Sowing the Word (Mark 4:1-20)

Mark 4:1-20

Sowing of the Word

Sunday, September 3, 2023

Introduction

As we begin our time together this morning with me as the Pastor here at Land O Lakes Bible Church, I think it is good and right for us to consider the foundational piece of faithful ministry, God’s word. The word of God is God’s ordinary means of grace to us. That is to say it is the primary and normal way that God speaks to us, through his spoken and now written word. It is through the proclamation of this word that we both come to know more about our God and about ourselves. It is through the word of God that we are taught of the steadfast love of God, as well as the holiness of God. It is in the word of God that we learn that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God while also learning of God’s wonderful plan of redemption found in Jesus Christ.

But here is a question, do we take time and consider this word and how we respond to it? Do we consider the posture of our hearts as we come to read God’s word or sit under the preached word? It is this question, this challenge that we find in our passage this morning from Mark 4:1-20. If you do not have a Bible or unfamiliar with the Bible, you can find this on page #997 in the Red Pew Bible in front of you.

Background of Mark

While you are turning there, some helpful things regarding the Gospel According to Mark. This gospel account was written by John Mark who recorded indirectly or directly the recalling of events from Peter, one of the twelve disciples. We see this in more detail into Peter than any of the others throughout Mark’s gospel account. This gospel account is presumed to have been the earliest written of the gospel accounts in the year AD 50, with Matthew and Luke pulling from it. The theme of Mark’s gospel has to do with discipleship, including our text this morning. With that in mind, let’s hear from God’s word in Mark 4:1-20….

The main idea of Mark 4:1-20 is this, “To hear and understand the word of God about the mystery of his kingdom is to bear fruit, to be fruitless is a sure sign of unbelief. Therefore, let us listen carefully to the word.” We are going to unfold this in 2 points: (1) Listen carefully and (2) Sow widely

Listen carefully

Jesus here in Mark 4 is presumably at the sea of Galilee, since back in chapter 3 he was at home in Galilee with the mention of his mother and brothers at the door. And he again begins to teach the crowds that have gathered around him again. Verse 1….

Already in Mark’s gospel account it has been mentioned that the fame of Jesus had spread everywhere (1:28), that people were coming to him from every quarter (1:45), crowds so large that a paralytic could not be brought to Jesus except lowering him from a roof (2:4). And again, crowds that forced Jesus to teach from a boat to keep from being crushed by the crowds gathering to him (3:9). With each gathering, Jesus labors to teach the crowds, to reveal to them the mystery of the kingdom of God. But this time, he teaches them in parables, verse 2….

A parable is a placing of one thing by the side of another in order to illustrate a point. Or we could say, it is a simple story to illustrate a deep point. The parable that Jesus teaches with here in Mark 4:1-20 is that of a sower. Verse 3….

But this parable is not new, it is rooted in the Old Testament. In Isaiah 55:10-11, we read:

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

A sower has gone out to sow, and according to Isaiah, the expectation is that when the sower sows, the expectation is that the seed will take root and bring forth sprout and root. That it shall not be sown in vain.

But as the sower went out to sow, something happened, the seed fell in various places, in various soils. For the homesteaders and farmers and gardeners in the room, you know all too well about the challenges of sowing seed. If you aren’t careful, your seeds either don’t have the right soil or it's vulnerable to the animal kingdom from coming to snatch it away. In verse 4, we see that the seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. The seed was snatched away before it could even take root.

Other seed falls, as seen in verse 5. Here this seed falls on rocky ground, keeping it from having much soil and shallow roots. And with its shallow roots, it is unable to survive the scorching heat and causes the seed to wither away.

Still, more seed fell, this time among the thorns as seen there in verse 7 and it was choked as it grew up, causing it to fail to produce grain.

Then other seed fell and it fell into good soil and produced grain, it grew up, it increased, and it yielded a harvest.

But what in the world does this parable have to do with us? With us gathered this morning at Land O Lake Bible Church? What does this have to do with us as we leave and scatter from this place this morning? Everything! Jesus here in teaching in this parable is calling us to attention. For let it not be lost on us that the parable begins with an imperative command to listen there in verse 3, and that it ends in verse 9 with this:

And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

To be a good and faithful disciple of Jesus is to listen and to hear his teaching. But how? Especially if we are confused about this parable? Here is the thing, we are in good company if we are confused, for the twelve, that is the twelve chosen disciples of Jesus, they had to ask Jesus after the teaching was finished in private about what it meant. Look with me at verses 10-12…..

