WEBVTT 00:00:00.959 --> 00:00:05.759 This is Mark chapter four, verses twenty-six through twenty-nine. 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:11.439 And he said, The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. 00:00:11.759 --> 00:00:16.239 He sleeps and rises, night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows. 00:00:16.480 --> 00:00:17.839 He knows not how. 00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:25.120 The earth produces by itself first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 00:00:25.440 --> 00:00:30.000 But when the grain is ripe at once he puts in the sickle because the harvest has come. 00:00:30.239 --> 00:00:31.359 This is the word of the Lord. 00:00:31.519 --> 00:00:32.560 Please be seated. 00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:35.520 All right, let's pray, and we'll move into today's text. 00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:51.119 Holy Father, we praise you for your word and the way things start as a seed in our hearts, and then the promise that they will grow towards ripeness, towards the conclusion that you are bringing us to. 00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:56.399 Lord, the kingdom of God is a mysterious thing, and we pray that you would give us eyes to see it today. 00:00:56.640 --> 00:00:58.799 We pray that you would give us ears to hear your word. 00:00:59.039 --> 00:01:04.640 That way we might be equipped to understand your parables and to understand what you are calling us to. 00:01:04.959 --> 00:01:12.159 Lord, would you give us a vision that looks out into the world and sees the work that you are doing, although it can be hidden? 00:01:12.480 --> 00:01:15.359 Would you give us eyes to see it and celebrate it? 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:26.879 Lord, we pray that you would transform our hearts and that you would use your word, that you would make us good soil, that your word would take root in. 00:01:27.040 --> 00:01:28.879 Father, we lift this up in Jesus' name. 00:01:29.120 --> 00:01:29.760 Amen. 00:01:31.040 --> 00:01:33.760 Okay, so here's the question that I want to start with. 00:01:34.079 --> 00:01:40.480 Christianity, it's this project that we're doing right now and that we've been attempting for about 2,000 years. 00:01:40.640 --> 00:01:43.760 So Christianity's been going on for about 2,000 years. 00:01:43.920 --> 00:01:46.959 So in your assessment, how do you think it's going? 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:52.000 Like compared to, I'll give you a hypothetical. 00:01:52.159 --> 00:01:52.879 Imagine this. 00:01:53.120 --> 00:01:55.760 2,000 years ago, what if I were to tell you the world was like this? 00:01:56.000 --> 00:02:06.000 2,000 years ago, God became a man and lived it in the world, and he said, the world's belonged to Satan for too long. 00:02:06.079 --> 00:02:07.200 I'm taking it back. 00:02:07.359 --> 00:02:09.680 And I'm starting my kingdom now. 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:17.840 And he starts his kingdom, and then he dies and is resurrected and comes back to life and then sends his spirit to fill a group of people. 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:20.560 And he says, This kingdom's going to spread over the whole world. 00:02:20.800 --> 00:02:29.120 So if you thought that happened and you were to look out into the world now, how does it fit your expectations? 00:02:31.360 --> 00:02:33.360 Is it like, yeah, you know, I don't know. 00:02:33.439 --> 00:02:37.599 I would have thought a little more if that thing were to have really happened. 00:02:37.840 --> 00:02:41.840 Things seem, I mean, things still seem kind of crazy, right? 00:02:42.639 --> 00:02:44.960 So how do we square that? 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:53.840 This is often one of the main defeater beliefs for Christianity, is just look at the story, look at what you're claiming. 00:02:54.000 --> 00:03:04.240 That God became a man and established his kingdom and started it amongst us, and then I walk out into the world, and it's like, you know, it doesn't seem much different. 00:03:05.280 --> 00:03:10.159 It doesn't seem like things have changed in that dramatic of a fashion. 00:03:10.719 --> 00:03:16.400 I have good news for those of you that might uh be frustrated by that question. 00:03:16.639 --> 00:03:19.520 The Bible addresses it and speaks directly to it. 00:03:19.599 --> 00:03:29.759 And in fact, even as early as the first century, this question was roaming through the church in the minds of the people in the church. 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:39.280 And Peter, when he's writing his letter, he writes, and uh he's in his second letter, he uh discusses this very question. 00:03:39.680 --> 00:03:44.080 And it sounds like this in 2 Peter chapter 3, verses 3 through 4. 00:03:44.319 --> 00:03:56.960 He says, Knowing this, first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires, they will say, Where is the promise of his coming? 00:03:57.280 --> 00:04:03.680 For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation. 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:08.560 You see, it they they say, look at the world around you. 00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:11.680 Everything kind of seems the same. 00:04:12.479 --> 00:04:16.560 You know, there's just a normal, ordinary pattern of the world. 