Jesus - Graciously Giving the Gospel (whether you realize it or not) - Mark 4:1-20

Sermon Series: Spare Me the Details - Just Give Me Jesus

Have you ever been the recipient of a kind or generous act and yet been to pre-occupied or hard-hearted to notice?  Here's an example - imagine a husband who goes into the closet, takes out a recently ironed dress shirt, throws it on, and a few minutes later runs out the door to work.  Rewind to the morning before.  Picture this husband going into the closet and picking out his last clean and ironed dress shirt, putting it on and running off to work like usual.  Later in the morning his loving wife notices that he has picked out and is wearing his last clean dress shirt so she runs a load of them through the wash, irons them, and then hangs them back into the closet. Now lets go back to present day.  This husband, busy with his typical routine and pre-occupied with thoughts of what he must do at work, never even gave consideration to the situation in the closet the morning before.  He never thought about all the empty hangers in the closet where the dress shirts normally hang.  He just grabbed what was available and put it on.  He never thought twice about how his dress shirts got cleaned, ironed, and re-hung.  He simply grabbed one, put it on, and ran out the door.  He was the recipient of an incredible act of kindness but too busy and pre-occupied to notice and respond.

It's not hard to imagine this happening is it?  But think about this.  Although that husband was too busy and pre-occupied to notice the gracious act performed for him and to respond to it, there weren't any negative consequences (i.e. he still had the cleaned, ironed shirts available for him to wear).  Although he took no notice and gave no response of thanks, he was still the recipient of a kind and generous act and the benefits of that.  In our text for this week we find that we all are the recipients of an incredible act of grace, but if we don't respond to it we suffer serious and eternal consequences.  That being said let me ask you to consider one question as you work through this blog post, "Have you really considered the message of the gospel?"  I'm not asking if you have ever heard the gospel.  I'm asking if having heard the gospel you have really taken the time to consider and buy into it's message.  Think on that as we work through the text.

 In chapter 4 verses 1-20 Mark shifts from using a narrative format (recounting stories) to recalling some of Jesus' actual teachings.  And in these verses we'll find ourselves looking at a parable of Jesus and His explanation for that parable.  I would suggest that in this parable Jesus paints a picture of Himself as the gracious Giver of the gospel and I believe that  we will see two pieces of evidence proving that.

The first piece of evidence proving that Jesus is the gracious Giver of the gospel is found in verses 1-9 and 13-20.  We find Jesus out by the sea once again and an enormous crowd has set in around Him.  In fact, the size of the crowd is so great that Jesus finds it necessary to get in a small boat and push out into the sea just a little.  There Jesus sits down in the boat and begins teaching the crowd "many things in parables."  Beginning in verse 3 Mark recounts for us the first of these parables and it begins with a strong command from Jesus to "listen."  I imagine the anticipation must have been great.  Being part of a large crowd that had gathered to hear Jesus teach and He begins by giving everyone the command to listen.  They must have felt like the teaching that was to follow was going to be really important.  Immediately after telling the crowd to 'listen' Jesus begins to tell the story of a farmer sowing seeds of grain.  Read through verse 4-8 and notice the content.  This farmer scatters seed on a path which is so hard that the seed can't penetrate the ground and birds come along and eat the seed.  Then the farmer scatters seed on rocky ground.  Here the seed was able to penetrate the ground but it wasn't able to go down deep.  As a result the seed sprouts too early and when the sun beats down on the fragile little plant, it's roots aren't secured and nourished enough by good soil to sustain it and the plant withers and dies.  Then the farmer scatters seed on ground infested by thorns.  As that seed begins to grow it is overwhelmed by the thorns and is choked out.  Then finally the farmer scatters seed on good soil.  There the seed is able to penetrate the ground and Jesus says it grows up and increases miraculously (to increase 30, 60, or 100 times is evidence of more than a good return, a return that great would have been considered miraculous).  Then Jesus ends his parable with another strong command, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."  Can you imagine the confusion of the crowd at this point?  They had most likely come out to see miracles performed and to hear authoritative teaching on the kingdom of God and instead they got a story about a bad farmer who wastefully scattered seed in places he should not have scattered it and ended up getting lucky with a miraculous increase where the seed happened to fall on good soil.  I'm sure that questions filled their minds like: "What was that all about?"  "Why did Jesus tell us that story?" and "What was so important about that story that Jesus commanded us so strongly to 'listen?'"  Even his disciples and close followers wanted to know.  The answer is that the story wasn't about sowing seeds.  So let's examine Jesus' answer in verses 13-20.

