Sun Kwak, “Deep Deep Oh Deep Down Down”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hSGs5qYOXo

TEXT: Mark 4:1-20

[1] Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. [2] And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: [3] “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. [4] And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. [5] Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. [6] And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. [7] Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. [8] And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” [9] And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

[10] And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. [11] And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, [12] so that

“‘they may indeed see but not perceive,

and may indeed hear but not understand,

lest they should turn and be forgiven.’”

[13] And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? [14] The sower sows the word. [15] And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. [16] And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. [17] And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. [18] And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, [19] but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. [20] But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

SERMON: “Deep Deep Oh Deep Down Down”

You might have gathered through the title of our sermon today. And if you grew up in the church, you might know this title. It’s a kid’s song that I grew up singing in church in the 90’s. And the song starts — Deep, deep oh deep down, down deep down in my heart (I love my Jesus). But that’s just the beginning of the song. The really exciting part of the song is when the person leading would, after a couple lines, ask the kids singing along — Do you love your Jesus deep down in your heart? And no matter where it was, no matter how you were feeling, no matter what time of day. When that question got asked, every kid would scream at the top of their lungs — YES I LOVE MY JESUS! Deep down in my heart. It’s something we all looked forward to singing, because we always wanted to be as loud as we could be. It was a guaranteed, a foregone conclusion — again, no matter where it was, no matter how you were feeling, no matter what time of day — you, along with every other kid in that place would respond with fullest joy and enthusiasm. I looked back on that this past week and wondered — If only our hearts would always respond like that, right? If only that were representative of real life. And I don’t mean to sound jaded or begin this sermon on a minor chord. Because maybe when you’re asked that — Do you love your Jesus deep down in your heart? Maybe some seasons, maybe right now, it’s a resounding — YES I LOVE MY JESUS! But if you’re like me, maybe you go through ebbs and flows. And maybe sometimes, more often than you’d like to admit, the answer is affected by our circumstances, by what we’re experiencing, by how we’re feeling. And maybe the honest response is something — I’d like to, but at the moment, I don’t. Or, I forgot what that felt like. Or, My head says yes, my heart says no.

It reminds me of one of my favorite parts of the Psalms. And it’s in Psalm 42:5, where the Psalmistisn’t quite feeling it at the moment. About this particular Psalm, Martyn Lloyd-Jones referred to it as the Psalm describing spiritual depression. And there, in Psalm 42:5, we get the honest expression of one affected by his circumstance. But alongside that, we also get the unique confession that comes from Christian hope. We read there — Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall against praise him, my salvation and my God. And what this verse is saying is that at the moment, this Psalmist is affected by this inner turmoil. And it’s affecting his worship, because doesn’t feel the love of God enough to praise him. And yet, what does he say? For I shall again praise him. Meaning he’s not praising him right now. But he’s confident he will again. And why? Because he has confidence in himself? Because he thinks his cast down soul is able to conjure up the strength to praise God in his despair? Because he’s thinking clearly enough with that inner turmoil? No, because amidst all of what he’s feeling and experiencing that’s contrary to worshiping God, he has confidence — not in himself but outside of himself. He says that his hope is in God. We’re in this parable for a second week. And we noted the secret, the purpose of this parable last week. And today, we’re going to look into the implications — what the sowing represents and what Jesus is trying to teach through it. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.” There is something about sowing and our relationship to hearing God’s Word that is essential to our destiny. From thinking to acting to habiting to reaping, we want to shape our character toward our destiny. Because the Word of God carries us in every season. And the deeper we sow this Word, the greater our resistance to storms and the more resilient our heart’s compass toward home. And it takes repeated and habited patterns of hearing the Word.

You look at the beginning portion of our passage today. In verse 3 and verse 9, the bookends of Jesus’initial narrating of the parable — these begin and close with the word hearing. And that’s the emphasis. Because this hearing is how seeds take root in our hearts  to catalyze growth in the Kingdom. And a very important thing to note is that hearing is a response. This means that growth in the Kingdom is not dependent upon us and is not about us. Our relation to it is how we respond to it when hearing about it. Because our hearing neither affects what’s been done or what’s been said. You can’t change the contents of a story because of the way you hear it. The story remains the same. Because hearing, once again, is a response. And you consider the different soils here in our passage, what’s most important is about the depth to which the seed is sown. Those sown along the path are those that are snatched away. The Word never sinks down, because they’re snatched up when visibly vulnerable. Those sown on rocky soil are those where the roots aren’t deep enough where they can withstand the storms. There’s an emotional reaction but not a theological or spiritual depth. And then, those sown on the thorns are those that are distracted, as those who get overwhelmed. And I think this is where most of us might be. Because these thorns and weeds are those that suck out the nutrients around them. And so, the seed doesn’t get a chance to sink in, because when not hearing with intentionality, regularity, and commitment, the distractions and the concerns and the noise around can be overwhelming. They will always suck away at our attention. And you can fill in the blank for how this might apply to you, whether it’s bad habits with the phone, or overworking at your job, or consumed by a sinful addiction, or obsessed with securing your future, or just mindlessly drifting. Because we live in a busying world, where our attention will always be grabbed by something around us, if we aren’t attentive to the threats of our surroundings.

