Like a grain of mustard seed, the message of the gospel, viewed one way, is a very small thing. How can it be successful? How can the preaching of the gospel bring any results? Who wants this? What is the message? That you must repent of your sin. That is hardly going to knock over the population. People are not going to come flocking to that, as though it’s the best show in town. What is the kingdom of heaven all about? I must repent of my sin? That promises to be a very unpopular message, so it is something very small in people’s estimation.
But then the message goes further. You must forsake the world and all your sins and your service and love for this present world. That is going to make it even less popular. You must believe in a dying Saviour, Jesus Christ, who came from heaven and gave his life on Calvary’s cross. ‘What? You’re not going to tell me about someone who did some great thing? You are preaching about someone who suffered and died on a cross?’ – this gospel is becoming smaller and smaller in the estimation of the world. No, I am going to tell you about a way of salvation, which is by grace alone. It has to be given freely from God, because you are not capable of earning it. There will be nothing to fuel your pride; nothing from you. It is only when you give up your pride and humble yourself before God and receive salvation as a free gift that it becomes yours – even less popular. This word I am sowing, in the estimation of the world, gets smaller and smaller, and less and less desirable, effective, and powerful, the more I describe it. And yet, when it is sown in the heart by the power of the Holy Spirit, and it gives rise to salvation, it becomes a large shrub or tree. This tiny (almost unwanted) nothing of a seed becomes a most wonderful shrub, hosting the birds of the air, and providing shadow and protection for many. Here is an individual convert. He believes this message about a dying Saviour and repenting of sin – God’s mercy must be received freely as there’s no good in us, no capability to deserve. This nothing message – he receives it and look what happens to him. He becomes a new person. It puts him in touch with the living God. It gives him eternal life. It emancipates his mind, and gives him understanding of the world and the word of God. It amplifies him as a person many times over. So the message about which he at first said, ‘That is too small for me. I don’t want that’; actually makes him into a great shrub.
Then it also pictures the church. There it was, just those Galilean disciples, no great intellectuals, opposed by the Jews, opposed by the Romans. And yet, through this message, despised as it was, the Gentiles came into the church and it has become the worldwide, Jewish-Gentile church of Jesus Christ, the largest empire in the history of the world, and when other empires rise and fall and disappear, this one goes on ever growing. So, whether you are looking at the individual believer, or the church as a whole, this message, which is so small and despised in the estimation of the world, is what has all the power. Believe in Christ, who suffered and died for sinners and you possess power and wisdom and eternal life. That is the point of this remarkable parable.
As we bring together these parables in Matthew and in Mark, we have great clarity on the kingdom. The parable of the sower – the message of repentance and remission, sincerely believed in by a minority of hearers which takes root and makes their lives fruitful and glorious. But with many hearers there are all sorts of impediments, the thorns of this life and of sin. Then, further explanations are given as to how spiritual seed works. You see, says Christ, it is like a lamp. It is clear, it illuminates and it lights up teaching and facts – the sinfulness of man, the holiness of God, the need of forgiveness, the need of new life which you won’t find in the world. The world is like a great permanent night, there is no light on spiritual matters and it is the lamp of Christ which brings these truths to light, so that you see your need of salvation. But you have to respect what you hear. What you receive from God depends in a sense on your investing what you hear in terms of belief and humble response. What you reap, salvation, will depend upon the respect and the sense of need which you show when you hear this message.
But then, says the Lord, it is a divine work in the heart. There is nothing that man can do. We preach the message God has given us, the seed goes into the ground, but only God can bring a person to spiritual life and change and convert that person. Then the parable of the mustard seed. The seed may be the smallest imaginable and yet it will have the greatest effect in that life that you could possibly imagine. You can go to school, you can go to university, you can give so many years to education, driving things into your mind – and so you must, and that’s a good thing – but it bears no comparison with the tremendous effect of the gospel in your life, if that seed is sown. We are sinners, we need forgiveness, Christ has died for sinners. We repent of our sin and we yield to him. The extent to which that changes and adds to our life is immeasurably greater than even a university education or anything else. From the smallest seed comes the greatest effect upon your mind, your outlook, your character, indeed, your whole eternity.