Mark Chapter 4:21-41

4:21 Also He said to them, “Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be set on a lamp stand?

Preceding this statement Jesus has explained to the disciples the details of the parable of the sower. Jesus had taken the hidden meaning contained in the parable and placed light to its meaning and now his disciples where commissioned to share this light with the world and not to keep it hidden. In Mark 4 and Luke (8:13) this saying follows the explanation of the sower but in Matthew (Mat. 5:13-16) this saying is grouped with several other sayings of Jesus in which his disciples are called the salt of the earth and a city on hill. These other contexts make it clear that this parable is challenging us to share God’s truths with the world and not keep these truths for ourselves.

If we are to be a light we must be a complete light. Even a lamp placed under a bed will provide some light around the edges of the bed but in God there is not even a hint of darkness. If there is any hint of darkness we are not placing our lamp in the right place (1 John 1:5-7). The light of God is meant to be seen completely.

What is our lamp? In our lives the lamp is our gifts, resources and time. When we use things these for God’s glory we take our lamp out from under the bed and let it shine. But when we keep our gifts for ourselves then we are hiding our gifts under our bed.

In our lives the lamp is the word of God but also our gifts, resources and time. How do we hide this lamp in our everyday lives with our family, our friends and our job? How can we place this lamp in the right place?

4:22-23 For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light. 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”

The parallel passages for this saying are a warning against the hypocrisy and eventual judgment of the Pharisees (Mat. 10:25-26, Luke 12:2-3). From it the disciples could draw comfort that even though today evil may seem to be victorious one day all a mans deepest secrets will be revealed.

This is also a warning we should take personally. Even though we may be able to hide our sins from the people around us our sins will one day find us out (Num. 32:23). The seeds of lust, anger, pride and bitterness will one day be revealed and nothing we do will be able to save us. The only thing we will have going for us will be the blood of Jesus.

Nothing we do today will be kept secret forever. With this statement in mind how should be react when we feel wronged? How should be view our own wrongdoings?

In the context of this chapter of Mark this saying can also be another reminder of why Jesus spoke in parables. If we look again at Mark 4:11 we are reminded that parables were used to hide deep truths in a story so that it’s listeners would have to think to find the truth. The parables were a way of hiding truth so that it makes it more visible and actually easier to see.

There is nothing hidden about God’s ways. Though on the surface things may seem unclear there is no excuse for us being ignorant of God. Here we are reminded that it’s up to us to seek to understand. Truth is revealed to an open and willing heart. God will hold nothing back from his people.

Have there ever been times when the Word seems dead or unclear in your life? What was going on in your heart during this time? Why must our hearts be right before we can know the secrets of God?

4:24-25 Then He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. 25 For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”

It is the laws of life that whatever we don’t use we will likely lose:

• If we have been given athletic talent but don’t exercise eventually that athletic ability will be lost.
• If we don’t invest our money but hide it under our mattress our money will eventually be lost to inflation.
• If we learn a new language but don’t use it over the years we will forget how to converse in that language. …and what we do use we will often be given more of:
• If we train our bodies by lifting weights we will eventually get stronger
• If we learn the basics of mathematics we can then learn algebra, or even calculus
• Knowledge builds upon more knowledge

The crowds listening to Jesus did not understand his parables because they didn’t heed, or apply, what they heard with their ears to their hearts and to their lives. But if we will listen then God promises not only to reveal his truth but to reveal more truth as we become able to receive it.

The corollary is also true, if we will not listen to what God is telling us today we will not receive more tomorrow. If we don’t exercise our spirits today our spirits will not be stronger tomorrow than they are today. The truth is that our spirit will be weaker tomorrow if we don’t exercise it today.

In 2 Cor. 9:6 it says that the more we sow the more we will reap. What we do today will have consequences on our tomorrow. As we seek out the truth of God we will discover more than we expected to find. Seeking is the key.

Do we ever get to the place where we can stop seeking God’s truth or using gifts he has given us?

4:26-29 And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, 27 and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. 28 For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. 29 But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

Again we see a reference to seeds and the Kingdom of God. What is planted today in our lives grows even without our attention to it. If we look back to the parable of the sower there was good seed scattered amongst the seed of thorns and the thorns grew along with the good seed and eventually the thorns choked the good seed.

Likewise in our lives if we continue to seed our lives with lust, bitterness and materialism these seeds too will grow and we won’t know why but they will eventually choke us out. The earth will yield crops by itself; if we sow lust with our eyes today we will one day reap an unwelcome harvest.

