Cultivating Steadfast Love and Faithfulness - Mark 4:21-33

Mark 4:21-33
Cultivating Steadfast Love and Faithfulness
Cultivating Steadfast Love and Faithfulness in the building of God’s Kingdom.

INTRO
Who here has a garden…of any measure? The Bible has a lot to say about
gardens. In fact we find very early on, in Genesis that God himself planted a
Garden…The Garden of Eden in which (Genesis 2:15) “The Lord God took the
man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” To steward it…
as a gardener you could say. And there are some pivotal scenes that take place
in the setting of a garden. The garden of Eden, just mentioned, is where
(Genesis 2:9) in the midst of it was both the “Tree of Life and the Tree of the
Knowledge of Good and Evil.” It was in this setting in which the serpent
deceived Eve with a lie causing her to sin who then invited her husband Adam to
do the same. Both ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, sin
entered God’s perfect creation…without question, a very pivotal scene.
The fall of man occurs as does the beginning of God’s storyline of
Redemption through His Only begotten Son Jesus….who himself….was in a
garden the night of his betrayal. Praying and sweating drops of blood in
anguish over what lay before him….bearing the fullness of God’s cup of wrath
for the sin of those whom He would atone for. Fulfilling the Father’s will “For
our sake He (the Father) made him (Jesus) to be sin who knew no sin, so that
we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)
It was there, in the garden of Gethsemane, where we find Jesus in that moment
of decision to go through with the cross or not….falling on his face in prayer
while sweating the drops of blood (Matthew 26:39)…saying… “My Father, if it
be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you
will.” For the joy that was set before him…(Jesus humbly submits in obedience
to fulfilling the Father’s will) He endured the cross, was crucified and died on
the tree on which he was nailed to. Another pivotal scene in a garden setting.
The corpse of Jesus was taken down from Calvary’s tree…from the cross and
we read in….(John 19:41) “Now in the place where he was crucified there was a
garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.”
Another garden setting,…and in this scene we find the body of Jesus taken
down from Calvary’s tree and laid in this tomb which no one had yet been laid…
located in a garden.

Three days later, as prophesied, Mary mistakes the recently resurrected Jesus
for the gardener….because…she of course is in a garden. (John 20:14). Jesus
rose from the grave. (Genesis 3:8) In the cool of the day, God walked in the
midst of the garden of Eden, the sound from which Adam and Eve fled from
because of their sin….and here, Jesus’s first steps after conquering sin were in
the midst of a garden who comes to Mary who upon recognizing him…doesn’t
flee…but rather won’t cease clinging to Him. Another pivot moment taking
place in a garden. This same resurrected Jesus says to the church in Ephesus
in (Revelations 2:7) “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the
churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is
in the paradise of God.” Or one could say…. “the garden of God” At the end
of time….God’s holy city depicted in one way as a garden once again with the
Tree of Life in the midst of it. God’s Kingdom, of which He is in the process
now of building. And we, His people, have the great privilege of joining with
God in this work. So how, as citizens of God’s Kingdom by faith in Jesus
Christ, how are we to go about doing this? In the same way He saved us to
be apart of His Kingdom. (Psalm 57:3) “He will send from heaven and save me;
he will put to shame him who tramples on me. God will send out his…steadfast
love and his faithfulness!” And in our text this morning (Mark 4:21-33) Jesus
provides three parables for us to see, as God’s gardeners if you will, how we are
to Cultivate Steadfast love and Faithfulness in the building of God’s Kingdom.
So where do we begin? Firstly,…like any garden…we need to till the ground…
right? To break up the hard soil. And that is Jesus’s first point, and mine as
well, in (verses 21-25). The soil needs to be broken up.
Our first point
BODY
1)
FIRST POINT - (Mark 4:21-25). The Soil needs to be broken up
“And He (Jesus) said to them and to us… - read (21-22)…
Now this is talking about a lamp and a light being hidden or secret and made
manifest…. “where are you getting tilling the ground preacher?"…I hear those
thoughts… “I’m not sure if I’m track’n with you yet.”
You know…years back,
and even now, an artist whose music I enjoyed listening to went by the name of
Cat Stevens. And one of his popular songs was called… “Morning has broken”
Anyone familiar with this song?
Morning has broken like the first morning

