Mark 4:1-20 - Jesus Reveals the Kingdom
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Jesus Reveals the Kingdom
Jesus Reveals the Kingdom
INTRO
My wife and I decided to try our hand in gardening during the pandemic
We tried to grow a variety of vegetables in a small pointed spot of our back yard.
Garden pictures
We mostly collected tomatoes, but there were a few things that grew that I had no idea what to do with. I wasn’t really sure what the big one was.
One thing I learned was that you sort of have to know what your doing because challenges will come.
Some plants can’t have too much water
Some take longer; some have to be planted at specific times of the year.
Garden Chicken picture
Oh, and chickens are not friendly to gardens.
In some aspects, no matter how hard I tried, there were some thing I couldn’t get to grow
I just assumed I didn’t have a green thumb until last year.
We had some squash that began to rot on our kitchen counter
“I’m tired of smelling this in my house!”
I had a rough day and took it outside and in anger chucked it across the yard.
I forgot about it and now it’s sprouting this huge squash plant in the front yard.
It looks like it was intentionally put there, though I recklessly yeeted a squash across my yard.
In one instance, I struggled to grow anything intentionally and another, I accidentally planted a squash garden.
In one area of my yard, I had some really fertile soil.
In the other part, the soil was less fruitful.
In the passage we’re looking at in Mark, Jesus is teaching us something by talking about soil.
**Stand to READ: Mark 4:1–9 (ESV)
1 Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2 And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8 And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” 9 And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Leader: This is God’s Word written down for you and me:
Everyone: Thanks be to God
Jesus is on the sea of Galilee outside of Capernaum using a boat for a pulpit.
I ought to get one of those.
Jesus was teaching them in parables
Parables: “Earthly stories with heavenly meanings”
Parables provide insight into the Kingdom of God
They use everyday circumstances to illustrate spiritual truth.
The nature, coming, growth, and consummation of the Kingdom.
Parables are used to stimulate thinking and cause hearers to contemplate what they are hearing
Parables by design are provocative and surprising.
Jesus is telling a story to illustrate the Kingdom of God
That’s our big idea of the day:
Jesus reveals the Kingdom of God
Jesus reveals the Kingdom of God
The Kingdom of God will break into to world like seed being sown by a farmer.
It will fall in various places and receive various responses, but will eventually experience a tremendous harvest.
Jesus ends His sermon and Mark gives this little break between the parable and the explanation of the parable.
This little break is the key to understanding the whole passage.
The Privilege of Hearing
10 And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11 And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, 12 so that “ ‘they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.’ ”
Jesus said that they were given “the secret of the Kingdom of God” right after He said, “He who has ears let them hear.”
This is a major challenge for us to pay attention.
Jesus requires a spiritually alert and hungry heart in order to understand His teaching and who He is.
“For those outside” = unbelievers
They don’t understand parables.
They’re the path, the rocky ground, and the thorns.
Sure, they’ll hear the word, but it will mean very little to them at best.
Jesus says that they are given the “secret”
This is clearly a divine mystery.
This means that the knowledge of God cannot be obtained by natural means.
You can’t wonder off into the wilderness with no Bible and think you’ve received a word from God.
Don’t buy into “the Lord told me to tell you!”
It is the secret that the Kingdom of God has come in the person and words and works of Jesus. That is a secret because God has chosen to reveal Himself indirectly and in a veiled way. The incarnate Word is not obvious. Only faith could recognize the Son of God in the lowly figure of Jesus of Nazareth. The secret of the Kingdom of God is the secret of the person of Jesus.
Charles Cranfield
They are not denied the possibility of belief, but they actively refuse to believe.
Saying: “The same sun that hardens the clay, melts the wax.”
The same gospel that offends the resistant and rebellious, excites and is received by the receptive.
When you hear Jesus’s gospel,
Will you reject it or receive it?
Believers are given an unbelievable privilege through the Holy Spirit
They have ears to hear
Hearts that believe
Minds that understand
Being near to Jesus is a privilege for followers of Jesus.
Those who don’t follow Jesus are often skeptical of Jesus because they don’t understand.
