Gospel Responses

Introduction

Introduce myself

Since I moved here I have become a huge Pats fan. Over the last few weeks I have watched videos on Youtube of the various responses people had to the Super Bowl. How do you think people from New England responded? How about people in Atlanta. It was especially funny watching how people responded as the night went on.

Today I want to talk a little bit about a different kind of event that people respond to in different ways, namely the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. To do so we are going to look at Mark 4.1-9.

Sowing the Word

Mark 9.

Mark 4:1–3 ESV

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. And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow.

Mark 9:1–3 ESV

And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.” And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them.

In this passage, Jesus tells a parable to explain the different types of responses people have to the message of the gospel. In this story, the sower represents a person who goes out to share the word. (SEE VERSE 14).

The word that Jesus is talking about is the gospel word. It is the good news about what God has done for us through his Son Jesus to bring us into his Kingdom.

Because we have all broken God’s commands and treated our relationship with him as garbage we deserve God’s justice. Living this way is called “sin.” Now, you might think that sin is not really a big deal. You might think that sin is an oops. Do you know what I mean by that? That sin is more of a mistake or a misunderstanding.

We might think that sin is a lot like being invited over to Tom Brady’s house. We get there and he gives us some Hawaiian punch to drink and we trip and spill a bit on his white carpet. We might say, “oops!” Ought Brady get upset at us for accidentally spilling on his carpet? No, not really. He might be frustrated by it but he would be a pretty major jerk for getting after us for that. If sin is only an oops than it would be pretty unreasonable for God to get all that upset at us for it. However, sin IS NOT an oops. Sin is more like this.

We get invited to his house and when given punch we throw it in his face. Then we go down his hall to his kids rooms and punch them in the face. Then we go into his bedroom to pee all over his sheets. Then we start kicking holes into his wall. Would he have a right to get upset at that point? Of course he would! He would have a right to do something about it too, like calling the authorities. See, our sin is like that. We haven’t simply made a mistake. We have attacked the very character of God and deeply offended him. We deserve justice against us.

Even though we have offended God in this way he did the work to bring us back to himself. He sent his Son Jesus to live a perfect life in our place, the life we ought to have lived. And then Jesus died on the cross in our place, bearing the penalty for our wrong doing. It was as though we were each on death row, headed for the chair, and Jesus came and was electrocuted instead of us. This is good news! We can be made right with God through Jesus Christ! To receive God’s forgiveness for our sins we must trust in what Jesus did for us. We must bank on him.

Let’s say I invited you out to lunch and I told you it was my treat. If on your way to meet me you discovered you left your wallet at home and had no money, would you turn back to get it? You would if you didn’t think I could pay the bill, or if you didn’t want me to pay it. But if you believed that I would pay, you wouldn’t stress about not having money. That’s what faith in Jesus looks like. You are banking on him to come through with you. You believe you will make it to heaven, not because of what you can do (the money in your wallet) but because of what Jesus did on the cross. True faith in Jesus says, “If Jesus does not get me into heaven, I’m not getting in.”

Now there are many ways people respond to this message, this word. Jesus identifies them in this parable, but only one of them leads to forgiveness. Let’s continue.

The Seed on the Path

Mark 4:4 ESV

And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.

Mark 9:4 ESV

And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.

This first response to the gospel goes like this: the message goes out and it is immediately rejected. Jesus says later in VERSE 15 that Satan comes along and takes it away. Since the gospel message does not take root, it just sits out there and is exposed. Nothing comes of it.

Some of you are hard soil, soil packed down like a path. I just shared the gospel a second ago and all you could do was say, “meh.” The gospel does you no good. You have no interest in Jesus or God or Christianity. In fact it bores you, or angers you, or you just don’t give a rip. That’s fine. There is nothing I can do for you. You are just going to need to sit tight for now until I finish.

Those of you that know Jesus probably know friends or family who fall into this category. No matter what you say, they have no interest in Jesus. They are hard soil and any seed thrown their way will be devoured by the birds.

The Seed on Rocky Soil

Mark 9:5 ESV

And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

Mark 4:5–6 ESV

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. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away.

The second response to the gospel is a bit different. It is a response that I see often in many youth groups. The gospel message is heard and appears to be immediately received. There is joy and even an emotional response. It springs up. But it is shallow. It does not last.

Soon, as life gets hard, as the scorching sun comes, what Jesus says later in VERSE 17 is persecution that comes, they fall away. They abandon Jesus and Christianity. It gets hard to follow Jesus. Friends tease you for what you believe. People think you are weird. Your parents are irritated by it. Whatever happens. Then it doesn’t stick.

I have known many students who had these amazing emotion filled experiences, who after enduring some hardship are now no longer walking with him. The gospel seed never truly took root in their shallow soil so it cannot endure the storm. Some of you are in that category. Some of you have had that experience. But it won’t last. Once it gets hard, you will bail on Jesus. Some of you have friends or family like that. You can think of people who seemed to love Jesus at one point but once things got difficult they gave up.

The Seed Among Thorns

Mark 4.

Mark 4:7 ESV

Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain.

The third response to the gospel is similar to the second. It is a common response I have seen among Christian families with their kids. The gospel is shared with a person and it is not initially rejected. It may even appear to be received. But what happens is the love for the things of the world, sinful or immoral things or even good things that aren’t Jesus, is stronger than a love for Jesus. That love for sinful things chokes out any good that the gospel might accomplish. It proves fruitless.

Good Christian kids from Christian homes end up getting wrapped up in relationships or drugs or money or sex or sports or something else and ends up becoming more important that Christ. Sometimes they are sinful things. Sometimes they are good things that become an idol. Either way, Jesus is no longer important and the gospel ends up having no effect on that person’s life. In reality they remain far from God, even though they may mentally agree with the message of the gospel.

Sometimes people end up walking away because they want to keep a sinful relationship or habit. So they stop believing the parts of the Bible that they disagree with. Once you start doing that it doesn’t take much to shake your faith in the rest of what the Bible says.

Either way, the gospel does little good for such people. You might be one of these people. You might be elevated a good thing above Jesus making it a bad thing. Or you may desire to keep hold of some sinful behavior of yours. Either way, you don’t know Jesus and the gospel does you no good.

The Seed on Good Soil

Mark 4.8-

Mark 4:8–9 ESV

And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

The final response to the gospel is the only good response. Each other response comes from someone who is not genuinely converted, meaning they aren’t really a Christian. This next response is the only response for a true follower of Jesus.

The gospel is received and takes root and becomes fruitful. Your life becomes transformed so that you begin to live more as Jesus would have you, not because you have to but because you want to. You begin sharing with others what Jesus has done. You can whether the hard storms and you fight against the temptations of this world. This is the response of a true follower of Jesus. The gospel produces fruit in you.

For some of you here, this describes you. You are a changed person since you met Jesus. Your faith is your own. You don’t believe simply because your parents do. You want to follow Jesus. You want to be a part of a church with God’s people. You want to live differently. You want to see more people follow Jesus. You aren’t ashamed to share your faith with others. I want to encourage you to keep growing. Keep letting the gospel grow deep in you and produce good fruit in you.

Response

Here is the good news. Every one of us started out as one of the bad soils, even those who are now good soil. At one point I wanted nothing to do with Jesus. But then something changed in me and I received the hope of the gospel. What changed? God changed my heart. He tilled that soil. So, if up until this point you have rejected the gospel, it is not too late. You may even have begun feeling an inkling to respond to Jesus’ offer of forgiveness today. You can come still today and know God through Christ. So no matter how you have responded in the past you can respond positively today.

For those of you with friends and family members who have not responded positively to the message of the gospel there is great hope. God can still change people’s hearts. Pray that he would. Pray that God would make your friends good soil and pray that God would give you the boldness to say what is necessary to reach them.

I would also encourage all of you to consider whether your responses to the gospel were more like the rocky or thorny ground. Maybe your faith is based on what your parents teach you. Or maybe you have been living as though something other than Jesus is more important. It isn’t too late for you. Repent, turn from these other things and allow the gospel to dig down deep in your and change you. Reorder your life around God and his purposes and see what he does.