Mustard seed and leaven are such small things. Jesus uses these to illustrate how faith makes a difference. Slings and sticks and string and needles, loaves, fishes — small stuff made great by God serves Him and reveals His power. (Matthew 13:31-34)

Speaker: John Love
Sermon 12545
11:00 AM on 07/16/2023

P. Love – You can turn in your
Bible to Zechariah the 4th chapter. If you have a tough time finding the book of Zechariah, just
use your index in your Bible! Because there are times when you are hunting for those Old
Testament books that can be a little tough. It’s like my gosh. Amos, where did you go?

So, I wish I was out of this boot but it’s taking longer than expected, because it was a bad break. It wasn’t
just the bone and the leg was broken, but all of the ligaments and the tendons were torn. And
the doctor told me, he said I had a – he goes that was a bad break. And I knew it was bad. And
Chris Reagan can attest to this, because he was on the ice that night during the game.
But you know, your foot’s like this, right? But when this happened, my foot was like that. Yeah.
And I tried to bring it back, but I wouldn’t go. It stayed there. And the other players on the ice
were like, are you okay? And I just said, let’s get me to the hospital. And I probably, you know,
one of the gentlemen was like should we call an ambulance? I was like no, no.

I don’t want to wait for an ambulance. So, the guys helped me get that hockey gear off, and then they brought in a
wheelchair. And then Chris, God bless him, said I’ll drive you to the hospital. I said I can’t wait.
So, I said just put me in the wheelchair. Get me to my car, and I was able to jump in the driver’s
seat, and I droe myself to the hospital. I couldn’t wait another minute. I couldn’t wait another few
seconds, because the pain was so over the top. It probably was just adrenaline. I know it was
stupidity, but it was adrenaline too that uh, that got me there.

But slowly it’s healing, so praise God for that. I don’t know. I would love to say, yep, I cannot
wait. I have family members that you know knew what happened to me, and my father said
that’s it. Time to hang up your skates. But I have another brother who said as soon as you’re
able to, put them back on. So, I had various family members, and my wife said if you skate
again, I’ll divorce you! That might have been, that might have been the selling point there. But I
assured her when you do, I’ll keep in touch with you, and I’ll let you know – no! I didn’t say that! I
didn’t say that.

So, Zechariah. 4:10, And listen to this. The context of this passage is the original temple that
Solomon has built for the Lord where the people worshipped God has been destroyed. And now
the rebuilding process is underway many, many years later. And listen to these words. Who has
despised the day of small things? Small things. Little things. How important are they? Very
important. Very important.

I want to share this story with you. It was after the second world war. And that war devastated
the country of Germany. And the citizens in that country after the war and after the bombing was
completed were desperate for supplies, because they had been now cut off from the rest of the
civilized world. The Russians at that time at the end of the second world war had come in and
reduced all of the buildings in Berlin to rubble.And what they wanted to do was to destroy or
make the inhabitants of the city at that time just like the buildings, utterly and completely destroy
them.

So, they blockaded food supplies. No trucks. No trains. No boats. And without any kind of aid
coming the the Berliners at the end of the second world war, I mean the citizens they would
have starved to death. So, of course, the United States, God bless America, and the people of
the United Kingdom responded with what they called the 1948 airlift, right? And what they would
do is that they would fly in supplies. If the supplies were blockaded from trains and trucks and
boats, they found a way to drop supplies into the Berliners so they would not perish. It was
really very merciful.

But there was one particular pilot. His name was Mr. Gail Haverson. And he was 27 years old.
And one day he was there in Berlin and he was talking to about 30 kids. These kids were
without food. They were needy, but he marveled at the fact that they weren’t begging. They
weren’t complaining. And what he did that day is that he gave them some gum, chewing gum.
And they were so thankful.

They were so grateful. He said to them after they kind of lit up after he gave them some gum, he said I’m gonna, I’m gonna come back. He said but what I’m going to do is I’m gonna, I’m gonna find boxes, crates filled with candy and gum, and I’m gonna, I’m gonna drop them from the sky. And these kids said there’s a lot of planes dropping a lot of stuff
from the sky these days. How will we know it’s your candy and gum? And he said when I fly over
the city, I will wiggle my wings. And he did. And he dropped those supplies, and the kids would
run and open those crates and boxes and have all the candy and gum they could even hope for.
He said I’ll just kind of wiggle the wings.

