The Day of Small Things

Father, we confess that sometimes because the things that you offer for us seem very small,

that we don't think they're very powerful or very important, and we just sort of disregard them.

Father, we confess that this is a mistake on our part.

We ask, Father, that you help us not to despise the small things that you offer and the small things that you give us,

but to recognize them, Father, as means of grace that will grow and flourish into something, well, glorious.

We ask, Father, that your Holy Spirit would prepare our hearts and minds and lives to receive your word this morning.

And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

Thank you.

True or not, I mean, I have no idea that that, I guess, might or might not eventually come out.

But generally speaking, we don't like the idea that we can be under surveillance all of the time.

If you read, if you see a movie where there is people are always under surveillance,

generally speaking, we see that as an evil thing.

If we read a novel that has somebody always under surveillance,

we tend to see that as an evil thing, not as a good thing.

Occasionally we might see it as a good thing.

But generally, if we have a society where everything is being observed by somebody all of the time,

we find that as going against our rights, the dignity of us as a human being.

So there's a bit of a puzzle.

I don't know how many of you are paying very close attention.

I'm not judging or anything like that.

But in the gospel text, which I just read, it seemed to say that God keeps us under constant surveillance.

So the question is, why is it that it's bad for the state but good for God?

And why is it that Christians actually would even, like, why would we even want a God that constantly keeps us under surveillance?

So we're going to look at this.

And actually, it might sound like a very, very oppressive idea.

And a lot of us resent this idea and hope it's not true.

But actually, if we press into it and look at how it's talked about, it's actually profoundly good news.

So if you take your Bibles and turn with me to Mark chapter 4, verse 21, we'll look at this and other ideas connected to it.

Mark 4:21

If you're online with us for the first time, we preach through books of the Bible and we're going through the book of Mark.

Sort of we're calling the series Jesus is King with a bit of a nod to Kanye West.

And so what's just gone on before this is Jesus has sort of talked about two things.

One of them is, why is it that God is sort of a, both reveals himself but is also hidden, which I talked about more last week.

I'll talk about it a little bit today.

And a famous parable in Christian circles called the parable of the sower.

And that's what's just happened.

And now the story continues with verse 21.

And it goes like this.

And Jesus said to them, actually, what I should just back up and say, what we're going to get today is we're going to look like at a couple of, in a sense, sayings or proverbs or aphorisms.

And then two parables.

So these are a couple of sort of like proverbs or sayings that comes first.

Verse 21.

Now just pause because it's going to continue.

The rest of the sort of the insight about that's going to continue.

Generally speaking, the Bible is translated very, very well into English.

But sometimes, some of you here, I know there's at least one person in the room who knows four languages.

Many of you know two or three.

And you know that sometimes when you translate from one language into another, there's a bit of a problem sometimes that the sense of the original doesn't translate very well into the second language.

And this is one of those verses where it is.

And so I'm going to mention it because it's sort of like what's translated is good, but it's actually even more powerful if you hear it in the literal sense.

And what and the issue is, is that in the original language, sorry, a bit of a grammar moment.

But in the original language, in the text, if you look at the text again, is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket or under a bed and not on a stand.

And in the text, it's talking about an object and somebody or something is, somebody is bringing the lamp in and all.

But in the original language, the lamp is the subject.

And on top of that, in the original language, the grammar implies that the lamp is a person, not an object.

And so it would really be better if it's translated.

So more literally, it says this.

Does the lamp come in in order that it might be placed under the bowl or under the bed?

Does the lamp come in in order, and it should really almost be in order that he might be placed under the bowl or under the bed?

And you can see how that's sort of just a bit awkward in English.

But that's what it's actually saying.

And so that's the image.

It's actually, for those of you who know the Bible at all well, it's very similar in John chapter 1, 1 to 14.

John 1 · chapter mention

And we've been at church over Christmas, and it talks about the light.

You know, the word is the light, and the light comes into the world, and the light, the darkness tries to overcome it, but the light, you know, reveals.