00:04:16.879 --> 00:04:22.480 And we had this promise that Jesus was coming back and that this was going to happen soon. 00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:26.560 So how do we how do we wrestle through that? 00:04:27.759 --> 00:04:36.399 Well, the doubt of Jesus, as you can see there, it it this this sort of sentiment is echoed throughout scripture all the time. 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:53.279 Uh we see it in the prophets and in Malachi and Ezekiel, in in the Psalms, this takes place in Psalm 73 in a really, really clear way, where just in one person's heart, he looks out into the world and he says, It seems to always be going well with the wicked. 00:04:53.519 --> 00:05:13.120 And he says, I saw that happening in my, I almost stumbled before the Lord, and I almost just disbelieved in him because it seems like God must not be involved with this because things are things are going in such a way that it just seems ordinary and normal, or worse, that the wicked are just more successful. 00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:20.480 This question is understanding this question is a deep part of our faith. 00:05:21.439 --> 00:05:39.199 So what we need to see is that in order to accurately interpret the history of Christianity in the way that we would expect it to unfold, we have to understand how Jesus himself described the kingdom. 00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:42.720 Jesus' ministry was all about the kingdom of God. 00:05:42.879 --> 00:05:45.120 He talked about it just nonstop. 00:05:45.600 --> 00:05:52.800 In fact, many theologians say that the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, is the central theme of the New Testament. 00:05:53.279 --> 00:06:06.720 And so, in order to understand how Christianity will unfold, what our expectations are, what would confirm the reality of Christianity moving in the world, we have to understand the shape of the kingdom of God. 00:06:08.160 --> 00:06:16.079 Now, there are several, there are a couple of different options, and I think that we see these playing out in the world right now. 00:06:16.639 --> 00:06:24.800 When you have a project, something like, you know, Christianity or something, and you you have this premise that guides it. 00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:28.000 Jesus is Lord and His Lordship will reign in the world. 00:06:28.079 --> 00:06:33.360 And then if you don't see that unfolding, then I think there's two options of what you'll do. 00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:36.800 You'll deconstruct the initial premise. 00:06:37.279 --> 00:06:44.079 And we see that rapidly moving through our culture right now, where we have a culture that is celebrating deconstruction. 00:06:44.319 --> 00:06:54.720 As we're at a point where we're looking back on a lot of the project of Western culture, and people are saying it hasn't amounted to this utopia that I expected to receive. 00:06:54.879 --> 00:06:56.160 And so what are we going to do? 00:06:56.319 --> 00:06:59.279 We're going to move in and we're going to deconstruct it. 00:06:59.600 --> 00:07:03.279 That's one option when reality doesn't match your expectation. 00:07:03.519 --> 00:07:13.360 The other option, I think, is to double down and try and take the utopia into your own hands. 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:21.040 And the way that I think we see that manifest in our culture and in people's lives is burnout. 00:07:21.839 --> 00:07:25.439 When you try and take the utopia into your own hands. 00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:37.439 What I hear so frequently from people are lines of thought that lead to deconstruction or patterns of life that are resulting in burnout. 00:07:37.600 --> 00:07:38.959 Is that relatable? 00:07:39.439 --> 00:07:41.439 Do you all hear that as well? 00:07:42.480 --> 00:07:43.839 We'll find out together. 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:45.839 Hope the sermon works. 00:07:48.879 --> 00:07:56.959 To address both of those, we need to get we need to understand the shape of the kingdom of God. 00:07:57.920 --> 00:08:01.360 And then we'll be able to address deconstruction and burnout. 00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:04.079 And you'll leave here and you'll be able to handle both of those things. 00:08:04.240 --> 00:08:05.360 Congratulations. 00:08:06.079 --> 00:08:06.959 Alright, you ready? 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:08.480 Let's look at the kingdom of God. 00:08:08.879 --> 00:08:15.759 Then we're going to look at the mystery of the kingdom, the process of the kingdom, and the purpose of the kingdom. 00:08:16.079 --> 00:08:17.839 Alright, ready to start? 00:08:18.160 --> 00:08:21.759 We're just gonna go verse by verse through this short little parable. 00:08:22.959 --> 00:08:24.399 Mark 4, 26. 00:08:24.560 --> 00:08:31.360 And he said, The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. 00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:35.200 Okay, so remember our context. 