LIKE A MUSTARD SEED – Mark 4:30-32

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on March 15, 2015 under 2015 |

Message preached Sunday, March 15, 2015 from Mark 4:30-32

Theme: God grows His kingdom into world-wide greatness and blessedness from very small beginnings.

(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)

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Over the past few weeks, we have been studying together from the ‘kingdom parables’ of our Lord as they are given to us in the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Mark. As we have seen, these parables—these brief teaching stories about spiritual truths that make use of everyday events—are ones that our Lord spoke to the crowds along the shore of the Sea of Galilee.

There are three of them in this chapter. And the thing that they all have in common is that they illustrate spiritual truths about God’s kingdom through the use of the common seed that is sown in the ground. The first one was the Parable of the Soils. Seed was cast on four different kinds of soil with four different kinds of result. That first parable taught us that the fruitfulness of the word of God in our lives is up to us—and to how we willingly receive it. But the second parable was the Parable of the Mystery of Growth. In it, the seed was sown; and as the farmer slept, the seed grew without his help. That second one taught us that we can faithfully sow the word of the Gospel of Jesus Christ into this world with confidence—knowing that God will sovereignly give it success by His own power and in His own time.

And this morning, we come to the third of these parables of the kingdom. It too is a parable about the sowing of seed. In Mark 4:30-32, we read:

Then He said, “To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it? It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth; but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade” (Mark 4:30-32).

* * * * * * * * * *

A few weeks ago, I got hold of a recently published biography of a great preacher. His name was D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones—a preacher in London between the 1940s to the 1970s. By the estimation of many, he was the greatest and most influential preacher of the twentieth century. I happen to very much agree with that estimation.

At the beginning of this biography was a short quote from Dr. Lloyd-Jones that has has been an encouragement to me ever since I read it. But it’s a quote that it would be rather easy to take out of context. He said; “Do not waste too much of your time in worrying about the future of the Christian church.”1

What a careless reader of that quote might think that ‘the Doctor’ meant was that the Christian church in modern times is failing and it’s on its way out. Don’t worry about the church anymore. It’s a relic of a bygone era. Scientifically sophisticated people can’t be expected to believe the claims of the Bible that the church has always been built on anyway. So, let the whole idea of ‘church’ fade away into history past. Let’s move on to other things that will make a greater difference in this needy world. That, of course, is what a lot of people think today. It was also what a lot of people believed in Dr. Lloyd-Jones’ day.

But that was not what he meant. He meant the exact opposite—that the gospel of Jesus Christ is not a message invented by men, but is of God; and that it is God’s sure and certain revelation to all of humanity, for the people of all cultures and backgrounds, for all of time. And as hard as the times may seem to be for the spread and growth of our Lord’s church on this earth—as much as human cultures may ignore the church’s message of the gospel; or as much as man-made philosophies may discredit it; or as much as human institutions may fight against it; or as much as governments might try to suppress it—it cannot and will not fail. The Christian church and its message is of God; and He will protect it and see to its preservation and growth.

Do you remember the conversation that the Lord Jesus once had with His disciples as they walked along the road? Many people were talking about Jesus and His ministry at the time. And so, He turned to His disciples as they traveled and asked; “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”

The disciples, of course, reported to Him the things that people were saying about Him. Some had said that He was John the Baptist come back to life. Others said that He was the mighty Old Testament prophet Elijah that the Bible promised would one day return. Others said that He was Jeremiah—that fiery preacher from of old. Still others said that He was one of the other prophets. Everyone had an opinion, it seemed. And not all the opinions were positive.

And when Jesus asked, “But who do you say that I am?”, that was when Peter spoke up and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:17-18).

Jesus said that His church—the assembly of the redeemed on earth—would be built upon the foundation of those words that Peter testified. And note that Jesus said He would build His church, “and the gates of Hades”—that is, the forces that the devil sets up either to box that kingdom in or to keep it out—“shall not prevail against it.”

When Jesus gave His last great command to His followers—what we call His Great Commission—He told them,

“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).

All authority has been given to Jesus—not merely “will one day be”, but already “has been”. And He said to go and make disciples everywhere. It doesn’t matter, then, who else says not to go, or who else says it won’t happen. That, I believe, is what Dr. Lloyd-Jones meant when he said, “Do not waste too much of your time in worrying about the future of the Christian church.” Don’t even bother wringing your hands in anxiety about the future of Christ’s church on earth. Serve it, of course. Defend it faithfully. Be in it, and give yourself to it. Love it as Jesus Himself loves it. But it would be silly to worry about something that Jesus Christ—the Son of God—has guaranteed will spread and be victorious until the time of His return; and over which the gates of hell itself cannot prevail.

