Mark 4 - The Kingdom in Parables

The Kingdom in Parables

Jesus starts His parables with the word listen. Jesus often tells people to listen. Sometimes it is listen other times it is truly I tell you, but whatever the word the meaning is usually the same,

I am going to tell you something you need to pay attention to

Jesus is going to say something that the people need to hear and He is going to tell it in a parable. So what is a parable?

A parable is essentially a story with a spiritual point.

I want to give you three reasons Jesus spoke in parables.

Number 1, Stories Stick with Us.

Telling a truth, spiritual or otherwise, in a story helps lock it in our brains. Information is good but in story form it can be remembered and recited. Stories help us put ourself in the place of a character. It helps us see the real world application of something. It helps drive the point home.

We tell our kids the story about the boy who cried wolf to help them understand they should not tell lies. We can tell them don’t lie but a story about a boy who gets eaten by a wolf drives the point home a little better.

Number 2, parables reveal truth.

In the four parables we are going to look at today we will see a progression of truths that build on one another.

First is the Sower who sows the seeds of the Kingdom of God. Second is about a light which is the light of the Kingdom of God. Those who have it do not hide it but share it. The third is about how the kingdom of God grows in a person, it does not appear fully matured but grows. The fourth is about how the Kingdom of God while starting small produces great effect.

Not just the story but the stories reveal truth in a way that hits harder than just stating facts.

Number 3, Parables Conceal truth.

Let’s look at Mark 4:11-12

Mark 4:11–12 CSB

He answered them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to those outside, everything comes in parables so that they may indeed look, and yet not perceive; they may indeed listen, and yet not understand; otherwise, they might turn back and be forgiven.”

If part of the point of a parable is to help make the teaching and truth stick with us, to reveal truth, how can another point to conceal truth? This is a contradiction is it not?

Not this is not a contradiction it is complementary truths. Both things are true.

A Parable has the power to reveal and conceal truth.

Parables reveal truth to those who are open to Jesus and seeking God, but they also conceal truth from those who are resistant or hardened.

In parables there is a great revealing and a great concealing. Why?

The most likely meaning seems to be that parables alone will not produce faith… what is required is the secret of the Kingdom of Jesus. Without that, the parables will simply go on frustrating the hearers. - John R.W. Stott

We do not only need the parable we need the key to understanding them, and the key is Christ.

The Kingdom of God is not solely an intellectual pursuit. We do not think ourselves into the Kingdom of God. We do not check our brains at the door but intellect alone is not enough. We need more, we need faith. We need God on the inside or the veil remains.

2 Corinthians 3:14 ESV

But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.

Only in Christ is the veil removed, only in Him can we see clearly. This is partly why Jesus spoke in parables.

We must approach God in faith. That is the a requirement

Hebrews 11:6 CSB

Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Oh how I wish this would stir something in those who need it and they would have a lightbulb moment and surrender to Christ in faith right now.

Now this does not mean that once you come to Christ there is no need to study. That all of the sudden you understand all the mysteries of the universe and the Bible makes perfect sense. You still have learn and study but it does mean the Holy Spirit is there to give illumination.

So with that we will look at these four parables.

Again the four parables in Mark 4 build on each other.

The Sower who sows the seeds of the Kingdom of God.

The light inside the believer which is the Kingdom of God. Those who have it do not hide it but share it.

How the kingdom of God grows in a person.

How the Kingdom of God while starting small produces great effect.

Sowing the Seed

Mark 4:3–8 CSB

“Listen! Consider the sower who went out to sow. As he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground where it didn’t have much soil, and it grew up quickly, since the soil wasn’t deep. When the sun came up, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it didn’t produce fruit. Still other seed fell on good ground and it grew up, producing fruit that increased thirty, sixty, and a hundred times.”

Here is Pastor Mike’s summary, not everyone who hears receives and those who do flourish. Really it is that simple. It does not matter how well you explain it, it does not matter how well you tell the story, it does not matter how eloquent you are, none of that matters. Not everyone who hears receives. Jesus tells us as much in the next verse,

Mark 4:9 CSB

Then he said, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”

This implies that not every has ears to listen.

Our job is not to make anyone believe, we spread the seed.

Some people have the word snatched before it can take root. Yes Satan can take away the word but the devil has many tools and self-sufficiency is one of those tools. We think I can do it, I have the ability, I can make it happen, this is pride and it was downfall.

Some people are just closed off to the Gospel, to Jesus, and to the Kingdom.

Some people receive the word with joy and then have no root. They came to Christ in an emotional moment. They went to Church Camp and “Got Saved.” A preacher gave them an emotional sermon and they got saved but then there was no root. No understanding. No desire to press in. As quick as the seed came it dried up.

