Tag Archives: parable

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – SMALLEST SEED…LARGEST PLANT

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SMALLEST SEED…LARGEST PLANT

30 Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. 32 Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”

33 With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. 34 He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything. Mark 4:30-34

In these stories about the growth of God’s kingdom there is an aspect that can easily be missed. It is a very slow process. God is patient with His children as they mature in faith, love and truth. Growth in grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ must be thorough to be enduring. Slow growth produces strength. The root system must be well established to sustain the height and weight of the tree.

What is the root system? Belief and knowledge: belief is the confidence we have in the trustworthiness of the One about whom we are learning. It is much more than the knowledge and understanding of systematised truth. It involves leaning our weight on Him on the strength of who He has revealed Himself to be. Knowledge is built on belief and relates to experiential knowledge rather than intellectual knowledge. We can only know God as we prove His trustworthiness by acting on what He has said.

And so, this process of growth happens day by day, year by year, and circumstance by circumstance as we choose to trust God in every situation, throwing our full weight on what we have learned, believed and come to know.

Jesus spent much time with His disciples, patiently explaining God’s ways and the ways of the kingdom with stories, illustrations and applications. He was faithfully sowing the seeds of His Word into their hearts right in line with the stories He told, knowing that He was also depositing seeds of truth in their hearts which would take root and grow at the appropriate time.

What confidence this gives us to know that our labour is never in vain in the Lord. No matter where we scatter seed, there will be a harvest even though the growth appears to be slow and imperceptible. We can have confidence in the growth of the kingdom in our own hearts also. As long as we keep playing our part in patience and perseverance, God is at work in us, maturing our character for the day of harvest.

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – LIKE A MUSTARD SEED

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LIKE A MUSTARD SEED

30 Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. 32 Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”

33 With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. 34 He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything. Mark 4:30-34

There are two ways of viewing the kingdom, quantitatively or qualitatively. On the whole, people tend to view the kingdom quantitatively, interpreting growth as numerical rather than relating to character and maturity. How did Jesus intend His stories to be understood? He made it clear to the Pharisees (Luke 17:21) that God’s government happens within people. It is about submission to God, appropriating the resources He gives to come under His authority and reproduce His character, living in the light of His standards of righteousness, holiness and truth in a world system which is temporarily under the authority of a usurper.

How does this happen? It begins in the soul by planting a tiny seed. Jesus used a mustard seed as an example. When it is planted in the ground, it is so small that it is almost unnoticeable. Given time and the right conditions, it begins to grow. What started out small, increases out of all proportion to its beginning. It outgrows all the other garden plants. This illustrates the ability of God’s word to influence and change a life so much that the whole person is transformed.

This is truly good news. It is God’s Word in peoples’ lives that transforms them by renewing their minds. The more we soak in the Word, the more truth replaces our thoughts spawned by our upbringing and environment. The more aware we become of God’s closeness to us, His intentions for us, His love, grace and power at work in us, the bigger His kingdom becomes in us and the greater its influence over those around us.

Satan has some very subtle lies he wants to sow in our minds – that he has power over us (a victim mentality) and that we need someone to rescue us. This breeds fear and helplessness and weakens our faith in Jesus. We have only one course of action – to flood our minds with the truth. Truth is light and light dispels darkness.

Learning To Be A Son – Chapter Fourteen – A Tale Of Two Sons

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LEARNING TO BE A SON

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

A TALE OF TWO SONS

Jesus told a story of a father and two sons. By telling parables, Jesus used one of the rabbinic teaching methods with great effect. “The Parable of the Prodigal Son” as it is known, is the third in a chain of three stories about lost things. The purpose of the parables was to alert the Pharisees to their bad attitude towards people whom they perceived as lower than themselves. They criticised Jesus for hobnobbing with “sinners”. Jesus insisted that it was sinners who needed Him more than the “righteous”.

The first two stories illustrated how friends and family rejoice on earth when lost property is found and how angels rejoiced in heaven when a lost sinner came home. Jesus’ third story was much closer to the bone. The father received his lost son with joy when he returned home after wasting his inheritance on worthless friends and riotous living, but the elder brother refused to share in the celebration.

