Morning Church.
Okay, the reading is taken from Mark chapter 4, verses 1 to 20.
You can find that on pages 1005 in your church Bible.
You can also follow on the screen behind me.
Again, Jesus began to teach by the lake.
The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he 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 taught them many things by parables, and in his teachings said,
Listen, a farmer went out to sow his seed.
As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.
Some fell on rocky places where it did not have much soil.
It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow.
But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered, because they had no root.
Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants,
so that they did not bear grain.
Still other seed fell on good soil.
It came up, grew, and produced a crop.
Some multiplying 30, some 60, some 100 times.
Then Jesus said,
Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.
When he was alone, the 12 and the others around him asked him about the parables.
He told them,
The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you,
but to those on the outside, everything is said in parables,
so that they may be ever seen, but never perceiving,
and ever hearing, but never understanding.
Otherwise, they might turn and be forgiven.
Then Jesus said to them,
Don't you understand this parable?
How then will you understand any parable?
The farmer sows the word.
Some people are like seed along the path where the word is sown.
As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes it away,
and the word that was sown in them.
Others, like seed sown on rocky places,
hear the word and at once receive it with joy.
But since they have no root, they last only a short time.
When trouble or persecution comes,
because of the word, they quickly fall away.
Still others, like seed sown among thorns,
hear the word.
But the worries of this life,
the deceitfulness of wealth,
and the desires for other things,
come in and choke the word,
making it unfruitful.
Others, like seed sown on ground,
on good soil,
hear the word,
accept it,
and produce a crop.
Some 30,
some 60,
some 100 times
that was sown.
This is the word of the Lord.
Great, thank you, Yvonne.
Do keep that passage open in front of you.
We're going to be working our way through it.
Let's pray
and ask for the Lord's help as we come to his word.
Let's pray.
Father, we do thank you for your word to us.
We pray now that you might help us to listen carefully
to what you're saying to us.
Help me, I pray,
to speak clearly.
Help all of us to have tender,
good soil hearts
that listen and accept what you're saying to us.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
Now, let me tell you something
which you're probably sure of anyway.
That is that self-awareness
is a rare thing, right?
We are pretty good, I think,
when it comes to seeing
the mistakes of others
and less good at seeing the contribution
that perhaps we've made to situations.
Let me give you some examples
to show you what I mean.
Maybe you're at school, right?
Maybe you've had a really bad week
at school this week.
And you know why you've had a bad week
at school this week.
It's because the teachers hate you.
They mark your work harder
than anybody else's.
They have it in for you.
They see you coming.
They're unkind to you, right?
You're really sure of all that.
What you're less aware of
is that the fact that you don't do any work
might also contribute to the fact
that you've had a bad week at school, perhaps.
It's the same dynamic at work, isn't it?
When a project goes wrong
or when a contract falls over
or when that bid for new work doesn't come off,
we are pretty clear on all the mistakes
that other members of the team have made
and are less clear about our own contribution to it.
We're blind to that.
It's the same in family arguments.
Maybe you don't have family arguments,
but if you do, it's the same in those, isn't it?
Where the unreasonableness of everybody else
in your family is really obvious to you.
Well, they're so selfish.
They are always like that.
They are always putting themselves first.
And you can see it really clearly,
but your own contribution to it,
well, you're blind to that.
Now, obviously, that sort of lack of self-awareness
is different in different characters.
Some of us are inclined to self-pity.
Some of us are inclined to arrogance.
But the fact is that not knowing ourselves
and not knowing our own contribution in any situation
is really a problem, isn't it, in our lives?
Maybe you're still unpersuaded.
Let me suggest to you something that you could do
if you're unpersuaded that a lack of self-awareness
is a problem.
Why not, after church, speak to a good friend
and say to them something like this,
please, can you tell me everything
that you think I am unaware of
that contributes to the problems that I have, right?
And then just brace yourself
for whatever it is that comes next.
Now, in a sense, that is the dynamic of Mark chapter four.
In Mark chapter four, Jesus is that good friend.
And he's saying to you, listen,
there is a spiritual version of a lack of self-awareness.
