Mark Chapter 4
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Students it’s week 4!
You know what that means! Mark chapter 4!
Here is a recap of what we didn’t talk about last week!
We hit Mark 3:1-6 last week where we were challenged to share the Gospel with those who are far off, well here is everything that happened in the rest of chapter 3
VS. 7-12: A great crowd is following Jesus because of the miracles he is performing
VS. 13-21: The 12 Apostles are named: Simon Peter, James and John (sons of Thunder), Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot
VS. 22-30: The religious leaders claim Jesus is doing miracles by the power of Satan! Jesus declares that there is one sin that is unforgivable! — to keep it simple it’s rejecting Jesus
VS. 31-35: Jesus’ family tries to remove Him from the spotlight. He declares those who do the will of God are His family
Now you’re all caught up!
And I’m not going to lie to you guys, there is so much you can learn and study in Chapter 4!
There is so many awesome stories and things that Jesus does that we can’t hit
He gives four different parables, and oh by the way also does one of in my opinion coolest miracles
But since we can’t do them all, I want to do my favorite one
Sower and the Seed
Sower and the Seed
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.
Once again we pick up with Jesus teaching!
This seems to be a big theme for Jesus — almost like He told everyone that He came to teach and preach the Gospel
*Maybe we should do that too………*
Just a thought
But I want you to notice what Jesus tells them:
He said “Listen! Behold!”
He tells them — all the people that are hearing His message and about to hear the parable to listen
A parable by the way is a type of short story that is meant to teach a lesson — in Jesus’ cases He explains a Spiritual truth by using things we are familiar with
But Jesus also does something interesting — not only does He start out the parable by telling the audience to listen
But look at what verse 9 says:
9 And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Jesus essentially looks at the crowd and is saying “PAY ATTENTION!”
Don’t miss what I’m teaching you!
Don’t miss this deep spiritual truth
Jesus essentially saying “it might change your life”
Listen to what Jesus says about this parable:
13 And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?
Jesus tells them that this parable will depend on everything else they will hear
Essentially — if you cannot understand this parable — you have no hope in understanding anything else
That’s pretty high stakes if you ask me
That is intense for us today
If you misunderstand this parable — nothing else will make sense
THATS TOUGH
So what is the parable?
Different Soils
Different Soils
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.”
Jesus tells us that there is a sower aka a farmer that is sowing seed
This was a common thing — they didn’t have heavy machinery that would plant so instead they had to toss the seed onto the ground and let the seed fall where it lays
And Jesus looks at the seed and tells them that there is four types of soil:
The Path
The Rocks
The Thorns
Good Soil
When the seed hit the path the Jesus tells us that birds eat the seed
When seed hits the rocks the seed sprouts, but Jesus said the sun will destroy it because it doesn’t have any roots
The thorns grow up with the seed and will slowly choke out the seed
And finally the good soil allows the seed to grow and produce fruit sometimes as much as thirty, sixty, or one hundred times the normal amount
Now all this sounds good and makes sense in terms of farming
But you might be sitting there thinking — what does this have to do with me?
What does the different types of soil for plants have to do with me today — I’m never going to farm or grow food or crops
I get my groceries from Lowes Foods AMEN?
Well if you are confused you weren’t alone
10 And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables.
When they are alone — Jesus disciples — the Apostles He named asked Him about it
They were confused on what He meant
Maybe just like you are
But here’s the beauty — when you are confused Jesus will always answer you if you call to Him
So listen to what Jesus said
The Path
The Path
14 The sower sows the word. 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.
Jesus tells them that the sower is sowing the Word of God and that this seed is going to land on different soils
The first soil that Jesus says is that it lands on the path and he says that Satan immediately comes and takes away the word
That the message of the Gospel goes and Satan steals it
The Rocks
The Rocks
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.
Jesus then tells us that the second soil hears the word and accepts it!
AMEN!
But then trials and troubles come and they fall away
BUMMER!
The Thorns
The Thorns
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.
Jesus then tells us that the third soil hears the Word of God but gets distracted by the issues in the world
That they hear the Gospel — yet the things around them choke it out
Good Soil
Good Soil
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.”
Finally Jesus says that the soil that is good is those that heard the word and accepted it
They followed it and God blessed
What does that mean?
What does that mean?
Now I have often heard it said that we are to spread the seed and the different soils are the people that will hear it
But if I’m being honest that isn’t what Jesus is saying here
This is coming off the back of Jesus teaching and healing and Pharisees calling it the work of Satan!
Jesus isn’t talking to us — he’s instead talking about Himself
HE IS SPREADING THE WORD
So what does that mean for us?
What did Jesus say? LISTEN!
Here’s what he’s saying to us:
Which soil are you?
Which soil are you?
Jesus is calling us — teaching us
The Word — the Gospel of His life, death, burial, resurrection has been communicated
The message of making disciples
Of fleeing sin
Of following God and loving God with everything
So which soil are you?
Path
Are you the soil that Satan is snatching the message?
Here’s what that means:
You’re living in sin — you are actively going against God
You might read the Bible, or come to students, or do things for God
BUT
Satan is snatching everything — your connection to God is destroyed when you are fleeing God
When you are in sin your relationship with God is destroyed
Rocks
Maybe you are the rocky soil
You know God and He saved you
He’s changed your life and you’re grateful
BUT
You have no roots
You aren’t reading your Bible, you aren’t praying, you aren’t seeking Christian counsel
You know God, but you aren’t doing anything else about it
So when problems arise — you turn against God
It falls away
Thorns
Maybe you are the thorny soil
You trust in Jesus — he saved you
You read your Bible, pray, students, church — all the things
You have good Christian community and are fighting sins
Doing all the good things that the other two aren’t
BUT
You are putting things in front of God
You are putting the cares of the world above God
It’s not that the cares are bad — it’s that you put them above God
So again it produces nothing
Good soil
Or you are the good soil — you follow Jesus
You obey Him
You trust Him
You allow Him to change you in every way
You flee sin
You build community
You put Him in His proper place
Conclusion
Conclusion
So which soil are you?
Are you living in sin? Allowing Satan to snatch your joy?
Are you rocky, building no community?
Are you thorny, placing things above God?
Jesus laid it out plainly — which one are you?
What needs to change?
Discussion Questions
Discussion Questions
What questions do you have from the message?
How can we identify if we are like the path soil in our spiritual lives?
What actions can you take to ensure that you are not like the rocky soil?
In what ways do the cares of the world affect your relationship with God, similar to the thorny soil?
How can you cultivate your faith to be like the good soil?
