The Growth of the Kingdom
Download MP3We're back in Mark this week. I know it's been a while, so we're gonna have to kind of shake off the the cobwebs. It's been a little more than a month since we were in Mark, but I can't think of a better passage for reentry. A better passage to help us, you know, refocus once again on the gospel and on the mission of the church, and what we're gonna see this morning, it's a really simple outline. We're gonna see what we can do and what we cannot do concerning the kingdom of God.
Joel Brooks:What we can do, and what we cannot do concerning the kingdom of God. So Mark chapter 4, we'll begin reading in verse 21. And Jesus 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, let him hear.
Joel Brooks: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 for 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.
Joel Brooks:The earth produces by itself, first the blade, and 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.
Joel Brooks:He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples, he explained everything. This is the word of the Lord. You would pray with me. Father, we didn't gather this morning to hear from me. We wanna hear from you.
Joel Brooks:So would you speak? May my words fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But, Lord, may your words remain and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.
Joel Brooks:So I think we've come to a point in the gospel of Mark where we're seeing that the disciples' expectations for what the kingdom of God should look like are not exactly being met. I mean, make no mistake, when the disciples left their, left their old lives behind and began to follow Jesus, they had expectations for what their life was gonna look like. They had expectations for what the kingdom of God would look like. It was expectations for a real kingdom, with a real king, Jesus being the king, but now looking around perhaps at a campfire late at night, and just seeing 12 dudes staring at one another, they had to be wondering, is this it? This this is the kingdom, this ragtag, small group of followers with no army, no political power.
Joel Brooks:They didn't know it yet, but they actually had a traitor in their midst. Is this it? This is what the kingdom of God looks like. And now of course, there were crowds. I mean, we've been reading about crowds following Jesus, crowds going from town to town, but that's really all they were.
Joel Brooks:They were just the crowds, and Jesus never seemed to capitalize on it. I mean, you'd have huge crowds, and then all of a sudden, the disciples would be like, where's Jesus? He just leave the crowds, and he'd go off by himself and pray. Or perhaps when Jesus would heal someone, and you'd see this enormous display of power, and you're like, now's the time to capitalize on that. And Jesus would go, shh, don't tell anyone.
Joel Brooks:Don't tell anyone I healed you. Right? That's that's not how you build a kingdom, Jesus. That's that's what they had to be thinking. And so Jesus, knowing that the disciples are thinking this, he encourages them with these words.
Joel Brooks:He said He asked them a question. Let me ask you, is a lamp brought in in order to be put under a basket and hidden, or to be put on a lamp and to shine? Well, the answer is obvious. A lamp, the only reason you go through all the trouble of lighting it is to shine. The only reason that, you know, I for instance, I I put on this microphone, you know, strap it on my head here, turn it on, is so you can hear me.
Joel Brooks:There'd be no use in going through all of this for you not to hear me. And Jesus is saying, hey, disciples. Make no mistake. I know it seems kinda hidden now, but I didn't come all this way to not shine. I will shine.
Joel Brooks:The kingdom of God will grow and go forward. And then he says 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 does have will be taken away. It's kind of a confusing statement, Jesus says there.
Joel Brooks:Literally, it it reads like this. The measure by which you measure will be measured to you. The measure by which you measure will be measured to you. And what Jesus means by this is, hey, disciples. I I know I've remained hidden for a while.
Joel Brooks:The the the lights, you know, kind of hidden from a lot of people, but it hasn't been hidden from you. You know who I am. You have seen the light. I've revealed myself to you. Now how much of that light do you want to see?
Joel Brooks:How much do you want Me to speak to you? How much are you paying attention to the words that I have given you? Because as much as you will receive, that's as much as I will give. As much as you crave for, as much as you long for my words, as much as you long for my presence, that is exactly how much you will receive. So are you paying attention to my words?