And I want to, like a good friend
with my hand on your shoulder,
I want to show you the contribution
that your heart is making
to your acceptance of the gospel.
You see, we say things like this, don't we,
in a sort of lack of spiritual self-awareness.
We say things like, do you know what?
I would be a better Christian
if I went to a better church.
Church is kind of boring, really.
It's a pain to get to.
Or, do you know, life is so busy,
I would be a better Christian
if my life wasn't so busy.
I would read my Bible and pray more
if it wasn't for the kids getting up so early.
You know, Jesus would be more present to me
in my day-to-day life
if I didn't just have so much to do.
Or perhaps you think, do you know what?
Honestly, I've got better things to be doing,
other priorities you wouldn't understand.
You don't know where I'm coming from.
None of this Jesus stuff resonates with me anymore.
And into that kind of lack of self-awareness,
spiritual self-awareness,
Jesus tells the parable of the sower in Mark 4.
It's probably more accurate to call it
the parable of the soils
because it's the soil that's in view
rather than the sower.
In the picture, the farmer is liberally scattering the seed
and in the image,
Jesus is the one scattering the seed.
And the seed, as we saw with the kids,
is the word of God,
the message of the gospel,
the good news of the kingdom.
This message that he has been telling
since the beginning of Mark's gospel
of repentance and faith in him for forgiveness.
And this seed lands on four different types of soil.
The path,
the rocks,
the weeds,
and the good soil.
And those soils, we find,
are human hearts,
the different responses to the same message,
the same gospel message.
And the parable, in effect,
says that our spiritual condition
is a reflection of what's going on in our hearts.
You know, in the parable,
all the other conditions are the same, right?
It's the same seed,
it's the same farmer,
it's the same weather,
but the responses are different
as a reflection of the heart.
So let's just start by walking through
these different types of soil.
The first is the path.
I think first,
when I read this as a kid,
I imagined that this was sort of,
you know, like concrete slabs.
I don't think it's really like that.
What really is going on here
is like compacted soil.
It has been squashed down by foot traffic.
And the seed landing here stays on top,
it is snatched away by the birds.
And Jesus explains the picture in verse 15.
Look at verse 15.
Some people, he says,
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.
It's a tragic image.
This is the image I was trying to conjure up
with throwing the seeds around
the church building here,
that it would just go to waste.
There's nothing for it to take root in.
Perfectly good seed goes to waste,
snatched away, we're told,
by the devil himself,
because the hardness of the heart
has prevented it from penetrating
even in a small way.
By its very definition,
this is hard, isn't it,
to address in a gathering like this?
If your heart is like the path this morning,
then you're probably not listening to me.
Probably on your phone,
doing the word search on the notice sheet
or counting the chairs
or something like that.
But let me just try and wake you up
for a moment.
Because Jesus here wants to wake us up
to the possibility that
the reason that we're not a Christian
this morning,
the reason that we find all of this
a bit dull and a bit impenetrable
is not because the seed is bad.
It's not because the farmer is poor
or the weather is no good.
No, it's because our hearts are hard
to the message of the gospel,
trodden down from years of refusing to listen
and the seed just kind of bounces off.
The very idea that you are owned
by a God who has made you,
that you are given a life
to live for his glory,
and that your failure,
our failure to live life for him
and for his glory,
that failure has left us
in a moral peril
before a holy God.
A moral peril that only Jesus
can save us from.
Those ideas,
you never really thought about them properly.
That's because you won't think about them.
So let me ask you this morning
whether that might be you.
Might you be like the path this morning?
Honestly, it's lots of people
in our world, isn't it?
The people around whom
we spend much of our time.
Perhaps you're a parent this morning
and you find that your children
are like this.
Or maybe your nieces
or your nephews
or your grandchildren
or your mum or your dad.
They're just not interested
in any encounter
with the gospel message.
And every time you try and share it,
it's like it just bounces right off.
They ignore it.
The devil snatches it away.
And it's desperately sad
because the seed is good.
The farmer is kind.
The weather is the same for everyone.
