The holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
According to Mark 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, Listen, A sower went out to sow, and as he sowed, some
seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.
Other seed fell on rocky ground where 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. Other seed fell among thorns,
and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no
grain. And other seeds fell into good
soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding
30 fold and 60 fold and 100 fold.
And he said, he who has ears to hear, let him hear.
And when he was alone, those around him with the 12 asked him
about the parables. And then 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. And he said to them, Do you not
understand this parable? How then will you understand all
the parables, the so or so's the Word.
And these are the ones along the path where the Word is sown.
When they hear it, Satan immediately comes and takes away
the word that is sown in them. 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.
And others are the ones sown among thorns.
They are those who hear the word.
But the cares of the world's, and the deceitfulness of riches,
and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and
approves unfruitful. 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.
The Gospel of the Lord. Please pray with me.
We thank you Lord, for the beauty of stories.
They are good to hear. We enjoy them.
But also you have chosen to speak to us through those
stories so that we may know you. Invite you now to use this story
of the soils to speak to us in the name of Jesus Christ our
Lord. Amen.
Yeah. We have been reading the Gospel
according to Mark and now we are here at Mark chapter 4.
Imagine a house with a hidden room.
These spaces are often concealed by things like bookshelves.
Sometimes they're false walls, and to most people who come into
such a house, these concealments such as bookshelves and walls,
they just look at them and they see a mere bookshelf.
But to those people who know what happens beyond that
concealment, the owners of the house, they know that there is
an entrance behind that concealment.
So when these are stitches in parables, it is as if similar to
a bookshelf that has an interest behind it.
The crowds hear stories of farming and fishing, ordinary
things like seeds and the sun and soils.
But beyond these common images and familiar language, there is
a meaning that Jesus wants the people to get out of these
stories. They are not just nice stories
for the people to hear, but for those people who are intimate
with Jesus, His followers who come back to him and tell him.
Lord explained this to us. The bookshelf moves and there is
an entrance. There is a door where people can
see the truth of the Kingdom of God.
In verse 11 and 12, Jesus says to a few people who remained
around him, He told 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.
The difference between confusion and revelation is beyond what
people can just not hear. But if they are in the proximity
of Jesus, they get further revelation.
The truth is concealed for only the hearers who are not in
proximity to Jesus. Those who are keen and come back
to hear Him, they get to hear the truth.
So the truth is for the family of Christ.
Those who gather around him understand the parables.
So the parables are invitations, the invitations to those who are
hungry that if they reveal their hunger to Christ, then the truth
will be unfolded before them and the bookshelf will be opened and
they will be able to see the entrance into the Kingdom of
God. And in this particular parable
that has been commonly referred to as the parable of the sower,
these are specifically teaches us how we can be able to
identify the door of the Kingdom of God and how we can be able to
enter into that door and we become residents of that
Kingdom. When we encounter the word of
God, the word of the Kingdom of God, it reveals the postures of
our hearts. Some hearts are closed, some
hearts are impulsive, other hearts are divided, and some are
receptive and enduring. Let us look at how this is
unfolded. In this parable.
Giza speaks about seeds that fall along the path.
This is the ground that has been walked upon.
It is the ground that has been pressed down, and it has been
hardened because of this constant traffic.
And when the seeds fall onto that ground, they don't grow.
They simply lie exposed on the ground, and before long the
birds come and they eat away the seeds.
This is what happens with the heart that has been hardened.
This is a heart that has had externally, but it has not taken
on the gospel in the soul it has received.
It has had exposure, but it has not received what it has been
exposed to. There is a sound of the gospel,
but there is no surrender to the gospel.
It is like noise that has passed out.
It has heard the noise, but it has not rather thought about
that message. And because the message has not
entered into that heart, Jesus tells that that certain,
certainly certain immediately comes and takes away the Word
that is sown in them. There is an urgency here because
the gospel is just on the outside.
There is spiritual safety, and the spiritual theft is because
this person has made himself vulnerable to Satan.
So Satan comes and distills away the message because it has not
been treasured in the heart. Then Satan can easily take away
the message and steal it away. Jesus is warning us that our
hearts can easily become compacted.
These are some of the things that can compact our hearts.
And the gospel does not flourish in our hearts.
For instance, we can't be disappointed.
And when we be disappointed, we don't only lose trust in people
and systems, but also we lose trust in the promises of God,
that is, that are found in His Word.
And even when we encounter those promises, we have lost trust in
the people, but also in the promises of God.
Sometimes it can be because of pride, it can harden our heart.
