Luke 13:20-21 “Again he asked, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.”
What is the kingdom of God like? Here it is described as a yeast that works itself into all of the dough. What this seems to be speaking about is influence. When we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness this godly influence will eventually spread through the culture. If this is not happening, perhaps it is because we are not seeking the kingdom of God the way we should with all of our heart, mind and soul.
We are told in Luke 6:40 “A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.”
In other words, we produce what we are. Seldom will we raise our disciple above ourselves. This is true with children as well. How often I have heard someone say that he will not be like his father, but others close to him see how much like his father he has already become.
It would seem that the type of influence we have is brought about by our thinking. So true it is that how we think in our heart so shall we be.
Proverbs 23:7 “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” (KJV)
If our perspective on life is off so will be our influence off. For example, I think of C.S. Lewis who has had and still does have tremendous influence through his life as well as his writings. What gave him this influence? Was it his ability to take complex matters and put them into simple English? How true it is that to understand complex matters is one thing, but to put them down into something understandable is something else. C.S. Lewis had tremendous influence in this regard.
We know that all scholarship proceeds from some kind of worldview (the lens by which we view all of life) and C.S. Lewis believed in the Christian worldview and not the inferior worldview of secularism. One of the problems that we face in the Western World is that we get intimidated by those who hold a secular worldview compared to our biblical worldview. This, I believe, is one of the main tactics of the enemy today: intimidation and confusion.
Yet we see that our Christian worldview is the only one that answers the perplexing questions that we have in the world today. Where did this universe come from? Why is the world in such a mess? What is the solution? These are some of the questions that come out, not only here in the Western World, but throughout the world.
The only reasonable answer to these questions is the biblical worldview. God created the universe. Sin: man going his way and not God’s way, brought in the confusion and mess, but Christ is the answer. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (KJV)
The secularist asks where is God or where did God come from? We know that the God of the Bible is not affected by time, space or matter, and if He is – then He is not God.
Like someone said: “Time, space and matter is what we call a continuum, because they would have to come into existence at the same instant. If there was matter, but no space where would you put it? If there was matter and space, but no time when would you put it? Time, space and matter would have to come into existence simultaneously. The Bible answers that in ten words: In the beginning (time) God created the heavens (space) and the earth (matter). Genesis 1:1
Here we have the trinity of trinity. Time is past, present and future; space has length, width, breadth and space has solid, liquid, gas, you have a trinity of trinities created instantaneously. The God who created them has to be outside of them. If He is limited by time He is not God. He is outside of the universe. He is above it, beyond it, through it, He is unaffected by it. The idea that a spiritual force cannot have any effect on a material body then you would have to explain things like emotions, love, hatred, envy, jealousy and rationality. If your brain is only chemicals that are formed over billions of years then how can you trust your own reasoning process of the thought that you think?
The question: where is God and where did God come from is assuming a limited God and that is the problem of those who ask the question.”
God, whom I worship, is not limited by time, space or matter, but if I could fit the infinite God into my three-pound brain then He would not be worth worshipping. So, the Christian worldview answers the questions that plague mankind.
Paul, speaking to Timothy a young man, and what we would call today a “millennial” said that he ought to study to show himself approved of God. “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15