Christ and His Organic Church; Luke 13:18-21

Delivered during the Sunday Morning Worship Service, 2/25/2024. After miraculously healing a woman with a severely bent spine, Jesus launches into two parables describing the growth of the Kingdom of God. At first there seems to be no connection until we realize that Luke is moving us seamlessly from the "one" to the "many". The woman represents how one person enters the Kingdom, when Jesus sets her bent soul straight. The parables reveal that she is not an isolated incident but the way the Kingdom of God will grow-- emanating from a single SEED, like leaven in a lump of dough, the unbent soul will be replicated again and again until the Kingdom is like a great mustard tree organically unified in Christ. We will analyze these two parables closely, considering both their individual and expanded principles when the two are viewed in tandem. Ultimately we will realize how important the Kingdom essentials of "Christ and His Organic Church" are to the continuation and growth of the Kingdom of God as it exists on earth. For Christ is the One Seed and the Source of the Organic Unity of the church, and the Christians who make up this church are the change-agents-- continuing His work by sharing His Gospel and bearing much fruit for the Kingdom.