41 Preaching teaching/ Mark 4:1-20: The Heart of Listening
Notes
Transcript
The Heart of Listening!
2. Text: Mark 4:1-20
3. Subject: Just Listen
4. ETS: Listening determined the destiny and productivity of Jesus’s audience.
5. ESS : Every Person Should Listen to God’s Word
6. OSS: Hearers will set an application this week on how they will listen to God’s word.
Discipleship Practice-The Word of God
Introduction
Have you ever heard someone but you were not listening to them. They told you what you needed to know and what you needed to do but you did not do it because you heard them but you were not listening.
My kids hear me but they do not always listen.
-Don’t dribble in the house.
-Don’t jump off the furniture
-Clean your room.
-Maybe your a boss and you tell your workers exactly what to do and they hear you but are not listening.
-If you are married I am sure there have been times where you heard your spouse but you were not listening.
If you are married there have been times when you have heard your wife and not listened to her or vice versa. My friend one time just had a baby and his wife told him I will be back in 2 hours make sure you take care of our baby. My friend put the baby to bed and after about thirty minutes got a call from some buddies to play basketball. He forgot that he had a newborn and left her there and his wife came home and her husband was gone but the baby was there.
The times we listen are when we think something is important, that it will have an impact on our life. Another time we listen if there is a critical situation. You need to lose some weight we may not listen. If you are at a doctor’s appointment and they tell you that you have cancer you are going to listen.
Listening is so important in the kingdom of God. IN America many people have heard the word of God but not many are listening to the word of God.
As a kid I could care less about hearing the word of God, even when I went to church it was like let me get out of here as quickly as possible. For this reason it did not have an impact on my life.
I wasn’t listening.
What I have discovered is that what we listen intently to reveals our heart.
Mark 4:1–2 (NASB95)
He began to teach again by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that He got into a boat in the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land.
And He was teaching them many things in parables, and was saying to them in His teaching,
Jesus goes onto tell us a parable:
A parable uses something from everyday life to a spiritual truth.
Probably Jesus taught this parable many times during His ministry as an itinerant preacher, and the disciples were familiar with it. It[1]
Mark 4:3 (NASB95)
“Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow;
The author exhorts his hearers to listen.
Behold and Listen used together. “They never appear together elsewhere in Mark, nor do they introduce a parable elsewhere either in Mark or in the other Gospels. Placed next to each other, they doubly emphasize the importance of continually heeding (“Listen” is a present imperative) the parable that follows[2].”
The sower went out to sow his seed-Who is the sower? Is it Jesus or can it be anyone who preaches the word of God..
This first parable is the key to the other parables. It does not describe the kingdom of God as the other parables do. Rather, it describes the condition of the hearers. As with all parables, but this one especially, the key is not to ask, “What does this one thing signify?” but “What does this mean for me? Where am I in this parable?” This first parable also followed directly on the heels of the religious leaders’ misunderstanding of the person of Jesus. Jesus was describing their spiritual condition. He set the scene by referring to something his hearers were familiar with: a farmer sowing seed.[3]
As we go through this I want to ask you to evaluate where are you in this parable. But the only way you will be able to honestly examine where you are is if you listen and tune in today. Don’t listen to me, listen to God’s word.
Here is the parable Jesus tells:
TELL THE STORY
Talk about LISTEN!
Look this up
Mark 4:4–9 (NASB95)
as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up.
“Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil.
“And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.
“Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.
“Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”
And He was saying, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
The parable of the sower is faithful to the life situation of Palestinian agriculture, in which plowing follows sowing. The sower is not careless when he scatters the seed on the path or among the thorns or on ground which has no depth of soil. He does so intentionally, for the path on which the villagers have trodden over the stubble and the thorns which lie withered among the fallow ground will be plowed up to receive the seed.[5]
people’s response we have to be faithful
the majority of the soil is unproductive.
Transition-Because what we listen passionately to reveals our heart I want to Challenge us all to not just hear God’s word but to listen to it. If Jesus were here sharing with us today he would be saying this exact same thing-Listen Up. The first reason we should listen.
Today Jesus wants us to listen to his Word.
I. EVERY PERSON SHOULD LISTEN TO GOD'S WORD BECAUSE it determines our eternity(10-12).
I. EVERY PERSON SHOULD LISTEN TO GOD'S WORD BECAUSE it determines our eternity(10-12).
Your eternity is determined on whether or not you have just heard the word of God or if you are listening. I had heard the word of God from a young age but it wasn’t until i was 18 that I believed {Gospel}.
Have you ever thought about this Satan knows the word as good as anyone.
James 2:19 “You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.”
