Mark 4:1-20Jesus Christ is polarizing.  The Gospel is polarizing.  As you look back to the previous chapters, we see a very clear divide among the people of the Jewish culture that Jesus was born into some 2000 years ago.  We have seen Jesus at the height of his popularity with large crowds that have pressed around Him, making it difficult for him to even have a meal.  We have seen the demons crying out in fear that He is the Son of God.  We have seen His family trying to have an intervention because they think He is out of His mind.  We have seen His disciples follow close behind Him, and we have seen the Religious system plot to kill Him.

The Kingdom of God comes in and crashes down upon our man made structures of security and religion to reveal our brokenness and nakedness as human beings.  Jesus’ kingdom confronts us and calls us to a dependency upon the King.  We react to this confrontation with either a revelation of who we actually are and our need for Jesus.  We run towards Him and gladly accept our place in His kingdom, or we wage war against it as if it is a waring nation, trying with all that is within us to destroy this kingdom  that is questioning what what we find our security and life in.  The kingdom of God is polarizing.  Jesus calls us to die to ourselves and follow Him into the desert and up the mountain to experience a deeper revelation of who He is.  This is a tough truth to take hold of.  Our hearts are filled with questions and doubts.  Has He actually called me to be with Him, am I some one he desires?  Is it worth the pain and effort to climb the mountain?  I am filled with pain, hurt, and disappointment, why should I willingly choose to go into the desert or climb the mountain, why should I follow close behind Jesus, will I just experience more and more pain?

This week we will look at one of Jesus first recorded teachings to the crowds.  We have read that he has taught the crowds, but we have not heard what He has said.  This is our first glimpse into what Jesus calls the “Mystery of the Kingdom”.  We are going to see why the Word of God, the Gospel of Jesus, the Kingdom of God is so polarizing.  We see Jesus doing the same thing He has done since the beginning of the book, Proclaiming that the Kingdom of God has arrived, the divine government under the kingship of Jesus has crashed into human history, yet we see so many different responses to the Kingdom invading earth. 

We will be looking at the parable of the 4 soils.  This parable is thought to be the parable that unlocks all of Jesus teaching through parables.  The parable about parables, the key parable.  It is also a representation as to why the Gospel of Jesus has been so polarizing among this culture, and why as we go out and proclaim the kingdom of God within our culture, we will also be meet with various degrees of acceptance and opposition.

Look at 4:13 
And he (Jesus) said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?

As we move forward in the book of Mark, it is imperative that we dive deep into this section of scripture and press in to understand the heart of the Father and the mystery of the Kingdom of God that Jesus is revealing to us here.


Read Mark 4:1-20

Lets set the stage for what is happening here...

4:1 - 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.


Okay lets paint a picture of what is going on here.  Remember in the last chapter, Jesus had gone up to the mountain and called those who He desired and he gave them new names, and the authority of apostles.  Now Jesus has come down from the mountain and a large crowd gathered around Him.  The crowd began to press in all around Him.  This crowd was so big, and the pressing was so intense that He had to go into a boat and go into the water to engage the crowd from a distance.  Can you picture this?  What was up with this group of people that they were mobbing Him?  They were looking for Him to heal...  But Jesus does the opposite, He gets in a boat and begins to teach them.  He teaches them in parables, earthly stories describing divine reality. 

4:2 - And he was teaching them many things in parables

Like I mentioned earlier, parables are earthly stories describing divine reality.  This is a true description of parables, but in their original context they were so much more than we have boiled them down to in our context.  A lot of times, church leaders and teaches have made parables out to be cute little stories, much like a fairy tale that has a nice little moral that is attached to them.  A little theological snack you might say, but the idea that parables are just an illustrative story does not cover the whole idea of what a parable is.  Parables in their broader sense attract attention by their pictorial illustrations and paradoxical language.  The modern day equivalent would be a political cartoon.  Parables offer images and riddles which we must work out for ourselves if we are to understand and respond.  It demands perception and careful thought and it challenges us to action.  It was completely possible to hear a parable as an interesting story and completely miss the point. Much like a political  cartoon, an understanding of the current situation surrounding the story/cartoon is needed to understand what is being illustrated.  The more you bring to the parable the more you get out of it. 

Why would Jesus choose to use this form of teaching method when it came to teaching about the Kingdom of God, or the Word? 

1. The general tendency of parables is to confound our conventional and comfortable world view; to shake us out of complacency.  It was a call to action.  A call to engage and go deeper.

2. Parables were a filter.  They filtered out and separated those who are willing to actually engage the Kingdom of God and those who were looking to Jesus to be as we called him earlier, their Wal*Mart.  The people who wanted Jesus because of who He said he was, those who wanted He for their own use.  Look at Verses 10-13

4:10-13  - 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.” And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?

