Matthew 13:24-30 God's Kingdom!

Matthew 13:24-30  Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.  But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.  When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.  The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field?  Where then did the weeds come from?’  ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.  The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’  ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them.  Let both grow together until the harvest.  At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

The kingdom of heaven is like a man who goes out in the field and sows good seed, seed that will produce an abundant crop.  But while the field was unattended, an evil enemy went out into that same field and sowed other seed, seed that would produce a crop not worth saving.  These weeds entangle themselves within the good plants, either choking them out or damaging their growth.  The servants questioned whether the man had sowed only good seed, for they wondered how the weeds got into this good soil.  If the land is good, why are weeds growing in this field?  Where then did the weeds come from?’  ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. The above parable can be interpreted in many ways.  But we know that history clearly reveals to us that the church has been infiltrated too many times by the contamination of the evil one.  Within good, sound doctrines, weeds of division, hurt, and corruption have been sown.  Destructive, misleading ideas have torn the church apart many times and will continue to do so as Satan attacks the church.  Sound dogma is often replaced by self-interested and fleshly pursuits with people worshipping men rather than God and anointing anti-Christ teaching as sound doctrine.  Because the true kingdom of God exists in Christians, it is a spiritual dimension, one of the heart, mind, and soul.  This makes falseness in the visible church hard to identify at times, for who can know the hearts of those who intend to deceive the church.  However, the Bible says by their works you will know them, and bitter and sweet water cannot come out of the same well.  Now when He (Jesus) was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’  For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”  (Luke 17:20-21)  Weeds that are the most troubling are those weeds that look like the real plant, act like dedicated, loving Christians.  Their actions and words are so close to the real thing that they are hard to detect, and when the field is left unattended, without close adherence to the word of God, these weeds thrive.  But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.  Many times in their syntax, they avoid words such as savior, saved, salvation, repentance, sacrifice, the cross.  In place of these words, they insert the concept of working hard to please God to achieve a utopian society or heaven on earth where everyone gets along, where peace is finally realized, and we finally do what God wants us to do: act with love and cooperation.  Of course, the kingdom of god should express love and cooperation above all else, but that condition is not achieved by unrepentant hearts through human efforts.  John called the people who came to watch him vipers, in need of repentance, in need of turning to God.  These people were not a special group of evil people, they were just people in the crowd who came to watch his activities.  In this parable Jesus focused on what can happen when a field is unattended and evil mixes with good seed.  The kingdom of God consists of plants that produce an abundant crop.  But within this good environment there can be contaminating ideas, seemingly rational, good approaches to life, but these thoughts and words stray from dependence on God and his holiness, on his mystery of salvation through Jesus Christ.  They mislead and corrupt, eventually leading to death.

Jesus is the mystery of salvation, IN WHOM ARE HIDDEN ALL THE TREASURES OF WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE.  (Colossians 2:3)   Paul tells us emphatically, no other wisdom or knowledge of man will lead to God.  As participants in the kingdom of God, Christians are planted in the good soil of Jesus Christ.  So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.  See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.  For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness.  (Colossians 2:6-10)  If we substitute our spiritual wisdom for dependence on Jesus and his righteousness, we are beginning to be crowded by the thoughts of this world.  When we accept the religious traditions of men above our roots in Christ and a strong belief in his works, not ours, we become stunted in our growth.  If stunted, our heads of grain will never come to fullness, for only IN CHRIST will we come to complete growth.  The fruit of the Spirit will not be harvested from our lives in the productiveness that God desires if we fail to mature in our dependence on Jesus and his works.  If the cares of this world and its standards supersede our interest in living for Christ alone, we will become anemic, lacking the hardiness of those plants that are rooted deeply in Jesus Christ.  Paul and Peter were concerned about weeds invading the domain of God’s kingdom, his church.  Paul tells the elders not to leave the garden untended.  He tells the overseers that wolves will invade the church’s domain, mutilating and destroying the sheep.  Diverse, destructive ideas and behaviors will come amongst them, dividing the flock.  Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.  Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.  I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.  Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.  So be on your guard!  Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.  (Acts 20:28-31)   Peter tells us that false teachers will come in the midst of the church leading many away.  They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.  Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.  (2 Peter 2:1-2)  Of course, the enemy to God’s plan is the evil one.  He sows discord among God's people.  He introduces weeds that will hamper the harvest.   He sends wolves to raid the flock.  The evil one is always present in the society of men.  Consequently, the church must always be on guard to his wiles, his deceptions.  The weeds will often look like the wheat, often interweave into the midst of the real plants.  Therefore, pulling up the weeds can destroy the true plants.  When the servants asked about pulling up the weeds before the harvest, the owner of the field rejected that idea.  ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them.  Let both grow together until the harvest.  This reveals how much love the planter had for the wheat.  He did not want any of the wheat to be destroyed by weeding; he looked for a bountiful harvest from his precious plants.  Of course, once the harvest commences then the weeds will be separated safely from his precious plants.  Then the weeds will be destroyed; the works of the evil one will be burned up.  Even though the field had been contaminated by the weeds, God will save his precious ones from being destroyed.  Those with the fruit of the Spirit will be in the household of the Lord forever.  

