Father, we invite and give you permission to have your word,
to have Christ come even more deeply into our hearts and our lives,
that he will bear fruit in our lives and through our lives, all to your glory.
And Father, you know how hard it is for us to do this in our own strength.
So we ask for the help of your Holy Spirit to strengthen and focus our will
and our affections and our desires for Christ and his finished work upon the cross
and the work of the Holy Spirit to bring your word deeply home to us.
And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.
Please be seated.
Why doesn't God make himself more obvious?
Like, if you think about it for a second, and I've had many people ask me this,
like, if God, if the triune God really wants to be known,
like, why doesn't it just make it far more obvious to people that he exists?
Like, it seems as if there's lots of good evidence that he does exist,
and whatever evidence there is that he does exist seems very, very weak.
And the other thing, which is just a problematic thing for Christians,
for Christianity, is that some of Christianity just seems so,
well, partly it just seems lame, and partly it just seems ridiculous.
Like, you know, George, you're a born-again Christian,
and you say things like, you need to receive Jesus as your Savior and Lord,
accept him as your Savior and Lord.
And guys like you say, you know, you accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord,
you go to heaven.
And if I say no to that, I spend eternity in hell.
And that just seems pretty random.
Like, I just have this thing that I say to Jesus,
and I go to heaven for the rest of my life,
and if I don't say it, like, I go to hell.
Like, it's not connected to anything that I've done or not done.
Like, it seems like a pretty flimsy, random type of standard.
Some of you might have thought some of these things,
and some of you have probably had conversations around some of these things.
And the Bible text that we're going to look at today
walks towards these issues and helps us to understand,
well, helps us to understand why it is that God seems to hide
and what it means to accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord.
So it would be a great help if you turn in your Bibles with me
to Mark chapter 4, verses 1 to 20.
Mark chapter 4, verses 1 to 20.
And what's gone on just before this,
if you're watching online for the first time,
we preach through books of the Bible.
Generally, that's the way we do things.
If you've come for the last couple of weeks,
you've seen sort of more, you know, Christmas
and then the December 26th and January 2nd,
sort of more of one-off text.
But generally, we preach through books of the Bible,
and we're going through Mark.
So what just happened before our break
was the part just before this,
you can look and check up on it later as it begins.
We looked at a part where Jesus' mother
and brothers and sisters thought he was crazy,
and they had to do an intervention.
That's, I guess, what we would now call it.
And then it went how Jesus' betters,
the influencers, the intellectuals,
the academics, the leaders of the culture,
all basically came and told everybody
that it looked at it as if Jesus was doing good things,
but really he wasn't.
That really what was fueling everything he did
was the devil and that ultimately it would turn out
very, very bad.
It looked good, but actually it was demonic.
And then Jesus gives this very stark talk
about the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit
as being something that could never be forgiven.
And then the text ends, just before we get to this bit,
where once again Jesus' mother and brothers and sisters
are there and they sort of demand
that Jesus come and see them.
And Jesus gives this response that his real mother
and brothers and sisters are those who do his will.
So that's what's just gone on.
And now here the story continues.
And here's how it goes.
Again, Jesus 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 Jesus 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 the 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.
Now, just before we go any further,
this is not the way you should sow.
Like, this doesn't make any sense.
And it probably is part of the reason
that it becomes memorable
because it doesn't make any sense.
In fact, I remember years ago,
I had a conversation with a fellow
who had been a devout Muslim
and he'd stopped being a Muslim.
And he told me that he stopped being a Muslim
because he said, basically,
everything in Islam goes back to Muhammad
and what he wrote in the mid-600s.
And life today is just so different
than life in the mid-600s.
Why on earth would anybody go back
to somebody like him
to get advice about how to live
in a place like Canada today?
So he'd walked away from Islam,
not into any other religion.
He just walked away from it.
And some people might hear this
and think this is the dumbest way
in the world to farm
or to have a crop.
So if Jesus can't even get something
simple like this right,
why on earth would you want to listen to him?
