Mark 4:21-25 - Is It Cake?

Parables are these beautiful, radical, earth changing ways of

teachings. Jesus doesn't just teach

parables, Jesus is a parable. It's good to see you guys.

I missed you a lot these last couple weeks.

It's so good to be back with you guys and back in front of you

guys. Like like Terra said, we just

welcomed our third kid and into the into the world just a few

weeks ago. So little Jack is is right here

And so you guys were kind enough to give me 3-4 weeks to do kind

of a little bit of a maternity sabbatical or sabbatical.

So that was awesome and I'm so grateful for that to get rest

these last couple weeks I kind of visited other churches and it

was great because I got to visit some of the I think of the best

and most faithful churches in the Des Moines area and and that

was awesome. And as awesome as it is to go

visit other churches and go worship and study at other

churches, it's a good feeling to be like man, this church is

awesome but like I miss. I miss Frontier.

And so it's really good to be back here.

Our kids in particular, I mean they're, they super missed

Frontier. There was a week, a couple weeks

ago where I was like, OK guys, we're all going to jump in the

car and we're going to go to this church all the way over

here. It's a different church.

It's not our church. It's going to be great.

They love Jesus too. And our kids were like, hey,

that's great. Is Asha going to be there and

Joseph, Levi and Ezra and Zion and Malachi and Reese and Ray?

Are they, are they going to come with us?

I was like, no, they're part of our church.

And Russell was like, what's the point?

And so they really missed it. And they're really, really,

really happy to be back in these last couple weeks.

It just really does kind of remind me of the special

relationship that I feel like you and me have.

I've got other buddies who are pastors.

We're part of other networks. So I spent a lot of time talking

to other pastors and I hear about their relationship with

the church. And I don't think it's a rare

thing for churches to sometimes treat their pastors or forget

that their pastors are also husbands and and fathers and

first and foremost lovers of of Jesus.

Sometimes other churches just kind of have the tendency to use

their pastor for for ministry. And I don't feel like you and me

really have that relationship. We feel celebrated by taking

three or four weeks off. We feel like you're in our

corner. And so it feels really great to

be a part of a church that I get to lead.

But you also know that first and foremost, I'm a child of God.

That that means a lot. You, you see me as a human being

with, with a wife and with kids and and with a mustache.

Now I got to be honest with you, I when I grew, when I shaved the

mustache. I'm just kind of doing that as a

joke a couple weeks ago, because I had three or four weeks.

I never get three or four weeks off.

So I was like, what am I not going to do?

Like not shave a mustache for these three weeks?

So I shaved it off just for a a joke.

And then the reviews started pouring in from you guys.

Lots of negative ones. I started to think, oh, this is

actually kind of fun. In fact, I wrote some of them

down. Here's what you guys said.

You look like the poor man's Justin Spade.

Yeah, right. I think that was it, too.

You look like a hipster Magnum Pi.

That one was actually Tracy Self.

So I think she was actually just being nice to me.

So that one, actually, that one kind of hit home quite a bit.

You look like a guy who gets excited about buying a minivan.

True. No, he This one's a little

insider. I'm going to do it anyways.

You look like a young wannabe Paul Tripp.

Apparently that one resonated. Here's the one that really hurt

my feelings, though, and this is what actually what almost caused

me to shave the mustache off and just get rid of it.

Someone in our church, I think it was, Zach said to me.

Oh, so you're trying to be like Nick Powell.

I was like, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna shave it off right now.

I think that the toughest thing has been the response from my

from my own family. Again, really, really mixed

reviews. I I've seen the videos.

I've had like a beard for like 10 years.

So if you don't know me, that's it was a big deal.

I've seen, like the unveiling videos, you know, when dads

shave off their beards and they see their kids and their kids

cry, you know, And I was like, oh, I want to do something like

that. And so I didn't tell anybody.

I shaved it all off besides a mustache.

And I go out and look at my kids, and I think this is what

hurt most. They looked at me and they go,

can you get us a snack? It's like the beard meant

nothing to him. You know, Chloe likes it.

That's all that matters my my immediate family.

It's kind of a divisive subject. My sister said.

What is growing on your face? And again, it was all just a

joke until I started talking to my father about it.

