Discipleship Lessons from Gardening

Sermon notes on our Parable of the Sower series from Mark 4:1-20.

This series was applied to the work of disciple making. We spent four weeks on the parable and you can find the full teachings on our YouTube channel. Below is mostly sermon notes from the last teaching today but with a little background on the other soils from the parable as well. Feel free to comment, ask questions, or discuss.

My First Gardening Experience

Quite a number of years ago, I tried my hand at growing my first garden. I cut the grass off the top of the soil with a shovel and then using a hand hoe and rake, I tried “tilling” the soil a bit. I may have tried adding some fertilizer but I honestly don’t recall. However, after planting seeds and giving it a few weeks, I had little seedlings popping up through the dirt look as pretty as ever.

As those little seedlings began to grow, my excitement did as well. I couldn’t wait till they’d begin to put on “big leaves” and one day produce some fruit to eat. Eventually though, my excitement turned to aggravation. Along with the little seedlings, almost as if overnight, the grass and weeds began to grow all around my pretty little garden patch. I could see there was no winning the battle against them. Apparently, I hadn’t prepared the area well enough nor did I remove all the weeds and grass enough for my little garden to grow.

The Parable Explained

Jesus speaks of gardening in His parable of the Sower. In the parable, He speaks of a farmer sowing seed and says some fell on the path and was stolen by birds. Other seed fell on the rocky soil, sprung up quickly only to wither when the sun hit it because it had no roots. And yet, other seed fell among the thorns and the thorns choked out the plants that grew up. Then there was this other seed that fell in good soil and it grew and produced grain, some thirty times as much, some sixty times, and some a hundred times as much as was planted!

Jesus explains that His parable is about the Word of God being sowed into the hearts of men (and women). Some it can barely penetrate their hearts because they’ve become hardened to it. And He says Satan steals it. The seed that fell on the rocky ground was indicative of those that hear the Word, receive it with joy, and are glad. But then they do not persevere in the faith due to the trials and persecution for the Word that comes against them. And the seed that fell among the thorns? It was likened to those folks that receive the Word but then are lured away by the temptation of riches and the cares of the world.

Making Disciples

The parable is about making disciples and producing the fruits of repentance and the Spirit. The fruits of repentance is the turning from unbelief and sin to the Lord for salvation, and the fruits of the Spirit are those gifts that are expressed through the saved soul by the Spirit of God…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22). These are the fruits the disciple of Jesus should be producing.

So how does this effect making disciples? Well, I believe, like my garden, the lesson is in the soil, the preparation, and the nurturing of new disciples. You see, making disciples is not an easy task, like gardening isn’t easy either. Both can be hard, slow, and dirty. But, to produce fruit, one must be up to the task and use wisdom in doing so.

I did a 4-week video teaching on the subject if you want to go deeper, but I’m going to try and save you a little time by summarizing four weeks of teaching into one blog post here. Sound good? Cool!

The Hard Soil

The “beaten path” here is the one whose heart is nearly impenetrable due to the circumstances of life they’ve experienced hardening them to the Lord. They’ve been beaten down, and now have been hardened to anything concerning God. It doesn’t mean they can’t be broken; we can try and create cracks in the ground, using God’s Word, His commandments, and pointing out how we have all sinned, showing them the mirror of God’s Law and the salvation offered through Christ.

But, be forewarned. This is truly a hard nut to crack and should usually be dealt with by an experienced “gardener,” (gifted in evangelism). But I’ll dare say we should not simply give up on them! Pray for them for sure, in fact pray for all that need Christ before trying to disciple them!

The Rocky Soil

The rocky soil is the person who has no root, and the sting of hardships in life keep coming at them and has caused them to question the faith. Their initial joy is gone because they thought salvation meant their troubles would end, that they would now experience prosperity and peace in this world. For these folks, and anyone we desire to disciple, we have to be clear about the commands of Jesus and how He warned His followers that troubles and trials would come. We need to try and help them develop roots to protect them against the storms of life by helping them to go deeper into the world and make a deeper commitment to the Lord.

