Okay, please go ahead and have a seat and join me in the gospel of Mark chapter 4.
! It's hard to believe it's already 2014.
If you've had your first denial experience yet, I've written the date 2014 and it just felt so weird to do it already.
And you know this time of year, many people, maybe you, make New Year's resolutions.
It's a common thing that happens and these resolutions are typically aimed at making us better versions of ourselves.
And I was reminded this past week that people have come and gone from our church
and one of their complaints was that the preaching here didn't make them feel good about themselves.
And I was reminded that that's not really the point of why we preach.
And the point of why we preach is to make much of Christ.
And the gospel properly presented will make you feel rather little about yourself.
Those things that you can do and accomplish on your own.
If you really understand the measure of sin, you will see that your image-bearing ability has destroyed by it.
That you were dead in that.
And those of us who have now placed our faith in Christ have been made alive again,
but we still are sick with sin.
It's still something we carry around.
It's a baggage.
It drags us down at times.
And so many New Year's resolutions are aimed at changing that part of us.
What we really ought to be devoting ourselves to is becoming more like Christ.
Depending more on the regenerative power of the Spirit to conform us into His image this year.
And so I hope with me, that's your plan for 2014.
That at the end of 2014, as we come to the first Sunday of 2015,
you can look back and say, my life better reflects the gospel.
I look more like Christ in 2015 than I did at the beginning of 2014.
And that is the aim of Mark's gospel.
He's trying to make much of Christ.
In fact, he doesn't even mention that he's the one that wrote the gospel of Mark
in an attempt to relegate who he is and exalt who Christ is.
It's history and tradition that holds that Mark was the one that in fact wrote this gospel.
And he's been driving us all along at this point to see who Jesus is.
That He is in fact the Son of God.
The Christ.
The one who came to bring redemption to the church.
To make us disciples of Jesus Christ.
To make much of Him.
And so as we look here at chapter 4, I'm going to do kind of an odd thing with it.
I'm going to read to you verse 1-34 to set the context.
And we're going to focus this morning on verses 10-12 to talk about why it was that Jesus spoke in parable.
Before we read together, let me just remind you that last week,
the stage that's set for us as he goes into this next set of teaching
is that he has returned more than likely to Capernaum,
which was kind of his home base in Galilee as he was ministering.
And he encountered, sort of all at the same time, a crowd and his family and the scribes.
And we talked a bit about this idea that C.S. Lewis put into play,
which is more than likely taken from this text,
that you cannot think of Christ as simply a good moral teacher
because he doesn't leave that option open for you.
But you either have to think of him as a liar, a lunatic,
or as Lord, who he actually says that he is.
And there's kind of a two-category system set up here by Mark
that you're either going to be one who does not believe that Jesus is the Christ
or one who does believe that he is the Christ.
Jesus says in verse 35 of chapter 34,
Here are my mothers and my brothers,
for whoever does the will of God,
he is my brother and sister and mother.
Those who do the will of God are part of the family of God.
And we saw that the will of God, the primary will of God,
the place in which all other wills for your life are rooted
is that we believe that Jesus is in fact the Christ, the Son of God.
So that continues here for us as he steps away from Capernaum
and goes back to the seashore as Capernaum was located
along the northwest side of the Sea of Galilee.
And so we'll begin reading in verse 1, chapter 4.
Again he began to teach beside the sea.
And a very large crowd gathered about him so that he got into a boat
and sat in it on the sea.
And the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land.
And he was teaching them many things and parables.
And in his teaching he said to them,
Listen.
A sower went out to sow.
And as he sowed, some seeds fell among the path.
And the birds came and devoured it.
Other seed fell on rocky ground where it did not have much soil.
And immediately it sprang up since it had no depth of soil.
And when the sun rose, it was scorched.
And since it had no root, it withered away.
Other seed fell among thorns.
And the thorns grew up and choked it.
And it yielded no grain.
And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain,
growing up and increasing and yielding
thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.
And he said,
He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
And when he was alone,
those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables.
And he said to them,
To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God.
But for those outside, everything is in parables.
So that they may indeed see but not perceive.
