Special Message from Preaching Conference

The Mustard Seed Grows

Mark 4.32

It might surprise you to know that Jesus enjoyed great popularity with the common people of His time. It was the religious leaders who were jealous and wanted Jesus dead. But the regular people heard Him gladly and followed Him in droves. Unfortunately, they did not always follow Him for the right reasons, with the desire to actually become devoted disciples, and they usually did not understand what He was doing. This text was during the early days of Jesus’ ministry when He was just becoming known by the people and many were following Him to see the signs He was doing. The signs were pointing the people to the coming of the Kingdom of God. And the people thought they knew what that meant and what the coming of the Kingdom would bring.

Jesus took every opportunity to teach the crowds about the Kingdom of God. In fact, this was Jesus’ favorite subject. He knew the people were expecting the Kingdom to come and they were hoping that He would be the one to bring it. But Jesus also knew that the people did not really understand the true nature of the Kingdom of God. So He taught them about the nature of the Kingdom. He taught the crowds in parables because He knew that the crowds did not have an interest in the truth but had other things on their minds. Parables were not simply sermon illustrations. They actually required an explanation to be understood, something which Jesus was willing to give to His disciples when they came to Him and asked. But most of the crowds were not interested enough to stick around and get any explanations. So most of the people probably went away scratching their heads.

The parable of the mustard seed is about the nature of the Kingdom of God. Specifically, it is about how the Kingdom would come. By comparing the Kingdom to a mustard seed Jesus is explaining how the Kingdom of God would grow and increase in the world. It might not seem so to us, but what Jesus was saying here was controversial. This is not what the people were expecting. The crowds had something in their minds about the Kingdom of God that they expected Jesus, if He really was to be their Messiah, to conform to. The Romans had to go, first of all. And that would obviously involve some kind of fighting or perhaps a miraculous display of power. God had done things like that for Israel in the past. The Messiah would be the Son of David, and David had been a great military hero. God had been with David when he went to war and so He would be with the Son of David when the Kingdom was restored to Israel and they were once again a powerful and independent nation. Such were their expectations. And it was all wrong.

Remember that these were religious people who were listening to Jesus. And they were Israelites, not pagan Gentiles. They had the Scriptures that prophesied about the coming of an anointed one who would rule and reign. And they knew that God had made those promises to them. The Messiah would come to be their king. And Jesus was a King. He did come to bring in the Kingdom of God. But it was the nature of this Kingdom and how it would be established in the world that would be surprising and revolutionary. God’s Kingdom would be bigger and better than their small thinking would allow for. Their conception of the Kingdom had more to do with their own hopes and dreams than the actual purpose of God. But there is still this tendency, especially among religious people, to think that God’s agenda is the same as their own and that He will underwrite what they want to do and accomplish.

The Kingdom of God

The parable of the mustard seed is about the Kingdom of God. A Kingdom is something that many modern people are not familiar with or even supportive of, especially in the United States. American’s don’t like Kings and we don’t like authority. At least, we don’t like people who have too much of it. And we don’t like anyone telling us what to do, and that is really what a Kingdom is all about. From the perspective of the people a kingdom has to do with authority or power. A kingdom is literally the rule of a king. We are talking about one person with absolute, sovereign power over his subjects. From the perspective of the Ruler, the King, the kingdom has to do with what the Ruler wants to do. If a King cannot get his way, then he does not really have a kingdom and is nothing more than a symbol instead of a reality. So the Kingdom of God is the authority and rule of God.

Now it should be obvious that God is a ruler with absolute authority. This authority is what makes Him God. If there were some authority higher than God, then that authority would be God. The Throne of God is the highest authority. And God has always ruled and reigned, even before the world or any human being was created by Him. Before the world was made God had other subjects that we know as angels. The eternal reign of God has always been a reality in heaven. But that is not what Jesus is talking about in this parable. Jesus is talking about the Kingdom of God being manifested on the earth. The Kingdom of God in this context is not God’s eternal reign, but His reign on earth which is really His purpose of redemption or salvation.

The Kingdom of God needs to come to earth because the world has been in rebellion against God, which has been facilitated by Satan who is also a Ruler and is in rebellion against God from before the creation of the world. God’s reign has been challenged in heaven by Satan and his angels, who were cast out of heaven to the lower regions of the earth. Here Satan has set up his own kingdom on earth and has caused the whole world to go astray. But Satan is not going to have the last word! And God is not going to let this challenge to His Kingdom go unanswered. There is no plan of salvation for Satan and his demons. But there is a plan to establish the Kingdom of God on earth and rescue men from Satan’s power. As one black preacher named Gardner Taylor said: “The Bible is about a God who is out to get back what rightfully belongs to Him!” That is what the growth and increase of the Kingdom of God is all about: God is reclaiming His fallen, rebellious creation. And you and I are a part of that purpose!