And that’s why I love this morning’s passage. It reminds us that, even though the church seems troubled at times—even though individual local churches might come and go; and even though the church at large might go through relative times of confusion, or experience suffering and persecution, or even under go periods of disobedience and apostasy—we never need to fear. The church of our Lord Jesus Christ is not tottering on the brink of extinction.

As our Lord’s parable shows us, God grows His kingdom from very small beginnings. He will continue to give its growth success—in spite of all the attacks of the devil and of evil people—until it proves to be the blessing of the whole world.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Now; let’s look at Jesus’ parable a little closer. Consider how Jesus began it. He asked, “To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it?” I can almost picture Him looking up into the sky and rubbing His chin as He said this—as if He was thinking of what might serve as a fit illustration of God’s kingdom. It’s obvious, though, that Jesus wasn’t trying to come up with something. He was asking a rhetorical question. He knew exactly what He wanted to say. But He wanted to get His listeners thinking first.

And what do you suppose they might have thought? When He asked what He might use to illustrate the mighty and glorious kingdom of God, don’t you suppose that they would have thought of something like a mighty mountain? After all, in the Book of Daniel, that’s what the kingdom of God was illustrated to be—a mighty mountain that covered the whole earth. Or perhaps they would have thought of a majestic cedar tree. The Old Testament prophet Ezekiel used a cedar tree to illustrate the kingdom of God. Perhaps they would have thought of a powerful army. Many people, after all, were expecting the Messiah to raise up an army, throw the Romans out of the land, conquer all foes, and restore Israel to the glory it had back in the days of King David. Or perhaps they would have thought of a glorious nation—a world empire—as a fit illustration of the kingdom of God.

I believe Jesus asked this question to get folks thinking; and then to shock them with the answer that He gave—that the kingdom of God was like a tiny mustard seed! What a surprise that must have been! A mustard seed—to their mind—was among the smallest things you could think of! Who would have ever thought of such a tiny little thing to serve as an illustration of God’s glorious kingdom!

But there’s a lesson for us in that; and it’s that . . .

1. THE GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD ISN’T AS PEOPLE MIGHT EXPECT (v. 30).

People had expected the kingdom would make a big splash in the world from the very beginning. But that’s not the way it would happen. Do you remember what the prophet Isaiah promised about the coming of the Messiah? Do you remember how He said the King would come? He wrote of the coming of its King and said;

He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.

He is despised and rejected by men,

A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;

He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

Surely He has borne our griefs

And carried our sorrows;

Yet we esteemed Him stricken,

Smitten by God, and afflicted.

But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:1-6).

The kingdom didn’t begin as a mighty mountain, or a majestic cedar. It didn’t come into the world in the startling form of a mighty conquering army, and didn’t appear as a glorious world empire. It came with the Lord Jesus Christ coming in humility—teaching and preaching and healing people; and then dying a shameful death on the cross; one Man, on a hill in a remote spot on the earth, for the sins of humanity.

* * * * * * * * * *

Now; I need to tell you that there have been some people very much bothered by this morning’s passage. Jesus went on to say this about the kingdom of God; “It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth” (v. 31). And some people have objected that Jesus was in error in what He said. They say, “It’s not true! The mustard seed isn’t the smallest of seeds! There are other seeds on the earth that are even smaller than the mustard seed. And it certainly doesn’t grow up into a big huge tree! If Jesus was truly the Son of God, then how could He be so wrong in what He said about the mustard seed? And if the Bible is so clearly and scientifically wrong on something so basic, then how can we believe anything it says?”

But I don’t believe that would be treating the words of Jesus sensibly. If Jesus had told the people along the shores of the Sea of Galilee—two thousand years ago—what was actually the smallest seed somewhere in some far-away part of the world, they wouldn’t have understood what He was talking about. And beside, the words of Jesus in His teaching didn’t even require that He be understood to be speaking of the absolute smallest seed anywhere in the whole world. The context would require simply that we understood Him to be speaking of the smallest of the seeds that are sown upon the harvestable land in ancient Palestine. And for Jesus’ listeners, that would be true of the common black mustard seed; which was often sown in the gardens of their land.

And in using the mustard seed to illustrate the kingdom, I believe Jesus’ point was that . . .

2. IT STARTS OFF SMALL AND SEEMINGLY INSIGNIFICANT IN THIS WORLD’S EYES (v. 31).

Think of how His kingdom began. It began with His gathering a small band of followers around Himself in a far away and remote part of the world—with most of the religious officials and leaders opposing Him; and with many of those followers leaving Him when they didn’t like His teaching; and of the twelve who remained, with one going out to take his own life after he betrayed Him, and with the rest denying Him and scattering from Him at His arrest. Then, when His time of teaching was over, He Himself was crucified as a criminal—and by the most shameful and cursed way that anyone could die.

But all of this was as He Himself said;

Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life (John 12:24-25).