But unlike the first three soils, with this fourth and good soil, what’s described is not merely the health of the soil but the depth of the sowing. And how do we know this? Because of how the parable ends — where fruit is borne thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and hundredfold. This incredible and otherworldly growth and yielding. And as we’ll note through a future parable — one involving a mustard seed. In order to see good fruit, what’s hidden but equally deep are strong and good roots. What’s beneath the surface and can’t be seen immediately but what must precede the growth. Because something must first happen under the surface, with the depth of the sowing that amounts to this incredible growth. With the first three soils, when you look at the Greek, the hearing is done in what’s called the aorist tense. And the aorist tense represents an event or action that’s often describing something one-time and isolated. There is a temporariness to it that doesn’t assume repetition. But in contrast to this aorist tense with the first three soils, with the fourth and good soil, the hearing is described to be done in the present tense. And this signifies a continuous hearing of the Word. And here’s where I think that’s important. Because with the first three soils, the aorist tense seems to suggest a circumstantial hearing. Whether it’s with felt needs or emotional elation or mere happen chance. Different seasons bring different people under different circumstances to hear God’s Word. And that’s not to say that God can’t or won’t or doesn’twork through these isolated means, because he absolutely does. But if our hearing is limited to circumstantial hearing — when we feel like it or when we feel the need or when it’s appealing or convenient or when we’ve run out of options. And while God still uses those moments, because the Word never returns void. And yet, if circumstantial hearing is all we get, then it’s hard for the seed of the Word to truly sink down deeply into our hearts.

“I want to share some words from our brother Cal Wong that I received this past week. And if you don’t know Cal, he’s a deacon at our church, and his wife Bora, who’s one of my personal heroes, has been slowly dying from cancer. They’re home now, listening in through the livestream. So, Hi Cal. But it’s been a long and slow dying — one that’s brought about questions about the goodness of God. Here’s what he wrote, and I get to share this personal conversation with you with his permission. So, thanks again Cal.

Last night, I was not just “questioning God’s presence in this prolonged situation”, but I actually was questioning His goodness and why He would let Bora suffer so much when I’ve been crying out to Him for hours to come and have mercy on Bora. Honestly, shaking my fist at God, I was ready to say if You’ve abandoned us in our time of need, then I guess You don’t really care and I was ready to turn my back on Him and walk away from it all.

But, this morning, after reading through Lamentations 3 and a few Ask Pastor Johns — and remembering what I had said to you not long ago — I realize I HAVE to hang onto my hope in Christ. If I don’t, I think I’d have a mental breakdown. I HAVE to hang onto that hope that I’ll see Bora again — “on the other side” — where she’d be fully restored.  

I know it’s the cancer that I should be angry towards and not God. And, I think my mind would’ve easily been there 10 years ago. And, under your preaching and coming to know the truth about God’s sovereignty, it actually makes it all the harder. Knowing that He is sovereign over this cancer and its behavior. And, that the degree of pain and the duration of the pain — He is sovereign over all of it. That’s what makes it so hard. But, I know that God is just allowing cancer to be just what cancer is and what cancer does. It’s His grace and mercy to intervene and He doesn’t have to because we actually don’t deserve His intervention. I guess that’s why it’s grace and mercy.

Going to read through Job again today. I’m sure something will speak to me through that book.”

I don’t know the mind of God or presume to know his ways. But I’m certain that what’s anchoring Cal is not merely what he’s reading at the moment. But what he’s reading is helping him recall and remember. Years ago, when Cal was spending so much time reading and studying and listening to God’s Word, I don’t think he foresaw that it was to ready him and to develop deep roots to endure through watching his wife die a slow death from this cancer. But because he regularly did, the roots are there to hold him up when the winds get strong. Because of his continuous and regular commitment to hearing God’s Word grow deep roots in his heart.

My sisters and my brothers, you might not have a dying spouse. You might not be on your last days battling cancer. But all of us are on a journey called life. And even for the best of us, because we live in fallen world under fallen conditions, there are seasons where you won’t want to praise God. There are seasons where you won’t be feeling it. There are seasons that make us question God’s goodness and his presence in our lives. Because we live in a thorny, scorching, rocky world filled with things that want to lure us away from what’s sown into the dirt. To regularly be in God’s Word is not just for our hearts are brimming with praise. But it’s for when we really don’t feel it. We must develop habits to be in God’s Word. But with our hope in God, we can trust and know that, like the Psalmist, again I will praise him. Because something about this incredible power generates thirtyfold, sixtyfold, hundredfold yielding. Something about it can make dead hearts beat with life. It can sustain suffering saints with hope that comes from the outside. That even when we can’t say at the moment and at top of our lungs — YES I LOVE MY JESUS. Even then, we can know that deep deep oh deep down down, deep down in our hearts, Jesus is still there. And because our hope is in him, we can trust that he will turn our hearts back to him.

