Ears to Hear (Mk 4:1-20) Sunday Morning July 15, 2018 Sleater-Kinney Road Baptist Church, Olympia, WA

Transcription

1 OUTLINE: 1. INTRODUCTION a. The parable b. Why parables? c. What the parable means 2. CONCLUSION 1. INTRODUCTION: I m sure many of you have had conversations where the other person just isn t hearing anything you re saying o You speak, but there s some kind of filter there that stops the message from getting across (EX: children and pizza) o It s frustrating! - At this point, we usually don t deliberately try to make communication worse; we try to fix the problem o Here, in this passage this morning, Jesus does the opposite He deliberately makes the problem worse so that they won t understand Him! - Why would Jesus do that? o This is one of the most perplexing questions in the Gospel of Mark a. The parable: Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them (Mk 4:1-2) - Jesus told this parable for a reason, and that reason is tied to what s been going on so far in His ministry people aren t listening to His message: o (1) Miracles, not the message (Mk 1:32-34) 1

2 In Capernaum, just when He began, there was almost no reaction to His message, and a huge reaction to the miracles o (2) The disobedient leper and the crowds (Mk 1:40-45) He left the city and went on a preaching tour through the Galilee region, The story of the leper who ignored His command to keep the miracles quiet is representative Jesus is forced to abandon the tour because He s being mobbed by the crowds o (3) Pushback over the claim to be able to forgive sins (Mk 2:6-7) o (4) Criticism that He preaches and teaches among the common people, not the apostate religious leaders (Mk 2:15-17) o (5) Criticism that He doesn t follow the un-biblical traditions of the Jewish community about fasting (Mk 2:18-22) o (6) Pharisees accuse He and His first disciples of breaking the Sabbath; which can punishable by death = their interpretation is based on legalistic tradition, not the bible (Mk 2:23-28) o (7) Pharisees set a trap for Him in the Capernaum synagogue, entice Him to heal a crippled man on the Sabbath, and begin conspiring to kill Him (Mk 3:1-6) o (8) Jesus leaves Capernaum and heads to the seaside, where He has to preach from a boat because the crowd is mobbing Him, trying to touch Him and be healed = don t care about His message (Mk 3:7-12) o (9) Scribes from Jerusalem accuse Him of being demon-possessed, and deliberately deny the truth about who He is the co-equal, coeternal Son of God, the Creator of heaven and earth (Mk 3:22-30) o (10) Jesus own family comes to Capernaum to take Him home, because they think He s gone insane (Mk 3:20-21; 30-35) Jesus explains that His true family are the folks who hear the word of God and do it (Mk 3:35; Lk 8:21) - That s how His ministry has been going! - That s the context in which Jesus tells a parable that explains why so few people ever care about the Gospel and the coming Kingdom of God Listen! 2

3 - This is important; this entire parable hinges on whether the folks Jesus are teaching actually want to listen to understand what He s saying Behold, a sower went out to sow. - In order to understand what Jesus is saying, you don t have to delve into insane detail on the habits of farming in first-century Israel o This is a story from everyday life to illustrate a larger point o Don t waste your time trying to allegorize and play up every single thing in the story - Just listen to the story as a whole, and think about what it means: o Jesus is preaching and teaching o He s telling folks He s the Messiah the prophets wrote about o He s telling them He s the King the prophets wrote about o He s telling them He s the prophet from God Moses wrote about o He s telling them He s the perfect High Priest the prophets wrote about o He s telling them the Father sent Him o He s telling them He s the fulfillment of all the law, the writings and the prophets (the Tanakh) o He s telling them the time had come, the kingdom of God is at hand, and commanding them to repent and believe the Gospel o He s performing all sorts of miracles to prove He s been sent from God, and is God in the flesh o The demons fall down, scream in terror, call Him God s Holy One, and the Son of God, and beg Him not to hurt them - All this is happening and most people don t care: o They don t care about the Kingdom of God o They don t care that the Kingdom of God has broken into human history in the person of Jesus o They don t care that He s hogtied Satan, the strong man, and is robbing His house and setting prisoners free from the curse of sin o They claim He s demonic, instead o Most people don t care about Him, or the Kingdom of God He s offering to them - So, Jesus gives this parable in that context: 3

4 o the context of a meh response to the co-equal, co-eternal Son of God o who took on flesh, o came here, o is living a perfect life for their sake, o and offers the message of perfect peace and forgiveness for anyone who repents of his sins and believes in who He is and in His message - As anyone who has read the passage knows, Jesus describes four different results from this seed that s sown o Each response is different, and has a different context And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. - What happens to this seed? o Not much! o As soon as it lands on the ground, birds appear to gobble it all up o It reminds me of the last time I spread grass seed in my backyard o This seed produced nothing Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. - What happens to this seed? o Not much! o The seed had a superficial hold, but the plant burnt to a crisp as soon as the sun hit it o Its roots didn t go anywhere o This seed produced nothing Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. - What happens to this seed? o Not much 4

