“Christ Crucified”

Sixteen Sermons on Mark's Gospel

Message Four:

“He is God Over All”

May 18, 2003

by Rev. Stephen C. Magee

Exeter Presbyterian Church

Introduction: Why don’t Paul, James, Peter, John, and Jude generally teach in parables as Jesus did?

There is much speculation concerning why Jesus taught in parables. Was He trying to leave people with excellent memorable illustrations, and set a pattern for us that we might also be good communicators? Was He showing us how we could relate to a given culture? Was He leaving secret messages that would cause those who were truly touched by God’s grace to inquire further?

As you think about that question, I want you to consider a few facts. First, no one else in the Bible had ever taught like this before. There were some who had used parables, but here is the difference. They all explained the meaning of their parables. Jesus teaches with parables and then does not explain the meaning to the entire crowd – only to His disciples. Second, no one else in the Bible ever taught like this in the years that followed – at least not as a standard practice.

When Paul, James, Peter, John, and Jude have something to say to those who are interested, they do not speak in any veiled way. They mainly speak to the church, and almost always do so with great pains to be understood plainly. One might have thought that those men who knew Jesus, and were most familiar with his methodology might have simply imitated his ways. But they did not. Why?

God Over All Teaching in Parables to Israel

Part of the answer to these questions comes in the passage before us today. We are presented here with an aspect of the truth of Christ which many wish to ignore. The man who is able to make the wind obey – who is God over all men and all creation, did not wish to reveal all of His message to everyone.

Look at the examples given to us in Mark 4. Jesus teaches about four kinds of soil. He has something to say about the foolishness of putting a lamp under a bed. He presents some information about the way that things grow, particularly the unusual growth that comes from a mustard seed.

Some of you grew up listening to these things, and you may have a pretty good idea what Jesus is talking about. Some of you are here today and you may have no idea what these stories mean. That is not surprising actually. As more and more people grow up with so very little exposure to the Scriptures, many will come into a church like this, hear words like I read today, and have no concept of the purpose of these little snippets of life that Jesus chooses to talk about with the crowds.

If that is your experience today, think about this. Your reaction of confusion would have been the same reaction that the crowds had when they first heard these little stories from the lips of Jesus. Now add to this realization the fact that this was Jesus’ standard operating procedure. It says in verse 34, “without a parable He did not speak to them.” Why?

Jesus answers this obvious question Himself in verse 11. He says

…to those who are outside, all things come in parables, so that

“Seeing they may see and not perceive,

And hearing they may hear and not understand;

Lest they should turn

And their sins be forgiven them.” (verses 11-12)

This is a shocking answer. It would seem, at first glance, that it is the intention of God-Over-All who has come in the flesh - that not all will actually understand. It would seem that it was the intention of Jesus to actually in part conceal the truth from the crowds, rather the to reveal the truth to all of them.

Many run away from this obvious answer. I shall not. There may be many reasons why Jesus teaches the crowds in parables. They are memorable. They are illustrations that relate to people in their everyday lives. They do connect with all kinds of people. But it is interesting that every time Jesus answers the question as to why He teaches with parables and does not explain these to the crowds, He always answers the question in the same way. He quotes from the Old Testament, and indicates that His purpose in speaking to the crowds in Israel, is not to reveal everything to anyone, but in some sense to conceal.

Let’s look together at the quote from Isaiah 6:9-10 to see more clearly what the Lord is doing here. This passage comes from the chapter where God is calling Isaiah to be a prophet. He tells Isaiah that He is settled in His judgment against His people. The story of the prophets in the Old Testament, is that one of their most important functions is to testify against Old Testament Israel that she has violated God’s ways. As the story progresses the urgency of the message increases. Eventually the settled plan of God to judge His people becomes clearer and clearer. The call of Isaiah reflects that. At this point God’s mind is presented to His people as settled in the course He will take. The more gentle entreaties have been abandoned. God will not heal them. As an expression of this, He will use speech that will shut their eyes rather than open them.

