Missions Paul

Who is on the branches?

Mark 4: 30-34 “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.”

 

One of the many Messianic prophecies can be found in Ezekiel 17: 22-23 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will take a shoot from the very top of a cedar and plant it; I will break off a tender sprig from its topmost shoots and plant it on a high and lofty mountain. ²³ On the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it; it will produce branches and bear fruit and become a splendid cedar. Birds of every kind will nest in it; they will find shelter in the shade of its branches.”

It is this kind of OT prophecy that Jesus has in mind when he gives this parable. Judah is small and is planted but from this tribe will come a branch where the birds will perch, not to swoop down and take the seed as in the other parable, but that they themselves will find security from their own dangers.

Jesus is speaking about himself. He is the Messiah branch of Judah. The birds are people, nations, maybe for that generation the Roman oppressors. The image is that the kingdom of God is peaceful. It has turned enemies into participants of the kingdom. It all happened from the smallest of seeds.

Our application would be this: Whatever you are trying to do for God, it may look really insignificant, so small that nothing good looks like it will happen. Yet from that act of kindness, that spoken word, your testimony shared, this gospel that we live for, then from that can grow something beyond our imagination.

Yesterday I visited Tamworth Elim Church which has so far provided 17 tonnes of food for local people who are struggling financially. Where did that mountain of provision come from? It was an idea sown into the mind of the Pastor in 2011. An idea, that is all!

Today you may only have an idea. You may only have your testimony. You may only be … you finish the sentence off. It doesn’t sound much at all. But out of this small thing you are doing for God then it can surpass your wildest dream. So much so that it can impact today the robbers of yesterday (the birds) and the miracle will not be just the growth of the seed but who sits in the branches! This is the kingdom!

The patience needed with the gospel

Mark 4: 26-28 “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.”

There are things that you can do, you can scatter the seed, you can spread the gospel, speak words of life and of hope. But that’s it. You can only do so much. You have to wait for the harvest.

The partnership with God involves waiting.

Digging the seed up to inspect it isn’t going to help.

“All by itself…” Without you God does the important work and you will never be able to explain it except it is a miracle of life.

First the stalk. That is all. There is no harvest. There is just a sign of a potential one.

The partnership with God involves waiting.

Second the bud shows. There has been growth. The seed has nearly accomplished its work. But try harvest now and it will be of no use. It is still too early.

The partnership with God involves waiting.

Finally the blossoming bud and yet even then there is a waiting time until it is fully ripened. At last the harvest has come and it is time for reaping.

Around your life there should be fields of stalks, buds showing, blossoming buds and ripened buds ready for harvesting and of course fields ready for the seed.

Out of your mouth comes the words of God, the seed, you may not think of it like that but it is true. You scatter all day long to everyone you meet. Wait patiently; the seed will do the work. God partners with what comes out of your mouth.

5 laws for Bible reading

Mark 4: 24-25 “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.”

The Amplified Bible: “Then He said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear. By your own standard of measurement [that is, to the extent that you study spiritual truth and apply godly wisdom] it will be measured to you [and you will be given even greater ability to respond]—and more will be given to you besides. ²⁵ For whoever has [a teachable heart], to him more [understanding] will be given; and whoever does not have [a yearning for truth], even what he has will be taken away from him.”

The law of focus: For that generation they were hearing Jesus tell parables and he tells them to pay attention. For us it is to read the Bible every day. We do other things daily so why not read the Bible also? It may have the power to accomplish much but the law of focus opens the door for that accomplishment.

The law of searching: Use other translations, if you cannot understand what is written then it is hidden so pray, ask God to reveal to you the mystery of what you have read. Search for the life application of what you read, use other people, discuss with them. Above all just because you have been given revelation of what you have read does not mean you have exhausted the revelation, there is more to that what you have read. The law of searching will cause you to say, “I have read that a hundred times and not seen it that way.”

The law of correction: Be ready to be corrected and then make the changes necessary. A teachable heart is not one that is good at storing knowledge but one that will implement what has been heard or read. Some people do not understand this law because although they are in a fix they think it is someone else’s fault, they are hard done by and the voice of complaint is more comforting than the voice of correction. In every difficulty there is a lesson.

The law of more: Today you have a greater depth of understanding and wisdom than ever before simply because your attitude towards paying attention to Him perpetuated the ability to understand further revelation. Your responsibility is the attitude and it is the Spirit’s responsibility to give understanding. The Spirit will give lavishly more than you can ever imagine.

The law of loss and gain: Live with such expectation and excitement for the Bible so that you never get tired of it. Whereas some will gain because of their approach, others will lose what they have gained because they stop paying attention, they stop reading the Bible, they drift and the teachable life seems to be a million years away.