5 o The seed sits, grows, but produces nothing it s choked away by the thorns and brambles o No grain, no crop o This seed produces nothing And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold. - What happens to this seed? o It s the only one that lands on good soil, which means a good location This didn t happen with any of the others o It s the only one that produces fruit and grows grain o It produces different amounts of fruit, but it still produces something And he said, He who has ears to hear, let him hear, (Mk 4:9). - The story is over, and Jesus is basically saying, Do you get it!? - Who are the folks who re going to get it? o Only the folks who have ears to hear - What does it mean to have ears to hear? o It means the ability to see beyond this story to the truth it points to this story is an illustration of a deeper truth it s a vehicle to explain an important point in a winsome, memorable sort of way o It s also a door to turn away people who are following Him for the wrong reasons b. Why parables? - Why does Jesus start teaching in parables? o People have wasted a lot of time trying to explain that the Bible doesn t mean what it says here! - Why would they do that? o Look and see for yourself: 5

6 And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 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, so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven, (Mk 4:10-12) - Sometime later, after Jesus had told a whole bunch of parables, a whole group of believers want to know why Jesus started teaching in parables! o It isn t just the disciples; it s also those around him along with the 12 disciples - So, what does Jesus say? o He tells them the plain teaching about the Kingdom of God is for them (those who actually believe in Him) o It s a mystery to folks who don t understand, but Jesus reveals and explains everything to true believers in private - What about the people who are outside the family of God, who don t have their citizenship in God s kingdom, who are still criminals? Parables are sometimes confusing; why does Jesus start teaching this way? o Jesus says he teaches in parables so that they won t repent and believe! - What in the world does this mean? o Doesn t Jesus love people? o Doesn t God want to save people? o Does this make God mean? o Does this make God unloving? o Does this make Jesus cruel and unusual? I ll tell you what this means Jesus is deliberately putting an obstacle in the path of folks who are ignoring His message, and coming to Him for the wrong reasons - How do I know this? o Because I looked back at the quotation Jesus used, and that s the context! - Where s that quote from? 6

7 o Isaiah 6 pay attention to what s going on here: (1) The Israelites hate God and have rejected Him Read Isaiah 1:2-4 He says they re like the people of Sodom and Gomorrah (Isa 1:9-10) (2) They re hypocrites who go through the outward motions of worship, but really hate Him Read Isa 1:15 (3) God says He s going to destroy the people who hate Him Read Isa 1:27-31 Read Isa 3:8-10 Ref. Isa 5:1-7; the parable of the vineyard that yielded wild grapes o Interesting; a seed that produced a worthless crop is unfruitful and useless! Read Isa 5:20-23 (4) In this context, which is judgment after the people have ignored God s command to repent and return to Him, we have the famous passage in Isa 6: (a) Isaiah sees God on his throne in His temple, in heaven (cf. Revelation 4-5) (b) the perpetual worship of the angelic creatures (c) Isaiah s scared to death, and thinks he s as good as dead because He s literally seeing God in all His glory (d) God asks who He should send to be a prophet of judgment to the people Isaiah volunteers - What are the instructions God gives Isaiah? o Read Isa 6: What does this mean? o It means God s sending Isaiah to preach about repentance and judgment for sin, knowing it ll just make most of the people angrier - Why is God doing this? o Because they ve already rejected God by their actions o Because they ve already ignored other prophets o He s sending Isaiah, using his preaching as the vehicle to harden their hearts and minds even further 7

8 - Why is God doing that!? o Because they ve already rejected Him o So, He s using Isaiah to make them reject Him even more - Does that mean nobody will repent and turn to God under Isaiah s ministry? o No! o It does means that most people won t o Kind of like the parable of the sower - So, why did Jesus quote it? o Because it s the same situation! o The eternal Son of God, God in the flesh, is telling them the Good News They don t care! o He s proved who He is by His miracles They don t care! o He s kept preaching over and over They don t care! o He s done more miracles They don t care! In fact, some folks from Jerusalem (of all places!) claim He s a tool of Satan o So, just like Isaiah, Jesus parables are a tool to deliberately harden unbeliever s hearts, because they don t care about His message The parables are a door to shut out folks who re following Him for the wrong reasons The parables are a filter to screen out people: who only want the miracles, who only want a political Messiah (cf. Jn 6), who only want a Janet Jackson (i.e. what have you done for me lately?) Messiah, or a divine butler for a Savior, or who want a vending machine Messiah o EX: demonstration with children This isn t a church-growth tactic; this is a deliberate churchshrinkage tactic - So, what s the parable of the sower have to do with any of this? 8

9 o Let Jesus tell you c. What the parable means: And he said to them, Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? (Mk 4:13). - The main point of this parable so fundamental, so important and so key, that o if you don t get it, o you ll never understand the Kingdom of God that Jesus came to bring, and will bring when He returns - Jesus gave this parable to a massive crowd right after He was accused of being demon-possessed by the Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem o Jesus didn t give this parable so you could sit there and try to figure out which of the four categories you fall into o You can do that if you want, but that s not the main point of the parable - Jesus gave the parable for two reasons: o (1) to drive away and filter out people who were following Him for the wrong reasons, and o (2) to explain to His disciples (and to you) the kind of reaction the Gospel of the Kingdom of God will have on people What s the reaction? Most people won t care but some will! o This is the nature of the Gospel! We shouldn t be surprised We shouldn t be discouraged We shouldn t be shocked o To use this parable, 75% of the people who hear the Gospel won t obey it some will reject it immediately, some will play around with it and pretend for a little while, o But, only 25% will actually: hear, accept, act, and produce spiritual fruit 9

