Who is He?

Three men walked into a bar, one ducked.

Holly got it.

Three men walked into a bar, one ducked.

There's a dawning around the room, people are slowly getting it.

Who hasn't got it yet?

Don't embarrass yourself, it's okay.

I never got it the first time I heard it.

Your dad tells it too, oh well.

I know where I got it but I didn't get it from your dad.

It's great actually because you say something like that

and you just get this laugh and nobody else is laughing

because nobody else gets it.

And then you say it again and maybe a few more get it

and if you haven't got it yet, somebody can explain it to you

after church tonight.

But you heard the same words, everybody heard the same words

and some of you understood them, some of you didn't

and those on the inside, sorry, some of you,

I'm going to adjust that because I can't see.

That's my glasses.

Brian Rose not hidden, is he?

Some of you heard those words in a totally wrong way

and others got the secret.

The way parables work, Jesus says something

and some people get it and there are those on the inside

so they get what he says and everybody else is on the outside

in a sense they're excluded from what he says

because they don't just get what he's trying to say.

We're working through Mark's gospel at present.

We've been there the last few weeks.

It's not really a biography of Jesus.

Sometimes we talk about the gospels being a biography

but the more we've done Mark's gospel the last few weeks,

I've seen and for me that this is fast-paced preaching.

This is Mark telling us about Jesus quite rapidly

and making a whole number of points as he goes along.

It's a gospel that can be read in an hour.

Mark's a preacher.

He's on about Jesus.

He's throwing out a life-saving message that anyone can hear

and he knows that telling people about Jesus is going to get a response.

It will be heard or it will be not heard.

It will be accepted or it will be rejected

and you don't have to be clever, hate him or love him.

These words are powerful enough to bring people to a real faith

in the Lord Jesus Christ.

One of you took up my challenge the other week.

I was terribly encouraged by this

but one of you took the Mark's gospel from Morning Church the other week,

took it home and offered it to somebody in your family

and said, would you think about reading this

and writing any questions you've got in it as you go

and would you meet with me again sometime after you've done it

and we'll talk about whatever questions you've got coming out of it.

Now, I haven't heard the end of that story yet

but I'm really interested to hear the end of that story.

Today we come to a brand new area in this Sermon of Jesus

and it begins at chapter 4, verse 1

and I'd really like you to have your Bibles open as I speak.

Jesus began to teach by the lake

and 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 parable.

So what Mark's actually saying to us

is he's introducing this new idea

that Jesus used stories as a way of communicating.

He used parables.

He spoke in a way, he told a story to make a point.

Stories that draw us in emotionally

and then catch us unexpectedly

with a sledgehammer between the eyes.

Jesus uses stories which get under our guard.

We listen to a good story with delight.

The story gets past our defences,

it plays with our emotions

and then it drives the point home.

One of the most famous examples of a story like this in the Bible

is in the Old Testament in 2 Samuel chapter 12.

2 Samuel 12 · chapter mention

David is God's king

and David has angered God

by sleeping with Uriah's wife Bathsheba.

She is a drop-dead gorgeous woman

that he has drooled over

as he looked down from his roof

and saw her taking a bath.

She was straight out of a Jerusalem men's magazine.

She got pregnant

and David stepped in

and he didn't do the modern thing and kill the baby,

he killed the husband instead.

It's a really sordid tale

and the king who is described as a man after God's own heart

sins in a high-handed way

that he really seems to have got away with

and he can even look pretty cocky

because he can look like the man

who's taken this beautiful woman into his own family

after her husband's been unfortunately killed on the battlefield.

What a man.

Not many people know the secret

but God does

and he confronts him.

And he sends his prophet, Nathan,

to tell the king that he's under judgment.

It's a really dangerous thing

bringing the word of God to people

who might not want to hear it.

And Nathan tells David a story.

He tells him a parable.

He says,

there's two men in a town, king.

He says,

one of them's rich

and one of them's poor

and the rich man,

well, he had a vast herd of animals

and the poor man,

well, he had one little lamb

that he nurtured

and he cared for

like one of his own family.

The rich man had unexpected visitors

and instead of using his own sheep to feed them,

he kills the poor man's lamb to feed them.

And David hears the story

and he's absolutely fired up by the injustice of it

and so in 2 Samuel 12,

it says,

David burned with anger against the man

and he said to Nathan,

as surely as the Lord lives,

the man who did this deserves to die

and he must pay for that lamb

four times over

because he did such a thing

and had no pity.

So David's anger and his passion

is aroused at a story of terrible injustice

and Nathan plunges the sword in

at home with the words,

you are the man.