As the true planting of the Lord, all of us must be alert and strong in our faith, awaiting the day of the Lord.  Just as the early church, we know that this world is not our home.  We have our eyes fixed on a better place, our true home.  As with our brother, Paul, we have a goal in mind, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 3:14  KJV)  We want to serve one master, and He alone is our Lord, the sower of the seed.  We do not want to become intertwined with any false doctrine or fleshly idea that would pull us away from our Lord.  We want to have the mind of Christ, to have his thoughts and to speak his words.  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 2:5 KJV)  Jesus said that if we saw him, we saw his Father.  So that becomes our goal.  We want people to see Jesus in us, to see his spirit in action in us, to hear his words come forth from our mouths.  Jesus said that people would know we were his disciples because we love one another.  Do people recognize the love of Jesus in your life?  Do you stand out in a group of people because of your loving actions and caring choices.  In the love chapter, we read, Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  (1 Corinthians 13:4)  We must all ask ourselves, is that what people think about when they think about us.  Do they say that we are loving, patient, and kind?  Or do they say, Well, you don’t want to get on his bad side because he tends to hold a grudge, and he is not very forgiving.  Robert Burns said, “Oh the gift that God would give us, to see ourselves as others see us.”  As Christians, our lives are on display.  We are living epistles, revealing to the world what Christ has done for us.  Our words are not nearly as important as our walk.  We want to encourage you today to take advantage of every nutrient that Lord has provided for you to grow in his field.  Read his word, pray, meditate, congregate with other believers, testify to unbelievers, practice hospitality, do good deeds, love largely an often, and above all listen to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit.  Beware of the weeds and you will grow strong.  God is with you and in you and He will lead you into green pastures.  Bless you all breakfast companions.     

 

Matthew 13:18-23 A Soft Heart!

Matthew 13:18-23  Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart.  This is the seed sown along the path.  The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy.  But since they have no root, they last only a short time.  When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.  The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.  But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it.  This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.

