Hello, you're listening to Second City Sermons,
a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg.
This epiphany in Lent, we're back in the Gospels,
specifically the Gospel of Mark. We are seeing
the revelation of God in Jesus. Mark is showing
us the true King becomes a servant for us. He
says right at the heart, the Son of Man came
not to be served, but to serve and to give his
life as a ransom for many. And Mark is nearly
always asking his audience, what do you make
of that? So, what do you make of this good news?
We'd love to meet you and we hope you'll consider
coming and joining with us each Sunday morning
at 10 a .m. in the heart of Midtown Harrisburg.
You can find us online at secondcitychurch .org
and on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. We hope
you enjoy this sermon. God bless. Lord again
we ask that the words of my mouth and the meditations
of all of our hearts would be pleasing in your
sight that you would speak to us and that we
would bear fruit we ask this in Jesus name amen
all right I just heard that they have four hour
services. Settle in. We're in Mark chapter four
and the entirety of Mark chapter four speaks
to the power of the word of God and also the
great need to hear it. Actually throughout the
chapter the need to hear and hearing is mentioned
some eight different times. It's a significant
part of the entirety of the chapter and next
week we'll actually see the power of the Word
of God, specifically the words of Christ speaking
over the tumult on the Sea of Galilee. But anyway,
last week we heard the parable of the sower and
how he went out to sow and some seeds fell on
fertile ground and some on not so fertile ground
and all of that. And we heard about how the explanation
of that parable And not just that, parable in
some ways, all parables, how they hide and how
they bring and bear fruit in some people's lives,
those who have ears to hear, or who have hearts
to receive, or who simply are desirous to ask
questions, like the disciples and those who are
with them ask Jesus, what do these things mean?
And he reveals them to him. Which is to say parables
reveal our hearts. They're a test for other hearers.
Today we're actually taking on a number of parables.
You heard them. There's a few short ones there
all tied together. And in some ways they are
all related to this idea of hearing, but then
also acting upon what we've heard and also the
idea of growth. And ultimately it's actually
related to the idea of what God is going to do,
the surprising work of God in the world. I was
preparing a sermon. I listened to a sermon by
the pastor that I had growing up. And in it,
he gave an illustration of sorts that was sort
of analyzing and giving some history behind a
hymn, a hymn which I love. It was written by
the American Presbyterian William Pearson Merrill.
That hymn is titled Rise Up, O Man of God, Rise
Up, O Men of God. And I need to give you some
context about why I love this. So I went to Western
Washington University, a university that all
of you have heard of. because of its great fame.
And my last year there, I lived with 10 other
guys who were following Jesus together. And so
we were near the end of our time there at Western,
and some guys helped lead Young Life, the high
school ministry, Young Life, and others of us
were involved in different campus ministries.
But all of us were involved in brewing the beer
for our house. which had to happen in the garage
because Young Life stipulated that if you were
a leader, you couldn't have beer in your house.
And so we followed the letter of law and had
it in the garage. And two of those guys actually
went on to own their own breweries. They still
do. One of them has actually won international
awards, Frem Family Brewers. They lived in that
house, but we all took turns. And if you've ever
brewed beer, you know that there's quite a bit
of time of just waiting while the grains are
steeping and the hops are giving flavor and all
that. And so during that time, we would sing
songs. At least many of us would sing songs together.
One of the songs that we would sing is Psalm
68 to Louis Bourgeois' famous tune that worked
with Calvin in Geneva. That tune actually, interestingly,
was outlawed for a little while in France. You
couldn't even whistle it because it was signaling
that you were a Protestant. So there are parts,
particularly around Paris, where that tune was
outlawed. Anyway, one of the other songs we would
sing is this song, Oh Men of God by William Merrill.
Hopefully you know it. If you don't, it's my
opportunity to teach you. Rise up, oh men of
God, his kingdom tarries long. Bring in the day
of brotherhood and then the night of wrong. You
see how it's like, come on, let's go. We found
it inspiring. Maybe more than you just did, I
don't know. But we had, okay, we can bring in
the day of brotherhood and the night of wrong.
