Teaching podcast from the Eagle Community Church of Christ in Mont Belvieu, TX.
Hi, friends. This is John Gunther of the Eagle Community Church of Christ. Thanks so much for listening to our podcast. This week, we are in Mark chapter 4. We're talking about parables of the kingdom of God.
John Gunter:Did you know that Jesus uses these parables not only to explain things, but also at times to conceal them? Isn't that interesting? Find out why, find out what the reason was behind it as we go through this lesson today. Thanks so much for listening. We, we continued today, with this study in Mark, and I hope you are enjoying this.
John Gunter:I'm so much enjoying both our class on Luke and our sermon series on Mark, and today we are going to, cover one of my favorite parables. It's a little bit longer, so an hour and a half from now you will be getting out of here. So hopefully, no. One of my favorite things, and we are going to start in Mark chapter 4, verse 1. Again he began to teach beside the sea.
John Gunter: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 he was teaching them many things in parables. And in his teaching he said to them, 'Listen. Behold, a sower went out to sow.
John Gunter: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 thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seed fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding 30 fold and 60 fold and a 100 fold.
John Gunter:And he said, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. And when he was alone, those around him with the 12 asked him about the parables. And he said to them, to you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, 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. Alright, we pause here in the middle of this parable because Jesus has set something up here that may be a little confusing to you, especially that last part there in verse 12. What do you mean, Jesus?
John Gunter:You say things so that indeed seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand. Remember the context of what Jesus has been doing. Jesus has constantly had people on his back questioning who he was, what he was doing, what he was teaching, all of those things. Always trying to trap him. Remember, we just talked about where people were attributing the good things Jesus was doing league with Satan.
John Gunter:You remember that from last week? That by the power of Satan, somehow Jesus was casting out demons. And so Jesus is dealing with a crowd, for a lot of them anyway, that are against him and really didn't wanna understand what he was teaching. What they wanted to do was trap him. And so when Jesus uses a parable, they have to think about it.
John Gunter:He doesn't say things directly. He allows the story to tell itself in a way where you had to if you wanted to learn about it, you wanna know about it, you kind of had to chew on it. Now, I have really focused on the soils in this in this parable in the past, and that's fine and that's what Jesus is going to explain in just a minute, but this this parable is really about the kingdom of God, and you'll see as we go through today that Mark, as I've told you before, Mark doesn't spend a lot of time on what Jesus taught. He spends much more time on what Jesus did. And so he begins this by talking about the sower.
John Gunter:Alright? These people expected, anticipated, wanted God to break in to their lives. They lived in a state of Roman oppression and Roman rule, and it had been a long time since they'd heard from god, and they wanted god to do something. Well, now that god was doing something, what are they saying? We don't want that.
John Gunter:That's not exactly the way I thought it was gonna be, so I am gonna reject that. And so Jesus starts by telling this parable where he's talking about a sower sowing seeds, and you can see this as the kingdom of god breaking into the world. Now, some fell on different places, and I've always spent time thinking about this because the way I garden, the way I start seeds, I love gardening. K? Well, not in the summer in Houston, Texas, but I do love gardening and love reaping the benefits of all that work, you know, but every time I garden, every time I start seeds, I have like a couple of seeds, I make a little hole, I cover it up, and it's very specific.
John Gunter:And in this parable, the way the seed falls all over the place, it sounds like someone, kind of like my kids, grabbed a handful of seed and just did a did a 360 and just threw it everywhere, doesn't it? The seed landed here and there and everywhere. One thing I didn't realize was that's actually the the would have been the standard practice for growing crops is we would plow and then plant. Okay? We would add the seed afterward.
John Gunter:They would actually spread the seed and then come back and plow it into the ground. And so, when the soil, when you see the different soils, yes, those happen. The seed lands in these places, but they expect to till that up and for something to happen. Now, sometimes you have, and especially this area, you have limestone that's very shallow. Okay.
John Gunter:Well, there's there's rock. There's not much soil there. It springs up and it scorched. You see that? But Jesus is trying to tell them not just about the people receiving, which He is doing, but He's talking about what God is doing in the world, that Jesus is there to bring the news, that the word is in the world, and something is going to happen.
John Gunter:Jesus explains to them, Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? I'm sure for some of them, they said, I'm not saying anything else. I'm just gonna, yeah, yeah, I understand them all, Jesus. Some of them are tough to understand, aren't they?
