Sermon Tone Analysis

Sunshine, great that the weather has improved and the nights are longer, and we love that don’t we, it certainly lifts are spirits when the sun is shining.

In fact as Human beings we are created to function in the light, all some of you may say your sleeping patterns are trying to turn you nocturnal, thats not ideal and if your sleep pattern is broken you feel it.

We are really made for the light.

Darkness is defined as the absence of light and its interesting how people rarely have a fear of the light and a preference for the dark, its usually the other way around.

only this past week, the light bulbs in our landing upstairs have blew, so no light at bedtime and the kids have gone mental at me to get it fixed, they dont like the dark

Darkness always has a negative context about it, but in our portion of scripture this morning, as we get back into our series through Mark’s gospel, is about light.

But, its maybe not quite what you think, or maybe what you have heard before, because I believe many have got the interpretation of this parable wrong.

You remember what a parable is?

''a earthly story with a heavenly meaning.''

Actually the Greek word (parabola) means ''something placed along side, a comparison.

In a parable truth is cast alongside life and life interprets the truth.

In other words, a parable takes the common, everyday events of life and uses them to illustrate the deep things of God.

So the parable is there to teach something, the question is what.

one interpretation, many applications

the interpretation must take the context onboard, remember context is king.

I many I believe miss the context that this parable is set in and then come to the wrong interpretation.

You see Jesus uses the same language at other place in scripture, but the use of the same language does not mean the context is the same.

Turn to

Same language, so you could be forgiven for thinking that Jesus meant the same thing in our passage in Mark as he does here with The purpose of the metaphor of the shining lamp being that others may see your good works and glorify God.

Its about shining your light in Matthew 5, the sermon on the mount.

Many fall into the trap of carrying this thought over to Mark 4 and applying it there, but is that what the text in Mark teaches, I don’t believe it does and I going to tell you why this morning as we go through it together.

For this parable which follows on from the parable of the sower, the seed and the soil, the parable about 3 unproductive soils of hearts, and one productive heart, 3 unsaved, unregenerate hearts and the 1 saved, born again heart, thats the context we are in.

And when we get to this parable we deal with the privilege and responsibility of that one heart that belongs to the Lord.

Firstly then let’s deal with

1.The Privilege to See

read with me again verse 21

a few things to pick out, the word candle is better rendered as lamp, they didn't have candles as we know it, but little clay type containers that they would fill with oil and put a wick in that would feed of the oil

show lamp model from Israel.

the candlestick is a lamp stand.

regardless, it is light that is in view here

Then the word brought, in the greek means to come, or arrive, of curse a lamp is an inanimate object it can’t come by itself, something deeper is at play here, and we will get back to that.

The word bushel, just means a basket or box, a container.

So the picture we get if would could paraphrase it here would be

is a lamp brought into a house to be set under a basket, or put under a bed; or is it not brought in to be set on a candlestick, a lampstand, so that that light may shed abroad in the whole house for the greatest benefit?

Let us now add some meat to this, turn to

who is the light here?

Jesus

now turn to

you see what happened the light came and his own received him not

then

this is the condemnation that light came into the world and men didn't receive it, blinded by the God of this world.

the light was and is Jesus, the living word of God, but men hardened their hearts, they couldn't see the light, they were is darkness, it was as if the lamp was in a box,

so now we go back to Mark and read verse 21 again, thinking about what we have discussed

we can now move to verse 22

What had been hidden?

Christ's glorious identity as Messiah, as the Son of God, as the Suffering Servant, Saviour King was hidden to the unbelieving Jews of His day.

That's the interpretation of this parable, but you need to see also, verse 22 says, that what was hidden and what was not manifested, what was kept secret will eventually be shed abroad and will be manifested, revealed.

That's interesting, isn't it?

Now the obvious question is: when?

and every eye shall see him!!!

you see when Jesus came the first time the light was hidden from the hearts of the unbelievers, hidden from the unproductive soils,

the light shined in darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it!

but there is coming a day when the lamp will be on the lamp-stand and all shall see him, and all will bow the knee, when the light of the word comes back as the Judge of the world and there will be no box or container of unbelief that can cover the glorious light of the word of God when he comes again!!

