Pastor Cal Lord's Recent Sermons
"Painting A Picture of God’s Kingdom"
Mark 4:26-34 June 14, 2009
If I were to tell you that you had to be born again to enter the kingdom of God, you probably
wouldn’t be surprised. After all, most of us have heard these words in sermons or read them in the
gospel of John.
You may still be a little confused about the born again part, just like Nicodemus was, but you get
the point that it literally mean you are starting life anew.
People get this. Ask someone whose life is a mess and they will tell you they need to start over.
Ask someone who has gone through the break up of a relationship, the loss of a job, the reversal of
financial fortunes and they will say they need to begin again.
Jesus takes this to a whole new dimension. He isn’t just talking about making a few changes. He is
talking about changing your whole world view. He wants to come into our lives and radically
change the way we think. He is not interested in doing a little remodeling. He wants to rebuild us
from the inside out.
2 Corinthians says: “if anyone is in Christ, he [or she] is a new creation; the old has gone, the new
has come!”
This is where things get confusing. Jesus, when he is talking about the new life, also begins
making references to the kingdom of God.
Now let’s be honest. When most of us hear the words, kingdom of God, we think of heaven. So
we think if you want to get to heaven, you need to be born again.
The problem with this thinking is that it doesn’t mesh with what Jesus is saying in the majority of
his teachings. Yes, he does tell us that there is an afterlife and we will be with him in this paradise.
But when Jesus talks about the kingdom of God, he points out that it is in the here and now.
You see the truth is that God is alive and well and busy at work in this world right now. He is
setting all his plans in motion. He is actively engaged in ruling the world. Nothing happens that he
doesn’t know about. He is working out all his purposes right now. The problem is that until we are
born anew with kingdom eyes, we just don’t see it.
When you let Christ into your life, you begin to see life through a different set of lenses.
Everything takes on new meaning. Everything is seen in a new way. You begin to live and trust
God because you can see that God is in control.
In our scripture reading this morning Jesus paints a picture of kingdom living for us. To do so he
uses a couple of parables. He took ordinary things to illustrate some important truths.
He begins by using the illustration of a man who is planting a garden. He says the man scatters
seeds and before long they begin to sprout and grow. He doesn’t do anything else but in time a
harvest is raised from the ground. It just happens. In essence Jesus is telling the people that if you
look around, you will see the hand of God in everything.
One of our big failings as people is that we take responsibility for everything. We think we make
everything happen. Jesus points out that we may have a hand in making something happen,
especially when we are acting faithfully, but it is God who makes it grow.
A few weeks ago I wrote my weekly epistle after a visit to the hospital. I pointed out that the
doctors and nurses are partners with God in the healing process. I don’t want to diminish their part
in the process now, but let’s be honest. A doctor can only set things in motion. They cannot
physically heal a patient. That is God’s doing. No matter how many chemicals we put in the body,
or how many vitamins and supplements are taken, the healing will always be the providence of
God.
We try to take credit for what God is doing and that’s why we often get disappointed. When
things don’t go the way we planned, we look at it as failure. Yet there might be something else
going on. That’s where kingdom lenses help.
When I was working in a senior drop in center in Boston years ago, an older gentleman came in
one day. As he sat there drinking his coffee we had the opportunity to talk. He said something very
profound that day that I carry with me even now. He said, “There’s a reason for everything. It may
not be a good reason, but you better believe there is a reason.”
Now he was talking about the reason people drink, lose hope, make poor choices and the like. We
like to call those reasons, excuses, but they explain why a person does what he or she does. The
truth is that this man had more insight than he even knew. There is a reason for everything. God
knows it. When we look at the world through kingdom eyes, we see it.
The bad things happen because of human sin. A person chooses to drink and drive and an innocent
life is lost. A person chooses to spend more money than they have and end up over their heads in
debt and finally in bankruptcy. A person decides to cheat on their spouse and one thing leads to
another and they end up in divorce court.
