Mark 4:26-34
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 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, at 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 parable 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 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 nests in its 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.
tiny little seeds. That is what the kingdom of God is like, what the awesome glory of God looks like feels like acts like every day that what Jesus would have us consider today. Tiny little seeds are actually a great big deal. A farmer plants, his crops or a gardener plants or flowers, they do what they do. The Greek word that is used here is auto Matos, which is where we get the word autonomous, or automatically, Jesus says, while the farmer sleeps in it reminds me that even farmers when they plant their crops can take a Sunday nap during the US Open like I plan to do later today. And the gardener, the gardener can, can come to Sunday morning services and and then go to Costco after church like many of you are going to do and while they do that, the seed still does its thing. The seed still grows because there is power. There is a power in these tiny little seeds. And there is a work that is being done in and through the seeds that have been rightly planted carefully, obediently, lovingly planted. Everything works that way in the fields and in the gardens and also internally in your own body, the respiration in your chest, the beating of your heart, the digestion of your food, you don't even think about it. It happens while you are awake and when you are asleep because there is work being done inside of you. So Jesus says look outward at what you see growing look inward, there is growth happening, there is work being done. There is power in these tiny little seeds. This is the way the kingdom works. And then he uses his favorite parable, apparently, the mustard seed, which is the tiniest little seed, he uses this parable often this tiny little mustard seed that produces the mustard tree, which really isn't even a tree. It's more of a bush, a scraggly Bush not impressive. We would think that maybe Jesus would use something more impressive and substantial. Like you know those cedar trees of Lebanon or those mighty eucalyptus trees of alcohol and something everyone can see and say, Wow, that's something now he uses. His favorite parable says it produces a scraggly bluish not impressive to the eye but still useful, helpful. With a Purpose. It has branches, which shade bring shade, and rest and nesting for those tiny and tired, little birds. This is what the church is to aspire to. Not the substantial and the impressive. I know if you grew up in the Midwest, like I did, but where I grew up. Usually the largest building in the town was the church on the highest hill. The steeple was the highest point in the town. And everybody could point at it and say there's the church. I just wonder if that's true anymore, especially in alcohol. Does anyone even know we're here? Because our largest most substantial structures are no longer our churches. They are banks or they are built other buildings or their stadiums or their whatever else is being raised up in the world but the church not impressive looking not towering over anything anymore. Still aspires to be what Jesus calls us to be this useful, maybe scraggly looking, maybe not impressive. But an important place of rest. Where people are welcome where there's a place for you to find the rest that you need and you're looking for. So the Church of the kingdom of God is not to aspire to these great cedars of Lebanon but to what Christ has called us to do which is to be planting carefully and obediently and lovingly the seeds that we've been given To plant and this is what the Church has always done. Doesn't look impressive on the outside, but you'd be amazed at what comes forth. When we lovingly intentionally, purposely plant the seeds that we've been given. I think about Jonah, in the Old Testament, God called him to Nineveh. Nineveh was a wicked city. That's the way it was described, the closest thing parallel I could probably come up to would be, it's kind of like El Cajon. And I'm only saying that because we're in alcohol, and I'm from Chula Vista. So the I can't really throw stones. But if we were to look around in our own town in our own community, could we not compare it to Nineveh? People are doing all sorts of things that are unhealthy unwise, not, not God's plan or purpose for them and and Jonah was sent with this tiny little seed of a message it was didn't seem very impressive, you didn't think much would come of it. His message was simple repent.
Repent.
Turn from this life that isn't working. Turn from these ways that are harmful to yourself and to others and to to your community. Turn from those things and turn to the Lord repent. What are the odds that Nineveh would receive such a message? Who would have thought that such a harvest could come from such simple words lovingly, obediently, faithfully place? Or in the New Testament, I think about Paul, I mean, excuse me, Peter, in his first sermon, the Holy Spirit inspired Paul who was tentative at best, cowardly, never preached a sermon in his life to stand up before this multitude gathered from all over the world. 1000s of people had gathered on on Pentecost, this festival of Pentecost, from from all over the world, from Mesopotamia from kapha, dosha. From all such a diverse crowd from all over the world kind of reminds me of El Kahan. People from all over the world. And, and and Peter had a simple, tiny little seed, unimpressive little message.
Be baptized,
every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins,
promises for you. It's for everybody.