Now, I don't know if you realise it,

I see it with older people,

but we have this amazing capacity

for seeing injustice and failure

in the lives of other people,

not us,

and being completely blind to ourselves.

We see everything else that's wrong

in the world except us.

And it's a great story

because this is a story

that gets past our defences,

it captures our emotions

and it makes us hunger for what is right

and it drives its point home.

That's what a parable does.

So Mark 4,

Jesus tells a story,

a parable,

verse 3,

it begins,

listen,

a farmer went out to sow his seed

and 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 the thorns

which grew up

and choked the plants

so that they did not bear grain

and still other seed

fell on good soil,

it came up,

it grew and produced the crop

multiplying 30,

60 or even 100 times.

So there's a farmer

and the farmer goes out

to plant a crop.

I used to live in

north-western New South Wales

and that is big crop growing country,

flat ground,

big crop growing country.

And when it comes close to planting,

the farmers start to get really edgy

and excited

because they really want to get going

but they've got to wait

for the timing to be just right

when they plant their seeds

because they want to give themselves

the very best opportunity

of growing the very best crop

that they can.

They're looking for results.

So when a farmer puts a seed

in the ground today or tomorrow,

he's not just thinking

today or tomorrow,

he is thinking five months

into the future

when he's going to be bringing

in his harvest

from what he's planted.

One of the funny things I saw

in the country

was the competitiveness

of farmers.

The farmers would be watching

one another

to see who'd go first.

When's the time right?

Who's going to start planting?

And I knew one bloke

who lived in this farm.

They're huge farms,

5,000 acres

and this bit of a laneway

that ran between them.

And just before planting time

was really ready,

he'd go into his shed

and he'd pull out

his planting machine

behind a giant tractor,

fire it up

and he'd drive the tractor

up and down

through his whole field

without any seed in it.

Because he'd look

into trick his neighbours

because his neighbours

would see what he was doing

and they'd go into their sheds

and get their planters

and come out and plant too.

He thought it was a great joke

and I think it was.

In Jesus' day,

farming was a lot lower tech.

The farmer worked

through the fields

throwing out handfuls

of grain

and it spread around.

The seeds seemed good.

Nothing wrong with the seed

but where it lands

determines how it grows.

That's what this parable's about.

And he tells us

that some of the seed

lands on a path,

never gets a chance

to put down its roots.

The birds fly in

and they have a feed.

Some lands on rocky soil.

It starts to grow

but as soon as the sun gets hot

it dries the roots,

they wither and they die

because they haven't gone down

deep into moisture.

There's other seed

which grew with weeds

that choked the plant

and stopped it

bearing any fruit at all.

But the other seed

landed in good soil.

It grew and multiplied

even as much as 100 times

which was a great return.

Now I need you

to help me out with this.

I think Andrew's going to

push a button

on that PowerPoint.

I want you to have

your Bibles open

and tell me

what the responses are

when you read

through this parable

especially in the

second half of it.

So when Jesus explains it

he says there's some seed

that lands on a path

and I want to know

from the text

do they hear?

The seed that goes out

to the path

is the message heard?

If the seed is the word of God

is it heard?

Yes.

Is it received?

Help me out faster.

No.

Is there joy?

No.

Does it get roots?

No.

Is there fruit?

No.

The second one's

the rocky place

the short root type stuff

it withers and dies

but is it heard?

Yes.

Is it received?

Yes.

Is there joy?

Is that in the text?

It is.

You're right.

Does it get roots?

No.

It doesn't get roots

and is there fruit?

No.

Fourth,

the third one

the thorns

does it

is the word heard?

Yes.

Is it received?

Yes.

Is it with joy?

Come on.

What's in the Bible?

No.

No, there's no joy.

Does it get roots?

Come on, be brave.

Yes, it does get roots

and is there fruit?

No.

Last one

is it heard?

Yes.

Is it received?

Yes.

Is it with joy?

We presume so.

Does it get roots?

Yes.

And is there fruit?

Yes.

See what it shows us?

There's only one of these settings

where there is a result

where there is fruit

where the word of God goes out

and there is fruit.

Now it's a great story

you've got to ask

what does it mean?

And at first telling

no one gets it

not even Jesus' disciples.

So in verse 10

it says,

when he was alone

the twelve and the others

around him asked about the parables

and 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 might turn

and be forgiven.

And then Jesus said to them

don't you understand this parable?

How then will you understand

any parable?

So Jesus very clearly says

some people get it

and some people won't.

And he says

you guys will get it

because God has made you one.

I'm going to do something.

My fault.

Guess what I did tonight?