To the disciples of Jesus, the secret of the kingdom of God has been given. It has been given by God’s grace to understand this parable, to understand the complexities of the mystery of the kingdom of God. And yet for others, they hear and never gain understanding. For this is what Jesus points back to from Isaiah 6:9-10 where it says:

And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes, and hear with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

The purpose of the parable is to draw out that while the crowds follow Jesus, marveling at all that he has done, they listen not to his teaching, they have no ears to hear, proving that they have not received the kingdom of God. For if they had received the word, fruit would have been produced in them, starting with faith.

For the parable here about the sower is about God’s word if you haven’t already picked up. In verse 14 it says, “The sower sows the word.” Jesus is the word made flesh. He is the word who was in the beginning with God and was God. It is this message that is being taken out and sown.

Now, maybe you are here this morning and you are unfamiliar with this word, this gospel message. The gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ. It is the message that we who hardened our hearts against God, our creator, in sin and were separated from God because of that sin, now have a way to be restored to God, our creator and now redeemer. We have a way through Jesus, the son of God who came into the world in order to save us from our sin and its curse, death. This took place as Jesus who was without sin and guilt took on our guilt and went to the judgment seat of a cross on our behalf. There he died, shedding his own blood to cover and wash away our sin. But Jesus did not remain dead, he rose from the grave three days later, defeating death. And now he has brought us the hope of life in him if we believe. It is this gospel, this hope that Jesus has come to sow. And it is this word that you are invited to listen to, to hear, to believe this morning.

But the reality is, even as this gospel, this word is sown, many will fail to listen and follow Jesus as his disciples. Consider the seed sown along the path, verse 15….

For some, as the word is scattered and falls along the path, that word is quickly taken away by Satan. It is taken away before it ever has time to sink into their hearts. For these remain indifferent to God. For keep in mind, the crowds at this point aren’t openly hostile to Jesus, but flock to him, but they remain indifferent to the teachings, while clinging to the miracles. Their indifference leaves them unable to hear the words of Jesus and this keeps them from becoming a disciple of Jesus.

But then there is the seed sown among the rocky ground. Verses 16-17….

These are those who at first receive the word with joy, but have no root in the word, and the moment tribulation, that is hardship or suffering, and persecution arises because of this word, they fall away. Jesus begins to teach us that part of being a disciple of his is to expect tribulation or persecution on account of the word. And yet, those who are not his disciples, though they may at first receive the word with joy will fall away when these come, proving to not belong to him. Let us Christian hear this warning and not turn away because of tribulation or persecution in regards to the word of God.

Still, there is the word sown among the thorns. Verses 18-19….

False disciples will sprout up, but in the end their love for the cares and things of this world will deceive them and they will fall away, failing to endure and produce fruit. Let us beware of the cares of the world, the deceit of riches from choking out the word within us. May we give ourselves to praying for God’s word to take deep root within us.

With the first three soils, no fruit comes from the sowing of the word. The seed of the word does not sprout within the heart and no fruit, no evidence of true faith. A fruitless life is not a Christian life. These have not heard and understood the kingdom of God, and therefore though they chase after Jesus, they are not following him. They are not disciples of Jesus.

Friend, if that is you this morning, we are so thankful you are here and exploring the claims of Christianity. But I want to plead with you to stop and hear. You can be a fan of Jesus as a teacher, as a miracle worker, but to be his disciple, to be his follower is about listening with attentive ears and hearing what he instructs us and allowing fruit to bear from that instruction into obedience and transformation.

For notice the good soil Jesus teaches about in verse 20….

Where the seed of the word meets good soil, fruit sprouts and grows. A fruitful harvest comes of thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold. Let us who have ears to hear, hear, that to be a disciple of Jesus is to hear his word where it works in us. As James says, we are not to just be hearers only of God’s word. It is to grow in and flow out of us.

