That Magnificent Kingdom Mark 4:21-34
This past week I was getting my oil changed and I had a chance to present the gospel to the guy in the waiting room with me. For me, waiting rooms are the best places for evangelism because the people are sitting there with nothing to do. The oil change waiting room has been particularly fruitful for me, and it assures me that at a minimum I’m going to personally share the gospel every 3,000 miles.
And you get good warning signals there about how much time you have left. When the attendant comes in and shows the person the condition of their air filter, you know you only have about five more minutes.
So I’m in the oil change waiting room and this guy walks in and he’s a talker. So I asked him if he had any spiritual beliefs. His response was ‘I’m a Lutheran, in fact I used to be on the board at the Lutheran church I attend.’ So I asked him, ‘who do you think Jesus is?” All he said was that Jesus was of Arab descent, then he wanted to talk about the war in Iraq. So I asked, ‘Do you believe that Jesus is God the Son?’ The man couldn’t answer me, so he tried to shift the conversation to church committees.
It dawned on me that every time I mentioned the name of Jesus it seemed to really frustrate the man. But I wasn’t about to let him off the hook. So I asked him about heaven and hell. He had no firm beliefs, and he tried to shift the conversation to church parsonages. I asked him, if he fell over and died, and God asked why should I allow you in my heaven what would you say. He said, ‘because I’ve lived a clean life.’ Then he tried to shift the conversation to church finances.
At that point the guy with the air filter came in, so I knew I had to cut to the chase right away. So I said, sir, I’m really not concerned about church committees, church finances, church parsonages, or church business. I want to know, have you ever placed you faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior, because that’s the only way to heaven? Still he tried to wiggle out of the conversation and talk about church. I just could not get this churchgoer to talk about Jesus or His kingdom.
Now I want to tell you something folks. I love you all very much. And I love this church. But if this is what it’s all about, church, we’re wasting our time. The Bible tells us we’re part of something much bigger than the organization of our local church, believers in Jesus Christ are part of the magnificent kingdom of God.
Listen to the words of Scripture concerning the Kingdom of God (Rev 21: 3-6). Brothers and sisters in Christ, the joy of our faith is about much more than going to church. We don’t just have a building, we have a kingdom awaiting us. We don’t just have a leader, we have the King in Jesus. Amen.
Now let me be clear on this, the Kingdom of God is both a present reality, and a future expectation. In Jesus the Kingdom of God came to mankind. So He preached, ‘the kingdom of God is at hand.’ Through faith in Christ we immediately, presently, become citizens of the Kingdom of God. So Paul says in Col 1:13, “for He rescued us (past tense) from the dominion of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.” Through faith in Christ we become citizens of the kingdom of God. So the kingdom of God is a present reality for us.
But while the kingdom of God is in one sense a present reality, it is growing and we await the full manifestation of the glorious kingdom to be revealed in the future, when Christ returns. In describing this eternal kingdom John says this in Rev 22:1-4.
You see folks, Christianity is about much more than coming to church. It’s about being citizens in the magnificent Kingdom of God. Isn’t that exciting? We tend to focus on the temporal. So when we think about our faith we often think in terms of the church, it’s organization, it’s building, it’s programs. But we need to see with spiritual eyes and be encouraged that our faith is about much, much more.
In our passage this morning, Jesus gives us three parables that give us tremendously encouraging news about the kingdom of God.
That Magnificent Kingdom; Revealed in Jesus Christ (4:21-23): If you were to translate this literally it sounds kind of odd. It says, ‘does the lamp come to be put under a basket?’ There are two things that stand out as odd in that literal translation. First, it says the lamp, not a lamp. Secondly, lamps don’t normally come, they’re brought. So your translation, like mine, has probably changed the wording to read “a lamp is not brought to be put under a basket is it.” But I think in so doing they may have actually made the author’s point more difficult to understand.
I believe Mark intentionally wrote it as he did because ‘the Lamp’ is a reference to Christ, who is the light of the world. That’s why Mark doesn’t say ‘a lamp,’ but ‘the Lamp.’ And that’s why he says the Lamp ‘comes,’ not the lamp ‘is brought.’ The point is that Jesus is the lamp that came to reveal something that had not been fully revealed earlier. That thing that Jesus came to reveal is the Kingdom of God. You see Jesus was speaking to them about the Kingdom of God (4:11,26,30).
Here’s the picture, the people were somewhat in the dark about the true significance of the Kingdom of God, but Jesus came into the world as a bright light, making known the Kingdom of God. So He often taught that through faith in Him we can enter into the kingdom of God. And at other times He explained that the fullness of the Kingdom would be revealed in His second coming (13:24-27). The magnificent Kingdom of God is revealed to us through our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the King of Kings. So it’s critical that we listen and have faith (4:24-25).
A brother in Christ may let you down, a sister in Christ may disappoint you, a leader in the church may falter, a pastor may fail you, but there is one thing certain about those in Christ, our King Jesus will never falter. Our King Jesus will never disappoint. Our King Jesus will never fail us. For all eternity our King Jesus will reveal to us His glory in the Kingdom of God (Rev 21:22-23).
