Urgent Action & Steady Faith

Bible Passage: Mark 4:26-29

INTRO

“Soma Church exists to love the body of Christ and equip them to do the work of ministry here, near and far, all for the glory of God.”

The title of the message this morning is Urgent Action & Steady Faith

We will be looking at yet another parable of Jesus on the growth of His Kingdom

The parable of the seed growing

One thing that simply cannot be ignored about the series of parables that we have been looking intently at the last few weeks, is that within them is a strong call to action.

Jesus is saving and raising up a people who will act, a people who are sent, a people laser focused upon the mission of God to seek and to save that which is lost.

We saw this first, two weeks ago when we looked at the parable of the Sower, where Jesus gave us a story about a man who scattered seed on various types of ground, each producing different results

But one of the takeaways from that story was the inescapable reality that Christians must be committed to sowing or planting the gospel into people’s hearts. How do we do this? by preaching and telling others about Jesus.

Romans 10:13–15 “For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!””

Last week Jesus told us a different story all about light and hearing.

His point was that if you have heard His voice, then you have an obligation to take what he has put inside of you and let it shine in a world that is dark and dying.

BODY

This week, is much of the same… an urgent call to action.

Read Mark 4:26

The Kingdom of God grows through the scattering of seed. or as Jesus tells us two weeks ago in the Parable of the sower, the word of God.

The urgent call to action is yet again, to scatter God’s word to the lost because Jesus has said back in Mark 1:15 “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

But Jesus follows his call to preach the word with another reality that we should find great peace in this morning.

None of this is dependent upon us!

The Kingdom of God will grow and increase based upon God’s power and God’s will.

Read Mark 4:27-28

The one who sows sleeps sound every night knowing that the crop that grows from scattering seed just has to grow and one day he looks up to see a plant that is ready for harvest and he has no idea how.

In the same way, the kingdom of God is a plant that is growing slowly but surely.

And one day, we will look up to see what God promises us in the book of Habakuk…

Habakkuk 2:14 “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

Now you may be sitting there and thinking to yourself, “If I have no bearing on the results, then why have we been called to act?”

Good Question! This is something I want to take a moment to wrestle with because this tension is found all over scripture. Namely, what is the relationship between human responsibility and God’s sovereignty?

Well, to answer that let’s start with the most important part of that conversation which is the sovereignty of God.

By sovereignty I mean that God is divinely in control of all things. He is the most powerful being in existence and without him, nothing happens and nothing exists.

Isaiah 46:9–10 “remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’”

Daniel 2:20–21 “Daniel answered and said: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding;”

Daniel 4:35 “all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?””

1 Chronicles 29:11–12 “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.”

Psalm 135:6 “Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.”

Job 42:2 ““I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”

Acts 17:24–26 “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,”

Colossians 1:16–17 “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

The point I am aiming to make is that one cannot read the Bible in it’s totality and not see a God who is totally in control.

Now, that is relevant to the story this that we are studying this morning because more is said about things that God is in control of than things that we are in control of.

Let’s look at the story again with God’s sovereignty at the forefront of our minds

Read Mark 4:26-29

Jesus likens the growth of the kingdom to a field of crops

The seed is sown (More on that in a minute)

Then the seed grows into a plant until it is ready for the harvest

But Jesus makes it a point to say that the one who had sown the seed goes about his business and has no idea how the seed he scattered turned into a field of crops.

God is growing His kingdom into a field of crops that will be ready for Harvest when He returns to take His people into eternity with Him.

Nothing that we do, nothing that the enemy does will be able to thwart His plans and purposes to save a people for himself and fill the Earth with the knowledge of His glory.

Similar to how the growth of our kids is seen year over year more than day by day, one day we will look up and see God’s Kingdom bigger than we can imagine without human explanation.

This is a promise that He will make good on.

And we should have steady faith that allows us to sleep at night knowing that God is a man of his word.

So, the sovereignty of God is seen in this passage in that He doesn’t need you to accomplish his plan

He is perfectly complete and satisfied in Himself. He can do whatever He wants. He does not need you!

Yet he chooses to use you!

The king of the universe has one chosen sinners like you and me to be his children and then has also chosen us to be used to bring about his plan of filling the earth with people who know Him.

Man’s responsibility in response to God’s sovereignty is to act urgently.

Read Mark 4:26

This verse as well as the entire 4th chapter of Mark thus far has been an urgent call to action!

The Kingdom of God is at hand so repent and believe the gospel!

There are people who will die today and go to Hell! That is urgent

“Well Micah, God is sovereign so what does it matter if I evangelize or work to see people saved?” It matters because our sovereign Lord told you to do it

He has not only ordained the end but the means

People will be saved by Him yes! But that will happen through Christians scattering seed!

CLOSING

Here is the bottom line and where I wanna land the plane today…

we serve a big God and he has granted us with the privilege of leveraging our lives for His glory

Some of us need to rest more in the fact that our God is big and trust His plan

I would say far more of us ought to become more urgent and passionate about the glory of God being made known across the world.

May God grant us with urgency to act and faith that is steady!