28 May Mark Ch.4 verse 7 “When the word of God falls amongst the thorns”. Part 1 of a 4 part series of “The four types of people who hear the word”

In Mark Ch. 1 verse 17, we see Jesus call his first disciples. They were out at sea on their boat, doing the work of a Fisherman. They had lives. They had Family. They had life obligations which is the norm amongst Men and Adults in general.

We are not sure if these Men are married. We are not sure if these Men had kids. The Bible doesn’t say. I would guess to say they weren’t Fathers, as Fatherhood does carry a responsibility. One thing I know for sure, is that they were probably short on though. As we all are.

We divvy up our time in the order of importance. This is true for everyone. Whatever you spend the most time doing, is what is of most importance to you. Balancing your time wisely, is an attribute of the Holy Spirit. If wisdom comes from God, it would make sense that using your time wisely would also come from him. Most of the Apostles Jesus chose for himself were fishermen. When he found Peter and his brother Andrew, they were working as Fishermen.

They were doing something that was very important to them. Working. Our jobs are our livelihood. It is how we make a living to take care of all the things we need in this life. So it was of great importance to them. What made them drop what was greatly important to them to follow Jesus? Most of us are not in-love with our jobs. For most of us, it is a means to make a living, and it doesn’t go beyond that point. It is not something we think about 24/7.

Most of us don’t go home and think about our jobs, and salivating at the mouth because we can’t wait to go back. Most of us like to do the opposite. We like to forget about our jobs as soon as we leave.

Peter and Andrew may have enjoyed being fishermen. Many people do, and to be able to do it for a living is even better. No one just falls into being a fisherman. It’s definitely an occupation you have to go out and choose to do. We are all responsible for taking care of ourselves financially while on this Earth. How we do it will vary from person to person.

Some people love what they do for a living, some people loathe what they do, and some people are in the middle. The one commonality is that our jobs are important to us because it is a means to our survival. That is the point I am trying to get across here. So why would these Men walk away from their source of survival, to follow a Man who had no indication that he would be able to provide them with the things they needed?

Jesus did not say “drop your nets and follow me. I will pay you more than what you make now, and you will have a hefty 401k plan for when you retire from following me”. And when asked, their response to his request was not “how much money will we make to follow you?”. As funny as this may sound, this is the thinking of most people.

Why would I quit my job to follow a man when I need to provide for myself as well as my Family? If you did such a thing, you would be called foolish, stupid, crazy, and list of other choice words. It is just not something a rational person would do most would say. Being rational is great, but being faithful is greater.

And with Faith comes wisdom. Do not practice one without the other. They must be intertwined. God can do all things, but unless he instructs you not to take medicine, or not to go to the Doctors when you are ill, then you should go immediately. Not going and relying on God to heal you is not you exercising faith.

By all means pray to God for a miraculous recovery. God heals who he heals. But do not tempt God into what it is you wish. You will be disappointed many times over.

The Apostles were able to drop all that they were doing, because they did not see Jesus as an ordinary Man. Not everyone saw Jesus as the Apostles did. Take the Pharisees. They saw Jesus as a threat from the very beginning. Not someone to follow, but someone to fear. They were unable to see him for who he truly was, because their minds and their hearts were so preoccupied with holding on to the reputation, position and the power they had forged amongst the people.

Who Jesus truly was, was of no concern to them, only how his presence was affecting their power and influence over the people. When Jesus shows up, things change. This is why he is despised by many. It is not because he heals people. It is because Jesus is light, and whatever is wrong will be exposed while in his presence. This is why most people do not want him around. It is why a lot of people won’t want you around.

Jesus did not dine with sinners to congratulate them on their works. He dined with them to share with them the Gospel, to turn them away from their sinful activities through repentance. Most people do not want to hear that. They do not want Jesus telling them the way they’re living is wrong. They want to be comfortable in whatever it is they’re doing.

When Jesus called his disciples, it was clear to them that whoever this Man is, is of greater importance than anything I’m doing right now. Think about this. They stopped whatever it is they were doing, to follow him. Whenever you prepare to do anything for Jesus, you will usually face another decision. The decision not to do it.

Whatever thoughts that tried to creep into the minds of these Men, were no comparison to what they saw in Jesus. They had the ability to see with their own eyes, our Lord and savior the master at work. We, by Faith, have the Bible as our main source of knowledge of his Earthly ministry. We have not once laid eyes on him. We are believing without seeing. But many saw, and still did not believe.

The effect Jesus had on these Men, even prior to them accepting his invitation, was strong enough to pull them away from everything they’ve ever known. Jesus was the better option out of all the options they’ve ever had available to them, even if there was great uncertainty of what was to lie ahead.

This is the choice all Christians make. We leave behind everything we know and have known, to follow him. He called us away from whatever it is we were doing to follow him. Some of us dropped what it was we were doing to follow him, while others followed for a bit like the Apostles did, and after a while, went back to what we knew best. Our former lives.