It's the same idea as John chapter 1, 1 to 14, only put in the words of this little aphorism or proverb.

John 1 · chapter mention

So, you know, so does the lamp come in in order to be put under a basket or under a bed and not on a stand?

And then it goes on, for nothing, verse 22, 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.

So anything hidden except to be made manifest, in other words, to be able to be seen, and any secret will eventually come to light.

And you can see that this, well, here, actually, if you could put up the first point, here's the first point.

The true and greater light has been revealed, will be fully revealed, and will fully reveal all things.

The true and greater light has been revealed, that's Jesus, will be fully revealed, that is, when he comes again in glory, or when we see him face to face.

And will fully reveal all things.

So, I mean, that's, in fact, actually, this is one of the doctrines, one of the things which separates the Christian worldview from basically how most Canadians think.

This idea that there's absolutely nothing, that every second, every thought, every imagination, every desire, every word, every action is seen by God, with no exception.

There's absolutely nothing which is secret.

He sees all.

Now, for most Canadians, and probably for most of us, I mean, part of the problem for us as Christians is we don't really live most of our lives as if that's the case.

We often still function as if we get away with keeping things hidden from God, that we can do things in secret without him seeing it.

But this is a Christian doctrine, and I have to confess, it does sound like a very frightening doctrine or idea, and something which almost seems a bit oppressive.

And if, in fact, the gospel just ended with this, we'd probably have, you know, probably would be pretty reasonable to find this emotionally repulsive and not very helpful.

But Jesus says this in the context of this larger story of the gospel.

And what we see by the time the gospel comes to an end is that the light, the true and greater light, dies for human beings like you and me, who are a mixture of light and darkness.

That's one of the ways that the gospel of John describes us, that every human being is a mixture of light and darkness.

Some human beings, you can see a fair amount of light, some very little.

Some human beings, you see an awful lot of darkness and some very little.

I mean, the Bible also say that ultimately no light that we see in any human being ultimately comes from the human being.

It comes from God.

Human beings are mirrors in that sense.

We reflect back the light of God rather than our source of light ourselves.

But the Bible ends up finishing the story by making it very, very clear that when you come to Mark chapter 15, what you see is the darkness swallowing the light.

Mark 15 · chapter mention

And in a sense, what you see there is that lies have swallowed the light.

Injustice has swallowed the light.

Envy and pride and greed has swallowed the light.

Insecurity has swallowed the light.

Imperial power has swallowed the light.

Religion has swallowed the light.

And chapter 15 ends with the darkness having swallowed the light.

But chapter 16 reveals this mystery.

That out of God's love for us, that the true light that sees every single thing there is to know about human beings,

willingly, even though the true light knew every single thing about you,

including the darkness in your life that you have not yet come to recognize or understand,

that seeing all of that, the true light died for you.

And the true light was swallowed with darkness so that the true light could swallow darkness.

That that's how the true light defeats the darkness.

So it looks at the end of chapter 15 as if the darkness has swallowed the true light.

But by the end of chapter 16, you understand that the true light was swallowed by darkness

so that the true light could swallow darkness.

And that in fact, this is actually the most profound description of love.

This is actually the most profound description of love.

We all keep things away from other people.

I mean, we all don't express all of our thoughts and judgments and prejudices and hatreds and pettiness

and greed and envy.

Like we keep that from them.

We keep how we maybe are in a crowd and we evaluate the type of shoes that people have

or how their clothes match or whether they're well-groomed

or whether they're good-looking or bad-looking

or whether they look stupid or foolish.

Like we hide those things all of the time.

And we worry if all of a sudden, if even for a day,

our loved one, our family member or our close friends,

we're actually able to be privy, actually we're able to understand and hear

every one of our judgments that we make throughout the day

where we all actually probably would believe

that we wouldn't have a friend at the end of the day

and that our marriage might be at an end at the end of the day,

that our family would have broken up at the end of the day,

that we sort of believe that to maintain love,

we have to maintain privacy and secrecy.

