The Kingdom of God Grows

Jesus tells four parables (and explains one) in Mark 4:1-34. They're fairly familiar parables, about sowing seed on different soils, putting lamps on lampstands instead of under baskets, seeds that grow while you sleep, and mustard seeds.

Parables are stories that are intended to make an impact on and stick with an audience, in a way that a list of bullet points can't. For a story to have an impact, we need to understand the point of the story--much like we need to understand a joke to find it funny. There has been a lot written about interpreting parables, but here are two important tasks:

1. Identify points of reference: the parts of the story with which the audience would identify as it is being told.
2. Identify audience: how the original hearers would have identified with the story (i.e. what they would have heard).

All four parables we looked at had something to do with growth, and the Parable of the Mustard Seed made it clear that the thing growing is the Kingdom of God. As part of the Kingdom of God, we contribute to that growth--not by our own self-efforts, as Pastor Bob preached tonight--but by following the promptings of the Holy Spirit and through the new nature that we have in Christ.

How does knowing that you are a part of the growing Kingdom of God, and will somehow contribute to that growth, affect the way you will live your life?