The good news is that the seeds of God’s word that are planted in our hearts will grow and show themselves fruitful. It is a mystery how God grows. This is the wonderful power of the Holy Spirit we can not understand how he grows we can only plant and see the results of the Holy Spirit’s growth. As Christians this relieves us of a great responsibility. We scatter seed, God grows seed and we harvest seed. In other words, we study, apply and share the Word then God will grow the word in our own hearts and in the hearts of those who are receptive. We don’t’ make it happen but we get the privilege of receiving the benefit of this growth.

In this lifetime the harvests may come in many forms. Many may come to believe in Christ, addictions may be overcome or bitterness removed. The key to understand is that very time we grow closer to God we benefit those around us. The growth of a husband will have a positive affect on the life of his wife and family. As people are brought closer to God our own lives and the lives of those around us will benefit.

What are you sowing today in your life? Is what you are sowing something worth harvesting later?

30 Then He said, “To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it? 31 It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth; 32 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.”

Never be daunted by small beginnings the Kingdom of God may start small but it will grow. Like the growth of a mustard seed small imperceptible changes in our lives will have an unexpected affect. The growth Jesus is describing is almost abnormal but in the kingdom of God we can expect abnormal results from small changes.

The small size of the mustard seed also reminds us that we can often try to bite off more change than we can chew. The kingdom of God is about the small growing into the abnormally large. Growth in God’s Kingdom is very organic. 15 minutes of time with God a day can grow into great changes in your life. Our actions are the small mustard seeds and the Holy Spirit provides the growth.

What are some small changes the Spirit is prompting you to make in your life? Identify this change and then make yourself accountable to some else for following through on this change.

33 And with many such parables He spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it. 34 But without a parable He did not speak to them. And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples.

“as they were able to hear it” – we cannot receive it all at once but must be continually stretched, grown and prepared to receive a new word from Christ. God reveals truths about ourselves as we are able to hear and receive it. God is gracious in not revealing the depths of our sinful nature all at once. Rather he opens our eyes as we can the ability to handle what he has to show us.

35 On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” 36 Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. 38 But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”39 Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. 40 But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” 41 And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”

How is it that we so quickly forget in times of trouble the truth we lived for in times of safety? It’s hard to believe that these men in the boat, Jesus’ closest followers, who had left all they had to follow Jesus, had no faith! Any good student knows that after teaching always comes testing. It’s in the testing that we discover how much we have actually learned. These close disciples had heard a lot from Jesus but evidently had learned little.

Looking back just prior to this testing it’s easy to see how excited the disciples must have felt after seeing such large crowds listen to Jesus. As they got into the boat they must have been on top of the world. They were clearly onto something good here and I’m sure they expected even better things to be waiting for them on the other side of the sea. What they likely didn’t expect was the reality that was waiting for them on the other side (Mar. 5:2-4).

The storm was a wake up call for the disciples they had heard Jesus’ teachings and his private explanations but they still didn’t truly understand who Jesus was until after the storm. They needed the storm because they needed to learn that:

• Their confidence in Christ was not as great as it should have been. They trusted Jesus on the beach but feared for their lives in the midst of the storm.
• Jesus was more powerful than they thought. Not only could Jesus heal the sick and cast out demons he could control nature itself.

Like the disciples in the boat we need these occasional storms in our lives to prepare us for what is one day going to be required of us.

Is an untested faith, like the disciples had before the storm, really faith at all? How has your faith been tested? Did your faith show true or did it fail you? What did this testing teach you?

Conclusion

We will reap what we sow. If we hide the truth of God then we will live in darkness but if we let the truth of God be seen we will benefit from that light. Our resources, time, family and jobs are all given to us so that we may use them to light up the darkness of this world with the light of Christ. Our desire should be to find out how to use our resources best for God’s glory.

In the parable of the seeds we see that the whole field will not get changed at once but if we start small, like a mustard seed, plant and then give the seeds time to grow then God will provide the increase apart from our own efforts. Ours responsibility is not to provide the growth but to offer up our lives as seeds to be used for his kingdom. We must become comfortable letting God provide the growth in His time and not become impatient and attempt to promote ourselves. Rather we should let God promote us when the time is ready. Like buds on a cherry tree that come out before the last frost of winter we only risk loss when we try and grow apart from God’s timetable.

To effectively plant seeds in our lives and the lives of others we must not only follow Christ but we must know who he is with both or minds and our actions. When the storm rose the disciples, who had been following Jesus for almost 1 year, forgot who Jesus was and resorted to fear. When Jesus calmed the storm they were afraid because they knew now more clearly who Jesus was and what greater allegiance they now owed him.

Many people don’t fear knowledge of God but rather fear a true realization of who God is, like the disciples had in the boat. A God who can calm the storms with such authority is not a God who we can safely compartmentalize only to take out at our whim every Sunday morning but a God who deserves all respect and allegiance. A God this big and this powerful demands everything we’ve got.