Now Daisy's going to come and read God's word for us and then David's going to preach.
So Daisy, over to you.
So we're going to be reading Mark 4 from verse 21 on page 1006.
He said to them,
Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed?
Instead, don't you put it on its stand?
For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed,
and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open.
If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.
Consider carefully what you hear, he continued.
With the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and even more.
Whoever has will be given more.
Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.
He also said,
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 corn,
first the stalk, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
As soon as the corn is ripe, he puts the sickle to it,
because the harvest has come.
Again he said,
What shall we say the kingdom of God is like,
or what parable shall we use to describe it?
It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth.
Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants,
with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.
With many similar parables, Jesus spoke the word to them,
as much as they could understand.
He did not say anything to them without using a parable,
but when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.
David.
Thanks, Daisy.
Thanks, everyone.
Again, David, I'm one of the leaders,
and I've got the pleasure of sharing with you all today.
So let me just pray before we get started, all right?
Father, thank you so much for bringing us together this morning,
for waking us up, giving us the opportunity to open your word,
to read it, to consider what it has for us.
Father, I pray that you would give us understanding,
that you would open our minds and our hearts to see what you have,
to know what you're telling us,
to listen and to accept it as truth and beneficial to our lives.
Lord, would you move in this room this morning,
bring us closer to you and to one another.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Amen.
Well, thanks again.
I'm excited to be up here.
So as Daisy read, we're reading in Mark chapter 4, verses 21 to 34,
and it contains these three little parables,
the lamp on the stand, the parable of the growing seed,
and the parable of the mustard seed.
And this passage, these parables, they're confusing.
They can be confusing.
They certainly take more effort to understand
than something that would be perfectly clear, perfectly laid out.
And Jesus, in the passage just before this,
spoke of the concept of parables and why he speaks in parables,
stating that the secret of the kingdom of God has been given to us,
but to those on the outside, everything is said in parables,
so that they may be ever seeing but not perceiving,
ever hearing but not understanding.
Otherwise, they might turn and be forgiven.
And that statement can be difficult to digest,
or at least hard to understand initially,
because it seems to suggest that there are some
that aren't meant to understand,
or aren't meant to hear what he has to say.
And it raises some questions, and it should raise questions, right?
I recently had a big contract to work on at work,
and there were several lawyers involved,
a whole team of lawyers on both sides.
And we would spend hours, literally hours,
looking at clause by clause through this contract
that was some 70-something pages long.
It was not my favorite time.
And the whole contract is written by lawyers in legal language,
I think intentionally so that the other lawyers
are the only ones who can understand what's in there, right?
It must be how they keep the racket going
and keep the bills getting charged.
If any of you are lawyers, I apologize only slightly.
But all of this legalese, if you will,
like, I'd like to think of myself as a fairly smart individual, right?
That I understand what the words mean.
I can look at words in a sentence and put those together
and try to make sense of it.
I can read those words.
I can tell you what they mean.
But when they're put together in this way,
on this kind of document,
they just make my brain want to shut down.
I don't want to read it anymore.
And sometimes it's a little bit like these parables,
that you can read the words.
You know what the words mean.
You can see what it's saying,
but the meaning is harder to see.
And so for the contract,
I have to lean on and trust in the lawyers,
my lawyer, to explain what it's saying.
And then they're actually able to use plain language
so that I can understand.
And they help me see what it says.
And without their help, I can't understand anything.
And part of what these parables are doing
and what they're saying is
that you won't be able to understand these on your own.
That's not the intention.
You need an interpreter.
And you need the Spirit of God
to make these things clear.
And so what we'll see today
is Jesus is telling the crowd what's coming.
This is what these parables are.
He's saying in these parables,
what we'll see is that the kingdom of God
is being revealed.
And though it may not always look promising,
it will gloriously prevail in the end.
And so let's look at each of these parables.
The first parable is this lamp on the stand.
It says, Jesus asked,
do you bring in a lamp
and you put it under a bowl or a bed?
No, instead, don't you put it on a stand?
And he explains that whatever is hidden
is meant to be disclosed
and whatever is concealed
is meant to be brought out into the open.
And he adds, if anyone has ears to hear,
let him hear.
And so this parable, in this parable,
Jesus is talking about himself.
Jesus is the lamp.
Jesus is the light.
And we see this in other places
where Jesus is talking about himself.
In John chapter 8, Jesus says,
I am the light of the world.
Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness,
but will have the light of life.
