I’ve been married for 24 years now and for the most part my wife and I have always gotten along pretty well. We don’t have a perfect marriage but, for the most part, we get along really well. And I’m so thankful for her.
But one of the things that I do sometimes that really drives her crazy…and rightfully so…is I have a tendency at times to be looking at her while she is talking, but I’m not really listening. I might have all of the outward indications that I’m listening. I might even occasionally grunt and nod my head as if I’m listening. But Kaye is perceptive. And she knows me well enough that sometimes she will stop mid-sentence and ask the question….the question that makes all men extremely uncomfortable. She will ask, “what did I just say?”
But what she is really asking is: Do you care about what I have to say? I know that you physically listened to the words that I spoke, but did you really hear them?
Today we are going to study a familiar parable that Jesus taught as we come into Mark 4.
And parables require a person to listen carefully in order to understand what is being taught. In fact, in the parable that we are going to study today, Jesus actually said to the crowd, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” In other words, I know you hear Me but are you really willing to listen?
--Now, let me give you a little background here before we look at Mark 4.
--Jesus had been in public ministry for a year or better at this point.
--And up to this point Jesus had used parables very sparingly, but after this He would speak quite often in parables. And this was very intentional. For those who were true followers of Jesus, these parables revealed great truths. But to those who had repeatedly rejected him in the hardness of their heart, the parables concealed truth.
--And I’ll explain that in a bit.
But before I do, what is a parable? I think that is important to know as we will encounter more parables moving forward in Mark’s gospel.
A parable is an earthly story that is meant to illustrate a spiritual lesson.
--The word parable means to place alongside. A parable is a comparison between two things that are somewhat alike.
--It is a story about something known that is meant to help explain something that is unknown or mysterious.
--Some of Jesus’ parables were short and some were quite extensive such as the one we will study today.
Now before we jump right into this parable, let me read something Jesus said about why He taught in parables.
Read Matthew 13:10-17: 10 And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” 11 [d]Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. 12 For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. 13 Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 [e]In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,
‘[f]You will keep on hearing, [g]but will not understand;
[h]You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive;
15 For the heart of this people has become dull,
With their ears they scarcely hear,
And they have closed their eyes,
Otherwise they would see with their eyes,
Hear with their ears,
And understand with their heart and return,
And I would heal them.’
16 But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. 17 For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
In those verses, the disciples were ultimately asking Jesus, why not just clearly and simply state truth to the crowds. If you want them to understand….why teach in a parable? If you want to continue having a lot of people follow you around, are you sure parables are the way to go? They couldn’t understand this shift in His teaching style. So, Jesus explained that to them in the verses I just read.
The key to understanding what Jesus meant in those verses is to understand verses 14-15. In verses 14-15 Jesus quoted a passage from Isaiah 6 to illustrate why He was teaching in parables. During Isaiah’s time the prophet of God implored the people of Judah to embrace God and His ways. But they were more interested in their own ways. Isaiah had rebuked them for the idolatry, their drunkenness, and their injustice, among other things. But by this time, their hearts had become hardened by their choices to reject God.
--They had the truth of God right in front of them. They had a prophet of God before them. They had the law of God available to them. But while knowing, they didn’t believe. As Jesus quotes here, their hearts were dull, they could barely hear, and they couldn’t see. So close to the truth, yet so far away.
And Jesus was likening the people of Isaiah’s generation to those of His day. Throughout Jesus’ ministry, the masses had largely rejected Jesus despite the evidence and despite His clear declaration of the truth. There is a principle in the bible that teaches that there comes a point where God turns a person over to the hardness of their heart. Look at the religious leaders of Jesus’ time for an example of this.
--Now, those who wouldn’t receive the teachings of Jesus’ parables….it wasn’t like they couldn’t comprehend intellectually the meaning of Jesus’ parables necessarily….it was that they chose to not believe them. This wasn’t an IQ problem….it was a soul problem.
--Eph 4:18-19 explains why can happen: They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous.
--You see, the spiritually arrogant and self-sufficient religious leaders of Jesus’ day and some in the crowds would not humble themselves to learn from One like Jesus. They saw Jesus as beneath them. They saw Him as a commoner with common followers. And to them, He simply wasn’t a viable option to truly commit to. So, they listened to what He said, but they didn’t hear! Therefore, Jesus’ parables, to them, were foolishness. Their hardness of heart and their refusal to accept Jesus obscured the truth that His parables taught. Or we could say it like this, they heard what they wanted to hear.
--It would be like a person going to a Dr. for chest pains. The Dr. does tests and determines that the person needs immediate emergency heart surgery. And the DR gives the dire diagnosis to the sick man. But the man tosses the paperwork in trash and walks out the door. He understood the diagnosis intellectually but he rejected it.
--Or it is like the toddler who doesn’t want to hear what his parents are telling him so he covers his ears. He has ears to be able to listen, but he refuses to hear.