But it takes no root.
The second soil is the rocky soil.
Here the image seems to be shallow soil
over some kind of bedrock.
So it's not just that the soil itself
is littered with stones,
but more that the soil
is just a shallow layer
over a bedrock underneath it.
The soil warms up quickly in the sun.
So the seed sort of germinates quicker
than any of the others
springing up ahead.
Eventually, though,
that layer of rock becomes a problem
because the roots can't go down.
So the plant doesn't last.
The sun gets hotter into the summer
and the plant is ruined.
Look down at verse 16
and you'll see Jesus' explanation.
Others, he says,
like seed sown on rocky places,
hear the word
and at once receive it with joy.
But since they have no root,
they last only a short time.
When trouble or persecution
comes because of the word,
they quickly fall away.
This rocky soil
and the weedy soil afterwards
that we'll find
point to this reality
that false faith
and true faith
look, at least for a time,
identical to one another.
You know, at the start,
there's no difference
between the shallow soil plant
and the good soil plant.
In fact, if anything,
the shallow soil plant
is growing ahead
of the good soil plant.
But then things start
to get more difficult
and more difficult
in a very specific way.
Look down and notice
what he says.
It's here,
it's about trouble
and persecution coming
because of the word.
So here is it,
as we discover,
having listened to the gospel
and in a certain sense
accepted it,
we discover that
that actually makes
our lives more difficult
and not easier.
Perhaps we thought
that trusting Jesus
might just be a kind of
nice bolt-on to our life.
You know,
kind of a cultural insurance policy
for when we die.
But then being a Christian
turns out to make
really tough demands
of our life choices.
Doesn't prove to be
very popular
with our friends
or our family.
And so we give up.
You know,
the seed was good,
the farmer was kind,
the weather was the same
for everybody,
but the soil was shallow.
And so the plant
only lasted for a short time.
I think as a sort of
bit of an aside here,
it's worth just noticing
Jesus' wisdom here
for how we take
professions of faith.
He says here,
doesn't he,
that effectively
we should take
professions of faith
seriously,
but we should also
take them patiently.
I wonder whether
this is perhaps
particularly important
for Christian parents
and youth leaders
to hear.
You know,
how do you know
if that profession of faith
that your eight-year-old
is making is genuine?
Well,
Jesus says,
doesn't he,
just like with anybody's
profession of faith,
you cannot tell
whether it's genuine
just by the earnestness
of it.
In fact,
earnestness
is the speciality
of the shallow soil.
You can only see
the genuineness
of a profession
when it is tested
by trouble
and persecution
and whether it
perseveres.
So maybe when
the eight-year-old
turns 16 or 17
and their school friends
are mocking them
for attending church
or when they leave home
and living for Jesus
is way more difficult,
well,
then you'll know
whether their faith
is genuine.
Now,
the point is not
that we discourage
an eight-year-old
from professing faith
in Jesus Christ.
Of course not.
The point is
that we don't give up
praying for them
or assume
that it's all right
because we need
to see perseverance.
And that's not just
for children,
is it?
Maybe this is for us
this morning.
Maybe there was a time
when you would have
called yourself a Christian.
You were going for it.
You were earnest.
You were enthusiastic.
You couldn't wait
to pick up a Bible
in the morning.
You couldn't wait
to come to church
and sing praises to God.
But then it just
got too difficult.
You realized
that following Christ
came at a cost
to yourself.
That following Jesus
would mean saying goodbye
to friends and family
to serve the gospel
somewhere else.
Or that being a Christian
would make you suspicious
to the HR team at work.
Being a Christian
might narrow your chances
of getting married
and so you gave up.
You gave up on the message.
The third soil
is similar in a way.
It's the weeds.
Here the plant grows
and looks healthy
and genuine
just like before.
Indistinguishable
from a genuine plant.
But the problem here
is that the soil
is full of weeds.
If you've ever done
any gardening at all
you will know
that by definition
weeds grow faster
than plants.
When Vanessa
and I lived in Liverpool
we had an allotment.
It was the trial
of my life
going to the allotment.
