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August 26/27, 2017
Jason Meyer
And he said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”
And he said, “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. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? 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.”
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.—Mark 4:21–34
Introduction
There is so much to say from last week. I want to thank everyone who spoke to me after the service or by email. Many of you said that my story had happened to you in the past and you were able to revisit and relive that defining moment in the sermon. Some of you even said that my experience actually became yours as the walls of resistance fell for you during the sermon.
Let’s not pretend that all the questions are answered. One sermon could never do that. Many good follow-up questions came last week. I want to invite you to listen in to the answers, as you may have had these same questions. I have time in this introduction for only two.
First, the idea of God’s special love for his chosen people is hard. What does that mean about those who are not chosen? Are they not loved?
The whole counsel of God in Scripture is key in answering this question. Matthew 5:45b makes it clear that God shows love to his enemies: He causes his rain to fall and his sun to rise on the good and the bad. Scripture is very direct in saying that Jesus lays down his life for his sheep and gives himself for his bride. Countless people have been helped by the analogy of marriage to understand the difference between the general love of God and the particular, marital love of God. I am called to show a general love for everyone, including other women in this world, but no one objects to me having a particular love for my wife—I must love her in a way that is different—a way that is unique and special and covenantal. It is the same way with the love of Jesus for his Bride (the Church).
Second, some of you asked about how to think about unsaved children. They pull at our heartstrings so profoundly, don’t they?! I want to speak a pastoral word to you. First, let us clean out the leaven of legalism here. One of its last strongholds is in parenting. No one would ever put it so crassly, but some believe that if they do all the right things, their children will become Christians. If they don’t become Christians, then it must be the parents’ fault. We believe in justification by faith; not justification by parenting rightly. I had started writing an email to a few of the parents who asked me this question and then saw that desiring God.org featured an article by Dave Harvey that said it better than I would have.
One of the less detected strains of legalism in the church today is the false hope of “deterministic parenting.” This unspoken but deeply felt dogma assumes the parents’ faithfulness determines the spiritual health of their kids: “If I obey the Bible, discipline consistently, and push the catechism, then my kids will look good on earth and be present in heaven.” No parent would say it, but it’s really “justification by parenting.” Such legalism smuggles in a confidence that God rewards faithful parents with obedient, converted kids and does so proportionally to what we deserve. We can wrongfully assume, “I’ve put in serious work, so I deserve a lot!”
We also flip it. If the gospel of determinism is true, a wayward child reveals parental failure. If a kid is spinning out of control, parents are just reaping what they’ve sowed. I’m not suggesting our parenting doesn’t matter. Godly parenting influences children positively and bad parenting influences them negatively. But the key word is influence. Too many Christians unconsciously confuse influence with determinative power. This assumption takes God, the world’s brokenness, and the human will out of the equation. We’re not masters of our own destiny or our children’s.
(From http://www.desiringGod.org/articles/lift-the-heavy-burden-of-shame, by Dave Harvey. He has also written a book on a similar topic: Letting Go: Rugged Love for Wayward Souls).
I am trying to warn you lovingly to stay away from the ditches of false pride and false guilt/shame. If you have children who are believers, it is not because you did everything right. We believe in the sovereignty of God, not the determinism of parents. If you have children who are not saved, do not take all this blame upon yourself saying, “If only I would have done this or said this.” We believe in the sovereignty of God, not the determinism of parents. We have bright hope also to keep sharing the gospel with those who don’t know Christ. I will return to that point at the close of the message.
Main Point (Illustration)
Sometimes I try to include a way to visualize the main point of the passage. Here is the image: We had what we affectionately called The Old Dump near our house. It was once the town dump, but it became a boy’s dream come true. There were dirt paths with hills where we would ride our bike down and around to the other side and then ride our bikes back to the point of entry. We loved exploring in there because there would be all kinds of junk and glass and we would sometimes make our own. One time we took some of our glass bottles in our garage and took them down to the dump along with our baseball bat. Guess what we did? We would throw the bottle in the air and hit it with the baseball bat. Wow—there is an amazing explosion of glass! I am trying not to sound too excited about it because I know kids are listening. Kids, this was a super dumb thing because you can’t control where the glass goes—it flies everywhere—including back at you. We only had to get cut a couple of times before we didn’t do that anymore.
