Parables of the Kingdom - Matthew 13:1-23

DO YOU HAVE TROUBLE HEARING?

 

I always thought that I had good hearing, but recently I noticed that I am having trouble picking up words. I struggle with crowd-noise, people mumbling, and my own attention to what people are saying. 

            A few weeks ago, I was speaking at the Heritage Center about this Parable of the Sower, and I asked the group why Jesus spoke from a boat. One resident responded, but I couldn’t hear what he said, so I said, “What was that?” (I say that a lot). He repeated his answer, “So that the people could hear him better.” Ironic answer, isn’t it? Jesus got into a boat to speak knowing that the natural amplification of the water would help carry his voice. If I ask the audience a question, it will help me if you all sat in a boat on a lake.

            Do you have trouble hearing? 

            The parable of Jesus we are studying today is well-known and it’s thrust is about hearing the message of the kingdom. Are we “hearing” the Word of God?

            Jesus spoke in parables often. What exactly is a parable? The Greek word literally means throwing or placing things along side of each other for the purpose of comparison. Jesus would preface his parables saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like…” So, a parable is a story or illustration placed alongside of a truth for the purpose of explaining one with the other. 

            But why did Jesus speak in parables? Why not just shoot straight and directly spell out the teaching? This is where we return to the theme of hearing. Different people hear the same message in different ways and react in a variety of ways. When Jesus did speak plainly, the scribes and Pharisees accused him of misrepresenting God. When Jesus spoke in parables, it challenged the hearer to engage with the story and process its meaning. Some got it and lots didn’t. 

            Do you have trouble hearing? The Parable of the Sower is a story about how people respond to the gospel.

The Parable in a Nutshell

 

The parable is about the ground more than the sower. The traditional German title is: Gleichnis vom viererlei Acker (the Parable of the Four Types of Ground). I have often referred to it as the Parable of the Four Soils. As Jesus sat in the boat speaking to the crowd, he likely saw a farmer on the hillside planting a crop (and used it to make a point). The sower goes out to the field to sow seed, and it falls on different kinds of ground. The fields in Jesus’ day were long, narrow strips with pathways between the strips where the sower would walk scattering seed. The ground was so hardened by people walking on it that it became like cement. Birds came and ate the seeds. Other ground was rocky – a thin layer of soil sat on top of a shelf of limestone and the seed could not take root. Seeds started germinating but they had no access to water below the surface and withered in the Palestinian heat. Some seeds fell into the thorny hedgerows where moisture was greedily sucked up by those weeds and thorn bushes. Finally, a good amount of seed falls on good soil and produces a variety of yields. Jesus concludes, “He who has ears, let him hear.”

            Jesus tells us later in v. 19 that the seed is the message (“word”) of the kingdom or the Word of God. The seed is good; the seed is not the problem. Where the seed falls is the problem, the ground. And that’s what we want to look at now using four questions to interpret and apply the soils.

 

1. Are you hardened by life’s troubles? (13:4, 19)

 

Failure of the seed to penetrate the hard ground of the pathways represents a lack of understanding. Jesus says, “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart,” (19). What Jesus doesn’t tell us is WHY the soil is so tough, or why there is no understanding. But this is the beauty of telling parables, it makes you think.

            What hardens the heart to the message of the gospel? Life has been unkind; trials and troubles have been more than you can handle; a feeling that God has abandoned you. Even believers in Jesus find it hard to listen to sermons and read devotionals – you’ve heard it all before. “Love your neighbor” and “trust in God” all sound like platitudes and cliches tossed around too easily. It doesn’t go deep. It just bounces off you. Soon you are questioning what you really believe. 

            “Jesus is the answer,” we often hear, but in our post-modern age we are not sure what the question is. Just as in the first century, there is today a resistance to the person of Jesus. Is he who he says he is? How can I know he is truly God? When troubles arise, Jesus is not who people turn to for answers.

 

2. Are you a fan or a follower? (13:5-6, 20-21)

 

Seeds fall upon the thin soil with the rocky underlay. Jesus says, “As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy…” There is an immediate enthusiasm for Jesus and this person gets very excited at the possibilities. But Jesus goes on, “…yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a little while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, he immediately falls away,” (20-21). 