The older brother did not realise that he was just as lost to the father as his younger brother. The younger son left home as a rebel, wasted his money, repented and returned home to beg for a place among the servants. His father received him with joy and reinstated him as a son. The older brother remained at home but served his father as a slave. He did not realise that he was a son and that he was always with his father to share in the father’s bounty.

The difference between the older and younger son was the difference of attitude. They were both sons, even though the younger son renounced his place in the family by his attitude and behaviour until he came to his senses. The older son was just as lost to the father, although he remained at home, because he acted and served like a slave.

Both sons had no fellowship with the father, the one because he ran away and the other because he had did not share the father’s heart.

Jesus did not apply the story as He did with many other parables. He left it open-ended for the Pharisees to reach their own conclusion. It is up to us as well to make up our minds which of the two sons represent us. Some of us are sons lost to the Father because we are in the far country. We live and act like orphans. Others of us are like the elder brother who did everything right but had no fellowship with the Father because he lived like a slave. We fear God’s punishment instead of being secure in the Father’s love.

EPILOGUE

The purpose of our journey through this book is to rediscover who we really are – God’s beloved sons and daughters, restored to the Father and to the family of God because of what Jesus did for us.

God has a purpose for us in His family which we discover through prayer – having fellowship with the Father so that we can get to know Him and so that we can learn what He wants to accomplish for His kingdom through us.

It is because we are His sons and daughters that we have access to Him and to all the resources He makes available to us in Christ and through the Holy Spirit to accomplish His will on earth and to re-establish His rule in the hearts of those who believe in and receive Jesus as Lord.

“Son” is our password to access everything we have in Christ. Outside of our family relationship with the Father we are not eligible for anything that belongs to Him and to His Son.

God is writing His big story and He has invited us to be a part of it if we allow Him to write our story through Him. Now that we have the “password”, let us use it wisely because, through it He has given us access to His World Wide Web.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), companion volume to Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart, has been released in paperback and digital format on www.amazon.com.

For more details, check my website:

http://luellaannettecampbell.com/

Have you read my blogs on www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com ?

 

 

Another Nail In His Coffin

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ANOTHER NAIL IN HIS COFFIN

Jesus then began to speak to them in parables: ‘A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place.

At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed.

He had one left to send, a son whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, “They will respect my son.” But the tenants said to one another, “This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.” So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. Haven’t you read this passage, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this and it is marvellous in our eyes”?’

Then the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders looked for a way to arrest Him because they knew He had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left Him and went away (Mark 12: 1-12).

Clever guys! You got the message! But did they?

Why did Jesus tell a story like this against the religious leaders? Was it to alert them to the fact that He knew what they were up to? Was He warning them not to do it because there were serious consequences for them if they did? Was He giving them an opportunity to change their minds?

Remember that this story followed the cleansing of the temple and their enquiry about His authority to do that. They must surely have got the message, loud and clear that He had done what He had done to the merchants and money-changers because He was acting on authority given to Him by none other than God Himself. If that was so, then the story He told about them, concealed in the parable of the vineyard and the unscrupulous tenants, came from the same source of authority as His action in the temple.

But these men were stubborn, just as stubborn as their forebears who refused to submit to God’s authority. In spite of the retribution that fell on them time and again, the Israelites had never learned the lesson. Disobedience to God’s Word carries penalties – not because God is cruel or vindictive, but because there are natural consequences to transgressing the laws which keep the universe functioning in harmony with the nature of God.

Let’s look at the parable. There are some clear lessons in it, for them and for us. Jesus often told a story to address a problem; leaving the hearers to discern the answer for themselves. It was up to the hearers to identify with one or more of the characters in the story. There are four groups of people in this story; the owner of the vineyard, the tenants, the owner’s servants and his son.

What was the issue? The vineyard was the property of the landowner – the tenants those who worked the vineyard and owed some of the harvest to the landowner. They were stewards of property not their own.

The owner of the vineyard had a right to collect some of the harvest, but the tenants acted as though they had a right to it all. When the landowner sent servants to collect what was rightfully his, they rejected his claim and abused his servants. They refused to honour the rightful heir, murdering him with the idea that, if he were out of the way, they could lay claim to the vineyard and keep the profits.