John Gunter:The sower sows the word, 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. Have you seen that before? You've seen something that was very promising? Oh, those of you who done some evangelistic work.
John Gunter:Yeah. You think you you think you've got it going and all of a sudden something happens and it is over. As I told you before, I think that that we can see these different situations, not only as individual people or something like that, but maybe even different parts of our own lives. That sometimes there is something that is springing forth within us that, okay, we're moving closer to God and all of a sudden something happens. Some other time, there's something else like number 2 here.
John Gunter:Okay? And in verse 16, and these are the ones sown on rocky ground. The ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. That's great. And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while.
John Gunter:Then when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. So I'm good with it as long as it's not messing up my life. But as soon as something happens that I start to question, persecution, tribulation, we don't like those words at all, do we? But when those things come, all of a sudden, it says, on account of the word. Oh.
John Gunter:Anybody just love rejection in here? Raise your hand. Yeah. No. Absolutely not.
John Gunter:Yeah. But something happens, they're not able to stay within this, they immediately fall away. Verse 18, 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. Do you see how I can say, I think this might apply to different parts of our lives as well?
John Gunter:You ever felt like you're in a better situation, a better relationship with God in this time in my life versus now? Or now versus then? Yeah. Because there are people out there that though God has entered the world, though he we have his word, though we have the opportunity to move closer to him, something else catches our eye. Something flashy, shiny, something we decide to pursue over God.
John Gunter:It says, and the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, because it looks good, but is it good for you? That's the deceitfulness. And the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. What could have been something very good is stolen away by a deceitfulness that I thought this would be better for me. You ever been there?
John Gunter:Yeah. Right now, this feels like the way to go, and you realize later on that was the wrong path. That was the wrong place to be. Yeah. But those who were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, 30 fold, and 60 fold, and a 100 fold.
John Gunter:And what I want you to notice, that he doesn't say, you know, 60 was much better than 30, or 100 compared to 30 or 60. No, what is important, is that in this person, in this soil, fruit is grown. That you're not taken away by all these other desires. You're not grown up and scorched, you're not taken away by tribulation, persecution, the things that can knock us off course. No, the good thing is that all of a sudden, fruit is born from that because sometimes we look around and think, man, I wish I had that gift.
John Gunter:Man, I wish God had blessed me like that because I look at you and I think, Man, you have a blessing, an extra blessing from God that I didn't get. And I believe that Satan is trying to get in one more angle. That I wanna compare myself to you, and what that does is just breed this this feeling of I'm just not good enough, and we shouldn't feel that way. Because god can use us, and if we bear fruit for him, that's all he wants. He goes on to say in verse 26, and he said, the kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground.
John Gunter:Well, that's kinda related, isn't it? As if a man should scatter seed on the ground, he sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows. He knows not how. The Earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle because the harvest has come.
John Gunter:Do you see how he is focusing on the kingdom of god? Now, what they expected at this time was for god to show up and to do something and to physically do something they really knocked the Romans back on the rear ends. Remember, even his disciples thought, okay, Jesus is about to come to the throne, and the sons of thunder, remember, can we sit on your right and your left? Can we do that? That was their understanding.
John Gunter:This is what's going to happen. And Jesus is telling these things, alright, the kingdom of god is like a man scattering seed on the ground. All of a sudden, something starts to grow. This doesn't sound as immediate, does it? That's what Jesus is trying to tell him.
John Gunter:This is not as immediate as what you thought it was going to be. I'm not coming in here just to immediately do this. The kingdom of god is something that's planted and that starts to grow, and we don't understand how. Sometimes we'd like to. We'd like to control it and say, god, you can do this or you can't do this or all those things.
John Gunter:He said, you don't you don't understand. The earth produces by itself the blade in the ear and the full grain in the ear. Then he says, but when the grain is ripe, so there is a time that is coming that this growth has happened. When the grain is ripe, at once, he puts this puts in the sickle because the harvest has come. And Jesus is saying, this is a process that's going to happen.
John Gunter:I love starting seeds and watching them grow, but there is a big time in there between when those seeds start to sprout and when I'm actually picking jalapenos off of them. You understand that? When I'm actually finally getting that first fresh bacon tomato sandwich. There is a long time in there that we watch it grow, and I can't control it. Now I try to to feed it.
John Gunter:I try to do the best I can for it, but I don't know how it does all that it does. Do you? But there's life, and I love showing my kids the first time we did this, just that all of these little bitty seeds that we have, from this, you're going to see so much growth. From this, I'm going to pick a pepper that has so many more seeds than just the one we planted. Because of God.