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:47.519 We're moving through the book of Mark currently at R C D, and we are in the section where Jesus is describing the parables, and he began by giving us the parable that unlocks all the other parables. 00:08:47.600 --> 00:08:53.679 That's the parable of the sower, the man who scatters seed on the ground and it falls on four different types of soil. 00:08:54.000 --> 00:09:02.559 And three types of soil result in bearing no fruit, and one type of soil, good soil, the seed takes root and multiplies. 00:09:02.879 --> 00:09:13.360 Well, we're in that same discourse after he's explained the parable, and then he gives us that same picture, but he's gonna give us a different angle on it here. 00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:16.159 This that was sort of the meta-parable. 00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:22.399 This one is a particular slice, and he's introduces it by saying, the kingdom of God is as if. 00:09:22.799 --> 00:09:25.200 So this is like the kingdom of God. 00:09:25.279 --> 00:09:29.679 That's the first time we've seen that phrase used in reference to these parables. 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:32.879 So we're we're describing the kingdom of God. 00:09:32.960 --> 00:09:35.600 Now, what is the kingdom of God? 00:09:36.080 --> 00:09:47.360 Um Saint Augustine famously uh said of time that he knows exactly what it is until you ask him to describe it, which I think is pretty true, you know. 00:09:47.519 --> 00:09:51.600 And I think the kingdom of God acts sort of similarly in our minds. 00:09:51.679 --> 00:09:54.960 Uh that like the kingdom of God, yeah, Jesus talks about it all the time all the time. 00:09:55.039 --> 00:09:56.000 I know exactly what that is. 00:09:56.159 --> 00:10:02.000 And then somebody says, describe the kingdom of God, and it's like, oh, you know, you know it when you see it. 00:10:02.159 --> 00:10:04.720 You're really gonna like it, trust me. 00:10:04.879 --> 00:10:07.279 Yeah, you'll definitely like it. 00:10:08.559 --> 00:10:13.519 But we can be the kingdom of God is uh actually a pretty simple concept. 00:10:13.759 --> 00:10:16.000 It's just like any other kingdom. 00:10:16.240 --> 00:10:18.559 What happens in a kingdom? 00:10:18.799 --> 00:10:21.840 The king's will plays out. 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:26.639 It is the boundaries within which the will of the king plays out. 00:10:26.799 --> 00:10:30.399 That's what makes him a king, and that's what makes it his kingdom. 00:10:30.480 --> 00:10:36.879 It's a relational connection between his will playing out and the boundaries within which that happens. 00:10:37.039 --> 00:10:39.200 The kingdom of God is the same way. 00:10:39.440 --> 00:10:55.759 It is the it is those places, those environments in which God is God, where he is treated as king, and therefore his will, his good and perfect and acceptable will plays out in those places. 00:10:55.919 --> 00:11:13.440 And so we see it bear such fruit as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, as human flourishing in all sorts, in all of its best ways, as flourishing of that which we have dominion over our the earth in which we live, and the families in which we inhabit and the businesses that we participate in. 00:11:13.679 --> 00:11:23.120 In all of those places, when the kingdom of God is ruling, we see God's intentions, his will manifested in those places. 00:11:23.360 --> 00:11:24.399 That's the kingdom of God. 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:26.240 It's a simple concept. 00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:32.720 But why is it that the kingdom of God would need to break into the world? 00:11:33.200 --> 00:11:38.399 Because, you know, if you've been around here long enough, you know I'm a I'm a good Calvinist. 00:11:38.559 --> 00:11:40.000 I can't grow a beard. 00:11:40.960 --> 00:11:44.000 But other than that, I believe in a sovereign God. 00:11:44.159 --> 00:11:50.480 I think that he's in control and uh that he uh he rules all things according to the counsel of his will. 00:11:50.639 --> 00:11:54.320 Nothing, not a you know, particle of dust like the one floating in front of me. 00:11:54.480 --> 00:11:56.960 You guys can't see, you'll just have to take my word for it. 00:11:57.679 --> 00:12:01.519 Uh, is is perfectly where he designed it to be. 00:12:01.679 --> 00:12:03.519 Nothing is out of step with God's will. 00:12:03.679 --> 00:12:06.480 So isn't it all the kingdom of God? 00:12:07.600 --> 00:12:09.200 Good question, James. 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:19.759 In order to understand why the kingdom of God needs to break in, we have to understand the shape of the fall. 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:23.200 Because we live in a world that is fallen. 00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:24.720 And how did that take place? 00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:37.919 Well, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and he sets up this world, and he places humanity in it as Adam and Eve, and he tasks them to take dominion. 00:12:38.080 --> 00:12:43.039 So God is king of the world, and then he delegates authority. 00:12:43.360 --> 00:12:46.480 He actually delegates authority throughout the story of creation. 