You know today’s passage. It is one of the most widely known of Jesus’ parables. Today we are going to be looking at the parable of the Sower, or more accurately, the parable of the seeds. This is a fairly well known parable, and it is helpful that both the parable and the explanation are so close together in the text. This parable is in all three Synoptic gospels, meaning the three gospels that are close in content and form; Matthew, Mark and Luke. This means that this parable is one of the more important teachings of Jesus. A parable is a literary device Jesus uses frequently. It is a fictional story that should lead the listener to a deeper spiritual insight; it invites critical thinking. So here we have, toward the middle of Mark, a parable that really explains to the readers why things are the way they are; why some people believe in Jesus, and some don’t; why some people grow in faith, and others lose their faith.
Normally I like to give people an image or thought with which to think about the text we are looking at on a particular day. But today I’ll just let the text speak for itself, I’m not sure an interpretive angle is necessary. Let’s just get into the text for today. Mark 4:1ff.
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. 2 He taught them many things by
parables, and in his teaching said: 3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some
fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it
did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants
were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which
grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil.
It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a
hundred times.”
9 Then
Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
10 When
he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the
parables. 11 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 12 so that,
”‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’”
13 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand
this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14 The farmer sows the word. 15 Some people are like seed along the
path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes
away the word that was sown in them. 16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and
at once receive it with joy. 17 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. 18 Still others, like seed sown among
thorns, hear the word; 19 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. 20 Others, like seed sown on good soil,
hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—thirty, sixty or even a hundred
times what was sown.” [1]
Let’s pray.
We’ve been working our way through Mark, one of the
books that chronicle Jesus life. Mark was the first gospel written, and it is
the shortest gospel. Mark has just 16 chapters, and the 16th isn’t
very long at all. It has the least amount of teaching, when compared to Luke
and Matthew and John. What teaching and parables there are seem to be the
important ones. So today we get an important parable, the parables of the Sower
and the Seeds.
Jesus taught a lot using parables. A parable is not an
idea shell, it isn’t a delivery system for a concept-instead it is way to
create meaning. That’s not the way we talk these days; it’s a very different
way of communicating. Today in conversation we give an idea, and then we
illustrate it. For example, I think cows are killing humans; look at the amount
of methane they give off polluting the environment, look at the vast areas of
forest land cut down so that people can feed cows, and look at how bad cow meat
is for our arteries. I’m telling you, cows are trying to kill all of us off.
Did you see how I did that? I started with an idea, illustrated it, and then
finished off reiterating the same idea. A parable isn’t like that. A parable invites
people to think about what is really being said, and how that applies to our
lives. In the Middle East people tell stories that tend toward interpretation.
I think that’s a really cool way to discuss ideas. So today we are given a
parable about different types of people; it is an explanation as to why certain
people hear the gospel and what they do with it. Let’s take a look.
“Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some
fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it
did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants
were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which
grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil.
It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a
hundred times.”
9 Then
Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
You see the invitation to come into the conversation, to really listen and understand what is going on is both at the beginning and the end of the paragraph. Jesus starts with Listen! And ends with, if you can hear, really listen. The seed is the same in each different soil. But sometimes the message sinks in, and sometimes it doesn’t. There are always going to be different reactions to Jesus message of eternal life in Himself. Some people are going to accept it, some people will accept it until they realize they’ll have to change their lives, some people will let the Word hit them, and then they’ll just ignore it.
For me, this points to one important principle in the Reformed stream of doctrine. Predestination is the belief that people are Predestined to go to heaven. There is something more complicated called double predestination where it is believed some people are destined for Heaven, some for Hell. John Calvin, the theologian mainly responsible for Reformed Doctrine, never taught double predestination, and neither does Scripture. Predestination is instead the logical conclusion of one of the main points of Reformed doctrine; God’s sovereignty. We firmly believe that God is in complete control. God is completely powerful, and completely in control of time; God can see the end of time, the beginning of time and all time in between. And so God knows. God knows which people will accept His generous offer of life in Him forever if we give our lives to Him now. God knows which people will run toward Him their whole lives, and which folks will run away from Him for their entire lives.
Does this mean our fate is sealed, and nothing we
can do either way, either good or bad, makes even the slightest bit of
difference? I think not. We are not determinists; meaning that everything in
our lives has already been determined, and we are just acting out the life that
was laid out for us. I want you to hear that our fate is sealed in Christ, for
all of us who our in Him. But we also have a choice. I think the choice to pick
up our lives, our crosses and follow Him each day is ours. We can choose to
love God, or to hate Him, to ignore Him or to pretend like we cannot hear Him
calling to us. We can choose to be obedient, to place our lives into God’s
hands in an act of love and trust so that He can use us to expand His kingdom
on earth. Or not. We have the choice to be angry one day. We have the choice to
rebel a bit. I have to tell you that to me, at least, this is a freeing text.
That we are here right now means that we are seeking God, and we are clearly
told that he who knocks on the door, Christ will answer. Matthew records Jesus
telling us that he who seeks, finds, and he who knocks, will have the door
answered. I don’t want us to panic and think that somehow we might not be
chosen, that maybe we need to live in panic and fear that maybe we aren’t
chosen. Listen, if you are concerned about your fate, if you are seeking God,
then you are called.
What this passage and this doctrine of
predestination does is free us. Let me explain that. The responsibility for
saving souls is not on us. We are to sow the seeds. It is the seed and the soil
that determines what happens, not the sower. I was asked by a church, back when
I was applying to churches, how many people I had saved. I almost laughed at
the question, because it doesn’t make sense. I don’t save anyone. Jesus saves,
and all I do is point, with arguments, with love, with whatever I can, to Him.
