Bearing Fruit

Introduction:

As we come to the Word of the Lord this morning, let us prepare our hearts as we continue our worship together.

Let’s prayer together.

If you would, go ahead and grab your Bibles and open them up to Mark 4:1-20, as we continue our study of Mark’s Gospel! Chapter 4 in interesting. It is one of the few times that Mark is going to focus in on the teachings of Jesus. Up to this point we have read about Jesus preaching and teaching…..but we have not really gotten a good picture of what that actually looked like.

In this Chapter, Mark focuses on Jesus’ teaching in Parables. This was one of Jesus’ most widely used teaching methods, and in chapter 4 what we see are a few different parables about the Kingdom of God and what it is like. What we are going to do is read one of them this morning.

Let’s read this text together.

4 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. 2 He taught them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them, 3 “Listen! Consider the sower who went out to sow. 4 As he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.

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. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it didn’t produce fruit. 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.” (Mark 4:1-9 CSB)

Body:

This is one of Jesus’ most famous parables. We learn that Jesus is out again, at some point in time teaching and a large crowd gathers together. Because the crowd is so large Jesus gets on a boat, he is going to push back a little offshore to give himself more room and continues with His lesson. We read that he taught them many things in Parables.

This parable is often referred to as the parable of the sower, which is kind of ironic because we only read of the sower at the beginning of the parable. I think parable of the soils might be a better title, but that doesn’t really matter. Jesus didn’t give it a title, so let’s not get hung up on the finer points.

In this parable here is what happened. This farmer is preparing his garden for all practical purposes. Unlike us, when they would sow their seed they would scatter in on the ground and then till up the land. Some say they would till the land, scatter the seed, and then till the land again. Either way, it doesn’t really matter. The point is they would sow seed abundantly. They were just tossing it around. And because of that….seed would just kind of fly ever where.

Some of the seed….well it didn’t make it! It fell on the hard ground…birds ate it. Others fell on ground that was filled with rocks and since it had no depth or roots, meaning it had no way to nurture and take care of itself….when the sun came it burned up. Yet again, some seeds fell among the thorns. It was not able to bear fruit because it got choked out. Then the other seed feel on good soil…..soil that had been prepared….and it grew and produced crops.

This is super clear right? Like everyone listening gets what Jesus is talking about right?

Like you hear this parable….I think every single one of us would be a little confused about what the meaning was. We would be like the disciples in this passage.

Look at verses 10-12 with me again, which is among one of the hardest passages in the New Testament to understand.

10 When he was alone, those around him with the Twelve asked him about the parables. 11 He answered them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to those outside, everything comes in parables 12 so that “they may indeed look, and yet not perceive; they may indeed listen, and yet not understand; otherwise, they might turn back and be forgiven.” (Mark 4:10-12 CSB)

What in the world does that even mean? Did Jesus just say that he teaches in parables so that people will NOT be saved?!

For this passage alone there are 6 major different interpretations. But the key to understanding what is going on here is knowing where Jesus quotes this from in the Old Testament. This is not a saying that Jesus just pulls out of thin air. This passage comes from Isaiah chapter 6.

We all love Isaiah Chapter 6! This is where Isaiah is standing before the Lord in the throne room. We hear Lord calling out for somebody to go for Him to the people. Isaiah is convicted of his sin and an angel comes down and touches his lips for forgiveness, and upon touching his Lips Isaiah say’s…..Here I am Lord Send Me! WE love that don’t we? We Love that picture. We love what is going on there.

But here is what we read next….

9 And He replied: Go! Say to these people: Keep listening, but do not understand; keep looking, but do not perceive.10 Dull the minds of these people; deafen their ears and blind their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their minds, turn back, and be healed. (Isa 6:9-10 CSB)

What had happened in the book of Isaiah was the people of Israel had already spent YEARS rejecting the Lord and His message of repentance because they were worshipping other gods. God had told them that judgment was coming! He gave them a warning and they rejected it. Now, through Isaiah, God is going to tell the people again what is about to happen, but there is nothing that they can do about it. Their fate has been sealed.

