Scripture: Mark 4:30-32 (ESV) — “ And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, 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.”
Jesus was teaching a crowd of people about how the Kingdom of God operates. As He usually would do, He was using great imagery and parables. In this case He used the principle of planting and sowing seeds. Most of us don’t spend a ton of time meditating on the Kingdom of God. But as you might remember from day nine of our spiritual journey together, Jesus teaches us to pray by asking God for His kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. It may not be your go-to subject with God, but it is absolutely His, with you.
In the moment you just read about, Jesus is not simply putting some final words out to the crowd before He and the disciples head out to the next town. He was thinking much further ahead than you might imagine. It’s not that Jesus lacked presence in the moment, or didn’t care about the crowd understanding what He was saying. He doesn’t waste words with anyone. But a few verses later it says that Jesus always took time to explain to the disciples what He had just said to the crowd. Jesus knew that just because the crowd could hear His words with their ears, didn’t mean they heard Him with their hearts.
In the aftermath of the parable of the mustard seed, Jesus and the disciples embark on what would be some of the most preached about stories in the Bible. They get on a boat and head out onto the Sea of Galilee where they stare death in the face while a storm hits. Meanwhile Jesus can be found sleeping in the stern of the boat. Believe it or not, it wasn’t the most remarkable event on this trip. But it’s amazing nonetheless, and it’s a story we will jump into tomorrow; So stay tuned. Suffice it to say though, ministry with Jesus wasn’t always safe, and it most definitely was never boring.
You have to wonder what was important enough to put themselves at risk. Where were they headed? They were headed to what was called the area of the Decapolis, which means ten cities. Specifically, they were in the country of the Gerasenes. This was a remarkable moment in the journey they were on. If it were a movie, this scene may just be one of the most tense and interesting scenes that everyone talks about. But this was real. Definitely not a movie.
What happens next, is Jesus and the disciples walk off of the boat to be confronted by a naked demon possessed man. He had been bound up in chains amongst the graves away from the town where everyone else was living. He was in such bad shape that the people figured out a way to let evil continue its work in the man somewhere away from them. He managed to break free physically while remaining in bondage spiritually. This man is who greeted Jesus and the disciples. He was their welcome team at the city of Gadara. You have to imagine the storm they just battled through was probably looking pretty good right around then.
To make a long story short, what happens next is Jesus delivers the man by casting thousands of demons out of him. The people in the town were amazed by the transformation, but they couldn’t get past the fact that Jesus ended up killing a whole herd of pigs in the process which angered the people who would then ask Jesus and the disciples to leave. This is another incredible story you should read sometime, but for now, we need to skip to the end. As Jesus and the disciples went to board their boat again, the man who had been delivered asked Jesus if he could go with them. But Jesus had other plans. He told the man that he should stay there and go tell his family and friends what God had done for him. That is exactly what He did. And it says that as He did “everyone marveled”.
If you’re a disciple, you have to be wondering to yourself, what just happened? You arrive. You deliver one man. And then you leave. You almost died to get there, and now it seems as if you are dying to get out. What just happened?
Go back a moment and read our verse for today. Now think about how ministry to a madman might be related to that verse. To figure it out, you just have to remember that Jesus seemed to teach the crowds primarily with words, while it seemed He taught the disciples in the pressure cooker of ministry. When Jesus delivered the man possessed by demons and sent Him out to tell everyone in his life what God had done, He started something. He had just shown the disciples what it looks like to plant a “mustard seed”.
When you read about Jesus’ ministry, it feels like He was sort of a “rock star” that people flocked to en masse. While that happened all the time, it’s clear in instances such as His ministry in Gadara, that wasn’t always the case. The only person who ran to Jesus was a naked man out of his mind. If you’re going to change a community, this was not where you think you would normally start, right?
In this case, the outcome was incredible! When you skip ahead to Mark 7:31 you no longer see the speck of seed you originally saw in the form of a freshly clothed man in his right mind in chapter 5. Now, you get to see the largest plant of the garden.
After leaving the Decapolis in chapter 5, Jesus and the disciples went into other areas to spread the truth and set people free. But in 7:31 they come back down into the region of the Decapolis. In other words, Jesus and His disciples returned to the same region that they visited and ministered to the demon possessed man in. Except this time, instead of being ignored and rejected by the area, Jesus was embraced. It says that people flocked to Him asking Him to heal and deliver them.
If you were there and saw this, you have to believe at some point you would start to see that the people who have embraced your ministry in their town are metaphorically the large plants of the garden that the birds seek shelter under. This was the mustard seed principle. It was the Kingdom of God in its glory. The outcast of the town was the speck of seed that would eventually grow and multiply into thousands of people seen in chapter 7. Yes it was the man’s testimony that planted more seeds. But before there was a testimony, there was a transformation.
The power of God’s work in your life goes beyond what He has done in you. The Kingdom of God is a machine that produces changed lives. This machine increases its capacity as it produces more and more. In essence, the machine is made to enlarge in real time.
Imagine if a factory adjusts to growth by building and increasing the capacity of its machinery while never interrupting the production. That is how God designed you. And it’s how the Kingdom of God operates.
God has called you to be a seed planter. That is your purpose. Your identity is a child of God. You are loved by Him no matter what. And though your calling is not your identity, your identity informs your calling. As you are loved by God and taught to love others by Him, there is an outlet for the work He is doing in you. That outlet is ministry.
Too many Christ followers just exist. They live in the static position of knowing the power of God, while not being open to it changing them and changing others. They are built to be a machine that is never turned off, but instead have become content to remain dormant. They are plugged in, but not in operation.
Keystone Montgomeryville has been seeing incredible growth that can only be explained by the mustard seed principle. There have been stories of people coming to KMV because they were invited, only to turn around and invite someone themselves in short order.
We are called to be seed planters that only increase in our capacity to multiply. Take a moment to give thanks to God that in the midst of an imperfect group of people coming together around One Heart and One Soul, there is something truly miraculous that God does through our obedience. What is that exactly? It’s God’s transforming work in us, becoming a transforming work in others.
That’s what the Kingdom of God is all about!
Reflection Questions:
What is your status as a seed planter? Have you become content to be dormant?
What shift do you need God to make in you so that you become a multiplier in action rather than someone who is merely plugged in?
Can you trace the mustard seed principle in your own transformation? Who led the person to Jesus that led you to Jesus? What does it mean to you that they operated as a seed planter in the Kingdom of God?