Why Parables?

I want to begin by saying that our text for the morning is a rather difficult text even though it is only three verses.  Therefore, I need you to really pay close attention.  I am not going to be long this morning, and I am going to try to be as simple and plainspoken as I can be.

 

In May, we are going to look at four parables in Mark’s gospel starting next week with the Parable of the Sower or the Soils and the Parable of the Lamp and the Parable of the Growing Seed and the Parable of the Mustard Seed.  However, before we get to May and those parables, I want to try and explain what is a parable and explain why Jesus used parables.

 

Therefore, I want to pray for clarity on my part and understanding for you.  Then, I am going to answer five questions that I think you might have regarding this passage.  If you have more or one that I don’t address, talk to me afterward or email it to me.

 

 

Exposition

1. What is a parable? Mark 4:10

10 But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable.

 

Dr. Jimmy Pritchard has said for years and years that “a parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.”  Next week, you’re going to hear an earthly story about a farmer sowing seed into various kinds of soils.  These first century hearers would have completely identified with such.

Jesus would use these common stories about everyday objects or activities that His audience would know or recognize, and these earthly stories communicated or illustrated or explained a heavenly or spiritual meaning. 

 

His parables could also be seen as analogies, and His parables often contained similes.  A simile is a comparison using like or as.  In May, you will hear Jesus say, “The kingdom of heaven is like…”  That wording will introduce a parable.

 

In the parable of the sower and the soils, that sower is a symbol.  The seed is a symbol.  The four different types of soil are symbolic.  Jesus evens explained the meaning of that parable, and it has a heavenly meaning. 

 

So again, a parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. 

 

 

2. What is a mystery and what was the mystery of the kingdom of God? Mark 4:11a

11 And He said to them, “To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God…

 

A mystery can be something that will never be explained or understood.  However, in the Bible, it is something that can only be communicated through special revelation.    

 

The mystery of the Kingdom of God here in Mark is not a mystery in the sense that it can’t be understood, but it is a secret that not everyone yet knew.

 

The mystery of the Kingdom of God is that Jesus Christ was and is the Messiah.  He is the Son of God.  He is the Savior of the world.  The Kingdom of God is only accessed through Him. 

 

There are also others mysteries of the kingdom of heaven that are revealed in the New Testament.  First, 1 Corinthians 15:51 says believers will have glorified bodies in heaven. 

 

Second, Ephesians 5:32 says that the relationship between Christ and His Church is a mystery in that Jesus, a Jew, is in an intimate relationship with anyone who would surrender their life to Him including Gentiles. 

 

Third, Colossians 2:2 says the Trinity is a mystery.  God the Father is God, and Jesus Christ, the Son, is God. 

 

Finally, 1 Timothy 3:9 speaks of the mystery of faith.  That is a person can be and is saved by the grace of God through personal faith in Jesus Christ.  Therefore, again, Jesus used and uses parables to reveal mysteries to His disciples.

 

 

3. Who were the insiders? Mark 4:10-11a

10 But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable. 11 And He said to them, “To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God…

 

That is not a word that you find in this verses, but the idea is here.  The insiders were His disciples.  The NASB actually uses the word “followers.”  This was a large group that included the smaller group of the twelve. 

Today, the insiders are those who are saved.  They have received Jesus Christ as their Messiah.  They have understood the mystery of the Kingdom God through recognizing Jesus as Lord and Savior.

 

However, being an insider doesn’t mean you never have questions.  Next week, the insiders won’t understand the parable at first, and they will need further explanation.  An insider is one who is willing to ask questions and go to Jesus for the answers and accept His answers in faith.

 

 

4. Who were the outsiders? Mark 4:11b

…but to those who are outside, all things come in parables…

 

In the second part of verse 11, Jesus mentioned “those who are outside.”  Presumably, that is outside the Kingdom of God.  Therefore, an outsider is one who purposefully and diligently rejects the gospel of Christ. 

 

In this context, the scribes who came down from Jerusalem who accused Jesus of being demon-possessed were outsiders.

 

Today, lost people are outsiders, and they don’t understand the ways of God, and they don’t understand what it means to be lost and in need of a savior.  They don’t understand many, if not all, of the things that you I know but take for granted in being saved.

Remember what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:18-25.

 

1 Corinthians 1:18-25, 18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”  20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

 

 

5. What are the purposes of parables? Mark 4:12

12…so that ‘Seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand; Lest they should turn, and their sins be forgiven them.’”

 

In 4:12, Jesus quoted from Isaiah 6:9-10.  The context is the call of Isaiah.  The Lord let Isaiah know that even though he was called to preach to Israel, many Jews would not listen, and therefore, show that they don’t care.

 

In this verse, Jesus basically said that even though lost people see the gospel and hear the message, they don’t get it.  They don’t understand.  They don’t comprehend because they have rejected the grace of God in their lives.

 

Therefore, the parables of Christ have two purposes.

 

First of all, they reveal more of Christ and His kingdom to those who are saved.  If you are saved, the parables in the four gospels give us phenomenal insight into the mysteries of His kingdom.

 

Secondly, they confuse.  When people see yet choose not to understand or hear and choose not to listen, God uses parables as a kind of judgment on those who are outsiders.  They remain confused until they decide to surrender to Jesus.

 

Just as there are today, there were plenty in the first century who did not follow Jesus as Lord and Savior.  In other words, they rejected Him and His claims and works.  Therefore, Jesus used parables to conceal or hide truth from them and also to judge them.  He used parables like a door.  You can see through a window and to what is on the other side.  You can’t see through a door.  Their inability to understand was a judgment for their initial unbelief.

 

 

Conclusion

Now, let me close with two applications.  Relating to parables, Jesus said in Matthew 1312 for whoever has, to him more will be given.  However, whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.  In short, you have to act on what God has given you or told you. 

 

If you are here today and you have heard they gospel and you a refusing to answer the call to salvation, your time to be saved is drawing to close.  Every day, you get one day closer to the end of your life.  Eventually, God’s chances for you are going to run out.  Call on the name of the Lord today.  Be saved today.  Surrender your life to Jesus today.

 

Another application is for those who have been born again.  When God tells you to do something, if you do it, God will continue to lead you and guide you.  However, if God gives you instruction and guidance and you don’t do it or you reject it, God will eventually stop giving you wisdom and guidance.

 

Allow me to illustrate.  Let’s say a husband is having an affair with his secretary.  He then is given an opportunity to relocate his family to another location of the company for more money but it would mean moving to another state in another part of the country.  If he were to ask God in prayer what he should do, I think God would remind Him to stop the affair first, and wouldn’t give any further guidance until that was obeyed.

 

Let’s say a wife and mother is asking God to protect her and her family from rumors at school and in the community.  However, she is right in the middle of the gospel circle at her Thursday night Bunko Group.  I don’t believe God will answer her prayer for protection until she stops the gossiping that she is doing.

 

My final example is for teenagers.  I think it is futile and a waste of time for teenagers to ask God where to go to college when those same teenagers are sleeping with their boyfriend or girlfriend. 

Act on what God has already told you.  Then after you do that, more understanding and guidance will be given to you.  If you refuse to act on what God has already said, don’t expect God to continue to lead and guide your life.

 

Therefore, parables can do one thing for believers and a completely different thing for lost people.  How will you respond today to God’s Word?