Passage: Mark 4:26-34

The Big Idea

God doesn’t need you to be something special; He does everything special for you. In two short parables Jesus shows that His kingdom grows by an invisible power we can’t produce, and that it starts small, like a mustard seed, and becomes great because of what He does. Sad truth: we’re incapable of bringing God’s kingdom to earth. Happy truth: that was never our job. Our part is to receive His Word with humility and draw near to Him.

Receive the Implanted Word

James says to put away all filthiness and overflowing wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls (James 1:21).

In Mark 4, Jesus has taught that His Word, the gospel, is like seed planted in our hearts, and that our hearts may be hard, shallow, distracted or soft. Then He taught that His life is like a light shining in our darkness, and that if we stop walking in His light, our hearts grow dim.

Now He teaches this: God doesn’t need you to try to be something special. He does everything special for you.

You’re free to be small, unimportant, humble. You don’t have to change the world on your own. You don’t carry the burden of bringing God’s kingdom. In fact, nothing you do can add to what He’s already done.

All we can do is bear witness to what Jesus has done:

He forgave me, so I forgive you.
He loved me, so I love you.
He gave everything for me, so I’ll give everything for you.
He served me, so I’ll serve you.
He revealed God’s heart and plan to me, so I’ll tell you!

It’s always His good works that inspire, empower and animate ours. It’s His Spirit planted in your heart that flows out of your life and directs your actions, if you let Him.

Sad truth: we’re incapable of bringing God’s kingdom to this planet. Happy truth: that wasn’t our job in the first place.

The Seed Grows by Itself (Mark 4:26-29)

Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows, though he doesn’t know how. The earth produces by itself: first the blade, then the head, then the full grain. And when the grain is ripe, he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

Who’s the man? It doesn’t matter, because he isn’t the important one. He scatters seed (shares the Word of God, the gospel) and then does… nothing. He goes to bed. He rests.
The seed sprouts and grows by some invisible power.
That power supplies everything the plant needs at every stage.
And in the end, the man gets to harvest fruit he did nothing to produce.
He was simply faithful to scatter the seed. Incapable, but faithful.

What’s the lesson?

The coming of God’s kingdom doesn’t depend on human activity.
What Jesus is doing is something you could never do.
It doesn’t depend on you.
Yes, you may scatter the seed, but you have nothing to do with the growth or the life it produces.

God’s grace and kingdom are never earned. We can’t do anything to make God’s blessings fall on us. His blessings are a gift of grace, freely given to the humble.

Back to James: the only “work” Jesus wants us focused on is receiving. Are we receiving? Or are we earning, grabbing, fighting, trying?

“Lay aside” means turning away from.
“Receive” means turning toward.

We do both by faith: turning from sin in faith, turning to Jesus in faith. Jesus wants us to see that the kingdom operates only by faith.

The Mustard Seed (Mark 4:30-32)

Then He said, “How shall we picture the kingdom of God? It’s like a mustard seed, which when sown is smaller than all the seeds on earth. But once 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 nest in its shade.”

Here Jesus draws our attention to the seed itself.
Small is the key word. Then God brings the growth, and it becomes great because of what He does.
Humility is the foundation of God’s kingdom.
Again, the kingdom’s success doesn’t depend on your abilities or greatness, but on Him. And it will be so successful that it spreads to every nation and people.

Who are the birds? Some see a picture of evil (as with the birds in 4:4), others shelter for believers, others the nations coming into the kingdom. I lean toward the nations. In Ezekiel, God promises to plant a sprig that becomes a majestic cedar, and birds of every kind will nest in the shade of its branches (Ezekiel 17:23); and Ezekiel pictures a great tree in whose shade all great nations lived (Ezekiel 31:6). That the birds “nest in its shade” suggests all the peoples of the world will be there.

Jesus takes a small thing and makes something huge out of it.
He took a small group of men and built a Church larger than any nation, filling every corner of the world.
Jesus is committed to this! He loves humility, because He gets the most glory when He does something amazing with it.

How humble can you be? Look at what Jesus created from twelve goofy guys. John saw a great multitude no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and the Lamb, clothed in white, with palm branches in their hands, crying out, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:9-10).

What We’ve Learned

God’s kingdom doesn’t depend on human ability or effort. Jesus will produce the fruit He wants to see. Our part is faith in Him.
God’s kingdom doesn’t need you to be big. He needs you to be small. Jesus will take your humility and do more than you could ever imagine. Our part is to be humble before Him.

So What Do We Do? Draw Near (Mark 4:33-34)

With many such parables He spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. He didn’t speak to them without a parable, but privately He explained everything to His disciples.

To those who drew close as His disciples, Jesus explained everything. Only in close communion with Jesus can we truly understand the things of God.
Draw near to Jesus. Receive His Word with humility!
Remember the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, whose hearts burned as He opened the Scriptures to them (Luke 24:32).

Are we receiving God’s Word with meekness?

What Is Humility?

Humility is entire dependence on God, the absence of self-focus.

Andrew Murray wrote some beautiful lines on this:

“Here is the path to the higher life: down, lower down! Just as water always seeks and fills the lowest place, so the moment God finds men abased and empty, His glory and power flow in to exalt and to bless.”
“Humility is nothing but the disappearance of self in the vision that God is all.”
“Humility is the displacement of self by the enthronement of God.”

Paul says to have the mind of Christ Jesus, who, though in the form of God, didn’t count equality with God something to cling to, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant and being made in human likeness. And He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name above every name (Philippians 2:5-9).

“Have this mind” is an invitation to receive it. (Imagine two teachers competing for your attention. Which one will you listen to?)
Jesus showed what it means to humble ourselves before God:
No reputation: no thought of self-image.
A bondservant: no thought of self-will.
Identified with others: no thought of self-importance.
Obedient to death: no thought of self-preservation.

Jesus lived in perfect humility before God, and God exalted Him. That’s the way of the kingdom.

Grace Takeaway

You don’t have to carry the weight of building God’s kingdom. Scatter the seed, then rest; the growth comes from a power you can’t see or produce. Start small, stay small, and watch Him make something great. Your part is simply to receive His Word with meekness and draw near to Jesus, where He explains everything.

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Free to Be Small