How Outward are We Focused?
What is the kingdom of God like? Jesus breaks it down here in Mark 4. Earlier Jesus spoke before his earthly ministry and said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15). In
Gospel = good news of God! If you want to summarize Jesus’s life and ministry, it’s that, isn’t it? Jesus lived a gospel-driven and cross-bearing life that draws people into a Christ-centered life.
As we witness in the life of Christ, Jesus spoke of sowing the seed which is “The field is the world” for the Gospel culminates with the Great Commission.
Matthew’ gospel says, “Kingdom of heaven” which is the same as the “Kingdom of God” This is truly the central theme of the Christian life, isn’t it?
Believers have been commissioned today as the new gospel so that they would be reminded of that good news.
1. Faithful Sower to the World
Mark 4:1-20, Jesus introduces the teaching method known as parables, the first of which is the parable of the Sower.
“Listen!” (v. 3). We see this repeated later in verse 13 Jesus tries to make the point. Good communication always begins with listening! Jesus shows this by starting in this series of parables he lays out for the disciples. Hearing involves more than hearing. Listening leads to action!
The word parable is made up of two Greek words, para meaning “alongside,” and ballo meaning “to throw.” The word parable means “to throw alongside.”
One commentator explained it this way! Sometimes the best way to get people’s attention is to tell them a story. C. S. Lewis once talked about his fiction in this way. He said that he could write about doctrine and teach philosophy, but only certain people would get his meaning. Some would get his meaning but be unaffected by it. Others would ignore what he had to say. But by telling them a story, the message would slip past the “watchful dragons” of reason and philosophy and get to the emotions that we often try to hide.
This is the parable of the soil recorded in Luke as well and Matthew has much more than other ones. Matthew tends to expand much more than others (Mark 4:3-8; 10-12; Matt 13:3-9; 18-23; Luke 8:5-8; 11-15).
In general, these are known as KINGDOM PARABLES (Mark 4; Matt 13; Luke 8). Mark has 34 verses, Matthew has 52 verses and finally Luke has 5 verses.
There are a total of 4 responses to Him here (Mark 4:1-20).
(1) The Hard Heart (v. 4, 15)
(2) The Shallow Heart (v. 5, 16-17)
(3) The Divided Heart (v. 6, 18-19)
(4) The Fruitful Heart (v. 7, 20)
“Bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” (v. 20). Good soil will produce a good crop. Jesus is desiring for believers to faithfully cast the gospel message.
“Well, how do you know which soil is what?” Based on Scripture we know that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Rom 3:23). All sinners are born with hearts that are hard, shallow, and worldly. The question perhaps is more so, who is my neighbor? Or perhaps, the question is, what are you doing with your seed?
2. Shine Your Light before the World
The previous parable spoke with the emphasis on the importance of being a fruitful hearer by distinguishing the good ground from the bad. “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?” (v. 13).
Piggybacking from the previous parable, “The Parable of the Sower” also found in Matthew 13:3-9; 18-23 that we are sowing seeds and spreading light to a dark and difficult world! “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand?” (v. 21).
This is similar to what Jesus said in the sermon on the Mount, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matt 5:16).
D.L. Moody said once, “We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won’t need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don’t fire cannons to call attention to their shining – they just shine.”
How can we let our light shine? By letting Christ shine through our lives. Jesus declares, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12).
Charles Spurgeon, a great preacher of his day, once said, “The Bible is not the light of the world, it is the light of the Church. But the world does not read the Bible, the world reads Christians! You are the light of the world.”
When people look into your life, what is the overarching theme of your life? Is it about the eternal life of you, or are you investing in the temporary life?
3. Growing Seed in the World
Jesus explains and expounds on the parable. He builds on the previous section of the parable of the Kingdom Sower and the lamp.
Someone told me recently, a parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. Jesus is the best of the best preachers, and he often utilized parables to make a point! As we see later in the context, “With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.” (vv. 33-34).
“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how.” (vv. 26-27).
Jesus tells us about the harvest. What is the harvest? “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Luke 10:2).
As we examine and take an inventory of our life, we will have to picture our life like a seed grown into a tree. “It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.” (vv. 31-32).
I had to look this up, but mustard seeds are usually about 1 to 2 millimeters. The mustard seed was the smallest of all the seeds in Palestine. That very small seed can one day go up to reaching a height of 4.6 meters which is 15 feet!
That is the beginning of a church isn’t it? Jesus began his earthly ministry with selecting the twelve disciples (Mark 3:18-21), which were nobody fishermen. Later with time passing, the church is born, like a mustard seed, where birds will find refuge and shade to have a home.
How can one tell your life has taken root more in Christ? How does growth take place and affect those around you?
Faith Leads to Faithfulness For the Kingdom
What is the point of Jesus teaching here? Even the smallest seed can sprout and grow even in tough times. I echo the words Paul says, “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” (Gal 6:9).
I am more and more convinced from this section, that the Christian life is not a sprint but more like a marathon. As the parable of the Sower with the shallow heart makes it evident, life is not how you start but how well you end.
Faithfulness means having patience, endurance, perseverance, and a steadfast commitment in the good, bad and the ugly.
What is the point of these kingdom parables? Faithfulness even in the little can produce big change! Nothing is impossible through Christ. In this life, it only takes a little bit of faith, faith that really cannot be measured, to be included in God’s kingdom.
The key to success is faithful endurance in whatever you do!