God puts things back together. Mark was a shattered man. He became strong on the exterior and put on a good face, so much so that the guys took him along in their first missionary journey but when they got to Pamphylia, Mark couldn’t hide any longer…what he was on the inside, came out…and he fell apart, returning to Jerusalem.

But as we continue to follow the story of the early church, we see Mark restored…accepted as the crumbled companion and in that acceptance, shattered and broken, failed and found out, He was put back together. Why? Ultimately why? Simply this. The love of Christ dwelling inside of Barnabas and then eventually even Paul, the one he had betrayed…the love of Christ man. Without Jesus, Mark would have stayed hated…a failure, a loser, a lost friend, a loner. Broken and defeated.

You may have a strong face on today. A strong demeanor. But you’re not hiding from God. And you won’t be able to hide even from man much longer. You think it’s wrong for you to be shattered. It’s natural. All are. Only one cure. Only one way to put it all together.

Oh we’ll try just about anything though won’t we? Check this out. Only one way for Lincoln to unlock my iPad. Four simple letters. But he’ll try just about anything…he’ll even fight me when I’m moving his fingers to the letters for some reason. It’s just in his nature…He even hears wrong…Yesterday, “Link, these are cinnamon waffles.” “Waff waff?” “No Link waffles!” (HA)

And we’ll make all kinds of excuses…why we won’t just allow it to be known that we’re not all put together. Crumble in humility and proclaim the truth. That we’re in need…in need of love, in need of truth…This week, while I was traveling with work, you know, we’re fed very well. There are especially these super heavy triple, quadruple fried chips they bring us and they’re probably like 5000 calories each! And folks say, “oh these chips are gonna make me so bloated…” NOPE, you eating them will! HA! But the problem is never us is it?

Only one way to put it all together. One truth, one life…Mark knows…he continues his chronicles of Jesus in his gospel…

Mark Chapter 4 Verses 21 – 23

• Mark starts out verse 21 with, “also He said to them,” so we are in the same scene that we were last week. And so take this verse set that we just read in context of the previous parable…because Jesus went right from that parable to this one. If you do, something powerful emerges.
• He just gave to them the meaning of the parable of the sower and that parable is concerned entirely with what? The Word of God! And so as He goes into this next parable, He begins by mentioning, check this out, a “lamp”…Psalm 119! “Your Word is a LAMP unto my feet, and a light unto my path!”
• Again the Word of God! So in context with the first part of the conversation, this parable becomes powerfully clear. “Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be set on a lampstand?” The Word of God…is it for the birds of the air, the demons and Satan to steal along the wayside so that it’s powerless in the life of the traveler? Is it for the shallow ground of a shallow heart that would be in agreement mentally but disagreement visibly?
• Has the Word of God been brought to man so that it can be counted among the other cares of this world, equal in importance within someone’s heart…money, material things, accomplishment, respect, politics...being treated fairly…we say no but what does our life say man…? Ah to see that, there must be light…lights need to be turned on right?
• Nothing can be seen in the dark. Pitch black, can’t see your hand in front of your face…I even close my eyes when it’s pitch black, do you do that? So take the lamp, place it firmly upon the lampstand…get ready for reality man. Same word used here for lampstand that we find in Revelation Chapter 1…and in Revelation Chapter 1 the seven lampstands, Jesus says clearly, are the seven churches…so take the lamp, the Word of God and let it beam brightly in this place!
• Set the Word of God in its rightful place, as the source of light here and in your hearts and all I gotta say man is prepare yourself. Prepare for reality. Illumination. Answers! Lots of things are hidden when the Word of God is not lighting the path, a lamp unto your feet…the implication…step by step. Jesus says here that it will all be revealed. What, how? The truth. The truth about how much God loves you. The truth about the cross and what really happened there. The truth about you and about me. Why loneliness looms, powerlessness prevails and dissatisfaction decays our days.
• Everything, as Jesus says, comes to light when the Word of God is placed firmly upon the lampstand of your heart. The truth man. That it’s not really her that’s the problem, it’s not really him…it’s not really them chips! It’s you man…because love suffers long and is kind…love does not seek its own…not out of rules or religion but because it doesn’t want it…love is never rude, naturally…and thinks no evil…love rejoices in the truth…and bears all things, believes the best in all things, hopes all things and endures all things…oh, and never fails. (I like that)
• Everything will come to light when truth is your guide. The truth that it’s not really your boss disrespecting you that’s got you all twisted…or your neighbor’s continual gifts from their little fifi in your front yard that has you all filled with rage…it’s that you can’t take it patiently…you won’t bear it. You won’t reject rudeness…you’re not bearing fruit…walking in love…it’s your pride. And here’s the cool thing…you can’t treat cancer until you find it…once the lamp is on the lampstand…the lights are on in the compartments of your heart…now you can begin to heal man…Jesus said in John Chapter 8, “If you abide (not camp out…not with a shallow heart, not with a crowded heart, live here man…) If you abide in My Word, you are My disciples indeed, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free!”
• The alternative…live unto yourself. Make each momentary decision based on the momentary information…what “feels” right…what you can see and sense right there in that very moment…and let me tell you, the soldiers that conduct themselves that way in any battle are the first ones to be taken out. Proverbs 13:9 says, “The light of the righteous rejoices, but the lamp of the wicked will be put out.” Why? Because the wicked themselves place them under the basket or under the bed…
• Amazing revelation concerning the Word of God from Jesus…

Mark Chapter 4 Verse 24

• Jesus says here, “careful that you investigate this…that you search out what I’m trying to say to you…put some effort into it, because the more you press in with a heart that desires to know the depth of the truth of God’s Word…the harder you run after it, the more that will be shown to you.” Wonderful promise.

