Emotions - Week 2

Mark 4:1–20 NIV

Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.” Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that, “ ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’” Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”

God wants depth - but our hearts aim for shallowness

Jesus calls this kind of maturity ‘rocky places’. He describes it as a place where the seed ‘does not have much soil’.

Have you ever met a shallow person? Even the smallest thing - whether it’s a positive thing in their favour, or a negative thing against someone else - they’re always a big deal.

When you’re shallow, any sort of progress, any growth or response can seem big.

But it’s because of the lack of depth of soil.

The thing that can do the most damage to shallowness is difficulty.

When you have a shallow connection to something, you don’t care as much as if you had a deep one.

When you have a shallow connection to something - it’s a lot easier to break.

Our unaddressed internal issues are the primary threat to going deeper with God

The REASON there’s shallowness is because of the presence of ‘rockiness’.

We want this to be an external thing. We want it to be an enemy, or an outside problem. But we need to accept first and foremost, that our hearts are the primary source of difficulty.

Give up the lies and take up the truths

Scripture has SO MUCH to say about who we are in Christ, and who we can be with God.

Colossians 2:9–10 (NIV)

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,

and in Christ you have been brought to fullness.

We need to surrender the lies to God.

That involves being able to identify them. But that’s where we contrast them against the Bible.

And that’s step 2 - take up the truths’ the Bible has for you.

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But once we get past the shallowness. There’s still a lot of stuff on the outside.

God works with us to clear out the worries and wrongful desires

Jesus describes the weeds as ‘the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things’.

If the rocks are problems already on the inside we aren’t giving up, the weeds represent all the new problems that our hearts are like, ya, i need more of that.

Here’s the tough part.

God alone determines what is a weed and what is a flower

The weeds are the things not being grown by the seeds the farmer is sowing.

What are the weeds in your life? Or another way of asking that - what are the things in your life creeping in, that God didn’t put there or want there for you?

We have our own opinions for what is good for us, and what isn’t.

But we can be really wrong about it.

Practicing waiting on the Lord

Psalm 130:5 NIV

I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.

This one seems pretty simple. If you don’t know enough to make the right decision - wait for the person who does.

But we need to remember - we don’t know enough to make the right decision.

Practice waiting on the Lord. Start with prayer that involves listening.

But also - practice the answers you’ve already been given.