In fact, that's not even counting the fact that some of us

just so easily and effortlessly make judgments about people

that we don't even recognize that we're doing it.

We don't even recognize the fact that we go through the mall

or go through some other place,

making judgment after judgment after judgment.

And we've just become so part of our inner life

that we don't realize that we're doing it.

And it might be that all of a sudden,

even me saying something like this, we realize,

well, actually I do do that.

And if even for only 24 hours that was completely revealed to our loved ones,

they wouldn't love us.

Because we see that our evil, our darkness, is a barrier to love.

And so this small little saying of Jesus,

obviously referring to himself,

actually shows like a type of love that's almost incomprehensible to us.

like a perfect love,

like a love that would actually die for the darkness,

yet has a perfect, clear-sighted, clear-eyed knowledge

of the darkness in each one of us.

And yet he chose to die for you and for me.

Now,

some of us might actually say,

well, there's a bit of a pushback to all of this,

and say, well, okay, George, that's good, I guess.

But, George, don't you think there's something a little bit unfair

with how God,

I mean, on one level, yeah, that is really,

that is something,

that the light would die for the darkness,

and that the true light would know every single thing

there is to know about you and me,

and yet still die.

But, George, don't you think it's,

like, don't you think it's a little bit unfair

that the darkness within us

is sort of evaluated by God's perfect standard?

Like, don't you think it's a little bit, George,

like God isn't giving you any opportunity to grow?

Like, you know, think about it, George.

If you put kids in grade one,

and you judge them by somebody who had,

you gave them a question

that would be on, like, a PhD exam,

that was the math test,

and if they couldn't pass a PhD-level math test,

I mean, not a PhD in, like, English or something,

a PhD in math,

if they had to pass that test,

that very, very high-level test,

that's not even perfect, but very high-level,

of course, all the kids in grade one are going to fail.

They're going to fail all the time.

They'd never get out of grade one.

Like, that seems almost unfair.

And that's why it's very interesting what Jesus,

it's almost as if he anticipates that type of a pushback

by the very next thing that he says,

which is actually quite remarkable.

And for those of you who really know the Bible well,

it's very similar to what Paul writes in Romans chapter 2.

Romans 2 · chapter mention

Look what he says next.

Verse 24.

Pay attention to what you hear.

And he said to them,

pay attention to what you hear.

In other words, just back up a little bit.

Basically, in the two verses,

23 and 24,

three times he tells you to hear.

So it would be as if,

I mean, I don't have a hearing aid in right now.

I have very little hearing in my right ear.

And in fact, it's a little bit distracting right now.

For some reason,

I have a very, very, very, very, very loud

ringing noise in my right ear.

Those of you who have hearing problems

are familiar with that,

and I don't have my hearing aid in,

which would sort of, you know, stop it.

But what the Bible is saying,

just because a person can put their hearing aid in

and their hearing aid's working

doesn't mean they listen.

So when it says hear,

it's meaning listen.

Okay?

And so he says that this is the third time.

And then what is it said?

So pay attention to what you hear.

The third time he says,

make sure you listen.

And here's what he says.

With the measure you use,

it will be measured to you,

and still more will be added to you.

I'll say it again.

With the measure you use,

it will be measured to you,

and still more will be added to you.

Now, this is a good translation,

although interestingly enough,

if you translate it very literally,

which you're going to see on the screen in a moment,

it actually makes it even simpler

and clearer to understand.

And then I'll read the next verse.

Literally it goes,

in whatever measure you measure,

it will be measured to you

and will be added to you.

In whatever measure you measure,

it will be measured to you

and will be added to you.

In other words,

whatever measure you use,

that's the measure God's going to use.

He's going to give that measure to you.

He's going to give it to you back.

There's a Jewish proverb

that developed a little bit after this

that's captured in ancient Jewish writings,

which helps to maybe make it

a little bit easier for us to understand.

And the Jewish proverb is,

in the pot in which you cook others,

you will be cooked.

In the pot in which you cook others,

you will be cooked.

So I'll say that again.

