Why Try

Have you ever had that thought before?

Unfortunately I have...It all started *Right Here* for me. I had just been apart of a Conference Championship team where we beat the number 6 team in the country. We went to Hawaii on MS tax payer dollars. Beaten Nevada. And finished as the number 19th ranked team in America sitting at 12-2 on the year. It was awesome…*we even had a billboard to prove how well we did that year.* (Turns out we blew the entire athletic budget on that one single billboard)

Well, my time at USM quickly took a turn for the worse.The next year, we got a new head coach. And we went from first…to worst. As we affectionately say in my house, we went from the Penthouse to the Outhouse. We went 0-12 and finished 120 out of 120 in division one football. I have a distinct memory of the exact moment when I had my “why even try anymore” moment that year. It was in Orlando Florida, as I walked back into the visitor locker room after we had just gotten beat for the 7th game in a row against the University of Central Florida.

It was my last season…I was 296 pounds and the time. And starting in week 8 of the season I decided it was time to lose weight. I was 273 pounds by the end of the season. I had given up on football…we stunk…so why even try…it’s just time to lose weight...You know you're bad when your o-line goes on a “life after football” weight-lose program midseason...

I had given up all hope…we wouldn't make it to a bowl game for the first time in 18 years at Southern Miss…so why even try.

What about you?

Have you ever had that moment?

Maybe for you gave up on trying on something trivial:

A diet…exercising

Maybe it was something a little more serious…maybe it was with your parenting.

“Why am I even trying…this kid just wont listen...”

Or maybe it was on your marriage… “Why even try…he just doesn't love me like he used to…or things just aren't the way they used to be.”

"Why even try...”— You ever been there?

What about spiritually? Have you ever wondered to yourself:

“Why even try to reach my neighbors?”

“Why should I even try to serve in this community?”

“Why should I even try to pray for God to bring renewal or revival?”

Why even try to be a church that makes Jesus known in Brookhaven and Beyond?

Ive tried…it didnt work…so why even try?

Well, this passage answers that question this morning...

God’s Future Promises are What Fuel Present Faithfulness

3 Truths that will help us unpack this idea...

1) The Kingdom Will Grow

Mark 4:26–29 (ESV)

26 And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. 27 He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how.

Jesus begins this story with these words in verse 26, “The Kingdom of God is as if...”

So whatever else this parable communicates, what Jesus is telling us in this story is what God’s Kingdom—His Rule and His Reign on earth— can be compared to.

And what Jesus says here is that God’s Kingdom can be compared to a seed that is thrown out onto the ground. The man who throws out the seed doesn't do anything to make the seed grow. The Seed doesnt grow because of the farmer’s technique and effort. In fact, the only real effort that this farmer in this story gives is in the initial spreading of the seed. After he does that…Jesus says…he goes to sleep and wakes up day after day and night after night…and the seed does what seeds do when they are planted…it it sprouts and it grows…and the farmer doesn't know how.

28 The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

The word in the greek is “automatic” in the Greek.

When we were in the beginning of Quarantine last year, I did what every other American did…I went to Home Depot.

I had 3 weeks where I worked from home…which meant I got next to no actual work done…but I did do some honey do’s.

One of the projects that I did was plant some grass in a part of our yard that could never grow any. And so one day me and Betsy got out in the backyard during the kids nap time, and we laid out some sod, and then we watered it every day.

So when our oldest Son Judson woke up…he walked out in the backyard and he noticed that there was grass there…and you could see the confusion on his face because he saw a sprinkler…so he asked me why we were putting water on the grass. I told him…because grass needs water to grow. But when I told him that…you could visibly see the confusion on his face…and the reason why became clear…See he knew that the we never watered the rest of the grass in our yard…and it still grew…without any of my involvement…the rest of our yard grew healthily all by itself nearly year-round…and so my son was curious…and he asks me at that point… “Dada, how does the grass grow?”

Like he understood that the grass needed water to grow…but he also knew that daddy didnt water the rest of the grass. So his little 3 year old brain was in overdrive trying to figure out how the grass grew if we didnt water it…and so he asked me… “Dada, how does the grass grow...” So i just repeated it…well it drinks the water and eats the sunshine…and he kinda turns his head and makes that confused look. And finally once I realize that I cant explain how the grass actually grows I just say to him, “Buddy, God makes the grass grow.” And I kid you not, this is exactly what he says, “Oh…okay.”

I realized that sometimes that’s the answer…the reason that things happen the way that they happen is because God is at work. He is the one that brings growth, he is the one that gives, life. He saves…he sanctifies…he glorifies…he builds. God is always at work…

You see, the Kingdom of God…it functions like the grass. God is the one who makes it grow. We have a role to play, no doubt. Like the farmer who sows the seed…we are called to sow God’s Word...but God is the one who works to bring the growth.

