Little Light and Surprising Seeds

Hello, you're listening to Second City Sermons,

a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg.

This epiphany in Lent, we're back in the Gospels,

specifically the Gospel of Mark. We are seeing

the revelation of God in Jesus. Mark is showing

us the true King becomes a servant for us. He

says right at the heart, the Son of Man came

not to be served, but to serve and to give his

life as a ransom for many. And Mark is nearly

always asking his audience, what do you make

of that? So, what do you make of this good news?

We'd love to meet you and we hope you'll consider

coming and joining with us each Sunday morning

at 10 a .m. in the heart of Midtown Harrisburg.

You can find us online at secondcitychurch .org

and on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. We hope

you enjoy this sermon. God bless. Lord again

we ask that the words of my mouth and the meditations

of all of our hearts would be pleasing in your

sight that you would speak to us and that we

would bear fruit we ask this in Jesus name amen

all right I just heard that they have four hour

services. Settle in. We're in Mark chapter four

and the entirety of Mark chapter four speaks

to the power of the word of God and also the

great need to hear it. Actually throughout the

chapter the need to hear and hearing is mentioned

some eight different times. It's a significant

part of the entirety of the chapter and next

week we'll actually see the power of the Word

of God, specifically the words of Christ speaking

over the tumult on the Sea of Galilee. But anyway,

last week we heard the parable of the sower and

how he went out to sow and some seeds fell on

fertile ground and some on not so fertile ground

and all of that. And we heard about how the explanation

of that parable And not just that, parable in

some ways, all parables, how they hide and how

they bring and bear fruit in some people's lives,

those who have ears to hear, or who have hearts

to receive, or who simply are desirous to ask

questions, like the disciples and those who are

with them ask Jesus, what do these things mean?

And he reveals them to him. Which is to say parables

reveal our hearts. They're a test for other hearers.

Today we're actually taking on a number of parables.

You heard them. There's a few short ones there

all tied together. And in some ways they are

all related to this idea of hearing, but then

also acting upon what we've heard and also the

idea of growth. And ultimately it's actually

related to the idea of what God is going to do,

the surprising work of God in the world. I was

preparing a sermon. I listened to a sermon by

the pastor that I had growing up. And in it,

he gave an illustration of sorts that was sort

of analyzing and giving some history behind a

hymn, a hymn which I love. It was written by

the American Presbyterian William Pearson Merrill.

That hymn is titled Rise Up, O Man of God, Rise

Up, O Men of God. And I need to give you some

context about why I love this. So I went to Western

Washington University, a university that all

of you have heard of. because of its great fame.

And my last year there, I lived with 10 other

guys who were following Jesus together. And so

we were near the end of our time there at Western,

and some guys helped lead Young Life, the high

school ministry, Young Life, and others of us

were involved in different campus ministries.

But all of us were involved in brewing the beer

for our house. which had to happen in the garage

because Young Life stipulated that if you were

a leader, you couldn't have beer in your house.

And so we followed the letter of law and had

it in the garage. And two of those guys actually

went on to own their own breweries. They still

do. One of them has actually won international

awards, Frem Family Brewers. They lived in that

house, but we all took turns. And if you've ever

brewed beer, you know that there's quite a bit

of time of just waiting while the grains are

steeping and the hops are giving flavor and all

that. And so during that time, we would sing

songs. At least many of us would sing songs together.

One of the songs that we would sing is Psalm

68 to Louis Bourgeois' famous tune that worked

with Calvin in Geneva. That tune actually, interestingly,

was outlawed for a little while in France. You

couldn't even whistle it because it was signaling

that you were a Protestant. So there are parts,

particularly around Paris, where that tune was

outlawed. Anyway, one of the other songs we would

sing is this song, Oh Men of God by William Merrill.

Hopefully you know it. If you don't, it's my

opportunity to teach you. Rise up, oh men of

God, his kingdom tarries long. Bring in the day

of brotherhood and then the night of wrong. You

see how it's like, come on, let's go. We found

it inspiring. Maybe more than you just did, I

don't know. But we had, okay, we can bring in

the day of brotherhood and the night of wrong.