I hated it.
Vanessa loved it.
But the only thing
we were successful
at growing in the allotment
were weeds.
You didn't have to do anything.
They grew fast.
They grew tall.
They took over everywhere.
And that's what's going on here
isn't it?
Look at verse 18
and see what Jesus says.
Still others
like seed
sown among thorns
hear the word.
But the worries
of this life
the deceitfulness
of wealth
and the desire
for other things
come in
and choke the word
making it unfruitful.
It's a tragic image
isn't it?
Interestingly here
it's not so much
that the challenge
of the weeds
is connected
to the word.
It's not persecution
here is it?
Rather this is just
life.
It's the troubles
of this world.
The worries of life.
You know
will I have enough
to make ends meet?
Will I be alone?
Will my children be safe?
Will my parents be okay?
And it's not just worries
is it?
It seems it's also successes.
It's the deceitfulness
of wealth
as he puts it.
You know
this trick
that money plays
on you
that it makes you
deceived
into this idea
that you've got
everything that you need.
Those lies
come and choke
the plant
and kill it.
Again
you probably
don't have to think
hard to think
about how this
might work
or even to come
up with examples.
You can think
of lots of
people I was
at university with
friends who were
passionate for the gospel
people who considered
going into
full-time Christian
ministry
even did it
for a time
but now
in midlife
and often
in successful jobs
are now
nowhere
spiritually.
Their Christian
lives have been
choked by
materialism
consumerism
holidays
experiences
and again
this is a call
for self-awareness
isn't it
to see
that thing
that you
really desire
that you
really long
for
might it just
choke the life
out of you
spiritually?
The desire
for money
or possessions
or even
skills
or adventure
or travel
even just
that love
fueled worry
that you
have for your
grandchildren
it can become
the weeds
and the thorns
that sucks
the life
out of your
soul
leaving you
dead at the
harvest
and Jesus
you know
like that
friend with
his arm
on your
shoulder
is saying
listen
have you
thought that
that might
be you?
Have you
considered that?
You see
the seed
is good
the farmer
is kind
the weather
is the same
for everybody
it's our
hearts
that are the
trouble
the final
soil
is the
good soil
really
it's a mistake
I think
to take the
parable
mostly negatively
because in
many ways
the big
surprise of
the passage
is not so
much the
path
the rocks
or the
weeds
the big
surprise of
the passage
is the
size of
the harvest
at the
end of
it
in fact
it gets
repeated
in verse
8 and
in verse
20
verse 8
still other
seed fell
on good
soil
it came
up and
produced
a crop
some
multiplying
30
some
60
some
100
times
he says
same
verse 20
others like
seed sown
on good
soil
hear the
word
accept it
and produce
a crop
some 30
some 60
some 100
times what
we're sown
here then is
the hope
of the story
that there is
such a thing
as good
soil that
produces
a miraculous
crop
that although
the stony
soil and
the weedy
soil might
be able to
fake initial
growth
still only
the good
soil that
bears harvest
fruits for
the farmer
here I
assume that
Jesus means
that you can
tell genuine
faith not
only by its
perseverance over
time but also
by its
fruitfulness over
time that's
what this
30 60
100 times
means and
for sure it's
it's spiritual
fruit isn't it
in honoring God
in godly character
and behavior but
it's more than
just that here I
think the fruit is
is implied in
in more
harvest more
seeds sown
more crops
coming the
word multiplying
and spreading
from the plant
that stands the
test of time
and just as we
can think of the
negative examples
we can think of
this can't we
you talk to the
people in this
room you will
hear stories of
perseverance
through storms
and trials
you will hear
conversion stories
in extraordinary
circumstances
you will hear
stories of good
soil hearts who
faced grief and
loss and
persevered racism
and abuse and
persevered love
for Christ that's
kept going and
kept living for
him you'll hear
stories of
families who've
come to faith
through the
witness of
children stories
of missionaries
sent to other
places of
churches started
of communities
transformed by
the witness of
the church
and this kind
of persevering
fruitfulness is
what we long
for for a
church isn't it
that this merging
of our churches
together is not
just a blip of
shallow soil
growth but of
lasting fruitful
Christ honoring
growth
now there's a
way to tell if
you've understood
the parable so
far if you've
understood what's
going on there
should be a
longing in your
heart that
says something
like this I
want to be
good soil I
long to be good
soil please Lord I
want to be good
soil I want to
stand the test of
time I want to
hear this message
of the kingdom
this message of
freedom and
forgiveness through
the Lord Jesus
Christ I want to
to bear fruit I
