Mark 4:1-34, What’s the Center?

The Kingdom of God as the Center of Everything

Mark chapter 4 verses 1 to 34. Hear the word of the Lord. Again, he began to teach beside the sea 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 a.

Sower went out to sow and 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 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 seeds fell into good soil and produced grain growing up in increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.

And he said He who has ears to hear let him hear. And When he was alone those around him with the twelve 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. And he said to them. Do you not understand this parable?

How then will you understand all the parables? 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 and These are the ones who these are the ones sown on rocky ground.

The ones who when they hear the word Immediately receive it with joy and they have no root in themselves. But endure for a while. Then when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word immediately they fall away.

And others are those sown among thorns and 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.

But those that 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 hundred fold. And he said to them is a lamp brought in To be put under a basket or under a bed and not on a stand.

For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest. Nor is anything secret except to come to light. If anyone has ears to hear let him hear. And He said to them pay attention to what you hear with the measure you use It will be measured to you and still more will be added to you.

For to the one who has more will be given and from the one who has not even what he has will be taken away.

And.

He said the kingdom of God 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 than the ear than the full grain in the ear but when the grain is ripe at once he puts in the sickle because the harvest has come and He said with what can we compare the kingdom of God or what parable shall we use for it?

It's 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 nest and it's 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 the Lord had his blessings to the reading of his Holy Word.

The Center of Football, America, and Christian Faith

Well, what's the center for you the fundamental principle? That everything else is about. What you measure everything by? The hub that everything either leads to or radiates from. What are you talking about?

You might think well, for example. In the area of football anyway, I'm an Alabama football fan because I was raised in Alabama and that means. That means I'm not so much a college football fan as an Alabama football fan.

That is I measure every college game by what it does for Alabama. You know if Ohio State since we have an Ohio person here, Ohio State plays, Oregon I think well, Ohio State is ranked number three. They're serious competition for Alabama.

So it's better if they get beat by Oregon, so Alabama won't have to play Ohio State later. So therefore I am for Oregon. Get it. That's the way I think. Begin with what's in the center at least for football and that's Alabama.

What's at the center of what it means to be an American? What's the definition? That is the core principle that Americans are for their identity now. Americans used to understand that I think freedom.

Even if I disagreed with you maybe about politics or religion or about whether or not to get a vaccine I still believed in your freedom to believe what you believe and you believed in my freedom to disagree with you.

We were a people united around a belief. That we didn't have to be united around very much else but things fall apart when the center does not hold in. The 1990s the Christian author Oskin a brilliant man, by the way.

Recommend his books and lectures if you can hear them he wrote a book in which he'd said that now the USA is divided by what he called a crisis of Cultural authority as we can't decide what's the authority anymore in our culture?

We can't agree anymore on what is the center what holds us together? What's the core of our beliefs? That everything else emanates from. Well, for example recently a leading politician said the purpose of government is to keep Americans safe.

Really now sure. The government needs to keep us safe from threats to our freedom. So we don't get invaded by some other nation that takes our freedom away as the oath goes from all enemies foreign and domestic but if safety if Safety is the central principle what it means to be an American keep us safe.

That's the core mission of the government which drives everything else. Keep us safe. Well, then we could be kept safe from our own choices. Like about what medicines to take? It kept safe from your own decisions.

Maybe about what faith to believe in you got to be kept safe from that church that maybe they'll call a cult. No, we used to understand that we were free. To be wrong at least as far as it doesn't hurt other people.

We were free to be wrong. Of course, you also have to bear the consequences if you choose to be wrong. It's kind of it's on you. For what it does to you freedom means responsibility. That's what we used to believe at the root of the the anger in the division and the USA today is that We're not united around an agreed-upon.

Jesus as the Center of the Christian Faith

Center.

Anymore. What is what's at the center of the Christian faith? Now the answer to that should be easy should be obvious. Jesus, of course, we believe in Jesus. Jesus is Lord, but How do you believe in Jesus?

