Take comfort, because Christ’s kingdom will grow

Are there any boys in here who are between 11 and 13 years old? That’s a tough age. Because kids start growing at different rates right around that age. When you’re a 12 year old boy, and I remember this from when I was little, the girls in your class start to all get taller than you. And you feel a little embarrassed maybe because you’re still small. And if some of the guys start to get taller before you, it’s really embarrassing because they won’t be just a little bit taller they’ll be maybe 10 or 12 inches taller than you even though you’re the same age. And you start to think, “Man… Am I ever going to grow?” But then it happens sometime around 12 or 13, maybe 14. You finally hit that growth spurt and you’ll shoot up. None of your pants will fit anymore, you’ll go up 4 shoe sizes, you’ll eat three times as much as you used to. This is obviously not a very exciting moment for parents who have to pay for all of this, but it’s really exciting for the boy who has been waiting and wants to grow. So take heart little guys, you’ll still grow.

In our passage, Jesus has a few things to say about waiting for and expecting growth. His disciples desire the kingdom to be large, but they’re not sure how it will ever happen. Jesus’ strategy of simply walking around preaching doesn’t seem like the best one. But he tells several parables that are meant to encourage his followers about the progress of the kingdom.

Main Point – Take comfort, because Christ’s kingdom will grow

Text – Mark 4:21-34 , which can be found in your pew Bible on page 788

Prayer

Let’s look at those last few verses first. Vs 33-34. Jesus has continued speaking parables to the people and there’s two types of people. Those who understand and those who don’t.

You could almost read vs 33 as “With many such parables he sowed the seed to them, and those committed to listening through his power were able to obey it.” And the final verse concludes by revisiting that theme of filtering out his followers that we’ve been talking about. He explained and revealed the truth to some, but to others the light was hidden beneath a parable. Some will be in the kingdom and some will be out. But in three parables we talk about today they’re going to be largely about those who are “in”.

There’s a pattern that emerges in these three parables. Things keep getting bigger. There’s growth in all of them. And based on the things we’ve seen from Jesus so far and the things mentioned directly in this text we can see that it is kingdom growth.

Point #1 – Christ’s kingdom will grow through hearing (vs. 21-25)

This set of verses is an excellent segue or transition to the next set. Because in one sense it is still talking about being a good hearer. That was the challenge of the parable of the soils. Be a good hearer. In another sense it is talking about how the kingdom will grow. You hear that when it mentions more will be added and more will be given. But there’s a lot of confusing imagery here and honestly a lot of the meaning is hidden in the parable. But oh! Jesus tells us that the meaning is not meant to stay hidden.

READ VS 21-23

It starts by saying Jesus said to them. But who is “them”? That’s an important word to determine. Is Jesus here talking privately to those around and to the twelve like he was in the previous verses? Or is he again talking to the crowds? We know that by the end of our passage in vs 33-34 he is speaking to the crowds, but it’s hard to tell at what point he switches from talking privately to talking openly. I believe he is speaking privately to those around him here still. Because he is still explaining the purpose of the parables.

He talks about hiding a lamp under a basket here. And if you grew up in Sunday school in the past 40 years or so then you probably know that this little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine. Hide it under a bushel? No. No one knows what a bushel is, but it’s bad I guess. And you might be tempted immediately to assume that the light here is us and that we are to shine brightly for God and not be hidden. Jesus does use the image of hiding a light under a basket in Matthew 5 and he certainly means that exact thing there, but I don’t think he intends the same application here.

So what does it mean? Well, what is the thing that has been revealed for some and hidden for others? It’s the meaning of the parables themselves. The parables are Jesus’ way of making truths about his kingdom clearer, but we just read that for those who aren’t given the meaning, the parables actually hide the truths of the kingdom from them. So Jesus asks the question that his followers might be thinking, “If these parables are meant to reveal truth, why are the truths being hidden? Why would you bring in a lamp and then put it under a basket?” But then he reveals the answer, “The purpose of hiding things in parables is so that I can reveal them to you! They are hidden so that they can come to light” And he wraps it up by saying, “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear” That is “if you have been given the meaning of the parables, then understand and obey”.

Now I imagine that his followers are thinking. “Perfect. That’s about as clear as mud. Thank you Jesus.” So he follows up with a very clear command and then a reason for it.

READ VS 24-25

PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU HEAR! He’s challenging them again. It matters greatly how well you hear. Do everything you can to understand his word. Ask God to reveal it to you so that you can obey it. What’s the reason we have to fight hard to be good hearers and understand Jesus’ word? Basically, because you’ll get out of it, what you put into it. If you say, I’m going to put in a large amount of effort, energy, and time to understand what Jesus says, I’m going to keep wrestling with it until I can figure it out and until he reveals it to me, then you will receive great blessing from it. “With the measure (or amount) you use it will be measured to you and still more will be added to you”. But then in verse 25 the opposite is also true, “from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away”. If you don’t spend time hearing from Christ’s word, even the things you think you know will be removed from you and the truths of God and his gospel will become cloudier and cloudier and darker and darker until you simply don’t understand at all.

The truths of the gospel are things that should be rehearsed over and over in our hearts and in our minds. If not, they will be forgotten and no longer experienced. Many of you may have taken a Spanish class in high school. But 10, 20, 30 or more years later, if you haven’t been speaking Spanish regularly, I’m sure you’ve forgotten just about everything from that class. I’m positive the same is true about the specifics of chemistry and physics and geometry. There’s an old saying when it comes to things you have learned - “If you don’t use it, you lose it”.

This is similarly true of Christ’s words. If we don’t rehearse them, study them, and meditate on them, then we will lose them. Their meaning will become dull to us. But praise God the opposite is true. Those who continue in it gain even more.

What about those who stuck with their Spanish? Maybe they took it in college. Maybe they moved to a Spanish speaking country or neighborhood. Maybe they married a Spanish speaking spouse. What becomes of their Spanish knowledge now? They gain mastery of it and fluency in it. It becomes as easy to speak as their former language. They think in their new language. They dream in their new language. It’s not a struggle because now it has become natural.

That’s the blessing of being a good hearer. God will add still more to you. More will be given. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied. When you put the effort into paying attention to what you hear, God blesses it. The language of the Bible, the gospel of Jesus Christ becomes something that you are fluent in. Gospel thoughts come naturally to your mind. It becomes the new language you think in and the new way you interpret the world. It’s a blessing heaped on you by God. It’s the way God is going to expand his kingdom. When you have an abundance of understanding, when you have a gospel fluency it becomes something shared with others. Your good hearing encourages others towards good hearing. You and your life become a source of God’s Word to them. God’s kingdom grows because of good hearers. So pay attention to how you hear.

God’s kingdom will keep growing through hearing, but also by another means.

Point #2 – Christ’s kingdom will grow through fruit given by God (vs. 26-29)

Jesus introduces a new short parable here. This one also has to do with seeds and farming. Listen for how the man who scatters the seed causes the grain to grow.

READ VS. 26-29

Obviously, the man doesn’t “cause” the grain to grow at all. It seems to happen without his help. This parable takes us back to the parable of the four soils that we talked about last week. But instead of talking about the three soils that are unsuccessful in bringing about a harvest, in this parable he focuses only on the good soil that produces grain. How does it produce grain? What causes it to grow? The farmer here scatters the seed then he goes to sleep. Each day the plant steadily grows. And it says something fascinating: he knows not how. The man doesn’t understand how it all works. He just puts in the seed, makes sure it’s protected, makes sure it’s watered, and somewhere along the line it grows. If you ask him how it works, he would simply respond, “I have no idea how it works. I only know that it works.”

The point of this is not that the man needs a science lesson. If you show up and say, “Well I know how it works. There’s chlorophyll and minerals and cellular reproduction and blah blah.” That’s not what Jesus is getting at. He’s saying this man is not responsible for causing it to grow. He is not responsible for understanding exactly how it works. He is to be faithful for his part and trust God to work out the minutiae. Part of his responsibility is actually to rest, to go to sleep. Why? Because if the grain is going to grow, if fruit is going to come up out of the ground, it will be because God caused it, not the farmer. The farmer scatters the seed on the soil then trusts God by sleeping.

Have you ever considered that one of the greatest acts of faith you can demonstrate is to go to sleep? Now this isn’t a lazy type of sleep. The Bible has lots of things to say about those who refuse to work and would rather be lazy. But this is a sleep in confidence and faith in the Lord. Are you young and fearful of your future? Are you afraid that you won’t choose the right career path, you won’t go to the right school, or you won’t find the right spouse? Or are you trapped in some kind of sinful pattern and you’re afraid that you’ll never be free from it? Be a good hearer. Sow the seed of the word diligently on your heart. And sleep with confidence that God will grow fruit even if we don’t know how it’s all going to work. Are you parenting children in your home right now? Are you regularly worried about what kind of people they will grow up to be? Will they have strong character? Will they follow God? Will they do better than me? Will they be deceived by the allure of sin? Sow the seed of the word diligently on their hearts. And sleep with confidence that God will grow fruit even if we don’t know how it’s all going to work. Are you older in life and wondering if everything will be taken care of when you’re gone? Are you wondering if this church will survive the future? Will young people be saved? Will lives continue to be transformed the way that yours was? Be a good hearer. Sow the seed of the word diligently on your heart and in the hearts of others. And sleep with confidence that God will grow fruit even if we don’t know how it’s going to all work.

Psalm 127 highlights the blessing of trusting God to be faithful even as we sleep.

Unless the Lord builds the house,

those who build it labor in vain.

Unless the Lord watches over the city,

the watchman stays awake in vain.

It is in vain that you rise up early

and go late to rest,

eating the bread of anxious toil;

for he gives to his beloved sleep.

Your responsibility is to scatter the seed. Sow the seed of God’s Word on your own heart. Sow the seed on the hearts of those in your family. Sow the seed on the hearts of those who don’t yet know Christ. Some plant, some water, but God gives the increase. When we sow the seed, God will certainly cause Christ’s kingdom to grow.

The growth of his kingdom doesn’t make sense. We don’t understand how it works. And sometimes it appears that it will never work.

Point #3 – Christ’s kingdom will grow through apparent weakness (vs. 30-34)

You know the thing that appears really weak and perhaps useless? That’s exactly what God is going to use to grow his kingdom.

READ Vs 30-32

In this third parable, we have our final farming illustration. Again he is talking about seeds and planting and growth. But this time he uses the example of a specific seed - the mustard seed. Now if you’ve been reading the Bible or have been in church for a long time you immediately start making assumptions when you hear mustard seed. You’re remembering that passage where Jesus says “if you have faith like a mustard seed you can move mountains”. And you may be thinking that the mustard seed in our passage represents our faith. “Ah, when we have small faith God uses it to do enormous things”. Now that may be true, but it’s not what’s being said here. Because in all of these parables in the whole chapter, the seed has always been the word of God. And it remains the word of God here.

Let me take a little aside to address a scientific issue some people take with this text. This won’t necessarily add to the point of the sermon, but I only say this so that people aren’t distracted by what appears to be a factual error that Jesus states. It says here that the mustard seed is the smallest of all the seeds on earth. Opponents of Christianity will be quick to say, “Ha! Actually there are thousands of plant seeds that are smaller than the mustard seed. Jesus is wrong.” It’s true there are thousands of seeds smaller than mustard seeds, but I think the perceived error comes down to translation issues that can be easily resolved. If you look at verse 31, it says the mustard seed when sown “on the ground” that’s the Greek phrase “epi tēs gēs”. Then it says, it is the smallest of all the seeds “on earth”. That phrase “on earth” is the exact same one from earlier “epi tēs gēs”. Maybe a clearer reading would be when it is sown “on the soil”, is the smallest of all the seeds “on the soil”. This way it’s clear that Jesus is talking about seeds sown in a Jewish garden and not making a scientific claim about the smallest seed in the world. Ok, now back to the point of it all.

In this parable Jesus is comparing the sowing of the word of God to a tiny insignificant looking seed. When compared to the other seeds they might sow, this one certainly appeared to be the runt. By initial appearances it would seem that nothing good could possibly come from it. And there is some sort of logic to it. Big things generally come from other big things. Small things come from other small things. If we want the kingdom of God to become a big thing then it will come from a big thing. And Jesus recognizing our tendency to think that way uses an illustration that shatters that impression.

He says look at this small seed. It looks like nothing. Every other seed is more impressive looking. It doesn’t make any sense, but this seed in time will become greater than every other plant. It will become so great that the birds which are a threat to its very existence right now (remember birds fly in and eat seeds), the birds will be blessed by it. What does he mean by the birds of the air making nests in it? In the previous verses the birds represented Satan stealing the seeds and preventing the word from being obeyed, but I don’t think it would make sense to understand them as Satan here. The kingdom of God wouldn’t ever be a safe and welcoming place for Satan. Rather the birds of the air would be representative of Gentile nations even being welcomed into the kingdom. There are several similar Old Testament passages that refer to birds who represent the Gentiles and take rest in a large tree. But the big idea that Jesus is driving at is that when you look at the seed, you immediately doubt it would ever become anything and yet this enormous treelike mustard plant grows.

We have this notion that surely if the seed is extremely large then it will produce a giant plant. If this town is going to be won for Jesus then it’s going to be through something huge with bells and whistles. If this church is going to be transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit then it will probably be from an energetic and rowdy revival. If we personally are going to grow in discipleship, then it’s probably from something clever or something life changing or a mind blowing moment of transformation. But Jesus says, “No, it won’t be from any of that. It’s going to be something tiny.” Something that appears to be by all accounts too weak. Something so plain and simple that it seems too easy. The kingdom is going to be enormous and is going to turn the world upside down, but how will it get there? By prayer. By hearing from the Bible. By repentance. By taking the Lord’s Supper. By participating in baptisms. These are things often referred to as the ordinary means of grace. They’re outrageously simple.

None of them transforms you instantly. None of them will cause you to shoot up through the roof in growth at one climactic moment. They are all slow, consistent, and gradual. But sticking with them and giving them time transforms the Christian in ways you could never imagine.

I was a part of a church once that was struggling and they hired a consulting agency to come in and evaluate the church. And they called all the staff in for several seminars and did training with us. We had homework and there were churchwide surveys. And they had lots of thoughts on how to train volunteers and leaders, how to accomplish small groups, how to raise money, how to incorporate visitors, how to make your facility more welcoming and many other things that honestly are quite useful and churches should give consideration to. But things they never taught us how to do were to read Christ’s Word, obey it, pray, and repent. These are the core principles of what Jesus says will grow his kingdom. It’s not something flashy and fantastic. It’s something that you look at and you say, honestly that’s way too simple to actually work. But this is the means by which Christ says the kingdom will grow. The word is the seed. Good hearers repent. And Christ’s kingdom grows beyond what we could ever imagine.

Christ’s kingdom appears small now. But you can take comfort knowing that it’s going to grow. It’s easy to look at the horrible and enormous things going wrong in the world and think our tiny petty efforts here aren’t worth much. It’s easy to think we have no idea how God could ever topple the powers of wickedness with such a small thing as the hearing of his word. But isn’t this the type of faith he has called us to? He doesn’t call us to understand everything. He doesn’t call us to come up with enormous ideas that no one else has thought of before. He’s showing us that his kingdom will grow through his very ordinary means of grace - through hearing his word. When we give our lives to that he adds more to us and gives us even more. He is the one who produces fruit. And even if this task seems so small and insignificant, training our hearts to speak the language of the gospel fluently will grow into a massive power that will transform us, will transform our church, and will transform generations to follow.

Prayer