Mark 4

²⁶ And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. ²⁷ He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. ²⁸ The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. ²⁹ But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” ³⁰ And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? ³¹ It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, ³² yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.” ³³ With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. ³⁴ He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

One of my favorite Christian musicians is Andrew Peterson. I think he is oftentimes quite profound both musically and lyrically. One song that he wrote never fails to affect me. It is entitled, “Mountains on the Ocean Floor.” It is an interesting song and it catches you off guard, especially the beginning of it.

My uncle’s in the county jail

His time is on his hands

He knows he chose a barren cell

Over a fair and fertile land

He took another hit

He hit another high

He flew until he fell

Just like he has a thousand times

Nothing ever seems to change

But miles away beneath the waves

There are mountains

Mountains on the ocean floor

They’re rising from the deep

But no one ever sees

No one ever sees

I can’t believe I landed there

I swear I swore it off

I know that I can’t stand it here

Still I came and took a fall

I wish that I could shake it

I wish that I was free

I wish that I was half the man

I wish that I could be

There are mountains

Mountains on the ocean floor

They’re moving up so slow

No one ever knows

No one ever knows

Nothing ever seems to change

But miles away beneath the waves

Down below the dirt

Hotter than a flame

In the belly of the earth

He has given you a Name

There are mountains

Mountains on the ocean floor

They’re rising from the deep

Where no one ever sees

There are mountains

They’re hidden there beneath the waves

They’re moving up so slow

No one ever knows

There’s a molten heart of stone

That is waiting to explode

Only God can see it grow

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Job 34

¹ Then Elihu answered and said: ² “Hear my words, you wise men, and give ear to me, you who know; ³ for the ear tests words as the palate tastes food. ⁴ Let us choose what is right; let us know among ourselves what is good. ⁵ For Job has said, ‘I am in the right, and God has taken away my right; ⁶ in spite of my right I am counted a liar; my wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’ ⁷ What man is like Job, who drinks up scoffing like water, ⁸ who travels in company with evildoers and walks with wicked men? ⁹ For he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing that he should take delight in God.’ ¹⁰ “Therefore, hear me, you men of understanding: far be it from God that he should do wickedness, and from the Almighty that he should do wrong. ¹¹ For according to the work of a man he will repay him, and according to his ways he will make it befall him. ¹² Of a truth, God will not do wickedly, and the Almighty will not pervert justice. ¹³ Who gave him charge over the earth, and who laid on him the whole world? ¹⁴ If he should set his heart to it and gather to himself his spirit and his breath, ¹⁵ all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust. ¹⁶ “If you have understanding, hear this; listen to what I say. ¹⁷ Shall one who hates justice govern? Will you condemn him who is righteous and mighty, ¹⁸ who says to a king, ‘Worthless one,’ and to nobles, ‘Wicked man,’ ¹⁹ who shows no partiality to princes, nor regards the rich more than the poor, for they are all the work of his hands? ²⁰ In a moment they die; at midnight the people are shaken and pass away, and the mighty are taken away by no human hand. ²¹ “For his eyes are on the ways of a man, and he sees all his steps. ²² There is no gloom or deep darkness where evildoers may hide themselves. ²³ For God has no need to consider a man further, that he should go before God in judgment. ²⁴ He shatters the mighty without investigation and sets others in their place. ²⁵ Thus, knowing their works, he overturns them in the night, and they are crushed. ²⁶ He strikes them for their wickedness in a place for all to see, ²⁷ because they turned aside from following him and had no regard for any of his ways, ²⁸ so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him, and he heard the cry of the afflicted— ²⁹ When he is quiet, who can condemn? When he hides his face, who can behold him, whether it be a nation or a man?— ³⁰ that a godless man should not reign, that he should not ensnare the people. ³¹ “For has anyone said to God, ‘I have borne punishment; I will not offend any more; ³² teach me what I do not see; if I have done iniquity, I will do it no more’? ³³ Will he then make repayment to suit you, because you reject it? For you must choose, and not I; therefore declare what you know. ³⁴ Men of understanding will say to me, and the wise man who hears me will say: ³⁵ ‘Job speaks without knowledge; his words are without insight.’ ³⁶ Would that Job were tried to the end, because he answers like wicked men. ³⁷ For he adds rebellion to his sin; he claps his hands among us and multiplies his words against God.”