00:12:46.559 --> 00:12:54.559 He sets the sun and the moon and the stars to rule over time and seasons so that we mark time and seasons by them. 00:12:54.639 --> 00:12:55.679 They're the ones that do it. 00:12:55.840 --> 00:12:59.279 And you can tell because it's not daytime until the sun comes up. 00:12:59.919 --> 00:13:03.039 Because that's the sun rules the day. 00:13:03.679 --> 00:13:14.879 And you can and then the fish of the sea and the birds in the sky, they rule over there, and then humanity is given dominion over all of it, given dominion over all of creation. 00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:19.440 But it's a subdominion over God's dominion, which is over everything. 00:13:19.600 --> 00:13:22.000 So it's a delegated authority. 00:13:23.039 --> 00:13:31.519 Now, this delegated authority is meant to take place in this hierarchy with God at the top and then humanity and then creation beneath humanity. 00:13:31.840 --> 00:13:34.480 But what do we see take place at the fall? 00:13:34.720 --> 00:13:40.080 There's treason in the heavens, and that treason comes and infects the world. 00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:40.559 How? 00:13:40.720 --> 00:13:41.600 You remember the story? 00:13:41.759 --> 00:13:43.519 The serpent comes into the garden. 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:48.559 Satan disguises himself as a serpent, as a snake. 00:13:48.960 --> 00:13:54.159 And he manipulates and lies and deceives Adam and Eve. 00:13:54.240 --> 00:13:59.440 And Adam and Eve, by their sin nature that they create in themselves. 00:14:00.399 --> 00:14:03.440 I don't know the particular origin of evil, if that's your question. 00:14:03.759 --> 00:14:04.720 You can send it in. 00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:05.840 I don't know. 00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:07.360 I'll send you a book. 00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:09.360 It's deeply mysterious. 00:14:09.440 --> 00:14:10.159 It really is. 00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:13.519 It shouldn't be in the world, yet it is. 00:14:15.279 --> 00:14:18.960 And Adam and Eve sin against God. 00:14:19.120 --> 00:14:20.559 So what happens there? 00:14:20.720 --> 00:14:23.039 What's the pattern that takes place there? 00:14:23.360 --> 00:14:28.240 You remember the hierarchy: God, humanity, creatures. 00:14:28.480 --> 00:14:30.639 And then what happens at the fall? 00:14:30.879 --> 00:14:33.840 Adam and Eve listen to the snake. 00:14:34.639 --> 00:14:37.759 So the snake is now in charge of humanity. 00:14:38.799 --> 00:14:41.360 Adam and Eve deny God. 00:14:42.720 --> 00:14:46.799 And so that most important relationship is inverted. 00:14:47.840 --> 00:14:55.759 And this relationship, remember, that describes a kingdom that's supposed to lead to that kingdom's flourishing breaks down. 00:14:56.720 --> 00:14:59.279 And what is the point of the breakdown? 00:14:59.519 --> 00:15:04.159 Why is it that Satan has dominion over the world? 00:15:04.320 --> 00:15:12.559 Why is it that when Satan takes in, you know, Jesus also had a garden moment with Satan in the same way that Adam did? 00:15:12.720 --> 00:15:18.320 And at that garden moment, Satan is able to take him up to a tall cliff and say, look at all the kingdoms of the world. 00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:21.279 I'll give them to you if you bow down and worship me. 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:23.600 Why was Satan able to make such an offer? 00:15:23.840 --> 00:15:25.600 Because the kingdoms were his. 00:15:26.799 --> 00:15:29.279 Because they were under his dominion. 00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:34.480 Now, why does the world come under Satan's dominion? 00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:38.399 Well, just consider the shape of the hierarchies. 00:15:39.039 --> 00:15:41.919 Satan goes after humanity. 00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:45.679 All of creation is under our dominion. 00:15:46.240 --> 00:16:09.600 But when we, by our sin, reject God and exchange the glory of God for the glory of a serpent, we become slaves to the serpent, and our our desires become twisted and sinful, and all that should have been under our good dominion is distorted and becomes under Satan's dominion. 00:16:11.039 --> 00:16:17.440 So now, what needs to break in in order for redemption to take place? 00:16:18.320 --> 00:16:22.159 The kingdom of God needs to break in. 00:16:22.639 --> 00:16:26.799 And where is the point that the kingdom of God can break in? 00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:29.360 Where's the critical territory? 00:16:30.080 --> 00:16:36.559 It's at the very point of the fall, which is the human heart. 00:16:37.840 --> 00:16:43.600 The very point of the fall of the world is the human heart that is corrupted by sin. 00:16:43.759 --> 00:16:51.200 And because of our sinfulness and the dominion that we've been granted, all else falls with us that is in creation. 00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:56.240 And we are slaves to the devil and trapped in our sin. 00:16:56.639 --> 00:17:04.960 So, what would the most important battle look like to bring in the kingdom? 