Sow-Sow Living: The Word and the World
Mark 4:1-20
Introduction: "...Of making many books there is no end,.." (Eccl. 12:12). A lot of ink has been put to paper discussing
the mission of the church. Why are we here? What does the Lord expect us to do?
It is great to come together for worship and fellowship as we do on Sunday
mornings. Times of more intimate fellowship and learning as in Sunday School or
small groups are also good and encouraging. Is that the heart of it? Those are
certainly good and necessary things, and we’ll enjoy being together forever and
more fully in God’s presence one day. But what are we called to do now that we
won’t be able to do in heaven? We are called to "Sow-Sow Living." I am not saying we are called to mediocrity! Rather, we're called to share the Good News, the Gospel of God’s amazing
grace, with the people we come in contact with! Remember Mark 1:14,15, after
John the Baptist was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee,
“…preaching the gospel of God, 15
and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand;
repent and believe in the gospel..."
That in a nutshell, from our post-resurrection perspective,
is our mission: calling people to repentance and faith, and urging them to
follow the Lord Jesus.
Jesus was a
master teacher, and a part of what He did was use stories from everyday life to
communicate truth. It is striking that
Jesus taught the multitudes, He interacted with the religious leaders, but even
though His words were backed up by the signs he did, relatively few believed. Remember, the Gospels were written years
after the cross and the resurrection. The writers are telling us not only what
happened then and there, but also selecting and adapting material to encourage
and equip their readers (including us!).
Remember Mark is presenting his gospel to believers who are suffering
for their faith. He is offering hope by
answering three questions: 1) Who is Jesus? 2) Why did He come? 3) What does it
mean to follow Him? Here Jesus uses a
parable to tell his followers what they will need to do. Rather than spending our time in the details
of the parable, we might do more of that on Wednesday night, I’d like to focus
on the “Maine* Idea.”
Warren Wiersbe said
“…when it comes to sowing the seed of
God's Word we are not instructed to find fertile ground... We are only
instructed to sow the seed as well as to nurture and water those that take root
in good ground…” Wiersbe is suggesting that since we don’t know the
condition of the ground, we should faithfully “sow the seed” of the Word
widely, knowing that in some it will take root and multiply. That points us to…
The Maine* Idea: God’s Word is Truth. We don’t judge
the Word, the Word judges us! How we respond reveals the condition of our
heart.
I. The Purpose
of Parables: They
were intended to sift the wheat from the chaff… (11,12; cf. Isa 6:9,10). His sheep
hear His voice. Others will not believe.
9 And he said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." 10 And when he was alone, those
around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11 And he said to them, "To
you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside
everything is in parables, 12
so that "they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear
but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven."
I want to start in the middle of the
passage, between the parable and the explanation Jesus gives where Jesus talks
about “why” He taught in parables. The problematic part of the passage is
especially verse 12, and
the phrases introduced by “so that”
and “lest” (highlighted above). On a
first reading, the passage seems to call for understanding (by those with “ears
to hear”) when He speaks the parable (v.9), and then say that the secret of the
kingdom was opened to the twelve, but that the parables were spoken to hide the
truth from others. That can’t be it… can it? For background, let’s look at Isaiah
55:9-11…
9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways
higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. 10 "For as the rain and the
snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth,
And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to
the eater; 11 So shall My
word be which goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me empty,
Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for
which I sent it.
God is Sovereign. His Word will go out, and it will
accomplish His purpose. Now, in the light of that passage, consider the verses
from chapter 6 of Isaiah that Jesus is quoting. The scene is right after
Isaiah’s vision of the Temple and the throne of God, surrounded by the Seraphim
worshipping the Lord, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts…” One of the
angels takes a coal from the altar and touches Isaiah’s lips as he is
commissioned to bring God’s message to the people. What would that message be?
We read in Isaiah 6:8-10…
8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom
shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send
me." 9 And he said, "Go,
and say to this people: "'Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on
seeing, but do not perceive.' 10
Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with
their hearts, and turn and be healed."