The Power in a Seed

How will this reclamation project work? Is God going to do it all at once in some awesome display of power? God could do that. He made the world in only six days. He could certainly remake the world in that short of a time span, or even faster. But the New Creation is not going to come in like the Old. To illustrate how it will happen, Jesus uses a metaphor from nature and agriculture. Jesus liked to use these kinds of comparisons. In this context He has already compared the preaching of the Kingdom of God to a sower who went out to sow his seed. In this parable Jesus uses another kind of seed with a slightly different purpose behind the comparison. But the comparison of the Kingdom to a seed is used to emphasize powerful potential. A seed has power in it. It is power that is ready to burst forth once the seed is planted.

The Kingdom of God has great power in it and this power has now been planted in the world and is beginning to take root and to grow! That is the message of Jesus. The purpose of the well-known parable of the Sower is to illustrate the impact of the Kingdom in the hearts of individuals. The parable of the mustard seed is about the growth of the Kingdom overall. This parable is the macro-view of the Kingdom of God in the world. The Kingdom of God in the world will grow like a seed grows when it is planted. A seed is something that is actually alive and will produce something. The Kingdom of God is going to grow and produce something in the world, which is something God wants to do.

A kingdom has to do with power. But there are different kinds of power and this kind of power is not a violent or destructive power. The Kingdoms of men grow and spread through violence and oppression. What men want to do has to be achieved by force. But the Kingdom of God is not being compared to a violent power. Jesus did not compare the Kingdom of God to an earthquake or a storm! Those are powerful, but for destruction. The Kingdom of God is like the power in a seed in that there is a new creation coming from it, not destruction. The Kingdom of God has creative power to produce something new in the world. When the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the nation of Japan, there was a tremendous display of power that the world had never seen. When it was over, it was clear which kingdom was the most powerful. But the A-bomb was a destructive power that unleashed a whole new era of fear and hostility that survives to this day. That is not the kind of power that would be unleashed when the Kingdom of God was planted in the world. The kingdoms of men tend to destroy in order to establish themselves. But the Kingdom of God would move and grow according to a creative power. This Kingdom would redeem and restore instead of destroy.

How will the Kingdom Come?

The Kingdom of God would come like a growing seed, not like a violent explosion. In other words, the Kingdom of God would not come instantly with a visible, violent cataclysm, which is what people at that time were expecting to see, but with the silence of a growing seed. (Remember we are talking about the growth and expansion of the Kingdom in the earth, not the end of the Age. There will be a fiery cataclysm in which the present heavens and the earth will pass away. After that, the only thing that will be left will be the Kingdom of God, which is growing in the earth now.)

It had all started one silent night in Bethlehem and the thing was continuing to grow and develop, even though most of the people did not know what was happening under their very noses! Sometimes the work of God is like that. It happens while men are sleeping or doing other things and not taking notice of what is really happening in the world. While people get up every day and go about their daily business, thinking that what they are doing is so important, the Kingdom of God is quietly growing under their busy feet. The Kingdom will come slowly and be almost imperceptible to men who are not seeking for it. Of course, if we seek the Kingdom of God, we will find it. But many people do not see it, even though it is here now, and they pass by it on their way to doing their own things and pursuing their own hopes and dreams. Sometimes we really don’t know what is growing in the ground until the first green shoots break the surface in the Spring. Where all was once dead and barren there may suddenly be something growing! God planted His Kingdom is what had previously been a barren wasteland. But that is just like something God would do! God seems to specialize in growing things where nothing would grow before and bringing life up from death.

This old world does not seem like good ground for the Kingdom of God to grow in. It is not uncommon to see plants growing up even through rock or concrete and breaking through all kinds of barriers. The Prophet said that the Messiah would be like a “shoot out of dry ground” (Isa. 53.2). And who would have thought that anything good and godly could spring up in our lives? But with God all things shall be possible!

All by Itself

The seed that is planted in the ground appears to grow on its own, all by itself, without any human assistance (Mk. 4.28). And this is the very principle Jesus is illustrating. The Kingdom grows all by itself, or without human assistance. Nothing actually happens all by itself, but it does appear to from a human perspective which is the intended contrast between a mysterious, Divine power and human power. God makes the seed grow. A gardener or farmer who plants the seed then must leave it alone and wait for it to grow mysteriously on its own.

Nature’s power is really the word of God, who is upholding the world and giving it order. Without the word of God, the whole world would go back into its original state of darkness, chaos, and emptiness. What happens in the world happens by the power of God and that is also true of the growth of the Kingdom of God. Perhaps the only reason for the natural order was to illustrate this truth and help us understand what would otherwise be completely spiritual and therefore invisible.

