Mark 4:1-20 - On seeds, parables and hearts

Morning Church.

Okay, the reading is taken from Mark chapter 4, verses 1 to 20.

Mark 4:1–20

You can find that on pages 1005 in your church Bible.

You can also follow on the screen behind me.

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 teachings 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.

Some multiplying 30, some 60, some 100 times.

Then Jesus said,

Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.

When he was alone, the 12 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 seen, 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 it away,

and 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 ground,

on good soil,

hear the word,

accept it,

and produce a crop.

Some 30,

some 60,

some 100 times

that was sown.

This is the word of the Lord.

Great, thank you, Yvonne.

Do keep that passage open in front of you.

We're going to be working our way through it.

Let's pray

and ask for the Lord's help as we come to his word.

Let's pray.

Father, we do thank you for your word to us.

We pray now that you might help us to listen carefully

to what you're saying to us.

Help me, I pray,

to speak clearly.

Help all of us to have tender,

good soil hearts

that listen and accept what you're saying to us.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Now, let me tell you something

which you're probably sure of anyway.

That is that self-awareness

is a rare thing, right?

We are pretty good, I think,

when it comes to seeing

the mistakes of others

and less good at seeing the contribution

that perhaps we've made to situations.

Let me give you some examples

to show you what I mean.

Maybe you're at school, right?

Maybe you've had a really bad week

at school this week.

And you know why you've had a bad week

at school this week.

It's because the teachers hate you.

They mark your work harder

than anybody else's.

They have it in for you.

They see you coming.

They're unkind to you, right?

You're really sure of all that.

What you're less aware of

is that the fact that you don't do any work

might also contribute to the fact

that you've had a bad week at school, perhaps.

It's the same dynamic at work, isn't it?

When a project goes wrong

or when a contract falls over

or when that bid for new work doesn't come off,

we are pretty clear on all the mistakes

that other members of the team have made

and are less clear about our own contribution to it.

We're blind to that.

It's the same in family arguments.

Maybe you don't have family arguments,

but if you do, it's the same in those, isn't it?

Where the unreasonableness of everybody else

in your family is really obvious to you.

Well, they're so selfish.

They are always like that.

They are always putting themselves first.

And you can see it really clearly,

but your own contribution to it,

well, you're blind to that.

Now, obviously, that sort of lack of self-awareness

is different in different characters.

Some of us are inclined to self-pity.

Some of us are inclined to arrogance.

But the fact is that not knowing ourselves

and not knowing our own contribution in any situation

is really a problem, isn't it, in our lives?

Maybe you're still unpersuaded.

Let me suggest to you something that you could do

if you're unpersuaded that a lack of self-awareness

is a problem.

Why not, after church, speak to a good friend

and say to them something like this,

please, can you tell me everything

that you think I am unaware of

that contributes to the problems that I have, right?

And then just brace yourself

for whatever it is that comes next.

Now, in a sense, that is the dynamic of Mark chapter four.

In Mark chapter four, Jesus is that good friend.

And he's saying to you, listen,

there is a spiritual version of a lack of self-awareness.

And I want to, like a good friend

with my hand on your shoulder,

I want to show you the contribution

that your heart is making

to your acceptance of the gospel.

You see, we say things like this, don't we,

in a sort of lack of spiritual self-awareness.

We say things like, do you know what?

I would be a better Christian

if I went to a better church.

Church is kind of boring, really.

It's a pain to get to.

Or, do you know, life is so busy,

I would be a better Christian

if my life wasn't so busy.

I would read my Bible and pray more

if it wasn't for the kids getting up so early.

You know, Jesus would be more present to me

in my day-to-day life

if I didn't just have so much to do.

Or perhaps you think, do you know what?

Honestly, I've got better things to be doing,

other priorities you wouldn't understand.

You don't know where I'm coming from.

None of this Jesus stuff resonates with me anymore.

And into that kind of lack of self-awareness,

spiritual self-awareness,

Jesus tells the parable of the sower in Mark 4.

It's probably more accurate to call it

the parable of the soils

because it's the soil that's in view

rather than the sower.

In the picture, the farmer is liberally scattering the seed

and in the image,

Jesus is the one scattering the seed.

And the seed, as we saw with the kids,

is the word of God,

the message of the gospel,

the good news of the kingdom.

This message that he has been telling

since the beginning of Mark's gospel

of repentance and faith in him for forgiveness.

And this seed lands on four different types of soil.

The path,

the rocks,

the weeds,

and the good soil.

And those soils, we find,

are human hearts,

the different responses to the same message,

the same gospel message.

