The Surprising Nature of God's Kingdom: Mark 4:21-34

Please turn in your Bibles to Mark chapter 4, beginning to read of verse 21.

Mark 4 · chapter mention

You can find this text printed in your bulletin as well, if you'd like to follow along there.

We are in the sermon series on the Gospel of Mark.

Hear the Word of God.

I'm going to, before I read, just actually read a phrase from the text.

Pay attention to what you hear.

God's Word.

And Jesus said to them, Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed and not on a stand?

For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest, nor is anything secret except to come to light.

If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.

And he said to them, Pay attention to what you hear.

With the measure you use it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you.

For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

And he said, The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground.

He sleeps and rises night and day, and this and the seed sprouts and grows.

He knows not how.

The earth produces by itself first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.

And he said, With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable should we use for it?

It's like a grain of mustard seed, which when sown on the ground is the smallest of all the seeds on earth.

Yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants, and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.

With many such parables, he spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it.

He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples, he explained everything.

This is the reading of God's holy and powerful word.

Just ask the Spirit to do his work.

Father, we thank you for the sermon your son gave many years ago, and indeed it is still just as applicable today.

But we can't really understand it, and we can't desire it, and we can't be changed by it unless your spirit accompanies the preaching of your word.

Your word, your spirit, your people.

We come.

Help us to pay attention to what we hear, that we might be changed by your truth planted deep within us.

This we pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

This morning we're going to look at the surprising nature of God's kingdom.

Last week, Pastor Hoel started us in the fourth chapter of Mark.

And now Jesus is introducing this kingdom teaching in a different way than the previous three chapters.

He's going to speak very specifically about the nature of the kingdom of God.

Mark, perhaps the earliest gospel, getting much of his material from Peter firsthand.

Mark tells us the words of Jesus through Peter, and yet this parabolic teaching, so powerful and yet so mysterious in some ways, Jesus told about sixty parables.

And we're right in the smack tab in the middle of all of this parabolic teaching.

These parables about the kingdom of God.

The word parable means to throw alongside.

To throw alongside meaning like similes, metaphors, pictures from life, everyday common life, that describe the kingdom of God to help us better understand, to take in.

Theologian R.

T.

France says parables offer images and riddles which we must work out for ourselves if we are to understand and respond.

The teaching is not given on a plate to us, it demands perception and careful thought.

It challenges us to take appropriate action.

One commentator said they're like political cartoons.

It's an interesting thought.

You don't get it immediately when you look at the cartoon.

There's something to be contemplated.

What's the point?

What's the message trying to be conveyed?

A little bit like that.

Jesus explains them for us.

But it's important that we take them in.

This morning we're going to look at the power of the seed of God's word.

We're going to look at the purpose of the seed.

We're going to look at the potential of the seed to do its work in us.

First of all, the purpose of the seed, God's word.

The first paragraph, if you're following in the bulletin, you see three paragraphs.

The first paragraph, a lamp under a basket.

The purpose of this is to let the light shine in us and through us.

It's clear, Jesus is the sower, as we saw last week in the first 20 verses of the parable of the sower.

Jesus is the sower.

Anyone who proclaims the word of God is the sower.

Jesus in this passage is said to be the lamp.

Now, for some reason, we're not exactly sure why, the translators did not translate this verbatim.

Look at the verse, verse 21.

And Jesus said to them, Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket?

That's not what the Greek says.

Clearly.

The Greek uses the definite article, the lamp.

Many people think that the reason that this was translated this way is because it's translated that way in the other synoptic gospels.

Be that as it may, it's important that we understand that the reference here is to the lamp.

Well, who is the lamp?

Clearly, Jesus.

Jesus is the lamp.

Lamps aren't brought to us, are they?

He says, a lamp brought.

No, Jesus was brought to us.

Jesus is the light.

Jesus is the lamp.

This is interesting, again, because lamps do not come, rather, they are brought.

Jesus is the lamp, the person who brings the light.

The mission of Jesus is what he's talking about.

Jesus did not come to this earth to keep us in the darkness.

The darkness that we were all born into.

The darkness that we read about in Peter earlier this morning.

You don't hide a lamp under a bed, under a basket.

That's just plain silly, isn't it?

The purpose of the light is to shed light, to dispel the darkness in the room.

Just as Jesus came.

This is what he's saying in this first parable.

Jesus did not come to be hidden.

Jesus came to be brought out into the light.

What did he say in the Sermon on the Mount?