And he had a mustache like all throughout the 80s and like all

throughout the 90s, like he had one of those, like thick

Caterpillar American mustaches. And I was just kind of like, I

was just going to complain to him being like, Dad, I feel like

I'd keep the mustache if it were like, if it were like yours, you

know, like a thick, Caterpillar American mustache.

I feel like I'm stuck with, like, this thin, wispy European

mustache, you know? And I was just kind of joking,

but my dad just kind of listened to me complain.

And then he said, son, be patient.

I was like, so we're doing this now.

We're doing this. Maybe.

I know it's hard when you're an organizational leader.

It's hard because, like, it's not just my mustache, You know,

I get up here because. Yeah, that's right.

Right. When you bring your friends to

church, they have to listen to a guy with a mustache breach to

them. So I get it's kind of hard.

It's not just my mustache. It's our mustache.

I'm probably going to shave it today.

I I do have. Let's get let's get the word of

God in front of us. If you got a Bible, go ahead and

stand. If you don't have a Bible,

there's one right in front of you.

We are in Mark, chapter 4, verses 21 through 25.

Mark 4:21–25

I'll get those on the screen. Let's get our minds and hearts

in front of the word of God and let's let this get into our

souls and transform us. Jesus is in in the middle of a

series. He shotgunning through parables,

teaching about what life with him is like and life in the

Kingdom of God. And I think that what Jesus

senses right now is frustration from his disciples who probably

wish that he would just speak and teach a little bit more

clearly. Verse 21 And Jesus 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. So if anyone has ears to hear,

let him hear verse 24 the 2nd parable.

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. Heavenly Father, I pray that

through the preaching of your word this morning you would

reveal yourself to us. Nobody brings a lamp in to hide

it under a bed, and so you have not, you have not hidden

yourself from us. It's not hard to look into the

cosmos and to see a loving God upholding and sustaining all of

it. And yet so often we're blind to

that. And so, Lord, I just pray that

you would teach yourself about revelation this morning, That

you would show us how you reveal yourself to us, and that we

would accept our responsibility of paying attention.

That's my main job this morning, not to just preach and to just

say things and they just talk endlessly.

I need to pay attention to you, what you're doing and who you

are. And so, Lord, would you just

rock our world this morning? Just reveal yourself to us in a

fresh and new way. We pray all these things in the

precious name of Jesus and all God's people prayed.

Amen. You have a seat.

So we we've got to think a little bit this morning about

the exact relationship between revelation and attention.

OK, it's it's not science, right?

I can't break this down into a grid for you.

It's more more of a poetry, right?

What's it? What's exactly the relationship

between divine revelation, the things that God reveals to us on

the basis of his own grace? What's the relationship between

divine revelation and our human responsibility to pay attention

to what God is doing? This is at the root of what

Jesus is teaching right here, because Jesus is in the middle

of teaching in parables. And I think what's happening

right now is that the disciples, they're sold out on Jesus right

now, right? They've given up everything.

They've dropped their fishing Nets.

They're following Jesus around. They really believe that he's

the son of God and that he's the Messiah and they're giving

everything to follow Jesus around.

And Jesus heals people and he performs miracles and he teaches

and he draws a crowd to himself. He debates with the Pharisees.

And so he's generating a lot of buzz right now.

And as soon as he's generating buzz, and as soon as he starts

to get followers, he starts to teach in what appears to be like

a cryptic way, he starts to just hammer out this blast out, this

series of parables about what life with God is like.

And and the responses to Jesus parables are kind of like the

response to my mustache. Very mixed, polarizing, maybe

even divisive. It's drawing some people in.

It's pushing some people away. And so I think the disciples are

a little bit frustrating. They're like, Jesus, would you

just speak clearly? There's too much on the line to

be saying things like, oh, you know, the Kingdom of God is kind

of like a sower with the sea. Just speak clearly.

It's pushing people away. They're like publishers who are

trying to get him to write for a massive audience.

Just do that. Do that so we can get it.

Don't be creative and don't be a cryptic storyteller.

Just speak clearly. You can resonate with that,

right? I mean, it's not hard to imagine

you bringing like a buddy to church who doesn't believe in

the gospel and who you pray for. And you want them so badly to

just hear the gospel clearly, to bring them to church.

And then to have a pastor get up in front of them and be like,

well, you know, life with God is like fishing.

