3 Feb 13: The Parables of the Kingdom and/ The Kindness and Severity of God

**Read Matthew 13:44-58 and Romans 11:22-27

I. The Parables of the Kingdom
- Matthew 13:44-58; In verses 44-52, Jesus taught his followers with parables once again.  In verses 44-46, He described the Kingdom of heaven like a treasure hidden in the field and like pearls.  People look for these and when they find these treasures, they gave everything for it.  When we seek the scriptures and the love of God and when we find it, we will know that this is better than anything we have here on earth.  Better than money, better than cars, better than IPads or IPhones, basically, better than everything!  When we seek God, we have to make a choice: to give up all the earthly and worldly things to follow the Lord and his way or to acquire earthly materials and live the life of the world.  This will be the difference of us getting our salvation from the grace of God.   We are blinded by all the treasures here on earth.  We are too busy seeking riches, intelligence, fame, and power that we forget to glorify and honor the creator of heaven and earth.  We start worshiping money and ourselves and become proud of all the accomplishments and the "wisdom" we received.  We tend to glorify ourselves and our "good luck" instead of thanking God for all the blessings that He has given us.  Remember in Jeremiah 9:23-24,

23 Thus says the Lord:
     “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
     Let not the mighty man glory in his might,
     Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;
     24 But let him who glories glory in this,
     That he understands and knows Me,
    That I am the Lord, exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.
     For in these I delight,” says the Lord. 

- In verses 47-52, Jesus also described the Kingdom as a dragnet, which fishermen used to catch fish.  When they pull the net, the fisherman will only pick and keep the good ones and throw back the bad ones.  This is the same for the Kingdom.  When judgment day comes, the angels of heaven will come to earth to separate the believers from the non-believers.  Those who gave everything in this world to follow Christ, our Lord, will have everlasting life and  those who rejected him and followed the world will be thrown into the furnace of fire.

- In verses 53-58, Jesus came back to his hometown of Nazareth and preached in Synagogues.  When His neighbors heard him teach, they started doubting Him and rejecting Him because they knew Him as their neighbor, the son of a carpenter, Joseph and his wife, Mary.  They brother of James, Joses, Simon, Judas, and a couple sisters, who were all just like them.  They started asking questions where He received the Wisdom of God and refused to believed that He is the son of God that was promised in the scriptures.  Sometimes we also have questions why the son of God had to come to us as a man to save us.  We are skeptics and unconvinced of the messiah.  Here's a story that my grandmother shared with us.  It is the story of The Man and the Birds.

"There is a man who was kind, loving, and caring for His family.  He was a good man but He doesn't believe in the story that God sent his son Jesus, as a man, for us to be saved from our sins.  One Christmas eve, He told his wife that He wasn't going to church with her and the kids because he felt like a hypocrite to sit there, not believing the message.  So he stayed in the house and waited for his family to come back.  After his family left for church, a snow storm came.  He was sitting on his chair, reading a newspaper when he heard a thud.  At first, he thought that it was just kids throwing snow balls.  Then he heard that thump again, and it kept going and going, so he decided to check it out.  When he opened his curtain, he saw a flock of birds huddled miserably in the snow.  They had been searching for a shelter and tried to fly through his large landscape window.  He could not leave the birds out there to freeze and die so he decided to try to get them to the barn where they would be warm.  So he got his coat, opened the barn doors wide open and turn on the light but the birds did not come.  He tried to lure them with bread crumbs making a trail from his house to the barn, but the birds just ignored him.  He tried shooing them to the barn, walking around and waving his hands, but the helpless birds just got scared and scattered in every direction except to the barn and its light.  Then he realized that the birds were afraid of them and said to himself, "if only I was a bird like them, then I can talk to them and tell them not to be scared and follow me to the warm barn.  I need to be one of them so they may hear me and understand me".  After he said this, he heard the church bell ring and then he realized that this is the same thing for Jesus Christ.  He then understood that Jesus came to earth as a man so we can hear Him and understand Him and hopefully follow Him to the warm barn, which is the Kingdom of Heaven." 

II. The Kindness and Severity of God
- In Romans 11:22-27, Paul told us that even though God has provided the Gentiles the same grace as the Jews, it does not mean that we have the freedom to commit sin and not honor Him and still receive salvation. If you are a true believer of God and a follower of Jesus Christ, you will love Him and obey Him. God has cutoff the original branch (some Jews) from the root and He will do the same thing to the new grafted branches (Gentiles) if we continue to disobey Him, reject Him and refuse to change our ways. But also remember that it is never too late to accept Jesus as our savior. Once we do this, and ask for repentance, God will forgive us, bless us, and with His grace, He will accept us in His family.

III. Proverbs for Today/6:27-35

27 Can a man take fire to his bosom,
And his clothes not be burned?
28 Can one walk on hot coals,
And his feet not be seared?
29 So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife;
Whoever touches her shall not be innocent.
30 People do not despise a thief
If he steals to satisfy himself when he is starving.
31 Yet when he is found, he must restore sevenfold;
He may have to give up all the substance of his house.
32 Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding;
He who does so destroys his own soul.
33 Wounds and dishonor he will get,
And his reproach will not be wiped away.
34 For jealousy is a husband’s fury;
Therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.
35 He will accept no recompense,
Nor will he be appeased though you give many gifts.

Additional Old Testament Reading:
Exodus 17:8-16, Exodus 18, Exodus 19:1-15, Psalms 27:7-14