The Village Church
Growth of the Kingdom - Audio
And as Richard mentioned, Alex and I are good buddies so I'm very grateful for the opportunity to ask me to come and be with you all this morning. I was telling Richard earlier on, many years before, but at a long time I think it was, we all were still meeting Sunday worship on Sunday evening. So it needs to be here on Sunday morning to see how the church has grown. I'll just mention too, Richard said that I've worked for RUF. I assume you all probably don't even know what that is. RUF stands for Reform University Fellowship and you know Roy and Emily Hubbard they're sitting in the back. Roy does the same thing I do. He's a Alabama A&M on the UAH. So if you have met them, I encourage you to meet them. Roy and Emily, Roy's become a good friend of mine as well. If you had your Bible open to Mark, Chapter 4, we're going to be looking at two parables from the Gospel of Mark. Kind of I guess a way that I would introduce what we're going to be talking about. I think there's a lot of misunderstandings we have about how God's Kingdom grows. I think very often we have these expectations and it's going to grow in this huge, vast, just kind of uninhibited ways and often God's Kingdom grows differently than that. These two parables that we're going to look at speak to that and speak to the fact that God's Kingdom grows differently than we often expect. There's a movie that I kind of want you to introduce what we're going to be talking about this morning. It's rather recent, a movie in Dictus. It was directed by Clint Eastwood. And it tells the story of Nelson Mandela's first term as President of South Africa. It was right after a part-time Indian and Nelson Mandela obviously had a big task in front of him trying to bring change, restoration, and healing to a country that had been just pointed pieces by this terrible idea called a part-time. But the movie shows how he went about this in a very different way. It was a very non-conditional way of pursuing change in South Africa. He utilized the National Rugby Team as really a way to bring about the change that was necessary. And this team was biracial and it was a symbol of pride for the people of South Africa. And he knew if he could get the people of South Africa to believe in this team, that it would have a great motivating, great unifying effect among the people of South Africa. He knew that because of what it represented, it could restore the people's pride in their country again. They could believe in themselves. It could unify the people. And obviously it was a different way of bringing about this change. A lot of politicians would probably think, "No, all you need to do is just use heavy-handed political measures. You know, have some drastic policy changes. That'll bring change." And obviously that can work, but Mandela thought, "I think we can do this in a very different way." And so he believed that if he would utilize this team and give the people to believe in it, that change could happen. But it might be on a very different pace. He knew that the effect that this team could bring would at first be very small. It was an awful team and had just had a terrible record. It would take a long time before this team would begin to have victories and before the people would believe in it and believe in themselves again. He knew that it might take a long time as well. It might be a while before the people would start to realize kind of what it represented for them and how it could be a source for the unity of the world. And he also knew that the change it would bring might not always be noticeable. Outwardly, the country might not begin to get back on its speed economically or politically. But in people's lives, small changes would begin to happen as they would have a sense of dignity in being South Africans again. Well, just like Nelson Mandela sought for South Africa, Jesus has come into our world to bring change, to bring people. His kingdom is reclaiming what has been lost in this world to sin. What has been lost because of the fallen to sin. And his reign is breaking into our world to restore our world to what it was before the fallen to sin. And we see this happening on a cosmic level. We see broken political systems. We see a whole society's change. But we also see this happening on an individual level. The sea changes are individual parts. And that's really how God's kingdom grows. It grows as he changes individual parts. It grows only as he changes individual lives. But as we know all too well, our hearts don't often change the way we would like them to. They can be very stubborn, very slow, very resistant to the work of the gospel in our lives. We put up many barriers that prevent lasting through, lasting change from happening. And often when we look at the world around us, whether on a cosmic level or when we look at our own lives, it seems like change just isn't happening the way the gospel promises that it will. Why is this? Well, I think Nelson Mandela knew something. He knew that change often happens in very different ways. And it happens on a very different pace than we might expect. God's kingdom grows the same way. It often grows very easily than we would expect and we might even hope. And just as Mandela saw in South Africa, we're going to see in these parables that God's kingdom grows from small to large. It grows slowly. It grows from the hidden to the reveal. In other words, the growth might be unnoticeable at times. But it grows inevitably. And we're going to look at two parables, two parables that Jesus is teaching his disciples about how his kingdom grows. And we'll see these four realities in there about how his kingdom grows. I think these are important things