JESUS TEACHES THE PATIENT WORKING OF THE WORD
Sermon Text, St. Mark 4:21-34. Also He said to them, “Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be set on a lampstand? For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” Then He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.” And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” Then He said, “To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it? It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth; but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade.” And with many such parables He spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it. But without a parable He did not speak to them. And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples.
Lord, this is Your Word and these are Your words. Sanctify us by the truth. Your Word is truth. We thank You that You have sown the good seed, Your holy Word, in our hearts. By Your Holy Spirit defeat the temptations to doubt the power of Your Word, and give us unfailing confidence in the success of Your kingdom. Amen!
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ, who is the glory of His kingdom:
At the beginning of chapter 4, it says that Jesus “got into a boat and sat in it on the sea; and the whole multitude was on the land facing the sea. Then He taught them many things by parables.”The first parable is the parable of the sower, a story about seed, rock, thorns, dirt. What is that? We can picture the devils laughing. Oh, what is He doing now? Telling stories. Ooh, we’re real scared.
But there’s real action, and real power, when Jesus is “just” teaching. The parable of the sower that He had just told is about what the Word of God does. Sometimes it doesn’t seem like it’s doing much. It doesn’t look like faith is flourishing and good works abounding. Sometimes people in the church don’t live much better than people in the world. The divorce rate isn’t much better among Christians than in the world. New Christians come into the church on fire, but they might see a ho-hum attitude in the church, as if it’s not much more significant than getting coffee, and get disillusioned. Our children misbehave as much as other children do. Christians argue and complain just as much.
Can’t you just hear the devils laughing at us? They’re laughing at Christ. What kind of church is He the Lord of? Not a very good one, it seems. Not so glorious.
Jesus doesn’t take this lying down. What He’s doing as He continues to teach in parables is to defeat the devils, just as much as when He casts out a demon. The devils want you to think that His Word isn’t doing much. Well, something is happening, but you can’t see it. You must believe it. This is what Jesus teaches.
First, Jesus tells the parable of the seed growing unseen. A man sows seed in the soil, and doesn’t think about it anymore, and somehow the seed grows “by itself,” the farmer “himself does not know how.” The seed doesn’t just grow by itself, it needs sunshine and rain; and the farmer does know how seed grows, but he can’t chart it hour by hour. The farmer can’t see it growing minute by minute. He can look at it all day long and not be able to prove anything’s happening.
Second, Jesus tells the parable of the mustard seed, which “is smaller than all the seeds.” After it’s planted, you can’t see it, it’s so small. You just see the soil, you see the sunshine and the rain, but you can’t see what they’re doing to the little seed itself. Look as hard and long as you can, you’d never see it.
This is what we do: look for good results of the Word being spread, but can’t always see it.
This applies first to thinking of ourselves: You don’t make progress in your faith like I want. You don’t show your faith as you should, in word and deed. Secontly it applies to how we think of the church: When you look at what you can see of the church, sometimes it doesn’t look very good and it doesn’t seem to grow like it should or have the influence on our world that it should.
If we depend on visible results we get discouraged. But it’s why Jesus teaches in parables: to show us what we don’t see. So hear the end of these parables.
First, the parable of the seed growing unseen: Jesus first of all shows that it grows in a regular way, “first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain,” just as we sang in the hymn based on this verse: “First the blade and then the ear, Then the full corn shall appear.” But how does the parable end? “The harvest has come.” It ends gloriously! No one could see any activity, but in the end there it is, it’s just what the farmer wanted it to be, a very fruitful crop.
Jesus is saying that in spite of what we can’t see, in the end you’ll be what He wants you to be, having faith and also the fruits of faith – the good works that spring from faith. He shows you being full-grown, “gathered in” to heaven. As we sang, first we pray: “Lord of harvest, grant that we/Wholesome grain and pure may be.” But at the end, in heaven, we see – that (surprise!) we are“free from sorrow, free from sin, There forever purified, In Thy garner to abide” (ELH 461 v. 2, 4).
Second, remember the mustard seed, how little it started out? Here’s how it ends: “It grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air nest under its shade.” You don’t see the seed doing anything, can’t even see it, but one day it’s a glorious tree.
Jesus is saying that you end up glorious, and His Church is glorious, in spite of what you see. These are promises. In the end, in heaven, you will see this, and you’ll see that this is how it always was for you in Christ.
It’s natural for us to try and measure things, to measure our progress, where my faith is at, or how the church is doing. The devil uses this to instill doubts.
- If your faith doesn’t feel strong, if the commandments show your failures in parenting, in marriage, with gossip, or being content, then we doubt that the Word is really powerful and glorious in us.
- If we work hard for the church, or put time into evangelism and don’t see any results, we may not blame “the Word” but we might be tempted to blame certain teachings or faithful practices, or we just might not trust the Word but think the solution is in doing more.
We look for what’s happening right now. We try to determine why the Word does not seem to be working. We think there’s something we should do.
But in these parables Jesus is telling us not to look at what’s happening right now – not that we shouldn’t be aware or concerned, not that we should be idle – certainly not! – but that we should not look for a “right now” solution. Instead, to look at The End and see how His work in you will end up glorious.
Jesus is teaching us, that when we think about growth either in our faith or in the church, it’s about trusting His promises. He promises that when His Word is preached purely, and people listen and meditate on it, that God is present and the Holy Spirit is effectively working in our hearts (FC II:55-56).
Our place is just to receive. Our hearts are the seed. We aren’t the farmer and we aren’t God who provides sun and rain to make it grow. We are the seed. We simply receive what God does to make us grow. Even if we think of ourselves as the farmer – what we in the church do – we still only plant and wait for the Lord.
He directs us away from our own efforts, directs us to the Holy Spirit working through His Word. The Holy Spirit works unseen as you hear the Word. When the Bible reading stops, He’s still working in you, unknown by you, making you into what He wants you to be. You’re His workmanship. It takes a lifetime. We’re learning to trust the powerful but patient working of His Word. Which is also true of His Church: it’s a powerful but patient working of His Word that does it.
This is why Jesus precedes these parables by talking about setting a light on a lampstand, not hiding it under a bushel, as the children’s song says. The Light is Jesus. The Light is what Jesus does – what He did for you, and does in you. It’s the Gospel: you’re no longer darkness due to your sins, you are light in the Lord.
So you don’t go around trying to see how brightly you’re shining or the church is shining and get disappointed. You look at His light. You see that Jesus is the Light of the world, that He is your light. You look at how He purifies you.
You set this on a “lampstand,” you hold it up –what His Gospel says: who Jesus is, what He’s done – first so you can look at it and be encouraged, then for others to see it through you. As His Church we do this. We hold up His light so we are brought out of darkness into His light, and so others will be too. Where does this leave us? Praying! Amen!