SERMON OUTLINE:
• Parable 1: The Light (vs 21-25)
• Parable No 2: The Growing Seed (vs 26-29)
• Parable No 3: The Mustard Seed (vs 30-34)
SERMON BODY:
Ill:
• Often on our Camps & Houseparties;
• The young people often want more than the norm when it comes to food and drinks.
• One example is the times of hot drinks, tea, coffee or drinking chocolate,
• They line up get their drinks and head for the sugar;
• Some of the young people will (if given the chance) put five or six sugars in their drinks,
• So we place a leader by the sugar who gives them a reasonable amount,
• When the kids complain about wanting more sugar,
• The leader will tell them to; “stir what they’ve got.”
Many Christians think that they need more to serve the Lord effectively:
• If only we had more musicians,
• If only we had more gifted or younger people,
• If only we had more…you can fill in the blanks!
These parables that Jesus taught say to us, “Stir what you got.”
• The fact is God has given us plenty of resources to serve him well;
• And to serve him effectively.
• I know the task seems overwhelming at times,
• But we really do have everything we need as a church to grow and expand.
• And to make a real difference in the lives of people we encounter here & now.
• In Mark chapter 4 verses 23-34;
• Jesus shows us those resources in three parables,
• These parables are about the expansion of His Kingdom anywhere in this world.
Parable No 1: The Lamp.
• In this parable Jesus used a common object – a lamp;
• He set the story in a very familiar place – a home.
Ill:
• Parable is like a wrapper on a sweet bar;
• You need to peel off the wrapper to get to the content.
• So the story/parable is the wrapper;
• We need to see the deeper meaning on the inside.
Note:
• The lamp that Jesus spoke of was a clay dish filled with oil;
• With a wick put into the oil.
• In order to give light the lamp had to ‘use itself up’;
• And the oil had to be replenished.
• Obviously if the lamp was not lit or if it was covered up;
• Then it did the home no good at all.
• ill: Just as a microwave oven is useless unless it is plugged in;
• So an oil lamp is ineffectual unless it is lit.
Question:
• Why would you cover up an oil lamp?
• Surely you would just blow it out and light it when you came home!
Answer:
• Remember in New Testament times matches had not yet been invented,
• So keeping some things lit was always the most convenient option.
Ill:
If you went out and the house was empty,
• Then having a naked flame burning was not a good idea,
• It was a fire risk!
• To prevent the flame being a fire hazard;
• What happened was this;
• If you went out and the house was empty,
• You put the lamp was put under a bowl;
• This way the light would not be extinguished;
• And the flame would not be dangerous.
Notice in verse 21-23 Jesus 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 him hear.”
• Jesus is reminding his listeners that light is only good when it is not concealed;
• In the home it is ‘put on its stand’.
• Today of course we have a light hanging from the ceiling;
• And often in the centre of the ceiling so that it can illuminate the entire room.
As I read this story it seems clear to me that our resource number one is ‘we have the light’.
Question: What is the light?
Answer:
• We are not told –but it is probably one of three things.
• And by way of application all three truths could apply.
(A). IT COULD BE THE WORD OF GOD.
• This parable seems linked to the one before it and after it;
• The parable of the sower and the parable of the growing seed.
• Those two parables are highlighting ‘seed’ which represents the ‘word of God’.
Ill:
• Elsewhere in the Bible the ‘word of God’ is referred to as ‘light’.
• i.e. Psalm 119 verse 105: “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet”
• i.e. Psalm 119 verse 30 - ‘The entrance of your word brings light’.
• So Jesus reminds his listeners that light is only good when it is not concealed;
• In the home it is ‘put on its stand’ or hung from a ceiling.
• Likewise the ‘Word of God’ is of no use if all we do is lock it up in as building;
• It needs to be allowed to shine in a world full of darkness.
Ill:
Our Daily Bread, February 4, 1994
• Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962), the world-famous violinist,
• Earned a fortune with his concerts and compositions,
• But he generously gave most of it away.
• So, when he discovered an exquisite violin on one of his trips,
• He wasn’t able to buy it.
• Later, having raised enough money to meet the asking price,
• He returned to the seller, hoping to purchase that beautiful instrument.
• But to his great dismay it had been sold to a collector.
• Kreisler made his way to the new owner’s home and offered to buy the violin.
