Mark 4:21-34
As Jesus continues to teach His disciples about the mission that they are called to, He uses 3 more parables to try and get them to really understand how awesome it is. And there’s a balance here between the work that they are called to, and the work that God does because of and in spite of them. We are called to scatter the gospel seeds wherever our feet tread, however, hopefully this morning some of the weightiness that comes with our ideas of living this out will be lifted off our shoulders, as we see how our work is a very small supplement to what God is doing in the realm that we can’t see.
1.. The Awesome Responsibility of Gospel Mission (21-25)
Read Mark 4:21-25
A.. What is hidden must come to light (21-22)
Jesus says to His disciples and through the Scriptures to the Christian, “you are the light of the world.” He also says, “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” The light that we have become results from new life in Christ. We hold the truth of the gospel, new life in Christ, in our deepest being, in our soul. It has transformed us. It has snatched us out of darkness. It has changed the trajectory of our eternity, from forever separated to forever in the presence of God. And that truth that we hold within ourselves must not be hidden. In fact, we have been given great responsibility.
And there’s this twofold thought here. There is a present revealing as the scales fall off of the eyes of the unbeliever and they see the fullness of the gospel. There is also a future revealing in which ALL of creation will see and confess that Jesus is God in flesh, and in that revealing Jesus will no longer be hiding His glory, but will explode out of the heavens to bring about the final and eternal victory over Satan.
Matthew 24:30 - “Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”
Revelation 1:7 - “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.”
Whether present or future, the truth of Jesus will be revealed. And in the meantime, we have been given the great responsibility of kingdom expansion on Earth.
But, if we want to have impact in the world, we have to first make sure that our personal lives are centered on the gospel. Jesus addresses this next.
B.. The Importance of Hearing (24-25)
Pay attention to what you “hear.” There is an important emphasis placed on our hearing here. In fact, there is a certain measure of how well we are hearing and letting what we hear influence our understanding. With the measure that you use your hearing, in other words, how well you listen, will determine how much understanding you are given.
This is the principle of reciprocity. We get out what we put in. So when we receive God’s word with eagerness and openness, God will reveal more truth to us. The closer we listen the more understanding we will gain. On the contrary though, if we don’t listen well, a sort of atrophy takes place. If we fail to use our muscles, they will shrink and cause severe weakness and loss of function. In the same way, when we don’t exercise the spiritual discipline of listening to the Word of God, eventually we will lose the ability to do so.
And when we pay attention, and we listen closely, then we understand with clarity what it is that our role on this Earth is.
2.. The Shared Roles of Gospel Mission (26-29)
Read Mark 4:26-29
The kingdom of God has a few different meanings in Scripture, and here Jesus is talking about the collective group of Christians from past, present and future. Think about it like a physical kingdom, and the citizens are all those who ever have and ever will confess Jesus as their Lord and Savior. And here’s how it happens according to Jesus.
Now, this section has 2 main interpretations that can both be true, in fact they go hand in hand. First, we can picture Jesus as the sower. He sowed the seeds of the gospel and then proved it’s accuracy in His death and resurrection. He is away for a time, but then will come back and gather all of the Christians to Himself in the end of days. The only problem with this is that in our passage, Jesus says the sower does not know how the growth happens, or another interpretation would be that He doesn’t see the growth happen. Neither of these would be true of Jesus.
Perhaps a better interpretation of this section would mean that His disciples, as well as future believers, would be the sowers. They scatter the gospel seed in word and deed, but the depth and quality of soil that receives the seed is unknown to the sower. So he goes about his life. Meanwhile, there is a greater work at play, one in which growth is happening in the heart of the one who received it.
To put it in missional terms this morning, Jesus is saying that the responsibility of scattering seed lies with the believer, but the receptivity and growth are up to God. Even if we don’t see it until eternity. Like, how awesome is it going to be when we get to heaven and we see someone there that we never expected would be there!
A.. The role of scattering - The Christian
B.. The role of producing growth - God
And so all throughout the world, Christians are living out their faith as they interact with those who don’t know Jesus. And gospel seeds are being scattered all over the globe. And once those seeds are scattered, maybe someone else waters them. We can’t see the extent of it, but God is taking those seeds and growing them into healthy, fruitful plants. And this is what we are invited into, actually, this is what we are called to as followers of Jesus!