It's a very inspiring thing, particularly for
young men brewing beer together. And so I learned
from this sermon that this minister, Merrill,
he was part of the liberal wing of the Presbyterian
Church in the late 19th century, early 20th century
in America, which at the time often actually
literally meant that you didn't believe things
like the resurrection of Christ, or the virgin
birth, or miracles, or those kinds of things.
And that was the fundamentalist liberal controversy
within the Presbyterian Church in the early part
of the 20th century. But he was part of a movement
called World Brotherhood. And that was this movement
that taught that really the Christian men particularly
were to rise up and to right the wrongs of the
world, to take into their own hands the need
to bring the justice of God and the peace of
God and the kingdom of God into the world. And
that they could do it. While they set aside these
great works of God, they could still actually
bring in the reality of the kingdom. One of the
other stanzas, I'm not gonna sing it to you this
time, says this, rise up, O men of God. The church
for you doth wait. Her strength unequal to her
task. You rise up and make her great, I added
to you. Anyway, the British hymn scholar, Eric
Rowley says this, okay. He says, this is a British
writer writing about this American hymn. He says,
The genius of American Protestantism is that
this author should write of men making the church
great. Englishmen have come to prefer an edited
version. Her strength shall make your spirit
strong. Her service make you great. But of course,
we Americans like the idea that we can get it
done. Don't tell us what we can't do Don't tell
us that we need others and the reality of the
supernatural God at work in his bride the church
his body We Americans don't like the idea that
we cannot make something happen But it's interesting
Jesus did if you remember from last week he just
did invite us to have ears to hear And he actually
said that in so doing, right, in being that fertile
soil of the kingdom, remember the surprising
thing of last week was the utter astounding amount
of grain that was produced, you know, 30 -fold,
60 -fold, 100 -fold. So he invites us to have
ears to hear, to come and to sit with him and
to have questions for him that we might be those
who bear the fruits of the kingdom. So anyway,
this morning I think our texts as we take them
together are getting at one of the great mysteries
of Christian faith, the mystery of the working
of the kingdom of God, but also it talks about
its surprising outcome. Okay, the mysteries of
the kingdom and yet it's surprising outcome.
So here's the mystery. You get out what you put
in and yet it is all up to God. Feels kind of
Polar in a way. Let's break it down a little
bit. Okay, first you get out what you put in
So two parts to this first section, right? Let
me read verses 21 to 23 open up your Bible there
And he said to them is a lamp brought in to be
put under a basket or under a bed and not on
a stand For nothing is hidden except to be made
manifest, nor is anything secret except to come
to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let them
hear. Stop there. We know that lamps are meant
to bring light. Maybe we think in our day that
leaving the lights on in the house is no big
deal. You know, we walk in and out of one room
and we don't always turn it off. Some of you
do this. But you must remember that oil was what
actually fed the lamps in these days. Oil was
precious. You wouldn't just kind of light it
and then, you know, put it under so it wasn't
being used. You would never do that. You would
never light. a lamp and then cover it up and
put it under a bed. In some ways, people are
listening to Jesus and they're thinking, what
a silly thing. Of course, you don't do that.
You would never do that. The lamps are to illuminate.
You would never light it and just waste that
oil and put it under the bed. Cover it up. You
place it on that state. Do what it's meant to
do. Bring light. And Jesus of course is saying
the word is meant to be heard. Seeds are meant
to be received by good soil and bear fruit and
lamps are made to give light. Fairly simple.
So what do you do with what you've received?
What do you do with the words of the kingdom
of God? Do you come back to the sower as we just
heard in the previous passage and say, I don't
really understand. Explain it to me. I want to
bear fruit. I want to receive the word. That's
truly the word of God. And I want it to have
an effect in my life. Give me your light. That's
what the disciples are saying, what Jesus is
encouraging us to hear, to say, that I might
make the world a brighter place. Right? You would
say, no way, you don't do that. Light lamps are
meant to give light. Do you rise up at the word
of God? You seek to put an end to the nights
of the world, the wrongs of the world. Do you
bear the fruits of the kingdom of God? Do you
shine the light of the kingdom of God? That's
part of the question Jesus is asking us in this.
