Parables for A Purpose - Mark 4:1-9
Parables for A Purpose - Mark 4:1-9
By Pastor Lee Hemen
November 1, 2009 AM
Seeds are such small superbly created things and yet mankind depends upon these tiny treasures from God in order to feed, cloth, or shelter himself. From a small seed can grow huge trees or the lowly squash. In fact, the maple that is growing outside of my front door is a tree that was started from a small seed. It now produces its own seedlings from helicopter-like seeds scattered by the wind around my yard and flower beds. It is amazing to me the message of God can be found in such a tiny thing, and that is why we find Jesus using the illustration of seeds to depict the kingdom of heaven and those who hear its message or not.Jesus often used parables in his teaching. Stories, that over and over again, his listeners had heard many times before, but he always put a new twist on them. And, Jesus used things that were familiar to his listeners. Many either ate for the day or went hungry depending upon how seeds were planted. It depended upon if there was enough rain or if the ground could support the seeds cast on it for a crop. So this morning we find Jesus using seeds in parables for a purpose. Let's find out how he does and perhaps discover exactly why...
READ: Mark 4:1-9
If you go on to read the verses that follow after the ones we are looking at today you will discover that Jesus explains the meaning of his using the parable he did. We will discuss his explanation to his disciples next week, but today's verses came alive to me in a whole new way and I wanted to share with you some thoughts about why I believe Jesus used parables with a purpose. Jesus often had several motivations for using the examples he did, and here we discover that...
I. Seeds need someone to plant them everywhere they go!
1. All believers are "farmers" planting the seeds of God's word! Notice that another large crowd had gathered. So much so that Jesus "got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water's edge." He begins his teaching by saying, "Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed." Why use the example of a farmer? I believe Jesus knew that he would not be the only "farmer" to plant the word of God. In fact, his whole purpose of using these stories was not only to gain listeners who understood them, but to teach those whom he had chosen. Jesus' disciples and apostles would, in a few short years, take his place as the main means of planting the gospel seed (the Word of God) and so it had better take root in their lives first. Jesus also understood you cannot plant seeds if you do not have any to plant! These men needed to understand that they would be the ones who would go out into the fields that were ready for planting to scatter the gospel seeds. It is from those seeds that these men scattered as they walked and talked and taught that we today are sitting here listening anew to the parables of Jesus! And as Jesus' spiritual farmers (disciples) sent out into the world, they were not to be overly concerned about the soil to see if it was ready for the gospel seed or not. They were just to go out and sow the seed! Over and over we find Jesus telling his followers to "go" and share the gospel. It would not always be easy. Later, Jesus would instruct them, "And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them" (Mark 6:11 NIV), because sometimes they would scatter it where it was tough, hard, or rocky and they would need to depend solely on the Spirit of God to cause it to germinate in the minds of their listeners. This spiritual truth remains the same this morning. After his resurrection, Jesus told his followers: "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." (Mark 16:15-16 NIV) The gospel seeds need someone, Jesus' follower farmers, to plant them everywhere they go! This is why Jesus used parables with a purpose. Are you willing to be God's farmer and scatter his seed in a sin-soiled world?
EXAMPLE: As a follower farmer some of your gospel seed will fall along the path, some will fall on rocky places and it will not have much soil to grow in, while sometimes it may fall on good rich soil and it will produce an abundant crop for the kingdom of God. I was struck by the fact, when I first read the Little House on the Prairie books, how the farmers of that era were so dependent upon finding the right place to grow their crops when they moved west. In fact, some settlers when they got here in to the Pacific Northwest thought that because of the huge trees the soil here was rich and fertile. They readily cut down the trees and planted seeds only to discover that the soil was thin and not fertile. The trees and the abundant rain had literally leeched the nutrients out of the ground and left hardly anything behind. However, no matter where you go the common dandelion grows quite well. It has been said, and I am not sure if this is true or not, that this tiny seed was brought here, like the tumble weed, from foreign soil and spread across the country and world by settlers. And it grows anywhere it is planted, kind of like the gospel seed. That is if someone like you who is a follower farmer for the Lord scatters it everywhere you go.
I love gardening but I hate to weed. I believe that's why God created the gas-powered weed whacker! With a few deft strokes and lots of monofilament line you can pulverize any weed that dares grow in your flower beds. For the really tough and woody ones you can attach a mini-saw blade! Of course you can also pulverize your flowers as well! Some plants are just pansies when it comes to growing. A funny fact though is the feral weedy cousin of the pansy, the Johnny Jump Up, that will grow just about anywhere! Watering, weeding, waiting - all of this is good horticulture. Here we find Jesus using parables for a purpose in teaching us about good horticulture. Here's what I mean: We discover that...
