Matthew 13:31,32

THE TREE FROM THE SEED

‘The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed … so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.’

Matthew 13:31

The truth which our Lord teaches by this parable is that His Church should rise from a small beginning and grow and spread gradually like some vast tree from a very small seed.

I. The history of the Church.—And so it has ever been in the history of the Church. Our Lord Himself is the seed. In that little Babe who lay in Mary’s arms the whole Church was contained, as the great spreading oak is hidden at first in the little acorn. He chose His twelve apostles, and that little handful of missionaries went forth and boldly preached the Gospel. In one land after another, our own among the rest, a little band of earnest missionaries has raised the standard of the Cross and preached the Gospel of the Kingdom, and, slowly but surely, a branch of the Christian Church has grown and put forth leaves and borne fruit, until it has overshadowed the land. And this work is going on now.

II. Our responsibility.—In India, in Africa, in all parts of the world, the false systems of heathenism are crumbling into decay, and surely, if slowly, the Christian Faith is taking root and spreading. If we will not put forth a hand to help it forward or breathe a prayer for its success, Christ can do without our aid, His kingdom must come. But if we remain inactive, uninterested, lookers-on, our sin is great and great is our loss. As Christians, we are bound to help on the work.

(a) By giving ourselves to labour in some part of the Mission Field.

(b) By our alms and prayers.

III. The coming kingdom.—If we long for His speedy return, if our hearts’ prayer is, ‘Come quickly, Lord Jesus,’ let us, remembering that He said, ‘The Gospel must first be published among all nations,’ pray and work, each according to the ability which God giveth, that the good seed may be sown in all lands, and grown and spread, until ‘a little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation,’ and the earth be ‘full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.’

The Rev. J. E. Vernon.

Illustration

‘A very striking sight often meet the eye of a traveller in India, which beautifully illustrates this growth of the Kingdom of Christ and overthrow of the errors of heathenism. Out of the roof of an ancient temple is seen growing a great tree. It is curious to see it spreading and flourishing with nothing but the stones, as it seems, to subsist upon. How could it have come there? A breath of wind or a little bird has at some time deposited a living seed on the dome of the idol’s temple; the dust which has been collecting for centuries in the chinks and crevices of the roof has given it soil; the silent dews or the pouring rains, together with the warm rays of the sun, have caused it to sprout. By and by a shoot has appeared, but so small as hardly to be noticeable; months pass by; all the while the roots have been twining themselves in and out among the stones. At length the heathen priests find out the growing mischief. They climb up and try to root it out, but it is too late; they cut down the tree level with the stone; but it is of no use,—the roots are there still. In a few weeks the tree appears again. It is a hopeless case: the priests feel it to be so, they are obliged to let the evil go on, assured of what the upshot must be—the dead temple must yield to the living tree.’

(SECOND OUTLINE)

LIFE IN THE SEED

Here are two objects: a very minute seed and a very large plant. We may apply the parable to—

I. The religion of Christ.—Its beginning was very small. There were two disciples of St. John the Baptist, and one of the two brought another to Christ, and then Jesus finds Philip, and Philip finds Nathanael, and so the Kingdom grew.

II. Any Christian enterprise.—Sometimes a tiny seed grows to a forest. ‘There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon’ (Psalms 72:16).

III. The Divine life in the soul.—Be thankful for good desires: dead souls have no desires after Christ. Be thankful if only you desire to fear His Name (Nehemiah 1:11), and be assured that He who has begun a good work in you will perform it to the day of Jesus Christ (Php_1:6).

—The Rev. F. Harper.

Illustration

‘How faint and feeble life may be! There is a child just taken out of the water—drowned. She is thought by all bystanders to be dead; they all say, “She is dead!” And as the eyes do not see, as the ears do not hear, as the heart’s beat cannot be felt, as the form is so still and ghastly, you might well suppose that life had flown. But, see! there is the faintest possible quiver of the lip—so faint that none have seen it but that anguish-stricken, quick-eyed mother! Precious sign; it means life! So there may be in your soul just a little quiver, just a faint pulsation of love to Christ, just a dawning interest in things Divine. Do not think little of it. Count it, rather, inestimable treasure. It is a germ of infinite potentiality; it is the minute seed of Life Eternal.’