In this same way, those outsiders (meaning the religious leaders at this point) would not understand Jesus’ teaching the way that they should. They have already written Him off as fake…..as a demon possessed man. They may see what Jesus is doing…but they don’t get it. They may hear what Jesus is teaching but they don’t really understand it. Their hearts and eyes have become hard to who Jesus is and because of that they will not be forgiven.

The apostle Paul spoke of the same thing in this way

7 What then? Israel did not find what it was looking for, but the elect did find it. The rest were hardened, 8 as it is written: God gave them a spirit of insensitivity, eyes that cannot see and ears that cannot hear, to this day. 9 And David says: Let their feasting become a snare and a trap, a pitfall and a retribution to them. 10 Let their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent continually. 11 I ask, then, have they stumbled in order to fall? Absolutely not! On the contrary, by their stumbling, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel jealous. (Rom 11:7-11 CSB)

This was part of God’s plan! God brought a hardening on their hearts so that His ultimate plan, salvation through Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, would take place. Jesus taught in parables both to reveal truth to those who were receptive and to conceal it from those whose hearts were hardened. That is what we are seeing going on here in this passage.

But Jesus still hasn’t explained the parable to them at this point. That is what we see next. Look down at verses 13-20 with me.

13 Then he said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand all of the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 Some are like the word sown on the path. When they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word sown in them. 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.

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. 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.” (Mark 4:13-20 CSB)

Now we get it!! This parable isn’t about how to be a good farmer at all! It actually has nothing to do with farming. This parable is all about how the Kingdom of God works! This parable is about how different people hear the message and the responses that they have. The farmer in not sowing seed….he is sowing the Word…or what we would call the Gospel Message.

Jesus even goes so far to say that this parable is the key to understanding all of the other parables. If we can get this one….then we will have good insight to all the other parables that we come across in the Gospels.

So, what can we learn from this parable?

We need to be sowing Seed far and wide.

In this passage, Jesus would be the one sowing the seed. He has been the one who is preaching and teaching about the kingdom of God. However, when Jesus left this earth, He gave us a Mission that we need to be busy about. Jesus has commanded us to go out and spread the Gospel far and wide. He has commanded us to Make Disciples of all Nations!

It starts here for us! WE have to see ourselves as seed sowers. And notice, Jesus does not predetermine who or what soil gets the seed and which ones do not. He didn’t say, “Well they are not going to bear fruit….they ain’t going to listen….so I am not even going to waste my breath.” NO. Jesus didn’t do that! His purpose was to come and preach and teach. That was it! The goal that we have to keep in mind is that it is our mission to share the message. That is IT! That is what we are responsible for! WE are responsible for sharing the good news of the Kingdom with others.

But there is another aspect that we have to keep in mind here as well. Too often we focus on us being the hero while everyone else is the soils. I don’t think that it is an either or case here. We have to broaden our understanding of this parable. You see, I think the other aspect of this that we have to think about is how we are the soils. We are also the ones who receive the word.

We have an Enemy fighting against us.

We see this with the first soil. As the Word is being sown, Satan comes and takes it away from that person before it has time to do down in their hearts.

We see this kind of language all over Scripture.

3 But if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2Co 4:3-4 CSB)

26 Then they may come to their senses and escape the Devil's trap, having been captured by him to do his will. (2Ti 2:26-3:1 CSB)

We have to keep this in mind when sharing the Gospel with people. This is a reality that we have….and that those around us….. face. Satan does not want people to repent and turn to Christ! So what does he do? He goes on the offensive. When the word is sown…..people can hear it and it have no effect in their lives! Why is that? If the Word of God is living and active and has the power to change people…..why do we see at times no response? Maybe it is because Satan has come and taken away the word from them. He has gotten them off track. He has blinded their eyes from seeing the GLORY OF CHRIST IN THE GOSPEL!

How do we respond that that kind of attack? I think the answer is found in Ephesians 6 when Paul is talking about Spiritual Warfare. WE fight by devoting ourselves to prayer for the Lost! WE have to do that. WE have to be willing to fight a spiritual battle for them. It is going to take effort, but it is a MUST.

But, I want you not to only think about those around you who don’t know Christ….but I want you to see this as a possibility for your own life as well. Don’t think that you are immune to Satan and his attacks on your life.