Those who follow Jesus understand and love more of Jesus.
Only in fellowship with Jesus do parables help us understand the meaning of the Kingdom of God.
Those who hear in faith, even if they don’t fully comprehend everything, are given the mystery of the Kingdom!
Jesus taught them a few more parable during this sermon, but when He was finished:
Mark 4:33-34 “33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. 34 He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.”
The more time we spend with Jesus, the more we understand Jesus.
Through His Spirit/Word, He’ll explain everything.
In this instance, He explains the parable to His disciples clearly.
13 And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word.
The seed sown is the Word of God—The Gospel
Gospel Presentation
The good news that Jesus is bringing in the Kingdom of God to overthrow the Kingdom of darkness that has ruled out lives
We’ve all wandered from God.
We’ve all sinned against the Lord.
We’ve also experienced the effects of our own foolishness and separation from God.
But the Lord has been merciful toward us
He sent His Son
Who was God in flesh.
Who lived the fullest life as a human.
Jesus understands our needs and desires.
He has experienced our temptations and weights.
Yet, His entire life was lived in the will of God.
Then He went to the cross as a sacrifice on our behalf.
It was our punishment to bear for sin, but Jesus took it in your place
He took your punishment and sin to the cross and died!
So that you can be forgiven
So that you can be loved
So that you can be called a child of God!
In power God raised Him to life as a victorious conqueror of sin, death, and the grave!
If there is no resurrection, we’re still stuck in our sins
But Jesus has been raised as proof that we are forgiven!
Jesus secured your spot in heaven!
Now by faith, we can be reconciled to God through the death and resurrection of Jesus!
Jesus brought the Kingdom of God through His suffering and life!
Now, He’s spreading this good news!
Through the preaching and teaching of Word, God is calling people to respond to this good news in faith.
How will you respond to God’s Kingdom?
Jesus teaches that there are four responses to this:
Four responses to the gospel
Deprived
Deprived
Mark 4:15 “15 And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them.”
No commitment to God’s Word at all
They don’t read it
They hardly listen to preaching
They might come to church occasionally, but they’ve forgotten everything before they leave the building.
They have no interest in spiritual conversation outside of church, and that is if they entertain it at all.
Application: Don’t give up
There are no lost causes
Give them more than Satan can take away.
What if we were all committed to being walking Bibles?
The people that we live near, work near, play near need the gospel.
Satan’s goal is to remove any type of influence toward Christ He can.
He does not want people to hear the Word, so he’ll do whatever it takes to take it away.
Church, we need to realize that the culture is not fighting to become Christians. People are being starved of the gospel—Which is their greatest need!
Deficient
Deficient
Mark 4:16-17 “16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. 17 And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.”
This person appears spiritual and joyful, and they may even be welcoming to the gospel, but they lack substance.
They’ll come to church, but not necessarily lean into mature teaching or walk in true, rough, honest community with other believers.
They may have the appearance of spirituality, but there isn’t much passed the veneer.
They had no depth
Understanding of Scriptures
Deep doctrine
Close community
Application: Lean in and don’t be afraid to give content
Some Christians are afraid to lean into neighbors with two things:
Depth in doctrine
Depth in community
We’re afraid of doctrine because what if they don’t know enough about the Bible, or can’t answer any of the questions?
We don’t want to be seen as bigots or Bible thumpers, so we avoid going “too deep.”
We’re intimidated by community because what if someone finds out I’m a sinner too? What if they find out I’m not perfect?
“I don’t want anyone to know my dirt!”
On the flip—What if I see something I don’t like about their lives?
Spoil alert: people are messy.
The church is to lean into both sound doctrine and familial community.
If we lack doctrine, then we’re fragile in what we believe and we could be lost to false teaching or have no anchored faith to cling to when troubles come.
If we lack community, then we have heads full of Bible knowledge without a heart for people.
We’ll just be fatheads.
We need head and heart
Grace and truth.
Lean into people’s mucky lives and don’t be afraid of the Bible.
Distracted
Distracted
Mark 4:18-19 “18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.”
There’s always something else
Busyness is rampant,
We’re always chasing after more.
Riches, entertainment, concerns.
