#S2-018: In the Parable of the Sower, What Are the Lust of Other Things? [Podcast]

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Radio personality Paul Harvey tells the story of how an Eskimo kills a wolf. The account is grisly, yet it offers fresh insight into the consuming, self-destructive nature of sin. First, the Eskimo coats his knife blade with animal blood and allows it to freeze. Then he adds another layer of blood, and another, until the blade is completely concealed by frozen blood. Next, the hunter fixes his knife in the ground with the blade up. When a wolf follows his sensitive nose to the source of the scent and discovers the bait, he licks it, tasting the fresh frozen blood. He begins to lick faster, more and more vigorously, lapping the blade until the keen edge is bare. Feverishly now, harder and harder the wolf licks the blade in the arctic night. So great becomes his craving for blood that the wolf does not notice the razor-sharp sting of the naked blade on his own tongue, nor does he recognize the instant at which his insatiable thirst is being satisfied by his OWN warm blood. His carnivorous appetite just craves more—until the dawn finds him dead in the snow! In this closing episode to the series ‘The Parable of the Sower’, we’ll talk about how to avoid the wolf’s lustful fate. 1

This is part 7 of the Series “The Parable of the Sower?” You can find Part 1 ‘What Is the Parable of the Sower [Podcast]’ here. Part 2 ‘How Important is Understanding Jesus Parables?’ here. Part 3 ‘In the Parable of the Sower, What Is Wayside Ground?’ here. Part 4 ‘In the Parable of the Sower, What Is Stony Ground? here,  Part 5 ‘In the Parable of the Sower, More of “What Is Stony Ground? here, Part 6 ‘In the Parable of the Sower, What is Thorny Ground? here and Part 7 ‘In the Parable of the Sower, What is the Deceitfulness of Riches’.

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Mark 4:19 (KJV)
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 becometh unfruitful.

  • Jesus did not specify, in this passage, which things we shouldn’t lust after.
  • So, the problem Jesus alludes to is the problem of lusting for things in general.
  • Lust is a great desire for something. The desire becomes all consuming. Being consumed with anything takes time away from the Word and causes it to be choked out of your life.
  • Your time gets spent chasing stuff instead of searching the Word.

Two Kinds of Lust

  • It’s okay to be passionately consumed with certain areas.
  • There is a ‘lust’ which is godly and one which is ungodly.
  • What was Jesus consumed with for example?

John 2:17 (KJV)
17 And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.

  • Jesus was consumed with the will of God for His life.

John 4:34 (KJV)
34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.

  • He was about His Father’s business from an early age.

Luke 2:49 (KJV)
49 And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?

  • Jesus carried this desire for the will of God right up to the very end of His life.

Luke 22:15 (KJV)
15 And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer:

  • This is desire or ‘lust’ placed in the right area.
  • The Greek word for lust is to have a great desire for something. The word in and of itself is not negative. It is positive or negative based on context.
  • We often only think of the word lust in its negative form.
  • Mostly in the negative context, lust is viewed as sexual. Again this is a misnomer.
  • The Greek word for ‘desire’ in Luke 22:15 is the same Greek word for the ‘lust’ of other things in Mark 4:19.
  • In one place, the word for lust is positive, in the other its negative.
  • The lust which pulls you off, sidetracks you, and causes fruit to not grow in your life, is misplaced desire or zeal gone wrong.

[Tweet “The lust which sidetracks and causes fruit to not grow in your life, is zeal gone wrong.”]

Galatians 4:18 (KJV)
18 But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you.

  • The point is you can ‘lust’ in a good sense which will bring forth fruit in your life.
  • And you can ‘lust’ in a negative sense which will choke off the Word in your life.
  • Look at the Psalmists ‘lust’ for the Word of God in Psalm 119.

Psalm 119:20 (TNIV)
20 My soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times.

Psalm 119:23 (KJV)
23 Princes also did sit and speak against me: But thy servant did meditate in thy statutes.

  • Here the Psalmists is indicating an area of persecution, an area covered under stony ground. His resolve was to not let himself be pulled off from the Word.

Psalm 119:33–37 (TNIV)
33 Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees, that I may follow it to the end. 34 Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law and obey it with all my heart. 35 Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. 36 Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. 37 Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.

  • Vain things would include the negative form of ‘the lust of other things.’ David asks the Lord to turn his eyes away from these vain things.
  • All throughout this 119th Psalm David expresses his desire or ‘lust’ for God’s Word.

Psalm 119:40 (KJV)

40 Behold, I have longed after thy precepts: Quicken me in thy righteousness.

Psalm 119:46–48 (KJV)

46 I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings, And will not be ashamed. 47 And I will delight myself in thy commandments, Which I have loved. 48 My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; And I will meditate in thy statutes.

Psalm 119:72 (KJV)
72 The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.

Psalm 119:97–98 (KJV)
97 O how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day. 98 Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: For they are ever with me.

Psalm 119:103 (KJV)
103 How sweet are thy words unto my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Psalm 119:131 (KJV)
131 I opened my mouth, and panted: For I longed for thy commandments.

  • David had plenty of gold. We have already seen he was exceedingly rich. Yet, his desire is not to trust in those riches but to seek the Lord over His Word.

