VOICE OF THE TEACHER: part 3

MARK 4:21-34
February 22, 2009
with Adam Waters

You are all just a bunch of DIRT! You are the ground. Dust. Ashes. The black stuff that gets in my fingernails and the cracks in my hands whenever I work in the garden. You are earth, mud, gravel, fields, land, clay…Did you know that’s what Jesus thinks of you? Have you ever been called dirt before?

Jesus came into the world announcing the Kingdom of God (Mark 1:15)! When he did that, he essentially was pointing out that “HEY! The King has arrived!” That’s why his voice carried such authority (1:21-22, 27). That is why demons and disease obeyed his every command. That is why the religious leaders of the day hated him so (ch. 3) much… he was saying that they were no longer “in charge.” That is why so many longed to follow him. That is why when he chose the twelve (3:13-19), they willingly left everything to follow him. HE IS THE KING! And like his herald, John the Baptist before him, he talked of his Kingdom.

Think of every political candidate over your lifetime: They spend months and sometimes years describing to you how the country will look when “they are president.” They paint a picture with their words of a better life, an easier time, a more profitable future, etc. Jesus does them one better. He says, “I am King now. Here’s my Kingdom.” And he paints his pictures in parables.

The crowds had trouble grasping these pictures because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon them (John 16:12-15), because they did not yet have the mind of Christ (1Corinthians 2:15-16), and because sometimes it’s just hard to get your brain around things that God is behind (Ephesians 3). Jesus himself calls his stories the “secrets of the Kingdom (4:11).”

The twelve and others close to Jesus had it best because they were personally discipled by Jesus, so that they would grasp his plan (4:10, 33-34). The crowds were left to decipher Jesus’ words on their own. Mark gives us a snapshot into these stories… these word paintings of Jesus’ Kingdom in chapter 4. Luckily in last week’s sermon, Mark included the discipleship process with the Twelve later that night. This week? We’re not so lucky…

MARK 4:21-34
The Kingdom of heaven is like a farmer… The Kingdom is like light… The Kingdom is like a man planting and harvesting seeds… The Kingdom is like a tiny mustard seed. If these are Jesus’ pictures of his Kingdom… and he’s the King so he knows what he’s talking about, then what role do we play?

THE TEACHER’S VOICE – 3 Snapshots into God’s Kingdom
• Snapshot #1 ~ Jesus came to shed light on our lives and it’s our job to respond.
– John 8:12 -follow and He’ll lead you to life
– John 3 -choose to live in our current darkness or in his light
– Ephesians 5 -light will expose your sin, choose to live differently
– Will you be a listening soil?
• Snapshot #2 ~ Jesus came to plant seeds in our lives and it’s our job to mature.
– Cycle: sprout, leaf blade, heads of wheat form, ripened, harvested
– Hebrews 6:1-8
– Will you be a growing soil?
• Snapshot #3 ~ Jesus came to start small and it’s our job to be a blessing.
– Jesus spent the majority of his time running from crowds and running to strong discipling relationships with only a handful of people.
– Jesus knew his disciples would do greater things than him (John) and that their ministry would carry to the ends of the earth (Acts 1).
– Will you be a nourishing soil?

We must tune our ears to a different station…
• We are going to challenge you to live like what God has to say actually matters!
• If what he is saying matters, then we need to realize that we are soil in which God’s kingdom grows.
• If that is true, then we have got to be intentional in letting the farmer till us up, add manure, water us, fill us with seeds, and put us in the sunshine.