Discipleship Requires a Lifetime of Growth
Lessons in Discipleship • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Welcome back to our series “Lessons in Discipleship” which is a study that is taking us through the Gospel of Mark. As I have mentioned on numerous occasions, the book of Mark is a book about discipleship. When I say a book about discipleship, I mean is a book full of lessons for believers. This is a book written to believers that were suffering persecution, so it makes perfect sense that Mark would want to encourage his readers in their Christian journey. In other words, Mark focuses on the cost of discipleship. Remember, eternal life is freely given to all who believe in Jesus for that life, but following after Jesus is a difficult path that requires sacrifices on our part. In other words, we must shift our focus from this life to the next life. As we are going to learn today, if we focus on this life then the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the temporary pleasures of the world will choke us out, making us unfruitful disciples. This is what I want you to walk away with today. Which is the reason I made this the title of the message.
Discipleship Requires a Lifetime of Growth
Discipleship Requires a Lifetime of Growth
I began the service by reading the Parable of the four soils, and during our in depth study this morning we are going to cover Jesus’ explanation of the parable to His disciples. But before we get there I want to cover a few basic points that I think most commentators miss. So let’s talk briefly about a three of the different elements mentioned in the parable. First, we have the seed. This is easy to understand because Jesus tells us what the seed is. It is the word of God. So, we understand that the seed is being sown (being preached). Well, because the seed lands of different types of soils it produces different results, and we will spend a majority of our times talking about the soils in a min. But here is what we need to know for now. The soils represent the human heart. But, here is what everyone seems to miss. The plants that our produced. What do the plants in the parable represent? Clearly, the plants represent new life that was a result of the seed taking root. Simply put, in all of the soils (excluding the first) the seed produces new life. Let me say this again. In all of the soils, except the wayside, the seed produces new life. In other words, God word goes out and it brings forth new life, eternal life. Listen to what James says in chapter 1 verse 18.
18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.
Here is the point. In this parable, if a plant springs up, then new life was “brought forth by the word of truth”. Simply put, the word takes root, and it becomes a new life. This is what happens when an unbeliever believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. All of us, as believers, heard the Word of God preached. We heard the good news concerning Jesus offer of eternal life; we believed it, and we were born again. To use the parable language, a new plant sprouted. But here is the kicker, and it is the point of todays lesson. In order for our plants to grow and reach maturity we need we to continuously cultivate the soil of our hearts. Let’s put it this way.
For believers to bear mature fruit, they must cultivate the soil of their heart continuously.
For believers to bear mature fruit, they must cultivate the soil of their heart continuously.
You see, one point that the parable makes crystal clear is that eternal life is received instantly. It springs up within us as soon as we believe. But we have the responsibility to cultivate that life. If we stay in the word, if we maintain fellowship with other believers, and if pray consistently then the plant stays healthy. It stays healthy because we are cultivating our hearts. If we do none of these things, then weeds and thorns spring up and stunt our growth. Again, the point of this parable is,
Discipleship Requires a Lifetime of Growth
Discipleship Requires a Lifetime of Growth
OK, before we get into today’s text let me give a summary slide with the 3 key elements of the parable.
The Seed = Word of God
The Soils = Human Hearts
The Plants = New Life (Eternal Life)
If we correctly understand these elements of the parable, then the rest becomes crystal clear. With that being said, let’s go ahead and read our Scripture for this morning. Turn with me to Mark chapter 4 and let’s read
14 The sower sows the word. 15 And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.
16 These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; 17 and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble.
18 Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, 19 and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
20 But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”
Let’s pray.
As we begin to dig in to our text, let’s start with the first soil. The first soil is the wayside. Listen again to verse 15.
15 And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.
Now I always like to get a mental picture on what is going on when I study the Bible, and the original audience certainly would have been able to picture the scene Jesus was describing as He taught the parable. They would have been able to picture a farmer sowing seeds as he walked through his fields. During this time period a farmer would have a had a bag of seed tied around his waist and he would have walked along pathways that were used for traveling from one field to the next. So, these worn in pathways are would be hard packed earth that wouldn’t allow the seed to penetrate the soil so it could germinate and sprout.
