It's been tough lately

One of the great things about Scripture is that it doesn’t whitewash anyone or gloss over any less-than-perfect situations.  Embarrassing and non-flattering moments are included alongside of impressive miracles.  This is one of the evidences of the Bible being supernaturally inspired: given the number of people who contributed to the Scriptures over the 1500 years it took to write, you would really expect that some author – at some point – would try to minimize their mistakes and/or failings. 

But that’s not what we see.  Instead, we find the heroes of the Bible don’t always act like perfect heroes.  We find them lying, cheating, and betraying each other.  We find them doubting God and His goodness.  Sometimes, we even find them saying really stupid things or just wanting to get away from it all.  Here is just a short list of examples (which would be easy to make into a long list):

·       Adam and Eve had the literal perfect life, and lost it because they thought God was holding out on them (Genesis 3).
·       Jacob leveraged his family members’ weakened conditions against them so he could get what he wanted (Genesis 26-27).
·       Jonah flat-out told God “No.” and ran away (Jonah 1).
·       David wasn’t where he was supposed to be, which led him to an affair with someone he wasn’t supposed to be with (2 Samuel 11). 
·       John Mark deserted his fellow missionaries in the middle of the mission trip.  He just up and left them hanging (Acts 13).
·       After the biggest single-day success of his career as God’s prophet, Elijah fell into loneliness and deep depression (1 Kings 18-19).
·       Noah got drunk and passed out, and his kids had to take care of him (Genesis 9).
·       On his watch, Aaron went along with a rebellion against his brother Moses and against God.  He even formed the golden calf “god” himself (Exodus 32).
·       Samuel, a great prophet of Israel, failed completely as a father.  While his sons were in the ministry, they were all corrupt and took bribes.  They used their religious positions for personal gain. (1 Samuel 8).
·       One day, Peter came to the conclusion that he needed a break.  He decided to leave for a while and go fishing (John 21).

Since the Bible doesn’t hide the flaws and failings of the people of God, I don’t think that we should work so hard to project a “perfect Christian” image.  It’s an easy trap to fall into, though.  We tell ourselves I don’t have the time to tell them the full story…or…they have their own issues and shouldn’t have to deal with ours, too…or…I’m embarrassed because I’ve been a Christian too long to be struggling with this thing…or…others would look down on us for getting stuck on this sin…or…<insert your own excuse here>

 When was the last time someone asked you, “How are you doing?”, and you gave an answer other than “I’m good.”?  But we have the insider information on ourselves, don’t we?  We’re fully aware of which parts aren’t “good” and where we’re struggling. 

So, in the interest of openness…I’ll admit that it’s been hard for me lately.  Of all the things you could imagine that I struggle with, your least-likely guess is my frustration…I’m having difficulty putting in the effort to study the Scriptures.  Ironic, right?  The guy who teaches the Bible is having difficulty with wanting to put in the effort to understand the Bible.  This isn’t a “because of COVID” thing either, it’s been a on-again-off-again struggle for a very long while. 

I don’t write this looking for your sympathy.  I’m not asking for a prayer vigil.  I admit this to you because I want you think about how you look at your pastors and teachers.  Just because we write/teach/preach God’s big ideas and partner with God to bring His truths to your attention…this doesn’t mean that we have everything else in our lives perfectly together or that we don’t also struggle in our walk with God.

Sometimes this living sacrifice (Romans 12:1) wants to crawl off the altar, check out of my responsibilities, and just coast for a while.  I get tired of daily taking up my cross (Luke 9:23) where “self” is to be crucified, and honestly, on somedays…I just don’t pick it up.  When talking about this blog, I have readily told people that I do not write because I am some super-spiritual, strong-Christian type…instead, I believe that God has me write this blog because I am too weak to not have this teaching responsibility.  Part of what keeps me in the Word is knowing I’m accountable to you all on a weekly basis – whether I feel like reading God’s Word or not.  If I wasn’t doing this ministry work, I’m not sure how much (or how little) time I would spend in the Scriptures.  And without God’s voice being intentionally and regularly added to my life, I am unable to withstand the constant barrage of the world’s messaging, distractions, and lies.  This teaching work God has given me is as much for me as it is for you.  While my struggle with studying Scripture is not an “always every day” struggle, it’s definitely there…don’t let a well-written, regularly-delivered email suggest to you otherwise.

So, let’s not hide our struggles from each other.  Let’s not pretend to be the perfect Christian; after all, those don’t exist.  Talk to your spouse about where you are in your walk with God.  Speak with a good friend.  Find a Christian counselor, if need be.  When you think about your pastor or Bible teacher, don’t assume that their walk with God is easier than yours or that they don’t have struggles.  Instead, let’s all take to heart the encouragement given by the author of Hebrews:

Hebrews 12:1-2
…let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us.  Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith.  For the joy that lay before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Persevering in whatever ministry God has given us will keep us on track for God’s will in our lives now and eternal rewards in the life to come.  Even when we struggle.  Even when we don’t feel like it.  Even when we admit to not having it all together.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

The MVP - conflicting interpretations

We’ve learned a lot by going through what Jesus referred to as the key parable of His teaching. 

