The Parable of the Seeds

Mark 4:1–9 CSB

Again he began to teach by the sea, and a very large crowd gathered around him. So he got into a boat on the sea and sat down, while the whole crowd was by the sea on the shore. He taught them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: “Listen! Consider the sower who went out to sow. As he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground where it didn’t have much soil, and it grew up quickly, since the soil wasn’t deep. When the sun came up, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it didn’t produce fruit. Still other seed fell on good ground and it grew up, producing fruit that increased thirty, sixty, and a hundred times.” Then he said, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”

Mark 4:13–20 CSB

Then he said to them: “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand all of the parables? The sower sows the word. Some are like the word sown on the path. When they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word sown in them. And others are like seed sown on rocky ground. When they hear the word, immediately they receive it with joy. But they have no root; they are short-lived. When distress or persecution comes because of the word, they immediately fall away. Others are like seed sown among thorns; these are the ones who hear the word, but the worries of this age, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. And those like seed sown on good ground hear the word, welcome it, and produce fruit thirty, sixty, and a hundred times what was sown.”

Some people will never trust God.

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4 As he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.

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15 Some are like the word sown on the path. When they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word sown in them.

A.

Genuine faith must be deeper than one time acceptance.

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5 Other seed fell on rocky ground where it didn’t have much soil, and it grew up quickly, since the soil wasn’t deep. 6 When the sun came up, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away.

6 When the sun came up, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away.

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16 And others are like seed sown on rocky ground. When they hear the word, immediately they receive it with joy. 17 But they have no root; they are short-lived. When distress or persecution comes because of the word, they immediately fall away.

A. there is such a thing as false conversion. faith is more than an emotional decision.

Illus: If there is one teaching that is difficult for us in the american church, it is this one. We have lived in a day of easy believism. We have lived in a time where we have tried to make it as simple and cost free as possible to follow Jesus.

If you say these words or pray this prayer you will be saved.

When you look to Jesus, He did not make following him easy. In fact, as he drew crowds, he often spoke his most dificult words hoping the crowd would understand that following Christ was more than simply showing up once, but instead a commitment of ones life.

Over and over Jesus call out people who come to follow him by pointing out their deepest sins, or their false faith.

Jesus did not want to produce massive emotional decisions, he called for costly faith.

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57 As they were traveling on the road someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”

57 As they were traveling on the road someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”

58 Jesus told him, “Foxes have dens, and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” 59 Then he said to another, “Follow me.”

“Lord,” he said, “first let me go bury my father.”

60 But he told him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and spread the news of the kingdom of God.”

61 Another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me go and say good-bye to those at my house.”

62 But Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

B. Faith is easy when it is not costly. Faith becomes real when it costs you much.

Illus: Many people are bemoaning the condition of American Christianity. They are asking why churches are dying, and why fewer and fewer are claiming to be christians.

The answer is simply, As our country becomes less and less religious, the words of are coming true. We are coming out of generations where faith did not cost, where many held a shallow faith, or claimed the name of Christian while not genuinely belonging toJesus.

As being called a Christian begins to be costly, true of followers of Jesus are remaining faithful, and those who may have made emotional decisions or were Christian by name alone are showing what they really believe.

Genuine Christianity does not leave room for a half hearted commitment, it is all or nothing.

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7 But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. 8 More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ

Genuine Faith does not get entangled in the cares of this world.

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7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it didn’t produce fruit.

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18 Others are like seed sown among thorns; these are the ones who hear the word, 19 but the worries of this age, the deceitfulness, of wealth, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

A. Faith is about what owns your heart.

Illus: I think we have all heard a sermon at some point where the pastor asks the congregation “what would you do if a gunman walks in and demands that you deny Jesus.”

Can I pose a different question,

What would happen if following Jesus made you drastically change your finances so that giving to the church and to missions became the priority of your life.

What would happen if following JEsus meant talking to those you love about faith, even if it meant costing you those relationships.

What would happen if following Jesus meant no longer tolerating the sins in your life.

What would happen if following Jesus meant truly living for Jesus.

Because that is His call.

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16 Just then someone came up and asked him, “Teacher, what good must I do to have eternal life?”

16 Just then someone came up and asked him, “Teacher, what good must I do to have eternal life?”

17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” he said to him. “There is only one who is good. If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

18 “Which ones?” he asked him.

Jesus answered: Do not murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness; 19 honor your father and your mother; and love your neighbor as yourself.,

20 “I have kept all these,” the young man told him. “What do I still lack?”

21 “If you want to be perfect,” Jesus said to him, “go, sell your belongings and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

22 When the young man heard that, he went away grieving, because he had many possessions. :

B. Is Jesus enough for you, or does your heart belong to the all that is in the world.

Illus: This is a difficult sermon to preach, because in many ways, we don’t have to give up much to follow Jesus in America, or atleast in the way we follow Jesus here.

Being a christian today often means living morally, going to church, and tithing.

Do you think the ease of american Christianity has possibly led us to settle for a faith that is below God’s standards.

Believers throughout the world who face genuine persecution share their faith far more than most of us do here in a safe place.

We are called to just as radical a faith as those living in the darkest places of the world. Have we allowed the ease and safety we enjoy to dilute a genuine faith?

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TAKE UP YOUR CROSS

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it. 26 For what will it benefit someone if he gains the whole world yet loses his life? Or what will anyone give in exchange for his life?

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it. 26 For what will it benefit someone if he gains the whole world yet loses his life? Or what will anyone give in exchange for his life?

Genuine Faith produces fruit.

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8 Still other seed fell on good ground and it grew up, producing fruit that increased thirty, sixty, and a hundred times.” 9 Then he said, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”

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20 And those like seed sown on good ground hear the word, welcome it, and produce fruit thirty, sixty, and a hundred times what was sown.”

A. How do we know we truly belong to Jesus? We look to the evidence.

Illus: In this passage Jesus was separating the real from the fake. He was showing that the proof of genuine faith was in the longterm not in the moment.

Let us follow Jesus into a dangerous faith. A faith which will cost us. A faith that places Jesus first in our lives.

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21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.