The Growing Seed

The Growing Seed

Mark 4:26-29

 

INTRO:

Good evening.   We continue our look at the parables.   We are going to look at a parable which is only found in Mark’s Gospel.    This parable is closely related to “The parable of the Sower” which is found in Mark 4:1-20.

 

Jesus often introduces parables with the phrase, “The kingdom of heaven is like.”

For example, in Matthew 13:34 Jesus says that, “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.” In Matthew 13:44 He says that, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field.” We looked at these not too long ago.

 

It is in Mark 4:26-29, we find “The parable of the growing seed,” which we are going to look at tonight. Again, Jesus introduces His parable with the phrase, “The kingdom of God is…” He has just finished explaining to His disciples “The parable of the Sower.”

Once again we realize that the disciples still didn’t understand and Jesus asks them in Mark 4:13 "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?” Jesus explains “The parable of Sower” to them and we pick the story up from verse 26.

 

Mark 4:26-29 – “26. And He said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, 27. "and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. 28. "For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. 29. "But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.''”

 

I heard a story about a preacher who went on a mission trip to Russia.  His usual translator became ill and a substitute was found.  Unfortunately the substitute got a little mixed up with the word “heirs” as in I’m an heir to the throne and the word “errors” when he was translating.

 

When the preacher began his sermon, he noticed that his audience did not seem very impressed, but he kept on going anyway.  Then he became worried that he may have offended some people, so he asked the substitute translator to tell him what he had said to the people.

 

This is what the translator said.

"My brothers, you and I who are here today are mistakes of God's kingdom.  We are the mistakes of God and fellow mistakes with Christ, who is the mistake of all God has made."

 

We know that God does not make mistakes. The point of the story is that we are not mistakes of God. We’re not fellow mistakes with Christ and we’re certainly not mistakes of God’s kingdom.

 

In fact we’re a part of the kingdom which God spoke about way back in the Old Testament.  Before we get into the meaning of the parable, I would like to say a few words about the kingdom.

 

1. The word “kingdom” literally means “reign or rule” and the idea of The Kingdom has its roots in the Old Testament.  From the beginning the people of Israel are described as being unique. They’re described as the chosen people of God. They are the recipients of His special favor and God Himself was their king.
   22. The Bible says in Judges 8:22-23 – “22. Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, "Rule over us, both you and your son, and your grandson also; for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian.'' 23. But Gideon said to them, "I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; the Lord shall rule over you.''”
       1. The people wanted Gideon to rule over them and be their king, but he tells them that God is their leader.
       2. God Himself will rule over them.   If you have a kingdom, you need a king to rule over that kingdom.
   23. They said to Samuel in 1 Samuel 8:5 – “"Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make for us a king to judge us like all the nations.''”
       1. Samuel wasn’t very impressed with this saying.  
          1. First of all they had a king, namely God.
          2. Second in saying this they were saying that to “take over” from Samuel they wanted to have a selection made.

• Third they referred to Samuels ways not Gods ways.

1. Fourth they wanted to be like the other nations, something that they were not supposed to desire.

2. Samuel prayed to God and God said to him in 1 Samuel 8:7- “"Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.”
3. In other words, they already had a king, God was their king, so the Israelites weren’t rejecting Samuel.   They were rejecting God Himself.
4. Even though they rejected God we know that God gave them a king, King Saul, but as time went on, those who were truly wise, recognized that there was no other authority except God’s authority.

