The Mustard Seed

Exciting

Next four months we will be spending time in the Gospel of Mark

"The gospel to me is simply irresistible."- Blaise Pascal

"The Gospel that represents Jesus Christ, not as a system of truth to be received, into the mind, as I should receive a system of philosophy, or astronomy, but it represents Him as a real, living, mighty Savior, able to save me now."- Catherine Booth (co-founder of the Salvation Army)

Next four months we will be spending time with Jesus

That Jesus was with the crowd

: That Jesus was with the crowd

That Jesus was with the crowd

The crowd gathered

That the crowd gathered around him.

The crowd followed him

Followed him and pressed in upon him.

The crowd pressed in

Thronged meaning to leave little room for movement, press together, press upon

A series of pressing in upon Jesus

We begin a series of pressing in upon Jesus

Shape our posture

The Gospel of Mark Series

The Gospel of Mark

Rather than a verse by verse or chapter by chapter approach

The Path of the Series

Rather than a verse by verse or chapter by chapter approach

Prologue of the Gospel

Parables: The Sower

Parables: The Lamp

Parables: Growing Seed

Parables: Mustard Seed

Power: The Storm

Power: The Demon

Power: The Daughter

Power: The Woman w/ the Blood Issue

, ,

Participation: The Calling

Participation: The Sending

Participation: The Feeding

Purpose: The Foretelling

Purpose: The Transfiguration

Purpose: The Cleansing

Purpose: The Anointing

Purpose: The Confrontation/Victory of God

And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, 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.” With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything. - (ESV)

“With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it?”

When describing the Kingdom of God, Jesus chooses comparisons over a definition.

This can be, if we’re honest, frustrating.

“Why didn’t Jesus put the kingdom of God in a single sentence?

A clear catchphrase for the Kingdom.

A, “Yes We Can” statement.

A tag line that would carry throughout the course of His campaign.

Why didn’t he define it?

Why didn’t he define it? He never really gives you a single definition.

Why didn’t he define it?

Jesus doesn’t give you a single definition.

Jesus just has stories, metaphors, likenesses. ‘The kingdom of God is like this. It’s like that.’ ”

Flannery O’Connor, the famous American author

He doesn’t do it.

Flannery O’Connor, was once asked about one of her short stories. “Could you put the meaning of that story in a sentence? Give it to me in a nutshell. What is that story about? Come on. What does it really mean? Put it in a sentence.”

Flannery O’Connor,

Was once asked about one of her short stories.

“Could you put the meaning of that story in a sentence?

Give it to me in a nutshell.

What is that story about?

What does it really mean?

She essentially said, “If I could put the story in a sentence, if I could put the meaning in a sentence, I wouldn’t have had to write the whole story.”

She doesn’t mean she couldn’t give you in a sentence something about the meaning of the story.

She doesn’t mean she couldn’t give you in a sentence something about the meaning of the story. What she’s saying is you can’t tuck the biggest things in life, the most important things in life, into a definition. She could give you a sentence, but there’s no way the fullness of the meaning that comes through the narrative, the full impact on the imagination and the heart and the mind and the emotions of a story or a narrative or a simile … The full impact can’t be put into a definition.

What she’s saying is you can’t tuck the biggest things in life, the most important things in life, into a definition.

She could give you a sentence, but there’s no way the fullness of the meaning that comes through the narrative, the full impact on the imagination and the heart and the mind and the emotions of a story or a narrative or a simile …

The full impact can’t be put into a definition.

That means Jesus is saying, “The kingdom of God is so important I could only get it across with all these images and these metaphors and these parables.

That means Jesus is saying,

“The kingdom of God is so important I could only get it across with all these images and these metaphors and these parables.

It’s that important, but of all those parables, I think the one that most gets across how important the concept of the kingdom of God is is the last one.” He says, “When it’s planted, the kingdom of God is like the greatest of trees in which all the birds of the air can come and make their nests.”

He says, “When it’s planted, the kingdom of God is like the greatest of trees in which all the birds of the air can come and make their nests.”

