Faith in Focus #11
A reflection from Connection Church and other spiritual events from the week
Faith in Focus is a weekly reflection on what God has been teaching me throughout the week regarding my faith. Whether it’s personal interactions, reading, or the Sunday sermon, God speaks through it all, and I hope this helps you focus on His mission.
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Sermon Reflection: What Grows Without Us, and Why God Invites Us Anyway
Based on the sermon by Stephen Jones, Connection Church Sioux Falls, January 11, 2026.
This week at Connection Church, we took a deliberate detour. After spending weeks immersed in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, we turned instead to the teaching ministry of Jesus himself. Specifically Mark 4:1–32 with the help of a special guest, Stephen Jones, from Great Oaks Church in Mankato, Minnesota. Great Oaks is a church plant we’re partnered with, and Stephen’s presence carried the quiet reminder that the gospel doesn’t just travel through pulpits, but through people sent.
Mark 4 gathers four parables spoken by Jesus in a single teaching movement:
the Sower, the Lamp, the Growing Seed, and the Tree. Individually, each parable reveals something true about the Kingdom of God. Together, they form a cohesive vision, not only of what God’s Kingdom is, but of what our role within it is (and is not).
These parables confront some of our most persistent temptations to measure faithfulness by visible success, to shrink back from witness, to overestimate our importance, or to disqualify ourselves before we ever begin.
Jesus addresses all of it, patiently, pastorally, and with remarkable clarity.
The World Behind the Text
Mark’s Gospel is fast-paced, urgent, and spare. But chapter 4 slows down. Jesus sits in a boat while crowds line the shore, and instead of commands or miracles, he tells stories. Earthy, agricultural, and deceptively simple.
Parables, by design, both reveal and conceal. Jesus says as much later in the chapter. They draw in those willing to listen while leaving the resistant untouched. Importantly, these are not abstract moral lessons. They are Kingdom disclosures, windows into how God reigns, acts, and accomplishes his purposes in the world.
First-century listeners would have immediately recognized the imagery. Sowing seed, lighting lamps, waiting for crops, and watching mustard trees overtake gardens were all familiar realities. What was unfamiliar, and often unsettling, was Jesus’ insistence that God’s Kingdom does not advance the way human kingdoms do.
It grows slowly. Quietly. Often invisibly. And yet, it is unstoppable.
Walking the Passage
The Parable of the Sower (Mark 4:1–20)
Jesus begins with the image of a farmer scattering seed generously, almost wastefully. The seed, identified later as the word, lands on four kinds of soil:
The Path, where the word is heard but immediately taken away by Satan.
Rocky ground, where the word is received with joy but lacks depth. When tribulation or persecution arises, faith withers.
Among thorns, where the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, rendering it unfruitful.
Good soil, where the word is heard, accepted, and bears fruit. Thirty, sixty, even a hundredfold.
The point is not subtle. The same seed is sown in every case. The difference lies in the soil.
This parable does two things at once. First, it names reality. Not every proclamation of the gospel will be met with repentance and faith. Some will reject it outright. Others will seem enthusiastic until cost enters the picture. Still others will be slowly suffocated by comfort, distraction, or wealth.
Second, it redefines success. The sower is never critiqued. He scatters faithfully. The outcome belongs elsewhere.
For the church, this is both sobering and liberating. We are called to be sowers, not harvest managers. Faithfulness, not visible results, is the metric Jesus gives.
The Parable of the Lamp (Mark 4:21–25)
The second parable builds directly on the first. Stephen framed this parable as confidence for the sower and rightly so. A lamp, Jesus says, is not meant to be hidden under a basket or a bed. It is meant to be placed on a stand so it can give light.
If the first parable frees us from controlling responses, this one challenges us not to retreat when responses are mixed.
The temptation is understandable. When sowing is hard, rejection frequent, or fruit slow, it’s easy to dim the light. To soften the truth. To privatize faith. To convince ourselves that silence is wisdom. Jesus rejects that logic entirely.
Light exists to be seen. The gospel is meant to be proclaimed. And whatever is hidden, Jesus promises, will eventually be revealed. This is not bravado. It is quiet courage rooted in trust that God sees, God knows, and God will bring his purposes to light.