Let's just say how Do you believe in Jesus? How do you know who he is? What he says to believe what he says to do. What it means to be a follower of Jesus says who according to what's the center of what it means to be a Christian?

Now there's been a division over church history among professed Christians over that too. What what all that means with some saying that we know Jesus and we follow Jesus through the church and we get right with him.

By doing what the church says it says do these rituals you do them? You're right with Jesus now about 500 years ago. Some Christians got it reawakened and realized that the church had gotten off Center and so they reformed the church and hence the word reformed at our church's name, but because They were reacting about 500 years ago against something that was warped.

They were often shaped by what they were against, you know, we're not them they center on ceremonies and rituals. We're gonna be centered on the word on certain doctrines of maybe certain doctrines. They don't believe.

We're not them. So Instead of ceremonies, we're gonna put the pulpit in the middle just like this I believe in and they would preach doctrines. Maybe the the people they were not. They're contrasting themselves to did not believe like John Calvin who said the justification is the main hinge or much religion turns.

Because the people they were reacting against had confused Justification how to get right with God. The day the Reformers spent a lot of time on on that and so focusing on Romans and Galatians. You know the the other epistles particularly to the point that even still today I think and I'm here I'm saying something a little cut maybe a little controversial.

But but some believe that that was the center of our faith the center of what they believe that it's in it's in Paul. Okay, for example, John Piper whom I respect and recommend I really do has much of his teaching focus on the epistles particularly the letters of Paul of his look at the book videos.

About 10 minute teaching videos if you haven't seen them, they're very good again. I respect I Recommend them we often show them on our Wednesday nights to preface our own Pass when they had what he has one on the passage we're doing but he has just to give you an example.

What I'm talking about. He has 65 of those videos from the on the book of Romans 145 from the book of Ephesians and 139 from Philippians meanwhile. He has 25 from Matthew 7 from Mark 18 from Luke and 16 from John for a total of 66 from the Gospels meaning that he has more than twice as many.

Just from Ephesians or Philippians than from all the teachings of Jesus now.

Why.

And I'm not picking on him. He's what I'm familiar with so I can use him as a contrast an example I think Piper's which is typical of Protestants of us. So why do we? Center our faith that what make it sort of the the theological basis of it like our spiritual Constitution, right?

Like the the government's what we centered should own the Constitution and ever the law is supposed to emanate from that. Why do we kind of have this? Unexamined assumption that our Constitution is the letters of Paul and rather than Jesus We're not aware of it.

That means probably something unexamined. We need to examine not that Paul is an important are not inspired understand me. He is. But understand what Paul is doing in his letters. He is taking the teachings of Jesus and he is applying them in an inspired.

Way.

Infallibly by the Holy Spirit. He's taking that the teachings of Jesus and supplying it to mostly Gentile churches. And he doesn't infallibly inspired by the Holy Spirit. Now, sometimes he's vital to us for that reason.

Because we need to hear his applications because we sometimes we follow the same errors. His teaching is emanating from kind of like sunshine emanates from the Sun. His teaching is emanating from Jesus.

The very last verse of the book of Acts has Paul in Rome and it says he was there proclaiming. You know what? What was Paul in Rome proclaiming? You think it's justification? Sanctification. Glorification.

Election. One of those doctrines that Paul is famous for.

No.

It says the very last verse of the book of Acts. He's proclaiming quote the kingdom of God and Teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. You can't understand Paul unless you first understand Jesus. What's the center of our Christian faith.

Jesus so to begin with what he so we then must begin with what he taught in the Gospels. Especially about the kingdom of God. That's the core and here in this passage is where he most clearly most explicitly Teaches about the kingdom of God.

That's why I began. This is one of the the most important passages in the entire Bible for understanding of the rest of it that's what everything and the Old Testament leads to to Jesus to his teaching about the kingdom of God and what everything else in the Epistles radiates from.

And here we are in Mark chapter 4. There's the second largest teaching passage in Mark and we see here Jesus himself in his own words. Explain the heart of his message his central theme the kingdom of God.

