November 6, 2013
Mark 4:13-20, 26-32, 30-32
Parables Explained…
I. The Sower and the Seed 4:13-20
II. The Growing Seed 4:26-29
III. The Mustard Seed 4:30-32
“Paul Harvey tells a parable, about a modern man, one who is just like us----he was a kind, decent, mostly good man, generous to his family, upright in his dealings with others. But he didn’t believe that Jesus was God’s son and he didn’t buy into the whole idea, that he was the son of a virgin mother. It just didn’t make sense to him, and he was too honest to pretend otherwise. He couldn’t wrap his head around the idea of Jesus being God, and then coming to earth as a man. So, one Christmas, he told his wife that he didn’t want to upset her, but he didn’t want to feel like a hypocrite anymore, so he wasn’t going with her and the children to the Christmas Eve service at church. He was happy for them to go, but he was going to stay home and wait for them-----so they went and he stayed.
Shortly after the family drove away in the car, snow began to fall. He went to the window to watch the flurries getting heavier and heavier, then he went back to his fireside chair and began to read his newspaper. Minutes later, he was startled by a muffled, thudding sound, and then, another and then another…
At first he thought that that someone was throwing snowballs against his living room window so he went to the front door to see if he could catch them…but what he found was a flock of birds, huddled miserably in the snow. They had been caught in the storm, and in a desperate attempt to find shelter, they had tried to fly right through the large living room picture window. He couldn’t stand the thoughts of them freezing to death, so he decided he would have to figure out a way to lure them into the barn behind the house. They would be a lot warmer there. So he put on his coat and his galoshes, and tramped through the ever-deepening snow to the barn----he opened the doors wide and turned on the light.
But the birds wouldn’t come in. He figured that food would entice them, so he hurried back to the house and fetched some bread crumbs his wife had meant for the Christmas dinner stuffing-----he sprinkled them on the snow, making a trail to the yellow lighted, wide-open, doorway of the barn------but to his frustration, the birds just ignored the bread crumbs and continued to flap around helplessly, in the snow. He tried catching them, but that didn’t work-----them, he tried to shoo them in, by shuffling around them waving his arms----which just scattered them everywhere, instead of into the warm lighted barn.
Then it occurred to him that the birds were afraid of him-----all they saw was a big, strange terrifying creature----so he thought to himself----“what can I do to get them to trust me? How can I show them that I’m not trying to hurt them; that I just want to help them? “ He kept trying to shoo them or lead them in the barn----but every move he made, just seemed to confuse and frighten them even more…they would not follow him, no matter what he did----Finally, exasperated, he thought to himself, “If only I could turn myself into a bird, and mingle with them, and speak their language, and tell them not to be afraid, then I could show them the way to the safe warm barn…” and at that moment, the church bells began to ring,------and as the sound reached the man’s ears, above the wind-----for a minute, he just stood there listening, as their beautiful music, ushered in the glad tidings of Christmas, and then, the man slowly sank to his knees in the snow------it had finally clicked----
he understood, the truth of what God had done…..
Parables use things that we are familiar with, to illustrate and illuminate God’s truth. The best way to get people’s attention is to tell them a story. “C.S. Lewis said one time, that that was why he wrote the way he did----that he could write about doctrine and teach philosophy, all day long, but that only certain people would get its meaning----and even they might be disinterested or unaffected by it-----but he had found, that if he could tell people a story, that the message would slip right past reason and philosophy and disinterest, and go straight to the deep emotions that we try so hard to hide.”
That’s how parables are, they slip past the justifications that people make for their unbelief and they call for a response. They get people involved in the story and they demand that they make a judgment, not only on the people in the stories, but on themselves. A parable always asks a question----and it is usually “what will you do with the truth you’ve just been given about Jesus?”
That’s why Jesus loved to use parables------- because it forced people to put themselves into the story and answer that question----- deep in our hearts, we all know ,that the question is one, that every person has to answer at some point for himself…..
a parable, even a modern day one, leads us to examine our own hearts, and forces us to answer that question, whether we want to or not, or whether we even think we need to, or not. An excellent spiritual discipline, is to take everything we study or hear about the Lord and say, Lord, I know you’ve spoken to me-----and I hear you, and I will do, today, what you’ve told me to.