00:17:05.599 --> 00:17:22.480 It would look something like the serpent who is our master being bound and destroyed, and then related to that, and in an almost simultaneous move, we would need our sins to be atoned for and removed. 00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:27.119 That way, our right relationship with the Lord could be restored. 00:17:27.759 --> 00:17:30.400 And that's precisely what Jesus does. 00:17:31.279 --> 00:17:33.920 Jesus slays the serpent in his death. 00:17:35.839 --> 00:17:39.279 And he makes himself our king. 00:17:39.599 --> 00:17:44.799 All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 00:17:45.039 --> 00:17:45.440 Why? 00:17:45.680 --> 00:17:47.759 Because the serpent is bound. 00:17:49.440 --> 00:17:52.240 Your sins are atoned for. 00:17:52.960 --> 00:17:53.519 Why? 00:17:53.759 --> 00:17:59.440 Because the death that we deserved because of our sin, Jesus took upon himself. 00:18:00.240 --> 00:18:16.480 And so there's this new ordering of the world because of Christ for Christians that looks just like the initial ordering of the world, only more glorious because God has graciously drawn us in to unite us with his son. 00:18:17.279 --> 00:18:26.160 So that's the kingdom breaking in right at this most important point in the universe, which is the human heart. 00:18:26.319 --> 00:18:28.559 Do you see how that's the battleground? 00:18:28.960 --> 00:18:31.279 It's the site of the battleground. 00:18:32.079 --> 00:18:33.119 So consider this. 00:18:33.279 --> 00:18:36.160 We've got a cosmic battleground. 00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:38.960 We've got serpents that are slain. 00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:43.599 We've got uh these rescued traitors. 00:18:43.759 --> 00:18:48.000 You know, we're traitors against God, and he comes in and he rescues us. 00:18:48.160 --> 00:18:49.920 This is this glorious eruption. 00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:52.799 It sounds like the third act of a Marvel movie. 00:18:53.039 --> 00:19:01.279 You know, like the serpent comes in and gets destroyed, and it's just this incredible, incredible cosmic victory for the kingdom of God. 00:19:02.480 --> 00:19:04.000 So, what's it like? 00:19:06.079 --> 00:19:14.640 It's like a farmer who goes out and he sows his seed on the ground. 00:19:15.519 --> 00:19:17.920 That's surprising, isn't it? 00:19:18.880 --> 00:19:21.839 So this is the mystery of the kingdom. 00:19:22.079 --> 00:19:23.599 That's what we're gonna move into now. 00:19:24.160 --> 00:19:25.279 So that's what I want you to hear. 00:19:25.359 --> 00:19:36.480 And he said, the kingdom of God, so all those crazy images of atonement and death and serpents and gardens and slayed dragons bound for eternity and thrown into lakes of fire. 00:19:36.720 --> 00:19:40.880 That I want those images in your mind when you hear the phrase kingdom of God breaking in. 00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:43.519 So listen to this verse again, Mark 4.26. 00:19:43.599 --> 00:19:49.440 And he said, The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. 00:19:50.480 --> 00:19:56.240 His disciples are like, it's just not what I expected it to be like. 00:19:56.799 --> 00:20:00.079 Expected it to be more like the glory of Rome or something. 00:20:00.880 --> 00:20:06.079 But instead, it's like what I walk past three of to get here this morning. 00:20:07.839 --> 00:20:10.400 So that draws us into the mystery of the kingdom. 00:20:10.640 --> 00:20:12.640 Mark 4 27, he sleeps. 00:20:12.799 --> 00:20:15.920 This is what the man does who sows the seed. 00:20:16.160 --> 00:20:22.079 He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows. 00:20:22.400 --> 00:20:23.599 He knows not how. 00:20:24.960 --> 00:20:25.920 What's it like? 00:20:26.079 --> 00:20:27.680 What's the kingdom of God like? 00:20:28.079 --> 00:20:34.079 A man scatters seed on the ground, and then what does he do next? 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:37.519 He goes to sleep. 00:20:38.480 --> 00:20:41.039 And then he wakes up. 00:20:41.519 --> 00:20:42.720 Check the seed. 00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:45.200 Nothing yet. 00:20:45.599 --> 00:20:47.119 Where were those seeds? 00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:49.920 Kind of blended into the ground. 00:20:50.160 --> 00:20:53.200 You know, it looks like it looks almost like nothing. 00:20:55.119 --> 00:20:59.680 And the the sun is still in charge of the day, so it rises and then it becomes daytime. 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:03.519 And uh then at nighttime he goes to sleep again. 00:21:05.359 --> 00:21:08.799 And then the seed sprouts. 00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:12.640 There was nothing, it was hidden. 00:21:13.680 --> 00:21:15.279 Now there's a sprout. 00:21:17.039 --> 00:21:18.319 And it grows. 00:21:20.160 --> 00:21:21.839 The man doesn't know how. 00:21:26.960 --> 00:21:32.640 The kingdom of God is a sort of utopia. 00:21:35.680 --> 00:21:38.720 And humanity crafts all kinds of utopias. 00:21:41.519 --> 00:21:46.000 The kingdom of God does not grow by human effort. 00:21:48.319 --> 00:21:56.799 The kingdom of God does not grow by human effort. 