And we see that in seven parts. Right first the mystery of the kingdom. Second the inquiry of the kingdom. Third the diversity of the kingdom. Fourth the publicity of the kingdom. Fifth the priority of the kingdom.

Then the sovereignty of the kingdom and finally the prosperity of the kingdom. First the mystery. The mystery is what is the kingdom of God. Nice spiritual sounding phrase. What is it? Jesus came teaching that the kingdom of God is at hand.

Remember that we're almost right off the bat in Mark. He comes teaching the kingdom of God is at hand. Right something is at hand when is so close you can reach out and grab it with your hands. The people thought that they knew what that meant.

The kingdom is the rule of God. Where he rules is his kingdom. And so the kingdom of God is where he rules. Are you in his kingdom. And they the people thought they understood that what that meant? That there would come a king from the line of David from David's dynasty and he would overthrow the Romans and He would reign from Jerusalem like Solomon did bringing Israel back to its glory days.

That was the kingdom of God. That's what they were expecting and so into that Jesus comes and says the kingdom of God is at hand and so they were okay. Wow, you're looking with the revolution is about to start.

This guy Jesus. He's descended from David. He's gonna start it and so when they hear that kingdom of God's at hand, that's a that's a call to a Revolution, that's a call to rise up. And so they understood him.

They see I'm picking up disciples. That's momentum starting to build. He's starting to get a following he's gonna get his army.

But then.

Things start to look a little different with Jesus. While this teaching, you know, what's that about? You read the David. David didn't go around teaching. What the miracles and the healings? Casting out demons.

What what's that about. And rather than uniting the people behind him already the scribes the religious scholars and the quote the Herodians that is the political people who were in league with the Romans.

They were already lined up against him conspiring to kill him publicly accusing him of being an agent of Beelzebul. Now the people thought the kingdom of God was coming harvest like the Messiah would take over and he's gonna separate the sinners probably gonna have him chop off their head or make him convert and He's gonna reward the good people.

It's a harvest harvest of good. And Jesus comes with his preaching. He's training his disciples to preach as if It's planting time. It's not what they expected.

It's an enigma.

It's a mystery to them and we still have Christians today who don't understand the kingdom of God who basically think there's a segment of Evangelical Christians who basically think the Jews were right.

Yeah, they were right about the kingdom. It was supposed to be a harvest. It was supposed to be an offer by Jesus to the Jews to set up a kingdom. But they rejected him and. So they'll say the kingdom offer that it's at hand.

You can have it was withdrawn and God resorted to you know kind of a plan B something to keep himself busy before he gets back to the kingdom thing and That plan B was the gospel for the church kind of an alternative Thing and that's why for them the center of our Christian life is now the epistles.

Especially Paul all of the teachings of Jesus like this about the kingdom of God. They will say yeah, sure. It's inspired. He really said that but it's just not for us because we're Gentiles and the kingdom is not didn't apply to us.

That's for another era another dispensation they would call it. When I was preparing for my debate on original sin a little over two years ago. I watched some of the videos of my opponents debating pastors on the same topic and I saw one who When this pastor was challenged by them with something from the Gospels and he responded to that.

Well this quote from the Gospels. Well, that was before Pentecost what Jesus said that was before Pentecost. That was before the church. That's for another Dispensation and so it's not really relevant to us doesn't apply to us.

Jesus is teaching they say was for the Jews to bring in an earthly kingdom centered in Jerusalem. In other words, this pastor had the same view of the kingdom of God as did the Jews here. So this confusion about the kingdom of God.

It persists to this day. Understand there's Christians around us who believe like us in many ways, but on this that they would say well. The kingdom was for the Jews and they're just like the Jews here.

They're just as confused but it's precisely this mystery of the kingdom the mystery that the kingdom of God is different. From what the Jews then or what dispensational is today. Expected is precisely to solve that mystery that Jesus teaches the parables in this chapter while sitting at a boat Using the lake shore like a amphitheater.

