The Upside-Down Kingdom

The King’s Cause, Part 13

Mark 4:21-34

Ethan Welch

WELCOME

Good morning and welcome…
If you have a Bible…

**Happy MLK Weekend

**Week of Prayer and Fasting // Night of Prayer and Worship

**Two-Year Anniversary of moving into this building…share the story of how we found the space…Nora had to pee…

INTRO

**The Gospel of Mark—The King’s Cause

Author Mark…
Convinced of who Jesus is…
Tons of humility…never mentions his own name
Mark wasn’t an apostle but rather a ministry companion to the apostles
Same Mark as John Mark in Acts…Paul and Barnabas
We know from Papias, an early church father, that Mark eventually became a ministry companion and disciple of the apostle Peter for a number of years.
Roman audience because of Latinisms…maybe written from Rome
Most likely the first of the 4 Gospels…many scholars date it to 60-70 AD

TEXT—Mark 4:21-34

[21] And he said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? [22] For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. [23] If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Context—trying to discern the parables of Jesus…

Secret, hidden nature of the kingdom of God
Lamp and a basket

**Anyone who has ears…

Not everyone who hears me today actually hears me.

[24] And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. [25] For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

**If you are someone that hears, then you bear responsibility for what you do with the message…

[26] And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. [27] He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. [28] The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. [29] But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

**1st Century Farmer

**Illustration—Buddy the Elf…decorating the department store…

North Pole scene…
“Not it’s not,” “Yes it is.”
“Why are you smiling like that?” “Smiling’s my favorite.” “Make work your favorite. Work is your new favorite.”
“OK, People. Tomorrow morning, 10AM, Santa’s coming to town.”
Life-size gingerbread house
Thousands of paper snowflakes
Empire State Building of legos
Mona Lisa on the Etch-A-Sketch

Department manager shows up the next morning and is completely amazed at how all this could be done in one night…

The way Jesus builds his kingdom in people is nothing short of miraculous.

**Christianity isn’t about religious duties and moral achievements in order to change your life and impress God…

**Christianity is about experiencing God and letting him transform your life…

**Ezekiel 37—Valley of Dry Bones

Application—Do you need a miracle today?

Do you feel hopeless… Do you feel like your life is a lost cause…
Jesus specializes in people just like you…
Maybe today is your day for a miracle…

[29] But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

“Sickle” is reaping the harvest…
I’m amazed at the lack of participation by the farmer…
The seed grows on its own…Greek word, “automatos” for “the earth produces by itself”
The farmer harvests the fruit without any work on his own…

We receive the harvest of the kingdom of God at no contribution of our own.

**GOSPEL

[30] And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? [31] It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, [32] yet when it is 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 make nests in its shade.”

Mustard Seed

Smallest of seeds…seemingly insignificant
Dies
Buried in the ground
Comes out of the ground with new life
Grows into a large tree
At the beginning it’s the smallest seed but by the end it’s the largest plant in the garden…

The kingdom of God is an upside down kingdom.

God’s kingdom is about small, seemingly insignificant starts…

The inception…a few Galilean peasants…No size, no money, no power, no significance, no real estate, no buildings, no majority…
Yet, grows into a unstoppable movement…

Monologue, In Jesus’ Kingdom…

The way up is down
The way to be the greatest is to be the least
The way to find yourself is to lose yourself in God
The way to live is to die to yourself
The way to be wealthy is to give your wealth away
The way to be full is to pour yourself out
The way to lead is to serve
The way to secure happiness is to secure the happiness of others
The way to be strong is to be weak
The way to be first is to be last
The way to be qualified is to not be qualified at all
The way to be exalted is to be humbled

**Illustration—Young Seminary Preacher[1]

Years ago a young man had just graduated from seminary, and he was about to preach his first sermon. He thought he knew what the people needed, because in seminary they teach you how lay people don’t understand the Bible and you do now because you took all their courses. It was evidently a high pulpit, and he walked up to the pulpit, confident, head up, eyes to the ceiling, because he knew he was going to give the people what they needed to hear.When he was in the middle of the sermon, he began to realize this is hard and he wasn’t doing a good job and it’s hard to be clear. It’s hard to be compelling, and he realized he wasn’t doing a very good job. He was struggling up there. As he walked on down, he was crestfallen, his eyes were down, and his head was down.Some old lady saint came up to him and said, “Young man, if you had gone up the way you came down, you would’ve come down the way you went up.”

**Martin Luther King Jr.—A revolutionary like Jesus

Those who are not looking for happiness are the most likely to find it, because those who are searching forget that the surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

You were made to be a part of Jesus kingdom.

“when it is 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 make nests in its shade.”
Story of Daniel 4, Nebuchadnezzar’s vision of a great tree…we weren’t made to become a great tree but rather to rest in the tree of God…

CONCLUSION

**The Upside Down Kingdom

As Americans, we have a tough idea with Jesus as king…we live in a government in which the President is subject to us…rule of the people…
However, with a king, you enter into a relationship with a king, not primarily because of what he can do for you or what you get out of it…because of whether or not he can meet your needs…you don’t interview a king or assess him…you don’t negotiate with a king about what he will or won’t do…you enter into a relationship with a king because it is his due, because he is the king…you submit to him because he is the king and because of his rule…
Americans are looking for a spirituality that allows them to still rule their life and be in charge of their life…
In ancient days, when you would meet a king on the road, you would bow down before him, pull your sword, and turn the handle to him in order to demonstrate that your life is in his hands and submissive to him…there was no mistaking your position and relationship to the king…you lose control over your life because you do whatever the king command…your will is my command…time, money, sex life, etc.
He’s the king, not a product.
Jesus is the only king…he is not a dictator…he turns the sword on himself…

Jesus is the mustard seed…

Smallest of seeds…seemingly insignificant
Dies
Buried in the ground
Comes out of the ground with new life

PRAYER

[1] Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church.