Great Lessons from the Life of Christ #6
ARE YOU LISTENING (Mark 4:1-20)
How many parents have taken their child’s face in their hands and asked “Are you listening to me? Do you hear what I am saying?” And how many children have completely closed out what their parents were saying, but for safety reasons answered, “Yes mam” or “Yes sir?” Their mind, a thousand miles away on a thousand different things.
It’s frustrating as a parent when you have something important to say to your child and you know they are not listening. There is something they need to hear and understand, but you know they are not going to get it. In Biblical terminology – “They have ears to hear but they do not hear.” And your message is lost, because they are not going to listen.
Wonder if God ever feels that way when He has such an important message? Since the day He created man, He has been trying to get His message across, even sending His Son to model His truth before us, and yet often we just do not seem to get it. Over and over the Bible tells us how important it is that we hear and understand.
We are going to look at a well-known parable, but before we do, I want to quickly consider its context and make a couple of comments about parables in general. Jesus has been passing through Galilee and huge crowds are following Him. Some estimate in the thousands. The problem is – most in the crowd could care less about what Jesus is saying, the truths He is teaching. They are following because of the miracles being performed.
• Some need His healing. Others are following out of curiosity. For some, Jesus is simply the best show in town. People everywhere are talking, and everyone wants to see this guy.
• Remember chapter 1 – having cast out a demon in the synagogue, vs. 28 says that “news about Him spread over the entire region of Galilee.” Phillips paraphrases it well – “His reputation spread like wildfire.”
• Some do need Him…most just want to see Him.
There is a prophecy about Jesus in the Old Testament book of Ezekiel that is interesting – God through Ezekiel says, “people will follow Him but pay no attention to Him.”
• Ezek. 33:32 – “Behold you are to them a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well upon the instrument. For they hear your words, but they do not do them.”
• To many, Jesus was nothing more than entertainment. And that is a lot of what is happening here in the book of Mark. Thousands are following, but most could care less about what He is saying, nor are they interested in the truths He is teaching. They want to see Him perform another miracle, maybe in their minds, another trick.
Against this background, Jesus begins to teach in parables.
The gospels record some sixty different parables, none of which are found in the book of John. About 1/3 of Jesus’ teaching is found in the parables.
We have always defined a parable as “an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.”
• Let’s be a little clearer – the word parable means “a placing of one thing beside another for the sake of comparison.” Jesus would take the physical, that which those listening would understand, and talk about it in such a way that a spiritual truth could be understood.
• But even as good as Jesus was at presenting such a truth, there was a problem. Most had no concept of the spiritual and could not make the application. That is why Jesus says in verses 11-12:
“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, and ever hearing, but never understanding, otherwise, they might turn and be forgiven.”
• To those who had no spiritual understanding (for example, those who looked for a physical king who would restore the nation of Israel to its former place of prominence) - those who had no concept of what Jesus was about, what the kingdom of God was about - they would struggle to understand any parable Jesus taught.
• In fact, even Jesus’ closest disciples struggled at times to understand. We will see that in this parable today.
Mark shares a story about something everyone was familiar with – everyone listening was familiar with the sowing of seed and the soil that seed would fall on.
• We read those few verses, and we tend to analyze every detail of the parable.
• Please understand this – that is not the way a parable is designed. A parable is meant to convey one primary idea, one primary message.
• Using this parable as an example, do you know what the take-away from this parable is? It is simple: “You can hear and not really hear. You can hear and not get it.” That’s it. That is the point of this story.
Now with that in mind, we are going to look at two things in this parable:
• Jesus first tells why some people do not get it.
• Then He tells why some do get it.
• And here must be my take-away: having looked at those two groups, I need to look inside myself and ask which one is me? Jesus begins by making it clear that there are at least three reasons people do not get His teachings:
Some of you do not get it because your heart is hard.
The seed (God’s word) falls on hard ground (a hard heart) vs. 3-4
The picture here is of seed falling on a hardened path. In the ancient world each man worked his own field. The fields were divided by paths around them. The boundary was the pathway. Rather than walk through the fields and trample down the crops, people would walk around the edge of the fields, and what it did was pound the ground down and harden the soil.
The farmer comes along and sows the seed and some of it falls on the very hard pathway and it cannot penetrate the soil. Because it does not penetrate the soil, the seed lays on top of the ground and the birds come along, scoop it up and eats it.
It does not take a genius to figure this out.
• But again, the people are struggling to make a spiritual application, because they have a misconception as to what God’s kingdom is all about.
• All Jesus is saying is that some people do not receive My teaching because their hearts are just too hard.
• All He is saying is that when some people hear God’s word, it is like a BB hitting a Sherman tank, or a super ball hitting a brick wall – it just bounces off.
It would be easy to just apply this to non-Christians, but the truth is, even we as Christians can have hard hearts…the writer of Hebrews warned against that very thing (Hebrews 3:8).
• If we are honest, there are areas where we really do not want to hear God speak. It may be a pet sin we have no intention of giving up. It may be a belief we have held all our lives. It may be when God says “forgive” or “turn the other cheek” or “go the second mile” -
• There are times it is just easy not to let God’s word in and speak to my heart.
Some of you do not get it because your heart is shallow.
You hear it, you let it in, but not in too far, not in for very long.
These people do not have hard hearts…they have superficial, shallow hearts.
When Jesus talks about the stony ground (vs. 5-6), He is not talking about earth that has lots of loose rocks in it. He is talking about topsoil that is only a few inches deep. In that part of the world, it is common for large areas to have only a few inches of soil and just below that soil is solid limestone.