--With Jesus there were many who were like that. He would speak truth or He would speak in a parable, but it didn’t matter….their hearts were so turned against Him that they just couldn’t accept the truth. And when a person’s heart is turned away God, it will invariably be turned away from truth as well. That’s why when we see a person who seemingly can’t comprehend truth it is because they are completely turned away from God who is the author of truth.
By the way, just a moment of celebration….if you know the truth of God and have embraced the truth of God and the Lordship of Jesus Christ, thank God for that. (Jesus said that flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but His Father in Heaven revealed it to you).
--Thank God for His grace in your life for allowing you to hear His message and accept His call to salvation!
So, for some, parables reveal the truth while for others who don’t have hearts to hear they obscure the truth.
Now, knowing that about parables, let’s look at the parable of the sower.
Mark 4
Verses 1-2: What a great opportunity for Jesus. People from all over are coming out to hear Him speak. It was a large crowd too. So much so that, once again, He had to get into a boat because they were crowding around Him. Just like we saw back in the previous chapter.
--Now, with such a large crowd seemingly ready to listen, what kind of message would Jesus have put together to share that day? Well, from a human perspective, we probably would not have chosen a parable to teach. But in this chapter Jesus set out on not one but on a series of parables to share with the crowd. And the first one in this chapter spoke to everyone in the crowd that day. Everyone there that day was in one of the categories Jesus spoke about in this parable.
Read verses 3-9.
--This parable contained a scene that would have been a very common event in Israel. Everyone had seen someone sowing seed. And most had probably done so themselves. This story itself was not some remarkable, innovative, new literary classic. This wasn’t a script for a play using new thoughts and concepts. This was a story using a very common occurrence in Israel. And earthly, relatable story to highlight a spiritual truth.
Now here are the characters in this parable:
·The Sower: Disciple of Jesus (3)
·The Seed: Word of God (4)
·Birds: Satan and his demons (4)
·The Soil: People who hear the Word of God (4-8)
a.Soil beside the road: (this would have been like a hard road or hard path between different fields of crops)
b.Rocky ground
c.Soil covered with thorns
d.Good soil
Read verses 10-12:
Now, let’s go and see the interpretation of this parable. Jesus doesn’t always give the listeners an interpretation, but in this parable, He does for His disciples.
Read 13-20
Before we study each of these different types of soil, we must understand something very important. The seed that is sown is the same in each of these 4 types of soil that it fell on. The lesson here is not primarily about the sower, the seed, or Satan. It is about the soil. The difference in the results has nothing to do with the seed or how good the sower is at sowing it. It has everything to do with the soil it falls on. You’ve probably experienced this. You’ve been at a church service and the gospel in presented. One person receives it and trusts in Jesus, while others reject it and go on with their lives. Same message; different soil.
We saw that at the end of chapter 3. As Jesus preached and did miracles and cast out demons, the crowds, Jesus’ family, the religious leaders, and the disciples all had very different responses to Jesus. Why? The different soils of their hearts that the Word fell on.
--Now when the seed doesn’t grow like we would like, the temptation for every sower is to maybe tweak or change the message a bit to make it easier to accept.
--This does happen today. A person might present a message about Jesus that is not the message of the bible. But it might seem a bit more palatable or easy to swallow. So, they might compromise the truth of the bible in order to fit the narrative and moral agenda of the day, hoping more people will accept it. But rather than sharing truth in a loving way and still possibly offending people, they share a false message and instead of offending people, they actually offend God.
--And they do that because they don’t want to be rejected or ridiculed. Or they want rapid, sensationalized results. But the bible itself says that the message of Christ, by its very nature, is offensive to those who don’t believe. It is a stumbling block to those who don’t believe. The Christian must never sacrifice truth on the altar of results.
Now, we need to be kind in our proclamation. The sharing of truth is important but it is also important that we share it in the right way, in the right spirit, in the right tone, and with the right motivation. But even with that, sometimes the wisest, kindest proclamation will still offend some. That is reality.
But even so, the seed should never be altered in order to try to accommodate the soil. The soil must accommodate the seed.
--And I think that warning can be found in this parable.
But the main warning here is that we make sure that our hearts are ready to receive the seed of the Word of God. Now, let’s look at the different soils represented in this parable.
Soil # 1: The hardened path
Verses 14-15: As the seed was hand sown in the soil that had been prepared and plowed invariably some would fall on the hardened path that the sower would walk as he sowed seed on the outer edges of the field.
--As the Christian sows the seed of the Word of God there will be some people that they will share with who are simply hardened to the message of Jesus for many potential reasons. Sin, bad choices, anger at God because things that have happened to them in their past, repeatedly rejecting the message, etc.
--These are people whose hearts have become calloused! Pain after pain, rejection after rejection, refusing to trust Christ time and time again…and their hearts get harder and harder.
--They hear the message and reject it as Satan comes in and steals whatever seed has been sown!
