Dead or Alive?

There have been many controversies, urban legends, fairy tales about whether or not someone or something is dead or alive.

Do you remember in the 1966 when there was a rumor circulating that Paul McCartney was dead. Supposedly he was killed in a car crash. If you played the song, “Strawberry Fields Forever” supposedly you heard the message, “I buried Paul.”

The song was psychedelic, drug fueled fantasy written by John Lennon.

My sister, pre-teen and teen girls everywhere were crying their eyes out over the loss of Paul.

If you’ve seen him lately, it’s a wonder he’s still rocking at 81 years old.

My friend who owned radio stations in LR, tells the story when his now grown daughter came home from school one day w/ exciting news she just found out and was shocked by, Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings.

So much tragedy in Maui, HI today. Over 100 dead. About 1000 still missing. Homes and businesses destroyed.

Sara and I were there a couple of years ago. One of the trips we took when we had to postpone our Israel trip due to COVID.

The Banyan tree represents so much history and culture in Lahaina. Lahaina was the original capital of the Islands before Honolulu. Centuries ago, official meetings were held in the shade of the tree. Now, it’s a gathering place and market place.

This is what it looked like before the fire:

Now, this is what it looks like today:

The question is, is it dead or alive? Will it recover? Or will it collapse? There are reasons for some optimism. But, it’s too early to tell.

If it does survive, it will be a sign of hope for the rest of the island for the rest of its life.

And if it doesn’t, it will be devastating. So much worse than simply losing a tree.

Silly rumors serious concerns have been w/ us throughout history. Here’s another question of dead or alive.

The Church. Is it dying, or is it living?

Here are a few statistics to ponder.

A recent Gallup Poll and PEW Research:

In 1976, 91% of Americans claimed to Xian

In 2016, it was 74%

In 2020, it was down to 64%

Weekly attendance in church: 2000, 32%. 2022, 20%

Never attend a church svc: 2000, 13%. ‘22, 31%

Those who attend 1/yr: 2000, 13%. ‘22, 11%

According to a recent Barna poll:

72% of non-church going Gen Z’ers (18-30-yr-olds), have doubts about the existence of God.

16% of all Xians who attended church before the pandemic, no longer attend. The largest percentage of these are boomers (65 and older).

These numbers paint a pessimistic picture of the future of the church. In fact PEW research estimates by 2050, the world’s largest religion, by far, will be Islam.

But, there are little rays of hope.

Millennials (25-45), 21% attended weekly church service in 2000. 39% in ‘22.

In Feb of this year, Asbury College in KY held their regularly scheduled chapel service for their student body. But what happened was a 2-week revival where thousands of ppl showed up to pray, sing, and worship.

That was not the first time it happened at that college.

This revival spread to other college campuses like TX A&M.

Many thousands of college students participated in these events across the US.

This summer, SoCal Harvest Crusade, led by Greg Laurie, brought 32,500 to the event w/ 6,800 making a decision for X.

On July, 20 participated, led by Harvest Chapel and Greg Laurie, 4,500 ppl were baptized in Pirate’s Cove, near LA in Orange CO. Almost all Gen Z (18-30). The line stretched a half mile of ppl waiting to baptized.

About the time you think the church is dying, racked by scandal and irrelevance, you hear of young adults coming to Christ and returning to church in unprecedented numbers.

Don’t ever get discouraged thinking the church is dying as future generations leave in massive numbers.

Not only was this predicted, it has been part of the plan. The church’s success and the population of God’s kingdom is not dependent on or limited by our human weakness.

We can feel like we’re losing, even already lost. But the losses are an important part of what will end up as our victory.

We’re going to study 2 more parables this morning.

This section of 9 parables, began w/ the parable of the sower, is a shift in how Jesus taught his discs and what he taught them.

Israel had finally crossed His line. They were done w/ him. So, He was done w/ them as a nation. Had they accepted him, He would have immediately established His kingdom and ruled over the earth.

It was no surprise when they did, but when Israel rejected him, it postponed the establishment of this earthly kingdom.

Once that happened, Jesus began to teach his disciples, and us, what kingdom life would be like during this present age until He returns to create His kingdom on earth.