There are insiders and outsiders, there is a heaven and hell there are winners and losers.
Such a concentration of attention on the verb ἀκούω throughout the discourse not only draws the hearer’s attention but tells us that this is a discourse about ‘hearing’, and that the division between insiders and outsiders is connected with how each group can ‘hear the word’.[6]
GOSPEL-It is based off of our response to this.
SECURITY VS ASSURANCE (Fact vs. Feeling)
Explanation
Signs you are headed for heaven?
a. You have a desire to go deeper in God’s word.
Jesus was always in training with his disciples and after he gave this parable it says his followers had some questions.
Mark 4:10 (NASB95)
As soon as He was alone, His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables.
Only God knows if your heart is right with him, But Jesus followers wanted more of God.
Do you want more of God right now? Do you have a desire to go deeper with him?
Do you know God’s word less or more than you did when your first started coming to Church?
CAN YOU SAY WITH THE PSALMIST
Psalm 19:10 (NASB95)
They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.
Signs you are headed for heaven?
b. The mystery of Grace is crystal Clear.
You can know about grace and not be saved, but you cannot be saved without grace.
Mark 4:11 (NASB95)
And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables,
Someone once asked C.S. Lewis what made Christianity different from any other religion, he said that is easy-Grace
Mystery of the Kingdom-
Those who are listening-Now, the Lord Jesus, if I may hasten through this, the Lord Jesus answers this by saying that there is a twofold purpose in giving the teaching in parabolic form. In the first place, it is given to reveal the truth to the receptive. It will enable them to understand, to have these illustrations.
Those who are not listening-But, it is also given to conceal the truth from the unreceptive. This method of giving the truth will hide the truth from some but will open up the truth to others. One of them has been given the ability to understand, and the other has not. [8]
Explanation:
This could almost sound like God does not want some people to understand the gospel. Like he does not want some to understand the gospel. Let’s remember the context here. The religious leaders of Israel the ones were supposed to crown Jesus as king at first did not accept his message, then they vehemently rejected his message and ultimately they were the ones who yelled crucify. Their dislike for Jesus did not stagnate it grew more and more until they wanted to kill him. This verse that is being referenced here is from Isaiah 6:9-10. Those who are outsiders understood the physical message of the parable but they missed the spiritual meaning.
Greek teachers like Plato and sometimes Jewish teachers would leave certain points obscure to keep them from outsiders; only those who were serious enough to persevere would understand.
Keener, C. S. (1993). The IVP Bible background commentary:
When you are ready the teacher will appear.
Could you picture your whole life hearing about the grace of God but never experiencing it. A believer will have experienced the grace of God. This happened to me when I was a freshman in College.
GOSPEL
Signs you are headed for heaven?
c. We embrace Forgiveness.
The bible tells us that we are blessed if we are forgiven.
Mark 4:12 (NASB95)
so that while seeing, they may see and not perceive, and while hearing, they may hear and not understand, otherwise they might return and be forgiven.”
4:12 they may look closely and not perceive One purpose of Jesus’ parables is to reveal the true meaning of God’s kingdom only to those who receive it in faith.
Jesus paraphrases Isa 6:9–10, in which God asks the prophet Isaiah to allow the people to continue on the path of disobedience they have previously selected. This fits with Jesus’ overall message that He has come for the sinners who are willing to repent and that the self-proclaimed righteous may find themselves in opposition to God’s purposes (Mark 2:17; compare note on 3:24). Jesus does not aim to convince the religious authorities to change their way—instead, as Jesus understands it, they should already know better. It is those who desire salvation or already feel desperation who understand His message (e.g., 2:15; compare vv. 21–23).[10]
For every parable there are two levels of understanding: the physical and the spiritual. Everyone received the parable at the physical level, but the disciples were granted understanding at the spiritual level. The disciples—and this now includes us as believers—had been chosen, as were the chosen people of God in the Old Testament. We have been given a sacred responsibility.[11]
Application-Have you come to a place in your life where you turned to Jesus Christ alone for salvation?
Transition-Because our ears reveal our heart I want to Challenge us all to not just hear God’s word but to listen to it. We just saw that the first reason we need to listen is because it determines our eternity, but there is another reason we need to listen.
2. EVERY PERSON SHOULD LISTEN TO GOD’S WORD TO AVOID THE DANGER OF BEING UNPRODUCTIVE in THE KINGDOM OF GOD (13-19).
2. EVERY PERSON SHOULD LISTEN TO GOD’S WORD TO AVOID THE DANGER OF BEING UNPRODUCTIVE in THE KINGDOM OF GOD (13-19).
No one wakes up saying I want to live a life of insignificance.
