Sermon Mark 4:26-34 “Parables of the Kingdom”

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon Mark 4:26-34 “Parables of the Kingdom”
New Covenant Church
June 17, 2018

Listen to this sermon.

We are continuing with our look at some of Jesus’ teachings.   With Nicodemus, we learned about spiritual baptism which we need to believe that Jesus is truly the Son of God and receive the gift of eternal life.  We heard in the Gospel of Mark about the confrontation that Jesus had with people who were not born again and therefore misunderstood his teaching and so some Pharisees went back to Jerusalem to plot his death.   We saw crowds coming to Jesus with so much faith that he could heal them.   And we have seen faithful disciples go out to tell people about Jesus, making the crowds bigger and bigger.

Jesus is building the Kingdom of God.  And today we will learn from Jesus about this kingdom and how it gets built, but first, let’s pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

When I look out my office window to the southeast I see the Jamison Road construction project.   When construction first began I went to talk with the project manager and asked him how long it would take to finish the construction.   I was surprised when he said that if would take a year or more.   I thought that since it was just a short road that did not require the removal of trees, or the blasting of rock, or the tearing down of buildings that construction would only take a few months.    So the project manager showed me his plans.   He said that each step plan had to be completed, in the proper order,  before the next step could be started.   All of this would take time.   Another factor was the weather.   Since they were working outside sometimes the entire project would be delayed for bad weather.    Various delays could push the completion of the project further into the future.   But it was his best guess that the entire project would be completed in a year or so.

So the road project requires an extensive amount of planning before it can begin.   And it requires a lot of management to bring the plans into reality.   I think this pretty much describes life in America today.   We are always planning things.   I know I live by my calendar.   Everything I must do is recorded on a Google calendar as soon as I decide to do it.   Then I look at my calendar on my phone every day, several times a day, to see what I need to do.   And since I must prepare for preaching and teaching I have to set aside time for that preparation too.  So I plan out my life on a calendar and I live each day doing what needs to be done.    My life is planned and managed just like the road project.

So if you look out my office window you will see a planned and managed project to build Jamison road.   But if you look out the window on the other side of the education building, what do you see?   What is happening northwest of the church?

If you look northwest from the church you will see a field of growing soybeans.   The farmer who planted the soybeans had to do some planning and management.   He had to order seed and maintain his equipment.   And, of course, he had to spread the chicken manure over the field last winter.   But once the seed is in the ground there is nothing else the farmer can do.   The farmer cannot make the seed sprout.   The farmer cannot provide light and warmth from the Sun.   The farmer cannot provide rain and good soil.   And the farmer cannot manage the growing seed.   All the farmer can do is wait until the harvest and see what God has provided.

This is what living in America was like a century ago.  Most people lived on farms.  They planted seed.   They had faith that the seed would grow.   And they would ask God for the blessing of an abundant crop.

On the southeast side of the church, we see the results of planning and project management.    On the northwest side of the church, we see soybeans growing seemingly all by themselves.  Which of these, do you think, describes how the Kingdom of God comes into the world?  For the answer to this let’s hear from Jesus.

Mark 4:26 He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

So the Kingdom of God is more like the soybean field than the road construction.  That has very important implications for evangelism.   If the Kingdom of God was like the road construction then we would be planning an evangelism program.   We would be recruiting people, training them as evangelists, sending them into the community and evaluating their performance.

But the Kingdom of God is not like the Jamison Road project.   It is like soybeans in the field next to the church.    We plant seeds in the hearts people which over time grow into faith.  So how do we plant seeds of faith?

You come to the church and receive preaching and teaching.  Through this, you learn more and more about the Kingdom of God.   Then when you leave the church and enter the world you experience the Kingdom of God taking shape.    As you talk with people, family, friends, people you meet in day to day living you tell them about Jesus and how he has blessed you.    Every time you talk about Jesus and blessings you have received you are planting a seed of faith in someone’s heart.      The Holy Spirit takes it from there.   You plant seeds of faith through conversation and God creates a believer.

