WORD from the woods
Mark 4:1-20
“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! Behold, 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.” 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? The sower sows the word. 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. 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.”
This is one of those passages that many of us are very familiar with, if you were raised in church like I was then you likely remember this parable as a Sunday school flannel graph. In the second half of this passage, Jesus clearly explains to the disciples that the seed is like the word of God and the ground is like the condition of a person's heart. When we look at this parable, we tend to think about the gospel being shared with unbelievers as the "word being sown" and I think that's part of what this parable is about, but I think it also refers to the word of God being sown among the hearts of believers as well. As followers of Christ, the word of God must constantly be sown in the ground of our hearts through reading and studying the scriptures, through teaching, prayer, and through fellowship with other believers. Just because we are followers of Christ doesn't mean that our hearts can't become like the hard ground, where the teaching of God's word isn't well rooted and persecution or tribulation arises on account of the word and the person falls away. I'm not saying that the person loses their salvation, but that they can become hard hearted and drift away from the vibrant, growing relationship that God desires to have with them. Sometimes a believer might hear the word of God and the desires and riches of this world are like thorns that choke out the word and it proves to be unfruitful. We must prepare our hearts like a farmer prepares the ground, we must constantly be in prayer, studying the word, confessing our sin to God, and working the ground of our hearts so that it doesn't become hard. When God sows His word on good soil, it will be abundantly fruitful. I'd like to say that as a follower of Christ, my heart is always prepared to hear from the Lord, but that would be a lie. I constantly struggle with temptation and the distractions of this world that satan uses to get ahold of my heart. I need to work the ground of my heart daily so that it doesn't become hard. One of the reasons that Jesus gave so many of His teachings in parables was to give us an easy way to remember them. I hope that this passage will stay on your mind this week and encourage you to cultivate a heart that will be fruitful.
God bless and have a great week! -Terry-
Mark 4:1-20
“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! Behold, 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.” 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? The sower sows the word. 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. 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.”
This is one of those passages that many of us are very familiar with, if you were raised in church like I was then you likely remember this parable as a Sunday school flannel graph. In the second half of this passage, Jesus clearly explains to the disciples that the seed is like the word of God and the ground is like the condition of a person's heart. When we look at this parable, we tend to think about the gospel being shared with unbelievers as the "word being sown" and I think that's part of what this parable is about, but I think it also refers to the word of God being sown among the hearts of believers as well. As followers of Christ, the word of God must constantly be sown in the ground of our hearts through reading and studying the scriptures, through teaching, prayer, and through fellowship with other believers. Just because we are followers of Christ doesn't mean that our hearts can't become like the hard ground, where the teaching of God's word isn't well rooted and persecution or tribulation arises on account of the word and the person falls away. I'm not saying that the person loses their salvation, but that they can become hard hearted and drift away from the vibrant, growing relationship that God desires to have with them. Sometimes a believer might hear the word of God and the desires and riches of this world are like thorns that choke out the word and it proves to be unfruitful. We must prepare our hearts like a farmer prepares the ground, we must constantly be in prayer, studying the word, confessing our sin to God, and working the ground of our hearts so that it doesn't become hard. When God sows His word on good soil, it will be abundantly fruitful. I'd like to say that as a follower of Christ, my heart is always prepared to hear from the Lord, but that would be a lie. I constantly struggle with temptation and the distractions of this world that satan uses to get ahold of my heart. I need to work the ground of my heart daily so that it doesn't become hard. One of the reasons that Jesus gave so many of His teachings in parables was to give us an easy way to remember them. I hope that this passage will stay on your mind this week and encourage you to cultivate a heart that will be fruitful.
God bless and have a great week! -Terry-