00:21:58.799 --> 00:21:59.599 Isn't that weird? 00:22:05.599 --> 00:22:11.519 Because consider what else could the farmer do? 00:22:13.599 --> 00:22:19.839 He can't reach into the seed and p pull out the plant. 00:22:22.079 --> 00:22:36.400 A plant is this type of thing that has a pattern in a seed and then it needs to get revealed from the inside out as it takes root and grows into that pattern. 00:22:38.880 --> 00:22:55.119 And so what we see in this first principle, this mystery, in what we don't know about the kingdom of God, is that the kingdom of God firstly requires utter dependence to participate in. 00:22:56.160 --> 00:23:01.279 The kingdom of God requires utter dependence to participate in. 00:23:01.680 --> 00:23:07.680 And this makes sense when we understand the gospel of the kingdom. 00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:14.559 Jesus Christ is the one who is king, he's the one who inaugurates the kingdom. 00:23:14.799 --> 00:23:21.200 And it is by his life that we are counted righteous. 00:23:21.359 --> 00:23:26.000 It is by his death that we are atoned for. 00:23:26.240 --> 00:23:29.279 What is it that draws us into the kingdom? 00:23:29.519 --> 00:23:34.319 It is absolutely the work of Christ. 00:23:35.680 --> 00:23:38.880 God brings the growth. 00:23:40.960 --> 00:24:04.640 This can't be worked into your heart enough because you have to understand that the position that you come in to the kingdom, when you're saying, I would like to enter the kingdom, I want to be a part of this kingdom of God, it starts first with your dependence on the Lord, which means that Christian maturity is this very strange thing. 00:24:05.279 --> 00:24:10.960 Christian maturity is not cultivating better adherence to a particular strategy. 00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:21.119 Christian maturity is first cultivating absolute dependence on Jesus. 00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:32.880 This is if you that part that is fighting against this, that's the part that needs to be humiliated by this doctrine. 00:24:34.400 --> 00:24:54.960 It needs to lay bare your hopelessness of participating in the kingdom unless another would come in before you, lay his life down for you, atone for you, transform your heart by giving you his spirit. 00:24:55.119 --> 00:25:02.319 Unless you see that that is the way that the kingdom takes place, then you'll just be cultivating some other strategies. 00:25:04.160 --> 00:25:10.400 You'll be trying to pull a plant out of a seed, and your effort will just be destructive. 00:25:12.319 --> 00:25:19.599 We begin and the kingdom continues as a pattern of cultivating dependence on Christ. 00:25:19.759 --> 00:25:22.720 Now, let me put this to you just in ministry terms. 00:25:22.960 --> 00:25:39.599 Okay, I can I can come up here and I could preach like a fire breather, you know, and it I could hit every I all of my examples, it would be like, oh man, that's speaking directly to the real questions that I have and issues that I'm facing in my life. 00:25:39.759 --> 00:25:47.759 And I could apply scripture to them and you know, every make everything happen perfectly, but I can't change hearts. 00:25:49.279 --> 00:26:00.160 I can't, and you know this, if you just have a close friend that you wanted to see change, you cannot reach into someone else's heart and change them. 00:26:01.039 --> 00:26:02.319 You can't. 00:26:03.519 --> 00:26:05.599 There's no magic sentence. 00:26:05.759 --> 00:26:13.279 Some of you are wandering around your mind right now, thinking of a conversation that you need to have with someone, and you're thinking, there's a magic sentence out there. 00:26:13.519 --> 00:26:19.039 And if I said it, I would I would be able to change this person's heart. 00:26:19.599 --> 00:26:22.319 You can't. 00:26:24.799 --> 00:26:38.880 Only God can take greed and turn it into generosity, can take fear and turn it into courage, can take hatred and turn it into forgiveness and love. 00:26:39.599 --> 00:26:48.319 Can can take anxiety and turn it into joy and peace. 00:26:50.240 --> 00:26:54.079 These things are only available by the work of God. 00:26:55.359 --> 00:26:58.000 This is why we come in and we worship. 00:26:58.960 --> 00:27:00.960 This is why we come in and we sing. 00:27:02.319 --> 00:27:05.599 And so what does Christian work look like? 00:27:06.720 --> 00:27:15.440 It looks like you scatter seed, which is the word of God, and patiently you wait. 00:27:17.839 --> 00:27:24.640 This is the difference between this is this is the the relief of burnout. 00:27:26.720 --> 00:27:30.000 Now it's not that you it's not that you do nothing. 00:27:30.319 --> 00:27:32.559 You know, there's a participation. 00:27:33.039 --> 00:27:35.039 There's a scattering of seed. 00:27:35.279 --> 00:27:43.039 And that looks like all different kinds of things in each of your lives, where you know there's something I have my hands on that I'm called to do. 00:27:43.119 --> 00:27:45.920 There's a seed I need to scatter and I need to throw it out there. 00:27:46.160 --> 00:27:49.359 But the growth isn't yours. 00:27:50.400 --> 00:27:58.720 The kingdom of God is not the type of thing that can come from anywhere other than God's own work to bring the growth. 