But the fact of the matter is
is that everybody at the time
that was listening to it
would have known
that this isn't the way you do things.
Like, this is foolish.
And in fact, it's actually doubly foolish
because on one hand,
nobody in their right mind just says,
I'm going to throw some seed on the path.
I'm going to see all those,
see all the thorns and weeds.
I'm going to throw some seed there.
And you see where all the rocks are
and there's hardly any,
I'm going to throw some seed there
and then I'll throw the rest there.
Like, not only is that not how it works,
but the other thing is that
in that culture,
and this we wouldn't know,
like, unless you have some study helps,
is that nobody got a return
on their sowing of 30, 60, or 100.
Like, that was unheard of.
A good return would have been 10 or 15.
And so they'd say,
this doesn't make any sense.
Jesus doesn't know anything about farming.
That would have been the response to many people.
And that probably explains a little bit
about what happens afterwards.
Because if you see in verse 10,
not only the 12,
but the other people who are hanging around,
who are sort of part of Jesus' bigger inner circle,
they all come and have some questions
about what's going on.
Look what happens in verse 10.
And when Jesus was alone,
those around him,
so after this,
all the crowds dispersed,
and the people who really hang around with Jesus
and sort of travel with him,
and when he was alone,
those around him with the 12
asked him about the parables.
I mean, they're probably saying something like,
Jesus, what gives?
We know that,
you know,
that's not how any sane person plants,
and we know that that,
you know that that's,
nobody gets a hundredfold return
from planting one seed.
Like, what's going on?
And Jesus says to them,
now, here's a very, very classic,
if you're watching this for the first time,
one of the things that you might not know about Jesus
is that regularly what he does
is he actually seems to make things worse.
Like, rather than just sort of making it
really easy to understand,
he sort of introduces new problems
that you hadn't even thought of
and seems to make it worse.
And that's what goes on right here.
So, look what happens in verse 11.
He said to them,
to you,
that's to the 12 and the others,
has been given the secret
of the kingdom of God.
But for those outside,
everything is in parables.
And just before I read the next bit
where it gets problematic,
I'm going to return to this
at the end of the sermon,
but literally,
it doesn't say secret.
Literally, it says mystery.
And that actually,
the translators made the decision
that it was easier for people today
to understand the word secret,
but I actually think they made a mistake.
I think the word mystery
is actually the better word to use.
But that's the literal word.
If you go and look at a literal study help,
it'll say literally the word is mystery.
So he says,
to you has been given the mystery
of the kingdom of God,
but for those outside,
everything is in parables.
And here's the hard part.
Verse 12,
so that they may indeed see,
but not perceive,
and may indeed hear,
but not understand,
lest they should turn and be forgiven.
You go, whoa, whoa,
did I just hear that right?
Like did Jesus say,
I'm intentionally saying things
so people don't understand?
And I'm intentionally saying things
not only so people don't understand,
but so they won't come to the triune God?
Like is that what he said?
Like that's crazy talk.
Like what's going on?
In fact, you might want to say,
this is why if you had your own Bibles,
you're going, what,
is that what he said?
And you go back and you look and says,
yeah, so that they may indeed see,
but not perceive,
and may indeed hear,
but not understand,
lest they should turn and be forgiven.
Now, what's going on here?
Well, he's quoting from Isaiah 6.
Now, one of the things
which is going on here
that you wouldn't know,
that's why you have to come to church
or read Study Helps or whatever,
is, well, here, sorry,
just a geek moment,
a geek moment.
This is,
for some of you guys
who are sort of geeks and gals,
you'll love this.
But back in the time of Jesus,
there was, of course,
the official Bible,
like the Bible,
the Hebrew,
which was written in Hebrew.
That would have been the language
that all of the books
were written in originally.
They would all have been written
in Hebrew fundamentally.
But what had developed
about the century or so
before the time of Jesus
is that two different paraphrases
had been developed.
One paraphrase was,
in other words,
people realized,
a lot of Jewish people realized
that if you were a Jewish person
living in Rome
or in Athens
or in what we now call Turkey,
you might not know Hebrew.