So, imagine a farmer with a bag of seed tied around his waist, and as he reached in to grab a handful of seeds to sow some of the seed would spill along the pathway that he was traveling. That is the first soil. These pathways are “the ones by the wayside”. The point is that all the seed that spilled along the wayside did not sprout. There was no new life. And Jesus explains why. He says, “Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts”. So, the first soil is this hardpacked dirt pathway that people traveled (the wayside). This describes the unbelieving heart of men. These hearts are hardened against the truth of God’s word, and Satan snatches the seed away before it takes root. In other words, there is no new life. Now Luke’s account of this parable adds an important detail. Let’s look Luke chapter 8 verses 11 and 12.
11 “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
Now here is what I want us to pay attention to. Notice what verse 12 says, “then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest (unless) they should believe and be saved”. This is important so please don’t miss this. In order for the plant to start growing, or in order for new life to begin what needs to happen? The answer is right at the end of verse 12 unless, “they should believe and be saved”. The one condition for a person to be born-again is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord clearly shows the condition to receive eternal life, believe, and in the parable once a person believes, a plant springs up. So, clearly the first soil produces no new life. This soil represents unbelievers. Their hardened hearts are unable to receive the seed so that is can sprout. Just like, the hard packed dirt along the wayside. So, the first soil is straight forward, and everyone agrees that this soil represents unbelievers.
However, the second soil is where the disagreements begin. So, let’s see if we can tackle the second soil. Looking back at Mark 4 verses 16-17.
16 These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; 17 and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble.
Here is the first point. Notice that the seed that falls on the stony ground has a different result than the wayside. Jesus says, the ones sown on the stony ground who, “when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness;”. You see, the stony ground hearts believe the message of eternal life. And because they believe the message a new plant springs up. This is exactly how Jesus describes it when he spoke the parable. Look at verse 5.
5 Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth.
Notice it says, “and immediately it sprang up”. Now, if we just let the text speak for itself we can undoubtably say this. Something clearly separates the first soil from the second soil. What is the difference? The second soil produces a plant. The hardened soil of the wayside produces no life, and the stony soil produces a plant. To me, this is just a plain as the nose on my face. Soil 1 represents a person who refuses to believe and therefore they lack eternal life, but soil two, even though the soil is not great, it does produce life.
You see, I believe this parable fits into the discipleship theme. In other words, the stony soil, the thorny soil, and the good soil (that produces a crop) are all meant to show us the different possible outcomes of the Christian life.
Again, in order for our plants to grow to maturity we must cultivate the soil of our hearts. What the stony soil shows us is that it produces eternal life because the Gospel message is believed. The good news that Jesus gives eternal life to whoever believes in Him is received. However, these believers lack spiritual depth. That is what the last part of verse 5 teaches us. The plant immediately “sprang up” because it had no depth of earth. Having no depth of earth refers to a lack of spiritual depth. In other words, these believers lack spiritual progress, and because they lack spiritual progress they lack endurance. That is what Jesus explains in HIs explanation to the disciples in verse 17.
17 and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble.
So, the issue with the stony soil is lack of endurance. It says these believers, “endure only for a time”, and He explains why they don’t endure. The Lord says, “when tribulation or persecution arise for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble.” Here is the take away. Believer’s need to have deep roots in the word of God.