In fact, candy fell from the sky to all these kids, and within weeks – listen to this – the Air Force,
the U.S. Air Force sanctioned this crusade. And they called it Operation Little Vittles. In other
words, this was sanctioned by the U.S. Air Force. And then he became known as Uncle Wiggle
Wings.

Now, the question I’ll ask is do little deeds make a big difference? They do. Halverson could tell
you that. Jesus himself could tell you that. Turn over to Matthew’s gospel chapter 13. And by the
way, there is the other side of the little thing that’s not so good. We’re not going to focus on that,
but think about it. There were times when Jesus said to his disciples when clearly there was a
lack of faith in their hearts, he would say things like oh ye of little faith. When the disciples were
left with a multitude of people after Jesus had preached and it was too late to send them home,
Jesus said to his disciples, feed them. And his disciples said, feed them?

There’s thousands of them. How will we feed them? And he said – well one of the disciples, I think it was Philip, said
you know we only have even – well, he counted the money. He said this is how much money we
would need to fidd this multitude. And then a boy had what? Five loaves and two fish, but Philip
saw that and says what is so little among so many? And the disciples did what we so often do.
They couned the people. They counted the money. They counted the fish. They counted the
loaves. But they did not count on Jesus. When we count on Jesus, that makes all the difference
in our lives.

And then of course there is this little member of the body, the tongue, in James chapter 3. And in
that passage, James writes and says be careful, because this little member can do megala
damage, right? We know that. We all know that. You know, the tongue is mighty, yes, but it can
also destroy people’s lives, can’t it? And I think that over the years in this ministry we’ve heard it
repeatedly. Ephesians 4:29, don’t let any corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but that
which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace to the hearers. Because when
grace is spoken from our lips, comes forth from our tongues, that tongue becomes a silver
tongue, a tongue of redemption.

A son of, a sign of hope in people’s lives. And it can become an instrument that God uses in a profound way. So, again, there’s, those are the little things that aren’t so good, but we’re talking about the little things that are very, very good.
So, Matthew 13 and Jesus spoke about two little things. And they were mustard seed and leaven.
And he said if you take the mustard seed, think about it’s size, right? It’s so small, but you know
it is so, so powerful when you stop and think about it. I believe it’s vs. 31-33. Mustard seed.
Small seed can produce such a great tree. A little leaven when you put it in the loaf, it can grow.
It can expand. It has a great impact. Mustard seeds. Leaven lumps. Both small but what each of
them produces is so profound.

These two illustrations that Jesus gave to us in the gospels, they remind us a lot about the
kinngdom of God, the kingdom of God that you and I live in, that we function in, that we reveal
our lives in. think about the gospel in the early days of its proclamation. What did it include? Just
a tiny manger in Bethlehem. What could come out of that? No one in Israel, no one in
Jerusalem even so much as lifted up a finger to go to seek out this king that was to be born in
Bethlehem of Judea. But we know what an impact that tiny manger has had on the world today.
Then, how about a crucified rabbi on a cross?

How are those things going to stack up against Jewish tradition, Greek philosophy? They look so foolish. They look so small. They’re so little. It’s not going to make a difference. It’s not going to make an impact. It’s kind of like the world
that we live in today. I mean, think about it. Do words like sin, redemption, salvation, do they
stand a chance in our culture today that’s dominated by humanism, moral relativism, woke mentality? Are these words gonna do anything? Do they have the power to change people’s
lives? We know the answer. The little things.

I think that God has a message for us with the little things that all of us are capable of doing in
our lives. And it’s this: keep doing those little things. Don’t ignore those little things. I bring this
up, because I know in a month or so we’ll be heading to Camp Life. But so many of you in the
Body of Christ throughout the decades have stepped up when we tell you there are needs, and
we have campers that are looking to go to camp. And some people have come up and have
said to me, you know, it’s not much. It’s just a little, but it might help. And you know what?

