Sunday Sermon

"Parables and Seed Sowing"
[Mark 4:1-20]
February 26, 2006 Second Reformed Church

Listen! Pay attention! Once upon a time, there was a gas station attendant. And the gas station attendant pumped gas. Gas was necessary to make the cars run that pulled up at his station. The first car pulled up, and the gas station attendant pumped gas into gas cans, took the driver's money and sent him on his way. But the driver never got gas at all, because the gas was in the cans back at the station. A second car pulled up and asked to "fill her up." So the gas station attendant put the nozzle in the tank and began to fill it. But the driver started to worry about the money he was going to give to the gas station attendant -- whether that money would be used to support terrorists, whether someone might run up to the window and steal the money, whether the gas would leak and catch on fire, so the driver pulled off with his tank only partially filled, and he ran out of gas long before he reached his destination. A third car pulled up and asked for a fill up. And, again, the gas station attendant started to fill the tank. But the driver kept looking at his watch, he had places to go, people to meet, money to be made. So, before the tank was filled, he pulled out and short down the road. But he ran out of gas long before he reached his destination. A fourth car pulled up and asked for a fill up, and he waited until the gas tank was full, and thanked the attendant and thanked God that his car still ran and that he had the ability to buy gas. This is the Good News. Amen.

Now, what exactly was the Good News? Did you understand the parable of the gas station attendant? The parable is similar to the one Jesus told about sowing seeds, and we're told that this was the only way that Jesus taught the masses. He would speak plainly, at times, with His disciples, but for the crowds, He always spoke in parables. Why?

Jesus is quite clear: when the disciples asked Him why He always spoke in parables, Jesus said that He spoke in parable so His Words would be heard, and He would be seen, yet the people would not understand. Jesus said the reason He preached in parables was so He would not be understood. Why not? Because if they understood, they might repent and be forgiven. Jesus said He preached to the crowd in parables, so they wouldn't understand, and they wouldn't repent, and they wouldn't be forgiven.

When Isaiah was called as a prophet, God told him to preach this, "Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive. Make the heart of this people dull, and their eyes heavy; and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with the ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed. Then I said, 'How long, O Lord?' And he said: 'until cities lies waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste, and the Lord removes people far away, and the places are many in the midst of my land. And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled.' The holy seed is the stump" (Isaiah 6:8b-13).

Jeremiah was likewise told to preach, "Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes, but see not, who have ears, but hear not" (Jeremiah 5:21).

Jesus preached in parables so the crowd would not understand and repent and be forgiven.

However, Jesus also said -- to the twelve and the disciples alone -- "To you is given the mysteries of the kingdom of God." Jesus said that those who are His are given understanding, not just of the parables, but of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. Those who belong to Jesus understand what Jesus and the Scriptures say.

Hear what Paul says, "As it is written, 'What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of a man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him --'these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. ... The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but himself is to be judged by no one. 'For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?' But we have the mind of Christ" (I Corinthians 2:9-10, 14-16).

Do we understand what Paul means? Do we understand why Jesus preached in parables? Hear again Paul's words, "And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience --" (Ephesians 2:1-2).

What we need to understand and remember is that every single mere human being is born dead in his sins, unable to understand or believe the Word of God or to choose salvation in Jesus. We are born spiritually dead, incapable of responding or believing or even understanding.

So, Jesus preached in parables to make the spiritual death of all humanity clear by their inability to understand parables. To look at it the other way, we believe in Jesus Alone for our salvation, we understand and believe the Scripture to be the Word of God, we can make sense of the parable, because God chose us and makes us able. If we believe in Jesus Alone for our salvation this morning, it is because God chose to enlighten us and make us understand and believe. On our own, all mere humans are incapable. So Jesus spoke in parables to make it clear that all glory for salvation belongs to God Alone. We cannot and do not respond to God on our own; the Gospel makes no sense unless and until God intercedes, and God owes that intercession to no one. "It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8b-9). God Alone gives understanding, belief, faith, and ears to hear -- ears and hearts open to hear and willing to obey.

So Jesus was not surprised that the crowd did not understand His parables, but He was annoyed with the twelve and His disciples, because they should have understood. Jesus was merciful and explained the parable to them.

"The sower sows the word." The preacher preaches the Word -- he heralds the Good News -- he announces the Good News. The preacher does not create the Good News, or give it it's power, or make it true. The preacher's job and responsibility is to say, "Thus, says the Lord." That is his job. The preacher neither had the ability or the authority to make the seed grow or to make it bear fruit.

