TPC Connections

Sermon Notes

Mark: The Right Now Gospel
Pt. 6
“Parables of the Kingdom”

Mark 3: 31-35 “Then His brothers and His mother came, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him. 32 And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside seeking You.”
33 But He answered them, saying, “Who is My mother, or My brothers?”34 And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! 35 For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.”
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Now remember that just a few verses earlier in vs 21 we learned that Jesus’s family had decided he’d lost his mind!
“But when his own family heard about this (his ministry and huge following), they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, ‘He is out of his mind.'”
So they are NOT outside calling for him just to say hello. They are there to do a first century intervention! His response is that his true family are those that do the will of God. At this point in time no one in his natural flesh and blood family had believed on him, Mary included who was in on the plot to apprehend him.
So Jesus makes the powerful statement that one’s born again, Christian family are in a very real way more your brothers and sisters than your fleshly family.
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Then chapter 4 begins with the very familiar parable of the sower found also in Matthew 13:1-9 and Luke 8:4-8.
We’re going to see in chapter 4:1-34 no less than four parables describing how the Kingdom of God operates–
the parable of the sower,
the parable of light under a basket,
the parable of the growing seed, and
the parable of the mustard seed.
Three of the four compare the kingdom of God to a seed, and how it’s growth compares to how the kingdom grows. The fourth parable is about how the kingdom (and kingdom people) should conspicuously shine into the dark.
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So let’s look first at the parable of the sower:
4:1-9 And again He began to teach by the sea. And a great multitude was gathered to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat in it on the sea; and the whole multitude was on the land facing the sea. 2 Then He taught them many things by parables, and said to them in His teaching: 3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it. 5 Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. 6 But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away. 7 And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.8 But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.” 9 And He said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
So in the parable of the sower we have:
The SOWER, who is the Lord Jesus.
The SEED, which is the gospel.
The SOIL is the heart of man.
In the parable, the gospel seed is sown onto 4 different types of soils representing four different conditions of men’s hearts with 4 different results.
The FIRST heart is compared to the WAYSIDE–it is hard ground representing a hard heart that is unreceptive to the gospel.
the SECOND heart is compared to STONY places representing a shallow heart where the word of God (their Christianity) hasn’t put down deep roots.
the THIRD heart is infested with THORNS representing the cares and worries of life that wind up choking the word and at least partially sabotaging that person’s spiritual growth,
and the FOURTH heart is GOOD, rich soil that successfully produces various degrees of fruitfulness.
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The TAKEAWAYS of this parable are:
Three out of four fail to produce the fruit God intended.
The three great reasons why are explained in vs 13-20 and they are:
The HARD heart rejected the gospel,
The SHALLOW heart didn’t take time to grow deep, and
The DISTRACTED heart failed to prioritize the kingdom, and
The GOOD heart received the word, grew deep in the word, prioritized the word, and, Luke adds, patiently persevered in their Christian walk!
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The next parable of the ‘light under a basket’ is brief but powerful:
21 “Also He said to them, ‘Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be set on a lampstand? 22 For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light. 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.’”
Remember the importance of context. Jesus has just finished explaining the parable of the sower to his disciples in vs 20. He has enlightened them with the light of revelation.
So in the very next verse (21) he delivers an admonition in the form of another brief parable about a lit lantern. THEY are the lit lanterns! Jesus says that the revelation they have received is not to be hoarded or hidden, but shared, “placed in a highly visible place to give light to all that are in the room.
As Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”–5:16
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Then in vs 22 Jesus goes on to say, “For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light.”
Now, in Matthew’s gospel this same saying of Jesus adds something important,
“Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.”–Matt 10:26
The first 5 words, “Therefore do not fear them…” helps shed light on what Jesus was getting at. He’s talking about shining bright in the midst of heavy persecution. Verses 27-28 explain further:
27 “What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops. 28 Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
So their persecutors are the ones they are not to fear, nor are they to be intimidated into silence by them! Everything, says Jesus, is going to one day come to light.
If one is walking in darkness it will one day be exposed. If one is walking in the light it’s going to be made known as well, so you might as well shine now and refuse to be a light hidden under a table!
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Then lastly Jesus talks about our responsibility as hearers of the Word:
Vs. 24-25 “Then He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. 25 For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”
“With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you” is talking about DOING the word, living it out, putting it into action. The person that does so will receive even more revelation and understanding from God.
So according to Jesus, The only worthwhile Word is an acted on Word. As James wrote:
James 1:22-25 “But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. 23 For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. 24 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. 25 But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.”
If you don’t take God’s word seriously enough to act on it, you will eventually forget even the little that you’ve learned and it will be lost.
NEXT TIME: The Unstoppable Growth of the Kingdom of God!