He who has ears to hear
He who has ears to
hear
Talk
Reading
– Matt 13:1-23 Parable of the Sower
The
parable of the sower is a wonderful parable. It is one of the few parables that
we have Jesus’ explanation of the parable recorded for us. Jesus not only tells
us what the parable is about, he also tells us why he tells parables and why he
has told this parable.
Parables
are stories with a message. By telling stories Jesus delivered the word of God
in a simple, easy to listen to message.
Everyone loves
stories, right from when we’re little kids it’s ingrained in us that when
someone says, let me tell you a story, we stop and listen.
I have two brothers and a little sister. My
mother tells the story of how when we brothers were too old to be told bedtime
stories, but my little sister was still being told bedtime stories, when she
was telling my sister a bedtime story that us boys still liked, one by one we
would sneak into her bedroom to listen to the story. Until were all there
listening, even my Father too.
Jesus knew how much
we love stories and so a lot of his teaching was in the form of parables.
In verses 11-17 of the chapter we had read Jesus explains
that there are people who have hardened their hearts to God, who do not want to
hear Gods word. Telling the word of God in parables, gave people no excuse. A
parable is easy to listen to so there was no excuse for not hearing it and
taking it in. But for those people who want to get to understand the word of
God, the parable means that they have to think about the message to understand
what it means.
And so the parable
of the sower is actually about what different people do with the word of God
when they hear it.
In this parable
the seed represents the word of God. Jesus explains that the seed that falls on
the path is like people who hear the word and do not understand it and so it is
taken away. As I said earlier, Jesus has already explained in verses 14 and 15,
that people do not understand because they do not want to understand. It has
nothing to do with them being unable to understand, or an evil being called the
devil preventing them understanding. When Jesus talks about the devil, he is
talking about anything that is opposed to God and most often and indeed in this
case it is our own evil desires that are that opposition. So the seed that
falls on the path are people that do not want to understand.
2 Timothy
4:2-4 (New International Version)
2Preach
the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and
encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3For the time
will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their
own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4They
will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
People are
very good at hearing what they want to hear, and not hearing what they don’t
want to hear. In England we call this ‘Selective hearing’. For example a child
who has perfectly good hearing, may decide not to hear when his parent calls
him to come in from play as its bed time. Equally I’ve never known a child not
hear when you tell them you have a present for them.
At the time
of Jesus there were people who saw the most amazing miracles that Jesus
performed and yet would still not believe.
John
10:22-28
22Then came the Feast of
Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23and Jesus was in the
temple area walking in Solomon's Colonnade. 24The Jews gathered
around him, saying, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the
Christ, tell us plainly."
25Jesus
answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my
Father's name speak for me, 26but you do not believe because you are
not my sheep. 27My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they
follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish;
no one can snatch them out of my hand.
So there are
people who don’t want to hear the word of God, because they want to carry on
living their lives the way they are. And these people will perish. But for the
people who do hear the word they will have eternal life.
Verse 20 of
the parable
20The one
who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word
and at once receives it with joy. 21But since he has no root, he
lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word,
he quickly falls away.
In the other
talks this weekend we will be looking at how we develop a good root so that we
do not fall away when trouble or persecution comes.
Hebrews
2:1
“We must pay more careful attention,
therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.”
The first
two chapters of Hebrews details the importance of staying true to our faith.
And in this verse the importance paying close attention to what we have heard,
because it is literally a matter of life and death. How we hear the word of God
and what we do with what we hear means either everlasting life in God’s kingdom
or everlasting contempt as those who will die forever.
Again I will
be spending quite a bit of time this weekend in the next few talks explaining
how we gain a good root to prevent us wilting away when trouble or persecution
comes because it is so important.
Verse 22
“22The one
who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word,
but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making
it unfruitful.”
This is
something that is a big problem for Christians in England. We have very busy
lives with demanding jobs, and the nature of living in that sort of country
means that it is very easy to become preoccupied with all of the worries of
life and therefore not having time for God.
Thorns
therefore are often of our own creation. If we a preoccupied with things of the
world then these thorns will become bigger and bigger. And really the things of
this world are not important.
How much
importance do we put on the things of the world? The more importance we place on
them, the more likely it is that like the weeds they can choke us.
Jesus says
the following in Matthew 6.
