Morning Message Text: Mark 4: 26-34
The Parable of the Growing Seed
26 He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground.
27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.
28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head.
29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”
The Parable of the Mustard Seed
30 Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it?
31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth.
32 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.”
33 With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand.
34 He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.
Morning Message:
How many of you have felt from time to time like you need more strength? It is so easy for us to just rely on our own strength to get us through and, at times, we feel like we have little to nothing left. Yet if we read scripture, it is full of places where
God tells us that we can rely on him for strength. I was going to site a couple of verses from psalms, but as I began to look there were too many to choose from. I did find one in my devotional that I think will help us today. “Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he shall never permit the righteous to be moved.” (Psalm 55:22). What a great word—sustain! It means to support and hold up. Have you ever felt like you could use someone to help you stand up? The Bible uses this word to describe
God’s care for you. Psalm 54: 4 says, “Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me.” Remember where your strength comes from.
How many of you like a good sports movie? How many of you have seen the movie, “The Natural”? Let me tell you the story. In the movie, The Natural, Robert Redford stars as an aging Roy Hobbs. This onetime high school wonder boy finally gets his shot in the big leagues. Almost singlehandedly, Hobbs leads the worst team to the playoff game that will determine the pennant. The climax of the film comes down to Roy’s last at bat in the bottom of the ninth with two outs. A homerun will win the game, but an out will dash all hopes. Ballplayers young and old dream of the adventure in this kind of moment. The drama gets even more intense when Roy hits a long foul ball which at first appears to be a homerun. When he returns to the plate, his lucky bat is lying there in pieces. This was the bat he had used since high school, a bat which he carved himself from a tree felled by lightning. Burned into the bat were a lightning bolt and the words “Wonder Boy.” The bat symbolizes his giftedness, his resources, his greatness, and his identity. He had never trusted anything else. The bat is shattered. Such is life. Sooner or later life comes crashing down and the lucky bat explodes. What do we do when we come to the end of ourselves and have no earthly thing to rely on?
We will get to the end of the story in a moment. This first parable in Mark’s gospel is one that I have never preached. You will not find this parable in any of the other gospels. You will find ones that sound similar, but this one is different. Previously, Jesus told the parable of the Sower. That’s the one with which we are more familiar. Do you see the difference in this one compared to the other? The Sower parable focuses on the different kinds of soil that the seed falls on. It depicts the condition of each type of soil and how that affects the growth of the seed. The point there is to show us that the condition of someone’s heart when they hear the Word of God can either hinder or help God’s Word flourish in their lives. Here, in the parable form Mark, all the man does is scatter the seed. It doesn’t matter what else he does. He can choose to sleep all day. It doesn’t mention the condition of the soil. This parable highlights the power of the seed itself (the Word of God) to produce a crop. Come on church! We need to get a little excited about this. You don’t have to be a great Evangelist; you don’t have to be able to recite scripture off the top of your head; all you need to do is spread the seed; spread God’s Word. The power is in the seed.
Listen! There is more good news for all of you who would like to make a difference for God’s Kingdom. We act sometimes like God’s kingdom is some kind of exclusive club. We don’t think about the size of the Kingdom. It is easier for us to just be happy we are in the Kingdom and think there’s not a lot of room for others. We don’t need to work hard to fill the Kingdom. Jesus says, it might look small, at least in your mind you might see a mustard seed, but the Kingdom is huge and big enough for everyone who wants to enter in.
One last piece of good news for you: You don’t have to be in church to spread the gospel. In fact, Jesus commanded us to preach it to the world. Meet folks where they are, don’t wait for them to come to you. Listen! I want you to see something today that I have never paid much attention to. When I tell you that every word in God’s Word is important, this is what I am talking about. Verses 33 and 34, “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.” Jesus is making his point here. People say, “Why did Jesus speak in parables?” Why didn’t he just tell them plainly? Because he knew that their minds weren’t ready; so he planted the seeds of God’s Word within his stories and allowed them to grow. Jesus knew that the power wasn’t in anything that he could do or proclaim; it was in the seed, God’s Word. It was the seed that would accomplish the work of salvation. Only God could make it grow. Even Jesus knew that sometimes all he could do is spread seeds.
Now back to the conclusion of our baseball story. Hobbs found himself holding his lucky bat which was broken beyond repair. Finally, with a spirit of humble surrender, he says to the batboy, “Go pick me a winner, Bobby.” He steps up to the plate and belts a homerun to win the game.
Power is not in the clay pot, but in the one who resides in the jar. “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves” (2Corinthians 4: 7).
We all have our gifts that have been bestowed upon us by God, but the power is not in the gifts, nor can we access it on our own. It’s in the seed. The only ability that you need is availability and the strength to spread the seed.
In Christ’s Love and Peace,
Pastor Bob
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