So he goes on, verse 24, and look at me down
there. And he said to them, pay attention to
what you hear. Listen up. With the measure you
use, it will be measured to you, and still more
will be added to you. For the one who has, more
will be given, and from the one who has not,
even what he has will be taken away. I think
this last part sounds a little bit harsh, at
least initially maybe, but I don't think the
meaning is too hard to get in its context, which
again is simply you get out what you put in.
If you don't really care for what you've been
given, it'll be taken from you. I'm thinking
about another parable that Jesus gives in Matthew
25, the parable of the talents. Some of you will
be familiar with this. Jesus tells a story there
in Matthew 25 of a man who's leaving and he calls
three of his servants to him and he gives one
of them five talents, some money. He gives another
one two talents and he gives another one one
talent and he goes away. And the one who has
five, he trades and he makes another five out
of it, now he's got 10. And the one who has two,
he trades and he makes them and he's got more.
But the one who has one, he lives in fear. Yeah,
he's fearful of the master. He says, I'm gonna
bury this. I'm not gonna do anything with this
thing because I'm fearful. And so he hides it.
And so the master comes back and he says to the
one who has now 10 and the one who has. now four
or you know they've doubled theirs and they're
like oh good job you know enter in uh have more
and yet to the one who has one it's a little
one just one he says specifically you wicked
and you slothful servant and he takes that one
from him he gives it to the man who had ten maybe
you think that's a little bit unjust but this
is exactly what our lord is saying here It's
exactly what our Lord is saying here. If you
take the words of God for granted, if you do
nothing with them, why do you expect fruit in
your life? Why do you expect God to be at work
in your life? If you just say, ah, okay, I hear
you gave this to me, I'm not gonna do anything
with it. You give me this opportunity, I'm not
gonna take it. I hear the word, I don't really
care that much. Why do you expect God to be active
in your life? Let me change it a little bit.
If you take the good fortune of having Christian
parents who prayed with you and taught you the
word and then you shunned that, why would you
think that God's gonna bear the fruit of the
kingdom in you? Or if you take the encouragement
of the saints that is on offer to you in small
groups and on ministry teams, that opportunity
that's there before you to walk alongside life
or walk in life alongside other people. You say,
I did not want that opportunity. Why do you think
the fruits of the kingdom of God would be born
in your life? Think of the proverb that we had
as our offertory verse a couple weeks back. One
gives freely yet grows all the richer. Another
withholds what he should give and only suffers
once. What do we do with what's been given to
us? You get out what you put in. Why do we think
we can withhold from God, right? This is what
that proverb verse was saying, that which He's
given to us and it'll be okay for us. God says,
I'm gonna give it to you and be generous, give
back and listen to me. And we say, we can do
what we want. And Jesus says again and again,
the Bible tells us again and again, even what
you have will be taken from you. You get out
what you put in. So this is a part of the truth
of scripture, right? I'm gonna say this, that
it's the first part of the mystery of this passage.
You get out what you put in. But that in itself
doesn't sound too mysterious because actually
we know this is kind of true in most of our lives.
It's true in our relational lives, right, with
friends. You don't call up a friend, you don't
keep up with them, then that friendship dissipates
if you don't nurture your marriage. The marriage
does not grow and actually bear fruit. You know
these kinds of things. That's not too mysterious.
But I think it's mysterious when you put together
the other side, the next thing that Jesus teaches.
And this next thing is that it's all about God.
It's only ever the work of God, which feels like
something that is actually living in paradox
to what I just said. Okay, verse 26, look with
me down at that. And he said, the kingdom of
God, is as if a man should scatter seed on the
ground he sleeps and rises night and day and
the seed sprouts up and grow 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 at once he puts in the
sickle because the harvest has come so again
The kingdom of God is like a seed. But here again
also we actually find a good lesson on how parables
work. I mentioned, you know, one of the ways
that you should, what you should do in parables
is always look for the thing that makes you go,
that doesn't seem quite right. or that makes
me scratch my head. You know, ears should only
produce six or eight or tenfold at the most,
not a hundredfold. And right there, in that strangeness,
the part that makes you scratch your head that
seems odd, it's the original audience, is oftentimes
the key in understanding the parable, okay? That's
just a good thing to keep in mind when you're
approaching parables. So you're supposed to say,
well, lamps are meant to bring light. Of course
you wouldn't, you know, put it under the bed,
stuff like that. But here we scratch our heads.