Where is the lamp?

Mark 4: 21-23 “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? ²² For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open.23 If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.”

Mark has this saying coming straight after the parable of the sower. Jesus has been saying the gospel is for everyone. Now he continues. The gospel is not only a seed to be planted but a light to shine so that everyone can see what is hidden and concealed. The gospel discloses and brings out into the open the purpose of life.

Would anyone put a lamp under a bowl or in some translations a washbasin? Well there are some who think the gospel is for themselves, a set of rules that keep them clean, a list of do’s and do not’s that if they only keep each one they will be righteous and receive favour from on High. So yes let us put the lamp under the washbasin as we wash ourselves from the dirt of this world.

Would anyone put a lamp under a bed?

Well there are some who think the purpose of the gospel is to make their life more comfortable, that the good news is actually that their life is now central, He will care, He will make us lie down, He will comfort and give us peace. He will cause us to rest and not have any worries or wars or wounds. So yes let us put the lamp under the bed as we lay down and go to sleep in our many comfort zones.

But this is not the purpose for the lamp. It has to be on a stand for all to see. It has to light up the whole room. No shadows, nothing hidden, everything to be seen. The gospel is not for us to make us be better people or to comfort us in our daydreams. It is for the world. It is for those who are searching, hoping that there is meaning in life, it is for the pilgrims who want more in this life.

That is the power of the gospel, the power of the lamp!

The gospel is not a forensic science

Mark 4: 13 – 20 “Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? ¹⁴ The farmer sows the word. ¹⁵ Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. ¹⁶ Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. ¹⁷ But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. ¹⁸ Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; ¹⁹ but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”

Don’t you understand? Always think of the parables in this way …

The Word, the message from heaven, the gospel, words of hope and life are given to …

Some people v 15

Others v 16

Still others v 18

Others v 20

Some that bring a 30% return in their life

Some that bring a 60% return in their life

Some that bring a 100% return in their life.

Everyone deserves to hear. Don’t decide who you will share the good news with beforehand. Share it liberally. Don’t focus on those that you think will benefit the most, the 100% return people.

Don’t focus on the hard ground, the rocky places, the thorny soil and not even the expected return from people on who will produce the most for you. Focus on people and people need to hear the gospel. Get the gospel out far and wide. Stop studying who will receive it. Stop trying to efficient. Be outlandish, be wasteful with the gospel. It is not complicated. There is little to work out when everyone deserves to hear. It is not a forensic science. You will not be judged for being lavish with the gospel.

Searching for God

Mark 4: 10 – 12 “When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. ¹¹ He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables ¹² so that, “‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!”

Jesus didn’t come with 10 commandments, he taught with parables. These are not illustrations to help the teaching he had given, they are far more than that.

The parables of Jesus were given to create a search from within the hearer and a longing for more. Through them they are the beginning of the desire for the Spirit which is needed in all followers of Christ. Jesus quotes from Isaiah 6 where the prophet is starting out on his ministry to a people who are blind and not searching for God. The search is important. It is not about following rules. It is about the desire and passion of the heart not to lock them out of the kingdom but to entice them into it. If God simply told the people the secrets and then they rejected them then their judgment would be even greater. So in His love He dangles imagery in order for them to search. They can at least say ‘we didn’t respond because we didn’t understand’ rather than ‘we understood but we didn’t want you’.

The parable is the key and once the person begins to ask questions and as they ponder and think through the parable then the key is being turned in the door.

Therefore the key (the parable) opens the door to the secret or also known as the mystery. The secret/mystery is the revelation from God; you would only have known this because God had revealed it to you.

For example in the parable he has just given, the key is: what is the seed? Search for that, find that and it unlocks the whole secret/mystery of the kingdom.

The gospel is an invitation for a pilgrimage. Rule-keepers are one thing but pilgrims are better.

Let’s make sure we are still searching today.