Let's pray. It's like, come on, man, be

clear. There's so much on the line.

So let me say something this morning.

Life with God is like fishing. I want to give you a parable of

three different fishermen. This is a true story.

Last year, Carlos and I go out fishing.

I wish Carlos were here right now because I'm really going to

pick on him in the next couple minutes.

Yeah, Nah he's alright. Just make sure he listens to the

recording. So Carlos and I jump in the car

together, we're going to go fish last summer and I grew up

fishing, love fishing. Every spare moment I had that I

wasn't playing football or wrestling, I wanted my fishing

pole, my tackle box and I wanted to be fishing with it.

Carlos however, did not grow up fishing, not in the least bit.

In fact, Carlos so didn't grow up fishing that on the drive

over he was like, bro, I think you're going to have to tie my

hook on. And I was like, I'm going to

slay you in fishing today. I'm going to fish circles around

you, Carlos. So didn't grow up fishing that

on the car drive over. I had heard about people like

this. I never met them before though

because on the drive over Carlos is like, look bro, if I catch a

fish, I need you to take it off the hook because I don't want to

touch a fish. And I was like, oh man, I'm

going to show this dude what's up.

I love fishing. So we get there and I'm just,

I'm ready to just just, you know, show off.

And so I'm like, yeah, man, like I'm just, I'm, you know, I'm

just me. I'm like life fishing is like

life with God, bro. Because sometimes you right.

And I I get out like the most expensive lure and I tie it on.

I'm hitting like my best cast that I can cast that I think are

going to like impress Bill dance.

I'm like trying to like cast the lure around logs, like trying to

cast it and hard to reach places.

And despite all of my amazing cast, which if you would been

there, you would have said Cole. That's an amazing catch cast.

I literally caught nothing all morning, like showing off

nothing, showing off nothing, didn't catch anything the entire

morning. Carlos on the other hand, he

takes his fishing pole and he does this thing.

It's a total rookie thing, right?

He tries to cast way out far, but he lets go of the release

way too late and so it just splashes right in front of him,

you know? It's like splashes it like 2

feet out there. I'm over there like under the

trees catching nothing. Carlos light accidentally

splashes it in front of him and bam, a fish hits it and he reels

it in. And I'm like, I hate fishing.

Give it your best efforts. Cast it under hard to reach

streets and catch nothing. You can splash it right in front

of your foot in a stupid fish bites it.

Why do I even do this? Well, the next week I took

Joseph with me. I said a tale of three

fishermen. So let me explain that.

Next week I take Joseph with me. Here's the thing about fishing.

Well, here's the thing about Joseph.

You guys know him as our worship leader and he's a great worship

leader, right? He's like, he's like the the the

Hillsong Bethel guy who accidentally wound up at

Bethlehem Baptist Church right here, the resident charismatic,

great singer. But if you know him really well,

you know that he's just like, I don't know, an Auburn football

fan, hillbilly Hick, who grew up fishing.

And so we go out fishing the next week.

And here's the thing. You can do impressive casts and

catch nothing. You can do horrible casts and

somehow catch things, but you know where you can't catch

anything. I've been holding on to this

video for a year now, and I'm not the kind of, hey, let's

watch a video in the middle of the sermon.

Let's watch the video in the middle of the sermon.

Here's where you can't catch fish.

Go ahead and hit the video. What are you doing up there,

man? There's some fish up there.

I want you to burn that image into your mind.

Not because it has anything to do with the sermon, but just

because I want to embarrass them.

Burn that into your mind. I like this video, and I like

this analogy because I think it's a great example of trying

to nail down the exact relationship between divine

revelation and human attention. Because for as much as I'm

making fun of myself, life with God and life in the Kingdom of

God is actually quite a bit like fishing.

As you give your attention to God, as you seek to get to know

God, a lot of times you're going to feel like Fisherman #1.

You're given your best efforts. You're going to prayer retreats.

You're carving out hours to pray to God, doing your best casts.

Sometimes it's going to feel like you don't even get a bite.

But a lot of times, life with God is going to feel quite a bit

like Fisherman #2. All you're going to be able to

do is splash the lure 2 feet in front of you.

All you're going to have is a spare moment here or there to

devote your attention to God. All you're going to have our

shower thoughts, right? But in those moments, God

perhaps will give you life changing revelation.

