Reaping that Which is Sown

“The Location of Man’s Heart Amidst the Soil of the Earth” “He began to teach again by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that He got into a boat in the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land. And He was teaching them many things in parables, and was saying to them in His teaching, ‘Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root it withered away. Other seed fell among the thorns and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.’ And He was saying, ‘He who has ears to hear, let him hear.’ As soon as He was alone, His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables. And He was saying to them, ‘To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables, so that WHILE SEEING, THEY MAY SEE AND NOT PERCEIVE, AND WHILE HEARING, THEY MAY HEAR AND NOT UNDERSTAND, OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT RETURN AND BE FORGIVEN.’ And He said to them, ‘Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown in the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.’” Mark 4:1-20 Our message today covers a lot of text. We’re dealing with the Parable of the Sower beginning in Mark 4:1 all the way through verse 20. Let’s get familiar with the text. It reads, “He began to teach again by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that He got into a boat in the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land. And He was teaching them many things in parables, and was saying to them in His teaching, ‘Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root it withered away. Other seed fell among the thorns and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.’ And He was saying, ‘He who has ears to hear, let him hear.’" Jesus sets up a pretty basic concept, telling a story to drive home doctrinal points, in the nature of a parable. Notice that verse 2 tells us Jesus was “teaching them many things in parables” so this was not the only parable Jesus gave the crowd that day. In fact, the end of chapter 4 contains a few more parables recorded of Jesus. Parables come from the Koine Greek word παραβολή (Para-bolae) which means a placing beside. The concept is one that is similar to the way we use comparisons today. We use metaphors to describe something similar to another thing. There’s a slight difference to a parable sometimes in that a parable often times compares the mechanics of two similar concepts. The purpose of a parable, just like the purpose of our metaphors and similes today, is to give greater clarity to a concept. One of the nice things about the parable of the sower is that Jesus gives the explanation of it to His disciples and followers in verses 13-20. Let’s read the account, picking up the text in verse 10. “As soon as He was alone, His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables. And He was saying to them, ‘To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables, so that WHILE SEEING, THEY MAY SEE AND NOT PERCEIVE, AND WHILE HEARING, THEY MAY HEAR AND NOT UNDERSTAND, OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT RETURN AND BE FORGIVEN.’ And He said to them, ‘Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown in the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.’” Jesus makes an interesting statement in verse 11 when He tells His followers, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables.” The word for translated into the English as “mystery” is from the Greek word that identifies secrets revealed only to those on the inside of an organization. In the days of the Roman persecution it was a dangerous thing to announce that you were a believer. So the believers of that day set up signals within their organization that were used to identify themselves as believers. If a person thought they were conversing with a believer they would take their foot and make a curve in the dirt with it during the conversation. If the other person reciprocated the action from their side it would form the figure of a fish, the symbol of the ICTHUS. If the other person did not complete the symbol the believer would know not to reveal themselves as a believer. This was a safe way for the believers to identify themselves in public and continue to spread the ministry without being thrown into prison or killed. It was an established knowledge for those inside the family of Christ, but if you were not in on the act, then its ways were a mystery for you. That is the same concept employed here. The mysteries of the kingdom have been given to those who are in Christ, those on the outside do not and cannot know the mysteries of the kingdom. Let’s take a look now at how Jesus explains the parable to His followers: To begin with Jesus identifies what is being sown as λόγον (Log-on), or the revealed word. λόγον is a general term for speaking, but always with rational content. Often times it is used in the plural form to identify a series of words that work together to comprise a unified speech. However, λόγον is not plural hear. Let’s look at the sentence with the Greek. σπείρει (spei-rei) to sow Verb: expresses action Present Tense: continuous action Active Tense: the subject performs the action Indicative: expresses reality Third person: identifies a third party is expressing the action Singular: reference to one entity. Spei-rei refers to a person being in the third person. Since it is singular then it is obviously one person. However spei-rei is not a noun, it is a verb so the third person singular would reveal that someone is sowing. Spei-rei is in the present tense identifying it as continuous action, it is in the indicative mood expressing that it is actually occurring. So from everything we know about spei-rei we understand that a sower is continuously performing the action to sow. So we have someone continuously performing the action to sow. But what is being sown? Jesus identifies the object being sown as λόγον (log-on) a word Noun: identifies a person, place, thing, concept, or Being Accusative: establishes limits and boundaries Singular: reference to one entity Masculine: identifies an initiation Log-on is a reference to the general revealed word in a lot of cases. However, by using the accusative case Jesus establishes certain limits and boundaries around the word. This would identify it as a specific type of revealed word, making it a specific message being sown by the sower. Moving past verse 14 Jesus identifies 4 areas where the sower sowed the word. He establishes 4 groups of people in each of these 4 locations. 