These verses have been misunderstood and used to create a system within Chrisitanity that has forced people outside of the inner circle of some churches.  These verses have bothered many people.  This is a quote from Isaiah 6.  Isaiah has seen to the Lord, fallen on His face, and has had coal placed to his lips to set him apart as clean among the people of Israel.  He is commissioned to go to the people, with the knowledge of who God was and what He was going to do among them.  Isaiah was told that his words would fall on deaf ears. They would not be accepted because the people were not convinced of their true need.  they would not see their need until cities lay in waste and the land is burned, then they will see within the remains, a stump, a Holy seed, and will run to it.  This is the same state the people Jesus is speaking to is in.  They are only focused on their momentary needs, not their eternal situation.  Jesus is surrounded by people who want miracles but don’t want him.  They are not interested in His message.  So what He is saying here is, “When I tell parables, its like a filter.  The people really interested in me, the people who really want to figure it out, the people who feel the power of the word, the people who want to work it is, they come to me.”  Look at verse 10

4:10 - And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables.

“Tell us what this means.”  Notice the large crowd is no longer there.  It is a small group that actually comes up to Jesus and asks about the parables.  Parables are a filter.  Are you willing to engage Jesus.  Are you willing to go deep?  Are you willing to allow the seed of the word to dive deep into the soil of your heart, take root and grow?  Are you willing to, as Jesus exclaims in verse 3, LISTEN?

Look at verse 3 ....

4:3 - Listen!

I believe that this is the key to unlocking this parable.  Listen.  There is a difference between hearing and listening. We have ears to hear, but don’t listen.  Listening involves engaging, and engaging is a lot harder than just sitting there. Listening involves applying, and understanding.

This is hard for me...There is something in the male DNA that makes us experts at this concept, especially when it comes to doing something around the house.  Something happens to our ears, we hear her talking, but we are not listening.  Wha Wha paint, Wha Wha clean, Wha Wha hamper....  It is like the Charlie Brown teacher complex.

Niccole and I’s arguments - Danny you didn’t listen to a word I was saying...

I don’t know how many times I have heard stories from Niccole concerning students she has had, where she has given clear instructions on what to do, and right after she is done hands go up asking her what to do....

A boy playing video games and his mother comes in to tell him that dinner is ready.....

Rush Hour - Chris Tucker to Jackie Chan, “Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?”

Our tendency is to hear, but to not listen. We take the words of Jesus and form them into something that we want to listen to.  We mold His words into something that  they are not.  We make His words comfortable to our lifestyle, what will be comfortable to us in the situation we are facing.  We hear but we don’t listen.

Our culture is full of people that are willing to hear, but not listen

Look at verse 9
4:9 - And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

He does the same thing in the book of Revelation.  After each exhortion to the 7 churches, he says this same phrase.  He is calling them to not just have a charlie brown moment, but to look at the mirror he has just placed in front of them and engage it.  He is doing the same here with the people.  I am placing a mirror in front of you, are you willing to engage it...

Listening is the key to this parable...

Listen, go deep with me, bring yourself and all of your being into the conversation with me.  Engage with me.  Once again this is why parables are filters, are you willing to do the hard work that goes into listening and engaging the words that I am speaking.





Jesus begins this parable with listen and then He begins to talk about farmers and seeds, Lets listen and see what Jesus would have for us as we look at the mystery of His kingdom....

4:3-9 - “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 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.  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 thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Jesus starts out by talking about a farmer who is planting seeds.  He throws out his seeds and 4 things happen to it. 

1. The birds come and eat it
2. The seed fell on rocky ground and took root in shallow soil and died
3. The seed falls with thorns and weeds and is chocked to death
4. The seed falls on good soil, takes root and produces a large harvest.

I don’t know if you have noticed, but I am not a farmer.  I have been to a farm once or twice, but I have no experience in farming.  Even without farming experience however I can tell you that I know that you do not just throw seeds on gravel roads and think that you are going to get an amazing harvest.  I also know that you don’t throw seed into weeds and thorns and expect it to grow unhindered.  So what is Jesus talking about here.  Well He gives us an explanation, but I want to look at something really quick that might open up what He is explaining.

Israel is nothing like Indiana.  I don’t know if you knew that.  The agriculture industry is a lot different than it is here.  It is pretty much a hit and miss when it comes to finding good soil.  When you are in a desert region it pretty much looks the same.  You don’t know if the seed you are planting will land on good soil or rocky soil.  If it will take root or be taken by the birds for food.  So with this look at Jesus explanation, he gives us a picture of what he is meaning by this parable and the mystery of the Kingdom of God.

4:14 -The sower sows the word.

The First thing that is revealed to us is the seed that is being planted is the Word of God, The proclamation of the Kingdom.  This is interesting to me.  All through out the scriptures we see many pictures that are used to describe the Word of God; a sword, fire.  So why does Jesus use a seed as the picture for the kingdom of God and the word? Why a seed?

The seed is a paradox - It is completely weak, but very powerful.  It can be crushed and thrown out, or it has the power to cover the earth in biological life.