But the reality is that many of us live quiet lives of desperation.
But God has made us to live fruitful lives for his honor and glory.
Only 25% of these lives are fruitful.
The sower was willing to sow seed knowing that 3 out 4 would never cause any growth.
In baseball this would be successful. But 25% success rate does not sound good to me.
And He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables?
“The sower sows the word.
This is the first parable in Mark and Jesus tells us that if we do not understand this parable then we will not understand the other parables. Don’t you think we should listen up?
Explanation:
Lets look at these first three soils because they are all unproductive. Today as we look at these four soils my hope isn’t that we will try to figure out which one’s are really believers rather my hope is that we will want to listen so badly to the word of God that we will desire to be the fourth soil. Because the purpose of planting seeds is that they grow and the purpose of God’s word is that it will grow in your life.
What can keep you from listening to the word of God?
a. Satan-comes and takes the seed before it can be planted in your heart (15).
v.4 &15
Mark 4:15 (NASB95)
“These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them.
First
This seed never took root and was eaten up
As he was sowing some fell alongside the road. IT does not seem like he was intentionally sowing there some just ended up falling there
The one’s on the road got eaten they had no where to go and did
Was the sower just sowing seed
They are beside the road and immediately Satan comes and snatches the word up.
There are going to be people we preach the word to whom Satan snatches it up.
Illustration in Colorado sharing the gospel with a guy hand he mocked me and spit at me. Satan was snatching up this word before it could take root.
I think we need to be reminded that we are in a spiritual battle and Satan is our ultimate enemy.
What can keep you from listening to the word of God?
b. [No Foundation] Rocky places-Receive it with joy, no firm root, when going gets tough they run (16).
v.5-6 &16-17
Mark 4:16–17 (NASB95)
“In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy;
and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away.
Second
This seed barely took root and withered away
second seed fell on rocky ground
did not have much soil
What happens with a little soil-it immediately springs up
Illustration-Oaks are so big because they dig their roots down deep. The biggest skyscrapers have the biggest foundations.
Problem-The sun scorched it
It withered away
heard the word (immediately receive it joy)
No firm root, they are only temporary
Notice it says when affliction and persecution arise they turn away (it will come) they fall away not gradually but immediately.
Notice it says when affliction and persecution arise they turn away (it will come) they fall away not gradually but immediately. of that time. I will never regret spending time building that foundation. One of our visions for this church is disciple making. I was talking to Andy last night after our marriage night. Enrique called Andy and said I want to go deeper in the word of God. And Andy said I ain’t helping you. Just joking, but if you want to build a foundation and don’t know where to start, get connected with someone at the church.
Have you built a foundation to listening to God’s word. You have to be intentional. Are you intentional in God’s word.
What can keep you from listening to the word of God?
Friends I think many of us are going to relate to this third soil.
Mark 4:18–19 (NASB95)
“And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word,
but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
Notice for the second and third soils, affliction and persecution will come. It is not a matter if it will come, it is when it will come.
a. Worries of the World
One of my favorite movies growing up was what about Bob, the little boy in that movie had a fear about dying. Aren’t there limitless things we can worry about.
What are you worrying about right now?
What worry is keeping you from listening to God?
Matthew 6:33–34 ““But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
b. Deceitfulness of Riches
b. Deceitfulness of Riches
Isn’t part of the American dream having more money than you know what to do with.
c. Desire for other things
We have so many things that we can chase besides God. Good things that we can make our central thing.
Sports
Security
jobs
v.7 & 18-19
Third-
This seed grew but produced nothing
Fell among the thorns
the thorns came up and choked it up resulting in no crop
Three things choke the word here: worries of the world, deceitfulness of riches and the desire for other things choke it resulting in unfruitfulness.
The enemy in the first instance is Satan (v. 15). In the second it is the flesh (vv. 16–17), and in the third it is the world (vv. 18–19).[15]
Is our church not filled with peoples whose heart represent the 2nd and third soil. People who have no foundation. People who the world has taken away their fruitfulness.
Transition-How we listen reveals what we are passionate about. We just saw that the first reason we need to listen is because it determines our eternity, and we have also seen that if we don’t listen we will be unproductive in God’s economy, but there is another reason we need to listen.
3. EVERY PERSON SHOULD LISTEN TO GOD’S WORD BECAUSE GOD CREATED US TO BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY(20).
3. EVERY PERSON SHOULD LISTEN TO GOD’S WORD BECAUSE GOD CREATED US TO BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY(20).
Mark 4:20 (NASB95)
“And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”
v. 8 & 20
Fourth-
This seed grew because it landed on good soil and multiplied
Seeds that fell on good soil
results
They grew up and increased
They yielded more crop [differing sizes] but they yielded other crops
What does the word accept mean here in the greek?