1. The roadside. 2. The rocky places. 3. Among the thorns. 4. On the good soil. Each of these areas also identify what happens to different types of people. Different people who have heard the same word, had the same Gospel message sown, but yield rather different results in how that word grows within them. Let’s look at it: Location 1: The Roadside (verse 15) “These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them.” There can be no questioning about the spiritual battle that occurs to win the souls of man. Satan’s made it his purpose to destroy the connection God has with man in whatever way possible. The best way to destroy the connection is to not let it get started in the first place. So as the word traveled along its way, those who were in its path heard the word, but before it could take residence in their hearts, or norms and standards for living, Satan came and snatched it up, keeping growth from occurring. Location 2: The Rocky Places (verses 16-17) “In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away. The people in the Rocky Places identify those who hear of the word but fall away. Let’s look at the word translated as hear for some more insight. ἀκούσωσιν (a-coo-so-sin) to hear, listen Verb: expresses action Aorist: occurs in a point in time Active: Subject performs the action Subjunctive: Mood of possibility Third person: reference to a third party Plural: more than one The grammar indicates that these people may have performed the action in a point in time to have heard the word. And when they heard it, they received the joy of it. It would appear then that these people have heard and understood the gospel message and have accepted it. Having done so, they received the joy (coming from the word for grace) that seemingly always accompanies a conversion experience. However, their joy is only temporary for when persecution or tribulation comes they are snared by it and they are caused to fall away. Jesus lists the reason they are easily ensnared being due to the fact that “they have no firm root in themselves.” They have not yet had the scripture instilled in their norms and standards, therefore they do not know how to stand, and have nothing on which to stand within them. Jesus says they fall away. Location 3: Those Among the Thorns (verses 18-19) “And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for the other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.” There are those who have heard the word of God, but have subtly rejected it for the things of this world. I do not believe that this is talking about those who have heard the word and accepted it. So I don’t believe the people among the thorns have actually accepted the word. But if we go introspective for a moment and take a look at ourselves we will find that the same reasons these people rejected God’s word are the same reasons that we reject God’s direction in our own selves. The same reasons Jesus listed as being a hindrance to those among the thorns, that is the “worries of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things” are the same things the sin nature within us attempts to use to get our mind off of the word which God is trying to grow in us. The sin nature is in effect for those among the thorns and also for those believer who put themselves back in the thorns by failing to align themselves with God’s plan for them. Location 4: The good soil (Verse 20) “And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” Ah, the good soil, the good place where the word of God is accepted and takes root and is nurtured and grows healthy and strong within man. Verse 20 identifies those who have accepted the gospel message and have allowed the message to grow. They have nurtured its growth and inclined their ear to keep hearing what God would have them hear until they are solidly set upon His principles and established by His promises. That is the place we need to be, open and willing for the God of the Universe to work within us and to teach us what He will. So how is your soil? Are you easily caused to stumble for lack of deeper roots to hold you more stable? Have you really inclined you ear to hear what God would teach you? Have you nurtured the word and set yourself in the good soil? Wherever you are today, know one thing: The choice is yours. God has given it to you in His sovereignty. You can choose the way in which you live your life. You can choose the way you listen to God. You can choose which of the four locations you want to live your life in. For those of us who have accepted the word that is being sown let us remember 1 John 1:9 throughout our days, remembering that all we have to do is stop and re-align ourselves with the specifications of the blueprints which God has established. Those of you concerned with the things of this world, with the riches available, with the lusts of the eyes, consider the words of Solomon, “Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun.” Solomon learned and understood based on trial and error that the things of this world mean nothing. God takes it a step further and, if you will let Him, will give you meaning, and purpose that you will take with you to His throneroom. The choice is ours. Which type of soil will you give yourself to today? Location, location, location, location! Apparently location really is everything!