Every single time that you’ve given, it has helped. And you don’t know what that little has done. How
it’s impacted a young person’s life, because maybe the next Billy Graham will be at Camp Life
this summer. Maybe the next P. Schaller will sit around the campfire this summer. Maybe the
next P. Scibelli will take on his work in the continent of Africa when he can no longer travel there.
We don’t know. It’s the little things that can make such a difference.

I was thinking about it. Somebody mentioned it this morning to me at the end of the first service.
There was a little basketball player that comes right here from the Baltimore, Maryland area. His
name was Muggsy Bogues. He played down at Dunbar High School. He was five feet, three
inches tall, and he played among the giants of the NBA. I mean, I’ve seen images of him
standing up and guarding a seven footer and it’s almost like the seven footers are looking at him
like, why are you nibbling at my knees? Just so small. How can he make an impact? And yet, he
made a huge impact in the NBA. There isn’t a player that played during his era that if you asked
them, was he a great player?

They would say he was one of the toughest players I ever played
against. And I loved him because he was one of the only NBA players that looked up to me! Put
my arm around him, and he did play with us in New York for one season. I said, oh Muggsy, I
love taking pictures with you!

But the little things, right? Faithful to give, so that a camper can go to Camp Life. Faithful to
show up at church. Have you ever asked yourself that question? You know, I’ve been going to
church for 10, 20, 30, 50 years. And I just show up. And I’m just there. I wonder if it’s making any
difference. I wonder if there’s any impact with my seemingly, insignificant life. My, you know, the
fact that – yes, it makes a difference. It makes a difference when people see you, your
countenance, your faith, your love, the expression of your kindness to others. It makes a
difference.

Every single member in the Body of Christ has immense value and is so needed and
so necessary. So, we keep coming to church. We keep showing up for the class or for the Bible study or for
the rap session. We’re still available to preach to the lost. You ever wonder if you’re giving out
those gospel tracts, if that’s going to make a difference. It always makes a difference. You never
know who’s going to take that gospel tract. Some people even reluctantly, right? Okay. I’ll take
your gospel tract. They put it in their pocket. I mean, I did that once.

When someone first handed me a gospel tract, I didn’t read it at the moment. I just said, okay. I’ll take it. And I put it
in my pocket, and then when I had the opportuity, I took it out and it was one of those Chic
tracts, little booklet, and frankly speaking it scared the hell out of me! I think that, I know the title
of it was, “This Was Your Life.” And I was going to stand before God someday and everything I
had ever done would be revealed. And that alone shook me to the core of my being. I thought
oh my gosh! There’s got to be something to this. I wanted to throw the tract away. But I didn’t. I
kept it.

And I would read it almost every night before I go to bed. “This was Your Life.” I just knew
someday he’s going to catch up with me. I’m going to have to pay up. I don’t know who gave it
to me, but I’ll tell you something. It was powerful. Don’t underestimate sharing the gospel with a
co-worker, with a fellow student, with a neighbor, with someone that you love, with someone that
you’ve been sharing the gospel with maybe over the course of many years. Seemingly, they are
indifferent. They’re not interested, but that could all change when the Spirit of God opens their
eyes.

I read this story, and of course some of you remember Hurricane Katrina, right? I mean, the
devastating hurricane that just crippled so much of the southern part of our country. It’s a story
of one survivor. It was incredible. This guy, he swam out of the second story of his home during
Hurricane Katrina. And he had two children, two of his kids on his back as he swam just to
survive. He found safety on top of one of the tallest buildings in the neighborhood that that flood
had engulfed. Others joined him there. He wasn’t alone, and I think some of us will remember
the images of people on their roofs, right? You know, looking up for the helicopters waiting to be
rescued. Well, he was one of them. Others joined him there, and unfortunately they were there
for three days on that roof.

And then one person – at one point they looked around, and they realized, hey. Do you know
something? We’re on top of a church. And one of the other people on that said we’re on holy
ground. And then another person, he crawled up to the top of the steeple and he hugged it. And
listen to this. He said my grandparents helped to build this church. Do you think that his
grandparents built that church and thought, hey.