II. Seeds need the right conditions to grow strong!
1. Believers should know the basics of spiritual horticulture! You cannot always plant a seed and then walk away and expect it to grow. Sometimes, you may have to cultivate it, water it, and make sure it gets the right amount of sunshine! Or should I say, "SON-shine!" Anyway, Jesus knew that his follower farmers would need to become gardeners, mentors, and disciplers of his message. Caretakers of the kingdom of God need to spend time in the flower or vegetable beds they planted or they may dry up from legalism, burn from over exposure to heresy, or be watered-soaked through lackadaisical emergent behavior. I believe this is implied in Jesus saying that "some fell along the path...", "some fell on rocky places...", "other seed fell among thorns...", and " Still other seed fell on good soil!" Jesus wanted his follower farmers to also understand that the gospel seed needs the right conditions to grow strong! The Apostle Paul understood his part in planting and making sure the gospel seed had the right conditions when he wrote: "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor." (1 Corinthians 3:6-8 NIV) Paul knew that Christians are "God's fellow workers" and that we work for God in "God's field." (1 Corinthians 3:9) God knows that new seedlings need good gardeners to make sure that they "will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming." (Ephesians 4:11-14 NIV) Jesus knew this as well and used parables for a purpose to tacitly teach his follower farmers that newly planted seeds need the right conditions to grow strong! All follower farmers of the Lord should know the basics of good spiritual horticulture. Do you? Who are you mentoring?
EXAMPLE: Christians should understand that Jesus is "the true vine" and that God the Father "is the gardener," but his followers are the mentors. In fact it is God who "cuts off every branch in [Jesus] that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." (John 15:1-2 NIV) That is spiritual horticulture at its best. But believers are to know the basics of spiritual horticulture as well. I know that if I want a lot of good apples without worms in them I must prune my tree and apply the right kind of insecticide and fertilizer. Sometimes, you have to get really aggressive with both pruning and spraying. Sure you can let a tree go wild and it will produce fruit, but it will be wormy and the tree will be in poor condition. The same holds true for God's people. They have to be discipled after the gospel seed is planted and takes root in their lives or they will be in spiritually poor condition and produce wormy ungodly fruit. Sadly, we find that in many churches today, but the spiritual truth Jesus taught still holds true today: Seeds need the right conditions to grow strong! Believers should know the basics of spiritual horticulture.
Conclusion:
Next week we will learn that the disciples come and ask Jesus privately about the parables and why he taught using them so often. The crowds did not truly understand Jesus and we learned in the last several weeks that they only wanted what they could get out of Jesus. Here we find that Jesus used parables for a purpose. He often taught several spiritual truths at once by doing so. This morning we discovered that 1) Seeds need someone to plant them everywhere they go, and that 2) Seeds need the right conditions to grow strong!
---
Pastor Lee Hemen has been the outspoken pastor of the same church for 25 years in Vancouver, WA. He writes regularly on spirituality and conservative causes and maintains several web blogs. This article is copyrighted © 2009 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my written permission.
By Pastor Lee Hemen
November 1, 2009 AM
Seeds are such small superbly created things and yet mankind depends upon these tiny treasures from God in order to feed, cloth, or shelter himself. From a small seed can grow huge trees or the lowly squash. In fact, the maple that is growing outside of my front door is a tree that was started from a small seed. It now produces its own seedlings from helicopter-like seeds scattered by the wind around my yard and flower beds. It is amazing to me the message of God can be found in such a tiny thing, and that is why we find Jesus using the illustration of seeds to depict the kingdom of heaven and those who hear its message or not.Jesus often used parables in his teaching. Stories, that over and over again, his listeners had heard many times before, but he always put a new twist on them. And, Jesus used things that were familiar to his listeners. Many either ate for the day or went hungry depending upon how seeds were planted. It depended upon if there was enough rain or if the ground could support the seeds cast on it for a crop. So this morning we find Jesus using seeds in parables for a purpose. Let's find out how he does and perhaps discover exactly why...
READ: Mark 4:1-9
If you go on to read the verses that follow after the ones we are looking at today you will discover that Jesus explains the meaning of his using the parable he did. We will discuss his explanation to his disciples next week, but today's verses came alive to me in a whole new way and I wanted to share with you some thoughts about why I believe Jesus used parables with a purpose. Jesus often had several motivations for using the examples he did, and here we discover that...
I. Seeds need someone to plant them everywhere they go!
1. All believers are "farmers" planting the seeds of God's word! Notice that another large crowd had gathered. So much so that Jesus "got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water's edge." He begins his teaching by saying, "Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed." Why use the example of a farmer? I believe Jesus knew that he would not be the only "farmer" to plant the word of God. In fact, his whole purpose of using these stories was not only to gain listeners who understood them, but to teach those whom he had chosen. Jesus' disciples and apostles would, in a few short years, take his place as the main means of planting the gospel seed (the Word of God) and so it had better take root in their lives first. Jesus also understood you cannot plant seeds if you do not have any to plant! These men needed to understand that they would be the ones who would go out into the fields that were ready for planting to scatter the gospel seeds. It is from those seeds that these men scattered as they walked and talked and taught that we today are sitting here listening anew to the parables of Jesus! And as Jesus' spiritual farmers (disciples) sent out into the world, they were not to be overly concerned about the soil to see if it was ready for the gospel seed or not. They were just to go out and sow the seed! Over and over we find Jesus telling his followers to "go" and share the gospel. It would not always be easy. Later, Jesus would instruct them, "And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them" (Mark 6:11 NIV), because sometimes they would scatter it where it was tough, hard, or rocky and they would need to depend solely on the Spirit of God to cause it to germinate in the minds of their listeners. This spiritual truth remains the same this morning. After his resurrection, Jesus told his followers: "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." (Mark 16:15-16 NIV) The gospel seeds need someone, Jesus' follower farmers, to plant them everywhere they go! This is why Jesus used parables with a purpose. Are you willing to be God's farmer and scatter his seed in a sin-soiled world?