That is unexpected! Notice a couple of things. The prophet
just a couple of verses earlier felt, unworthy, his sinfulness laid bare before
the holy God of the universe (6:5). However, once he had experienced cleansing
and been assured of forgiveness (6:6,7) he responds immediately with readiness
to do the will of His Sovereign King. Who will go? “Here am I, send me!” He is ready to do God’s bidding even before
God tells him exactly what that would be! That is faith. I remember when I
first got saved I wanted to be available to God. But I did pray, “Lord, send me
anywhere, but not to Africa please, not to the foreign mission field, and
ideally within a 50-mile radius of home!
I had a lot to learn about trusting God! “Trust and obey, there is no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to
trust and obey!” Isaiah was ready, “I’ll
go where you want me to go dear Lord, I’ll be what you want me to be!” But
notice the predicted results of Isaiah’s preaching: hardened hearts,
“…‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ 10
Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes…”
Why such hard language? Well the
first five chapters of Isaiah were an indictment against Judah and Jerusalem
for their unbelief and unfaithfulness to the covenant. The nation, and
subsequent generations would learn through the painful experience of the exile
that God is holy, that He is a jealous God, that He requires the faithfulness
of His people. Isaiah would preach, exposing the unbelief of the nation. There
are also hints in the early chapters, and especially later in the book, of a
future restoration from the exile. Jesus applies this passage to his preaching
ministry before the Jews of His day. Why?
It was God’s plan to work through the hard hearts of the leaders and the
incomplete messianic expectations of the people, to accomplish His purpose. The rejection of His message would lead to
the His being rejected and to the cross, and the cross would lead to his
exaltation and the accomplishment of His purposes. Isaiah asked, “How long O Lord?” Paul answers that
question for the nation of His day and beyond: “…a partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fulness of the
gentiles comes in…” (Rom 11:25b).
God’s Word, and
specifically Jesus’ teaching in parables, will sift the wheat from the chaff,
it will separate the sheep from the Goats. Jesus said “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me…” God’s Word is Truth. We don’t judge the
Word, the Word judges us! How we respond reveals the condition of our heart.
II. Prepare your heart to receive the Word: the issue is the condition of the
soil, not the delivery of the seed… With this parable, as with all of the
parables, it is probably good to first turn the parable on ourselves and be
sensitive to the conviction it might bring. One writer said, “I know the hard heart. I know the shallow heart. I know the selfish
heart. I am working on the humble heart- With God’s help.” Can you relate?
I can.
Jeremiah 4:3 says, “Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns.” Those are
commands, imperatives. Hosea uses
similar language when he says in 10:12 “Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your
fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and rain
righteousness upon you.” Jesus may have had these passages, along with
others, in mind as He told the story of the Sower and the soils. Two of the
four “soils” are mentioned, the packed hard ground that the seed falls on and fails
to take root, soon to be carried away by the birds (the devil). And also the risk of sowing among thorns (cares)
which could grow up and choke out the new life. It makes sense to ask ourselves if we are
consciously preparing our heart to receive the Word.
Let me ask you a couple of questions. 1)
What is Sunday morning like in your house?
If you are single, are you up early on Sunday morning, taking some time
to pray and prepare your heart for worship? Do you come expecting to hear from
God? If you are married, or have
children at home, is it a happy, expectant time, looking forward as a family not
to the afternoon plans, but to being with God’s people and worshipping Him
together? What is Sunday morning like
for you? The second question is: What is
Monday morning like in your house?
Everyday is important to God, and it should be to us!
The
attitude that describes a heart prepared to receive the seed, the Word of God,
is described in Colossians 3:16… “Let the word of Christ
dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom,
singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts
to God.” There is intentionality
that implies preparation, a longing to receive and submit to the truth of God’s
Word. It may be that if you come
to church and listen with openness and expectation, and at the end feel, “I
just didn’t hear God’s word!” that the fault is poor preaching. Sometimes the problem might be that we
failed to prepare our heart, we didn’t come listening, longing for the Word
of Life. The attitude God blesses, that
expresses fertile soil, waiting for the truth, is found in the opening on the
Book of Psalms, in the first verses of Psalm 1,
“Blessed is the man who walks not in the
counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat
of scoffers; 2 but his delight
is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night…”
These verses affirm the attitude of an authentic Christ
follower: seeking and submitting to the truth of God’s Word. That is good soil, it produces fruit. It gives
life and it multiplies. That’s God’s desire for us. His Word is Truth. We don’t
judge the Word, the Word judges us! How we respond reveals the condition of our
heart.