In the above focus, Jesus explains to his disciples the parable of the sowing of seeds.  The true purpose of the seed is to sprout, to take hold of the kingdom of God and to produce an abundant crop for God’s glory.  Some of the seed will fulfill this mission, but much of it will be wasted or not come to full maturity.  Some seed is sown on hard ground, typical of the ground in the hearts of rebellious men and women.  Their hearts are baked hard with worldliness and a self-serving attitude.  They are not going to make room for anything else in their lives, especially the idea of a purpose beyond their daily routine and activities.  With little thought for God’s plan for them such people fill their lives with the necessities of the flesh, but lack sensitivity to the needs of their famished spirits, including the understanding of eternal life.  The seed is sown in their hearts, but not accepted into their lives.  Often the seed goes unrecognized by the impervious ground.  Consequently, it is capable of being swooped up by the evil one who does not want God’s will in people’s lives: the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart.  Other seeds find niches in people’s lives, places where the seeds sprout into life.  The message of the kingdom is accepted fully, causing them much joy, but because the seeds are in stony ground, the roots cannot find enough soil to sustain life.  In this precarious situation, difficult and discouraging times can overwhelm the life of the kingdom in them, causing them to die.  A lack of spiritual depth within a challenging environment can ruin a seed’s chances of reaching maturity.  But since they have no root, they last only a short time.  When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.  Some seeds fall into relatively good ground for sprouting.  However, within this ground where worldliness flourishes, the weeds also grow well and are healthy.  The seeds of the kingdom sprout readily in the hearts of the hearers.  Their souls grow well in this good soil, but the weeds also are with them constantly.  The worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth are also strong in this soil.  Eventually the new life is choked by these carnal concerns, causing the life to be unfruitful.  Environments that claim spirituality, but are focused primarily on worldly concerns can best be described as churchified environments: playing the game, but not really part of it, loving the world and the things in the world more than God.  Do not love the world or anything in the world.  If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.  For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.  The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.  (1 John 2:15-17)  Jesus with this description of the seed being sown in weedy ground describes today’s church in the western world.  Our society, our culture, accentuates the worries of life and the accumulation of wealth.  People are running to and fro to keep ahead of life’s demands and wants.  In America people get up early in the morning, work all day, spend their weekends occupied with entertainment and travel, then claim how dedicated they are to God and to his kingdom.  We are deceiving only ourselves. 

The last seed falls on good ground, hearts that not only accept the gospel, but flourish with it.  These seeds come to maturity, displaying the kingdom’s nature.  They help the seed in others hearts to germinate.  This ground is plowed ground, soil of repentance.  John the Baptist said, the kingdom of God is at hand.  In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”  (Matthew 3:1-2)  Repentance is the beginning of the kingdom.  When the seed is planted in men’s hearts, it must hit plowed ground that is soft, ready to receive the word in the depths of the soul.  Without this condition the land is like Pharaoh’s heart, unrepentant, hard, self-serving, careless in living.  This kind of heart will never allow seed to germinate, will never admit to a need or to a God to serve.  But good ground receives the Good News readily, and the seed sprouts all the way to maturity.  Paul was concerned about the ground in the Corinthians’ lives not being plowed deep enough.  He tells them that they are immature, unable to receive the deeper things of the gospel, things that would allow them to prosper in producing an abundant crop.  Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ.  I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it.  Indeed, you are still not ready.  You are still worldly.  For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly?  Are you not acting like mere humans?  (1 Corinthians 3:1-3)  Paul realizes the Corinthians are in the same game of life as the world is playing.  They are arguing and struggling over worldly issues.  The are arguing who is the person to follow.  Paul is very direct in his assessment of them.  You are worldly, in danger of losing everything that I taught.  It is not who we follow, but who God is!  Anything else is pure flesh, immature, and will not produce a crop of righteousness.  The kingdom of God was ushered in by John the Baptist who preached repentance, a turning to God and to him only.  Jesus tells of the sower, sowing seed to the world’s environment.  This sower sows seeds that fall on hard ground, seeds that fall on rocky ground, and seeds that fall on ground that has been infiltrated by unrighteous seeds.  All of this depicts the condition of the world: land that is not productive, that does not produce a crop of righteousness, of right living, of holiness.  The only hearts that are truly receptive are the hearts that have been softened by the Spirit of God, and that begins with repentance.  These hearts provide soil to nourish seeds of righteousness.  