            These people receive the gospel with enthusiasm. My guess is that they are attracted by the experience of Christianity. They are looking for the experiential highs, the positive vibes, the good times. When conflict hits the church, they are disillusioned and huff, “If that’s the church, you can have it.” 

            Jesus experienced this with his followers. In the heady days of his ministry when he healed the lepers, cripples, the deaf and blind, people were enthusiastic. He gave them bread and challenged the status quo of religion. Jesus was exciting. Then he started talking about picking up your cross and following him. He said he was going to Jerusalem to be rejected, scourged, beaten, and crucified (they didn’t hear the “rise again” part). In the last days of Jesus’ ministry, the “fans” disappeared. 

            Our life groups finished a series this Spring that asked this question: Are you a fan or a follower of Jesus? Is our enthusiasm for Jesus based on external stimulus, what Jesus can do for us, or on inner conviction that no matter what comes as a result of the gospel, we will follow Jesus? 

 

3. Are you distracted by the worries of life? (13:7, 22)

 

Anyone would find it difficult to focus on a conversation when you are worried about some matter. How then can you concentrate on the message of the good news when worry has you in its grip? The thing about worry is that 99% of the time you can’t do anything about what worries you. But it keeps you off balance and unable to grasp the Word. 

            Jesus said, “As for what was sown among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful,” (22). 

            What chokes out the effectiveness of Jesus’ message? Two things: the worries of life and the deceitfulness of wealth. A brief evaluation of our culture tells us that we have more free time than previous generations due to technology and efficiency in our work. We do things better and faster than our grandparents did. However, that free time is quickly filled with so many activities and demands. We are so scheduled that we are always thinking about the next thing. Worry is not just anxiety then, it also includes the mountain of responsibilities we take on, because “If I am busy, I am not wasting time,” or “If I am busy, I am important.” 

            The more I focus on “extra” things, the less time I am focusing on God. Jesus is talking about priorities when he talks about the cares of this world and the trap of wealth. The more we do and the more we have, the less space there is for the sacred in our lives. As Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,” (Matt. 6:21).

 

4. Are you hearing AND understanding? (13:8, 23)

 

With the fourth soil, the good soil, Jesus teaches his listeners what it means to truly hear the word. He said, “As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty,” (23). 

            Here, Jesus is making a distinction between the crowds and the disciples. Did the disciples understand the parables where the crowds did not? No, because we read that the disciples’ asked Jesus, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” The emphasis is not on the disciples’ ability to understand but on the fact that Jesus revealed the meaning to them. The crowds didn’t get what Jesus was saying. Neither did the disciples. But here’s the difference: the disciples trusted Jesus and they knew they could ask him for clarification. They had faith where the crowds were just looking for signs and wonders. 

            They hear and understand! To understand Jesus and his message is not merely an intellectual grasp of truth; it is rather a lifestyle commitment to the message of the kingdom. Understanding is a willingness to practice the good news in life even if it doesn’t always make sense. It is living by faith in Jesus and not being hardened by life or distracted by worries.

            Are you hearing AND understanding? I read about a great, articulate preacher who wonderfully expounded the Word. But it was discovered he was a terror to his wife, verbally wounding her and making her life miserable. It was hard for people to hear the message of the gospel from such a man. Then there was a so-so, mediocre, preacher, who loved his wife and embedded himself in the community. He demonstrated great care for his flock. From such a person, the congregation easily heard the Word of God. Here was a man who heard and understood Jesus so that his people could hear and understand Jesus. 

 

Do you have trouble hearing?

I performed a search on how to listen better to what people are saying and adapted it for the purpose of hearing God’s Word. Here’s what I discovered about hearing and understanding:

1) Repeat people’s last few words. This can get annoying real fast, but it works. Here’s how I would apply it to this text: memorize scripture. How do you bury the seeds deep in the soil of your heart? Memorize scripture. Repeat Jesus’ words. Take one verse from today’s message and memorize it.

