Although I have been a Christian for thirty plus years there are still so many things that puzzle me. How can people hear the life changing message of Jesus Christ and refuse to accept it? Why do people not jump at the chance to have all their sins taken away? However the biggest issue that puzzles me is this; “How do people hear the same exact words and react in totally opposite ways?” If I would pass these questions out as a survey, I believe that there would be quite the variety of different answers. At first this sounds quite discouraging, but take heart; God’s Word does provide the correct answers to these nagging questions. Today we are going to turn to the pages of the Readers’ Digest Condensed version of the Gospel to discover the answers. Which Gospel is that? Well, the shortest Gospel, the Gospel of Mark. In all fairness, I need to issue a warning; you might find the answers that we discover quite disturbing. In fact they may bother you deeply but if we honestly approach this text with an open heart and mind we will discover the keys that will enable us to become a growing and productive Christian. To really be what Jesus desires us to be, we must respond to the truths we find in this text honestly.
I. Setting the stage for a powerful parable.
A. The lake shore has become a regular location for Jesus’ teaching ministry.
1. The synagogues could only accommodate a limited number of people and the growing size of the crowds coming to hear Jesus required a much larger area.
2. Jesus resorts to using a boat so He could comfortably teach the large crowds that were pressing in on Him.
3. This particular arrangement would have been quite effective as this would have acted like a natural amphitheater allowing the people on the shore and hillside to hear Him as He spoke.
4. Scripture seems to imply that Jesus always had a small boat ready for moments such as these.
B. What exactly is a parable?
1. Growing up in Sunday School we were taught that parable was an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.
2. The Greek word for parable is parbole and it literally means something placed alongside something else.
3. Parable came in several common forms.
a. Stories taken from ordinary life to drive home a spiritual or moral truth.
b. Sometimes they took the form of a simile, comparison or analogy.
c. Once in a great while they could take the form of a proverbial saying.
4. Parables often presented more than one thought but the secondary thoughts were always connected to the main thought.
5. Parables were designed to cause the listener to discover important truths while at the same time hiding the truth from those who were too lazy or unwilling to see it.
6. There is an important warning about parables, don’t read too much into parables forcing them to say what they were not intended to say. All parables have one meaning unless otherwise specified by Jesus.
II. The elements that comprise this parable.
A. The main character of the parable is a farmer that went to his field to sow some seed.
1. Farming methods in ancient Palestine were quite different from modern methods. In fact the seed would be sown by hand and then plowed under to effectively cover them with soil.
2. Obviously the plants did not grow in neat rows like they do today. In fact regardless of how skillful the farmer was he could not keep the seeds from being scattered in those undesirable areas.
3. To ensure a good harvest the farmer would scatter the seeds in a very liberal manner.
4. The farmer would sow seed on both sides of the road to ensure that all available land was used.
B. The farmer planted these seeds with certain expectations.
1. Although we may view his methods as being haphazard, he did it in the most effective method for his time.
2. The farmer’s goal was to get the most seed as possible to fall upon the areas which had good soil.
3. The farmer wasn’t concerned with the fact that each seed he sowed had a one in four chance of survival. He simply hoped for a good crop.
4. The farmer’s main expectation was that his work would yield a crop capable of providing for his family.
C. The results of the seeds landing in various places.
1. Some seed fell on the hardened surface of the road where it would not be plowed under. This would have provided a great meal for the birds.
2. Some seed fell on rocky soil which was quite shallow and not capable of maintaining the necessary moisture. This would lead to the young vulnerable plants being scorched by the heat.
3. Some seed fell among the thorns that even to this day are legendary in Palestinian fields. These would rob the plants of the necessary nutrients, moisture, light and space.
4. The seed that fell on the good soil yielded an abundant harvest. The depth of the soil provided the plants with the necessary nutrients, moisture, light and space.
III. Jesus’ answers for our nagging questions about hearing and responding.
A. Jesus urges His listeners to pay close attention to the words that He is saying.
1. The words for listen and hear are not suggestions. In the Greek they are imperatives. So Jesus is commanding the crowd to listen up.
2. Jesus wants His listeners to do more than simply hear the words. He wanted them to listen intently in way that would lead to understanding and application.
3. Hearing Jesus’ words are to believe them, to immediately begin living by them. To put it simply He expects us to apply His words to all of our life situations.
4. We too often are guilty of applying Jesus’ words to others rather than ourselves.
B. The explanation of the different elements of the parable.
1. The farmer that goes out to sow seed in His field represents God’s messenger.
2. The seeds represent the Gospel message presented by God’s messenger.
3. The different types of soil represent the different individuals who will hear the message.
4. The different results represent the different responses of the individuals to the message.
C. The bottom line is that people respond differently to the same message because the condition of their heart varies.
1. The seed which falls on the road represents an unresponsive heart.
a. These individuals hear the truth of God’s Word and either responds hostilely or with indifference.
b. This opens the door for Satan to quickly come in and prevent the message from taking root.
2. The seed which falls upon the rocky soil represents the impulsive heart.
a. These individuals get really excited about the message but do not really think about what the decision means.
b. When things fail to go the way they expected or they encounter difficult times they fall away.
3. The seed that falls among the thorns represents the preoccupied heart.
a. These are the individuals who want to have the best of both worlds. They want to walk with Jesus and run with the world.
b. They will never reach spiritual maturity because the things of the world hold a prominent place in their lives.
4. The seed that falls upon the good soil represents the willing and submissive heart.
a. These when they hear the message immediately seek a way to apply it to their daily lives.
b. These individuals are the ones who will truly grow in Christ.
D. This parable requires us to make some honest application.
1. We must determine what category of listener best describes us.
2. If we want to grow in Christ then we must trust our lives completely to His care and leading allowing Him to guide us through the growth process.
3. Being a Christian must be a lifelong growing process. We must realize that we will never be what we ought to be.
4. We can never stop seeking to grow and serve.
A little boy was spending his Saturday morning playing in his sand box. He had with him his box of cars and trucks, his plastic pail, and a shiny, red plastic shovel. In the process of creating roads and tunnels in the soft sand, he discovered a large rock in the middle of the sand box! The boy dug around the rock, managing to dislodge it from the sand. With no little bit of struggle, he pushed and nudged the rock across the sandbox by using his feet. (He was a very small boy and the rock was very huge.) When the boy got the rock to the edge of the sandbox, however, he found that he couldn’t roll it up and over the little wall. Determined, the little boy shoved, pushed, and pried, but every time he had made some progress, the rock tipped and then fell back into the sand box. The little boy grunted, struggled, pushed, and shoved; but his only reward was to have the rock roll back, smashing his chubby fingers. Finally he burst into tears of frustration. All this time the boy’s father watched from his living room window as the drama unfolded. The moment the tears fell, a large shadow fell across the boy and the sandbox. It was the boy’s father. Gently but firmly he said, "Son, why didn’t you use all the strength that you had available?" Defeated, the boy sobbed back, "But I did daddy, I did! I used all the strength that I had!" "No, son," corrected the father kindly, "you didn’t use all the strength you had. You didn’t ask me." With that the father reached down, picked up the rock, and removed it from the sandbox.