Peter describes Satan as a Lion, roaming around looking for someone to devour. He is at War with you too! He does the same thing to you. You walk in here on Sunday Morning and hear the Word preached or hear it taught in Sunday School and walk away no different than when you came….why is that? Could it be that at that time you are like the hard soil? Your heart is just not in the right place to receive the Word that morning and because of that Satan comes in and steals that away. Be aware of Satan and his schemes in your life and the lives of those around you, and pray diligently against him.

There will be some who fall away.

This often gets confused in our day and age for someone who has lost their salvation. We see someone walk the isle at the Church and give their heart to the Lord. WE see that person for a little while on fire for the Lord, and we think to ourselves…. “Man….that person is really walking close to the Lord. God had done something awesome in their life.” They seem really excited and all they want to talk about is Jesus….but then all of a sudden…..you start seeing them less and less. You start hearing things that they are starting to run around with the same old crowd of people. You start seeing post on their social media that does not make a whole of sense, right? You see them out drinking with their friends. You see them posting things in which they ought not to post. And we try to wrap our minds around it. We try to figure out what is really going on with them….one of the things that we have to take into account is this passage here.

Jesus tells us that it is completely possible to hear the word…..for the Word to bring Joy to someones life…but when things get real….when things get hard….when that person starts facing some persecution for what they say they believe…or when things are not going the way that they think they should…..they walk away. They say that it is not worth it, and they go back off to their old life style.

This helps explain so much of what we see in our world with the Christian faith. We have seen this happen time and time again with those who would claim the name of Christ but in the end they walk away because it is too much for them.

This is a warning of perseverance for us! How easy is it when things are not going our way to walk away?.....To slide into becoming unfruitful for the Kingdom of God? We have to be aware of this in our own lives, and we have to be aware of this in each other’s lives.

I don’t think Jesus told this parable just to explain to us how people are going to respond to the Gospel message. I think that it also serves as a warning to us in our Walk with the Lord. We have to be aware of this. This calls us to hold one another accountable and to encourage one another.

There will be things that pull people away.

Look at the list that He gives in verse 19

The worries of this age. How many different things can you put into that category just for your life? What things worry you? You can think of work. Your kids. Your family. Health. Money…which we will talk about here in a second. Politics. None of those things are bad things right! God gives us direction in each one of those areas. The problem is…..when we focus so much on these areas….what happens to our spiritual growth?

The deceitfulness of wealth. How many people get caught up in this trap? How many people do we know spend more time thinking about money than they do God? We are prone to want more and more. People Chase that almighty Dollar….as my mother would say.

The desires for other things. Jesus just open this up and say’s whatever desire you want to put in there. You fill in the blank! The desire for other things.

This is all about misplaced priorities. It is easy for those we talk to about the Gospel to get caught up in chasing other things.

It is really easy for us to get caught up in chasing other things.

The result is…..the Word isn’t able to produce fruit in that persons life…or in our lives….because it is being choked out.

It’s our job as Christians to help others remove this junk from their lives so that they can get their priorities straight before God….that way…The Word can do what it needs to do.

Lastly,

We can see change in peoples lives.

This is what you see happen in verse 20. Those who hear the word and welcome it, other translations say accept it, produce fruit because it has been planted on good soil.

This is what we are after in our lives and the lives around us. We want to see people to bear fruit. I want to bear fruit. Jesus says something very similar in John 15 when he is talking about the vine and the branches. The whole goal is for us to bear fruit. OR you can think of Galatians when Paul is talking about bearing the fruit of the Spirit. Who doesn’t want that in their lives? Who doesn’t want to be more loving, Kind, and patient, right?

Conclusion:

So, how does this actually happen in our lives? How do we bear fruit?

1. We have to Listen.

2. We have to have trust what is written.

3. We have to be aware of our enemy.

4. We have to remove distractions.

5. We have to act on what we see in the word.

All of these things point to actions that we can take to receive the Word. But there is another aspect this this text that we cannot overlook, and really that connection is the connection for all of the parables.

The only way that we bear fruit is by God doing a work in our lives. We have to position ourselves in a place to hear the Word, but we are desperately dependent upon God to act in our lives.

6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. (1Co 3:6-7 CSB)

As we consider this text for this morning…..I want to ask you……which soil are you this morning?

Are you bearing fruit or being unfruitful?

Let’s pray together