SPEAKER_02 0:00

In a world competing for every second of your attention, we often find ourselves listening without truly hearing. As we dive into Jesus' parable in Mark chapter 4, verses 1 to 20, we aren't just looking at a story about soil and seeds. We are looking into a mirror to see how we truly respond to God's voice. Join Reverend Daniel for his sermon on hearing and receiving the word in a way that transforms us from the ground up.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Good morning, Church. Today's scripture reading is taken from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 4, verses 1 to 20. Mark chapter 4, verses 1 to 20. The parable of the sower. 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, behold 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 root depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and 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 and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold. And he said, He who has ears to hear, let him hear. The purpose of the parables. 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 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 the ones sown among thorns. 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, thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and a hundredfold. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

SPEAKER_01 3:43

Thank you, Jennifer, for reading the scripture for us this morning. So Mark chapter 4, verse 1 to 20, the passage that uh our sister Jennifer read for us is what is structured or what is known as a Marken sandwich. I shared previously that a sandwich is a literary structure often used in the Gospel of Mark, which has a framing devices at the outlining structure, and then a central core in the middle, which holds the key to the meaning of the whole unit or the whole uh unit of text. So we did we see this evident again in the structuring of our passage today of Mark chapter 4, verse 1 to 20. So the first nine verses, um, Jesus tells the parable of the sower, sowing seeds. And verse 10 to 13, Jesus goes to the heart of it to explain why he speaks in parables, what is the rationale for speaking in parables? And in verse 14 to 20, he then gives an interpretation of what the parable means. Right? So again, the framing devices is it's about the parable and its interpretation and what is at the central core is really why why why the why does Jesus speak in parables? And how do we make sense of how he speaks in parables in light of the parable of the soul? Let us pray. Father, we want to thank you that Lord you speak to us through through your word, and Lord, I pray even as we hear your word being uh spoken, Lord, that we will listen uh and we will apply, Lord, your truths to our lives. We pray and ask all this in the name of Jesus. Amen. So Jesus was beside the sea, and as usual in the Gospel of Mark, we always read that uh large crowds often gathered around him because of his popularity, right? At the house in Kapanon was the stage or the scene where uh Jesus did some miracles, and now once again, this time it's uh around the Sea of Galilee. A large crowd again gathered. So Jesus got into a boat and uh set it on the sea. So um quite an awkward rendering of the text, set it on the sea. So literally, uh the boat was set on the sea, right? And the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. And Jesus was teaching them in many things in parables, and then he begins to speak of the parable of the sower. He says in verse 3, listen, behold, 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, which 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, and 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, this time the plural, other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold. And Jesus said, He who has ears to hear, let him hear. According to a New Testament scholar by the name of Jeremy Duff, the key to understanding Jesus' parables, according to him, is to look for the twist in the parable, something that is unusual in the parable which diverts from what is commonly practiced in normal life, in the usual uh orderings of life. Where's the twist? So in uh Mark 4, 1 to 9, we see that the twist comes very early in the text. Because in Jesus' time, seeds were sown unsparingly. So, in other words, if I'm a farmer and I'm sowing seeds, I make sure, like a good uh maybe a good businessman, that I make sure that I sow the seeds such that I cover it well, I cover the base well, even towards the end of uh the field or the area where I'll sow the seeds, I make sure that I cover all grounds so that you know, as I sow, uh perhaps growth will come. So seeds are sown unsparingly. No one carelessly just scatters seeds anywhere. You know, that would be a foolish thing to do, right? And the Mishnah, which is a Jewish written source of the Oral Torah, thought that farming, again, should be done orderly and with special care not to mix seeds. So the intent of a farmer in Jesus' time was, as I explained, to sow in every corner of the field so that good soil might somewhere be found. So, in contrast to this, if you were a farmer in the time of Jesus and you read this parable, you go, huh? Wow, I mean, why do why does the farmer sow the seeds in this way? Right? Um, so basically the the sower kind of sowed the seeds in an indiscriminate way, right? Some along the path, some on rocky ground. I mean, don't doesn't a farmer know you sow a seed on rocky ground likely. You won't bear fruit, right? Because of um you can't have growth with the rocks being obstacles. How about thorns, right? Yet this uh sower actually sowed in an indiscriminate way. So some fell along the path, some on rocky ground, some on thorns, and others on wood soil. So this would be greatly arresting to the first readers, and which diverts from, yeah, it's not normal for a sower to sow seeds like that. Uh yet, surprisingly, the seeds that fell on good soil produced an abundant crop yielding uh thirtyfold, sixty-fold, and hundredfold. This is an incredulous growth. A harvest of hundredfold was extraordinary in Palestine and it's a sure sign of divine blessing. We see this in Genesis 26, verse 12. In God's blessing upon Isaac, and he became rich. He sowed in the land. Genesis 26, 12 tells us, and he reaped a hundredfold that year. So this is strange, right? Uh sower goes out to sow in an indiscriminate way, yet those that fall on good soil suddenly begin to grow and it it multiply and bear fruit. Right? So, what does the sowing of seeds mean? Right? What does the farmer sowing seeds mean?