Thoughts on sowing

Mark 4: 1-9 “Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. ² He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: ³ “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed.4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.” ⁹ Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

• The farmer is carrying seed, the life-form, small yet powerful, he will receive a harvest, this is why he is sowing, there is expectation and desire.
• The farmer scatters indiscriminately. Not in neat rows. The strategy is to throw the seed not to first think where it is going. There doesn’t seem to be much mapping of the area going on: paths, shallow soil, thorns and weeds, good soil, they all got the seed. A committee would have highlighted where not to throw the seed and that is where the farmer threw it.
• The farmer seems wasteful of the seed. He seems to have more seed than he needs; there is an abundance of seed. He hasn’t counted it out. It is a picture of a farmer’s hand sowing liberally and almost carelessly.
• The farmer isn’t perturbed by the failure of the seed to grow or by the birds, the sun or the thorns that act as enemies against the growth of the seed. Everywhere gets the seed. There is no failure in the scattering.
• The farmer yields a harvest. Sometimes it is 30%, 60% and even 100% of what is sown. They are all called a crop. There is no disappointment in the size of the crop.
• The farmer is Jesus and it is us. The seed is the gospel, the Word of God. We need:
  • To have expectation in the seed
  • To be indiscriminate with who receives the seed.
  • To be liberal, large, extravagant (fields not patio pots!)
  • To keep going at all costs.
  • To be happy with the harvest that comes.

 

 

The problems of family

Mark 3: 31 – 35 “Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. ³² A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.” ³³ “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked. ³⁴ Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! ³⁵ Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

 

We have seen these last few days how very early on in his ministry Jesus faces challenges from relatives and friends, the obvious religious teachers but now in these verses from his own immediate family. Mary and her other sons, Jesus’ brothers arrive. They are of the same opinion of his relatives and friends, ‘He is out of his mind’ and they are worried for him and for the disgrace on their family.

They cannot enter into the house because the crowd is too large. They stand outside and send someone in with a message for Jesus to basically come out to meet them. They were looking for him in order to stop this ministry that is becoming out of hand.

Before the scene closes Jesus invites all those in the house to be part of his family.

There is a family outside and a family inside.

3 differences

1. There is a difference between looking for Jesus and pursuing him.
2. There is a difference between waiting for Jesus to come to you and pushing through the crowd to be with him.
3. There is a difference between the family that want to preserve their name at all costs and the family who want to honour God’s name by doing His work.

 

When people judge you

Mark 3: 22 – 30 “And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.” ²³ So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? ²⁴ If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵ If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.26 And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come.27 In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house. ²⁸ Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, ²⁹ but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.” ³⁰ He said this because they were saying, “He has an impure spirit.”

He has been misunderstood and accused of burning out by his own people and now come some know-it-alls from the city. Teachers of the law who have purposely been sent to discredit and misrepresent his work; to say the good he is doing is actually coming from a bad place. It looks good but it is coming from a heart that is wrong, in fact, a heart that is controlled not only by a demon but satan himself.

With Jesus delivering so many people from the demonic he was getting a reputation of his ministry being categorised with a supernatural activity that they had not seen before. It was outside of their reference and experience. People continue to want to control what they do not understand and one of the ways to control is to categorise and put it to one side and say it is not of God warning people not to go near. It happens today as with Jesus. “That is not of God, it is a deception.”

How do you deal with the accusation that you are a misrepresentation and what you do is from a bad heart? How do you cope when you have been judged and sentenced? How do you recover?

• Jesus found the question to ask which made their accusation look stupid. Basically, are you saying there is a civil war in the kingdom of satan? v23-24.
• Jesus rose above the accusation and wasn’t slow at letting people know. He was setting people free from one life to life (house to house), this was the truth, v27.
• Jesus was being judged and his response was to judge his judgers, v28-30

Burn-out

Mark 3: 20-21 “Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. ²¹ When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”

His ‘family’ were his relatives but also friends of the family as some translations have it. It could be that his immediate family had sent them to him.

The ones closest to you can sometimes because of their love for you try and pull you away from what God has purposed in your life.

It had become obvious that the work of Jesus was now mushrooming out of proportion. His job description was getting too big. Reports of him leaving early in the morning whilst everyone was asleep, spending whole nights awake in prayer, crowds pressing on his time again and again and now they are hearing he is not even having time to eat. It all left his ‘family’ concerned for his physical and mental well-being. They thought he was going to burn-out. He needed time out. The Lord of the Sabbath needed a sabbatical.

There has to be balance and I believe strongly in rest and working out from a good relationship with God. Much is being said about working from your rest these days instead of resting from your work.

The truth is that some of those who are so-called experts at spotting possible burn-out in people are actually bone-idle. They wake up late, they do a few things during the day and they spend every evening in front of the television. They are tired from not doing much. Their mental strain is because they have no mental activity that is stretching them.

My advice is:

• Never let the idle stop you from working hard.
• Doing the work of God may mean your sleep and eating patterns are affected, that is okay. Fasting isn’t wrong for example.
• Don’t let people who love you the most make the decision for what is the norm for you, they will always err on the easy side.
• You can get tired from doing nothing so you may as well be tired from a good day’s work.
• Get ready to make some adjustments, weigh up all the voices and make a response.