• The collector said it had become his prized possession and he would not sell it.
• Keenly disappointed, Kreisler was about to leave when he had an idea.
• “Could I play the instrument once more before it is consigned to silence?” he asked.
• Permission was granted,
• And the great virtuoso filled the room with such heart-moving music;
• That the collector’s emotions were deeply stirred.
• “I have no right to keep that to myself,” he exclaimed.
• “It’s yours, Mr. Kreisler. Take it into the world, and let people hear it.”
• And so Jesus reminds his listeners that ‘light’ is only good when it is not concealed;
• Likewise the ‘Word of God’ is of no use if all we do is lock it up in as building;
• It needs to be allowed to shine in a world full of darkness.
(B). IT COULD BE THE DISCIPLES.
• The disciples were like that lamp;
• They were called to shed God’s light and reveal his truth.
• When you get to chapter 6 Jesus sends out ALL 12 of the disciples!
• Jesus has a mission for every follower!
• While it is true that some of us are teachers, some are pastors, some are evangelists,
• Some are encouragers, some are supporters, some are….etc.
• Let me remind you that every Christian is a witness!
• We are all called to get involved and do something!
Ill:
• When the Titanic was sinking there were three other ships in the region.
• The nearest was the ‘Sampson’ whose crew was involved in illegal hunting.
• Not wanting to get caught, they turned away from those who needed rescuing.
• The next ship was the ‘Californian’;
• Whose crew were so afraid of sharing the Titanic's fate they proceeded very cautiously.
• Perhaps they were annoyed because they had tried to warn the Titanic.
• The third ship was the ‘Carpathia’ which came as quickly as possible.
• They risked their own lives and were able to rescue more than 700 people.
• Question: Which one of those ships am I?
• Answer: I hope will be the ‘Carpathia’ which came as quickly as possible.
Notice:
• The disciples were unable to ‘give out’ until first they had ‘taken in’.
• That’s why Jesus gave them a reprimand in verses 24-25.
“Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more. 25 Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”
Ill:
Dr. Paul Brand was speaking to a medical college in India on the topic;
• “Let your light so shine before men;
• That they may behold your good works and glorify your Father.”
• In front of the lectern was a oil lamp,
• With its cotton wick burning from the shallow dish of oil.
• As he preached, the lamp ran out of oil, the wick burned dry,
• And the smoke made him cough.
• So being a preacher he instantly saw it as an illustration waiting to be used:
He said:
• “Some of us here are like this wick,
• We’re trying to shine for the glory of God, but we stink.
• That’s what happens when we use ourselves as the fuel of our witness;
• Rather than the Holy Spirit.
• Wicks can last indefinitely, burning brightly and without irritating smoke,
• If the fuel, the Holy “Spirit, is in constant supply.”
• Don’t miss that last bit:
• Wicks can last indefinitely, burning brightly and without irritating smoke,
• If the fuel, the Holy “Spirit, is in constant supply.”
(C). IT COULD BE JESUS.
• Although if I am honest this is very much an application of the text;
• Rather than an interpretation!
• Jesus is the Lamp, in fact ‘the Light of the World’.
• And He didn’t come into the world to be hidden.
• No. Just like light, he came to be revealed;
• He came to shine. He came to show Himself to the world.
• Trouble is the Church has kept him hid;
• And the world is sadly without a light!
• ill: DVD Clip – Evangelism statistics (clip from Sermonspice.com)
• Jesus is the Lamp, in fact ‘the Light of the World’.
• Not just the light of the Church;
• And He didn’t come into the world to be hidden!
Parable No 2: The Growing Seed.
“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.”
It is easy to forget that we have all we need to be effective for Christ in this world!
• Sometimes we think we need fancy programs and ideas;
• Plenty of resources and people to grow and produce disciples of Christ.
• But this parable tells us that actually all we need is the “seed” of God’s Word.
• Remember, in verse 14,
• Jesus told us that the “seed” was the Word of God.
• So in theory all we need to do is scatter some of that “seed” around.
• All we need to do is share ‘the Word’ as God gives us opportunity.
• And then get ready for the harvest.
Notice verse 28 says, “ALL BY ITSELF the soil produces grain…”
• The Greek word is “automatically.”
