Continuing With Our Study On The Word Given To Us By The Lord, We Will Look Further Into The Parable Of The Sower Given By Jesus In Mark 4. The Bible Tells Us, ‘And He Taught Them Many Things By Parables, And Said Unto Them In His Doctrine…’ (Mark 4:2) – Indicating The Importance Of The Lesson He Was About To Share. So Very Scarcely Do We Hear Jesus Refer To Himself Speaking Matters Of Doctrine, But It Is Outlined At The Onset In This Instance To Draw The Necessary Attention To The Significance Of What He Was Teaching. He Said, ‘Behold, A Sower Went Out To Sow. And It Happened, As He Sowed, That Some Seed Fell By The Wayside; And The Birds Of The Air Came And Devoured It. Some Fell On Stony Ground, Where It Did Not Have Much Earth; And Immediately It Sprang Up Because It Had No Depth Of Earth. But When The Sun Was Up It Was Scorched, And Because It Had No Root It Withered Away. And Some Seed Fell Among Thorns; And The Thorns Grew Up And Choked It, And It Yielded No Crop. 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.” And He Said To Them, “He Who Has Ears To Hear, Let Him Hear!”’ (V. 3-9). But Because Jesus Was Not Looking To Share His Pearls With Swine, He Waited For Those Who Were Seeking After Wisdom To Enquire Of Him Before He Explained In Plain Terms The Meaning Of His Parable. However, When The Few Came After Him For An Explanation, The Lord Rebutted, ‘…Do You Not Understand This Parable? How Then Will You Understand All The Parables?’ (V.13) – Signaling Again, That This Is The Mother Of All Parables, The Foundation To All Understanding In Matters Pertaining To The Kingdom. It Is Therefore Important That We Grasp The Intent And Lesson Of This Parable.
The Lord Began His Explanation By Saying, ‘The Sower Sows The Word’ (V.14) – And The Use Of This Analogy Was Very Intentional And Specific, Because There Is Absolutely No Cheating Of The Sowing And Reaping System. All Living Things Come From A Seed, And All Undergo A Specific Gestation Period Before Being Delivered Into Being. The Second Case Of Believers The Lord Referred To, Was Those Who Had Immediate Result Of Fruit But No Earth To Sustain The Growth; Which Already Shows Us A Violation – There Should Be No Immediate Emergence Of Fruit Because That Often Signifies That There Is No Adequate Development Of Root. Real Growth In Plantation First Begins Downward, Wherein A Strong And Firm Root System Is Established Before The Stem Breaks Upward, To Ensure That There Is Enough Weight To Carry The Plant As It Grows Bigger And Bigger. This Is Why The Sun Scorched This Kind Of Plant, And This Is What Is Happening In The Church Today – Where At The First Sign Of Any Pressure, God’s Children Just Crumble Because They Have No Solid Foundation. But Because Today We Are So Invested In The End Goal, We Have Little Regard For The Journey, We Have Despised This Season Because No One Tangibly Sees Our Growth As All Is Inward And We Have Nothing To Show For It. And Unfortunately, Instead Of Embracing The Time We Are In, Children Of God Want To Rush Forward And Fail Fast – But There Is No Cheating The Seed-Time-Harvest System!
Moving To The Next Group Of Believers Whose Soil Was Covered In Thorn. The Lord Explained, Saying, ‘Now These Are The Ones Sown Among Thorns; They Are The Ones Who Hear The Word, And The Cares Of This World, The Deceitfulness Of Riches, And The Desires For Other Things Entering In Choke The Word, And It Becomes Unfruitful’ (V.18-19) – Wherein The Term Unfruitful Doesn’t Refer To Zero Fruit, But Rather, ‘Below Grade’ Fruit. A Lot Of Children Of God Today Are In This Group, They Love God And Are Still Seemingly Spiritual, But The Cares Of This World – Jobs, Friends, Family, Money, Fame Etc. – Completely Have Them By The Chokehold, And These Begin To Stifle The Word Springing Up Within Them, Frustrating Their Fruitfulness. We Have To Be Mindful Of The Tactics Of The Enemy Church, It Is Not Urgent Things First, It Is Important Things First! This Is Not To Say Things Don’t Happen Here And There, But You Should Not Make This A Pattern. God Can Never Know Of Our Commitment Unless We Show Him. Many In This Group Are Also Discouraged, They Are Merely Just Getting By And Are Just Not Reaching That Pinnacle Of Abundance.
The Final Group, The Good Ground, Gave Forth Fruit From The Word Planted. We See That This Ground Had Less Commotion, No Thorns, No Stones – It Was Clean And Kept: No Bitterness, Anger, Jealousy, Resentment, And All These Things. It Was Easy Soil With No Growth To Resistance, And It Is Ours To Work On The Soil Of Our Heart To Ensure That This Is The Kind Of Earth We Keep Within Us. We Also See That Even In This Group, There Exists Variances Of Fruitfulness, All Depending On How Far One Gives Themselves Over To Mind Renewal, How Far And Long They Remain Consistent And In Faith. There Is No Child Of God Without Talents And Giftings, But If We Keep A Lot Of Hindrances In Our Hearts, We Will Not See The Word’s Ability To Draw Out Our Treasure From Within. Let Us All Work On Ourselves To Ascertain Where We Are And What We Need To Do To Get To Where We Need To Be, Church. The Word Of God Is Not The Variable; It Remains Constant, But The Heart It Lands On Determines How Fruitful It Will Be.
Prayer
Father, We Thank You For Your Word, That Not Only Tells Who We Are, But Also Shows Us How We Can Live Out This Reality In Experience. You Have Given Us Your Spirit, Who Has Remained As The Voice Behind Us, Telling Us Which Way To Go And Holding Our Hand In The Process. We Thank You Father, Because In Our Weakness, You Are Strong; In Our Despair, You Are A Living Hope And In Our Confusion, You Are Our Light! In The Mighty Name Of Jesus, Amen!
