How is God’s Kingdom Moving?
Explore the profound parable of Matthew 13:33 and discover how God's Kingdom operates like yeast, impacting individuals, cultures, and history. Learn about redemption, sanctification, and the global advancement of the Kingdom in our lifetime.
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He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”
How is the Kingdom of God Like Yeast?
JESUS: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.” Matthew 13:33
While this is one of the shortest parables that Jesus shares, it’s also one of His most profound. This verse gives not only a vision for the life of a believer, but it provides a vision of what’s possible for our cities, cultures, nations, and the world.
The word leaven, or yeast, represents something significant. When leaven is mentioned in Scripture, it often refers to something evil. But in this context, it’s something good that Jesus is up to.
Jesus begins by declaring the Kingdom of God. Author and Methodist minister Trevor Hudson defined the Kingdom of Heaven as “wherever the loving will of the Father effectively reigns.”
So when Jesus speaks of the Kingdom, that means that’s where the Word and power of God are. Scripture teaches that the Lord’s spirit supplies us with power. This is done by the works of God’s revelation wed with the power of the Spirit. There’s greater power in us through God than any challenge before us.
So, if Jesus says the Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid three measures of, what does that mean? Jesus is using a natural illustration. This is something that those listening would’ve been familiar with. He did this to show a greater reality of how God’s Kingdom works in simple terms they could understand.
Leaven, or yeast, is used in bread to cause it to rise when it bakes. At a very simplistic level, when kneaded into dough, it’s hidden. You can’t perceive it. But even though it’s out of sight, it’s at work. There’s a dynamic power illustrated here. What can look small and insignificant has imperceptible and astonishing effects on the whole. Just like the Kingdom of God is not necessarily in natural sight, it’s very much at work.
With that consideration, let’s look at five implications of what Jesus says about the Kingdom of God.
How is God’s Kingdom Moving?
1) The Leaven of Kingdom Advances Through the Gospel
“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.’“ Galatians 3:13
Ultimately, Paul is saying that the law cannot save you. We have the revelation of the law, The Ten Commandments, but keeping the law will not save you. It will convict you and make you aware of your needs, but it does not have the power to save you.
While the law is perfect and holy, those who try to justify themselves using the law don’t bring a blessing to their life by being justified by the law. Instead, when we justify ourselves by saying, “I’m a good person,” we’re not bringing a blessing to our lives. We’re bringing a curse or a lie. That mentality enables an illusion because no one is justified by the law.
Only Jesus Christ can redeem us. His work, death, burial, and resurrection picked us out of a kingdom of darkness, as the Scripture says, and transferred us to a kingdom of light. He liberated us. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us when He hung on the cross. As believers, He is our liberation.
We all, unbelievers and believers, need this truth. For believers, it’s a reminder not to drift back into a performance mindset. You can never be birthed into God’s Kingdom because of your merit. That can only happen by turning to Christ in light of the beauty of what God did in Christ.
2) The Leaven of the Kingdom Advances Through Our Growing in Sanctification
Sanctification is a very religious-sounding word. However, what it means is the Kingdom of God not only works outwardly but also inwardly. It’s a new beginning and an entirely new life, reality, and implication of the heart.
God’s leaven develops us on a personal level. When your thoughts, beliefs, affections, motives, and actions are transformed, according to 1 Thessalonians 4:3, this is the will of God, your sanctification.
Sanctification is a loving invasion. While the entire territory may not have been claimed, the beachhead is secured. That’s what it means to grow into God’s image, and is His leaven working in you. You’ve been exposed to God’s means of grace in your life, and you’re being developed.
3) The Leaven of the Kingdom Advances through its Effects on Cultures
When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke in churches and places of prominence in our nation, including the National Mall, he proclaimed many things, but one of them was a reference that all people are created equal. Dr. King quoted more than the United States Constitution when he said that. He was quoting a deeper reality, the words of the Gospel.
We often overlook the degree to which leaven affects cultures.