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Right?

SPEAKER_01 11:20

Uh Mark chapter 4, verse 3 begins with uh uh imperative verb, listen, right? It's a command, it's an arresting verb. It's telling the people, Jesus is telling the parable and saying, Listen up, don't fall asleep, listen. You need to uh open your ears right to listen. Behold, a sower went out to sow. Right? So the the word went out is the same word that is being used in Mark chapter 1, 30 38. I put it together so that we are able to see uh the relatedness uh in terms of the two words, right? Mark 4 verse 3, listen, uh behold, a sower went out to sow. And Mark 1 38, and he referring to Jesus, said to them, Let us go to the next house that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out. So the the sower going out to sow, and Jesus going out, coming out to preach, is the same word being used. So, in other words, the farmer going out to sow seeds is parallel to what Jesus is doing in his ministry. He's going out to preach, he has come out to for the sole purpose of preaching the word of the kingdom, the message of God, which is summarized in Mark chapter 1, verse 15. The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. So Jesus, as the sower, sows the word of the kingdom. As he does so, the word of the kingdom falls on various grounds. Some seeds of the word, the kingdom, of the word of the kingdom fell along the path, others fell on rocky ground, and still others among thorns, and there are seeds that fell on good soil. So, depending on what kind of ground the seeds fall on, it produces different results. We'll come back to this again when we look at the interpretation of the parable of the sober in Mark chapter 4, verse 14 to 20. Let's now move on to Mark chapter 4, verse 10 to 13, as we look at how, what is Jesus a rationale for speaking in parables. Mark 4, verse 10, it says, When he, when Jesus was alone, those around him with the church 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, least 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? So now Jesus is with a select group of the twelve. Uh, these were the those who he selected earlier in Mark 3, 15 to 19, the disciples who will be his apostles, and he's also speaking to those who happen to gather around him. So Jesus is saying that to them the secret or the mystery of the kingdom is given and is being revealed. Right? The the fact that verse 11 says to you has been given, right? It is something that God does, God reveals. So it means that it's only to this group of people that God has revealed or God has given knowledge and insight into the kingdom of God. It's not something that can be achieved by our own human striving, but the the verb has been given is actually written in the divine passive in the Greek, meaning that it's something that God does on his own. It's not something that secret or the mystery of the kingdom. Right? So those who hear rightly the word of the kingdom, it falls on good soul, the the kingdom is opened up to those who hear rightly. We see that emphasize that emphasis again in Mark 3. Uh Mark 4, verse 3. As I mentioned earlier, the parable begins, listen. Behold, a sower went out to sow. Again in Mark 4, verse 9, he who has ears, let him hear. So it's all about hearing today. The parable of the sower is all about hearing rightly the message of the kingdom. So we see the importance of hearing again when we look at the interpretation of the parable in verse 14 to 20. So who are those who hear? Who are the insiders, and who are the outsiders that don't hear? So the insiders and outsiders correspond to the seed sown on good or the seed sown on bad soil. Those who hear in faith versus those who fail to hear, or those who feel fail to have faith. So the world according to Jesus is split into two: the insiders who respond to Jesus and the word of the kingdom, and the outsiders who don't, thus remaining on the periphery. So very insightful as we look at the parables of Jesus, uh, the soul of the parable, the sower, the parable of the soul being one, is that the parables uh are not illustrations of doctrine that can be explained clearly to us. So those of us who uh look at doctrine or theology, we always try to find similar ideas. You know, and when we find similar concepts of ideas, we note it down in a systematic way. So that's where we have theology. We try to systemize what the Bible speaks on certain topics. But the parables are not illustrations of doctrine. Their purpose is not to help us make sense of our faith or to understand uh why is God three yet one? You know, what is the Trinity? You know, how do we understand how God created the world and so on and so forth? The parables, they are not meant to help us understand the faith. In fact, all the parables of Jesus, in fact, they are stories designed to generate a response to Jesus. It is meant to create a faith in us to lay hold and to receive what God offers through Jesus. So