8-9-2020 Grace - Tucson Sermon

Mark 4:1-20 [Under the Sun #9]

Pastor Ron Koehler

Grace—Tucson, AZ

August 9, 2020

Dear Friends in Christ, We may not always remember that Jesus was quite popular while in this world. And by popular, I mean, he captured the attention of a LOT of people! Popular enough that thousands gathered to hear him on occasion, as well as other “large crowds” like we hear about today. Popular enough to get the attention of every Jewish religious group.

Popular enough to capture the imagination of Herod, who wanted to see miracles. And popular enough to demand the attention of the Roman governor stationed in Israel, Pontius Pilate. Make no mistake about it, Jesus was popular—a ton of people knew about him and were fascinated by him. That doesn’t mean his message was always popular—in the sense of people liking it—however.

This has always been the case with the message of God’s Word though, hasn’t it?

Didn’t the Old Testament prophet Isaiah record these words from the LORD: my word that goes out from my mouth will not return to me empty. Rather, it will accomplish whatever I please, and it will succeed in the purpose for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:11)? Sometimes the message from God has the purpose of confronting people with his law…and sometimes this meets with rejection. That message then condemns those who oppose God. At other times, that Word fulfills the desire of God that people be saved, and it works or strengthens faith in him.

The parables of Jesus did the same thing. Perhaps these words of Jesus in our lesson caught your attention: “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but everything comes in parables to those who are outside, so that they will certainly see but not perceive, and they will certainly hear but not understand.

Otherwise, they might turn and be forgiven.”

The message of Jesus’ “earthly stories with spiritual meanings” was meant to build up those given the gift of faith. They also served the purpose of leaving those without faith with no excuse. They will have heard the truth of God, but their rejection of him causes them to not understand. If they would understand in faith, they would certainly turn, or repent, and find forgiveness with God. The Parable of the Sower before us today is about the sinfulness of people and their rejection of God’s Word and about the power of God’s Word as it works in people’s hearts and creates faith. This parable covers a lot of ground (pun absolutely intended!), but this morning, we’re going to run a highlighter over verses 5 & 6, then verses 16 & 17, where we hear how The Sun Scorches the Plants.

That will allow us to think about our need to be deeply rooted in God’s Word so that we do not allow trouble and persecution to scorch our faith.

As Jesus talked about the effect of God’s Word on people, he compared some people to ground packed down into a path, where Satan comes immediately to take away that

Word before it works on their hearts. He said that other times, it is like seeds dropped among thorns. Those thorns are like the things the world offers that—even though they are temporary and don’t remotely compare to God and his promises—are preferred by some over that truly precious Word of God. Jesus also talked about the good ground— those who hear the Word of God and believe it. They produce fruits of faith that are pleasing to God and helpful for others.

As we sit here in God’s house today or as we are watching online, we trust the promises of God that we have come to know through the Words of the Bible. We have faith in God as our Creator. We have faith in Jesus as the one who paid for our sins with his very life and defeated death and handed his righteousness over to us. We have faith in the Holy Spirit—that he made us the “good ground”—and, through the gospel, created faith and the desire to live that faith in a fruitful way.

But we all know that there are things that threaten our faith. The other type of soil Jesus spoke of is the rocky soil—and he was talking about people with faith, but with little depth to their faith. They aren’t properly rooted. So when life gets tough or they suffer for being a Christian, their faith withers and they fall from faith.

This is exactly the way Jesus put it—and these are the verses we want to especially focus on today: Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil.

It sprang up right away because it did not have deep soil. When the sun rose, it was scorched, and because it did not have much root, it withered.

Some are like the ones sown on rocky ground: as soon as they hear the word, they immediately welcome it with joy. Yet since they have no root in themselves, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they immediately fall away.

Jesus described people who had faith, so, as people who also have faith in God, that gets our attention. But Jesus described how these people lose their faith. That gets our attention too, because we don’t want that to happen to us! Lose trust in God? Lose the comfort of knowing our sins have been paid for by Jesus? Lose the sure promise of eternal life in heaven after our earthly death? No! We don’t want to lose our faith! I would think, then, that we should pay close attention to what Jesus said, so that we can prevent that from happening to us!

About a week ago, I finally did it. I pulled the two puny, withered, bougainvillea plants out of the ground in front of our house and threw them in the garbage. Honestly, calling them “plants” is a bit much. At the end, they were really just small sticks with a shriveled leaf or two. And if I had listened to my wife, I would have removed them long before. But I liked them, and they used to be okay—even showing off bright orange and pink leaves. So I thought I could keep watering them and coach them up so that they could return to their former glorious state. I was wrong; she was right.

We had actually been through this before with another pair of bougainvilleas…and maybe even another set before that. You’d think I would catch on! It’s not a great spot

for plants. I know that the soil is a problem because I dug the holes years ago. The ground is so hard and I could get down only so far. I thought it was enough, but it’s pretty hard for roots to get established there. Then there’s the other problem—the sun.