You are the light of the world.

What are the little children sing, this little light of mine?

What's the next line?

I'm going to let it shine.

That's why Jesus came.

Said he'd bring his light into our lives so that his light would shine through us to others.

Really, what Jesus is saying and getting across in this first paragraph of the first parable, is my teaching going deeper in you?

Are you being changed by my truth?

Or are you relatively unaffected by it?

Does it go in one ear and out the other?

Now we're going to unpack this a little bit more this morning, but that's essentially what he's saying in this parable.

Are others seeing Christ in us?

Or are we hiding him?

In a sense, it goes back to last week's message.

Are we hiding him because we're embarrassed?

We don't want to offend people in this modern age.

And so we don't speak as we ought to speak.

We don't live as we ought to live because we are more interested in conforming with the world.

You see, if you're more interested and you're more motivated to fit in with the world so that you don't stand out, the light's not getting in you.

Don't hide his light.

I like the way one commentator put it.

If you do, it would be like fixing a fabulous dinner and then scraping it into the garbage disposal.

What?

And instead of taking it to the table to feed the people at the table, you just dump it in the garbage disposal?

That's kind of like what Jesus is talking about.

We can do that with the words of Jesus, can't we?

Not really take them in, not really be changed by them.

Jesus says, don't do that.

Theologian J.C.

Ryle said this.

The gospel we possess was not given to us only to be admired, talked about, or even to be professed, but to be practiced.

It was not merely meant to reside in our minds, but to be seen in our lives.

We would agree with that, wouldn't we?

That's why he says, pay attention to what you hear.

Michael Wilcox says it is impossible to hide where one stands in relation to the gospel.

What is hidden will come out sooner or later.

That is, if it's really there inside of you.

The danger is the person who thinks that they have received Jesus, they think they've received the gospel, but they keep it hidden and nobody sees it.

The day will come when they realize it never was within them.

When it comes to God's word, when it comes to God's truth, we either use it or lose it.

That's the force of this parable.

And that ought to get our attention.

You either use it or you lose it.

Is it going deeper?

Is that seed going deeper and bearing fruit or not?

Those who listen and obey will be given a deeper understanding.

Isn't that what he said?

If his truth is being absorbed by your mind, changing your heart, informing your will and what you choose in life, Jesus says, I'll give you more light.

But if not, I will not give you more light.

Even the light that you think you have will disappear.

That is sobering.

Hear the words of Jesus.

What are you doing with His Word?

What am I doing with His Word?

Even the little understanding that many have today in churches all around the country, all around the world, even the little understanding of this book right now, if it's not going deeper and if it's not taking root, and if it's not bearing fruit, we'll be taken away.

We'll be taken away.

So it will be at the end as if you never had any of his truth.

Because you really didn't have any of his truth.

The words of Jesus.

It's not unlike learning a new language or practicing a musical instrument.

Use it.

Keep practicing, keep rehearsing.

If you put that instrument away and it just stays locked up in your closet forever, you're going to lose your chops.

It's not going to be the same.

Keep rehearsing, keep practicing, keep absorbing this word, Jesus says.

Listen to what he says.

This is what it says literally in the Greek.

The measure you measure will be measured to you.

The measure you measure will be measured to you.

Some people think he's talking about a basket, a measuring basket.

And he says, don't put that basket over your light.

Don't put a basket over your witness.

Don't put a basket over what he's doing through his word in your life.

Because if you do, that will be the same size basket, so to speak, over you.

The same basket that you might pull over your lamp will be put over you.

It's really sort of like the parable of the talents.

You remember that parable?

Don't take your talent and bury it in the ground.

Jesus says, take the talents and the gifts that God has given you and use them so that they might be a blessing to others.

You will grow and benefit from them yourself.

But oh, this application, there's so much application in this.

The measure you use will one day be measured to you.

If you sow sparingly in this world, if you sow sparingly in your life, you will reap sparingly.

And there's, again, there's so many applications of this.

One application that many people think of is their money, which is true.

That's a proper application, but it's not just your money.

If you give very meagerly, if you give very begrudgingly, you're going to receive likewise.

If you give generously, if you give because the gospel has come to you, you give out.

God will give much to you in many ways.

It's certainly like that in the application of your knowledge of God's word.

You see, if you're not really in your Bible, if you're not really studying your Bible, if you don't really care about what Jesus actually said, your heart is going to shrivel up.