You only speak Greek.
So what they did
is they paraphrased
the Old Testament,
the Hebrew,
into Greek.
And for many people,
that would have been their Bible.
They would have heard
a paraphrase
of the Old Testament
in Greek.
But there was another one
not as well known,
and that was in Aramaic,
not Arabic.
Arabic as a language
would not develop
for at least another century.
But Aramaic,
which is sort of similar
to Hebrew.
And so, for instance,
in the area
where Jesus ministered
at the time of this,
most Jewish people
would have spoken Aramaic,
many of them
would have spoken Greek.
And we know from looking
at the historical evidence
that Jesus knew Hebrew
and he knew Aramaic
and he knew Greek.
And so what he does here
in this answer
to this thing,
this odd text,
is he actually uses
the Aramaic paraphrase.
And that's why
if you go back
and you compare this
to the text in Isaiah 6,
it doesn't look identical,
the same.
It looks a bit different
because Jesus is using
the Aramaic paraphrase.
Now, here's the geeky thing.
I hope I didn't lose you.
So now to get out of the geek
in terms of what it means.
In the Hebrew,
if you go back
and look in Isaiah 6,
it's very clear
that God
stops people
from understanding
or makes some type
of decision
saying they don't understand.
But in the Aramaic paraphrase,
the emphasis,
it's ambiguous.
And so listen again
to what,
so in a sense,
what's happening here
is this.
There's a lot of people
and probably true
of many of us
at different times
in our life
and maybe before
we became Christians
who don't want
Christianity to be true.
Like,
you know,
if I actually came
to believe
that Christianity
was true,
well,
what would happen?
If I actually came
to believe
that Christianity
was true,
look at the end
of verse 12.
I'd have to turn
or repent
and seek forgiveness.
I'd have to say,
well,
if I actually believe
that Christianity
is true,
the way I spend
my time
would have to change.
The way I spend
my money
would have to change.
I might actually
have some pressure
to forgive somebody.
I might have to change
the way I view
things on my screen.
I might have to
stop living
with my girlfriend
if I came to believe
that Christianity
was true.
And I don't want
to stop doing that.
I don't want to turn
and ask for forgiveness.
Like,
I don't want to do that.
I'm not going to do that.
Now,
people will rarely
be very public about it,
but in your heart,
that's what's going on.
I'm not going to do that.
And so,
in the Aramaic,
if you look at it,
say,
you see,
if they actually perceived,
they'd have to turn
to be forgiven.
If they actually understood,
they'd have to turn
to be forgiven.
I don't want to turn
and be forgiven,
so I'm not going to perceive.
I'm not going to understand.
And that's what's
sort of going on here
in the text,
that you're dealing
with people
who just,
dang it all,
I don't want to do that.
Or,
if I do become a Christian,
I want to do it
on my terms.
And so,
God,
I mean,
I'm just,
obviously,
I'm exaggerating.
I have here a list
of demands
and conditions.
Okay,
I get to keep
my sexuality,
I get to keep
all of my money,
and I get to keep
all of my ambition,
and I'll give you
some of the emotional stuff,
because I can understand
how that would help me to,
and I,
you know,
I can sort of understand
I need to do some forgiveness,
I'd love to have some
emotional peace,
so that's fine,
I'd like that,
but these things here,
these are the conditions,
and if you would just
sign off on the bottom,
then I'll give my life
to Christ.
And that's sort of
what Jesus is saying
is going on here
in the text.
Now,
just,
it's a whole other
topic of conversation,
but just very briefly,
like if you look
through the gospel,
if you look through Isaiah,
and if you look
through the Old Testament,
there's this constant
interplay between
two ideas,
of God sovereignly
making decisions,
and of human beings
sovereignly or freely
making decisions.
And it's a very,
very big mystery
about how you actually
have free will
in a world where
your free will
causes things.
And the short form
of the answer
from Christians
is that freedom
has to have
a guarantor.
It has to have
conditions that
allow it to happen.
And so God,
in his sovereign power,
creates a human being
like you
to have freedom,
and he guarantees it.