EXAMPLE: As a follower farmer some of your gospel seed will fall along the path, some will fall on rocky places and it will not have much soil to grow in, while sometimes it may fall on good rich soil and it will produce an abundant crop for the kingdom of God. I was struck by the fact, when I first read the Little House on the Prairie books, how the farmers of that era were so dependent upon finding the right place to grow their crops when they moved west. In fact, some settlers when they got here in to the Pacific Northwest thought that because of the huge trees the soil here was rich and fertile. They readily cut down the trees and planted seeds only to discover that the soil was thin and not fertile. The trees and the abundant rain had literally leeched the nutrients out of the ground and left hardly anything behind. However, no matter where you go the common dandelion grows quite well. It has been said, and I am not sure if this is true or not, that this tiny seed was brought here, like the tumble weed, from foreign soil and spread across the country and world by settlers. And it grows anywhere it is planted, kind of like the gospel seed. That is if someone like you who is a follower farmer for the Lord scatters it everywhere you go.
I love gardening but I hate to weed. I believe that's why God created the gas-powered weed whacker! With a few deft strokes and lots of monofilament line you can pulverize any weed that dares grow in your flower beds. For the really tough and woody ones you can attach a mini-saw blade! Of course you can also pulverize your flowers as well! Some plants are just pansies when it comes to growing. A funny fact though is the feral weedy cousin of the pansy, the Johnny Jump Up, that will grow just about anywhere! Watering, weeding, waiting - all of this is good horticulture. Here we find Jesus using parables for a purpose in teaching us about good horticulture. Here's what I mean: We discover that...
II. Seeds need the right conditions to grow strong!
1. Believers should know the basics of spiritual horticulture! You cannot always plant a seed and then walk away and expect it to grow. Sometimes, you may have to cultivate it, water it, and make sure it gets the right amount of sunshine! Or should I say, "SON-shine!" Anyway, Jesus knew that his follower farmers would need to become gardeners, mentors, and disciplers of his message. Caretakers of the kingdom of God need to spend time in the flower or vegetable beds they planted or they may dry up from legalism, burn from over exposure to heresy, or be watered-soaked through lackadaisical emergent behavior. I believe this is implied in Jesus saying that "some fell along the path...", "some fell on rocky places...", "other seed fell among thorns...", and " Still other seed fell on good soil!" Jesus wanted his follower farmers to also understand that the gospel seed needs the right conditions to grow strong! The Apostle Paul understood his part in planting and making sure the gospel seed had the right conditions when he wrote: "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor." (1 Corinthians 3:6-8 NIV) Paul knew that Christians are "God's fellow workers" and that we work for God in "God's field." (1 Corinthians 3:9) God knows that new seedlings need good gardeners to make sure that they "will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming." (Ephesians 4:11-14 NIV) Jesus knew this as well and used parables for a purpose to tacitly teach his follower farmers that newly planted seeds need the right conditions to grow strong! All follower farmers of the Lord should know the basics of good spiritual horticulture. Do you? Who are you mentoring?
EXAMPLE: Christians should understand that Jesus is "the true vine" and that God the Father "is the gardener," but his followers are the mentors. In fact it is God who "cuts off every branch in [Jesus] that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." (John 15:1-2 NIV) That is spiritual horticulture at its best. But believers are to know the basics of spiritual horticulture as well. I know that if I want a lot of good apples without worms in them I must prune my tree and apply the right kind of insecticide and fertilizer. Sometimes, you have to get really aggressive with both pruning and spraying. Sure you can let a tree go wild and it will produce fruit, but it will be wormy and the tree will be in poor condition. The same holds true for God's people. They have to be discipled after the gospel seed is planted and takes root in their lives or they will be in spiritually poor condition and produce wormy ungodly fruit. Sadly, we find that in many churches today, but the spiritual truth Jesus taught still holds true today: Seeds need the right conditions to grow strong! Believers should know the basics of spiritual horticulture.
Conclusion:
Next week we will learn that the disciples come and ask Jesus privately about the parables and why he taught using them so often. The crowds did not truly understand Jesus and we learned in the last several weeks that they only wanted what they could get out of Jesus. Here we find that Jesus used parables for a purpose. He often taught several spiritual truths at once by doing so. This morning we discovered that 1) Seeds need someone to plant them everywhere they go, and that 2) Seeds need the right conditions to grow strong!
---
Pastor Lee Hemen has been the outspoken pastor of the same church for 25 years in Vancouver, WA. He writes regularly on spirituality and conservative causes and maintains several web blogs. This article is copyrighted © 2009 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my written permission.
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