1. Psalm 103:19 – “The Lord has established His throne in heaven, And His kingdom rules over all.” The Lord established His throne where?   In heaven. What does His kingdom rule over? All.
   1. It was during the days of King David and King Solomon that the Israelite’s kingdom reached its peak, but as we know even this was short lived.
      1. They lost their kingdom because they rejected their true king.
      2. They lost their kingdom because they rejected God’s commandments, and they ended up in captivity.
   2. It’s during this time in captivity that the prophet Jeremiah gets the word from the Lord that we read of in Jeremiah 30:8-9 – “8. `For it shall come to pass in that day,' says the Lord of hosts, `That I will break his yoke from your neck, and will burst your bonds; foreigners shall no more enslave them. 9. But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.”.
2. During the same time Daniel said in Daniel 2:44 – “And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.”
   1. God was saying that there was a time coming when He would reaffirm His kingly reign.
   2. His people would honor Him because they’re called by His name.
   3. After John the baptizer was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. He said in Mark 1:15 – “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Jesus said a little later in Mark 9:1 – “Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.” Did that time come? Has this kingdom arrived?
   4. Surely it has or there would be some very old people walking around.  
   5. Now in Acts 2:47 we find people being added into that kingdom. As we understand it that kingdom is called the church. “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” Remember we are dealing with a spiritual kingdom, not a physical one.
3. Let’s read the parable again and see if we can understand how this spiritual kingdom grows.  Mark 4:26-29 and I paraphrase; “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain--first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come." [NIV]
   1. The first thing we need to notice is that the kingdom is not something that sprung up in a moment.  It was planned. It was prepared for and brought into being in the past and even now awaits its final consummation.  In other words, it started its life in the mind of God.
      1. It was spoken of by the Old Testament prophets, like we looked at a moment ago.
      2. Jesus said it was near.
      3. In Acts 2 we see the spiritual kingdom was established.
      4. If you are a Christian today, then you can be sure that you are part of the kingdom.
   2. In Colossians 1:13-14 Paul describes the kingdom as; “The kingdom of the Son He loves.” It says; “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” [NIV]  We see very clearly that we’ve been transferred into this kingdom because we’re Christians.
   3. In Hebrews 12:28-29 it says; “28. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. 29. For our God is a consuming fire.” We are in that kingdom now.
   4. In 2 Peter 1:10-11, Peter says; “10. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; 11. for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Just as a side note whenever the Bible talks about the everlasting kingdom, it’s talking about heaven itself.
   5. Folks, this is the central truth taught in “The parable of the growing seed.”  The kingdom spreads all over the world. That’s what we’re going to look at tonight, the growth of this spiritual kingdom.  I want to share with you 4 points but don’t worry I’m not going to use a huge amount of time.

• The 1st point is this, Kingdom growth is gradual.  As in the production of grain, nature works step by step. There is a step-by-step process by which it grows. Nearly all of nature’s marvels are formed gradually.
  1. I like to watch TV programs about nature, about wildlife, especially wildflowers. If they film a plant growing what they do is speed the film up so that you can watch it grow, and it’s amazing to see the process of its growth.
     1. Those of us who are gardeners like Juanita, we will plant a seed in the ground and after a while you will see the results of that growth, but the actual process of growth is barely visible.
     2. It’s the same with the kingdom of God.   Jesus says in the 2nd half of Mark 4:28, “First the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head.”
     3. If we were to apply this parable to an individual person, we would get a lesson in patience.  Christian growth is gradual.
        1. When a baby is born, they don’t walk and talk straight away.
        2. It is gradual and they need to be encouraged to walk and talk.

• The more they try, the more confident they get at it.

4. It’s the same with baby Christians.   We shouldn’t expect them to be able to preach a sermon or teach a lesson in a ladies’ class right after their baptism.  They need time to learn the simple things about Christianity. Things like learning how to pray, learning how to read and study God’s word by themselves. How to meditate on Gods word and understand how it commentates on itself to lead to fuller understanding.
5. When we think about it, just as it’s possible to expect too little of ourselves, it also must be possible that we expect too much of ourselves.   In our moral and spiritual development we sometimes want to take giant steps, and if we fail, we end up being so disappointed, disheartened in ourselves. We need to learn to walk before we can run.  The mature Christians among us should never forget nature’s lesson, the necessity of gradual growth.