Even though He was done w/ the Nation as a group, any individual, regardless of nationality or background, can believe in Jesus, become a member of the Universal Church, and be saved.

There have been numerous times it looked like the church was dead. But, remember what Jesus told Peter:

Matthew 16:18 NIV

And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

He meant it then. He still does no matter how it looks at any point in time.

2 parables, the first is the parable of the Lamp on the Stand. These parables are found in Luke 8 and Mark 4. We’re going to spend out time in the Mark passage this morning.

Lamps Going to Light Things Up

Mark 4:21–25 NIV

He said to them, “Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand? For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.” “Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”

You read this and you can think the meaning is fairly obvious. It seems like it’s about us letting our light shine, showing ppl the way to get what we have and find Jesus.

While it is important for us to do that, this is not what Jesus is intending to teach w/ this parable.

Remember what just happened. Jesus had been rejected by Israel. We know where that rejection will eventually lead. It’s going to take Jesus to His cross.

He just taught the parable of the sower, or soils. Where many will appear to accept Him, but leave the church shortly after.

The Greek starts out, “Does the Lamp come…?

This is not a reference to us, our faith, or anything about us. The Lamp is Jesus. He came. He showed up on the scene a little over a year ago after being born like all the rest of us 30+ years earlier.

He has been rejected by His chosen ppl of the OT. For over 1500 years, after they left Egypt, they had been waiting for the Lamb of God to come and deliver them into the promised land of God’s kingdom.

At the time, God used the blood of literal little lambs, to save the lives of Israel, redeem them out of slavery, and deliver them into the literal promised land of Canaan.

But, it was made clear thru Moses and the prophets, this was also symbolic of a much greater salvation, redemption, and deliverance that would come later through and even great Lamb.

JB introduced Jesus as the Lamb of God. Jesus claimed that title for Himself. He introduced Himself as the One who had been promised from God who would save ppl from the devastating effects of their sin.

Israel was expecting Military Messiah who would arrive on a war horse and beat down the oppressive government of Rome then give Jews a special standing in the Kingdom He would create right after.

But it appeared Jesus could not even get His own ppl on board, much less do anything about Rome.

They rejected Him. He let them. He walked away. He could have smote them on the spot. A powerful, authoritative general would not tolerate insubordination. Who would want to follow a weak leader like the one Jesus appeared to be.

And, it’s only going to look worse.

In about 2 more years, Jesus will come to town on donkey, a beast of burden, as suffering servant. He will look even weaker.

He will allow the Jewish leadership to railroad Him, Pontius Pilate to convict Him in a Kangaroo Court, and the Roman soldiers to execute Him on a cross. They will bury Him in a tomb. He will be dead and gone.

It will look like the end of the movement. Kill the head and the body will die.

So, the rhetorical question Jesus poses regarding the lamp in this parable is aimed at God, not us.

This is not a message for us to allow our light to shine. This is a message from God that He is letting His Light Shine. And, His Light is His Lamb, His Son.

God, the Lamp came, Your Lamb arrived, did you put it, or allow it to be put under a bowl or bed so that its Light cannot shine as intended?

Obvious answer, “NO!” He didn’t.

It may look like He has. But only to those who are living in the world of denial that Jesus is not, and will not hold them or anybody else accountable for their unbelief and bad behavior.

The Jewish leadership have chased Him off. They have the beginnings of a scheme to rid the world of Him once and for all. Then, they can get back to their own little existence believing the world is revolving around them.

But the permanence of His disappearance will be greatly exaggerated.

The Light is going to come on and there will be many ppl who will scatter like cockroaches in the kitchen when that light comes on. There will be no hiding from the exposure.

Instead, live in the Light now.

When we live in Christ, in the Spirit, we live our lives completely submissive to and under the complete control of God.

When we do that we live blamelessly.

Philippians refers to this. The word blameless, means having the Light turned on so everything is exposed. It means we have nothing to hide.

And we need not fear having the light turned on. Not that we live a perfect life. And not that we don’t sin. But we face it, admit it, own it, apologize for it, and have already been forgiven for it.

It means we try harder to lessen the bad behavior. And we’ve accepted Jesus’s offer to get punished for it on our behalf.

Having ears to hear, means you’ve made the choice to live in the Light now and have nothing to fear when the Light comes back.

