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[2381.54 --> 2384.02] And I love the schedule and the regular rhythms of it. |
[2384.02 --> 2388.42] I'm super grateful that, you know, kids get to go back to school, for instance. |
[2388.52 --> 2390.20] Just one thing, a random thing to name off. |
[2390.26 --> 2390.68] No reason. |
[2393.30 --> 2398.36] But with that, it is so good for us to get together like this. |
[2398.36 --> 2404.70] It is so good for us to reflect on the Word of God and to dig into what He has to say for us. |
[2404.84 --> 2412.10] And so, as we do that this morning, I'm going to invite you, if you have one, to grab your Bible, open it up. |
[2412.10 --> 2414.88] If you use your phone, turn it on. |
[2414.94 --> 2417.08] We're going to go to Mark 4 together. |
[2418.34 --> 2426.36] I'm going to encourage you, if you have a Bible, to keep it open because we'll jump back and refer to that text throughout the message together. |
[2428.44 --> 2435.84] We have been, this summer, in a series on parables, looking at the parables of Jesus. |
[2435.84 --> 2447.08] And so, before I read this parable here, the final one in our series for the summer, just a quick recap to frame your mind about what a parable is. |
[2448.42 --> 2459.22] Now, a parable is a story from everyday life to make a spiritual or theological point. |
[2459.22 --> 2460.22] Right? |
[2461.12 --> 2463.84] So, Jesus will talk about yeast and bread. |
[2463.98 --> 2468.48] He will talk about lost sheep or lost coins or lost sons. |
[2469.00 --> 2473.12] He will talk, in our case this morning, as we will see, about sowing seed. |
[2473.78 --> 2473.94] Right? |
[2474.20 --> 2484.12] Jesus takes ordinary, everyday stories common to the context of His audience and then imbues them with spiritual meaning. |
[2484.12 --> 2491.62] Now, because it's to the context of His audience, some of that is lost on us because it's 2,000 years later. |
[2491.78 --> 2491.96] Right? |
[2492.02 --> 2502.10] I don't think any of us, to the best of my knowledge, are shepherds, right, free-ranging through Galilee and Palestine, worried about rocks and predatory animals. |
[2503.00 --> 2503.26] Anyone? |
[2504.84 --> 2505.62] Maybe online. |
[2505.78 --> 2507.40] And I've never talked like this before. |
[2507.48 --> 2509.60] But if you're online and that's you, leave it in the comments below. |
[2509.68 --> 2510.32] I'd love to hear it. |
[2511.54 --> 2512.46] Like and subscribe. |
[2514.12 --> 2516.12] Like and subscribe. |
[2516.12 --> 2523.98] Jesus takes everyday stories and imbues them with spiritual and theological significance. |
[2524.46 --> 2525.40] That's a parable. |
[2525.84 --> 2529.58] And so, with that, let's read from Mark 4 together. |
[2541.90 --> 2543.74] Mark 4, I'll read the first 20 verses. |
[2544.12 --> 2546.12] Mark 5, I'll read the first 20 verses. |
[2546.12 --> 2549.20] Again, Jesus began to teach by the lake. |
[2550.20 --> 2555.68] The crowd that gathered around Him was so large that He got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, |
[2556.26 --> 2559.12] while all the people were along the shore at the water's edge. |
[2559.82 --> 2565.00] He taught them many things by parables, and in His teaching He said to them, |
[2565.00 --> 2566.00] Listen, |
[2566.00 --> 2566.02] Listen. |
[2567.00 --> 2569.58] A farmer went out to sow his seed. |
[2570.40 --> 2574.88] As he scattered the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. |
[2575.34 --> 2578.44] Some fell on rocky places where it did not have much soil. |
[2578.96 --> 2581.50] It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. |
[2582.26 --> 2586.70] But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. |
[2586.70 --> 2594.14] Other seed fell among the thorns, which grew up and choked the plants so that they did not bear grain. |
[2594.78 --> 2597.08] Still other seed fell on good soil. |
[2597.76 --> 2604.46] It came up and grew and produced a crop, some multiplying 30, some 60, some 100 times. |
[2604.46 --> 2606.68] Then Jesus said, |
[2607.16 --> 2610.64] Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear. |