And on one hand,
then,
if he took away
his sovereignty,
you'd lose your freedom.
So he never stops
being sovereign,
but he uses his sovereignty
to give you real freedom.
And I'll explain why
in a moment.
And so,
well, actually,
maybe I should go,
so, yeah,
so he gives you the,
he gives you this freedom,
but at the end of the day,
since he doesn't give up
his sovereignty,
it's as if,
so it's as if God,
so from a human point of view,
I say to God,
my will be done.
And God woos you
and woos you
to try to get you
to turn to him.
And at the end,
in a sense,
on your deathbed
and beyond,
if all the way
through your entire life
you've said,
my will be done,
that we never say
thy will be done,
but my will be done.
At the end,
in a sense,
what happens
in the day of judgment
is a meeting of minds.
It's almost as if
at the judgment seat,
the person still says to God,
these are my demands,
my will be done,
you give in to them
and I'll go along with you.
At the end of the day,
God says,
well,
you're not God,
you don't get to make
those types of things
and so that's just
not possible.
You do realize
that if you continue
to turn your back on me,
there's this eternal
separation from me
with all the consequences,
all the pain
and the sorrow,
you realize that
and you say,
no, no, no, no,
you're not listening to me,
we say back to God.
These are my demands
and at the end,
the end of the judgment,
I say to God,
my will be done
and God says to me,
thy will be done,
which ends up meaning hell,
that there's a meeting
of the mind right to the end,
God allows our freedom.
So,
here's the problem
that we have.
Why is it that God hides,
appears to hide?
Well,
part of the problem is
that in our heart of hearts,
we project onto God
what we want for ourselves
and think that God
should be like us
and what do we want?
We want our own way,
we want applause,
we want our own way,
we want recognition
and we want applause.
I mean,
that's part of the problem
that's going on right now,
you know,
the dominant philosophy
in our culture
is that everybody
has to get in touch
with their own feelings
and desires
and be authentic
to who they are
and to be authentic
it means that
I have to be autonomous
and I have to try
to realize who I am
but that doesn't stop
with that
is because then
we also want applause.
Like,
it's partly what's going on
in the culture wars.
It's not just that,
you know,
the homeschooling
heterosexual mom
just leave her alone
and the gay
or the lesbian
or the trans person
will just all make sure
nobody's rights are trampled
and we're just left alone
but that's not what's going on
in the culture
is that for many positions
there's the demand
of applause.
Not just to leave them alone
and to make sure
nobody hurts them
but actually
a demand for applause.
It's in the very heart
of our cultural moment.
It's actually come right out
to the fore.
That's demanded.
And so what we do
is we project onto God
well if I was God
I'd want everybody to know
and I'd want everybody
to recognize it
and I'd want applause
and I'd make sure
that happens.
But God's not like us
thanks be to God.
You see,
the fact of the matter is
is that what God wants
is love.
And love requires freedom.
You see,
the fact of the matter is
is that God could
in the tiniest,
tiniest sliver
reveal himself
in such a way
that every single one
of us would cower.
We would all fall down
or flee
if God made himself
just even the tiniest sliver
of revealed himself
in a way that was
completely and utterly
undeniable.
It would cause us
to fear.
It would overwhelm
our mind,
overwhelm our reason,
overwhelm our will,
and it would cause terror.
And he could do that
effortlessly.
But God doesn't desire
to overwhelm.
He desires to woo.
W-O-O.
To woo.
And so if God wants
to preserve our freedom
and your freedom
and if he wants to woo,
then how exactly
does he reveal himself?
If God is humbler
than you and me,
because you see,
part of the opposite
of humility,
which is pride,
is a preoccupation
with ourself
and a desire
for recognition.
And humility
isn't thinking
bad things about yourself,
but an actual engagement
with the other person
and a concern for them
the way they really are.
That's why humility
is so deeply tied to love.
It's an actual caring
for the person
in front of you.
And if God cares for you
and loves you
and actually wants
what's best for you,
well, how does he reveal himself
without overwhelming you?