Some people never press into the seed that was planted.

Some people receive the word but they do not produce fruit because when push comes to shove they cower back and give up. They have competing desires and they chose self. When the church talks about Godly ways to handle finances they run. When the pastor preaches on self-disciple they reject it. They want the feel good Jesus. They want the genie in a bottle Jesus. When they are challenged they give up.

Some people don’t want a Lord Jesus who commands but a genie Jesus that gives wishes.

Some however, hear the word, receive the word, and run with it. They receive the Kingdom with all its demands and they embrace it. They know themselves and they see the truth. They receive the word and embrace it producing fruit.

Some people receive the seed and embrace the word. These produce fruit!

Using Your Light

For them, those who receive and produce fruit, the next parable is given. They are the ones who have light that needs to shine.

Mark 4:21–25 CSB

He also said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket or under a bed? Isn’t it to be put on a lampstand? For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, and nothing concealed that will not be brought to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen.” And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear. By the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and more will be added to you. For whoever has, more will be given to him, and whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”

Those who received the word, to those who have the Kingdom of God on the inside they have a light that is meant to shine!

This little light of mine

I’m gunna let it shine

This little light of mine

I’m gunna let it shine

Let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine

You’ve got to use it, put into practice what God has given to you.

If you got it in you, you are supposed to let it out.

There is something powerful and effective in you. The Kingdom of God, the Gospel is not just powerful it is effective. I feel like sometimes in the church we treat the Kingdom of God as potential energy. It is not just potential it meant to be effective Energy. We are constantly getting ready but we never go. We have a failure to launch problem.

The kingdom of God in you is not just potential it is powerful and effective.

A growing seed

Mark 4:26–29 CSB

“The kingdom of God is like this,” he said. “A man scatters seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day; the seed sprouts and grows, although he doesn’t know how. The soil produces a crop by itself—first the blade, then the head, and then the full grain on the head. As soon as the crop is ready, he sends for the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

The Kingdom grows slowly, gradually, like all other living things by organic development. - Walter Rauschenbusch

The kingdom of God is slow growing. Yes there are seasons of fast growth but over the long haul, over the period of time is when we really see the growth. This is because it is alive and because it is solid.

A Pine Tree matures in about 10-15 years. It is a soft wood. It is cheap and fast.

An Oak tree on the other hand takes about 100 years to mature. It’s wood is hard and solid.

Both can make a dresser or a chair but Oak furniture not Pine is passed down through generations.

Do you want a faith that can be passed down through the generations or are you content with something fast and cheap?

We should desire a growing, steady faith that will stand the test of time.

The Kingdom’s Effect

Mark 4:30–32 CSB

And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable can we use to describe it? It’s like a mustard seed that, when sown upon the soil, is the smallest of all the seeds on the ground. And when sown, it comes up and grows taller than all the garden plants, and produces large branches, so that the birds of the sky can nest in its shade.”

Jesus had a few hundred followers at the time of His death, Resurrection, and Ascension. Now some 2,000 years later there are 2.5-2.6 Billion Christians on the earth. Since Jesus there have been somewhere between 8-12 billion followers of Jesus.

It started small and it has grown. The faith in you is meant to do the same. The seed was small. Maybe you came to faith in desperation. Maybe you were brought up in it. Maybe you saw it as true and submitted to it. It really does not matter how it started for you. Now you have it. And it is meant to grow beyond you. It is meant to spread. We should desire to me like the Thessalonians

1 Thessalonians 1:8 CSB

For the word of the Lord rang out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place that your faith in God has gone out. Therefore, we don’t need to say anything,

We are supposed to have an impact on our places of work, the restaurants we eat at, the schools we go to, everything should receive the benefits of the kingdom we bring with us.

Receive It By Faith

You have to receive all this by faith.

Faith is in the equation. Faith is the answer. It is not opposed to reason it is something in addition to reason. Without faith there are things in the Bible that are not available to you.

Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth. - John Paul II

The question is not do we have faith that’s a given. Every person has faith every person exercises some degree of faith. We place our faith in so many things there is no limit to the things that we place. Our faith in the question is not do we have faith that is a given. The question is what do we put our faith in? What do we put our trust in? What do we believe to be right? What do we put our faith in. God says put your faith in me.

In the boat when Jesus was sleeping, I think Jesus expected them to be at peace in the middle of the storm like He was. He just finished teaching on faith and they were still worried. This I believe is why He said,

Mark 4:40 CSB

Then he said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

The same question goes for us. If we hear all of this and receive all of it by faith then we are expected to do something with it. We are expected to walk out our faith.

Faith In Action: What are you doing with the seed God planted?