Mark 4:30-32 "Tapping Your Potential"
Jesus delighted in using the common, everyday expressions and illustrations of His time and infusing them with life. His purpose was to reveal the mysteries of the Kingdom.
In Jesus day there was an expression “small as a mustard seed.”
This story is about potential.
The Illustration Announced (30 – 32)
This is a teaching on the Kingdom.
Kingdom truth and Kingdom living were priorities of Jesus.
Notice the contrast:
- Smallness of the mustard seed.
- Small beginning of seed to large outcome of growth.
- Very small seed.
- Very large tree.
The Illustration Applied
Jesus is saying that the kingdom is sown in smallness and insignificance, but grows until it becomes large and powerful.
The analogy was familiar to Israel.
The mustard seed is also mentioned in Matthew 17:20 and Luke 17:6. In both, the illustration is applied to faith.
A small faith can bring great things to pass because it is a faith in a great God.
The Illustration Appropriated
Several keys that can help or hinder us from appropriating all we can be in Jesus Christ.
- A willing heart.
- Jeremiah 29:13
- Duet. 6:5
- An abiding relationship with Christ.
- John 15:7
- Understanding the promises which are ours through Jesus.
- 2 Peter 1:4
- 2 Cor. 1:20
- Vision.
- Proverbs 29:18
- Concrete goals born in prayer.
- Psalm 37:23
- Psalm 119:133
- Proverbs 16:9
- Hard work.
- Hebrews 6:12
The promises are not inherited by a slack hand, but through faith and patient working.
Every command of God is not a demand upon you, but a demand upon the God who gave the command.