to remember, especially at Christmas time, when we think about how his kingdom began to grow, it didn't come in some military life. As many of the Jews thought, he didn't come overtaking the Romans and restoring this kingdom to this grandeur that the people had helped. It started rather small with a baby in the manger. And it took years for him to grow, for him to be crucified and resurrected. Even now, as his kingdom grows into the world, it's happened quite differently than people long ago, but it's gone. As we look at these parables, I want to remind you that the parable is an earthly story with a heavenly kingdom. And so the most important metaphors in this story that we're going to look at, most important, is the sea. And in these two parables, the sea represents God's kingdom in the world. We're going to see how his kingdom grows by looking at the image of the sea. Before we read the scripture passage, I just want to say, too, I'm indebted to Paul Hahn. He's a PCA pastor in Knoxville, Tennessee. I've heard him speak on his passage before, and his explanation was very good. So a lot of my ideas are his ideas. So let's read this out. This is Mark chapter 4, verse 26 to 34. Follow along with his ideas. This is Jesus speaking to his disciples. He reads in verse 26. And he said, "The kingdom of God is as if the man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows. He knows not how. The earth produces by itself first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, and once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come." And he said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parables shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which when sown on the ground is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth. Yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches so that the birds of the air can make mess in his shade. With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything. Pray with me. Word we thank you for your word, that it is given, that we might know you better. We thank you that it is without air board, and we ask now that we sit under it, that you would teach us from it. We ask that you would show us how your kingdom grows, and more that we would be changed people because of this time sitting under your word. What I ask in your spirit would guide my words, and I ask that it would apply the truth of this passage to each of our hearts. That you would teach us this passage and teach us what it means for our lives. We pray this Lord for your name's sake. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen. The first thing I have to see about how God's kingdom grows is that it grows from small to large. Both of these parables are obviously about seeds, and seeds start out very small. In the second parable in verse 30-34 we see that a mustard seed, as verse 31 says, is the smallest, or excuse me, the smallest of all the seeds on the earth. But both parables are about seeds that grow. In the first parable in verse 26-29 the seed grows into an ear of grain, and in the second parable in verse 30-34 we see that the mustard seed becomes the largest tree, as the passage says, and it puts out branches that birds may come and nest in there. That's how God's kingdom is grown. The presence of his kingdom started very small, but it grew to be very large. It started with Jesus and his twelve disciples, and it's grown to now be what is the largest religion in the world. That's why the mustard seed is such an appropriate metaphor. It's small at first, but its potential is enormous. One scholar, Craig Blomberg, said this about this passage. He said, "The mustard seed illustrates the potential of an enormous road, resulting from even tiny, inauspicious beginnings." And if you think about it, the whole story of history is God saving a people for himself. It's a people that started out as a very small number when we look at Genesis, but a number that has God promised Abraham will grow to be as numerous as the stars of the sky. That's often how God operates. His work begins very, very small, but then it grows. And we need to recognize this in our own lives, and we need to recognize this when we look at the world around us. But we often don't. If we're honest, when we look at our lives, we often want the results we want, and we want them now. Thank God, I've been praying this for years and years, and I'm not seeing my prayers come to what I would like them to be. I'm not seeing those prayers come to fruition. Why can't I see this request answering the way I want it right now? When we have this attitude, we're kind of like an athlete who's wanting to increase this strength. He wants to immediately be able to bench press 350 pounds, and so this athlete will go into the weight room and just start with 350 pounds and just tear his arms to shreds and not be able to do it. He has to realize that he's not going to be able to bench press his final goal in the first few weeks of working out. He has to start with small increases of weight and work up. He needs to recognize he has to start small for real growth to grow. And that's often the way it is in God's Kingdom. Things start small, but with that small start, small steps are taken in his Kingdom. Our lives are changed little by little. It might look like one small step towards showing forgiveness towards a friend who has hurt you. Rather than harboring the bitterness and the anger and resentment that's always been there, just a small step towards beginning the show of forgiveness and beginning to really understand what that looks like in our hearts. It might be one small step in our battle against our fear of man, beginning to just little by little break out of those patterns and