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Job 32

¹ So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. ² Then Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned with anger. He burned with anger at Job because he justified himself rather than God. ³ He burned with anger also at Job’s three friends because they had found no answer, although they had declared Job to be in the wrong. ⁴ Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were older than he. ⁵ And when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, he burned with anger. ⁶ And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said: “I am young in years, and you are aged; therefore I was timid and afraid to declare my opinion to you. ⁷ I said, ‘Let days speak, and many years teach wisdom.’ ⁸ But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand. ⁹ It is not the old who are wise, nor the aged who understand what is right. ¹⁰ Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me; let me also declare my opinion.’ ¹¹ “Behold, I waited for your words, I listened for your wise sayings, while you searched out what to say. ¹² I gave you my attention, and, behold, there was none among you who refuted Job or who answered his words. ¹³ Beware lest you say, ‘We have found wisdom; God may vanquish him, not a man.’ ¹⁴ He has not directed his words against me, and I will not answer him with your speeches. ¹⁵ “They are dismayed; they answer no more; they have not a word to say. ¹⁶ And shall I wait, because they do not speak, because they stand there, and answer no more? ¹⁷ I also will answer with my share; I also will declare my opinion. ¹⁸ For I am full of words; the spirit within me constrains me. ¹⁹ Behold, my belly is like wine that has no vent; like new wineskins ready to burst. ²⁰ I must speak, that I may find relief; I must open my lips and answer. ²¹ I will not show partiality to any man or use flattery toward any person. ²² For I do not know how to flatter, else my Maker would soon take me away.

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Philemon

¹⁷ So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me. ¹⁸ If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. ¹⁹ I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it—to say nothing of your owing me even your own self. ²⁰ Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ. ²¹ Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say. ²² At the same time, prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping that through your prayers I will be graciously given to you. ²³ Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, ²⁴ and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers. ²⁵ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

In 2006 I received the following email from Journey Films.

A week ago we sent an e-mail alert about our interview with Fr. Lyndon Harris, an Episcopal priest who is promoting the development of a Garden of Forgiveness at Ground Zero. We also offered an opinion poll asking “Would you support a Garden of Forgiveness at Ground Zero? The result was an overwhelming “NO.”

With more than 2,500 votes cast the vote was 98% against the building of a Garden of Forgiveness and only 2% in favor. We should also note that many of the people on the Journey Films’ mailing list include seminarians, church and synagogue leadership and people who have supported our nearly two dozen films on subjects of faith and spirituality.

“After I interviewed Father Harris about his proposed garden I went down to the Ground Zero site and spoke with many people on the street about their sentiments for a Garden of Forgiveness,” says filmmaker Martin Doblmeier. “My impression was people were almost evenly divided, so our own poll results were quite surprising. What has become clear in the making of a film on forgiveness is that the word “forgiveness” itself raises so many raw emotions in people. Many Americans, no matter what their mind tells them they should do, are simply not ready in their hearts to walk a path of forgiveness until some justice has been realized. Forgiveness always takes time, and in the case of 9/11 it may take a very long time.”[1]

Forgiveness is a hard thing to offer, especially in the face of some egregious act of cruelty like what happened on 9/11. It should be said, though, that most human beings see any mere slight as an egregious act of cruelty and so are loathe to offer forgiveness even in the small things.

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Mark 4

²¹ And he said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? ²² For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. ²³ If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” ²⁴ And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. ²⁵ For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

Os Guinness tells a fascinating story about Nasreddin Hodja.