You should be scratching your head at the passivity
of the farmer. And it's actually highlighted
for us in a number of ways. Maybe you notice
this. Let me show them to you. So this man with
scatter seed on this ground. And of course, the
context of chapter four, there's already been
the sower that goes out to seed, right? So this
is the context of a farmer. He sleeps and rises
night and day. He's just sleeping. He's sleeping.
He's hanging out blah blah blah, you know, totally
passive and it says it grows and then the last
part of verse 27 little little Claude says he
knows not how and you're like, wait a second
That's not how farmers work. They don't just
throw stuff And they know how it works And then
the next verse the beginning of the next verse
says the earth produces it by itself You're like
wait a second Peter. You just told us last week
that you would scatter seed and then afterwards
you would till it into the ground. That's exactly
what the practice was. That's exactly what you
would do in the ancient world. What you would
not do is be totally passive. You wouldn't just
scatter seed and then go to bed and kind of hang
out and then, whoa, look what happened, you know?
Just let time pass, right? What about all of
the you get in what you put out stuff? What about
the labor? What about the need to show up, to
be present, to engage in community if you want
to grow? Here the man just comes in at the end,
he has ripe grain, he puts his sickle to it,
he has a harvest. If only it were that easy in
life, right? Seems as though he's done nothing.
And here is the counter truth to the first truth
that we considered. We really don't know how
the fruit of the kingdom is born other than it
is the work of God It's all about God it's all
about his timing And really truly I'm sure some
of you and I bet all of you actually if you have
sort of been following Jesus for a little while
or a good while least Know the experience of
seeming to not grow in the Christian life, the
life of faith, the life of a member of the kingdom
of God. And you can see that sometimes even though
you're not neglecting the word of God, you are
giving yourself to its study and to its devotion
and to seeking to know God better through it.
You're not neglecting to come. to worship with
the people of God and To seek to be attentive
to what God is saying You're not neglecting the
fellowship of other Christians as we are commanded
to to not do in the book of Hebrews I Mean you're
here this morning after all Hopefully listening.
Maybe you're online near you're watching. Hopefully
you're engaged You're not one who's spurning
the work of God right you hear You hear God's
call to love your enemies and to do good to those
who harm you and you've also heard maybe a hundred
times the Beatitudes, the call to be meek and
to mourn and to hunger and thirst for righteousness
and to be merciful and to be pure in heart and
all the rest be peacemakers. You've heard all
that time and again and yet Not only do we not
seem at times to receive the comfort that is
promised or the mercy or all the rest that is
promised in the Beatitudes, but instead it seems
like you actually hate your neighbors more. Right?
Like the world that we live in is largely teaching
you dismiss those who disagree with you. Harden
your heart toward your enemy. At least we know
we're hearing this politically. Come on. And
if you kind of do an assessment of your heart,
you do one of these heart scans and you go, you
know what? I think I have grown more along those
lines. Seem to grow more and more in the belief
that it's better to hoard than to give. Even
though our Lord tells us the exact opposite,
right? Horde our hearts and our energy and our
time and our talents, our money and our minds,
right? So what I'm saying is that sometimes it
seems as though little fruit is born in our lives,
even though we don't seem to be like that man
who has the one talent who just buries it. It's
very strange, right? The working of God. It's
a great mystery. How strange is the growth of
the kingdom of God? Sometimes the growth seems
so small it is imperceptible. And then actually
just as truly the growth seems to shatter our
expectations. I mean, if what I just said is
true, which it is true in many of our lives,
at least at some times where we seem to think
far from growing in the Christian life, I may
be going the opposite direction. And then at
other times, it seems as though we have gone
to sleep one day, one kind of person and woke
up the next day another. Massive growth. Real
heart change. I bet there are, I bet many of
you know folk that have actually thrown in the
towel, they've given up on all of it because
they've seen so little of the fruit born in their
lives. They think, I was supposed to change and
grow in all of this. So little has happened.
