The Gospel of Mark Chapter 4 How do I Help Others Follow Jesus? GETTING STARTED > As your group time begins, use this section for very brief review prior to showing the video to help get the conversation going. Let s do life together!/opening Discussion: Welcome the new people, introduce everyone again this week. Maybe, do a game/ice breaker. Our Subject Today: This week, we continue our current sermon series, with this week s sermon - How do I Help Others Follow Jesus? - Mark 4:1-20 and other verses in chapter 3. VIDEO NOTES/QUESTIONS INDUCTIVE STUDY / OBSERVATION: Most scholars believe the author of Mark is the son of Mary who had a house church according to Acts 12. INTERPRETATION: See Commentary on pages 5-6 APPLICATION QUESTIONS: 1) Why do some people make a decision to follow Jesus and then stop attending church and living for Jesus, then turn away from God? SUGGESTED ANSWERS / DIGGING DEEPER: Let everyone discuss this for a few minutes, this will be discussed in the next few questions but here is another question: Have you ever made a commitment to follow Jesus and then stopped? Would someone be willing to share their story? Be prepared to share your story if you have one. Week #2 Mar 2/3 - SPRING 2019 Page 1
APPLICATION QUESTIONS (cont.) Read Mark 4:1-9 2) Why do you think Jesus taught in parables? How do these verses call the follower of Jesus Christ to action? SUGGESTED ANSWERS / DIGGING DEEPER: A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. What makes this parable so interesting is that, not only does Jesus explain it to us, but this parable, just like the entire Gospel of Mark, shows us Jesus in action. It is designed to move us as followers of Jesus into action! Jesus tells us to act like a farmer, who scatters or sows seeds. We are to sow the good news about Jesus into the hearts and lives of others. Read Mark 4:13-15 3) Who was the farmer in the parable in Jesus time and who is the farmer today? Have you tried to sow the seed of the Gospel into someone s life and it came back rejected? SUGGESTED ANSWERS / DIGGING DEEPER: From Pastor David, So the soil on the path that is all compacted and beaten down, that s talking about people who have very hard hearts when it comes to God and Jesus and attending church...the seed is scattered, the message is preached, the service is held but it has no impact on that person whatsoever...their heart is hard QUESTION: How can satan harden your heart to the things of God and what are the tactics he uses? Read Mark 4:16-17 4) Why do some people get real excited about attending church/lifegroup/reading the Bible/ praying daily, etc., and then fall away? Or do some people get excited about salvation and fall away? Are they really saved? SUGGESTED ANSWERS / DIGGING DEEPER: No one knows the heart of a man but God, so we can not judge if a person is saved or not. (1Corinthians 2:11) We can only be fruit inspectors. Help your group think of ways they fall away from their commitment and bring it home to them with application. The key: Most believers in Jesus do not apply Scripture/teaching to their personal life. And lost people who hear the Word do not apply salvation to their life. They think it is a good idea to avoid hell but they never make Jesus Lord. - Romans 10:9. Week #2 Mar 2/3 - SPRING 2019 Page 2
APPLICATION QUESTIONS (cont.) Read Mark 4:18-19 5) According to Jesus, what are some obstacles which prevent people from accepting the gospel and persevering in faith? List several actions Christians might take to overcome these obstacles. SUGGESTED ANSWERS / DIGGING DEEPER: Bring it home by listing some things that can take you away or prevent you from accepting and following Jesus. Pastor David said So this third group of people hear the Word and receive the Word. They have the best of intentions in living out that Word, but when life gets really bad, or when life gets really good, they forget about God all together. Read Mark 4:20 6) Only one of the four types of soil bear fruit. What makes this soil good so that the seed takes hold in the individual s life? What does it mean to bear fruit 30, 60, and a hundredfold? SUGGESTED ANSWERS / DIGGING DEEPER: Question: Does this mean that only 1 out of 4 who start following Jesus are really saved? (Many theologians believe this because many never put Jesus in charge (Lord) of their life and many never turn from their sins. They just agree to believe the concept of what Jesus did.) So the answer is yes, many who may think they are born again are not. Matthew 7:21-23 Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven This may be a great time to ask your group members if they may want to settle their salvation. As far as fruit bearing, this can mean the following: 1. Fruit representing those getting saved (John 15:8) 2. The fruits of the spirit (Gal. 5:22-23) SUMMARY (My Take-Away for This Week) POSSIBLE SUMMARY/TAKE-AWAY: 1. We all need to be in the seed planting business. 2. We need to make sure the seed took in our life and we are truly saved. Week #2 Mar 2/3 - SPRING 2019 Page 3
