted, or that the frost and the cold don’t kill it, or the thistles and thorns of this world don’t strangle it.
How often it happens that the word of God is heard and drives straight into a person’s heart only to find the soil rocky and shallow! And the seed cannot set its roots down deeply, and they remain weak and stunted, the plant becomes stunted and when the sun starts to beat down it withers, and if the winds pick up it is destroyed. And this is exactly what happens with all those who, having taken in the word of God, nonetheless are too much worried by the things of this age to see to the growth of the seed. How many people abandon the needs of God’s word for the needs of this world – leaving God’s word to become stunted, and its sprouts to wither.
Can you see how important it is, why it is essential that we guard these little sprouts of God’s word? How important it is to gently care for them, to groom them with all our energy, to do everything to see them grow?
It is the purpose of our life to become sons of God, to become friends of God, to get closer to Him. And this purpose will be fulfilled and achieved only when we have accomplished all our work, when we have focused all our effort and all of our attention on seeing the holy seed of God’s word grow in us.
May it not be fruitless in your hearts!
May you always be watchful, and carefully guard with all of your strength the grace of God, which you have received from the Lord Jesus Christ. In order that the chosen, those capable of approaching God, might receive this grace, God did something glorious: he gave us to drink of His Blood, which was spilled on the Cross on Golgotha. In order that we might grow as pure and holy plants before God – God’s Son gave us to eat of his Body.
You take in this Body and Blood in the great Sacrament of Communion.
Never approach the cup with a light heart. Approach it with trembling and great fear. Take the Body and Blood of Christ and know that they are for the growth of great and holy seeds in your heart.
posted by teacher at 4:15 AM
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