00:28:01.440 --> 00:28:06.880 And the kingdom of God likewise is not an event, it's a process. 00:28:07.200 --> 00:28:08.400 We see this in the next verse. 00:28:08.480 --> 00:28:17.680 It says in Mark 4, verse 28, the earth produces by itself first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 00:28:19.839 --> 00:28:25.839 Christianity, when it takes root in your life, unfolds in process. 00:28:27.440 --> 00:28:32.160 God, for some reason, loves to work in process. 00:28:34.319 --> 00:28:41.119 He could, you know, snap his fingers, so to speak, and just make things transformed. 00:28:41.519 --> 00:28:51.519 When you became a Christian, he could have said, you're cleansed, you're justified before God, and now you won't have to deal with sin anymore in your life. 00:28:51.680 --> 00:28:53.759 Wouldn't that have been wonderful? 00:28:55.359 --> 00:29:01.279 To not have had to deal with the sin that we wrestle with still to this day that we're constantly having. 00:29:01.440 --> 00:29:04.960 I mean, this morning we began our service with confession. 00:29:05.119 --> 00:29:05.440 Why? 00:29:05.599 --> 00:29:07.759 Because we lived another week. 00:29:08.720 --> 00:29:22.240 So we needed to confess because we're because we're still wrestling with the detritus of this war that's been won, but is still the results are playing itself out into our lives. 00:29:24.079 --> 00:29:30.160 And God loves to work in process because the kingdom of heaven, it's like a plant. 00:29:30.799 --> 00:29:39.200 And first there's the stalk, and then there's the blade, and then the ear, and then the full grain that grows into the ear. 00:29:39.279 --> 00:29:43.440 It moves from obscurity into something that you can recognize. 00:29:43.519 --> 00:29:45.279 And so consider this in your own life. 00:29:45.440 --> 00:29:47.519 What has your Christian change looked like? 00:29:48.880 --> 00:29:51.039 Since you've been a Christian, how has your life changed? 00:29:51.200 --> 00:29:56.400 If you were to assess day to day, you likely wouldn't see much change. 00:29:56.720 --> 00:30:02.400 Just like when you assess a tree or a plant day to day, you don't see much change. 00:30:02.960 --> 00:30:13.519 But if you step back and you look over the course of a season, you're able to see, you know, there's actually been a transformation that's taken place in me here. 00:30:14.079 --> 00:30:16.559 And what do you what what can you point to? 00:30:16.640 --> 00:30:36.559 You know, when it's when you change as a Christian so that it really lasts, there's there's this, you know, consider the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, self-control, those things, you know, that we're all looking to grow in. 00:30:36.720 --> 00:30:43.200 The strangeness of Christian change is that all of those things, you grow in all those things at once. 00:30:45.440 --> 00:30:47.440 They all take place at once in your life. 00:30:47.519 --> 00:30:53.839 So that at the same time you're being more patient, you're you're more joyful. 00:30:54.960 --> 00:31:00.799 Anybody can can wait for something and resent waiting and feign patience. 00:31:01.519 --> 00:31:07.279 But the area, the location of the battle is your heart. 00:31:08.000 --> 00:31:13.039 This is the critical point where the battle for the kingdom takes place. 00:31:13.680 --> 00:31:19.680 And so for your heart to change, well, that's the work of the spirit. 00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:22.720 And it changes in process. 00:31:24.799 --> 00:31:29.680 The pattern of Christian change is not a revolutionary pattern. 00:31:31.279 --> 00:31:42.720 It's not a pattern where, and this is why, as Christians, although we we proclaim the kingdom, it is not something that we think we can take into our own hands and accomplish. 00:31:44.640 --> 00:31:46.640 Our kingdom, you know, why is it? 00:31:46.720 --> 00:31:55.599 Why is it that Christians, you know, we're we're, I've said this before already, the sermon, we're not alone in preaching a utopia that's coming. 00:31:56.480 --> 00:31:58.400 If you conform your life. 00:31:58.640 --> 00:32:01.119 But what happens when people preach utopias? 00:32:01.279 --> 00:32:03.200 You know, you guys have read fiction. 00:32:03.920 --> 00:32:06.000 You guys have seen Squid Game. 00:32:06.319 --> 00:32:09.039 I haven't seen it yet, but I think I know what it's about. 00:32:11.039 --> 00:32:14.960 So you know what happens when people say a utopia is coming. 00:32:15.119 --> 00:32:16.799 Things get terrible. 00:32:18.480 --> 00:32:25.680 Because some groups of people are saying, I'm just gonna take this into my own hands and I'm going to accomplish the utopia. 00:32:28.480 --> 00:32:31.279 But the Christian pattern is very different. 00:32:32.480 --> 00:32:35.599 It's not a revolutionary pattern in that regard. 00:32:36.079 --> 00:32:40.079 It's not primarily deconstructive in that regard. 00:32:41.440 --> 00:32:50.079 The Christian is a pattern, the Christian change is a pattern of dependent growth that takes place in process. 00:32:52.400 --> 00:32:54.000 Just hold on to this phrase. 00:32:54.240 --> 00:32:59.680 Change is not an event, change is a process. 00:33:00.079 --> 00:33:02.559 And what does it look like when the kingdom comes? 