4th Sunday after Pentecost 07/02/06 Text: Mark 4:26-34 Title: Where is the Kingdom of God?

4th Sunday after Pentecost
July 2, 2006
Text: Mark 4:26-34
Title: Where is the Kingdom of God

Please join me in prayer. Lord God, Creator and Maker of us all, speak in the calming of our minds and in the longings of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak O Lord, for your servants are listening to your words of life and peace. Amen.
This morning I would like to share some of my thoughts with you about the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is widely misunderstood, and because of that many Christians are left confused about their faith.
So that it is easier to understand I am going to break down God’s Kingdom into the three kingdoms that make up his Kingdom. Non of these kingdoms, like the Trinity can stand on their own. But by looking at them one at a time we can hopefully get a better understanding of God’s Kingdom.
The first kingdom is the Kingdom of Power. The fact that I am mentioning it first does not mean that it is more or less important than the other kingdoms.
The Kingdom of power is the creation where God rules over all things. He created it all. He continues to sustain it and so God is the King over it. This kingdom is the kingdom all of creation lives in. A person does not have to be a Christian to live in the Kingdom of Power.
The second kingdom is the Kingdom of Glory. This kingdom takes in heaven and the new glorified creation when God ends this creation.
The third kingdom is the Kingdom of Grace. This is the kingdom I want to spend some time on this morning, for this kingdom is where all who confess and have faith in Jesus as their Savior live.
In our Scripture readings this morning, God offers comfort and hope to those longing for his Kingdom of Glory. The problem is that many Christians, just like the Jewish people of Jesus’ day, are longing for the wrong kingdom. Instead of looking for the Kingdom of Glory, they are looking for the Kingdom of Power and missing completely the Kingdom of Grace, which is the only way to God’s Kingdom of Glory.
Those who have this misunderstanding of God’s Kingdoms believe that when Jesus comes back to rule, he will free Christians of the oppression of non-Christians. That will be when things are set right and Christians will be rewarded for their loyalty by being given authority over non-Christians. How sweet it will be, they think.
That is just plain wrong thinking, for the Kingdom of Power already exists, as I mentioned earlier. Since the Kingdom of Power applies to all people and will not save anyone, all people who want to go to heaven need to live in the Kingdom of Grace.
That is what our texts are about today, the spread of the Kingdom of Grace. In the Gospel Jesus is telling two parables about the workings of the Kingdom of Grace. Jesus needed to teach about the Kingdom of Grace, which is as I said earlier the only way to enter the Kingdom of Glory, because the disciples, the teachers of the Law, and many today are blind to the Kingdom of Grace. All they can see is Jesus’ power over disease, disability, demons and Sabbath rules rather than his grace.
With this misbelief it is impossible for them, or for us today, for that matter, to understand that God’s Kingdom of Grace works without any of our help. That misunderstanding then leads to a false understanding of God’s Kingdom of Power, which in turn will keep a person out of the Kingdom of Glory.
All who have this misunderstanding of God’s kingdoms have missed the Gospel message of God’s Grace. They miss who Jesus is in all his mercy, and hear only the threat of the law. This then leads to thinking that we have to grow God’s kingdom by our own efforts, and there is nothing further from the truth, for God’s Kingdom come from him alone. I have always thought it was rather impudent of us to think that God needs us.
There has always been a lot of discussion concerning what the seed stands for in our Gospel lesson. Following good Lutheran teaching, I looked at other passages that used the word seed. In John 12:24 and 25 we find the definition of the seed that Jesus is talking about in our Gospel reading for today, for in that text we read that “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies it remains just a single grain; but if it dies it bears much fruit.” That passage is clearly telling us that the seed is Jesus, who has been planted by the Holy Spirit into the hearts of all those who believe in Jesus as their Savior.
Now that we know who the seed is that Jesus is referring to in the first parable we can better understand the second parable of the mustard seed. In this parable Jesus’ goes one step further in explaining the mysteries of faith, for in this parable, just like in the first parable, he is telling us that we have nothing to with the growth of the seed.
Jesus makes a couple of good points to strengthen his lesson. He uses illustrations that go completely against the common understanding of the day. He could have used a large seed to show the power in a large seed. He could have used a seed that would grow into a huge and beautiful plant or tree, but he did not. He uses the tiniest seed known that will grown into a plant that would by most be considered a nuisance at best.
Mustard seeds in the Mid-East are never intentionally sown in the garden, but only in open fields. They are prolific growers. All a mustard seed needs is a little soil and moisture for it to germinate, there it goes pushing out the other plants.
Now those who are not living in the Kingdom of Grace, but in the Kingdom of Power do not have a clue as to what Jesus is talking about in this parable, for the fact that such a small seed would have such, as they see it destructive power, would be a bad thing and not a good thing.
But those who are living in the Kingdom of Grace see the power of good in this parable, for it shows once more that the power of growth is in the seed Jesus and not the person planting the seed.
Jesus is using a plant that those of the world, that is unbelievers, see as being undesirable, being given honor. That cannot be, that is not how it works. God’s Kingdom cannot be like that, for you have to get rid of this type of plant, before it crowds out the good things in the garden, at least that is what those of the world think is happening.