Weeds and Thorns

This is the seed that is choked out by the weeds and thorns of this life, those desires for things and riches of the earth. These wannabe disciples want to accept Christ but still live for the world. They’ve not crucified the desires of the flesh and instead are chasing after the wind. They are lured away by the advertisements of this world, offering them just what they need to have a good life.

If they are the disciple under our wing, then we want to help them to turn off the ads so to speak, to protect themselves from the things the world offers and desires to use to cause division as well. These need to be correctly pointed to the truth that dear old Solomon found…nothing is fulfilling without the Lord.

The Fruitful Spoil

The last of the soils is the fruitful soil and this is the goal of every gardener and disciple maker. It is also what we disciples ourselves desire to be!

My next year of gardening went better. I decided I needed to start fresh, in a way that I could control the environment of my plants. So, I built raised beds for my garden, filling them with fresh black soil and fertilizer. I controlled the soil, had no weeds to worry about, and had an available water source at hand as well. All that was left was to keep the plant supported through their growth and watch out for the pests that would occasionally attack them. Because of this care and wise gardening, I produced the most fruitful of small gardens. I had so much I was giving tomatoes, cucumbers, and hot peppers away!

I believe this taught me the key to helping make disciples and produce the fruit in my own life that Jesus desires of us. I want to be, and produce, fruitful disciples.

In His parable Jesus says this soil, with the seed sown into it, produces grain, or bears fruit, thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and even a hundredfold. This is what a farmer would call, “fertile ground.” Fertile ground is of course where good crops can grow. It contains the right atmosphere the right nutrients, and all the right support materials.‌

Discipleship is about more than getting someone to say a prayer. It is about helping lead another in the right way to live under the reign of Jesus in their lives.

Apprentices

Some say that the better word for making disciples may be “apprentices.” This is more closely aligned with what Jesus did with those first disciples. He taught them, but He also sent them out to be apprentices of His.

‌Paul did this with Timothy.

‌An apprentice learns by hearing, by watching, and then by doing. They are sent out to try the new skills they’ve been taught. So, if we consider this idea of apprenticing along with the seed sowing parable, what does that mean for us as disciple makers? What does it mean for us as disciples of Jesus ourselves?

‌

The Environment

‌When sowing the Seed of God’s Word, we need to make sure the environment is right. For me and my own raised bed gardens, I was able to create the right atmosphere, the right soil conditions, for the plants I was planting.

‌How can we apply this to our own planting efforts?

‌Remember, it starts with fertile soil. It’s hard enough work in itself, but it is all the more difficult if the soil is like those other soils we’ve already looked at in the parable.

‌In sharing the Gospel, in seeking new disciples, we can’t just speak about Jesus anywhere and at any time and expect fruit to just pop up. The environment must be right.

When I used to drink, I was the best evangelist, or so I thought. I had the courage, false courage mind you, to share about Jesus to my friends, but the environmental conditions were wrong.

‌I myself was wrong of course, living in two worlds.

In years past, this “environmental change” was often done by inviting folks to a revival church service, or now, today, we may invite them into a regular Sunday at some churches so that the atmosphere, and the environment, could be controlled and made conducive to creating that emotional response inside a person.

‌I’ve even wanted to use music or some other media, or even a story, to help “soften the soil” you might say.

‌But the truth is, this may work well enough to get one to say the Sinner’s Prayer, or maybe come back to church again, but I’m afraid too often, you end up with one of the other soils Jesus speaks about. Usually the rocky soil or the weedy soil, cuz there’s no root to their faith.

‌‌Man can’t live on bread alone, Jesus says. Bread has no real sustenance, we need real food. We need more than a one time prayer or Sunday church service to grow and be fruitful disciples.

‌‌I too want you, if you’re not saved yet, to say the prayer. But I also know, and honestly most Pastors know, that’s not the end of it.

‌

Repentance

‌This is where I believe repentance needs to be taught and encouraged. Jesus said, “repent and believe.”

‌‌You see, sometimes in gardening we have to transplant little seedlings from indoor protection to the outdoors. This takes patience for one, as well as knowing the right time. In the Spiritual life of a new believer, many aren’t prepared for the outdoors yet. Many have believed the Gospel, but they’ve not come out of the old environment. When they’ve repented, turned from their old lives, then they’re ready for real salvation in Jesus.