• The farmer doesn’t dig up the seed every day to see how it’s doing.
• No! He lets it alone, and AUTOMATICALLY it starts to grow.
Ill:
• The first Protestant missionary martyr in Korea was Robert Jermain Thomas (1839-1866).
• A Welsh missionary with the London Missionary Society,
• In 1863 he went to Beijing and there met two Korean traders;
• Who told him about the Catholic converts who had no Bibles.
• Thomas became an representative of the Scottish Bible Society;
• And travelled to Korea to sell Bibles.
• Later he found a job as an interpreter;
• On the armed American schooner the General Sherman.
• As the boat travelled around Korea Thomas handed out Bibles.
• When the boat became involved in a fire-fight with the Korean army near Pyongyang,
• Thomas jumped overboard with his Bibles;
• And handed them out to the angry crowd on the river bank.
• The Korean authorities ordered people to destroy their Bibles.
• But instead some used them as wallpaper;
• In time Korean people read their wallpaper and some came to believe in Jesus;
• When other missionaries later arrived they found a Church already in existence.
• The seed was sown (message in the wallpaper) it entered people’s hearts and minds;
• And a Church was formed.
Notice:
• In the parable of the soils (or the sower verses 3-20);
• Jesus said much of the seed sown would fall on unproductive soil.
• That fact could discourage his hearers,
• So in this parable he reassured them to keep sowing the ‘good seed’.
Parable No 3 – The Mustard Seed (30-32)
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 seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.”
• This parable teaches us that from very small beginnings;
• God’s kingdom would eventually grow in size and influence!
• The mustard seed is not the smallest seed in the world;
• But it was probably the smallest seed that the Jews sowed in the gardens or fields.
Ill:
• It took 725-760 mustard seeds to weigh a gram (28 grams equal one ounce).
• So we’re talking about a very tiny seed.
• Even so, the annual plant that comes from that seed;
• Reaches a height of 10-12 feet in a few weeks;
• The largest of all garden plants in that day.
Now, that’s the way God grows His Kingdom:
• It starts off small, but before you know it,
• It’s so big many people are enjoying its shade.
• i.e. Jesus started with 12 disciples.
• i.e. Peter won 3,000 people on the day of Pentecost.
• And throughout the book of Acts that number increases;
• i.e. Chapter 4 verse 4: “Five thousand”.
• i.e. Chapter 5 verse 14: “More and more believed”.
• i.e. Chapter 6 verse 1: “the number of the disciples were increasing”.
• i.e. Chapter 6 verse 7: “the numbers of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly…”
• i.e. Today, many sources mention 2.1 billion ‘Christians’ in the world;
• About one third of the total population of the planet;
• Claim an association with Jesus Christ!
• Whilst it is difficult to give a definite answer to the actual number of Christians in the world
• Christianity remains the most dominant of the world,
• And is still growing at an astonishing rate.
• Revelation chapter 5 verse 9 tells us that;
• “Believers from EVERY nation will worship before his throne”.
Notice:
• As well as the growth of the seed;
• Jesus also spoke about ‘the birds of the air perching in its branches’.
• As Jesus taught all these parables on the same day;
• We should for consistency interpret them in similar fashion.
• In the Parable of the soils (or the sower – verses 4-20);
• The birds of the air represented Satan (verse 15).
• So for consistency we should interpret verse 32 in a similar fashion.
• This reminds us that alongside the growth;
• Satan will try to get in and destroy the work of God.
• i.e. Among the disciples there was Judas Iscariot.
• And throughout the New Testament we have other examples;
• i.e. Chapter 5 verse 1-11: Ananias & Sapphira in fellowship with the Jerusalem Church.
• i.e. Chapter 8 verse 1-24: Simon Magus was part of the Church in Samaria.
• i.e. Chapter 8 verse 1-24: Simon Magus was part of the Church in Samaria.
• i.e. 2 Corinthian’s chapter 11 verses 13-15: Satan’s ministers invaded the Corinthian Church.
Ill:
• The bigger the fishing net;
• The easier it is to catch both good and bad fish!
In summary:
• Parable No 1: Don’t hide the light – be confident in God’s word.
• Parable No 2: Don’t be discouraged – be patient in wait for God’s word to produce fruit.
• Parable No 3: Don’t be small minded – think big – think world!