I. The Sower and the Seed 4:13-20
After Jesus had finished preaching to the multitude----he and the disciples and some other followers-----(how many other followers there were, we don’t know----but we do know that there must have been quite a few, because there are many mentioned by name, in the scripture----like Mary and Martha and Lazarus, and there are many mentioned, that are unnamed, but are still identified as either men women or children) drew away, where they could talk more privately, and He answered all their questions and He explained, in detail, the 3 parables, that He had just told to the masses. He wanted them to know everything He could teach them while He was with them…And He wants the same thing for us. Thankfully we have the scriptures and the Holy Spirit.
So, Jesus started, with the “sower and the seed” parable. He made one simple statement, which made the rest of the parable, plain to understand-----the seed symbolized the word of God. The sower in the first instance was Jesus, and then subsequently, the servants of God, become the sowers.
The Gospel is told------it is scattered far and wide, within the hearing of all kinds of people. We can’t manufacture seed----only God can provide it, and It contains the secret to eternal life, and it reproduces, after it’s own kind. God has made Himself responsible for the mysterious and complex process, by which a seed germinates in the soil and grows, and for the way the Word of God germinates, in a human heart---- at this point, right now, the only responsibility we have, in God’s kingdom, is to sow the seed.
Jesus wanted us to understand that there is never any thing wrong with the seed---the problem is always with the soil…
He explained first, about the seed that was cast by the wayside----He told the disciples and the others…that some people are like seed along the path, where the Word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes it away, and he wastes no time in doing it--- scripture says that, immediately-----he, or one of his minions, since he is not an omnipresent being, is there every time the gospel is proclaimed. If he can’t prevent it from being sown, he wants to steal the seed before it can germinate…We see it happen or experience it after every church service-----the minute the last prayer is said, we hear the buzz of conversation----- and what was just said in the sermon is forgotten, or put on the back burner---and by the time we get to the car, the conversation has turned to lunch, and what to do for the rest of the afternoon. (2 simple ways not to lose the seed-----1>keep your Bible open and follow along as the preacher delivers his message and get you mind engaged and keep it engaged by taking notes on the sermon, and 2> make a habit out of talking about the sermon and what you got from it, over lunch----make sure that the children participate----even the young ones, have them tell about their SS lesson or Children’s Church, if they weren’t in the main service.) It’s just a little thing, but it works.
The wayside is a place where people come and go, where there is constant movement and constant traffic----the ebb and flow of humanity, as they go about their business---work and pleasure--- keeps the ground hard and packed so that it is easy for satan to snatch the seed away. Their own busy comings and goings and the frenetic activities of life, have so consumed them, that there’s nothing in God’s truth that stirs them. Life for these people may be no more than the sports page or a game on TV and a beer or a movie magazine or a reality show and a glass of wine-----there may not be any gross sin, but neither is there any interest in Jesus and the things of God-----life is too crowded with worldly distractions. These people beat the ground of their own lives, asphalt-hard, with their busy feet. The ground of their hearts, needs to be broken up----and a lot of times, the plowing that is needed, is some kind of pain or stress or trial, which can soften the hard surface of a heart, so that the Word of God has a place to fall into and take root.
Then Jesus went on to explain about the seed that fell on rocky soil. Initially, the response of this seed was encouraging. The seed germinated and showed promise. This soil is deceptive though----it is shallow, because a rocky ledge, runs just beneath the thin layer of soil. There is just enough soil to give promise, but not enough to give a good performance. People who are in this category, may say they’re saved and may even make a profession of faith, but there is no true possession of the Lord Jesus----there is no relationship. People, who have an experience like this, with the Gospel, usually are coming from a totally emotional perspective, or from an intellectual one…either way, there is nothing more there, than a superficial stirring of their emotions. These people seem to do well at first, and then, when they run into persecution or opposition, because of the Word, they quickly fall away. They have shallow, emotional responses to the Lord, but never have a penetration of the heart, intellect and will. R. Kent Hughes says that “too many, through their emotions, tasted something of God’s power, but not true conversion----and in falling away, they become bitter and sharp-tongued and terribly lost----a person who only lets Jesus come halfway into his heart, is much poorer than a person who doesn’t have the Lord at all---because, he doesn’t get the peace that passes all understanding, and he doesn’t have the world’s peace either, because he’s been exposed to the truth and ultimately, chooses to reject it.” `Being a true believer involves all of a person---mind, body, soul and will, and emotion.