There's a place for you here that was his message. Who would have thought What are the odds that 3000 People would receive that message and be added to their number that day?
Something awesome, about the power of seeds that we've been given, that are rightfully purposely, carefully, obediently, lovingly planted. Now, what happens here today, what are we doing in these last days to plant these seeds lovingly, purposely, obediently? Where God would have placed them. Think about all the things that we do in the church that align with this parable in this teaching of Jesus of what the kingdom should look like. And everything we do in the church should sort of remind us that it's may not look impressive, but when we plant the seeds, the seeds have power. And there is work being done.
And so we baptize.
We baptized like Peter baptized, we splashed a little water on someone, and we say you are now a new creation. The hold is gone, the new has come. You are a child of God. We speak these words over someone. And if you haven't been baptized, be baptized. We want to baptize you because there's a place for you. In God's kingdom and God's house, there's a place for you in Heaven. And if you have been baptized, we want to remind you of it. So we begin every service reminding you of your baptism, reminding you in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit that you are who God says you are. Because isn't it True in places like alcohol, that the world will try to define you, and others will say, who you who they think you are or who they think you're not. And maybe the rest you need is just to be reminded that you are what was said over you, by God Himself, in your very baptism. You are a child of God, a son or daughter of the king, you are greatly love and highly prized. We would have thought such little seeds could work such a harvest
in us.
We absolve sin. I don't know about you. But that's the weirdest part of the service for me. Is it weird for you to every week you confess before your pastor that you are poor and miserable sinners, that you deserve present and eternal punishment? And then, and then he forgives you? And that's got to seem weird to like, Who's this little guy up there? Who did you think he is? forgiving me. And we did it again today. And I don't even know how how poor and miserable you guys are. I don't know how wicked you are. But I do know that all of us struggle with sin. All of us need forgiveness more than we need anything more than we need. You know better health more than we need a better checking account more than we need are all of our relationships to be healthy, all the things we may need. But what we need more than we need anything
is peace with God. So we just continue to plant that seed in you
may seem weird that the pastor is speaking on behalf of Christ. He's forgiving your sins as Christ himself called us as clergy to do after his resurrection. forgive sins, if you don't forgive them who will may not be impressive looking but what's needed. In a restless world, we need the rest and peace that comes from the forgiveness of sins. What else do we do here we preach Christ and Him crucified. This is not a self help lecture. You want self help, you can go listen to Tony Robbins or any number of preachers on TV. If you want to get in shape. Go to a gym, or go run with your pastor and his wife. What we do here is proclaim a crucified savior. Which is planting that seed that God has given us to plant. We just proclaim this truth that God the maker of heaven and earth became one of us.
And he knew what he was doing.
When he allowed himself to be crucified on that cross because he said it is finished.
It was with the words of a Savior who knew what he was doing. And he was doing it for you.
It wasn't waiting for you to turn your life around or get everything right. In the sort of self help pull yourself up by your bootstraps kind of worldly says no, I know what I'm doing. And I know what I'm doing for you. And we preach that and we proclaim that because if if if God knew what He was doing and did, what he did, knowing what he's doing, if we have the smallest seed of faith, we can believe that same God still knows what he's doing. And he still knows what he's doing at us. So whatever you're facing, we just proclaim to you this God who so loved you would give himself on a cross. He knew that. He did it for you. And whatever you're facing, he knows what he's doing and he knows the work he's doing in you. Just the tiniest seed of faith placed in the right place can bring rats to a restless soul and hope in a hopeless situation. And a few moments I'll have the privilege of placing into your hands. Something that looks unimpressive. Just a tiny little cracker and a little half a shot glass of wine. And we say this is the very body and blood of Jesus and that sounds weird to.
And we wonder how can this be
we're planting a seed. Jesus Himself told us to do this, he said, Do this in remembrance of me, saying, when you do this,
remember me. You may feel alone, you may look alone, but you are not alone. He is with you.
He is for you. He is before you, he is beside you, he is behind you, He is within you. We simply plant those seeds, as we place those that bread and wine in your hand. And we trust that God is doing the work that he says he's doing. He is with us for the forgiveness of sins. Sow the seeds, this parable of the seeds is descriptive. It describes what the kingdom of God is like what it has it done in the past what we do now, but it's also a promise. It's a promise to us that we have been given seeds.
