20/20 Mark 4 (The Parable of the Sower)... My Insights...

As we continue to embark on this awesome journey of 20/20 I thought it would be cool to post some of my thoughts on todays reading. Today's reading was Mark 4:1-13 which is the Parable of the Sower which is also found in Matthew and Luke. So I am going to put the scripture below and input my thoughts in orange throughout the scripture below.

Mark 4

The Parable of the Sower

¹Again 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. ²And he was teaching them many things in parables (A parable in the Greek means "to throw alongside" so when Jesus is teaching in parables He uses a story to throw alongside of truth so that it is easy to understand and make the connection), and in his teaching he said to them: ³"Listen! A sower (a sower represents a preacher or someone teaching the Word of God) went out to sow. ⁴And as he sowed, some seed (seeds are Words) fell along the path, and the birds (birds represents demons) came and devoured it. ⁵Other seed (seeds are Words) fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. ⁶And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. ⁷Other seed (seeds are Words) fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. ⁸And other seeds (seeds are Words) fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold." ⁹And he said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." (Obviously He is speaking of spiritual ears here.)

The Purpose of the Parables (I love how Jesus goes ahead and explains the parable. Jesus thinks this parable is so easy that He goes not to say if you can't understand this you cannot understand any of His other teachings)

¹⁰And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. ¹¹And he said to them, "To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, ¹² so that "they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven." (He says here the Bible has been given to you Jews. So you can easily know the secret of the Kingdom of God but for those who did not grow up hearing and knowing the Bible and my plans I have to explain everything in a way that they would easily understand) ¹³ And he said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? ¹⁴ The sower sows the word (the teacher or preacher teaches people to Words of God to the people listening). ¹⁵And 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 (Group 1 / is the people who hear the Words of God. They hear it and then Satan comes immediately and rips it away from them). ¹⁶And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. ¹⁷And 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 (or stumble) (Group 2 / these people go to church they have even accepted the teaching and believe that it can radically change their lives. They keep coming back to church and hear more. But at some point along the way life gets hard. Something in the Bible requires something from them... some kind of change and they aren't willing to do it anymore so they take their ball and run home. Jesus, never promises us that being a devoted Christ follower would be easy... actually He tells us it will be the opposite.) ¹⁸And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, ¹⁹but 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 (Group 3 / These are people who hear the Word receive is and believe it can radically change their lives as well. But because they have a skewed view of what being a Christian really is they quit. They desire way to much to have their feet in both worlds. The Bible tells us to be in the world but not of it. You can't act and do the things the world does and expect Jesus to honor and bless your life... that isn't how this works. So this group gets that realization and they quit.) ²⁰But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold." (Group 4 / These people are the people that hear the Word of God, accept its truths and use it to begin to change their lives. They are not just hearers of the Word but doers as well. Because they do this they are blessed far beyond what they could ever imagine... 30 fold, 60 fold and 100 fold.)

This scripture really shows us the four stages of spiritual growth. I also hope that this helps us understand the importance of coming to church prepared to hear the Word of God, to receive it and hold tightly to it because the enemy is trying to steal it from our hearts so that we don't even remember what was said once we leave. If he accomplishes that he has done all he needs to do. So lets come to church prepared and focused ready to hear and apply it to our lives that it bears fruit in our lives. THAT IS WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT!