Mark 4:26 - 4:34
See, it's kind of like this

(prayer)


 

intro: parable and allegory

i read this parable several weeks ago and was really struck with how...encouraging it was.
i asked if i might teach these parables as well as the sower, though it would mean two weeks, and jeff and jon gave me the go ahead, so here i am.
 
parables:
often said to have a single point...
allegory:
many details are significant.
so...the parable of the sower is a parable or allegory?
well...you can argue this at lunch.
perhaps it is better to be careful about guessing which details we say are significant.

 

two short parables (4:26-34)

the parable of the growing seed

26. And He was saying, "The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil;
27. and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows--how, he himself does not know.
28. "The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head.
29. "But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."

the parable of the mustard seed

30. And He said, "How shall we picture the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it?
31. "It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is smaller than all the seeds that are upon the soil,
32. yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and forms large branches; so that THE BIRDS OF THE AIR can NEST UNDER ITS SHADE."
33. With many such parables He was speaking the word to them, so far as they were able to hear it;
34. and He did not speak to them without a parable; but He was explaining everything privately to His own disciples.

parable 1: the growing seed

this has 3 basic ideas, 1 of which is the point.
 

v26"the kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil"

1. the work of the christian is to spread the word of the god.

- NEED: the kingdom of god grows through us
- god is the only truly self-sufficient being
- god has a plan for humans - to create family for himself who will glorify him and enjoy his presense forever
- god's plan depends on these humans to be a part of this plan
i'm not saying humans can screw god's plan up.
that gets into this mess of free will. do we act out of freedom or because god control us...both somehow.
i am saying that god has set things up with humans as a vital piece.
how vital?
god speaks to people...through people.
prophecy is not common.
even in the bible it is rare; there's a reason they wrote down what was said for others to read it.
this seems to be intentional.
this is weird.
why would god do this?
we don't know.
this gives us something worthwhile to do.
as we talked about last week...
this means we have something to do that has value to god.
- RESPONSIBILITY: the christian's job is to spread the gospel.
- denied by some, but all over the bible.
 
- last week as well.
 
this field ain't gonna sow itself.
so...we've gotta do our part to share the gospel.

v27,28 "and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows--how, he himself does not know. The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head."

2. spiritual growth is the work of god. (the point)

paul evokes this picture of plant life and the growth of the kingdom in 1 cor 3:6-8
6. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.
7. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.
8. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
- you are important enough to have a job. you are not important enough to do the important parts
who makes crops grow? not the farmer.
the farmer just spreads stuff around to the right places.
 
so it is with the gospel. we have a job, but a small one.

- you are not responsible for the important parts.
we are responsible to spread the gospel.
we are not responsible to make sure it takes fruit.
 
once again.
your job description includes: spreading the gospel.
your job description does not include: making sure it bears fruit.
 
"i don't pay you to think, i pay you to work."

v29 "But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."

3. growth happens with an eye to harvest

the purpose of the gospel is not earth.
- the gospel is about saving people from hell and for heaven. it's about god making a people for himself.
- we care about ending human suffering
caring for orphans? you bet.
ending racism? yup.
fighting injustice? oh yes.
- but we believe there are even bigger problems.
we care even more about hell and heaven.
 
it is supremely un-compassionate to fix someone's teeth and ignore their eternity.
we need to encourage one another to remember the harvest.
- we should encourage one another to remember eternity.
- it's not trite.

so...the growing seed teaches:
- we have a job...
- but the real work will be god's.
- and he will collect his harvest in the end (and destroy the rest).

the gospel: our message

mark's presentation so far:
the seed that is being sown in these parables is the message of the kingdom of heaven.
mark here doesn't spell out the details as he has been doing so...
 
part 1:
recall mark 2:1-12 with the paralytic through the roof. jesus tells the man, "son, your sins are forgiven", and the pharisees think "who can forgive sins but god alone?"
mark 1:4 starts with john the baptist "preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins."
 
part 1: guilt, sin, and judgement are the context. within israel, there is the understanding already that their sin had consequences before god; thus the call to repent.
part 2:
there's been a strong emphasis on jesus as the one at the core of forgiveness and the gospel.
as go further in to mark, we'll see jesus teach that he must suffer and die (starting in chapter 8.)
it will become clear that this will be to pay for sin, especially so after his death.
part 2: mark teaches that jesus, as god, is the one who forgives sin.
part 3:
when jesus calls people, he calls them to repent of their sin.
jesus speaks of the gospel bearing fruit in these parables.
in mark 9, speaking to his followers, he says:
43-48 “If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire, 45 “If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than, having your two feet, to be cast into hell, 47 “If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell, 48 where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.
part 3: those who are part of god's kingdom must show it.
our presentation:
differences in presentation:
if you compare mark and john, you'll notice that different aspects of the gospel are emphasized (and or assumed).
likewise, if you compare the various speeches in acts, you'll see the same thing - different things emphasized and explained.
 
the same basic parts are always there. and...to make sure you are able to do your role as a christian to particpate in the spreading of the gospel, here's a breakdown of what you need to emphasize.
1. our sin means we are under god's judgement.
god is holy, hates sin, and will destroy sinners.
you'll notice mark doesn't need to stretch to convince his audience of this.
they were jews, and knew this from the old testament; thus you see john the baptist starting with 'repent' and not explaining why they needed to repent.
 
the terrible truth however is that god has created moral rules that we violate, and that means we are under the wrath of god, destined to eternal punishment.
we are all sinners, and thus under god's wrath.
this is the bad news.
humans don't want to believe that they are personally guilty.

to quote our doctrinal statement, in the section regarding "mankind":
We believe that humanity was created in the image and likeness of God, but that Adam's sin had consequences for everyone ('the fall'). As a result, all people inherit a sinful nature, and are alienated from God; mankind is lost, spiritually dead, and unable to remedy his lost condition (Genesis 1:26, 27; Romans 3:22, 23; 5:12; Ephesians 2:1-3, 12).
2. god has made a way for us to be part of his kingdom: by repenting and believing in jesus christ.
jesus died on the cross as a payment for our sins.
we accept this by...
repenting:
turn away from sin. stop pursuing the things god says are wrong.
believing:
understand that jesus is the son of god and is able to give you peace with god, and pursue the things he says to.
the bible speaks of our belief as being a very active belief; our idea of belief is a bit less so. you'll see jesus speaking a lot of the results of belief (fruit, rightousness, etc), which helps to fill the picture in a bit.
again...from the doctrinal statement:
Salvation is only by grace, a gift from God. It is received through faith in Jesus, who died for our sins according to the Scriptures. Those who receive Christ by faith have their sins forgiven, become children of God, and are made new creatures in Christ. This gift of salvation is accomplished by the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ through His death on the cross. Our justification (declaration of innocence) is made sure by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead.
3. we are to be a part of his family and to be holy like god is.
this is a part of belief, and how god has always intended to be.
this is why christians value:
-knowing the bible
-praying
-avoiding sin
-serving others
-spreading the gospel
Christians are to live a new life through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Christian's responsibility is to pursue obedience to God through faith in matters of Biblical ethics, Christian service, and the preaching of the Gospel. We believe that God has given all believers spiritual gifts which are to be used to serve the church. Prayer is to be a constant part of the life and ministry of the Christian.

that's it.

- you should believe this personally.

- you should know this so you can tell others.


parable 2: the mustard seed

30. And He said, "How shall we picture the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it?
31. "It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is smaller than all the seeds that are upon the soil,
32. yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and forms large branches; so that THE BIRDS OF THE AIR can NEST UNDER ITS SHADE."
33. With many such parables He was speaking the word to them, so far as they were able to hear it;
34. and He did not speak to them without a parable; but He was explaining everything privately to His own disciples.

mighty oaks from little acorns grow

when i was newly married, my dad sent me some money to invest with a card that said simply, "mighty oaks from little acorns grow."
that is the basic idea of this parable.
- the kingdom of god has humble beginnings
- but it will grow to the the biggest kingdom ever.

birds of the air?

catch the emphasis of "the birds of the air can nest under it's shade"
if you were a good jewish boy or girl in this time (or now, or raised christian with a bible emphasis), you might recognize this phrase.
if you thought to yourself that both ezekiel and daniel use it when talking about large empires that cover the earth, then you might also remember that these were both empires that when god uses this phrase, he's talking about their pride and how he will humble them.
so you'd probably be realize that jesus is saying:
- he's founding the ultimate/true world empire
- he's already destroyed every other world empire that has gone against his will at the point when he felt like it.

application:

parable 1: we plant...but god takes care of the real work and grows things up.

parable 2: from small beginnings will grow the greatest

relax; don't worry about the things that aren't your job

- yes. you should spread the gospel.
 
- you should do so while not worrying about whether they agree or not.
this is pressure you don't need.
your job isn't success. it's accuracy.
 
you are not responsible to save your family.
you are not responsible to save your neighbors.
you are not responsible to save your coworkers.
 
your job is just to play the farmer.

relax; god has already said that he's going to succeed.

if this were sports, and we were picking teams, you'd be angling to play on jesus' team.
he always wins; it's not very fair.
 
look back at the parable of the sower:
the seed was sown;
it's eaten by birds.
it withers
it doesn't bear fruit.
the gospel has us believe in a savior who was born in galilee, lived 2000 years ago, and who was killed by some romans.
it doesn't look very grand.

but god says that it will succeed.
- god will call his people to himself; they will be saved
- god's kingdom will become the only kingdom
- we can be a part of it's success.