God will judge His people, and He will do this be speaking to them in parables. The parable speech of Jesus is designed to conceal. The crowds will not get it. They will see, but they will not see. They will hear, but they will not hear. The Old Testament nation of Israel will be judged. Thus Jesus comes speaking in parables and He does not explain what they mean to the crowds.

God Over All Explaining Parables to the Disciples

The One who has authority over the wind, can choose to conceal things from the impenitent if He chooses for His purposes to do this. He can also reveal things to His disciples as He displays in this passage. It is very clear here that you do not want to find yourself merely to be an admirer of Jesus in the midst of the crowd. You want to be a follower who is able to hear not only the parables, but also the explanations.

To the crowds, Jesus teaches about four kinds of soil, a lamp under a bed, the way that things grow, and the amazing mustard seed. If you’re His disciple, you learn that you want God to make your heart the kind of soil where the Word of Jesus will bear much fruit. You learn that the followers of Jesus will shine His light into the world just by living honestly and sensibly. Your life can’t be hidden. You learn that His kingdom, the church, is going to grow in due time, despite its very small beginnings, and that it will be a shelter for many. To you the truth is revealed.

The Old Testament prophets were prosecutors against unfaithful Israel, and heralds of New Covenant blessings to the nations. Jesus takes this one step further. He speaks the final word against Israel and her rulers, and He inaugurates the Kingdom of God, His church.

The Kingdom in apparent danger – The people of the boat – The people of the Word. Even the wind and the sea obey Him.

At this point in the story of this Kingdom it is very small indeed. All of her leaders are able to fit in one boat, and the Man in charge is asleep on a pillow, and billows of waves are crashing upon the boat. This too is a parable, but not some detached story that leaves you scratching your head. This one they had to live through. This kingdom is so small, that all of her leaders are about to lose their lives in one storm at sea, or so it appears to them.

If all the world is on shore in apparent safety, and all God’s people are on the high seas in peril from a bad storm, where would you want to be? By the way, this is not the first time in the Bible when the covenant people were all on one boat. Does the name Noah mean anything to you? Peter spoke about it in another place.

….once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. There is also an antitype (the thing the ark stood for) which now saves us – baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him. (I Peter 3:20-22)

In the days of Noah, the Kingdom of God was in danger, and God rescued Noah and His family by putting Him in a boat and saving them from the judgment that fell upon the whole world. Now in Mark 4, the ministers of the Word for the people of the kingdom are all in one boat, and Jesus, with a word, is able to show that He is God over the wind.

In the years to come these men would face many great difficulties. They would be vastly outnumbered. They would be poor and weak. They would have very powerful enemies against them, who would be against the Word of God, and would instruct them that they must not preach that Word. What would keep them going against such terrible and overwhelming adversaries. I submit to you that one of the things that keeps the Servants of God going is that they know that Jesus is God over the waves. He is not merely God over the waves,

He is God Over All,

and it is His to conceal and His to reveal

the mysteries of the Kingdom of grace.

HE WILL SAVE AND KEEP HIS OWN BY HIS STRONG WORD.

This is a day for revealing, not for concealing.

This is a great encouragement to the church, as we together travel through this world under the perfection of such a God. Peter is right. We have been saved by judgment through our union with Jesus Christ, a union that is signified by the sacrament of baptism. Christ has risen from the dead and we believe in Him. We have been sprinkled by His Spirit poured out upon us, and we have the testimony of a good conscience. For the blood of Christ has cleansed us from our sins. We belong to Him, whole families, like the family of Noah, saved through their union with Christ who is our ark. There is safety in that ark and there is no other place of safety in this world, even though the world may appear to be a place of security. Do not trust in your own perception of solid ground in your job, and your family, and your savings, and your health. These things can go in a moment. Talk to Job about it, and find out. The only security is in Christ, but in Him there is full security even if it looks like the kingdom is just a mustard seed, and the boat is about to be overwhelmed by the waters. In Christ there is safety for you and your family.