it's a bit about how we understand our faith today as Christians. Right? A lot of times, especially we think that we need to know enough of the Christian faith before we can make a decision to be baptized, right? But there's also another line of thought that actually faith becomes, begins when we accept Jesus for who he says and how he reveals himself. And then the understanding of uh our faith will come later. You know, what's the Trinity, you know, and so on will come later. So we don't have to fully understand everything about the Christian faith before becoming a Christian. So faith in some way seeks understanding, right? As we lay hold of our faith in Jesus, then we try to make sense of it in our lives as we grow uh in our faith, in our understanding. Right? So a commentator writes that the parable of the soul is like the cloud that separated the fleeing Israelites from the pursuing Egyptians in Exodus 14.20. Bring darkness to one side and light to the other. That which was blindness to Egypt in the Exodus was revelation or light to Israel. So the same event was either a vehicle of light or of darkness, depending on one's receptivity, one's hearing in faith of the word of the kingdom. So, what is it about the parable of the soul that makes it a paradigm for all parables? Jesus said, right, to the disciples, if you do not understand the parable of the soul, how will you understand all other parables? Right? So, what is it about this parable? Um, so the answer becomes apparent in the interpretation. The first nine verses, the parable of the sower uh tells us, reveals to us who Jesus is and what he came to do. Jesus is the sower that sows the seeds of the kingdom, right? He proclaims the kingdom of God. This is what Jesus does. As he proclaims the kingdom of God, the seeds are being sown on different ground. And verse 14 to 20, which we will see in the interpretation, is actually our discipleship. How do we respond to hearing of the word of Jesus in our hearts? So the first part, if you remember the sandwich, the framing devices, verse 1 to 9, is all about Jesus and the seed of the kingdom as that is being sown. And verse 14 to 20 in the interpretation is all about our response to the word of the kingdom. How do we respond as we hear the word? So if you look at verse 14 to 20, you will notice in the text that it's a subtle shift, there's a moving away from the seed. Right now, it's no longer the sower that. Sows the seed, but now the sower sows the word, right? The word, which is the word of the kingdom, the message of Jesus. So the words highlighted in green notes a transition in the interpretation, means that Jesus wants us to see that the seed is the word of God, the word of God that is being proclaimed and declared about the kingdom. Right? So the sower referring to Jesus sows the word. And these are the ones along the path where the word of God is sown when they hear. Jesus, sorry, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. So come in, come out, right? The word doesn't stay. And there are those who, and these are the ones sown on rocky ground. The ones who hear, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in itself but endure for a while. Then when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, of the word of the kingdom, immediately they fall away. And others so are sown among the thorns. There are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, desires for other things crowd in, choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. But those who were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit. Abundant harvest 30fold, 60fold, and a hundredfold. So, as I mentioned, a shift from the seed to the word, the gospel. Moving from how down the word takes effect in the hearers in their lives. So, as mentioned in the interpretation of the parable, there are various obstacles to hearing the word. Satan taking away what is being sown, tribulation or persecution that happens in our lives, too much hardship, unjust suffering makes us weary of holding on to the word of truth. Some of us may be choked by the cares of the world, and all this has to do with our discipleship, our following, our followership, our following Jesus. All these are factors that may draw us away from following Jesus, hearing the word clearly. Cares of the world. Very real in our context today where we are facing uh higher inflation and cost of living and so on. The cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, desires for any other things other than God and His Word and His kingdom in our lives. Means we are all we're not hearing well, we are not listening to the word of the kingdom. So, as I mentioned, the paramount purpose in the interpretation of the parable is the stress on hearing. If you forget everything that I say today, just remember your ears. You have a uh pair of ears, right? Right, left and right. Right? You don't have two noses or two mouths, right? You have a pair of