I turned the fans up to full bore

and guess what's happening here?

My paper's blowing everywhere.

Now I can use both my hands

and I can look properly.

Jesus says

you guys will get it

because the secret of the kingdom of God

has been given to you.

The disciples are not smart enough

to work it out for themselves.

They become insiders

because God gives them

what they need to become insiders.

So if you're a Christian

it is because God has made you one.

Faith is God's gift to you.

There are no self-made men or women

in the kingdom of heaven.

We don't get ourselves there.

God brings us into his family

and into his kingdom

and we are there

because of his incredibly gracious

kindness and love.

Jesus quotes Isaiah 6

from the Old Testament

and Isaiah is being commissioned by God

to tell people about God

and his coming judgment.

And it's a really interesting passage

because God knows most people

will not respond to the prophet's message.

He knows in advance

that most will come to judgment

and nevertheless

he sends his prophet out

in a very unpopular role

to a group of people

who mostly won't listen.

The word of God will be veiled to them.

They may be ever seeing

but never perceiving

and ever hearing

but never understanding

otherwise they might turn

and be forgiven.

They see,

they hear,

they don't understand.

So you can be sitting

in church tonight

and see and hear

and not understand.

But the point is

if they listen properly

to the word of God

they might turn around

and repent

and be saved.

So in the parable of the sower

the very first word

in this parable

is probably the most important.

Listen.

It's Jesus speaking.

Listen.

It's very emphatic.

Listen.

He's saying hear this right.

Jesus is not mincing word.

He is saying

it is imperative to listen.

You've got to hear

and understand

what I am about to say.

Now the disciples

do not understand it all

and Jesus needs

to explain it to them.

So Jesus takes

his disciples aside

and gives them

a ball by ball

description

of what this parable means.

He unpacks it

for his followers

who want to understand.

So verse 14

the farmer

sows the word.

The seed

is the word of God.

And so

in a story

which begins

with this really

urgent appeal

to listen

Jesus now explains

that they must

listen to him.

He is the word of God.

And once you've been

shown the secret

it's like

aha now I see

I understand

what this parable

is about.

And the story

is about

four different ways

that people

listen to Jesus.

It describes

how his word

impacts us.

And so

this is a parable

this is a story

which is about

us.

The parable

explains

where every

person

sitting here

in church

tonight

it explains

where we sit

with regard

to Jesus.

No exception

I'm in this

parable

and you're

in this

parable.

The seed

is good

Jesus

is good

his word

is good

it's powerful

in its own

right.

John tells

us that

the word

became flesh

and camped

amongst us.

The writer

of Hebrews

says the

word of God

is living

and active

stronger than

any double

edged sword

it penetrates

even to

dividing soul

and spirit

joints and

marrow

it judges

the thoughts

and attitudes

of the heart.

And so

Jesus says

to us

we've got to

listen to him

and he's

really saying

to us

we must pay

very careful

attention to him

and what he

has to say.

And he's

saying that

how we

respond to

him is

how God

will determine

how fruitful

your life

is from

God's

point of

view.

See

God

views

success

and

fruitfulness

in a

very

different

way

than

the

world.

He's

not

looking

for

long

and

impressive

CVs

and

PhDs

and big

bank

balances

and property

portfolios

and

legacies.

God

might

allow us

to have

some of

those things

as we

age and

mature

or whatever

it is

but

fruitfulness

will be

seen

in a

life

which is

rich

in walking

with Jesus

and trusting

him.

A life

of faith

a life

where he

impacts

who we

are

and

everything

we

do.

People

who are

impacted

by Jesus

Christ

to our

core.

So what

are the

four responses

to the

spoken

word of

God?

Verse

15

some

people

are like

seed

along

the

path

where

the

word

is

sown

and

as

soon

as

they

hear

it

Satan

comes

and

takes

away

the

word

that

was

sown

in

them.

He's

really

saying

to us

that

some

people

are

hard

paths

with

hard

hearts.

They

hear

the

word.

There's

no

response.

There's

no

interest.

It's

like a

male in

our

family.

You

know,

me or

my son

or one

of us

sitting in

the lounge

room with

the remote

control in

our hand

and Kerry's

calling us

to dinner

and the

word goes

out and

nothing

happens in

response.

It's

ignored.

And it's

saying to

us that

people like

that have

no reason

to even

think that

there's a

God that

they need

to respond

to.

There

can be

people

talking

around

them all

the time

about

God and

who he

is and

what they

believe about

him but

they don't

even notice

because they

are not

even prepared

to go to

first base.

And

Jesus

describes them

as the

ones from

whom Satan

comes and

snatches it

away and

God's

judgment day

will come and

they will be

like,

oh did you

say something?

