Baptists are sure known for counting but this seems a little ridiculous doesn t it!

Transcription

1 Title: The Growth of the Underground Church Text: Mark 4: ,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 (REPEAT 3 X s) Baptists are sure known for counting but this seems a little ridiculous doesn t it An opening thought, though. Do we have enough? Do we have enough? Do you have enough. Brene Brown talks about the great lie of scarcity that tends to dominate our lives. It works by consistently convincing us that we are lacking something. How would you fill in the blanks I m never enough Can you come up with something? I m never enough. Good enough? Smart enough. Thin enough. Secure enough. We can all come up with things in life that we lack. Here s how one person put it. For me and for many of us, our first waking thought of the day is "I didn't get enough sleep." The next one is "I don't have enough time." Whether true or not, that thought of not enough occurs to us automatically before we even think to question or examine it. We spend most of the hours and the days of our lives hearing, explaining, complaining, or worrying about what we don't have enough of...before we even sit up in bed, before our feet touch the floor, we're already inadequate, already behind, already losing, already lacking something. And by the time we go to bed at night, our minds are racing with a litany of what we didn't get, or didn't get done, that day. We go to sleep burdened by those thoughts and wake up to that reverie of lack...this internal condition of scarcity, this mind-set of scarcity, lives at the very heart of our jealousies, our greed, our prejudice, and our arguments with life.(43-45). Ouch Is it just me that that nails? And this kind of mindset can certainly take hold in the church. Where what dominates our thinking is what we don t have. Or what we used to have. Or what others have. And we watch the news or surf the web and what seems to move the needle for our culture or world are the things that are big and powerful or multinational or the crowds. And we hear lots of bad news about the church in America - about declining influence; decreasing numbers or clout. And that scarcity mindset can take hold. Well I d like us this morning to think about another aspect of the underground church throughout history. As we start meeting underground we re reflecting on some lessons from the Underground Church around the world and through history. But with the underground church, the concern isn t with size or strength or power or maintaining privilege in a culture. Its about faithfully following Jesus and realizing that He is enough. Let me tell you the stories of a couple of underground churches that from an outsider s perspective are suffering from a serious scarcity problem

2 We re working in Ethiopia. This year we ve made a major contribution to a building project in Bantu, Ethiopia, where we re building a bunkhouse for a pastor training center hopefully our mission team will be staying in it this fall. Some of the first protestant missionaries in Ethiopia were with SIM Sudan Inland Mission. They arrived in the 1920 s and the work was slow and very hard. They were focusing on an area in Southern Ethiopia and after 15 years had 150 baptized believers. 1 That s some tough sledding Then in 1936 the Italians under Mussolini invaded. They captured Addis Ababa and expelled all protestant missionaries. The little church there became even more of an underground church. They experienced severe persecution. One Christian imprisoned by the Italians sang, Why should we not suffer a little while here and now We will reign with him through all eternity. Many were killed or imprisoned. The missionaries who left, left will little hope for these groups of believers under such terrible circumstances. SIM, the missionary organization, received no word for 4 years. In 1941 the British liberated Italy, and a missionary representative made the journey to that area to have a staggering surprise. The 150 believers had grown to 10,000 followers of Christ. That group is now the largest evangelical denomination in Ethiopia with about 4 million members. There wasn t much to see in 1936 other than a few faithful people. But God did something tremendous. Or something similar happened in China. There was a much longer history of missions activity. The first protestant missionaries arrived in the early 1800 s. And such missions luminaries as Hudson Taylor and Lottie Moon followed. There were 2500 missionaries in But it had still been slow work. With 2500 missionaries and about 100 years of work, there were about 100,000 Chinese Christians. From growth really accelerated. In 1950 there were 700,000. But then Chairman Mao s revolution swept through, with the Communists taking over. And like Ethiopia the missionaries were evicted. And though 700,000 is a lot of Christians, the overall population was over half a billion. And the government was now hostile to faith. The church again went underground, and again something very surprising happened. When missionaries came back in the late 70 s they found incredible growth millions of believers. Today some estimates are that there are 100 million Christians in China. To look at the situation in 1950, discouraging Scarcity There were so many things lacking in the Chinese church. But as the church went underground, and faithfully worked at following Jesus, remarkable things happened. Well a perfect topic for things underground is seeds. Seeds. That s going to be our topic today. So turn with me to Mark chapter 4. He also said, With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade. With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples. -Mark 4:30 34 This is still early in Jesus ministry. He s just called the disciples. So they re just figuring out what all of this is all about. And the base level first message Jesus gave was, The Kingdom of God is at hand 1