And the parable, in effect,

says that our spiritual condition

is a reflection of what's going on in our hearts.

You know, in the parable,

all the other conditions are the same, right?

It's the same seed,

it's the same farmer,

it's the same weather,

but the responses are different

as a reflection of the heart.

So let's just start by walking through

these different types of soil.

The first is the path.

I think first,

when I read this as a kid,

I imagined that this was sort of,

you know, like concrete slabs.

I don't think it's really like that.

What really is going on here

is like compacted soil.

It has been squashed down by foot traffic.

And the seed landing here stays on top,

it is snatched away by the birds.

And Jesus explains the picture in verse 15.

Look at verse 15.

Some people, he says,

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.

It's a tragic image.

This is the image I was trying to conjure up

with throwing the seeds around

the church building here,

that it would just go to waste.

There's nothing for it to take root in.

Perfectly good seed goes to waste,

snatched away, we're told,

by the devil himself,

because the hardness of the heart

has prevented it from penetrating

even in a small way.

By its very definition,

this is hard, isn't it,

to address in a gathering like this?

If your heart is like the path this morning,

then you're probably not listening to me.

Probably on your phone,

doing the word search on the notice sheet

or counting the chairs

or something like that.

But let me just try and wake you up

for a moment.

Because Jesus here wants to wake us up

to the possibility that

the reason that we're not a Christian

this morning,

the reason that we find all of this

a bit dull and a bit impenetrable

is not because the seed is bad.

It's not because the farmer is poor

or the weather is no good.

No, it's because our hearts are hard

to the message of the gospel,

trodden down from years of refusing to listen

and the seed just kind of bounces off.

The very idea that you are owned

by a God who has made you,

that you are given a life

to live for his glory,

and that your failure,

our failure to live life for him

and for his glory,

that failure has left us

in a moral peril

before a holy God.

A moral peril that only Jesus

can save us from.

Those ideas,

you never really thought about them properly.

That's because you won't think about them.

So let me ask you this morning

whether that might be you.

Might you be like the path this morning?

Honestly, it's lots of people

in our world, isn't it?

The people around whom

we spend much of our time.

Perhaps you're a parent this morning

and you find that your children

are like this.

Or maybe your nieces

or your nephews

or your grandchildren

or your mum or your dad.

They're just not interested

in any encounter

with the gospel message.

And every time you try and share it,

it's like it just bounces right off.

They ignore it.

The devil snatches it away.

And it's desperately sad

because the seed is good.

The farmer is kind.

The weather is the same for everyone.

But it takes no root.

The second soil is the rocky soil.

Here the image seems to be shallow soil

over some kind of bedrock.

So it's not just that the soil itself

is littered with stones,

but more that the soil

is just a shallow layer

over a bedrock underneath it.

The soil warms up quickly in the sun.

So the seed sort of germinates quicker

than any of the others

springing up ahead.

Eventually, though,

that layer of rock becomes a problem

because the roots can't go down.

So the plant doesn't last.

The sun gets hotter into the summer

and the plant is ruined.

Look down at verse 16

and you'll see Jesus' explanation.

Others, he says,

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.

This rocky soil

and the weedy soil afterwards

that we'll find

point to this reality

that false faith

and true faith

look, at least for a time,

identical to one another.

You know, at the start,

there's no difference

between the shallow soil plant

and the good soil plant.

In fact, if anything,

the shallow soil plant

is growing ahead

of the good soil plant.

But then things start

to get more difficult

and more difficult

in a very specific way.

Look down and notice

what he says.

It's here,

it's about trouble

and persecution coming

because of the word.

So here is it,

as we discover,

having listened to the gospel

and in a certain sense

accepted it,

we discover that

that actually makes

our lives more difficult

and not easier.

Perhaps we thought

that trusting Jesus

might just be a kind of

nice bolt-on to our life.

You know,

kind of a cultural insurance policy

for when we die.

But then being a Christian

turns out to make

really tough demands

of our life choices.

Doesn't prove to be

very popular

with our friends

or our family.

And so we give up.

You know,

the seed was good,

the farmer was kind,

the weather was the same

for everybody,

but the soil was shallow.

And so the plant

only lasted for a short time.

I think as a sort of

bit of an aside here,

it's worth just noticing

Jesus' wisdom here

for how we take

professions of faith.

He says here,

doesn't he,

that effectively

we should take

professions of faith

seriously,

but we should also

take them patiently.

I wonder whether

this is perhaps

particularly important

for Christian parents

and youth leaders

to hear.

You know,

how do you know

if that profession of faith

that your eight-year-old

is making is genuine?