‌The Sinner’s Prayer is more than a prayer, it is a dedication to, an agreement to persevere in Jesus.

‌The bible often speaks of believing in Jesus, and this leads to salvation. But to believe in Him, the bible means we are to trust Him, not just believe He exists, or even that He is who He says He is. To believe in Jesus, to have a faith that saves, is to give Him all of your trust, all of your faith, to place the bet that in Him you will find true life in this world and the next.

‌‌Disciples may need to leave friends behind, family behind, work conditions behind, and maybe even find themselves alone for some time as they leave the old environment of temptation and sin to live in the new ground of faith and obedience to Jesus. ‌‌Until you leave, or until you help your disciple to leave the old environment behind, spiritual growth will be stunted.

This is good soil, this is fertile soil that will allow the seed to grow into a new plant.

‌

Soaking It Up

‌The goal of young seed should be to soak up nutrients, right? You plant it in the ground and then water it and feed it nutrients in the hopes it will soak it them and grow. A new disciple is often like that young seedling or plant. They’re hungry and need to be fed the right nutrients. Maybe they’re asking questions of you about Jesus, God, or the Bible.

This is great if so! Make sure you take the time, especially if you don’t know the answer right off, to share with them your thoughts or find the answers for them.

‌They’re usually hungry for God’s Word cuz this new relationship with God they are experiencing makes them want to get to know Him better. Give them the Word, point them to an app, give them a bible, invite them to a bible study with you, or just make sure you have time to spend together in the Word with them.

‌Feed the new plant wisely. Too much fertilizer can hurt the plants too! Be patient but supportive.

‌

Soaking and Sprouting

Do you know anything about growing crops by soaking and sprouting? I read about this earlier; soaking some food items, like beans for instance, to make them sprout. Basically, you just soak them in some water for a time, in order to ultimately lead to a sprouted product. This soaking and sprouting process helps with nutrient absorption, human digestion of their fruit, and nutrient density.

‌‌We want new disciples to sprout! We want them to grow by absorbing all of God they can. And the truth is, when you’re helping one to grow, you’ll find you grow with them, you too will sprout new leaves, new buds, new flowers.

‌This process, in gardens, also helps the new seedling to grow new roots before placing them in the ground, so it can soak up more nutrients. The more nutrients it soaks up the more dense and healthier it becomes. For the new disciple, the more rooted we become, the better able we are to withstand the trials and temptations of life in this world trying to pull us from our faith.

‌

Soaking and Baptism

‌Maybe this soaking is where Baptism comes into play for us disciples.

‌It is similar to Jesus’s words about a grain of wheat…

John 12:24 ESV

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

When a new disciple is baptized, it is as though they have been “buried” with Christ, or cleansed by Christ, and are now able to become fruitful disciples.

‌There are stats on that show baptized new believers have a higher percentage remaining in the faith than those that weren’t.

‌‌Baptism is more than just a display of the faith, or outward expression, as we tend to say of it, but it is a step of obedience to Christ, along with, I believe, a Spiritual transformation process. While not required for salvation, I believe it is required for our growth in the faith.

‌

Further Care

Like my raised gardens, once I’ve done all the work with the environment, and given proper nourishment to the plants, or disciples, I find that it is easier to protect them. Weeds stand out against the new growth that has had some time to grow up a little.

‌Remember in my previous garden attempt, I couldn’t tell the difference between the seedlings and the weeds. However, a true disciple, even a new disciple, when raised up properly, can better see the weeds and thorns coming at them. Once they’ve become separated from, repented from, the old environment, it is easier to defend and stand against the trials and tribulations. It is easier to withstand the scorching and hard winds of the trials of life, because they’ve had time to become rooted in the Vine of Jesus.

‌‌John 15:5 ESV

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

‌‌When we abide in Him, we are protected from the elements of this world. They may hurt us, but they will not destroy us.

‌John 10:28 ESV

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

The Right Lighting

‌There is one more thing we must have when properly sowing seed into fertile soil.

