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#DailyDevotion The Growth Of The Kingdom Of God Is An Article Of Faith

#DailyDevotion The Growth Of The Kingdom Of God Is An Article Of Faith

Mark 4:30-34 30 “What should we say God’s kingdom is like,” He asked, “or how should we picture it? 31It’s like a mustard seed, which when sown on the ground is the smallest of all the seeds on earth. 32 But when it’s sown, it comes up and becomes the largest of all the garden plants. It grows such large branches that the birds in the air can nest in its shade.” 33He used many parables like these to speak the Word as they were able to hear it. 34 He wouldn’t speak to them without a parable. But when He was alone with His disciples, He would explain everything to them.

Again, Jesus is teaching us something about the kingdom of God. Like the previous one it includes the kingdom of God, the Word and mystery.

So today, Jesus says the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. It starts off small. But when it is sown it comes up and becomes the largest of all the garden plants. It becomes large enough that all kinds of birds can nest in its shade. Now I’m not going to get into what kind of mustard plant this is that does this. Google is your friend. But what is Jesus talking about here.

I think we need John’s help from his Gospel. He writes, “IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” and again, 14“And the Word became flesh and lived among us for a time and we saw His glory, the glory of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Jesus tells us in John 12, 24 “Surely, I tell you, if a kernel of wheat doesn’t fall into the ground and die, it will be just one kernel. But if it dies, it produces much grain.”

Jesus in himself is the kingdom of God. He is that mustard seed that is sown into the ground and dies but also comes up. He is the one who crucified and dies and then is raised from the dead on the third day. By the preaching of the result of Jesus’ work repentance and the free gift of grace for the forgiveness of sins we are made part of that mustard plant which is growing every day. It may not seem like God’s kingdom is growing in your particular local but it is filling the world. Even then where we see it’s growth by visible confessors of the faith we do not know if they are true believers or hypocrites. We confess our faith, “We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church and the communion of saints.” As an article of faith it cannot be seen but only believed in by faith.

Now the crowds only got parables to learn from Jesus in what they could handle but Jesus did not explain the meanings to them, only the disciples were taught what they meant. It would have been nice if all the parables Jesus taught that were in the gospels were also explained. But the Gospel writes helped in this, usually the parables were grouped together and in that grouping one of the parables meaning was given. I’m certain that interpreted parable helps us understand the others. In this case it would be the parable of the sower. So if you want to dig deeper into the parables in chapter 4 of Mark, you should first meditate on the interpretation of that parable and then look at the rest through the lens it provides.



Heavenly Father, you have promised through your Son Jesus Christ that your kingdom would grow in such stature that the birds of the air could take their rest in it. Grant us faith when we are discouraged by the growth in the Church where we are so we may take heart and know you are always growing your Church when and where is pleases you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

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Rev. Guillaume J. S. Williams, Sr.

The Reverend Guillaume Williams is the Pastor of Hope Lutheran Chapel of Osage Beach, Missouri. His pastoral ministry with Hope began in 2005 where he preaches the Christ crucified.

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