being consumed by what other people think about us. Rather than recognizing that we have the King of Kings approval and living according to that, it might be just one small step of beginning to no longer live for people's opinions and their approval. That living in the freedom of knowing our God loves us unconditionally. Or it might be just a small step in beginning to see our children begin to understand what it means and what it means to express their need for a saving relationship for Jesus Christ. Maybe just a beginning, just a start to their being able to articulate that and be able to express their need for that. Change often happens very small. But another thing we see in this passage is that change often happens slowly. Both parables are about seeds that grow slowly. In the first parable in verse 27, we read that the farmer who scatters the seed sleeps and rises night and day and the seed sprouts and grows. It's a process that takes time. Obviously, a tree doesn't grow up overnight, but it takes many days for that seed to germinate and then sprout through the soil and then for eventually a trunk to grow and branches to come from that. It takes many, many days for that to happen. In the second parable, obviously this mustard seed doesn't go from being a tiny seed to the largest tree in the garden to grow to be that large. It takes a long time. We often ask, why is the world so broken? Why do we hear these news reports of people just being brutal towards each other? Why do we hear wars and just terrible things that people do to one another, not only in far corners of the world, but in our own city? Why does that happen? Maybe we look at our own lives and we look at our own battles, our own sin that we battle against. Why does this continue to plague me? Why can't I just break free from that? An answer is that the growth of God's kingdom takes time. Two of the ways that the Scripture describes the growth of God's kingdom is recovery and restoration. Those are two metaphors that we often see throughout Scripture. When we think about recovery, we see that God's kingdom growing is His recovering. What has been lost from the following descend? When we think about restoration, God's kingdom growing is restoring the world to what it was intended to be before the following descend. When we think about these descriptions of kingdom growing, think about recovery first. Recovery takes a long time when a pitcher enters his arm and has to have shoulder surgery that says, "It takes a long time before he's able to throw the original speed he could before he has that speed, that accuracy, before he's able to go back on the mound and start a game again." It takes time to recover that strength that he once had. It's the same way with God's recovery of what has been lost to sin. Sure, He could recover everything in an instant and He could do that. He could restore the world to what it was before the fall, but there's great beauty in the process of using us, His people, to be His agents of restoration and of recovery, to see us recover those things that have been lost in the world. Think about the recovery of sexuality in our culture. Our culture is lost in its understanding of what sexuality was intended for, what it's supposed to look like. But we can live and model before our world what it's supposed to be. We can help our culture recover a proper understanding of sexuality and why God created us with sexual means. But that takes time. We live that and model that. It takes time for people to begin to grasp that. It takes time for even our own hearts, our brokenness, our dysfunction sexually, to be able to live with that, to live out what that's supposed to look like. Well, as I said, the other description of how God's kingdom grows is restoration. That also takes time. Maybe you know people who have restored old cars. It takes them a long time to take an old 57 Chevy, that's rusted and sitting in a junkyard and just kind of been deteriorated. It takes a long time to restore it to the beauty of what's had to, you know, put new upholstery and put a new paint job on and put those white wall tires on again. That doesn't just happen overnight. You know people who have restored old cars and often take months, if not years, a lot of hours of labor have seen that restored. A great picture of God's restoration, I know, in my life. There was a neighborhood not too far from where I grew up in St. Louis. It was called the Esol neighborhood. It was a very rough neighborhood. I was privileged. There was a number of churches close by that really spent a lot of time working in that neighborhood. When I was a high school student, I was with a few groups of different work projects there. And then later when I was in seminary in St. Louis, I took some college students. A couple different occasions spent time in the Esol neighborhood. To see where I was in high school, to where I was when I was in seminary, it was in a very different place. God had done some incredible things in that neighborhood. But that was years of work. That was years of people working and praying for that neighborhood. People investing their time and their energy to see it become what God wanted it to be. To see it restored to what a healthy neighborhood should look like. It's a process to see that happen. It was a process to see the patterns of the neglect of the use that had just gone on in people's lives. To see that finally restored to what God wanted it to be. Sometimes we have to wait to see change. Sometimes it takes a long time. We don't like that. But really that's what faith is all about. We need to believe that. We need to know that even if we don't see the results right away, that those things are happening. We need to