It is His to conceal and His to reveal. He is God. Has He revealed to you the mysteries of His Kingdom? Have you been brought to realize that your only security is in Jesus Christ, in His atoning death for the church, in His victorious resurrection? Have you been baptized into that great Name, you and all your household? If this is the case, then thank God that He has revealed the mystery of the Kingdom to you. Also He has shown you Himself through the Word and you have believed. You have joined into the common confession of the faith of the church throughout the ages. Jesus saves. Jesus is Lord.

Today is not a day for concealing that truth. It is a day of revelation. I remind you again that Christ spoke in parable without explanation as a sign of judgment against Israel – the people of the Old Testament Administration of the Covenant. He concealed deliberately. This was His to do. He was not being merely memorable. He was judging them after centuries of warning and longsuffering, and He was also making a way for the Gentiles through faith in Him. I remind you that while Jesus was concealing something from the crowds on that day, that He did not direct any of His apostles and prophets of the New Testament Church to teach the way that He taught. We are not to teach in parables, because the New Testament Era is an era of revealing the truth to the nations – not a time of concealing.

You are to be a full part of the church – engaged as each is variously gifted to be engaged in that great work of the revelation of God. The church proclaims the truth to families, and men, women, boys, girls, even infants, are marked with the sign of the covenant, and brought into the ark, the body of Christ, the people of God.

Some thoughts on our duty to reveal the mysteries of the Kingdom of grace to our children

Let me press this upon you further now, if you truly profess to be a lover of the Lord Jesus. Do not leave your poor children behind. Bring them along in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Do you know what is the most successful evangelistic program in the history of the Christian church? Baptism. This should not be a great surprise. The Commission Christ gave to the church, where He tells His apostles to plainly teach them to observe all things that He had privately taught them – where He tells them to speak plainly whatever had been concealed before – that Commission mentions baptism, doesn’t it? It does.

I urge you to participate in the most effective evangelism known to man. Have babies if God blesses you in that way. Have babies if you like. Adopt them if you like. Be an uncle or an aunt if you wish. Be a grandma or a grandpa if you will. But have babies, and mark them with the sign of the covenant, and teach them to be Christians. Teach them to observe all things whatsoever Christ has commanded you, and you will be a part of the Great Commission.

This is a Commission given to the church as a body. To be sure we fulfill it in different ways depending on our gifts and our office in the body of Christ. But this is a day for revealing, not for concealing. This is a day for the Word of mercy to go forward. Let it be a day of judgment only for those who would flee from mercy. They flee from the ark, rather than stay with the people of God.

But let us also rescue some of them from disaster as a church, particularly those who have been marked with the sign of the covenant and then run from the Lord of the Covenant. He is God-Over-All. Let us hear His voice in His Word and believe in His Name. It is not safe to be swimming out there outside of the ark. Be a part of the church of Jesus Christ, and bring in those who have sought their fortunes in the wind, and have come up empty.

For your precious children, do what you have said you would. You said you would live as a Christian. You said you would read them the Bible. You said that you would teach them the doctrines of the Christian faith. You said that you would pray with and for them. Do these things with confidence in God alone, lest you faint as you place your confidence in how well you do these things. But still do these things as an expression of your own faithfulness to the God who has rescued you from deep waters.

Conclusion: Assurance, False and True

There is an amazing assurance that comes to the people of God through our union with Christ in our common confession of faith. There is a safety that is known in Him – in His body. Though the ground may seem rough or shallow or the weeds seem unstoppable, if God is for us, who can be against us? There will be fruit, 30, 60, 100-fold. Though the lamp may seem dim and hidden, He will make it shine. Though it may seem that what the little one has is not enough, if he has real union with Christ by faith as he grows, to Him more will be given. Don’t give up on the little fellow. And don’t give up on your husband or wife, or on members of the church who may seem weak to you. God is able to make them stand and they shall stand. He may seem like a seedling that is not going anywhere good. But if He is in Christ, He will be a mighty oak in Him. Though the waves be splashing about, trust in God. Wake Him up if you think that He is sleeping. Speak to Him. He hears you. Tell Him how much you trust Him again for the life of the one you were about to give up on. Tell Him how much He can be trusted. Stay with the body of Christ.