But if you listen to different preachers or read through multiple commentaries, you’ll find that not everyone agrees when it comes to how to interpret what Jesus was trying to communicate to His disciples and those that followed Him.

Most preachers and commentators will tell you that the parable of the sower consists of 3 “bad” soils and 1 “good” soil.  They argue that no fruit or immature fruit is equal to people who profess to be Christians, but aren’t really believers because they don’t persevere or behave in a measurable “Christian” manner (and that definition is a sliding scale, depending on whom you ask).

What I’ve presented to you is that in this parable, there is 1 “non-believer” soil and 3 “believer” soils, with each believing soil have varying degrees of success in the Christian life.  In my studies for this post series, I even came across some teachers claiming the correct interpretation is half-and-half…they argue that 2 soils represent non-believers (never believed and falsely professed belief) and 2 soils represent believers (because, they argued, immature fruit is still “fruit”).

Logically, all three interpretations cannot be true.  One can be right and the others wrong, or they could all be wrong…but since they contradict each other, they cannot all be right.  That leaves us in a predicament, doesn’t it?  Whose interpretation is the right one?  Or, put more directly…Which interpretation is God’s interpretation?

Before we attempt to answer that question, let’s take this a step further…why would God even allow such varying interpretations to exist?  If this parable really is the Most Valuable Parable, why in the world would God let any of us be confused as to what He really means?

Ok, let’s all take a breath and remember…Jesus taught in parables because, while Israel thought they were ready for the Messiah, they were not ready for Jesus to be their Messiah.  Over the centuries, based upon God’s written word and the teaching of the prophets, the nation of Israel had formed a pre-conceived notion of what the Messiah would do and how he would act.  Jesus didn’t fit their expectation of who the Messiah would be…but He fit God’s definition of exactly what the world needed.

As such, Jesus taught in parables to get the people to think their way through His teachings so they could learn who He was.  And not all of His teachings were instantly understood.  After teaching the crowds the parable of the sower, even the disciples didn’t get it right away:

Luke 8:9-10
Then His disciples asked Him, “What does this parable mean?”  So He said, “The secrets of the kingdom of God have been given for you to know, but to the rest it is in parables, so that

Looking they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.

Jesus quotes a famous verse (Isaiah 6:9) from the passage where God calls Isaiah to be a prophet to the people of Israel.  Using a verse to reference the point of an entire passage was common in the ancient world, so I suggest you go back and read all of Isaiah 6 – it’s an incredible scene in the throne room of God.  Here’s a portion of it, the part where Isaiah gets his assignment from God:

Isaiah 6:9-10
And He replied:

              Go!  Say to these people: Keep listening, but do not understand;
              keep looking, but do not perceive.

              Make the minds of these people dull; deafen their ears and blind their eyes;
              otherwise they might see with their eyes and hears with their ears,
              understand with their minds, turn back, and be healed.

Jesus’ use of this passage speaks to our tendency to look for something, but not put in the continued effort to find it…or our ability to hear words but then not pursue what those words actually mean.  This was how most of Israel treated the prophet Isaiah – they heard his teaching from the Lord, but didn’t bother pursuing God to understand Him and His ways.  They decided they were tired of hearing the same thing from the Lord over and over, so they dulled their minds and stopped listening to God’s prophets.  Isaiah’s teachings were an invitation to Israel to interact with the Lord.  Jesus’ teaching through parables presented the same situation…those that wanted to follow Him, had the opportunity to ask and interact.  But Jesus didn’t force this on the crowds…they had to decide for themselves if Jesus was the Messiah.

So, where does that leave us with the parable of the sower?   While I have given you what I believe – based on my observations – is an accurate interpretation/application of The MVP, it’s up to you to decide if I’m right or not.  This is your opportunity to interact with God through the text of His Scriptures…and walk through the steps of Observation, Interpretation, and Application to find out what Jesus was really getting at here.

You have the same opportunity as the Israelites in Isaiah’s day and the crowds in Jesus’ day…investigate His teachings for yourself.  As you do so, God will remove rocks and thorns from your life so that you can be good ground…someone who endures and produces a great amount of fruit with your life.

If you would like some help learning how to navigate the steps of Observation, Interpretation, and Application, just reply to this blog post or send me a note via the contact page on the website. I’d be so happy to help you get the tools you need to read and understand God’s Word.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

The MVP - good ground

We’re looking into The parable of the sower.  It was this parable that Jesus referred to as the “key” to understanding all His parables (Mark 4:13).  As such, I’m calling it: The Most Valuable Parable – The MVP.  All three of the synoptic gospel writers included this parable.  It can be found in Matthew 13:1-23, Mark 4:1-20, and Luke 8:4-15.  So far, we have looked at the sower, the soil of the path, the rocky soil, and the thorny soil.  We’ve also observed that the word of God produced new life in the rocky soil, the thorny soil, and the good soil.  Now we’re taking a closer look at the good ground:

While we might best identify with the conditions of thorny soil, I think it’s safe to say that we’d all like to be good ground.  The good ground produces good fruit, which pleases God…so why wouldn’t we want that?  And all we have to do in order to be considered good ground is do good things and avoid doing really bad things, right?  Well, that’s not exactly what Jesus said about how good ground believers end up producing abundant fruit.