3 Now that s an exciting message. Because this is what the prophets of old had foretold the future reign of God. God s rule. And we talked some about this last week. The expectation was the it would be a political rule a powerful rule. Whatever the kingdom of God is, it would come with strength and might; with fire and armies. The moon turning to blood. Enemies trembling and falling before it. The Kingdom of God That would have been the expectation. Big, powerful, the winning team, overwhelming opponents and settling scores with enemies. And in some ways that s still the expectation for us. In America Christians have been very involved in power politics and culture wars. And some have really acted as if the kingdom was about politics and about electing the right people and enforcing the right laws. And making the big headlines Surely that s kingdom stuff. But over and over again in scripture, God surprises us. God works in ways that we wouldn t expect. All eyes are this way and then we find out later that God has been using something way over here. I m not saying God is a magician, but its a kind of divine slight of hand a cosmic surprise. We studied Genesis earlier this year. And things had spiraled out of control. Creation in full rebellion. What would God do to start the process of fixing things? God called a 75 year old man and his wife, barren no real future and God called them to be the headwaters of the stream of salvation. Or when all Israel was longing for a savior; a deliverer, a new king; a baby was born in a lowly manger in Bethlehem. God works in surprising ways. In our lives we re often blindsided by how God works We re expecting this, and God just gives a nudge here or a conversation there. Or a whispered message Do this step out in faith. Well this is like the expectations of the kingdom. Jesus first followers needed not just to recognize that in Jesus the Kingdom was here. But they needed to understand how radically different the kingdom actually was a beautiful kingdom of mercy and love. A kingdom that doesn t conquer enemies but loves them. A kingdom where grace is the rule. A kingdom that s good news to sinners They needed clarity on this. And so do we today. And throughout this chapter we have parables of the kingdom. The first one is the parable of the sower He sows the seed, and there are four categories of things that happen to it. The birds take it, the sun scorches, the weeds choke it; and then some grows. Jesus then talked about the lamp we don t light the lamp and then put under a basket. He used the image of the measuring cup we ll be measured by the standard of measure we use. Then the next parable is the parable of the seed. The farmer sows it. And he goes to bed, and this process starts he doesn t even understand it as the crop develops. Then he reaps. you can go back and read these later. And then we have the mustard seed. And this is very much redefining the kingdom. Because the images we think of with kingdoms are mighty fortresses, defenses; weapons; armies. Conquering enemy territory. Towers and great ships and diplomats But what we find instead are; vulnerable seeds sitting in the dirt we find lamps and measuring cups; and mustard seeds.

4 So what is Jesus saying here? First, with the mustard seed, its starts small. Now if you re on this end of your row. Reach under your chair I ve taped a bag of mustard seeds there, that s your prize for this morning. And I want you to appreciate the image Jesus uses. So open it, put one on your finger and pass that down the row. These things are tiny. Technically there are smaller seeds out there in the world there were smaller seeds in 1st century Israel. But it was something of a proverb that mustard seeds were the smallest. Jesus wasn t the first teacher to use this image. But a mustard seeds starts tiny hardly different from a speck of dirt. I think one clear implication about the kingdom of God is that many, many people will tend to overlook what s happening and what s significant. You don t look at this seed and assume that it will come to much And in many ways the Kingdom of God is like that. And the church is like that. The cross was like that. No one would have walked past Gogotha, averting their eyes from yet another Roman execution, and said, This man, he changed the world he ll transform Rome. Billions of people are going to bend the knee and call him Lord. No way But we have a mustard seed kingdom. One man commented that Because it is humble, many will "overlook its presence, underestimate its power, and shrug off its claim on their lives." 2 Don t make that mistake, church. Don t sell God short. Sometimes we look at a mess of a world on the news every night and shrug our shoulders in despair; and wonder what would my contribution even matter. We look at our time, our talents, our resources as a speck of dust. But don t sell God short Your spending a few hours helping at VBS can play a part, and change a life, who changes other lives, in a chain of hope. Your offering, it may not seem like much, because you don t have much; but it can play a part in our church sending the Hardisons to an unreached people in Guatemala. Don t sell God short. In Ethiopia God took 150 people one section of this room, and turn them into 10,000 followers in 4 years God can do it I think this means, too, that our infatuation with the big or impressive, may be off base. There have been times in history when the church looked impressive from any standard, spiritual or worldly but the greater the worldly power sometimes that has sapped the spiritual impact. Now the actual comparison Jesus makes isn t so much the seed but its the growth is the key idea here - the movement from speck of dust to what? A mustard plant, the greatest of the shrubs. I know some of you garden. Does anyone grow mustard plants in the backyard? I m not superagrarian. So I did some research. Here s a picture of mustard shrubs. Now why would Jesus have chosen this particular plant. I know the seeds are tiny but the end result well, its still just a shrub. In the Old Testament, the prophets had used a botanical image for God s people. Here s what Ezekiel wrote 2 Garland, 184