And we look at the Word of God as mere opinions.
It doesn't have authority above us.
And then we just leave the Word of God as just an opinion which
has no authority in our hearts. Sometimes it can be because of
habitual sins, the patterns of life that are contrary to the
will of God that have become beer to us.
And when we hear God is called to holiness, we don't yield to
that call and our hearts are compacted and the hard.
So a compacted heart is realized or is seen by how it responds to
the convictions of God is Word. Because the Word of God convicts
us in several ways. It reveals our personal sins and
our wrongdoings. The Word of God compels us to
turn away from sin and towards God, and it instructs us into
the right way of living and the right way of thinking.
But when our heart is hardened, it dismisses all such
convictions. It doesn't respond to such
convictions of the Word of God. It is not because the Word of
God is weak. The Word of God is varied and
efficient for us in all seasons. But the problem would be with
our hearts when they are very hardened, they don't receive
that word that has power. It dismisses all that word.
But I would love to bring good news that there is mercy even
for the closed heart, the hardened heart, the heart that
has not perceived the word of God.
There is mercy for that heart because Jesus says in verse 3,
listen, He is not just calling us to auditory hearing, He's
calling us to receptive hearing. In this command, Jesus is
inviting the hardened heart to pause and reflect on what Jesus
is saying. This is the kind of listening
that we receive when we obediently read Scripture in
private, in humidity, and respond to what we have read.
It can happen corporately. When we gather with other
believers and we discuss the Word of God, we'll wrestle with
some of those things that are difficult in the Word of God.
And as we sharpen one another, our hearts are quickened to
listen to the Word of God. So listening is not passive.
It is engaging with the Word of God.
It is an invitation to engage with the Word of God.
It calls us to understand but also to trust the word of God
and to leave out the word of God.
It moves from just being someone who agrees with the word but
obey the word of God. When scripture calls us to
forgive, if we have listened to it, then we forgive.
If it calls us to love one another, then we love one
another. So listen is like God is opening
for us the door to the Kingdom, and He wants us to step into
that, though He invites us to listen.
So if the first soil warns us about a heart that never opens
at all, the second soil confronts us with something that
is so deceptive. Jesus says in verse five and six
other seed fell on rocky ground where it did not have much soil
and immediately it sprung up since it had no depth of soil.
And when the sun rose it was coached and since it had no root
it withered away. So now give us speaks about this
seed that does not enter into the soil and unlike this the
hardened heart we have looked upon previously, this seed it
has, it gives it, it brings up some life.
It starts by growing. There is some green life
happening. It is as if it's promising.
There is growth that happens. On the surface it appears
vibrant and responsive and alive.
But beneath there is a problem. There is a rock.
There is not much soil for the seed to grow.
It is just enough for germination, but it's not enough
for depth and for growth. And when the sun rises, what had
grown Withers away very soon. Jesus explains this and says in
verse 16 and 17. And these are the ones sown on
the rocky ground. The ones 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 and
persecution arise on account of the word, immediately they fall
away. So there is response quickly to
the faith, quick response, but the response is not deep enough.
Someone can be tired by a wonderful summon, a wonderful
preaching, but after that there is no practice that follows
along. So this is some form of
eagerness and excitement about the word of God.
But there is no transformation that happens after hearing the
word of God. And the parable tells us that
the sun rises and the heat exposes what has been happening
to this heart, the impulsive heart that has no depth, the Son
Jesus. I showed us these are the
tribulations and the persecutions of the world.
Friends, the Word of God will always encounter us in forms
where it will charade some of the situations around us.
And because we live in the world around us, it will turn out
sometimes to be hostile to the Word of God that is in our
heart, that is in our lives. It will bring some difficulties
and opposition. Faith sometimes will be costly.
And when that pressure comes, the impulsive heart, the
impulsive faith collapses. Friends, we shall always be
checked. Our faith will always be put on
test. And when the impulsive heart is
put on test, then there is quick departure.
As soon as he came to faith that is the same agency that person
will lose the faith. So the impulsive heart is
characterized by just near quick response.
Faith can sometimes be responded too quickly, but not in just a
mere emotional way without valid reasons as to why you are
responding to faith. So the impulsive heart, it's
just sometimes quick response to the faith, but that has no valid
reasons. Sometimes this is faith that is
only prevailing in favorable conditions.
Sometimes you might be in a favorable place where our faith,
our faith can flourish. But when we go to places that
are not favorable, then the slow heart will lose out the faith.
