Jump Start # 432 

Luke 8:4-5 “And when a great multitude were coming together, and those from the various cities were journeying to Him, He spoke by way of a parable: ‘The sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell beside the road; and it was trampled under foot, and the birds of the air ate it up.’

  The sower, or farmer as we’d call him today, in the Lord’s story works much differently than our concept of farming. Today, with massive machinery the farmer plants the seed in nice neat rows, spaced evenly, and the seed is covered up with well worked fertile soil. That’s not what happened in the Lord’s parable. There the sower threw the seed, or broadcast, as the proper term is, across a field. The seeds would fly through the air and gravity and wind would determine their final destinations. The seeds would not be in neat rows, spaced evenly apart from each other. This is not how a person plants corn or beans, but it is how grass or wheat is planted.

  As the sower in our story casts his seeds out, some of them fell upon the hard road. The seeds were walked upon and they never got into the soil. Birds came and feasted upon the seed.

  Jesus later explained this portion of the parable as, “those beside the road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.”

  We remember that this parable is about hearts. Jesus ended this parable with this statement, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” At the end of the sermon on the mount, Jesus told the parable about two men who built their houses. One was upon the sand and the other upon  the rock. Storms destroyed the house on the sand. That person represented the one who heard but did nothing about it. The man on the rock, had listened to Jesus and obeyed the Lord.

  This concept is a running theme in the teachings of Jesus. It’s not enough to hear. A person must respond and act upon what he has heard. The person in this parable hasn’t really made a conclusion about the Lord. His faith hasn’t started. He’s heard. He’s curious. But before that faith can take root, Satan comes and takes away the word. The man remains unchanged, or in many cases, worse off. His experience with “religion” is now negative. He doesn’t have fond things to say about Jesus. He’s failed to taste the goodness of the Lord.

  How does Satan do that? He does that through college professors who ridicule any belief in God and especially the Bible. Factious and erroneous claims are made to disprove the word of God. The arrogance and confidence of such false teachers can be overwhelming. One who doesn’t know or whose faith, as in our story, hasn’t really sprouted, will be overcome. They will side with the professor and the class. Religion, they will declare is a joke, and the Bible they will believe, is a collection of ancient fables.

  Other times, Satan will use the pressure of friends and the pull of society. Face it, Jesus is not in—He never has been. He said in John 3 that the world hates the light. He warned His disciples that they will be hated because He was hated. You’ll never find Jesus on a top 10 list of hot things this year. Won’t happen. Sin is in. Wrong is in. Selfishness is in. Conceit. Shallowness. It takes some gumption to swim upstream in a world that is going downstream. You’ll find more college students getting drunk on the weekend than going to church services. You’ll see more alcohol flowing at football games than prayers going upward. That’s our world! Broken, busted and desperately needing the very thing it rejects. To walk with Jesus often means walking alone. It means getting  up on Sunday when everyone else is still in bed. It means watching what you say, when everyone else reveals our base and immoral they are with their words. Not everyone can do this. Satan provides opportunity to do wrong. He also provides a crowd to do it with. Every notice the beer commercials on TV? Ever see a guy drinking alone? Never. Ever see that guy stumbling into his house, drunk, throwing up, punching his wife and scaring the kids? Never. What you do see is “fun.” Tons of people. They are smiling. They are having a good time. And they are drinking. Those commercials work, that’s why the beer industry spends millions of dollars each year putting them out. The gospel of Satan is listened to and people hear it.

  This parable of Jesus isn’t directed toward how to change this in others. I suppose the best way is to tell them the truth. The truth about sin and the truth about Jesus. If they will only listen. The direction this parable was intended was to each listener. To look within their heart. We must do the same.

  Has Satan taken away the word and kept my faith from growing? Have I been deceived by the foolish talk of man? It’s time to reinforce your faith by spending time with God—first in His word, and then upon your knees in prayer.

  The seed that feel beside the road did not do what it was intended. It was lost. How sad.

Roger

Jump Start # 431 

Luke 8:4-5 “And when a great multitude were coming together, and those from the various cities were journeying to Him, He spoke by way of a parable: ‘The sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell beside the road; and it was trampled under foot, and the birds of the air ate it up.’”

  We begin this week a look at the parable of the sower.  What a fascinating and interesting story the Lord tells and very revealing as we look to ourselves and see where we are in this story. Matthew and Luke record this great lesson. Many commentators feel that this is the parable of parables and that it sets the tone for all that Jesus would say.

  The setting takes place outside. Matthew tells us that it was down by the sea. The crowds stood as Jesus sat—a common position for Jesus. It may well be that up on the hills were farmers sowing. The illustration was very natural and vivid to the audience. Even those that lived in the cities understood the concepts and principles of ‘sowing the seed.’

  This is one of the few parables that Jesus tells us the explanation. The word “parable” means to lay along side. They were intended to be comparisons. We compare things all the time—we generally call that shopping. Car shopping—you compare cars. Grocery shopping—you compare produce. House shopping—you compare homes. With a parable, an illustration is used to compare it to a spiritual principle. Also, and it’s a BIG also, in a parable, a comparison is made between the spiritual kingdom of God and our hearts. Parables were more than teaching spiritual truths, they were intended for the listening to look inside his heart and see where he was.

  Generally, a parable points to one specific spiritual principle. The components of the story often are filled with many details. It is easy to assume that every detail means something, when often they don’t. For instance, in the parable of the prodigal son, the prodigal, broke and friendless was looking at the pigs for food. What are the pigs? Gentiles? False friends? Dirty, low life people? That’s probably reading more into the story than Jesus intended. The pigs were pigs. In our story of the sower, we’ll read about birds and rocks. Who are they? What are they? I think, birds and rocks. Those are just some of the details of the story.

  The parable of the sower is often used to teach about personal evangelism. One can see that in this story, but the story is not about the sower. He did one thing, sowed the seed. The parable is about the soil—which are hearts. This story is about listening with our hearts. It is that thought that makes many see this as the first and most important of the parables. Unless one really heard Jesus, His mission and work would be misunderstood. Nothing has changed. The world doesn’t understand Jesus, His purpose, or His church. Folks think the church is a place you call when you have run out of money and have bills to pay. Just dial up a church and they should give you whatever you need, no questions asked. Really? Where did that idea come from? Listening to Jesus from the heart…it’s a lot harder to do than we think.

  Satan has a message he wants me to listen to. Then there is the message I feel like listening to, that’s usually called selfishness, doing what I feel like doing. There are always people telling you what you ought to do—from your parents, your mate, the boss, the preacher, the neighbor, friends, Satan and now Jesus. Everyone telling you what you ought to do. It’s enough to drive a person batty. Many throw their hands in the air, declaring that they are not going to listen to anyone—and so they do.

  Jesus wants you to listen to Him. What He says matters. What He says is important. It’s more than His opinion, it is the will of God. Jesus has two reasons why we should listen to Him. First, He has proven that He is the son of God (Acts 2:22). He comes with credentials. It is His word that will judge us. He is always right, every time. We need to listen to Him.

  Secondly, we ought to listen to Him, because He has a vested interest in you. He died for you. He gave up more than an afternoon for you. He gave up more than a few dollars for you. He gave up His live in a horrific and violent death, so we could go to Heaven. He came and traded places with us. He did what no one could possibly do, die for our sins.

  This is why we should listen to Him. He has something to say. We need to hear it.

  The rest of this week, we will explore this wonderful parable. I hope you’ll enjoy it, learn from it, but mostly, listen to Jesus in your heart.

Roger