So where is God? Here is the good news: God is at work reconciling the world. Even after the
bottom falls out on our world, God is there to help us pick up the pieces so we can start again. For
God never stops working out his purposes for our lives. Even when we mess things up, God is still
at work. That’s the mystery that Jesus is pointing to.
We can’t explain it but we see the results. That’s the thought in the poem “Footprints in the
Sand.” We look back and see God was at work. Well Jesus says when you are born again, when
you begin to see through the eyes of faith, you will begin walking in the kingdom of God. You will
begin to see things in a different light.
It doesn’t happen over night. It takes time. But God has planted those seeds in you. You just need
to trust them. They will grow and so will you.
Here is more good news about the kingdom of God. This growth will make a difference not only in
our lives, but also in the lives of those around us. There is nothing so powerful as growth. A tree
can split concrete pavement with the power of its growth. A weed can push its green head through
an asphalt parking lot. Nothing can stop growth. It’s the same way with those living in the
Kingdom!
When you begin to see the world through God’s eyes, everyone becomes your neighbor. Jesus
said to love your neighbors. That means we will begin to reach out to them. We will become
bearers of grace and hope for the people we meet. We will share His love with the homeless, the
hungry, the poor, the unbelievers. As we begin to minister to those around us, new life will begin to
flow to our community.
I think that is why Jesus told the second parable. Most of us don’t think we have much to offer.
So he lifts up the mustard seed as an example. It is the smallest of all seeds and yet its growth is
phenomenal. Jesus says think about at it. He knew the illustration he had just given them about
planting seeds would remind them that it is not about them. It is all about God. When we allow God
to lead our lives will sprout and take root!
Good fruit will come.
Good things will happen.
God will use us to bring others into His Kingdom or reign.
You see the kingdom of God is a now thing. God wants us to be part of what he is doing today.
So step into his world and begin living in the kingdom. Start planting seeds and let God make them
grow into a beautiful landscape that will reflect the glory of God himself. Amen.
Mark 4:26-34 June 14, 2009
If I were to tell you that you had to be born again to enter the kingdom of God, you probably
wouldn’t be surprised. After all, most of us have heard these words in sermons or read them in the
gospel of John.
You may still be a little confused about the born again part, just like Nicodemus was, but you get
the point that it literally mean you are starting life anew.
People get this. Ask someone whose life is a mess and they will tell you they need to start over.
Ask someone who has gone through the break up of a relationship, the loss of a job, the reversal of
financial fortunes and they will say they need to begin again.
Jesus takes this to a whole new dimension. He isn’t just talking about making a few changes. He is
talking about changing your whole world view. He wants to come into our lives and radically
change the way we think. He is not interested in doing a little remodeling. He wants to rebuild us
from the inside out.
2 Corinthians says: “if anyone is in Christ, he [or she] is a new creation; the old has gone, the new
has come!”
This is where things get confusing. Jesus, when he is talking about the new life, also begins
making references to the kingdom of God.
Now let’s be honest. When most of us hear the words, kingdom of God, we think of heaven. So
we think if you want to get to heaven, you need to be born again.
The problem with this thinking is that it doesn’t mesh with what Jesus is saying in the majority of
his teachings. Yes, he does tell us that there is an afterlife and we will be with him in this paradise.
But when Jesus talks about the kingdom of God, he points out that it is in the here and now.
You see the truth is that God is alive and well and busy at work in this world right now. He is
setting all his plans in motion. He is actively engaged in ruling the world. Nothing happens that he
doesn’t know about. He is working out all his purposes right now. The problem is that until we are
born anew with kingdom eyes, we just don’t see it.
When you let Christ into your life, you begin to see life through a different set of lenses.
Everything takes on new meaning. Everything is seen in a new way. You begin to live and trust
God because you can see that God is in control.