Luke 8:4-8, 11-15
As a large crowd was gathering, and people were coming to Jesus from every town, He said in a parable:

“A sower went out to sow his seed.  As he sowed, some seed fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the sky devoured it.  Other seed fell on the rock; when it grew up, it withered away, since it lacked moisture.  Other seed fell among thorns; the thorns grew up with it and choked it.  Still other seed fell on good ground; when it grew up it produced fruit: a hundred times what was sown.”  As He said this, He called out, “Let anyone who as ears to hear listen.”

…“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God.  The seed along the path are those who have heard and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.  And the seed on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy.  Having no root, these believe for a while and fall away in a time of testing.  As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are the ones who, when they have heard, go on their way and are choked with worries, riches, and pleasures of life, and produce no mature fruit.  But the seed in the good ground – these are the ones who, having heard the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it and by enduring, produce fruit.

There are two big observations about the good ground we need to look at – 1) When did it produce mature, abundant fruit? and 2) How was that fruit accomplished?

The first observation question – When did the good ground produce the mature, abundant fruit?  Jesus says that the fruit came when [the seed’s plant] grew up – not before it had grown up and matured, and not immediately when the new life burst forth from the seed.  God’s word needs time in your life to grow in you.  So don’t berate yourself if you still have stress, struggles, and doubts.  God isn’t tapping His foot and being disappointed that you haven’t yet forced out some fruit growth.  That’s not our job.  Mature fruit is the natural result of the seed being planted in good ground.  Our job is to become that good ground.

How was the ground made “good” and not have the same rock issues and thorn issues that the other soils had?  How can we be made into good ground?  As for me, I can tell you that others have helped pull weeds and thorns from my life.  In one of my favorite song lyrics, the singer states he’s “Still pulling weeds from seeds of yesterday’s scheming”.  We often need help to get rid of those.  Also, I can look back and see that God has removed boulders from my life, so that Godly roots can be laid down, often in that same space where the rocks once were.  Lastly Jesus said that good ground will hear the word with an honest and good heart, putting into practice the lessons God is teaching through His word.  Am I learning and applying His lessons?  In all my examples here, nothing was automatic.  God is willing to take the time for me to grow up and then produce fruit.

However, just because ground is fertile and relatively clean does not automatically mean that mature fruit will be brought forth…there is one more step here, and that involves our second observation question: How was that fruit accomplished?  In a word, by enduring.

We can survive just about anything, but if we are to endure and grow and come out stronger after a trial, we’re going to need to rely on God.  We must trust His path and His leading.  2020 has had more societal disruptions than we’ve seen in the last decade, and it feels like it’s just one crisis/problem after another.  Your persistence in these days matter.  Pursue God.  Seek Him out.  Ask Him to make you like His son.  Cling to the promises of God.  Your efforts in doing so will grow, multiply, and echo in ways your can’t imagine right now.  Don’t just survive; instead, endure these times as training, knowing that your Heavenly Father will produce mature fruit in your life because of it.

Growth takes time.  Enduring takes time.  As much as we want successful, spiritual fruit to happen immediately…all throughout Scripture, we find God taking His time to bring about the results He desires.  So let’s be patient with our growth and trust God as He removes rocks, weeds, and anything else that keeps us from becoming like Jesus.  Let us believe Him with an honest and good heart, holding on to the word of God planted in us…so that we can endure the times set before us…and then, because of God, produce fruit in quantities we could have never imagined.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

The MVP - thorny soil

We’re looking into The parable of the sower.  It was this parable that Jesus referred to as the “key” to understanding all His parables (Mark 4:13).  As such, I’m calling it: The Most Valuable Parable – The MVP.  All three of the synoptic gospel writers included this parable.  It can be found in Matthew 13:1-23, Mark 4:1-20, and Luke 8:4-15.  So far, we have looked at the sower, the soil of the path, and the rocky soil.  We’ve also observed that the word of God produced new life in the rocky soil, the thorny soil, and the good soil.  Now we’re taking a closer look at the thorny soil:

Remember, the fruitfulness of the seed was dependent upon the character of the ground it fell on.  Always the same seed, but never the same soil.  Watch for what happens to the seed that falls among the thorns:

Luke 8:4-8, 11-14
As a large crowd was gathering, and people were coming to Jesus from every town, He said in a parable:

“A sower went out to sow his seed.  As he sowed, some seed fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the sky devoured it.  Other seed fell on the rock; when it grew up, it withered away, since it lacked moisture.  Other seed fell among thorns; the thorns grew up with it and choked it.  Still other seed fell on good ground; when it grew up it produced fruit: a hundred times what was sown.”  As He said this, He called out, “Let anyone who as ears to hear listen.”

…“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God.  The seed along the path are those who have heard and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.  And the seed on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy.  Having no root, these believe for a while and fall away in a time of testing.  As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are the ones who, when they have heard, go on their way and are choked with worries, riches, and pleasures of life, and produce no mature fruit.

If we’re honest…this is the soil where most of us American believers would see ourselves.  With our basic needs readily met (food on the shelf, water from a faucet, sturdy shelter), ours is an affluent society – one with all sorts of distractions. 

Advertisers are relentless, aren’t they?  Everything is “new”, “improved”, or something you just gotta have.  The media, and especially social media, never stops for us to take a breath.  Seems like everything we want to do or experience costs money.  Our bodies eventually fall apart, no matter how much effort we hedge against it happening.  There’s also “the unknown”, and thinking about that for too long will quickly drive you crazy.  But…rather than paint an entirely negative picture, let’s be honest…there are good things, too.  Lots of good things.  There are so many good things available to us in this life – things that are not bad, in-and-of themselves – that, if allowed to grow unchecked, even those can cause significant issues.

Jesus made a rather interesting metaphor when referred to the worries, riches, and pleasures of life as thorns.  Thorny bushes are inhospitable.  They cover up and obscure beauty.  But the biggest trouble thorns cause is that they absorb resources that should go to the plant.  They are a resource drain, diverting nutrients and water away, which stunts the growth of the seed…and to make matters worse, as the thorns grow up, they physically crowd out anything that tries to grow near them.  Growth from the seed does occur, but useful fruit is unable to be produced.

One last observation from what Jesus initially said about the thorny soil: other seed fell among thorns; the thorns grew up with it and choked it.  Notice that the thorns weren’t full grown at the beginning; instead, they grew up with the seed.  In life, we’re pretty good about recognizing big things that would be a potential problem for us…but we’re not so good at recognizing the potential for little things to divert our resources away from what’s most important to us.

If we do not intentionally seek God’s perspective, then the worries, riches, and pleasures of life will insidiously grow up and take over, choking out the fruitful, mature life God has for us.

The author of Hebrews also recognized this possible dilemma for us.  Thankfully, though, he offered the solution to staying out of the thorns:

Hebrews 12:1-2
Therefore…let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us.  Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

The MVP - rocky soil

We’re looking into The parable of the sower.  It was this parable that Jesus referred to as the “key” to understanding all His parables (Mark 4:13).  As such, I’m calling it: The Most Valuable Parable – The MVP.  All three of the synoptic gospel writers included this parable.  It can be found in Matthew 13:1-23, Mark 4:1-20, and Luke 8:4-15.  So far, we have looked at the sower and the soil of the path.  We’ve also observed that the word of God produced new life in the rocky soil, the thorny soil, and the good soil.  Now we’re taking a closer look at the rocky soil:

Let’s remind ourselves of the setting.  Farmers didn’t have fancy, fast machines to prepare the ground.  Oxen could pull a plow to turn over the soil, so the farmer would do what he could to break up the ground.  The ideal seed depth was 1-3 inches in favorable conditions, but that wasn’t always attainable.  Terrain was often rocky and uneven, sometimes with only a thin layer of top soil.  With scant amount of nutrients and depth, this type of soil presents less than ideal prospects for growth, let alone maturity.

As you read the text, focus on what happens to the seed in the rocky soil:

Luke 8:4-8, 11-13
As a large crowd was gathering, and people were coming to Jesus from every town, He said in a parable:

“A sower went out to sow his seed.  As he sowed, some seed fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the sky devoured it.  Other seed fell on the rock; when it grew up, it withered away, since it lacked moisture.  Other seed fell among thorns; the thorns grew up with it and choked it.  Still other seed fell on good ground; when it grew up it produced fruit: a hundred times what was sown.”  As He said this, He called out, “Let anyone who as ears to hear listen.”

…“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God.  The seed along the path are those who have heard and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.  And the seed on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy.  Having no root, these believe for a while and fall away in a time of testing. 

As we can see from the rocky soil, a believer can experience the initial joy of salvation…but then fizzle out when life gets hard and their beliefs go through a time of testing.  Jesus said that believers akin to rocky soil lack moisture and have no root.  Their growth has been stunted due to the limited room for resources in their lives.

A key word to look at is the Greek word Jesus uses here for fall away – aphistemi – which means to withdraw, to remove, or desert.  Rocky soil believers joyfully trust God for their eternal salvation, but when times get tough, they don’t trust God with their circumstances.  Their choice leaves them painfully withered; however, there’s no indication that God abandons them.  These believers do not lose their salvation, but they lack the life-giving relationship Christ offers for their current circumstances because they have not developed roots.

But that leave us to wonder…what happens to those believers who fall away?  Many commentators advocate that their “falling” means they either lost their salvation, or they take it as proof that they were not “real believers” in the first place.  However, I don’t think either explanation is accurate.

Later on, in the book of Acts, Luke uses aphistemi again.  And it’s when he uses it that provides us with an interesting example and explanation of Jesus’ use of the word in the parable.  Luke uses the word to describe John Mark’s abandoning of Paul and Barnabas (translated to English this time as deserted):

Acts 15:38
But Paul insisted that they should not take along this man who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone on with them to the work.