1. You know people have come up with hundreds of ways to get others into their assemblies.
   1. They believe they have good plans to get people to join.
   2. Some use musical instruments to attract people into becoming members, some say, “Look how spiritual I am, I speak in tongues.”
   3. People are into all sorts of things to attract other people.
   4. We need to remember that a person doesn’t go to bed a sinner and wake up the next morning as a Christian. It doesn’t happen like that.
   5. We need to be patient and trust God.
2. Acts 5:14 – “And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women,” We need to let new Christians develop gradually and we need to trust God to add people to His kingdom.

1. Second, kingdom growth is orderly.   Mark 4:26-27 – and I paraphrase; “A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.”
   1. When the seed is buried in the soil, its very existence seems to be vulnerable, but the seed’s growth is marked by an orderly process.
      1. Just like we go through different stages in our physical growth, it’s the same with the kingdom of God.
      2. We know that we go through different phases.
      3. When children are born and they go through the teething process, then they grow a little more and go through the terrible twos, threes, fours and fives.
      4. Next they start to go through the rebellious stage, which starts at about age 6 or so and goes on until they are 18 years old after which it gradually tapers off for most.   That was a joke by the way.
      5. In between all that, they go through what we call puberty, which is another fun part of growing up. Most people grow in the same order, infancy, childhood, youth and adulthood.
      6. It’s almost impossible to tell when one period ends and another period starts, but at the same time the different stages of development can be clearly recognized.
   2. It is in like manner with Christian development.
      1. Peter says that recent converts to Christianity are like newborn babies.
      2. 1 Peter 2:1-3 – “1. Therefore, laying aside all malice, all guile, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 2. as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, 3. if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”
      3. Peter tells us that we have a duty to grow as Christians. Sadly, there are some Christians who aren’t new but haven’t grown much either.
      4. 1 Corinthians 3:1-4 – “1. And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3. for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? 4. For when one says, "I am of Paul,'' and another, "I am of Apollos,'' are you not carnal?”
         1. In other words Paul is saying, “You guys are still like little babies, when are you going to grow up and act like the mature Christians you are supposed to be?”
         2. Someone can be a Christian for a long time, but they’ve never grown.
      5. Then Paul reminds those who are mature in 1 Corinthians 14:20 – “Brethren, do not be children in understanding; however, in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature.” He is saying, regarding evil be as infants, but in your thinking be adults.
      6. Jesus says in Matthew 5:48 – “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” We know the word we translate here as “perfect” here means “complete”.   It means maturity.
         1. In other words, there are different stages of Christian growth that we all need to be aware of.
         2. Certainly, a new Christian may do and say things that aren’t very mature because of a lack of knowledge and understanding.  Those who are mature should recognize this and give them a helping hand in their understanding.
         3. I have in other assemblies noticed that some Christians seem to complain and grumble a lot.   I now suspect that one of the reasons they complain and grumble all the time is that they haven’t grown up in Christ, they are still babies.  The point is every Christian should be growing spiritually.
      7. Ephesians 4:15 – “But, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head Christ ”  We’ve all got a duty to grow up, but we’ve also got a duty to understand that Christian growth is a process, it takes time.  We need to be patient with those who are slow to develop.
   3. Third, the kingdom growth is from God. Can anyone here explain how things grow?   Scientists understand it is because of the coding in the cells but taking a seed into the laboratory and growing it, they still can not delineate what makes a seed turn into a flower.
      1. Mark 4:26-28 - “A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain.” [para] A farmer can do a great many things to the soil.   He can break up the soil, plant crops that add nutrients to the soil, make the soil looser by adding sand or mulch, modify the soil pH with additives, fertilize the soil, weed the soil but he himself does not make the seed grow.
      2. W. Dicus says in the 3rd stanza of the song My God and I…
      3. “Secure, is life from mortal mind, God holds the germ within His hand, though men may search, they cannot find, For God alone does understand.”
         1. He’s saying the same thing that Job is saying in Job 36:26-29 – “26. "Behold, God is great, and we do not know Him; nor can the number of His years be discovered. 27. For He draws up drops of water, which distill as rain from the mist, 28. Which the clouds drop down and pour abundantly on man. 29. Indeed, can anyone understand the spreading of clouds, the thunder from His canopy?”