But whether you're fisherman #1 or #2, I think we can all agree

that we shouldn't aim to be fisherman #3.

Well, you know, it's the relationship between divine

revelation and human. I mean, if God's revelation

depends on his grace alone and nothing else, then why even

cast? I'm just going to cast it into

the treat right? Sometimes it's possible to just

give your attention away to places and things that God never

reveals himself to. Right?

Internal arguments. People pleasing.

Constantly wondering what people think about you internally.

Criticizing people all the time, mindlessly scrolling away, hours

of your life. It's like casting a lure into a

tree. There's no fish there.

So here's what I want us to see this morning.

There's a relationship between revelation and attention.

Yes, God reveals himself on the basis of grace alone, but our

job and responsibility is to position ourselves in such a way

that we are paying attention to Him.

Our job is really to just get the lure in the water.

Let me show you how Jesus is teaching this.

Right they're frustrated. Just speak clearly.

Parable #1A Lamp under a basket. Verse 21.

He said to them is a lamp brought in to be put under a

basket or under a bed and not on a stand.

Nothing is hidden except to be made manifest, nor is anything

secret except to come to life. So what Jesus is saying is

nobody brings a lamp into a room just to hide it under a bed.

You get it. The first thing we have to do is

we have to talk about the nature of parables.

OK, so here's the way that a parable works.

Since Jesus is explaining parables in the middle of

telling parables, we need to talk a little bit about what

parables do. So parables were a pretty common

form of teaching back in Jesus's day.

What they were is they were a way of teaching about realities

like the Kingdom of heaven and the Kingdom of God in a way

that's hidden in like everyday items, everyday, ordinary

situations, right? So like, on the surface these

stories, they appear to be just about seeds and farming and soil

and lamps, just everyday objects.

And yet when you look inside of them, and when you crack them,

when when parables open themselves to you, you realize

that they're actually about reality and the Kingdom of God

and relationship with God. They're kind of like a Riddle.

I'm uncomfortable calling it a Riddle.

And some theologians would call it a Riddle because there's some

similarities there, right? Like, it's it's hard to figure

out. There's something kind of hidden

on the inside. But here's the thing about

riddles. How do you open a Riddle?

Intelligence, cleverness. That's not how you open a

parable. But if intelligence opened a

parable, then the Pharisees would have gotten it right.

I mean, these these jabronis, these Pharisees, these were some

smart blokes, OK? These dudes had the first five

books of the Old Testament memorized.

These are some smart guys. And yet when they hear the

parables, they're like, so it's not intelligence that opens up a

parable. What is it?

These ordinary stories. And yet on the inside, just

glorious realities. It's kind of like earlier this

week. Couple days ago, Della and I in

the rest of the Family, we fell in love with a TV show.

And this is embarrassing to say out loud because the first time

I ever saw the title of the TV show, I was like, that's the

worst premise in the world for a TV show.

But Della wanted to watch it a couple days ago.

So there we are like 3 episodes later, laughing, crying, arguing

about the Netflix special. Is it cake?

Are we the only ones? Oh my gosh, we have to talk

about this Okay. So the the premise of the show

is exactly the title is it cake? They bring in the best cake

bakers in the world and they make these incredibly realistic

looking cakes. And then they bring in a panel

of people. And the panel of people, the

experts, the judges have to be able to decipher is it cake or

is it not? It's, it's, I'm telling you,

it's actually riveting. Don't look at me like that.

It's actually riveting. So there Della and I are.

We're watching the first episode a couple days ago, and there's

this room filled with everyday ordinary objects.

And then they say, OK, there's three objects in here that are

cake. You've got to guess them with

one guess. And so I was like, OK, if I were

OK, I think it's probably the book because I think that'd be

the easiest shape to make a cake into.

OK, my final guess is a book. I was like, what about you,

Della? And she's like the flower.

It was in my mind, I was like, what a horrible guess.

How are you going to make a cake into a a flower?

I was like, good job, sweetie, let's lock that guess in.

But inside I was like, oh, I'm going to slay her at this.

And then the judges, right, that the the host comes out and he

goes over to the book, right? And he lowers the knife onto the

book. They slow down and freeze time.

