Mark - Parables: How Believers Grow Pt. 25

Good morning and welcome to the Countryside Vineyard.

My name is Joe Fager, and I’m one of the pastors here.

We are currently studying through the Gospel of Mark, and today we’ll be in Mark 4:26–29.

I know— 4 verses. at this rate, we’ve got about 82 weeks left.

After today we’ll have covered 158 verses and only have about 520 left to go.

Ah but these four verses are super important and I’m glad we’re getting so detailed.

Setting the Context

By way of reminder, we’re in a section on parables.

We started with the parable of the soils, and we saw that Jesus cares deeply about the soil of your heart.

It’s about how you receive the Word of God—

the truth… the gospel… the good news of the Kingdom.

That the rightful King has come to deliver His people from the clutches of the evil one.

And we know how that story ends.

Jesus does it in a shocking way— through the cross… and the resurrection.

But here in Mark 4, we’re right in the middle of Jesus giving us clues about how His Kingdom actually works.

Last week, we saw that truth is not meant to be hidden.

If God puts light in you, it’s meant to come out of you.

He kept bringing us back to responsibility— listen carefully… receive it… shareit… live it.

And that’s exactly right.

But here’s the question most people don’t stop to ask:

What actually happens after the truth gets inside of you?

How does a person actually grow?

Because if we’re honest, this is where most of us live.

We hear truth. We believe truth.

But then we look at our lives and think:

Why am I not changing the way I thought I would?

And in our passage this morning…

Jesus answers that question.

  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.

Before I begin to teach let’s pray.

I. The Seed Grows… But Not Because of You

Let’s look at verse 26.

The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground.

We’ve already seen what the seed is.

It’s the Word of God.

The truth

The gospel

The message of the Kingdom

Now verse 27:

He sleeps and rises night and day… and the seed sprouts and grows… he knows not how.

Think about that.

The man plants the seed…

…and then he goes to bed.

He wakes up. He lives his life. He goes back to sleep.

Day after day after day.

And while he’s doing all of that…

the seed is growing.

And Jesus says:

He has no idea how it’s happening.

The man participates in the beginning…

…but he has no control over what happens next.

So what’s the point?

We can receive the seed… but we cannot make it grow.

And here’s something important.

Jesus leaves out everything a farmer would normally do.

No watering. No cultivating. No effort.

Why?

Because he’s saying the point is not human effort.

The point is God grows it.

Now if we stop here, we’re left with a question:

If I can’t make it grow… then what do I do?

Sower and the ones who ask the questions

And this is where the rest of Scripture helps us.

In John 15, Jesus says:

“I am the vine; you are the branches… apart from me you can do nothing.”

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Notice what He doesn’t say.

He doesn’t say try harder. He doesn’t say fix yourself. He doesn’t say produce fruit.

He says: abide.

So what does that mean?

Yes, it means resting in what Jesus has done—but it’s more than just believing a fact.

The word is meno. It means to remain, to stay, to live with.

It’s relational.

This is the pattern we see in Jesus’ own life.

Over and over, He withdraws to be alone with the Father.

Why?

· Because that’s where life comes from.

· That’s where strength comes from.

· That’s where direction comes from.

So here’s the truth:

Effort is not the source of growth—connection is.

When you are connected to Jesus…

fruit happens.

Not because you forced it…

…but because life is flowing.

That’s why the text says:

The earth produces by itself.

That word in Greek is where we get the word automatic.

Growth is not something you manufacture.

It’s something God produces.

And it happens only in relationship.

Everything else—

trying harder… white-knuckling obedience… forcing change…

That’s you trying to produce fruit without the vine.

But when you abide…

you don’t just try to love people.

You actually start loving people.

Because His life is flowing through you.

II. Kingdom Life is Progressive

Verse 28:

“First the blade… then the ear… then the full grain.”

Growth is slow.

It’s layered.

It happens over time.

And the problem is—we don’t like that.

· We want instant change.

· We want immediate results.

But that’s not how God works.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:18 that we are being transformed:

“From one degree of glory to another.”

That means step by step. Layer by layer.

And Hebrews 10:14 says something even more shocking:

You are already perfected… and you are still being changed.

For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

And that should bring peace.

Because a lot of us look at our lives and think:

“Nothing is happening.”

But Jesus says:

Something is happening.

It grows and the farmer doesn’t know how, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain

You just can’t always see it yet.

There are seasons where everything looks quiet on the outside…

…but something deep is happening on the inside.

Paul says it like this:

“He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion.” (Philippians 1:6)

God finishes what He starts.

Which brings us to the final point.

Up until this point we’ve been talking about you.

· Your Growth

· Your Fruit

· Your Relationship

 But notice how Jesus started this parable…

The Kingdom of God is like…

So this isn’t just about what God is doing in you.

This is about what God is doing in everything.

The same way God grows His Kingdom…

is the same way He is growing your life.

Slow. Often unseen. Completely dependent on His power.

And here’s where this hits us.

Because most of us have no problem trusting God with the big picture.

We’ll say:

Yes, God is in control. Yes, His Kingdom is coming. Yes, He’s going to make all things right.

But then we look at our lives—

and we panic.

We worry about:

Why we’re not changing fast enough

Why things feel stuck

Why God isn’t moving the way we expected

So we trust Him with the world…

but not with ourselves.

Or as I heard someone say once…

We trust him with eternity, but not with Tuesday.

But Jesus is saying:

The way God grows the Kingdom…

is the way He’s growing you.

So if you trust Him with the end of the story—

you can trust Him in the middle of yours.

III. The Kingdom is Going Somewhere

Verse 29:

But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.

This is not random growth.

This is not endless process.

This is headed somewhere.

There is a day coming…

when everything God has been doing…

will be complete.

· The harvest will come.

· The King will return.

· The dead in Christ will rise.

· And those who belong to Him will be changed.

· Death will lose.

· Sin will lose.

· The Kingdom will fully come.

Conclusion

And here’s the question:

Are you in that Kingdom?

Because everything we just talked about—

this kind of life… this kind of growth… this kind of future…

it only happens in Christ.

Jesus lived the life you could not live.

He died the death you should have died.

And He rose again—

so that you wouldn’t just try to change…

but so that you could be made new.

Not improved.

Reborn.

And here’s the invitation.

· Not to try harder.

· Not to fix yourself.

· Not to clean your life up first.

The invitation is this:

Come to Him.

Abide in Him.

Stay with Him.

Build your life around Him.

Because here’s the truth I want you to walk out of here with today:

You don’t grow by trying harder—you grow by staying connected. The seed of God’s Word is already at work in you, even when you can’t see it, even when you don’t understand it, even when you feel stuck. God is not waiting on your effort—He’s inviting you into His presence. And when you stay with Him, when you walk with Him, when you build your life around Him, growth is not something you have to force… it becomes something He produces. So stop measuring your life by what you can see today, and start trusting the One who promised to finish what He started. Stay with Jesus—and watch what He grows.