Of course, we must cooperate with Holy Spirit.   A new believer will want instruction in the faith.  They will seek out a church.   We have to be ready for this. We need to go into the communities around the church and invite people to come to church.  And when people come, we must greet them and provide them with preaching and teaching and fellowship that will satisfy their spiritual hunger.    And one day, as they grow spiritually they too will be planting seeds of faith, in others.

So, we have learned that the Kingdom of God is like the soybeans growing next to the church.    We plant the seed of faith by talking about Jesus and blessings we have received with others.   The Holy Spirit causes the seed of faith to grow and uses the church to nurture it.

So we have looked to southeast and northwest.  But, If we look to the south of the church we see something completely different.   We see bamboo growing.   This bamboo stands between the church and the road blocking people’s view of us.    Bamboo keeps growing and multiplying until one day it covers the whole area.   And you can’t get rid of it easily.   This summer DELDOT will try to get rid of the stuff.  They will cut it and fill the holes with undiluted herbicide.   Then when it is dead they will dig it up.   Hopefully, the bamboo will never return.

A few years ago I was living in the manse in Pocomoke City.   The manse has a beautiful east facing porch.   I wanted to eat breakfast on this porch in the summer, but the sun was too bright.   I thought about hanging a shade.   But then I remembered my grandmother’s solution.    I hung string vertically from ceiling to floor.   I space them one foot apart.   Then I planted Morning Glories at the base of the porch.   As the Morning Glories grew I trained them to twist up the string.   Pretty soon I had a wall of leaves and flowers, the perfect shade for a sunny morning.

But then I made a mistake.  I wrote about this in the church newsletter, and the farmers in the church read about what I had done.   For the corn farmers in Pocomo,ke Morning Glory is a horrible weed.    It strangles corn stalks and gets tangled up in combines.    The farmers fight Morning Glory with everything they have.   And their pastor had just planted some Morning Glory next to the church manse.

Plants like bamboo or Morning Glory can be either beneficial or harmful.   An ancient plant like this was the mustard bush.   Mustard has medicinal properties and tastes great on hot dogs.   But you don’t want mustard growing in your grainfield.   Like bamboo and Morning Glory mustard can hurt your crops and is hard to get rid of.   But, according to Jesu,s this is what the Kingdom of God is like.

30 Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. 32 Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”

The Kingdom God can seem, at times, to be a nuisance.    For a people who are planning and managing busy lives, the kingdom of God might come at an inappropriate time.   Someone might need a meal after coming home from the hospital, but we are too busy to respond.   Someone needs to talk with us about their lives and faith, but we have something else to do.     Caring for others, loving them as a neighbor, can be a costly thing to do.   So sometimes, the Kingdom of God is like a weed that we want to get rid of.

But Jesus says that the Kingdom of God is a beautiful thing, like Morning Glories blooming at breakfast.   If we take the time to love and serve others, if we make time to come to church, read our Bibles and pray, then we can enjoy the kingdom growing in our hearts. 

So we come to church for worship, prayer and Bible study to nurture the seeds of faith someone planted in our hearts.    We go into the world and see the Kingdom of God already happening.    We accept opportunities to participate in God’s work in the world.   And we talk about the blessings we have received  with others  planting seeds of faith in their hearts.   This is the Kingdom of God.
Mark, the author of the second gospel reflected on all this, and said this about Jesus’ teachings.

33 With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. 34 He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.

I hope that the explanation of the parables of the Kingdom that I have given you today will help you to see the KIngdom of God in our world around you and will help you to participate in it.   The kingdom does not require your planning or management.   It does require some planting as you talk about your faith with others.   Let’s pray.

Father in heaven we thank you for the seeds of faith growing in our hearts.   We thank you for the church that nourishes our faith.   Thank you for the opportunities to talk about Jesus and the blessings we receive with others.    Use our conversations to grow your kingdom.   In Jesus’ name, we pray.  Amen.