And may indeed hear but not understand.
Lest they should turn and be forgiven.
And he said to them,
Do you not understand this parable?
How then will you understand all the parables?
The sower sows the word.
And these are the ones along the path where the word is sown.
When they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them.
And these are the ones sown on rocky ground.
The ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy.
And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while.
Then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word,
immediately they fall away.
And others are the ones sown among thorns.
They are those who hear the word,
but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches
and the desires for other things
enter in and choke the word,
and it proves unfruitful.
But those that were sown on the good soil
are the ones who hear the word
and accept it and bear fruit
thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.
And he said to them,
Is the lamp brought in to be put under a basket
or under a bed and not on a stand?
For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest,
nor is anything secret except to come to light.
If anyone has ears to hear,
let him hear.
And he said to them,
Pay attention to what you hear.
With the measure you use,
it will be measured to you,
and still more will be added to you.
For to the one who has,
more will be given,
and from the one who has not,
even what he has will be taken away.
And he said,
The kingdom of God is as if a man
should scatter seed on the ground.
He sleeps and rises night and day,
and the seed sprouts and grows.
He knows not how.
The earth produces by itself,
first the blade,
then the ear,
then the full grain in the ear.
But when the grain is ripe,
at once he puts in the sickle,
because the harvest has come.
And he said,
With what can we compare the kingdom of God,
or what parable shall we use for it?
It is like a grain of mustard seed,
which, when sown on the ground,
is the smallest of all the seeds on earth.
Yet when it is sown,
it grows up and becomes larger
than all the garden plants,
and puts out large branches
so that the birds of the air
can make nests in its shade.
With many such parables,
he spoke the word to them
as they were able to hear it.
He did not speak to them
without a parable,
but privately to his own disciples.
He explained everything.
Please join me in prayer.
Father, we do thank you this morning
for your word to us
by your scriptures.
And I pray, Father,
by your spirit,
as we boldly approach your throne,
clothed in the righteousness of Christ,
that you will have your way with us,
that you will shape our hearts,
that you will use our frailty
in speaking and hearing
and understanding
to conform us to the image of your Son.
Make us more like Him this morning.
And we pray this in His name.
Amen.
Our religion is a religion of words.
It is the way in which
the power of God is communicated to us
that the gospel itself,
this gospel message,
is the power of God
unto salvation.
Words give meaning and power
and give birth to ideas.
And it is this beautiful idea
of the kingdom of God coming
that Jesus has been presenting to us.
You remember back in chapter 1,
verse 15,
He says,
the time is fulfilled
and the kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent and believe in the gospel.
And He does that so often
in a very common way
in the speaking of parables,
which are short stories,
allegorical in nature,
and they're meant to teach
a much greater truth.
That's why Jesus spoke in this way
was to teach something greater.
So to draw your attention
to Mark 4, 10-12,
let's read it one more time.
And when He was alone,
those around Him with the twelve
asked Him about the parables.
And He said to them,
To you has been given
the secret of the kingdom of God,
but for those outside,
everything is in parables,
so that they may indeed see
but not perceive,
and may indeed hear
but not understand,
lest they should turn
and be forgiven.
So they asked the question,
Jesus,
why is it
that you speak
in parables?
We can see that
in the parallel version
of this story
in Matthew 13.
They say,
why is it
that you speak to them
in parables?
And the answer to that
in the case
that I'll build to you
is that it was
to veil the truth
and to unveil
or to reveal the truth.
To make the truth
very apparent to some
and not to others.
Now you recall,
as you ponder that,
you might think,
well how narrow.
Wouldn't Jesus have wanted
everyone to respond?
Wasn't that the point
of Him coming?
And preaching the gospel?
We've said over and over again
that the signs
that He was doing
was simply designed
to validate the message.
Isn't the message
incredibly important?
And yes,
it certainly is.
But recall
that we've also talked
about how very narrow
Jesus was.
He had an intended point
and a purpose
and a people
that He was coming
to redeem.
This is why
He spoke
in parables.
We've seen great crowds
follow Him.