Parables are the secrets of the Kingdom revealed

earth speaking to heavenly realities

Earth speaking to heavenly realities

parables are like first century memes

Parables are like first century memes - Andy Everhart

Jesus uses the culture of the day, what is understood, what is known, what is grounded to explain what the kingdom of God is like.

The Kingdom corresponds with what we daily experience.

Parables were the public persona of Jesus the teacher. By means of graphic images from everyday life, Jesus teased, tantalized, and tested his audiences, inviting them to an insider experience of the kingdom and of fellowship with himself.

Of all those parables, I think the one that most gets across how important the concept of the kingdom of God is is the last one.”

It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, 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.”

The NIV Application Commentary: Mark The Parable of the Mustard Seed (4:30–32)

THE NEXT PARABLE uses the imagery of the annual mustard bush that was cultivated in the field and grown for its leaves as well as its grains.

The parable uses the imagery of the annual mustard bush that was cultivated in the field and grown for its leaves as well as its grains.

The Seed

Small

The first image is that the seed is small

The tiniest of seeds grows into the greatest of shrubs, and how this happens is veiled in mystery

The NIV Application Commentary: Mark The Parable of the Mustard Seed (4:30–32)

The tiniest of seeds grows into the greatest of shrubs, and how this happens is veiled in mystery

The seed holds within itself the power to transform itself dramatically into something else.

The tiniest of seeds grows into the greatest of shrubs, and how this happens is veiled in mystery

Don’t measure the transformation or the potential transformation by the size of the seed.

The seed holds within itself the power to transform itself dramatically into something else.

Jesus flips everything on its head.

Don’t

The first are last.

The weak are strong.

The poor are rich

The blind see

First error is to make this parable about us individually

The thief on the cross is welcomed into paradise The humble origins of the Kingdom of God

The Growth

1 David E. Garland, Mark, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996), 180.

The kingdom of God is already present in the work of Jesus but remains concealed and modest.

Growth

The smallness of its seeds was proverbial (see ), but Jesus does not compare the kingdom of God to a mustard seed but to what happens to a mustard seed.

The contrast is key

How do we get that? Growth at all cost.

The smallness of its seeds was proverbial (see ), but Jesus does not compare the kingdom of God to a mustard seed but to what happens to a mustard seed.

David E. Garland, Mark, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996), 180.The contrast is key

Something so small, grows to something so large.

The margin of impact is huge.

This can be alluring

We like big things.

How do we get that?

That type of return on investment

That is a success story that we love.

Michael Scott Paper Company Meme

What is success?

What is failure?

What is success?

Growth at all cost.

What is failure?

let us not personalize this to the individual. This is about the kingdom

Forcing it

The green lantern

The great evil is the power of fear

The great energy is the power of will

Emotionally, imaginatively ones ability to will something into being.

Success in the Kingdom of God is faithful obedience to God.

Jesus’ picture suggests that the kingdom of God may continue to look like a failure.

We cannot manufacture growth

But we try, we labor and toil and work.

Why? Because things are falling apart.

Things fall apart.

Everything is disintegrating. Everything is decaying. Everything is falling apart.

Thats what makes the Good News the Good News

The kingdom of God is the reintroduction of God’s presence into this world to turn this world into the home our hearts most desperately want, so this life, this world, is cleansed of disease and decay and death and brokenness of any kind and this world becomes the place where the deepest longings of your body and soul are satiated and this world becomes a garden again.

"The Gospel that represents Jesus Christ, not as a system of truth to be received, into the mind, as I should receive a system of philosophy, or astronomy, but it represents Him as a real, living, mighty Savior, able to save me now."- Catherine Booth (co-founder of the Salvation Army)

First error is to make this parable about us individually

The organic nature of the kingdom

"The Gospel that represents Jesus Christ, not as a system of truth to be received, into the mind, as I should receive a system of philosophy, or astronomy, but it represents Him as a real, living, mighty Savior, able to save me now."- Catherine Booth (co-founder of the Salvation Army)

Many are interested in salvation and pardon and forgiveness and power and help and inspiration and spirituality,

Everything is disintegrating. Everything is decaying. Everything is falling apart.