‌We must have the right Light. Very little will grow in the shadows. When I built my raised gardens, I did so in the most lighted area I could, because truly, it is the sun that gives flavor to your fruits. The same goes for the life of Jesus’s Disciples.

John 8:12 ESV

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

‌

Disciples cannot grow in the dark. They must have the Light of the world within them. It is the Son, the Light of the World, that makes us fruitful disciples.

Disciples cannot grow in the dark. They must have the Light of the world within them. It is the Son, the Light of the World, that makes us fruitful disciples.
Tweet

Closing

To be fruitful, is our task in this world. If we want to bear fruit, and if we want to raise up other fruit bearers, we need to make sure we are connected to the Vine, Jesus.

‌We need to make sure we have repented and are repenting.

‌Make sure we’re careful of our own environment.

‌Soak up all his nutrients we can through prayer, Word, and service to the Lord.

Your purpose, and my purpose, is to bear fruit in this world. Fruits of our own discipleship and fruits in making other disciples. And may we all be about this for the glory of Christ.

Seeing and Perceiving

Sermon Notes – February 19, 2023

Getting Older

‌I don’t know if you heard or not, but I’ve always heard it said that our forties are the decade of change, or where “everything falls apart.” I’ve personally done pretty good, but I did begin my forties being more active than I am ending them to say the least!

‌In my early forties, I’d still play basketball with youth from church, run and play every game with them, and even challenge some of them to race me on foot. And I usually won the race.

‌I worked out 3-4 times a week, on most weeks, and rarely felt tired. In fact I felt like I had more time in my day than I do today.

‌However, somewhere in my mid-forties I suppose, things began to change. I’ve developed bursitis in one of my knees, making it hard for me, at times, to get down on them without feeling a shock through my legs.

‌So for my photography I was doing, there was no more dropping to a knee to get that low shot. As for basketball, I’d still play early on, but my knees and legs would indeed be sore for days!

‌As for working out, I was honestly doing pretty good until the pandemic, but now, time, I just don’t see where I have it.

‌Time seems to simply fly by. It’s like there’s almost too many things to do and little time to get it done. I’m always having to “fit” something in as best I can. Oh, and I want to rest more often!

‌This past week has truly been an eye opener for me too! I’ve always prided myself on having great eyesight, being able to read just about anything from a distance, and the smallest of fine print. However, lately I’ve been noticing some changes…the eyes not reacting as easily going from my phone to the TV, or being able to read fine print on packages, nor my old favorite bible.

‌So, I thought, I’ve got eye-care insurance, and maybe I should go just to get told I’m all good, normal aging, etc.

‌Well, I’ve not looked at an eye chart in nearly twenty years until Monday. And then when she told me to cover one eye and tell her what I could see! Well, that was for sure an eye opening experience.

‌It was then I realized I had a problem. I couldn’t see as well as I could for so long, and yep, I need glasses. Not just any glasses mind you, I need progressives…a more modern name, and evolution, of “bifocals.”

‌So, I’ve had a lot of revelations this week about just how bad my eye sight has become as Allison has had me “trying on” some of her glasses. It has been a tough week facing this reality.

I’ve been using these to help me read easier…now that I know I have a problem!

These were part of the key to helping me see I wasn’t perceiving things correctly.

Sermon

‌You see, what I thought I was seeing properly, I in fact, haven’t been seeing clearly for some time now. I wasn’t perceiving how bad my eyesight had gotten. To be honest, I probably didn’t want to see it or perceive it properly.

‌I believe that’s a truth with many that pick up a bible today, or have someone tell them about Jesus.

Most all of us can read, or we can hear properly, but we’re not perceiving or understanding the message, or as Jesus says in today’s Word, “the secret,” within the message of His parables.

And the problem is, some of us simply don’t want to perceive or understand our own standing before God.

‌I believe our text in today’s Word has to do with not only hearing, or seeing, but also understanding and perceiving.

‌What do I mean by this?

‌What does it mean to us? To you?

‌What should we learn from these Words of Jesus?