He is the seed that grows in us, and will grow in others. We are free to
proclaim Christ, and not to be burdened with the thought that we weren’t good
enough arguers to get people saved. There are some theological traditions that
really focus on how many souls they have saved. There are people who go through
hospitals trying to save people who are dying. And God may certainly use those
folks to be calling home those people whom He has chosen. But it isn’t about
the person offering Christ. It is Christ that saves, ultimately.
The doctrine of predestination was never intended as
a tool for judging other people and whether they are going to heaven.
Predestination was not designed to force us into a life of fear and doubt about
our own salvation. It is more an answer to the question Christians have always
asked when they encountered people who responded differently to the offer of
Christ sacrificed for us. Some people accept Christ, and grow and mature and
become wonderful disciples of Christ. And others don’t accept, or if they do,
there are qualifications and temptations that pull them back into their old
lives. Predestination is built on God’s Sovereignty and power-that God knows
all, that He is powerful enough to be in control of all, and that He has a plan
for salvation.
I must confess I have worried about this sermon. Not
about the content or the message, but I worry about the lack of heart. This is
a cerebral sermon, but faith is really a matter of the heart. And the truth is
that it breaks my heart to watch people I know have the truth bounce off them
or have it choked out of them by the cares of the world. It ought to break your
heart as well. We witness as hard as we can to Jesus Christ; to our friends and
neighbors and family members. Because for them not to know Christ is tragic.
But we leave the results in God’s hands. Have the heart to sow the seeds of
Jesus love-His sacrificial death, His triumphant resurrection, His commands to
love, but leave the ultimate results in God’s hands. Let Him worry about the
results-let us worry about how we are living out Jesus commands to tell all
peoples about Him.
Jesus explains and finishes the passage like this.
13 Then
Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you
understand any parable? 14 The
farmer sows the word. 15 Some
people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they
hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 Others, like seed sown on rocky
places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 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. 18 Still
others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 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. 20 Others,
like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a
crop—thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.”
I’ve met all these people. I’ve met folks who are impervious to the
message of Christ. It just bounces off them. You can testify, you can cajole,
you can beg and plead, but nothing gets through. They think they’re too smart,
that God doesn’t exist, maybe there are many ways to God, all that stuff that
you’ve probably heard like I have. I’ve met people who fall away quickly from
faith because they begin to understand that Christ and following Christ make
them change their ways, change their lives. There are some people are stay away
from Christ because they know He will change their life. They aren’t mistaken.
He will. He does. Always for the better, but often what is better for us is not
what we want.
There is in this parable a remembering of the joy. Remember the joy we
had when we first became Christians, when we first really committed our lives
to Christ, when we realized God was in the Heavens, knew us completely and
loved us anyway? Do you remember the joy that comes with the realization that
we have been forgiven? The joy that comes when we begin to read God’s Word, and
it comes alive to us…when Mark was writing his gospel there were many things
that would cause Christians to lost that joy. Sometimes it was persecutions
from the Jewish hierarchy. Sometimes it was personal shunning by family
members, or business partners. Sometimes it was that following Christ was just
going to be too hard. Too many sacrifices would have to be made. So Mark is
encouraging people not to fall away. No sacrifice is too great if it is made to
follow God; to serve Him more fully and completely. I believe that is a main
point behind the text.
I think this parable invites us to examine ourselves. Are there things in
our lives that are choking out the message of the gospel in our lives? Are
there concerns so pressing, or are we living life with such fear that there
isn’t room for God to move? Are there parts of our lives that we are not
willing to give over to God? Are we letting the past determine our present and
future? You know, America is one of the places on the planet where we worry
about the future more than is healthy. We have bought into the Western illusion
of control. We think we control our lives…that is what we work long hours for,
it is what we angst over. We think if we work longer, earn more money, then we
can control our surroundings. We’ll control what car we drive, what the
neighbors think about us, control how our kids do in school…all that stuff. But
really, we have almost no control over anything. We can’t even tell ourselves
not to breathe. Well, we can for a minute or two, then we pass out and start
breathing again. We can’t tell ourselves to be healthy…we need to give up the
illusion of control that takes us away from God. It can put up barriers between
us and God. That’s just one thing that can choke our relationship with God.
What are those things in your life? Write them down on the back of your program
and pray about them this week, ask God to help you give them to Him.
The other challenge in this passage comes at the end. What is the
characteristic of someone where the seed has gone deep? We can see by the
yield, or in other places, by their fruits you will know them. How
intimidating…30 times, 60 times the amount of seed to took to grow us, we
should be giving out. Do I think these numbers are unrealistic? No. Flat no.
When people live sold out lives to God, there isn’t a forced nature to their
lives, but their lives radiate God’s love, God’s presence. That is attractive
to people, people come to see what is different. Is that true with you and me?
Have we been attracting people to the faith, or scaring them off? Have we been
growing in faith? And if not, why not? Has our yield been stymied by something
that we need to give over to God? Maybe we aren’t putting forth the effort to
yield anything. Maybe we think our particular talents won’t work or be accepted
at the church…But I tell you this, we are supposed to be bearing fruit, and if
we aren’t there is something wrong. And whatever is wrong needs to be righted.
Let’s spend some time in prayer asking God to show us what our skills and
talents are, and to give us a vision for how to use them to expand God’s
kingdom here on earth.
Let’s pray.