Bible message notes: Sunday 13th July 2014
Bible Reading: Mark 4:26-32
Once upon a time there was a king. This king wanted more than anything to rule. This was not because he was power crazed but because he was really sure of his ability to create the best environment for people to live in peace, experience joy and grow in goodness, the world has ever seen.
But the land that he set out to rule was not made up of hills and valley, mountains and streams but the land was and is the hearts and minds of ordinary people everywhere.
What people notice as soon as they surrender the land, which is their heart to this king is that their lives change for the better. Their lives start to grow beautiful things, which the king then encouraged them to share with everyone else.
The King of course is Jesus and the Kingdom is called the kingdom of God. Jesus told a story to help his disciples understand how people who become part of the kingdom can have their lives transformed.
1. A Seed contains hope
Jesus’ picture of a man scattering seed on the ground is a picture of a picture of a person with hopes and dreams. He didn’t go out in the fields, to sow seed in the in the way they did in those days because he liked walking or fresh air. He had a dream that one day the seed would become corn, the corn be made into bread and his family would have enough to eat.
Jesus says that this man s like the person who is trying to share how Jesus becoming king of our lives is good news.
There are many people who are longing for something that will change their lives so that they can grow good things in their lives.
Some feel that they are just like that sower. As people who have already become part of the Jesus’ kingdom they have the hope that other people will let Jesus be king of their lives too. They believe that the more people let Jesus rule, the more righteousness, peace and joy will grow. The Bible says that when Jesus comes to rule it is like a harvest. Like the man in Jesus story they are people with a hope and a dream, not just for themselves but for others and for the glory of the King they serve.
Others feel that they are more like the ground the man is trying to plant seed in. They have a heart that longs to be productive rather than a waste. They have placed their hope in many things before that have come to nothing. They are hoping for something that will work. It is a step of faith to open up their minds to the possibility that this message of Jesus if planted in them could be the beginning of new life.
2. A Mystery
Jesus says, “Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the seed produces corn.”
There is an element of mystery involved surrounding the growth of any living thing. It is still true despite all our expertise in growing things, there is a point where human beings have to just let nature act on its own. They just have to stand back and watch what happens.
A doctor knows this as well as the farmer. Sometimes the healing power of the human body like the seed, seems to “work by itself.”
There is a part that we can play in bringing the reign of Jesus to more and more of God’s earth but we cannot do it without him. We think it all depends on us and when we think we have blown it big time we will be surprised again and again that here and there in the most surprising places people are turning to Christ and letting him into their lives.
This story of Jesus shows us that there is a balance between being passive and being pressured. In the parable the man did something. He scattered seed. The parable does not begin “and a farmer went to sleep and when he woke up he was totally gobsmacked to see that a field of corn had grown up overnight. Jesus calls us to be active in planting seeds of hope into the lives of people and he calls us to do it with intelligence and to make the best use of the resources we have. Jesus has chosen to use us in the spreading of his kingdom but we need to remember that there are some things in the process that we cannot do. Consequently we should rely more on prayer than technique. Since God is the one who brings transformation and new life we should spend more time asking God to change hearts and less time trying to find a gimmick that will persuade a person to change.
For those who are at the stage in their life where they are thinking about where they are with faith it sometimes seems so simple and sometimes they sense they are just on the point of grasping it when they begin to wonder if they are any further on at all. They need tob e assured that it does not all depend up them working it all out. We cannot always see what is happening within us but deep below the surface God is at work.
3. A Miracle
When we sow seeds in hope, and co-operate in the mysterious work of God in the lives of people there are many miracles.
“The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when it is planted, it grows and become the largest of all garden plants with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.” (Mark 4:30-32)
The mustard seed Jesus referred to mustn’t be confused with the mustard cress seed. In Israel the mustard plant can grow as high as 12 feet, though the seed is extremely small.
The way in which the tiny mustard seed grew into an enormous tree made Jesus think that even though his rule of the hearts and lives of people began with just a small team of 12 men, it could grow and grow.
And that is what happened. A few, mostly uneducated men spread the message of Jesus’ kingdom throughout the entire known world within two hundred years. People of the most different races, languages and cultures surrendered to the reign and rule of God in their lives and found a home in the kingdom in the same way that birds find shelter in the branches of a tree.
Today 33% of the world’s 6 billion people consider themselves Christians and 100,000 people will have become Christians today. Even though this is true the mustard plant still hasn’t grown to full maturity.
It is often in the small things that the King is working the most powerfully. And individuals, we cannot imagine what the King has planned for our lives. It is far greater than we imagine. When we have welcomed a seed of truth to enter our hearts there may be perhaps there signs of the new thing Jesus is doing in us but we should not be impatient because we don’t see great things yet. They will come if we don’t give up, or turn away, if we continue to co-operate with the King.
God has invited us to be a part of His plan to change the world. He has called us to take part in receiving His love and then sharing it with those around us. He has great things ready for all of us and great plans to glorify His name through us as we learn and as we grow.
But all of that potential will remain simply potential unless we make a choice to follow God. Following God’s path isn’t easy but it is worth it.
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