Mark 4:1-34

Hey everybody! If you have a Bible, turn to Mark 4. Pastor Will asked me to continue working through Mark with you all despite his absence. Up to this point in the book, you have been learning much about Jesus, who he is, and his Kingdom.

For tonight, I want you to walk away from this message with this as your takeaway…are you ready?

Here it is: “Jesus wants me to hear his message, believe it, and live the rest of my life His way.” (x3)

In Mark 4, we will continue thinking about Jesus’s Kingdom. But what we will primarily consider is the Kingdom of God and its relationship with you…

Starting in verse 1, Jesus continues his teaching in the form of a parable. A parable, as you might know, is a short story in which Jesus draws from things of everyday life to communicate very important truths to his audience of listeners.

And in this first parable, or short story, Jesus uses a farmer sowing seeds as his example to communicate a very important truth. Back in Jesus’s day, many people were farmers. This is how they provided for their families…and farmers back then, what they would do was have a bag of seeds and they would walk all over their land and scatter seeds…left and right.

Now as you will see, the focus of the parable is not the farmer scattering seeds…rather the focus is the type of ground in which the farmer’s seeds would land.

Follow along with me as I read verses 1-9:

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.”

So here you have a farmer scattering his seed, and his seed lands on four different grounds:

1. Ground #1- the path itself: And as a result of falling on the path, Jesus says the birds came and devoured the seeds.

2. Ground #2- Rocky Ground: And Jesus says that there was an immediate little growth, but when exposed to the sun, it immediately withered away.

3. Ground #3- Thorns: Any of you have little flowerpots at home where the flower is blossoming in a pot of thorns? Jesus says the seeds were choked up… no growth.

4. Ground #4- Seed landed on good soil…and as you can imagine, there’s a harvest.

Now what’s interesting about this parable is the seriousness of which Jesus starts off this parable and how he ends it. Notice how in verse 3 he commands his audience to listen…and then after telling the parable…he says in verse 9 “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

In other words, Jesus is communicating “The story that I share is not one to enjoy, laugh, and move on with life…rather the story in which I share is one which I command you to hear and seriously think through.”… “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

After Jesus concludes his teaching, the majority of those in the crowd leave and go on their merry way…they return to their home, they go back to work…they just go on with living their life, doing their thing.

Now follow along with me starting at verse 10. Here is where we begin to see why Jesus taught the crowds in this way and what the meaning behind the parable is:

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.’ ”

Here we start to see that when it comes to the Kingdom of God, Jesus draws a definitive line in the sand… he’s making the point that not everyone will be a part of God’s Kingdom. There are those who will be inside and those who will be outside.

We see here in verse 12 Jesus give a reason for why he teaches in parables. Regarding outsiders Jesus says that, “they made indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.”

Here Jesus quotes a passage from Isaiah…and the point that Jesus is making here in verse 12 is not that God deliberately hides his truth from us…if that were the case what would be the point of sharing parables in the first place?

God is not hiding anything, nor is he trying to make things hard to understand with parables that make it impossible to understand the truth…now as you’ll see in verse 13, the disciples and those who stuck around do not understand Jesus’s parable…

Jesus says in verse 13: “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?”

I want you to see something, however… Everyone at that beach, both the insiders and outsiders heard the same message from Jesus and everyone there failed to understand the point of Jesus’s message. But despite the failure to understand Jesus’s message, you have two different responses from the crowd…which reveals who truly is a part and not a part of the Kingdom of God. You have two different responses that reveal who’s on the inside and who is on the outside.

The outsiders, which I think the text implies were the majority on that beach, left and went on their merry way.

The insiders, rather than leaving, choose to come to Jesus for answers to their questions.

You see, in Isaiah’s day, God called him to preach to a faithless people. Jesus quotes Isaiah because Isaiah was describing people whose hearts were so callous and hard that they stubbornly refused to listen to Isaiah and as a result, the people turned their back on God. And this is exactly the type of hearers that Jesus was dealing with in his earthly ministry, and this is exactly what he is dealing with today.

God is not hiding the secret of the Kingdom from anyone, but the parables reveal something about people’s hearts…and to those such as the those who stuck around…even if they fail to understand, Jesus will help them to see what the outsiders can’t see… that being… the truth.

This difference of the heart between outsiders and insiders of Christ’s Kingdom is coincidently the point of Jesus’s parable. In verses 14-20, Jesus explains the meaning of the parable to those who asked for the meaning.

What we will see from Jesus’s explanation is that this parable exposes the truth about everyone’s heart. The comparison is between the different types of soil and the different types of people. You in this room tonight, your heart falls into one of these four categories. The first category is one whose heart is like the path that the farmer was walking on. Jesus says in verses 14-15:

14 The sower sows the word. So the seed in this parable is the Word of God…the gospel.

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.

Now don’t misunderstand what Jesus is saying here. Jesus is not saying that Satan somehow has the ability to overpower God’s work in peoples’ lives…But what Jesus is saying about this first group of people is that they have hardened themselves against the gospel so much so… that as a result…they are easily blinded by Satan.

These people are totally resistant to the gospel. They have made up their decision in their minds and there is no talking sese with them.