believe what Philippians 1 says, that he who began a good work of you will bring it to completion. That's true. Maybe that intersects in our lives when we think about some of the struggles we face. Maybe it's you're starting to understand slowly that your acceptance is found in God's grace. And his acceptance of you, not your own effort, not your own morality. For many of us that takes a long time. It can be a slow process of breaking out of those patterns of living as though God accepts us because of our goodness. We're saying that's a lie. He accepts us because Jesus has died for us and has made us perfect in God's eyes. Maybe we can see that by slowly seeing victory in our patterns of worry and anxiety. Of little by little learning to trust that God is in control of all things, not our own efforts and our own management of our time and our resources. But beginning to trust God, you are in control. I know that's a battle for me and often it seems just little steps and life gets stressful. Beginning to recognize God, you are in control and slowly beginning to realize that more and more in my life. The third thing we see about how God's kingdom grows is that it grows from the hidden to the revealed. Again, in both of these parables, we see that both in the parable of the seed growing and the mushrooms see that the seed is buried underground. Its initial growth is something that we can't see. It's imperceptible to the eye. Obviously, when that seed is underground, it's starting to grow. It's starting to sprout into a plant, but nobody can see that. It's happening beyond our procession. That's often how God's kingdom grows. It grows, but it's hidden to us. Things are happening, but we just simply don't see it. We need to take great delight in them. When we first lived into our home and we lived at Huntsville, apparently there had been gold growing for a long time, probably just under the surface of the wall in our bathroom. It was above the shower where it obviously water got there a lot, but it wasn't until after we had been in our home for several weeks. Then all of a sudden that mole grew from under the surface to out on the surface where we could see it. It became very obvious, "Oh, wow, there's a mole growing across our wall." Like I said, of course it didn't happen, though, after we bought the house. Something how we had to pay for it to get there. But it had probably been there for a long time running under the surface, probably had been there for many months before we moved in. It just so happened that it wasn't perceptible to our eyes until after we bought the home. That's how God's kingdom grows. Things are often happening under the surface, but we don't see it. But change is often happening. It's just perceptible to us. We may not see what's going on in someone's heart, but that does not mean that God doesn't work that. He very well might be. He just hasn't been obvious to our eyes yet. Maybe he prayed for a non-believing co-worker or a family member. And you just feel like, "Ah, I think they're getting the gospel and they're ever going to grasp this. It's a real change ever going to happen." Just because we can't see it doesn't mean God isn't going to work. That person may very well be starting to grasp their need for the gospel. Or maybe someone you prayed for who knows Jesus, you prayed, "God, free them from these patterns of sin, free them from the idols that are looming for, free them from the emptiness that's just controlling their life." And he might not see yet how those prayers are being answered. He might not see their lives changing, but God may be able to work. He may be free of them from the lives they've been telling himself. It wasn't always that obvious that God was at work in the neighborhood, in Esau's neighborhood in St. Louis that I was talking about. The signs of the Black were obvious. You could just see as you would walk through the neighborhood that there had obviously been great sin and great brokenness in people's lives that had come out and had been manifested. He was obvious to see. But even before it became obvious to our eyes, God was at work. He was removing just the hateful attitudes in people's lives. He was delivering people from the cycles of addiction, the abuse that was probably rampant in many homes in that neighborhood. And eventually, that could be seen on the outside. Eventually, you could see that people were getting their lives together again. And you could see this neighborhood beginning to have pride in itself again. But it wasn't obvious for probably years and years. But God wasn't at work. He was doing incredible things there. There's something else we need to see about the reality of how the human grows from the hidden to the revealed. In John 12, Jesus talks about how the seed must be buried in the ground. In other words, it must be hidden for a harvest to come, for a tree to rise. And in that passage, when Jesus talks about this seed growing from an underground seed to a tree, he's actually talking about his own life. He's saying that he must be buried in the ground for a tree to rise, for a harvest to come, for his kingdom to grow. And one ancient scholar, Maximus of Turn, said it's clear that Christ is talking about himself. He's talking about that he's a seed when he suffers in his crucifixion and his death. But he's a tree when he rises. In other words, Jesus is buried in the ground. And when he is resurrected from the dead, he becomes that tree. And the awesome thing is that in that passage, Jesus is really setting an example for our lives of how growth happens. He's showing us that yet you, in order for growth to occur, you might need to take the path that I did, the path of humiliation, the path of suffering. He