Believer’s need to have deep roots in the Word of God
Believer’s need to have deep roots in the Word of God
You see, all too often immature believers start out on the road of discipleship thinking that the Christian life is all sunshine and roses. Then when they encounter trials, tribulation, and persecution they throw their hands up, and say, “God how could you let this happen to me”, and then they stumble. As believers, we need to strengthen our roots consistently. We need to study what Bible teaches us about discipleship. What we need to understand is that the New Testament doesn’t promise health, wealth, and happiness for disciples. Actually, it promises the opposite. It promises suffering and persecution faithful followers of Christ. The New Testament teaches us to expect suffering and persecution. It teaches us to turn our focus away from the world and all the temporary blessings. It teaches believers to endure so that they can receive eternal rewards in Christ’s coming kingdom. Simply put, believers are to turn away from the world and endure the suffering in this life so that we can rule with Christ in His eternal kingdom. This is what the stony soil believers fail to realize, and because they don’t endure with Christ they will not have the privilege of reigning with Christ in eternity. They will enter the kingdom based on their faith, but they will forfeit eternal rewards in the kingdom. Simply put, they will not hear the Lord say well done good and faithful servant.
Let me make one final point on the stony soil because we have other soils to cover. I don’t think any of us in this country can understand what kind of persecution the early church endured. You see, because of this great country we enjoy religious freedoms that the majority of the church down through the ages did not have. We don’t understand the risk of proclaiming Christ when it could result in the loss of our possessions. We don’t understand the risk of proclaiming Christ and being thrown in prison, and we certainly don’t understand what is would mean to risk our lives or the lives of our families to preach Christ. But the church throughout its history has had to deal with this type of persecution. We know this because we have NT letters to prove it. In the book of Hebrews the author writes this in chapter 10.
32 But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: 33 partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated;
The author of Hebrews is writing to Jewish believers because they were suffering persecution. Look at verse 32. It says, “after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with suffering”. He goes on to say, “you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations.” You see, these believers were suffering and because they were suffering they were turning away from the faith. They were turning back to Judaism to avoid the persecution. In other words, they were acting like the stony soil. They were doing good for a while, but they are withering in the hot sun of persecution. Then listen to verse 34.
34 for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven.
This verse says that they “joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven." This beautiful captures the same idea in our parable today. We need to endure on the pathway of discipleship so that we reap a good harvest in the kingdom. In other words, if we stay faithful in this life, we will enjoy the fruits of our labor in the next. This is why the author of Hebrews is encouraging these believers to stay the course. You see, they were falling away and beginning to wither. Let’s look at one more verse in this passage.
35 Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward.
The point is simple. Believers don’t let your confidence in the Lord’s promises fail. Jesus is coming back to reward his faithful followers. Here is the point. The stony soil represents immature believers who lose confidence and fail to endure hardships faithfully. They didn’t cultivate the soil of their hearts in order to grow deep roots. They look at their temporary afflictions instead of the coming glory to follow in eternity. Therefore, they will not reap the harvest that faithful followers will.
OK, I need to move on. Let’s tackle the thorny soil. Looking now at verse 18 and 19. The Lord says,
18 Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, 19 and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
Now, as I mentioned a moment ago, because of this great country, none of us have suffered persecution like most of the church around the world has endured. But we all understand this next soil. Haven’t we all at one time or another been distracted by the cares of this world? Haven’t we all been distracted the deceitfulness of riches? And haven’t we all been distracted by the desires for other things? Listen, all of us have fallen prey to these things, and we have experienced the result of letting the world pull us into its trap. Maybe, we are lusting for a bigger paycheck. Maybe, we are filled with anxiety over all of our daily responsibilities. Or maybe, we are obsessed with our hobbies. But all of these things have the same result; they stunt our spiritual growth. Just like thorns and weeds in a garden rob the plants of vital nutrients and sunshine, so these worldly elements rob Christians of the spiritual nutrients the word gives us. Simply put, these worldly items stunt our spiritual growth and make us unfruitful. This is what the Lord says. He says these things enter in and “choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. Let me make this point again, and I hope it is sticking by now.
For believers to bear mature fruit, they must cultivate the soil of their heart continuously.
For believers to bear mature fruit, they must cultivate the soil of their heart continuously.
I absolutely love they way Jesus describes this soil in the parable. Listen again to verse 7 from chapter 4.