Is it cake? And it goes, no, it's a real

book. I was like, no, that was my

guess. At least it wasn't as bad as

Della's guess. And so they go over to the

flower, right? They hold the knife above the

flower in the flower pot and they go, is it cake?

They start to lower it, right? Is it cake?

Right. They show the, the, the judge's

response, right? Everybody's guessing every leans

in. Is it cake?

And all the sudden the knife begins to cut through the flower

pot like butter. Is it cake?

And then the flower pot falls away and sure enough, inside of

the flower are beautiful layers of a cake.

I couldn't believe it. I turn over to Della.

I'm like, how did you know that was the cake?

And she was like, I love flowers.

This is the way the parables work, though, right?

They appear to be everyday ordinary objects, stories.

And then inside of them, hidden to adults like us but revealed

to children, are these delicious realities about the Kingdom of

God and what life with God is like.

And these parables, they don't open themselves up to people who

are just smarter than other people.

What makes them open up? OK, so here's Jesus.

He's saying, hey, nobody brings a lamp in to just hide it and

put it under a bed. I think the lamp here is a clear

reference to Jesus for a lot of different reasons.

I'll give you one. In the Old Testament, light and

lamps are very frequently metaphors for God.

So what I think Jesus is saying is, hey, I didn't come into the

world to just hide myself. It looks like it.

He's telling parables. So how does God reveal himself?

So we have to talk a little bit about the doctrine of

revelation. I need you guys to put on your

thinking caps really quickly. We're going to do 5 minutes of

academic stuff and I think the payoff is going to be huge.

Okay. So this is the way that an old

dead theologian named her Herman Bavink.

He was a Reformed theologian from the late 1800s, early

1900s. This is the way that he talks

about the doctrine of Revelation.

This is going to pay off, even though he's hard to follow along

with. So the first thing that Bavink

does is he shows how knowledge of God you gotta get this, how

knowledge of God differs from knowledge of everything else.

I should have that on the screen, Jay.

He says. The knowledge of God differs

from the knowledge of created things in every sense.

It differs first of all in its origin, For it is wholly owing

to Christ. We get all of our other

knowledge by reason or insight or judgment, our own effort and

study. But As for the knowledge of God,

it is nowhere outside of Christ, neither in schools of learning

nor among philosophers of distinction.

Christ alone knew the Father. Christ alone was with the Father

in the beginning, and nothing in the being of the Father is

hidden from the Son. Therefore, As for the knowledge

of God, we must let Christ give it to us.

I want you to hear what he said when it comes to knowledge of

God. What Bhavink is arguing is that

knowledge of God is entirely dependent upon revelation.

Jesus has to give it to us. They're just sitting around and

guess what God is like. Or worse, follow our stomach

feels or what we wish you were like.

We have to let Jesus tell us what God is like, and that means

that knowledge of God is entirely relational rather than

academic. So we have to pay attention to

Jesus. Listen to him, listen to him in

the scriptures, listen to him in prayer.

So this is how Bobbing finishes his section on revelation.

Revelation is based on grace and relationship, right?

So he goes on to say. Therefore this knowledge in

distinction from all other forms of knowledge is called the

knowledge of God. It is the product not of

scientific study and reflection, but of childlike faith and

divine grace. Only those who become like

little children enter the Kingdom of heaven.

Only those born of the Spirit can enter the Kingdom.

And here's the line I really want to hammer into your heart,

Bobink concludes by saying. Therefore, God is known in

proportion to the extent that he is loved.

God is known in proportion to the extent that he is loved.

So there's a difference between knowing about somebody and

knowing somebody. I had Ken Griffey Junior's

baseball cards memorized when I was little.

I knew about Griffey. But if you went to Ken Griffey

Junior and were like, hey, what do you think about cold Nike?

He'd be like what? Knowing about somebody is

different than knowing somebody. If you're married, you know that

you don't get to project yourself onto your spouse.

If you want to know her, if you want to know him, you have to

let her reveal herself to you, right?

This is the way that revelation works.

We don't get to be like, well, I think God is like this because

my dad sucked. Or I think God is like this

because. But no, no, no.

We have to let Jesus reveal himself to us.

So we pay attention to him and allow him to reveal himself to

us in love. God is known in proportion to

the extent that he's loved. OK, so think about that.