5 On the high mountain of Israel I will plant it, that it may bring forth boughs and bear fruit and become a stately cedar. And birds of every kind will nest under it; they will nest in the shade of its branches. -Ezekiel 17:23 Here, Israel is like a stately; majestic tree up on a hill, towering over all others. How about a redwood, Jesus I m sure their seeds are small compared to the end result So why a shrub? Why a mustard? Perhaps the most straightforward reason Jesus used this image is that they grew around the Sea of Galilee. I think often in Jesus parables, Jesus was pointing to things that were right there. Right around them. So maybe the mustard plant was close. But there are a few other reasons, that it really fits well for the Kingdom of God and for the church. I think a reason Jesus didn t use the Cedar of Lebanon, towering over the hills; why he didn t choose the redwood or something really majestic, is that we re all tempted to pat ourselves on the back. To point to ourselves. To let arrogance creep in look at what I ve done. And what happens is that instead of glorifying our great God we re glorifying ourselves. The point is not to show the world how great we are what we can accomplish. But the point is to always point to God how great God is what God can accomplish. Jesus uses humble imagery the shrub because we are to be a humble kingdom. I was visiting with someone the other day about this. And he lives in Oklahoma. And there was a Bible church in town that had just taken off; grown like crazy. Thousands there. And one Sunday he was at lunch, and a bunch of people came in with matching T-shirts for this church. And the shirts said, My church is kind of a big deal. Now I m all for sharing with others about our church. God is doing good things here, and I hope you re inviting people to check it out But to me the shirt should say, My God. My savior is kind of a big deal. The fledgling church in southern Ethiopia wasn t pointing to how great they were. The little 1st century gatherings in Philippi or Ephesus, or even Rome weren t tooting their own horn. But by humbly following Jesus, the Kingdom worked among them. Something else about mustard not everybody likes it. If you order a number 1 burger at Sonic, the next question will be mustard or mayo. And you either like it or you don t. Its sharp. It doesn t tend to blend in, but you tend to know when its there. You know, Jesus wasn t bland. If you did a survey in 1st Century Capernaum about Jesus you wouldn t get a lot of no opinions when it came to Jesus. You believed him or you didn t. As CS Lewis put, he was either from the devil or he was a lunatic or he was who he says he was the Son of God. And God s kingdom is to be distinct. We aren t just like the world. But we are people who have declared Jesus Lord; and we push the other would-be lords down the ladder of our life. We are to stand against unrighteousness and proclaim good news to the poor and the sinners and the overlooked. The kingdom of God is distinct. Sharp. And there will be people who look at it and say, No thanks A third thing about mustard plants. And I wasn t familiar with this part of it. But they spread like crazy and are tough to get rid of. The ancient writer Pliny wrote this about mustard plants: mustard with its pungent taste and fiery effect is extremely beneficial for the health. It grows entirely wild, though it is improved by being transplanted: but on the other hand when it has once been sown it is scarcely possible to get the place free of it, as the seed when it falls germinates at once.

6 When chopped down they tend to spring back up and spread. Like mustard plant the kingdom spreads and it tough to eliminate. And that s happened over and over with the church in times of persecution. Many tyrants have discovered this truth. The famous quote from the church father, Tertullian, The blood of the martyrs is the seeds of the church. The Kingdom is to spread in spite of attempts to stop it. One other piece of this little parable of Jesus. He says that the birds of the heavens can nest in its branches. I think Jesus here is recalling something from the Old Testament. Back in Ezekiel again, in 31:6; Israel is this cedar. And its giving shelter to the birds coming in. And its a picture of the nations coming. Its a missions picture. God s mission throughout scripture is that the world would know and glorify Him. And the kingdom and the church is a part of that mission we exist for that mission that the nations would know; and would find hope in God. And that s a focus in the underground church and it should be a focus for us. Well I started this morning by counting 12 s remember. If we go back to Jesus life and to the crucifixion and resurrection, and ascension and ask the question, What did Jesus leave? What did he leave? Jesus didn t write a book. But he lived life with his disciples. So what did Jesus leave? What was there of the kingdom in 33ad. 12 disciples 11 once we count out Judas. That was it. The community of those around him. All of history pointing to this moment, and what was the seed? Just the few who d been with him for 3 years. That s a mustard seed kingdom. But what have those 11 become? What did God do with those 11? God changed the world. God changed the world. So I count to 12 again and again in this room, to say, we absolutely have enough. We have enough to live faithfully, enough to live truly. Enough to live with passion for God s mission. Enough to be kingdom people. And God can use us; when we give ourselves to Him, in a magnificent way