John Mark had bailed on Paul’s first missionary journey at about the halfway point.  He abruptly left both the Apostle Paul and his cousin Barnabas, who was an influential member of the first century church.  The first part of their journey saw huge success in preaching Jesus to the island of Cyprus. Afterwards (and Scripture doesn’t say why), John Mark high-tailed it for home.  It’s interesting to note that Paul and Barnabas faced many trials during the second part of their missionary journey, which was the part John Mark avoided when left his companions in the lurch.  John Mark’s story fits the model that Jesus described for a rocky soil believer: when they hear, receive the word with joy.  Having no root, these believe for a while and fall away in a time of testing.

However, John Mark’s falling away didn’t permanently banish him from fellowship with Paul, Barnabas, or the rest of the church.  There’s no indication anywhere in Scripture that other believers questioned John Mark’s salvation.  Instead, Paul considered John Mark unworthy of a later opportunity to partner with him, and Paul rejected John Mark’s inclusion in the mission trip.  Ultimately, it was John Mark’s previous desertion that left him disqualified from the next significant opportunity to serve God (Acts 15:36-41). 

However, the good news is that John Mark’s story does not end there.  After Paul’s rejection, Barnabas took John Mark under his wing and mentored him.  Over the years that followed, John Mark went on to do great things for God: he returned to Cyprus with Barnabas (Acts 15:39), many years later Paul calls him useful in the ministry (2 Timothy 4:11), and he also worked with the Apostle Peter (1 Peter 5:13).  During his time with Peter, John Mark collected Peter’s stories and teaching of Jesus’ time on earth – and we now refer to that collection as The Gospel of Mark.

Left to themselves, rocky soil believers will struggle mightily and not produce a fruitful life in Christ.  They need moisture and help to remove significant boulders from their life.  Purposeful mentoring is necessary for them to grow the roots needed so they can endure a time of testing. 

If you are a rocky soil believer, please find a mentor ASAP.  If you want to know what that looks like, I suggest reading a series of blog posts on Biblical mentoring I wrote beginning in February 2106.

If you are a mature believer, please be on the look out for rocky soil believers.  They need your help, more than they realize.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

The MVP - new life

We’re looking into The parable of the sower.  It was this parable that Jesus referred to as the “key” to understanding all His parables (Mark 4:13), or as I’m calling it, The Most Valuable Parable – The MVP.  All three of the synoptic gospel writers included this parable.  It can be found in Matthew 13:1-23, Mark 4:1-20, and Luke 8:4-15.  So far, we have looked at the sower and the soil of the path.

It’s at this point in the parable that many commentators and preachers have stumbled over what Jesus is saying.  As we read the parable, rather than relying on what others may have told us, we need to approach the text with as little bias as possible.  We must allow the text to speak for itself.  Admittedly…this can be hard to do, especially for veteran Christians or those of us who have been in church since we were little.  The attitude of “oh yeah, that story” or “I already know what the preacher is going to say” is quite dangerous.  That kind of closed mindset can prevent the Holy Spirit from teaching us something new or correcting us on something we have gotten wrong.  Therefore, we need to be careful with our observations. 

We’ll see in verse 11, Jesus tells the disciples, “The seed is the word of God.” So as you read the parable, think about what happens to the seed as it is added to each soil.  Also watch for what’s different between the seed that fell on the path and the seed that fell on the other soils:

Luke 8:4-8, 11-13
As a large crowd was gathering, and people were coming to Jesus from every town, He said in a parable:

“A sower went out to sow his seed.  As he sowed, some seed fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the sky devoured it.  Other seed fell on the rock; when it grew up, it withered away, since it lacked moisture.  Other seed fell among thorns; the thorns grew up with it and choked it.  Still other seed fell on good ground; when it grew up it produced fruit: a hundred times what was sown.”  As He said this, He called out, “Let anyone who as ears to hear listen.”

…“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God.  The seed along the path are those who have heard and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.  And the seed on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy.  Having no root, these believe for a while and fall away in a time of testing.  As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are the ones who, when they have heard, go on their way and are choked with worries, riches, and pleasures of life, and produce no mature fruit.  But the seed in the good ground – these are the ones who, having heard the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it and by enduring, produce fruit.”

Do you see the difference in what happened to the word of God?  It was never accepted by the path, and the birds took it away.  Without the seed there, the path-person could not believe and be saved.  From Jesus’ statement, we can see that belief is the only condition for salvation (just like we learned with the Samaritan woman in John 4).

Many preachers and commentators focus on the maturity of the plant to gauge if a person is a believer or not.  By doing so, they miss Jesus’ point – Notice that even in less than ideal soil, the word of God was accepted and new life was born!  This is true for the rocky soil, the thorny soil, and the good soil.  In all three, the word of God brought forth new life, but their individual fruitfulness – their visible productivity – is what varied.

There aren’t different types of believers (“true believers”, “false believers”, etc) among Christians – either you are persuaded that Jesus is the Son of God and you believe in Him for eternal life…or you don’t.  Based on Jesus’ parable of the soils, we find that after the word of God brings forth new life, each believer’s maturity depends on how long they hold to their belief and if they allow their circumstances to influence their growth. 