In the pot in which you cook others,

you will be cooked.

And then verse 25,

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,

which almost sounds like

it's a little bit unfair.

But here's what the text is saying,

which is a very, very remarkable thing.

And it points in this direction,

this constant direction

that only Christianity has,

that only the gospel has,

that just as God condescends

the true light,

the true and greater light,

for your good,

not for his own,

but for your good,

to deal with the darkness in you

that you cannot deal with for yourself,

the true and greater light

gets swallowed by darkness,

condescends to be swallowed by darkness.

We see even that this,

this principle of condescension

rooted in love and justice

even goes to how God judges.

If you could put up the point,

it goes like this.

The Lord God Almighty

can condescend to put you

in the same pot

that you put others in.

The Lord God Almighty

can condescend to put you

in the same pot

that you put others in.

So what does that mean?

That means this,

that it's not as if

God's going to say,

well, listen,

all grade ones have to pass,

grade one students

in their math tests

have to pass the same test

that a PhD,

doing a PhD in math,

has to pass

as part of the examinations

for him or her.

No, what it says here

is God says,

okay, I understand

that maybe the true light

on one level,

the true light

that sees everything truly,

that might be

a very high standard

and very intimidating for you.

It might even seem

as if that's a bit unfair

for me to judge you by this.

So what I'm going to do

is I'm just going to judge you

by the way you judge yourself.

No, so not the way

you judge yourself,

but by the way

you judge others.

So in a sense,

all I have to do

is say, okay,

well, how does George,

how does George

judge drivers?

Well, I'll just play back

George's judgments

on other drivers.

Okay?

And now we're going to

take a video

and watch George drive.

Okay?

I'm going to take

the way George judges

what people say

as to whether,

you know,

it's smart or dumb

or foolish.

And now we're going

to replay,

we got George's judgments,

now we're going to replay

what George says.

Now, unless you are

a raving narcissist,

this should worry you.

Because the fact of the matter

is we won't pass

our own moral judgments.

In other words,

it's not as if God will say,

well, we'll look at the pot

that you put people in

and boy,

after I've looked at George's life,

I don't have to put him

in that pot

because he never violates

his judgments

on other people.

No,

if God used that judgment,

I would be in the pot.

The pot that I cook others in,

I would be cooked in as well.

This is part of God's

great condescension.

It's part of what Paul

talks about in Romans 2.

And it shows,

in a sense,

the profound justice of God

that when we appear

before the judgment seat

of Christ,

that nobody will be able

to say they have an excuse.

In fact,

actually,

the flip side,

the profound knowledge

that God sees

each of us perfectly

is a profound comfort

for those of us

who are in Christ

when we come to him

in prayer.

Because,

you see,

the fact of the matter is

is that when we come

to confess our sins,

we don't have to try

to explain to God.

We don't have to give

excuses to God.

Because,

you see,

God sees you and me

perfectly,

and because he sees

you and me perfectly,

he already knows

the different things

that we might want

to say that,

you know,

might temper

the moral judgment.

He knows it better

than I do.

He knows it better

than you do.

He already,

in a sense,

applies it.

And yet,

at the same time,

we would stand

before God

and we would,

well,

literally,

it would be obvious

that we deserve

to be cooked

in lots of pots,

that we can't even

survive our own

moral judgments.

but some of you

might push it back

and say,

but George,

doesn't the text say,

like,

doesn't it almost seem

as if God adds

things to you?

Look what it says,

like in verse 25,

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.

Like,

George,

that doesn't seem fair.

And,

you know,

it just seems

as if God is like

all those people

in my life.

I get passed over,

I do all the hard work

and I get passed over

for the promotion

and somebody

who just doesn't

deserve it

gets the promotion

and it just seems

as if God

or fate

or karma

or whatever

just isn't really fair

and it keeps adding

things to me

that I,

you know,

it just,

like,

George,

that text

just doesn't seem

to be fair.

Well,

it actually is fair

and what it is

is it's deeply human.