The kingdom of God is the reintroduction of God’s presence into this world to turn this world into the home our hearts most desperately want, so this life, this world, is cleansed of disease and decay and death and brokenness of any kind and this world becomes the place where the deepest longings of your body and soul are satiated and this world becomes a garden again.

but God’s salvation is a kingdom

Jesus is giving you metaphor after metaphor after parable after likeness after story to get this across.

Understanding God’s salvation as a kingdom means God’s salvation is not just about you but about the world.

Why is it so important that we grasp God’s salvation is a kingdom? There are an awful lot of people in America who are interested in salvation and pardon and forgiveness and power and help and inspiration and spirituality, but do you understand God’s salvation is a kingdom? Why is it so important to know?

God’s salvation is not mainly about making you happy, forgiving your sins, giving you a nice relationship with God so someday you go to heaven.

Knowing God’s salvation is a kingdom means God’s salvation is not just about you but about the world. God’s salvation is not mainly about making you happy, forgiving your sins, giving you a nice relationship with God so someday you go to heaven. God’s salvation purposes are not just to save souls, but they’re also to get rid of injustice and disease and death and hunger.

God’s salvation purposes are not just to save souls, but they’re also to get rid of injustice and disease and death and hunger.

Knowing God’s salvation is a kingdom means God’s salvation is not about you. It’s about God. God is a King. Why do you enter into a relationship with your King? You don’t enter into a relationship with your King because he’ll meet your needs primarily, though, of course, he can. You don’t enter into a relationship with your King primarily because it makes you happy, though, oh my, it will.

Understanding God’s salvation as a kingdom means God’s salvation is not about you.

It’s about God. God is a King.

Why do you enter into a relationship with your King?

You enter into a relationship with your King because it is his due, because you must, because it’s right. says it. “It is he who has made us and not we ourselves. Therefore, we’re his.”

You enter into a relationship with your King because it is his due, because you must, because it’s right.

says it. “It is he who has made us and not we ourselves. Therefore, we’re his.”

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

How do you Navigate the parables? How do you understand them?

The answer is always Jesus - Karl Barth

Jesus shares a parable and explains to his disciples

God doesn't hide to us, but we hide from him

Fellowship with Jesus is where fuller understanding becomes possible, for “when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.

Only in association with Jesus can one learn to understand the language about God.

It is from that place that we grow.

We do not make the seed grow; we do not know how it grows—even in our own lives. Sometimes our frenetic activity may be a smoke screen that hides our lack of trust in God. We feel we need to take control before God’s will can be done. The parable allows us to stop concentrating on what we need to accomplish or have accomplished and to reflect on what God is accomplishing. It encourages us to trust the seed to do what seeds do in the soil.

We do not make the seed grow; we do not know how it grows—even in our own lives.

Sometimes our frenetic activity may be a smoke screen that hides our lack of trust in God. We feel we need to take control before God’s will can be done. The parable allows us to stop concentrating on what we need to accomplish or have accomplished and to reflect on what God is accomplishing. It encourages us to trust the seed to do what seeds do in the soil.

David E. Garland, Mark, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996), 187.

fellowship with Jesus, where fuller understanding becomes possible, for “when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.” “Only in association with Jesus can one learn to understand the language about God.”82

Only in association with Jesus can one learn to understand the language about God.

The growth of the mustard seed is a marvel

Planted

But the seed grows to a shrub. A large shrub is still a shrub

Patient

Parables enlighten or obscure depending on the ability to hear. Those who hear find them revelatory — and even more will be given to them (vv. 24-25). Those who are unable to hear find parables opaque. Hearing determines whether one is an insider or an outsider. It is the all-important first step that leads to fellowship with Jesus, where fuller understanding becomes possible, for “when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.” “Only in association with Jesus can one learn to understand the language about God.”82

Edwards Jr., James R.. The Gospel according to Mark (Pillar New Testament Commentary) (Kindle Locations 2857-2858). Eerdmans Publishing Co - A. Kindle Edition.

The kingdom of God is already present in the work of Jesus but remains concealed and modest.

The Mustard Seed

Introduction

Parables

Mustard Seed

Who is the agent for growth?

Who is the agent for growth?

The Invitation