It's a very inspiring thing, particularly for

young men brewing beer together. And so I learned

from this sermon that this minister, Merrill,

he was part of the liberal wing of the Presbyterian

Church in the late 19th century, early 20th century

in America, which at the time often actually

literally meant that you didn't believe things

like the resurrection of Christ, or the virgin

birth, or miracles, or those kinds of things.

And that was the fundamentalist liberal controversy

within the Presbyterian Church in the early part

of the 20th century. But he was part of a movement

called World Brotherhood. And that was this movement

that taught that really the Christian men particularly

were to rise up and to right the wrongs of the

world, to take into their own hands the need

to bring the justice of God and the peace of

God and the kingdom of God into the world. And

that they could do it. While they set aside these

great works of God, they could still actually

bring in the reality of the kingdom. One of the

other stanzas, I'm not gonna sing it to you this

time, says this, rise up, O men of God. The church

for you doth wait. Her strength unequal to her

task. You rise up and make her great, I added

to you. Anyway, the British hymn scholar, Eric

Rowley says this, okay. He says, this is a British

writer writing about this American hymn. He says,

The genius of American Protestantism is that

this author should write of men making the church

great. Englishmen have come to prefer an edited

version. Her strength shall make your spirit

strong. Her service make you great. But of course,

we Americans like the idea that we can get it

done. Don't tell us what we can't do Don't tell

us that we need others and the reality of the

supernatural God at work in his bride the church

his body We Americans don't like the idea that

we cannot make something happen But it's interesting

Jesus did if you remember from last week he just

did invite us to have ears to hear And he actually

said that in so doing, right, in being that fertile

soil of the kingdom, remember the surprising

thing of last week was the utter astounding amount

of grain that was produced, you know, 30 -fold,

60 -fold, 100 -fold. So he invites us to have

ears to hear, to come and to sit with him and

to have questions for him that we might be those

who bear the fruits of the kingdom. So anyway,

this morning I think our texts as we take them

together are getting at one of the great mysteries

of Christian faith, the mystery of the working

of the kingdom of God, but also it talks about

its surprising outcome. Okay, the mysteries of

the kingdom and yet it's surprising outcome.

So here's the mystery. You get out what you put

in and yet it is all up to God. Feels kind of

Polar in a way. Let's break it down a little

bit. Okay, first you get out what you put in

So two parts to this first section, right? Let

me read verses 21 to 23 open up your Bible there

And he said to them is a lamp brought in 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 them

hear. Stop there. We know that lamps are meant

to bring light. Maybe we think in our day that

leaving the lights on in the house is no big

deal. You know, we walk in and out of one room

and we don't always turn it off. Some of you

do this. But you must remember that oil was what

actually fed the lamps in these days. Oil was

precious. You wouldn't just kind of light it

and then, you know, put it under so it wasn't

being used. You would never do that. You would

never light. a lamp and then cover it up and

put it under a bed. In some ways, people are

listening to Jesus and they're thinking, what

a silly thing. Of course, you don't do that.

You would never do that. The lamps are to illuminate.

You would never light it and just waste that

oil and put it under the bed. Cover it up. You

place it on that state. Do what it's meant to

do. Bring light. And Jesus of course is saying

the word is meant to be heard. Seeds are meant

to be received by good soil and bear fruit and

lamps are made to give light. Fairly simple.

So what do you do with what you've received?

What do you do with the words of the kingdom

of God? Do you come back to the sower as we just

heard in the previous passage and say, I don't

really understand. Explain it to me. I want to

bear fruit. I want to receive the word. That's

truly the word of God. And I want it to have

an effect in my life. Give me your light. That's

what the disciples are saying, what Jesus is

encouraging us to hear, to say, that I might

make the world a brighter place. Right? You would

say, no way, you don't do that. Light lamps are

meant to give light. Do you rise up at the word

of God? You seek to put an end to the nights

of the world, the wrongs of the world. Do you

bear the fruits of the kingdom of God? Do you

shine the light of the kingdom of God? That's

part of the question Jesus is asking us in this.

