Matthew 13:14
In Matthew 13:14-17 Jesus said, "And in them is
fulfilled the prophesy of Isaiah, which says, By hearing you shall hear, and shall
not understand; and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive: For this
people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their
eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and
hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be
converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and
your ears, for they hear. For truly I say unto you, That many prophets and
righteous men have desired to see those things which you see, and have not seen
them; and to hear those things which you hear, and have not heard them."
Jesus used parables in some of his
teachings in order to be symbolic of the fact that God’s truth will be revealed
to some individuals but it will remain hidden to others. You cannot understand
God’s Word or God’s truth unless He reveals it to you. Notice that Jesus calls
His teachings in verse 11, "the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven." He calls them a mystery because His
teachings remain a mystery to those who do not understand them, but the mystery
has been solved for those who find the answer in the forgiveness of sins that
is in Jesus Christ.
Jesus is saying that those who do not
understand the Gospel are spiritually blind. Jesus makes it clear that the
reason that people are spiritually blind is because they have chosen to close
their ears and their eyes to the truth. If you possess an understanding of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ, then you have something that is more valuable than any
material possession can ever be. If you
understand the gospel of Christ, you possess
something that the prophets and righteous men of the Old Testament did not even
have. In the parable of the sower Jesus explains the process whereby some people come
into the knowledge of the truth, and others remain ignorant of the truth and
blinded to the truth. We are told why some people
become saved and others do not. Jesus explains what happens in the life of people that results in
some becoming believers and others remaining unbelievers.
The explanation of the parable of the sower
is given by Jesus in Matthew 13:18-23. He said, "Hear you therefore the parable of the sower. When anyone
hears the word of the kingdom, and understands it not, then comes the wicked
one, and catches away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which
received seed by the wayside. But he that received the seed into stony places,
the same is he that hears the word, and with joy receives it; yet has he not
root in himself, but endures for a while: for when tribulation or persecution
arises because of the word, by and by he is offended. He also that received the
seed among the thorns is he that hears the word; and the cares of this world,
and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. But
he that received the seed into the good ground is he that hears the word, and
understands it; which also bears fruit, and brings forth, some an hundredfold,
some sixty, some thirty."
According to Jesus, there are four things
that can happen when one hears the Word of God. Three of the things that can
happen are bad, and only one of them is good. The seed, which is the Word of
God, can:
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1. Fall by the
wayside |
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2. Land in
stony places |
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3. Be received
among thorns |
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4. Fall onto
good ground |
Concerning the seed that falls by the wayside, Jesus says
that the wicked one steals away that which was sown in his heart. This would be
a person who hears the word of God, but before they give any consideration or
attention to it, other thoughts and ideas flood their minds; and they very
quickly forget what they heard about the
Concerning the seed that falls into stony places, Jesus said
that this is what happens to people who have no root in themselves. We know
that the call to follow Jesus and His teachings is a call to a total and
complete commitment. Those who seem to follow Jesus, but who are not 100%
committed, will eventually fall away. Jesus says that there are two things that
make them fall away: tribulation and persecution. Tribulation includes the
things that we suffer from our circumstances in life. Persecutions are the things that we suffer from other people.
When a person decides to follow God and to
follow Jesus Christ, there are some things that they will suffer only because
they are followers of God. Jesus tried to prepare His disciples for this when
He said to them in John 16:33, "In the world you shall have tribulation." The apostle Peter reminded believers of what would sometimes happen to them because they
are believers. He said in First Peter 4:12, "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial
which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you."
In the Old Testament Job’s life was one of the best examples of someone who suffered
horribly just because he desired to serve God. In the
New Testament we are reminded to remember Job as an example of someone
who had victory over suffering because he endured it to its end. James
Let’s read just a little of the agony that
Job had to endure. In Job 30:10-16 Job said, "They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to
spit in my face. Because he has loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have
also let loose the bridle before me. Upon my right hand rise the youth; they
push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.
They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper. They came
upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled
themselves upon me. Terrors are turned upon me; they pursue my soul as the
wind: and my welfare passes away as a cloud. And now my soul is poured out upon
me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me." Tribulation and persecution will come to believers
in difficult and sometimes tortuous ways, just as it happened to Job.
According to Jesus in His teaching on the
parable of the sower, some people will receive the Word of God for a while but
when tribulation or persecution come; they change their mind about living for Him. They decide to stop receiving or obediently listening to
the Word of God. Once they understand the price
to pay for living for God, they choose the
friendship of the world instead of the friendship of God. They become
hardened to the Word of God, because living for God
will bring them difficulties and sufferings.