Blackbird has spoken like the first bird
Praise for the singing
Praise for the morning
Praise for them springing fresh from the world
Sweet the rain's new fall, sunlit from heaven
Like the first dewfall on the first grass
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden
Sprung in completeness where his feet pass……..closing lyrics…..
Mine is the sunlight
Mine is the morning
Born of the one light Eden saw play
Praise with elation, praise ev'ry morning
God's recreation of the new day

God’s recreation of the new day? A tenderly sweet song which captures how
light breaks through the darkness of night at the dawn of a new day. Light
breaks through the darkness like a plow tills through hard soil and breaks it up.
Now consider with me.
In (1 Thessalonians 5:5) we read “For you (speaking of the christian) are all
children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.”
So here we have two categories. Children of light, of the day and those of the
night or of darkness. Two distinctly separate groups and it is the light that
breaks through the darkness…NOT darkness breaking through light.
And Jesus here asks a rhetorical question..the answer to is of course the
lamp is put on a stand and not under a basket or under a bed. It’s set out to
shine, to break through the darkness and illuminate the room….but then he
expounds on this in (verse 22) “For nothing is hidden except to be made
manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light.” This verse perplexed
me some because it appears as though we have both something that is hidden
and is secret that was done so….that it would be manifest and come to light.
NOW…Is it me…or is that backwards in the regular way of thinking? If I’m
hiding something OR have a secret….my intent is to keep it that way…Isn’t
yours? I don’t hide something so that it would be made manifest NOR do I
have a secret for the purpose of having it come to light. So what do we have
here? Here we have another glorious paradox in the christian faith.
YOU SEE, God does this. There is something He has hidden and is secret that
is to be made manifest and is to come to light. “For God, (2 Corinthians 4:6)
who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give to the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” For

we, whose hearts God shone in, we impart (1 Corinthians 2:7,9-13) “we impart
a secret and hidden wisdom of God (did you catch that?) a secret and hidden
wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory…… “What no
eye has seen nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has
prepared for those who love him - these things, (these secret and hidden
things) God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For who knows a person’s
thoughts except the Spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one
comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. In other words they
are secret…they are hidden….but listen….Now we have received not the spirit
of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the
things (these secret and hidden things) freely given to us by God. And we
impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit,
interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.” “To those who have an
ear to hear”…as noted in (verse 23). How marvelous is that!
In short… - God places this treasure of what God has prepared for those who
love him - the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ…this
hidden and secret treasure he places in jars of clay….you and I…earthen
vessels of mercy, the born again christians “to show that the surpassing power
belongs to God and not to us.” What is this treasure succinctly? The gospel at
work in us that is manifest and comes to light in our lives. WOW!..right?
So what does this look like practically you ask? Good question…Well, first
of all, the radiance of this light shone in your heart is present on the
countenance of your face when regular time is spent seeking Him. Much like
Moses’s face shown brightly after spending time with God…so there also is a
distinct countenance emanating from the face of His Jars of Clay who spend
time seeking Him in His word and in Prayer. Not a physical light but
transcendent light intrinsically present and eﬀectual upon others…brought
about by regular time studying through the pages of scripture with heartfelt
prayerful aim to have the eyes of your heart enlightened to further know Him
who has shone in your heart and revealed Himself to you in the face of Jesus
Christ.
Starting there, and there is no other starting point. Starting there, this light
then spills over into the words we impart and our conduct that aligns with
those words. Jesus’s half brother James speaks directly to how our aligned
speech and conduct make manifest the gospel in the meekness of wisdom. The
wisdom from above.
A tongue bridled to reflect (Ephesians 4:29)…in which “no corrupting talk come
out of your mouths, (which includes obscene talk, filthiness and crude joking
which are out of place)…in place in the darkness of this world but very out of