And so what he's saying is that
something is being initiated in his coming.
It's a prophecy about what he has come to do.
Jesus is saying,
don't you realize the light has come?
That God has sent his lamp into the world
and this lamp is Jesus.
He's the word of God.
Literally the way we can understand God.
Right?
In the same way that we use words
to articulate a thought or an idea,
God is articulated to us in Jesus.
Right?
This Jesus in whom all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge are hidden.
We don't understand what God is doing
until Jesus.
Right?
The religious leaders of the day,
they thought they understood what God was doing.
They thought they had an idea of it.
And so when they saw Jesus,
they rejected him.
The disciples thought they understood
what God was doing.
They thought they understood why Jesus was there.
But when Jesus would predict his death,
they couldn't comprehend what he was up to.
God's plans had been hidden.
But now,
in Jesus,
they're being brought into light.
Just a couple chapters earlier in Mark 1,
Jesus comes into Galilee,
proclaiming the good news of God
by saying,
the time has come.
The kingdom of God is near.
Repent.
And believe.
And this is the beginning of the revelation of the gospel,
that the light has come,
that the king has come to bring his kingdom.
And God will continue in that work
until all the truths of the gospel
and all the mysteries of the gospel
have been revealed.
And through the life of Jesus,
the truths are being uncovered.
And in his death,
in his death,
God's true purposes are being revealed.
And in the work of the Spirit
through the apostles,
what he had done was brought into clarity.
Right?
This is what we have
in the books from Romans to Revelation.
It's God fulfilling the promise of understanding
and fully uncovering
the lamp of understanding.
And the lamp that's pictured in this parable,
the lamp of the Spirit of Christ,
it still operates.
He still teaches.
He still unfolds the mysteries of God to us.
And he's come to unfold them
so that we might understand,
we might see him clearly.
And that,
so the veil would be lifted
and that we can worship him.
And so how do you respond to that?
First you listen,
it says,
let him hear.
And then you respond.
See, the reality is,
some will hear Jesus teaching
and they'll seek to understand.
And those are the ones described
as the good soil in the chapter just before,
the passage just before.
And for those who seek to understand,
God will give understanding.
But some will hear Jesus' teaching
and they won't seek to understand.
And they won't be bothered.
Right?
As we saw previously,
for some,
it's the pleasures of the world
that keep them from understanding.
For some,
it's the worries of the world
that keep them from seeking.
For some,
it's the trouble and persecution
that come from the world
that keep us from seeking.
And for some,
it's the hardness of their heart
that keeps us from hearing it all.
Look, what it says here is,
pay attention to what you hear.
With the measure you use,
it will be measured to you.
Right?
In your kitchen,
I imagine we're all the same here.
In your kitchen,
you have a variety of measuring tools.
I brought one.
This is the smallest one I could find.
It's one quarter teaspoon.
It's a very tiny amount.
And this one isn't in my kitchen.
But this one's really large.
This is a 30 liter jug.
Right?
And what Jesus is saying here
is that if you seek
one quarter teaspoon of understanding,
then you'll receive
one quarter teaspoon of understanding.
But if you seek
a 30 liter jug of understanding,
God promises to give you
a 30 liter jug of understanding.
Right?
Do you see that?
This is a theme in Mark.
It's happened already
and it will carry on.
But faith in God
is not an intellectual exercise.
Faith is an active thing
that you have to step into.
And if I grab a hold
of the understanding
that I have now
and I live
in the basis of the gospel,
and as I do that,
God continues
to mature me.
He continues
to open my mind
to the things
that I didn't understand before.
And he continues
to grow me
in knowledge
of what his word
is saying.
And the one
who uses it,
more will be given.
And the one
who doesn't listen,
doesn't hear,
what even he has
will be taken away.
Sounds harsh at first,
doesn't it?
But actually,
it's not as harsh
as it initially sounds.
Because what do we know?
We know that everything
that we have,
our possessions,
our success,
our position,
our status,
our notoriety,
even our health
and our vibrancy,
right?
Everything we have
will be taken away
at some point.
For the unbeliever
and for the believer,
right?
Everything will be taken away,
but the knowledge
and the understanding
and our faith
in Jesus Christ.
And those
who hold that,
it says,
everything will be given.
Right?
As Jesus promised,
he says,
ask and it will be given to you.
To the one who seeks,
and you will find,
knock and the door
will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks,
receives.
And the one who seeks,
finds.