Well,

Jesus says,

doesn't he,

just like with anybody's

profession of faith,

you cannot tell

whether it's genuine

just by the earnestness

of it.

In fact,

earnestness

is the speciality

of the shallow soil.

You can only see

the genuineness

of a profession

when it is tested

by trouble

and persecution

and whether it

perseveres.

So maybe when

the eight-year-old

turns 16 or 17

and their school friends

are mocking them

for attending church

or when they leave home

and living for Jesus

is way more difficult,

well,

then you'll know

whether their faith

is genuine.

Now,

the point is not

that we discourage

an eight-year-old

from professing faith

in Jesus Christ.

Of course not.

The point is

that we don't give up

praying for them

or assume

that it's all right

because we need

to see perseverance.

And that's not just

for children,

is it?

Maybe this is for us

this morning.

Maybe there was a time

when you would have

called yourself a Christian.

You were going for it.

You were earnest.

You were enthusiastic.

You couldn't wait

to pick up a Bible

in the morning.

You couldn't wait

to come to church

and sing praises to God.

But then it just

got too difficult.

You realized

that following Christ

came at a cost

to yourself.

That following Jesus

would mean saying goodbye

to friends and family

to serve the gospel

somewhere else.

Or that being a Christian

would make you suspicious

to the HR team at work.

Being a Christian

might narrow your chances

of getting married

and so you gave up.

You gave up on the message.

The third soil

is similar in a way.

It's the weeds.

Here the plant grows

and looks healthy

and genuine

just like before.

Indistinguishable

from a genuine plant.

But the problem here

is that the soil

is full of weeds.

If you've ever done

any gardening at all

you will know

that by definition

weeds grow faster

than plants.

When Vanessa

and I lived in Liverpool

we had an allotment.

It was the trial

of my life

going to the allotment.

I hated it.

Vanessa loved it.

But the only thing

we were successful

at growing in the allotment

were weeds.

You didn't have to do anything.

They grew fast.

They grew tall.

They took over everywhere.

And that's what's going on here

isn't it?

Look at verse 18

and see what Jesus says.

Still others

like seed

sown among thorns

hear the word.

But the worries

of this life

the deceitfulness

of wealth

and the desire

for other things

come in

and choke the word

making it unfruitful.

It's a tragic image

isn't it?

Interestingly here

it's not so much

that the challenge

of the weeds

is connected

to the word.

It's not persecution

here is it?

Rather this is just

life.

It's the troubles

of this world.

The worries of life.

You know

will I have enough

to make ends meet?

Will I be alone?

Will my children be safe?

Will my parents be okay?

And it's not just worries

is it?

It seems it's also successes.

It's the deceitfulness

of wealth

as he puts it.

You know

this trick

that money plays

on you

that it makes you

deceived

into this idea

that you've got

everything that you need.

Those lies

come and choke

the plant

and kill it.

Again

you probably

don't have to think

hard to think

about how this

might work

or even to come

up with examples.

You can think

of lots of

people I was

at university with

friends who were

passionate for the gospel

people who considered

going into

full-time Christian

ministry

even did it

for a time

but now

in midlife

and often

in successful jobs

are now

nowhere

spiritually.

Their Christian

lives have been

choked by

materialism

consumerism

holidays

experiences

and again

this is a call

for self-awareness

isn't it

to see

that thing

that you

really desire

that you

really long

for

might it just

choke the life

out of you

spiritually?

The desire

for money

or possessions

or even

skills

or adventure

or travel

even just

that love

fueled worry

that you

have for your

grandchildren

it can become

the weeds

and the thorns

that sucks

the life

out of your

soul

leaving you

dead at the

harvest

and Jesus

you know

like that

friend with

his arm

on your

shoulder

is saying

listen

have you

thought that

that might

be you?

Have you

considered that?