ears. So it's all about right hearing. Receptivity to the word of God, to the word of the kingdom. So according to Mark, following Jesus in discipleship hangs on our receptivity, our hearing. Everything depends on this. Disciples are insiders who have received the mystery of the kingdom and who hear what Jesus says. So the first three types of hearing: those from whom Satan steals the word, those with no root and fall away because of difficulty, and those whose riches and worldly desires choke the word are described by Mark in the word for hearing, is actually described in what we we know as the Aries tense in the Greek. So the Aries tense denotes an action dance simply and finally. So he went, he did this. So it just denotes an action done, right? Uh on off action, right? You on the switch, off the switch. So something you just do uh simply and finally, right? So so the word here in this instance, the Ari stance is being used for the word here and implies a quick superficial hearing. What we say, one year in and one year out, without effort or heeding the true message. Such that when Satan, when tribulation, persecution, the cares of the world come, those who give the gospel, the word of the kingdom, a casual hearing will not survive, will not hold on to the word because they do not truly hear. One year in, one year out, casual hearing, taking God and his kingdom lightly in our lives. So their failure to hear confirms that they are outsiders and the word of God becomes fruitless to them. But in verse 20, again, the the same word here, again in a different tense, is a different kind of hearing is implied. In verse 20, the the word here is not in the Aries tense, but is in the present tense, signifying a continual, ongoing hearing as opposed to a careless or inattentive hearing. People who engage in a continual, ongoing hearing of God's word are insiders who hear God's word, who hear the word of the kingdom and receive it fully and wholly, and they bear fruit. 30, 60, a hundred times what was sown. So, what is the implication for all this for all of us today, uh, this morning? There's only uh one implication that I can find in the text, and this is it. Following Jesus in discipleship requires a right kind of hearing, and a right kind of hearing that is continuous in the present tense, meaning that what we hear of God and his kingdom today cannot be something we hear in the past. We need to hear God's word of the kingdom for us now, in the present, continually hearing and receiving God's word and God's kingdom in our lives in faith. So following Jesus in discipleship is never a static thing. It's never, oh, I came to faith 10 years ago and therefore I'm still like that. But it's a continual growing in the kingdom of God as we receive the word in our lives, the gospel. The word refers to the gospel, the good news in our lives. We keep hearing the good news in our lives, we will bear fruit in faith. So, in contrast, those who fail to hear or fear, those who fail to hear or fail to have faith, are those who give the gospel only a casual hearing in discipleship and therefore fall away when all kinds of uh tribulation, persecution, temptation, and uh desires come into their lives. So part of our training, part of uh a pastor's training in uh in theology, particularly at uh at the master's level, master of divinity level and and above, is actually a good grasp of biblical languages, of either Hebrew or Greek or both. So we go through uh the trouble as uh seminarians. I remember memorizing vocabulary, understanding how to pronounce words, the morphology, the alphabets, passing Greek verbs and participles, translating portions of the Hebrew or Greek text. It's all for the purpose for to be able to read the Bible in its original language, to be able to discern and critically evaluate and read commentaries. Right? So that's one of the incentives that we hear when our lecturers tell us now it's painful to go through the struggle of learning a new language, but the fruits you'll reap later when you're able to read and interpret uh commentaries better and understand the insights glean. Right? And more so than just being able to critically evaluate and read commentaries is to observe subtle nuances in the text. Right? Subtle nuances in the reading that actually makes a big difference to the interpretation. Right? You miss it, it means you miss it, but you notice it, you get into the heart of interpretation. So I thoroughly uh enjoyed uh my my studies in in Greek. So the first year, it took me two years. First year there was a focus on learning the grammar, simple translation, and the second year, two years, was focused on further exegetical work in the New Testament. And I thoroughly enjoy it because I see the fruits of its application in my own study and use in terms of our preaching as pastors. So just as how it is required that pastors somehow have some fundamental knowledge or understanding of the biblical languages, whether