And to the one who knocks,
the door will be opened.
So maybe you're here today
and you aren't quite sure
what you believe.
Maybe there's something
about God,
something about the Bible
that you find hard,
that you're not quite sure
how to trust,
how to put your faith
in the God
you think you see
in that.
The question is,
have you asked him
to understand?
Have you asked him
to help you understand?
God says,
he promises,
whatever is hidden
is meant to be disclosed.
It's not meant
to be hidden from you.
It's not meant
to be a secret.
He wants to show you.
He wants to reveal it to you.
Maybe you are a Christian
here today.
Maybe you genuinely believe,
but there are things
that seem murky,
or not quite sure
how to make sense
of that bit
or this bit.
Right?
There are things
that if you're pressed
on them,
you might struggle
to articulate
to someone
and you might keep you
from wanting to explain
that to a friend.
Ask God to reveal them
to you.
He certainly wants to.
His intention is
not for things
to be hidden.
He wants to show you.
It would please him
deeply
for you to ask him.
And so the kingdom
is at hand.
The light of the world
has come.
And he is ready
to reveal what the kingdom
will be like.
And so we hear,
as Jesus continues
in the next parable
of the growing seed,
he states,
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.
The soil produces
grain on its own.
First the stalk,
then the head,
and then finally
the full kernel.
And when the grain
is ripe,
the man puts the sickle
to it,
and the harvest has come.
See, this parable
is about the kingdom
of God.
The kingdom that
was ushered in
as Jesus is the lamp
into the world.
And this shows
what the kingdom
of God is doing.
The fact is,
the kingdom of God
is coming.
And the kingdom
of God is growing.
Whether it looks
like it or not,
even when it feels
like God is distant
or inactive
or asleep,
the seed is growing.
We may not
understand how.
In fact,
we certainly
won't understand how.
But it's producing grain.
And one day,
God will come
and harvest
that ripened crop.
And even today,
I venture to say,
I want the gospel
to be a straight line,
a linear path
with no curves
or unexpected turns.
I want the chart
of faith
to go up
and to the right
forever.
You're right.
But we know
from life
it's not like that.
We know from the Bible
that's not how it works.
We struggle
in our relationships
as they go
through ups and downs,
sometimes growing
healthily
and other times
it's a real challenge.
We struggle
with our children
or grandchildren
or nieces
and nephews.
They grow
and we might see
glimpses of maturity
and maybe even faith
in them
and then other times
it seems like
they're on a path
that we have no idea
how they got there.
We struggle with it
as we share
or try to share
the gospel
with our friends.
Sometimes they seem
eager to hear
and they're accepting
of our invitation
and sometimes
it's like speaking
to a wall.
We struggle with it
as we look at our church.
Sometimes there are times
of growth
and health
and other times
it seems stagnant
and tired.
we struggle
as we look
at the surrounding world.
More often than not
it seems like
the culture
is careening off
into an abyss.
We wonder
if all of this planting
is actually doing
anything at all.
If the seed
that we put in the soil
will ever grow.
If we'll ever
look at the soil
and see that bright
green shoot
popping up
above the surface.
Or was it just
a waste of time
and energy?
The temptation
for us
is this.
We might feel
like we need
to do something.
Let me say that again.
We might feel
like we need
to do something.
We try to somehow
manipulate the results.
Like a novice gardener
says maybe we should
dig it back up
and put the seeds
in a different way.
Maybe we should
massage them a little bit.
Maybe they're not
quite ready.
Maybe we should put
just a bit more water
on top.
Maybe a little bit more.
It doesn't work,
does it?
And there's a tendency
in the church
to look at the results.
To be centered
and focused
on the results.
And if we aren't
getting the results
we want
or think we should,
we tend to think
that we need
to do something.
Maybe we need
something that will
be more attractive
to people
who don't know
the gospel yet.
Maybe we aren't
being clear enough
about sin
and punishment.
Maybe if a famous
person or someone
that people
generally like
would come to faith
that would help
people really
understand.
Maybe we need
different music
or we should sing
different songs.
Maybe we should
stand here or there.
Maybe we should
go longer or shorter.
Maybe we should
start earlier or later.
All of that,
it's forgetting
our place.
It's forgetting
our role.
It's forgetting
our job.
Because our job
is to plant.
Our job is
to plant the seed
and you see
what it says here
about the farmer?