So he goes on, verse 24, and look at me down

there. And he said to them, pay attention to

what you hear. Listen up. With the measure you

use, it will be measured to you, and still more

will be added to you. For the one who has, more

will be given, and from the one who has not,

even what he has will be taken away. I think

this last part sounds a little bit harsh, at

least initially maybe, but I don't think the

meaning is too hard to get in its context, which

again is simply you get out what you put in.

If you don't really care for what you've been

given, it'll be taken from you. I'm thinking

about another parable that Jesus gives in Matthew

25, the parable of the talents. Some of you will

be familiar with this. Jesus tells a story there

in Matthew 25 of a man who's leaving and he calls

three of his servants to him and he gives one

of them five talents, some money. He gives another

one two talents and he gives another one one

talent and he goes away. And the one who has

five, he trades and he makes another five out

of it, now he's got 10. And the one who has two,

he trades and he makes them and he's got more.

But the one who has one, he lives in fear. Yeah,

he's fearful of the master. He says, I'm gonna

bury this. I'm not gonna do anything with this

thing because I'm fearful. And so he hides it.

And so the master comes back and he says to the

one who has now 10 and the one who has. now four

or you know they've doubled theirs and they're

like oh good job you know enter in uh have more

and yet to the one who has one it's a little

one just one he says specifically you wicked

and you slothful servant and he takes that one

from him he gives it to the man who had ten maybe

you think that's a little bit unjust but this

is exactly what our lord is saying here It's

exactly what our Lord is saying here. If you

take the words of God for granted, if you do

nothing with them, why do you expect fruit in

your life? Why do you expect God to be at work

in your life? If you just say, ah, okay, I hear

you gave this to me, I'm not gonna do anything

with it. You give me this opportunity, I'm not

gonna take it. I hear the word, I don't really

care that much. Why do you expect God to be active

in your life? Let me change it a little bit.

If you take the good fortune of having Christian

parents who prayed with you and taught you the

word and then you shunned that, why would you

think that God's gonna bear the fruit of the

kingdom in you? Or if you take the encouragement

of the saints that is on offer to you in small

groups and on ministry teams, that opportunity

that's there before you to walk alongside life

or walk in life alongside other people. You say,

I did not want that opportunity. Why do you think

the fruits of the kingdom of God would be born

in your life? Think of the proverb that we had

as our offertory verse a couple weeks back. One

gives freely yet grows all the richer. Another

withholds what he should give and only suffers

once. What do we do with what's been given to

us? You get out what you put in. Why do we think

we can withhold from God, right? This is what

that proverb verse was saying, that which He's

given to us and it'll be okay for us. God says,

I'm gonna give it to you and be generous, give

back and listen to me. And we say, we can do

what we want. And Jesus says again and again,

the Bible tells us again and again, even what

you have will be taken from you. You get out

what you put in. So this is a part of the truth

of scripture, right? I'm gonna say this, that

it's the first part of the mystery of this passage.

You get out what you put in. But that in itself

doesn't sound too mysterious because actually

we know this is kind of true in most of our lives.

It's true in our relational lives, right, with

friends. You don't call up a friend, you don't

keep up with them, then that friendship dissipates

if you don't nurture your marriage. The marriage

does not grow and actually bear fruit. You know

these kinds of things. That's not too mysterious.

But I think it's mysterious when you put together

the other side, the next thing that Jesus teaches.

And this next thing is that it's all about God.

It's only ever the work of God, which feels like

something that is actually living in paradox

to what I just said. Okay, verse 26, look with

me down at that. 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 up and grow 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 so again

The kingdom of God is like a seed. But here again

also we actually find a good lesson on how parables

work. I mentioned, you know, one of the ways

that you should, what you should do in parables

is always look for the thing that makes you go,

that doesn't seem quite right. or that makes

me scratch my head. You know, ears should only

produce six or eight or tenfold at the most,

not a hundredfold. And right there, in that strangeness,

the part that makes you scratch your head that

seems odd, it's the original audience, is oftentimes

the key in understanding the parable, okay? That's

just a good thing to keep in mind when you're

approaching parables. So you're supposed to say,

well, lamps are meant to bring light. Of course

you wouldn't, you know, put it under the bed,

stuff like that. But here we scratch our heads.

