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They got out their telescopes and pointed them towards the constellation of Orion. Out beyond the stars that made up Orion’s belt they were looking for a galaxy; a galaxy teeming with life. They were looking there, for the one who had hidden it had with his dying words told them that they would find the galaxy just below Orion’s belt. They were, of course, the Men in Black.
Perhaps you saw the cult 1997 film, starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. If you didn’t, I’m afraid it’s too late: I’m going to ruin it for you.
For they eventually found the galaxy, but not where they were expecting it. Orion wasn’t the constellation, but a pet cat. And the galaxy wasn’t out in space, it was hanging in a glass ball beneath the belt around Orion’s neck. When the Men in Black discover it, the special effects take over and we ae taken inside the ball to discover the vast galaxy, just as complex, just as beautiful, with just as brilliant as our own. It had been within themib’s grasp for the whole film, but they just hadn’t noticed it
An alien comments, “That’s the problem with you humans; you think that just because something is small that it is unimportant.”
Have you ever imagined that there might be something of infinite significance right before your eyes, but that you have missed it, or seen it and failed to realise its value?
The bible’s claim is that the good news of Jesus Christ is the most significant thing that has ever happened on the face of the earth. And we don’t just mean that it was a history-shaping event, but that it will shape our eternal futures.
How then could something so mind-bogglingly significant seem to be so overlooked by people today? I mean, there are a lot more people out there than in here. And we all know of people who used to be in church on a Sunday morning who would prefer not to be here today.
If this is at the centre of God’s plan for the world, why does it appear so weak? why can people come, take a look at it and walk away as if they were merely looking at a museum exhibit.
And if this is surprising to us, we can’t begin to imagine how surprising it was to the disciples. Big crowds they could understand that. But, Jesus was perplexing. In some ways he seemed to be like the promised Messaiah to come – surely the messiah couldn’t do more miracles than Jesus. But he kept on hiding from people, and as we saw last week people you’d expect would be on his side weren’t. His family thought he was crazy. The religious leaders thought he was eveil. Why didn’t he just sort them out, get rid of the occupying Roman forces, take the throne and then everybody would be on his side.
If this really was the coming of the kingdom of God, it certainly surprised the disciples. But, in Mark chapter 4 we will see that Jesus might surprise us, but we don’t surprise Jesus. He knows our hearts, and gives in a series of parables a kind of map of the heart. A map to the different ways we might respond to him.
We are going to see two particular ways in which Jesus encourages us not to be unsurprised.
1) Don’t be surprised that the kingdom produces varying responses
2) Don’t be surprised that the kingdom seems so unimpressive.
Read mark 4:1-20 page…
1Again(A) he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him,(B) 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. 2And(C) he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3"Listen!(D) A sower went out to sow. 4And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. 6And(E) when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root,(F) it withered away. 7Other seed fell among(G) thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and(H) a hundredfold." 9And he said, (I) "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
10And(J) when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11And he said to them, (K) "To you has been given(L) the secret of the kingdom of God, but for(M) those outside everything is in parables, 12(N) so that
"they(O) may indeed see but not perceive,
and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they(P) should turn and be forgiven."
13(Q) And he said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? 14(R) The sower sows(S) the word. 15And 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. 16And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it(T) with joy. 17And they have no root in themselves, but(U) endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately(V) they fall away.[a] 18And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19but(W) the cares of(X) the world and(Y) the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 20But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and(Z) bear fruit,(AA) thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold."
1) Don’t be surprised that the kingdom … produces varying responses
It is deeply sad when people whom we had every hope that they had come to true faith in Jesus begin to walk away.
One of the people that was deeply influential in my life married my wife Hannah and me. But by the time we returned from honeymoon he had left the church, and deserted his family, and remained unrepentant.
I remember sitting and asking myself, “How am I any different from that man”. If he has wandered away from following Jesus, then how can I have any confidence at all that I will be any different? I was certainly disillusioned with him. My temptation was to be disillusioned with the confidence of salvation that comes from following Jesus.
Jesus himself was aware that people walking away from him might cause confusion – and he addresses this confusion in the verses we’ve just read. We should be saddened when people walk away, but we shouldn’t be surprised.