You see

the seed

is good

the farmer

is kind

the weather

is the same

for everybody

it's our

hearts

that are the

trouble

the final

soil

is the

good soil

really

it's a mistake

I think

to take the

parable

mostly negatively

because in

many ways

the big

surprise of

the passage

is not so

much the

path

the rocks

or the

weeds

the big

surprise of

the passage

is the

size of

the harvest

at the

end of

it

in fact

it gets

repeated

in verse

8 and

in verse

20

verse 8

still other

seed fell

on good

soil

it came

up and

produced

a crop

some

multiplying

30

some

60

some

100

times

he says

same

verse 20

others like

seed sown

on good

soil

hear the

word

accept it

and produce

a crop

some 30

some 60

some 100

times what

we're sown

here then is

the hope

of the story

that there is

such a thing

as good

soil that

produces

a miraculous

crop

that although

the stony

soil and

the weedy

soil might

be able to

fake initial

growth

still only

the good

soil that

bears harvest

fruits for

the farmer

here I

assume that

Jesus means

that you can

tell genuine

faith not

only by its

perseverance over

time but also

by its

fruitfulness over

time that's

what this

30 60

100 times

means and

for sure it's

it's spiritual

fruit isn't it

in honoring God

in godly character

and behavior but

it's more than

just that here I

think the fruit is

is implied in

in more

harvest more

seeds sown

more crops

coming the

word multiplying

and spreading

from the plant

that stands the

test of time

and just as we

can think of the

negative examples

we can think of

this can't we

you talk to the

people in this

room you will

hear stories of

perseverance

through storms

and trials

you will hear

conversion stories

in extraordinary

circumstances

you will hear

stories of good

soil hearts who

faced grief and

loss and

persevered racism

and abuse and

persevered love

for Christ that's

kept going and

kept living for

him you'll hear

stories of

families who've

come to faith

through the

witness of

children stories

of missionaries

sent to other

places of

churches started

of communities

transformed by

the witness of

the church

and this kind

of persevering

fruitfulness is

what we long

for for a

church isn't it

that this merging

of our churches

together is not

just a blip of

shallow soil

growth but of

lasting fruitful

Christ honoring

growth

now there's a

way to tell if

you've understood

the parable so

far if you've

understood what's

going on there

should be a

longing in your

heart that

says something

like this I

want to be

good soil I

long to be good

soil please Lord I

want to be good

soil I want to

stand the test of

time I want to

hear this message

of the kingdom

this message of

freedom and

forgiveness through

the Lord Jesus

Christ I want to

to bear fruit I

want to grow in

understanding of

the gospel I want

to grow in love

for others I don't

want to give up I

don't want to burn

out I don't want to

be choked out by

other things Lord I

want to be good

soil that's what

you should be

saying now if

that's you this

morning and I

hope that's all of

us then you need

to hear the second

part of the parable

because mark 4 is

not only a

description of the

good soil it also

tells you where good

soil comes from

because it points out

to us that only God

can make good soil

so essentially it's

not only I want to

be good soil it's

it's calling out to

God God make me

good soil please Lord

make me good soil this

is a little bit

complicated so stay

stay with me if you

can and notice first

that mark has done

this trick that we've

seen him do a number

of occasions on our

way through the book

so far that he has

swapped in material

that is a different

chronological time and

put it in our story

so in verse 1 you'll

notice that Jesus is in

a boat right it's a

floating pulpit that

he has pushed out to

sea so that the

crowds can't press in

on him but then in

verse 10 you'll notice

that he is alone with

his disciples explaining

the parable and telling

them why it is that he

is speaking in parables

but then if you scan

over to verse 35 you'll

find that Jesus is back

in the boat again of

verse 1 now all that

means that this story

about the soils is more

than just a story about

the soil so yes this

story is about self

awareness about the

state of our hearts but

it's it's more than that

he is he is giving us a

prototype of a type of

story that he's telling

of parables and wants

to tell you the special

function that parables

have in his ministry so

the parables says Jesus

work because they are

clear explanations of

gospel truth truth like

the state of human hearts

like we've been finding

in Mark 4 and those

clear explanations so

simple stories expose the

difference between an

outsider and an insider to

Jesus that's the language

that he uses in verses 10

and 11 look down at

verses 10 and 11 when he

was alone the 12 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 ever hearing but