And some of the seeds falls on the path and the winged creatures take it away. Why do some people come to faith in Christ and others do not? Because God has not chosen everyone; He has chosen some. Those He has not chosen hear the Word of God, the call to repentance and belief, but it is like throwing seeds on a stone path. There is no soil, it will not grow, and the birds will steal it away. So God allows Satan and his demons to steal away the Word from those who will never come to faith in Christ.

And some of the seeds falls in rocky soil, and it springs up quickly, but has no root, so it shrivels up and dies in the heat of the sun. There are people who come into the Church or who grow up in the Church, who are active and joyful, but don't believe a word of the Scripture. They were raised in the Church. They served in the Church. They taught Sunday School. Surely we all know people like that. But when it got tough. When they were questioned, "Do you believe that there is only salvation in Jesus Alone?" Dead. Dried up. Gone. They had no root. They had no belief. Such people fill our churches in America. Church is a good and happy place to be, but don't say that someone has to commit to believe anything.

And then there are seeds that fall among the thorns. These people also come into the Church or grow up in the Church, but they get to an age or a point in their lives when "it just doesn't have meaning for them anymore." Not when there is wine, women, and song to be had! Not when they can amass their fortunes and exert their power and influence. Why should they spend their time in a place that tells them to deny themselves and take up their cross, when the world is calling to "come and get it"? They, also, never believed. It was fun, reassuring, and so forth, to be in the church for awhile. But when the choice was between a dusty old book and silver and gold, they became sterile in the house of God: they bore no fruit.

But then there are the elect of God, the seeds that fall in good soil. These are the ones that God has called out from among the mass of humanity. These are the ones that Jesus lived and suffered and bled and died and rose again for. These are the ones who have been brought back to life, raised up, fed, and nurtured by God Himself and placed where they can serve to the glory of God, no matter what befalls them. Paul said, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth" (I Corinthians 3:6). They hear the Word of God and receive it, and they bear fruit according to the gifts and abilities that God has given them -- thirty fold, sixty fold and a hundred fold. Peter said, "As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace" (I Peter 4:10).

Have you understood the parable this morning? Where do you stand -- grow -- as far as your seed sowing is concerned? If you truly believe in Jesus Alone for your salvation -- rejoice in God, thank and praise God, because it is His Work Alone that has brought you to this place. If this is true of you, then you must care for yourself, just as a plant must be cared for to grow. And if we must care for each other in the Church, if we are going to see each other grow -- like a plant -- in faith and hope and love -- in knowledge and understanding.

The life of a plant is not really that complicated: light, water, food, air, but these simple things are necessary. Likewise, we ought to be about those things that help our growth and each other's growth -- simple, but vital things:

Let us prepare ourselves to hear God's Word, in worship, in our private study, and in studying together, by getting enough sleep, eating a healthy diet, and praying that God the Holy Spirit would illumine the Scripture and help us to understand what God has said in His Word.

Let us come before God early, quieting ourselves, getting ourselves at peace, ready to hear what will be said. Yes, there are times when we cannot help but rush in, but usually, we are able to make our preparation time a habit. Habits are easier to start than break, but don't plan and plan and plan -- just do it. Get up fifteen minutes earlier. Arrive just a few minutes earlier to get your mind and body at rest, willing and ready to hear what God has to say.

Let us pray, as individuals and together, that we would desire to hear from God. Let us pray that we would want to spend more time reading God's Word, more time hearing it read and preached. Let our desire for God's Word be greater than any television show, or game, or sale.

Let us pray that we would hear the Word of God as the truth, even when it is difficult, even when God says things that we don't want to hear. Let us not be offended by God, but hear Him and obey Him and love Him, because He is our God and Savior. Let us ask for that grace.

And let us pray to desire and live out everything that God has said. Let us pray that our satisfaction would be made full in doing those things that God has called us to do. Let us pray that we would have joy in Him and that everything else around us would pale and melt away in His Glory.

Then we shall be like "trees planted by streams of water that yield fruit in their season, and their leaves do not wither. In all we do, we prosper" (Psalm 1:3b-4, alt.).

Let us pray:
Almighty God, Giver of the Word, we thank You that You have given us the mysteries of the Kingdom, and their understanding through God the Holy Spirit. We ask that You would work in us that we would desire above all to be ready to hear from You, that we would long to read Your Word and hear it read and preached. That we would care for ourselves, that we would always be ready to hear from You and to respond in love and obedience. Give us the grace to receive the hard words and Your discipline, and let us understand that they come to us in love and for our good. Raise us up in this place to be a people wholly devoted to Your Word, anxiously waiting the trumpet blast signaling Your Triumphant Return. And may it all be to Your Glory. In Jesus' Name, Amen.