Why didn't

you warn

me?

In

2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4

it says

the God

of this

age has

blinded the

minds of

unbelievers

so that

they cannot

see the

light of

the gospel

of the

glory of

Christ who

is the

image of

God.

They are

deaf and

blind to

God's

saving

truth.

The

second

group of

verse 16

others like

seeds sown on

rocky places

hear the

word and at

once receive

it with

joy but

since they

have no

root they

only last a

short time and

when trouble

or persecution

comes because

of the word

they quickly

fall away.

These are

people they

make a great

beginning but

they don't go

anywhere.

They come to

church, they

come to youth

group, they

get involved in

a group or

a small group

or a bible

study, something

like that and

they say oh

how fantastic

everything is and

they are even

joyful about

what they have

begun to

experience.

they seem

like they

want to get

involved and

then they're

just gone.

And it's

almost as

though they

were never

here.

It worked

for a

while, it

was a

great

experience for

a time and

then they

just moved

on.

People

encounter

Jesus, they

hear his

word, they

become convinced

of the truth

of it, they

want to

respond and

then the

implications

start to

weigh really

heavily.

it might

make a

difference to

my living

arrangements or

my relationships.

They can

see that it

might impact

Sunday or

discretionary

time it

has.

In some

places they

might think

it's going to

lead me into

persecution, I'm

going to be in

strife at work,

I'm going to

lose opportunity

for advancement.

And what they

start to see is

that God is

getting in the

way of the

life that they

have mapped out

for themselves

and they just

fizzle.

They are not

prepared to

bear the

cost.

But the

third group of

hearers are the

most disturbing

from a local

church point of

view and I

guess for us

tonight.

It says in

verse 18,

still others

like seeds

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.

And this is the

really sad one

because if you

could just strip

away the weeds

and strip away

the thorn plants,

these plants look

pretty good.

I said this

morning they

look really good

and they're quite

magnificent but I

actually think I'm

probably wrong.

They look pretty

green and they

look okay but

they're not as

good as what

they could be.

They're lush,

they're well

cultivated, they're

fed, they're very

fine botanical

specimens.

And whether it's

an individual or

whether it's a

whole church,

these people can

look pretty good.

This church can

look pretty good if

it's full of

people like this.

But they're

massively flawed.

They don't

reproduce.

There is no

fruit.

These people

grew, they

choked, they

don't come to

fruitful maturity

because they're

choked out by

weeds and

thorns.

Get this, they

understood the

word of Jesus,

it began to

change them,

other things

took over,

look at what

they got

choked by,

they got

choked by

worries of

life, deceitfulness

of wealth,

desire for

other things.

And they

didn't suddenly

get choked,

weeds and

thorns grew

amongst the

good plants.

In another

place Jesus

told a different

parable where

an enemy of

the farmer

came along and

he sowed weeds

into a good

crop, he

intentionally

tried to

ruin it.

I don't

think most

of us

intentionally

try to

ruin our

response to

Jesus'

command to

listen.

We just

try to

listen to

too many

different

voices at

the same

time.

We want

to prosper

in our

work, that's

a good

thing, we'd

like to be

successful in

business, that's

a good thing,

we want our

kids to

achieve at

school, that's

a good thing,

but it

becomes a

two masters

sort of thing

because, and

Jesus says to

us things like

no one can

serve two

masters, he'll

love one and

hate the other

or vice versa.

And so we

tell kids, some

of us as

parents have

told our kids

things like,

well you've

got to listen

to that voice

at school

because school

is what's

going to open

up opportunity

into the

future and

that will

unlock the

keys to

career and

therefore income

and wealth

and wellbeing.

And if you

do the thing

properly at

school through

the week, then

I just might

let you go to

youth group on

Friday night.

I have a

wealthy friend

really interested

in Jesus as

a young adult.

His dad always

had great

ambition for

him.

He lived to

please his

earthly father

and himself.

He went

after money,

he got it,

he's felt its

power and he's

used its power

to intimidate

other people.

He went

after sex,

he got it,

had choked

his relationship

with the Lord

Jesus and

he has been

fruitless in

terms of

God's kingdom

and its

values ever

since.

Churches can

be full of

people who

have choked,

churches are

full of people

who profess

faith in

Christ and

bear very

little fruit

for it.

I had quite a

wonderful

conversation after

church this

morning, a

man came to

me and he

said, don't

just tell people

the negatives,

tell people the

positives about

this, he

said, I was

a man who

had choked.