And I have said to you
repeatedly,
that these people
were not
by and large
regenerate.
These people
did not believe
that He was
who He says
He is.
We see in Acts 1,
we see 120 gathered
after His death.
120 that were faithful
to the cause of Christ
that saw
who He was,
that He was
the King
of this coming
Kingdom.
So Jesus
is constantly
narrowing
and narrowing
as He speaks.
And so He uses
the veil
and His response
to them,
He quotes Isaiah
chapter 6,
verses 8-10.
Isaiah 6,
classic text.
We all love
to hear about
the calling of Isaiah,
His response
to go.
Verse 8,
And I heard the voice
of the Lord saying,
Whom shall I send?
And who will go
for us?
And then Isaiah responds,
Here am I,
send me.
And then in verse 9,
God says,
Go and say to this people,
Keep on hearing,
but do not understand.
Keep on seeing,
but do not perceive.
Make the heart
of this people dull
and their ears heavy
and blind their eyes,
lest they see
with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand
with their hearts
and turn
and be healed.
Part of Isaiah's
very ministry
was to preach
the coming of the kingdom
of God
to a people
who would not hear it.
It's prophesied right here
that this would be the case.
And in fact,
in the parallel version
of the story we have before us
in Mark chapter 4,
in verse 14
of chapter 13 of Matthew,
right before Matthew records
his quotation of Isaiah,
chapter 6,
it's recorded,
indeed,
in their case,
those who are outside
of this understanding,
the prophecy of Isaiah
is fulfilled.
That it is,
in fact,
fulfilled in this day
of Jesus
that says,
and then he quotes
from Isaiah chapter 6.
This is a prophecy
that people,
some would understand,
and that some would not,
which is why he spoke
in parables,
to veil the truth.
Paul gives us
a little bit of insight
into this
in 1 Corinthians chapter 2.
In verse 8,
he writes,
none of the rulers
of this age
understood this.
He's talking about
the secret,
hidden wisdom of God
in verse 7.
None of the rulers
of this age
understood this,
for if they had,
they would not have
crucified the Lord of glory.
If they had understood
who Jesus was,
they wouldn't have
put him to death.
And it was necessary
that he be put to death
so that the remission
of sins might extend
and expand to all
of mankind.
And then he quotes
also from Isaiah
chapter 64,
verse 4,
but as it is written,
what no eye has seen,
nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man
imagined,
what God has prepared
for those
who love Him.
Paul goes on to write
in verse 10
of chapter 2,
that these are things
that have been revealed
to those who are in Christ
by the Spirit of God.
Verse 11,
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.
And so Paul for us
kind of brings
these two ideas together
that this was something
that must happen,
that some would not believe
in order that
the redemptive purposes
of Christ
might be completed
so that we can believe
by the power
of His Spirit.
Now it's interesting
as Jesus is talking
to this group of people,
because it's those
around Him
with the twelve
if you'll notice
in chapter 4,
verse 10.
So not just the apostles
but some others
that were gathered
with Him
who have been given
the secret
of the kingdom
of God.
It's important
that we note
that they didn't
still seem
to quite get it.
There was some
understanding
bearing in their hearts,
but yet,
if you look
in verse 33
of chapter 4,
with many such parables
He spoke the word
to them
as they were able
to hear it.
He did not speak
to them without a parable,
but privately
to His own disciples
He explained everything.
Explanation was necessary
for them.
And look later
in chapter 4,
verse 40 and 41.
After Jesus calms
the storm,
He says to them,
Why are you afraid?
Have you still
no faith?
And they were filled
with great fear
and said to one another,
Who then is this
that even the wind
and the sea
obey Him?
They still
didn't quite grasp
who Jesus was.
The light was coming
to bear in their hearts,
but they still had yet
to entirely wrap
their mind around it.
And let that be
an encouragement
to us this morning
as we are about
to launch into a study
of a number of parables
which can be confounding
at times.
We'll take a break
from that,
go back to some narrative,
and we're going to
pick right back up
into many more parables
in the Gospel of Mark.
And they're difficult
to understand at times.
