Introduction Kingdom Instruction - The Six Blessing Blockers

David W Palmer

(Mark 4:2, 34 NKJV) Then He taught them many things by parables, ... {34} But without a parable He did not speak to them. And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples.

Jesus’s apprenticeship program included much teaching, impartation, and instruction as well as practical on-the-job training. In this series of studies, we focus on his kingdom parables and their explanations, etc. The key parables—so called because they unlock Jesus’s other parables and teaching—are found in Matthew 13, Mark 4, and Luke 8; on what I call, The Day God Explained Himself.

During his 3.5 years of earthly ministry, Jesus revealed a lot of information about God’s kingdom and how to operate in it successfully. But most of this teaching came in the form of parables: “Without a parable he did not speak to them.” His reason for this, and the key to understanding them, is found in his paramount kingdom parable. This parable is so vital that God gave it to us in detail with its explanation three times in the New Testament: Mat. 13, Mark 4, and Luke 8. Our Lord said that this primary kingdom parable has to be completely understood before we can gain the full benefit of his other kingdom parables. So in this series of studies, we investigate it thoroughly before moving on to his other kingdom instruction. I encourage you to open your heart prayerfully and expectantly as you prepare to receive his crucial words for you.

The Six Blessing Blockers

So, what did Jesus say on the day God explained himself?

(Mark 4:3–8 DKJV) “Listen! Look! A sower (farmer planting seeds) went out to sow. {4} And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell alongside the road; and the birds came and devoured it. {5} And some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. {6} But when the sun rose, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it was withered up. {7} And some seed fell into the thorns; and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. {8} But other seed fell on good ground, and it was coming up, growing, and yielding fruit; and it was producing—some thirty times as much, some sixty, and some a hundred.”

In this pivotal parable, Jesus describes the success and failure of God’s kingdom word when sown in various human hearts. He describes four types of soil:

The ground compacted into a road

The stony ground

The thorny ground

The good ground

The good ground yielded three levels of harvest: “Some thirty times as much, some sixty, and some a hundred.” The hundred-fold increase is what God and we would like to see happen with his word.

In the non-productive soil, Jesus mentioned three things that prevent the harvest:

Devouring birds

Scorching sun

Choking weeds

In his explanation, Jesus delineated this further into 6 enemies that fight to stop the fruitfulness of God’s word in our lives:

(Mark 4:14–20 DKJV) “The sower sows the Word. {15} And these are those by the wayside (the side of the road), where the Word is sown. And when they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the Word that was sown in their hearts.

{16} And these are those likewise being sown on stony places, who, when they hear the Word, immediately receive it with joy. {17} But they have no root in themselves, but are temporary. Afterward, when affliction or persecution arises for the Word’s sake, immediately they are offended.

{18} And these are those being sown among thorns: such as hear the Word, {19} and the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

{20} And these are those sown on good ground, who hear the Word, delight in it, and bear fruit, one thirty-fold, another sixty-fold, and another a hundredfold.”

The six blessing-blockers that Jesus reveals here are:

Satan stealing God’s word seed before it can take root

Affliction

Persecution

The cares of this world, i.e. worries, anxiety, stress & mental pressure

The deceitfulness of riches

The lusts of other things entering in

This is not merely one list among many others of things to avoid; it is far more than a few helpful pointers to coach us in life; this is the list—the wisdom of the world’s greatest teacher, with the world’s most crucial content, using the best possible teaching technique, on the ultimate occasion—the day God explained himself.

It is complete: no new discoveries will be added to it; no appendices will be attached; and no revisions to it will ever be made.

Here in this parable and his list of blessing-blockers, Jesus has clarified the key to everything regarding God’s kingdom. All of his other Biblical explanations, parables, teachings, doctrine, and applications are unlocked by it, come out of it, or expand upon it.

Therefore, we need to give this parable, and Jesus’s explanation of it, the attention and single-minded focus it deserves. May the Father give us his “Spirit of wisdom and revelation” as we seek to learn all we can from Jesus’s disclosure here. (See the apostle Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 1 to learn about the prayer for the spirit of wisdom and revelation.)

(Mark 4:13 NLT) Then Jesus said to them, “If you can’t understand the meaning of this parable, how will you understand all the other parables?”

In making this radical statement, our Lord is revealing that his most important information and explanations of God’s kingdom, and how it works for us, come in parables. Moreover, he is emphatically stating that this parable is the key that unlocks all the other parables. So we will investigate the six blessing blockers Jesus listed, seeking to understand them so we can overcome them.

Again, I emphasize that the six blessing-blockers list Jesus gave us here is a complete list. Knowing about them and how to deal with them is therefore an essential part of basic training for anyone hoping to excel in God’s kingdom and who wants to walk in all of its benefits. (In the following chapters, we will look at them in detail, one at a time.)

Today, I encourage you to fix your heart and attention on God’s word. I also encourage you to accept that what we study in this parable is of paramount importance to your understanding of how God’s kingdom works, and to your operating in it successfully. The following Psalm will empower your resolve to have God’s word as the first and final authority for everything in your life. I encourage you to look very closely at it, and to meditate deeply upon it:

(Psalm 112:1–8 NKJV) Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, Who delights greatly in His commandments (word). {2} His descendants will be mighty on earth; The generation of the upright will be blessed. {3} Wealth and riches will be in his house, And his righteousness endures forever. {4} Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness; He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous. {5} A good man deals graciously and lends; He will guide his affairs with discretion. {6} Surely he will never be shaken; The righteous will be in everlasting remembrance. {7} He will not be afraid of evil tidings; His heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD. {8} His heart is established; He will not be afraid, Until he sees his desire upon his enemies. (Parenthesis added)

This Psalm begins with an amazing list of benefits; but it also reveals that to appropriate and walk in them, we need to fulfill the following conditions:

“Delights greatly in His commandments” (God’s word)

“Deals graciously and lends”

“His heart is steadfast” (firmly fixed, stable, and upright) “trusting the Lord”

“His heart is established.”

This amazingly blessed man has his mind made up; his heart is fixed, steadfast, and established. He made a quality decision, from which there is no turning back, that he will trust God and his word 100%. He decides this in advance of even seeing what is in the word. In other words, he pre-decides that whatever he finds in God’s word he believes—no matter what it means to him, or costs him personally. This is the attitude we need when we approach the key parable that Jesus taught—the parable of the sower.

I encourage you today to settle your heart once and for all that God’s word is true, and that you already believe it—even before you fully understand it; that you “delight greatly” in it, and that you will apply it in your life as the indisputable truth. Pray now, and dedicate your heart fully to trusting in the Lord through his word, no matter what it costs you personally, or what it takes to apply it.