Matthew | The Purpose of the Parables | Week 28

Pastor Joel opens in Matthew 13, setting the scene of Jesus teaching massive crowds from a boat, using parables to describe the kingdom of heaven. This was the same day Jesus had clashed with the Pharisees — men who were literally lecturing the one who gave them the law. Rather than the military takeover the people were expecting, Jesus was revealing a kingdom that comes first in grace, and later in glory. The secret wasn't that a Messiah was coming — everyone knew that. The secret was the kind of king he would be: one who conquers not through military victory, but through a sacrificial death on a cross.

Pastor Joel walks through four key questions: What is a parable? How do we understand them? Why did Jesus use them? And what is the kingdom of heaven? A parable is simply a story that illustrates a spiritual truth, and understanding them well requires reading them from the perspective of a first-century, Near Eastern Jewish hearer. Jesus used parables for two purposes: to reveal truth to those with soft, open hearts, and to conceal truth from those who had already seen the miracles and heard the teaching — yet still hardened their hearts in rejection. The kingdom of heaven, Pastor Joel reminds us, is God's rule and reign in Jesus Christ, and it is both a present reality and a coming one. As Matthew 6:33 says, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

🔗 CONNECT WITH US:
Instagram
Facebook
Give Online

📍 Visit Us:
Community of Grace
4343 South Flanders St. Centennial, CO 80015
Service Times: 10am