The coming of the word has different responses, because the coming of the word reveals the state of the heart.
· The Hard heart
This isn’t the person who never hears – but the person who hears the gospel and doesn’t understand:
15And 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.
Like the well trodden path at the edge of the field, their heart is hard.
I love the description of when Aslan first speaks in the Magician’s Nephew. But the magician himself cannot hear Aslan’s voice who sings the world into existence and then speaks to his creatures.
“The longer and more beautifully the Lion sang, the harder Uncle Andrew tried to make himself believe that he could hear nothing but roaring. Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed. Uncle Andrew did. He soon did hear nothing but roaring in Aslan's song. Soon he couldn't have heard anything else even if he had wanted to. And when at last the Lion spoke and said, "Narnians, awake," he didn't hear any words: he heard only a snarl.”
So it is with the hardened heart. It starts by hearing only what it wants to hear from God’s word, and ends up hearing nothing at all.
Scripture makes it clear that the only reason why we do not submit to Jesus’ kingship is not because his voice is unclear, but that we do not want to hear.
If you are not a Christian, Do you find the gospel uncomfortable – and whenever you hear it, something in you just wants to get out of the room. My friend, have you considered that it may be an uncomfortable truth that you would be foolish to flee from?
Or perhaps you are a young person with Christian parents. You’ve heard the good news about Jesus a thousand times; you could even explain it to others. Yet you remain determined not to allow it into your heart.
Do not be hardened soil. Allow God’s word to take deep root into your life. Don’t just let it affect your mind – let it affect your heart – that is the deepest part of you in which all your desires and decisions are rooted.
The hardened heart rejects the gospel before it has really ever understood it.
· The Shallow heart.
Like the soil in the parable, these people have a shallow response to the gospel.
16And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it(T) with joy. 17And they have no root in themselves, but(U) endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately(V) they fall away.[a]
This is the person who is looking for something that will make their life complete – and they begin to understand who Jesus is, and they profess faith in him. Notice that they even have joy. It is possible to sit here, listen to sermons, sing God’s praises with radiant faces, feel a joy that is very real, but not belong to jesus. It is possible to praise God with your lips but not belong to him.
How can you tell: when following Jesus begins to make their life harder rather than easier, they leave.
We must realise that to follow Jesus means to be hated like Jesus is hated. We all love to be loved.
But is the love of God sufficient for us – or do we insist that we must also be loved by others?
Have we found such depth of delight in Jesus that in times of suffereing and persecution we would join Job in saying, “Though he slay me, yet will I praise him.”
Thirdly Jesus describes a divided heart.
The divided heart
· Divided
18And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19but(W) the cares of(X) the world and(Y) the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
These people are not convinced that the gospel is untrue.
They are deceived away from it by the lie that the things of this world are worth living for.
Notice the deceitfulness of riches; if we are going to serve the things of this world we are being deceived. We have believed promises that they will not keep.
Promised security. But nothing but Jesus will not protect us on the day of judgement.
Promised pleasure. But if it takes us away from the everlasting pleasures of the kingdom it is nothing more than Turkish delight.
Promised intimacy. But all human intimacy is supposed to be a picture of the joy of faithful intimacy with our covenant Lord, and if it takes us away from him it is a poisoned apple.
Have you ever been so gripped by such a desire for something that you must have it and nobody will stand in your way?
But they are all the things of this world are passing, and drawing us away from the only one who can eternally deliver on his promises, who keeps all of his promises.
This is a deception that strangles God’s word in our lives. We so desire something in this world that when God’s word calls us away from it, we don’t want to hear. We block our spiritual ears. If Jesus insists on speaking to us, we would have him silenced.
We become like Bilbo Baggins in one of the first scenes of the Lord of the ring, when Gandalf is persuading him to leave the ring behind.
“I’m not trying to rob you. I’m trying to help you.”
To follow Jesus is to leave behind our demands for the things of this world; but to do so for we have found the pearl of great price that is worth selling it all for.
How will we come to this conclusion? We realise that Jesus is worth it only when we allow the word to speak to us. Listen. Think about it.