By the Spirit
and the Scriptures,
we come to understand
what it is they mean
as we have a greater degree
of revelation
than these disciples
would have had.
But let it encourage you
that you don't have
to quite get it all
to have the Spirit of God
working in you
and bringing to bear
the truth.
So he taught him parables
to veil the truth.
But he also taught him
parables to reveal the truth.
Here in chapter 4,
this is not the first account
we see of him speaking
in parables.
In fact,
his response
to the Pharisees,
the scribes
that challenged him
back at the end
of chapter 3
were parables.
This idea of a strong man
being in his house
and to plunder his house.
You must come in
and bind the strong man.
He was speaking of
who he is,
that he is in fact God
and he has the power
to bind Satan
and therefore come
and take from the kingdom
of Satan
those who are his.
It's also not the first time
that parables are used generally.
Jesus isn't the first
to use parables
to teach truth in this way.
Back in 2 Samuel,
chapter 12
in the Old Testament,
God brings David
to conviction
of his sin
with Bathsheba
and Uriah
through the prophet Nathan
through a parable.
Listen to this.
2 Samuel 12
beginning in verse 1.
And the Lord sent Nathan
to David.
He came to him
and said to him,
there were two men
in a certain city,
the one rich
and the other poor.
The rich man
had very many flocks
and herds,
but the poor man
had nothing
but one little ewe lamb
which he had bought.
And he brought it up
and it grew up with him
and with his children.
He used to eat of his morsel
and drink from his cup
and lie in his arms
and it was like a daughter to him.
Now there came a traveler
to the rich man
and he was unwilling
to take one of his own
flock or herd
to prepare for the guest
who had come to him,
but he took the poor man's lamb
and prepared it for the man
who had come to him.
Then David's anger
was greatly kindled
against the man
in the story.
And he said to Nathan,
as the Lord lives,
the man who has done this
deserves to die
and he shall restore
the lamb for full
because he did this thing
and because he had no pity.
Nathan said to David,
you are the man.
This was how God,
by the prophet Nathan
and the enlightening
of the Spirit,
convicted David
of his great sin.
And then we see
so many laments
in the Psalms
and repentance
for what he had done.
So, Jesus spoke in parables.
God had used parables before.
Jesus speaks in parables
both to veil
and to reveal the truth.
And he sets up for us
again another dichotomy,
two groups of people
that everyone in this world
falls into.
You fall into one of these
two categories.
And here it's stated
in verse 11,
to you,
this is one group,
to you has been given
the secret of the kingdom of God.
And another group
are those who are outside.
This morning,
you're in one of those
two places.
Everyone in this earth
is in one of those two places.
Has been given the secret
of the kingdom of God
or is outside.
And so we have to ask
the question,
what then is the secret
of the kingdom of God?
We should know this.
If we want to find
where we are,
categorically speaking,
in one of these two groups,
are we those
who have been given
the secret of the kingdom of God
or those who are outside?
Do we have the key
that unlocks the parables?
Or should they be
confounding to us?
Should we never understand
what is meant
by all of these parables
about the coming kingdom?
The secret
of the kingdom of God
is the person,
Jesus Christ.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1,
verse 30,
And because of God,
you are in Christ Jesus,
who became to us
wisdom from God,
righteousness,
and sanctification,
and redemption.
So those who have been given
the secret of the kingdom of God
are those who believe
that Jesus is who He says
that He is,
that He is the Christ.
And the others,
those who are outside,
are those who do not.
Turn with me to the parallel version
of this text.
Matthew chapter 13.
We see a more expanded version
of the account beginning in verse 10.
Then the disciples came
and said to Him,
Why do you speak to them
in parables?
There's the question.
Why do you speak to them
in parables?
And He answered them,
To you it has been given
to know the secrets
of the kingdom of heaven,
but to them it has not been given.
There's our two categories.
Then verse 12.
For to the one who has,
more will be given,
and he will have an abundance.
But from the one who has not,
even what he has
will be taken away.
This is why I speak to them
in parables.
Because seeing they do not see,
and hearing they do not hear,
nor do they understand.
Now verse 12 is interesting
because in Mark chapter 4,
it's recorded in a different spot.