You should be scratching your head at the passivity

of the farmer. And it's actually highlighted

for us in a number of ways. Maybe you notice

this. Let me show them to you. So this man with

scatter seed on this ground. And of course, the

context of chapter four, there's already been

the sower that goes out to seed, right? So this

is the context of a farmer. He sleeps and rises

night and day. He's just sleeping. He's sleeping.

He's hanging out blah blah blah, you know, totally

passive and it says it grows and then the last

part of verse 27 little little Claude says he

knows not how and you're like, wait a second

That's not how farmers work. They don't just

throw stuff And they know how it works And then

the next verse the beginning of the next verse

says the earth produces it by itself You're like

wait a second Peter. You just told us last week

that you would scatter seed and then afterwards

you would till it into the ground. That's exactly

what the practice was. That's exactly what you

would do in the ancient world. What you would

not do is be totally passive. You wouldn't just

scatter seed and then go to bed and kind of hang

out and then, whoa, look what happened, you know?

Just let time pass, right? What about all of

the you get in what you put out stuff? What about

the labor? What about the need to show up, to

be present, to engage in community if you want

to grow? Here the man just comes in at the end,

he has ripe grain, he puts his sickle to it,

he has a harvest. If only it were that easy in

life, right? Seems as though he's done nothing.

And here is the counter truth to the first truth

that we considered. We really don't know how

the fruit of the kingdom is born other than it

is the work of God It's all about God it's all

about his timing And really truly I'm sure some

of you and I bet all of you actually if you have

sort of been following Jesus for a little while

or a good while least Know the experience of

seeming to not grow in the Christian life, the

life of faith, the life of a member of the kingdom

of God. And you can see that sometimes even though

you're not neglecting the word of God, you are

giving yourself to its study and to its devotion

and to seeking to know God better through it.

You're not neglecting to come. to worship with

the people of God and To seek to be attentive

to what God is saying You're not neglecting the

fellowship of other Christians as we are commanded

to to not do in the book of Hebrews I Mean you're

here this morning after all Hopefully listening.

Maybe you're online near you're watching. Hopefully

you're engaged You're not one who's spurning

the work of God right you hear You hear God's

call to love your enemies and to do good to those

who harm you and you've also heard maybe a hundred

times the Beatitudes, the call to be meek and

to mourn and to hunger and thirst for righteousness

and to be merciful and to be pure in heart and

all the rest be peacemakers. You've heard all

that time and again and yet Not only do we not

seem at times to receive the comfort that is

promised or the mercy or all the rest that is

promised in the Beatitudes, but instead it seems

like you actually hate your neighbors more. Right?

Like the world that we live in is largely teaching

you dismiss those who disagree with you. Harden

your heart toward your enemy. At least we know

we're hearing this politically. Come on. And

if you kind of do an assessment of your heart,

you do one of these heart scans and you go, you

know what? I think I have grown more along those

lines. Seem to grow more and more in the belief

that it's better to hoard than to give. Even

though our Lord tells us the exact opposite,

right? Horde our hearts and our energy and our

time and our talents, our money and our minds,

right? So what I'm saying is that sometimes it

seems as though little fruit is born in our lives,

even though we don't seem to be like that man

who has the one talent who just buries it. It's

very strange, right? The working of God. It's

a great mystery. How strange is the growth of

the kingdom of God? Sometimes the growth seems

so small it is imperceptible. And then actually

just as truly the growth seems to shatter our

expectations. I mean, if what I just said is

true, which it is true in many of our lives,

at least at some times where we seem to think

far from growing in the Christian life, I may

be going the opposite direction. And then at

other times, it seems as though we have gone

to sleep one day, one kind of person and woke

up the next day another. Massive growth. Real

heart change. I bet there are, I bet many of

you know folk that have actually thrown in the

towel, they've given up on all of it because

they've seen so little of the fruit born in their

lives. They think, I was supposed to change and

grow in all of this. So little has happened.