The point Jesus is making is that the Kingdom will not come because of what human beings do but because of what God does. We know this is true of the various cycles and seasons of nature. And nature is just a symbol that allows us to enter into the reality of the Kingdom of God. This does not mean that human beings are not involved in the Kingdom and its growth but that the Kingdom does not DEPEND on human beings for its growth and success. The farmer who sows a seed does not make it grow. The sowing or the planting of the seed and the growth of the seed are two different works. Human beings may be involved in sowing and planting, but when that work is done it is up to God to bring forth the fruit. To us the seed appears to just grow on its own. But we know that God gives the increase. It is not up to us to make sure the Kingdom grows. That is God’s business. We may play the part of the sower and the planter, perhaps even watering and fertilizing, but it is God that causes the growth.

The Church has been unwilling to accept this principle. Especially in Western culture, the Church has believed that it can engineer the growth of the Kingdom of God. All of the infrastructure of the institutional Church is built on the belief that through our efforts and our organization we can cause the Kingdom of God to advance on earth. But what has been built is a human institution and not the Kingdom. God does not underwrite human agendas, not even religious agendas. God has something that He has planted in the world and He is committed to its growth. We can either join in what He is doing or get out of the way! The main reason I had to quit paid ministry and the institutional Church is because I soon discovered that what many people in Churches want is not in line with what God is doing in the world.

Strangely enough, the very people who claim to be working for God are often not interested in working for God but they have their own plans and objectives. But this has always been a problem for religious people.

The Jews had their own agenda and when Jesus did not fit that agenda, they had Him crucified. So we should not be surprised when religious people in our time have their own agenda and are really building their own kingdoms instead of the Kingdom of God. I am interested in the Kingdom of God and its growth and development in the world. I am only interested in the Church as a means to that end, not as an end of itself. One of the best definitions of the Church I have ever heard came from a veteran missionary named Dr. Charles Taber. He said that “the Church is a project to enlist people in a project.” That project is the Kingdom of God. The Church is not the Kingdom but exists as a sign pointing people to the Kingdom. I am not primarily interested in Church growth, as it has been popularly defined, but in Kingdom growth. But the growth of the Kingdom is not something that the Church can accomplish. The mustard seed grows, but not by the hands of men.

I am not at all opposed to honest efforts to preach the Gospel to lost people and see them turn to Christ for salvation. The Gospel must be preached just as the seed must be sown and planted. But God causes the growth. God converts people. I have never converted a single sinner to Christ. I can’t cause the increase, not matter how hard I try. There is no methodology that can cause the growth of the Kingdom of God. It is not our job to discover an effective method. It is our job to preach the message. The Gospel contains Divine power to accomplish the work of God.

Sometimes the results will surprise you and are so far beyond our expectations that we must give all the glory to God for giving the increase! If man caused the growth, then man would get the glory. But God causes the growth of the mustard seed and that means He must receive all the glory for this work.

Small to Large

A mustard seed is not an impressive thing. At least, not at first. It is a very small seed. But we should not despise the day of small things! Even something very large might start out small. The size at the beginning is not the point. The point is the end result! The point of the mustard seed is that something small becomes something large in the end. I remember a little plaque my dad used to have in his Church office. It said something like this: “Don’t worry if your work is small and your rewards are few. Remember that the mighty oak was once a nut like you!” How true that is! Jesus is teaching us through this parable that His work in the world is going to sometimes seem small and even insignificant. But we must see what God is doing in terms of the end result.

This is also an antidote for our discouragement. At times we feel like we are insignificant and that what we are doing in the world as we try to serve the Kingdom of God goes unnoticed and does not matter for much. But we must begin to think in terms of the end result and factor in what God has planned to do in His time and in His way. We want everything right now. God has His own calendar and will bring results in His own good time.

We must find our significance in being a part of the plan of God and not in our individual contribution to that plan. This can save us from thinking that we are more important than we really are or, conversely, save us from thinking that we are nothing at all. We should not be deceived by appearances because something small may have great potential in it and may not be small in the end. So we should be encouraged that we are part of something really big and really important, though it might not seem to be so now.

On the other hand, there are many things that seem large and successful now that will actually decrease and pass away which is the opposite of the development of the Kingdom of God. When Jesus spoke about the mustard seed in this parable, Rome ruled the world and seemed to be the eternal city that would keep on ruling the world forever. Rome fell. But the Kingdom of God endures. And the Kingdom of God will still endure when all the Kingdoms of men have fallen into dust. In fact, most of the things that men deem important and significant must pass away. But we are receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken! This Kingdom may have started out like a mustard seed. But in the end it will be a mountain filling the whole earth. That almost seems impossible, just as it seems impossible for a large plant to come from a little mustard seed. But we live by faith and wait in hope.

The harvest is coming and what is coming from that little mustard seed will be something beyond our imaginations. A whole new world is coming from that little mustard seed! Jesus came into the world to plant that little mustard seed. It seems like a foolish waste of time to plant a little seed in the ground and then leave it there. Every farmer and every gardener who has ever lived has lived in hope. Our faith and hope are in God. This is the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not into being.