want to grow in
understanding of
the gospel I want
to grow in love
for others I don't
want to give up I
don't want to burn
out I don't want to
be choked out by
other things Lord I
want to be good
soil that's what
you should be
saying now if
that's you this
morning and I
hope that's all of
us then you need
to hear the second
part of the parable
because mark 4 is
not only a
description of the
good soil it also
tells you where good
soil comes from
because it points out
to us that only God
can make good soil
so essentially it's
not only I want to
be good soil it's
it's calling out to
God God make me
good soil please Lord
make me good soil this
is a little bit
complicated so stay
stay with me if you
can and notice first
that mark has done
this trick that we've
seen him do a number
of occasions on our
way through the book
so far that he has
swapped in material
that is a different
chronological time and
put it in our story
so in verse 1 you'll
notice that Jesus is in
a boat right it's a
floating pulpit that
he has pushed out to
sea so that the
crowds can't press in
on him but then in
verse 10 you'll notice
that he is alone with
his disciples explaining
the parable and telling
them why it is that he
is speaking in parables
but then if you scan
over to verse 35 you'll
find that Jesus is back
in the boat again of
verse 1 now all that
means that this story
about the soils is more
than just a story about
the soil so yes this
story is about self
awareness about the
state of our hearts but
it's it's more than that
he is he is giving us a
prototype of a type of
story that he's telling
of parables and wants
to tell you the special
function that parables
have in his ministry so
the parables says Jesus
work because they are
clear explanations of
gospel truth truth like
the state of human hearts
like we've been finding
in Mark 4 and those
clear explanations so
simple stories expose the
difference between an
outsider and an insider to
Jesus that's the language
that he uses in verses 10
and 11 look down at
verses 10 and 11 when he
was alone the 12 and the
others around him asked
him about the parables he
told them the secret of
the kingdom of God has
been given to you but to
those on the outside
everything is said in
parables so that they may
be ever seeing but never
perceiving ever hearing but
never understanding otherwise
they may turn and be
forgiven now it's tricky but
the point is that for some
for those outside the
kingdom the ongoing effect
of encountering the clear
explanations of the gospel
in the parables is a
hardening of their hearts
a hardening which is
transparently the fault of
the individual because they
can no longer claim that
they haven't heard the
gospel they've rejected it
so Jesus point is not that
the simile of the soils that
we've been talking about is
just too complex for an
outsider of course that's
not the case is it a child
can understand the story
rather the point is that the
gospel truth behind the
story is not something you
work out intellectually with
your brain the gospel truth
behind the story needs to be
revealed to you so that
listening to parables makes
paths more pathy rocks more
rocky and weeds more weedy if
that's possible and that's not
unintentional from Jesus that
is his intention in the
parables the hearing of the
gospel is a sense a kind of
judgment on unbelief even as
it brings salvation to
believers let me try and
illustrate it for you if I
can imagine it like this it's
not a perfect analogy but it
will help a little bit
imagine that I came to you
and said listen I'd love to
catch up with you I want to
see can we go and get coffee
at some point you said to
me yeah sure that's great I'd
love to spend some time with
you Steve let's let's go and
chat it'd be great can you
what about tomorrow morning
you say and I tend to you
and say oh no I'm really so I
can't do tomorrow morning I'm
busy okay you say well what
about tomorrow afternoon I
can't do tomorrow afternoon I'm
busy tomorrow afternoon okay
well what about Tuesday I'm
free to all day Tuesday I'm
free all day Oh no I'm really
sorry I can't do Tuesday
anytime of the day I'm busy
all day Tuesday okay no
problem you say what about
Wednesday Wednesday I could
do Wednesday afternoon what
about you Oh no I can't do
Wednesday afternoon I'm busy
Wednesday afternoon. I'm washing my hair on Wednesday afternoon. You begin to think, don't you,
that I don't want to see you, even though I've said I do. And that, in a sense, is how the parables
work in the life of an unbeliever. You hear the gospel again. It's a simple and clear explanation
of the gospel. Not interested. I don't want to know. And you are affirmed and confirmed in your
unbelief. It's a judgment on you because it exposes your heart that actually the problem is not the
seed, because the seed is good. The farmer is kind. The weather's the same for everybody.