He came from

a church up

the north shore

of Sydney, he

said, I was

wealthy, I was

successful in my

business, I was

starting to think

about the Audi

that I deserved

to drive.

He said, I'd

walk down the

street and look

in the real

estate agent's

windows at the

next house that

I might move

to.

I had a

Christian heart,

my Christian

heart I wanted

to be a

Christian

philanthropist,

you know,

that means

somebody who

gives away

lots of money.

And he

said, my

plan was to

make the

first two or

three million

for myself to

set myself up

and then

everything else

that came in

later I'd just

give to the

Lord.

And he

said, I

had no

joy in

the thorns,

no joy.

And he

said, God

brought me to

a point where

I had to

acknowledge that

I was living

for me and

not for him

and I had to

relinquish some

of my dreams

and ambitions.

And he

said, guess

what I got?

joy.

I got joy

and my life

started to

become fruitful

for the Lord

Jesus.

And he told me

this morning that

he now works as

a lay minister in

his church, not

that everybody's

got to do

that.

But he said,

to say to

people, if I

preach this again,

to say that

when we give up,

we give up our

idols because God

gives us something

much better.

That's the

motivator.

God gives us

joy when we

submit to him

and yield to

him in terms

of his

purposes.

I went to a

conference the

other day and

the speaker said

that we have

churches full of

consumers.

And I don't

think I'm talking

to you like that

tonight, but I'm

using it as an

example.

He said,

sometimes in

churches people

are like Russian

ice skating

judges.

They hold up

scorecards.

So let's

give Nick and

the Musos an

eight for the

music tonight.

But if it

drops below

five or six,

we're out of

here.

We're going to

another church.

Maybe the

preaching's a

7.5, but we

really expect

nine in this

church.

Our preaching's

good preaching.

And the

speaker was

urging us to

listen to the

voice of the

Lord Jesus and

to act on what

he said to

us and to

move us into

mission mode and

to bear fruit.

The last word

that the Lord

Jesus spoke to

his disciples

before he went

back into

heaven, he

said, all

authority in

heaven on

earth has been

given to me.

Go into all

the world and

make disciples,

baptising them

in the name of

the Father and

the Son and

of the Holy

Spirit, and I

am with you

always to the

very end of

the age.

Now the man

speaking to us

the other day

was not a

young man or

a hot gun or

anything like

that.

He was 70

years old,

and he

said to us

very plainly

that he is,

and I quote,

this is his

quote,

damned angry

with people

and churches

that do not

give a damn

about people

who are

currently damned

by God.

He said that

with some

feeling.

The last place

the word is

planted is in

good soil.

Verse 20,

others like

seed sown on

good soil hear

the word,

accept it,

and produce a

crop 30,

60, or even

100 times what

was sown.

Jesus is

fruitful in the

lives of people

who don't just

hear his word,

but also take it

to heart and

accept it.

And I think

when I think

about fruitfulness,

I'm thinking

broad acceptance,

broad change,

broad fruitfulness,

lives which

overflow with

the fruit of

God's spirit,

love, joy,

peace, patience,

kindness,

gentleness,

self-control,

lives which

have mission-hearted

care and concern

for people that

we know who

don't know the

Lord Jesus.

People who are

unashamed to

go to school or

to go to uni or

to go to work and

say, yes, I

believe in Jesus

Christ as Lord.

Not necessarily

like that, but

however is

appropriate in a

place that you

find yourself.

Churches full of

people who are

impacting others

with the very

good word of

the very good

Lord Jesus

Christ.

I'm not sure

how you judge

yourself tonight,

where you fit in

this spectrum of

responses to

Jesus' word,

and I want you to

judge yourself,

I don't want you

to judge others,

because in telling

this story,

Jesus makes it

very clear that

there is only one

response that he's

looking for,

and it's the

response which

bears lots of

fruit joyfully.

And he says,

listen intently

to him.

And I think I

want to say to

you tonight that

if you haven't

been listening or

you haven't known

how to listen,

you can change.

You can move from

a wrong response to

the right one very

simply, really.

Haven't been

listening at all,

been excited, but

that was a long

time ago.

Got stale in

church with too

many competing

voices, too

many masters.

Jesus invites us

to begin again

today to listen

very intently to

his voice, to

seek after his

kingdom, to

pursue his

righteousness, to

become very

fruitful in God's

hands in a way

which will bring

him much glory

and bring you

much joy.

If that's

something that

you would like to

begin afresh today,

tonight, then I'm

saying to you I'm

going to stay down

here with one or

two others at the

end of the service

and I would love to

pray with you in

making that sort of

commitment and

beginning again with

the Lord Jesus.

Amen.