Jim Elliot was a missionary to Ecuador's Quichua Indians who was in the end murdered by those with whom he was trying to share the gospel. He once famously said, “he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot loose.” When he went to his death aged 28, he knew that to be true.
Will you instead cling onto what you cannot keep, and thereby loose what you will never regain?
I wonder how you feel about these negative responses to Jesus?
Do you find this discouraging? That so many who seem to be responding so positively to the gospel end up walking away from Jesus?
– does this make us question our own salvation?
Well, we are called in Scripture to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith: and this doesn’ mean merely to remember a time when we made a commitment and maybe even got baptised; it means to ensure that we are bearing fruit: trusting, loving, obeying Jesus today as we listen to his word..
- Don’t be discouraged into thinking that your salvation may be insecure: take warning yes… but if you are repenting and trusting in Jesus today you will be saved.
- You never got to see into the heart of the one who wandered away. If their wandering away is permanent, then they were never good soil.
- In fact the point of the sower throwing the seed everywhere was not to somehow turn bad soil into good soil, but to show up where the good soil is. You don’t want to miss the good soil, so you throw seed everywhere. Preaching the gospel has a dividing role, that Jesus intends it to have.
10And(J) when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11And he said to them, (K) "To you has been given(L) the secret of the kingdom of God, but for(M) those outside everything is in parables, 12(N) so that
"they(O) may indeed see but not perceive,
and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they(P) should turn and be forgiven."
When we realise the sinfulness of our own hearts, and our ability to be deceived, the remarkable thing is that God has so worked in some people’s hearts that we are able to hear, and turn, and be forgiven. There is some good
20But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and(Z) bear fruit,(AA) thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold."
Note how this harvest is brought in.
Three things must happen.
- Hear
- Accept it
- Bear fruit.
We need to realize that we can only really help with the first. We can’t make people accept the gospel. We can’t produce fruit in others’ lives. But we can sow liberally.
If you are discouraged by the way in which people you’ve shared the gospel with have responded – then just keep on sowing. It is only by persistence in sharing the gospel that the good soil will be revealed. And that harvest will be a joy that will make up for all the rejection, and all the disappointment.
In Jesus’ times you were happy in a harvest if you yielded 7 times what you sowed. But even the least fruitful yields 30 times. It’s as if Jesus is saying that the fruit that is born in the world is somehow in God’s strange providence greater than if the whole field had been comprised of good soil.
There is greater glory brought to Jesus that people in his kingdom would love and serve him, though the majority of the world remained against him.
Your faithfulness in the face of such discouragement will bring great glory to Jesus. He is yet worth following. The joy of his kingdom will not diminish.
Don’t be disillusioned by mixed responses & temporary commitment. Rejoice that the glory brought to the Lord by those who do respond will be all the greater.
2. Don’t be surprised that the kingdom’s glory appears to be hidden
21(AB) And he said to them, (AC) "Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand?
When we read this, we immediately think of the words of Jesus in Matthew’s gospel, “you are the light of the world”
But his words here are slightly different. This is not about us hiding or revealing the light. This is about the light hiding or revealing itself. Literally it reads not “is a lamp brought,” “does the lamp come”.
Jesus is the light who has come; but it seems that not everyone has seen him. Isaiah had predicted in chapter 9 “ 2[c](E) The people(F) who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of(G) deep darkness,
on them has light shined.”
But, to a large degree Jesus doesn’t seem to be shining. Why is that. You go down the pub, and for the most part people aren’t talking about the fact that God has entered the world as a human being. They should be! Why are they talking about news so much less significant?
The concealment is
- Temporary: he will be revealed and with him everything else (21-23)
When Jesus comes in all his glory, not only will he be on a stand – but everything else will be seen by him.
Do you realise that? When we see Jesus fully, we will see everything else truly by his light.
Ecclesiastes: Should we just pursue the things of this world: no, we should pursue the Lord,
For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil.
In a similar section in Luke’s gospel Jesus says,
2There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 3What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.
- Partial: the deeper one looks the more will be revealed. (24-25)
24"Consider carefully what you hear," he continued. "With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more. 25Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him."