And so it is that Jesus speaks
in things like parables
and other types of things.
It's why on one level
you can look at
the created order
and on one hand
you can start to get
these clues
that there is a God
that does exist,
that there is a designer,
that there is a creator,
that there's,
that there are clues
that there must be
something sustaining
my freedom.
There's all these clues
around you
that you can
potentially begin
to see
that there is a God
like the triune God
that does exist.
And even in Jesus'
teaching then,
it never overwhelms,
it woos.
Even when he confronts
his sins,
he confronts to connect.
And you know that
especially by the end
of it
where you realize
that no matter
how hard a thing
that Jesus says,
it dies
in a mystery.
I mean,
so it ends in a mystery.
It ends with him dying
for you.
Like,
how is it
that love
himself
would die
for those
who are definitely
not love,
but are a mixture
of love and hate?
How is it
that light itself,
himself,
would die
for ones
who love light
and darkness?
How is it
that God
would actually
die
for a human being?
How is it
that there would be
one who would say
to God,
not my will,
but thine be done?
Which is what happens
just before he goes
to the cross.
So this becomes
clear
as the New Testament
develops.
So what's going on
in this parable?
So what's going on
in this parable
actually is very,
very deeply human.
In a sense,
the invitation here
is that if you stop
to think to yourself,
especially maybe
when you're,
you know,
the people
who are listening
to Jesus
are people
who've seen him
do things
like heal a man
who was paralyzed.
He's seen people
heal from the distance.
He's seen,
they've seen demons
being cast out by him.
They've seen all
of these things.
So one of the ways
they could respond
to this parable
is maybe
the problem
isn't that I think
he's dumb,
but maybe he's trying
to communicate
a point to me.
Like rather than me
just saying,
oh, stupid Jesus,
what does he know
about farming?
He's an idiot.
You might say,
one moment,
this is a guy
who heals
paralyzed people
and raises the dead
and heals the blind
and casts out demons.
Maybe if he says
something,
I should listen.
Like maybe I should
listen.
Like maybe I should
try to figure out
what's going on.
And actually,
on one level,
before we get into it,
what Jesus says
is actually
quite psychologically
profound.
And it's not only
something psychologically
profound,
it's also something
that we're all
very familiar with.
It makes up
the constant themes
of the novels
and the movies
and the plays
that we consume
and in fact
our conversations
with others.
Like you think about it,
what's one of the
common themes
in our culture
right now?
One of the common
themes in our culture
right now is you have
people who are like this.
They're going around
like this,
all like this,
and you know,
maybe their wife
or their husband
or their kid
says something
and we go,
yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah.
Right?
Isn't that a common
theme in our culture?
We're not really listening.
We're completely
and utterly consumed
with our device.
Well, doesn't that
sound a little bit
like the person
who starts to listen
or they think
they're listening
but really what's
happening is the devil
is just taking the word
away from them
so it never actually
even makes any impact
whatsoever.
And I just recently
recommended that you
watch the movie
Just Mercy.
I watch all sorts of things.
I don't often recommend
that you watch it
but it's a very
interesting true story
and in that
is something
which is a very
common theme
in lots and lots
of movies
and lots of things
in our life.
They're all excited
because evidence
comes up.
There are people
who can give testimony
and if they give testimony
it proves beyond
a shadow of a doubt
that the person
who's on death row
could not have
committed the murder.
He could not have
committed the murder
and they can give
this testimony
and the guy says
okay we're going
to get you to do
a legal disposition
or whatever it is
and that will do it
but within the next
24 hours
and the people
who make the offer
they're all excited
and everybody's excited
but then a day later
they realize
if I do this
there's going to be
terrible consequences
there might be
terrible consequences
to my life
and they back away
from doing it.
But doesn't that
happen all the time?
Like haven't many
of you seen
in your workplace
or others
where people come
across an instant
of abuse
or injustice
and people at all
at first
they're going to
combat it
but then they're silent?
Isn't that what happens
in the military
with claims of sexual abuse?