The Parable of the Growing Seed (Mark 4:26–29)
This third parable cuts deepest. A man scatters seed on the ground. Then he sleeps. He wakes. Days pass. And somehow, “he knows not how”, the seed sprouts and grows. The earth produces by itself. Only when the grain is ripe does the farmer act again.
The unsettling reality is this:
God’s Kingdom grows independently of us.
It does not require our ingenuity, charisma, or constant supervision. It does not hinge on our strategies or strength. God does not need us. And yet, astonishingly, he invites us anyway.
This parable dismantles both pride and despair. Pride, because we are not the engine of the Kingdom. Despair, because its growth does not depend on our limitations.
God delights in obedience. He invites participation not out of necessity, but love. The same God who could compel belief instead honors human will and works through faithful witness.
The Parable of the Tree (Mark 4:30–32)
Finally, Jesus turns to encouragement. The mustard seed, measured in mere millimeters, was proverbially small. And yet it grows into a large tree, providing shelter and rest for birds.
The contrast is the point. What begins insignificantly does not remain so. What feels inadequate is not dismissed by God. What seems unseen is not unused.
This parable speaks directly to those who feel unqualified, unheard, or limited in reach. The Kingdom does not advance through spectacle, but through faithful smallness entrusted to a faithful God.
A Fair Counter-Reading
Some have read these parables primarily as deterministic, suggesting that soil types are fixed or that human agency is irrelevant. Others reduce them to motivational encouragements detached from repentance and judgment.
Both miss Jesus’ balance.
The parables affirm God’s sovereignty and human responsibility. They acknowledge resistance without excusing complacency. They comfort discouraged disciples without minimizing the cost of discipleship.
Jesus does not flatten mystery; he invites trust.
The Turn
Taken together, these four parables form a single pastoral argument:
Sow faithfully, even when results vary.
Shine confidently, even when it feels costly.
Rest humbly, knowing God brings growth.
Trust boldly, even when faith feels small.
The Kingdom of God is not fragile. It is not stalled by our weakness or accelerated by our control. It grows, often invisibly, always intentionally, by the power of God.
Our role is obedience. God’s role is growth.
Song of the week: Forgiven - Crowder
This week temptation has hit hard and this song helps to remind me of one clear and true fact. In Christ, I am forgiven. The first verse doesn’t hold back to begin with depicting each of us as not only sinners, but the ones holding the hammer that crucified Jesus and calls out Peter’s denial as our own. The second verse keeps up the heat; “I’ve done things I wish I hadn’t done. I’ve seen things I wish I hadn’t seen,” but the chorus rings out like a floaty in a pool, “Forgiven. Child, there is freedom from all of it. Say goodbye to every sin. You are forgiven.” This good news is taken from Matthew 26:28 where Jesus himself says, “for this is my blood poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” While we continue to sin, even though we don’t want to, we can be reassured by this song that no matter what has happened, if we cry out to the Lord and truly ask for forgiveness and repent. We are forgiven. I pray this week that if you are feeling shameful or guilty of sins committed, that you would repent and pray for forgiveness as it is just a moment away.
Carry It Into the Week
If you feel discouraged by mixed responses, remember the soils.
If you feel tempted to hide, remember the lamp.
If you feel pressured to produce, remember the seed growing while you sleep.
If you feel unqualified, remember the mustard seed.
Faithfulness is never wasted in the Kingdom of God.
Week in Reflection
This week, my Gospel Community leaders met to discuss plans for the upcoming semester, which begins in February. The conversation naturally turned to the rhythm of meeting together and the seasonal pause that comes with winter break. I’ve long been a proponent of not taking breaks, often pointing to Hebrews 10:25 and its encouragement not to neglect gathering together, but rather to use that time for mutual encouragement.
At the same time, the value of a break is not lost on me. These pauses exist largely to protect leaders from fatigue and burnout, creating space for rest before the next semester begins. Still, the return from that break brings a renewed sense of anticipation. Reuniting regularly as a Gospel Community is marked by joy and a shared eagerness to continue life together.
As the new semester approaches, the experience serves as a reminder of the importance of small-group involvement. For those not currently connected to a group, it may be worth considering as a goal for 2026. The impact of my Gospel Community life extends beyond weekly conversations or structured discussion, it creates a sense of belonging. Over time, these groups become more than a gathering of friends. They function as family, walking alongside one another in faith and in life.
And just remember, God loves you, and so do I.