One of the most celebrated personalities of the Middle East is Nasreddin Hodja, the endearing holy-man-cum-scholar of Turkish folklore. His famed wisdom is often threatened by his equally famed stupidity. One day, so a particular story goes, the Hodja dropped his ring inside his house. Not finding it there, he went outside and began to look around the doorway. His neighbor passed and asked him what he was looking for.

“I have lost my ring,” said the Hodja.

“Where did you lose it?” asked the neighbor.

“In my bedroom,” said the Hodja.

“Then why are you looking for it out here?”

“There’s more light out here,” the Hodja said.[1]

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Dr. Thomas Kidd and Dr. Barry Hankins were kind enough to field a few questions I threw their way arising from their excellent book, Baptists in America.  I do greatly appreciate their willingness to do so!  For other interviews I’ve conducted over the years, go here.

Drs. Hankins and Kidd, I would like to thank you for writing Baptists in America. It was very well done and very helpful. I could not help but wonder while reading your chronicle of the many divisions within the Baptist family over the years whether or not detractors of the Reformation might not point to Baptists in particular as evidence for the claim that the only thing we accomplish in ridding ourselves of a single pope is making every person their own pope? Does the Baptist experience validate warnings from detractors about unending schisms among those who detach themselves from something like a magisterium?

Kidd: I don’t think Baptists have the market cornered on theological schism, but they’ve been awfully good at it! Of course, we have to begin any such discussion with whether God intended to establish a magisterium. If He did, then we’d better get in line with it. If not, then He must have anticipated that believers would occasionally have a hard time agreeing about what the Bible teaches about issues such as church governance, baptism, and other important matters. I adhere to the latter view.

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Job 31

¹ “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin? ² What would be my portion from God above and my heritage from the Almighty on high? ³ Is not calamity for the unrighteous, and disaster for the workers of iniquity? ⁴ Does not he see my ways and number all my steps? ⁵ “If I have walked with falsehood and my foot has hastened to deceit; ⁶ (Let me be weighed in a just balance, and let God know my integrity!) ⁷ if my step has turned aside from the way and my heart has gone after my eyes, and if any spot has stuck to my hands, ⁸ then let me sow, and another eat, and let what grows for me be rooted out. ⁹ “If my heart has been enticed toward a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door, ¹⁰ then let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down on her. ¹¹ For that would be a heinous crime; that would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges; ¹² for that would be a fire that consumes as far as Abaddon, and it would burn to the root all my increase. ¹³ “If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant, when they brought a complaint against me, ¹⁴ what then shall I do when God rises up? When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him? ¹⁵ Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb? ¹⁶ “If I have withheld anything that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, ¹⁷ or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it ¹⁸ (for from my youth the fatherless grew up with me as with a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow), ¹⁹ if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or the needy without covering, ²⁰ if his body has not blessed me, and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep, ²¹ if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate, ²² then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder, and let my arm be broken from its socket. ²³ For I was in terror of calamity from God, and I could not have faced his majesty. ²⁴ “If I have made gold my trust or called fine gold my confidence, ²⁵ if I have rejoiced because my wealth was abundant or because my hand had found much, ²⁶ if I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor, ²⁷ and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand, ²⁸ this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I would have been false to God above. ²⁹ “If I have rejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me, or exulted when evil overtook him ³⁰ (I have not let my mouth sin by asking for his life with a curse), ³¹ if the men of my tent have not said, ‘Who is there that has not been filled with his meat?’ ³² (the sojourner has not lodged in the street; I have opened my doors to the traveler), ³³ if I have concealed my transgressions as others do by hiding my iniquity in my heart, ³⁴ because I stood in great fear of the multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors— ³⁵ Oh, that I had one to hear me! (Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me!) Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary! ³⁶ Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it on me as a crown; ³⁷ I would give him an account of all my steps; like a prince I would approach him. ³⁸ “If my land has cried out against me and its furrows have wept together, ³⁹ if I have eaten its yield without payment and made its owners breathe their last, ⁴⁰ let thorns grow instead of wheat, and foul weeds instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.