We who are in the kingdom, the repentant who live in servanthood to others and not ourselves, should live lives that soften the ground around us.  We should help the sower in his task of winning people to his kingdom.  Our lives should be shored up to the Master.  If not, our maturity in God is at risk.  We are to live with the fruit of the Holy Spirit evident in us at all times: fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  (Galatians 5:22-23)  If we think we are wise in the Lord, if we think we know how a Christian should act and speak, then we should reveal God in our servanthood to people, as Christ was a servant to all.  Good soil is repentant soil, servant hearts, loving spirits.  It is compromising soil, willing to accept Jesus in other people’s lives.  Immaturity is fruitless soil, my way or the highway hearts, claiming wisdom but displaying foolishness because of wanting all to believe exactly as they believe.  The Corinthians championed different religious leaders, believing adamantly they were right in their assessments of their leaders.  They argued over who was right.  Paul said, your arguing reveals your immaturity, your worldliness.  We who are in the household of God are one.  There should be no arguing or disputing among ourselves, for we are prisoners of the Lord.  As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.  Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.  Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.  There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.  (Ephesians 4:1-5)  Good ground makes every effort to keep unity.  When the seed hits the good ground around you, it will grow; but if you have allowed seeds of dissatisfaction, hurt, and criticism to be around you, seeds planted next to you, even your children or closest friends, will not grow to maturity.  Sadly, the new growth might even dissipate and die; worldliness does that to new growth.  Instead let the soil around us be nurtured with the wisdom of God in our hearts.  But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.  Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.  (James 3:17-18)  This kind of soil will reap great benefits for the Master.  Let us image God in our lives.  Let us reap the benefits of being a prisoner for the Lord, a servant of the Most High.  The Sower is sowing in our day, we need to make the land around us, those we influence daily, able to receive the seed and to sprout to maturity.  As Hosea said, our reward is great when we sow righteousness around us.  Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you.   (Hosea 10:12)  God’s great love for us should be revealed to the hearts around us so that they too might sprout and receive the righteousness that God desires for them.  May we all reap a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.  

Matthew 13:10-17 Sow to the Wind!

Matthew 13:10-17  The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”  He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.  Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance.  Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.  This is why I speak to them in parables: Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.  In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.  For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.  Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’  But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.  For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”

In our day, the word of God is broadcast everywhere, from the deepest jungles, to the most isolated deserts, to the expansive tundra.  There are many voices expressing what they believe is the word of the Lord.  From countless platforms we hear the good news that a relationship with the Creator God is possible.  Constantly, we hear this relationship comes from faith, not works.  Even though the word of God is as prevalent as air in so many areas of the world, it is not heard with understanding.  Or if the gospel is heard in some way, it lacks everyday spiritual reality.  This ineptitude creates a deafness and blindness to the word of God: though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.  In fact, this lack of spiritual awareness has caused the world to be even more adulterous as they reject God.  To many He is dead.  In their minds, He does not exist.  To others, if He is God, He is not a God of relevance, demanding something from us.  He is a permissive God, accepting all behavior equally with enduring love.  No behavior is too gross, too violent, or out of the norm for him to call it evil, corrupt, or eternally damned.  The God people often construct is a God of self, an idol not made out of wood, stone, or precious metals, but a God of self-will, self-engrandisement, and selfish pursuits.  Our God of self-centeredness does not demand anything from us; therefore, we need not revere him or honor him in any way.  In Jesus’ day, John the Baptist understood this rebellious nature of man.  He  knew they played a good song, their words seemed in tune with subservience to God, but their hearts strayed, to the point they were deadly vipers to each other.  John calls to them in derision as they approached him.  “You brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?  Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.  And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’  For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.  The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”  (Luke 3:7-9)  Their tune was to rely on their forefathers: we have the patriarchs as our fathers; therefore, we are right with God, for He has placed his special blessing on us Semites.  He loves us with a special blessing, his everlasting covenant remains with us Jews.  But as the prophet Hosea writes, their words are empty, without any substance: They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.  (Hosea 8:7)  The heads of their grain have no kernels in them.  They look good, say the right words, play the right song, but they are empty vessels with empty words.  Someday all of this pretense will come back on them like a whirlwind, destroying everything, casting them out into the lands of the foreigners.  Jesus knew this, for He evaluates hearts not words or religious activities and demeanor.  He knew their hearts contained the wickedness of a prostitute’s heart: short relationships without affection, going from one lover to the next, even in one night.  As we see later, the Jews shout and praise Jesus on one day and on the next day cry out, “crucify him.”  When Jesus did not fulfill their fleshly desires, they wanted him dead.  Today, people want God dead; consequently, their science eliminates God from their existence.  While they glory in that proposed knowledge, the Spirit declares God is not dead, He is alive!

