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Jan 01, 2022

Patient Kingdom

Patient Kingdom

Passage: Mark 4:21-34

Speaker: Andrew Kerhoulas

Series: Follow: Learning from Mark about Jesus’ Most Misunderstood Command

Keywords: kingdom of god, mustard seed, parable, hear, harvest, seed, pay attention, lamp on a lampstand, surprising growth

The disciples expected that the kingdom of God would arrive with a flash and all at once. But with his parables Jesus flipped the script, teaching instead that the kingdom would grow slowly but surely. We’ll explore the surprising inconspicuousness and banality with which Jesus compares God’s kingdom.

Readings & Scripture

PREPARATION: Adapted from The Worship Sourcebook

LEADER: For all the possibilities ahead in this new year, make us thankful, O Lord.
Give us wisdom, courage, and discernment in the face of so much chaos, despair, and fear.

ALL: Help us to see how, in our circumstances, we can contribute toward peace, faith, and love.
And give us the will to translate our desires into action even as we worship you now.

CENTRAL TEXT: Mark 4:21-34
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.” 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.”

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.”

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.”

33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. 34 He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

BENEDICTION: based on 2 Corinthians 13:13
LEADER: May the grace of Christ, which daily renews us,
and the love of God, which enables us to love all,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, which unites us in one body, make us eager to obey
the will of God until we meet again, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
The peace of our Triune God be with you all.

ALL: And also with you.

RELATED SCRIPTURES:

  • Matthew 7:2
  • Luke 6:38
  • John 12:24
  • 1 Corinthians 3:6

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

  1. Why do you think Jesus taught in parables instead of using some other teaching method?
  2. How did Jesus flip the script on popular expectations on how the kingdom of God would come? Does it matter for our discipleship?
  3. To what degree did Jesus embody his teaching about the kingdom in his death and resurrection? Describe some ways the gospel empowers us to faithfully live within the “patient kingdom,” the kingdom of slow and steady growth?

QUOTES:

  • The degree to which one hears his parables, the extent to which one allows the kingdom to break upon oneself, will determine the measure of one’s understanding. Those who hear, those who knock until the door is opened, will find the kingdom disclosed to them. But those of hurried search, whose knock at the door of life is tentative and brief, will find a once joyous invitation to enter the kingdom to have faded into a mirage of disbelief. - James R. Edwards

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