Evidences of this fruit growing comes when the word works in us to transform our character, as the word of God changes how we act, how we speak, how we live. A faithful disciple of Jesus allows the word to change them. While on the other hand, a false disciple hears God’s word, but never allows that word to change them.

Land O Lakes Bible Church, let us be a people who are not just hearers of God’s word, let God’s word penetrate into our hearts and bear fruit! Let the word of God change us as we lean in to listen closely and attentively to it, as we allow the word to instruct and guide us.

But this brings us now to our second and much shorter point this morning.

Sow Widely

Jesus knew and taught his disciples and the crowds of the various soils that were present in the sowing of the word. And yet, Jesus continued to teach, both the crowd and his disciples. He continued to sow the seeds of the gospel.

Jesus sowed along the path, knowing that the seed would be snatched away. Jesus sowed the seed along the rocky and shallow soil. He sowed the seed of the word among the thorns. He too sowed the seed of the word in that of good soil.

Jesus didn’t discriminate, even though he knew the hearts of all men (John 2:23-25). He sowed widely as he went so that none could say they did not hear, even if their own hearts and ears kept them from understanding and perceiving.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, if we are to rightly hear and follow Jesus, then we need to imitate Jesus in taking the word growing in our own hearts and sowing it broadly so that the same word at work in us may do work in others. For it is this word that Jesus has taken and sown along the way that some might listen closely and hear. Therefore we must do the same.

We as Christians should regularly take the word and sow it as we go. Clearly, part of this aim means that we as Christians are to sow the seed of the word in doing the work of evangelism. We are to sow the seed of the word with lost friends, acquaintances, and neighbors. Now, I know we don’t live in neighborhoods up here, but there are still ways we can find to be neighborly to those around us. For who is our neighbor? Is it not those we pass by as we come and go, much like the good Samaritan in helping the man in trouble in Luke 10? We must sow the gospel by speaking the gospel with others. And as we sow, we must understand that as the seed of the word, of the gospel falls, not all will respond in the same manner. ¾ of the types of the soil will not receive the word of truth, the word of light because the soil of their hearts are darkened and hardened.

Brothers and sisters, let this not discourage us in our work of evangelism. For too often we grow discouraged and doubt our ability to articulate the gospel. Hear me out, if you have professed faith in Jesus, you know the basic elements of the gospel. Namely that God created us in his own likeness, then in Adam all mankind rebelled against our creator, leaving us separated from God. But God, by his grace and mercy made a plan, a way to restore us to himself through the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross. And by his death and resurrection, we can have the hope of life in Jesus. That is, if we will believe and trust in Jesus as our only hope in life and death, as the only savior of the world. This is the gospel in its basic form. Let us go and be confident in scattering this seed along the way!

Let us sow the seed and entrust the fruit to the Lord as we sow and give ourselves to prayer for the work of sowing the word to take root in the hearts of those we have shared with. And let us never grow weary of sowing the seeds of the gospel among the lost.

But evangelism isn’t the only sowing we are called to do. For again, note verse 13 of our text in Mark 4. It says….

The disciples still did not understand the parable. The disciples still needed to be taught by the Lord Jesus, even though the secret of the kingdom of God had already been given to them (Mark 4:11). Likewise each of us still needs to be taught. And we have opportunities to regularly sow seeds of the word in our day to day interactions with one another, as believers. Maybe you are one who sits there and doubts this. To borrow a paraphrased question from Paul Tripp in his book Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands, “Do you like to give counsel and advice and opinions to others?” Then you are sowing seeds, the question is, are they good gospel seeds?

We have the opportunity to sow the word in our fellow Christian’s heart as we do life together, as we speak to one another in moments of hardship, of trial, of grief, of sorrow, of sin struggle. We have the opportunity to speak the word and point one another back to both the hope of the gospel and the gospel implications in each other’s lives. This too is part of sowing the word as we go, that it may continue to encourage and bear fruit in one another as we seek to grow in our Christian faith.

Therefore, let us be quick to sow the word as we go, both for the aim of evangelism and as part of discipling and strengthening one another in our Christian faith. May we here at Land O Lakes Bible Church be known as a people of the word who take and scatter that word wherever we go for the glory of God!

Let’s pray….