Their thinking was faulty for the following reasons:

  1. The vineyard did not belong to them. They were stewards responsible for working it for the landowner.
  2. The profits did not belong to them. The owner had the right to claim his share.
  3. They were under the authority of the landowner. They were obliged to do what he requested.
  4. They were servants, not sons. They had no right to the inheritance.

The religious leaders got the message, loud and clear, but they did not receive it. Their response was the same as the tenants – kill the messengers and in that way negate the message, so they thought.

Did it work for them? Not according to Jesus. What would actually happen and what they thought would happen were poles apart. Israel was God’s “vineyard”. He had done everything for them to guarantee fruitfulness, and entrusted it to appointed leaders who were to care for His people under His directions. But instead they had led the people astray. Time and again He sent His prophets to call the people back to Himself but they were ignored, rejected and abused and some were even murdered.

Then He sent His one and only beloved Son. What would they do with Him? The custodians of God’s “vineyard” were already scheming to kill Him. Would they get the message? The outcome was already determined – and Jesus indicated in the conclusion to His parable that He knew what it was. Would they heed the warning? There were consequences in it for them if they didn’t.

Their response indicated that they were like the hard soil of the footpath. The more they were warned, the harder their hearts became, strengthening their resolve to get rid of the landowner’s son.

What is the condition of your heart?

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my Blog site – www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

 

 

 

The Seed Will Grow!

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THE SEED WILL GROW!

 “His disciples asked, ‘Why did you tell this story?’ He said, ‘You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom — you know how it works. There are others who need stories. But even with stories, some of them aren’t going to get it:

Their eyes are open but don’t see a thing,

Their ears are open but don’t hear a thing.

“This story is about some of those people. The seed is the Word of God. The seeds on the road are those who hear the Word, but no sooner do they hear it than the devil snatches it from them so they won’t believe and be saved.

“The seeds in the gravel are those who hear with enthusiasm, but the enthusiasm doesn’t go very deep. It’s only another fad, and the moment there’s trouble it’s gone.

“And the seed that fell in the weeds — well, these are the ones who hear, but then the seed is crowded out and nothing comes of it as they worry about tomorrow, making money and having fun.

“But the seed in good earth — these are the good hearts who seize the Word and hold on no matter what, sticking with it until there’s a harvest.'” Luke 8:9-15 (The Message).

When Jesus gives the explanation, the story is quite easy to understand. Just as it happens in nature, so it happens in people. There are different responses to the same message, and different outcomes.

Even among His own disciples there were different responses, although He was with them all the time and they watched and listened to the same teaching and the same demonstrations of the way the kingdom worked.

Take Judas, for example. How could a man who had been in close contact with Him for more than three years, turn on Him and sell His out to the Jewish hierarchy? What did he see but not see? What did he hear but not hear? Surely it was a matter of interpretation as well as expectation.

Why did Judas respond to Jesus’ invitation to follow Him? After the first flush of excitement, what was he expecting from this association? Did he have political aspirations, coupled perhaps with hopes of huge financial gain that made him stick with Jesus until he could see that there was nothing in it for him? Was he like the soil that was choked with weeds and had no place for the Word to take root?

Perhaps Judas had grown up in poverty and saw his opportunity to escape the cycle of need and want when he joined the group. Is that why he stole money from the common purse — just because he had access to more money than he had even seen in his life? Perhaps he came from a wealthy home and he just loved money. He loved to feel the weight of it in his bag, and to know that he always had resources to buy anything he wanted.

What about the other disciples? Jesus’ Word didn’t seem to make much impression on them, especially when the chips were down. They also had what we call “selective hearing”! There were certain things they chose not to hear at the time, especially when Jesus spoke about the cross. It took the terrible events of His arrest and death to open their eyes and ears to what He had been telling them for a long time.

But Jesus didn’t give up on them because He knew that the potential for growth and fruitfulness lay in the seed and when the time and the soil were right, the seed would germinate and grow. And so it did.

It’s like that in our lives too. We may be deaf to what God is saying to us, but He doesn’t give up because there will come a time when the hardness and resistance are removed and we become sensitive to what He is saying. He sometimes has to use drastic means to break up the soil, but He will do it so that we can become fruitful for Him.