• The problem is easy to see – if you have that kind of land and you are casting seed, the seed will take root immediately. The soil is shallow and warm, and the seed quickly springs up.
• But as quickly as it springs up, the roots do not grow deep, the sun bears down, the ground dries out, and the plant quickly withers and dies.
Again, easy to understand: Jesus is describing people who never get it because they are so spiritually shallow. They have no spiritual dept.
• Those following Jesus, even if they are interested, they just do not grasp the idea that Jesus is presenting – they were looking for something different.
• In our day it is one who is interested in the gospel message and quickly accepts it, but they soon discover, that while God loves them just the way they are, He does not want them to remain the way they are. And it is often when one discovers what is expected of them that they fall by the way side – shallow.
• Some want to sing Just As I Am and hope God will leave them just as they are…He won’t. When it comes to commitment or lack thereof, we cannot have our cake and eat it too.
We all can be shallow at times in our commitment.
How many of you have made commitments – commitments that honestly, cost you very little – only to have dropped those commitments almost as quickly as you started them – mainly, because they were not convenient.
• Maybe it was something as simple as a commitment to daily Bible study, prayer, visiting, writing notes, speaking words of encouragement, whatever…what happened? The government did not threaten you. I doubt that anyone even made fun of you. Truth be told, you just quit.
• So many good works begin, often we are a part, and we start with excitement – but in time – well you know, because you have been there, done that, got the t-shirt.
• I have often thought – if we would get as upset about lying to ourselves and God as we do lying to each other, that in itself would transform our lives.
This is what Jesus is talking about – some do not get the fact that the Christian life is not a hundred-yard dash (if it were, most of us would do pretty good) – it is cross country – it is a long-term commitment - and we struggle with that.
• So easy to get discouraged and frustrated and thrown in the towel – shallow.
• I heard about one Godly elder who was asked how large the church where he served was – his answer – “About an inch deep.”
• One must wonder how shallow we would we be if we faced real challenges and persecution.
Some have hard hearts. Some have shallow hearts. There is a third group.
Some of you do not get it because you heart is divided/distracted/crowded.
The word falls on your hearts, but those hearts are filled with so many other interests, priorities, concerns. Jesus will explain that in vs. 19 – He says, “Their problem is, they are so caught up in the cares of the world.”
Do you remember Demos (II Tim. 4:10) – “Demos has forsaken me, having loved the things of the world.”
• I believe that describes the average non-Christian. Most are not antagonistic toward Christianity – they just do not have the time for it. They just are not interested in it.
• Most would say it is a good thing and if it’s your thing, that’s great. And someday they might consider it…but right now there are just too many other interests and distractions.
And we Christians are the same way. What begins as a total commitment to Christ, well somehow life gets busy. And while Jesus is important, he just gets drowned out among all the urgent.
• Too many of us are too much like the young lady to which her boyfriend proposed. He said, “Darling, I want you to know that I love you more than anything else in this world. I want you to marry me. I know I ‘m not rich. I do not have a big house, yacht or luxury car like Johnny Brown does, but I do love you with all my heart.” She thought for a moment and replied, “I also love you with all of my heart, but would you tell me a little more about this Johnny Brown.”
• It is so easy to get distracted by things that appeal to us. I do want God in my life, but there are so many other things that are interesting, that call for my attention.
• It is easy to approach our relationship with God like a recipe. There are recipes, where all you need to make it complete is just a pinch of that special ingredient. And when it comes to life, it is easy to think, that I have all that I need if I’ll just add a pinch of God…not too much, for that might mess things up…just the right amount.
• It is easy to get so busy that the cares of life become our life - appointments, projects, possessions, playtime, can take priority and there’s just no room for God.
Jesus says you just do not get it – your hard hearts, your shallow hearts, your divided hearts. You have ears, but you do not hear. Listen to me. Let me tell you how to make sure your spiritual ears work.
Some do get it, because your heart is good.
Vs. 8 – “some seed fell on GOOD GROUND”
Vs. 20 – Here Jesus explains it and this is so simple – the heart that gets it is the heart that accepts it. The heart that can produce a crop, is the heart that receives it, takes it in, gives it a place to grow.
Here is a truth we all need to understand – If we never totally accept the Bible as being God’s eternal, perfectly inspired word – we will never get it – II Timothy 3:16
• Too often our approach to the Bible is this – We study it and hope we get it, so that we can then decide if we want to accept it.
• What Jesus is saying is this – You will never get it, and it will never transform your life, until you first accept it.
The Bible is different from every other book – it is God’s revelation.
• I can take a very intellectual, human approach, trying to understand it to see if I can accept it – and if I do that, I will never get it.
• Or I can accept it as the very words of God – at which point it does to my life what is was meant to do – it changes me – and then – I understand it.
Here is the question: Where are you when it comes to accepting God’s word? Once accepted, there are so many things God’s word can and will do for you – and that’s exciting.
1) Scripture paints a clear picture of who we are.
James 1:23-25 says it is a mirror that I can look into to get an honest picture of yourself – In fact, it is the only place you can get an honest picture of yourself.
2) Scripture clearly shows us the path on which we are to walk.
The only safe and sure path. (Psalm 119:105) “Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my pathway.”
3) Psalm 119:11 tells me that God’s word is what keeps us pure as we walk that path. “Your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against You.”
4) And when we do struggle, it is Scripture that points the way back to God.
II Tim. 3:16-17 tells me it is in the pages of God’s word that I find instruction in righteous living and correction when I get off the path.
Such a simple lesson: Jesus says, “When it comes to My word, some of you do not get it. You do not get it because either because your heart is hard, shallow or divided. Christ’s plea: Open your heart. Let My word in. That is what will make a difference now and for all eternity.
