Who is this Jesus: Teacher
Who is this Jesus • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction
Introduction
Jesus was the Master Teacher. He taught in with great authority. We see throughout the gospels that He taught using parables and then expounding on them. One writer stated that a parable was “a metaphor or story connected with the affairs of daily life and used as an illustration of moral and spiritual truths, on the assumption that what applies in one sphere is relevant also in others (Vincent Taylor.)”
A simpler explanation is that a parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. Jesus used parables not to test the intelligence but to test the spiritual responsiveness of His hearers. Every parable Jesus taught was one that demanded people to think for themselves. As He taught in parables, there would often be a type of spiritual math, if you will, where the meaning of one parable would lead to another parable. If someone did not understand one parable, the the next one would even more difficult to understand.
In Mark’s Gospel, we have recorded Mark’s version of the Parable of the Sower. This is also recorded in Matthew and in Luke. This is one instance in which Jesus gives a parable and then expounds on that parable to further explain it. Listen carefully as I read .
Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times.”
Then Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that,
“ ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’”
Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.”
Jesus teaches many parables in this one parable. Today I want to show that there is a teaching about seeds, a teaching about a secret, and a teaching about salvation.
Teaching about Seeds
Teaching about Seeds
In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus has progressed from teaching at a full house in chapter 2 to teaching in a synagogue in chapter 3. Each time, the crowd gets bigger. In the passage we just read, the crowd is so big, Jesus has to get into a boat and sit on the lake.
The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
the Lord is enthroned as King forever.
Modern day scientists have shown this area as a natural theater
This area as a natural amphitheater where scientists have shown that the acoustics are so incredible, that one could thousands could have easily heard the teaching. The Bible says that Jesus used this opportunity to teach many parables. As we read, the one that Mark wrote about was this parable of the sower. He starts out by saying, “Listen!”
Psalm
The Bible in other passages indicate to us that the Lord’s message is one always worth hearing.
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.
The very first thing we can learn from this parable is the foundation of responsible faith is hearing the Word of God.
Jesus gets the attention of His hearers. He shares with them a very common site, a sower or farmer sowing seeds. Some scholars even think that there was a farmer on the hillside sowing his seed as Jesus talks.
Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.
John 4:
Jesus could have been using an example right there in front of them!
There is no indication of this in Mark’s Gospel but it would be just like Jesus to teach about something happening in plain site.
Jesus described the seed that is sown and gives us four categories of what happens to this seed.
The first category, is one that never gets planted. It just falls along the path and before it can grow, something happens to it. Verse 4 says the birds came and ate it.
The second category is mentioned in verse 5. It is the seed that gets started but then it dies. It falls in enough soil to sprout but not enough to root and take hold to mature.
The third category is mentioned in verse 7. It is the seed that survives but cannot thrive because of the junk in which it is trying to grow.
Once more a remnant of the house of Judah
will take root below and bear fruit above.
The fourth category however, is the one that not only grows, but it reproduces thirty, sixty or even a hundred times as the Bible says.
Jesus has given the people around the lake a beautiful lesson about how seeds mature into something great if they are planted right. He would have connected to the people if this was all He was teaching.
However, Jesus is teaching much more here for those who want to receive it.
Isaiah
Teaching about Secrets
Teaching about Secrets
In verses 9-20, Jesus explains this more and goes much deeper. He says, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” In other words, if you are willing and able to understand, listen carefully. He tells the Twelve and others present that “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you.” The secret of the kingdom of God is a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ. It is truth that only God can reveal.
Daniel replied, “No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you lay on your bed are these:
“As you were lying there, O king, your mind turned to things to come, and the revealer of mysteries showed you what is going to happen. As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than other living men, but so that you, O king, may know the interpretation and that you may understand what went through your mind.
Daniel replied, “No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about,
Daniel replied, “No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you lay on your bed are these:
He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven
Daniel 2:27
Daniel
Daniel
It is not solving some mysterious puzzle or code but privileged information that the Lord has provided for us to receive.
He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God in :
“The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”
The Good News is the other aspect of this parable of the Sower. Jesus teaches about the gift of salvation.
Teaching about Salvation
Teaching about Salvation
gives us more clarity.
The Farmer is God and God is sowing the Word.
What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
1 Corinthians 3:5-9
Just like there are four categories of the seed, there are four categories of those to which the word is sown.
First, there is that person that to which the seed is sown and before it takes root, Satan and his schemes snatches it away. I have seen that happening with folks that refuse to turn to Jesus when the word of the Lord is given to them.
A second category is that person that hears the word of God and loves it, gets all excited but does not allow it to sink in to their lives. They do not establish any roots so their faith fades away as soon as trouble comes their way. Everything is good until the sky is falling and they run away.
The third category is that person that hears the word of God but thinks they can live lives according to the Bible, are towards the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things. The Bible says these things choke the word and make it unfruitful. In other words, that is a life that does not reproduce spiritually.
But there is a fourth category. That is the person that hears the word of the Lord and receives it. As a result, their life is changed and they know God is in control and His hand is on their life. There is something beautiful for person that God has firmly planted.
I will plant her for myself in the land;
I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.’
I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’;
and they will say, ‘You are my God.’ ”
“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will plant the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the offspring of men and of animals.
Jeremiah 31:27
1 Corinthians 15:42-48
So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.
This passage from Mark’s Gospel is quite timely. All of us are living out this passage in one way or the other and how you have dealt with the events of this week show how you have received the seeds that were sown in your life.
Some of us have been terrified. Some of us have flat out denied how God could be bigger than a coronavirus.
Let me encourage you. God is Bigger. His word is faithful.
being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Psalm 138:
The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;
your love, O Lord, endures forever—
do not abandon the works of your hands.
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
1 John
I encourage you today to nurture that which has been sown in you. I encourage you to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.
Don’t let the stuff of this world and the panic of an pandemic choke the word which has been sown in you. Allow Jesus, the Master Teacher, teach you how to be more like Him in every area of your life.