The 3rd soil that Jesus identified was the thorny soil----it was deep enough and it was fertile enough, but it was full of thorns. Thorns are hardy plants and they grow so prolifically that they choke out the good seed. People with this heart show the initial promise of a germinated seed----but then, there is no fruit produced, which is evidence, that the worries of life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things, have rooted out the seed.
Worry is a daily ingredient for these people ----a thousand cares exist to occupy their minds---satan uses worry to take the focus off of the Lord and put it on this world---------which crowds out the Gospel, and focuses attention away from the world to come.
Wealth, like worry, focuses attention on this world. Wealthy people tend to be independent and self-sufficient-----money insulates them from the harsh realities of life, so they don’t feel like they need the Gospel. They think that they can take care of themselves.
The desire for other things, is the 3rd thorn that the Lord focused on---and it can be all kinds of things---from legitimate things to heinous things-----but they all have one long continuous cry, of give me, give me, give me…and they divide a heart ------half of it wants the things of the Lord, but the other half “wants what it wants when it wants it”. ( the story goes that there was a young man who proposed to a young girl, He said , “darling, I want you to know that I love you more than anything else in the world. I want you to marry me. I’m not rich. I don’t have a yacht or a Rolls Royce like Johnny Brown, but I do you love you with all my heart.” She thought for a minute and then said, “I love you with all my heart, too, but tell me more about Johnny Brown.”-------(Classsic example of a divided heart.)
All three types of thorns are hindrances, to the development of the Word in human hearts, because they convince us to put our focus on this world, instead of on the world to come.
And last but not least----the seed that falls on good ground….is the one that has the best chance of producing good fruit. This is an example of a heart that is receptive to the Gospel. It hears, it heeds, and it holds the word in its heart. It mixes with the person’s faith and begins to germinate. And Satan cannot snatch it away. No thoroughfare of human activities tramples it, no rocky ledge obstructs it, no hostility overtakes it and no worldly longings can halt the steady growth of the knowledge of God. The Word prevails in this heart, and proves its presence, by the production of the Fruit of the Spirit----love joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control-----and over time, this heart produces over 30, 60, or 100% harvest of good works.
The 4 soils represent 4 different ways that people respond to God’s message. Usually, we think that Jesus was talking about 4 different kinds of people. But He could have been talking about 1.) different times or phases in a person’s life, or
2) how we willingly apply God’s message to some areas of our life, but resist applying it to others. For example, we may be open to God about our future, but closed concerning how we spend our money. We may respond like the good soil to God’s demand for worship, but respond like rocky soil to his demand to give to people in need. We need to strive to be like the good soil in every area of our lives, at all times.
The hearing and understanding of God’s Word is a mystery, and in this first parable is the key to all the other ones, because, in it, the Lord has given us a glimpse of what is going on, in the unseen world. He wants us to know that He, as the Word, is the ultimate communication from and connection with God, the Father. Right now, the most important thing that we can do is to listen to Him---not with hard hearts, busy and distracted, that need to be plowed before they are seeded. And not with shallow hearts where only the emotions of a person are engaged----and not with hearts that have one eye on Him and one eye on the world. The Lord was telling those early believers to be patient, and to be about His business; by continuing to sow the seed, and that, in time, He would grow the seed to fruition. ---------His message is still the same-----the words are still meant for us. We need to be patient and sow the seed, and wait for God, because there will be a harvest and the Lord God will gather it in…
II. The Growing Seed 4:26-29
(It delighted me a few weeks ago when Lizzie, my just married, 23 year old baby daughter, was overwhelmed, by the mystery, of how God makes things grow. She is a horsewoman, and a month or so before, had bred her horse Keeley to a very nice stallion pony. She was very matter of fact about it, and talked about it in pretty technical terms, once the initial shock, of having seen the process, had worn off…. She was so funny about her clinical appraisal of everything, until she saw the ultrasound------Keeley is about 8 weeks pregnant----so I don’t know what Lizzie, who is a college educated biology minor, thought she was going to see----but she called me just after the ultrasound-----and with awe and wonder in her voice said, “Mom, it looks just like a baby horse……” After I stopped laughing, I assured her, that that was part of God’s mystery---a seed is sown, and it is nourished, and it grows, and each seed grows to be what it was intended to be-----How amazing are the ways of God!!!!)
