ㆍPassage	Mark 4:1-20
ㆍTitle	The Parable of the Sower
ㆍMessenger	고창훈
ㆍDate	2010-01-10

Mark 4:1-20
Key Verse: 4:20

The Parable of the Sower

"Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown."

Jesus told a parable in today's passage. He used the parable for two parts of people. First, Jesus told the parable for the listening crowd. He required them to be good listeners of God's word. Second, Jesus told the parable for the disciples who would teach the words of God. By the parable, he encouraged his disciples to keep sowing the words of God in spite of the failures so far.

Part I. Be good listeners.

Look at the verse 1, 2. 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 teaching said:　

Today Jesus is teaching by the lake. It was because the Pharisees and the religious leaders were against Jesus and they banished him from the synagogue. However, large crowd gathered around Jesus, until he could not deliver the word. So he got into a boat and all the people stood on the shore. Then Jesus told a story about a seed and four kinds of soil. Let's read the verses 3 to eight one more time responsively. Let me read first.

Look at the verse 3-8. 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, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times."

Jesus' words was funny or even strange to the crowd. From Jesus, the greatest teacher, they expected naturally something profound or something fantastic. However, in Jesus’ words today, there was nothing so special or fresh. It sounded like a chat about farming or gardening which they knew better than Jesus, the former carpenter. Some people were even upset and said, "He fed 5 thousand people with five loaves and two fish. But now, is he teaching how we can feed ourselves?"

Now look at verse 9. Then Jesus said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

We can hear a French man speak. But if we do not have ears for French, we do not understand the meaning. If we do not understand the meaning, we cannot say we hear the French. This is true of the word of God. In order to hear the word of God, we should have ears for it. If we don't have such ears, we don't know the true meaning of it and we cannot say that we hear the word of God.

Jesus did not tell about farming. He just compared the spiritual truth with earthly things. In order to explain the abstract invisible truth, he used concrete visual things like seeds and soils. He used this method so that people might understand the truth more easily.

However, the crowd did not have ears for this great teaching of Jesus. They misunderstood Jesus' teaching as the lesson to get more crops. They even complained Jesus would not give them bread any more. Therefore, Jesus urged the crowd to have ears for his words. He demanded that they should try to find out what the parable really meant.

When Jesus finished speaking, some people came to him and asked about the meaning of the parable. They were Jesus' disciples and some others. They admitted their ignorance and aspired to learn the meaning of Jesus' parable. Jesus was happy with them. It was they that had ears to hear his parable. Jesus told them that they would know the secret of the kingdom of God.

Now Jesus began to explain the parable to the good listeners. Look at verse 14. "Then Jesus said to them, The farmer sows the word."　

A seed has life in it. It grows and changes into a large tree, which gives us cool shade and delicious fruit. The word of God is like a seed. It grows in our minds and bears abundant fruits in our life. The fruit is joy and peace in our heart. The fruit is the disciples we raise. The fruit is, above all, the eternal life in heaven.

God's word, however, does not grow by itself. Just as seeds need sunshine, water, and fertile soil, God's words depend on the listener's heart soil for their growth. Now Jesus explains the four kinds of heart soil where the word of God was sown.

The first heart soil is the path. The hearers with hearts like the path / are those who have / closed minds. When they are invited to a Bible study, they say, "No, thanks" in one second and never reconsider. Their favorite word is, "Not interested in the Christianity." They may have prejudice that God may force them into a boring life. They might think that they can live well enough without God. Or they may misunderstand the Bible as an old history book not related to their real lives.

The second heart soil is rocky soil. Some people take things up quickly and just as quickly drop it. They begin some new hobby or new works very passionately. However, when things become difficult, they give up their passion so easily and quickly. Hearers with hearts like rocky soil are like this with the word of God. When they feel good, they say "Amen" with a loud voice, but when they meet trouble or persecution, their faith becomes like a dying fire. When they must take over self-sacrifice as a true Christian, they look like dead flowers.

The third heart soil is thorny soil. Those with thorns in their hearts are the ones who have so many things to do or to enjoy that the most important things are lost. They are so concerned about money that they cannot think about the word of God. They are so occupied with house chores that they forget to pray every day. They are even so involved in good works such as charitable services that they find no time to meet God personally. The thorns may not be always bad things. But they become dangerous things if they stop us from doing the most important thing.

The fourth heart soil is good soil. Look at verse 20. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop--thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown."