place in the light of the gospel. Such garbage should not come out of your
mouth,….but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it
may give grace to those who hear.”…words that serve that purpose are what
our tongues ought to be bridled to speak…..aligned with conduct that…
(James 3:13-18). is first pure,…nothing follows without this first being
present….first pure (blameless), then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of
mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere…” this gospel treasure hidden in us
lived out in the meekness of wisdom stands in stark contrast to the rest of the
fallen world and breaks through the darkness of bitter jealousy, selfish ambition,
boasting and falsehood that is altogether rampant. It’s a beaming bright light.
Furthermore, speech and conduct that remains steadfast and faithful through
all the manure placed in your life. You lose your job, illness befalls you or a
loved one, a tragedy strikes, some calamity comes crashing in on your world,…
a child of yours is wayward…fill in the blank….you know…things that stink…
manure that happens but nevertheless…through it all…you remain …as broken
as you may be…you remain humbly steadfast and faithful to God which works
to rather intensify the light of His glorious gospel hidden in you. Do you see
that?
A Christian who humbly practices such, cultivates steadfast love and
faithfulness from which, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God seen in
the face of Jesus Christ, the bright morning star that has risen in their hearts
will shine forth blindingly…breaking through the darkness in the world around
them like a plowers blade breaking up the soil readying it for sowing…….
And then Jesus closes this parable with a combined exhortation and warning
to “Pay attention to”…(verses 24-25).. read Still speaking of the gospel at work in you…this treasure in you that is manifest
and comes to light in your life in a sense multiplies as it’s used more and more
and in contrast, if not used, is actually removed to no longer be present at all.
So let’s illustrate this combined point with a combined analogy…shall we?
Growing up, my brothers and I got into riding motorcycles. And of the three of
us, I never reached the confidence level my brother’s did…especially my older
brother. When he stepped into the world of riding 2 stroke engine bikes…it was
the best thing ever for him….he experienced the thrill of the power band boost.
The more he got on the throttle and worked the engine into high rpm the
more the bike accelerated…leaped forward with snappy eﬀect….the more
power it gave back…He loved it! and still does. For me, it kept throwing me
down. I never gained the confidence to harness the instant power those 2

stroke engines delighted to give…I remained content with the stable 4 stroke
engine ride. In a similar manner, (2 Chronicles 16:9) “…the eyes of the Lord run
to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose
heart is blameless toward him….” God delights to shine the treasure of Himself
brightly through His Jars of Clay who practice humbly cultivating steadfast love
and faithfulness in their lives….and the more you do the more strong support
of His Spirit in you will be given, while in contrast, like a vehicle that ran for a
time but having sat dormant in a field is now lifeless. So also, the light that at
one time was present will be taken away from they who no longer manifest the
light of the gospel in their lives. A dreadful state of darkness that can only be
illuminated once again by repentance………………………..
The light of the gospel treasure in us breaks through the darkness in this world,
tills the soil of the hardened hearts around us…even one another’s…right…it
works in that realm as well….our own hardness of heart that needs tilling… It
breaks it up so that it’s ready’s for sowing.
Which leads us to the next parable Jesus teaches us in how a Christian,
working with God, Cultivates Steadfast Love and Faithfulness in the building of
His Kingdom.
And that is resting in the seed sown and not the sower.
Our Second point.
2)

SECOND POINT (Mark 4:26-29)- Resting in the seed sown and not the sower

Thee two things I want to draw our attention to on this parable in which the
Kingdom is likened to…that we may grab a hold of as God’s gardeners to
further cultivate steadfast love and faithfulness in our participation with Him in
the building of His Kingdom. Resting in the seed sown and not in the sower.
Jesus gives this quite brief parable that presents a BIG Truth. Starting with
the seed. Look at (verse 26) - read
Now, from not many verses back we learned in another parable that the seed
is the Word of God,…(verse 14)…of this chapter…to be specific….and the
sower scattering the seed is the one sharing the word of God….that’s you and
me…the christian who faithfully shares the gospel message of Jesus Christ.
And then (verse 27) shares something remarkable - It says… - read