it's one year or two years, to detect nuances in interpretation, the parable of the Solver in Mark 4, 1 to 20 drives home to us the point of whether we are truly hearing the nuances, hearing the word of God, the gospel to us today. So the three different uh words being used uh in Greek, I kind of transliterated it. Uh it sounds similar but it's different. Right? The first word is aku sin, right? So it's written in the Aries tense. English translation is here, right? The second word, aku san test, which is here, is uh is an Aries participle, but in the English Bible is here, right? The third uh word being used of here is aku usin, which is in the present tense, right? So all speaks of hearing, but all uh written in different tenses, either an Aries tense or the present tense. So we need to detect the subtle nuances of the text. Similarly, as we follow Jesus today, we need to have a continual, ongoing hearing of God's word in our lives. We cannot take a quick superficial hearing to understand the word of the kingdom. We need a deep dive and a continual hearing of the word of the kingdom. Only then can we truly follow Jesus in true discipleship. So for Bach, the gospel or the word of the kingdom refers to the fulfillment of God's reign and salvation in the fullness of time in the person of Jesus. So, in other words, Jesus coming in person is the inbreaking of God's final saving act in history when peace, good news, and release from oppression will be showered on God's people. So it's a right reminder from allusion to various scriptures in the Old Testament, particularly from Isaiah 52, verse 7, which says, How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, Your God reigns. Or Isaiah 61, verses 1 to 3, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has appointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the year of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to grant to those who mourn in Zion, to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit, that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that he may be glorified. So all these scriptures, especially from Isaiah, is being fulfilled in Jesus' proclamation of the kingdom of the word. God is finally coming and acting for his people in the person of Jesus. Do we truly hear? Do we truly listen and hold fast to Jesus and the gospel he embodies? So my challenge to us this morning is to keep hearing the gospel in our lives. The gospel is the message of hope. It reminds us that in Jesus, who embodies the gospel, everything uh hangs on him. And it is good news to us, though we have to come to the place of repentance and and turning from our old ways to him, but it's good news to us, right? And it's something that should orientate our understanding, it should uh adjust our paradigms, it should lead us to a deeper commitment to Jesus. Because the gospel, when it is bearing fruit in our lives, it will uh increase fruitfulness and um multiply the effort of growth. So do we truly hear, do we truly listen and hold fast to the gospel, God's word of the kingdom in Jesus. So some of us today may be going through a time where we are facing uh persecution or some kind of tribulation in your life, perhaps a health situation, perhaps a work situation, or anything that may detract you from focusing on the gospel. The good news of the hope that Jesus offers is actually from Satan. Because he loves to beat us down, he loves to uh help us shift our focus from the gospel to our own troubles, our own tribulation, or he will occupy us with all kinds of cares of the world, right? The desire for wealth, you know, the prioritization of our careers or our families above uh God's rule and reign in our lives, God's kingdom. Then maybe it's time for us to refocus. You know, let's set the plumb line right in our lives so that we be true to the foundation of who Jesus is. God's rule, God's reign is the most important thing that can happen in our lives. That's why it's good news because of what God does, you know, in and through our lives. He's renewing us, he's taking away our pain, our grief. He's giving us oil of gladness instead of mourning, a garment of praise instead of a faint spirit, a beautiful headdress instead of ashes. He's bringing comfort to those who mourn. He's setting liberties captives free. He's preaching good news to us who need to hear it. He has come to bind up the brokenhearted. So let's return back to first principles, which is the gospel at the heart of and the center of all that we do, the good news of Jesus. And we don't need to fully understand the Christian faith to believe in Jesus. We come to faith in Jesus based on who he says and what and who he is and the message of the kingdom, and then we work out our understanding.

SPEAKER_02 39:27

We pray that you've been ministered to by the word of God today. If you'd like to know more about each Christian church, please visit our website at ycanglican.com. Have a blessed day.