Here's the way this works. It's possible to know this much

about God, but if you only love him this much, then you only

know him that much. You see that it's possible to

know this much about God, but if you love him this much, you know

him that much. God's known to the extent that

he's loved. And So what opens up a parable?

It's not intelligence. It's not worldly cleverness.

What opens up a parable? Affection.

Love for God, right? There's Jesus saying, hey,

nobody brings in a lamp to just hide it.

You get what he's saying. This is why parables are just an

absolutely perfect form of Jesus revealing himself to us, because

it pushes away those who don't love him and it draws people who

do love him to him like an absolute magnet.

This is the way that parables work.

OK, got to hear me say this? OK?

Jesus is not hiding himself from people who want him.

Jesus has never, ever, ever, ever.

Jesus has never hidden himself. Jesus has never pushed somebody

away from himself who wants him. But he will use a parable to

push away those who don't want to pay attention to him and to

draw in those who do want to pay attention to him.

He's not hiding himself. He's on full display.

And he does. He does give one caveat there,

right in verse 22 he says nothing is hidden except to be

made manifest, nor is anything secret except to come to light.

And so there are going to be times where you really want to

know something from the Lord, and he strategically doesn't

reveal it to you. He makes you wrestle for it, he

makes you grapple with it, and then in due time he he reveals

it to you. It does work that way, but he

does not hide himself from those who love him.

Because you can look at a parable.

You can say Okay is, is Jesus hiding himself or is he

revealing himself? And the answer is yes.

The difference is who's willing to pay attention to Jesus,

right? That's the second parable.

Look at verse 24. And he said to them, this is the

only commandment in this entire section.

And he said to them, pay attention to what you hear with

the measure you use. It'll 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.

He's not talking about material goods here.

Okay, this is not like some people twist this.

They're like the reason you're poor is but no, no, no, that's

that's baloney. Okay.

He's talking about revelation. OK?

For the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who

has not, even more will be taken away.

So what's what's going on here? Well, the the measure here, they

they didn't use, you know, teaspoons and tablespoons back

in the day, but they had their own measures.

But just think of it in terms of teaspoons and tablespoons.

What Jesus is saying is if you give him this much attention,

he'll fill you with that much revelation.

What he's saying is that you if you hold out a teaspoon of your

attention, he'll give you a teaspoon of revelation.

This is a proverb, not a promise.

Sometimes it's not an exact science.

If you hold out your hands to him, he'll fill them with

knowledge of yourself. If you knock, he'll open.

If you give him your heart, he'll feel it.

And some. Did you notice that right?

He? It's not just a one to one

ratio, right? With the measure you use, it'll

be measured to you and still more will be added to you

because our God is a God of grace.

Amen. So you give him this, he's going

to give you that. And top it off, Give him a

teaspoon. He's going to fill the teaspoon.

But like a heaping teaspoon. That's the way he That's the way

he is. And so what's why does Jesus use

parables? Why does he speak in riddles?

What's the point of all of this? Well, look at the one

commandment in this entire section.

Pay attention. Jesus is not like gravity.

Sometimes we treat him as just an impersonal force.

Well, he's sovereign over anything.

He's he's sovereign over everything.

He's going to do what he's going to do whether or not I

contribute or chip in. And anyway, he controls the

cosmos. So what's even the point?

That is not the way that Jesus talks about being in

relationship with him. I love the sovereignty of God.

I love his control over every square inch of the cosmos.

But Jesus talks about being in relationship with him as a

relationship. He's not just gravity going to

be there, whether or not I'd do anything.

No, no, no, no. There's a relational dynamic

here, right? What's the relational dynamic?

He reveals you. Pay attention, he reveals you.

Pay attention. He reveals you.

Pay attention. Pay attention.

We have this phrase in the Dikey house when sometimes the kids

aren't listening to Mom or dad. We got it from Proverbs chapter

one, right when when the kids aren't listening and they're

just doing their own thing and our words are going in one ear

and out the other going over their heads, we'll ask the kids

this question. Hey, what are mommy's words?

What are daddy's words? And Proverbs one says, well,

here's the way our kids say it. Hey, what are daddy's words?

And they'll say a crown. So Proverbs one says, God's

words. A mother's word, a father's word

is a crown, right? What do you do with a crown?