In fact,

it really,

maybe one of the things

that we should be

starting to talk about

is that the only

true humanism

is Christianity.

Christianity is the true

and deep

and thick

humanism

because of the way

it portrays

us.

Like,

just take a step back

before I talk about this

a bit more directly,

but one of the things

that we have a problem

of in our culture

that's very unrecognized

by people,

like,

if you follow

the,

the,

what goes on

in movies

and in lots of novels

and what goes on

especially in academia

right now

and amongst

the academic elites

is there's two

very contradictory ideas

that are talked about

at the same time,

but because people

believe the contradictory

beliefs,

they don't recognize

them as contradictory.

They just don't recognize

that they're incoherent.

Well,

what do I mean by it?

Well,

on one hand,

you have all this theory,

whether it's critical race theory

or queer theory

or different other types

of theory

and in those types

of theory,

what you have

is you have

very,

very powerful

social forces

and human beings

are portrayed

as being essentially

passive

and formed

by these forces

that the color

of your skin

fundamentally determines

your destiny

and how other people

view you

and your prejudice

or your lack

of prejudice,

your accountability,

your lack

of accountability,

that human beings

are fundamentally

passive,

especially by these

categories of race

or sexuality,

that you're just

propelled into this

social thing

and you're just

almost like a

quirk that just

moves along

in the currents

of the culture

and that's just

the way things are.

And that's

what caused

lots of huge debates

in the United States,

not as many here

in Canada,

but that's actually

the way a lot

of elites

and a lot

of people

talk.

But on the other

hand,

you can have

somebody say that

and then 10 minutes

later talk

from a very,

very different

perspective

and the very

different perspective

is this,

which we're also

very familiar with.

Nobody can tell you

who you really are,

only you know

who you really are.

And it's incumbent

upon you to not only

figure out who you

really are in terms

of your desires,

but to pursue that.

You need to be authentic

and to need to be

authentic,

you need to be

autonomous,

you need to be not

to be under control

or the judgment

of any person,

you need to pursue,

you need to go

for that,

go for that,

and you can go

for that,

and you can actualize

that,

and people deserve

to applaud you

as you pursue

this thing

within yourself.

But if you think

about it for a second,

those are two

completely opposite

views of the person.

Two completely

opposite views

of the person.

And for people

who are completely

consumed by this,

the only reason

that never,

the incoherence

doesn't strike them

is because everybody

or many,

many people

talk in the same

categories,

but they're very,

very inconsistent.

What the Bible says

is something very

different.

If you could put it

up on the screen,

that would be

very helpful.

You are not

plastic,

you are not

passive,

and you are not

shielded from

the eyes of God,

but you are

created,

active,

and seen

by him.

You are

creative,

created,

active,

and seen

by him.

So human beings

are created

by the loving

triune God.

It means that we

have a particular

type of nature.

And part of that

particular nature

is that we are

within the concept

that we're

creatures,

not God.

Obviously,

that means we

can't just sort

of do anything,

but as part of

the fact that

we are created,

we are created

as active

creatures,

that human

beings have

direction

and momentum.

And that's

what's being

captured in

verse 25.

You think about

it for a second,

there's momentum.

You believe a

lie,

and you tell

a lie.

And when you

believe a lie

and tell a lie,

it is far easier

to believe another

lie,

and to tell

another lie.

And in fact,

when you tell a lie,

you often have to

tell other lies.

There's a momentum

to lying.

When you believe

a lie,

when you sort of

turn your mind

off and say,

well,

how can that

possibly be true?

But you realize

that if you

voice your

doubts

about that lie,

it's going to

cause harm to you,

and so you

believe the lie.

And once you

believe the lie,

it's far easier

to believe a

second lie.

And once you

believe that

second lie,

it's far easier

to believe a

third lie.

In fact,

part of what

makes human

beings human

beings is that

it's almost as

if in lots of

different areas

of our lives,

we're like a

snowball rolling

down a slope

that can gather

up more snow

as it goes.

And it's not

only in terms

of bad things,

but it's in

good things.