That Magnificent Kingdom; Supernaturally Expanding (4:26-29): This had to be a tremendously comforting lesson to the followers of Christ, because in it Jesus assured them that kingdom growth would be by supernatural means. That was great news to the early Christians, because Jesus was going to send them out to preach the kingdom of God. He said follow Me and I will make you fishers of men. In other words, the kingdom of God wasn’t going to come as they expected with a mighty shout of God and the destruction of the enemies. They were actually being called to take part in the expansion of the kingdom. And they had to be looking around thinking, ‘ok we’ve got a few fisherman, a tax collector and a zealot, and we’re the ones that are supposed to storm the gates of hell, evangelize the world and bring about the kingdom of God? I don’t think so! We need Bill Faye!
But this parable is the answer to discouragement in evangelism. Success in evangelism is simple, just cast the seed, proclaim the good news of Christ. Don’t fear evangelism, your success is guaranteed! Jesus was telling them the Kingdom of God is going to expand supernaturally. We don’t grow the kingdom, God does. The only human work is casting the seed. From that point on it’s entirely a God thing. He’s the one that causes the seed to sprout. He’s the one that causes the plant to grow. He’s the one that brings forth the harvest, and He is the great harvester. Listen to how the apostle Paul put it (1Cor 3:5-7).
Have you ever been discouraged because you think you’re just not good at sharing your faith? Well here’s the encouraging news, you don’t have to be good at it, you just have to be faithful to do it. God will take your measly effort and accomplish His perfect will through it.
I’ll tell you what I’ve seen some pretty lousy gospel presentations that people respond to. I’ve done it myself. There have been times when I’ve presented the gospel so poorly that I was boring myself, but the person responded in faith. There have been other times when I’ve answered every objection with pinpoint accuracy like a stealth bomber over Baghdad, and the person looks at me like I’m from Mars. Kingdom expansion really is a God thing not a human thing. Just be faithful to tell people about Jesus and His Kingdom, then rest in the fact that God will take it from there.
That Magnificent Kingdom; Destined for Greatness (4:30-34): This had to be another parable of great encouragement to the disciples of Christ. Think about it, Jesus’ primary message was, the Kingdom of God is at hand. Jesus said things like “if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” Now there had to be a sense in which the disciples were looking around and thinking, is this really it? We were expecting so much more. We were anticipating a glorious kingdom of unmatched splendor, and right now it just feels like a small huddle of people. They had to be thinking, isn’t there supposed to be more. So this lesson would have brought great comfort to them, because here Jesus is telling them, not only is the Kingdom of God going to supernaturally expand, but it’s going to expand to be something of enormous magnificence, larger and more magnificent than any earthly kingdom.
It’s true that from a human perspective the Kingdom of God seemed to have humble beginnings. So Jesus said, just like from the tiny mustard seed comes an enormous mustard bush, so also from humble beginnings would come the magnificent kingdom of God. To help you fully understand the parable you’ll find a mustard seed attached to your bulletin. Notice, it’s a tiny seed. But from that tiny seed grows an extremely large bush. In fact the mustard bush can grow up to 15 feet tall. That’s roughly from this stage to the video projector.
Do you see the encouraging picture Jesus is painting for the believers? He’s saying don’t worry, the kingdom is destined for greatness. Just like this tiny mustard seed will produce a plant so tall as to reach that video projector, so the kingdom of God will grow and become magnificent. Isn’t that encouraging.
You know we can look around this nation, and around the globe and get pretty discouraged at the condition of the church. We see a society that seems to have less and less regard for biblical truth. We see churches becoming more and more secular, embracing the beliefs and practices of the world, even when they’re in direct contradiction to the Bible. We see churches that are riddled with scandalous sin and an organizational infra-structure that seems inadequate to even recognize the extent of the pain they’ve caused on people. Pedophile priests abusing boys, and the hierarchy simply moving them to other churches to abuse more people. We can look at Europe and see a continent that went from about 90% Christian to about 1% Christian in just a few generations. And we could look at all this and wonder, what is ever going to happen to the Christian church? But you know, there’s no need to worry and no sense in having a pessimistic view of our future.
Listen folks, we can rest assured through it all that God is building His Kingdom. It is going to continue to supernaturally expand, and come harvest time, God will bring all His people into His eternal Kingdom that will be more magnificent than anything we can ever imagine. We have every reason to rejoice in our future. We in Christ are destined for greatness.
Application: Be encouraged by the assurance of the magnificent Kingdom of God: One of the wonderful parts of being a Christian is the eternal assurance we have of glory. The Bible is very clear that believers in Christ can be sure that we have eternal life with Christ. But it’s encouraging for us to remember that it’s not just that we’ll live eternally, but it’s that we’re destined to live eternally in the magnificent glory and splendor of the Kingdom of God. Wow, that sure puts things in perspective doesn’t it?
Paul put it this way in Romans 8:18 “for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”
I think Jesus spoke these parables not only to explain doctrine about the Kingdom of God, but to encourage us with the truths that He is supernaturally expanding His Kingdom, and when He returns He will gather His people, like the harvest, and bring us into His magnificent, eternal Kingdom. Jesus wants us to be encouraged by these great truths. Compare your troubles and worries against the eternal glory in store for us, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim.
Application: Take your seed and cast it: God has entrusted you and me with the good news of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom. You may think, what difference can one person like me make? Well Jesus assures us that we can be used by God to make an enormous difference. If you’ll just cast the seed He’ll take the word and water it, cause it to grow and add to His magnificent Kingdom.
But to be used by Him you need to cast the seed, tell people the great news of Jesus Christ and His kingdom. Would you please take your mustard seed out of your bulletin and put it in your Bible as a daily reminder to tell someone about Jesus, with the assurance that God will use your effort and continue to build His magnificent Kingdom.