2) Don’t put it in your own words. If you try to rephrase what your friend is saying and you get it wrong, it increases tension. It may seem unnatural but repeat it verbatim. One fellow at coffee a few weeks ago commented that Mark Hughes (Church of the Rock) makes fun of Mennonites and runs them down. So, I went to the Rock website and watched the sermon. He didn’t say that. In our context, if you hear a message or read a devotional, go back to the Bible to see if you hear what you think you heard.

3) Ask more questions than you think you need to. While you are hearing a message from some preacher, listen for things that make you go “hmmmm.” 

4) Minimize distractions. Avoid noise, interruptions, and other externals while you are reading the Bible. Minimize internal distractions as well. Shut out the things that steal your attention. Give space to hearing God speak in his Word.

5) Acknowledge your shortcomings. Are you tired Sunday mornings? Go to bed earlier on Saturday. Do you have trouble reading your Bible in the evening? Try the morning. Get up earlier.            

            These are just a few of the things that may make us better hearers of the Word. But one question you may have wanted to ask remains: What kind of soil is my heart? Can I change the soil of my heart? Or am I doomed to be hard, shallow, or thorny soil? I believe that Jesus wants to plow the soil of your heart and change your receptivity to his Word. In other words, you CAN change. 

            One of the first things Jesus said in his ministry was this: “Repent and believe the good news,” (Mark 1:15). What you need is not the ability to understand but the desire to understand. This will greatly improve your hearing.

 

                                                AMEN

Discipleship Series: Family Discipleship

GOD’S HEART FOR FAMILY DISCIPLESHIP

 

Do you remember the story about the young minister who preached a sermon on raising children? He called it “Ten Commandments for Raising Godly Children.” And then his wife had a child. So, he changed the title of that sermon to “Ten Principles for Raising Godly Children.” And then he had another child. He changed the title again to “Ten Suggestions…” He had two more children and changed the title to “Ten Hints…” 

            I confess to you that I am in no position to preach about the perfect Christian family. To share stories of godly parenting and family successes would be deceptive. So, by way of a disclaimer, please know that I am not speaking today as an expert in family matters. What I preach is what I believe the Bible says, (as always), about life and faith. 

            What I can tell you in all confidence is that God has a heart for family discipleship. He has created the family to be one of the great shapers and influencers of the lives of children. We can bring our children to Sunday School to learn about spiritual things; and sometimes a story in the sermon may grab the interest of the young; but the truth is that the greatest spiritual influence (negative or positive) is in the home. It’s an awesome and heavy fact that our children will often imitate us in life before they will ever do what we tell them to do. They will do as we do rather than do as we say. That's why it is important that we are intentional about Family Discipleship. What is family discipleship?

            To put it simply, family discipleship is leading your home by demonstrating a love for God in your own life so that your family will become followers of Jesus Christ. We are all called to make disciples; making disciples of our children is a primary task for all Christian parents.

            What does the Bible say about the role of the parent in leading children to know God? Deuteronomy 6:4-9 is a cornerstone passage that emphasizes more than any other God’s intention for the family to be a focal point of discipleship. What can we glean from this text?

Growing Godly Families in Ungodly Cultures

 

The book of Deuteronomy is a record of Moses’ last sermon to the people of Israel. As they stood on the brink of entering the Promised Land, Moses reminded them what it meant to be God’s people. This was important because they were entering into a land that was filled with ungodly cultures and practices that were wicked in God’s sight. 

            Does that sound familiar? I don’t think I need to give you a list of the ungodly cultures and influences of our nation. This theme of living amid ungodliness is revisited in the book of Revelation where John calls this culture “Babylon.” ("the world" in John's letters).We live in Babylon, folks, and Jesus calls us to be separate from her.

            The primary calling of families living amid these cultures is this: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one,” (6:4). You may remember this is the Shema (means "hear"). Jews repeated this for generations as a statement of faith. Now, Israel’s neighbors believed in polytheism (they believed in many gods). Those gods were always warring with each other. They were fickle and unpredictable. You never knew which one would be on your side, so for each situation you called on one god or another. To believe in the One True God, Yahweh, was to believe in a God who governed them consistently and righteously. That meant you could depend on God. He was and is unique, the only God with the power to make promises and keep them. 