Joel Brooks:I have been preaching for long enough to realize that the best sermons that you guys have ever thought I have preached, I haven't preached. I had very little to do with any of the words I actually said. Had way more to do with your hearts coming into this place than the words that I had to say. Actually, I think the the best sermons I've ever preached and the worst sermons I've ever preached, I actually never preached. I mean, there will be times people will come up to me after a service, or maybe it's weeks after a sermon, and be like, Joel, when you said this, it just changed my life.
Joel Brooks:I'm like, wow. I never said that. I mean, that's what I'm thinking. It's like, I I never said that. It's like, I think that sounds like killer, you know, or or John Pyle.
Joel Brooks:Like, I know I didn't, but I just take credit for it. I'm like, thank you. You know? You're welcome. Thought a lot about that.
Joel Brooks:That had way more to do with their hearts coming in, ready to hear, ready to receive. At the same time, I'm pretty sure that the worst sermons I've ever preached, I didn't. When people were like, man, I just almost ran out of the church. When you said that, I was so offended. I'm like, actually, I never said that.
Joel Brooks:When I was in seminary, my preaching professor said there'll be 3 sermons every Sunday. The sermon you prepare, the sermon you preach, and the sermon people heard. What you guys hear comes with how your heart's prepared into this place. Are you coming eager with anticipation, ready to hear? Are you coming hungry?
Joel Brooks:Because the one truth that I I know, because I've seen it time and time again over the years of preaching, is that if you come in here hungry, you will leave full. If you come in here with a heart that is desperate to hear from God and to obey him, you will hear from God. To whom it has been given, even more will be given. If Jesus is your heart's desire, you will get your heart's desire. But if you come in here out of a sense of duty, seeking nothing, expecting nothing, then you will receive nothing.
Joel Brooks:If all you think when you come to church, you know, on a Sunday is, I expect to receive a warm cup of coffee, you know what you're gonna get? A warm cup of coffee. There's a warning here in Jesus's words. He's saying if you don't pay attention to him, if you don't pay attention to his words, then even that little bit of light that you once saw, is it be going to is going to begin to fade away. Pay attention to his words.
Joel Brooks:Come with a hungry heart, because the more you pay attention, the more his light will shine. Jesus, He then goes on to tell His disciples about the Kingdom of God by giving them 2 more parables. And if you're like me, you're probably thinking, another parable about the Kingdom of God. I mean, another story. Why doesn't Jesus ever just say, in a sentence, hey, this is what the kingdom of God is.
Joel Brooks:Why does he ever do it? Why is he always telling stories about the kingdom of God? You know, stories about seeds being sown, about plants growing, about wedding feast, about royal feast, about pearls being found, treasures being discovered, leaven being worked into dough, the joy of a coin that was lost and then is found, or of a child that was lost and is then found. Why is he always telling stories about the kingdom, but not actually telling us what the kingdom is? I don't know about you, but sometimes I get frustrated in that.
Joel Brooks:It it actually reminds me of of something Flannery O'Connor once said. I don't know if any of you read Flannery O'Connor. Brilliant writer. She she wrote short stories, and she just had such a way of of writing. And and just within a few pages, to paint such a vivid picture that you will just chew on for the longest time.
Joel Brooks:Well, one time she after she had finished writing one of her short stories, some paper was doing an article on her, and so they said, hey, for the paper, could you maybe just tell us in a sentence or so the point of that short story? And she just said, well, if I could do it in a sentence, I wouldn't have written the story. There's a there's a there's a lot of truth to that. There's there's some truths that are just so grand, so nuanced, so big, you can't just say us you can't wrap it up in a sentence. You can only approach it from different angles, tell many different stories about it.
Joel Brooks:That's the kingdom of God. Jesus could not just give a sentence for us, and we walk away understanding what the kingdom is. And so when Jesus taught about the kingdom, he would teach that the kingdom, you know, things like a grew secretly and it grew suddenly, and then he turned around and tell the next group how the kingdom God was gonna come suddenly and come in power. He would tell people how the Kingdom must come to us, and then at nearly the same breath he would say how we must go and enter into it. He would talk about how the Kingdom is from heaven, and then he would say, and it's also within each of you.