7 And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.
You see, once again we see that a plant was produced by the thorny soil. So, the issue isn’t whether or not there is new life. No the issue is that the new life isn’t fruitful because it gets choked out by the thorns. In fact, listen to what Luke’s account says.
14 Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.
Notice this verse says, they get choked… and bring no fruit to maturity. This leads me to believe that these plants produce fruit, but it is immature fruit. So, not only does the seed produce a plant. It produces a plant that yields some kind of fruit. It’s just not mature fruit that equals a good harvest. This is what I want us to realize. This is speaking of believers, and this can happen to all of us if we stay focused on this life, instead of the world to come.
Our lives don’t produce mature fruit unless we are growing in the word of God, and focusing on the Lord’s soon return. How do we cultivate the soil of our hearts? We are constantly in the word of God, we are in fellowship with other believers, and we pray continually. These are the building blocks of spiritual maturity. Without these elements our gardens will become infested with worldly weeds that choke our spiritual lives.
I know a lot of us in here have experience growing gardens, and my family used to do fairly large summer gardens on our farm. We would grow all kind of corn, beans, peas, tomatoes, squash, eggplant, and you name it. Well, then one year we got invaded by pig weed. Now I don’t know if you are familiar with pig weed, but if you’re not I pray you never find out what pigweed is. It is an invasive weed that will literally choke out an entire garden. It grows fast, spreads like wildfire, it’s tough to kill, it is covered with thorns, and it has fairly deep roots so it is tough to pull of our the ground.
Now, the only way I could keep this pigweed at bay was constantly tilling the soil. Every week I would be in the garden with a small tiller going up and down the rows. Then I whatever I couldn’t reach with the tiller I would have to pull up by hand. But here is the point. If I didn’t pay the soil constant attention and get rid of the pigweed before it grew, I would be in big trouble. You see, once that stuff gets about knee high it cant be tilled. The stalks are too thick and it would just bind up the tiller. Not to mention it gets thorny so pulling it up was a nightmare.
Now here is the only good thing about pig weed. It taught me a valuable lesson about our Christian lives, and it fits perfectly with this parable.
As disciples, we must be constantly tilling the soil of our hearts.
As disciples, we must be constantly tilling the soil of our hearts.
You see, as long as we have these bodies of flesh, weeds will spring up in our lives. We will continue to sin, and we will continue to be tempted and drawn in by the world. In light of this, it is of the utmost importance that we continually cultivate the soil of our hearts. We must constantly till up the soil so that we are transformed into the image of Christ. God’s word is our tiller, and the Holy Spirit provides the power. There can be no mature fruit without the word of God. God’s word is the tiller, it is the fertilizer, and it is the agent by which bad soil comes good soil. Only through God’s power can we produce a crop. No amount of self-determination can cause a seed sprout, and no amount of self-determination can make a plant grow into maturity. The road of discipleship before it is anything else is about growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior. The growth process spans the entirety of our lives. As I say almost every Sunday, we are born again the instant we believe in Jesus for eternal life. That is when the plant springs up. However, we must do our part so that we go on to spiritual maturity. We must cultivate the soil of our hearts so that we produce mature fruit, which brings us back to the title of today’s lesson.
Discipleship Requires a Lifetime of Growth
Discipleship Requires a Lifetime of Growth
This is the truth that is on display in this parable. You see, all of these parables are about the Kingdom, and now that the religious leaders have rejected the Lord, the kingdom wasn’t coming immediately. So, now Jesus begins to teach that his faithful followers needed endurance. Now Jesus begins to teach that the life of a disciple was about faithfully following His example of suffering. Now Jesus begins to teach that the kingdom was going to be delayed, but He also teaches that faithful believers would be rewarded. Jesus teaches that the good soil, the faithful followers, would reap a harvest in the coming kingdom if they stayed the course. This is what the good soil represents. Let’s go ahead and finish our verses for today.