In Mark chapter 4,
it's in verse 25.
As he concludes
the lamp under a basket parable
as it's headed
in probably most of our Bibles.
It's recorded in a different place
and we'll look more
at why that is
in the coming weeks.
But here we see it's added
to this account.
For to the one who has,
more will be given,
and he who will have an abundance.
But from the one who has not,
even what he has
will be taken away.
What is he talking about?
Has what?
What is it that we are to have
in order to receive more?
An abundance of more.
And what is it that someone
doesn't have,
and even what they have
is taken away?
And what I would say to you
is that thing that Jesus
is referring to here
is faith.
For the one who has faith,
the one who believes
that Jesus is the Christ,
will be given more faith,
an abundance of faith,
saving faith
that will persevere to the end
when all the things
that we hope in
will become a reality.
The ability to see
the kingdom of God
coming to bear,
to experience it
to be true
in our own hearts.
But for the one
who does not have faith,
even what he has.
Now, remember who he's
speaking to primarily
in these settings.
These would have been Jews.
Those who had
the promises of God,
who had what is called
now our modern Old Testament.
They had all of this teaching.
They had Moses.
And the prophets
who spoke of the Christ.
And yet, even this,
this understanding
that they have
is taken away.
I can remind you
in Ephesians 2,
verse 8, it says,
For by grace you have been saved
through faith.
And that this is not your own doing,
it is the gift of God.
We need the Spirit of God
to work in our hearts
to bring about faith in God.
And these are the people
who believe,
who can understand,
who are given
the secrets
of the kingdom.
Now, the rest of the text
in Matthew chapter 13,
we see a longer quotation
of Isaiah chapter 6.
Indeed, in their case,
the promise of Isaiah
is fulfilled
that says,
you will indeed hear
but never understand.
You will indeed see
but never perceive.
For this people's heart
has grown dull
and with their ears
they can barely hear
and their eyes
have closed.
Lest they should see
with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart
and turn
and I would heal them.
And then verse 16,
but blessed are your eyes
for they see
and your ears
for they hear
for truly I say to you
many prophets
and righteous people
long to see what you see
and did not see it
and to hear what you hear
and did not hear it.
They longed to see
the Christ.
They knew that in some way
the promises of God
would be fulfilled.
They had some hint
of this Messiah
and what he was going
to look like
as they prophesied
about him
but they did not
get to behold him.
They longed to hear
this coming message
of the kingdom of God.
The gospel preached
in its entirety
in the personal work
of Christ
and yet they did
not hear it.
How blessed are we
to be ones
who have received
the secrets
of the kingdom.
We have received Christ.
We have seen
and heard
this great truth.
There are many Jews
today
strict adherents
to
Old Testament
apostate Judaism
that are still longing
and looking
for the Messiah.
And they do so
with an unclear understanding
of who the Messiah is.
I found an article
by a rabbi
I'm sure I should quote
but I forgot to write down
his name
and I lost the article.
And he gave four reasons
why Jesus Christ
is not the Messiah.
It is predicted
in Ezekiel chapter 37
that he would
build the third temple.
This is yet to happen.
Isaiah chapter 43
that he would gather
all Jews
back to the land
of Israel.
Isaiah chapter 2
verse 4
that he would usher
in an era
of world peace
and end all hatred,
oppression,
suffering,
and disease.
Zechariah 14.9
that he would spread
universal knowledge
of the God of Israel
which will unite humanity
as one.
And this is the Messiah
that they are waiting for.
They're waiting for
a Messiah to come
that will accomplish this
in the here and now.
And until they can see
that happen
they are not willing
to believe
that Jesus was the Christ.
But yet,
Jesus is in fact
accomplishing
all these things.
And they will finally
and fully
be accomplished.
The kingdom of God
is at hand.
He reigns even now
doing this very work.
But in this way,
in the fulfillment
of these prophecies,
Jesus has veiled truth
and revealed truth.
Just think of the way
that Jesus came
into this world.
He fulfilled prophecy
in the way He came.
But He came not
as the king they expected.