So this soil is still rather difficult because when the
demands of the Kingdom of God come and they demand, they
demand you to stand upon them in difficult times, then the
shallow heart which was excited by faith will lose it all.
When there is a call to sacrifice, then the shallow
heart will lose it all. Sometimes people would want a
faith that thinks about the glorious Christian life, but not
the cost that comes with such a life.
We follow a Christ who was crucified and died, and he calls
us to walk in the same suffering.
Sometimes we shall encounter that suffering, but the shallow
heart. When the cross is before him,
then he will say that is no longer the faith I want to
identify with. That is why there is a lot of
prosperity teaching. Some people are drawn to that
prosperity teaching because they want a faith that appeals to
them. That is going to be well with
you. And when they see it's not well
with them, then they lose out the faith.
So the call to the impulsive heart is to be rooted in the
faith. Christian growth does not happen
accidentally, and sometimes does it happen in an instant.
It is something that we have to work upon slowly and steadily
formed over time. Faith strengthened through
things like prayer where we learn how to commune with God.
Our faith is strengthened by obedience when we learn how to
walk according to the will of God as we expose ourselves to
Scripture and we come to understand what is the weed of
God for our lives in all seasons.
So to the impulsive heart, the question would be not that did
you respond to the gospel, but are you rooted now?
Some people have those glorious stories of how I answered a call
at a revival meeting when they called people to come and step
up, but after that, what happened?
Are you rooted now? Because the sun will rise and
the faith would be tested, and if it's not rooted, then it will
collapse and it will die. So if the rocky soil reveals
faith that cannot withstand the pressure, then the funny soil
exposes faith that stands, that cannot stand.
Without destruction there is faith that cannot stand against
pressure, but there is also faith that cannot stand when
they are distractions. This is what we read in verse 7.
Because Jesus speaks about the seeds that fell among the
thorns, He says, And the thorns grew and choked it, and it
yielded no grain. So this seed takes root, it
grows, There is life which is present, but something else is
growing in the same soil where this seed is growing, because
alongside it, quietly and slowly, almost unnoticeably, but
the Thrones are growing in the same plantation and they soon
suffocate. The seed that is growing, the
one remains present, but it's no longer alone in the field.
It is not flourishing alone in the field.
So faith is mixed up with a lot of a lot of rivalries and a lot
of Arrhenius is that are pulling this person away from the faith.
The word was hard. The word was not rejected.
The word was not stolen, but now the word is simply crowded
amidst many other demands and precious Jesus names the thorns
with clarity. He says in verse 19 the cares of
the world and the deceitfulness of the riches and the desires
for other things. One thing we should notice is
that these things are not are not immoral things.
They are things that we need for our ordinary lives.
Their responsibilities, for instance, caring for our elderly
parents and raising children. And these things are things we
need, their responsive responsibilities we need to take
care of. Some of them are opportunities
like advancement in career, like taking on a certification
program, an advanced program of study.
These are things that we need. The opportunities in life, some
of them might be possessions that are near to us, homes and
boats and whatever things that we possess in life.
Others might be things like ambitions, the things that we
pursue, financial independence. It is something good to pursue
it. However, if they grow unchecked
in our lives, they may compete with our faith and whatever
competes with Christ eventually constricts our devotion to
Christ. The thorns choke the seed, but
they don't do it overnight. They continue on choking the
seed slowly by slowly till when the divided heart is choked.
And the divided heart can continue on pursuing the faith,
but at some time, at some time it will continue on withering
and renounce the faith. So the divided heart is anxious
with things like success and accumulation of things at the
expense of the Kingdom of God, and then the soul becomes
crowded. So this posture does not deny
Christ. However, it does not prioritize
Christ. Christ is no longer the priority
in the life of this person. And this is the tragedy where
Christ shares a throne with anything.
There will not be fruit in that life.
Christ wants to be the king on the throne in our lives, His
dream. So if there is anything that is
competing with Him for the throne, then our priorities will
slowly by slowly take us away from the cross.
So the invitation for this heart that is divided is to pull out
the Thrones, pull out the things that we are prioritizing above
Christ. What does this look like?
If these anxieties, let us surrender these anxieties to the
Lord in prayer, speak to God to Christ in prayer.
Since CIA and you admit something that you are anxious
about. Maybe God is calling me to
dethrone some of the things that are riches in my life that I
have that are happening on my heart.
Christ might call me to put down those riches, to put them down
under his feet. Some of them might be desires.