Over the years, I have observed how easily Christians write-off others as being “not truly saved” because that other person’s behavior doesn’t match up with how they think a “true believer” would act.  They try to judge a person’s justification by how far they have progressed in their sanctification.  Put simply, they fail to distinguish between having eternal life and bearing fruit.  Christians who are focused on judging others like this end up wasting their time trying to pigeonhole other people’s eternal destiny…and worse yet, put themselves in the place of God.

If your natural-born brother or sister was misbehaving or living a lifestyle that was contrary to your family’s ideals…would you question their status as a member of your family?  Of course not.  We say things like this all the time “I love them and they’re still family, but…” Because the relationship is strained due to their maturity/behavior and there are steps that will need to be taken to help them “come back into the fold”.  We’ll get some more insight into these situations as we look at what Jesus had to say about the rocky soil and the thorny soil.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

The MVP - the path

We’re looking into The parable of the sower.  It was this parable that Jesus referred to as the “key” to understanding all His parables (Mark 4:13), or as I’m calling it, The Most Valuable Parable – The MVP.  All three of the synoptic gospel writers included this parable.  It can be found in Matthew 13:1-23, Mark 4:1-20, and Luke 8:4-15.  Since we looked at the sower last time, we’re now ready to look at what happened to the seed that the sower spread to the various types of soils.

We’re going to evaluate the responses of the soils in the order that Jesus taught them.  First up, we’ll focus in on the seed that fell along the path:

Luke 8:4-15
As a large crowd was gathering, and people were coming to Jesus from every town, He said in a parable:
“A sower went out to sow his seed.  As he sowed, some seed fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the sky devoured it.  Other seed fell on the rock; when it grew up, it withered away, since it lacked moisture.  Other seed fell among thorns; the thorns grew up with it and choked it.  Still other seed fell on good ground; when it grew up, it produced fruit: a hundred times what was sown.  As He said this He called out, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”

Then His disciples asked Him, “What does this parable mean?”  So He said, “The secrets of the kingdom of God have been given for you to know, but to the rest it is in parables, so that

Looking they may not see,
and hearing they may not understand.

“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God.  The seed along the path are those who have heard and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 

The path was a hardened surface because it was well-traveled upon.  And as such, the seed was not accepted by ground; instead, the seed was trampled.  This kind of heart was a roadway for many thoughts/experiences…distracted by its own concerns, its own ideas, and its own ambitions, such a heart became a place where the word of God was trodden down, smothered, and crushed by all the preoccupations that had made the heart their highway.

Then…the seed was stolen by the birds – which Jesus says represents the devil coming and taking the seed away before it can germinate.  From this we see that Satan actively works to prevent people from hearing and believing the gospel.  The devil is skilled and purposeful in his work – he’s had thousands of years of practice and insight into manipulating mankind’s psychology.  He will do whatever he can to confuse/distract the one who hears the word…so they will not believe the simple message that if you believe in Jesus for eternal life, you will be saved and He will give you new life.

With the seed taken away, there is no new life – they cannot believe and be saved unless the seed is present to produce the new life.

When reading this parable, most believers tend to skim over this soil.  They figure that this situation no longer applies to them, so it’s not worth their time to consider.  Or maybe they think of someone they know who fits this description.  Either way, most believers do not stop and think about the path…but…

Perhaps a personal illustration will help us find an application.  For a number of years while I was growing up, my family took in foster care kids.  We did what was called “short-term” foster care, which means you could be called to take in a kid for an hour in the middle of the night or have them as part of your family for up to 6 months while the government and legal processes figured out what was best for everyone involved.  We found that the younger the kid was, the more likely they were to fall in line with our family’s rhythm – “This is what we do.”  The older the kid, the more they had built up hardened layers to shield them from the traumatic stuff they had had to deal with at such young ages.  By the time they were teens, they had been physically hurt, lied to, abused, or emotionally scarred so many times that it was nearly impossible to get them to fully trust our family, let alone open up…and their hearts were already beginning to harden.

When you volunteer in children’s ministries at your church, when you coach a youth sports team, or when you financially support operations like Chestnut Mountain Ranch in Morgantown, WV…your efforts are preventing these kids from becoming like the hardened path.  Your invested time, energy, and money slows down the process of building up that hard outer layer which makes it so difficult for God’s word to impact their lives.  Your presence and love makes them feel supported instead of feeling trampled on, run over, or alone.

So the application for believers isn’t directly for us…instead we need to be aware and willing to help others – especially children – from becoming a hardened, lonely path.  Truett Cathy nailed down this idea in his book, titled It’s Better to Build Boys than Mend Men.  We need to reach the next generation with God’s love – before the world forces them to build self-reliant defenses and emotional walls.  Who knows?  Maybe you’ll also get to be a sower in a child’s life.  Or maybe you’ll help them be ready for when another sower arrives.

When you step into a child’s life, don’t let the thoughts of your potential impact scare you, or make you feel too much pressure.  Instead, know just how eternally important you are in these kids’ lives. 