--I was on a mission trip years ago in a 3rd world country. And we were doing some door-to-door evangelism. And that day I encountered the hardest soul I’ve ever talked to to this point! She was a prostitute. Death was in her eyes. She had been used time and time again. She had no self-worth. She was embittered and angry. She had been hurt so many times physically and emotionally. She was full of shame. She was hardened to the message of Jesus! And His messengers.
--And as we shared about the hope that comes through Jesus she laughed, got angry, and then slammed the door in our face.
--Her head could comprehend the message that we were sharing but her heart wouldn’t allow her to receive it. And Satan stole away the seed.
Soil #2: The Rocky Soil:
Verses 16-17: Often the soil in Israel will have a layer of rock just below the good soil. A crop will quickly come up, but will not last. The people Jesus describes in this scenario have no problem with the message intellectually (no animosity to the gospel or Christians), but they never really accept it by faith to the point that it takes root and becomes life-giving.
And because of that, they have no root it says. And a root is vital for life. The root is connected to the life-giving agencies that a plant needs. This person has decided that Jesus looks like He could be a good option for now, but they’ll keep their options open in case something better comes along in the future. Or they seem to accept the gospel but when it begins to cost them something it becomes apparent that they never really believed.
And the sad part is that many are deceived into thinking that because they think fondly about Jesus or claim Christianity as their religion on a survey…they are deceived into thinking they are ok!
This is a person who has an emotional experience. Maybe they walked the aisle at church after a moving song. Or maybe they had an emotional experience at a youth camp or a men’s or women’s retreat.But after the emotion wore off, it was clear that there was not true root of faith.
Their feelings were changed temporarily, but their soul was not changed eternally. It was a temporary approval of the message, but not genuine life-giving faith. In I John 2:19 John writes about those who start out seeming like they are Christians but by the way they finish and by their fruit it becomes apparent that they were never truly born again to begin with.
--A true conversion to Jesus will be verified by results. Faith without works is dead. If a person emotionally embraces the message and then totally abandons Christ when hardship or challenges come….that can be proof of a false faith if he continues in that abandonment.
-- Judas Iscariot would fall into this category. He was around Jesus, but he never surrendered to Jesus as Lord. And when another false god of 30 pieces of silver came along that looked better than Jesus he immediately went after the god of money and greed. Because there was no root of life in Him through Christ.
Soil #3: Thorns
Verses 18-19: Things are more important than Jesus. This person hears the message of Jesus and he really considers it…but ultimately the seed is…
--choked out by the:
· Worries of the world: Or concerns. They get wrapped up in the here and now and forget about God. They think this temporary world is more real than eternity.
· Deceitfulness of riches: There is nothing in the world wrong with riches if they were gained by moral means. If you are wealthy, thank God for that wealth. Don’t set your heart on that wealth. Leverage it for the glory of God. But in this scenario the people were pursuing material possessions and wealth over Jesus.
· And the desire for other things.
Now, I think most people probably live in this kind of soil. Most people don’t wake up one morning and decide to reject Jesus. Often it is the daily decisions or the daily distractions as other things are prioritized before the Lord. Worries, concerns, and other things begin to crowd Jesus out.
And unfortunately, for some the message of Christ is 2nd class to the weeds and thorns that are aggressively germinating in their hearts. Weeds and thorns, worries of the world and the aggressive pursuit of wealth are the master of their hearts, not Jesus. People in this category have sized Jesus up next to their wealth or their worries or other things and Jesus just isn’t enough for them, so they walked away. They weighed out the world vs Jesus and tragically chose the world. Those things have choked out the seed of the gospel in their lives.
Soil #4: Good Soil
Verse 20: These are the ones who believe the message….and notice how we know that they truly accepted the seed of the Word of God….it is seen by the fact that they produce fruit and they multiply.
--Jesus is saying that a true child of God will produce fruit. But, not just the fruit of the Spirit that occurs in their own lives, but also the fruit of their ministry and lives they impact with the gospel….some will bear more fruit than others, no doubt. That is why Jesus said some will bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” But fruit bearing is the evidence of life.
Fruit will be there for those who belong to Christ.
Now, hopefully all of us in this room today are in category number 4. But I would bet that some are in category 1, 2, or 3 today.
And so, the question from this parable today is not did you listen to this parable this morning…..but did you hear it?
Every person in this room is one of these 4 soils. The seed has been scattered today as we studied God’s Word.
The question is...What kind of heart received it?
"He who has ears to hear...let him hear."
So, that is a quick overview of the parable of the sower. And it is an important parable, especially as we are about to come to the Lord’s table for communion.
1.Don’t trample under foot God’s offer of salvation. Don’t reject Christ if He is calling you. Each time you do, you heart becomes harder and harder. And there might come a point where God gives you over to hardness of heart.
2. Are you daily cultivating the soil of your heart to prepare it to hear the Word of God? What kind of soil is your heart today? Maybe you are a Christian but somewhere along the line the cares of this world have crept into your heart and they are choking out more growth that could be occurring?
3. Are you bearing fruit in your own life? The life of others?