When it came to something that Jesus called “the kingdom of God”, it certainly didn’t have a very impressive beginning in the eyes of this world. Humanly speaking, it almost seems ridiculous to think that much of anything would come from it. But as the Bible says, “who has despised the day of small things?” (Zechariah 4:10).

* * * * * * * * * *

Jesus said that the kingdom was like a mustard seed—small and seemingly insignificant at its sowing; something hardly visible to the eye. But He goes on to say, “but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs . . .”

And this is true of the mustard seed. Jesus speaks of it as the greatest of all the “herbs”—that is, of all the food items that one would grow in a garden. It isn’t a “tree” in the normal sense of the word; but it does commonly grow up to five to six feet. Some have reported seeing them grow as high as twelve feet. They grow up tall and large in proportion to the remarkable smallness of the seed that was sown. And this is meant to illustrate another point that Jesus is making about the kingdom of God; that . . .

3. ITS GROWTH IS OUT OF PROPORTIONTO ITS SMALL BEGINNING (v. 32a).

I love what Jesus says in Matthew 24:14; “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” Imagine a roaming Teacher standing in a remote spot of the earth and declaring—from such seemingly unimpressive beginnings—that the message He declared about Himself and about His kingdom would spread, and would travel around the globe, and would be a witness to every nation before the end of history would come; and not through military conquests and marching armies, but through His followers preaching His word! But it happened—just as He said; and it is still happening even today!

Do you realize that this makes this parable more than just a parable? It makes it a prophecy that has been clearly validated in history! Here we are—on the other side of the world from where those words were first uttered—declaring that witness even today! What a great growth it is that has come from such a tiny seed!

* * * * * * * * * * *

Now; notice what Jesus said at the end of verse 32 about this great herb that grew up from the tiny mustard seed; that it “shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade.”

It’s surprising how many commentators have written that this was a bad thing. The birds, they say, are representative of something evil. They come to this conclusion, usually, because of what Jesus said in the first seed parable in verse 4—how after the seed is sown, “the birds of the air came and devoured it.” Jesus later explained that the birds represented Satan, who “comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown” (v. 15). The birds that come to rest beneath the shade of the mustard plant, they then say, must be evil people—ambassadors of the devil—who, as the church grows larger and larger on earth, sneak in and devour the things of the church and lead it astray in its doctrine. But I don’t believe that’s at all what Jesus is saying. It’s not necessary to think that what the birds mean in one parable is what they should mean in another. The birds are used in other places of the Bible as representative of all the needy people from all nations who—as the kingdom of the God of Israel grows on earth—would come to take up rest under its protection and care.

In fact, I believe that when Jesus spoke these words, His Jewish listeners would have thought right away of what it says in Ezekiel 17. In that Old Testament prophecy, God promised that He would judge His disobedient people by allowing them to be in captivity in the land of Babylon for a certain number of years. But he would take a portion of those people that He sent away into captivity, and would one day bring them back into their land. They would be only a tiny portion of what they once were. But they would grow in number; and from them, in time, would come the promised Christ who would rule as King over His kingdom. God told Ezekiel;

Thus says the Lord God: “I will take also one of the highest branches of the high cedar and set it out. I will crop off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and will plant it on a high and prominent mountain. On the mountain height of Israel I will plant it; and it will bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a majestic cedar. Under it will dwell birds of every sort; in the shadow of its branches they will dwell. And all the trees of the field shall know that I, the Lord, have brought down the high tree and exalted the low tree, dried up the green tree and made the dry tree flourish; I, the Lord, have spoken and have done it” (Ezekiel 17:22-24).

I believe the birds in Jesus’ parable show that as the kingdom of God grows . . .

4. IT RESULTS IN IT BECOMING THE BLESSING OF THE WHOLE WORLD (v. 32b).

I love what the psalmist writes in the first few verses of Psalm 84. He reflected on the glories of God’s tabernacle in Jerusalem—the symbolic center of His kingdom rule and worship; and wrote,

How lovely is Your tabernacle,
O Lord of hosts!
My soul longs, yes, even faints
For the courts of the Lord;
My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
Even the sparrow has found a home,
And the swallow a nest for herself,
Where she may lay her young—
Even Your altars, O Lord of hosts,
My King and my God.
Blessed are those who dwell in Your house;
They will still be praising You (Psalm 84:1-4).

* * * * * * * * * *

What a glorious thing God has done in growing His kingdom! And so, dear brothers and sisters in Christ; let’s never be discouraged or think that the church of Jesus Christ is somehow dangling over the ledge of utter extinction. Look at how God grew His kingdom—from such a tiny ‘mustard seed’ of beginnings, to the greatest kingdom on the earth; one that is a blessing to all who trust in Jesus and take their rest in Him. It will continue to grow under God’s care.

“Do not waste too much of your time in worrying about the future of the Christian church.”

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D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones; cited in Iain Murray, The Life of Martyn Lloyd-Jones: 1899 – 1981 (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 2013), p. v.