This parable of the growing seed teaches us that spiritual growth can’t be measured with a stopwatch. The kingdom of God may be planted in us, in an instant, but its growth becomes apparent only with the passing of time and with the practice of faithfulness…Spiritual growth is a continual, gradual process, which will one day be mature enough to harvest. Spiritual growth can be divided into 2 parts-----our part; and God’s. We can’t do very much----all we can do is take the seed and scatter it----but what the Lord then does with it, should never cease to amaze us.
The analogy, is to the farmer, sowing the seed--------after he has sown it, he waits----he can water and fertilize the ground but he can’t make the seed germinate and grow.---so he waits-----because the rest is up to God, God alone can give life. The biologist can dissect the seed and name all its various parts. The geneticist can go even deeper into the structure of things, and can even define and map the seed’s genetic code, and he can clone and produce identical plants, and he can breed and cross-pollinate and produce hybrid plants------but if there is no life----none of what he can do, will matter at all. The law of biogenesis states, “There can be no life without antecedent life.” (life that existed before) and we know that all life comes from God. The most zealous believer can no more save a soul than he can create a star -----he can only sow the seed, God has to do all the rest, and it’s a wonderful, marvelous mystery, that we have choose to believe is true.
After the passing of time, the farmer who had been going about his other tasks, comes back to look at his field, and the miracle has happened, little green shoots are poking up out of the ground. The farmer weeds the plants and makes sure they are watered and protected from frost----- and he checks, often to make sure they’re growing. The plant grows tall and it matures, until its ready to be picked. The farmer doesn’t know how it happens, he just knows that it does…it is something that is a everyday occurrence, one that is taken for granted, most of the time, but the truth is-----it’s a miracle----every growing stalk in a farmer’s field is a miracle. The farmer owes it all to God---he might be a clever and intelligent farmer, but without God, he can produce nothing. (our responsibility is to sow the seed of the gospel, and then come back to the person and experience the joy, when we see that it has germinated and is growing----we can nurture them with concern and encouragement and invitations to church and bible study and spending time together, talking about the Lord-----but it’s the Lord that makes it grow. Sometimes growth is imperceptible, but we have to stay faithful to the Lord and to His work, because the Holy Spirit is powerfully working, even if we can’t always see visible results, which means we don’t need to badger, dictate, cajole or force people to believe, we just need to sow the seed, the Holy Spirit will woo them. )
And then, there will come a time to harvest what has grown------the farmer will take his sickle, cut his crops and store them in the barn. In the same way, God will, one day, decide that the field is ripe and ready for harvest. He will intervene in the world’s affairs, and will come and get His children and take them with Him into His eternal kingdom. God has promised that his harvest will be magnificent and prolific-----our witness may be weak and we may feel like our influence can only touch a few hearts------but the Word of God is a powerful fertilizer, for growth -----we just need to keep our eyes on the great harvest to come and not let bad soil or weeds and thorns discourage us from faithful service and bold witnessing. Believing in something that we cannot see, is faith….
III. The Mustard Seed 4:30-32
There are some scholars who see this parable as a negative one---our commentary, in our workbook, is one that does----it sees the birds as satan, taking the seed away, and the mustard plant, as representative of the church having failed in its mission, because it became an established institution, and has lost the humility that the Lord had intended for it to have-----but the actual text doesn’t bear this out-----what the scripture really speaks to is about what God can do with small beginnings, and it assures us, that we need to expectant and ready for the magnificent growth that He will enable us to see and be a part of., even though there is no doubt that satan is hovering around trying to steal what he can…
In Palestine, a grain of mustard seed stood proverbially, for the smallest conceivable thing. Faith, the size of a mustard seed means that it is the smallest conceivable amount of faith----and yet the Lord can grow it into something that is so much bigger than we can imagine…. And compared to the size of its seed, the mustard plant grows into a huge tree-like structure. Some of them grow as big as a horse and rider. And a cloud of birds around the mustard plant is a common sight, because the birds love to eat the little black seeds.
