ALREADY BUT NOT YET

(Luke 13:18-21)
October 25, 2015
Read Lu 13:18-21 The enlisted guys won the annual softball game against
the officers. However, an officer made the official report: The officers
powered their way to a 2nd place finish while the noncoms came in next to
last. Things are not always as they seem. Remember the limerick? Gods
plan made a hopeful beginning, / But man spoiled his chances by sinning. /
We trust that the story / Will end in Gods glory, / But at present the other
sides winning. More and more that was looking like the case in the
disciples world and it sure looks like the case in our world, right?
Thats why Jesus gave these two little parables. The disciples have just seen a
bent and broken woman healed after 18 years of agony. Now the religious
leader is bent out of shape because it happened on the Sabbath. He represents
the growing opposition to Jesus ministry that will eventually lead to His
death. At that time, it will certainly appear that the other sides winning.
But it will be an illusion. The disciples need to know they are on the winning
side. We all need that reminder. Faithfulness is driven by the assurance that
in the end, God wins. So Jesus teaches about the kingdom which has two
realities already and not yet. In one sense the kingdom is already here
and operating, appearances to the contrary. But it is not in full bloom. There is
a not yet phase yet to be realized. Thats what Jesus wants us to see.
So Jesus muses in v. 18: He said therefore, What is the kingdom of God
like? And to what shall I compare it? He answers with 2 parables which
emphasize the already but not yet nature of Gods kingdom.
I.

The Kingdom Starts Small (Already)

Just a mustard seed smallest of the food seeds in Palestine. Just a pinch of
leaven. How God revels in using the weak things of the world to confound the
strong. Thus, its no surprise that King Jesus did not arrive on the scene to the
crescendo of angelic trumpets and skies lit like neon to announce His
kingdom. Quite the opposite. The already phase begins unimpressively.
The King is born in a manger, among the animals because the world has no
place for Him. Hes born in Palestine, insignificant backwater in the Roman
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Empire. His home in Nazareth was the lowest of that nation. He eventually
drew huge crowds to His ministry, but they turned on Him and crucified Him
for blasphemy. The leaders He left behind were few, uneducated, fearful, slow
to understand and hardly qualified for leadership. Who would have ever
signed on for that? And yet. Already had started in peoples hearts.
Within a few weeks of Jesus ascension, the little band of 120 followers had
become thousands in Jerusalem alone. Within the lifetime of the first
generation of followers, the gospel had spread to the far corners of the
civilized world. Within 325 years, the Roman Empire itself had officially
become Christian. And today 2,000 years later, 2.1 billion people claim to be
Christian almost 1/3 of the worlds population and the largest single block of
any religious faith. Small beginnings can lead to great advances.
Now, I am not suggesting all of those are genuine believers. Far from it. Nor
am I suggesting that we are creating the kingdom or that what we see even
remotely resembles the final state of the kingdom. But even the current very
imperfect state of affairs demonstrates what Paul said in I Cor 1:27-31: But
God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is
weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised
in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, . . .
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so that, as it is written, Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. We must
never be fooled by appearances into thinking that the kingdom of God has
become insignificant, pass, overwhelmed, outflanked or overrun. Never.
Appearances to the contrary we are on the winning side! And the already
phase is operating when repentant hearts obey God by faith and not self. Faith
in Gods rule frees us, for example, to be forgiving instead of vengeful.
An example from II Kings 5:1 Naaman, commander of the army of the king
of Syria (Israels enemy), was a great man with his master and in high favor,
because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of
valor, but he was a leper. 2 Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried
off a little girl from the land of Israel, and she worked in the service of
Naamans wife. Those are the bare facts. Here is what they mean. God
arranged for the Syrians to successfully raid Israel because His people were
deep into idolatry. In the process, this innocent little Israeli girl was captured.
This means at best her family was also taken captive and sold. At worst they
were killed before her very eyes. Now, shes at the very bottom of Syrias
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social structure as a racial outsider, a slave, a woman and young (12-24). Her
life is utterly ruined. And Field Marshal Naaman is responsible.
Natural reaction says, Wallow in your pity. Do the least you can get by with.
Rob them blind. Break the nick nacks when you dust. Spit in the soup. And
when you hear he has leprosy you should think, Ha! Leprosy! I can hardly
wait for another finger to fall off. I will dance on his grave. Who would
have blamed her? But look! V. 3, She said to her mistress, Would that my
lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his
leprosy. Who is this girl? Shes a girl in whose heart God reigned! This is
kingdom living even before Christ. What a girl! Little action; big result. Got
her into the Bible! SO what is it that Jesus is asking of you this morning.
What little thing done in faith that would show the kingdom the rule of God
in your heart instead of the rule of you. What person do you need to forgive?
What covetousness do you need to let go? Who do you hate? What grudge
against God for not giving you something you thought you deserved. Do the
little thing, Beloved. The kingdom starts small.
II.