Keep Pressing,
Ken

The MVP - the sower

Although Jesus was Israel’s promised Savior, when He started His ministry, most of the Jewish population had the wrong idea about the coming Messiah.  Many Jews had locked in on the idea that the Messiah’s immediate plans were to conquer Israel’s enemies and set up the Kingdom of God…with Jerusalem as its capital.  Jesus knew those actions were not His mission at that time.  To get the people past this mental stumbling block, as He traveled from town to town, Jesus taught many things to the crowds that came out to meet Him.  The truth about Himself and the Kingdom of God were taught indirectly, through parable-stories.  However, the setting for these parables was always something local and familiar to His audience.

Jesus referred to The parable of the sower as the key to understanding all His parables (Mark 4:13), or as I’m calling it, The Most Valuable Parable – The MVP.  All three of the synoptic gospel writers included it, and it can be found in Matthew 13:1-23, Mark 4:1-20, and Luke 8:4-15.  Before we get to the meat of the parable; however, we need to look at the main character of the parable – the sower.  Understanding his role – in the way Jesus’ audience recognized him – will help us understand the parable as a whole.

Let’s think about the setting.  Farming was everywhere, and sowing seed in a field was a common activity.  Farmers didn’t have fancy, fast machines to spread the seed, either.  They sowed “broadcast” style…casting the seed by hand as he walked up and down the field.  The sower always spread extra seed to allow for full coverage, and he was not concerned about wasting seed.  Every inch of ground on the field was seeded in the hopes of generating the largest harvest possible.  The ideal seed depth was 1-3 inches into the ground, in favorable conditions, but that wasn’t always the case.  Terrain was often rocky and uneven, sometimes with only a thin layer of top soil.

A sower’s activities would have been something everyone would relate to because they had either done the work themselves or they had seen someone else do it.  Focus on the sower’s actions as you read through Luke’s account:

Luke 8:4-15
As a large crowd was gathering, and people were coming to Jesus from every town, He said in a parable:

”A sower went out to sow his seed.  As he sowed, some seed fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the sky devoured it.  Other seed fell on the rock; when it grew up, it withered away, since it lacked moisture.  Other seed fell among thorns; the thorns grew up with it and choked it.  Still other seed fell on good ground; when it grew up, it produced fruit: a hundred times what was sown.  As He said this He called out, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”

Then His disciples asked Him, “What does this parable mean?”  So He said, “The secrets of the kingdom of God have been given for you to know, but to the rest it is in parables, so that

Looking they may not see,
and hearing they may not understand.

“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God.  The seed along the path are those who have heard and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.  And the seed on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy.  Having no root, these believe for a while and fall away in a time of testing.  As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are the ones who, when they have heard, go on their way and are choked with worries, riches, and pleasures of life, and produce no mature fruit.  But the seed in the good ground – these are the ones who, having heard the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it and by enduring, produce fruit.

So what observations do you have about the sower?

Did you notice these two things?

·       The sower is not responsible for the success of the seed…his job is only to sow.
·       The sower does not pre-judge the soil’s potential or its responsiveness to the seed.  He cast the seed without discrimination or concern that it may not bear fruit or be wasted altogether.

How many times have we looked at someone and not shared the gospel because we assume they wouldn’t respond in faith?  But what we’ve seen in Jesus’ parable is that the sower spread the word of God liberally to all soils, to any ground who might receive it, instead of to just those soils sections that the sower was confident to get a fruitful harvest.

This would have been an encouragement to the disciples and should also encourage us as we encounter opportunities to sow God’s word.  We may not see immediate harvest-results.  The sower certainly didn’t.  Harvest comes later…and the sower may not even be the one to participate in that event.  But that doesn’t matter when it’s time to sow. 

So let’s be faithful and sow as we have opportunity.  Not because we think the person is worthy to hear about the gospel, but because that is the task God has given us to do.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

The MVP - The Most Valuable Parable

Have you ever wondered why Jesus told so many stories?  Or, better yet, why did He tell so many strange stories?

Jesus taught in parable-stories to stimulate a person’s thinking about His truths.  I once heard a parable described as “an earthly story with a heavenly meaning”.  I think that’s a pretty accurate definition.  While some of the parables’ context might seem weird to us, the settings were culturally relevant and understandable to Jesus’ audiences.  This means that we can learn the same lessons Jesus taught, but we need to use our observation skills so we don’t misunderstand first century cultural references.

By teaching in parables, Jesus gave the people a choice to either learn more or walk away.  One of Jesus’ favorite phrases to end a parable illustrates this: “He who as ears to hear, listen!”  However, the crowds were not generally given the meaning of a parable, but the disciples and others who followed Him were.  

Also keep in mind that as Jesus and the disciples traveled from town to town, He would have taught the same parables in each location.  With no internet, email, TV, or radio available, each town was a new place that hadn’t heard these truths yet.  Think about it…the disciples would have heard the parables multiple times and probably could recite them all by heart.  The writers of all four gospels didn’t include every teaching of Jesus, instead they chose to include events, miracles, and parables that fit the purpose/narrative/audience of their gospel.  As such, we need to pay attention if a particular parable is included by more than one of them.