I bet others of you know, people that have no

desire to engage with Christians because they

see where is the fruit of that life of that faith

in their lives and then on the other side I Bet

some of you have actually had the joy of another

person Looking at you looking at your life and

telling you things like this You are different

than you used to be You are far more patient

than you used to be. I can see self -control

growing in you. You've looked at others or maybe

you've heard those things from others and you

really have seen unbelievable change. Change

that would shock anyone. You care more for those

who disagree with you. Imagine this and maybe

some of you actually see this in others and you

should tell them that I Could see you dying for

your enemies like Jesus died for you Sometimes

there is radical change unbelievable growth in

the kingdom Sometimes it is so slow as to be

imperceptible and the truth is is that it is

all a great mystery Growth in the Kingdom of

God is a great mystery. On one hand, we really

are told, you get out what you put in. Just a

huge encouragement to show up, work hard, seek

to bear the fruits of the Kingdom of God. And

on the other hand, we are told, scattered, went

to bed, doesn't even know what's happening, and

goes out and gets a great reward. Totally the

work of God. Now I want to move to the surprising

outcome of the kingdom But I actually want to

invite you again, okay, I invited you to go down

and look at the cross I want you to go see what

Casey Casey has is going to show you but Would

I invite you please talk to somebody today? Talk

somebody today. Maybe your roommate. Maybe your

friends. Maybe your spouse. Okay, and I want

you to share with one another where you tend

to fall. Because I think there's an inclination,

I think we tend to fall in the, you rise up and

make her great or the total passivity. We tend

to fall in these two ditches in a way. And I

think Jesus putting these together is calling

us to this active life of faith and what he's

going to do. Anyway, the last thing that we have

here is Jesus. saying that despite the mystery

of the working of the kingdom of God, there is

a certain outcome. And that outcome is surprising

and grand. Verse 30, and he said, with what can

we compare the kingdom of God? What parable shall

we use for it? And I wanna pause for a moment

there and then I'm gonna read the rest. But I

picture Jesus actually speaking to this crowd

and actually offering up this question. What

should we compare to the kingdom of God? What

kind of images should we compare it with? As

they do now. And I get, I would bet, Then as

now they would say Something powerful Jesus Let's

do a crown. Let's compare the kingdom of God

to a crown sit on a throne Jesus you're gonna

hear this in the communion song if you listen

attentively, how about a sword? Let's do away

with our enemies images of power How about faith

family and I go all wrapped together Instead,

he goes back to seeds. Jesus, haven't we had

enough seeds? Verse 31, 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.

The birds of the air can make nests in its shade.

seeds again Not just any seed what he says it

which is really does go against what they would

have thought is the smallest seed now Okay, I

know you can argue people say well, there's there's

smaller seeds He says the smallest seed of all

the earth in the context This would have been

the smallest seed that they would have sown and

would have really been engaging with regularly.

Okay and Actually very interestingly to a pound

let me say there are 240 ,000 mustard seeds in

one pound. It's that small. I have, since actually

before I came here, my office, a little jar that

has a tiny mustard seed in it. It's across, if

you are in my office, across from my desk, eye

level on the bookshelf. I cannot see that mustard

seed. I have to pick up the jar and look for

that mustard seed. It's tiny. And that's so often

how the kingdom of God works. Little tiny seeds

sown, little conversations about our inclinations

towards active or passive engagement in the kingdom,

right? Those kinds of things can bear the fruit

of the kingdom. Little decisions to no longer

let Twitter be the loudest voice in your ear.

Little acts like changing diapers. Bringing cookies

over to new neighbors. Little acts like playing

Legos at 3rd and the Berg with logos. Little

acts like showing up week in and week out and

month in and month out. Desirous and attentive

to the word of God. And a tree takes root. Tree

takes root and it begins to grow. Did that just

cut off? No, it did, sorta. It's working all

right, okay. I would guess that some of you have

seen mustard plants. You know that there's different

varieties of mustard plants, a lot of different

varieties. Some of them grow just like ground

cover. They get a foot or maybe two feet tall.

