“Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea, Lord. ⁵² Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.”

We are familiar of chapter 13 that contains the so called “Kingdom Parables.” We can find lot of teaching within these parables about the Kingdom. However, we are going to study the last one that has been overlook mostly. The Parable we are going to study is the Parable of the Householder.

Now please notice in verse 51, “Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea, Lord.”

In Matthew 13:10-13, the disciples ask the Lord Jesus about the parables after His teaching of the first parable, the Sower and the Seed.

• To these disciples, these parables were given by the Lord to understand; but were unclear because it was given

in parabolic form. In the same chapter, the parable of the Sower and the Seed and the parable of the Wheat and the Tares were explained by the Lord Jesus to some people but it was not rightly understood by them.

• The Lord finishes His preaching with half of it in public and half of it in private, only for their ears. But notice the

Lord asks them a question “Have you understood all these things?” What is their answer? They say, “Yes”.

Regarding the disciples answer, the commentator Ronald N. Glass said that they were, “clearly giving themselves more credit than they deserved.” The other commentator also said, “I could almost accuse them of lying!”

• We can summed up the question and answer of the Lord and the disciples that these parables were for their

understanding. Jesus had a great purpose for them that is why the Lord expected them to understand his discourse.

• That purpose of the Lord extends to us. May we understand the purpose of discipleship:

I- THE MARK OF A DISCIPLE

What kind of disciple we ought to be.

A. The Disciple of the Savior

We are talking about the one who becomes a disciple.

Although this is not the usual word for disciple that we know it is a related word.

Since it was here in passive participle of the meaning “to make a disciple” therefore it means the one who has been a disciple. In our passage it talks about the disciple of the kingdom of heaven which often mentioned by the Lord and referred to His kingdom and thus described a disciple of the Savior Jesus Christ.

B. The Disciple that is called a Scribe

The disciple we’re talking about is the one which is also called a scribe.

The word scribe is used positively only here in our text in the whole New Testament.

As we know it usually refers to a type of Jewish scholars whom the Lord have encountered “scribes and Pharisees”.

These scribes spent most of their lives in studying the Torah which is the Law. According to Mark L. Bailey in his “The Parables of the Dragnet and of the Householder,” in Sirach 39:2-3 the scribes are to ‘seek out the wisdom of all the ancients’ and ‘penetrate the subtleties of parables.’”

When we apply the so called scribes to disciples, this will take duties enjoined of disciples like understanding the teaching of Christ, understanding the kingdom, and understanding the parables. This all requires diligent study.

Please listen when a believer began to take seriously about his or her Christian life, he or she got very active in sharing the gospel with a burning zeal to win souls and studying the Word of God. All her or his spare moments were spent in studying the Holy Bible.

Studying and searching the whole counsel of God is a wide-spread obligation that is expected. Remember as a disciple your life is not your own. You need to be a scribe of the Kingdom.

II- THE MINISTRY OF THE DISCIPLE

Now in our second point what is the kind of ministry we ought to have?

A. The Desired Scribe Ministry – to build themselves up for the Benefit of Other

Beyond being scholar of the Law, the scribe is a student at heart. Their studies are not focus for the benefit of themselves but in consideration for the sake of others.

B. The Described Scribe Ministry – compared to a householder responsibilities

The householder mentioned in our passage speaks about a house-master man, a ruler who holds absolute power of a house, one who is a chief of staff or in charge of a household.

Some responsibilities of the householder were described here by:

• A commentator Ronald N. Glass in his “The Parables of the Kingdom: A Paradigm for Consistent Dispensational

Hermeneutics,” 114, he said “Everyone who diligently studies the doctrine of the kingdom resembles the head of a household (oikodespotes) who, in preparing a banquet, not only uses fresh foods (such as meats and vegetables), but also aged foods (smoked meats, cheeses, and wines).”

The emphasis I want us to see here in our study of this parable is that the scribe of the kingdom is supposed to be busy for the welfare of others.

C. The Distributed Scribe Ministry – zealous in communicating instruction which he speaks

Now let us focus on the activity of the scribe disciple.

The scribe here is distributing the old and new to others. The word is literally to throw out or cast out.

Regarding the old and new things mentioned in our text, Criag S. in his commentary The IVP Bible background commentary : New Testament (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Mt 13.51–52, he said ““The image is that of a householder paying out old and new coins kept in a strongbox hidden in his home.”

We can see in Matthew 12:35 “A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.”

The point is the ministry of the scribe disciple indicating his zeal in communicating instruction and fullness out of which he speaks.

III- THE MIND OF THE DISCIPLE

Lastly, we need to know what type of a mind we need to develop.

A. The Suggested Explanation for the new and old things

It would be the Lord Jesus refers to the Old and New Testaments, the known and unknown teachings of hidden, mystery, and the Lord would even refer to the prophecies of the kingdom and the apostolic teaching of the kingdom.

B. The Strong Effort for spending time learning

The scribe must widely and intensely enough to study the Bible.

Therefore the disciple can’t know the old and new prophecies without effort. What can we expect from this scribe disciple to dispense of something if he won’t study the Bible.

If disciple don’t know what to say about the Lord and the Bible, the disciple need to spend some time learning.

There is a great expectation to all believers to grow in their abilities so they know how to instruct others about the Lord God and about the Holy Bible.

Hebrews 5:12 says, “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.”

Conclusion:

Now, we know that goal of discipleship is to help ourselves build up for the sake of instructing others.

As a disciple we ought to grow in knowledge of the kingdom instead of spending much time on television, clicking and browsing unnecessary site in our gadgets and even become busy about things that have no eternal value and don’t contribute to our spiritual needs.

We must grow in God’s grace so that we can bring forth the grace out of our treasures.