It's really humbling
actually because
it says this,
he sleeps and rises
night and day
and the seed
sprouts and grows
and he has no idea
how.
He has nothing
to do with the
growth of the plant.
All he did was
plant it in the soil
and wait
because the earth
produces it by itself.
Once you've planted
the seed,
you've done your job,
everything else
belongs to the Lord.
Why is it that
sometimes someone
will respond
and another person
right next to them
hearing the same words,
the same presentation
of the gospel
won't respond?
Why is it that
some people's growth
seems rapid
and others
seem to grow
so slowly?
Why is it that
some churches
seem to grow
in numbers
and explode
in fruitfulness
and others
remain small?
These are the
mysteries of the
kingdom of God.
We're looking
at the soil
and wondering,
is there ever
going to be a shoot
here?
Is it ever going
to grow?
How is this
going to work?
And so it's
really important
that we know
our place,
that we plant
the seed
and God grows
the harvest.
Right?
You don't have
to hold the
harvest on
your shoulders.
We don't have
to put it on us.
It's not on us.
Right?
Parents,
you have no
capacity whatsoever
to produce belief
in your children.
Grandparents,
the same.
Right?
You can't do it.
Friends,
you have no
capacity to
produce belief
in the friend
or colleague
that you wish
so much
to come to
faith.
You have
no ability.
I have no
ability.
Steve has no
ability to argue
a person into
the kingdom of
God.
That's not how
it works.
So we have
to know our
place and we
have to trust
in God to do
what he has
promised to do.
It's not that
we don't know
what's going to
happen.
We actually know
he's promised
to do the work
and so we can
trust him to do
it.
Because even
the harvest
of our own
hearts,
God is still
working.
There's no
moment where
hope is lost,
when it's been
too long,
you've come
too many times
and it just
hasn't clicked
yet.
That's not
how it goes.
Even when it
doesn't feel
like it,
God has been
working to
bring you to
him.
Wherever you
are, if you've
been a believer
for a long
time, if you've
been a believer
for a week
or a day,
there was a
moment at which
you thought,
I don't know,
it doesn't make
sense.
And then God,
in his timing,
brought you to
him.
Maybe you've
heard about
Jesus before.
Maybe you've
sat in these
seats for weeks
and weeks
and it hasn't
ever quite
sunk in.
it's never
made sense.
The reality
is today could
be the day
of harvest
for you.
Today could
be the day
where you
realize that
you've been
trying to
make sense
of the world
on your
own,
but you
need Jesus
to bring
the understanding
that only
he can give.
he's growing
the kingdom.
We don't
know how
and we
don't need
to.
But we do
know that
one day
the harvest
will come
and it
will be
massive.
And what
we see in
the final
parable here
in Mark
is that
this parable
of the
mustard seed
where Jesus
asks,
what shall
we say
then the
kingdom
is like?
He compares
it to a
mustard seed,
the smallest
of all the
seeds on
earth.
And yet
when planted
it grows
and becomes
the largest
of all
the garden
plants,
with branches
big enough
for birds
to perch
in its
shade.
The kingdom
of God,
once small,
is destined
to grow
into something
mighty.
The funny
thing is
at the time
that Jesus
spoke these
words,
there was
no established
church to
speak of.
He only
had a small
group of
followers.
This little
band of
followers,
and as
we know
looking back
because we
can read
it,
that it
would shrink
even further
and that
the crowds
that once
listened to
him,
they would
fall away.
Even the
disciples would
cower in
fear and
deny Jesus
even to a
little girl.
And all
of the
kingdom,
all of
God's
kingdom at
the moment
of the
cross is
literally
just one
man,
one man
called
Jesus,
hung on
the cross.
And at
that moment,
wouldn't it
be tempting
to think,
is this it?
Is this
the kingdom?
Is this
the kingdom
that you
promised
Jesus?
Is this
what it's
going to
be?
Maybe you
felt that
way.
You know,
if you
look around
this city
that we
live in,
if you
listen to
the news
that you
see every
day,
does it
look like
you that
the kingdom
is gloriously
expanding?
Here in
northwest
London,
where there
is the
lowest
proportion of
gospel
preaching
churches
in all
of London,
it's easy
to look
around the
room and
say,
well,
it's just
us.
This little
group of
people,
is this
it?
See,
from that
tiny mustard
seed,
the plant
will grow
until it
becomes the
largest of
all the
plants.
And the
growth,
it might
be
imperceptible.
For years
and years,
you can't
tell anything
is happening,
but it
is.
