Turn these brief saying into parables... with your lives.

I'd Rather Have Jesus

(Mark 4:21-25, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, October 21, 2018)

[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.”

Introduction

Do you want to be a missionary? I received a letter from a couple this week with the title “Our toughest week in five years.” They have been working for several years with two men, both of whom deceived them and departed the country. I wrote them to try to encourage them onward and received this reply: “Thanks for writing and your prayers. Yes! Holy Spirit come. We’re still kind of working our way back to normal after the emotion of this week. At the same time, we feel like God is just filling us with zeal for what He’s going to do and how to see His vision realized across this entire land. So that’s encouraging and pretty cool.” Missionaries see the unseen. They wait while they do today's work. They serve within uncomfortable settings when God open's doors.

Do you want to be the kind of Christian that is full of the Holy Spirit? The pathway from the Old Testament prophets to the New Testament church is a fascinating one. The experiences that a prophet like Joel had in his day (many centuries before the coming of Jesus) set him apart from other worshipers. In the face of the coming Day of the Lord he urged them all to call upon the Name of the Lord in covenant assembly. He then prophesied about a future era when all of God's people would be filled with Holy Spirit as he was. Peter used Joel's words in Acts 2 to announce that the era Joel referred to had now begun with the pouring out of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

Do you want to be a resurrection lamp with Jesus. Do you want to have the divine ear and even the Savior's voice? Do you want to be filled with an overflowing measure of true godliness granted by the hand of the One who “fills all in all” (Ephesians 1:23)?

We are in a section of Mark's gospel that is exploring the strange way that Jesus teaches the crowds all around Him and the disciples that follow Him. It includes some little stories and also some briefer pithy sayings. Today we look at a few of the latter.

A lamp

God has a purpose for all of creation, and He has a role for everything in creation. His purpose for a lamp is to make that which is hidden in the darkness to be revealed by the light.

“A lamp is for a lampstand.” Ok. What's that about? Jesus is a shining lamp. He came into a world with long shadows. God's light shows the difference between truth and falsehood, or in terms of moral judgment between right and wrong.

Jesus is the perfect person of truth and moral integrity. Think of the Messiah (John 1:4-5) and His brothers (John 7:3-7)? Who was the light of the world? Jesus or His brothers who would advise Him concerning self-promotion and the kingdom? See John 8:12.

We can be sure of this: Whatever people try to hide, and whatever secrets people are hoping to keep from God, will surely be revealed by Jesus in His second coming. Even now, the preaching of His Word reveals the inner truths of our hearts.

A voice

Jesus is not only a lamp. He is also a clarifying voice. But will people hear? He says, “My sheep hear My voice” (John 10:27). They hear and believe. Then making the story fuller, they speak with the voice that they have heard (2 Corinthians 4:13-14).

If we have spiritual ears, we should use them. Hearing is not only a matter of the ear, but also of the soul. The Bible connects the best hearing with a renewed will that is ready to follow Christ and obey His Word.

His may not sound like the loudest voice, but He is dedicated and persistent with those who will receive His instruction. Both wisdom and folly are mentioned in the book of Proverbs. Both have something to say. Will we have the willingness today to pay attention to the voice of the Lord in the Scriptures, and thus eventually to speak?

One note: Hearing the Lord and then speaking with His voice may be a thirty year project for any people group according to one professor of missions (Dr. Wonsuk Ma at Mission Romania 2018). The same may apply for a church, a family, or a person.

A generous measure of a worthy treasure

Jesus is a Shining Lamp. Jesus is the Voice of the Lord. Jesus is a generous measure of every good gift that God has for His children. He shines and then we shine. He hears and speaks and then we do the same. He gives and thus so do we (Eph. 1:23, 5:18-21).

The one who has Jesus

The Old Testament prophets were a lamp, a voice, and a measure from God. Greater than all of them was John the Baptist. Yet there was someone greater (John 5:35-36).

Beyond every prophet was the One who secured for us a most complete redemption. He has won for us the glory of heavenly light. All those who put their trust in Him will hear His voice. They will experience the boundless glories of the eternal divine benediction.

Jesus' cryptic and strange-sounding words are worthy of our close attention. He is a shining lamp in a dark world. He is a quiet voice of truth in the midst of many loud deceptions. He is heaven's greatest treasure. The person who has Jesus has more than anything that can be gained in this fading world.

Old Testament Reading—Psalm 80 – The Shining Face of the Lord

New Testament Reading—Hebrews 9 – The High Priest of the good things that have come