While it may seem our country is in a dark hour, it has been darker than this before. Not many years after the United States was formed, it went through war and instability. However, there was a move of the leaven of God called the Cane Ridge Revival. That was a sustained vision of God’s presence 20 miles outside Lexington, Kentucky. It empowered the movement of the Kingdom through the nation.
On a global level, we saw the nation of Rwanda go through a horrific genocide. More than 800,000 people perished, but after 1991, the cycle broke. The reason was because the new president happened to be a Christian. He wisely understood something about human nature. You cannot restore order in a country with that kind of pain. He set reconciliation through forgiveness.
To forgive one another affects the heart at deep levels. It spurs healing and starts a new cycle. Forgiveness can only come from the Gospel of Jesus. He repeatedly spoke on the value of forgiveness and emphasized it so much He included it in the Lord’s Prayer.
The leaven of the kingdom advances in the way it affects those around us. We see the examples and fruit of it in history and our modern, everyday life.
4) The Leaven of the Kingdom is Advancing in our Lifetimes
Several years ago, Pastor Dr. Jerry Kulah told a room of nearly 2000 Methodist pastors, “The gospel that you preached to us 100 years ago is not the same gospel that you are preaching today.”
Now, that's a significant statement for many reasons. Still, one of the reasons that we should pay attention is not only what he may be saying to us as Western Christians but also what he's saying about how God is moving around the world, particularly in Africa.
In 1900, Africa had 10 million professing Christians, but by 2000, it had grown to more than 360 million, about half of the African population. This may mark the most significant shift of religious affiliation in world history.
We are part of the leaven of God’s kingdom advancing in our lifetimes. The number of practicing Christians in China is approaching the number of practicing Christians in the United States. Some studies even claim that the number has passed the United States. Last Sunday, more Christian believers attended church in China than in all of so-called Christian Europe.
The leaven of God’s Kingdom is advancing in our lifetimes. Except for the very earliest years of Church history, the Christian church has experienced a larger geographic redistribution in the last 50 years than in any comparable period in history,
This is an exciting time to be alive! The kingdom of heaven is rising!
5) The Leaven of the Kingdom is the Great Arc of History
“The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Messiah, and He will reign forever and ever.” Revelation 11:15
The kingdom permeates as the leaven works in our hearts through every facet of our lives. The love of God, including His kingdom and reign, will ultimately permeate every corner of the earth.
This is where the arc of human history is headed. The Kingdom is moving with this trajectory. This yeast, this leaven of the kingdom, causes people to rise in resurrection power, which is beyond our abilities of renewal and revival, and kindles it into a burning blaze.
A.W. Tozer said, “A revived church may be distinguished from a dead one by the attitude of its members toward the truth. The dead church holds to the shell of the truth without resentment, surrendering the will to it. While the church that wills to do God's will is immediately blessed with a visitation of spiritual powers.”
How is God Moving in Your Life?
What is the leaven of the Gospel doing in your life? How have you surrendered to the King of the universe? How is He liberating your life? Remember, in Christ, your sins are forgiven, and you’ve been reconciled to a holy and loving God.
Let those truths live in your heart and liberate you to stand on the foundation that sets you free. Are you allowing God’s leaven to work in your heart? Are you allowing Him to develop a holy invasion in your life?
Where do you see the possibilities of God’s leaven in your neighborhood, city, or nation? What have you seen Him do in history? Remember what Tozer said. A church that wills to do God's will is immediately blessed with a visitation of spiritual powers.
Believers, that’s what we're designed to be. Yeast rises. Rise up, people of God. Rise up into who you are based on whose you are. We have a great God with a gospel that sets you free and empowers you to rise into your design for his glory.
TL;DR
In Matthew 13:33, Jesus uses the analogy of yeast to describe the Kingdom of God's hidden but powerful influence.
This blog explores the impact of the Kingdom through redemption, sanctification, cultural transformation, and its global advancement.
Discover how God's Kingdom is shaping our world and your life.
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Executing God’s Vision by Nathan Cook
What is the Church’s Global Responsibility? by Rev. Paul Lawler
Is Social Justice Biblical? by William Merriman