That when you

have the courage

to speak the

truth,

and then you

survive it,

it's easier to

speak the truth

a second time.

Or in love,

that when you

do something

which is

loving to

your family

members or

to your

friends or

to your

spouse or

to your

neighbors,

there's in a

sense a type

of momentum

to that love.

And so that's

what the Bible

is just saying.

The Bible is

saying here

something very,

very, very

human and

very, very

profound.

You are made

in the image

of God.

You have a

nature.

nature.

And part of

that nature

is to be

active,

not passive.

And because

you are a

creature created

in the image

of God,

God the

creator always

sees his

creature.

And that's

actually part

of the reason

why the

gospel provides

you with

profound hope.

If you put

up point

number four,

it is only

the person

and work

of the Lord

Jesus Christ

that can

give you

hope for

the new

life.

It is only

the person

and work

of the Lord

Jesus Christ

that can

give you

hope for

the new

life.

One of the

problems

that we

have with

religion

is that

in religion

you have

to try

to make

it look

like you're

a good

person.

And that

usually means

that we

have to

either tell

lies to

ourselves

about what

we're doing

or make

excuses for

ourselves

or act

very,

very aggressively

to others

or put

on fronts

to others

and it

always leads

to a great

deal of

insecurity

because

once again

unless you're

a raving

narcissist

who are

by almost

definition

profoundly

insecure

you realize

that you're

not quite

as holy

or good

as it

seems

that you

start to

become aware

of your

pride

or your

greed

or your

envy

or the

jealousy

that you

have for

others

or the

desire

for

rivalry

that you

have

for

others

but you

can't

let that

out

and you

can't

really

look at

it

because if

you do

you lose

it's sort

of shameful

you lose

your standing

before others

and you worry

that you lose

your standing

before God

and there's

another problem

in the religious

life or just

the human

life is that

what happens

when you realize

something about

your past

that five

years later

or ten years

later and

pardon my

language I'm

just going to

speak the way

many Canadians

do and all

of a sudden

you say oh

my God

I used to

do that to

my spouse

or oh

my good

gracious

I said

that to

my parents

that's what

I used to

do to

my parents

good

gracious

that's

actually

what I

used to

how I

used to

treat my

employees

five years

or ten

years

or twenty

years

or thirty

years

ago

and like

where do

you go

with that

and what

do you

do with

that

but you

see here's

the profound

difference

that the

gospel

makes

remember

that in

a sense

what happens

is that the

pot that you

cook others

in as you

develop more

moral clarity

it starts to

you start to

realize that

there's other

things that

you would have

that really

you hadn't

really realized

that that was

a judgment

you were making

upon other

people or that

what you were

doing was all

wrong and now

you realize it

was wrong and

it's five or

ten or twenty

years in the

past and of

course you can

do certain

types of

things like

make reparations

or apologize

you know many

years later but

at the end of

the day there's

still this

problem of

conscience but

the wonderful

thing about the

gospel is that

when Jesus died

for you on the

cross he knew

all of the

darkness in

your life

the darkness

that you discover

that was in

there that you

didn't realize it

was there a year

ago it was there

a year ago you

just didn't see

it but he saw

it when he died

for you

all of the

darkness in

your life he

saw all of it

every single

bit of darkness

he saw when he

died for you

like every

single bit

he saw when

he died for

you

and you see

that's

partially why

the gospel is

so different

than religion

and as the

gospel becomes

more real and

more precious to

you it really

does provide a

place that you

can start to

look at the

things in your

life that are

just wrong

that were just

wrong

without it

unmaking you

he always knew

you were proud

self-centered

greedy

glutton

filled with

lust

he knew that

about you when

he died

he knew your

prejudices when

he died for

you

it's a shock

to you but

it's not to

him

and so the

gospel both

provides you a

place where you

can begin to

look at your

life with

with honesty

and with

honesty not

where you have

to say well

that's you

know that the

fact that I

had those

prejudiced views

