Sermon Tone Analysis
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*Inscription: Writing God’s Words on Our Hearts & Minds*
*/Part 35: The Parable of the Soils /*
*Mark 4:1-20*
*/October 10, 2010/*
* *
*Prep: *
· Synoptics
· Leftovers 1st page (I mean it)
· Chandler’s, Moralistic Therapeutic Deism
*Scripture reading: Mark 4:1-9 (genea)*
Intro
If you missed the *video*, you can watch it *online*.
I hope you have been thinking more about how you can be a *participant*, not a consumer at your church.
Talk to the *deacons* for more info.
· Mark is the *ADHD* *Gospel*.
Prayer
Jesus Groupies
NIV *Mark 4:10* ¶ When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables.
11 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 12 so that, “‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’”
I have a book called “*Hard* *Saying* of the Bible” and you better believe that this is in there.
It sounds like Jesus is saying that he is *hoping* people *don’t* *understand* him.
Jesus isn’t trying to trick people, he is *quoting* from the *OT*, that’s *ironic* – you can preach, but these people have hard hearts, the message will *regrettably* have *little* *effect*.
· But he is playing “*hard* to *get*.”
*Why* is he intentionally hard to understand?
He has a *good* *reason*, one that *still* *applies*.
I once heard *Rick* *Warren* say when he doesn’t preach, there are about c.20% less people in the church, the *groupies*.
He doesn’t care about them; not that he doesn’t care about their soul, but he knows those folks are there for the *wrong* *reasons*.
They just loved hearing a *famous* *author*, but they didn’t really *get* what he was *saying*, or else they would be at church when he didn’t speak.
In the words of the *late* *philosopher* [pause]:
He’s the one who like all our pretty songs, and he likes to sing along, and he like to shot his gun, but he don’t know what it means.
Yeah, he but don’t what it means.
This is what is happening in *Jesus’* *ministry*.
He has begun to some pretty cool miracles and is attracting large crowds, and a lot of them are just *Jesus* *groupies*.
· The crowd is filled with people who *want* *something* and who are *curious* (life is pretty dull and TV hasn’t been invented yet).
· Then those who *genuinely* want to *follow* Jesus.
Jesus is trying to sort the *serious* from the merely *curious*.
But he can’t just *ask*, “Who here’s a groupie?”
It’s like a *job* *interview*: You don’t ask if they’re teachable.
It’s really *genius* what he does: He tells them a parable that leaves them *scratching* their heads, and how they *respond* will indicate which one they are:
· Some will say, “Wasn’t that *cool*!
Remember when he...”
Others listened when he said “I *don’t* *understand* what he means, but he said ‘He who *has* *ears* to hear, let him hear.’
How do I get ears to hear? *How* do I *understand*?
What do I do with this?”
And on any given Sunday, there will be people in church for a *variety* of *reasons*:
· Some come so they can ask for *money* afterwards.
· Some are here to see their *friends*.
· Some come to check it off their list of *good* *deeds* so they can go back to living like hell during the week.
Some come to *genuinely* *participate* in the life of the body, to hear the Word of God proclaimed through song and preaching, to be shaped into the image of Christ, to be a part of community.
· Then, as now, the test is “what will you do with the seed?
The seed
Jesus then explains the parable to the disciples, the genuine followers:
NIV *Mark 4:13* Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable?
How then will you understand any parable?
14 The farmer sows the word.
15 Some people 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.
16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy.
17 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.
18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 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.
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.”
Q So what is the seed?
I’ve always taken it to be the *call* to *salvation* and this parable describes different reasons people *reject* the *Gospel*.
But it says it’s “*The* *Word*,” (Luke: “The Word of God”).
He means the *Bible*, God’s *truth*, his *wisdom*, his *commands*.
Yes, that *includes* the *Gospel* *call*, but it includes much, *much* *more*.
· In other words, don’t you dare think, “I am already a *Christian*, this *doesn’t* *apply* to me.”
Whether or *not* you are a *Christian*, you are *continually* having the Word of God *sown* into your life.
Q What is the *#1 place* the Word is sown?
At *church*.
I hope you are reading on your *own*, keeping up with the *Inscription* readings, studying in *groups*, but the church remains the *primary* *place* most people hear the Word of God.
· God appointed *pastors* to be *sowers* of the Word *under* *Jesus*.
As a *Christian*, you may hear “God *expects* me to *serve*,” “my marriage isn’t *disposable*,” or “if something in your life *causing* you to *sin*, you must *cut* it out” (the last 3 sermons).
Or a non-Christian should hear, “You are a *sinner*, *separated* from God, you are living *rebellion* to your creator.
*Submit* to him, He loves you and will *forgive* you, restore your soul.”
The soil
In either case, *we* do our *best* to *faithfully* *proclaim* God’s Word, but then it is in *your* *court*, or your soil.
I write and preach knowing I could write the *perfect* *sermon*, clearly and *faultlessly* demonstrating the truth of Scripture, and *deliver* it *perfectly*, and you still respond “*Whatever*.”
· The Bible has a lot of *warnings* to *preachers*, but this warning is to the *listener*.
See, this story is really *about* the *soil*, not the Sower (hence “The Parable of the Soil”).
The dirt is the only thing we can do anything about.
*Each* of *us* is one of these kinds of soils.
· In *different* *times* and *circumstances*, we might be different types of soil.
1.
Hard Soil
The first possible response to the Word is a *hard* *heart*, like being sown on a *path*.
Have you ever walked across a dirt path that is so hard it is like concrete?
That’s the image here.
· It like when I *seeded* my *lawn*, the stuff that landed on that *patio* ain’t ever going to grow.
*There are *two* *types* of hard hearts: *
* *
*/1.
/**/Rebellious hearts/*
God speaks to us and we think “*no* *way*, *no* *how*.”
Jesus says that *Satan* *swops* in eats it up, but that is okay, because we weren’t really *doing* *anything* with it.
/We might try to /*reason*/ it away – “this can’t possibly be true because of the /*crusades*/...”.
/
/We might /*mock*/ it – bring friends to make /*fun*/ of the /*preacher*/, the music, the style (eg: with Ty at El Monte)./
· It’s one thing to be *skeptical* while *submitting* to Jesus; it’s another to use skepticism to *avoid* *submission*.
/We might just /*ignore*/ it (eg: Locking keys in my car, “lost” connection.)
/
The hard heart has a *million* *reasons* the word doesn’t apply to them.
At the root of it, it is *refusing* to *submit* to God, whether they are a non-Christian or Christian.
· It’s not surprising for a *non*-*Christian* (cf.
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