That is essentially what Jesus is doing in these parables. He is taking all the current expectations of what the Kingdom would look like, and he throws them up in the air and shatters them with his almighty bat.
Main Point: Jesus’ parables shatter all false expectations for the kingdom of God.
Outline
And he said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”
Something astonishing happens in the way the lamp parable is worded. The ESV translates it passively, “Is a lamp brought in,” but in the original language the lamp is the subject and the verb is active. (Consider: Does the lamp come in in order to be put under a basket or a bed?) The wording is a clear clue that the lamp is a reference to Jesus. His opponents (and even his family) want to limit his influence. In effect, they want to hide him under a basket or bed. But the light of the world came into the darkness in order to occupy the most prominent, elevated place—we should maximize the blessing of its light by putting it on a stand.
The method of Jesus’ preaching was surprising: This is a funny way for the light to shine—he really is partially revealing things, but he is also concealing things for outsiders and giving further revelation for insiders. Once again, Jesus refers to the gift of ears that hear. If you have spiritual ears that work, then use them.
This flip side of this command is a warning. His audience is to use care in how they hear. The measure they use will be like a boomerang and come back upon them. If someone listens well and receives the truth, he will receive even more. If someone listens poorly and rejects the truth or shows no interest in the truth, even the little they have will be taken from them (like the Pharisees where Satan or the birds come and steal away the seed sown).
And he said, “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. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
All these parables are about the Kingdom, and the next two make this point explicit. This parable is one part of a pair of parables about seed sown that grows. The first one focuses on the hidden power of the seed and the process of growth. Even though it looks like nothing is happening for a long time (it is hidden and under the surface), the miracle of growth is happening—the seed has the power to produce even while it sleeps or rises. The earth produces “by itself.”
When you think about the Kingdom, don’t think about a place or realm, think of a Person who has the right to rule and what he does to retake what is his. The Jews thought God’s kingdom would come like the Day of the Lord—a big bang—forcefully, unmistakably.
They didn’t imagine something this hidden and under the surface, happening while people sleep. God will carry it out as part of a process, not one big bang. This is an important and surprising point. The zealots thought you had to force God’s kingdom into existence by taking matters into your own hands and start a political revolution that the Messiah would join and then finish the job. The Pharisees thought that they needed a purity revolution. They would be pure enough so that the Messiah would respond to their holiness and wipe out the unholy Romans (vv. 30–32).
And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? 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.”
Who could have read the Old Testament and thought that the kingdom of God would look so feeble at first? It is a bit shocking to read how it is compared to something so small and unimpressive. Here again we have a deceptively small beginning, but an epic ending. This text almost certainly contains an allusion to Ezekiel 17:22–24.
Thus says the Lord God: “I myself will take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar and will set it out. I will break off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain.
On the mountain height of Israel will I plant it, that it may bear branches and produce fruit and become a noble cedar. And under it will dwell every kind of bird; in the shade of its branches birds of every sort will nest. And all the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord; I bring low the high tree, and make high the low tree, dry up the green tree, and make the dry tree flourish. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.”— Ezekiel 17:22–24
There will be a reversal of expectations. Rather than starting with a lofty cedar tree, God is going to begin with a tender twig. God will plant it and it will grow and bear branches and produce fruit and in the shade of its branches every kind of bird will dwell and nest. The lofty will be brought low, the low will be made high, the green tree will become dry and the dry tree will flourish.
There is something so surprising and shocking here that I think we have lost sight of it. I will come back to this point in application.
4. The Pattern of the Parables: Hidden and Revealed; Gaining and Losing (4:33–34)
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.
These verses put a bowtie on all of chapter four. Several strands are tied together here. He spoke many parables and it tested whether the people had ears to hear or not. He only spoke to the crowds in parables (publicly), but privately he explained everything to his disciples. These verses are like a summary of 4:10–12 and 4:21–25. The division between outsiders and insiders is clear and Jesus reinforces it. Those who respond well with a hunger to hear more are given more of the word—those who are content with a little have even that little bit taken away.
Application
Let’s start with that word “secret.” We saw it in Mark 4:11–12.