So, Jesus said, consider carefully what you hear and how you respond to it.

The measure we use now. If we accept Jesus, we get a down payment deposit on our kingdom life when the HS comes in. We live the kingdom life with the help of the spirit. We have access to a fraction of what will be available to us when we get to heaven.

So, those who are given this fractional deposit now, in this age, while waiting for arrival of the literal earthly kingdom, will be given so much more when does finally arrive.

Those who reject Jesus, as the Jewish leadership just had. They will have what they have while alive on earth. But what they get when they leave this earth will be far worse. They will lose any chance, any hope of reconciliation w/ God.

They will lose all access to Jesus. When Jesus delayed the kingdom and set aside Israel, he set aside the nation. But individuals still have the opportunity the hear and accept the Truth of the Light.

Who’s listening? We know some who are not. And we know some who are. Where are you?

Context. You know what came before this. You know what this parable is about. So, now you have a head start in understanding what the next parable is about.

The parable of the growing seed.

It’s Growing

Mark 4:26–29 NIV

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

Again, at first glance, it may look like this parable is about us sharing our faith and trusting God for the results.

As we should. We are responsible for telling our own story of the power of God in our life.

We don’t have to have all the answers or know all the bible trivia. And true, we do trust God for the results. We are not responsible for making ppl believe in Jesus.

That said, this is not what this parable is about.

Again, Jesus using an agriculture and horticultural illustration to make a spiritual point. The disciples would have understood right away. They were living this and receiving it in real time.

We are piecing it together so much later.

Jesus is describing the Kingdom of God, not how ppl get into it.

A pretty simple, pretty obvious ag illustration. We all get it.

I talked about Sara’s gardens last week I showed you pictures. Her two gardens and the neighbor who built one but lets Sara plant in it.

She preps the soil in the fall and winter. She plants late winter and spring. She gets vegetables in the summer.

That’s what she does like every other gardener.

For all that she does in the soil in her garden, so much more happens inside the seed. As much work as the gardener has control over and performs, much more work goes on that the gardener has nothing to do w/.

Jesus’s parable. The sower planted the seed. Then, it didn’t matter what he did. Even if he ignored the already planted field, nature would take its course.

The seed would get tossed into the field in the winter. It would settle into the soft soil for the following weeks. The spring rains would come and the plant would sprout. The hot sun of summer would ripen the fruit.

For the weeks of winter and early spring, it would look like the seed never took. It would look dead. The air is icy cold. The moisture is frozen as it falls on the field. The wind out of the north bites. Nothing. Raw. Dead of winter.

But, then, something naturally amazing happens. The air warms and the sleet becomes rain. The soil soaks it up. And a plant sprouts.

In June the sower becomes the reaper. The planter becomes the harvester. He did not need to do anything between sowing and reaping and he’d still have a crop to harvest. The more he did the better the crop. But he’d still get something if he just went on vacation for the season.

Jesus’s point in the ag illustration is this. The kingdom has more to do w/ the seed than the sower. The fruit in this case is the kingdom, and is does not depend on the sower doing anything. It was pre-programmed to succeed and grow even when it looks like it’s dead. The fruit only depends on the design, creation, and process w/in the seed itself.

The man sows the seed. That’s it. Nothing else. No irrigation. No fertilization is necessary. Whatever he does, or doesn’t do, the fruit will develop.

The kingdom has been designed and created to develop even when nobody is doing anything to help it.

Back after the fall described in Genesis, when Adam and Eve were horribly insubordinate to God. It corrupted their DNA. And that corruption gets passed on to every child born of human parents.

At that time, God planted the seed for the kingdom. Throughout history it has felt like the kingdom was dead. No sign of life. Nothing above ground to indicate the seed took root.

But, at the right time, when it’s harvesting season, the kingdom will have grown to the point there will be a massive harvest and there was nothing anyone could have done to prevent or even expedite it.

So, the spiritual truth is, it can seem like, appear like, feel like the church is dead and dying. But, even though there is nothing happening that we can see, or even what we can see would seem to be detrimental to the church; there are still things going on underground that we can’t see that was written into the code, that will lead to the visible kingdom and massive harvest at reaping time.

And, for these discs, it’s only going to look worse.