William Barclay says, “that in the Old Testament, (in Ezekiel 17:22 and Daniel 4:10,) one of the most common ways to describe a great empire, is as a tree-----and the smaller nations, that it’s conquered, are seen as birds, trying to find shelter in the shadow of its branches. This parable of the mustard seed tells us to not be discouraged by small beginnings----not to worry that we can only produce a very small impact-----because if a small thing is repeated over and over, it has the potential to become a very large thing, eventually. (think about trying to make red icing-----when you put the first drop of red food coloring into the white icing and it only turns slightly pink----you think this is never gonna work ----and then, drop by drop, using almost the whole bottle, you get a beautiful red icing that would do any confection rose proud…it’s the repeated drops that produce the effect.)
This parable speaks about the kingdom of God, which began with one person, Jesus ------and it will come to fruition, with a kingdom so large, that we can’t even begin to count the numbers. It will be full of all kinds of people, from all different denominations, at all different places in their walks, with all kinds of different
Interpretations and traditions------but there will be one thing that we will all share----a relationship with the Lord Jesus, as our Savior and Lord.
The point of the parable lies in the size of the mustard seed when its sown, and the size of the mustard plant when its grown.
The kingdom of God, on earth, represented by the church, seems small and insignificant in men’s eyes----in Jesus’s day it was so small, and people had such contempt for it, that they murdered its king-----but, someday, when it is fully grown and reaches its full potential, the whole world will be awed by it…People still have a poor opinion of God’s work in the world----there are persecuted Christians in so many counties in the world-----and still the kingdom grows, and its our responsibility to help any way that we can and one of those ways is through prayer—
--Sunday, November 10, is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church-----this is one of the biggest world-wide prayer events-, that there is----it is important for us to remember to pray---that’s one way we can nurture and water the seed. Everywhere the kingdom of God has gone, it has brought with it, hospitals and schools; truth, morality, ethics, decency and compassion and above all else, it has brought salvation. Wherever the Gospel has gone, it has abolished cannibalism, child sacrifice, cruelty to widows, polygamy, demonism, slavery and 1000 other horrible behaviors….Christianity has built orphanages and asylums, it has cared for the sick, comforted the bereaved and helped the infirm-----everywhere the kingdom has gone, it has made a difference.
(Once, a new church was being built, one of its great features was going to be a large stained glass window. The committee in charge searched for a subject for the window and finally decided on the lines from an Ann Shepherd hymn, “Around the throne of God in heaven, thousands of children stand.” They employed a famous artist to paint the picture from which the window would be made. He began to work and fell in love with the task. Finally he finished it. He went to bed and fell asleep, but in the night, he seemed to hear a noise in his studio: he went into the studio to investigate and there he saw a stranger with a brush and a palette in his hands working at his picture. “Stop!!” he cried. “You’ll ruin my picture,” “I think “ said the stranger, “that you have ruined it already.” “How is that?” said the artist. “Well, said the stranger, “you have many colors on your palette, but you have only used one color for the faces of the children. Who told you that in heaven there were only children whose faces are white? “No one,” said the artist, “ just thought of it that way.” “Look!” said the stranger. “I will paint their faces in every color and shade of every race. They are all there, for they have all answered my call.” “Your call, said the artist. “Who are you?” The stranger smiled, “ Once, long ago I said, “Let the children come to me and don’t stop them, for of such is the kingdom of heaven-----
and I’m still saying it.” Then the artist realized that it was the Master himself, and as he did so, he vanished from his sight. The picture looked so much more wonderful now, with its children, having faces of every shade and color, as well as white.
In the morning, the artist woke up and rushed through to his studio. His picture was just as he had left it; and he knew that it had all been a dream. Although that very day, the committee was coming to examine the picture-----he seized the brushes and his paints, and began to paint the children of every color and every race throughout the world. When the committee arrived, they thought the picture was very beautiful and one whispered excitedly----“Why, it’s God’s family at home…” )
We are the family of God, and that family which began so small in Palestine has grown large and it will grow larger still----the kingdom has rooms in it, for every nation in the world and for every person who wants to be there.
As we walk through our days in this world----we need to remember, that God is at work today, just like He was in Jesus’ day, and we need to rest in Him and in His promises, and we need to be humble and loving, not seeking status or advancement, but spurring each other on with love and good deeds.
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