He knows not how….NOR, apparently is he concerned with it. It’s not keeping
him up at night. He is not going out and inspecting each individual seed that’s
scattered. NO, he scatters the seed and is at rest. Anyone here who has
scattered seeds in a garden knows the scene well. Soil is tilled…seeds are
scattered…some water is applied….that’s the extent of what you can do.
You go to bed…a day or two later…sprouts are beginning to surface above the
ground…and, like the end of (verse 27) “you know not how.” It happens.
Perhaps right now you are hearing the words penned by the apostle Paul that
elaborate on this truth. Turn there if you’d like. It’s found in (1 Corinthians
3:5-9) here Paul, ascribing himself and Apollos as sowers like every christian is…
says this “What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you
believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God
gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but
only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and
each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow
workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.” "The seed sprouts and grows; he
knows not how." “It is God who gave the growth. So Neither he who plants nor
he who waters is anything but only God who gives the growth.”……………
WE..are to steadfastly and faithfully share the gospel message, share why Jesus
was crucified on the cross…willingly laying down His life as a substitutional
sacrifice that one may have forgiveness of sin through faith in Him, share that he
rose again from the grave after 3 days of being dead and buried in a tomb…
that he conquered satan, sin and death….share that He was seen by more than
500 of the disciples at one time while on earth the 40 days following his
resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:6; Acts 1:3)…share that He then ascended to
heaven and sat down at the right hand of throne of God (Mark 16:19; Hebrews
1:3)…and share that he will return for the last judgement as promised. Note
(verses 28 & 29) - read
Same as how the earth produces from a seed that which begins as a sprout
then grows to be a blade and then an ear, then the full grain in the ear….So also
the Kingdom of Heaven grows slowly and inconspicuously over time but will
one day reach the moment of harvest in which Jesus returns with “His
winnowing fan in His hand,…..to gather the wheat into his barn; but the chaﬀ,
He separates from the wheat, He will burn the chaﬀ with unquenchable
fire.” (Luke 3:17). All metaphors depicting that last day. The day of final
judgement executed by the Lord Jesus himself where he brings his elect bride,
the church, purchased by His blood shed on the cross. He brings those who
belong to him into His Kingdom to forever be with him whom they love and He

forever condemns to suﬀer eternal torment in hell those who do not repent
and obey the truth but rather continue in all manner of lawlessness.
Working with God then, as His gardeners, steadfastly and faithfully scatter
seed each and every day. What ever area of influence your space occupies…in
home and out of home…child and adult…scatter seed upon the soil tilled by
the light of the gospel message at work in you and rest patiently in God who
gives the growth………… AND I know that is often times hard…especially when
we see very little if any growth in our area of influence…Trust me, I get it. It’s
hard…….
Years of sowing…minimal sprouts observed….The Temptation to give up is
real…but it is not God’s way. The soil His Kingdom grows from is cultivated in
steadfast love and faithfulness. The fruit of which we may not even see in this
life….and I would go further to say…often do not see.
Which I believe that is the point of Jesus’s next parable of the Mustard Seed.
Our 3rd and final point in consideration this morning.
3)

THIRD POINT (Mark 4:30-34) Inconspicuous beginnings to an incomparable end

This same parable is found in the 13th chapter of Matthew’s gospel. And I’d
like to read the account of it there for along with it is another short but
complimentary parable to further emphasize the Big Truth being taught. You
are welcomed to turn there if you’d like. (Matthew 13:31-33). - Turn there and
read
Two diﬀerent parables…same BIG IDEA. Mustard Seed and Leaven. Both
inconspicuous…..easily unnoticed to the naked eye but over time expand and
grow to grand measures. We see this expressed in God’s sanctifying work in
each believer as the gospel is steadily at work in us transforming our heart to be
more and more like Christ over the course of our lives, and likewise in the
building of God’s Kingdom. FAITH is steadily being forged in the heart of men
and women who come under the rule and reign of Christ in their heart.
Christ’s church, the household of God,….though inconspicuous now,….Ends
in that which there is NO comparison. The Grandeur God’s Kingdom, His
Glorious Paradise, the Garden of God Restored. The day in which "every knee,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth, every knee will bow, at the highly
exalted name of Jesus and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the

glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9-11). Inconspicuous now but beyond
comprehension in it’s completion.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we as his agents, get to participate with God in
this divine enterprise. And what this last parable can assure us of….is that
anything done in faith…though gone unnoticed to other’s eyes or even our own
eyes…GOD uses in the building of His Kingdom.
I’ll give you an example that comes from my own testimony. An example of
leaven planted in me that grew and grew and continues to this day. Years ago,
prior to taking seriously my walk with Christ, I attended a church service with
my fiancé Marcy and my brother Josh in Boise Idaho. Following the sermon an
opportunity came to meet the pastor, Bob Caldwell was his name. After the
brief initial greeting, he simply asked me one question that forever had an
impact on me and changed the trajectory of my life. He asked me, in a very
casual manner… “Do you read your Bible?” I don’t even recall what I replied or
even if I did at all. I think I just stood there stunned. His sincere question
sunk deep into my heart and brought great conviction of sin. The answer was
“NO”. Yet, I claimed to be a follower of Christ…said and believed I was a
christian….YET rarely opened His word to seek knowing Him. IT was from
that point on that I began to regularly seek the God of the Bible in His word
and have never been the same.
And the reason I state it as the leaven planted in me is that I never shared
this story with pastor Bob and am quite certain he has no idea, even to this
day, the impact that simple question of his had upon my life. You see - He was
steadfast and faithful to ask purposeful…word of God seeded…questions at
opportune moments such as that and GOD, unaware to him, caused it to sprout
root in my heart and grow.
How many similar, seemingly insignificant words spoken, acts of kindness
shown, time spent listening….works of faith moments have taken place in your
life but yet gone unnoticed? Perhaps more than you think. And doesn’t that
motivate you all the more!? Inconspicuous beginnings resulting in an
incomparable end. Any genuine act of faith…no matter how mynute it is, if a
work of faith, is an everlasting contributor to the building of God’s Kingdom that
will withstand the test of fire. Acting on this truth…cultivates steadfast love
and faithfulness in your life. As God’s gardener, don’t allow little or no evidence
of fruit in the soil around you to divert you from keeping your hand to the plow.
Continue on moment to moment. “Keep your hand to the plow.” Keep serving

God. Keep cultivating steadfast love and faithfulness to that which he calls you
to in the building of His Kingdom.
CONCLUSION
We’ll round out the next two verses in conclusion this morning. (Verses 33 &
34) - read
The Kingdom of Heaven is a mystery and the King of Heaven taught of it in like
manner. Jesus spoke regularly in parables, not exclusively, but regularly
included them when he taught of the Kingdom so that those who have an ear
to hear would indeed hear and come to Jesus. When he spoke plainly of who
he was, the unbelievers crucified Him. (1 Corinthians 2:8) “None of the rulers
of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the
Lord of glory.”
Teaching in parables…mysteriously drawing His disciples to himself…..and
Notice the disciples here. Where are they? They are with Jesus privately…
who is explaining everything to them. I appreciate that scene because they
didn’t understand the parables he spoke but that didn’t deter them from
spending time with Jesus. They wanted to learn. They go to JESUS to get
understanding. They wanted to know the truth being told in these parables.
As a disciple of Jesus, are you steadfast and faithful in spending private time
with Jesus who explains everything? Private time…both individually and with
other disciples. That’s why we place emphasis on regularly getting together
with other believers here at Pillar. Private study time with Jesus along other
disciples of Jesus. (Psalm 18:28) “For it is you who light my lamp; the Lord my
God lightens my darkness.” The darkness of the world and our own sin invades
our hearts which need to be regularly tilled by spending private time with the
light of the world. How is your private time with Jesus? The answer to that
directly impacts your cultivation of steadfast love and faithfulness in the building
of God’s Kingdom.
COMMUNION
(Isaiah 9:6)“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government
shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” The KING of God’s Kingdom,
Jesus, the “Prince of Peace” by his sacrificial death on the cross to atone for
sin made peace with God for those who look to him in faith, believing He is “the
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29). Through faith

in the our Lord Jesus Christ we. have. peace. with God. (Romans 5:1) Jesus
satisfied God’s wrath for our sin by His sacrificial death on the cross. The
elements of communion are prepared for the believer this morning to partake.
The bread representing his body that was broken and the cup representing
his blood that was shed. As the music team leads us in a few more songs.
Come forward in response and proclaim the Lord’s death till he returns.
Benediction (James 3:17-18)


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