I bet others of you know, people that have no
desire to engage with Christians because they
see where is the fruit of that life of that faith
in their lives and then on the other side I Bet
some of you have actually had the joy of another
person Looking at you looking at your life and
telling you things like this You are different
than you used to be You are far more patient
than you used to be. I can see self -control
growing in you. You've looked at others or maybe
you've heard those things from others and you
really have seen unbelievable change. Change
that would shock anyone. You care more for those
who disagree with you. Imagine this and maybe
some of you actually see this in others and you
should tell them that I Could see you dying for
your enemies like Jesus died for you Sometimes
there is radical change unbelievable growth in
the kingdom Sometimes it is so slow as to be
imperceptible and the truth is is that it is
all a great mystery Growth in the Kingdom of
God is a great mystery. On one hand, we really
are told, you get out what you put in. Just a
huge encouragement to show up, work hard, seek
to bear the fruits of the Kingdom of God. And
on the other hand, we are told, scattered, went
to bed, doesn't even know what's happening, and
goes out and gets a great reward. Totally the
work of God. Now I want to move to the surprising
outcome of the kingdom But I actually want to
invite you again, okay, I invited you to go down
and look at the cross I want you to go see what
Casey Casey has is going to show you but Would
I invite you please talk to somebody today? Talk
somebody today. Maybe your roommate. Maybe your
friends. Maybe your spouse. Okay, and I want
you to share with one another where you tend
to fall. Because I think there's an inclination,
I think we tend to fall in the, you rise up and
make her great or the total passivity. We tend
to fall in these two ditches in a way. And I
think Jesus putting these together is calling
us to this active life of faith and what he's
going to do. Anyway, the last thing that we have
here is Jesus. saying that despite the mystery
of the working of the kingdom of God, there is
a certain outcome. And that outcome is surprising
and grand. Verse 30, and he said, with what can
we compare the kingdom of God? What parable shall
we use for it? And I wanna pause for a moment
there and then I'm gonna read the rest. But I
picture Jesus actually speaking to this crowd
and actually offering up this question. What
should we compare to the kingdom of God? What
kind of images should we compare it with? As
they do now. And I get, I would bet, Then as
now they would say Something powerful Jesus Let's
do a crown. Let's compare the kingdom of God
to a crown sit on a throne Jesus you're gonna
hear this in the communion song if you listen
attentively, how about a sword? Let's do away
with our enemies images of power How about faith
family and I go all wrapped together Instead,
he goes back to seeds. Jesus, haven't we had
enough seeds? Verse 31, it's like a grain of
mustard seed, which when sown on the ground is
the smallest of all the seeds on earth. Yet when
it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than
all the garden plants and puts out large branches.
The birds of the air can make nests in its shade.
seeds again Not just any seed what he says it
which is really does go against what they would
have thought is the smallest seed now Okay, I
know you can argue people say well, there's there's
smaller seeds He says the smallest seed of all
the earth in the context This would have been
the smallest seed that they would have sown and
would have really been engaging with regularly.
Okay and Actually very interestingly to a pound
let me say there are 240 ,000 mustard seeds in
one pound. It's that small. I have, since actually
before I came here, my office, a little jar that
has a tiny mustard seed in it. It's across, if
you are in my office, across from my desk, eye
level on the bookshelf. I cannot see that mustard
seed. I have to pick up the jar and look for
that mustard seed. It's tiny. And that's so often
how the kingdom of God works. Little tiny seeds
sown, little conversations about our inclinations
towards active or passive engagement in the kingdom,
right? Those kinds of things can bear the fruit
of the kingdom. Little decisions to no longer
let Twitter be the loudest voice in your ear.
Little acts like changing diapers. Bringing cookies
over to new neighbors. Little acts like playing
Legos at 3rd and the Berg with logos. Little
acts like showing up week in and week out and
month in and month out. Desirous and attentive
to the word of God. And a tree takes root. Tree
takes root and it begins to grow. Did that just
cut off? No, it did, sorta. It's working all
right, okay. I would guess that some of you have
seen mustard plants. You know that there's different
varieties of mustard plants, a lot of different
varieties. Some of them grow just like ground
cover. They get a foot or maybe two feet tall.