Jesus selected twelve men to accompany him as He ministered to the people.  They were common men with no experience with spiritual things, but they willingly followed him, leaving their families and lifestyles to be close to Jesus.  They trusted Jesus to provide for their needs.  They even ate grain from the fields, harvesting grain as would the poor in the community, for the fields were purposely left with some grain so the poor could gather it. So in some ways, the disciples became poor for their dedication to Jesus.  They were criticized by the religious leaders for eating grain on the Sabbath, doing what the poor probably did for daily sustenance.  Jesus selected them, knowing their willingness to break from their daily routine and risk everything for him.  But as common men, with little religious training, Jesus’ teaching probably often went over their heads.  His parables confused them, not giving them a clear understanding of what Jesus was saying.  They wanted him to speak plainly to them, saying something they could understand.  The religious leaders often understood Jesus’ parables, knowing they were directed at them.  Because the disciples were not part of that religious group, Jesus many times explained his parables to his disciples.  In the sower parable, He later explained to the disciples what the parable meant.  Jesus loved his disciples; they left all to follow him so He privileged them with expositions of his parables so they might truly know what He was saying and doing.  But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.  For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.  God’s purpose with humankind was revealed to them, but they could not grasp the totality of all Jesus said and did until they were filled with the Holy Spirit.  After that the Spirit reminded them of all that Jesus taught.  At that time, their eyes saw and their ears heard.  The message of the Good News came into their spiritual reality.  They gave their lives for this message: that God is and that the Son was sent for the redemption of men and women, making them eternal beings, right with the living God as his adopted children.

The message of the kingdom of God comes to those who have put their full trust in Jesus.  The disciples followed Jesus by trusting in his words, works, and lifestyle.  They built their lives on Jesus, the Rock.  This faith became a girder reaching from Jesus, the Rock, to God himself.  Even though sometimes their understanding of Jesus and his purposes became muddled, lacking knowledge that Jesus was God in the flesh, they kept following him by faith.  When Jesus calmed the roaring sea and they feared their demise, they proclaimed, He must be God.  Who else could control nature?  He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.  He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid?  Do you still have no faith?”  They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”  (Mark 4:39-41)  However, on another occasion of crossing the sea, they argued about who forgot to bring the bread.  Sadly, this happened right after Jesus fed thousands with a few fish and loaves of bread.  The miracle had not opened their fleshly eyes.  Even though Jesus knew about this hardness of heart, He told them: the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.  Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance.  Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.  Jesus had selected these faithful men with their ups and downs in knowing him as people worthy to receive the knowledge of the secrets of heaven.  We who have our lives IN CHRIST have received this knowledge of his purpose on earth.  We know his willingness to die for people who have rejected the will of God, who even now proclaim He does not exist.  Jesus died for all for all time.  He died because of God’s great love for his creation.  We are in the center of that creation with all things created for our benefit.  God is making sons and daughters to dwell in his eternal household.  We who are in that household must fully understand what God is doing and manifest God in our lives.  The disciples exposed their lives to death by propagating the Good News.  We also have the Good News to announce to all people.  The electronic media has spread many words about Jesus, about God.  Yet the world is quite hardened to these many words.  People’s ears are stopped and their eyes sightless to the things of God.  Some of the words they have heard came from insincere hearts without true servanthood love for people—people who are uniquely loved by the Creator God.  Some spiritual words come from people whose own lives do not measure up to godly standards—self-serving people who strive for recognition, ambitious in their religious communities, seeking notoriety in the world.  But Jesus was kind, humble and merciful, loving those who were the outcasts in society.  He met with the troublemakers, the sinners of this world.  He met with those who knew they were not right with God because they were in need of knowing him.  We all need to know God, his heart, his purpose for our lives.  When we realize our need to know God, to be right with God, our hearts become open to the message of love: JESUS HIMSELF, the messenger from God.  Let this Messenger be in our hearts and his message for the world be broadcast with diligence and sincerity, let his wisdom from heaven flow through us in our daily lives.  But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.  Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.  (James 3:17-18)  Words will not break the hardness of hearts, but actions of love through people dedicated to the Lord will crumble the stoniness of any heart.      