1 Corinthians 3:5-8 - “What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.”
These passages should encourage us and take the weight of success off of our shoulders. I think so many of us don’t see immediate fruit, or maybe any fruit, and we become discouraged. And it’s better just to not do it at all if whatever I’m doing isn’t working! But can I just encourage you with this? You never know the impact that you have on someone. You may not see it until eternity! Our responsibility is not to save people. That isn’t our role. Jesus died to provide a way. The Holy Spirit draws people to Himself. God the Father accepts us into His family because of what Jesus did. Our role is not to save people.
Our role is to scatter the seeds. And that can look a lot different for each of us:
It could be a weekend hang with a neighbor, one in which the conversation turns to religion, and maybe you have an opportunity to talk about your faith.
It could be telling the waiter or waitress that you’re going to pray for your meal, and asking them if there’s anything you can pray over them. And then invite them into that prayer.
It could be picking up the man or woman on the corner and taking them to McDonalds and buying them lunch or dinner, and sitting there and talking to them while they eat.
It could be using social media as a platform. Posting verses with encouraging thoughts and meaning in the captions.
It could be taking a meal to a sick neighbor. It could be doing yard work for your elderly neighbor. It could be taking your elderly neighbor grocery shopping.
We have to get out of this mindset that evangelism and gospel mission look like 1 or 2 things. When you think about these examples, it becomes more of a way of life than a stressful thought. And all along the way we are trusting that God is going to use our words and actions along with His Holy Spirit to transform that person’s life.
And here’s the exciting part.
3.. The Expansive Extent of Gospel Mission (30-34)
Read Mark 4:30-34
A mustard seed is about 1-2mm in size. I mean, like the size of a hangnail. I mean these things are tiny. Depending on the environment in which they are planted, the trees can grow anywhere from 6-30 feet tall. It’s not unusual to see trees that reach 20 feet tall, with a width of 20 feet as well. So this tree would grow to be the largest in the garden, even though the seed was the smallest one planted.
What Jesus is saying is that His kingdom, though it started as small as a proverbial mustard seed, will grow to a size much larger than any other earthly kingdom. The size of His kingdom will overshadow every other kingdom. There is no comparison. It’s so vast. I mean think about it. He was gathering people to Himself from the beginning of time. The Old Testament believers. Read Hebrews 11. Even before Jesus, which, that will stretch your theology of salvation. But Abel, and Enoch, and Noah, and Abraham. Their faith was counted to them as righteousness, as right standing with God. We’re talking thousands of years BC to thousands of years AD. Millions if not Billions of Christians, from every nation, tribe and tongue.
And you, Christian, sitting in this seat this morning, have been tasked with scattering seed and expanding the kingdom of God. I mean how exciting is that! Think about how small we are, but yet God wants to use our little mustard seed faith to grow His massive, uncountable and unbreakable kingdom!
Application
I want to end by telling you a short story, and then offering you just a bit of encouragement. When I was in high school, 10th grade, I went on a mission trip to St. Lucia. On that trip, I had the opportunity to preach in the street, which was kinda cool as a 15 year old kid. But we also got to sit down with some of the kids at this school, and share the gospel with them. One little boy prayed to receive Christ, and you know it’s hard knowing in that moment how genuine those decisions are. But years later, my brother went to St. Lucia on a mission trip, and if you’ve ever met my brother, we look very much alike. So my brother is there, and this now older boy comes up to him and says he recognized him, and after a brief conversation realizing that he was my brother, this boy, and I don’t remember the exact words, but he said to my brother, “Your brother changed me.” Now, we know that it was the Holy Spirit that really changed Him. But when I heard that story I was like man, God used a punk little 15 year old to scatter a seed that, had my brother not gone back, I never would have known until I saw this boy in heaven.
And I tell you that just to encourage you to keep on loving people like Jesus. Keep on reaching out to neighbors and coworkers and inviting them into your home. Keep on having short conversations with the clerk at the store. Keep on praying for people. You just never know which seed that you throw out will take, and God will do something in that person’s heart.