[2612.22 --> 2617.20] When He was alone, the twelve and the others around Him asked Him about the parables. |
[2618.12 --> 2618.88] And He told them, |
[2619.52 --> 2624.38] The secret, or the mystery, of the kingdom of God has been given to you. |
[2624.98 --> 2628.56] But to those on the outside, everything is said in parables, |
[2628.56 --> 2632.96] so that they may be ever seeing, but never perceiving, |
[2633.48 --> 2635.62] and ever hearing, but never understanding. |
[2635.82 --> 2638.16] Otherwise, they might turn and be forgiven. |
[2639.30 --> 2640.68] Then Jesus said to them, |
[2641.52 --> 2644.00] Don't you understand this parable? |
[2644.58 --> 2646.32] How then will you understand any parable? |
[2646.92 --> 2648.54] The farmer sows the word. |
[2649.18 --> 2652.80] Some people are like seed along the path where the word is sown. |
[2652.90 --> 2657.42] As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. |
[2657.42 --> 2664.16] Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. |
[2664.58 --> 2667.64] But since they have no root, they last only a short time. |
[2668.50 --> 2672.48] When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. |
[2673.66 --> 2677.68] And still others, like seed sown among the thorns, hear the word. |
[2678.28 --> 2683.46] But the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in |
[2683.46 --> 2686.72] and choke the word, making it unfruitful. |
[2687.42 --> 2695.44] Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop. |
[2696.16 --> 2700.94] Some 30, some 60, some 100 times what was sown. |
[2701.68 --> 2702.92] This is the word of the Lord. |
[2702.92 --> 2716.70] So Jesus takes everyday stories like a farmer sowing seed and imbues them with spiritual and theological significance. |
[2716.70 --> 2725.16] But what that means is we are working in the realm of metaphor and simile and analogy. |
[2725.98 --> 2737.78] And so sometimes we miss the meaning that Jesus intended or we oversimplify the story and then we map onto it a wrong thing. |
[2737.78 --> 2743.64] That's actually the second thing about parables that we've seen this summer, right? |
[2743.70 --> 2747.62] That part of their intent is to make you think. |
[2748.24 --> 2756.44] Or more specifically, part of the intent of parables is to make you rethink the sorts of things you thought you always knew. |
[2756.44 --> 2765.02] Parables will introduce you to something that is meant to confuse and meant to challenge your assumptions. |
[2766.54 --> 2767.96] We've said it here before. |
[2769.02 --> 2775.16] If your reading of a parable doesn't do that, if it doesn't confuse you, if it doesn't challenge your assumptions, |
[2775.40 --> 2777.72] you're probably misreading the parable. |
[2777.72 --> 2786.32] Look again with your Bibles open at the words of Jesus, right in the middle of what we read in verse 11. |
[2787.82 --> 2788.18] He says, |
[2788.18 --> 2794.66] The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to those on the outside everything is said in parables, |
[2794.82 --> 2800.18] so that they may be ever seeing but never perceiving. |
[2800.58 --> 2802.78] Ever hearing but never understanding. |
[2803.08 --> 2805.96] Otherwise they might turn and be forgiven. |
[2805.96 --> 2809.54] Seeing but not perceiving. |
[2809.88 --> 2812.50] Hearing but not understanding. |
[2813.62 --> 2819.12] And so when you read the parables of Jesus, if you are a little confused, that's the point. |
[2820.50 --> 2821.98] But hear this, okay? |
[2822.74 --> 2822.90] Right? |
[2823.56 --> 2826.22] The confusion isn't meant to drive you away. |
[2827.04 --> 2828.74] It's meant to draw you in. |
[2830.32 --> 2830.48] Right? |
[2830.48 --> 2834.48] Jesus wants you to think deeply about these kinds of things. |
[2834.48 --> 2837.26] Not just to settle for what you've always known. |
[2837.46 --> 2842.12] To just blindly and passively accept what you've always believed. |
[2842.78 --> 2849.48] Again, let me be really clear because it seems like sometimes we don't hear this, right? |
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