When A Little Is A Lot
Notes
Transcript
26 He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, 27 and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. 28 The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”
30 He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; 32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”
33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; 34 he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.
How many of you all had parents or grandparents that were raised on a farm or had to grow their own vegetables? Some of you all may have raised your hand or are familiar with what it means to have to grow your own vegetables. Many of us today take for granted that we can go to our local grocery store and get all the produce that we need. But back during the days of when Jesus was on earth, they couldn’t go to Food Lion, Harris Teeter or Publix to get their food. When Jesus was teaching people over 2,000 years ago, every listener was familiar with planting seeds and harvesting crops. Truth be told....They only ate what they could they could grow.
That’s why so many of the parables of Jesus are about plants and seeds. In our text this morning, Jesus is teaching about wheat seeds and mustard seeds.
The only kind of mustard most of us are familiar with is the kind you put on a hotdog. But the reason Jesus talked about the mustard seed was because mustard plants were abundant around the Sea of Galilee.
There are a few things that we must know about the mustard seed.....The mustard seed isn’t the smallest seed in the world, but it was the smallest seeds with which people in Israel were familiar.
It is a tiny seed. You could put 200 mustard seeds on the face of a penny and it takes almost a thousand mustards seeds to weigh even an ounce. So we should have an understanding just how small this seed is.......
Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed that is planted. The Kingdom of God is like a small seed that is planted...... It starts out small........but there is something that happens to it when it’s planted........
I believe the text tells us that ....GOD’S KINGDOM STARTS SMALL
31 It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth;
Here is this small seed......starting out in the ground.........but we know it doesn’t end up that way.........
God specializes in taking small, insignificant things and making them mighty.
When David went against Goliath......it was a smooth stone that took him out.
Gideon was the least of his entire family. He was the youngest, the smallest, and, therefore, the least respected out of his entire tribe. His social position put him in charge of menial tasks around the family farm.
But God used Gideon and a small army of 300 to defeat the Midianites.
Joseph’s faithfulness to the Lord .....eventually promoted him to a position of great power where he not only saved his family, he also saved the entire country.
Joseph was just one kid, one little guy, who God used to do big things. His faithfulness preserved the Israelites and changed the course of history forever.
Esther had a very rough life......her parents had died forcing her to live with her cousin Mordecai, who treated her like a daughter.
The king was head-over-heels in love with Esther.....He barely knew her, but he was stunned by her grace and overwhelming beauty, which gained her favor with him.
The Bible tells us.....
17 the king loved Esther more than all the other women; of all the virgins she won his favor and devotion, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. 18 Then the king gave a great banquet to all his officials and ministers—“Esther’s banquet.” He also granted a holiday to the provinces, and gave gifts with royal liberality.
What the king didn’t know is that Esther was Jewish. Had he known, the king might have killed her because of his anti-Semitic beliefs.
Side Note: Satan had already tried to kill off everyone whose blood would lead to Jesus’ birth …he tried to kill Joash in 2 Chronicles 22:10–12 and now Satan was maneuvering things to kill the entire Jewish population by putting an anti-Semite in charge of the kingdom.
God chose Esther because of her obedience. Her beauty and silence allowed God to place her in a unique position within the favor of the king.
It was only at the right time when she felt safe to reveal who she was....... that God’s plan defeated Satan’s tactics.
Esther was placed in the king’s palace for only one reason — to save all the Jewish people from being killed and preserve Jesus’ bloodline.
God can take the small things and make it them great......
He used the skimpy lunch of one little boy to feed 5,000 men on a hill side near the Sea of Galilee and to teach all mankind that Jesus is the Bread of life.
He used twelve uneducated men to turn the world upside down.
Yes my Brothers and Sisters......God commonly uses small things to accomplish His big plans according to His sovereign nature.
But I believe this text gives us something else we can glean ...... Look at what Jesus tells us in the A and B clause of verse 32 about the mustard seed.......
Mark 4:32 (NRSV)
32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches.....
I believe that the text tells us that ..... GOD’s KINGDOM CONSTANTLY GROWS.....
The mustard plant can grow to a height of fifteen feet. That’s a big plant from such a tiny seed. The same is true of the Kingdom of God. From the tiny beginning of the a baby born in Bethlehem, God’s Kingdom has grown remarkably. The Church of the Lord Jesus started with only a few people and has grown into a global family.
Jesus called 12 disciples to make up His inner core of believers and one of those was a spiritual dropout. He told them to change the world. On the Day of Pentecost, these 11 disciples were joined by 109 other people who were praying in the upper room.
The Bible says, “In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty).” (Acts 1:15)
These 120 people prayed for ten days, and on the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came and filled the disciples.
Peter preached a Pentecostal sermon and the Bible says, “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day…and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:41, 47)
My brothers and sisters.......Almost overnight, the church grew from 120 to 3,000—and then to 5,000 in a matter of days.
Today there are about 2.3 billion people that claim to be Christians.