went into the ground and took that path of humiliation for us. And everyone who's a follower of Jesus has called to follow his example. We're called to do this often humbling, often hard sacrificing work that requires a lot of suffering. We're called to do that in order to see this kingdom grow. We're called to do the humble, often unseen, tasks that he often calls us to. Maybe it means serving in some obscure, some unknown way that nobody's ever going to see. Nobody's ever going to say thank you for it, but you're never going to get credit for it. You may never hear those words of thank you for what you're doing. But that work is necessary for his kingdom to grow. That's often the work that Jesus did. He wasn't always just now preaching and teaching with crowds following him. But he was praying in the Garden of Destiny in the middle of night. He was leading his disciples, teaching them things that they often wouldn't respond to. Doing things, loving them in ways they never even saw many times. They never even were thankful for. But he still did that work. And that's what we're called to do. You can probably all think of that person in your life who selflessly loves and serves and yet gets no credit for it. That person is someone who understands this example that Jesus has set for us. That's the unseen, the hidden work of the human. The work that no one often notices but is still happening. That's what we're called to strive for, is to do that kind of work often. Might not be obvious to other people, but as we're behind the scenes serving, as we're doing the things, you're doing the things in this church, the tasks that no one else really notices but are necessary to see the ministry of this church flourish. As you do that, and no one else notices that is a picture of God's kingdom growing. That's a picture of what must happen for his kingdom to accomplish what it's supposed to accomplish in this world. The last thing we'll briefly see about how his kingdom grows, is that it grows inevitably. This again is our first parable, the parable of the seed growing in verse 26 and 29. The emphasis here is not on the farmer who's spreading the seed and who's giving his work. The emphasis in that parable is that the seed grows no matter what this farmer does. And that is a very company to do. This as a farmer sleeps and rises night and day and the seed sprouts and grows, but he knows not how. The truth there is the kingdom will sprout and grow. It will overcome opposition and it will establish itself. Really, it doesn't matter that much what this farmer does. It doesn't matter how gifted he is or how wise he is, how well he knows the Bible. It just matters that he's faithful and even when he's unfaithful, God's kingdom is going to grow. Even in our inability, even in our weakness, God's kingdom is growing. And we need to remember that. Colossians one reminds us that the gospel is bearing fruit and growing all around the world. Even in our brokenness, even in our inability, God is at work. He's at work in very stubborn and very cynical hearts like yours and mine. He's at work in our lives and he's even using us in all of our weakness to grow his kingdom all around the world. If he can work in our hearts and our lives, he can overcome anything. He can see his kingdom bear fruit all around the world as Colossians one tells us. We need to remember this. Often as we doubt, as we lose patience because of how slow it seems the kingdom is growing, we need to remember that he is at work, that he can convince us, that he can overcome our doubts. Our doubts about him, our doubts about the promises of Scripture. We go, "I don't want to believe that. It just doesn't seem to be coming true in my life." He can remind us, repeatedly, this is true and we can begin to believe that more and more. He can deliver us from bondage to sin, deliver us from the addictions that we deal with. He can end brutal injustices in the dark corners of this world. He is doing that and sees scripture promises. He is doing that even through our inability, even through our weakness. As we've seen, the kingdom often grows in very small ways, it often grows slowly, and it often grows in ways that we can't necessarily see. And it happens because our hearts often grow in that way. The kingdom of God grows in a different process than we might expect. You all, I know in my life, I know it's true for you, you face battles, and it just might seem like change isn't happening, like God is not working. But be encouraged, he is, be patient, persevered, and keep fighting. Know that his kingdom is at work in your heart, and it is at work throughout the world. Even when it seems like change is slow, be encouraged. Know that his kingdom will grow, that it will overcome anything. But the gospel is bearing fruit all around the world. Let's try it. Where we ask that you would remind us of this, where we need to spend more, and your kingdom come, your will be done. Because your kingdom is coming, and your will will be done, even if it happens differently than we think it will. Where it might happen at times in smaller ways, change might happen more slowly, and we might not always see the difference immediately. The Lord remind us, give us faith, that your kingdom is growing. Give us patience, give us perseverance. And when the nameless can be people of strong faith who fight to see your kingdom grow, who have independence on your grace, pursue change in our own lives, and pursue it wherever you call this. Lord, for we know that you are at work, that your kingdom is growing. So Lord, we ask that your kingdom would come, that your will would be done on your way as it is now. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. [BLANK_AUDIO]