WORK OUT (This Week s Assignments) This week, I will keep reading the book of Mark, and try to read it many times in the next few weeks. Memorize Mark 1:35 - to encourage you to do My Next Steps (below) number 1. Mark 1:35 Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He (Jesus) went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed. MY NEXT STEPS FROM THE WEEKEND WORSHIP 1. This week, I will begin each day with Jesus and a cup of coffee (or tea, soda, milk, etc.). 2. This week, I will share my faith/my story with at least one person. 3. This week, I will invite at least one person to come with me to worship, LIFEgroup, AWANA, Student Ministry, etc. 4. This week, I will pray and ask for God s blessings upon my efforts in helping others follow Jesus. HOW MY GROUP CAN PRAY FOR ME THIS WEEK > Record Group Prayer Requests Here: Week #2 Mar 2/3 - SPRING 2019 Page 4
COMMENTARY According to Pastor David, Mark wrote his Gospel for two reasons: To reveal Jesus true identity based not upon what Jesus said, but upon what Jesus did and to encourage all of us to live out our faith in such a way so that the people around us can see. Parable: The popular idea that a parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning is helpful, but it needs to be expanded. (1) Parables provide insight into the nature, coming, growth, and consummation of the kingdom of God. They give us pictures of this kingdom that has come near (1:15). (2) Parables are by design provocative and surprising. (3) Parables are used to stimulate thinking and cause the hear to contemplate what they are hearing. (4) Parables use everyday objects, events, and circumstances to illustrate spiritual truth, usually with a new twist. (5) Parables reveal more truth to those with receptive ears, and they hide truth from others. This is critical to understanding 4:10-12. (6) Parables make up 35 percent of Jesus teaching in the Gospels. (7) Parables usually, but not always, focus on a single truth. We should not allegorize them seeking a meaning for every detail. (8) Parables in the Gospels ultimately draw attention to Jesus as God s Messiah and call us to make a personal decision concerning Him. (Daniel L. Akin, Christ-centered Exposition: Exalting Jesus in Mark [Nashville, TN: B + H Publishing Group, 2014]) Mark 4:1-9. 4:3. The word listen introduces the rest of the parables in the chapter. It invites the listeners to participate, drawing them into the story. It arrests people, stops whatever other conversations are going on. It says, Pay attention because this is important. As with all parables, but this one especially, the key is not to ask, What does this one thing signify? but What does this mean for me? Where am I in this parable? This first parable also followed directly on the heels of the religious leaders misunderstanding of the person of Jesus. Jesus was describing their spiritual condition. He set the scene by referring to something his hearers were familiar with: a farmer sowing seed. 4:4. Sowing during this time period was done by hand rather than machine. Therefore, it is easy to see how some seed would end up on the path. 4:5 6. Nothing would grow on rocks. So it was important for farmers to remove the rocks from their fields before planting. No matter how diligent a farmer was, however, it would be almost impossible to get them all out. 4:7. Some of the seed was scattered among thorns and weeds. Again, these seed grew because of the life of the seed, but they yielded no harvest. 4:8. Good soil produces good crops with an abundant return. This is truly a sign of the kingdom of God. There will be a glorious return on the scattered seed, a literal filling of the storehouses of heaven. 4:9. Because this parable describes the hearers, Jesus gave it this special ending. This verse calls for the hearers to evaluate their own response. What does Jesus mean by the parable? And if they know, the next question becomes, What kind of soil am I for the word of God? (Rodney L. Cooper, Mark, vol. 2, Holman New Testament Commentary [Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000]). Mark 4:13-15. 4:14. The word that the sower sowed may be understood in two ways. It may be the word of God that Jesus had been preaching. This was the message of John the Baptist: Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. Word, however, may also refer to the person of Jesus. The word sown would therefore be the people s response to Jesus: would they accept him or not? At this very moment, Jesus was sowing the word. He was preaching to the people. His miracles had preached to them. What kind of soil would they prove to be? Note that there are really only two types of soils productive and nonproductive. But Jesus gave three examples of the nonproductive type. 4:15. The word of God never makes an impact on some people. It rests on the hardened soil of their hearts until Satan comes and snatches it away. These are the people who will never even think to question their response to the gospel. (James A. Brooks, Mark, vol. 23, The New American Commentary [Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1991]). Mark 4:13-20. Jesus then proceeds to explain the four soils. The soil of some hearts is hard. The path represents hard-hearted or tough minded individuals. They dismiss the Word without giving it careful consideration. Week #2 Mar 2/3 - SPRING 2019 Page 5