Someday when that hurricane comes, our grandchildren, our children, they’re gonna – they got this church is going to save them? No, maybe they thought that someone would come into that church, and they would be saved for the
Lord. But did they ever imagine that whatever their contribution might have been to help build
that church, that somebody would save their own family members?

The point is simple. Sometimes we can overlook the little things that we have a capacity to do
that God has called us to do and to do them faithfully. And as we do them faithfully, how mightily
God can use those little things in our lives. Don’t underestimate those little things. They have no
idea how God would use the work of their hands.

And I think we could say neither do we. We sometimes just can’t even imagine it, but just keep
doing those little things. Just do what you can do. Do what God has called you to do and see
what happens.

In Zechariah 4, again for 16 years the temple had laid in ruins. Sixteen years. They had abandoned
the work at one point. Why? Because of opposition. You know, resistance that came from
neighbors and people that were not thrilled or happy. Foreigners that did not want to see the
temple rebuilt. I think the biggest reason why they stopped building was because the work and
the job itself was just too overwhelming.

After all, think about this. To build the first temple, Solomon needed 70,000 carriers, 80,000
stone cutters, 3,300 foreman, and seven years to build the original temple. And now the children
of Israel are undertaking the rebuilding of the temple, and it’s just too overwhelming. And they’re
at that point in their lives when they’re saying, listen. We remember what the first temple was
like. We have seen the images. We know the stories of it. This is impossible. We’re wasting our
time. What difference will my contribution make? God’s answer? Despise not the day of small
beginnings. Despise not the day of small things. Why? Because God does big things with small
deeds.

Can you imagine David out in the fields watching his father’s sheep, and thinking to himself you
know what? What a waste of time out here. I mean, I could be doing something wonderful. I
would be doing something far greater than taking care of sheep and ending up at the end of the
day smelling like thee sheep. And yet when the bear comes, God delivers the bear into his
hands.

The lion comes, and God delivers the lion into his hands. And all of that was preparation
for the day when he would stand against the great Philistine champion Goliath. And who knows
if he, if he said, if he came home at the end of the day and said you know what, dad? Get
somebody else to watch your sheep. It’s too dangerous out there. There’s bears. There’s lions.
I’m risking my life. Get somebody else for that job. I’m tired of doing those insignificant little
things that don’t even make a real contribution to the significance of my life or this family’s life.
But he didn’t. He just did what God called him to do. If we will be faithful.

What does God say in Luke chapter 16:10? If we will be faithful in little things of life, God will
entrust us with greater things. If you are thrilled with speaking to your small, little group of
people. Maybe there is a handful of people in your Bible study or when you share a devotional
thought, and you think to yourself, ah. Where is this going to lead? Who knows? Maybe it will
lead to you preaching at crusades.

Maybe it will lead to you getting behind a pulpit and preaching to a church full of people. Be faithful in the little things, and watch how God will trust you with big things.
I mean, against a towering giant which is what David faced. What’s a small stone taken from a
brook going to do? It’s going to take down Goliath. It’s going to give you and I encouragement.
It’s going to give the church encouragement for centuries. In terms of when we face our giants,
we’re going to have courage. We’re going to have hope. We’re going to have what we need,
because we’re going to think back to what David did with just, you know, five smooth stones but
one of them took down a towering giant.

What about, what about giving? What about like we did this morning in our church service?
What about the tithes? Well, we think well, wealthy people. Sure. They can give. They can make
a big contribution to the local church. But what about a widow’s small coins? What kind of a
difference is that going to make? Jesus said it will make all the difference. In fact, he would even
say she has given more with her great needs than someone who has an accumulation of
wealth.

What about the powerful Roman rulers? The sophisticated priests of Christ’s day? How is he
going to combat that? What’s a cross suspended rabbi going to do against a powerful Roman
world and the Jewish priesthood. What’s it going to amount to? We know the answer. What
about a buried rabbi? How’s that going to work out? We know the answer, right? Mustard seed
power. Leaven lump power. Power over death. Power over our sin. That suspended rabbi on the
cross means you and I are no longer going to have to face a God of judgment, but now only a
God who plans to give us more grace.