He’s saying that the great minds can try to understand how the universe was formed, how the human body works, but they’re never going to be able to fully do so.

1. He’s saying that people can search but they will never fully understand because it is only God who truly understands these things.
2. The lesson here is that there are some things that God alone can do.

1. It’s the same in the spiritual kingdom of God.
   1. Whatever growth takes place in His kingdom is due to the operation of God.
   2. We may sow the seed, but we cannot make it germinate in the human heart.
   3. Colossians 4:3-4 – “3. meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, 4. that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.” We can select the seed and prepare the soil (human hearts) through prayer. We can tend and weed through teaching, but we ourselves can not make the seed grow and we need to understand that.
   4. I know sometimes we beat ourselves up when nothing happens, especially if it is family or someone we love greatly. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 3:6 – “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.” How does God do that?  
      1. There is the story about a young skeptic who sat in the church assembly one morning when the preacher was speaking about the wilderness wandering.   The preacher made a statement about how the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years and their sandals never wore out.
      2. The young skeptic shouted, “Rubbish, how’s that possible?”

• The preacher looked at the young man and said, “God!”

1. The young skeptic said, “Oh, I understand.”
2. The preacher said, “No son, nobody really understands.”

5. We don’t understand how God makes the seed grow, but we know He does.   Do you know how we know He does? Because we are here as Christians today, aren’t we?

1. Yet consider, just because God makes the seed grow, that doesn’t let us off the hook does it?
   1. Paul says to Philemon in Philemon verse 4-6 – “4. I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers, 5. hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints, 6. that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.”
   2. We still have a responsibility to carry out, because we still have a vital part in the growing process and our part is an active one. We are His hands.
   3. We accept that we can’t make the seed grow, but we still need to make sure that the conditions are right so that the seed will have a chance to grow.   We till the soil, water when needed, remove the rocks and pull the weeds.   We do as Adam was instructed, tend the garden.
2. John 4:24 – “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” You see at the end of the day the kingdom belongs to God and the growth of the kingdom will be from God.
   1. The sower must sow God’s seed and wait patiently for God to do His part.
   2. We must sow the seed, but it is God who causes the growth, it is God who gives fruit. We are tenders.
3. That brings us to the last part.  In the kingdom it is God who harvests the fruit.
   1. Jesus says in Mark 4:29 – “But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” What’s He saying?  Jesus is saying that it is God who produces growth; hence the fruit, then when this fruit is ripe, again it is God who will bring the matter to a conclusion, not man.
      1. Man does not add someone to the kingdom, the church.   It is God who does the adding.
      2. The imperative “immediately” here indicates to us that when a person is ready we are not to delay in bringing them before God in baptism.

 

CONCLUSION:

It is God’s kingdom and we are His workers, we tend this garden. Look with me now at James 5:7-8 – “7. Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. 8. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”

 

Here again it talks about the farmer waiting for the precious fruit of the earth but now we are talking about the coming of the Lord.   For the people who have been born again, this is our hope.   For those who haven’t been born again this will be the day when they will wish they had never been born at all.    I will close with Revelation 14:14-16 – “14. And I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. 15. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, "Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for You to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.'' 16. So He who sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.” Judgment is certain.

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We learn from the New Testament how to be saved. We need to hear the word; believe in Jesus; repent of our sins; we must confess our belief that Jesus is the Son of God; and be baptized for the remission of our sins… If we follow these steps, the Lord adds us to His church.

 

Perhaps there is someone in the assembly today with the need to be buried with Christ in baptism. If you have never done these things, we urge you to do so today. If anyone has this need or desires the prayers of faithful Christians on their behalf, we encourage them to come forward while we stand and sing.

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Reference Sermon

Mike Glover

 

 

Suggested song before the lesson: 668—Our God, He Is Alive