When Jesus came back after being resurrected from death, he found the Apostles back at sea fishing. This was after many appearances he already made before them after his Crucifixion. He had separated them from that life prior to his departure. But in a short span of time, they went back and picked up their old lives.

Was Jesus surprised at this? Not at all. He knew their flaws. He knew their Faith needed to be sharpened, and more importantly, they needed a constant presence to keep them Faithful.

Without the Holy Spirit, we cannot fulfill God’s will. If Jesus did not reappear to the Apostles after his crucifixion, and he did not send the Holy Spirit, the Apostles would have continued fishing, wondering what their time with Jesus was really all about. Maybe coming to the conclusion that Jesus was just a prophet.

Sure they would of done some good works. Most men can do that. You don’t have to have faith in God to do good things. Even the unrighteous do good works by some. Even atheist do good works by many. The Holy Spirit is a not a prerequisite for doing good works.

The Holy Spirit is a prerequisite for doing God’s will. God’s will, and a man’s desire to go and do good works are not the same. As long as were are here, there will always be those who are in need. This will never change. Gods will is always driving by the Kingdom and the Eternal, while a man’s good works are driven by the present.

Gods priority is to save your soul. It is not to give you an easy life of comfort and luxury, if these things will cost you eternal life. Man’s desire to do good works, is to provide comfort and easement to those who need it now in this life. But man’s good works cannot save a person from judgement.

When Jesus ask’s Peter “Do you love me Peter, feed my lambs”, he is not saying give them food and do good works by them. He is saying in addition to doing good works and charity, feed them life. Feed them me. Give them the word of God so that they may live forever! Charity and the word of God are married together as one. They are not to be separated.

When our acts are driven by God, there are eternal implications taking place. When are acts are driven by us, there are temporal changes taking place.

Many of God’s prophets were killed. As time passed, the Apostles could have began to reason in their minds that Jesus was just another prophet who was killed by the Jews. After all, who can kill the son go God? Jesus had to appear to them after his crucifixion. Not only to fulfill prophecy, but to show he was not just a prophet as many had mistaking him for during his ministry.

His resurrection not only covered their sins permanently, but it proved once and for all, that he indeed was the Son Of God, because no prophet, no matter how much power God endowed him with, has ever had the ability to resurrect themselves after death.

Only one Man has ever held that power, and that was Jesus thou Son of God. His resurrection proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was who he indeed said he was, and with that the Apostles turned away from their former lives again, never to look back. That is the power of Jesus. To take you away from all that you’ve ever known, to a place you will never return back too.

How many of us have followed Jesus for a while, but after so many years, have gone back to our boats to fish? Hasn’t he separated you from that old life? Why are you back at the boat fishing for fish instead of fishing for Men? Paul said it best in Romans ch. 8 35-39:

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

³⁷ Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. ³⁸ For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

³⁹ Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Which one of these matters have separated you from Christ, and led you back to your old life? The death of the Messiah caused the Apostles to turn back momentarily. Without their leader, without their shepherd, they were scattered.

These things in life that God allows is not meant to destroy you. It is meant to grow you in some way. Satan seeks to destroy. God seeks to grow. Your reaction to these situations will determine which one they will do.

If this is you, go back. You were called to a higher purpose. Jesus is revealing himself to you once again. He’s not upset. He’s not angry. He knows why you went back , but now it’s time to come back and finish what it is he started in you.

All the things Paul lists in Romans 8 verses 35-39 is the thorns that grow up in our lives to choke the Gospel right out of our very hearts. To the point we become unrecognizable. That’s evidence that your light has been hidden under a bushel. Your light has been covered by disappointment, hurt, rejection, failure, loss, and a slew of other things I’m sure.

We cannot forget the things that we lust after. All the comforts and luxury this life can provide. Money, nice clothes, a beautiful home, long vacations. God is not against these things, he is against us making it our lives to attain them.

I’ve been there. These experiences don’t go away the older you get either. I’ve aged every year of my life, and still more challenges come. It doesn’t get easier, but if you follow him again, the more important things become clearer.

God is not at all against success, but what is your definition of success? If it’s having a lot of money to throw around, then you two couldn’t be farther apart when it comes to the definition. Some people make more simply because their occupation calls for them to make more. Some make less because their occupation calls for them to make less.

The dollar amount doesn’t determine the importance of what you do. Most jobs that are extremely helpful in the lives and well-being of others, pay the least. It takes a special type of person to take a profession like that. It takes a certain type of person to follow Jesus as well.

What lured the Apostles away from their old lives, was Jesus. He has the ability to do that. He can take your plans and turn them it’s head. He can do it abruptly in the case of Saul, he can do it suddenly in the case of the Apostles, or he can do it when you are at the lowest part of your life.

No matter how good you thought you had it, you knew it would get better, and if you had it bad prior, you knew it would be better.

The issues of this life, the desires of this life, the pressures and stresses of this life will turn away millions of people from following Jesus. They will not be able to follow him, because they will have become too preoccupied with the cares of this world. I am not saying anything that Jesus has not said himself.

