Mark 4:21-34

This is Palm Sunday. This is the day we remember Jesus riding a Donkey and not just heading toward Jersualem but to the temple itself to cleanse it through rather violent acts. The meek and mild Jesus flipped a switch man. And He did it with authority. His Kingdom was a Kingdom that was going to have to be reckoned with. With fire in His eyes and thunder in His voice, He begins redefining everything about how people can relate rightly with God. It will no longer be through yearly offerings, but through a one time offering of Himself.

Palm Sunday was the day people were still pretty confused about Jesus Messiahship and His Kingdom, but way before Palm Sunday we have Jesus telling a whole bunch of parables that can sneak in the back doors of our lives and cause us to consider what His Kingdom is really like. Today we are going to consider 3 more Kingdom Tales but before we do that, we should recap last week.

After telling a story about three soils that were unreceptive to the seed/message of Jesus and His Kingdom, Jesus tells about one final soil that breaks the mold so to speak.

In the first three stories, the “word recieved” was spoken about in the past tense, but it stayed in the past and had not bearing on the present. In the “good soil,” the word that was received was received in a present and active way, meaning it is something that has bearing on the here and now.

The “good heart” that we all need to cultivate is receptive to the messages that are coming to us from the King of the Kingdom. We “receive them and actively and presently accept them and allow them to shape and mold us into Who He is making us into and that cause us t “bear the fruit” of the Kingdom like: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

The advancement of the Kingdom of God in our lives is determined by the responsiveness of our hearts.

His sheep hear His voice and they listen to Him. He who has ears, let Him hear.

Today we are going to be told three more Kingdom tales will sneak in the back door and demand to be dealt with.

So let’s read.

Mark 4:21–34 (ESV)

21 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? 22 For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”

24 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. 25 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.”

26 And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. 27 He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. 28 The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

30 And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? 31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, 32 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.”

33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. 34 He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

Let’s Pray

First of all, know that…

A Revealing is Coming (21-25).

Mark 4:21–23 (ESV)

21 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? 22 For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”

This is once again, a grouping of sobering words of Jesus. Let’s work through them and pray that they have their intended impact on us with ears that will hopefully hear.

Jesus starts off stating the obvious. If you bring in a lamp to your residence, the intent is to use that lamp to bring in some light. The purpose and function of illumination is to make things more clear. So you don’t bring a lamp into a room and put it under a blanket. That wouldn’t make sense.

When we moved into our house, most of the rooms had no overhead lights, they were just switched electrical outlets that you would plug a lamp into. We wanted to bring more light into our house, so we purchased some overhead can lights and ran electrical wires up to the attic and connected those wires to the switch in the wall and now, when you turn the switch on it sends power to the cans in the ceiling and now the rooms are flooded with light where they weren’t before.

You can actually now see how bad of paint job we originally did, because the walls are flooded with light where they were once cloaked in darkness. The presence of light reveals things. This is what Jesus did when He stepped into the world of darkness as the light of life. He came and brought His Kingdom with Him and it has been revealed already, but not yet in its fulness. Its blinding luminescence will one day be beheld by every single one of us when He cracks the sky to reveal things that we now have tried so hard to conceal. But in the light of His presence all things will be revealed.

John 1:9–12 ESV

9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

The light has come into the world, and you can either use it to see the things in your life that need to be revealed to you so that you can work on them, or you can try to ignore it and fumble around in the darkness for the rest of your life, but eventually everything will come to light. God Himself will turn on the light switch so to speak when He sends His Son into the world a second time.

Imagine how foolish it would be for me to install can lights the rooms of my house, but never turn the light switch on? I would never benefit from them.

So Jesus continues with this teaching with these words.

Mark 4:24–25 (ESV)

24 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. 25 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.”

Man this is sobering. Every time we come here to hear messages from the King, we have an opportunity to accumulate more teachings that can bless us in our future, or we can accumulate more teachings that will be used to condemn us in the future because we have spurned them.

Yikes. I am included in this hearing. Just because I am the one talking does not mean that I don’t fall into this same predicament that you are in. We are all in this together. We must be careful how we hear this messages from the King of the Kingdom.

Jesus says, “Pay attention.” It is a command.

Look at this. Consider what you are hearing. Make sure you understand and perceive things rightly. Weigh the evidence and then make sure you don’t hesitate in making a thorough and proper application of all of what I am saying to you about these Kingdom tales I am telling you.

One commentator says,

“Here Jesus seems to be telling his followers that the level to which they pay attention to what he’s teaching them will be the level at which they will receive the benefits of the kingdom.“If they grasp what Jesus is saying and go deeper and deeper into it, they will get more and more from it.

Don’t remain clueless. Don’t install over head lights and then never use them. Use them to see things clearly because a great revealing is coming

Revelation 1:7 ESV

7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

So it is much better for us if we have ears to hear now and, “Pay attention to how we hear.” Don’t just cast off what is being said, you have everything to lose.

The harvest is inevitable. (26-29)

Mark 4:26–29 (ESV)

26 And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. 27 He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. 28 The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

I think the greatest encouragement that I have as a herald of the Gospel message is that it is just not up to me to try to convince you what what I am saying is true. If it were up to me, I would be squashed under that pressure. Sometimes I put undo pressure on myself to deliver messages because in those moments I wrongly assess that the effectiveness of my preaching is somehow up to me and my carefully crafted sentences.

