Calvary Reformed Church
Kingdom /Reign of God in Parables
Mark 4 starts with the parable of the Sower / Seed / Soil
Jesus / disciples / we are the sowers
Seed is the Gospel---it never changes
Soil: our hearts and other peoples hearts
-- Hard, Shallow, Divided, Fertile/ Open Heart
Mark 4:21 He said to them, “Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand?
Lamp on a stand----Truth is Manifest
Go back to previous verses---4 Soils
• Hard, Shallow, Divided, Fertile/ Open Heart
• these parables are a continuation
1. Truth meant to be seen
2. Our Faith is meant to be seen
3. Truth is Manifest
• To Pilate’s question, “what is truth?”
• Jesus said, I am the Way the Truth, the life.”
4. Jesus also said, “I am the light of the world.” Jn.
– ARE YOU A “BASKET CASE” CHRISTIAN? Many Christians today are hidden from sight, reluctant to be identified as Christians. Such a Christian is like a brand-new light that never leaves the carton it came in.
Mark 4:22 Truth will come OUT
For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open.
- Truth is meant to be shared…Christ teaching in parables so not all understood---but now wants ALL to hear and understand
Again.... Jesus also said, “I am the way, the truth, the life.” Jn.
Mark 4:24–25
24 “Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more.
25 Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”
• Phrase use it or lose it / other parable Rich man gives workers different amounts of money, two double theirs, one buries theirs, the 1 lost theirs
• Soil of heart---Reproduce
Mark 4:26–29
26 He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground.
27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.
28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head.
29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”
--- Kingdom: boundaries === Reign of God: no borders
- All we can do is sow the seed; God alone can give the increase
(1 Cor. 3:6–7). We cannot make the seed grow; in fact, we do not fully understand how the seed grows.
- Our task is to sow the seed / be alert 4 harvest ready
Mark 4:30–34
30 Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it?
31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth.
32 Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”
33 With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand.
34 He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.
Mustard seed----Results in multiplication---God GIVES the GROWTH, not our marketing.
- Growth is in God’s hands, not ours
• But we need the fertile / open heart / and not hide our faith
• smallest seed known (at that time)
Our job as a Christian it to let our / Christ's Light SHINE
----The Rest / the Kingdom / growth is up to God