In our scripture reading this morning Jesus paints a picture of kingdom living for us. To do so he
uses a couple of parables. He took ordinary things to illustrate some important truths.
He begins by using the illustration of a man who is planting a garden. He says the man scatters
seeds and before long they begin to sprout and grow. He doesn’t do anything else but in time a
harvest is raised from the ground. It just happens. In essence Jesus is telling the people that if you
look around, you will see the hand of God in everything.
One of our big failings as people is that we take responsibility for everything. We think we make
everything happen. Jesus points out that we may have a hand in making something happen,
especially when we are acting faithfully, but it is God who makes it grow.
A few weeks ago I wrote my weekly epistle after a visit to the hospital. I pointed out that the
doctors and nurses are partners with God in the healing process. I don’t want to diminish their part
in the process now, but let’s be honest. A doctor can only set things in motion. They cannot
physically heal a patient. That is God’s doing. No matter how many chemicals we put in the body,
or how many vitamins and supplements are taken, the healing will always be the providence of
God.
We try to take credit for what God is doing and that’s why we often get disappointed. When
things don’t go the way we planned, we look at it as failure. Yet there might be something else
going on. That’s where kingdom lenses help.
When I was working in a senior drop in center in Boston years ago, an older gentleman came in
one day. As he sat there drinking his coffee we had the opportunity to talk. He said something very
profound that day that I carry with me even now. He said, “There’s a reason for everything. It may
not be a good reason, but you better believe there is a reason.”
Now he was talking about the reason people drink, lose hope, make poor choices and the like. We
like to call those reasons, excuses, but they explain why a person does what he or she does. The
truth is that this man had more insight than he even knew. There is a reason for everything. God
knows it. When we look at the world through kingdom eyes, we see it.
The bad things happen because of human sin. A person chooses to drink and drive and an innocent
life is lost. A person chooses to spend more money than they have and end up over their heads in
debt and finally in bankruptcy. A person decides to cheat on their spouse and one thing leads to
another and they end up in divorce court.
So where is God? Here is the good news: God is at work reconciling the world. Even after the
bottom falls out on our world, God is there to help us pick up the pieces so we can start again. For
God never stops working out his purposes for our lives. Even when we mess things up, God is still
at work. That’s the mystery that Jesus is pointing to.
We can’t explain it but we see the results. That’s the thought in the poem “Footprints in the
Sand.” We look back and see God was at work. Well Jesus says when you are born again, when
you begin to see through the eyes of faith, you will begin walking in the kingdom of God. You will
begin to see things in a different light.
It doesn’t happen over night. It takes time. But God has planted those seeds in you. You just need
to trust them. They will grow and so will you.
Here is more good news about the kingdom of God. This growth will make a difference not only in
our lives, but also in the lives of those around us. There is nothing so powerful as growth. A tree
can split concrete pavement with the power of its growth. A weed can push its green head through
an asphalt parking lot. Nothing can stop growth. It’s the same way with those living in the
Kingdom!
When you begin to see the world through God’s eyes, everyone becomes your neighbor. Jesus
said to love your neighbors. That means we will begin to reach out to them. We will become
bearers of grace and hope for the people we meet. We will share His love with the homeless, the
hungry, the poor, the unbelievers. As we begin to minister to those around us, new life will begin to
flow to our community.
I think that is why Jesus told the second parable. Most of us don’t think we have much to offer.
So he lifts up the mustard seed as an example. It is the smallest of all seeds and yet its growth is
phenomenal. Jesus says think about at it. He knew the illustration he had just given them about
planting seeds would remind them that it is not about them. It is all about God. When we allow God
to lead our lives will sprout and take root!
Good fruit will come.
Good things will happen.
God will use us to bring others into His Kingdom or reign.
You see the kingdom of God is a now thing. God wants us to be part of what he is doing today.
So step into his world and begin living in the kingdom. Start planting seeds and let God make them
grow into a beautiful landscape that will reflect the glory of God himself. Amen.
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