Like the seed, the Word of God has the power to produce organic growth.  When the gospel dives deep into the soil of our heart, we are changed from the inside out.  Look at Romans 1:16

Romans 1:16 - For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

The word of God is not just words, it is power, the very Power of God for salvation.  The word of God is not just information but a deep reality.  It has the power once it is rooted deep in our lives to produce change and growth that is organic, not mechanical.  Mechanical Growth vs.Organic Growth.....  If you remember a couple weeks ago, I talked about How Jesus did not come on the scene to reform religion, but He came to destroy it and to replace it with himself.  Religion is the idea that if I am good on the outside I will be accepted.  If my exterior is good then I can be considered a Good person.  With this parable Jesus is destroying this concept.  He is pushing for a growth that will come by allowing the seed of the word to go deep and produce something in you that is of God.  By allowing the Word to provide salvation, not a self initiated salvation.

A seed has the power to produce life, but only if it goes deep.  A seed can only release its power when planted deep....

 Look at verses 15-19
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.  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 and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

The problem with these soils is not that they did not have exposure to the seed, that they did not have exposure to the word, it is a depth problem.  The first seed didn’t even get to dive into the soil, it was taken by satan.  Many people equate this to the Pharisees, they completely rejected Jesus and his claims.  The second seed takes root in a shallow, rocky soil.  Once it hits the heat is shrivels up and dies.  Many equate this to the crowds who were following after Jesus.  They were more interested in the healing ministry of Jesus.  They followed Jesus because of what He could give them, not because they wanted Jesus.  The third seed grew, but it was planted at the same depth as the weeds and thorns.  The word of God was of the same importance as the things this world had to offer, an when the word and the world came in conflict with each other, the world won.  Many equate his to Jesus’ family who was wanting to save face within the community and considered Jesus out of His mind when his radical claims and lifestyle rubbed people the wrong way.

Look at it this way...

Look at Galatians 2:11 - But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party.  And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.  But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

What is Paul doing here?  He is confronting Peter with the truth of the Gospel. In the Jewish culture, to be with Gentiles was to be considered unholy and unclean.  It was a deep prejudice and racism that was woven within the Jewish culture. Peter was refusing to eat with gentile brothers and sisters in the midst of visitors from Jerusalem.   Paul comes to Peter, and he could have done it in 2 ways.  First he could have said, Peter racism is bad and you shouldn’t be a racist.  This is true, but it only would solve the problem on the exterior, not producing organic growth.  So Paul confronts Peter with the Gospel of Grace.  Look at this statement... You are not walking in step with the truth of the Gospel.  You see what he is saying...  He is saying, “Peter, look at the Gospel of Grace, you were saved by sheer grace, that eliminates superiority, that eliminates racism.  Peter the gospel has not gone deep enough.  It has not taken root and taken captive your imagination, it is not controlling your heart, it is not the controlling reality of your life.”

Notice that He does not hammer it in like religion, like most in church would do, but he relies on the organic power of the seed to work in the life of Peter.

Here is another picture....
In a biography about C.S. Lewis by Alan Jacobs, When people would write C.S. Lewis and say you write the Chronicles of Narnia, fiction, how great, you are a christian artist, how did you do it?  And he wrote back this, “Some people think that I began by asking myself how could I say something about Christianity to children? and then I fixed on fairy tales to do it, and then I gathered information about child psychology and decided which age group I would write for, and then I drew out a series of basic christian truths and hammered out symbols to embody them.  What moonshine, I couldn’t write like that.  and then he says, artist, don’t ask what readers want, what readers need, it is better not to ask those questions at all. Don’t start with a moral and try to come up with a story, rather let the images and stories that come in your mind and move you tell you their own moral, for the moral inherent in them will rise from the spiritual roots you have been successful in striking during the course of your spiritual life.”

What is He saying.  If you have let the Gospel go deep, the results will not be forced spirituality, but a spiritual reality. 

Art that is produced from a sense of obligation to spirituality is pedantic and annoying.  Think of the entire CCM industry.  Rather let the art that flows from you be a picture of the reality you are living.

Mother Theresa said it this way....
The Interior must be the power for the exterior

My trip to Colorado -
I have stressed a lot about getting out of the seats and getting in the community.  I have neglected a lot of the interior life that produces the organic growth that has the fruit of the exterior life

Together: Develop an intimate interior life that overflows into a passionate exterior life

My question to you is, have you let the gospel go deep?  Have you listened to the words of Jesus?  I know a lot of you have been hurt so this question brings up some baggage.  The great thing about this call is that it is a process.  Remember Peter...

One more paradox of this parable is the fact that we are the soil, but at the same time we are the farmer that is called to plant the word.  We are called to boldly proclaim the word, but there is freedom that I think a lot of people need to experience today.  Remember Israel.  the farmer did not know where the good soil was so He had to spread the seed everywhere.  I want to release you from the American Church numbers mentality.  Your role is to plant seed not cause it to grow.  Your role is to water the seed but not cause it to grow...

1 Corinthians 3:6 - I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.

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