And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that
“‘they may indeed see but not perceive,
and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they should turn and be forgiven.’”
This is the Greek word musterion from which we get our English word “mystery,” but it means something different than what we normally think of a mystery. Mystery is not something incredibly difficult to understand—so that only the Sherlock Holmes of the world can crack the case if they use their superior deductive skills. Mystery is better translated as “secret.” A secret does not have to be hard to understand. It can be easy to understand, but it has to be revealed or it will not be known. I could say to my class, “Take out a piece of paper; you have a pop quiz right now.” That isn’t hard to understand, but it is surprising—they could not have known it ahead of time.
Mystery means something that was not clearly revealed in the OT, but now is clearly revealed in the NT. The parables of the mustard seed and the leaven show that the Kingdom will have a small start (first coming of Christ), but conclude with a large ending (second coming of Christ).
We are talking about something called “the already/not yet.” The Jews thought that the Kingdom would come with one big bang, much like what we think of the second coming of Christ. But do you see? We talk about the Second Coming like it is old hat. O yeah, Jesus will come twice. The first time he comes in a hidden way—surprisingly unimpressive as a baby, not in a king’s palace, but in a manger—in a small place.
He calls a few disciples, and his own people call for his crucifixion. It looks like he lost. All the disciples fall away. Talk about hidden and deceptively small! But we know the rest of the story. He rose from the dead—triumphantly over all of his enemies. He ascended to the throne of the majesty on high. He sent the Spirit to continue his work in the world. He will come again on the clouds of heaven with all the angels as the reapers at the final harvest and will separate the sheep and the goats (the sons of the Kingdom and the sons of the evil one).
We know these things, but where were they all clearly revealed in one place in the Old Testament? Let me give you an example from Luke 4. Jesus went to his hometown and on the Sabbath day, he opened the scroll of Isaiah to the place (Isaiah 61:1–2) where it says this:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”—Luke 4:18–19
Some of you know the story. He said, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” But if you go back to the Old Testament passage quoted, you see something surprising. Imagine if I said, “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,” and then stopped. Many of you will complete the rest of that Scripture in your head “that whosoever would believe in him would not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Jesus does that here. He stops mid-verse, so to speak. The first phrase “to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor” is paired with another phrase: “and the day of vengeance of our God.”
… to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God—Isaiah 61:2
Everyone expected the Messiah to come and for all of this to come in one big package. He will comfort us and destroy our enemies. No one thought it would look small and unimpressive. The secret of the Kingdom—the small beginning and the big ending—is the revelation of a first coming and a second coming. The Kingdom is coming in two installments. We talk about it like it is so familiar. They did not have a category for it because Jesus had not revealed it yet.
The pastoral application is important for expectation management. There are people who expect too much or expect too little (the technical terms are over-realized eschatology and under-realized eschatology) … sometimes we have to use words like this to justify our education. We will state it like this: Expect too much, expect too little, or expect just the right thing.
Some people expect too much. The “health, wealth, and prosperity” heresy would fit here. (Some people think that if you are God’s child, then you should live like royalty here with fast cars, big bank accounts, the best food, fine clothes.) But even Christians with orthodox theology find themselves surprised by suffering. They think that if they are a Christian, then things should go their way a little more than they do. “Why these trials or health issues, God?” Jesus promised that we would face trials of many kinds. We will go through the same pattern as Jesus: the suffering and then the glory. This is built into the fabric of our faith (First Coming, the suffering; Second Coming, the glory).
Others expect too little. They have slid down into the slough of despond and cynicism. They start to believe that change is not possible or joy in the midst of trials is not possible. The clear truth is that you should not underestimate what you already have. Jesus has come. He took on flesh. He entered into the world. He lived a perfect life. He bore our sins on the cross so that our sins not in part but the whole are nailed there—trampled down, buried in the sea of forgetfulness, removed as far as the east is from the west. Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit. We are not left as orphans. The Spirit has come and now we can keep in step with the Spirit and make war against the flesh with the Spirit’s power. We are not on our own.
We also have a longing for our heavenly home. We–all true believers—have a heartache that wants to depart and be with Christ. Our hearts do not desire just a place, but a person—the Lord Jesus Christ.