The apostles readily admit that the effectiveness their preaching ministry was not depended upon them. For instance, Paul told the Corinthians,

1 Corinthians 2:1–5 ESV

1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

God’s word won’t return void. If this word is rightly divide throughout the week and then shared on Sunday, than God can do the rest. If I try to do the rest, I will have engaged in futility and that will fail.

I remember maybe a year after I became a Christian a youth pastor in town asked me to come and share a message with the youth group at his church. I was pumped for the opportunity and excited to be used in a teaching capacity. And I remember saying to him,

“I am going to try and convict people tonight.”

He said to me, “Isn’t that the Holy Spirit’s job?” (Youth Pastor)

Clearly I had a lot to learn! It isn’t up to the messenger, it is all about the message.

That is what we see in verse 28,

Mark 4:28–29 (ESV)

28 The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

The phase “the earth produces by itself,” is the word - “Automatos.” That sounds a lot like the word automatic. This seems to be happening apart from human intervention.

If you put a seed in the ground…it will do something. The kingdom is here eventually you will have to deal with it’s implications.

What implications? Well eventually a sickle will be sent to collect the harvest. All of creation is moving to it’s greater end.

There is a harvest coming. Whether you know it or not, a harvest is coming. Whether you choose to believe it or not, a harvest is coming. A sickle will be swung and if you heart has been like fertile soil, there is a hole bunch of goodness that can be rewarded, but if nothing has ever grown out of the good seed that was planted, than judgement is coming.

The sickle analogy is one that was in the past by the prophets to symbolize judgement.

Joel 3:13 (ESV)

13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Go in, tread, for the winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their evil is great.

The sickle analogy will be used again as a judgement that will come in the future.

Revelation 14:15 (ESV)

15 And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.”

Every single one of us is traveling down a road with a fork in it and we have to make a decisions about what to do with the message of Jesus. We can either allow it to conform us or we can allow it to condemn us. Either way, the sickle will be swung.

Ordinary beginning, extraordinary ending. (30-32)

Mark 4:30–32 (ESV)

30 And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? 31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, 32 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.”

What we got here is some good Middle Eastern Hyperbole, that is how they told stories. People have pointed out that the Mustard seed isn’t technically the “smallest seed,” but that isn’t the point, Jesus is saying that from very small, ordinary origins, the Kingdom will grow very, extraordinarily large.

Small beginnings, large harvest. That’s the point. Think about a small little seed. That seed has the capacity to make something big, but in the seed stage there is not much empirical evidence about it’s potential impact.

Have you ever over planted a garden? Last year we did. To many tomatoes. It was hilarious, because they are grew into one another. What is that? O that’s like 4 plants merged into one super producer. (Breaking the wire cage).

You have to plant with growth in mind.

I referenced Chicago last week and let me tell you one more Chicago land area story. The White Oak is the state tree of Illinois and they can live for more than 200 years. They are a slow growing species and typically growing less than 1 foot per year. But all throughout Chicago land these trees have busted up so many sidewalks.

These massive, massive old growth oak trees started out as little acorns, but now they are something you have to account for. If you are on your bike, the ramps they have made can send you soaring a be a source of great fun, but if you are walking unaware they can trip you up and cause you a great deal of pain.

Think about the humble, ordinary beginnings of the Kingdom come on earth.

The King of the Kingdom was born in a feeding trough.

The King of the Kingdom, grew up in Nazareth.

The King of the Kingdom, had no beauty or majesty that attracted people to Him.

The King of the Kingdom, chose a group of uneducated, social outcasts to be His emissaries.

The list goes on and on, and yet today, the Kingdom of God has advanced throughout the centuries and across the globe and is being preached on right now on this Palm Sunday 2024.

Hosanna, Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord. May Your Kingdom come in all it’s fulness and may we find a place of refuge and shelter and shade from the fervent heat that is to come.

1 Point of application.

Spend time with the King in private. (33-34)

Mark 4:33–34 (ESV)

33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. 34 He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

How long would it take to “explain everything.” Middle Eastern Hyperbole again. Explained everything?

Maybe the most spiritually mature thing we could do is ask God more questions. Not in an accusatory way, but in a humble way. God, please help me understand what you mean by this. What is it that you want me to know, feel or do because of my encounter with your messages that are seeping down into the soil of my fertile heart?

Humbly admit that you need Him to explain things to you because you have a hard time understanding. Tell Him that you need Him to “explain everything” to you as if you have been “born again,” and need to learn a whole new way to live your life on the planet.

The advancement of the Kingdom of God in our lives is determined by the responsiveness of our hearts.

A revealing is coming, the harvest is inevitable and it will be extraordinary, even if it started with a baby being planted in a manger.

Song: Great Are You Lord

Benediction

The Kingdom of God rarely makes the news at nine, but please know this, it is advancing as we speech and at some point the sickle will be sent and what God has done in the Gospel of Jesus Christ Jesus will be impossible to be overlooked.

Ezekiel 17:22–24 ESV

22 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. 23 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. 24 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.”

After a season of growth, it will be time for the harvest. Be Ready.

The purpose of a lamp is to illuminate so that you can benefit from its light. In what ways has the light of Jesus revealed areas of your life that need to be addressed? Have you addressed them?

Are you ready for your life to have the sickle swung at it in order to collect a harvest? What needs to be weeded out? What needs to be fertilized?

Seeds grow progressively over time. How has the indwelling Spirit changed you over time?

Are you spending time with Jesus privately on a daily basis?

Someday the oceans will boil under the fervent heat of judgment of God. At that moment I really hope I can find some shade in the Kingdom of God tree.