Well, I think there's two ways to pay attention to God.

Here's one. You

see where my joy is, right? That's the 1st way to pay

attention to God. There is a second way to pay

attention to God. This way.

Get out of there. Right.

That's what you do with the crown, right?

That's what you do with the crown.

You admire it. Pay attention to it.

Then you wear it. That's what you do with the

crown, right? Pay attention Mary Oliver.

One of the best living poets, right?

I mean, maybe next to the 2 W B's, right?

Wendell Berry and Will boards. Here's what Mary Oliver says.

She's just brilliant. She says Attention is the

beginning of devotion. Whatever you give your attention

to, right, that's going to be where your affection is.

Whatever you give your attention will be your affection.

Pay attention. I mean, isn't that just a great

phrase? Pay like it's a limited

resource. Like it's a finite resource like

money. You only have so much of it to

give, so don't throw it over you.

Don't throw it over there. Don't mindlessly give it away.

What do you do with it? Pay it.

Pay attention to Jesus in prayer, in church, at at your

work and meditation and reading the scriptures.

Pay What's it mean to pay attention?

Here's the way that Oliver Berkman not a Christian, but

man. He's a social commentator and he

just nails it in this book. Here's the way that he says it.

All right. And I've got this on the screen

because you have to reckon with us, He says, quote, you've heard

it. Say you've heard it said that

attention is a finite resource. And finite it is.

According to one psychologist, we're capable of consciously

attending to about 0.0004% of the information bombarding our

brains at any given moment. But to describe attention as a

resource is to misconstrue its centrality in our lives.

Most other resources like food, money, and electricity, are

things that facilitate life. In some cases, it's possible to

live without them, at least for a while.

Attention, on the other hand, just is your life, your

experience of being alive consists.

Of nothing other than the sum of everything to which you paid

attention to at the end of your life, looking back.

Whatever compelled your attention from moment to moment

is simply what your life will have been.

So when you pay attention to something that you don't

particularly value, it's not an exaggeration to say that you're

paying with your life. So when you pay attention to

Jesus, you're giving him your life again.

That's why the parables are like such a perfect example of God

revealing himself to us, because it weeds out those who want to

pay attention to Him from those who don't really care about

paying attention to him. It's a way of weeding out those

who want to give their lives to God from those who really don't

want to give their lives to God. Parables are they're brilliant,

their way of telling the truth and slant hear this truth said

over and over again your entire life.

You know something and someone tells it to you in a parable and

it's like Bam tells it and slant knocks you over.

Parables are these beautiful, radical, earth changing ways of

teaching and I think one of the reasons why Jesus teaches

parables is because Jesus doesn't just teach parables.

Jesus is a parable. Jesus is a parable with arms and

legs on him. It's it's what he is.

Some people look at Jesus and all they see is an ordinary man.

Right? Well, you know, he lived 2000

years ago. He was a pretty good teacher and

then he died. All of those things are true.

But when you look at him, you see that and something, don't

you? Right.

Well, the the biggest question you have to reckon with in your

entire life is the one that Della and I have been reckoning

with for the last couple days. When you look at Jesus, you have

to ask yourself the question. Is it cake?

Is he just another historical figure right up there with

Socrates? And you know, although is is he

or is he cake? Right?

Is it? Does he satisfy my soul?

Right? Is he my fullness of joy?

Is he my pleasures for evermore? Can I just pay attention to him

and get nourishment from him? Is he cake?

Right. He's he's a parable.

He's a parable with with skin on.

Some people look at him and you know the the Pharisees look at

him and they see a human being and they're right.

I mean, Jesus had body odor, right?

If he rolled his ankle, he would limp.

If he got hungry, his stomach would growl.

He is 100% human. And yet that's not the only way

you see him. You look at him and on the

inside you see not just 100% human, you see 100% divine.

You look at him and you think this is what God is like.

This is who God is. This is the king of the cosmos.

This is the Son of David. This is the Savior, the Messiah,

the Lion of Judah. This is everything I've ever

waited for. Same person drives one person

away, compels one person in. And Jesus doesn't just live as a

living, breathing parable. He acts out parables and that's

why his life climaxes and the greatest parable that's ever

been told, the cross of Christ. The cross of Jesus is the

ultimate parable. Some people look at it and all

they see is another ordinary zealot being crucified on a

cross because of Rome. They look at Jesus and they

think, oh poor Jesus. They look at Jesus and they see

a victim. They look at the cross and

they're like, well, that's where an otherwise good teaching

ministry came to an end. They look at the cross and they

think that's where the Kingdom fails.

