Have you ever tried to explain something to a friend only to realize that they didn’t have any idea of what you were talking about? If you’ve ever been in this position, then you know that to get your point across, it helps to find something that your friend is already familiar with and make a comparison. This can provide a frame of reference that will help your friend get some idea of what you’re trying to say.
This approach is something that Jesus also used in communicating spiritual truths to others. You see, one of Jesus’ favorite teaching methods was to use something called a parable. A parable is a short story that is designed to communicate a spiritual truth. A parable uses comparisons, figures of speech and examples from everyday life to drive home a moral lesson, religious principle or spiritual reality.
The really good thing about Jesus’ parables was that they were easy to remember and caused each listener to really think about the deeper spiritual truths represented by each story. One Jesus’ best known parables is found in Mark 4:3-9…
“Listen! A farmer decided to grow some grain. As he scattered it across his field, some of it fell on a path, and the birds came and picked it off the hard ground and ate it. Some fell on thin soil with underlying rock. It grew up quickly enough, but soon wilted beneath the hot sun and died because the roots had no nourishment in the shallow soil.
Other seeds fell among thorns that shot up and crowded the young plants so that they produced no grain. But some of the seeds fell into good soil and yielded thirty times as much as he had planted- some of it even sixty or a hundred times as much! If you have ears, listen!”
Later on, Jesus later spent some time explaining the meaning behind this parable. Here’s how He did it…
“The farmer I talked about is anyone who brings God’s message to others, trying to plant good seed within their lives. The hard pathway, where some of the seed fell, represents the hard hearts of some of those who hear God’s message; Satan comes at once to try to make them forget it” (Mark 4:14-15).
So the seed represents the Word of God and the sower represents the person who proclaims the Word of God. Jesus used this comparison to illustrate what can take place when you communicate God’s Word to people.
This is pretty important, for as you talk about Christ with people you may see some of the responses that Jesus illustrates for us here. The first one -as seen above- is pretty straightforward; some people never really get the message. In other words, after hearing the Word of God, the enemy immediately convinces the hearer to disregard it.
Other people become discouraged through difficulties…
“The rocky soil represents the hearts of those who hear the message with joy, but like young plants in such soil, their roots don’t go very deep, and though at first they get along fine, as soon as persecution begins, they wilt” (Mark 4:16-17).
These are the people who initially accept the truth of the gospel but when their friends begin to give them a hard time about following Jesus, they fall away and leave the faith they originally accepted.
Other people are drawn away by prosperity…
“The thorny ground represents the hearts of people who listen to the Good News and receive it, but all too quickly the attractions of this world and the delights of wealth, and the search for success and the lure of nice things come in and crowd out God’s message from their hearts so that no crop is produced” (Mark 4:18-19).
These represents the people who accept the Gospel but later allow possessions and the desire for “more” to become more important than following God. Or it can represent the people who reject the Word of God for fear that they’ll have to give up some of their possessions. “Thorns” can also stand for a preoccupation with the concerns of daily life. We can sometimes get so involved with “busyness” that it chokes out any time that we had originally planned to spend with God.
“But the good soil represents the hearts of those who truly accept God’s message and produce a plentiful harvest for God- thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as was planted in their hearts” (Mark 4:20).
Finally, the “good soil” represents those who receive the Word of God and become totally committed to it. These are the people who then become sowers and introduce others to Jesus and His teachings. These are the people who “bear fruit” for God -up to a hundredfold in some cases.
So the question to ask ourselves is, “what does this parable say about my own spiritual state?” Which of these categories do you fall into? Are you allowing the enemy to rip off the good news of Jesus Christ from you? Is a concern over what your friends will say preventing you from really becoming all that you can be in Christ?
Is the desire for more “stuff” distracting you from following God? Or are you taking advantage of the opportunities that God gives you and effectively communicating the Good News of Jesus Christ to those who need to hear it?
In explaining His parables to His disciples, Jesus told them, “Consider carefully what you hear…” (Mark 4:24). The first step and best towards doing that is to familiarize yourself with Jesus and His teachings. Put aside some time each day to read God’s Word and watch how God will work as you apply it in your daily life.