I want to share a little personal story with you that might help you to understand this parable a little better. Gordon’s Creek runs near my house. Every so often over the past year I noticed that a city employee who is responsible for the welfare of the creek’s weeds and critters would visit the empty lot next to the creek about 2 days after it had rained. He would be cutting some type of weed and putting them in a grocery sack.
My curiosity got the best of me, so one day I went out and asked him why he was there. He laughed and told me that he liked fresh young mustard greens. The weeds he has cutting were mustard plants and that they were the most tasty two days after a rain.
Now those mustard plants growing next to the bank of Gordon’s Creek are not the same plants as those growing in the Mid-East, but the thought struck me that they bear much similarities.
Both of them appear to be just undesirable plants, at least to those not in the know they are undesirable. Both spring up by themselves. Both can take over a field if the conditions are right, and both can supply, for those in the know, food to nourish animals and one’s body.
Last, but not least, both of these seemingly undesirable plants serve notice to those who think that God’s Kingdom has to be like the mighty Cedar tree that our Old Testament lesson tells us about.
God’s Kingdom of Grace is many times hidden, or looks so ordinary that it is overlooked. It is not that desirable, at least to those who do not fully realize its benefits. Just look around you this morning. What do you see? Do you see the empty seats? Where are the people of the Kingdom, the Kingdom of Grace, who are to rest in branches of Jesus?
We look at those empty seats and inwardly point fingers at those who purposely chose not to be here this morning. We think that they are not worthy of the kingdom and then if we want to be honest about it realize that we too are not worthy of the kingdom. We too are not worthy for too many times we live like we are not living in the Kingdom of Grace.
Oh, we know intellectually that the Kingdom of Grace is here, but sometimes it is just plain hard to believe that it is here. The Kingdom of God just does not look like we think it should, because we still suffer from the same problem the disciples and almost everyone that has lived since have suffered from.
Deep down in that little black area of our hearts we still want the Kingdom of God to be a Kingdom of Power. Oh, we want the Kingdom of Grace, but we want the Kingdom of Power along with it, so that God’s Kingdom can be seen in all its glory, so that those who do not believe can get their just rewards, here and now, and not have to wait until Judgment Day.
We want to see magnificent churches built that will give glory to God. We want pastors like those on television and the radio shows that can give great motivational sermons that will help us to live the good life.
We want to see the rich and powerful be part of the church so that the church will have money to do great things in the community and world. We want prayer back in our schools. We want many things, things that we can see and put our hands on, things that we can count on to show the world the Kingdom of God.
We want all those things, hopefully so that God will be glorified, but in doing so we have forgotten that the Kingdom of Grace exists on its own. We do not want God’s Kingdom of Grace to exist on its own. We want to have a hand in the work of the kingdom. We want to help God by taking part in his grace.
God’s seed does its work on its own. The “silent, inevitable growth” is not our work, but God’s. It proceeds without a lot of fanfare or force, and sometimes it is not very pretty. God’s Kingdom, the Kingdom of Grace, is not a “cause” for which we fight or build, it is what God does when we hear and teach the Gospel in its truth and purity.
When you get right down to it, all we need to know about our part in the Kingdom of Grace is found in Luther’s Large Catechism’s explanation of the second petition, “Thy Kingdom come.” of the Lord’s Prayer. I would ask you to listen closely.
“The coming of God’s kingdom to us takes place in two ways: first, it comes here, in time, through the Word and faith, and second, in eternity, it comes through the final revelation, that is Christ’s second coming. Now, we ask for both of these things: that it may come to those who are not yet in it and that, by daily growth here and in eternal life hereafter, it may come to us who have attained it. All this is nothing more than to say: “Dear Father, we ask you first to give us your Word, so that the gospel may be properly preached throughout the world and then that it may also be received in faith and may work and dwell in us, so that your kingdom may permeate us through the Word and the power of the Holy Spirit and the devil’s kingdom may be destroyed so that he may have no right or power over us until finally his kingdom is utterly eradicated and sin, death, and hell wiped out, that we may live forever in perfect righteousness and blessedness.”

That is what God’s Kingdom is about, and, I thank God that we have nothing to do with bringing God’s Kingdom of Grace among us, for if it was depended on me it more than likely would not have spread more than the first stem that popped out of the ground from the seed.
God’s Kingdom of Grace does come on its own, but that does not mean we are not involved in the kingdom. God in his wisdom has chosen those of the faith to tell others about his love and forgiveness, so that the plant of Jesus will continue to spread throughout the world.
Our outreach board has asked us to purposely take part in a local outreach. There is no door to door, or stuffing of envelopes, or standing on a street corner. It not even about adding members to our church. It is about enlarging the Kingdom of Grace.
All you are asked to do during the 26 weeks of Pentecost is to invite someone you care about, someone that you love, to come worship with you, to come and see.
Have you been thinking about who you can invite? If you have, get up the courage and invite them to come and hear God’s Word and let the Holy Spirit do his work in them, so that they too can be part of the Kingdom of Grace, the only way to the Kingdom of Glory. Amen