Jesus will ride into town on that donkey. He will get railroaded by the Pharisees, convicted by Pontius Pilate, executed by the Roman soldiers, and buried by Simon of Sirene.

It will look like it’s all over. It will feel like the church was buried w/ its leader.

But, the seed has been planted. The authorities went to sleep. Then, on Sunday it sprouted.

There have been times since when the church looked doomed to fail. Everyone of the disciples and apostles were martyred, except maybe John. They died horribly painful deaths.

The crusades were not stellar times in church history. The Ottomans, Turks, did their best to erase the church from history. Now, the Muslims have built their Mosque on the site of the temple in Jerusalem.

Socialism in Germany and the USSR did its best to take over for the church. Socialists like Karl Marx believed the govt did a better job taking care of the ppl the way they believed God said He would.

They were wrong on both counts. They were wrong about what they believed about God and they were wrong about being better providers and protectors of the ppl

The bottom line is, socialism has never been a friend of God and the church.

Muslim nations in the middle east and Africa persecute Xians and do their best to squeeze the church into oblivion.

What’s coming out of Washington DC, PHX and other state capitals is less and less friendly to the church.

And, in many demographics church attendance and belief in the bible as the Word of God is shrinking.

But, just b/c it looks like the ground is frozen and feels like the atmosphere is not conducive to acceptance of Jesus and the church’s growth, there is a lot going on that we can’t see that’s been written into the code that will lead to a massive harvest at reaping time.

There is nothing anybody can do to prevent the harvest when it’s time. And there’s nothing anybody can do to expedite it. When it’s time, it’s time.

Jesus did not want us to be discouraged by what we feel and see going on in the church and in the cultural environment that may be detrimental to the life of the church.

So, he taught us these parables.

God did not bring Jesus onto the scene just to put a blanket over him so His light can’t be seen. It is seen. It will be seen even brighter in time.

The kingdom is coming. The seed’s been planted. Right now it’s going thru the process that it was designed and created to do.

Just wait and watch. Walk w/ Jesus and do your best to live your life worthy of the One who turned the Light on and Saved you.

Applications

Encouraged

Don’t be discouraged thinking the church is going to die. It will never die. No matter what our gov’t does or anyone in authority may do, they cannot kill what Jesus brought to life.

Keep you head down. But be encouraged. We win in the end.

Hear

Do you have ears to hear? If you do, first accept Jesus as your Savior. Then, walk w/ Him. Live in X, never fear the Light coming on.

You’ve already been forgiven for everything. You’ve even been forgive for the stuff you’re trying to hide from everyone else in the dark.

He knows. It’s okay.

You’ve also been given the courage and strength to clean those areas out.

But, do not fear the Light coming on to expose anything in your life.

Stay strong

Don’t quit. Don’t quit Jesus, don’t quit walking w/ Him, and don’t quit the church.

Remember last week’s parable. The soil that has the thin layer of top soil then a solid layer of limestone. And the soil that is overtaken by weeds. These soils that are poorly maintained lead to ppl leaving Jesus.

It may have looked like they were in a long-term relationship w/ him. But it turned out just to be a fling.

It may seem like it’s pointless to stay close to Jesus. It may feel like the church failed and ended long ago. But rest assured that there are things happening underground that you cannot see. They were pre-programmed into the code.

The time is coming when the kingdom will appear and there will be a great harvest.

Stay strong. Stay faithful until that time.

God did not bring Jesus onto the scene just to put a blanket over him so His light can’t be seen. It is seen. It will be seen even brighter in time.

The kingdom is coming. The seed’s been planted. Right now it’s going thru the process that it was designed and created to do.

Just wait and watch. Walk w/ Jesus and do your best to live your life worthy of the One who turned the Light on and Saved you.

About the time we think the church is dead and dying, racked by scandal and irrelevance, you hear of young adults coming to Christ and returning to church in unprecedented numbers.

Don’t ever get discouraged thinking the church is for past generations while future generations are leaving in massive numbers.

Not only was this predicted, it has been part of the plan. The church’s success and the population of God’s kingdom is not dependent on or limited by our human weakness.

We can feel like we’re losing, even already lost. But the losses are an important part of what will end up as our victory.