There's some, and actually the one that was most
common around the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus
was teaching, remember the Bay of Parables? There
was the black mustard, and the black mustard
actually was a little bit bigger. Often it would
grow to about four or six feet. And sometimes
when it's cultivated, it can be more like 10
feet. But even when it's cultivated, it's very
gnarly and snaggly and it's not something that's
shooting out branches into the world. It's really
not shooting out branches to the extent birds
are like, let's go make our nests over there.
Again, the place where you might listen to this
and you'd scratch your head. That's not how mustard
plants grow. Now if you were attentive to Ezekiel
passage, or actually passages from Daniel and
other parts of the Old Testament, you'd know
that there was images given. parables, Old Testament
parables in a way of the time when God would
work and he would plant a tree that would grow
so large that the birds of the heavens would
come and make their nests. And in those images,
the birds of the heavens are the nations of the
world. It would find their life in the unassuming
reality of what God would do. And that's what
Jesus is saying here. He's grabbing on to all
this imagery. And he's saying, you would never
expect what's gonna happen. It may be a mystery
how it happens. Sometimes you work so hard and
you grow and you thrive and sometimes you work
so hard and it seems like nothing is going right.
Sometimes new life sprouts overnight and sometimes
it feels like the long slog of faith and yet
Jesus says I am going to do it and you will be
so utterly shocked at what happens. The outcome
is secure. I imagine most of you have a sense
of the story of Christianity. I would think that
at least some of you have this sense. The most
basic idea, this is the most basic synopsis,
at least. The night Jesus died, his closest friend
ran away from him. His closest friend, Peter,
one of his closest friends, Peter, denied him
three times. Jesus rose from the dead and he
appears to the disciples and women because Judas,
one of his disciples, betrays him and then commits
suicide. And after he ascends to heaven, even
though we hear later that there were about 400
that engaged with him, 120 are there, which is
interesting. I think, okay, if you saw the risen
Christ, you might want to hang out for a while.
At least about three quarters of them weren't
there. And after the first Pentecost, there's
a preaching by Peter there, the one who had denied
him. Now there's 3000 followers. And by the end
of Acts, it seems as though the knowledge of
Christ has gone throughout the entire Mediterranean
at least. And then we know actually by at least
the end of the fourth century, a whole 50 % of
the Roman world would have claimed to follow
Jesus, despite massive persecution. And we kind
of just think just in that little story, how
wild is it that all of his disciples, people
that saw him heal and teach and all that scattered.
And yet now thousands upon thousands are worshiping
Christ. Let me end with a modern story, more
modern story. In 1895, there's a missionary,
Peter Cameron Scott, he was a Scottish missionary.
Scotland was one of the great places of missionary
standing in the 19th century particularly. But
Peter Cameron Scott with 15 others from Scotland
landed on Mount Battery in Kenya. One year later,
he died. And this is what he said. The people
have hazy ideas about God. He led this great
mission and that's what he said when he died.
Two years later, all but one of the original
missionaries had either died or returned to Scotland.
14 of them within three years. They died or they
left. It was weak, unimpressive. It seemed as
though they were sowing these seeds and very
little was happening in the world. hazy ideas
of God at best. And yet at the centenary celebration
in 1995, there were 25 ,000 Kenyans that gathered
together in Nairobi to celebrate the 100th anniversary
of the organization of the African. They sang
together, to God be the glory, great things he's
done, shocking things he's done. At that time,
1995, the African Inland Mission had in Kenya
one million members. And today, a full 85 % of
Kenya's 55 million people population claims to
follow Jesus. With those beginnings, how does
God work? What we can say is, mysteriously, will
God work? We can say, absolutely. Thank you for
listening to Second City Sermons podcast. We
hope this sermon has encouraged you to worship
God and to celebrate the gospel of Jesus. Please
consider subscribing to this podcast and joining
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for listening. God bless.