“If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you”. John 15:19

We are affected by what happens around us everyday. But being affected by something in life, is different then allowing the things that affect you, to dictate your life. The thorns have dictated the lives of many, to the point that they have now become fruitless.

They have stopped praying. They have stopped worshiping. They have stopped seeking. They have stopped serving. They have become like the average person. Entangled by the ways and the desires of this world. We are to live in this World, but not to be conformed by it, and this means not to live for it, not to put our hopes in it, not to give our lives to it. But to live for Jesus. For to live is Christ, to die is gain! This means live to do whatever it is he is calling you to do.

What the Apostles knew fishing could never do for their lives that Jesus could do, was give them fulfillment. Jesus reveals purpose. This is what brings fulfillment to a person’s life. A wayward Man will oftentimes be set straight when a child is born, as his focus becomes less about himself, and more about the child.

Jesus’ whole Ministry was about others, not about himself. We are to live in the World, but not be a part of it. It’s way of thinking, it’s ways of living, it’s attitudes, it’s practices, it’s sinful traditions, it’s sinful pleasures. But we are affected by what goes on in this world.

The sinful pleasures of the world become to great of a temptation for them to bear, and these thorns choke the word of God out of the very hearts of those who heard it gladly and believed it. They did bare fruit for a short while, but fell away as the thorns grew too high for them to continue on.

We see this with a man named Demas, who traveled with the Apostle Paul and was a part of his Ministry. Demas was a fellow disciple alongside Paul. When Paul was imprisoned, he made mention of Demas in the book of Colossians, Philemon, and 2nd Timothy. He is mentioned alongside some high profile names at that time, such as Luke, Mark, Aristarchus and fellow prisoner Epaphras.

He was not a “by-stander” or a “hanger-on”, but an active and willing participant in Paul’s ministry and in the work of the Gospel. But in second Timothy ch.4 verse 10, we hear a grave statement from Paul regarding Demas. Demas has abandoned the ministry. Paul says in 2nd Timothy: “for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica“.

What was in Thessaloncia that made Demas forsake Paul, abandon the ministry and the Gospel specifically? Doesn’t matter. Whatever the world was offering was more desirable to him. There are many who will serve God well for a short time. They will do the work. They will lead many to Christ. But the pleasures of this world, and the burning desire within themselves to possess these things, will cause them to perish.

Even as they serve, they satisfy their appetites with perverted doctrine, having the appearance of being one with Christ, but no longer are. They have abandoned the Gospel in order to gain the desires of the World through false doctrine. Many have abandoned the true Gospel for “organized religion”, what I like to call “worldly religion”. The kind of religion that includes everyone and offends no one.

“In this world you will have trouble“. This is Jesus’s proclamation in John 16:33. This is a cautionary statement. Those who make it to the end, are the ones who will be glorified with Christ. This is a wonderful message, but also a message of warning. Good works by a man today, does not mean eternal life tomorrow. Those who belong to Christ will struggle, but they will not abandon by the Gods grace.

Falling away for a short while, as David did, and abandoning are two different things. The man who loves the Lord will always repent swiftly when judged. The others, when judged and rebuked, will become even more stubborn, and continue in their perverted doctrine and in unrighteousness, proving that they can longer hear God.

The prideful and the hardened cannot hear God. It is like banging a strand of cotton on a slab of cement. When God is appealing to their hearts, they hear no sound.

They know God’s word, but it has now just become words to their ears, having no power nor effect on the life of those who speak and teach it. Mark 4:19 explains why this is so: “And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.” They know God’s word, but their attention has been shifted from the Gospel to the things of this life.

You cannot have a worldly mindset and enter into eternity. The same as you cannot have a fleshly body, and live in a celestial habitat such as Heaven. Heaven is for the celestial, Earth is for the flesh.

Satan took Jesus up to the highest of mountains, and promised him all that’s in it for one act of worship. He is doing the same thing with you and I. When at our weakest, he offers us all the sinful desires of our hearts. Do not confuse the weakest point in the person’s life, as rock bottom only.

NO! We are at our weakest when everything is going right in our lives and comfort has set in as well! If you come into a lot of money, that is a great blessing. But beware, you will endure an entirely new set of temptation and challenges. Pray for those in your life. Pray that God’s word has found solid ground in them. Unless they are lost to the thorns of life.

Please don’t believe your inheritance cannot be lost! Jesus has spelled out the very people who will lose it. You cannot go on committing your life to a life of sin, and expect God to honor you. Would you indefinitely support a child financially who was intent on gambling and abusing drugs with a money inheritance you had given them? No. You would implore them to correct their behaviour before you blessed them with such a thing.

A blessing that has not been put into a person’s life at the right time or at the right moment, can be the difference between eternal life or eternal separation from God.

Part two of this mini-series will focus on the word of God falling on another type of individual, and what happens once they receive it. Jesus describes it as stony ground.

As always, I hope you are doing well and God has provided you with safety and comfort. You can leave a comment, questions, prayers, and reach out to me anytime.

God Bless you sincerely.

Peter