Before Jesus gives an explanation for the parable He asks His disciples two questions, "Do you not understand this parable?  How then will you understand all the parables?"  Jesus was suggesting that understanding this parable was key to understanding all the parables that Jesus would later teach.  (I would argue that this is the reason Mark puts this parable first among all the parables in his gospel account.  If this parable holds the key to understanding the other parables then what good would it do to put other parables before it?)  In verse 14 Jesus says that the sower sows the word (the gospel).  So consider this question, "Who, at this point in time in history, was proclaiming the news of the gospel?"  The disciples were not - they were still being equipped and trained.  The religious leaders were not - they were weighing people down with the Law and added requirements.  The only person at the time proclaiming the good news of the gospel was Jesus, Himself.  That makes Jesus a key player in this parable and it's interpretation.  In veres 3-9 Jesus is the One who is scattering the seed of the gospel.  Then in verse 15 Jesus begins to explain  the groups of people who are recipients of the gospel, and what happens when they hear the good news of the gospel.  

[Mark gives us additional help in grasping the explanation of this parable in the grammer that he uses.  So allow me to give a really brief (and hopefully helpful) explanation.  In the Greek there are several different verb forms that all have different nuances.  We see two different ones in the explanation of this parable that play an important role in the interpretation of the parable.  The first verb form of significance is one that we call the "aorist tense."  It is important because it signifies a completed action.  The second verb form of significance that we see in the explanation is one that we call the "present tense."  It is important because it signifies a continual, ongoing action.  In verses 15, 16, and 18 Mark uses the aorist tense of the verb "to hear" signifying that these individuals "heard" (completed action) the good news of the gospel but that nothing resulted from it.  In verse 20 Mark uses the present tense of the verb "to hear" signifying that these individuals are "continually hearing" (ongoing action) the good news of the gospel and that they are in the habit of continuing to keep the message of the gospel befor them.]  

There is one group of people (vs. 15) Jesus says who are like the hardened ground of the path.  They 'heard' (aorist tense) the good news of the gospel but their hearts were so hardened that the good news of the gospel never had an opportunity to penetrate their hearts.  And because of the hardness of their hearts they are not continually putting the message of the gospel before themselves and Satan has the opportunity to come and take away from them what they heard.  There is another group of people (vs. 16-17) Jesus says who are like the rocky ground.  They 'heard' (aorist tense) the good news of the gospel and were at first excited about what they heard.  But because they are not continually putting the message of the gospel before themselves the good news isn't able to penetrate deep into their hearts.  As a result, when trials or persecution come, the message of the gospel gets lost in their anxiety, worry, and fear, and they fall away from real faith in Christ.  There is a third group of people (vs. 18-19) Jesus says are like the thorny ground.  They 'heard' (aorist tense) the good news of the gospel but they never really bought into it.  Jesus says that they have bought into the belief that it's other things that satisfy (e.g. money and material possessions).  They hear the gospel once, but since they don't believe that the gospel will satisfy their hearts and since they are continuously pursuing other things they don't continually put the good news of the gospel before themselves and allow that good news to produce fruit in their lives.  Instead, those other things that they are pursuing choke the good news of the gospel and cause it to be unfruitful.  But there is a final group of people (vs. 20) Jesus says are like the good soil.  They are the ones who "are continually hearing" (present tense) the good news of the gospel.  That doesn't mean that they go to church every Sunday and physically 'hear' the gospel taught.  It means that they are continually putting the good news of the gospel before their lives.  And as a result Jesus says they "are continually accepting it" (present tense).  Not only are they continually hearing it and putting it before their lives, but because it is continually being presented to themselves they find themselves continually believing it.  That further results in this last group "continually bearing fruit" (present tense).  Because they are continually hearing and believing the good news of the gospel, they are continually living it out and continually bearing fruit.  In fact they are miraculously bearing fruit.  This is what the gospel is doing in their lives.

