Sermon: Small Beginnings

Scripture Text: Luke 13:1-10

Quotes for Reflection

J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Luke
With Christ nothing is impossible. He can soften hearts which seem as hard as the lowest millstone. He can bend stubborn wills which for eighteen years have been set on self-pleasing, on sin, and on the world. He can enable sinners who have been long poring over earthly things to look upward to heaven and see the kingdom of God. Nothing is too hard for the Lord. He can create, and transform, and renew, and break down, and build, and quicken with irresistible power. He lives who formed the world out of nothing, and He never changes.

Jonathan Rauch, Why Christianity Needs to Help Save Democracy (Econtalk Podcast 04.21.25)
Christianity is fundamentally a counter-cultural religion. It was born outside of the state. Jesus, of course, was a deeply counter-cultural teacher, counter to everything that Roman society around him taught. Christianity is at its best when it's counter-cultural.

N.T. Wright, Luke for Everyone
One action in one synagogue on one sabbath; what can this achieve? But when Jesus sows the seed of the kingdom, nobody knows what will result. Or the kingdom as a small helping of leaven, hidden apparently in the flour. It seems insignificant and ineffectual; but before long the whole mixture is leavened. One healing of one woman – but every time you break the satanic chains that have tied people up, another victory is won which will go on having repercussions.

Michael Card, Luke: The Gospel of Amazement
We are almost stunned by the simplicity of these parables. In our culture, unless you are a gardener or a baker, your imagination will probably not resonate with these simple images. But once you have planted a tiny seed and over time witnessed the enormous plant that grows from it, or once you have placed a small pinch of yeast in a large lump of dough and seen it rise and expand over the sides of the bowl—then you will begin to understand how a series of small encounters two thousand years ago between religious leaders and an obscure itinerant rabbi has resulted in a kingdom whose reign extends across the universe.

Application Questions

1. Where in your life do you feel bound or twisted this morning — and need to hear Jesus’s words, “You are freed”?

2. When have you experienced the small beginnings of faith that grew into something greater?

3. How can you trust God with one small counter-cultural act this week that, over time, could make a difference?