Learning DAILY

Mark 4:3, “Listen!  Behold a sower went out to sow.

Mark 4:13, And he said to them, “Do you not understand the parable?

The parable of the sower is a very familiar portion of Scripture.  I am sure you have heard at least one of many sermons preached on this parable.  Jesus wanted His disciples to know that His words would be received in different ways by the world.  This parable is about a sower (Jesus) sowing seeds (the Gospel) in four different types of soil.  Remember the blog page about the need for trees to grow in good soil, rich in nutrients necessary for its development and production of good fruit. 

Jesus needed to explain the parable to His hearers.  Some hearers are so hardened in their heart that the Word of God makes no impression in them before it is taken away by the birds of the air.  I have watched birds eat grass seed after I threw it onto bare patches of ground in our yard; it never had a chance to grow. (I am sure there is a lesson there about preparing the soil before sowing the seed.)  Think back before you were saved.  What was your impression regarding anything biblical that you heard or saw? 

Perhaps you remember when you became more receptive to hearing a message at church; when you thought that maybe you should be more responsive to it.  But that commitment disappeared when you got on the job or met some sort of resistance to it.  Superficial believers are quite common in the world today. 

A third type of soil has been talked around in several other parables this week.  In a better soil some growth occurs.  The problem we have seen before is the enemy sneaks in and sows tares; in this parable the growth occurs with thorns.  There are signs of growth with the sowing of seed in this soil, but worldly concerns and distraction choke the Word before any fruit is shown. 

In only one of the soils does the seed grow and produce fruit.  Fruit is produced despite the worldly influences and difficulties of life. This is a sad commentary as the Word produces fruit in only one of 4 types of soil.

So what is to be learned by this parable and how does it pertain to the Kingdom of God?  Jesus explained that there are various receptions to God’s Word.  Yet only one bears the fruit of the Gospel.  The devil is busy trying to keep the Gospel from being effective and changing people’s lives.  People often hear the word but do not understand; others believe it to be true but do not get it down into their hearts to allow it to change them and later fall away.   There are others who believe it, are saved, persevere, and bear fruit by various ways.  Matthew Henry’s Commentary gives us great insight concerning this, “No good fruit is to be expected but from good seed.  If the seed be thrown on good ground, if the heart be humble, and holy, and heavenly, there will be good fruit, and it will abound sometimes even to a hundred fold.”

Mark includes another parable about the seed that is sown.  In Mark 4:26-29, the seed is sown in good soil.  Look at the power of the seed to grow.  Verse 28 tells us that the earth or soil yields a crop – first the blade appears, then the head, and then the full grain in the head.  The fruit produced takes time; it is a slow process that God does in the life of the Believer.  The grace of God begins with a small seed which, under His care and nurture, produces a great crop.

The Kingdom of God grows by those who have allowed God’s Word to produce fruit through them.  The individual “who hears the Word, accepts it, and bears fruit – some thirtyfold, some sixty, and other a hundred” (Mark 4:20).

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