Isn't that what happens
with all sorts of people
who could blow the whistle
and they back off
because they realize
there could be
very bad consequences?
Isn't that the stuff
of life?
And what about
another thing
which is a very
very common thing?
What about the fact
that it's a very
very regular thing
in life
that maybe once again
you realize
that there's been
something done
which is very
very wrong
and at first
you're going to
do something about it
but then you realize
that if you do
something about it
it's going to affect
not necessarily
that anything bad
is going to happen
to you
but shouldn't you
maybe be concerned
about the institution
and shouldn't you
be a little bit
concerned about
your career?
And if you think
about that
that's every
Michael Connolly
Harry Bosch novel
that's one of the
subplots of every
one of those
best-selling novels
the police bureaucracy
that thinks
one moment
we can't deal
with this wrong
because we need
to protect
the institution
and I need
to protect
my career
and isn't it
an aspect
of almost
every romantic
movie or drama
with romance
of a marriage
falling apart
because a person
becomes overly
consumed with money
or with pornography
or some other
type of thing
that starts
to wreck it
and isn't it
part of the
normal thing
of life
to understand
that some people
take the love
or the justice
or the goodness
or the beauty
seriously
and are willing
to pay the cost
and in hindsight
we see that
they're heroes
just before
the COVID
things all
happened in 2019
at the end
of October
I was able to go
because of my
interest in
apologetics
I got invited
along on a tour
with Christian
apologists
and some others
of the Holy Land
and about
halfway through
the tour
we went to
the museum
that remembers
the Holocaust
and that evening
by coincidence
people all went
around to share
a little bit
about what
the tour
had been like
for them so far
and what they'd
really got out
of it
and one of the
most moving
parts of the tour
was that
this woman
and her husband
who was on the tour
they had disappeared
I mean we all
separated
but they shared
she shared
that some of her
direct relatives
her aunts
and uncles
I get worked up
even thinking about it
they were listed
in the museum
as part of the
righteous Gentiles
at great cost
and risk
to themselves
they had hidden
Jews
and so
they didn't
go on the tour
they just went
to that part
to see the names
of her relatives
and it was
the whole room
just silent
it happened to be
at a time as well
where there were
many Jewish people
the whole room
just goes silent
because now
in hindsight
let me tell you
if you were in Holland
there's all sorts
of reasons
not to protect Jews
but now
we don't look up
to the people
who said
if I protect Jews
it's going to hurt
my church
if I protect Jews
it's going to affect
my advancement
if I protect Jews
I won't be able
to make as much money
or I can make more money
if I betray them
nobody remembers them
with
Louise and I
are watching a thing
about Harriet Tubman
there's all sorts
of people
who wouldn't help
the slaves
have all the reasons
but those who are
gripped with love
and justice
and goodness
we now go back
and look at them
and we think
of the great fruits
the good fruits
that happened
so in light of that
listen to this parable
listen to what Jesus
says in verse 13
and he said to them
do you not understand
this parable
how then will you
understand all the parables
the sower sows the word
I'll explain what that
means in a moment
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 just sort of
pause here for a second
what the word
is
is the word
is the personal
the person and work
of Christ
understood in the context
of the bible
in the bible
understood
in the context
of the person
and work of christ
like you receive
christ
and what he's done
for you
as understood
in the bible
and in a sense
you're also
receiving the bible
understood in light
of the person
and work of christ
and that's the seed that you receive.
In a sense, what Jesus is just saying,
if you understand that Jesus' parable
helps to understand why it is that a lot of people
don't do that which is just or that which is faithful
or that which is beautiful or that which is right,
then surely you understand that in the same way,
if Jesus really is God, the Son of God,
who dies as a sacrifice for sin,
if he really is light swallowing the darkness,
love swallowing the hate and the indifference,
if he is righteousness swallowing the unrighteousness
and doing all of that for us as an act of profound sacrifice
to make you right with God,
if that is right, then we can still have these same responses
that turn that away,
and the way that's going to be to bear fruit
is to receive what he's done.
Look at verse 16,
and these are the ones sown on the 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.