That rabbit suspended on that cross, that means no one single sin will ever be brought up. Why? Because he promises your sins, your iniquities I will remember them no more. I have forsaken my Son, so that I will never have to forsake you when he went on that cross.

Sow the mustard seeds of your life. Sow the mustard seeds of your faith. Bring the leaven lump.
Make the phone call, right? Write the check. Whatever that means. Drop some gum from your
plane spiritually speaking. Change your world with one little thought, one little act, one little deed
at a time. It might not seem like much when you do it. But God says give me a chance to bless
it. Give me a chance to breathe on it. Give me those five loaves and two fishes, and I’ll feed a
multitude. Watch what I can do.

Moses, what did he have? He had a staff. I love that. All it was, I mean we call it a staff, but what
was it? It was a stick. Moses, what’s in your hand? It’s a stick. Would you be willing to give me
that stick? Would you lay it down before me? I would, Lord. Then, you take it up by faith and my
gosh did that stick have quite a history, right? Could strike a rock and water would come out.
Could hold it up over a Red Sea, and the children of Israel would pass through on dry ground.

I’ll tell you what. I would not miss with Moses’ stick. Pharaoh did, right? Pharaoh called in his
magicians. And when Moses cast his staff down before Pharaoh, it became a serpent. And
Pharaoh says, ah! I’ve got guys that can do that. He brought in Jannes and Jambres. The Bible
speaks about that. And he says, go ahead guys. Do your thing. And then they throw their staffs,
and their staffs become serpents. But Moses’ staff eats up their serpents! Pharaoh says, Moses,
where did you get that? It was God.

Moses had a stick. He had a staff. David had a sling. Samson had a jaw bone of an ass. Rehab
had a string that she suspended from her home. Mary had some ointment, and Jesus said
wherever the gospel is preached, you will hear about what she did. Aaron had a rod. Dorcas
had a needle. All were used by God amazingly.

The question this morning is simply this: what do you have? What’s in your hand? I’ll never
forget we did a chapel service one night with the NBA players in Madison Square Garden, and
they all came in. And one of them came in right off the court. He was warming up before the
game. He had a basketball in his hand. I said to him at one point during the little devotional
message, what’s in your hand? He said, it’s a basketball.

I said have you ever taken that basketball and laid it down before the Lord, because when you take it up again by faith, God can use the game of basketball to glorify his name. God can use that talent and that gift that you
have to preach his name around the globe. And he said to me afterwards, he said I never
thought about it that way. He says, but now I’m going to look at that basketball as a tool that
God has placed in my hand, and I’m not going to play that game the same way as I have before.
I’m going to play the game to the glory of God.

What’s in your hand? Some people ask this question. What’s in your wallet? Never mind that.
God is asking us, what’s in your heart? What do you love to do? What kind of ministry do you
want to have? How do you want to make an impact? How do you want to make a difference?
God inhabits the tiny seed. He empowers the tiny deed.

So, in closing, let’s do all the good we can. Divine good motivated by the Holy Spirit. Do all the
good we can by all the meas we can, and all the ways you can in all the places that you can at
all the times you can to all the people that you can as long as you can. And if will do that, again,
sometimes we have the misunderstanding in our minds it’s nothing. It doesn’t amount to much.
It’s not going to make a difference. It’s too small. It’s too little. God loves to use little things. He
loves to use people like us.

And I know in Luke 7, you know, Jesus spoke to Simon the Pharisee and he told that story. He
says you know, if you’re only forgiveen a little then you only love a little. Well, we don’t have to
worry about that, because I am certain that none of us in this chapel have been forgiven of just
a little! We have been forgiven of a lot, and because we have been forgiven of so much, we love
so much. And that empowers us to do the little things that he has called us to do in the most
profound way imaginable. Despise not the day of small beginnings. What a difference it’s going
to make not only in our lives but in the lives of those around us. Amen. Would you pray with me.

 

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