Cultivating Good Soil 01: How to Hear God's Word

INTRO

Before we get into our lesson for today, I just wanted to take the opportunity to tell you that we are so thankful to the Lord to be here and to be able to serve in His kingdom with you all. We are excited to see what God does here in Madrid as we work together and grow together as disciples of the Lord. And I also wanted to take a moment and to thank everyone who was able to come to our house on Friday to help unload the moving truck. I was told that there were a ton of people there, so we didn’t get to see all who were there before we got here. You have already begun to make us feel like we are at home here and that we have come here to be “part of the family.” So thank you so much for the encouraging welcome to Madrid!

As you know, our Shepherds for a theme this year On the first Sunday of each month for the rest of this year is to preach a lesson that helps us think more about our theme for the year. During 2016, our Shepherds have chosen that theme to be “Fruitful Branches to the Lord,” so we can think more about how fruitful we are being, and hopefully, do some self-evaluation so we can hopefully, with the Lord’s help, grow in how fruitful we are. So to help us to focus on these kind of ideas, I would like to spend some time in Mark chapter 4 and examine some of Jesus’ parables that focus on the word of God and how it brings forth fruit.

With this said, let’s get into Mark ch4, and let’s consider for a moment the parable of the soils.

3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air[a] came and devoured it.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. 6 But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away. 7 And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. 8 But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.” 9 And He said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Just imagine being part of this crowd hearing the words of Jesus. What would you have been thinking after Jesus is done speaking this parable? You have heard so much about this man and how His teaching was with authority. You have heard of and have possibly seen so many miracles being performed. When Jesus opens up his mouth and says, “LISTEN, BEHOLD!” you are expecting to hear some kind of profound and earth-shattering teaching, but you hear Him instead talk about farming… about this sower who sows seed onto 4 different types of soil. This man sows seed, and most of the seed does not bring forth any fruit. Three quarters of the work that this sower had done seemed wasted. But then you have this fourth soil that brings forth an amount of fruit that seems almost miraculous. It multiplies and multiplies and multiplies, bringing forth thirty, sixty, and one hundred-fold. This kind of productivity was unthinkable at the time. This one type of soil more than makes up for the soils that were unproductive! Interesting story. But what does it mean…?

The explanation of the parable begins in 4:14.

(ESV) 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. 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. 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. 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.”

The sower in this parable is the one giving the word of God to people, and he gives the word to 4 different groups of people. Three out of four groups of people who are taught the word do not respond with obedience and fruitfulness. Only one group grows to maturity and brings forth fruit. From a worldly perspective, you could look at such results and say that this teacher was a failure in his work. But what we see in this parable is that the teacher; the one giving the message, does his job. The problem is in the hearts of those who are hearing thee message.

One thing that is said of all four of these soils is that they HEAR the message... This idea of ‘hearing’ the main theme in this chapter of Mark and of this parable especially, and I would like to take most of our time left to think about this idea. The first word that he speaks in verse 3 is “LISTEN.” Each heart, no matter how hardened or distracted, HEARD the message and had an opportunity to respond to it. The word “hear” or a form of it is used 13 times in this chapter. Twice Jesus says, “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” And the parables section here in Mark closes by Mark telling us “And with many such parables He spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it.” Jesus, as the sower here, wants every person to hear the message and to really listen to it. Even when He knew the type of soil a person was, He still gave them the opportunity. Everyone needed the message. And even when it was only a few who responded, all of the work, that included much disappointment and rejection, was worth it. There were some who were willing to seek truth; some who would seek to understand and be changed by the message. The hope that some would listen and become fruitful, no matter how small that number would be, was worth all of the work of teaching the word to everyone.

The big question that this parable answers is, “Why is it that the very same “word” can be preached to so many different people and only a few really changed by it?” I believe the key is first in how one hears the word.

THE PARABLE OF THE LIGHT (4:21-25)

(ESV) 21 And he said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? 22 For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” 24 And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. 25 For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

Jesus gives us here a simple illustration that is given in the form of a rhetorical question. There is a clear, common sense answer to it. He asks, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand?” Of course, the only reason you go to get a lamp is because you want to have light so you can see. You do not go and get a lamp so you can have light, then go ahead and put it under the bed. This renders the lamp worthless. It is not being used for it’s intended purpose.