You see, it's a mystery.
You receive the mystery.
If you were to go back
to the time of Harriet Tubman
and just sort of changing the context
and you were to say to one of the white slaveholders,
like, in a sense,
you know, in a sense you're wearing a noose
around your neck.
And they say,
why are you wearing a noose?
Well, don't you know that that black man
that you lynched
is the turning point of history
and the means by which you became right God?
Well, they'd mock it
and say that's the dumbest, stupidest thing in the world.
And you say, no, no, it's a mystery.
You receive him
and it begins to make a difference in your life
and you start to bear fruit
and the more you press into it,
the more you know it's real
and the more you might have a bit of a way
to become more gentle rather than harsh
and maybe to deal with some of the craziness
and the messes and the addictions
and the violence in your life.
And the white slave owners would say,
there is absolutely no way on God's good earth
that the turning point of all of history
is that black guy that we lynched.
And that's the mystery of the ancient world.
First of all, nobody survives crucifixion.
Tens and tens and tens and tens of thousands
were crucified.
Nobody survived.
And you're saying that this Jewish rebel
who died a slave's death
by Roman imperial power,
and if you were the Jewish leaders,
are you saying our scriptures say
that cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree
and you're saying that someone obviously cursed by God,
dying under Roman power as a slave
and a ne'er-do-well,
that he, receiving him
and what he did for you on the cross,
that that's the turning point of history,
that that is the end of your longings
and your yearnings
and you can be reconciled to God,
that is completely and utterly ridiculous.
And you want to know how this really is a mystery?
I mean, on one level,
and it is a mystery, you know?
I mean, on one level,
mystery doesn't mean you don't know anything about it.
You know the shape of it and all.
And at the end of the day,
as we all know,
philosophers have never plumbed the depths
of what it means for Jesus to die upon the cross.
Poets have never plumbed the depths.
Musicians and mystics and philosophers
and theologians and ordinary people,
on one hand, you can understand,
you can hear that this guy who dies on a cross
has died to reconcile you with God
and that if you receive it,
it will make you right.
And you can understand it on one level.
There's a shape to the mystery,
but the heart of the mystery is still a complete...
It continues to fascinate when you're inside of it.
And from the outside,
it's a shocking thing.
And part of the thing,
which is even more shocking,
is that even though the historical records show
that to accept the crucified Jew
as your Savior and Lord
is only going to put you on the outside
of pagan and Jewish society,
yet somehow or another this thing grew.
And 2,000 years later,
there is not a single god or goddess
of ancient Greece or Rome
who is still worshipped,
but we are here today
remembering the crucified Jew.
And earlier today,
our brothers and sisters in Nigeria
and Uganda
and Kenya
and Rwanda
and in Israel
and Syria
and hidden in Iran
and hidden in China
and hidden in North Korea
and in South Korea
have worshipped
the crucified Jew.
What a mystery!
Four things very briefly in closing.
Four very brief takeaways.
I apologize I don't have them up on the screen.
The first one is
the importance of the message of the sower.
God sows the seed
to all and sundry
and all conditions of men and women.
I don't know how many of you,
if you haven't heard it,
go back two Sundays ago
and listen to Matt Usherwood's testimony.
And if you've heard other things about his life,
I can tell you right now
that if you were the youth pastor
there speaking to the group
and you saw Matt come in
and you talked to him,
you'd think,
why this guy's been
arrested several times
and he does lots of drugs
and there is,
in fact,
you might have been worried
that he was present
and you almost might want to even hold back
what you want to say,
but they shared the gospel
and Matt became a Christian.
He was the most unlikely guy in the room.
And the sower,
there are a lot of us here,
if you hear this story,
it's very unlikely
you would ever become a Christian.
And so part of the takeaway from this
is that don't say God's no for him.
Pray for unlikely people.
If you get an opportunity
to bear witness to Jesus,
take it.
Don't say to yourself,
well, this person is a trans activist.
They're just going to hate me.
Don't say,
this person is a very,
very wealthy glee bite.
They're just going to look down their nose at me.