These do three things
1. Hear
2. accept
3. Bear
Jesus wanted the gospel to go out to as many people as possible this is the reason he came.
We were created to be so connected to God that we bear fruit not because we are great but because we are connected to the greatest.
What does productivity look like in the kingdom of God?
a. Hear the Word of God
Do you hear the word of God regularly. Not have you heard it.
`Christians claim to believe the Bible is God's Word. We claim it's God's divinely inspired, inerrant message to us. Yet despite this, we aren't reading it. A recent LifeWay Research study found only 45 percent of those who regularly attend church read the Bible more than once a week. Over 40 percent of the people attending read their Bible occasionally, maybe once or twice a month. Almost 1 in 5 churchgoers say they never read the Bible—essentially the same number who read it every day.
Because we don't read God's Word, it follows that we don't know it. To understand the effects, we can look to statistics of another Western country: the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom Bible Society surveyed British children and found many could not identify common Bible stories. When given a list of stories, almost 1 in 3 didn't choose the Nativity as part of the Bible and over half (59 percent) didn't know that Jonah being swallowed by the great fish is in the Bible.[16]
Europe that used to be so passionate about Jesus has now forgotten him completely. Europe who once sent missionaries all over the world now needs missionaries to go there.
Illustration-If the people of God do not read the word of God can we expect God to do great things. How can we expect those who never go to church to read it.
b. Accept the Word of God
Observation + Interpretation - application = abortion
One of the things we are pushing and are going to keep pushing the word of God.
Illustration-31 Challenge
c. Bear the Word of God
② to cause the inner life to be productive, bear fruit[17]
You see if we get God’s word into our life we will be productive for the kingdom. We will live productive lives.
We don’t have to do a bunch of stuff, the word of God will do stuff in us.
We talk a lot about being a disciple and making a disciple.
How do we do this: We hear the word, we accept the word and we allow it to bear fruit in our life.
Then we become like the ultimate sower, Jesus and the word starts to come out of our life.
This is my hope, to allow God’ word to be unchained in my life.
I got to be the sower, I started sowing seeds and one of the seed I sowed seemed like it was rocky soil. I was sharing the good news of Jesus with James Lancaster. He was an all american football player. I even bought him chick fila to open him up tot he gospel. God is the God who can take the Rocky soil and make it the good soil.
Conclusion-
How are you listening to God’s word.
What soil are you right now?
What soil do you want to be?
Today I want us to have a heart check and get the word of God into our lives
Possible applications:
Memorize Verses: 2 Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 2:20, John 14:21, Romans 12:1, 2 Timothy 3:16, Joshua 1:8, John 15:7, Philippins 4:6-7, Romans 1:16, Matthew 4:19, Hebrews 10:24-25, Matthew 18:20.
Scripture Typer
Quiet times: Read through the book of 1 and 2 Timothy this week.
Meet up with someone from the Church and ask them how to teach you how to study the Bible in depth.
Begin to teach the word of God.
If you desire to be the fourth soil God will graciously allow you to sow the word of God to others. It may be to your kids, it may be at your work you make be the next Billy Graham, but it will be the greatest journey you could ever imagine.
[1] Constable, T. (2003). Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible (Mk 4:3). Galaxie Software.
[2] Robert Stein. Mark: Baker Exegetical Commentary on The New Testament. Grand Rapids, 2008 page 196-197.
[3] Cooper, R. L. (2000). Mark (Vol. 2, p. 66). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[4] s. Lewis johnson
[5] Lane, W. L. (1974). The Gospel of Mark (pp. 153–154). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
[6] France, R. T. (2002). The Gospel of Mark: a commentary on the Greek text (pp. 184–185). Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press.
[7] Keener, C. S. (1993). The IVP Bible background commentary: New Testament (Mk 4:10–11). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
[8] S. Lewis Johnson Matthew 13 sermon page 12.
[9] Lane, W. L. (1974). The Gospel of Mark (p. 149). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
[10] Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Mk 4:12). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[11] Cooper, R. L. (2000). Mark (Vol. 2, p. 67). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[12] Keener, C. S. (1993). The IVP Bible background commentary: New Testament (Mk 4:12). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
[13] Constable, T. (2003). Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible (Mk 4:14). Galaxie Software.
[14] Cooper, R. L. (2000). Mark (Vol. 2, p. 68). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[15] Constable, T. (2003). Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible (Mk 4:14). Galaxie Software.
[16] http://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2015/july/epidemic-of-bible-illiteracy-in-our-churches.html
[17] Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., p. 510). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.