As they focused in
on these particular
prophecies of the Messiah.
Not as the one
who would ride in
on a horse,
a valiant steed
that would be like Saul,
a head taller
than everyone else
and would come
and conquer Rome
and restore things.
But He came instead
as a humble baby.
Veiled.
Born to a humble,
young,
teenage girl
in a stable,
in a very obscure
part of the world.
This Jesus
that is said
to be from Nazareth
and we have to qualify
that it's Nazareth
of Galilee
because no one knew
where Nazareth was.
Talk about the county
that it was located in
so you could get
where it was
on a map.
He came in obscure,
humble,
the son of a carpenter
and He served the world
in humility.
They missed this
because Jesus
veiled that truth
in order to reveal
that truth
to some of us
lowly,
lowly people.
Last night I was playing
with the boys
on the floor
and they got a bunch
of Hot Wheels
monster trucks
for Christmas
which is a very cool thing
that Hot Wheels
has done
for boys everywhere.
And Judah,
there's eight of them
and Judah had carefully
lined them up,
neat little rows
all facing the same direction
and didn't want
that game messed with.
He had his little trucks
lined up
and he was just laying
on the floor like this
looking at them.
And so I was laying
on the floor with him
and we were talking
about their color
and counting them
trying to redeem
whatever the game was
for some future knowledge
and I counted them
to eight
and Caveman said,
he was sitting
cross-legged next to us
and said,
no daddy,
there are seven.
I said,
Caveman,
your dad's a good counter,
there are eight.
And he said,
no,
there are seven.
And I went,
okay,
watch.
And I counted them again.
I put my finger
on each one,
counted them,
eight.
Here's the evidence,
look,
one,
two,
three,
four,
five,
six,
seven,
eight.
And he kind of gave me
this look when I got to eight
like,
I think he's got me.
But he refused to believe
that there were eight.
I took his finger,
made him,
I held his finger
and I touched each one
to convince him
that there were eight
and he got sad
that he was wrong
that there were eight
and not seven.
And so what he wanted to do
was take one away
so there would be seven
in the pile.
And so I had to distract Judah
so he wouldn't get mad
that we messed up his line of trucks
and took one.
So we had seven left
in the pile.
And is this not,
this made me think,
is this not
what the world does
with Jesus Christ?
There's so much evidence
on the table.
It would seem
that we should
by human terms
be able to convince somebody
that Jesus is the Christ.
Particularly the Jews.
Right?
Those who were actually
waiting for the Messiah
just want to show them
the Scriptures
and point to the One,
to Jesus Christ,
to magnify Him
and that they would get that.
But they can't
until the Spirit works
a work in their life.
They can't.
It's impossible.
These are things
that are revealed to us
by the Spirit.
Now I know that sometimes
that causes a little bit
of an anxiety
because we really,
really, really want to believe
that our God is this
great, big, benevolent God
and loves the world.
And you know what?
He does.
The fact that He has redeemed
even one of us
is a great expression
of His love.
Not to mention
untold millions.
Millions.
Billions.
I don't know.
An unmeasurable number.
A multitude,
the Scriptures say,
will be in heaven
praising our God.
Right?
None of us
deserve this.
When you begin to feel
in some way
that as God
is calling people
to Himself,
that He's being unfair,
that it's not right,
how could a loving God
exclude people
from the kingdom?
How could He veil truth
to some
and reveal it to others?
This makes no sense to me.
Stop making
so much
of man.
We are a created thing.
Right?
Humble yourself
under the Creator
who is working out
His redemptive purposes
in this way.
Who is expressing
His very being to us
in this manner.
What should this kind
of truth do for us?
Those of us
who are part of this,
who have been given
the secret
of the kingdom of God,
it should cause us
to praise Him.
Because we did
nothing of our own
to know this thing.
Right?
I cannot boast
in any way
that I have deciphered
magically the parables.
Right?
We say to you,
I have found the key.
I have deciphered it.
I know now
what the kingdom of God
is all about.
I can't.
It has been revealed to me
by the Spirit of God.
I was dead.
I was cut off
because of my sinfulness.