It’s in full afternoon sun. What they need to give them life—the sun—actually scorches them AND they get a double-dose as the heat bounces off the garage wall and just tortures them. Isn’t this exactly what Jesus describes? Hard ground, shallow soil, inadequate roots, and a scorching sun. Plants in that situation don’t stand a chance of living. That goes for people too.

There is a warning here for each of us who has faith in Jesus. Some are like the ones sown on rocky ground: as soon as they hear the word, they immediately welcome it with joy. Yet since they have no root in themselves, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they immediately fall away. It is possible to be a joyful Christian but then lose your faith entirely. Jesus speaks here of the new Christian who is not firmly rooted and whose faith dies when it is pressed hard by trouble or persecution. But you probably know that this can also happen to experienced Christians. You may have even seen it happen.

How do we avoid being a plant with a weak root system?

How do we avoid letting trouble and persecution scorch the faith right out of us?

How do we avoid the eternal death that comes from falling away from faith?

Jesus actually gives us the answer here when he talks about the good ground: But the ones sown on the good ground are those who hear the word, accept it, and produce fruit. “Hear the word.” That’s our answer! You and I need to regularly, routinely, intently hear God’s Word! And how do we hear it? Just go through the motions of reading those devotions? Sit here in church with your mind elsewhere? Sit at home hearing, but distracted by something else on your laptop or phone…or grabbing a second cup of coffee? Obviously, no. Simply hearing what God says, but not letting it sink in, not determined to live out the words you hear, is no different than telling your child to clean their room or be nice to their sister as they are running through the house. They may hear you, but they’re not listening. Adults do this too. But how dangerous it is to do with God’s Word!

You have such incredible access to that Word! You know how important worship is— either in person or online, so pay attention when you are before the very throne of God and he is speaking to you! Yes, read your devotions—the email ones, the Facebook ones, the Meditations and Time of Grace booklets your church gives to you, the Forward in Christ magazine your church has mailed to you. Read your Bible. Use the app. We have no one to blame but ourselves if we have shallow roots. If we are weak in our knowledge of God’s Word, we will be weak in faith—and that’s where the trouble begins.

Jesus says that if we are not strongly rooted in the Word of God, we will not make it when trouble strikes. And we all experience our share of trouble in this world—and if we are not rooted in God’s Word, this is what it looks like: a relationship buckles and

breaks and we despair as if God isn’t in control and he doesn’t love us. Our finances are hit hard and we freak out as if the Lord will not provide. We feel lonely and we blame God for not giving us friends, and we blame others for not caring. Our own sins bring trouble into our lives and we fail to recognize sin for what it is, and it doesn’t even occur to us to actually repent and change our ways. We don’t even know how to function as Christians if there is little depth to our faith. If we only have a surface-level happiness that Jesus is our friend and God loves us, we are missing much of what God wants for us and what we need. It is then that those troubles can destroy faith, just like a scorching sun destroys a weakly-rooted plant.

The same happens when we are persecuted for our faith in Jesus and our trust in God’s Word. Why would we ever be ashamed to admit that we are Christians? Why would we shrink back from sharing the truths found in God’s Word like: God created everything, that the Bible is actually God’s Word, that there is only one way to get to heaven, that not every teaching by churches is correct? Because we don’t want to suffer for our faith in God. We don’t want to open ourselves up to persecution. And if persecution should actually come? Well, then we might feel that faith is not worth the cost. How could this happen? It can happen when our root system stinks, that’s how!

Trouble and persecution are like the sun that scorches plants with weak roots in rocky ground. Just as a plant dies when that happens, so does the faith of the weak Christian—whether they are new believers (like Jesus spoke of) or experienced ones.

God’s intention when trouble and persecution come along—it should be noted—is that our faith might be exercised as it strongly clings to him. God has a purpose with these things. He even tells us that he works through them for our eternal good. Read through today’s lesson from Hebrews again. Those difficulties serve a purpose! Think of them as discipline that molds and shapes our faith. God looks for a faith that perseveres, that focuses on Jesus through the storms of life, that is willing to suffer anything—even death—for the God who forgives all things and saves eternally.

It may seem strange to think of it this way, but just as plants need the sun to give them life—but that sun can scorch and kill them—so Christians necessarily must go through troubles and persecution in order to receive eternal life. But if they are not prepared to deal with them, those difficulties can scorch and kill them too—eternally.

Considering that we are going to have trouble in this world, as Jesus once told his disciples, this is a much-needed warning. Perhaps it comes at a good time for us.

Maybe this is what we need to hear today in order to get things in order…or back in order…spiritually speaking.

It a blessing to know that just as Jesus loved us enough to live and die for us, he also loves us enough to warn us. He forgives us for our past failures in these things and he urges us to listen to his Word, because that will produce a faith strongly rooted in the words and promises of our Lord. That kind of faith will be able to withstand the scorching sun of trouble and persecution. And that faith will prepare us to live with God in heaven, where we will not contend with those threats at all, but will enjoy the glories of being with him forever. Amen.