As one person put it, their heart is like asphalt. Meaning, that their heart is so hard and closed off that nothing can penetrate them.[1] These people just flat-out refuse. You could sit these people in Pastor Will’s apologetics class show them all the evidence and make a case for Jesus…and while they see the evidence and maybe even admit you might be right, they still don’t care…because their hearts simply choose to reject Jesus and anything he has to offer to them.

These people are like Satan in the sense that they hate the gospel. Satan loves those who have a hardened heart…

Let me ask you…is your heart like the hard soil? Are you mad at God for a particular reason? Or maybe it’s not that you are necessarily mad at God, but it’s more so that you just don’t care. Whatever your reason may be, are you like one who for the sake of keeping things kosher at home, go with the flow and come to church but the moment that worship begins you deliberately choose to zone off because you’ve already made up in your mind that you are not interested in what God has to say in his Word?

Let’s consider the next group of people according to Jesus…those whose hearts are like the rocky ground. Jesus says starting in verse 16:

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.

Notice how these people immediately commit but then immediately decommit. Why? Because they are like a plant with no root…the moment the heat of the sun shines upon them, they wither away. When hard times comes in the name of Jesus, these people are all of sudden nowhere to be found. These are the type of people who want the blessings of Jesus but want nothing to do with the trials that come in the name of Jesus.

In high school I played varsity football…as you know in the game of football, only 11 guys can be on the field at one time. Come Friday night, when the stands are filled and the hype is high…everyone on the team wanted to be one of those 11 guys on the field. But not everyone was willing to put in the work in the offseason of lifting weights and running sprints at 6am every morning. Not everyone was willing to watch film and study the playbook on their own time.

What these people hear and receive with joy is something less than the gospel because they somehow hear a message that contains no cost, no sacrifice. The moment they realize the actual truth of what it means to live for Jesus…they want nothing to do with it because of what it might cost them to be a part of it.

Friends, let me ask you: Is your heart like rocky soil?

There’s a third category of people…where Jesus says their hearts are like that of thorns. What does he mean by that? Well, look at verses 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.

Last year there was a story that made its’ way from being just local news to world news. In 2018, so three years prior to this story making the news, a woman in Texas went shopping at a local Goodwill. Art was her thing, and she stumbled upon a bust that was sitting on the floor underneath a table. She thought is was cool enough to pay $35 bucks for it…now just stop right there…who buys anything at Goodwill for $35?...This woman is nuts!

Turns out she wasn’t. It wasn’t until after she bought it that she realized that this bust was looked old and worn. So for the next couple of years, she consulted local experts in art history to figure out more information. Turns out this bust wasn’t originally sold at your local Hobby Lobby…but it was actually a piece that went missing from a German museum decades ago.

And the reason for why it was displayed in a museum in the first place is because this bust is from the late 1st century BC to early 1st century AD. It is assumed that during WWII, the sculpture took a beating from all the bombings of the war in Germany… and things were so chaotic that the piece went missing…was probably taken and brought home by an American soldier…and over the years made it’s way from sitting in someone’s basement to now sitting on the floor at a local Goodwill. Due to the fact that the sculpture was originally stolen, the lady was not able to keep or sell it to make a profit…I can only imagine the guy who woke up the next day, saw this story on his social media feed…and realized that it was he who originally donated the sculpture to Goodwill. Thinking it was a piece of junk and then coming to realize that it’s probably worth millions upon millions.

I share this story because in a similar way…the people Jesus describes here as having a heart similar to a field of thorns…are a people group who underestimate the value of belonging to the Kingdom…and as a result, like a seed choked out by the thorns, these people allow the message of Jesus Christ to be choked out by lesser things.

More specifically, Jesus says these people allow his message to be choked out by “the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things”.

These people’s lives are dominated by the values and standards set by this world. Their pursuit becomes that which the world says to pursue. We live in a culture where I think a lot of people would say that life is not about money because it sounds so vain to say such a thing…and Hollywood surprisingly produces movie after movie to reinforce that…but yet it is these same people who desire a certain lifestyle that, at the end of the day, is driven by money. And if we are not careful, we can easily fall into a mindset where what we have is never enough. We can easily begin to develop an appetite for more and more and more.

Friends, what dominates your heart? What consumes your thoughts on a typical day in your life? What is it that is influencing you most? What is it that you are constantly worried about? What’s distracting you?

Jesus does not want part of your heart, part of your focus, part of your future. He didn’t die just to get a part of your life. He wants allof you and that is a beautiful and gracious thing! The world will promise happiness and fulfillment, but it can never deliver to the extent that Jesus offers to you for all of eternity!

But again, Jesus’s Kingdom is not for everyone. How you respond to Jesus’s message regarding his Kingdom is critical! Notice in verse 20 what Jesus says:

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.”

Jesus is essentially saying, “Those who hear my word…who truly understand…who accept & receive my gospel…it is those that I will not reject at the gate of my Kingdom. It is those that will not fail… and will bear fruit.”