God made me alive
together with Him.
Right?
This should be the joy
of our hearts.
That He has accomplished
this for us.
And I will tell you
that there are many
harsh reactions
to the doctrines
that we teach,
but there are harsh reactions
to things that should not
be a reality.
That those of us
who believe that God
is sovereign in all things,
that calls those
whom He intends to call
and doesn't those
whom He doesn't,
would make us cold
and callous
to the Gospel.
This should not be true
of us.
This truth
is the great motivation
to share your faith.
That God is working
in people's lives.
That He is going into them
and changing their hearts.
No amount of logic.
I consider myself
a fairly logical person.
No degree of logic
on my part
can convince somebody
to come to Christ.
But the Spirit
can do it
with the simple words
of a fool.
That is an incredible
reality.
This should be true of us.
Let me show you
this context.
Let me just broaden
your eyes
and your mind
a little bit.
We see this insertion
in Mark 4.
Talking about
those who have been
given the secret
of the kingdom
were found in one
of these two categories.
We believe that Jesus
is the Christ
or we do not.
But what is He saying
in this context here
at the beginning
of chapter 4?
There should be
some outworking
of our faith.
We can't just be
counted in the crowd
that follows Jesus around.
But that we must
actually be devoted
to Him.
There must be
some degree
of sacrifice
and pursuit
of who He is.
Let me just show you.
He talks about
the parable
of the sower.
The good soil.
Verse 8.
The good soil
produced grain
growing up
and increasing
and yielding
thirtyfold
and sixtyfold
and a hundredfold.
Later in His explanation
of that
in verse 20
He uses the term
fruit.
This good soil
bears
fruit.
He talks about
lamps
not being intended
to be hidden
but to shine.
He's speaking
in the negative
but in the positive.
Lamps shine.
Lamps give
light.
I think some of our
lamps are turned down
so low
that they barely
flicker.
There's a little flame
which gives little
to no light
in this world
but lamps
are meant
to light
a room.
We see the parable
of the seed growing.
It does in fact
sprout
and grow.
And the parable
of the mustard seed
grows up
and becomes
larger
than all
the garden plants.
You see
that there must
be some
outworking
of our faith
and here is
what we see
Jesus teaching
to us
in the parables
that we're going
to cover
in the coming
weeks.
You want to know
which category
you lie in
as one who's been
given the secrets
of the kingdom
of God?
One who has
actually recognized
believed in your
heart that Jesus
is the Christ?
There will be
evidence in your
life of that
reality.
You will
knowing
that Jesus
brought this
truth to bear
in you
desire
to share
that truth
and see it
come to bear
in others.
We as a church
must be
theological.
We are really
wasting our time
if we're not.
If we don't
come together
and root
through
and parse
out
and figure out
all of the
deep things
of God
that he has
to say to us
in our scriptures
why are we
getting together?
But we also
must be
missional.
This should be
a great motivation
to us getting
out and going
and sharing
and moving
and healing.
Bringing redemption
to this world
as we come to
better understand
our own redemption.
These two things
must carry
together.
If Christ Family
Church errs
in 2013
we err
to being theological.
We err
to being theological.
And that does not
mean that we should
stop being theological.
and start being
more missional.
That just means
that we should
continue to be theological.
Find better ways
to be theological.
Press deeper
into the things
of God
so that we'll
be more missional.
So that's my
challenge to you
this morning.
Which category
do you lie in?
If you don't
think that you've
ever come
to really understand
that Jesus
is the Christ
that can change
this morning.
Ask that God
would do a work
in your heart.
Respond in faith
to the gospel
call to repent
and believe.
If you find
yourself in this
category
I can guarantee
that all of us
need to work
out our faith
in a greater degree
as we drag
along the baggage
of the sickness
of sin.
We're all being
made more
perfect.
We're all being
moved in a
further Christward
direction.
I've been accused
of being an idealist
and I think that
anybody who's a Christian
who's not an idealist
is pitiful.
It's shameful.
We're supposed
to be like Christ
who is ideal.
Keep pressing
to that high goal
of being like
Him
in 2014.
Let's pray together.