Are You Good Ground?
Text: Mark 4:13-20
Introduction
1. Illustration: In the movies "Gettysburg," there is a scene the night before the main battle. The commanding General of the Union Army, George Meade, comes to the house where their headquarters have been established. He looks at one of his core commanders and asks the question, "Is this good ground? Is this the place to have an army?"
2. Perhaps it is a question that we must ask ourselves. Is this good ground? Is my heart the kind of ground that God can grow?
3. According to Jesus there are four kinds of ground:
a. There is the hard heart.
b. There is the shallow heart.
c. There is the crowded heart.
d. There is the fruitful heart.
4. Read Mark 4:1-20
Proposition: We need to ask ourselves if we have the kind of heart that in which God can produce fruit.
Transition: First we see...
I. The Hard Heart (13-15)
A. Those By the Wayside
1. In this parable, the seed is a reference to the Word of God, and the different types of ground refers to the receptivity of the hearts that either receive it or don’ receive it.
a. All four grounds, that is, all four types of persons, heard the Word; but each received it in a different manner.
b. How each received the Word depended upon the kind of ground they were.
2. First, Jesus says "And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts."
3. The seed by the wayside: the wayside ground is an unploughed heart that results in a hardened life.
4. The person by the wayside does hear the Word of God. He is present in church; but he is off to the side, out of the way, not involved.
a. He lets his mind wander and thinks little and involves himself even less.
b. He respects Christ and the preacher, and would not miss a service, but he is on the outer circle, paying little attention to the warnings and promises of the Word.
5. The word makes no impression on the "hard-path" people.
a. Perhaps the person feels no need in his or her heart, no desire for anything other than this life, no guilt of sin or need of forgiveness.
b. Satan has no trouble with these people.
B. Hardness of Heart
1. Illustration: Someone once said, "If you live in a graveyard too long you stop crying when someone dies."
2. Ignoring God’s attempts to work on our hearts can be a dangerous thing, because after a while your heart becomes hardened to God.
a. The seed of God’s word hits you, but it will not penetrate.
b. It just bounces off, and it is exposed for the Devil to pluck away.
3. Heb. 3:15 Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion."
4. The children of Israel heed the voice of the Lord, and it left their hearts hard a calloused.
a. They repeatedly would not listen to the word of the Lord.
b. Eventually, the put themselves in a position where God could no longer speak to them, and it led them to 70 years in exile.
5. When we turn away from the word we create a condition in our hearts where we are no longer receptive to His voice.
Transition: The next heart condition we see is...
II. The Shallow Heart (16-17)
A. The Ones On Stony Ground
1. Jesus says, "These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble."
2. This heart is like thin soil on a rock, very typical to Palestine. Since there is no depth, whatever is planted cannot last because it has no roots.—Bible Exposition Commentary - New Testament
3. The seed on the rock: the stony ground is a rootless heart that results in a surface, superficial life.
a. This person hears the Word, and becomes excited over it.
b. He receives the Word, professes belief in Christ, and makes a profession of faith before the world.
c. But he fails to count the cost, to consider the commitment, the self-denial, the sacrifice, the study, the learning, the hours and effort required.
4. These people receive the Good News of the gospel because of the promises offered.
a. They initially show some promise of growth.
b. These people understand some of the basics but do not allow God’s truth to work its way into their souls and make a difference in their lives--their roots don’t go very deep and they wilt.
c. When trouble comes, they fall away.
B. No Roots
1. Illustration: Neil Orchard was talking with a farmer about his soy bean and corn crops. Rain had
been abundant, and the results were evident. So his comment surprised him: "My crops are
especially vulnerable. Even a short drought could have a devastating effect."
"Why?" Orchard asked.
He explained that while we see the frequent rains as a benefit, during that time the
plants are not required to push roots deeper in search of water. The roots remain near the
surface. A drought would find the plants unprepared and quickly kill them.
2. The kind of people that Jesus is talking about here are those people who come to Christ because it is exciting, or because it feels good.
a. But when they find out that it requires work on their part, they go and look for something easier.
b. Matt. 19:21-22 Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
c. This young man wanted to follow Jesus until he found out what Jesus requires - everything!