The parable we are going to look at is one of those parables.  It is often referred to by one of two names:  The parable of the soils or The parable of the sower.  It can be found in Matthew 13:1-23, Mark 4:1-20, and Luke 8:4-15.  For starters, we’re going to look at Mark’s account:

Mark 4:1-13
Again He began to teach by the sea, and a very large crowd gathered around Him.  So He got into a boat on the sea and sat down, while the whole crowd was by the sea on the shore.  He taught them many things in parables, and in His teaching He said to them:

“Listen!  Consider the sower who went out to sow.  As he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.  Other seed fell on rocky ground where it didn’t have much soil, and it grew up quickly, since the soil wasn’t deep.  When the sun came up, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away.  Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it didn’t produce fruit.  Still other seed fell on good ground and it grew up, producing fruit that increased thirty, sixty, and a hundred times.”  Then He said, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”

When He was alone, those around Him with the Twelve, asked Him about the parables.  He answered them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to those outside, everything comes in parables so that
              they may indeed look, and yet not perceive;
              they may indeed listen, and yet not understand;
              otherwise, they might turn back and be forgiven.

The He said to them: “Don’t you understand this parable?  How then will you understand all of the parables?

So we see from Mark’s account that Jesus considers this story to be the master parable, or what I’d like to call The Most Valuable Parable – The MVP.  As such, we must make sure that we understand exactly what Jesus was teaching the crowds whenever He taught this parable.  If we get this one wrong, we could end up misinterpreting His other parables…and it is impossible to correctly apply what we do not correctly understand.

Since the gospel writers included this story, you and I are being included in Jesus’ inner circle.  We are going to be privy to insider information here!

But as good Bible students, we must make sure we approach the passage without any pre-conceived notions or assumptions.  We must let the text speak for itself.  It’s easy to slip into the attitude of The parable of the sower?  I know that one and what it means.

Additionally, I think a number of others have not correctly understood Jesus’ message here; but we’ll get to that as we go through each part of the parable and match it up with Jesus’ explanation. 

But we have the same choice Jesus’ first century listeners had – will we lean in and learn more, or will we walk away, assuming we already know what Jesus meant with this parable?

Keep Pressing,
Ken

No food necessary

Have you ever been so wrapped up in something that you skipped eating?  For me, I wouldn’t say that I’ve ever “forgotten” to eat.  However, there have been a few times that for work deadlines I’ve pushed off eating a meal so we could get the job done.  I was certainly hungry, but the completion timing for task at hand had such a great impact on our customers, that I was willing to shift my eating schedule.

Until I studied Jesus’ interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4, I didn’t realize that Jesus had made the same choice.

We pick up the story just after the Samaritan woman believed in Jesus for eternal life and she was leaving Jesus at the well to tell everyone in her nearby town about Him.  However, just because the woman had left didn’t mean that Jesus was done teaching for the day.  Next up, He had a lesson for His disciples:

If you recall, before the woman arrived at the well, Jesus had sent the disciples into town to buy food.  They returned to the well to meet with Jesus just as the Samaritan woman was running back into town.  Since they had been successful in their food-gathering mission, they encouraged Him to eat.

John 4:31-34
In the meantime the disciples kept urging Him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
But He said, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.”
The disciples said to one another, “Could someone have brought Him something to eat?”
“My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work,” Jesus told them.

Think about this scene from the disciples’ perspective: Why would Jesus refuse food from them?  He sent them to buy food, they knew He was worn out from the journey.  When Jesus refused their purchased food, the disciples wondered if someone else (…the woman, maybe?) had fed Him.  You and I also know that He never did get that drink of water He had asked the woman for.

Instead, Jesus delayed eating because of the work at hand.  He found sustaining satisfaction in doing the will and work of God the Father.  This isn’t the first recorded time Jesus had done something like this, either – check out what Jesus says during His temptation, as documented in Luke 4, Mark 1, or Matthew 4.

Here at the well, Jesus tells them that He has food to eat that they do not know about…after letting them struggle with this concept, He explains that doing the will of God and finishing God’s work was all the food He needed at the moment.

Just like the woman, the disciples also had things they did not know.  Also like the woman, the disciples assumed that Jesus was only talking about the physical, as in physical nourishment.  They were looking for who got there first and served their tired master.  Instead, Jesus was using a physical food example in order to instruct them about spiritual food.

Spiritual food fuels you in ways that physical food cannot.  Physical food doesn’t give you purpose.  Physical food doesn’t sustain your mind’s focus, attitude, and desire like spiritual food does.  Realizing the urgency and opportunity they had right in front of them, Jesus was focused and ready for the task at hand.  When we are using our God-given talents and God-granted time to help others see Jesus, we will find our purpose takes precedence over our physical needs.

Does this mean Jesus had stopped eating altogether?  Of course not!  In just a few verses, we will see Him accepting the hospitality of the Samaritans.  But the task at hand was more important, and physical sustainment was found in working His spiritual mission.  We can eat lots of earthly food and still feel empty.  Jesus shows that we can feast on doing the work God gives us, and we’ll find great satisfaction.

With our observations here, we see that Jesus is the example to follow: He sees spiritual work as food, and He taught others how to eat.  Ultimately, this is our challenge – to do the work God gives us to do, and to finish it.  As we do His work, He’ll supply the food.

Keep Pressing,
Ken