Your heart is going to shrivel up until one point you're not going to really even know what being in love with Jesus is.

So that you will grow.

You will grow deeper in your love for Jesus.

You will grow deeper in your love for his kingdom.

You will grow deeper in your love for one another.

That's just the way it works.

Nothing, he says, will be kept secret.

Everything one day will be revealed by the light.

We don't have time to get into this in terms of the applications, but the Bible's very clear that one day everything that is done in secret will be known, revealed.

This ought to make us be quite reflective of our words and our actions and taking this truth of Jesus into our lives now.

This is the first parable.

The parable that we're talking about now of the seed.

The second parable is the power of the seed, verses 26 to 29.

And he said, The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground.

He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows.

He doesn't know how he does it.

The farmer doesn't cause the seed to sprout.

Now the farmer's involved in the process.

But this farmer doesn't just analyze it and snap his fingers, make it grow.

He goes to bed.

He wakes up the next day, and sometimes he's going to see some growth, and sometimes he's not going to see any growth.

Sometimes the growth is going to be imperceptible.

But he knows if he waters it and the sun shines upon it, he knows that it's going to grow.

And one day it's going to bear fruit.

Because it's the power of God.

This growth is a mystery.

Something is going on inside of us when we hear the word of God and respond.

Something is going on within us at times we're not even aware of.

Isn't that true?

Sometimes you just like you look at your own life or you look at somebody else's life and you think, wow.

They're changing.

They're growing.

Sometimes it takes a while.

The preaching of God's word.

Week in, week out.

Right now you're hearing the voice of God's word.

That seed is going in.

I thought about this a lot this week.

All the years I sat under my father's preaching.

All the years.

And I think some of you can identify with this.

And I look back as I became an adult.

I look back and I see how that seed was taking root in my heart and my mind.

And it was working in ways that I didn't understand.

It was working in ways that I didn't fully appreciate.

But now as I grow, I see, wow, that seed really did take root in my life.

Nothing was wasted.

May that encourage us.

Just as the farmer cannot cause the seed to grow, neither can we spiritually.

God gives the growth.

The earth, Jesus said, the earth produces by itself.

You see that phrase?

The earth produces by itself.

Literally, that word means automatically, without visible cause, apart from any human help.

There's only one other time this verb is used in the New Testament.

It's used in Acts chapter 12 when Peter escaped from prison.

Acts 12 · chapter mention

You may recall that night he was in prison and God delivered him before he would be killed.

And the verb says, the gate opened by itself.

Do you remember that?

The gate opened by itself.

This is the only other time that this verb is used in the New Testament.

All by itself.

This powerful seed is working, is growing.

We don't command it.

We don't make it.

Now there are certainly things that we must do in responsibility.

We must study the word.

We must read the word.

We must pray.

But only God actually makes it grow.

Again, I find that comforting that we serve a God who knows how and is able to take those tiny seeds that are planted at the earliest ages.

Mark, I thank you for your prayer for the children.

What's going on downstairs?

Right now, seeds are being planted downstairs.

Seeds are being planted in the nursery as these children are being Held and sung to and taught.

Seeds are being planted in the children's church right now.

Seeds are being planted in the sanctuary right now.

The seed of God's word is sown day after day, year after year, sometimes imperceptibly, and then it seems all of a sudden you look and there's a crop.

It's almost like you say, Well, where did that come from?

Well, God has been at work.

But you have to come to the table to be fed.

Where the seed is planted, that the seed does its work.

From the blade to the ear, Jesus said, to the full grain in the ear.

God alone is the author of spiritual growth who changes our hearts and grows the kingdom within us.

There is power in the seed.

Keep this seed near to your heart.

Keep this seed near to your mind.

Sow those seeds at home.

Sow those seeds at church, wherever you go, and watch what God will do.

There is power in the seed working in us during the preaching, after the sermon, throughout the week, over the years.

Don't be surprised by what this powerful seed can do in your life.

The power of the seed.

I don't know if you've ever had this thought.

I have.

Sometimes it's almost like I'm all can I even touch this?

This is a double-edged sword.

This is powerful.

And yet in home after home, even in our churches, people barely pick it up.

People barely read it.

That ought not to be, my friends.

Hold it gently.

Approach it reverently.

But understand that in the hands of a mighty God, in the hands of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God is the most powerful thing you will ever encounter.

This is the dunamis, the dynamite of God.

The potential of this seed.

It has much potential.

And Jesus said, with what can we compare the kingdom of God?