‌Let’s look at today’s Scripture and then we’ll unpack it some and hopefully learn and be encouraged by it.

Scripture

‌Mark 4:10–12 ESV

And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that “ ‘they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.’ ”

‌

You may ask, “What’s a parable?”

A parable is just a story with a lesson hidden within it. Jesus often used items or experiences His listeners could relate with.

Next week, we’ll be looking at the parable of the Sower that is actually what sparks Him to explain His usage of parables to the disciples and those with them.

‌Like me using my own story of my failing body to introduce today’s Scriptural lesson, and this lesson will unfold as we continue. My parable might be a longer experience, but could have been simply put into a few lines…but I’ve got a sermon to give right?

‌‌But before we jump into the parables of Jesus, it was good to begin here with His “Why?” for using parables.

A Secret

Jesus explains to His listeners that they have been given the “Secret of the Kingdom of God,” but those outside of His disciples are being given parables.

‌You see, for every thing in life, and here in each parable, there is both a physical and a spiritual world.

‌Like I mentioned earlier:

‌Most all of us can read, or we can hear properly – these are the physical abilities we have.

‌But Spiritually speaking, or even simply intellectually speaking, we cannot all perceive or understand the same.

‌As a Leader

‌I’ve been a leader in my career for years, and that means a lot of training and explaining things so my employees can both perceive and understand what I’m trying to teach them so I receive the output, or behavior, I need from them.

‌As a Parent

‌Like trying to teach a child sometimes, you have to use or find ways to help them understand the “secret” or “message” you’re trying to convey.

‌As Us

‌For most of us, there have been times where we needed someone else to communicate something to us in a way that we too can understand. We may have been the ones to cause someone else difficulty in teaching us something.

‌Well, the disciples were specifically called by Jesus to follow Him. And they were taught by Him personally, often. And to them, God had helped them to understand, through Jesus, the Spiritual world that exists.

‌Still we see them wrestle with the parables and Jesus’s teachings often as well. Similar to many of us. We may have grown up hearing and believing about Jesus, but we haven’t always, “gotten it.”

‌Some of us may still not be saved yet by that knowledge because we haven’t understood belief versus saving faith in Jesus.

‌Remember James, Jesus’s own brother (who once didn’t believe Jesus was God in the flesh), himself says, “even the demons believe and shudder,” when He is speaking about faith and works telling his hearers that faith without works was dead.

‌As we taught last week, faith should always be proven by our actions. The same goes for perceiving and understanding.

When we perceive or understand, not just seeing and hearing, we typically change the way we think or act, or believe.

‌Knowledge without acting on it is worthless knowledge right? Just like faith without actions.

‌So the disciples and those with them are the believers that have been given the “Secret” as Jesus says, to understanding the Kingdom…God’s reign on earth, through Jesus…and the Spiritual realm…knowledge that there is more than just the physical realm happening.

The Outsiders

‌Jesus says to you has the secret been given to, but parables are for those outside.

‌Jesus is saying, to His followers, they have received understanding but to those outside…those who do not follow Him and have done nothing but chastise and oppose His works and teaching, everything is in parables.

‌And He says…so that…

So That

So that…gives us the reason or the purpose, it answers, “Why?”

‌It’s like answering your child, or your employee, giving them the reason or purpose behind your teaching. So that you may learn to do right, good, etc.

‌Here Jesus is telling the “purpose” of His use of parables…”so that those outsiders, those that are against me, those that have been teaching the people wrong…so that…”

Mark 4:12 ESV

so that “ ‘they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.’ ”

‌They may see but not perceive, hear but not understand, lest…a word that is a negative statement…lest they turn and be forgiven…because they don’t see and perceive or hear and understand.

A Harsh Word

This is a troubling statement for many of us. We read it and we think, “why would God teach them in a way that they can’t understand to keep them from being forgiven? Doesn’t He want everyone to be forgiven?”

‌First off let me point out to you that Jesus is not teaching anything new here. In fact, much of, if not all of His teaching, is based on the Old Testament; the Law and Prophets, that the Jewish people had been taught since birth.

