Grace, Mercy, and Peace to you from God the Father and our
Lord Jesus Christ,
God’s
people, sisters and brothers of Christ, you and I, live in two places at once –
in the world as it comes to us day by day and also in the kingdom of God, which
Jesus brought to the world when he was born in Bethlehem. God rules both kingdoms, of course, but the
kingdom of heaven especially belongs to Jesus, because it expresses his nature.
Earthly
kingdoms are pale imitations of God’s heavenly kingdom. There are lots of earthly kingdoms. They raise kings and leaders up and bring
them down. They create rulers and
subjects, masters and folks who do as they’re told. I have an old video that gives an example of
an earthly kingdom in action. It tells
the story of Alexander the Great who lived three centuries before Christ. His ambitions ruled him. He fought with most everyone, including his
own father and waged many bloody wars.
He had more earthly power than anyone else of his time, he left deep
footprints on the history of the world. He believed that he was a god. He died when he was very young.
The true God
is very different from Alexander.
Everything is subject to him, even the strongest of emperors. He doesn’t rule by force or bloodshed or
powerful armies. He is a God of love,
who pardons and heals and makes alive.
His kingdom is filled with mercy, pardon, faith, and hope. All believers, as we said, live in his
kingdom by faith, when we abide in his promises to care for us now, to pardon
our offenses, and to bring us into blessedness when Jesus returns in
glory. Even now, our Lord does not call
us subjects but his friends, his brothers and his sisters. He considers us kings and queens of heaven
already. When he returns and reveals his
kingdom in its fullness for all to see, there will be no subjects, only kings
and queens, and all who have lived by faith in him in the mixed and troubled
world will wear glorious crowns.
The church,
which is the visible part of God’s kingdom, puts Jesus’ promises before us to
encourage us and to give us meaning, hope, and the strength to keep on
going. God’s kingdom is hidden from
sight right now, but one day it will be revealed. Jesus promises that everything that’s secret
will come to light and his kingdom will shine out with everlasting glory. He gives us the faith to stay in his kingdom
now, even after worship is over and we resume our lives in the kingdom of
earth.
This review
of familiar ideas helps us understand the fourth chapter of Mark’s gospel. It begins with a parable. A sower casts seed in a field. Some falls beside the road, other seeds fall
on rocky ground, and still others fall among thorns. A goodly number of seeds fall on good soil,
however, and these seeds yield a crop that is 30 or 60 or 100 times the amount
that was sown. The sower is God and the
seed is his Word. The different kinds
of seed stand for the various ways people respond to his Word. Some produce no crop because Satan takes away
the Word immediately. Some accept the
Word joyfully for a time, but affliction and persecution cause them to fall
away. Others succumb to worry and to the
deceitfulness of wealth; they come to desire other things, and they are no
longer fruitful. Then there are those
who accept God’s Word, stay with it, and produce an abundance of fruit for the
kingdom.
We’ll focus on the last group this morning,
for it’s the one to which St. Peter’s people belong. God’s word works on us so that we will do
good works for kingdom throughout our lives.
God’s word in our hearts spreads to other hearts. We repent of our sins; we take hold of Christ
in joy; we live by faith. The fruits of
the Spirit that St. Paul described are present in our lives – joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
The second
parable about the Kingdom of God, which starts this morning’s text looks at a
man scattering seed from a different angle.
It expresses Jesus’ confidence in his Word, which grows automatically,
all by itself. The kingdom doesn’t run
by human huffing and puffing but by the Lord’s patient, loving, ceaseless
care. There is power in the Gospel, and
efforts to adapt it or change it get in the way. What’s more, we don’t take a lot of time
trying to figure out how it works or why or when. We believe in it and receive its benefits.
An old
Lutheran put it this way: “the spiritual fruits of God’s kingdom are present
whenever a person receives power and wisdom from God and says in humility, ‘I
stand in faith and know how precious my faith is’ or whenever a man or woman
discovers in humility that this faith he or she has received has become a force
to defeat sin, wrath, and ungodly passion and who can cast off whatever
displeases God and put on what delights Him.
The gospel is at work whenever a woman or a man overcomes by the faith
that he or she has received the cares and lusts of this world and carries an
inner peace that the world can’t give or take away. The kingdom is present wherever a Christian
grows in love and humility of heart through the faith that he or she has received
from Jesus.”
The Lord of
the harvest lets none of the crop spoil.
He turns it into seed instead for new planting; he will make more new
fruit grow until the last harvest when Christ returns in glory, at which time
all the hidden growth of God’s kingdom that we can’t see with our eyes will
become visible and all our moments of pain and all our striving to rise will
resolve themselves into blessed praise of our Lord and his Heavenly Father and
the Holy Spirit who have been active without stopping.
Jesus didn’t
look to man-made things to describe the growth of his kingdom, but to
nature. I suspect that many of St.
Peter’s people love the outdoors and growing things and the beauty and
ruggedness of the Canadian landscape and will feel comfortable with our Lord’s
choice. You might have been willing to
answer the question he asked the people who heard him in Galilee: what shall we
say the kingdom is like? Maybe we’d
compare it with a flock of migrating birds that knows exactly where it’s going
or with a vegetable garden that provides for a family’s needs and never lets
them down. Jesus compared the kingdom
with a mustard seed that is smaller than other seeds but becomes the greatest
plant in the garden. The mustard seed is
Jesus himself. We think of the baby born
in Bethlehem, the small following Jesus gathered when he began his ministry,
his death on the Cross, and then the rapid spread of the faith after he
died. The beginnings were nothing very
great in worldly terms. He didn’t lead
an army to big victories. It’s a miracle
that one man, trained as a carpenter, without highly placed contacts, could
start a movement that would spread throughout the world and whose glory will
shine forever. The Lord spoke through
Ezekiel, saying that he would plant a cedar that would produce branches and
bear fruit and become splendid. Birds of
every kind would nest in its branches.
The cedar is Christ and the branches are believers all over the world,
like the ones at St. Peter’s, in whom others may find rest and shade, courage,
hope, and joy, and the faith to endure.
It’s common
for folks nowadays to express concern about the state of the church. We won’t do so this morning. The parables in Mark 4 give us courage and
invite us to rejoice in the kingdom God has created. Its power comes from Him. The church is a living community. The power and the life that God has given it
will last forever. The kingdom will
continue growing until the end of time.
It’s not confined to one group but is spread over the whole world. Numbers are important, but they are not the
main thing. Neither is outward
organization. Christ rule of grace is
spiritual, and no one can see the Spirit.
Still, we can see the Spirit’s effects in many ways, such as the
sturdiness of our own worshiping community.
To sum up,
then, God has made us good soil that produces kingdom fruit for his glory and
the benefit of our neighbors. We are
strong branches on the everlasting tree that God has planted. He blesses us with the hope that we will
continue strong and fruitful. We give
God thanks and praise that he keeps us in his kingdom. In Jesus’ Name. AMEN.
The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your
hearts and minds in the knowledge of Christ Jesus. AMEN
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