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.—Philippians 3:20–21
One famous analogy people have used for the First Coming and the Second Coming is the difference between D-Day and V-E-Day. D-day is when the Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy, France. The loss of life was staggering, but in that decisive victory they gained a beachhead. Military analysts knew that would be the key and decisive moment of the war. Many bloody battles were left to fight, but the war had largely been won. The ceasefire and peace did not come until V-E day or Victory in Europe Day.
Jesus’ first coming was like D-day in which Satan and sin are defeated at the cross. The second coming of Jesus will be like V-E Day when the war will end because Satan and sin will be destroyed in the Lake of Fire. There will be a ceasefire only when Satan and sin are cast into the lake of fire.
We should not be cynical about our present or our future. How sad for people like the Chicago Bulls star Michael Jordan to think that there best days are behind them so they are always trying to relive the “glory days.” Our bodies are wasting away. Our glory days are always ahead of us, not behind us.
Conclusion: Patient Suffering and Sowing
The cross and the empty tomb are bright beacons for us. Forgiveness flows forth from the cross and the hope of the Resurrection shines out from the empty tomb. They beckon us onward to glory days and embolden us with confidence that God’s word will not return void, and his purposes shall come to pass. We suffer and sow patiently. We must keep sowing and suffering with the confidence of a farmer. The seed we sow may be underground for a time, but it will do its work. Some days the Kingdom will not look all that big and glorious. It is surprisingly hidden. But we should not grow weary in doing good for in due time we will reap a harvest.
Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.—James 5:7–8
This is part of our discipleship. Remember the kingdom discipleship that Paul taught his churches? What was his message? “Strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).
Unsaved loved ones are surely part of the suffering and the groaning of this fallen world. But here is a word of hope. The doctrine of God’s sovereign grace should spur us on in our evangelistic efforts. Some people say we should not bother with people who seem like they have hard hearts. We do not look at any people and say, “That is what they always will be like. They are too far gone.” We don’t say that with wayward children or family members, and we do not say that with untargeted and unreached/unengaged people groups.
God may grant repentance (2 Timothy 2:25). We are not called to determine who might be chosen or not ahead of time. We have no idea. We are simply bolstered by the fact that Jesus has sheep and they will hear his voice. There are people who are appointed to eternal life and, when they hear the gospel, they will believe.
And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.—Acts 13:48
Notice the order. Not those who believed were appointed to eternal life. As many as were appointed to eternal life—they and only they believed. Election is a doctrine that explains why people come to Christ or don’t come to Christ.
But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.—John 6:36–37
Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.—John 6:43–44
But you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.—John 10:26–27
In our global partner gathering earlier this month in Germany, we had a Char Ransom party where we celebrated her life and legacy—especially the impact she had on our global partners. This is part of her legacy. She prayed for decades for her brother and, shortly before her death, she saw her brother get saved. She prayed for decades. Jesus told us to keep praying and not lose heart.
Martin Luther really believed these things, even when he was at his most vulnerable point and the Reformation reached a “do or die” moment. The year was 1522. Luther had to return to Wittenberg because Karlstadt and Zwilling made the Reformation a political revolution against Roman Catholic iconography. Feel the topsy-turvy moment with me: If Frederic the Wise withdrew his support because the Reformation attempted to overthrow the political order, then the whole thing would be shut down. So Luther came back into Wittenberg and literally preached the Reformation back to a steady course.
In one of those sermons, he makes one of his most memorable statements about the word:
I will preach it, teach it, write it, but I will constrain no man by force, for faith must come freely without compulsion. Take myself as an example, I opposed indulgences and all the papists, but never with force. I simply taught, preached, and wrote God Word; otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept [cf. Mark 4:26–29], or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends Philip and Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it. I did nothing; the Word did everything (LW, 51:77).
Dear friends, let us not lose heart, but faithful and watchful as we sow the Word until we see the Word himself split the skies and take us home.
Outline
Main Point: Jesus’ parables shatter all false expectations for the kingdom of God.
Discussion Questions
Application Questions
Prayer Focus
Pray for a grace to persevere as we sow and suffer patiently until the return of Christ and the restoration of all things.