An Unfolding Mystery: Mark 4:1-20
I sold Fords for just short of 14 years and have always loved Mustangs. I laid eyes on my first Mustang probably about May of 1964, not long after they came out on April 1`7, 1964. It was a 1964 GT with the 260 cubic inch engine and the three-speed manual shift on the floor.
This all took place on the lot at Babbitt Ford in Flagstaff, Ariz. From 2005 to 2018 I sold Fords at Sanderson Ford in Glendale, Ariz., and have sold many Mustangs….. even Shelby’s!
This last Father’s Day I received a gift bag with three t-shirts. They were folded in the bag. One was blue and on the top of the three-way fold I could see the word “Ford” in red.
I wondered what the mystery was that was under the first fold that said Ford. I unfolded the mystery, and it was a picture of a 1967 Ford Mustang GT with the letters, American Muscle under the Mustang! Awesome!
Today we will see an incredible unfolding mystery from the mouth of Jesus.
In Mark 4:1-9 Jesus teaches in parables.
Jesus had been in a house, probably Peter’s house in Capernaum and was overwhelmed by people. So, He went out by the lake, meaning the Sea of Galilee and began to teach again.
Large crowds gathered and Jesus got in a boat to teach crowds that gathered on the shore. He taught them in parables, or parallel sayings. He would take simple stories from everyday life and put them next to eternal truths and teach them.
Jesus uses first century Jewish agriculture to make some points in His teaching. He talks about the farmer going out to his field to plant his seed. It was done by hand, by scattering the seed in a broadcasting fashion.
The fields had paths beside them that would have been compacted. Some seed fell on the path and the birds came along and ate it before it could begin to grow.
Some seed fell on shallow soil that covered rock. The roots couldn’t go deep enough to grow and when the sun came out the plant scorched and died.
Other seed fell in with the thorns, or the weeds and got choked out by the thorns and didn’t grow enough to bear grain.
Some seed fell in good soil and grew and produced a crop that multiplied, 30, 60 or even 100 times what was sown.
Listen to what Jesus says in verse 9, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (NIV) What does Jesus mean by that? It’s like He’s saying, “Think about that for a while and see if you can figure it out.”
Mark 4:10-12 tells us what those with ears heard.
Later when Jesus was alone with the 12 Apostles and others who were close to Him, they asked Him about the parables. They wanted to know what He’s talking about.
My guess is these people were thinking about what Jesus said and were trying to figure it all out.
Jesus tells them the secrets of the Kingdom of God have been given to them, but to those on the outside everything is in parables so they can see but not perceive and hear but not understand.
Jesus says if they could perceive and understand they might turn and be forgiven.
Notice He mentions the secret of the Kingdom of God. The word “secret” is really important. It’s the Greek word MYSTERION. The word means secret in the sense of a mystery that was hidden and is now revealed.
This is about the mystery of the Kingdom of God that was hidden but is now revealed. Remember this gospel of Mark starts by talking about the beginning of the Gospel about Jesus Christ the Son of God. (Mark 1:1 NIV) Mark’s gospel is about a new beginning with good news about Jesus the Son of God.
As Jesus was about to begin His ministry in Mark 1:15 He put it this way, “’The time has come,’ he said, `The Kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news.’” (NIV)
The mystery is being revealed in Jesus because the Kingdom of God is coming. When those early disciples heard Jesus talking about the Kingdom of God coming, they were thinking political Kingdom that would restore King David’s Kingdom!
What’s Jesus talking about when He refers to the Kingdom of God?
Colossians 1:26-27 defines it, “(26) the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations but is now disclosed to the saints. (27) To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (NIV)
The mystery now made known about the Kingdom of God is Christ in you the hope of Glory! This is not an external kingdom; it is an internal kingdom. Christ rules in the believer!
Jesus is the King, but He rules us when we volunteer for His Kingship, then He rules from inside us as Lord. His rule is a Kingdom, but He doesn’t impose it, instead we must surrender to it voluntarily!
You never get drafted into Jesus’ Kingdom, you enlist and do so by faith in Jesus. Remember we volunteer for Jesus to rule us as our King from inside our life! It’s an internal, voluntary Kingdom!
In Mark 4:13-20 we will find out how this mystery works.
Jesus asks the disciples if they understand the parable. Then He asks how they can understand the parable and He begins to explain it to them. Understand it all has to do with the mystery of the kingdom.
Have people volunteered for Jesus’ kingship so He can rule them as His kingdom from inside their lives?
Ultimately, the farmer is Jesus. He sows the word of the kingdom. He uses some of us to sow that word, but ultimately, He plants the word of the kingdom.
Some are like the seed sown on the path the bird takes away and eats before it can grow. Satan takes away the word of the kingdom that’s sown in people before it has a chance to grow.
The devil is always at war with the Kingdom of God and deceives and lies to keep people from surrender to Jesus’ rule. The Devil will deceive before people get a chance to surrender to the Kingdom!
Other people hear the word and receive it with joy. They’re like shallow dirt over rock. They come to Christ, but never get rooted in the kingdom! When persecution and troubles come because of the word of the kingdom they fall away.
Remember this is always about war between kingdoms. If Satan can divert your attention from the rule of Christ by bringing hard times on you, he can take you away from the rule of Christ.
If hard times become your focus instead of Jesus’ rule over your life you always run the risk of diversion from Jesus’ kingdom. Guess what, it’s hard to stay focused on Jesus’ rule when you’re being attacked by hard times.
Other people are like seed sown in thorns or weeds. The weeds or thorns are the worries and temptations of life that choke out the kingdom.
It’s too easy to focus on wealth and other desires and they take your focus off of the rule of Jesus and choke out the word of the kingdom.
Some people are like the seed landing in good soil. It grows and produces a crop that multiplies, times 30, 60 or 100!
Notice the word of the kingdom is sown, and they hear it, and they accept it. It’s the word of the kingdom. If you hear and accept the word of the Kingdom you enter the kingdom by coming under the rule of Jesus!
I think the word of the kingdom is a lot like my t-shirt. It unfolds for us. It occurs to me it’s not immediate and not all who hear the word of the kingdom respond by surrendering to the rule of King Jesus.
Notice we have the seed on the path, the rocky places, among the thorns and the seed getting into good soil. Only 25 percent is productive.
How do we respond to that? Keep planting!
From the age of 2 weeks until 23 years I was getting the word of the kingdom planted in my life. Most of that time I think I was the seedling in the thorns, getting choked out by the desires of the world.
But, that word of the kingdom was in the soil. I knew I needed to be under the rule of Jesus and be in His kingdom, I just never took that step to accept the word of the kingdom and come under Jesus’s rule.
In January 1972 I was reading the Bible and a book by Billy Graham at 2 a.m. The book was talking about Jesus being Lord. The Bible was talking about Jesus being Lord.
That night I discovered Jesus is called Lord about 200 times more than He’s called Jesus in the New Testament. So, I got on my knees and told Him I wasn’t doing so well running the show in my life, so I was turning it over to Him as Lord.
The mystery unfolded and I surrendered to the rule of Jesus and entered His Kingdom. Join me there if you have not done so yet!