            Family discipleship begins with professing faith in the one true God. That means identifying the idols around us and refusing to give them space in our homes. Often these idols are good things that become obsessions: wealth, power, education, fame, or influence. When anything moves you to act in a manner that excludes Christian truth, it is likely an idol. 

            Jesus taught what his kingdom looked like, and it was upside-down to what society knew. Down is up; up is down. Servanthood is key. When we profess that “the Lord our God is One God,” we are inviting God to make us counter cultural.

            If you recall the Family Feud game at the Festival last Saturday, you will remember that the contestants had to answer the opening question in a hurry. They grabbed the bell before the other player and quickly shouted their answer. Did you notice though, that no one paused and said to the other contestant, "No, please, you go ahead and answer first"? Because the world's way of thinking is to "win" and "conquer." But Jesus' way is to "lose" and "surrender." Jesus, surprisingly emphasizes being a "loser" as a way of winning in the kingdom of God. 

The Priority of Loving God 

 

Professing Yahweh as God, Moses said, means learning to love God as a priority. God is love and to know God is to know God’s love. Loving God is a response to the love of God.

            Consider how we are to love God. “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your might,” (6:5). Note the repetition of “all.” This emphasizes totality, a universal love all-encompassing love for God. In terms of the family, it is impossible for me to transfer to my child a truth I do not personally embrace. How can I expect my child to love God in totality if I do not have a love that permeates my whole life?

            Jesus called this the “Greatest Commandment.” To love God is the priority of a human being. I want you to know how radically he taught this priority. Jesus was talking about discipleship when he said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple,” (Luke 14:26). This is an odd verse in a sermon about family and love.

            Does this disturb you? You are supposed to hate your wife or husband? It did me too until I realized that Jesus was speaking in hyperbole. He was saying that to love God so completely implies that if even your dearest family members got in the way of you following Jesus, you choose Jesus over family. That’s radical! If your nearest and dearest are also following Jesus, there is no conflict; you are headed in the same direction. In other words, we should gladly say, “Don’t make me choose between you and Jesus, because I choose Jesus.” 

            To love God with heart, soul, strength, and mind, is a Jewish euphemism that speaks of that totality. With my emotions, with my person, with my thoughts, with all that I do, I commit to loving God.

            That's a must when you get serious about family discipleship. To lead your family in knowing God, you can do no less than love him in totality.  

 

Modeling Your Love for God

 

How is this love expressed to our children? Moses used four verbs to describe how we may model a love for God to our families: Teach – Talk – Bind – Write. Look at this in context:

“And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall TEACH them diligently to your children, and shall TALK of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall BIND them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall WRITE them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,” (6:6-9). 

By Diligent Teaching – Family discipleship involves indoctrination – teaching the doctrines of God, giving your children a worldview based on the Scriptures. Indoctrination is a bad word in our culture – it is akin to brainwashing to some folks, unfortunately. But who of us would not pass on our wisdom for life to our kids?

            Our culture expounds the freedom of choice and states that religious indoctrination stifles that freedom. Many take up the philosophy that a child should be given the option of choosing their own belief system and even gender. Yet the image this conveys is of a garden that has been allowed to grow wild. Instead of sculpted shrubs and cultivated plants and flowers, weeds pop up everywhere, vines growing in the screen room, and general disorder. This is a life that is allowed to grow without teaching. A cultivated garden is a beautiful garden - we cut, we hoe, we weed - this is the discipline of teaching our children. 

            The word “teach” in v. 7 implies repeating truths. And the word “diligently” is from a Hebrew verb meaning “to sharpen.” Put together, to teach diligently is to “intensely sharpen your children.” Is there a space in your home for sharing the Word of God with your children? 

