Jesus gives us the essential reason why we must have our roots in Mark 4:17. The King James uses the word ‘offended’ which means to fall. Jesus is saying, ‘Make sure you allow God’s Word and God’s love to be rooted in you or you will fall away when the enemy sends affliction and persecution your way. People who are rooted in love endure. They endure persecution and affliction. They understand it is for the Word’s sake.

1 Corinthians 13:7 (AMP)
7 Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening].

Love Bears Up Under Everything

• Stony ground could not bear up under the affliction and persecution which came its way.
• It’s the nature of shallow roots.
• Shallow roots endure a short time.
• Affliction and persecution are the realm where we are to put God’s Word to work. It is where we have the opportunity to prove out God’s Word.
• It is the arena where we can gain confidence in the Word.
• Smith Wigglesworth said great victories come from great tests.
• Instead of having done all to stand and standing, the offended believer quits the game.
• Where harvest is concerned, offense is a game changer.
• It is of utmost importance that we refuse to be offended when tested.
• When the enemy tries to afflict you, know that it’s not really you who he is after. That’s what Jesus said.
• Affliction and persecution arise for the Word’s sake. They don’t arise for your sake.

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Your Enemy Is After the Seed

• He wants you to walk away from it.
• He wants you to have nothing to do with it.
• It’s the seed he is immensely afraid of.
• The seed in good ground produces harvest and shortens the reach of Satan on planet earth.
• The Word, the Sword of the Spirit is what Satan is after.
• Let him have it.
• Use your sword against the wiles of the enemy.
• Use it against affliction and persecution.
• The enemy always takes a calculated risk when he brings afflictions and persecutions a believers way.
• He is hoping you won’t pick up your sword.
• He’s hoping you won’t make your stand on the Word.
• That way he can steal it from you.
• If you stand, you gain experience.
• If you stand, you gain hope.
• If you refuse to move you acquire patience.
• If you beat the enemy with the Word enough times, he won’t be so quick to attack you in the future.

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What Kind of Ground Were the Religious Leaders of Jesus Day?

• The key to dealing with offense is to have the Word rooted in you.
• Again, that means there is more to harvest than just hearing.
• The scribes and Pharisees came to Jesus one day with a question on hand washing.
• What kind of ground do you think these religious leaders were?

Matthew 15:1–2 (KJV)
1 Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, 2 Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.

• Jesus answers the question in a straightforward manner.

Matthew 15:3–9 (KJV)
3 But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? 4 For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. 5 But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; 6 And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. 7 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, 8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. 9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

• How did these religious men receive the Word Jesus spoke to them?

Matthew 15:12 (KJV)
12 Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?

• The word ‘offended’ in Matthew 15:12 is the same Greek word as in the passage we are studying in Mark 4:7.
• These leaders did not receive what Jesus said. They were offended at His saying.
• They fell away from Jesus when they heard these words and so the Words of Jesus could not produce harvest in their lives.
• Jesus response?

Matthew 15:13 (KJV)
13 But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.

• Jesus said the leaders would be uprooted meaning, “No root in themselves.”
• It wasn’t just the religious leaders who were faced with the opportunity to be offended.
• John the Baptist had his chance also.
• You remember what happened to John?
• John fearlessly preached the Word and was arrested and put into prison.
• This is John’s moment where he is facing affliction because of the living Word Jesus.

Matthew 11:2–3 (KJV)
2 Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, 3 And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?

• John was a free spirit of a man. He roamed the desert wilderness fearlessly preaching the Word.
• John boldly proclaiming the coming King of kings.
• With his life and ministry restricted, John begins to have second thoughts.
• Maybe he had the wrong Messiah?
• Maybe he got his wires crossed?
• “Should I really be in this predicament if Jesus really was the conquering king of Israel”, John thought?
• “The Messiah is supposed to restore the kingdom of God, you know peace and love forever. Yet, here I am in prison.”
• “Something doesn’t line up. What gives?”
• So, he sends men to Jesus for clarification.

Matthew 11:4–6 (KJV)
4 Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: 5 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me

• Jesus warns John about yielding to the spirit of offense.
• He warns John about falling away.
• Think about that. The forerunner of the Messiah.
• The mighty one who was prophesied about preparing the way of the Lord is in danger of falling away.
• Jesus warns John, “You will be blessed if you steer away from offense.”
• How could John be blessed in prison?
• What harvest is he going to be able to produce inside that dark, dank, musky cell?
• “The Word I have spoken”, Jesus goes on, “that you can tell I am the Messiah by the works which I do, how the blind received their sight, how the deaf heard, how the dead were raised, and how the poor had the gospel preached to them. If you hear the testimony of the very men you sent to me, how they saw the Word of God in action, that testimony will produce a harvest of hope and peace concerning your mission. You can rest easy John, you were right. All you have to do is rest in these facts.”
• As far as we know, John did just that. He rested in the Words of Jesus.

The Bread of Life

John 6:57–59 (KJV)
57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. 58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever. 59 These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.

• These are not religious leaders hearing this message.
• This is not a prophetic loner of a man in John the Baptist.
• These are full-fledged disciples.
• What was their reaction to Pastor Jesus’s message?

John 6:60–61 (KJV)
60 Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? 61 When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?

• Jesus asked the question, “Are you offended by this?”
• Many disciples answered that question with their feet.
• They refused to walk with Jesus from that time.
• They fell away.
• Jesus sermon, His words of John 6 did not produce harvest in those disciples.
• They were stony ground.

John 6:66–67 (KJV)
66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. 67 Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?

• This is what the spirit of offense will do.
• It will cause you to no longer walk with Him.

Call to Action:

The only way you can walk with Jesus is by making a decision to do so. It takes the same type of decision to continue to stay engaged with Him and His Word. Unless you set your heart to never allow yourself to be moved, you can potentially become a victim of the enemy’s attacks against your life.

Question: In what way have you made your determination to cling to Jesus and His Word? Please share your comments in the comments section below.