00:33:02.799 --> 00:33:13.519 The kingdom is moving, the kingdom is moving forward with this internal movement led by the Spirit of God. 00:33:15.920 --> 00:33:24.000 Peter, in speaking to this, you'll remember we began the sermon looking at this question that Peter is addressing. 00:33:24.160 --> 00:33:26.160 They'll say, Where is the promise of his coming? 00:33:26.319 --> 00:33:30.960 Ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation. 00:33:31.200 --> 00:33:43.839 And Peter, in reference to that question, he says in verses eight and nine, do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 00:33:44.079 --> 00:33:56.720 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 00:34:04.880 --> 00:34:06.319 Nothing is happening. 00:34:06.559 --> 00:34:10.880 You assess, the only thing that you can really assess, by the way, is what's taken place in your lifetime. 00:34:11.039 --> 00:34:13.519 So you're always assessing a snapshot. 00:34:13.840 --> 00:34:16.639 These people here are assessing a snapshot. 00:34:16.800 --> 00:34:20.320 You know, when you're comparing, like, oh, it wasn't like this when I was growing up. 00:34:20.639 --> 00:34:22.880 Is the kingdom still progressing? 00:34:23.360 --> 00:34:24.000 Yes. 00:34:26.480 --> 00:34:29.920 Look at what the slowness of the Lord is. 00:34:31.519 --> 00:34:34.960 It is patience toward us. 00:34:37.679 --> 00:34:42.639 The very fruit of the spirit that the Lord develops in us, he shows toward us. 00:34:43.280 --> 00:34:48.880 And so his patience is demonstrated by unfolding his kingdom in a process. 00:34:49.679 --> 00:34:52.559 And what does that allow to take place? 00:34:52.880 --> 00:35:15.760 More people to be brought into his kingdom, the spread of his kingdom to continue both over space, into the nations, and over time, into your own life, where you experience it in the transformation of your heart and into the lives of your neighbors as it moves in the as the word takes place in their hearts. 00:35:18.400 --> 00:35:21.599 And so think of what this patience means. 00:35:22.800 --> 00:35:33.440 Perhaps the kingdom of heaven doesn't take place like the third act of a Marvel movie, but instead is more like a plant growing. 00:35:33.920 --> 00:35:39.199 Because Jesus desires more people to be brought in. 00:35:40.800 --> 00:35:44.880 Perhaps he was perhaps he didn't come back in the 1800s. 00:35:45.760 --> 00:35:47.599 Perhaps because he thought of you. 00:35:49.199 --> 00:35:51.280 Perhaps he hasn't come back now. 00:35:52.159 --> 00:35:54.880 Perhaps it's because of your children. 00:35:55.920 --> 00:35:57.440 Your grandchildren. 00:35:59.119 --> 00:36:00.960 You don't even know yet. 00:36:04.800 --> 00:36:11.920 Now, we shouldn't think that the kingdom of God works is just the starting of a process. 00:36:12.159 --> 00:36:22.880 Okay, this isn't just that Jesus started a process and then we'll see a flow of goodness that takes place like uh but towards no particular end. 00:36:23.039 --> 00:36:31.440 That's more of like uh a worldview, like an evolutionary worldview, where we begin a process and it's driven by no purpose. 00:36:31.599 --> 00:36:35.760 Uh instead, it just kind of develops towards who knows what. 00:36:36.239 --> 00:36:41.119 This is not just a process, it's a process towards a purpose. 00:36:41.360 --> 00:36:43.599 And we see this in Mark 4.29. 00:36:43.840 --> 00:36:50.159 When the grain is ripe, at once, he puts in the sickle because the harvest has come. 00:36:51.199 --> 00:36:53.920 When the grain is ripe, he puts in the sickle. 00:36:54.079 --> 00:36:54.480 Why? 00:36:54.800 --> 00:36:56.400 The harvest has come. 00:36:57.039 --> 00:37:18.719 You are being brought into the kingdom of heaven, if you are a Christian, towards a purpose, towards a purpose of being glorified with Christ, of being renewed, being transformed, a place where we will be able to stand back with a satisfaction and a relief that the kingdom has arrived. 00:37:18.880 --> 00:37:31.440 And this is a picture that Jesus uses throughout scripture of his second coming, which is he has inaugurated the kingdom, he has planted the seed, but right now it is growing while Jesus is away. 00:37:31.519 --> 00:37:39.760 It's growing through the proclamation of his word, by his spirit moving in the world, and he will come again when the harvest is ripe. 00:37:40.159 --> 00:37:45.199 We'll look at the growth of the kingdom, the expectation of the kingdom's growth next week in that parable. 00:37:45.360 --> 00:37:51.760 But here we just need to see the process that Jesus works in process towards a goal. 00:37:51.920 --> 00:37:55.280 And the goal is his glory. 00:37:57.440 --> 00:38:08.239 The goal is that that hierarchy will be put gloriously back in place, where God is treated as God, and we are the type of creatures who treat him that way. 00:38:11.199 --> 00:38:12.800 When it is ripe. 00:38:13.920 --> 00:38:19.360 Paul, because he grasps this concept, is able to say things like this to the Philippians. 00:38:19.440 --> 00:38:29.199 In Philippians 1, 6, he says, and I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus. 00:38:34.960 --> 00:38:36.800 There's a purpose. 00:38:38.159 --> 00:38:45.280 Now, this is one of those strange sermons where I'm talking about something we can't do. 00:38:46.320 --> 00:38:51.840 And I want to exhort you in some way to like get on board. 00:38:51.920 --> 00:38:54.559