‌And here, if you have good eyesight and a Bible with footnotes, you may find it tells you that this is quoted from Isaiah 6. One of the major prophets in the Old Testament, that Jewish people would have held in high esteem. He was around 700+ years before Jesus.

‌Jesus is quoting these words in reference to God’s judgment on Israel…the Jewish people in the Old Testament.

‌In fact, again, and I can’t make this stuff up, we looked at the Fig tree parable, and we found in Isaiah 5 where God spoke of Israel as a vineyard He was going to judge, and destroy, because of their wickedness and idol worship.

‌Here we are today and Jesus’ is quoting from Isaiah 6, when Isaiah is given a heavenly vision of God on His throne and he sees the angels around the throne covering themselves for protection for God’s holiness.

‌Isaiah sees this and He says, “Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips.” He thought he was going to die right then and there.

‌Then, after this confession of his, an angel flies over to him and touches his lips and tells him, “your guilt is taken away and your sin is atoned for.”

‌So, his eyes are opened to the spiritual realm, he is given the vision to really see, the secret to see, and he confesses to God his sin…and we take from this his desire to repent/change… and then he receives God’s forgiveness.

‌I could preach on that a lot more, but I wanted to point that out as his own “seeing and perceiving” had to be given spiritually for the next part.

‌God speaks of sending someone, sending a messenger apparently, and Isaiah speaks some words you and I may have said before:

‌Here am I Lord, send me.

‌The Lord then gives him a message to deliver…

‌Isaiah 6:9–10 ESV

And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “ ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

A Message of Judgment

‌What is the message Isaiah is to give? It is one of judgment on a people that had decided to follow another god, and to turn their back on the one that had been their Creator and Sustainer through centuries prior.

‌The one that gave them prophets, His own Word, to keep them in line, on the narrow path we’d say today.

‌Jesus wasn’t giving a new message. He was reiterating an old one. One the people should have known. It was a former example of their wickedness.

‌The truth is, many, dare I say most of the outsiders were still of the same heart…they couldn’t see God in Jesus. And they didn’t want to.

‌It’s like me and my eyesight. I couldn’t see how blind I was until it was pointed out to me and I saw the difference using glasses. My eyes had to be opened, accepting the possibility, for me to see the reality.

‌When Jesus said, “Come and follow me.” The disciples willingly responded. When He preached, hearts were opened to accept and believe Him, because they sought the Messiah.

‌Like last week when He told the parable of the fig tree not producing fruit, He used the story of the vineyard owner waiting three years for the tree to produce fruit and it hadn’t, so He had said, “cut it down.” His judgment was at hand, and the message was repent now.

‌So could His teaching of parables, “lest they turn and be forgiven,” be His, God’s judgment on the people? It could indeed.

‌God is sovereign, righteous, and just in all His decisions. And He knows the heart of man, inside and out, and could pass judgment on any one of us knowing the truth of the evil within our hearts. So, our evil in us can cause our judgment righteously and justly.

Encouragement

“Where’s the encouragement in all this?” you may be asking.

‌Well, the encouragement is this. You’re listening to these words I am sharing right now.

‌Are you understanding them?

‌Are you perceiving your own need of God’s grace and forgiveness?

‌Do you see why God gave us Jesus, His own Son?

‌If you can say yes to these things, then you have said yes, or can say yes, to Jesus and receive His forgiveness.

‌Like glasses, and an optometrist, helped me see my need for glasses.

‌Jesus is the key that helps us to see our need of Him.

‌Without the Key, the parables are hard to understand.

‌The parables are condemnation for the willfully blind and hostile, but a blessing to those of us with eyes to see and ears to hear the Word of God.

‌So for you believers, take heart, He’s given you the keys to the Kingdom of God.

‌And to you outsiders still, He’s giving you one more opportunity to receive His forgiveness. You’re here and hearing me now.

‌But are you perceiving His Word in your heart?

Do you understand that you are a sinner at the hands of a Holy and righteous God, who has the right to condemn you now, but would rather you receive His grace through Christ Jesus His Son?

Do you want to not only see and hear, but also perceive and understand properly?

‌Don’t put it off any longer, listen and seek to hear Him while you still can.