And here’s how we know. Because here’s what we get with this seed that’s sown deep. We mentioned that something happens under the surface that amounts to this incredible growth. And the apostle Pauluses this analogy of sowing seeds over in 1 Corinthians 15, when describing the resurrection of Jesusand what that means and how that’s shared for those who believe in Christ. There, he describes this in verses 36-38: “What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.” And what he’s describing there is that when a seed is sown into the ground, it’s not the seed that sprouts up. What comes out of the ground looks nothing like the seed. But the seed has to undergo a death in order to bring about what’s raised to life. And here is the secret to understanding this parable — to how this Word that’s sown amounts to life for us. And why we must deeply sow this seed, this Word, into our hearts. And why we can say that even when we aren’t in a worshiping posture, that our hope in God still remains, when this Word is deeply sown into our hearts. For wouldn’t you know? There was one who had to undergo death. That through this Story, we know of a seed, the Word — the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us — who had to undergo a death? In order for us to experience growth and the flourishing of life upon our soil, this seed, this Word would have to land upon cursed soil to drag his cross and pin it into the dirt and to undergo death that we might have life. That for us to flourish, Jesus would have to take upon a tree — the cursed tree and plant it into the dirt, to hang there for the sins of his people. For he, the seed, was always meant to be planted and buried. As Sally Lloyd-Jones writes in her Jesus Storybook Bible, it takes the whole Bible to tell this Story.

And it takes us all the way back to the Garden, where there is a seed promised. The seed of the womanwho would go to battle with the seed of the serpent, with sin and death. And while we receive the benefits of being nourished into good soil when trusting in God’s Word, this seed, this Word, this Sonperfectly trusted in the Scriptures. And yet, he did not receive the flourishing of life as he deserved. But he took upon the curses of those who often times forget and don’t hear. And while we need to bury his promises into our hearts, it’s he who committed, who dove into our soiled stories to rescue us. It was he who would experience the snatching of birds, like we find in verse 4, which in the books of Ezekiel and Revelation, represents the ultimate form of judgment and decay. Where it’s the great feast for the birds who eat on the flesh of those incurring death and defeat. And not just the snatching up of the birds but also the scorching sun, like we find in verse 6, is what the book of Ecclesiastes refers to as life in this cursed world. And the thorns and thistles, like we read in verse 7, we know as the curses not just of the ground but what Jesus, the Word, the seed, the King of this upside down kingdom, would come to wear on his head — the crown of thorn and thistles — to represent to us this exchanged reality. For this seed endured the scorching noonday sun of God’s wrath and the sweat of his brows and the thorns and thistles to sow deeply into the hearts of those who come to hear his Story that everything is done, that it is finished. That when we read this book, it’s not a story hanging on the balance. But we can plant what’s written in here deep into our hearts. And as the seed who was killed, who was buried, who was planted was then raised to newness of life, the promise is that when we take this Word and its promises and bury it into our hearts, he is there. In our experiences of deep pain and hurt and darkness, he is there. And so, we sow this Word deep into our hearts, because his promise to us is that his hope is stronger than our inner turmoil, that his truth about what he’s done and what’s said is stronger than the lies we hear.

Because hearing is a response. And sometimes, our hearing gets affected by our circumstances, by the deafening pain, by the false narratives of shame. But when we can habit ourselves to regularly sowing this Word into our hearts, it will remind us of our hope, our destiny. Because this is not a Word to be altered, but in the words of Martin Luther, it is a book with legs. It will search us, convict us, and findus. We bury this seed into our hearts, and we do it regularly in and out of season. Because the Word is not just a database we access during times we need recall and remembrance. But it is living and active. B. B. Warfield says that the Word of God is God’s Word such that when it speaks to us, that’s Godspeaking to us. Like a parent who sees a distraught child — maybe it was a bruise on the knee, an open scab on the elbow, after receiving hurtful words, after feeling left out among friends, after failing to do something she set out to do. That parent moves toward that child, to give her words that she already knows but needs to remember and to recall. And the Word of God is the way God draws near to his distraught children. As Bernard of Clairvaux says, these are the words of a Father who desires the company of his children. Through a Father’s love for his children, through a Savior’s commitment to his people, through a Friend’s dedication toward reminders of gospel comfort, we sow this Word into our hearts. And we commit to doing it in and and out of season.