Mark 4:26-34 "The Kingdom of God Grows by Grace"

Mark 4:26  “. . . what the kingdom of God is like . . .”

The kingdom of God is a phrase that signifies the rule of God in one’s life and the rule of God in the world. For each believer the kingdom of God has come and is present as we yield our hearts to Jesus; clearly, the rule of God is yet to come to the world as a whole. Every day we see the evidence of the self-destructive refusal to accept God’s grace; though God holds out his arms to his children they continue to turn from the fullness of life that his love freely offers.

Jesus explained to his disciples how the kingdom grows in the life of those who want to live according to God’s rule. First, the kingdom grows by grace. The believer cannot make the kingdom grow. It happens in ways that we do not control or understand (v. 27). We pray; we study; we give; we serve; we worship. We live out the disciplines of the Christian life, but we cannot tie those disciplines to the wonders of God’s bounty in our lives. All our disciplines are ways of expressing gratitude to God. They are not ways of earning God’s blessings. As the harvest of God’s grace comes to fruition in our lives we are often surprised. We know that we do not deserve God’s goodness, and we do not understand the harvest of grace we have received.

Second, the kingdom of God cannot be measured. It begins in ways that we do not see or in ways that seem so small that we count it as nothing (v.31). What starts as the smallest seed becomes a great bush or tree. We can see in this parable of the mustard seed the growth of the church. From almost nothing it has spread round the world to every ethnic group on every continent. All have been invited to the shade and shelter of the tree of life. Just as Jesus envisioned, the kingdom of God has grown from the smallest seed to a great tree. Of course, we cannot fully equate the church and the kingdom of God. The church has much of the rebellious world still in it. But, as Jesus promised, we are learning and growing. We are like the first disciples of whom it was written, Jesus “spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand” (v. 33) Mysteriously, wondrously, secretly and powerfully the kingdom of God grows in and through the church by the grace of God in ways that surprise us still.

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Grandchildren. We were outside with Sweetie Pie and Mr. Happy at their house waiting for their father to come to the car. I slipped up behind Mr. Happy and put my hands over his ears and said, “Got ‘em; I got your ears.” He responded in his sternest three year old voice, “Give ‘em back!” Knowing that Mr. Happy is still in the “Magic Years,” and sometimes takes things literally, I pressed gently on his ears and said softly, “Ok, I put them back.” To which he exclaimed, “You put them on backwards!” I laughed out loud; I’d never heard that quip before. His mother had taught him this fun response. Our little exchange reminded me that youth--no matter how young--can delight us and teach us. It is not just the elders instructing the young. The learning goes two-ways, and it is wonderful.