That's not how you see it, though.

You see the parable. You look at the cross and you

think, no, no, no, that's not where the Kingdom of God fails.

That's where the Kingdom of God is launched.

You look at it. It's not just a historical

moment. You look at it.

It's not just 2000 years removed.

You look at it. It's not just the beginning of

another calendar. You look at it and you think

that's where all of my forgiveness comes from.

You look at it and you say that's where my mistakes and my

sins go to hell. You look at it and you think

that's where I'm covered in righteousness.

You look at it and you think that's where the Kingdom of God

has launched. You look at it and you say

that's cake. It's not just a removed event.

I can bite into it by faith, and God opens it up to me, and

that's the way that parables work.

So let me end by coming back to my parable of three fishermen.

I want to come back to this parable once more, and then I'll

pray and get out of your way. When you think about that

parable, I think, I think it's a perfect description because it

it shows you exactly what your responsibility is in terms of

giving God your attention. Your job as a follower of Jesus

isn't to be so smart that you figure out Jesus, or to be so

spiritual that you hear the voice of God in audible English

every time you close your eyes. Revelation isn't your job.

You don't have to force any super spiritual moments.

You don't have to coerce God into talking to you because

revelation isn't your job. Revelation is God's job.

Your job is to just pay attention, right?

Think about our three fishermen, fishermen.

Number one tries really hard and executes the perfect cast only

to catch nothing. My dad used to say a good day of

fishing is just getting the lure wet.

Any fish is a cherry on top. You have to approach God like

that. Just giving God my attention is

a good day. Any revelation is the cherry on

top, because sometimes you're going to be like Fisherman #1,

giving God your best efforts and it doesn't feel like you really

got a bite. But sometimes you're going to be

like Fisherman #2. He doesn't have impressive

casting skills, but even when he splashes the lure 2 feet in

front of his face, the river provides him with a fish.

The Lord of Grace provides you with a revelation, even if all

you have is a spare moment to give.

So here's the point. Just get the fishing lure wet.

Just get it in the water. Just give your attention to

Jesus. Just hold out the measuring

spoon. And in the same way that the

river gives you the fish out of its own grace and not the

efforts of your casting. Just give your attention to

Jesus and receive whatever grace he gives to you.

Here, see us, Lewis, summarizing what I've been trying to say for

40 minutes. Way better and way quicker in

one paragraph. I'll have it on the screen for

you, he says, an impersonal God. All well and good.

An impersonal God does nothing, demands nothing.

He's there. If you wish for him like a book

on a shelf, He will not pursue you.

A subject of God, of beauty, truth and goodness inside of our

own heads. Better still, a formless life

for surging through us, a vast power which we can tap.

Oh, isn't that just the best of all?

But God himself alive pulling at the other end of the line?

Well, that is quite another matter.

Maybe the reason you give him so little attention isn't because

you're afraid that you'll be met with silence.

Maybe the reason you give him so little attention is because you

fear he will speak and then everything will have to change.

So pay attention, pray with me, Heavenly Father, even though

this is just made, these are amazing parables and stories and

and what they do is they drive us to give all of our attention

to God and and that's an amazing thing.

But there are going to be many days and many times where we

just throw our attention away when we fail to be in communion

with God and we fail to think about the glory of God.

And what we need to know is that there's grace for us in Jesus.

And not only is there grace for us, but I think the most amazing

thing for us to realize is that Jesus isn't asking us to do

anything that Jesus is unwilling to do.

When he tells us to pay attention to him, it's because

he already pays attention to us. He loves us, knows us, is in

relationship with us, and listens to us.

We can pay attention to him because he first paid attention

to us. So here's what we do, church.

We're going to transition into a time of communion together.

And as we do, this is just a perfect opportunity for you to

pay attention, right? You look at the bread and the

wine. Is Jesus hidden or revealed?

The answer is yes. Do you see him?

Do you hear him? Do you want him?

And I'm like, I hate fishing.