God’s Kingdom will constantly grow until one day in heaven there will be a multitude too large to count.
John described this vision he had of the throne room of heaven....
9 After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands.
But my Brothers and Sisters....the growth of God’s Kingdom isn’t only true in terms of the numerical growth of the Church.
But God’s kingdom grows in you and I as well.
Someone may be wondering........What is the Kingdom of God?
Usually when you think of a kingdom you think of thrones, armies, and nations.
But Jesus taught there are two aspects of the Kingdom of God.
There is the future kingdom when Jesus will rule and reign over the whole earth when He returns.
But for now, the Kingdom of God is within us. And just as a seed grows, we grow toward Christian maturity.
The Bible says.....
17 For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
What Brother Paul was trying to tell the Christians in Rome here is........ Christian shouldn’t get hung up on what you eat or drink—religious taboos.
He reminded them that God’s Kingdom isn’t about religious observance.
It is about the righteousness we receive in Christ. It is about the inner peace we enjoy through Christ.
It is about the overflowing joy that we have in Jesus.
Like a mustard seed, there should be a growing awareness of righteousness, peace, and joy in our lives. Can I get an Amen.......
How are you growing as a Christian? Are you growing in righteousness, peace and joy?
But then we see something else about the Kingdom of God.....represented once as a tiny seed…look at that last part of verse 32......
Mark 4:32 (NRSV)
32 ....so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”
Let me suggest........
GOD’S KINGDOM PROVIDES SHELTER......
In Israel it’s not unusual to see small birds landing on the branches of the mustard plant; some even build nests in them. There’s a spiritual application here. Just as the mustard seed provides shelter for the birds, we find protection and shelter in God’s Kingdom.
The Bible says, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.” (Psalm 91:1) Let me share with you three ways in which you can find shelter and protection in the branches of God’s Kingdom.
A. In God’s Kingdom you find rest from the weariness of life
Are you tired? Are you weary? Jesus has a personal invitation to you.
He says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:28-29)
Just as the birds find rest and shelter in the mustard plant, we can find rest for our souls in Jesus.
The yoke of Jesus isn’t a heavy wooden yoke like you see them put on animals.
It’s light because Jesus is on the other side providing all the strength and direction we need.
Let me see if you can use your sanctified imaginations......
Can you imagine the life of a little bird?
They fly around, but they can’t stay in the air forever.
They need a place to land and rest. Does that describe your life?
Are you so tired of going, going, going, and working, working, working?
Do you need a place to land and rest?
Jesus used God’s care of the birds to illustrate the fact that we shouldn’t worry.
He said, “Consider the birds of the air. They don’t work or worry. But their heavenly Father takes care of them....
There is a poem by Elizabeth Cheney.....of an imaginary conversation between two birds...... a Robin and a Sparrow.....
Said the Robin to the Sparrow:
“I should really like to know
Why these anxious human beings
Rush about and worry so.”
Said the Sparrow to the Robin:
“Friend, I think that it must be
That they have no Heavenly Father
Such as cares for you and me.”
Let me suggest.....
B. In God’s Kingdom you find shelter from God’s wrath against sin
The prophet Zephaniah proclaimed, “Seek the Lord…Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the Lord’s anger.” (Zephaniah 2:3) One day, God’s wrath against sinful humanity will be poured out. Will you be sheltered? That Old Testament “PERHAPS you will find shelter” has been transformed into the New Testament CERTAINTY that there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Jesus took our punishment. Will you stand at the cross and accept the shelter Jesus provides?
And finally.....
C. In God’s Kingdom you find eternal protection and peace
John continued to describe the multitude in heaven this way....in Rev 7: 15-17
15 For this reason they are before the throne of God,
and worship him day and night within his temple,
and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them.
16 They will hunger no more, and thirst no more;
the sun will not strike them,
nor any scorching heat;
17 for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of the water of life,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
In Jesus, we find help for today, but also hope for tomorrow.
Heaven is for real. It was real before there was a book and movie by that name.
It’s beyond our wildest imagination. There are some things we have to put up with here on earth that won’t be there.
There will be no more sickness, sorrow, or death.
There will be no darkness or wickedness there. There will be no more tears in heaven.
Yes my brothers and sisters...... God can take A little and make it alot.........
So let me ask you this morning........
Do you feel small? Do you feel ordinary….weak…incapable of doing any GREAT thing for God?
Then you are just the kind of person He is looking for.
He can and will do GREAT things-BIG things — through your life if you will give it to Him.....
Perhaps you are here today and your own sin is blocking your way to God.
You have never repented of your sin and asked for God’s forgiveness through Jesus Christ.
Won’t you do that today?
If you do He will forgive you and come into your life and you will now have the sheer joy of walking through life with your Creator and Redeemer at your side….as He pours His power for living life into you.
When A Little is A Lot.....
GOD’S KINGDOM STARTS SMALL
GOD’S KINGDOM CONSTANTLY GROWS.....
GOD’S KINGDOM PROVIDES SHELTER......