Please do not misunderstand what I am about to say…salvation is purely a gift from God. We contribute absolutely nothing to our salvation...Jesus has done everything for us and asks us to hear and accept what he brings to the table. And while it is faith alone that saves…as one person put it, “faith never comes alone” (x2)

Meaning, that true faith according to the Bible is something that you live out. If you say that you believe in Jesus…yet you do not allow Jesus to reshape your life, then it is not true faith. Notice in the text, Jesus says the heart of good soil is one “…who hear(s) the word and accept(s) it and… bear(s) fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

“In 1859, there was a famous acrobat named Charles Blondin, and he was famous for stretching a tightrope 190 feet above the waters of Niagara Falls. Crowds would gather daily as he navigated the thousand-foot span.

He walked across in a large burlap bag. He carried his manager across on his back. He even fitted a special wheelbarrow for the rope and pushed it across. Once, he put a cook stove in the wheelbarrow and stopped in the middle of the rope to cook and eat an omelet.

The story is told that once while working with the wheelbarrow, he approached the cheering crowd and asked them who believed he could put a man in the wheelbarrow and take him across. The crowd went wild. Everyone wanted to see that stunt. They began to chant,

‘I believe, I believe!’

Blondin pointed to a man waving his hand and chanting, ‘I believe!’ He said to the man, ‘You, sir, get in the wheelbarrow.’ The man bolted in the other direction. What was wrong? The man might have believed that Blondin could put a man in the wheelbarrow…some other man…but he wasn't willing to trust on Blondin to take him across.”[2]

And so teens…for those of you who would say that you believe in Jesus… that it is your desire to follow Jesus…can you say you are living your life for Him? Would your parents, your siblings, your friends, your church family all affirm that you seek to live in obedience to Jesus?

Jesus shares this parable to make the point that when it comes to his gospel and the very Word of God, hear it and accept it…because here’s the thing, when it comes to the gospel and the coming of Jesus’s kingdom, there is no opting out from making a decision… The gospel demands a decision from you.

Jesus goes on to say in verses 21-23:

21 … “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.”

As a lamp illuminates a room and nothing in the dark can remain hidden once the light shines upon it…so it is with Jesus and his gospel message. Jesus came to bring light to a dark world. It was his mission… and it is still his mission… to reveal the way…the truth…and that there is no other option.

Friends, you cannot hide from making a decision. The Kingdom that he talks of is coming…and it is coming to save and to condemn. There is no opting out of this..you must decide. When it comes to Jesus, are you in or are you out? If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.

In verses 24 & 25, we see a promise and a consequence depending on your response to Jesus’s gospel. Further along in verse 24, Jesus says:

24 … 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.”

What Jesus is essentially saying is, “If you have faith in me, you’re promised more understanding, more wisdom, more truth… But if you choose to reject me, you will lose the little understanding that you have.”

The Gospel demands a response. How you choose to respond to Jesus is of the utmost seriousness. In 26-34, Jesus shares two realities about his Kingdom. Check out what Jesus first says in verses 26-29:

26 And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. 27 He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. 28 The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

When it comes to Jesus’s Kingdom, you can bank on it that his Kingdom will grow. God will see to it that this happens. Just as in farming, the Gospel will bring about a harvest. No farmer can explain how the seed sprouts and grows…you just plant it, water it, and give it some time…and off it goes! Likewise… No one can explain the process of spiritual growth…it just happens when the gospel is planted in a receptive heart! Jesus is saying, “we don’t need to understand in order to share in it”…all we need to know is that the gospel needs the right conditions of the heart for it to grow in the life of an individual.

There is indeed a mystery to it all, but you can bank on it that Jesus’s Kingdom will grow. It’s been growing for thousands of years all over the world. God will see to it that this happens. And in verses 30-34, we the second reality of Jesus’s Kingdom…it will be big:

30 And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? 31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, 32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

You know…when you read the parable of the sower in verses 1-9, it feels as if Jesus’s Kingdom won’t gain any traction. You know what I mean? I mean, out of the four different responses…three of them are bad and only one is receptive to the gospel. And I’m sure that those who were with Jesus during his earthly ministry felt small, tiny, and insignificant like a mustard seed. I mean…Jesus just gets done teaching to a crowd so big that verse 1 says he had to sit in a boat just to teach them…yet who sticks around afterward? Not many…

We don’t have too many mustard plants flourishing here in Frankfort, Kentucky. But you get the idea from reading the text. In Palestine, Mustard seeds were the smallest seeds in the area to be sown, and you would think that from it would grow something small… like a weed that fills a crack in the sidewalk. But that’s not the case! When they take root and grow, they grow up to be a tall, wild bushlike plant…tall enough and thick enough that birds can build a nest in it.

Jesus’s earthly ministry was in many ways small like a mustard seed. He may have amazed many people, but not many of them chose to follow him. And yet…from Jesus’s earthly ministry has grown a mighty worldwide Christian church, which is still growing to this day. In many ways, the church is like a nest resting on the branch of God’s Kingdom. We are told from the Scriptures that when Jesus returns the full culmination of his Kingdom will come. And people of all nations will stand in the presence of King Jesus.

So how will you respond to the Kingdom? What’s your heart’s response to Jesus’s gospel? He’s sewing his seed in your life…will your heart hear and accept?

Let’s pray.