ten years ago

that's just no

no no no no no

no they were

wrong then

they were wrong

then you can

see the darkness

for darkness

and you can

repent

and ask

for the light

of Christ to

be even more

real and

powerful in

you to help

to put those

parts of

darkness in

you to

death

that they

not have

any part

in you

anymore

and you can

be just so

grateful that

Jesus knew

that about

you too

when he

died for

you

the darkness

that shocks

you now

is a

darkness he

saw

when he

died

on the

cross

for you

thinking

of you

just want

to wrap

it up

very closely

by looking

at the

two

parables

and

they go

like this

and

I'm going

to put

the point

up in

a moment

but for

some of

you who

are

Christians

for a

long

time

and

you're

familiar

with

Zechariah

4

do not

despise

the day

of small

things

that's

the way

to understand

these two

parables

do not

despise

the day

of small

things

verse

20

26

and

Jesus

said

the kingdom

of God

is as if

a man

should scatter

seed on

the ground

now

just

pause

it's going

to be

the same

type of

an image

of a

small

seed

just

think

about

what we

actually

wish

it

said

you see

from the

perspective

of the

world

what we

wish

we would

say

is

the kingdom

of God

is like

Mount

Everest

the kingdom

of God

is like

Niagara Falls

the kingdom

of God

is like

this

superhero

the kingdom

of God

is like

this

invincible

army

or this

invincible

sports

team

we want

to have

something

very

very

very

big

and

overwhelming

but

what

does

it

say

the

kingdom

of God

is as if

man

should

scatter

seed

on the

ground

little

tiny

seeds

scattered

in the

ground

verse

27

he sleeps

and rises

night

and day

and notice

there that

little

Jewish

thing

Jewish

people

begin

their

day

at

sunset

we

begin

our

days

in a

sense

at

sunrise

they

begin

their

days

at

sunset

it's

sort

of

this

little

Jewish

thing

which

is

put

there

sort

of

a

very

interesting

idea

by the

way

we

in a

sense

view

that

our

day

begins

when

we're

active

and

after

we've

accomplished

all we

have to

accomplish

and we

sleep

almost

as if

sleep

is

sort

of

an

irrelevancy

and we

wish

those

of us

who are

workaholics

wish we

could get

rid of

it

but

for the

Jewish

people

the day

begins

with rest

and out

of rest

you act

anyway

sorry

that's a bit

of an

aside

so

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 knows

not how

the earth

produces

by itself

first the

blade

then the

ear

then the

full grown

grain in

the ear

but when

the grain

is ripe

it once

he puts

in the

sickle

because the

harvest

has come

it's

saying that

you know

just as in

a sense

it seems

like a

very small

thing

when you

ask Jesus

to come

into your

life

to be

your

savior

and your

lord

or you

recognize

that you've

asked Jesus

to be

your savior

and lord

you don't

really know

when it

began

but you

know

that it

happened

and

it seems

like a

very very

small

thing

yet that

small

apparent

thing

continues

to work

in your

life

and grows

and grows

and grows

and grows

without you

realizing how

it works

and for us

who are in

Christ the end

will be

the new

heaven and

the new

earth

seeing Christ

as he is

and being

like him

or

reading the

bible seems

like such a

small thing

and let me

guarantee you

it is very

easy for an

apparently clever

person with

a high

IQ to

make the

bible look

completely

and utterly

ridiculous

and it

seems so

completely

powerless

and weak

and helpless

yet the

means of

grace are

such that

when we

read the

bible and

we hear

it

that's what

he asks us

to do

read my

word

hear my

word

hear my

word

listen to

it

yes I

know it's

small

yes I

know it

doesn't seem

like it's as

powerful as

learning some

other massive

spiritual

technique or

exercise program

or having all

sorts of money

I know it

seems very

weak and

inconsequential

but just

trust me on

the means of

grace

and say that

prayer

forgive that

person

read the

bible

be in part of

a small group

a tiny part of

your whole week

where you open

the word with

other people

seeking to

follow Jesus

yes I know it

seems small

and doesn't

seem very

powerful like

it'll accomplish

much but

God's the

one who

does the

work of

building

it's a

small means

of grace

where God

does all

the work

look at

verse 30

and he

said with

what can

we compare

the kingdom

of God

or what

parable

shall we

use for

it

it is