The mystery of the kingdom is that God's kingdom is different Than what you expected. What is the kingdom of God like?

It is like.

Jesus says starting in verse 3 a sower going out to plant seed. They thought the kingdom of God is like a harvest the Messiah Judging people harvesting the good for with reward and the evil for punishment.

And Jesus says it's like a farmer scattering seed. Some seeds fall on the hardened path. And they never get in the ground and so the birds eat them up. Some feed some seeds fall on thin soil where it sprouts briefly.

But it soon dies off under the heat of the Sun. Some seeds fall among thorns where they grow a little. But they're stymied and so don't mature to bear any grain. Finally some falls in good soil. Where it brings in an abundant harvest 30 60 or a hundred times as much as what was planted now.

They thought the kingdom of God was like a harvest and Jesus says it's first Like planting and then he says in verse 9 he was ears to hear let him hear. And that's it. That's the explanation of the kingdom now imagine.

You were there you had been raised to believe that the kingdom of God when it comes it comes as a revolution it comes as a harvest of judgment when the sinners are punished and the Messiah rules and the good people are rewarded and He Messiah's ruling over a newly revived Israelite Empire and then along that's what you believe that's what you come.

To this meeting with Jesus. It's what you come expecting and then along comes Jesus saying the kingdom of God is coming you hear of miracles and you're attracted to come listen to him and you're crowding with this bunch of people in the lake and.

So he uses the boat to get enough distance to teach a crowd. You're excited to hear finally. That does the announcement of the kingdom that is here the revolution is about to start and you hear from Jesus sitting in that boat you hear him say a Farmer scatter seed on all kinds of different soil.

That's a mystery. So second the inquiry. It's some later time that the disciples asked Jesus in verse 10. Why are you speaking in parables? You know, they're hard for people to understand what's going on with that.

It's the inquiry About the kingdom now some say that this is one of the hardest passages in the New Testament to understand. That's what I read in the commentary this past week. This is one of the hardest passages in the New Testament to understand from verses 10 to 12.

No, it's not. There's nothing particularly difficult about the Greek to translate and there's nothing really difficult about the English to understand you read it in English. You pretty well can understand it.

Don't let anybody fool you that this Greek word really means something else. No, it doesn't it just means what it says? What they mean, of course is that it is so different from what they expect Jesus to say.

They just can't accept the words at face value. They just let wait. He could not have really have said that so it's got to be something else.

Right.

But the disciples inquire is why Jesus is using parables. It's making it harder for people to understand it. And so in verse 34, he was only speaking to the public and parable at the end of the passage.

It tells us that right. He's only speaking in these kind of parables. The explanations were for the disciples. Just the parables were for the others. Now imagine. If all you had About this parable is what we've heard so far.

You know farmer goes out plant seed and different kinds of soil. You're going what no explanation. That's it. Could you figure out what it means? Now I've heard people today say that Jesus used parables.

They'll say he is parables to make it easier for people to understand, you know. Concrete stories that capture the imagination that illustrate a point. It's brilliant communication. They say in a way it is brilliant communication.

He's brilliant for accomplishing what he wants to accomplish. But again, if all you had was this little story about a farmer scattering seed on different kinds of soil. Would you know what he meant? Here Jesus explains it verses 11 and 12.

That he's using parables precisely. So that some people will not understand to you. It has been given notice that in verse 11. To you you disciples. They were inquiring about why using parables Jesus.

Well to you It's been given but not those other people. It that is the mystery of the kingdom. It has been given. It's like a gift. It's a gracious gift. Given by who by the way notice the way this sentence is structured to you.

It has been given. Given by who it's in the what in grammar. It's called the passive voice. Passive voice leaves the subject that is the one doing the action the actor unnamed assumed. You remember they talked about this last fall.

It's been almost a year ago now in Luke. We talk about the divine passive. Anybody remember that divine past that is sometimes especially in the teaching of Jesus. Jesus uses a lot. When God is the subject that is God is the actor.