But you're rejecting the message and hardening your heart to Jesus. And the parables expose that.
This reality comes through again in the way that Jesus talks to the disciples about their faith.
Notice what Jesus says here. He doesn't say to the disciples, oh, you've worked it out. You deserve to
be insiders. You're bright guys. No, he says in verse 11 that the secret of the kingdom was
given to them. It was given by God. It was a free gift. It's the same idea in the bumper crop in verses
eight and verse 20. You know, the idea is a farmer who received such a bumper crop, what would they say
as they were harvesting it? They would say, wow, God's been good to me this year. Look what God has done.
Look at this crop. It's amazing. It's incredible. I can't believe it. Look what God has done.
Because God gives us the growth. God alone makes good soil. So we're responsible, aren't we, for the
hardness of our hearts, for the distraction of wealth, for the shallowness of our response.
But the only one with the power to change us is the farmer. He's the one who can dig through the path.
He's the one who can clear the stones, remove the weeds. So much so that if you understand the parable,
you're not only saying, I want to be good soil and going away and trying harder. You know, I'm going to
love better. I'm going to think harder. I'm going to do more. That won't help you. The soil can't weed
itself. If you understand the parable, you'll be on your knees saying, Lord, make me good soil.
Please, Lord, make me good soil. Lord, will you pull out these weeds in my heart? I've seen them.
Get rid of them. Will you dig through this bedrock and make me deep rooted in Christ?
Will you turn over this path? Because he alone can do it.
Let me just try and land this for us as we close this morning. Perhaps you've been convicted this
morning that spiritually you're not quite where you should be or where you pretend to be, where you'd
like to be. You can see the weeds. They've been graciously pointed out to you this morning by the
Lord Jesus. Perhaps you've seen that your desires are not what they should be, that your efforts are
misdirected. Maybe you've lost sight of what's really important. Maybe there's a relationship or a career or a
struggle in your life which is consuming you, throttling your spiritual growth. And it's easy, isn't it, in a
moment like this to see that and to notice it, but not to do the right thing with it. What's the right
thing to do? Well, it's to be sure that you can't fix it on your own. The right thing to do is to pray
now in your heart that God by his spirit would do some gardening in you, that he would pull out that
weedy desire for self-glory. He would break through that rock of worry that makes you depend on yourself,
that he would defeat that anxious belief that relies on its own efforts and not his. Lord, make me good
soil. And as we pray that for ourselves, let's pray like that for others in the church too, that our
young people sat in this room and making noise behind me that you might be able to hear, let's pray that
God would make them good soil. That in a world that tells them that preaching is dull, that churches are
relevant, that the gospel's nothing to do with them. May the gospel find good soil in their hearts
that bears much fruit. Let's pray for others in the church who are going through trouble, that they
wouldn't be scorched by the sun, but it would have deep roots that keep them watered through the
difficulties. And let's pray that God, through Christ, would throw the seed far and wide in our
neighbourhood, not being too excited by a fast response, but looking for a persevering, fruitful response.
Well, let me close in prayer. We'll just have a moment of quiet for us to pray in our own hearts
and then I'll pray and then we'll sing together.
Heavenly Father, we pray, please, make us good soil. We long, Lord, to persevere and to bear fruit.
Please help us, we ask. We know that so often our spiritual lives are choked out by the worries of
this life. Please, we pray, pull out those weeds that we might live lives for your praise and your glory.
In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.