Last Sunday, we began to study the Parable of the Soils from Mark chapter 4. We had some interesting sound issues during the sermon, but I hope it didn’t detract from the privilege of hearing God’s Word.

Jesus did not always speak in parables. In fact, for quite a while in his ministry, he was very straightforward, teaching lessons and commands and stories and illustrations, but not parables. As Mark 3:23 and 4:11 tells us, Jesus deliberately began speaking in parables to conceal truth to those who rejected Jesus and were guilty of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit. At the same time, the parables were a way to continue to reveal truth about the kingdom of God to those who were genuine believers

The Parable of the Soils is the first parable recorded in the Gospel of Mark. It has four parts, and we studied just the first part together last Sunday. There were three points:

1. The seed. Living in an agrarian society, many of Jesus’ audience were either farmers themselves or walked by farms every single day on their way to work or the market. Jesus uses the familiar metaphor of farming in many of his parables. In this one, he explicitly tells his disciples that the seed being sown represents the Word of God (Mark 4:14). We, like that farmer, have a duty to scatter the seed of God’s Word into the lives of those God has put in our path. But take heart, the results do not depend on your knowledge or skill. The seed itself has power to transform lives (cf. Romans 1:16-17). Just scatter it faithfully and you will be amazed at what God begins to do.

2. The soil. The soil in Jesus’ parable represents the heart of man (cf. Matt. 3:19). The dirt in this story, hardened over time by continual foot traffic, was resistant to the seed. This soil represented the religious leaders of Jesus’ day who had blasphemed against God (Mk. 3:22). Likewise, there are many hard-hearted people today who sadly want nothing to do with God, Jesus, the Bible, or the Church.

3. The snatcher. For the farmer, any seed that drops is the loss of a precious commodity. But for the birds, it is a free meal. Quickly, the birds swoop in and devour the seed. Jesus then draws a parallel in how Satan often snatches the seed of God’s Word away from a hard heart before it has the opportunity to penetrate. It’s in one ear and out the other. Satan may do this through self-righteous religiosity, through false teaching, through ignorance, fatigue, distractions, etc.

Questions for thought and discussion:

• Is it possible that this kind of soil describes me — that I may feel very religious and self-righteous, but in reality am not allowing God’s Word to penetrate my heart?
• Who is someone that God has put on my heart to ‘scatter seed’ and start building a relationship to witness to them? What step will I take this week to do begin doing this? (e.g. make a phone call, invite to lunch, invite to church, etc.)
• Who is one friend or relative that this hard soil describes? Have I given up witnessing to them? What strategies have succeeded or failed in the past?
• Read 2 Timothy 2:24-26. What does this passage teach us about reaching hard-hearted people?
• What can I do each week to ensure the preaching of God’s Word is not being snatched away by the devil? What should I do on Saturday, on Sunday, on Monday?

Due to audio problems, we were only to record the first 15 minutes of Sunday’s sermon. It is now available for free download on our podcast site.

In April, I’ll be teaching a seminar at the Equipped for Excellence teacher training conference in Riverside. The theme of my seminar is “How to Study and Interpret the Bible.”

As part of my research, I thought I’d find out how long the average person prepares for their Sunday School or small group lesson. The length obviously will obviously vary depending on age group, curriculum, etc. But a ballpark idea would be helpful.

Would you mind taking this brief poll? Your answer will help me craft a suggested schedule for how to study and prepare a lesson from start to finish. Thanks.

Pastor and hymn writer John Newton once said, “I am more of a Calvinist than anything else; but I use my Calvinism in my writings and my preaching as I use this sugar.” Taking a lump, and putting it into his tea-cup, and stirring it, he added, “I do not give it alone, and whole; but mixed and diluted.”

That seems to be a pretty healthy view of Calvinism in my opinion. The doctrines of grace are delightful, and if we are to be faithful to the Scriptures we must preach them. But like sugar they can come across too strong if served undiluted to God’s people.

While I don’t make Calvinism a hobby horse, I did decide recently to preach a 5-part series on the Five Points of Calvinism. But I decided not to couch it in those terms. I approached it instead as an inductive, “behind the scenes” look at our salvation. In this way, I hoped to elevate God’s sovereign grace in salvation and challenge some common Arminian assumptions without using labels or arguments that might immediately raise alarm. I was thankful for the result and heard some very positive feedback from our church family.