Matthew
6:20-22
19"Do
not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy,
and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves
treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do
not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your
heart will be also.
22"The eye is the lamp
of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23But
if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the
light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
24"No one can serve two
masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted
to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
25"Therefore
I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about
your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the
body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air;
they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father
feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you
by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
28"And why do you worry
about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labour or
spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour
was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the
grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire,
will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not
worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we
wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your
heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his
kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as
well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will
worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Jesus makes it
quite clear that as God is looking after us, there is no need to place high
importance on the cares of this life. The material things of this world are
temporary, they can be stolen or lost or broken. But focusing on the things
that God wants us to care about will help us as we head towards God’s kingdom.
So instead of
worrying about the things of this life we should instead focus on growing like
the seed that fell on good ground.
Verse 23
23But the one who received the seed that
fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces
a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."
Notice how Jesus
describes the seed that falls on good soil. It is the man who hears the word and understands it. It
is so important once we have heard the word, to take it into our hearts and
minds, to fully understand it and so that we can produce a good crop for God.
James
1:19-21
19My dear brothers, take note of
this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become
angry, 20for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life
that God desires. 21Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the
evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can
save you.
22Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive
yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone
who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at
his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and
immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But the man who looks
intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but
doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.
26If anyone
considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue,
he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. 27Religion that
God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and
widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
James is very
clear in what he says. Verse 22 do not
merely listen to the word and so deceive, yourselves. Do what it says. Did
you also notice how in verse 25 James says doesn’t just say that we are blessed
in what we do for just reading the word once and them forgetting it. He says
that the man who continually looks
into the word and does what it say, this man will be blessed in what he does.
Becoming a
Christian, is not just about hearing the word of God. It is about continually
looking into the word and doing what it says.
The word of
God, is God talking to us, it is God telling us how to live our lives. It is
God telling us how much he loves us, how much he wants to give us eternal life
and how much he wants us to have a relationship with him.
Jesus said
Luke 8:21
21He replied, "My
mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into
practice."
So God
doesn’t just want to get to know him, Jesus says we can be part of God’s
family, if we hear God’s word and put it into practice.
The really
amazing thing is that for us to grow into a crop that brings forth many times
what is sown, we need to develop a relationship with God and Jesus.
Like any
good relationship, our development as Christians isn’t about just hearing the
word of God and putting those words into practice. It’s about talking back to
God so that you can develop that relationship.
So how do we
talk to God?
Do any of
you know what God’s phone number is? It’s really easy to remember and so useful
when trying to develop a relationship with God.
It’s
Jeremiah 333
Jeremiah
33:3 (New International Version)
3 'Call
to me and I will answer you
It’s really
as simple as that. Talk to God, and he will answer you. Pray to him and he will
answer your prayers. Like any relationship, the answer may not always be the
answer you want but God will answer your prayers.
It’s useful
to remember the following: “God always answers our prayers. Sometimes the
answer is ‘Yes’, sometimes it’s ‘No’ and sometimes its ‘wait’.”
Someone once
told me a story that is also helpful when thinking of our relationship with
Jesus.
There were
two Christians who went away on holiday together. They had booked a twin room
in a hotel and when it came to bed time the first Christian had gone up to bed
early and spent half an hour on his knees by the side of the bed in prayer.
Just as he was finishing the second Christian came up to the room, knelt down
in prayer for 10seconds then got into bed. The first Christian said “how come
you’ve got so little to pray about”? The second Christian answered saying “when
you’ve been talking all day all you need to say in the evening is good night!”
This next
verse is my favourite bible verse:
James
4:8 (New International Version)
8Come
near to God and he will come near to you.
That is
absolutely amazing but so important. Just like in any relationship, the closer
you move to God by prayer and doing all the things instructed in his word, so
he will come closer to you.
Workshops/Discussion
We
said in the talk that God wants us to develop a relationship with him and to do
this we need to pray to him.
But
does God really hear our prayers, and what are his answers and when do they
come?
Luke
1:13
But the angel said to him: "Do not
be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth
will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John.
What
do you think that Zechariah was praying for when is prayer was heard. Why? What
do we learn about prayer from this incident?
James 5:13-20
How
important do we think prayer is having read these verses?