There's some, and actually the one that was most

common around the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus

was teaching, remember the Bay of Parables? There

was the black mustard, and the black mustard

actually was a little bit bigger. Often it would

grow to about four or six feet. And sometimes

when it's cultivated, it can be more like 10

feet. But even when it's cultivated, it's very

gnarly and snaggly and it's not something that's

shooting out branches into the world. It's really

not shooting out branches to the extent birds

are like, let's go make our nests over there.

Again, the place where you might listen to this

and you'd scratch your head. That's not how mustard

plants grow. Now if you were attentive to Ezekiel

passage, or actually passages from Daniel and

other parts of the Old Testament, you'd know

that there was images given. parables, Old Testament

parables in a way of the time when God would

work and he would plant a tree that would grow

so large that the birds of the heavens would

come and make their nests. And in those images,

the birds of the heavens are the nations of the

world. It would find their life in the unassuming

reality of what God would do. And that's what

Jesus is saying here. He's grabbing on to all

this imagery. And he's saying, you would never

expect what's gonna happen. It may be a mystery

how it happens. Sometimes you work so hard and

you grow and you thrive and sometimes you work

so hard and it seems like nothing is going right.

Sometimes new life sprouts overnight and sometimes

it feels like the long slog of faith and yet

Jesus says I am going to do it and you will be

so utterly shocked at what happens. The outcome

is secure. I imagine most of you have a sense

of the story of Christianity. I would think that

at least some of you have this sense. The most

basic idea, this is the most basic synopsis,

at least. The night Jesus died, his closest friend

ran away from him. His closest friend, Peter,

one of his closest friends, Peter, denied him

three times. Jesus rose from the dead and he

appears to the disciples and women because Judas,

one of his disciples, betrays him and then commits

suicide. And after he ascends to heaven, even

though we hear later that there were about 400

that engaged with him, 120 are there, which is

interesting. I think, okay, if you saw the risen

Christ, you might want to hang out for a while.

At least about three quarters of them weren't

there. And after the first Pentecost, there's

a preaching by Peter there, the one who had denied

him. Now there's 3000 followers. And by the end

of Acts, it seems as though the knowledge of

Christ has gone throughout the entire Mediterranean

at least. And then we know actually by at least

the end of the fourth century, a whole 50 % of

the Roman world would have claimed to follow

Jesus, despite massive persecution. And we kind

of just think just in that little story, how

wild is it that all of his disciples, people

that saw him heal and teach and all that scattered.

And yet now thousands upon thousands are worshiping

Christ. Let me end with a modern story, more

modern story. In 1895, there's a missionary,

Peter Cameron Scott, he was a Scottish missionary.

Scotland was one of the great places of missionary

standing in the 19th century particularly. But

Peter Cameron Scott with 15 others from Scotland

landed on Mount Battery in Kenya. One year later,

he died. And this is what he said. The people

have hazy ideas about God. He led this great

mission and that's what he said when he died.

Two years later, all but one of the original

missionaries had either died or returned to Scotland.

14 of them within three years. They died or they

left. It was weak, unimpressive. It seemed as

though they were sowing these seeds and very

little was happening in the world. hazy ideas

of God at best. And yet at the centenary celebration

in 1995, there were 25 ,000 Kenyans that gathered

together in Nairobi to celebrate the 100th anniversary

of the organization of the African. They sang

together, to God be the glory, great things he's

done, shocking things he's done. At that time,

1995, the African Inland Mission had in Kenya

one million members. And today, a full 85 % of

Kenya's 55 million people population claims to

follow Jesus. With those beginnings, how does

God work? What we can say is, mysteriously, will

God work? We can say, absolutely. Thank you for

listening to Second City Sermons podcast. We

hope this sermon has encouraged you to worship

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for listening. God bless.