20 But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”
During the time when Jesus was speaking these words, an excellent harvest would have been tenfold. So, the harvests that Jesus is describing here would be unimaginable to the people that heard Him. So, the question we need to be asking ourselves is, what do these massive harvests represent? They represent the eternal rewards of His faithful followers in the coming kingdom. And all of the rewards are incredibly generous. You see, the Lord is not a stingy boss, but a gracious and generous giver. Not only has He saved us by His grace, but He will graciously reward believers who followed after Him. He will generously reward His servants who gave up this life in order to hear well done good and faithful servant in the next.
Let me make one final point, and then I will work to close.
Everyone of us as believers have a choice to make. We can love the things of this world and live for ourselves, or we can turn our backs on this world and live for the kingdom to come. But we cannot do both. You see, we can find ourselves living for the things of this world, loving this world, and not loving the world to come. The love of material things can choke out the love of spiritual things and rewards in the coming kingdom. And the issue is always the same; it is one of the heart. So, here is the question we all need to answer. Is our focus on the kingdom, or on what we can get right now? Am I living for myself and this life, or am I living in service to the King looking steadfastly for the Kingdom that is coming? A believer can either long for the kingdom that will come, or he can love this present world, but he cannot do both.
So, as I work to close let me ask you some challenging questions, and I want you to be honest with yourselves. Which soil are you? Are you the stony soil that sprang up immediately, but withered away when times got hard? Or, are you the thorny soil that has let the pleasures and cares of this world spring up all around you? Is your spiritual growth stunted because you are so focused on this life? Or, are you the good soil? Are you the hardworking farmer that is constantly working, constantly learning, and letting God’s word and Holy Spirit transform your life?
Here is the good news. We can move from being the wayside, stony, or thorny soil by the grace of God. One of the lessons of the parable is that a person does not have to continue in the soil which he currently finds himself. I spent years in the thorny soil, years. And it wasn’t until I turned wholehearted to the Lord and devoted myself to the word of God, that He pulled up all the pig weed. You see, I let the pleasures of the world spring up and steal my focus. I was focused on this life instead of the glorious kingdom that is coming. The choice is yours will you will for this life or will you live for the next?
Let’s pray.
So, let me ask one more time. What soil are you? Are you the wayside? Have you heard all about Jesus, but never believed in Him for eternal life? There is only one man who overcome the grave and had hundreds of eyewitnesses of the event. Do you think the disciples all died brutally deaths for a lie? No one dies for a lie. The resurection of the Lord Jesus Christ proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that this man, the God man, has power over life and death. Believe in Him for everlasting life.
Or maybe you are the stony soil. Maybe you have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, but you has fallen away because of hard times. Maybe you has experienced loss or deep suffering. Guess what. Jesus suffered. Jesus suffered in ways we can’t even imagine. If we belong to Jesus, we should expect suffering, and we should count it joy when it happens because it is making us like Him. Strengthen you roots and stay the course. Cultivate the soil of your heart by staying in the word, by staying in prayer, and by surrounding yourself with other believers.
Lastly maybe you are the thorny soil. Maybe you have let the pleasures and concerns of this life pull you away from the word, pull you away from church, and now you have become unfruitful. Today is the day to come back. Today is the day to stop living for all the temporary things this life offers. So that we can enjoy the fruits of our labor in the next. This life will never give you what you’re after, and it will cause you to lose eternal rewards in the next. It is time. It is time to get back in fellowship with Jesus Christ, the king who is coming back to rule for eternity. Give up the pleasures of this life to reign with Him in the next.
You see, as follows of the Lord Jesus Christ we will experience opposition from this world, our own desires, and Satan. Now that we have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ we must continue on the pathway of discipleship in the face of this opposition. The Bible is teaching us to live in light of the kingdom that is coming. Will should be willing to pay the cost of giving up this life to lay up treasures for ourselves in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy or thieves break in and steal. Discipleship requires a lifetime of growth. Therefore, cultivate the soil of your heart constantly so that we may be the good soil that reaps a harvest in eternity.