Here are all five sermons with online audio and download links. I pray these will prove helpful and encouraging to the Body of Christ.

1. Dead Man Walking: Total Depravity (Eph. 2:1-3)
     listen online   download

2. God’s Gracious Choice: Unconditional Election 
    (Eph. 1:3-6)
     listen online   download

3. Christ Our Sin-Bearer: Limited Atonement (1 Pet. 2:24-25)
     listen online   download

4. Saved by the Spirit: Irresistible Grace (Titus 3:1-7)
     listen online   download

5. God Doesn’t Fumble: Perseverance of the Saints 
    (Jn. 10:27-30)
     listen online   download

Related posts:

• What is limited atonement?
• Does God elect some to damnation?
• Cautions for non-Calvinists
• A gentle rebuke to Calvinists

An elderly man had hearing problems for a number of years. His family tried over and over to convince him to get hearing aids, so finally he relented. He went to the doctor and was fitted for a set of hearing aids that allowed him to hear perfectly once again. A month later he went back to the doctor. The doctor said with a smile, “Your hearing is great. Your family must be really glad you can hear again.” The old man replied, “Oh, I haven’t told my family yet. I just sit around and listen to their conversations. I’ve changed my will three times!”

I wonder if we would change how we talk about others if we knew they could hear our conversation. Whenever we speak of others in a way that is hurtful or unsubstantiated, we’re engaging in what the Bible calls gossip.

Now, I have to admit, there’s something exciting about gossip. We scan the tabloids with curiosity. We strain our ears to hear that discussion across the room. We gloat as we share a bit of new dirt we just learned. We lean into a conversation when some juicy detail is about to be revealed. As Proverbs 26:22 puts it, “The words of a whisperer are like dainty morsels, and they go down into the innermost parts of the body.”

But gossip isn’t harmless. It’s deadly. Proverbs 20:19 warns us, “He who goes about as a slanderer reveals secrets, therefore do not associate with a gossip.” Second Timothy 3:3 even says that a sign the end times are approaching is that many will be “unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good.”

Our words reveal a lot about what’s going on inside our hearts. Jesus taught in Matthew 12:34, “the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.” Does your speech imitate Christ, who has “done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth” (Isaiah 53:9)? First God needs to wash our hearts. Then He needs to wash our mouths so we speak blessing instead of cursing.

Let’s resolve today, with God’s help, to say nothing about another person that we would be ashamed to say to their face. When we steer clear of gossip, we don’t have to worry about someone overhearing our conversation. We’ll just be glad they’re interested in what we have to say.

This article was written for the “Ministers Message” of our local newspaper, the Hi Desert Star, and appeared in last Wednesday’s edition.

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. (Eph. 4:31)

Last night, after reading this verse during our Bible Study at church, one of our church members asked the question, “What is clamor?”

In English, “clamor” is defined by Webster as (1a) noisy shouting (1b) a loud continuous noise (2) insistent public expression (like during a protest)

In Greek, the definition is similar. The Greek word in Eph. 4:31 translated “clamor” is krauge . It is a fairly uncommon word (used only 6x in the NT) meaning “a loud cry or call, shout.” According to the BDAG lexicon, it can speak of the clamour of excited persons, shouting back and forth in a quarrel.

Vine says krauge is an onomatopoeic word, imitating the raven’s cry, akin to krazo and kraugazo, “to cry,” denoting “an outcry,” “clamor.” (Can’t you just hear those ravens cawing and crying and shouting krauge angrily at each another, fighting over that little remaining piece of roadkill?)

This same word krauge is used over in Acts 23:9 of the scene in Jerusalem after Paul was arrested: “And there occurred a great uproar; and some of the scribes of the Pharisaic party stood up and began to argue heatedly, saying, ‘We find nothing wrong with this man; suppose a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?’”

Raised voices. Loud cries. Shouts. An uproar. Does this kind of clamorous talk describe your communication? Paul says let it all be put away from you. Instead, “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.” (Eph. 4:32)