So what is the application for us today, its all in the privilege we have to see that lamp, that light, we have received the word of God and we know him, and that is a wonderful privilege, its a wonderful privilege to see the light.

the light of Christ is hidden from those outside the Kingdom now, but one day those hidden glories will be revealed for all to see...

Now let’s move from our privilege to our responsibility

2 The Responsibility to Hear

He said unto them, Take heed what ye hear', or how you hear.

Therefore, because Jesus has spoken the word of the Kingdom and sown it in men's hearts - the parable of the sower - and because we need to have ears to hear, that means hearts that are good soil,

not hearts that are crowded by the affairs of this life, the desire for other things;

not hearts that are shallow and when difficulty, persecution and temptation come along, we fall;

not hearts that are so hard, opening them to other things that make them hard by the trampling of the flesh, the world and the devil over our hearts that we cannot even receive the word of God; but good hearts.

If we have those good hearts we will then listen and receive the word of God.

So He says: 'Take heed how you hear', because there is this great day of unveiling and manifestation coming, the revelation of Jesus Christ, we need to listen.

This is a lesson for all, whether it is unbelievers or believers: Jesus is coming again, and therefore when we are here we need to listen very carefully to the word of the Kingdom.

Now, He gives us a principle that is behind that statement, verses 24 and 25:

the Lord is laying down a principle that every time you receive a fresh truth from God's word and you allow it to become real in your life, you can be sure that God will give you more truths to live out.

Yet on the other hand, failure to respond to God's truth results in a loss of what you previously acquired.

It's not just a standstill, but things will begin to unravel and your spiritual life will rewind.

The writer is saying that the time had come when they should have been teachers, and yet they required to be taught again the basics of Christianity which they once had possessed, but obviously had lost.

There is a clue to this in Hebrews 2 verse 1, the writer says:

Failure to respond to God's truth results in a loss of what you previously acquired.

'Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip'.

So the principle is: the one who responds to the word of God receives more of the word of God, but the one who does not respond to the word of God actually loses what he thought he had of it!

William MacDonald comments on this principle very well when he says, I quote:

'Obedience is the organ of spiritual knowledge',

or as James states it

do you want to know more of the Bible, do you want to know more of God?

Then obey what you know and God will give you more!!

A Chinese pastor, had been given a large number of Bibles, and the man who had gifted them to him realised that he hadn't been giving them out and a large number of them were still in storage.

In reply to the question of why that was the Chinese Pastor said

'I have discovered that it is dangerous to learn truth at a rate faster than we can practise it'.

He went on to say: 'I don't want them to encounter too much truth too fast, otherwise they will get into the bad habit of never using what they know'.

The bad habit of never using what they know!

I wonder have you fallen into the bad habit of not using what you know, never applying the truth that God has given you and wondering why your not growing in your faith

You see folks if your born again, if you know Jesus Christ as saviour you have been tremendously privileged, but that privilege brings great responsibility to respond the the light, to respond to the word of God...

This is an individual responsibility but also a corporate responsibility

the seven letters to the seven Churches in revelation and notice the candlestick or the lamp-stand are the Churches.

Where was the lamp or to be placed

what a picture of the Churches purpose to exalt, to lift up, to have Christ in a position of prominence.

What a responsibility we have as believers, as the Church of Christ.

Conclusion

The parable of the lamp is indeed a reminder to us of our great privilege to have seen the light as it were and the great responsibility that goes with the great privilege.

Really we could summarise the Kingdom truth being taught by Christ like this

The light of Christ will be hidden from those outside the Kingdom, but the light of Christ should not be hidden by those inside the Kingdom

In his missionary endeavour in China one of Hudson Taylor’s young converts was a young man called Nee Yung Fa.

He was a Ningbo cotton dealer, and he was converted under Hudson’s preaching.

He was also a leader in a reformed Buddhist sect – now this was a sect that didn’t go in for idolatry at all, but they were searching for truth and for the real true and living God.

At the end of one of Hudson Taylor’s sermons, Nee Yung Fa stood up in his place and turned to address the audience and said: ‘I have long searched for the truth as my father did before me.

I have travelled far but I haven’t found it.