Christianity is no big deal

He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed … (Luke 13:18-19).

Though He may be to you, Jesus was not a big deal when He first came to earth. Few really cared what Jesus was doing at the time and I submit that a relatively small percentage of the world’s population cares about Christ today. Christianity is no big deal in this present world.

But, it is no big deal, at least size wise. It is actually extremely small, like a mustard seed. The point is that the beginning of real Christianity is no big deal, but rather a very small seed, hardly noticed. But, when planted in good soil, its fruit is plain to see and beneficial to all.

The chief benefits are seed and shade. Mustard seeds grow and produce other mustard seeds, just like real Christians produce other Christians. Shade covers others with acts of love and kindness that Christians show to all people. Real Christianity is no big deal, but it does big things in and through those who have it and share it.

The seed is the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the only source of salvation for the soul. The vast majority of people in Jesus’ day did not see Him as the Messiah, the seed which produces the kingdom of God. He was no big deal. He is no big deal today to most people. But, is Jesus Christ a big deal to you?

If the mustard seed is the gospel of the kingdom, then the leaven is the power behind the gospel transformation that transports one into the kingdom of God. There is a difference between unleavened bread and leavened. The difference? Well, it would be the leaven, wouldn’t it? There is a difference between an unsaved person and a true Christian. The difference? Well, it would be the Holy Spirit, wouldn’t it?

This is no big deal in this present world, but it is the biggest transformation in the universe. The Holy Spirit takes the seed of the gospel and invisibly, but totally, transforms a person’s life. The Holy Spirit regenerates the heart of a human being and turns the world upside down, or right-side up, making a mere mortal a child of God.

Christianity is not merely believing in God or it would include almost the whole world. Christianity is not merely adhering to the social and moral teachings of Jesus Christ. Christianity is wrought in a wrestling match with the Holy Spirit of God. The Spirit fights against sin and selfishness, and with the seed of the gospel produces repentance and faith. The Spirit turns your life into something completely different, extravagantly better, enormously bigger than it would have been without Him.

Jesus preached this parable in response to questions, one of which was, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” Jesus’ answer was no big deal, at least not in terms of size or numbers or percentages. The kingdom, Jesus said, is found through the narrow door. It excludes those who allow other gods, material things or their own self to lord over their lives.

The kingdom of God is a very small group of souls who often go unnoticed or overlooked in this present life. How small? I do not know exactly. I do know that when before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the only people who were saved were Jews who faithfully committed to the covenant of grace as expressed by faith in God as known through the law, writings and prophets of Israel. That could not have exceeded a few percentage points of the world’s population. Old Covenant Judaism was not a big deal to most people on the planet at the time.

Neither is genuine, kingdom of God, New Testament Christianity. Even though a third of our world claims to be Christian, that number is largely nominal, with no noticeable disciplines, habits or lifestyles that differ from unbelievers. Less than a third of the third attend public worship with any regularity, less than that believe in the authority of Scripture, a smaller percentage still actually believes in the basics about Jesus’ deity, humanity and substitutionary atonement on the cross, and it is only a subset of those who have bent the knee to God the Father, accepted as Lord God the Son, and experienced regenerated by God the Holy Spirit.

This is why Christianity is no big deal, to the world. But what matters right now is whether or not Jesus Christ is a big deal to you.