III. Persevere! Keep obediently sowing the Word of
Life knowing that some will respond
(v.8;20)! It may be that this is the primary emphasis of Jesus in this context
as He spoke this parable. Remember, He had just chosen the twelve that He might
“…send them out to preach…” (3:14)
and soon, after more teaching and miracles, He would soon do exactly that
(6:7). Not all the sowing would be successful, in fact, in the parable, three
out of four of the seeds fall on inadequately prepared soil and don’t bear
lasting fruit. Could that reflect the truth Jesus expresses when He says,
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is
wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it
are many. 14 For the gate is
narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few…”
(Mt 7:13,14).
When it comes to sowing the seed of God's Word we are not instructed to
find fertile ground before we sow the seed. Why? Man's heart is the soil, and we cannot know
the inner condition of man's heart, God alone knows that. We sow the seed, and
then we nurture and water those that take root in good ground. That is the process of “making
disciples” that the Great Commission refers to (Matt 28:18-20). When I say that we are called to “Sow-Sow
Living,” I don’t mean that we are called to mediocrity! We are called to be
ready always, with gentleness and respect, to give a reason for the hope that
is in us. We are called to keep sowing! William Carey, the father of the modern
missionary movement, arrived in India in 1793 with a burden to preach the
gospel of Jesus Christ to those who had never heard His name. For seven years
he proclaimed the gospel message faithfully week after week, month after month,
with not a single native of India converted to Christ. Through years of
struggle and doubt, Carey was often discouraged but never defeated. To his
sisters back home in England he wrote:
“I feel as a farmer does about his crop: sometimes I
think the seed is springing, and thus I hope; a little blasts all, and my hopes
are gone like a cloud. They were only weeds which appeared; or if a little corn
sprung up, it quickly dies, being either chocked with weeds, or parched up by
the sun of persecution. Yet I still hope in God, and will go forth in his
strength, and make mention of his righteousness, even of his only.”
Do you feel discouraged? Keep sowing! Be sensitive to
opportunities to guide the conversations in your day to day life to spiritual
things. And listen for clues that the “soil” is receptive! It also means that we “sow” broadly,
not knowing the condition of the heart. Think about the visitors and the
seasonal workers that we encounter day to day, at the Y or at Hannaford,
walking downtown or at the events on the Common. Share invitation cards, give a
tract or a pamphlet. Remember, God’s Word is Truth. We don’t judge the Word,
the Word judges us! How we respond reveals the condition of our heart.
IV. Pray for
hearts to be prepared to receive the Word of Life. I don’t want to go beyond the intention of the parable, but
could it be that some of the “pre-evangelism” work that we have been talking
about is something that God might use to prepare the hearts of the
people in our sphere of influence to receive the Word at the proper time? Most foundational is the importance of
prayer.
We’ve been emphasizing the idea that we can naturally focus
on the field that is statistically most responsive: 95% of those who believe and eventually are connected with the church
come primarily through the witness or invitation of someone they know. The
preacher might give a gospel invitation to which they respond, but the ground
has been prepared through an ongoing relationship, the seed has been sown, and
even watered, and God gives life, He causes the growth. We’ve talked about praying
for those 8-15 people in your close sphere of influence on a daily basis. Could
it be, that God who works through prayers would graciously “break up the fallow
ground” so that the seed of the Word would take root?
What is God saying to me
in this passage? God’s
Word is Truth. We don’t judge the Word, the Word judges us! How we respond
reveals the condition of our heart.
What would God have me to do
in response to this passage? It seems to me that this parable invites two primary areas of
application. The first is, like the original hearers of Jesus, we should
ask “what kind of soil best represents my heart?” Do we “…long for the pure milk of the Word that we
might grow from it…”? The psalms open with the description of the righteous
man, who “…delights in the Law of the
Lord, and in His Law he meditates day and night…” Do we delight in God’s Word?
Are we hungry for it? Or are we more interested in being entertained?
Secondly, are we committed to “Sow-Sow
Living,” sharing the Word with those who so desperately need to hear? Be
encouraged, some will respond! AMEN.
No comments:
Post a Comment