John Gunter:Because of what He does. But there is a time during this process that the harvest is coming. And part of what Jesus is saying is, you need to understand that, you need to be ready for it. That if all Jesus is gonna face is rejection, there's a time coming where you're gonna pay for that. That decision you made to not follow him is coming to fruition.
John Gunter:He says one more time in in verse 30, again, about the kingdom of god. He said, with what can we compare the kingdom of god? Or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed. Do you see the relationship here?
John Gunter:Jesus is talking to people who would know all about this stuff. Right? Very agrarian culture. Alright. What should we use use for it?
John Gunter:It is like a grain of mustard seed, which when sown on the ground is the smallest of all the seeds on earth. Yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade. With many such parables, he spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it. He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples, he explained everything. And so, Jesus, in this moment, I don't know what your picture of Jesus and His teaching was like, but Jesus decides to teach everyone in parables so really that they can chew on it.
John Gunter:You can decide to reject it and not put out the effort that you don't care, which is what a lot of what he's facing. But for his disciples who wanted to know, and we can assume it's not just the ones, but people around that are hanging around with them, He explained everything because they truly wanted to know. And I hope and pray that we are a church that wants to know what God has for our lives, what God has told us to do, what God has revealed about himself, how God is leading us. And if you truly desire that, that will be revealed to you. But guess what?
John Gunter:If we already understand and we believe we know everything, well, that's the people Jesus fought with all the time. Because they thought they had the authority, they had the know how, don't bring that stuff in here, and they rejected him. So, the story of the Kingdom of God is, it is here. Is it in its fullness? No.
John Gunter:We will experience that at the end times when our Lord comes back. But Jesus, as He explains this, says, the Kingdom of God has been planted. It has come to the earth, it is starting to grow, and you will see things come from it. You won't understand all of it just like you don't understand how all the plants do what they do, but it's here. So I ask you this morning, are you a part of the kingdom of God?
John Gunter:Are you a part of bringing the kingdom of God to the earth? Because if all we're doing is waiting for Jesus, waiting for God to do something and we're not participating, I think we're missing out. Christians should be all about bringing heaven to earth, and a lot of people don't experience that through the week, and a lot of people don't experience that from Christians. Do you understand that? I am so proud of us that we as a church have not gotten into the big political things, bringing that into church.
John Gunter:I have been in churches where it was basically a political rally during Bible class or something. But that's one of the I bring that up just to say that is one of the biggest places I have seen Christians act like non Christians. That we've forgotten that the kingdom of God is alive and active and growing right here, and we ought to be a part of that. And we've decided for whatever reason, because I don't like that party or that person or whatever, that I can throw all of that out the window and act like a non Christian. So everywhere you go this week, let me challenge you to bring a part of heaven to this earth.
John Gunter:The people that you go to lunch with, the people that you work with, all the things that you encounter. I'll I'll even confess something. The other day, I was eating or grabbing something to go from a local restaurant. And I came out and somebody had parked right beside my truck, where I couldn't even open the door. And I thought, there was a guy that just walked in behind me and I thought, that crazy guy, there's no way he didn't know he parked right on my truck.
John Gunter:And all of a sudden the passengers started rolling down the window. I thought, my goodness, what are we we're about to have an altercation here. And it was Michael. And she started waving at me, and she said, later, I laughed for 5 minutes after that. I like it.
John Gunter:It was funny because Ally and her did it on purpose just to mess with me. But, she said, John, she said, I'll tell you this. She said, your your face didn't look like peace and love at that moment. I said, okay. I'll own that.
John Gunter:I'll own that. I thought there's no way somebody didn't know they just parked all over my vehicle. Luckily, it was them. There are going to be things that happen in your life. Right?
John Gunter:There are going to be things that happen during this week that people either intentionally or unintentionally do, and that's going to get to you. What we control is how we react. Right? The love we show, the way that we're able to, again, point back to the kingdom of God and the reason I am the way I am and the the way I want to project Jesus is because of the kingdom of God, because of what God has done for me. And so when you encounter those persecution, when you encounter those tribulations, show people the kingdom of God.
John Gunter:If you have any need this morning, we'd love to pray with you. We'd love to see you put on Christ in baptism to begin that walk with him. But we're gonna invite you as we, sing an invitation song. Would you come as we stand and as we sit?