It's like a grain of a mustard seed.

The smallest of the seeds, yet when planted, grows up to be a great tree, ten, fifteen feet tall in Israel.

Jesus says, What can I compare the kingdom of God like?

It's when this seed is planted in your heart.

It's when this seed is planted in your church.

It's when this seed is planted in your neighborhood.

When this seed is planted in the world.

Watch what it's going to do as it grows and takes over.

Great results come from small beginnings.

By the time Jesus ascended to heaven, it's estimated there might have been 500 believers.

Within 40 years after his death, the Roman world was changed, turned upside down.

How do you explain that?

How do you explain that?

From these simple, uneducated disciples, apostles, all they had was Jesus and his word, and that's all they needed.

And it's still that way today.

But we do need Jesus and we do need his word.

And he continues to build his kingdom.

I'm so excited as we enter into this vision 2026.

What will God do in and through us, his family, in the next two years for his kingdom?

We're going to be talking about that.

We're going to be praying a lot about that.

What will he do through the building of his kingdom?

There's a little poem that says, large streams, little fountains flow, tall oaks from little acorns grow.

In the Old Testament, in the Old Testament, in the book of Ezekiel, we see that Jesus was forecast in Ezekiel chapter 17.

Ezekiel 17 · chapter mention

Listen to these words, this prophecy of what would happen one day, beginning in verse 22.

Thus says the Lord God, I myself will take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar and will set it out.

I will break off from the topmost of its young twigs, a tender one.

And I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain.

On the mountain height of Israel will I plant it, that it may bear branches and produce fruit and produce a noble cedar.

And under it will dwell every kind of bird.

In the shade of its branches, birds of every sort will nest.

He's talking about us from all nations.

All backgrounds.

No matter what your background is, when this seed is planted in you, you become part of this great mighty tree that's growing.

It's called a world tree.

And all the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord.

I bring low the high one and I make high the low one.

Dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish.

I am the Lord.

I have spoken, and I will do it.

This is the power.

This is the power of this seed.

Jesus is just, he's just fulfilling the Old Testament.

The book of Daniel, chapter 4, one other passage, verse 10.

Daniel 4 · chapter mention

Talking about this kingdom that's going to come, that's going to take over this world.

The visions of my head as I lay in bed were these.

I saw, behold, a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great.

The tree grew and became strong, and its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth.

Its leaves were beautiful and its fruit abundant, and it was food for all.

The beast of the field should will find shade under it, and the birds of the heavens live in its branches, and all flesh will be fed from it.

Do you know what Jesus is doing right now in building his kingdom?

He's doing far more than any of us can see.

Right now, in every continent where his word is proclaimed, he's building his kingdom.

If we could only see it, we would we might pass out.

If we could only see it, we would be just shocked.

To see what he's doing.

And that tree is going to continue to grow to the top of the earth, to the heavens.

And you're going to be part of it.

By the grace of God, you're part of it.

We're not living for our kingdom.

Get rid of your kingdom.

Your kingdom's not worth working for.

My kingdom is not worth living for.

We're learning how to say no to our kingdom.

We're learning how to say yes to his kingdom.

And what the privilege it is for us to be part of it.

King Jesus is building his kingdom.

And we get to be part of it.

Is that amazing?

The stone becomes a mountain so large it will fill the whole world.

The superlatives, the parables, the word pictures in the Bible, just heaped one upon the other.

That's why you need to be in your Bible.

That's why you need to be in your Bible.

That's why you need to come and hear preaching.

Otherwise, it could just fade off into like fade off somewhere where it's not even on your radar screen.

Don't let that happen.

Don't let this mighty kingdom work fade away because you're just so busy wrapped up in your kingdom.

Oh friends, the elders of this church are praying that God will reach every heart with a growing passion for the Lord Jesus Christ, with a growing love for the Word of God, that the kingdom will be built more and more inside of us.

So wherever you go, when you go to the workplace, when you go to the neighborhood, when you go to the gym, when you go back to your marriage, when you go back to your kids, it really is all about what Jesus is doing and building his kingdom.

I'm going to ask you to take your bulletin.

I'm going to ask you to stand.

And together we are going to pray the prayer that our Lord taught us.

These are not just words, okay?

This is not just something we recite.

By the work of the Spirit, this is something we believe.

This is something we pray together.

As Jesus taught us.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts.

And lead us into temptation.

But deliver us from evil.

For eye is the kingdom.