Joel Brooks:He would talk about the Kingdom in the present tense, and then he would talk about it in the future tense. Sometimes the kingdom was far away from people, sometimes it was near. Sometimes the kingdom of God was described with fire and with judgment. More often than not, it was described as a joyful feast. So what is the kingdom of God?
Joel Brooks:Jesus says all of it. It's all of it. I I I can't just tell you in this little sentence here. It's all of that. So here, he's he's teaching us about the kingdom of God and another side of the kingdom of God, by telling us 2 more stories, 2 more parables about a seed growing.
Joel Brooks:Look at verse 26 again. 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.
Joel Brooks:This is just a simple story about farming. The farmer goes out, sows some seed, goes to bed, Wakes up, then he goes to bed. Wakes up, then he goes to bed. We don't know how long this happens, but happens for a while and then finally he wakes up and he looks and he's like, Something's grown. God just showed up.
Joel Brooks:Wow. Something's grown. But he doesn't know how. He doesn't know how that that blade burst through the ground, and it and it grew, and it's gonna keep growing till it produces fruit. The farmer did absolutely nothing for that seed to grow.
Joel Brooks:He he didn't get out there, you know, like with a you know, dig it up and get a little teeny little scalpel and, like, peel back the skin, a little tweezers, and help it unfold. He he he didn't do any of that. He was powerless to do that. The the power of that seed, it it didn't come from the farmer. The power's in the seed.
Joel Brooks:So the farmer's job here is is simply to plant seeds. He's powerless to make it grow. That power comes from the seed itself. And Jesus says that's what the kingdom of God's like. That's how it grows.
Joel Brooks:Now this seed is the good news of the kingdom. The the seed is the gospel. And that's what Jesus is saying that we are to sow. We're to tell others about Jesus. We're to tell the world that the King of this world has come.
Joel Brooks:We're to tell of his death and his resurrection, and we're to go take that message and scatter that seed wherever we go. Notice that's what's being pictured here. It's just scattering seed. Gospel always on our lips. So we're scattering seed, to our family, we're scattering seed to our co workers, we're scattering seed to our neighbors.
Joel Brooks:We're just wherever we're going, we're scattering seed. We're telling people the gospel. That's what we can do. And we never have to fear running out of seed. Endless supply.
Joel Brooks:Just keep on scattering it. That's what you're called to do. What you can't do is make that seed grow. Nothing you can do can make that seed grow. All you could do is scatter seed, then go to sleep.
Joel Brooks:Wake up, go to sleep. Wake up. Go to sleep. Powerless to do anything else because only God can grow his kingdom. This is why when you read through scripture, nowhere in scripture are you gonna find the idea of us building the kingdom, of us advancing the kingdom, of us expanding the kingdom, of us growing the kingdom.
Joel Brooks:That language is never used. We're told to receive it. We're told to enter into it. But growth is what God does. Have you ever wondered why God created us needing sleep?
Joel Brooks:I mean, it's sleep is crazy when you think about it. You go unconscious every single day. I mean, for 6 to 8 hours, you are oblivious to anything that's happened. You go unconscious every single day. Why did God create us needing that to happen?
Joel Brooks:And and I don't care if you you think, oh, I'm not gonna let that happen to me. You you can't will your way out of it. I don't care how strong you are. You're going down every one of us every day. 6 to 8 hours unconscious.
Joel Brooks:Why? Still, when we wake up, we see the sun rose without us, the world's doing just fine without us, is to remind us that we're not God. God's got a pretty good handle on things. And because we keep forgetting that lesson, he has us go to sleep every single day. And every morning, we wake up and we're reminded God doesn't need us.
Joel Brooks:We're not the center of the universe. In this parable here, Jesus could not have said it any clearer or any more emphatically that we are irrelevant compared to the power of the word of God in growing his kingdom. Irrelevant. I've had the privilege of listening to some pretty amazing preachers in my life. And I've I've got to listen a number of times, you know, to a John Piper, Tim Keller, N.
Joel Brooks:T. Wright, different people like that. But I would say the most powerful sermon I have ever heard, came from a guy I can't even remember his name, which is telling, isn't it? And it was actually when I was in college. He was a fellow student, And he was a nobody.