But what I think is most important is the characterization of Jesus we see throughout these verses.  These verses provide the first piece of evidence that Jesus is the gracious Giver of the gospel because He sows the gospel unsparingly.  Sowing seed on a path or on rocky or thorny ground seems to be a waste of time, effort, and actual seed.  It doesn't make sense for someone to do that.  But only sowing seeds on good soil wouldn't make Jesus all that gracious.  It is His effort to sow the seed of the gospel among every group of people that makes Jesus so gracious.  While sowing seed in these places doesn't produce anything, Jesus was unwilling to allow those individuals to go without the gospel.  Jesus came to bring the good news of the gospel to all people.  He wanted all people to have the opportunity to hear and respond.  So the good news is that all groups of people - the hardend, the shallow, and the pre-occupied hear the good news of the gospel.  And the fact that they have been graciously allowed to hear it won't change.  The sad news is is that many three out of the four groups of people Jesus talks about will not continually bring the gospel before their lives and as a result will fall away from the truth of the gospel and suffer eternal consequences for that. 

Verses 10-12 are also incredibly important for providing evidence that Jesus is the gracious Giver of the gospel, for in these verses we find the second piece of evidence.  In verse 10 we find that the setting has changed.  Jesus is no longer before the crowds.  Now He is alone with His disciples and His other close followers.  And it is here, within this more personal enviroment that the disciples begin to ask Him questions concerning the parables He had taught.  And if verse 11 Jesus gives a very humbling answer.  Jesus says, "To you has been given . . ."   Jesus first wanted His disciples and close followers to realize that they are recipients of something.  But what were they recipients of?  The answer is "the secret of the kingdom of God . . ."  Secret (or perhaps your text says 'mystery') is a reference to God's disclosure to man of what was previously unkown - specifically Jesus and the message of the gospel.  God was giving these individuals unique understanding of Himself that they were unable to attain by any of their own efforts or any other natural means.  God was revealing Jesus to them as His Son and as His Son, Jesus was making God and the good news of the gospel known to them.  The second piece of evidence that Jesus is the gracious Giver of the gospel then is that He reveals the seret of the Kingdom of God to certain individuals.  The only one's who receive this secret are the ones who receive that gracious gift from Jesus.  Notice what the rest of verse 11  and 12 says, "but for those outside everything is in parables, so that 'they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.'"  While the parables reveal truths of God's Kingdom to those whom Jesus has revealed the secret of the Kingdom of God to, they act as hinderances to others.  They are exposed to kingdom truths because they see and hear the stories, but they never perceive the truths because they are masked by the parables.  Understanding of the truth of the gospel must be received by faith - and that comes as a result of hearing the gospel. 

If you are a believer in Jesus and have trusted Him as Lord and Savior, humbly understand that you are a recipient of Jesus' gracious gift of the gospel.  Not only in the sense that you have heard the good news but also in the sense that Jesus has revealed the truth of the gospel to you so that you could respond to it.  That is extraordinarily good news!  And it speaks to how incredible our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ is.  And understanding that Jesus is the gracious Giver of the gospel should encourage us as His disciples to do two things.  The first  - Be Continuously Listening!  As believers in Christ and recipients of the gospel, we need to be continously putting the gospel before our lives.  We need to be countinuously allowing it to shape us.  And we need to be continously allowing it to bear fruit in our lives.  And the only way that happens is by continuously listening to it's message.  So be resolved to stay in God's Word and to meditate on the good news of the gospel.  The fruit that is born will be well worth the efforts.  Secondly - Keep Sowing!  We should be as unsparing in our scattering of the gospel message as Jesus was.  Don't worry about the condition of the person's heart and what kind of soil they are most like.  Instead, sow the gospel graciously by sowing to every person you have the chance to.  It may get discouraging at times but keep it up.  Let's follow the extraordinary lead of our Savior and Lord, Jesus.  I'll close with a quote from one commentator who wrote, "Disciples, too will be sent to sow the word, and they  too, will know the tremendous frustration of sowing where the chances of a harvest seem next to impossible.  But as they have experienced in their own lives, the seed will unexpectedly find good soil in the lives of others.  Those who hear will understand the mystery of the kingdom of God and will, by the grace of its generative power produce a harvest beyond belief."