God's the one doing the action the sentences are in the passive voice. So to leave him to leave God unnamed. So it is you could translate it is to say to you it has been given by God. Or you could say God has given to you the secret of the kingdom of God.

God has given you the privilege to know the mystery of the kingdom. As a gift, this is from God. God is revealing the secret to you. Now. The secret is that the kingdom of God is A lot different than what you were expecting.

So the inquiry is why he was speaking in parables about the kingdom of God. Jesus says God is giving you the secret about his kingdom, but not and here's the hard part. But everyone likes the first part to you has been given to know the secret.

Okay, that's great. I get I've given it. Here's the hard part though, but not. To those outside not to the mere spectators to the unbelievers. He's not giving it to them. They don't get to know the secret.

So in order to keep it from them notice it says. For this this is the purpose. To keep it from them. Jesus says that he that's why he's speaking in him to them in parables. The kingdom of God is like a farmer scattering seed if you have ears to hear hear me.

Listen to me become my disciple and then you'll be given the secret if not.

It'll just be riddles to you.

It'll be a mystery. But I thought Jesus wanted everyone to know him. Well, the inquiry is why he's using unexplained parables to the outsiders. Jesus says that's that's all that's been given to them. Just a mystery.

So that. That's the purpose in verse 12. So that this is the reason that all they get is parables without an explanation. All they get is a riddle a mystery. They can't understand so that what's the reason so that they might see the mystery of the kingdom But not perceive what it means.

They might hear the parable But not understand it. That they'll hear a little story about the kingdom how it's like a farmer Spreading seed to different kinds of soil and nothing. What in the world is he talking about.

And they'll walk away shrugging their shoulders. Because if they perceived it if they understood it Then they would repent they would turn around and be forgiven to them that has not been given so Lest knows that word lest that is meaning that is to prevent Something that you do not want to happen Lest to prevent it from leaving to avoid what has not been given.

To to keep them from repenting here He's using parables notice He controls who does and Does not believe. It's not hard to understand. It's just hard to accept but it means that if you have seen and perceived if you've heard and Understood and so you've repented and you've believed and been forgiven.

That's only Because it was given to you by God. Third the diversity of the kingdom. Starting verse 13 Jesus explains the parable now. You should be able to understand it. He says you should be able to.

First the sower sows the word. You got to sow the word you got to give the word. Right. There's this saying that some people like some Christians like preach the gospel at all times and if necessary use words.

It's always necessary. Okay faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word not just by doing good deeds so the sower sows the word the kingdom of God spreads not by Conquests by revolution by armies and swords and slingshots and arrows but by the word that is by the announcement that in Jesus God's Rule has come you'll be in his kingdom submit to Jesus.

How it grows depends on the different kinds of soil. The word is planted in rather than the kingdom coming To impose its way on all kinds of people regardless of whether they want it or not. He like a conquering army, you know takes over people whether they accept it or not.

The kingdom of God for now. Gets a diverse reaction depending on diverse people. Everything depends on the state of the ground on the people and there is a diversity.

Of character.

There's a diverse response to God's kingdom depending on the character of the people. First there's the hard-hearted. They're in plackable. That is they won't listen. They don't care. You cannot get through to them.

They're like concrete. The word has no place in their life. And so Satan like a bird takes the word away. So they can't even remember it. And then there are those who are like shallow soil. They're like thin dirt over rock.

When they hear the word They immediately react with joy. They an acceptance. They like it. They say they claim to believe. They respond positively at first. So if you have an altar call.

They'll come up.

Now you can get them to come up the organ softly playing just as I am. They'll come up. They'll profess their faith if you baptize. Immediately or maybe you the next week, you know soon they'll get baptized and you count them as a convert and you feel good about yourself and.

If that's all it takes to be a church member you say that prayer. You get baptized the next week. They'll become a church member. They'll stop coming to church after a few weeks and then 20 years later, they'll show up at a members meeting and vote on the who the next pastor will be but We know that's but that's another story.