Joel Brooks:He was one of those guys, severely introverted. His face, I remember, is covered with acne. He was just awkward. He could be go in and out of a room, and no one would ever really know if he had been there or not. And we were involved in the same college ministry.
Joel Brooks:And during one of the, one of our services, the minister, he just said, hey. Anybody could get up and share what the Lord has put on their heart. And we would have some some really good, gifted people get up and they would share different things. It was great. And then there was just kind of this silence.
Joel Brooks:A little awkward silence. And finally, this this student, he gets up, and he is trembling, and he is shaking, and he gets something we all can't believe, oh my gosh, what's happening? And all he does is just read a passage of scripture, and he says, Jesus is enough, and he sat down. It's the most powerful sermon I've it was just like God just nailed my heart, which is like, this is what I'm waiting for. It's this kind of weak vessel.
Joel Brooks:It wasn't me who brought that message. You know, David Platt was also in the room. We were we were in the same college ministry the time. It wasn't through David that that happened. He says, nobody I can't even remember his name.
Joel Brooks:I don't even know if it's it's either David or it's Matt. That's Yeah. I'm great with names. What does God want? Someone to just scatter the seed, and it does not depend on the messenger.
Joel Brooks:Do you know why I preach? I don't preach so you will remember my points. No one remembers my I don't remember my points. I can't remember my points from the last sermon I preached in front of you guys. I don't know that.
Joel Brooks:Maybe maybe Lauren might be the only one who could, like, kinda walk through my my points from sermons. But I don't remember. That's not why I preach. I preach to faithfully sow seeds, and then pray like crazy that God causes it to grow. That's it.
Joel Brooks:I don't possess the power for growth, but I will trust in the power of that seed through his spirit. And whether that seed grows instantly or whether it takes years, that's in the Lord's hands. And how God is going to grow this seed is a complete mystery to us. We have no idea what is happening in people's hearts once the seed is planted. None.
Joel Brooks:I mean, that farmer goes and looks at the ground, and the surface looks exactly the same. Has no idea if there's anything happening under the surface. Do you know what a comfort that is? Do you know what a comfort that is to me as I preach to you guys every Sunday? I look out at times, I'm like, oh my gosh, everybody.
Joel Brooks:I need you right now. Just feel. Do you have a pulse? I can't tell. Sometimes I'm looking like, is anyone here alive?
Joel Brooks:I mean, after the service, I have people come up to me and like, man, I just, man, I just wanted to get up and just jump amen. I'm like, but you didn't. I mean, I don't really care. Could've, would've, should've, you didn't. You know, this is what I saw when I looked at you.
Joel Brooks:I mean, I don't know how Presbyterian pastors do it. It just But that's my hope is that God is doing something even right now under the surface. Thank you. I agree. I had I keep waiting for it.
Joel Brooks:Day after day, the farmer would go. He's looking at it. Looks exact same as yesterday. Exact same as yesterday. No change.
Joel Brooks:Flat, hard surface. Nothing. He just has to trust that God, in some mysterious way is doing something underneath the surface. That God, even though he can't see it, life is actually being created under there, and someday will burst forth. That's what God said his his gospel's like.
Joel Brooks:It's what the kingdom of God is like. This is actually the testimony of so many of you. I've read a number of your testimonies, and a lot of them, there's this reoccurring pattern. You say, hey, I grew up in church. You know, I know I went to VBS when I was a child.
Joel Brooks:Clearly heard the gospel there. Nothing. Youth group heard the gospel. Nothing. Sat in church for so long.
Joel Brooks:Nothing. But I kept hearing the gospel. Friends kept telling me the gospel. Nothing. And then someday, out of the blue, not even really sure what was said, everything just kind of went click.
Joel Brooks:It's like all of a sudden, everything made sense. Who Jesus was, what he's calling you to be and to do, and new life just entered into you just like that. It just happened. It was a mystery. Underneath the surface, God had been working all that time.
