What is the Kingdom of God like?

I've been a Christian for as long as I can remember. I was 'saved' at around eight years old. Always reminds me of that Stephen Curtis Chapman song "No Better Place - watch that for a throwback!" For the past five years, I've been able to read through the Bible in its entirety six times! Once I did it in sixty days - mainly listened to it! :) One thing I've heard, and have experienced, is that while you can read the Bible cover-to-cover in a year (or sixty days!), you won't get to the bottom of it in your entire life. The sermon I delivered on Luke 13v18-21 is a great example of that. Two relatively simple pictures that have incredibly deep meaning. A mustard seed growing into a large tree, and yeast that is mixed into sixty pounds of flour. 

Jesus is showing us what the Kingdom of God is like. 

Is it a set of new ideals? Is it about being forgiven? Yes and yes. But more. 

Through lots of commentaries and a couple of sermons from far wiser and more experienced pastors, I arrived at four pretty cool points that these two parables make. 

The Kingdom of God begins small. Humble beginnings. A mustard seed is tiny. The ratio of yeast to flour is 1.5 to 100. Are you able to pinpoint the first moment the Kingdom of God showed up in your life? The first seed planted? Have you considered the humble beginnings of the church? Take Jesus, born poor, into a family from a low social caste, from a small town. And then His first disciples - twelve guys that weren't chosen for their amazing pedigrees but in spite of them. 

But the Kingdom of God, while starting small, brings growth! The seed becomes a ten-foot-tall tree. The handful of yeast works its way through the all the flour, literally causing it to rise when baked. The first thirteen men (Jesus included), grew to just under 100 after sending out the seventy-two. Then a few thousand at Pentecost. But by 300 AD, in a Roman Empire of around 60+ million, Christians comprised 10% of the population. That's thirteen men to over 6,000,000 Christians. By 350 AD, the Roman Empire was 56% Christian (article, and this follow-up by pbs.org)! But sixty pounds of flour isn't just for the person baking it - no one can eat 60 loaves of bread - at least no average person! This amount of bread would feed a small neighborhood! And the mustard tree line mentions 'the birds perched in it' (referencing Ezekiel 17:23, 31:6 and Daniel 4:12, 21). 'The birds' symbolize the nations. God's original call to Abraham is found in Genesis 12... 

2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” 

The Kingdom of God begins small, like a seed, but grows large and blesses those around you! Feeds others. They nest in it. (watch this version of "Bless Me" recorded in Everglades Correctional Institution! There's something deeply moving watching inmates sing "Bless me so that everyone around me can everything they need." I just watched it again - so good!)

The Kingdom of God also births new life. The seed turns into a tree; the yeast leavens the whole batch, changing the chemical composition of the existing flour (pretty interesting google rabbit hole if you're interested). The Bible, over and over again, says that when we are in Christ, we are a new creation, given a new birth, not merely humans any longer. Just like a plant becoming an animal experiences a new level of life, or an animal becoming a human would... humans who are in Christ, who are experiencing the Kingdom of God are no longer merely human, but are on a higher level of existence, a new life! 

The last thing is that it brings internal change. The seed, alive with life, mixed into soil, teeming with organic matter, changes. The yeast, mixed into the flour, changes everything. The result of the Kingdom of God in your life brings change! It's likely hidden, or invisible to those around you... at least at first. Just like a mustard seed in the soil is literally hidden; or yeast mixed into flour can't really be 'seen' - but it brings about change. If you're walking with Christ, a citizen of the Kingdom of God, while you might not be able to pinpoint the first seed of the gospel in your life, you can likely point to the change that's taken place in you!