Mark 4:30

Mark 4:30

The kingdom of God is not the Church, but a far wider, vast, outlying region; where Jehovah's omnipotence and wisdom with, indeed, all His glorious attributes reign absolutely. The Church is the centre of this kingdom; the kingdom, the outlying territory of the Church.

I. This doctrine of the kingdom of God as distinct from the Church will assist us in the interpretation of many passages of Scripture, and notably of our Lord's parables. To take one instance, there is the question whether the Church in any given land ought to include all the inhabitants within its fellowship; or to exclude those of wicked, sinful life. Men turn to the parable of the tares, in which it is said, "Let both grow together until the harvest," and argue that Christ has absolutely forbidden the exercise of discipline and the removal of wicked men from the Church. This might be correct if the Lord had said, "To what shall we liken the Church of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it? "Instead of that, He said, "The field is the world" not the Church.

II. This doctrine of the kingdom of God as distinct from the Church, will assist us in our estimate of things sacred and secular. Many things outside the Church are yet inside the kingdom. Many things belong to God that have nothing to do with the Gospel. The commerce and manufactures of Great Britain are as much God's gifts to us for His service and praise as were Bethlehem's fields to Jesse. The science and marvellous discoveries of the nineteenth century are as directly Jehovah's bestowments upon us as were the abundance of the sea and the treasures hid in the sand His blessings upon Zebulon.

III. The doctrine of the distinction between the kingdom of God and the Church will assist us to overcome the irreligiousness with which we deal with earthly things.

IV. The doctrine of the distinction between the kingdom of God and the Church will assist us to appreciate the greatness of our privileges as members of the Church of Christ. Wherefore has the kingdom of God the Church for its centre, but that she may be stored with privileges and blessings that shall regenerate the world. As were the Apostles to the Church, so is the Church to Christendom. The Church is the army of liberation for this sin-worn desolated world.

A. Davies, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xv., p. 269.

Reference: Mark 4:30 . A. Davies, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xv., pp. 252, 269.