And we
can take
hope in
the knowledge
that the
kingdom
will
ultimately
prevail.
Jesus
says,
let me
tell you
something.
From what
seems like
the lowest
of all
moments,
from the
absolute
devastation
of hope
at my
own
death,
he says,
in three
days I
will rebuild
this temple.
The brilliant
glory of the
resurrection
will come,
and out of
this small
band of
followers,
is going
to come
a kingdom.
A kingdom
that will
spread from
the east
to the west,
from the
north to
the south,
and it
will transform
the world
as we
know it.
And beyond.
Because one
day,
every knee
will bow.
And one
day,
every tongue
will confess
that Jesus
is Lord.
And it
will be a
worldwide,
eternity-wide
kingdom.
And Jesus
says,
listen,
my kingdom
will come.
My will
will be
done on
earth as
it is in
heaven.
Amen?
I want to
be part of
that kingdom.
And the
beauty of
the gospel
of Jesus
Christ is
that we
can.
Because of
Jesus,
because this
Jesus came
into the
world as
the lamp
to bring
light and
understanding,
namely the
understanding
that we
could not
enter that
kingdom on
our own.
That there's
no way.
And that we
would need a
savior.
And in a
completely
unexpected,
unplanned,
something we
could not
fathom,
in this
crazy turn
of events,
the king
of this
kingdom
gives
himself
as the
sacrifice,
as the
payment,
as the
ticket to
open the
gates to
the city.
And to
let you
and let
me in.
And all
it takes
is a
little
faith.
Even
faith the
size of
a tiny
mustard
seed.
Mark
concludes
by stating
that Jesus
spoke in
many
parables.
And that
he spoke
the word
to them
as much
as they
could
understand,
and he
didn't
say anything
to them
without using
these
parables.
Right?
Interestingly,
despite the
stories and
the teachings
that you
read,
that Jesus
shared,
many,
including the
disciples,
didn't fully
understand at
the time.
They were
there with
him,
they heard it
from his
mouth,
but they
didn't
understand.
They
needed
Jesus to
explain the
parables to
them.
Just as we
need the
Spirit of
God to
open our
minds and
help us to
comprehend his
teachings.
And the
parables sort
of act like a
filter for the
crowds that
might follow
Jesus.
Right?
then and
now.
They would
be,
they would
blind,
the parables
would blind
the eyes of
those who
wouldn't
believe.
And they
would put
deep questions
in the hearts
of those who
would believe.
But Jesus
would explain
it to them.
And the
Spirit will
explain it to
you.
And the
question is,
will you
ever understand?
Yes,
we will
understand.
There will
be a day
when we can
look back
and we can
say,
God,
now I
understand
your plan.
Now I
understand what
you were
doing all
this time.
It all
makes sense
now.
When I was
going through
that challenge
and I
couldn't see
it because
I was stuck
in the
middle,
now it's
all been
made clear.
When I
couldn't make
sense of
that circumstance
that I found
myself in and
I didn't
understand what
you were
doing,
I needed
understanding and
now you've
opened my
eyes.
I
see how
you are
the lamp
and that
you're
bringing
light and
you don't
want your
light to
be hidden.
I believe
that you're
at work
even when
I can't
tell and
when I
can't see
the shoot
out of the
soil,
even if it
doesn't look
like it.
And that
your kingdom
grows without
your help,
without our
help,
without my
help.
I trust
that your
kingdom will
grow and
that in
time your
will will
ultimately be
done.
And that
your promises
will come
true.
And that
the sad
things of
this earth
and this
life will
come untrue.
So like
the man
who looks
at Jesus,
he says,
Lord,
I do
believe.
We do
believe.
Please help
our unbelief.
Shall we
pray?
Just quietly
take a moment
to pray
silently where
you are.
Ask the
Lord for
understanding
something that
he's put on
your heart
in this
moment.
And
you
Thank you.
For how you have sown the seeds to implant in our hearts that we might grow to know you.
Thank you for sending Jesus to be the lamp to illuminate our hearts and minds to reveal the true purposes of your kingdom.
We praise you.
That even when we can't see, we can't understand how you're working, that you never sleep nor slumber.
And that through it all you're working to bring the kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.
And God, we look forward to the kingdom of heaven.
That we might spend eternity with you and that our hope would be fully realized.
And we might spend our days bringing you glory and enjoying you forever.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, we pray. Amen.
Amen.