I love what one Rodney Cooper says about this passage:

The point of this parable is the passivity of the person who scatters and the power of God in acting apart from any human contribution. The shower scatters and then it is out of his hands. He does not even understand the process that the grain takes.

Just like God grows the grass…and we dont really know how...God is the one who grows his kingdom...

This saves us from both pride and despair.

If we share the gospel…and someone comes to faith…we shouldnt be puffed up with pride because we understand that what we did was sow the seed…but God was the one who brought the growth.

And on the other hand…when we share the gospel…and the person we share with doesnt come to faith…we shouldnt despair or be discouraged…because we know that our job is to be faithful to sow the seed…God is the one who brings the growth.

2) The Future is Sure

Jesus tells us what the future is going to be in this story…

He says that the Kingdom of God is compared to a man that plants a seed that grows on its on…and then in verse 29 he says...

Mark 4:29 ESV

29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

Jesus alludes to the final hope of judgment found in Joel 3:13

Joel 3:13 (ESV)

13 Put in the sickle,

for the harvest is ripe.

There is one ending to this thing that we call life…and that one ending is, in the end, when God closes out the history books, there will be one King and one Kingdom, left standing.

But here is the thing…we arent there yet…which means that God isnt done!

Until Christ returns,

He is still redeeming the guilty…

He is still restoring the broken…

He is still speaking His truth…

He is still responding to prayer…

He is still sending…

He is still saving...

You have an enemy…and he wants you to believe that God is done…he will say to you, “God is obviously not working anymore…just look at how messed up you are…God has given up on you...” He will say to you.... “What in the world are you doing?! Youre not making any impact for the Kingdom of God! Not over there at the Distribution Center. Not over there at the Mechanic Shop! You’re not making any impact for the Kingdom of God working on the oil rig! Youre not making an impact raising your kids! Youre not doing Kingdom work

But the Kingdom of God is like a seed that grows unnoticed sometimes…to use Jesus’ language, “The wheat of the Kingdom grows alongside the tears of the world”…And I know that is Christianese…but what it means is that sometimes we just dont recognize the Work of God…sometimes we don’t see what God is up to…but just because you dont see the fruit of the Kingdom at any given moment…that doesnt mean that God hasnt already established the root of the Kingdom...

In other words…just because you dont see the hand of God in whatever situation you might be in…that doesnt mean he isnt at work…Maybe it means that you just dont see it.

But one day you will…because the future is sure. His Kingdom is working and growing right now…and although at times it goes unseen and unnotticed…One day the Kingdom will be unignorable. And on that day… “Every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the Glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:10)

But until that day…He isnt done...

The Future is Sure…The Kingdom of God will Grow…

3) So just Be Faithful to Serve in the Present...

So I started this message with a question… “Why try”

And now I want to answer it...

Why Try? Because God isnt done…and because of what Christ Jesus did on the cross long ago in the past...God is building His Future Kingdom right now in the present…And so our job is very simple…it’s just to be faithful.

Why try to be faithful in your marriage? Because God is bringing His future Kingdom into the reality of the present...

Why should you keep trying to be faithful in how you raise your kids? Because God is bringing His future Kingdom into the reality of the present...

Why keep trying to be faithful in living a godly life? Because God is bringing His future Kingdom into the reality of the present...

Present Faithfulness is Fueled by

So Be Faithful to Serve in the Present

This passage should inspire us to be faithful…right here and right now…because we know that our hope in the future is sure and God will grow His Kingdom.

What does it look like to be faithful?

Share the Gospel

Serve your neighbor

Spend your life for the glory of God and the good of others

God is faithful to bring about His Kingdom even through our fickleness. His Kingdom Will Grow...

We are going to mess up at times…we are going to have opportunities to share the gospel and

It may not look how we expect it…we may not always see the results…but nonetheless the Kingdom Will grow...

The point is that the Kingdom Will Grow…but we arent the one’s who grow it. God is. We arent the gardener…God is. Jesus is the Vine…we are the branches…but God is the Gardener…He is the one who builds his Kingdom…and because he is the one who builds His Kingdom…the Kingdom Will Grow…and why will the Kingdom grow? Because what this communicates is that God is always at work. Just like the soil produces the growth of a seed…God is always at work growing his Kingdom.

Just like a plant grows subtly and almost unnoticeably, God is at work in your world and in your life. He is growing His Kingdom.

Can I just be honest with you for a minute…ministry can be super frustrating at times. Espeically in the Bible Belt.

When Jesus taught us to pray “Your Kingdom Come...” we thought that meant that he would bring His kingdom instantly. Like we think that God functions like a microwave. We put our request in through prayer…then we sit there are we wait...

Im not sure if you have ever tried to observed a plant grow…but here is the reality of

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Be Faithful in the Present

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