In David McCullough’s The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914, McCullough recounts Theodore Roosevelt’s rather tortured attempt to defend the American taking of Panama from Colombia.

Attorney General Knox, having been asked by Roosevelt to construct a defense, is said to have remarked, “Oh, Mr. President, do not let so great an achievement suffer from any taint of legality.” At another point, during a Cabinet meeting, Roosevelt talked of the bitter denunciations in the press, then entered into a long, formal statement of his position. When he had finished, the story goes, he looked about the table, finally fixing his eye on Elihu Root. “Well,” he demanded, “have I answered the charges? Have I defended myself?” “You certainly have, Mr. President,” replied Root, who was known for his wit. “You have shown that you were accused of seduction and you have conclusively proved that you were guilty of rape.”[1]

Root’s response to Roosevelt is as witty as it is jarring. I suppose it is jarring not only because of the loaded and shocking terminology he used but also because of the way that he put his finger on something that is germane to the human condition: all of our protests of innocence tend to make our guilt clearer and clearer.

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Mark 4

¹ Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. ² And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: ³ “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. ⁴ And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. ⁵ Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. ⁶ And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. ⁸ And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” ⁹ And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” ¹⁰ And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. ¹¹ And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, ¹² so that “they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.” ¹³ And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? ¹⁴ The sower sows the word. ¹⁵ And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. ¹⁶ And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. ¹⁷ And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. ¹⁸ And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, ¹⁹ but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. ²⁰ But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

Have you ever wondered why it is that a large group of people can sit in a sanctuary, hear the same scripture read, hear the same sermon preached, and some will be offended, some will be indifferent, and some will be changed forever? It is because each and ever person has a different spiritual soil constitution. That is, people are at different points in terms of their spiritual receptivity to truth.

Jesus acknowledged this in Mark 4 in what must be considered one of His most famous parables. In the first twenty verses of this chapter, we are privileged to hear not only the parable but also Jesus’ direct explanation of the meaning of it. It is a crucially important parable that calls us all to consider the condition of our own spiritual soil. Furthermore, it is a picture of God’s desire for the lives of His children.

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Job 29

¹ And Job again took up his discourse, and said: ² “Oh, that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me, ³ when his lamp shone upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness, ⁴ as I was in my prime, when the friendship of God was upon my tent, ⁵ when the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were all around me, ⁶ when my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured out for me streams of oil! ⁷ When I went out to the gate of the city, when I prepared my seat in the square, ⁸ the young men saw me and withdrew, and the aged rose and stood; ⁹ the princes refrained from talking and laid their hand on their mouth; ¹⁰ the voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth. ¹¹ When the ear heard, it called me blessed, and when the eye saw, it approved, ¹² because I delivered the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to help him. ¹³ The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy. ¹⁴ I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban. ¹⁵ I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame. ¹⁶ I was a father to the needy, and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know. ¹⁷ I broke the fangs of the unrighteous and made him drop his prey from his teeth. ¹⁸ Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand, ¹⁹ my roots spread out to the waters, with the dew all night on my branches, ²⁰ my glory fresh with me, and my bow ever new in my hand.’ ²¹ “Men listened to me and waited and kept silence for my counsel. ²² After I spoke they did not speak again, and my word dropped upon them. ²³ They waited for me as for the rain, and they opened their mouths as for the spring rain. ²⁴ I smiled on them when they had no confidence, and the light of my face they did not cast down. ²⁵ I chose their way and sat as chief, and I lived like a king among his troops, like one who comforts mourners.

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Philemon

¹³ I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel, ¹⁴ but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own accord. ¹⁵ For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, ¹⁶ no longer as a bondservant but more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother—especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.

“Pastor, that was a good sermon this morning…”

I began to open my mouth to thank him for the kind word when he finished his statement.

“…until you got into social experimentation.”

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