This is true assurance – true union with Christ. Anything else that pretends to be assurance is false assurance. “I suppose I’m good enough.” False assurance. “Well they were baptized when they were little.” False assurance. If they have wandered away from the body they need to come back to the body. “Well they went forward and prayed the prayer.” False assurance. If they will not be with the body of Christ, why would we think they are connected with the Head? But in Him, in His Body, in the place where He makes His grace known, there is true hope, for all who trust. For all who follow.

Some Questions to Consider:

1. Why did Jesus teach in parables?

He spoke in judgment against Old Testament Israel. He concealed things from the crowd, and then revealed them to the seeds of the New Testament Church – His small band of disciples.

2. Why does He not explain the parables to the crowd?

This was the judgment part of the speech. Their hearts are hard, and they will not hear. Those who truly follow Him hear the explanations. They have been given the grace of true hearing.

3. Does every detail in every parable have a spiritual meaning?

No. This was an error that was prevalent in the interpretation of the church in the first centuries of biblical commentary. They turned all of the parables, and many other portions of Scripture into elaborate allegories. To be sure, some of the parables are complex allegories. But most scholars today believe that must of the parables have a single point. We need to exercise caution in assigning an allegorical meaning to every detail within a parable. Some the facts appear to simply be a part of the story.

4. What are we to make of the four different types of soil? How many of these relate to the elect?

This is a complex parable. We can simplify it some by thinking of two groups of hearers, the unfruitful and the fruitful. Only the fruitful show forth the kind of life that we expect to see from those who have been chosen by God – the fourth soil. The other three soils simply provide three varieties of fruitlessness. The first does not seem to hear. The second hears but then falls away when persecution comes. The third hears, but is distracted by the things of this passing world. It is not some bare hearing that is commended. The parable is not designed to applaud a good start. It commends the one who professes the faith and continues in fruitful life in the body of Christ. Soil two and three people may have “prayed the prayer” or “gone forward” at some crusade, but where are they today? They no longer display a true union with Christ through their vital participation in His body the church.

5. What is the point of the lamp parable?

This follows well the previous discussion of parable speech. While Jesus uses parables, in part, to conceal, He is calling His disciples to reveal the truth of the Kingdom plainly. They will do this in their lives, and through their organic participation in the body of Christ, they will play a part in the proclamation of the word by those who are called to teach and preach. In life and in Word, the message of Christ will not be hidden. The light will shine.

6. What do we learn from the remarks in verse 25 about having something, and then having it taken away?

Everything of value that we have in the Kingdom of God comes to us as a gift. Do you have faith in Christ (“ears to hear”)? Good. This is a gift from God. Not everyone has this gift. Those who have will be given more. They will grow, moving from glory to glory through the means of grace that God has provided to the church. But those who do not have ears to hear will not be well rooted in the Word. They will trust in the things of this world, and even what they think they have will one day be taking away from them. They will not be able to keep the things of this passing world with them, any more than they can grasp the wind.

7. What do we learn about the kingdom of God from the two parables in verses 26-32?

God’s methods for the church may look weak and slow, but He will cause them to prosper in His good time, and the message of the faith will go well beyond this small crew here assembled. What a great confirmation of the truth of these words we now see 2000 years later. This mustard seed of the Christian confession of faith has even reached us, and we believe!

8. Why was Jesus asleep in the boat in the midst of such a difficult storm?

Jesus is fully human and fully divine. In His human nature He is tired. In His divine nature, He rules over the elements. As the second person of the Godhead He lives in complete trust of His heavenly Father. Therefore he both needs to sleep, and He is also able to rest in the Sovereign perfection of His Father’s good pleasure.

9. What is the connection between the calming of the wind and the parables that precede that episode in Mark 4?

This is a living picture of the weakness of the Kingdom at this point of inception, and the power of God to preserve His own children for His good purposes.

10. Why does Jesus reveal the secrets of His kingdom to His disciples?

To them it has been granted to know the mysteries of the Kingdom. They have been appointed to hear, to believe, and to proclaim the truth. At times they seem like a hopeless team, but our full trust is in the power of God.