COMMENTARY Mark 4:13-20 (cont). The soil of some hearts is shallow. The next soil is welcoming but not substantive enough to maintain the growth of the seed. When (not if!) oppression come, these people immediately fall away. The soil of some hearts is distracted. They eventually get distracted by worry, wealth, and craving for other things. John 8:31. There is no real surrender to Christ as Lord. The soil of some hearts is fruitful. The final soil is noticeably different from the firs three. It represents those who hear the Word, accept it, and bear fruit. Tribulation and persecution do not deter them. Worries, wealth, personal desires, and sinful cravings do not distract them. Their hearing is active, not passive. They aggressively pursue the Word, allow it to take root, and then rejoice in its abundant growth. A fruitless Christian is an oxymoron. John 15:5. (Daniel L. Akin, Christ-centered Exposition: Exalting Jesus in Mark [Nashville, TN: B + H Publishing Group, 2014]). Mark 4:20. Others hear the word and act upon it. They produce fruit by increasing numbers. God will take what we give him and produce a bountiful crop from it. The average yield of a crop is seven and one-half times more than the seed that were sown. The huge numbers reported here thirty, sixty, or even one hundred times what was sown show that the harvest provided by the Lord is miraculously abundant. The harvest is typically symbolic of divine activity, and here we have the key to the parable. The parable encourages Christians who have not fallen away, those who remain at Christ s side then as well as now. While we may get discouraged that our evangelistic efforts are not producing the fruit we would like, we can be encouraged that God is working in the harvest and that it will be a rich harvest. The emphasis in the parable is not on the soils but on the harvest. In spite of failures, setbacks, and even persecution, there will be an abundant harvest for those who remain faithful to God. (Rodney L. Cooper, Mark, vol. 2, Holman New Testament Commentary [Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000]). Matthew 7:15 23 : Verses 21 22 enumerate some of the ways in which individuals can masquerade as Christians. They may verbally affirm that Jesus is their Master, perhaps even with great joy and enthusiasm, but such claims must issue in lives of obedience (an important qualification of Rom 10:10 13). Some may be preachers. Others perform exorcisms, and some work various kinds of miracles. We are reminded that signs and wonders can come from sources other than God, including both the demonic world and human manufacture (cf. Acts 19:13 16; Rev 13:13 14). But these external demonstrations prove nothing. The question is whether one s heart has been cleansed inwardly (v. 15) or whether apparent acts of ministry still serve only self, rapaciously (Greek harpages; NIV ferocious ) using others for one s own ends (cf. Acts 20:29 30). At the same time, v. 16 suggests that outward behavior may enable one to distinguish between true and false Christians. Like inspecting vegetation, which inevitably discloses fruit in keeping with its species and state of health, so also one can look for good or bad (literally, rotten or worthless) spiritual fruit (vv. 17 20). Verse 21 further equates this fruit with doing the will of my Father who is in heaven, precisely what the Sermon on the Mount is elaborating. Of course, any individual action can prove insincere, but those who have detailed opportunities to scrutinize both the private and public behavior of people who claim to be Jesus followers (and particularly who can watch how those people respond after sinning) will have the best chance of evaluating the genuineness of professed commitments to Christ. It is worth emphasizing, however, that one can never know with absolute certainty the spiritual state of any other individual. Judgment for those who were masquerading as disciples leads to eternal separation from Christ. Verse 23 repeats this theme of God s judgment in a way that makes clear that true Christians cannot lose their salvation. Jesus addresses those he rejects by declaring, I never knew you. Perhaps these people fooled many on earth, but Jesus knows that they never had a saving relationship with him. (Craig Blomberg, Matthew, vol. 22, The New American Commentary [Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992]). PERSEVERANCE: The background setting for the idea of perseverance blossomed out of the context of persecution and temptation. The believer was expected faithfully to endure and to remain steadfast in the face of opposition, attack, and discouragement. They believed Christians would finish the race because Christians would focus their attention on Jesus, the lead runner and model finisher of their faith (Heb. 2:10; 12:1 2). Christians found in the model of Peter s restoration (John 21) an important clue. Restoration for Peter was possible, but restoration still meant his death. (All quotations used with permission of the publisher or are public domain works.) Week #2 Mar 2/3 - SPRING 2019 Page 6