The Seed is Planted (2)

Hovndu gu Xanovi

Mark 4:10-20

In verses 10-12 we see that Jesus was alone with his disciples. Then the disciples asked what the meaning of this parable was. Jesus usually did not interpret parables. He often said, “He who has ears, let him hear.” This does not mean Jesus is not interested in transmitting the message to his audience. In fact, he wants all of us to be receptive to His message. Unfortunately, many can hear it but their ears are not listening. Many look but in reality, they are not seeing. He is talking to the nation of Israel first of all and quoting from Isaiah 6: 9

He said, "Go and tell this people:
" 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
  be ever seeing, but never perceiving.'

In order to understand these verses we should read Isaiah chapters 2, 3 where God describes how his children are continually staying in a rebellious situation. He invites them to return to Him. God offers salvation to them, if they repent. Yet no response, as if God is speaking to deaf ears and blind eyes. Therefore, God challenges Isaiah by giving him a job when the people are going to be like walls. Yet God gives a chance to people who are ready to be receptive. That is the Good News.

So the parable that Jesus told has two sides. The ones who hardened their hearts, nothing is going to change in their life, unless they repent and turn to God. If they do not repent, they will not understand the mystery of the kingdom of God (outsiders). Those who are open and receptive to God’s Word are the insiders who can learn, grow, and give fruits.

It is my daily prayer that CACC will be the soil where the Word of God will be rooted. As a pastor, through the years of my ministry I have met people who are like the four kinds of soils, hardened, rocky, shallow and receptive.

Jesus gives interpretation to his parable:

Jesus is the faithful sower. He is the one comes with bag of seeds, teaching, serving, healing, touching, loving, caring everywhere. He is the Word of God incarnated, logos. His words and his presence are powerful. Therefore, the seed has power, but the condition of the soil is the problem, starting from the condition of the Israel those days to us, to all the nations and people throughout the world today.

1. Hardened Hearts (14-15)

“The farmer sows the word. ¹⁵Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.”

The soil on the pathway is hard. Through the years of life experiences, we often become harder. We do not want to accept changes. Yet, one thing that should not be hardened is our hearts. God works with our hearts.

-Prov. 4:23 “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”

-Mark 7:21-23  “For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, ²²greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. ²³All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.' "

We need to ask God to open our hearts and change us into the image of His Son.

2. Shallow and “Unrooted” (16-17)

“Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. ¹⁷But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.”

We live in a disposable society. We change things everyday. We throw things everyday. We consume things that are breakable and short term. Relationships are breakable and unreliable. We change partners as we change cars. I call it a shallow society.

Bill Gates addressed High School graduates a couple of years ago. He shared with them 11 rules. I don’t agree with everything, but some of them are useful:

“-If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them. 
- If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. 
- Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity. 

-Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.”

I think what Gates is saying to the shallow society, is get tough and disciplined; life is tough, it is not Disneyland.

In our spiritual life, people who represent this kind of soil hear the “voice” and receive it with joy. But the seed is not rooted. It will not last. It reminds me of my first time when I received Jesus as a personal savior. I became a Christian in a camp in Kesab. But when I went back to my daily life, I did not have any mentor or discipleship follow up. Not much happened in my life. But the following year when I returned to the same camp, I rededicated my life, and this time when I returned home, I had a personal mentor who helped me to be rooted in His Word. Discipleship is discipline.

Prov. 1:7 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.”

3. Peer Pressure (v18-19)

“Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; ¹⁹but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.”

The is not the same USA. Unfortunately, our value system is in a big mess. Our children are surrounded in their schools with friends whose value systems are totally questionable. Everyone these days believes in something. Some say they are spiritual, yet their spirituality is not based on Biblical values. Others have value systems that are situational: nothing is right or wrong, everything is relative.

Wealth and “desires” are ultimate goals, therefore values are based on those principles. Our economic structure is collapsed, partly due to economic miscalculation, yet a large factor was a behavioral problem, something to do with our value system. People talk about GREED. They blame greedy persons who brought us to this situation. It is funny that no one speaks about the root the problem. Where does greed come from? How can one learn not to be greedy? No answer of course.

4. Fruitful and Disciplined

“Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown."”

We are not talking about a “perfect” society. This is a group of people, like and you and me, who take the Word of God seriously. We know that we are weak, and we need God to nourish us and transform us daily. We allow the seed to be in us. The seed can give fruits when it dies. Christ died for us. By allowing the Seed of Christ to be in us, we die to our old nature so God will work through our new life.

I am glad that many of you saw this light and wanted to be the soil where God’s Word is cultivated in your lives.

Some advice to this group:

-Watch out, take this calling with humility. Whatever happens in our lives is only through His grace.

Paul said: “But by the grace of God I am what I am.” (1 Cor 15:10)

-The seed has fallen in the ground. Yet, there are many places where the seed is not fallen. Get involved to spread the Good News of the Gospel.

-Do not be judgmental towards those where the seed did not give results. The seed has fallen there. Help them, care for them, love them, pray for them. You don’t know how God works. He works in miracles. Your conversion is a miracle. Keep praying and acting. The SEED IS PLANTED. Jesus sowed within a rebellious society; he was rejected in many places. We live in a similar world. The Devil is at work. Let us not despair where we do not see results. Through human eyes, we see darkness prevailing in the world.. That is not right. God is at work. Yesterday, today and tomorrow is governed by God. May we stay faithful to this calling, humbly being his disciples.

Amen