Don't say,
this person is very important in politics
or in the media.
Don't say,
this person is too broken and messed up.
Like,
how do you know who the seed is?
Who's going to,
you don't know.
Share the gospel
and pray for the unlikely people
that you come across,
that they will come to know Jesus
because you don't know.
And the second thing is,
when you hear,
you know,
the text in verse 20
is that they hear the word,
they receive the word.
And so it's not like,
if you just happen to say the words,
Jesus is my savior and Lord,
then you go to heaven.
And if you just happen to say the,
you don't say the words,
you go to hell forever.
No.
And it's not a matter of,
if you just have the opinion,
you go one place.
And if you don't have that opinion,
you go another place.
No.
What it's like,
it's like a seed
being received into the soil.
You receive the person
and work of Christ.
You receive him
as your savior and Lord.
You receive him in.
The image is like a seed
going into the ground.
And the water
and the seed
blossoms
and bursts
and grows.
it's more like accepting,
saying yes to a marriage proposal.
And that's what he does to you.
And he's even humbled himself
to use very old fashioned language.
He's got down on his knees
and he looks up to you
and he said,
will you take me?
Will you take me?
And he's hoping and longing
that you will say yes.
And this is the third thing.
If you say to me,
George,
does Jesus know
how messed up my life is?
And I can say to you,
yes, he does.
Does he know
that every time
I've tried to start on something
it's ended up
either I've dropped it
or it's ended up in failure?
Yes, he knows.
Does he know
that every single time
I've opened my life up
to a person
that all that's happened
is that they've hurt me
or rejected me?
Does he know that?
And all I can say to you is,
yes, he knows.
Does he know
how consumed I am
with drugs
or alcohol
or with sex
or with money?
Yes, he knows.
And he's still making
the offer to you
and he wants you to say yes.
And the fruitfulness
won't come from your effort.
the fruitfulness
comes in your own
personal life
and in the world
when you say yes.
He does the fruitfulness,
not you.
And the final thing
is that this parable
of the seed
is an invitation
for us to examine
our conscience.
To say to Jesus today,
is it I, Lord?
Have I become
far too consumed
with my image?
Have I become...
Am I worried
to say something
or do something
because I'm afraid
of the bad consequences?
Am I actually
becoming too fixated
on my career
or my money?
Jesus,
are you talking
to me this morning?
And Jesus,
if you are,
help me to say no
to those things
and help me,
please,
Jesus,
I want to be
that fruitful soil
where you do
this miraculous work
of fruitfulness.
I want that
to be me
and I know
I need your help
to say no
to those other things.
I invite you
to stand.
Please stand.
Let's just bow
our heads in prayer.
Father,
if there are any here
or any who are watching,
Father,
who sort of,
they feel the pressure,
Father,
to give their lives
to Jesus,
then Father,
I ask that you
just help them
to turn around
and to look at you
and to accept
the offer of your Son
to be their Savior
and their Lord
and to allow Jesus
to come into their lives.
Father,
and help them
with the words.
Help them,
Father,
to just stop
and to allow that
to happen.
And Father,
for each of us
who are here,
you know the different ways
that we are affected
by these things,
affected by
our preoccupation
with how others
think of us,
our worry
about our reputation,
our pursuit
of wealth
or power
or career
or some other thing,
fitness
or some other type
of thing,
of beauty,
of looks.
Father,
you know the different ways
that we frustrate
the Word,
the person of Christ.
And Father,
we come to you
and we thank you so much
that you know us perfectly
and you love us perfectly.
And just we once again
recommit to you
and we once again
just come and stand
and say we thank you.
We can remember about Jesus
and have communion
and hear your Word
and we recommit to you.
Father,
make us fruitful.
Help us to accept Jesus
deep in our lives
no matter what the cost
and help us to be fruitful.
We turn to you.
We desire to be that good soil
as individuals
and as a church
that you will bring
good fruit
in our personal lives
in our church
and in the world
all to your glory.
And we ask this
in the name of Jesus,
your Son and our Savior.
Amen.