Week 26 The Word Takes Root in Stony Places
“God is always at work around you.”
Henry Blackaby
Passage
14“The sower sows the word.
15“And these are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them.
16“And in a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy;
17and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away.
(Mark 4:14–17, NASB)
"Rich soil" by Adalberto Gonzaga is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
Background
Quote-Henry T. Blackaby was born in British Columbia. He studied English and History at the University of British Columbia as an undergraduate and earned his B.D. and Th.M. from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. Blackaby went on to serve on the staff at the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention and also served as special assistant to the presidents of the International Mission Board and LifeWay Christian Resources. He has notably published many spiritual books. One of his most popular publications was Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God in 1990, selling seven million copies. Blackaby also won the Gold Medallion Award for the devotionals, Experiencing God Together and Experiencing God Day by Day.
Passage-First The book of Mark is a Gospel that contains Narrative History, Sermons, Parables, and some Prophetic Oracles. This Gospel has somewhat of an emphasis in miracles (27 total) which is significantly more than any of the other Gospels. The key word in Mark is "Immediately" which is used 34 times. Mark is the shortest of the synoptic gospels and was written about 64 A.D.
It was written by John Mark who was one of the missionaries who accompanied Paul and Barnabas on their mission trips. It is possible that Mark wrote this Gospel at the urging of Peter (his companion in Rome) since he had firsthand knowledge of the things that Mark wrote about.
The purpose of the Gospel of Mark is to show that the Lord Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God who was sent to suffer and to serve in order to rescue and restore mankind.
Lesson Notes
Opening Statement
The sower of the word, the Holy Spirit spends time sprinkling God’s seeds on our lives. We read the road signs but do we hear the words? Do we work to understand those words? When we understand how those words interlace with our lives do we then take action or do we simply file it away as too burdensome to do anything about?
Ask: What does verse seventeen mean, “…have no firm root in themselves?”
Point: Let’s first look at the definition of the word “root.”
Ask: If a “root” means something unseen that causes a plant or a person to become “fixed or established” what is this root we are supposed to have but might not?
Point: Re-read the first question.
Ask: Now, what does it mean to “…have no firm root in themselves?”
Point: They don’t know who they are.
Ask: What does it mean to know who you are?
Point: Know what you are capable of doing. Know what you believe. Know where you draw lines, to this point and no further or I will fight you either figuratively or actually.
Ask: Do we want to be known as someone who “…have no root in themselves?”
Point: I hope not.
Ask: What do we do about that?
Point: To answer this, let’s first understand in a deeper way what it means to have no firm root in ourselves by looking at the original parable Jesus gave first before He explained what it meant.
First Reading (Mark 4:4–6, NASB)
Ask: What is “stony ground” and why is “no depth of earth” bad for roots?
Point: Rocks and stones have no nutrients for plants, no water retention. Stones give roots no where to hold on. Earth is what is solid, what carries both nourishment and sustenance in the form of water. Earth also allows roots to send out smaller tendrils weaving a web of support to anchor the plant’s above the surface component.
Ask: The sower is the Holy Spirit. The seed is the Word of God. What is the earth?
Point: God and Jesus.
Second Reading
Closing Statement
The second reading is the closing statement
Questions for the Week
Question 1 Spend greater time this week with the longer passage from Deuteronomy at the end of the lesson titled Deeper Earth.
Question 2 For a deeper dive spend time contemplating all of chapter twenty-nine from Deuteronomy this week.
Question 3 Where is the faith of your deeper earth?
Question 4 What covenant do you have with God concerning your faith?
Question 5 In a covenant both sides agree to do things regardless of what the other side does or does not do. What have you agreed with God to do regardless of what He does?
Question 6 Write in your journal how you expect to pluck out the stones and deepen the earth of your faith.
Scripture
First Reading
4and it came about that as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up.
5“And other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil.
6“And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.
(Mark 4:4–6, NASB)
Second Reading
18lest there shall be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations; lest there shall be among you a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood.
19“And it shall be when he hears the words of this curse, that he will boast, saying, ‘I have peace though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart in order to destroy the watered land with the dry.’
20“The Lord shall never be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and His jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse which is written in this book will rest on him, and the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven.
(Deuteronomy 29:18–20, NASB)
Definitions
root
[ root, root ]
noun
a part of the body of a plant that develops, typically, from the radicle and grows downward into the soil, anchoring the plant and absorbing nutriment and moisture.
a similar organ developed from some other part of a plant, as one of those by which ivy clings to its support.
verb (used with object)
to fix by or as if by roots: We were rooted to the spot by surprise.
to implant or establish deeply: Good manners were rooted in him like a second nature.
verb (used without object)
to become fixed or established.
Digital Technology. to manipulate the operating system of a smartphone, tablet, etc.Compare jailbreak (def. 4).
Deep Earth
10“You stand today, all of you, before the Lord your God: your chiefs, your tribes, your elders and your officers, even all the men of Israel,
11your little ones, your wives, and the alien who is within your camps, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water,
12that you may enter into the covenant with the Lord your God, and into His oath which the Lord your God is making with you today,
13in order that He may establish you today as His people and that He may be your God, just as He spoke to you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
14 “Now not with you alone am I making this covenant and this oath,
15but both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God and with those who are not with us here today
16(for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed.
17“Moreover, you have seen their abominations and their idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold, which they had with them);
18lest there shall be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations; lest there shall be among you a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood.
19“And it shall be when he hears the words of this curse, that he will boast, saying, ‘I have peace though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart in order to destroy the watered land with the dry.’
20“The Lord shall never be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and His jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse which is written in this book will rest on him, and the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven.
(Deuteronomy 29:10–20, NASB)