like a

grain

of mustard

seed

which when

sown on

the ground

is the

smallest of

all the

seeds on

earth

yet when

it's

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

now just

a pause

here

the mustard

seed image

is a

proverbial

saying

what's a

proverbial

saying

we're familiar

with

proverbial

sayings

garbage

in

garbage

out

now garbage

in garbage

out isn't

literally

true but we

know what it

means right

with statistics

and stuff like

garbage in

garbage out

there's a whole

range of

proverbial

sayings

and in

Jesus'

time the

idea of the

smallness of

the mustard

seed and

the bigness

of the result

was a

proverbial

saying

he wasn't

making a

scientific

saying but

a proverbial

saying and

it's the same

type of thing

this in fact if you

could put up the

point that would be

great do not

despise the day of

small things trust his

grace and the means

of grace do not

despise the day of

small things trust his

grace and the means

of grace that just

as in a sense a

small thing like

hearing the bible

taking some time

every day to hear

the bible and to

listen to the bible

and you put it

away and well it

hasn't changed my

emotions it hasn't

put extra money in

my bank it hasn't

added five pounds of

muscle or taken

away three pounds of

fat or added two

inches to my height

or taken two inches

away from my height

it doesn't seem like

it's very powerful

but Jesus is saying

don't despise the day

of small things like

taking me into your

life seems like a

very small thing but

it ends in glory

and you read my

word out of obedience

and listen to it

and the work that I

do in you that's

small and unnoticeable

almost like planting

a seed in a garden

and the next day it

looks like nothing's

happened and the day

after and the day

after and the day

after but eventually

if you wait over time

and almost imperceptible

in the change something

quite remarkable happens

and this other image

here is the same type

of an image of not

only is it just like

the plant that grows

but it's something

big that comes that's

not only good for you

but good for the world

you want to know a

simple thing that I've

just come across

that when people despise

the Bible and they

worry and they make

claims about how the

Bible has been

mistranslated from

mistranslated

mistranslated

here's a thing for you

just to say to them

do you believe that

when you read Plato

or Socrates or

Aristotle you're really

reading what they say

when you read the

histories of Rome

do you believe that

fundamentally they're

correct and most

people will say yes

they do

well how is it that we

have any of those

writings

I can tell you how

we have those writings

it's because Christian

monks translated them

the same trans Christian

monks that translated

that not translated

that copied them

the same Christian

monks that copied

the Bible

so why is it that

you don't believe

in that you're

reading Plato

correctly but you do

you believe that

you're reading Plato

correctly but the

same monks

translate the Bible

and you don't think

they translated it

they copied that

correctly that like

that doesn't make

any sense

and the point I put

it on is this is

that is you see the

means of grace goes

and it brings flowers

it's out of the

Christian faith that

science developed

it's out of the

Christian faith that

human rights developed

it's out of the

Christian faith that

slavery began to be

seen as evil and

even though in our

day and age slavery

continues to make

comebacks that we

understand that

slavery is evil

it's from Christianity

that we understand

that human beings are

made in the image of

God and have a type

of integrity that is

a fruit of Christianity

it's it's out out of

out of the the fruit

of Christianity that we

understand that freedom

is important it's out

of freedom that you

have financial growth

and and markets and

and and other things

like that and and

and it's out of

Christianity that you

have a belief that

there's a concern for

the poor and for

hospitals and for

education and and and

all of that and it's

also in a sense things

that just the gospel

works in you and the

Bible works in you and

not only does it develop

into something big in

you that you will only

see when you appear

before Jesus at the end

of the end of the end

of the end but even

before we reach the end

of the end of the end

of the end

the birds can nest

and there's a

fruitfulness and a

blessing upon the whole

culture as we take the

grace of Christ and

receive the means of