Matthew 13:1-9 Seed on Good Soil!

Matthew 13:1-9  That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake.  Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore.  Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed.  As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.  Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil.  It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.  But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.  Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.  Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.  Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

Large crowds came to Jesus to hear him teach about God, to watch him heal and cast out demons.  Many thought Jesus a side show, others believed him a great prophet sent by God, and a few thought of him as perhaps God in the flesh.  However they saw him, Jesus’ words and ideas were not easily understood such as his answer to which commandment was most important.  To love him, God, with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices. (Mark 12:33)  This teaching was readily understood, but at other times He taught using parables and stories that were very hard to discern.  Oftentimes Jesus left the hearers to decipher the point of the parable or story.  However, sometimes as when Jesus talks about John the Baptist as the greatest of humans but the least in God’s kingdom, He explains what the story means. With a story of children in the marketplace, Jesus shows how people did not recognize John’s role of sensitizing people to the coming Messiah.  We played the pipe for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.  (Matthew 11:17)  Then He gives the explanation.  For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He has a demon.  The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.” But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.  (Matthew 11:18-19)  Whether He speaking clearly or abstractly in his teachings, Jesus knew the people need spiritual ears to understand his point: God has come down in the flesh to save mankind.  Therefore, He emphasizes, Whoever has ears, let them hear.  In today’s focus, we see Jesus in a boat, choosing to teach the people with parables rather than explaining the realities of life and the kingdom of heaven clearly.  This befuddles the disciples for they are trying to glean Jesus’ meaning.  When the disciples asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”  He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.  Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance.  Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”  (Matthew 13:11-12)  Jesus knew this generation of Israelites were living with hard hearts, following him for the fish and loaves, for the healings, for what He could do for them.  They were not necessarily with him to learn more about God and his kingdom.  They wanted deliverance from the Roman occupation, to live their lives as they desired, not according to Roman rule.  All of this reflects their hard hearts, impervious to the gospel of the Good News.  However, God chose twelve apostles to receive his truth, but one of them was worldly in spirit, living for himself.  Judas sold out Jesus for thirty pieces of silver because his heart was as hard as the Pharaoh’s heart, unchanged even though witnessing Jesus’ many miraculous acts.  His physical senses outweighed his spiritual eyes and ears.  He saw the fleshly Jesus who ate, slept, talked, acted, walked, as he did, more than the spiritual Jesus sent from God to earth.  Even today, this is the Jesus the world accepts, not the Jesus of the heavenly domain.

