Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on Mark 4:26-34.
“And he said, so is the kingdom of God, as if a man
should cast seed into the ground… and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth
not how” (Mark 4:27-28).
“It is like a grain of mustard seed, which… is less
than all the seeds that be in the earth: but when it is sown, it groweth up...
and shooteth out great branches…” (Mark 4:31-32).
What do we learn from our Lord’s parables of the secretly growing
seed (Mark 4:26-29) and the mustard seed (Mark 4:30-32)?
First, we need to apply this teaching to our understanding of
Christ’s kingdom. It is here, but not yet.
The Lord is sovereign over his own work. His kingdom is here, and
it is secretly growing, just like that seed in the parable. It is his work. He
will bring the fruit when he is pleased to do so and according to his
timetable. Rest assured, however, a harvest time is coming.
Sometimes the present kingdom can look to us like such a small and
weak thing. No bigger than a mustard seed. But it has a great God behind it.
And when he is pleased it will become a mighty branch and a resting place for men
from many nations.
As the prophet Zechariah asked, “For
who hath despised the day of small things?” (Zech. 4:10).
That is the view from the macro-scale, but we can
also apply this, secondly, to the micro-scale.
You may look at the seed sown in you and see little
growth and no fruit, and you may despair.
You may look at the small seed sown in the lives
of loved ones, children, friends, and neighbors, and ask, Where’s the fruit?
We are reminded today to put our trust in the
Lord. The kingdom is like a secretly growing seed. It is small as a mustard
seed. But it is a great God’s work, and he who began this good work will be
faithful to complete it. Consider the words of James:
James 5: 7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.
Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath
long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the
Lord draweth nigh.
All the aches and pains and disappointments will
indeed be ended at the time when Christ comes again with power and great glory.
It will be the time of the final harvest, the final resurrection. So, let us
take heart, fellow pilgrims. Let us be steadfast, unmoving, always abounding in
the work of the Lord.
He is lisping this to us in ways we can understand and untangling
it for us in ways we can grasp, as he did to the first disciples in parables
(Mark 4:33-34).
The kingdom has come in Christ’s incarnational ministry. It is
here right now. And it will be here one day in ways greater than we ever could
have asked or imagined.
Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle
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