Joel Brooks:And then suddenly, through a miracle of His, it grew. For those of you who have been faithfully scattering seed for years, do not be discouraged. When you're looking at it, and you're like, every day, I come out here, and there's no change. Trust what we just read to start the service. Isaiah 55.
Joel Brooks:God says, when my word goes forth, it will not return void. Thank you. Is that Mary Kathryn? Thank you. See I know the people say amen.
Joel Brooks:He will not return void, but he's accomplishing something mysterious there. Don't give up. This leads us to the next parable, which is about the size of the seed and the size of the kingdom. Verse 30. And Jesus said, with what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it?
Joel Brooks:I love this. Jesus is like, I've got so many I need you to just love, which one this time? He says, it is like a grain of mustard seed, which when sown on the ground is the smallest of all the seeds, 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. And in this parable, Jesus, he's not telling us the mysterious way how the kingdom grows. He's telling about how small it starts, then how large it ends up.
Joel Brooks:It's the point of this. The kingdom is going to start small. So small you it's almost imperceptible. You you could barely see it, but it's gonna grow large enough that birds are gonna come and make nests and find their shade in it. And what Jesus is doing here, he's actually alluding to several places in the old testament, like like a Daniel 4, in which, the kingdom of God is depicted as a tree, huge tree growing, and the birds are the nations of the world all coming and finding their rest in that tree.
Joel Brooks:Now picture the absurdity of what Jesus is saying. I mean, the disciples, they're listening to Jesus, and they've got to be thinking, what are you talking? We, we have no weapons. We have no army. We've got no political clout.
Joel Brooks:We're not running around in the circles of the elite. There's no movers and shakers in our midst. We're just this small group of uneducated dudes sitting around a campfire, and you are sending us out into the world armed with only a message that you're the king. And that is how the Kingdom of God comes? Jesus says, yes.
Joel Brooks:12 12 men and a story. Yes. Exactly. You were paying attention. You got it right.
Joel Brooks:And I will use that to change the world. Church, all we have is the message about Jesus, who he was, what he's commanded us to do, the message of his death and his resurrection. And it's enough. Through his Spirit, it is enough. And we don't ever need to try to add to it.
Joel Brooks:We certainly don't ever need to try to take away from it. We don't need to try to fluff it up and and make it pretty, somehow make it more digestible for for people. We simply share the gospel. That's what we do. What we don't do is cause it to grow, but God says, you share the gospel, 12, but he was a follower of Jesus, and so he's a He wasn't one of the 12, but he was a follower of Jesus, and so he's around these people.
Joel Brooks:You probably heard Jesus, you know, teaching this. Mark's gonna make a little appearance in his own gospel towards the end. But I wonder if Mark, when he was writing the story of Jesus here, if he thought or had any idea how this tiny little gospel, how far it would spread over the entire globe. I wonder if he if he knew that his gospel would be translated into over 2,000 different languages. Jesus knew.
Joel Brooks:Jesus absolutely knew. For those of you, for those parents here who maybe at times you wonder as you're looking around at the state of the world and you're like, man, what kind of world are we leaving to our kids? What kind of world are they gonna grow up in? Hear these words. Nothing can stop the kingdom of God.
Joel Brooks:There's times that the light of Jesus might seem a little hidden, but he did not come into this world not to shine. And the seed of his kingdom has been planted and it will grow and it will cover the entire world. The glory of the Lord will cover the Earth just like the waters cover the sea. Jesus came to shine. So what can we do?
Joel Brooks:Scatter seed, and then we trust and we wait that God is doing something beneath the surface. Pray with me. Jesus, I pray that we would be faithful seed scatterers. We would do it with the confidence. Not that comes in our speaking ability or that we get everything right.
Joel Brooks:Our confidence is not in any power that we have. Our our confidence comes in the power of your word, the power of the gospel through your spirit. May we rest in that. Your word does not return void. So, Lord, may we leave this place in a boldness proclaiming the good news of Jesus, and thank you for the hope that we have that your light will shine.
Joel Brooks:It's in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