Today, God continually sows seed, telling the world about himself and the kingdom of heaven.  Many of these seeds from the Divine fall on hard ground.  Hearts remain unreceptive to anything other than what occupies their daily lives.  As the Israelites of Jesus’ time, people live as if there is no God to honor or respect.  Their hearts are closed to anything spiritual, unwilling to contemplate their existence.  They fill their lives with personal duties, activities, and responsibilities.  Work, play, hobbies, interactions, entertainment, and the like offer reasons for living.  They behave as people staring at a wall with no interest to discover what is behind the wall.  They have little understanding of why they breathe, why their hearts beat.  The only reality they desire is what they experience for the day or what their bucket list contains for tomorrow.  Their cherished dreams are earthbound, finite, ethereal in content.  The birds of the air quickly devour any thought of a future with God or a need to know God.  This of course is the evil one’s desire for the human race.  Other seed falls on shallow soil.  These people have a limited interest in knowing God, usually in the tender years of youth, but family background, the ridicule of others, and a general lack of spirituality, quickly dissipates their desire to know God.  In our day, electronic media and social contacts often mutilate this God-seeking desire.  Activity and social contacts can distance God in people’s daily routine.  Consequently, the sprouted seed becomes rootless and dies.  The rocky soil of individual lives is too meager for a person to live for God.  Other seed falls in enough ground to root well and to grow vigorously, but the cares of this world also grow in this soil.  The activities, the successes, even the failures in life grow abundantly around the seed that is flourishing, and finally the cares of this world are more healthy than the seed of God that has sprouted in appropriate soil.  Eventually, the “Son” is blocked from the sprouted seed’s view, and the once healthy plant dies.  Sadly, Christians in our day are consumed by a plethora of activities and entertainment, all blocking out the “Son” in their lives.  But God is persistent in his planting: some seed is in good ground, capable of seeing the “Son,” receiving the healthy, refreshing water from the Spirit every day.  This lifestyle brings them to maturity, producing seed that will grow new life around them.  Jesus in this parable is talking about God’s enduring love for mankind.  He never quits planting his word into the hearts of men.  Some receive, many do not.  Some sprout, many do not.  Some walk part way with God, others quickly retreat.  Some fight the world with holy living, others give in and die to the weeds, but God never gives up telling his story of love for people.  Many find this love with a joy in their hearts, enduring to the end in their affection for God.  

Christians have a major part to play in sowing seed.  Christ has made us one with him; therefore, one with God, for we are IN HIM AND HE IS IN GOD.  Consequently, God’s seed is expressed through our lives.  Some of the seed will fall on good ground and will sprout to eternal life.  Much of the seed will never germinate, but we are still to express the sower to all people.  We are to love God deeply as his servants.  We are not here to do our will or to express our ideas about living in the flesh.  We are to love others as we love ourselves.  The Bible says that sinful man does what is right in his own eyes.  This is contrary to God’s will for our lives.  We are to be as He is: to love others, to give our lives for others, even if they are far from God.  Of course this hurts our idea of freedom.  Paul talks to the Corinthians directly, even harshly.  They have made divisions in the church based on who is right: Paul or Apollo.  This division was so bitter that they were destroying the church of God in Corinth.  Paul tells them that they are IMMATURE.  He cannot feed them meat because they are but plants that are being choked out by the cares of this world: what they believe or what they do not believe.  Rather than feed them meat, he has to go back to the first works of Christ and talk to them about forgiveness, love, grace and mercy.  The Corinthians were not valuing the oneness of the body.  What, after all, is Apollos?  And what is Paul?  Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task.  I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.  So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.  The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor.  For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.  (1 Corinthians 3:5-9)  Paul tells them God is planting a field.  They are part of that field.  God’s will not theirs should be done.  If they interfere with God’s will by splitting the church, they destroy the work of the planter.  Whoever destroys the work of the planter or his house will be destroyed himself.  Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?  If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.  (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)  Christians are to work in unity for unity.  We each have a different part or function in the body, but we must  be cognizant that God does the planting.  We support God’s effort through our individual imaging of him.  We do not split the field or tear down part of the house based on our idea of freedom: what we want, what we think, what we do not want.  We are servants of the Lord.  We can cause the ground around us to be fertile if we display the works and attributes of the Spirit in our lives.  The Spirit of God is meek, mild, loving, caring, merciful, gracious, tolerant, patient, and kind.  Do we reflect his attributes or are we like the church of Corinth: immature, angry, divisive, hurtful, loveless, bitter, and so on?  The Corinthian church talked a good game, even displayed gifts of the Holy Spirit in their worship services, but Paul warns them that their attitude of divisiveness reveals their immaturity and willingness to harm God’s temple.  Paul said God would judge them for their lack of maturity.  Their worldliness would destroy their own souls and the souls of others.  Bad ground will eventually reap a harvest of death, division, and carnality.  Let us toil to make good ground for God’s seed.  Jesus said some seed fell on good soil; let us be that good soil.  Amen.