3. Because these people are looking for an easy way through life they can’t handle the fact that the gospel requires:
a. Sacrifice
b. Discipline
c. Surrendering
4. Because they are not willing to dig into and stand on the word, they have no foundation when trouble comes and their weak faith dies.
5. These are the people who are looking for a spiritual high, and when they stop getting it they go look for another place to feed their fix.
a. But they never get grounded.
b. They stay "baby Christians" forever.
c. They never learn what it means to be faithful.
Transition: The next kind of heart that Jesus talks about is...
III. The Crowded Heart (18-19)
A. The Ones Among the Thorns
1. Jesus says that these people "are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful."
2. "Thorny-ground" people hear and accept the Good News and allow it to take root in their hearts, giving hope of a harvest.
3. But there is one problem: the thorns of worldliness.
a. He is unwilling to cut completely loose from the world: "[to] come out from among them and [to] be...separate" (2 Cor. 6:17-18).
b. He lives a double life, trying to live for Christ and yet still live in the worldliness of the world.
c. He keeps right on growing in the midst of the thorns, giving his mind and attention to the cares of this world.
4. This hearer has too many different kinds of "seeds" growing in the soil—worldly cares, a lust for things—and the good seed of the Word has no room in which to grow.
5. To change the image, this person wants to walk the "broad way" and the "narrow way" at the same time; and it cannot be done.—Bible Exposition Commentary - New Testament
B. No Room For Jesus
1. 1 Jn. 2:15-17 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
2. The Bible defines worldliness by centering morality where we intuitively know it should be.
3. Worldliness is:
a. the lust of the flesh (a passion for sensual satisfaction),
b. the lust of the eyes (an inordinate desire for the finer things of life),
c. and the pride of life (self-satisfaction in who we are, what we have, and what we have done).
4. Worldliness, then, is a preoccupation with ease and affluence.
a. It elevates creature comfort to the point of idolatry.
b. It puts the blessing in front of the blessor!
c. It’s not money that is the problem, but as Paul said, "the love of money" that is the problem.
5. We are to love and follow Jesus not because of what we can get out of it, but because He is worthy of our praise!
Transition: Then there is...
IV. The Fruitful Heart (20)
A. The Ones On Good Ground
1. Jesus concludes His explanation of the parable by saying "But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred."
2. The seed on good ground: the fruitful ground is an honest and good heart which results in a fruitful life.
3. These are they who have an honest and good heart; therefore, when they hear the Word, they keep it.
4. These are the true disciples--those who have accepted Jesus, believed his words, and allowed him to make a difference in their lives.
5. Jn. 15:16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain...
6. Note the three steps in bearing fruit:
a. Hearing the Word
b. Accepting the Word
c. Bringing the Word (i.e.doing the Word)
B. Hear, Accept, Bear Fruit
1. Illustration: A Georgia farmer, ragged and barefooted, was standing on the steps of his tumbledown shack.
A stranger stopped for a drink of water and just to pass the time of day he asked: "How is your cotton coming along?" he asked.
"Ain’t got none," replied the farmer.
"Did you plant any?" asked the stranger.
"Nope," was the reply, "afraid of bollweevils."
"Well," continued the stranger, "how is your corn?"
"Didn’t plant none," came the answer, "’fraid there weren’t going to be no rain."
The visitor persevered: "Well, how are your potatoes?"
"Ain’t got none. Scairt - of potato bugs."
"Really, what did you plant?" pressed the stranger.
"Nothin’," was the calm reply, "I jest played safe."
2. We cannot stand on the Word if we do not read the Word.
3. We cannot grow from the Word unless we plant the Word.
4. We cannot plant the Word unless we get our hands in the Word.
5. If we are in the Word we will bear fruit thirty, sixty, and a hundred fold.
Conclusion
1. Which type of ground are you?
a. Hard Ground
b. Stony Ground
c. Thorny Ground
d. Good Ground
2. In the movie Gettysburg, General Meade’s core commander, answered him, "Yes, General, this is good ground!"
3. That’s what we want Jesus to say of us, "This is good ground!"