            The writer of the Proverbs appears to have written a letter to his son regarding spiritual teachings. It is as if he was putting into practice Deut. 6 (see Prov. 3:1-3 & 6:20-23)

By Casual Conversation – The Hebrews had a term for delivering a lecture. Moses doesn’t use it here in this next piece. Instead, he uses a term for just talking. We are to talk of spiritual things just as we would talk about the Jets – casually. “Talk of them when you sit…walk…lie down…rise.” Basically, everywhere and all the time. 

            Imagine this: When Jesus discipled his followers they walked together, sat together, ate together, and lived together. I calculated that it is a 195 km walk from Capernaum to Jerusalem or 35 hours. That’s like a walk from Winnipeg to Brandon (214 km/43 hours). It took Jesus three years! Why? Because the journey was important. Walking and talking gave Jesus the opportunity to discuss the kingdom conversationally with his followers. 

            Meant as an accusation, the best thing the Pharisees said about Jesus was, “This man receives sinners and eats with them,” (Lk 15:2). The dinner table is an ideal place for conversations about the things of God. It was probably at our dinner table where my daughter and son learned to think and discuss views on various topics.

By Living What You Teach – Many Jews devoutly followed the Shema, particularly this next part where Moses tells them to take the Scriptures and “bind them as a sign on your hand, and…frontlets between your eyes.” Unfortunately, they took it too literally. They actually created little leather boxes, put scriptures in them, and tied them to their heads. These were known as phylacteries. When Jesus was pointing out the hypocrisies of the Pharisees, he mentioned this practice saying, “They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long,” (Mt 23:5). 

            They missed the point. God wasn’t asking them to literally tie scripture to their heads, but he wanted them to keep the scriptures on their minds. If the Word of God was on their minds, it would influence their decisions and actions. Living what we teach shows our family that we are serious about loving God and God’s ways.

            By Sanctifying Your Home – The last piece of this instruction says, “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” I wondered how we might apply this and thought “framed verses.” But then I thought about the phylacteries and wondered if this too might be a metaphor. If I “write” God’s instructions on the walls of my house, I am “sanctifying” our home. 

            One may think of sanctifying as cleansing. In that case a person may get rid of their TV and other devices – anything that distracts, that hinders mental and spiritual growth. But that’s not what I mean. To “sanctify” means to “set apart.” I believe that the home needs to be a safe space for families to ask the tough questions of faith. It is a lab where experiments of thought are processed. The home should be a place where a child is free to think, to ask questions, to muse about God and his creation. You might shudder at this thought, fear its outcome, but how many of our youth are just dying to ask questions about their faith and have no place to do so? Shouldn’t the family home be a place for that? 

            To disciple your family as Jesus discipled the twelve, try not to think of your children as students in your home university and more as apprentices invited to study and exercise the way of God they see in and hear about from you. When they ask questions, think of how you could show them Jesus, as Jesus himself invited, “Come and you will see,”(John 1:39). Your children want to see Jesus in you.

 

One of the Family Feud questions last weekend at EMC Festival on Saturday night was “What is something you do Sunday afternoon?” One of the top six answers was “critique the sermon.” I believe “nap” was number one. 

            Nevertheless, it may be that you will sit down at the table for lunch and think “that sermon had nothing to do with me.” I encourage you to tear this message apart and analyze its parts. You should examine the scriptures to see if what I said is true. But I will tell you that it does apply to you. Why? 

            Because even if your children are grown or you never had a family in the traditional sense, you are a part of this family. And everything that we have studied does apply. This church is a family, even if you feel like the weird aunt or the cousin that walks to the beat of his own drum, you are family. It's not perfect. It’s dysfunctional sometimes. But it is a family.      Jesus was speaking one time and his mother and brothers were trying to talk to him. Jesus replied to the man who told him they were there, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” He pointed to the disciples and said, “Here are my mother and brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother,” (Matt. 12:46-50). The important phrase that makes us family is “whoever does the will of my Father.” I believe that’s why we’re here. 

            So, as family, we are called to love God intensely, so intensely that this love spills over onto each other, and we will show the younger generation among us that we mean business in following Jesus. We are authentic in our faith. We will teach, talk, bind, and write the love of God all over the walls of our lives so that they will see that we are God’s family. 

 

                                                AMEN