We’re continually seeking our own purpose
Instant gratification
We’ve about entertained ourselves into oblivion.
We do this with social media too!
*Give me more dopamine!*
There’s always another story.
Application: Tell a better story
The gospel is the greatest story every told
Jesus is better than the desires of the world
All the world has to offer will eventually not matter.
The eternal life that Jesus provides
The joy that the gospel gives us
We’re new creation!
What is better than eternal life!?
There’s nothing better than eternal life!
There’s nothing boring about life in Christ!
There are some, when they hear this, they embrace it:
Discipled
Discipled
Mark 4:20 “20 But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.””
They hear the Word, believe the Word, and are changed by the Word
The gospel changes lives!
Those who see, believe, and live the gospel are forever changed by Christ!
More than that, they recognize there’s fruit to be grown.
God expects fruit from those who enjoy the gospel.
Concerned with
Growing in Christ-likeness
Disciple making
Multiplication
I want to become more like Jesus
I want to see other people believe in Jesus.
Receiving the gospel comes with the responsibility of spreading the gospel.
Sow the Word and become sowers.
What will your response be?
If you’re here and you’re not a Christian, Jesus has brought the Kingdom and you now have an invitation.
If you’re here and you’re a Christian, start sowing seed.
You don’t have to be pointed with who you share it with
Spread it everywhere!
Prayer prompt response
Exegetical Outline:
Jesus conceals the Kingdom (v. 3-9)
Jesus explains the purpose of parables and the privilege of believers (v. 10-12)
Jesus reveals the Kingdom through explaining the parable (v. 13-20)
Applicational Outline
Spreading the word (v. 1-9)
Privilege of being a disciple (v. 11/33-34)
Mark 4:9 “9 And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.””
Hearing is a privilege of the disciple
Mark 4:33 “33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it.”
“As they were able to hear it”
Everyone has the opportunity to hear the gospel proclaimed
Few will respond from hearing.
Mark 4:34 “34 He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.”
Jesus privately explains to His disciples
APPLICATION: The more time you spend with Jesus, the more you will learn from Jesus. Through His Spirit/Word, He’ll explain everything.
Four Responses to the Gospel (vv. 15-20
Deprived (v. 15)
Satan took away the word
APPLICATION: Don’t give up proclaiming the Word.
There are no lost causes.
Give them more than Satan can take away.
Deficient (v. 17)
They had no root in themselves
No deep doctrine
No close community
No understanding
Fell away due to persecution or tribulation
APPLICATION: In a discipling relationship, lean in and give content
Depth in relationship
Depth in doctrine
Distracted (v. 18)
The word is choked by
cares of the world
deceitfulness of riches
desires for other things
APPLICATION: Tell a better story.
Jesus is better than the desires of the world, that will eventually not matter.
Discipled (v. 20)
Accept the Word
Bear fruit
APPLICATION: Respond to the revealed Kingdom
“God expects and requires fruit from those who enjoy the gospel” (Matthew Henry)
APPLICATION: Become sowers (v. 3)
Concerned with
Growing in Christ-likeness
Disciple making
Multiplication
Preaching Prep NOTES
Series: Mark - The Son of God
Series: Mark - The Son of God
Text: Mark 4:1-20
Text: Mark 4:1-20
Sermon Date: 9.17.2023
1. Big Idea: Jesus reveals the Kingdom
2. Tweet the Point:
3. Command:
Hear the Word with faithful ears
Sow the Word everywhere
4. Explanation:
5. Illustration:
The whole parable is an illustration.
6. What would people lose if this text wasn’t there:
The importance to hear and respond Jesus’s words
The urgency to share the gospel with friends, family, and neighbors.
7. When are you sharing the Gospel?
When discussing verse 14, where the Seed is the Word.
This flows into the natural responses to the gospel (v. 15-20)
8. Additional Service Comments/Elements?
Preview service/baptism video
9. “Big Idea” Question we are answering:
What are the responses to the Kingdom of God that Jesus is bringing in?
How should we respond and what should we do?
10. Points
4 Responses to the Kingdom
Deprived
Deficient
Distracted
Discipled