10 The sower sows the word (Mk 4:14). - Who is the sower in this analogy? o It s Jesus, first of all o By extension, it s anyone who has a responsibility to spread the Gospel o That means you, if you re a Christian! o The word or message is the Gospel And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them (Mk 4:15). - This is the first group what happened to them when they heard the Gospel? o Satan immediately comes and takes away the message o The soil is the heart of the sinner In this case, the soil is bad; it s along the walking path Their hearts aren t receptive; they couldn t care less o These are the people who hear the Gospel and reject it out of hand immediately (e.g. Pharisees or scribes) - These people aren t believers, and never wanted to be And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away (Mk 4:16-17). - What happened to these folks? o They received the Gospel, but it never took root o The sun burnt the plant to a crisp, and it died before it could really get started as soon as it became inconvenient to be a Christian, as soon as it started to cost something, 10

11 as soon as it started to be more than a shallow Sunday activity fixed to the tail-end of their lives with dollar-store scotch tape, they bailed out and walked away o These are the people who: praised and sang to Jesus at the triumphal entry, then screamed for His execution later that week as soon as it looked as if it might cost something to be associated with Jesus might attend church and do churchy things, but have no root, no foundation, nothing but a sad and empty show how many professing Christians would still walk through those doors if a government official stood there with a clipboard, taking license plate numbers from every car in the parking lot? how many professing Christians, if they were asked, would tell a co-worker what the Bible says about transgenderism in an uncompromising and compassionate way? How many professing Christians, if they were arrested and hauled before a tribunal and threatened with arrest and imprisonment, would agree to curse Christ so they could go free? - These folks were never true believers because: o they didn t persevere, o they didn t endure, o they didn t last - How can you tell a true believer from a false one? o True believers eventually come back o no fruit = no faith And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful (Mk 4:18-19). - What about these people? 11

12 o They heard the Gospel, but other things choked it all out Cares of the world Money Desire for other things o There s no fruit They re like dead trees, hollow and rotten inside They might look healthy from a distance But, as soon as you get close, you can tell they re dried out, rotten, dead and unfruitful - These people aren t believers, and they never were - How can you tell a true believer from a false one? o true believers = spiritual fruit o apple tree = apples o orange tree = oranges o Christians = Christian fruit: repentance from sins, faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ, a new spiritual birth, which produces love for God and a zeal to do what His word says; a persevering, eternal and lasting transfer of allegiance from Satan to God o If you don t have fruit = you don t have faith (cf. Jas 1:22) But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold, (Mk 4:20). - What s different about these people? o They hear the Gospel o They accept the Gospel o They bear fruit 2. CONCLUSION: - I want to leave you with a few things to consider: 12

13 o (1) Are you producing spiritual fruit? These four scenarios don t go in a stairstep pattern from worse to best The first three are all unfruitful and they re each useless The only one of value is the last; because it s the only one that produced fruit The only way you can tell you re a Christian is if you re producing spiritual fruit in your life Analogy of the vinedresser = might not be a lot of fruit, but there ought to be something there, borne out of the right motivations = love for God and a desire to please Him because you love Him My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it (Lk 8:21) o (2) I wonder how many of you here have heard the Gospel hundreds of times, and done nothing about it? (a) How many times have you heard that you re a sinner, condemned as a criminal before God and your own conscience, because of the wicked things you both think about and do? (b) How many times have you heard the old, old story of Jesus and His love (e.g. perfect life, sacrificial death, miraculous resurrection, ascension as High Priest, promise of perfect peace through justification)? (c) How many times have you heard about the dead-end road of works righteousness which are no more than filthy, menstrual rags (Isa 64:6) (d) How many times have you read and heard Jesus command to repent and believe? Repent = confess, forsake, turn and bow Believe = person and work of Christ (e) God used Isaiah s preaching to harden the hearts of folks who d heard it all before, and couldn t care less (f) Jesus did exactly the same thing; that s why He started teaching in parables to drive away people who weren t interested 13

14 There may come a time when God will harden your heart, and decide His patience with you is over He did it in Isaiah s day, and Jesus did it in His day, and I m quite certain He s still doing it now The word of the Lord for you today is to repent and believe in the Gospel o (3) Most people will reject the Gospel This is why Jesus told the parable to explain why He s been getting this bad reaction! Some people reject it outright Some tinker with it until it becomes inconvenient Some play along until something better comes along Only a few actually: hear, accept, act, and bear spiritual fruit Your job, if you re a Christian, is to: spread the word indiscriminately, wherever you go, trust the Holy Spirit to work in people s hearts to apply the truth about Jesus and His Gospel according to the Father s will 14