The idea of the measure here is that Jesus is willing to be known. If you don’t see anything in him, it isn’t because there is nothing in him, but because you haven’t looked hard enough.
The story is told of a scientist who is the world expert on a certain kind of insect.….
Jesus isn’t concealed because he refuses to be known. He welcomes us to dig deeper into him. At times he conceals himself because he wants us to pursue him.
I wonder what you think about long sermons….
How to listen to sermons. I’m not making excuses for preaching for too long… but what is your expectation when the preacher stands up; is it that he has done all the work, so you can sit back and listen.
No! here’s some tips from my friend thabiti anybwile…
1. Meditate on the sermon passage during your quiet time.
2. Talk and pray with friends about the sermon after church
3. Listen to and act on the sermon throughout the week
4. 6. Cultivate humility. As you dig into God’s word, listening for His voice, you will no doubt begin to grow and discover many wonderful treasures. But as you grow, do not become a “professional sermon listener” who is always hearing but never learning. Beware of false knowledge that “puffs up” (I Cor. 1:8; Col. 2:18) and tends to cause strife and dissension. Mortify any tendencies toward pride, condemning others, and critical nit-picking. Instead, seek to meet Jesus each time you come to the Scripture; gather from the Word fuel for all-of-life worship. Instead of exalting ourselves, let us remember the Apostle Peter’s words: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time” (I Pet. 5:6). .
That’s just one area in which you can pursue Christ.
What is the measure used in your time, in what you read, in how you talk with other Christians?
The more of your life you spend for Christ, the more you will find that he is more than worth the investment.
Unlike choking weeds., Jesus makes wonderful promises in his word: and he always keeps them promises.
How many of his promises do you know?
Whenever you come across a promise that Jesus makes, write it down., Learn it off by heart, so that when the weeds are trying to strangle the word of God in your life, Jesus voice will speaking clearly to you, and you will be reminded that the promises held out by the word are far better than the promises held out by the weeds.
It is of vital importance that we know Jesus and put our trust in him.
How do we know that Jesus will keep all his promises.
GOSPEL
If we do not have this faith, one day we will have nothing.
25Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.
On Friday the latest Batman movie, the Dark Knight opened in the USA. It took at record-breaking $65m on the first day. The performance that everyone is talking about is the portrayal of batman’s enemy the Joker. There is talk that he will receive an Oscar for it; but it would be a posthumous Oscar. Heith Ledger, 28, died from an accidental prescription drug overdose in January.
The only thing that will matter for him now is not the Oscar. It is not the success of the film. It is not the fact that he will live on in the film. The only thing that will matter to him now is whether he had put his trust in the Lord Jesus before he died.
If we have Jesus we will have everything. If we don’t have him we will have nothing.
Perhaps you think these verses harsh. The haves will have more. The don’t haves will have absolutely nothing. There is no spiritual welfare state.
On that last day if we have faith in Jesus we will have everything; if we have many many blessing from Jesus, but do not belong to him, we will have nothing.
- Purposeful (26-29)
Who would have thought that this approach of Jesus’ would have lasted.
Since Jesus came, Empires have risen and fallen. Think of all the world’s superpowers: the Roman empire fell. The byzantine Empire. The ottoman empire. The British empire. They all rise and fall. But since the day when Jesus told these parables, the kingdom of God has only ever grown. I assume Billions of people have put their faith in Christ and been saved from an eternity in hell, vast numbers of whom have done so despite violent opposition and overwhelming temptation.
But it hasn’t finished yet. The Lord would have more turn from their sin and put their trust in Christ.
Will we here at Twynholm be a church that will dig deeply into God’s word. Will we count this world as something not to be lived for, but to be our mission field where we take this good news and sew generously, expecting to be frequently laughed at or hated, but telling it anyway for we know that as the word goes out it will do its work. Whether we ever see the fruit of it ourselves or not, the word will take root in some good soil, and grow here in Fulham even as it is all over the world.
- Glorious (30-34)
And one day it will be glorious. The kingdom of God will be the only thing in all of creation that actually matters.
Will we have spent our lives on the pursuit of a lie, or investing in the certain promises of our surprising king?
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