And, and we can plant these seeds in one another.
And in a world that desperately needs, what we have the rest and the and the place and the acceptance and the words that that we have. And we can do this and you may think I have so little faith. Like I'm just new to this I have so little faith in Jesus and elsewhere said you just have faith this the size of a mustard seed, you don't need a lot of faith, it just needs to be placed in the right place in the Lord Jesus. And you may think I have nothing to give my works, my my obedience, my service. It's just so insignificant, it just doesn't matter. And again, we've been giving the seeds and we simply plant them. And we trust that the one who knows what he's doing, knows what he's doing in you and through you. I want to illustrate this with a story. I don't know if you'll find it helpful. It was helpful for me, it's a personal story from my life. But a couple of weeks ago, so I'm uh, so you guys know, I'm a I'm a military chaplain. I'm an Air Force, National Guard chaplain. And I had to Well, thank you, thank you for your support. I had to attend a training event in Washington DC, at Andrews Air Force Base. And when I got my travel order to go, it had some words on there that are annoying to me. The words were rental car not authorized. That's that was super annoying. Every now and then the government is runs low on travel funds, and they put those awful words on on our orders, which means that we have to take an Uber or a taxi from the airport. I know it's rough, but you know, we have to suffer. But we take Uber or taxi from the airport to to our training event. But I know from my years of experience that most of the time the Uber drivers and the taxi drivers can't get on the the Air Force Base, they don't have the clearance to get on. So most of the time, it works none of the time. So there is a way there is a way that they say it can be done. You have to arrange the Uber ahead of time and you have to tell them that you're going to base and request one with access and I did all of these things and true to form. I got into my Uber and I'm like do you have base access? And he's like base access. What's that? So the the I told them, okay, just take me to the front gate. And I will walk the mile and a half from the front gate to my to my ability. But I've learned over the years a trick that is helpful when you're in that situation and that is when you get out of the Uber at the gate and you start your mile and a half walk to building to walk as sadly and pathetically as possible. Pulling your luggage until someone stops and offers you a Ride, which didn't take long before someone drove by I saw them do a u turn. They came back. And they said, Hey, would you like a ride? It was two young Airmen, two young female airmen. And I said, Of course, I wouldn't love a ride. And they gave me a ride to the presidential end where I was staying. And as as we pulled up, I told them, I said, just so you know, I'm a, I'm a chaplain. And I'm here for a chaplain conference. So when you get to Heaven, you will get an extra jewel in your crown are picking me up. And when I said that, the driver started to cry. And there was a little pause. And when she had collected herself, she told me, she said, My father just died. And I'm trying to live a better life because of him. And that turned into a wonderful conversation with her about fathers, and what a blessing they are. And how, when we lose people like that, and we grieve that that's just an expression of love. Grief, at its simplest form is, is a function of love. And it's, it's important when we grieve. And it's beautiful. We had this beautiful conversation. And as I was talking to write, I learned from her that her father was a Christian man, and it inspired her and she was new to this Christian thing. She wanted to try it. And her first act of trying out this sort of new creation, this Christian thing was to stop and give a ride to this guy that looks so sad and pathetic. On the side of the road. And I told her, what are the odds? What are the odds that your very first act of obedience and love would be to pick up a chaplain? I don't know the answer to that. But I do know that God knows what he's doing. And he knows what he's doing and you and someone planted a seed in you. And hopefully, I planted some more in her. And that is my story. It was helpful for me to see how awesome it is. When people intentionally willingly purposefully plant seeds and one another, she planted a seed in me. And my encouragement to all of you today is to don't underestimate the seeds that you plant those tiny little acts of love and obedience. Those times when you just listen to someone or you take the time to help them or you encourage them or you forgive them. When you decide that you will be with them when you think maybe this is insignificant, but we remember that God can work amazing, remarkable things through the seeds that we plant.
No one may see that
no one in the world may be aware that you planted those seeds certainly the world may not know but Jesus does. And Jesus uses those and Jesus blesses those and there is growth happening when the people of God are obedient and caring and loving and plant the seeds we've been given where we've been called to plant them.
For Jesus is growing his kingdom one seed at a time, one sinner at a time.
Thanks be to God. Amen. Now may the peace of God which train Since all human understanding guard your hearts and your minds through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord Amen having her
Transcribed by https://otter.ai