And God is calling me to reorder my life to have time for Him
reorder my life. If you are giving time for your
ambitious pursuits, maybe you can call Christ is calling me to
step down, that I should also give Christ some time of my life
instead of using my time to pursue the things I love dearly.
So if we don't prioritize Christ, then there will be no
fruit in our lives. So at last let us look at this
soil where the seeds grow and they do what they are meant to
do. In verse 8, Jesus says and other
seeds fell into good soil and produced grain growing up and
increasing and yielding 30 fold and 60 fold and 100 fold.
So this is a soil or this is faith that is responsive and
resilient and fruitful. It does not only merely hear the
word, but it receives the word to the heart.
It welcomes the word not just as a suggestion, but as a word that
has authority over our lives. And the Word is accepted and the
Word is submitted to. We live as servants in that
Kingdom where we submit to the Word of God.
So the good so does not argue with the Word of God.
The Word of God is welcomed with eagerness and there is nothing
like competition. The Word is reigning sovereign
in the life of this person. So the faith that is like that
is characterized by things like this.
There is humidity and reception of the Word.
This is the heart that says Master, speak, your servant is
hearing. There is a faith that is rooted
in Christ, and there is Christ who is above reigning sovereign.
There is nothing that is enthralled on the heart of this
person, and this faith produces fruits that are visible.
Our faith, when we are obedient to Christ, our faith becomes
visible in many ways. It is never something that we
keep to ourselves. It leads to transformation.
It is not something that we keep and we have emotions and we have
a lot of intellect and wisdom about our faith.
Our faith leads to transformation.
A heart that has been good soil to the gospel is a heart that
produces transformation in the life of the bear.
So Jesus even says that there will be abundance of fruit.
He lists fruit in several ways. He says 3060 and 100 fold.
You know, I am an agriculturist. I have a farm.
I know you can speculate the kind of harvest you are going to
get. And there are sometimes when you
harvest and you say this is beyond what I expected, barely
can you go 100 fold in your expectations?
You cannot go 100 * 100. You times 100.
If I were to harvest, maybe I grow coffee, 4 bags of coffee
very Can you go beyond and you say times 100.
But Jesus is here giving us something that is to the
audience that listened to him, that we are Greek agrarians like
like me, they said this kind of carpet.
But Jesus is saying something. When our faith produces fruits,
they surpass us. They can surpass you.
You can't do something which can contribute to generations.
Some of the heroes of our faith. Then we are just merely walking
faithfully with Christ. But even up to now we are still
praising them. Many years from now they have
faith has produced abundance of fruit.
This is what God is telling us. He's not quantifying our the
result of our faith, but He's telling us if we continue
obeying Him faithfully, abundant things will happen in our lives
and people would be amazed. How can this weak boy in this
near small school do something like this and the other students
will be amazed. How can you resist this kind of
temptation? How can he love to the in such a
way? So when we yield ourselves to
Christ and we allow Him to transform us, there will be
abundance. Our love can can extend to
places where people don't think the love can go, but our love
will go there. Our giving can go to places
where people say we have never seen this because there will be
abundance of our faith. So it is not a call for us to
say how can I continue on quantifying my faith?
It is a call for me to continue working faithfully with Christ.
And as I do that, it is Christ who is going to write my story
and people will be amazed. How can this person in VC City
Chicago follow Christ to such fruitfulness?
So the call throughout the parable is still the same call
to us. Listen.
Christ is calling us to listen. True hearing results in
transformed lives. And when we speak about
transformed lives, it's not about being flawless, it's not
about having no scene in our lives, but it's about being
responsive. It is about responding to the
call that we hear in the word. When it corrects us, we will do
the correction. When we are tested, we and you
are. And when we we realize the
blessing of the word of the word of God in our lives, we multiply
those blessings in other people's lives.
So in verse 9, Jesus says he who has ears to ear, let him hear.
So the Kingdom of God is like a wide door.
So the word is spoken, spoken openly, preached openly for all
people to hear. Some people choose to respond to
it, others don't choose to respond to it, but still the
invitation continues going out to the people.
Some other people choose to only look at the door and walk past
the door. Other people step into that door
briefly and then they step out. Others only stand in the
doorway. They don't want to fully enter
into the door. But Christ has called us to
fully accept to go into the door and remain as residents into
that Kingdom by faith when receive the gospel and when we
continue walking according to the demands of the word of the
of the, of the word of the Lord. So the invitation is even open
today to anyone who would consider stepping into the Word,
stepping into the door to the Kingdom of God by faith, and
also continuing on to walk into the Kingdom by faith in the name
of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.