Lately, we have been working (locally) through the Mark 4 text dealing with the four places the seed from the sower fell upon; the first three locations continue to stand out. Let’s look at them again:
The Wayside: hearing the Word, there is no understanding (application or response) to the Word, and immediately Satan comes and steals the Word that had been sown.
Stony Ground: hearing the Word, they are filled with joy and gladness, but due to the lack of depth, the Word was not allowed to grow down and establish roots. It endured for a short amount of time, but when faced with affliction or persecution for the Word’s sake, they were immediately offended (Mark 4:17).
Thorny Ground: hearing the word, the seed cannot compete with the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, thus choking out the seed and the ground becoming unfruitful.
The Conflict with the Word
Notice in each of these three grounds that the seed faces the conflict of the soil it lands upon. According to Luke 8:11, “the seed is the Word of God,” which tells me that God’s Word continues to face the most conflict in our present day.
The Word of God, while it uplifts, encourages, and promotes peace, unity, and all the emotional positives we desire in a life filled with serving God, is also a penetrator into the thoughts and intentions of the human heart. To put it another way, the Word of God is a sword! It cuts, divides, separates, cleaves, and penetrates.
We see this when Peter preached to the sinful Jews on the Day of Pentecost following the outpouring of the Spirit:
Acts 2:37 (KJV 1900) — 37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
KJV
The Greek word for pricked is “to be stabbed deeply!” The words of Peter, as he preached to them that they had crucified their very Lord and Messiah, cut so deeply that they immediately cried out to the disciples, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”
The seed (Word of God) that was sown had fallen upon the good ground (gladly received his word), and that day, after Peter preached the message of Acts 2:38 to them, “about 3,000 souls were added to the church.”
Yet, a similar message preached by Stephen to another group of Jews was met with an entirely different response.
Acts 7:52–54 (KJV 1900) — 52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: 53 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it. 54 When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.
KJV
Notice, similar to those whose hearts were “pierced” in Acts 2, these were “cut to the heart.” The implication of being cut deep is the same, but it wasn’t so much the word as their anger cut down to the quick of their hearts. When the truth was spoken, and Stephen didn’t mince words (you betrayers and murderers), the Word caused instant rage to overwhelm them, and they “gnashed with their teeth,” casting him out of the city stoning him to death with stones.
I find it appalling that these religious Jews would become so enraged by the Words of Stephen that they would resort to driving him out of the city and stoning him to death. Yet, tragically those who preach the unadulterated and pure Word of God continue to feel the wrath and rage of those who resist and fight against God’s truth! Even Jesus faced this when He walked the earth!
Offended by the Word
One of the most poignant examples in the New Testament comes from the lips of his closest disciples who, having heard Jesus teach some difficult things, said: “this is an hard saying, who can listen to it?” (John 6:60). Yes, even Jesus’ closest disciples were faced with something Jesus taught that they struggled to swallow! Jesus, knowing what they were thinking and murmuring, asked them: “does this offend you?” Then, the most difficult words for me to read in the New Testament occur following this conversation: “from that time many of his disciples went back, and walked with him no more” (John 6:66).
I weep when I read these words because I know a simple truth: hell will be filled with many who walk away from God because they were offended by the Word of God.
God help each of us receive the blessing Jesus declared in Matthew 11:6: “Blessed is the one who is not offended by me” (ESV).
Have I endured bitter moments of hard truth as the Word has gone forth? You better believe it! I have had preachers point a finger directly into my face and declare, “God wants you to repent!” Did I like being singled out? NO! Yet, I know well enough in God’s word that there were crucial moments when God used men to speak directly to other men.
King David is one example following his murder of Uriah and adultery with Bathsheba. Nathan the prophet, confronting him at his door step declared:
2 Samuel 12:7–12 (KJV 1900) — 7 And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; 8 And I gave thee thy master’s house, and thy master’s wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. 9 Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. 10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. 11 Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.
KJV
Direct, to the point, and in David’s face! Yet, it brought David to a place of repentance and, in turn, the mercy of God into David’s situation. All because of a direct word that hit David directly in the face with the truth!
Sadly, too many have come to adopt the response of Herod following John the Baptist’s condemnation of Herod’s marriage to his brother’s wife: throwing the preacher into prison and eventually cutting off his head. (Mark 6:16-28).
Itching Ears
There lacks no shortage of prosperity preaching, positive-mental attitudes, and sermons to help people cope with anxiety, depression, and life in general. While I agree with all of these things in measure, I do not want to merely learn to cope with anxiety and end up living in hell for eternity due to unrepented sin in my life!
The pressure placed on those who minister in the Word today is staggering. In every sermon, there is a risk of someone being offended, and in an age of consumerism, there are always those present who are there to judge, critique, and evaluate the preacher’s words.
“Too long”
“Too loud”
“Too strong”
“Not loving enough”
“Not tough enough”
“Mean”
“Judgemental”
This list goes on, but we are living in an hour that reflects an Endtime scripture:
2 Timothy 4:3–4 (KJV 1900) — 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
KJV
After their desires, they will find teachers teaching what they want to hear, not what God wants to say. They will find a church that allows for homosexuality. They will find a church that chooses to ignore fornication. They will look for preachers who ignore sections and segments of the Bible, twisting and turning scripture to match the culture around them.
May God give us all a hunger for God’s Word in an hour when so many turn away from the Word’s demands and lessons.