The Kingdom Grows From the Inside

Both the seed and the leaven work inside/out! Once the seed is buried in the
ground and the leaven in the bread dough they work invisibly but persistently
to produce amazing results that will soon out. Thats the already phase of
Gods kingdom. It is spiritually based. It is internal. The rulership of God
grows inside the individual. BUT inward regeneration turns into outward
transformation. Sobriety replaces drunkenness; forgiveness replaces
bitterness; generosity replaces greed; concern for others replaces selfcenteredness. Not perfectly; not overnight; but slowly and surely the kingdom
of God takes over. The implanted seed is the Word. I Pet 1:23, since you
have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the
living and abiding word of God. And the leaven might be likened to the Holy
Spirit who indwells every true believer. They combine to produce the growth
of the kingdom in the life of all true believers.
In Lu 17 the Pharisees ask Jesus when the kingdom is coming. He replies in
Lu 17:20-21, The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be
observed, 21 nor will they say, Look, here it is! or There! for behold, the
kingdom of God is in the midst of you. This is what the people of Jesus day
could never get. The kingdom starts with repentance and grows inside/out.
Those who saw it only in political terms missed the whole thing.
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Jesus says to Pilate later in John 18:36, 36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is

not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have
been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom
is not from the world. Now you should be asking, How can He say that in
light of all those OT passages that describe the Son of Man coming in power
and glory and dominion and someone on the throne of David forever? How
can He say that? And the answer is the kingdom has a spiritual basis. It is
not of this world but that doesnt mean it wont be in this world! Its not like
earthly kingdoms. Its not imposed from the top down. Its accepted from the
inside/out. It is spiritually based. Therefore, it starts in peoples hearts NOW
and spills out into the political arena LATER. It grows from the inside out. It
is not created with swords and guns and tanks. It is created first in the hearts
of believers, leading to changed lives that lead to a changed society.
Christianity did not conquer Rome with bows, arrows and chariots. It won
through the power of its message, the faith of believers and the blood of its
martyrs. What the crusades failed to do by the power of the sword in taking
back the Holy Land from the Islamic infidels, the early church accomplished
through martyrdom. Christians were torn by lions and suffered unspeakable
persecution. Tertullian noted around AD 200, The blood of the martyrs is the
seed of the church. Not the worlds ways but Gods ways.
The cleansing effect of the Reformation took place as Gods rule began in
Luthers heart and grew to the point that he could stand before the full power
of the papal emissary sent to order him to recant his writing on pain of death
and say, I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well
known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves. I am bound
by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of
God. I cannot and will not retract anything. . . I cannot do otherwise, here I
stand, may God help me, amen. He fully expected to pay with his life for
that statement as had others like Huss and Wycliffe before him. But God
spared him to become along with Calvin and Zwingli and others the voice that
allowed the kingdom to spread as Gods word took root in other hearts.
Today, western culture benefits from the good of the kingdom influences that
came as a result of those voices. Our law is rooted in biblical principles; our
sense of morality is driven by biblical influences. Even unbelievers, like the
birds in the trees of the kingdom, benefit from centuries of biblically-based
morality. Of course, those benefits are fast diminishing in our culture. Does
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that mean the kingdom has failed? No way. Every new believer brings the
ultimate manifestation of the kingdom under Christs rule that much closer.
The full extent of the kingdom has not yet been realized on earth. Not the
Holy Roman Empire; not the Reformation empire of Luther and Calvin, not
the God-blessed USA has ever been the true kingdom. They have just
benefited richly from kingdom members whose growth from the inside out
has spilled over into political and cultural influences brief and imperfect
previews of what is coming on the day when the final member of the kingdom
comes to faith in Christ and He takes His rightful throne. What a day that will
be, and it is coming, Beloved. Each new convert brings us one step closer to
the final, political version of Gods kingdom comprised of repentant hearts.
III.

The Kingdom Permeates Everything (Not yet phase)

The seed becomes a full blown tree. The little leaven invades the whole loaf.
The kingdom of God starts small; grows by fits and spurts, but in the end it
will conquer everything. Over and over mankind has thought to put God out
of His misery. Nietzsche declared God dead. Science would have all the
answers. But he knew the moral cost. He went on to predict that as Gods
influence waned, the 20th century would be the bloodiest century in history. He
was right about that. But his prediction of Gods death was a bit previous.
Time magazine affirmed Gods death in an article on April 8, 1966. But as
early as 1969 an article on the Jesus people allowed as how that previous
assessment might have been a tad premature. By 1980 Time declared God was
making a comeback and in 2009 they listed Calvinism as one of the ten ideas
shaping the world. The ravages of untamed naturalism in the world of science
and atheism in the political systems of Nazism and Communism combined
could not wipe out the kingdom of God contrary to predictions. Philosopher
Paul Johnson said, The most extraordinary thing about the 20th century was
the failure of God to die. Confidently predicted, widely expected among the
educated elite -- it did not happen! God not only survived; He flourished.
The 1980 Time article conceded, God? Wasnt he chased out of heaven by
Marx, banished to the unconscious by Freud and announced by Nietzsche
to be deceased? Did not Darwin drive him out of the empirical world? . . . In
a quiet revolution . . . that hardly anyone could have foreseen only two
decades ago, God is making a comeback . . . not among theologians . . . but
in the crisp, intellectual circles of academic philosophers, where the
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consensus had long banished the Almighty from fruitful discourse. All of
this is just a step along the way, but it illustrates the one kingdom that will
never be defeated is Gods! It exists in both an already and not yet state.
Already in the hearts of all true believers! Not yet worldwide under Christs
personal rulership. But it is coming. Closer every day.
Descriptions of the ultimate expression of the kingdom are all through the
Word. Daniel saw it: Dan 7: 13) I saw in the night visions, and behold, with
the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the
Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14) And to him was given
dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not
pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
The kingdom starts small, in the hearts of true believers beginning from the
time of Adam who was the first human to enter. All through history, those who
will humble themselves before God, confess their sins and accept His gift
have entered. And one day the last person will come to faith in Christ; the
leaven will have infiltrated the whole loaf; and the kingdom of God will
explode into open expression of Gods will on earth as it is in heaven! The
scene described in Rev 5:9 will at last come to pass: And they (heavens
inhabitants) sang a new song, saying, Worthy are you (Jesus, the King) to
take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you
ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and
nation, 10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they
shall reign on the earth. Here is the kingdom at last in full display
crushingly greater than anything the world has ever seen.
This is what Jesus describes in cryptic form to His disciples in Lu 13. He
wants to encourage them that however things look, in the end, they are on the
winning side. So take heart. What makes the kingdom possible? The death of
Christ. Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem to guarantee the outcome even as
He spoke. Talk about a small beginning. Sure defeat humanly speaking. But
here is Gods perspective. Heb 2:14, that through death he might destroy
the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those
who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. It appeared the
other side was winning. But looks are deceiving. The impossible had
happened. Crucifixion was followed by resurrection. Death was swallowed up
in victory. The Lamb had KOd the dragon. Twleve Galilean misfits upset the
Roman empire. One monk and a sickly castaway Reformed the world, and the
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kingdom of God is going to conquer all. Already is here. Not yet is

coming soon. Take heart, Beloved. In the end God wins! Not new age! Not
Humanism! Not Islam! Not secularism! God! God wins! Lets pray.