Psalm 119:127 (KJV)
127 Therefore I love thy commandments Above gold; yea, above fine gold.

  • Unlike the man in Ecclesiastes 5:12 who had trouble sleeping because of his wealth, David spends some of his nights meditating on God’s promises.

Psalm 119:148 (TNIV)
148 My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises.

  • David is a good example of a man who had wealth yet had his priorities in order and his life produced rich fruit for God.
  • We can conclude this section with the 165th verse.

Psalm 119:165 (TNIV)
165 Great peace have those who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.

The Overcrowding Problem

Mark 4:19 (KJV)
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 becometh unfruitful.

  • Your heart is the place where the Word abides. It is the proper environment for the Word.
  • Jesus said in John’s gospel.

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John 6:63 (KJV)
63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

  • Your spirit is the right place for God’s Word which is spirit.
  • You can think of the Word of God as ‘spirit food’ for the spirit of man.
  • Think of your Bible study time as feeding time.
  • Think of it as breakfast, lunch, and dinner for your heart.
  • Don’t think of it as an obligation. Do you think of food that way?
  • Do you think of your dinner that way? If eating is supposed to be such a drudgery, why did God out taste buds in your mouth? You are supposed to eat to maintain your body and while you do that you should enjoy the ride.
  • Bible study is the same way. You need to do it to remain strong in Him but I guarantee it, you are supposed to enjoy it. If you are not enjoying it, if the revelation of God’s Word is not lighting up your heart, you are not doing it right.
  • You study, meditate, and seek to understand God’s Word so it can become rooted in your heart.
  • The overall problem with the three thorns we have discussed, the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things is they cause an overload in your heart.
  • There simply isn’t enough room for all four to take up residence in your heart. There’s not enough for three out of the four or two out of the four to take up a place in you. There’s only room for the Word.
  • Therefore we must be constantly on guard for these areas so we can protect the ground which brings forth fruit unto God.
  • There’s not enough room in the heart for the Word, the cares of life, the pleasures of riches, and the lusts for other things.
  • It’s an overcrowding problem.
  • It’s a preoccupation problem.
  • Preoccupied with worries, preoccupied with money, preoccupied with pleasures, preoccupied with getting stuff instead of preoccupied with the Word.

These desires enter into the heart like thorny sprouts and shoot up and fill all the available space. The seed of the Word starts to grow, but it “is choked” or smothered in the deadly competition with some or the others of these thorny growths. The result is that the seed of the Word becomes “unfruitful” in the sense of being unable to produce fruit. The fault is again not with the good seed but with the soil. 2

  • Too many eyes on the burner means not enough time to tend to the seed of God’s Word.
  • It’s the old cart before the horse thing.
  • If you turn it around and get the whole horse and buggy thing right, if you get preoccupied with the Word, the Lord will add the other things to your life.

Matthew 6:33 (KJV)
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

  • The secret is getting first things first and keeping it that way.
  • The secret is simplifying your life so you don’t have so much preoccupation with things.

The Choking Effect of Thorny Ground

Mark 4:19 (KJV)
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 becometh unfruitful.

  • Notice what Jesus said about these three types of thorns… ‘they enter in’ and choke the Word.
  • When you try to jungle some or all these balls, they choke out the Word that is in your life.
  • Wayside ground produces no effect because the Word is stolen.
  • Stony ground has a hardening effect. People become offended.
  • Thorny ground has a choking effect because people become overcrowded.
  • Choking the Word means that the Word has grown and developed some roots but other things are allowed to grow alongside it.
  • They all fight for the sun, the spotlight.
  • These thorns overshadow the Word and the Word because it has no ‘S-O-N,’ it eventually dies off.

Three Types of Ground, Three Stages of Development

  • The types of ground can also represent stages of development in a believer’s life.
  • The first stage is Wayside Ground.
  • This is the understanding stage.
  • A believer first has to come to a personal understanding of the Word of God.
  • You can’t apply what you don’t understand.
  • The second stage is Stony Ground.
  • This is the affliction and or persecution stage.
  • Here the enemy comes against the believer with tests and trials trying to dislodge the Word you have come to understand.
  • The attempt is to try and make the Word unreal in your life.
  • The third stage is Thorny Ground.
  • In this stage, the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches and the lusts of other things fight for supremacy with the Word.
  • This is the personal stage where the believer has to control himself and his urges.
  • He has to bring his own flesh in line.
  • So first, you must apply yourself to understand the Word.
  • Second, you must overcome the enemy with the Word.
  • Third, you must overcome yourself for the Word.
  • Then, and only then can you get over into harvest-able ground.

Call to Action:

So, there you have it, the Parable of the Sower. Study this parable. Go through the notes again and again. listen to the podcasts. The complete list is found at the beginning of this post and again at the end. Give yourself to understanding the Word. Cling to it when afflictions and persecutions come. And finally, overcome yourself. Then you can and will bring forth rich fruit for the kingdom of God.

Questions: Now that this series has concluded what was the point which registered on you the most? Please leave your comments in the comments section below.

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References:

  1.  Galaxie Software, 10,000 Sermon Illustrations (Biblical Studies Press, 2002) ↩
  2.  R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Mark’s Gospel (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1961), 175–176 ↩

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Categories: Parables, Podcast