But they are temporary believers when some hard times come when it starts to become costly when it means sacrifice. When it means like you expect me to keep going to church. I come two weeks in a row.

That's all I want. Well, they'll fall away. They're shallow. Then there's the distracted. Their life is just too full of other things to grow. It's like seeds scattered among thorns. Notice verse 19. It says the cares of the world that is they care about the things of the world care about being successful.

You care about keeping people happy? Whatever that crowds their life. And the deceitfulness of riches. Notice that deceit. There's an interesting phrase the deceitfulness of riches. Riches deceives.

Money lies.

Deceitfulness of riches. The way that money fools us into thinking that it is the most important thing. And if you only have enough. You don't have more, you know, it's always more. Actually you only had more.

You could be perfectly happy. You can get anything you want. And so if for a while. Until you get more you have to miss church. You have to skip praying. You don't have time to seek God. You have time to read the Bible.

You don't have time to. You don't want to give because you want to keep it to make.

More.

That's the way you think. Money is deceiving you riches is fooling you money is lying to you and is crowding out the word in your life. So the cares of the world the deceitfulness of riches and the desire for other things besides the kingdom of God.

Big houses. Fancy vacations luxury cars the newest gadgets the next I whatever. All of that choke the word. Cutting off its air so it can't live. Stifling it so it can't flourish. Suffocating it so it dies the kingdom of God and your life won't thrive if You're too full of a desire for reputation or money or stuff.

Finally the word of the kingdom comes into the lives of those who are like good soil. They're not hard-hearted. They're not shallow. They're not crowded out with a love of ego or wealth. Now in them the rule of God Thrives that is Jesus rules over all their lives and it transforms them.

And it transforms others around them turning them into sowers. Transform others into sowers who go out and plant the word in others lives. So that what was planted in them? Eventually gets harvested as many many more times Than what was planted.

The point. But what is better called the parable of the soils is that the kingdom of God gets a diverse response? Depending on the diversity of the people on their character. So the kingdom of God flourishes where people are not Implacable just stubborn or superficial or money mad.

The Publicity of the Kingdom

Fourth. There's the publicity of the kingdom.

Now.

Keep in mind.

Jesus has said that he speaks in parables in order to keep the secrets of the kingdom from some people so they won't repent. We've just seen that the word of the kingdom of God is only going to grow in good soil.

You know and people who aren't hard-hearted or shallow or greedy so. Rationally some people are gonna think. Why bother preaching to those other people? Why bother sharing to them just keep it to ourselves save your seed for the for the select few for the good people.

But which they usually mean people like us my friends and my children keep it keep it for us. That's what some might think is a lesson to get from the parable of soils. Don't waste your seed on hard shallow or thorny ground, but that's not the lesson because we don't know.

If someone is hard shallow or greedy. Until after we plant the seed in their life and we see their response to it. So Jesus tells the parable of the lamp from verses 21 to 23. No one likes a lamp to hide it under a basket or under a bed.

Now that doesn't make any sense. Does it? How would you put a light under a bed or a basket? It's a waste of their days. Oil lamps a waste of oil. Lights are to be placed where they give the most light.

You can put it on a lampstand or today. We usually fix our lights hanging them from ceilings give the most exposure for the light the gospel of the kingdom. That is the good news that Jesus is the king of the kingdom of God and now the good news is he can rule you.

Rather than the world the flesh of the devil ruling you. That should be given the most exposure. That should be given the most publicity in verse 22 all these secrets of the kingdom. That he's keeping from some people.

They will come to light. So that everyone who has ears. Can't hear them. He's gonna put it out there. He's not gonna hide it anymore. Now it might be a mystery to many people. Because they don't have ears to hear.

Many will be hard-hearted or superficial converts or too obsessed with chasing dollars. But still we are supposed to put the gospel of the kingdom where it will get the most. What do you call it publicity?