diff --git a/external/mqtt/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/streaming/mqtt/MQTTStreamSuite.scala b/external/mqtt/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/streaming/mqtt/MQTTStreamSuite.scala
index 98821c71c7aee..879be775ea9f9 100644
--- a/external/mqtt/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/streaming/mqtt/MQTTStreamSuite.scala
+++ b/external/mqtt/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/streaming/mqtt/MQTTStreamSuite.scala
@@ -67,17 +67,11 @@ class MQTTStreamSuite extends SparkFunSuite with Eventually with BeforeAndAfter
       }
     }
 
-    MQTTTestUtils.registerStreamingListener(ssc)
-
     ssc.start()
 
-    // wait for the receiver to start before publishing data, or we risk failing
-    // the test nondeterministically. See SPARK-4631
-    MQTTTestUtils.waitForReceiverToStart(ssc)
-
-    MQTTTestUtils.publishData(topic, sendMessage)
-
+    // Retry it because we don't know when the receiver will start.
     eventually(timeout(10000 milliseconds), interval(100 milliseconds)) {
+      MQTTTestUtils.publishData(topic, sendMessage)
       assert(sendMessage.equals(receiveMessage(0)))
     }
     ssc.stop()
diff --git a/external/mqtt/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/streaming/mqtt/MQTTTestUtils.scala b/external/mqtt/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/streaming/mqtt/MQTTTestUtils.scala
index 6c85019ae0723..47cc9af497778 100644
--- a/external/mqtt/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/streaming/mqtt/MQTTTestUtils.scala
+++ b/external/mqtt/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/streaming/mqtt/MQTTTestUtils.scala
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@
 package org.apache.spark.streaming.mqtt
 
 import java.net.{ServerSocket, URI}
-import java.util.concurrent.{CountDownLatch, TimeUnit}
 
 import scala.language.postfixOps
 
@@ -28,10 +27,6 @@ import org.apache.commons.lang3.RandomUtils
 import org.eclipse.paho.client.mqttv3._
 import org.eclipse.paho.client.mqttv3.persist.MqttDefaultFilePersistence
 
-import org.apache.spark.streaming.StreamingContext
-import org.apache.spark.streaming.api.java.JavaStreamingContext
-import org.apache.spark.streaming.scheduler.StreamingListener
-import org.apache.spark.streaming.scheduler.StreamingListenerReceiverStarted
 import org.apache.spark.util.Utils
 import org.apache.spark.{Logging, SparkConf}
 
@@ -47,8 +42,6 @@ private class MQTTTestUtils extends Logging {
   private var broker: BrokerService = _
   private var connector: TransportConnector = _
 
-  private var receiverStartedLatch = new CountDownLatch(1)
-
   def brokerUri: String = {
     s"$brokerHost:$brokerPort"
   }
@@ -73,7 +66,6 @@ private class MQTTTestUtils extends Logging {
       connector = null
     }
     Utils.deleteRecursively(persistenceDir)
-    receiverStartedLatch = null
   }
 
   private def findFreePort(): Int = {
@@ -114,38 +106,4 @@ private class MQTTTestUtils extends Logging {
     }
   }
 
-  /**
-   * Call this one before starting StreamingContext so that we won't miss the
-   * StreamingListenerReceiverStarted event.
-   */
-  def registerStreamingListener(jssc: JavaStreamingContext): Unit = {
-    registerStreamingListener(jssc.ssc)
-  }
-
-  /**
-   * Call this one before starting StreamingContext so that we won't miss the
-   * StreamingListenerReceiverStarted event.
-   */
-  def registerStreamingListener(ssc: StreamingContext): Unit = {
-    ssc.addStreamingListener(new StreamingListener {
-      override def onReceiverStarted(receiverStarted: StreamingListenerReceiverStarted) {
-        receiverStartedLatch.countDown()
-      }
-    })
-  }
-
-  /**
-   * Block until at least one receiver has started or timeout occurs.
-   */
-  def waitForReceiverToStart(jssc: JavaStreamingContext): Unit = {
-    waitForReceiverToStart(jssc.ssc)
-  }
-
-  /**
-   * Block until at least one receiver has started or timeout occurs.
-   */
-  def waitForReceiverToStart(ssc: StreamingContext): Unit = {
-    assert(
-      receiverStartedLatch.await(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS), "Timeout waiting for receiver to start.")
-  }
 }
diff --git a/python/pyspark/streaming/tests.py b/python/pyspark/streaming/tests.py
index 0da312b89b72f..2e37aa96c614f 100644
--- a/python/pyspark/streaming/tests.py
+++ b/python/pyspark/streaming/tests.py
@@ -931,14 +931,27 @@ def test_mqtt_stream(self):
         """Test the Python MQTT stream API."""
         sendData = "MQTT demo for spark streaming"
         topic = self._randomTopic()
-        self._MQTTTestUtils.registerStreamingListener(self.ssc._jssc)
         result = self._startContext(topic)
-        self._MQTTTestUtils.waitForReceiverToStart(self.ssc._jssc)
-        self._MQTTTestUtils.publishData(topic, sendData)
-        self.wait_for(result, 1)
-        # Because "publishData" sends duplicate messages, here we should use > 0
-        self.assertTrue(len(result) > 0)
-        self.assertEqual(sendData, result[0])
+
+        def retry():
+            self._MQTTTestUtils.publishData(topic, sendData)
+            # Because "publishData" sends duplicate messages, here we should use > 0
+            self.assertTrue(len(result) > 0)
+            self.assertEqual(sendData, result[0])
+
+        # Retry it because we don't know when the receiver will start.
+        self._retry_or_timeout(retry)
+
+    def _retry_or_timeout(self, test_func):
+        start_time = time.time()
+        while True:
+            try:
+                test_func()
+                break
+            except:
+                if time.time() - start_time > self.timeout:
+                    raise
+                time.sleep(0.01)
 
 
 def search_kafka_assembly_jar():