Mark 4:1-33 NLT
The Way: The Book of Mark
Recap Series
Week One: Jesus introduces the Gospel of the Kingdom and emphasizes community because we crave relationships and friendships.
Week Two: Jesus demonstrates what it means to worship God (Jesus is God) and the difference between religion and grace.
Week Three: What is the difference between right and wrong? What is the difference between the Kingdom of God and the world system?
Week Four: Today, we unpack some of the most essential parables in Scripture, where Jesus displays his method of teaching and evangelizing.
Essential Question: (Mark 4:1-20)––What is the Meaning of Life?
- The parable of the farmer scattering seed is one of the best-known parables of Jesus's teachings.
- Jesus told parables for two reasons: (1) to help us understand the heart of God and (2) to help us understand how things work in the Kingdom of God.
- In this parable, he describes the true meaning of life: cultivating a heart that is receptive to hearing and accepting the redemptive message of Jesus' death and resurrection, then living a life that produces a vast harvest that can "feed" a multitude.
- God intends for our lives to be a source of life-giving "nutrition" for everyone around us, and the only way we can produce that kind of fruit is to provide good soil for the "seeds" God wants to plant in us.
- How do you grow fertile soil? You increase the amount of organic matter in your soil by adding compost, aged animal manures, green manures (cover crops), mulches, and peat moss. Most soil life and plant roots are in the top six inches of soil, so concentrate on the upper layer.
- Contrast that with how to create spiritual soil. (Definitions are essential, so the definition of organic is "relating to or derived from living matters.") Spiritual, organic soil must come from living matter, and the living matter we are referring to is The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We find this organic living matter deep down inside us, and with this living, Jesus can cultivate spiritual, organic soil, plant seeds, watch them sprout, and then harvest them for the Kingdom.
- According to Jesus, the meaning of life is to do whatever it takes to offer him "fertile soil continually"—to give ourselves to understanding him and his Kingdom, to continuously deepen our souls by pursuing the truth about ourselves and God, and to set aside our worries and our material ambitions so that we trust God above all.
Let's Pray