This parable, along with the rest of the parables in this chapter, are giving us further explanation and clarification on the first parable; the parable of the soils. Here we see what God intended for the seed that was sown by the sower. God intends that when the word of God is taught or sown into a heart that it brings light to the one who really listens to it.

If we are really listening, then the word of God can show us things about ourselves; some things that are at times difficult for us to see. The word will show us the sin in our life. It will show us so many things we need to work on to be more pleasing to God. This shows us how important God’s word is to us. We need to get into it. We need to let it show us who we are, even if what we see will make us uncomfortable and challenge us to make changes in our lives.

This is why Jesus encourages his disciples in vs 24-25 to really pay attention to what you hear from God’s word. Let’s read verses 24-25 again:

(ESV) And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. 25 For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

The NKJV says, “Take heed what you hear,” and the NASB says, “Take care what you listen to.” These versions give us the idea that we need to be careful to make sure we are listening to only the word of God instead of competing voices. But I believe the ESV gives us a better rendering of this passage. The ESV’s rendering makes what Mark says here similar to what Luke’s account says. in all three versions have Jesus saying to be careful HOW we hear or listen to God’s word. This is what the ESV is trying to get across in also. Once again, the ESV says, “Pay attention to what you hear.” Be careful to listen properly so the word of God can make a difference in you. Really pay attention to it. There is a difference between hearing something and really engaging yourself into what is being said. We see this in our relationships, don’t we? If we are talking to our spouses for instance, have we been guilty of allowing our minds to wander or focusing on something else while we are hearing what our spouse says? I may hear the words, but they really don’t get into my mind because I was focused on something else. Then at times, just a few minutes after talking to my wife, I say something or ask her something that shows clearly that I was not paying attention to what she said.

Do we do this with God’s word? I think we can do this with God’s word in a few different ways:

As we read God’s word, do we do so just we can put the check in the box in our daily reading schedule to show we have been making progress? This is one of my biggest frustrations with reading through the Bible in a year… I end up not getting a lot out of it because I don’t take time to actually consider what I am reading. I don’t engage my mind into it. I don’t think about what it means or how to apply it. Then there are those times when I fell behind in my daily reading… and I would catch up by listening to it while I was doing something else. This is why I don’t even do a yearly reading plan any more. I get a lot more out of just camping out in one or two books for a couple months, spending time reading it, studying it, and really thinking about how each section needs to change me. Do we read just so we can say we prepared for Bible class? Or do we read it and actually think about what is being said and how to apply it. I think I have been guilty of this. I read the passage. I can tell you what it says. But I really did not meditate on it and think about what it means and how it reveals God to me or how it shows me changes I need to make in my life. Do we at times, when God’s word is being taught or preached, completely focus on something else? I have many times during sermons found myself not listening to what is being said because, instead of just jotting down a note that I can get back to later, I get sidetracked by a point the speaker makes and end up doing my own study of other passages for 20min! I completely stop listening to the word of God to do something I can do later, and miss things that the Lord may have wanted me to hear!

The intended purpose of God’s word is to give us light. It reveals all of our imperfections; all the things that we need to work on. It shows all of the things that we have been hiding or things we have not seen about ourselves, and if we are not paying close attention to the word, then we are not using it as it is intended to be used.

If we are paying attention to the word, the more you listen, the more God’s word will affect you! The measure that we give to the word, the same measure it will give to us. The saying, “you only get out of something what you put into it” is true when it comes to how well we listen and meditate on God’s word. The words of Jesus show us that we are robbing ourselves if we are not paying attention to God’s word. We will not grow and be as fruitful as we can be.

The first three soils heard the word, but they did not do what Jesus says here. They didn’t really pay attention to it. Only the fourth soil really paid attention, wanted to understand, and make changes. God will bless this kind of heart. He will give the increase, and the increase, as we see in the parable of the mustard seed, is unimaginable. God can do some amazing things in us if we will only pay attention to his word with a heart that really wants to obey and be changes.

CONCLUSION

Whether or not we are being fruitful in this life for the Lord is a life and death matter. Jesus says in that those branches that are not fruitful are taken away from the vine where it withers. Then it is thrown in the fire where it is burned. If we do not really pay attention to God’s word, we will die spiritually, be taken away from the Lord’s favor, and be condemned.