The Results of Faithfulness (Mark 4:21-34)

Well, we are in Mark chapter 4 today.

Mark 4 · chapter mention

If you cannot hear me, raise your hand.

That was a test, and you all passed.

Well done.

Well done.

We got a smart crew here today.

That's awesome.

So we're gonna be in uh Mark chapter 4, starting in verse 21.

Mark 4 · chapter mention

So um if you can turn your Bible there, and if you are able to stand for the reading of God's Word, please do so.

All right.

So starting in verse 21, he also said to them, Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket or under a bed?

Isn't it to be put under a lampstand?

For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, and nothing concealed that will not be brought to light.

If any one has ears to hear, let him listen.

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

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

For whoever has, more will be given to him.

Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.

The kingdom of God is like this, he said.

A man scatters seed on the ground.

He sleeps and rises night and day.

The seed sprouts and grows, although he doesn't know how.

The soil produces a crop by itself, first the blade, then the head, then the full grain on the head.

As soon as the crop is ready, he sends for the sickle because the harvest has come.

And he said, With what can we compare the kingdom of God?

Or what parable can we use to describe it?

It's like a mustard seed that when sown upon the soil, it's the smallest seeds on the ground.

And when sown, it comes up and grows taller than all the garden plants, produces large branches so that all the birds of the sky can nest in its shade.

He was speaking the word of them with many parables like these, as they were able to understand.

He did not speak to them without a parable.

Privately, however, he explained everything to his own disciples.

Alright, please feel free to have a seat.

As you do so, let's pray.

Lord, I thank you so much for today.

I thank you just for the gift it is to be able to gather and study your word together.

I ask that you would be glorified.

And everything that's said today, I ask that we would draw closer to you as a result of your word, and that you would be glorified in your name.

Amen.

Awesome.

So uh just a precursor.

This is um almost a part two of last week's sermon of the parable of the four soils.

So if you didn't get a chance to hear that, please go back and do so.

It's excellent and it's good, good context and background on everything with parables and with the what that looked like.

So if you haven't had a chance to listen to that, I would definitely recommend that you check out our website or wherever you get your podcast and check that out.

Because it was a very, very um excellent uh analysis of that that if I tried to paraphrase would not do it anybody any favors.

So definitely go ahead and check that out.

Um, parables are interesting.

They're very, very interesting because of the huge chasm of time between Jesus' day and our day.

And that's where things get kind of interesting because when Jesus is teaching these things and he's giving these imagery this imagery, he's teaching to people who understand exactly the images he's given.

It would be a duh for them.

They're sitting there like, yeah, okay, I understand these things, and he says these things that are in contrast to that.

And yet we live in the 21st century.

And uh so some of these parables we have to give, like, what?

Huh?

And we have to unpack that.

And so there's this really weird thing where I have this image in my head of on one side of the screen, you have Jesus teaching the common folk with very simple analogies they would understand, and then on the other side, you have 21st century teachers who are like parsing Greek and like giving all these different things and historical things.

And it's like, what happened between those two?

So it's just it's a really complicated thing to try to be able to explain.

So what we have to do is go on a journey together and forget our current context and try to put ourselves in the mind of the people at the moment.

So, with that in mind, he starts out by saying, Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket or under a bed?

Now, Jesus uses this imagery twice in the Gospels.

He uses it once for this in uh Matthew 5, Mark 4, and Luke 18, and then he uses it in a completely different parable in Matthew 6 and Luke 11.

So this again, very common imagery that he's just using to make a point.

And so it's difficult to see what is going on there if we don't kind of go on that journey together because um when it gets dark, we uh turn on a light.

I can I I I can tell a device in my house to turn on our lamps.

That's crazy.

And that's so like having that complete mental divide is really, really hard to wrap our heads around.

I remember when I was a college student and I lived in San Luis Obispo, they had there was like a citywide blackout, and it was horrible.

Because, I mean, first of all, this was before cell phones could do cool cell phone things, and secondly, uh, there was nothing to do, and it was pitch black, and it was there was like, what do what do we do with our lives now?

We don't, you know, TV doesn't work.

Got that, nope, that's out too.

And that is a good way to depict what life is like every day in that time before electricity.

So they would actually uh build their lives around this thing that we like to call the sun.

And so they would rise early when the sun got up.

They would do their work and work and work until it got dark and then there was no more work to be done.

And that was how that kind of would flow with that.

Now there are ways to get around that a little bit, and one of them was with a lamp.

So that's that's the technology that's a super like high-tech technology of the day, is like, you know, you could see Apple doing their announcement, like today we have lamp.

And it's this, I mean, the lamp of this day being like a little clay lamp.

We have somewhere somewhere in our house.

It's like six moves ago, but it's we have one of those.

And um it gives us an opportunity to add some light when we wouldn't otherwise have it.

But it's not this huge bright thing that lights up the whole house.

You need multiple lamps for that.

So, but we have to take this a step further because it's not just about having a lamp, there is also um fire you need to have in order to light the lamp.

And they did not have little 99 cent lighters back in the day, and they didn't have matches, as fire was not as easy to come across either in that sense.

And so, what do you do?

How do you light a lamp?

Well, there's two different ways you could do that.

You could do it, you could make it yourself with friction.

You have like a fireboard and a stick and kindling and make friction and it lights that, or more commonly, you could get it from somebody else.

There's that idea of the communal fire in your village, or you could get it from your neighbor, and so you have that cool imagery of actually receiving that from somebody else.

There's just a lot easier of a uh way to light that than to sit there, like, okay, it's getting dark.

So god I don't know, I'm a city boy, so that kind of freaks me out.

But uh and um so it's important to know that like we take light for granted, but back then they would not.

It would be something you have to plan ahead for, and it would be something you'd actually have to communicate with your neighbors and with your community and keep that fire going to do that.

And so um, you know, back in the days of Exodus when they have that the fire burning continually in the tabernacle, you don't want to just keep having to light that thing again.

It's important to keep that going.

And so that's why I think it's interesting when Jesus says, is a light, if is a lamp brought in, first of all, you're bringing in a lamp, and you've received that, and you could see it just again put yourself in the days of a first century person going, okay, you have a lamp, it's getting dark, people are coming, and you get the lamp, and what do you do?

You put it under a basket, or you put it under a bed, and you know, at that point in time, you know, like most of us are going to go to a little kid's song and mentally shut off and be like, okay, got it.

Little light of mine, gonna let it shine every day.

But this is like they would sit there and they'd be like, what moron would do that?

Why would you go to the effort of getting a lamp, of getting it lit, and put it under a basket?

Why would you go to all of that trouble and put it under your bed?

That's it would have been better just to sit in the darkness if you're going to be like that.

And so he's giving this great image of you're receiving something and you're doing something absurd with it.

And that's what we don't want to do.

We don't want to do something absurd with what we have been given.

And um, that's the imagery that I like to see in here is he's saying a very, very simple thing that, again, the common folk would be like, oh yeah, yeah, totally.

I get it, that makes sense.

And the um super, super educated might start picking this apart and going, well, when you think about it, there's this, and what about this?

And if you look at it, and so you're already creating a sifting, and that was talking about, that was talked about last week.

That was a really good imagery of why he used parables.

It was good for those who are going to listen or those who are not going to listen at all.

So here he's giving imagery that they fully understand this idea of a light, and you wouldn't put it under a basket, and you wouldn't put it under your bed, because otherwise it defeats the entire purpose of having that in the first place, and you wasted all of that time.

So, what he is saying is instead, wouldn't you put it on a lampstand?

That's all it does.

It has one job, and that one job is to hold the lamp.

And why would you do why would you cover it with what you've received?

And so he continues forward and says, there's nothing hidden that will not be revealed, and nothing concealed that will not be brought to light.

So here's the thing there's going to be a time where that big glowing thing in the sky comes up, and you can't stop that.

The sun is going to come up, and all will be revealed, and you'll end up just looking like that guy who put a basket over their lamp.

So it's not like by doing so you're quenching the light.

It's not like by doing like the overall light.

It's not like you can add, you can make the darkness thrive by doing that.

We give ourselves far too much credit.

And at some point in time, the sun's gonna come up and it's going to reveal not what we have done or what we haven't.

But basically, like that wasn't really a smart idea, was it?

Putting your lamp under a basket.

And so, what does this look like?

I like this imagery of the uh what you've received and what you do with it.

It's a really, really good thing, it's almost like last week we talked about the parable of the soils, and we looked at it from that perspective, and now you get to basically see it from the perspective of having received that.

And now what are you gonna do with it?

You get you it's it's like the us version of that perspective.

And with that, what is it in our lives that would be that would put something over a basket of that light?

Well, first of all, what is that light?

You know, it can it's basically he doesn't clarify that exactly what that is, but I think we can connect dots and basically see that that light being uh the word that is sown in the seed of the last parable, um, the hope that we have within us, the salvation we have within us, the Holy Spirit we have within us.

What is it that we could have that would be putting a cover over that?

And we would sit there and go, well, we would never do that, right?

Um I would argue that potentially the last year of everything that has happened on social media is a good imagery of things that can cover the light.

And so all of the things that we have um that we get into and we start arguing and we start making a primary thing and covers over what is actually important is a really good imagery of that.

I'm not sure what when like we we Christians became the the crazy uncle in the room, but it kind of feels that way.

And so it's definitely the things of Jesus and Jesus and this.

What what about this?

What about this issue?

And we can start to forget that these are not the same thing, and they don't have the they may be very important, but they are not the same thing as the truth of the hope that is within us through the salvation we have in Jesus.

And so that's one thing, that big lumping thing.

Here's another one.

Um, us we can be that basket that covers the light.

And that's you can be like, what are you talking about with that?

Uh well, here's the thing: we live in a society in our in our 21st century world that um is very, very focused on self.

Very much so.

There is there is so much self, and so if we are not careful, it's very easy to slip into that and to ask most that way.

To uh self being the ultimate thing.

And you don't want to go the other direction, that's crazy too, but just that idea of it can become about us and about our wants, our needs, our kingdoms, and in doing so we can create our own little kingdoms that is a basket that covers the light of the hope that we have within us.

And it's interesting because Jesus very clearly and very radically and very gently teaches, I don't know, things like if anyone wants to be my disciple, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

Whoever would lose his life for my sake will find it.

But whoever would keep his sake for uh would would lose it.

Just that idea of denying self.

And so um just a just a easy, super easy example with this would be the idea of it's really hard to latch on to that when instead we could be entertained by an hour and a half of singing of an Ice Queen self-actualizing into a goddess.

It's a cheap shot, but it's easy to focus that imagery.

And no, that's not a call to boycott.

My kid loves that movie.

Um so, but with that, it gives that image that everything right now is about self and about us and how we can be us and about us being the most important thing.

And so, uh, the good news is that we serve a God who takes really good care of us.

And as we follow him, he takes care of us, which is really cool in that way.

It's the same God who's gonna teach in the gospels, in um in the uh Sermon on the Mount, that if he clothes birds, isn't he gonna take care of us?

And if he feeds them, isn't he gonna take care of us?

So there's there's a hope in that.

Is that God takes better care of us than we take care of ourselves.

But having that said, that is a huge basket that can be put over our light, is that when it becomes about um becomes more about us than it becomes about him.

So um it can be very, very easy to take this passage and go, okay, we need to shine our light, we need to to do so, to not conceal it, and so I need to hit my gospel quota.

We need to go out, we need to do, you know, all those things, and then it becomes uh a burden and it becomes a um guilt and all these things.

That's not I I really don't believe that's what Jesus is saying here.

Uh and why do I not believe that?

Well, because the rest of the passage we're gonna go over today, and it is rather one of those, with what you have given, been given, use it.

You've been given light, use it as light and don't quench it, don't cover it, don't obfuscate it.

Um, I really love the picture.

Um, we're gonna mix our metaphors for a second here.

In 2 Corinthians 4, now we have this treasure in earth in clay jars that the extraordinary power may be from God and not from us.

That he has this idea that we are clay jars holding the greatest treasure in the universe.

What's the best way to uh display that, to reveal that, is to be either as transparent as possible or allow it be or allow us to be broken.

That way the light inside can shine out.

So something I've I've uh really love that imagery in comparison with that, that um we have something within us that is worth displaying and being faithful to do so without turning that into an idol itself, which we'll talk about in a moment.

The Luke version of this passage connects these statements together.

This uh pay attention to what you hear, by the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and more will be added to you.

Whoever has, more will be given to him, and whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.

So those two, it's interesting that that's not a separate thing, like Jesus lost his train of thought for a second and jumped straight into that.

He's actually connecting these two together.

Which is interesting because I think this idea here of paying attention to what you hear being very, very relevant to him teaching parables, to him giving truth through that.

It was like, watch how you are hearing and how you are receiving.

Because how you receive is the fruit that will be born out of that receiving.

And so, if you do not receive, it's not going to bear fruit, like we talked about last week.

That seed will not go unto fertile ground.

However, if you receive, then it will bear fruit.

So pay attention to how you or to what you hear, because by the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and more will be added.

For whoever has, more will be given to him.

Whoever does not have, even what he has, will be taken away from him.

So these words that he is speaking are to take root and to bear fruit, which we'll talk about in a moment.

And if we don't let that happen, then it's not going to be fruitful.

It's pretty pretty simple in that mindset that either what we hear is going to take seed and bear fruit, or if we don't allow it to do so, then it won't.

Pretty clear with that, which is nice.

So that that light that we have, let it do what it's supposed to do.

Which is awesome.

And then he continues to the second imagery, which I like.

I like that he, at first I was a little bit terrified of this chunk of text because it's like three different parables.

Okay, cool.

Uh, what's the thread that we've said?

I was like, okay, wait, I see it.

We're good.

Okay, so he continues forward.

In verse 26, the kingdom of God is like this a man scatters seed on the ground, he sleeps and rises night and day, the seed sprouts and grows.

Although he doesn't know how, the soil produces the crop by itself.

First the blade, then the head, then the full grain on the head.

As soon as the crop is ready, he sends for the sickle because the harvest has come.

So I love the definition that we've gotten over the last few weeks for the kingdom of God, wherever God is king.

That's just cuts through all of the confusion and everything, just straight into that.

And so, the kingdom of God here, what is this?

A man is scattering seed on the ground.

We're used to that imagery from the parable of the soils.

So he scatters the seed and he sleeps and he rises night and day, and it grows.

And then once it's grown, he calls for the sickle because the harvest has come.

What on earth does that have to do with a light and a basket and such?

Well, here's the cool thing.

Um how many of you have the ability to create a seed?

I mean, even like, you know, even like, you know, even like the craziest labs in the world are building GMOs.

That they have to start with something.

So it's just crazy to think that, as far as I understand it, that it is the uh the same seeds, the same plants are still producing the things from the beginning of creation, which is pretty cool.

That's awesome.

Uh my grandpa was an interesting guy.

He, you know, had a weird, crazy resume that went everywhere from like rocket scientists to uh to like he he worked, he just did all these kind of crazy things.

And what he cared about though were his plants.

He's founded the California Rare Fruit Growers Association.

Um, and he what he loved to do was hybridize these plants so that something that should not be able to grow in the Santa Clara County area where he was was able to grow.

And he loved doing that and making new things, but you had to start with something.

Always had to start with something, and so the farmer isn't building seeds, he's taking the seeds, he's scattering the seeds, and that's it.

Isn't that cool?

He so the farmer's job here, in my extensive knowledge of farming, is what he has received.

Scattering it.

And how do I know that that's really the the extent of his job in this parable?

Well, because he goes to sleep.

Now, I don't know about you, but I am not immensely efficient when I am asleep.

If I could answer emails while sleeping, I would be so happy, but it just doesn't work that way for my job.

That would be amazing.

But he is asleep.

And then he wakes up and he goes to sleep night and day and he does that.

And then what happens is it starts to grow.

Now I understand that there's there's you water it, you know, I understand that we're we're keeping within the confines of the parable here.

But what I don't see is the farmer like waking up and going out to the field and getting down on the level of the seed and going, You got this! Do it! Grow.

That would I I I kind of wish they would, but with that, he did what he was supposed to, and then it grows.

First the blade, then the head, then the full grain.

And here's the cool thing, as soon as the crop is ready, he sends for the sickle.

He doesn't even do the harvest at that point in time.

He just sends for the, he's like, okay, hey, look, food.

And then sends for the uh sends for the sickle because the harvest has come.

So I love that that imagery there is just again being faithful with what he has received, being the scattering of the seed.

Just like the light, not putting it under a basket, but putting it on a lampstand where it's supposed to be and letting it do what it's supposed to do.

Scattering the seed like it's supposed to, and let it do what it's supposed to do.

And um it's interesting too because you one could make the argument, and I'm not making a thing out of this, but one could make the argument that tampering with this process can produce all kinds of weird, crazy things.

Like uh, you know, you I don't know how you feel about GMOs, I don't feel about them at all, so don't email me.

But uh, but with that, and you can very easily build try to build your own thing as a result, and not not actually build what the thing was supposed to do in the first place.

And so it's almost better to be faithful with what you have and then let God do what he does, which is awesome.

So um why do I say that?

Because what is the enemy of this process right here?

Control.

Control is the enemy of the fruitfulness that's happening here and the harvest.

Because all the farmer does, he scatters the seed, and then at the end he has food, and that's pretty cool.

And what happens in the middle is something that really the Lord does.

But when we try to control this process, then all of a sudden we get all kinds of weird things.

Either we have complete unfruitfulness, or we have crazy, like distorted, weird things that we go, look at what I did.

It's like, oh, wow, look at what you did.

Um and it's amazing how we can try to help and make things infinitely worse.

Okay, now by a show of hand, how many of you are biologically human?

I have so many questions right now.

Yes, okay.

So if you uh, you know, tough love here, if you are human, you have control issues to one degree or another.

It's a big scale, but and how do I know that?

Because it goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden and the original sin.

So, having that said, thank you for coming.

You're loved.

You're a little bit of a control freak, and that's okay.

So that's everyone go home now.

No, um, and that is what we need to surrender in our process with the Lord and in our obedience to him.

Because he's the one that's doing the work, and we need what he asks us to do is to be faithful with what he's given us and be faithful and then be content.

And so um the best way I can put this is that control is antithetical to faith.

Because when you uh have to trust him, then you can't have your hands in it.

And on the other side, if you have your hands in it, then you're not trusting him.

I'm not trusting him in that sense.

And so it's it's interesting, that's the thing to chew on for today, is that control is not compatible with faith.

So that's the beauty in this, is that he is telling these people, you've been given something, use it how it's supposed to be used, and that's okay.

Isn't that cool?

Like he doesn't sit there and he doesn't go, hey, you have this seed, and I expect this much yield at the end of this harvest.

He doesn't say, you know what?

At this point in time, the guy scatters the seed, and then it was a bad harvest, and his family starved.

The end.

That would be really sad.

It doesn't quite go that way.

He says, Hey, the he scatters the seed, and then the Lord does the work, and he, the guy even gets to partake of the fruit, and that's really, really cool.

And so part of the dark side of our um want to control is that we feel we need to inject guilt into this process as well.

When and feel that we need to hit a mark that was never given to us, and therefore, when we don't hit that mark that he never gave us, we feel like we failed God.

Isn't that crazy?

All the way back, the very, very, very first week of um of this church, one of the big points from that sermon was God is not disappointed with you, which is really, really cool.

Um, and is such a such a beautiful thing.

It's almost like that needs to be like the bumper stickers that we see with that, is just that reminder.

And so, just that being faithful with what we've been given is the goal here.

And then, last year of the parables, he said, Well, what can we compare to the kingdom of God, or what parable can we use to describe it?

It's like the mustard seed that, when sown upon the soil, is the smallest of all seeds of the ground.

When sown, it comes up and grows taller than all the garden plants and produces large branches so that the birds of the sky can nest in its shade.

So, again, this picture of a seed, and then the seed is thrown, you see the seed thrown in the ground, and it's the little seed, the little guy, amongst all the other seeds, and yet it makes a big plant.

Did the seed do that?

Did it like, you know, believe in itself and you know, follow its dreams and you know, become the mustard seed within?

Uh it just did what it was supposed to, which was cool.

The seed was thrown and it grew and it grew into a big plant.

And who made it a big plant?

God did at that point in time.

He knew in the beginning what kind of seed it was, and he knew what was going to happen.

And so, all that needed to happen was for the seed to be thrown into the soil, and then the rest happened.

And the the mustard plant cannot take credit for being how big it is, neither can it feel bad for being how small it is.

It just is, and that's awesome.

And so, with that, it's all these same ideas that I see of be faithful with what we've been given, don't hinder that process by self or by control, and then watch what God does.

Is it crazy that he lets us partake in his work?

It's almost like he knows that we cannot sufficiently mess it up to derail his plans.

Is that shouldn't that be a little bit of a comfort?

Is that we is that idea of, you know, I don't know, maybe I'm a bad parent, but like I there are jobs that I like know that I'm like, you know, I I just I don't need help right now, but thank you.

Those things because, you know, the the stakes are too high with that.

There is nothing that it that escapes God, like he comes back, it's not like he's going to come back one day and be like, what did you do?

I've been gone for this long and I come back, and this is what happened?

It doesn't work that way.

We can trust not in our ability and not in our excellence, but in his sovereignty and in his goodness.

Isn't that beautiful?

And so I really love these parables because how comforting would this be to you know the the common people hearing Jesus speaking and those things?

People who might not even know, you know, if they're gonna be eating a week from now.

And yet he's going, hey, I've taken care of you, and I got this, and it's not your job to make this better.

So I just really love that imagery of how we should be rejoicing in this rather than feeling pressure, rather than feeling um like we're going to let God down by not throwing correctly, if that makes sense.

So um the the seed has no uh response, has no control over the soil it goes into.

The farmer doesn't make the seed grow.

The as what we have to do with the light is hey, don't kill it by putting a basket over it.

That's pretty good.

And yet God is faithful, and not only is God faithful, but he is sovereign.

To where we what we can do is follow him, and not only follow him, but trust.

Trust that he can do this in a way that is greater than our own inadequacies.

So, I don't know, that just comforts me to know in because we can get all of these crazy things and hear all these different voices from our own lives and think that somehow God uh is really counting on us to close this deal.

And if even if we do, but we don't do it quite this way, or even if it goes bad, if God's like, oh man, that didn't pan out.

Can I get someone else?

I need another farmer.

That no, it's beautiful that what he asks us to do is to trust him, to be faithful, and to get out of the way.

Isn't that kind of cool?

So I find great comfort in that, by the way, in the fact that we're in like the throes of the early days of a church plant, which is awesome.

And one of the things that I really, really love, um I think I've heard Pastor Chris say the phrase, God grows his church more than any other phrase uh said in anything that's happened through here.

And so it's just so cool to see that that we just get to do this and we get to hear each other sing really loud, which was awesome, so cool, and then we get to study the word together and fellowship throughout the week, and it's just you can't go wrong with that.

And so we get to just in here's the thing that what happens when we stop controlling things and when we stop freaking out, we might actually enjoy it.

Isn't that crazy?

So, in closing here, he says he was speaking the word to them with many parables like these, as they were able to understand.

He didn't speak to them without a parable.

Privately, however, he explained everything to his own disciples.

Why does he explain everything to his own disciples?

They're already bought in.

Isn't that cool?

There's no sifting needed, they've left everything to follow him.

And so in that process, they're actually already forsaking all to follow him.

And as such, you can go, hey, is what I mean, which is cool.

But there's no um filter process needed that would filter out, you know, for example, we he talks about the mustard seed, and it's like, hey, the mustard seed, and it grows and it grows.

Well, what and then we sit there and go, well, what about the birds?

Tell me about that.

What does that mean?

And what is it?

It's like, what does that know what the parables about?

Uh but all the and or what is it, what now what exactly does he mean with nesting in its shade?

What does he mean about first the blade comes and then the head and then the fulcrane?

I need to write a dissertation on this.

It's simple, uh, it's it filters out all of these things to where we go, oh, cool, I get it.

Hey, I have a thing in my hand, I should probably use it.

Isn't that beautiful that we have that hope?

But the the uh disciples are already bought into that.

They have forsaken all to follow him.

But as he continues to speak these parables in proclaiming that, he's talking about how the kingdom of God is gloriously in the divine authority of God and in his sphere, and yet he allows us to participate in that without condemnation.

And that should bring us great hope as we as we follow through this.

And once again, we might actually uh enjoy it if if we have that mentality, if we combat self and combat control and instead uh rest in him, knowing that he brings the yield.

And our job is not to just be like, huh, basket.

That's that's our job, right?

In these parables, don't don't take the basket and stick it over the lamp.

And you know, in their day they would be like, well, yeah, duh, of course, and be like, okay, well then don't do it.

So but I am I'm just greatly encouraged by uh just this image that he does the work, and we can rest in that, and we can also rejoice in that without feeling that pressure that he's an angry dad, because in in fact, he's a good God.

Let's pray.

Lord, I thank you so much for today.

I thank you for how wonderfully faithful you are.

That even if we are faithless, as it as Paul says to Timothy, you will remain faithful.

That our faithful, our faithlessness does not derail your faithfulness.

I thank you that you bring the harvest, that you produce the growth, that you shine in the darkness, and you allow us to participate in that without the pressure to perform.

I ask, Lord, above all, just that we would rest in you, that we would rejoice in your goodness, that we would hope in your glorious sovereignty, that you are working, and your kingdom is not on our shoulders, and your kingdom is not threatened, your kingdom is not on the ropes.

That you are in control.

And I ask, Lord, that you would be glorified in all that we say and do.

In your name.

Amen.