Those who have good heart soil retain the word of God in their hearts like a treasure. They meditate on the word day and night. When they understand the word, they follow it immediately and continually in their real life. Sometimes they meet a difficult problem because of their faith. But they persevere with long-suffering patience. In the end, they bear abundant crops - thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown! They resemble Jesus more and more every day. They feed more and more sheep with the words of God.

We can summarize the parable in one sentence : God's word grows on the soil that is worthy of them. The same words are spoken but the result is different according to the hearer. Sometimes we think God loves others more than us when they seem to live more fruitful lives. They seem to be more spiritual, and they seem to raise more disciples thanks to God's special love. But God is not partial. His words are given to all people, without discrimination. So, the reason for our poor fruits should be found not in God, but in us. We are responsible for our spiritual failure.

We must be a good listener to the word of God, in order to bear many fruits. We must listen to it carefully and must try to discover what it means for us. Then we must really take it deep in our heart. And then we must do our best to act on it.

Writing testimony is a good way to bear fruits through the word of God. While writing a testimony, we think deeply over the verses. Then, we can understand its meaning more clearly and apply its lesson to our real life more correctly. If we write testimony sincerely, the words are planted deep in our heart and the words in our heart make us live a holy life. I dare not say that testimony writing is the only way to benefit from the words of God, but I am sure it is one of the best ways to bear wonderful spiritual fruits.

Part II. Keep sowing the seeds.

Through the parable of sower, Jesus not only told the crowds to be good listeners. Jesus also encouraged his disciples by comparing his ministry to sowing seeds. By now, Jesus and his disciples seemed to have no fruits. Many people came to Jesus but most of them went away and forgot him after they got what they wanted. Only Jesus and his disciples were left on the final scene in spite of all service and sacrifice. It seemed that Jesus had failed. It seemed that the disciple's labor had been wasted. However, Jesus speaks to the disciples by the parable of sower. "Don't be confused and don't be discouraged. That's gospel work. Some seeds may be lost because they are sown on the poor soil. However, the great harvest will surely come because you have the seed on the good soil. On the good soil, the seed will grow as a big tree and it will give you fruits as abundantly as 100 times. So, Just have patience! Don't stop sowing the seed."　

We make a lot of effort to sow the seed of God's word on the campus. We pour a great amount of time and energy to invite students and teach them the Bible. However, most students answer "no"　to our invitation. Some seem to receive the word, but after a while, they leave to go their own way. After all our efforts of sowing, we often find ourselves without any crop. The result seems to be so small, compared to our devotion to sowing.

However, we should not be in despair. It's because there must be a person whose heart is like good soil. He will listen to our teaching and testimony with full heart and mind. He will be changed by the words of God. Then he himself will testify about Jesus and lead many people to God. Finally the kingdom of God will be expanded 30 times, 60 times, and 100 times through this one person with good heart soil. Most seeds may not grow, but a wonderful harvest will surely come. Even if we seems to fail at first, we will get the splendid spiritual harvest in the end.

For the last 5 years, we have sown the words of God through this English worship service. We declared the whole chapters of John, Mark, and Matthew. Also we delivered the message on many chapters of Joshua and Genesis. In spite of all this dedication, we don't seem to reach great achievement. The words we have sown do not seem so fruitful. However, that does not discourage us from sowing the words of God. That does not make us give up hope for the abundant harvest. As farmers of God, we do know every seed we sow does not geminate and produce fruits. Some seeds are blown away by the wind, and some fall in places where it cannot grow. However, some seeds will be sown on good soil and they will give us 100 times as many as fruits. The wonderful harvest is surely in front of us. It is too small a thing for this worship service to be filled with 30 attendants. It will be a light for the Gentiles which brings God's salvation to the ends of the earth. So we will not stop. We will continue to invite people to this worship service. We will just keep sowing and sowing the words into their hearts. I pray God may grant us spirit and faith to keep sowing. I pray this worship service may be used as God's effective tool to expand his Kingdom in the campus and to the whole world.

Today we learned that the words of God only grow in good soil. We also learned that we will surely have a great harvest when we keep sowing the seeds. As listeners, we must try to understand, receive and obey the word of God. As preachers of the word, we must keep teaching and preaching the words of God by faith to the end. I pray that God may help us to have ears for his words. I pray earnestly that God may grant us the spirit to preach His word in spite of temporary failures.