Mark Chapter 4 Verse 25

• This one’s not a parable. This is simply Jesus comforting them and encouraging them to press forward. “I know this is confusing,” I can hear Him saying in this verse set. “I know it doesn’t all make sense, you don’t quite get it…but man that’s what faith is for…keep going, keep seeking, keep at it! Don’t lose heart…for whoever has, more is coming…but to those who lose heart…even what they have, which by implication of Jesus saying, “whoever does not have…” well that means they have nothing and just don’t know it…even the lie will be taken from them…
• Then Jesus returns to parables…

Mark Chapter 4 Verses 26 – 29

• As the farmer plants, it’s not entirely understood exactly how the seed grows. Not now and especially not at this time. Each person there with Jesus would understand what He’s talking about here. That the seed is planted and then…well it just grows. Now hold on there buddy, we understand how a plant grows, we’re botanists! Ok, tell me what tells the seed to crack? Who programmed it to respond to good soil and to nutrients, to water and to the photosynthezier….(techno beat in my head)…photosynthesis?
• We may understand the mechanics fairly well be we do not understand the inherent desire in the seedling to burst forth! No way man…yet one day the farmer looks out the window and sees crop.
• Keep in mind, remember, Jesus is continuing to talk of the mystery of the effect of the Word of God on a heart. And, like the seed sown by the farmer, the seed planted, it’s inexplicable how studying the Scriptures, receiving the Word of God man…letting it sink in, giving it weight, heeding it, applying it, contemplating it, actually DOING it…living it out…its inexplicable yet constantly consistent how that causes the very kingdom of God to be established within us and among us.
• Folks that reject God and Jesus and His Word think we’re crazy to come week by week to study a page or two…HA…I mean a verse set or two from a book that is thousands of years old. Yet when we study the Word corporately and spend time in it personally, something happens miraculously. We begin to come alive man. See truth, sense truth, speak truth, proliferate truth…power, purpose, presence, wisdom…we begin to look at life differently and good fruit begins to grow…
• And just in time too. We’ll need it. Eyes opening, we see the shattered hearts, the shattered lives, beginning with our own…and God starts to use us to put things back together. To mend, to heal, to serve, to lead and guide our mirrors to life…that’s us man…and you know what that takes? Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Takes fruit man. It’s like our heart becomes a Godly Delorian powered by the Flux Capacitor…i.e. the Holy Spirit and what goes in as fuel? The Word of God…and what happens? Time travel man…that fruit takes your home from having a bad husband to a good husband…a bad wife to a good wife…a shattered heart to a stable heart man…feet firm upon solid ground!
• And so Jesus says as soon as the fruit comes forth, you’ll need it man because you’ll see just enough to go Back to the Future! You’ll need some of that good patience, that powerful love to confront that sin in your own life of pride and just worship through how you love your wife, how you serve your boss…and guess what? You’ll do it! Joy will explode as you watch this all transpire…not knowing exactly how…inexplicable, personal…miracles…day after day…moment after moment as you grow up in the Lord…
• You know the interesting part of these wonderful revelations as Mark leads us through them? Where are they? It’s all the way back in verse 10. They are alone with Jesus. The parable was given to the multitude and many turned away in unbelief. The ones that remain, that have pressed through the consternation of having to exercise faith…because that’s hard…they are the ones who are hearing these wonderful further truths regarding the Word of God.
• We just don’t have time this morning to finish out this chapter but we’ll see this again…we’ll see one more parable regarding the Word of God and then we’ll see Mark tell us a secret, there in verse 34, that “when they were alone, He explained everything.”
• Let the Word in man…get alone with Jesus this week, maybe even this afternoon. Invest in His Word and stop the shattering. Nothing else will put you together you know. You don’t need more money, more attention, more stuff, more respect…what you need is simply what’s missing and that is a close relationship with Jesus Christ. And look, you don’t have more time. The next moment is promised to no one and Jesus offers not only stability and truth and love and joy and purpose in this life but also the next…
• What if today you had to give an account in the presence of God? What would happen? Are you confident that your sins are washed away? You can make excuses, you can make up reasons why you don’t believe, why you don’t heed the Word of God but you cannot make more time. Rich folks can’t buy more time, scientists can’t invent more time…we’re all headed towards eternity and because of God’s great love for you personally, He gave what He had to…totally.
• Jesus took upon your sin and my sin so that we could have a shot at life. Life now and life eternal. He came as a man. He had too. Man was how it was all busted in the first place. How it was all shattered…justice…man had to make it right…and so Jesus, the Son of God, became a man, lived a sinless life and was nailed to the cross that we deserve. In that moment He became guilty of murder, guilty of adultery, guilty of thievery, and guilty of blasphemy…and for the first time in all infinite eternity, God turned His head…
• The Son and the Father were separated…God paid our debt with a payment so very precious…He gave everything. That’s how much He loves you. You are His everything…each and every one of you. Come to Him. There’s no guarantee that you’ll ever be this close again…ever feel the way you feel right now again…don’t deny Him…open your heart to Jesus and be saved by His blood…