never understanding otherwise

they may turn and be

forgiven now it's tricky but

the point is that for some

for those outside the

kingdom the ongoing effect

of encountering the clear

explanations of the gospel

in the parables is a

hardening of their hearts

a hardening which is

transparently the fault of

the individual because they

can no longer claim that

they haven't heard the

gospel they've rejected it

so Jesus point is not that

the simile of the soils that

we've been talking about is

just too complex for an

outsider of course that's

not the case is it a child

can understand the story

rather the point is that the

gospel truth behind the

story is not something you

work out intellectually with

your brain the gospel truth

behind the story needs to be

revealed to you so that

listening to parables makes

paths more pathy rocks more

rocky and weeds more weedy if

that's possible and that's not

unintentional from Jesus that

is his intention in the

parables the hearing of the

gospel is a sense a kind of

judgment on unbelief even as

it brings salvation to

believers let me try and

illustrate it for you if I

can imagine it like this it's

not a perfect analogy but it

will help a little bit

imagine that I came to you

and said listen I'd love to

catch up with you I want to

see can we go and get coffee

at some point you said to

me yeah sure that's great I'd

love to spend some time with

you Steve let's let's go and

chat it'd be great can you

what about tomorrow morning

you say and I tend to you

and say oh no I'm really so I

can't do tomorrow morning I'm

busy okay you say well what

about tomorrow afternoon I

can't do tomorrow afternoon I'm

busy tomorrow afternoon okay

well what about Tuesday I'm

free to all day Tuesday I'm

free all day Oh no I'm really

sorry I can't do Tuesday

anytime of the day I'm busy

all day Tuesday okay no

problem you say what about

Wednesday Wednesday I could

do Wednesday afternoon what

about you Oh no I can't do

Wednesday afternoon I'm busy

Wednesday afternoon. I'm washing my hair on Wednesday afternoon. You begin to think, don't you,

that I don't want to see you, even though I've said I do. And that, in a sense, is how the parables

work in the life of an unbeliever. You hear the gospel again. It's a simple and clear explanation

of the gospel. Not interested. I don't want to know. And you are affirmed and confirmed in your

unbelief. It's a judgment on you because it exposes your heart that actually the problem is not the

seed, because the seed is good. The farmer is kind. The weather's the same for everybody.

But you're rejecting the message and hardening your heart to Jesus. And the parables expose that.

This reality comes through again in the way that Jesus talks to the disciples about their faith.

Notice what Jesus says here. He doesn't say to the disciples, oh, you've worked it out. You deserve to

be insiders. You're bright guys. No, he says in verse 11 that the secret of the kingdom was

given to them. It was given by God. It was a free gift. It's the same idea in the bumper crop in verses

eight and verse 20. You know, the idea is a farmer who received such a bumper crop, what would they say

as they were harvesting it? They would say, wow, God's been good to me this year. Look what God has done.

Look at this crop. It's amazing. It's incredible. I can't believe it. Look what God has done.

Because God gives us the growth. God alone makes good soil. So we're responsible, aren't we, for the

hardness of our hearts, for the distraction of wealth, for the shallowness of our response.

But the only one with the power to change us is the farmer. He's the one who can dig through the path.

He's the one who can clear the stones, remove the weeds. So much so that if you understand the parable,

you're not only saying, I want to be good soil and going away and trying harder. You know, I'm going to

love better. I'm going to think harder. I'm going to do more. That won't help you. The soil can't weed

itself. If you understand the parable, you'll be on your knees saying, Lord, make me good soil.

Please, Lord, make me good soil. Lord, will you pull out these weeds in my heart? I've seen them.

Get rid of them. Will you dig through this bedrock and make me deep rooted in Christ?

Will you turn over this path? Because he alone can do it.

Let me just try and land this for us as we close this morning. Perhaps you've been convicted this

morning that spiritually you're not quite where you should be or where you pretend to be, where you'd

like to be. You can see the weeds. They've been graciously pointed out to you this morning by the

Lord Jesus. Perhaps you've seen that your desires are not what they should be, that your efforts are

misdirected. Maybe you've lost sight of what's really important. Maybe there's a relationship or a career or a

struggle in your life which is consuming you, throttling your spiritual growth. And it's easy, isn't it, in a

moment like this to see that and to notice it, but not to do the right thing with it. What's the right

thing to do? Well, it's to be sure that you can't fix it on your own. The right thing to do is to pray

now in your heart that God by his spirit would do some gardening in you, that he would pull out that

weedy desire for self-glory. He would break through that rock of worry that makes you depend on yourself,

that he would defeat that anxious belief that relies on its own efforts and not his. Lord, make me good

soil. And as we pray that for ourselves, let's pray like that for others in the church too, that our

young people sat in this room and making noise behind me that you might be able to hear, let's pray that

God would make them good soil. That in a world that tells them that preaching is dull, that churches are

relevant, that the gospel's nothing to do with them. May the gospel find good soil in their hearts

that bears much fruit. Let's pray for others in the church who are going through trouble, that they

wouldn't be scorched by the sun, but it would have deep roots that keep them watered through the

difficulties. And let's pray that God, through Christ, would throw the seed far and wide in our

neighbourhood, not being too excited by a fast response, but looking for a persevering, fruitful response.

Well, let me close in prayer. We'll just have a moment of quiet for us to pray in our own hearts

and then I'll pray and then we'll sing together.

Heavenly Father, we pray, please, make us good soil. We long, Lord, to persevere and to bear fruit.

Please help us, we ask. We know that so often our spiritual lives are choked out by the worries of

this life. Please, we pray, pull out those weeds that we might live lives for your praise and your glory.

In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.