In contrast to these people are the believers who continue to follow the Lord no matter what
tribulations or persecutions they must suffer. Both
those who fall away and those who stay faithful suffer the same fiery trial,
but the faithful remain submissive to God, while the other becomes hardened.
The same fire that melts the wax, hardens the clay. The things that you
must suffer will either harden you and crush your faith,
or will increase your faith because you
endure them to the end. Make sure that you remain receptive to the Word of God,
and be careful that you do not become hardened to it because of the things that
you have suffered.
In talking about the inevitability of
tribulations and persecutions, we need to be reminded of some positive things
to think about.
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1. Sufferings are
only temporary. |
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2.
There is a purpose for every suffering. |
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3.
God will provide a way, an end to the suffering, no
matter how
dark thinks seem to be. |
It
certainly was the case with Job that his great sufferings were only temporary.
Nothing lasts forever. Good times end, and so do bad times. No matter
how bad things get, you can be sure that they will turn around eventually.
Don’t give up. First Peter
There is a divine purpose to any suffering that
He allows to come into your life. There are many good things that will
eventually result from suffering tribulation and persecution. Sufferings are:
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1. An opportunity to
strengthen your faith. |
|
2.
An opportunity to walk in the footsteps of
Christ. |
|
3.
An opportunity to oppose the forces of evil
and to be pleasing to God. |
If you
are a believer, one of your most precious possessions
is your faith: the strength of your faith and the quality of it. Faith may
start as a grain of mustard seed, but it can grow over time and it is God’s
will that your faith become stronger over time. The trials that come your way
can result in your faith being strengthened. First Peter 1:7 says, "That the trial of
your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be
tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the
appearing of Jesus Christ."
The sorrows, tribulations, and persecutions
of a believer give him or her; the opportunity
to walk in the footsteps of Christ. Jesus was called “a man of
sorrows, and acquainted with grief” and Jesus said that “the servant is not greater than his Lord.” Paul knew that suffering some things similar to
what Christ suffered was a privilege. He said in Philippians 3:10, "That I may know
him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings,
being made conformable unto His death."
We also know from the example of Job that
the Lord allows some sufferings in order to be an example to the forces of evil. It pleases God that
there are some humans who will serve God no matter what happens to them. If we appreciate God for the spiritual things that He has
done for us: the forgiveness of sins in Christ Jesus, the certainty of eternal
life, and the promises of His Word, then even if we suffer in a physical and
material sense, the sufferings will not stop us from serving Him.
Because Jesus is present with
us and because He keeps His promises, we know that He will provide a way no
matter what happens or how bad things get. In
John 16:33, when Jesus told the disciples that in the world they would have
tribulation, He said in the very next breath, "but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." Jesus also promised His disciples in Matthew
28:20, "I am
with you always, even unto the end of the world.”
With such promises from One who cannot lie, we are more than able to get
through any trial. As King David said in Psalms 23:4, "Yea, though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art
with me."
In explaining the parable of the sower in
Matthew chapter 13, Jesus said that the third type of person who hears the Word
of God is like a seed that falls among thorns. There are things that can weaken
your effectiveness as a spiritual person. Jesus said that there are two main
things that can choke out the Word of God and
make a person unfruitful: worry and the deceitfulness of riches. When you worry, you are not believing God’s promises that
He will take care of you. Preoccupation with material things will also keep
people from seeking spiritual things.
Worry and anxiety are the opposite of
faith. The more faith that you have that God is in
charge and that He will take care of you, the less that you will worry. People
can worry about their finances, worry about their safety, about their health,
and about a thousand other things. But the more that they worry, the more that
they weaken
their faith. Remember that Jesus had a
lot to say about worry in the Sermon on the Mount, and He talked about it in
Matthew 6:25-34. He said not to worry about the basic necessities of life,
because God has promised to take care of us. Jesus promised in Matthew 6:33, "But seek you first
the
“And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches,
and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.” In Mark
Jesus said that the other thing that can
choke the word and make it unfruitful is “the
deceitfulness of riches”. Using material
possessions is a part of life, but the abuse of material things and the
inappropriate lust for riches has been the spiritual downfall of many people.
Riches are not evil, because riches are neither good nor evil of themselves.
Neither is it wrong to be rich. There are some believers in the Bible who are examples of being
faithful servants of God while being very rich, such as King Solomon and
Queen Esther. Even faithful Abraham was a rich man. Riches are not evil,
but the love of riches is evil.
“For the love of
money is the root of all evil.” Paul said in First Timothy 6:10 that the love of
money is the root of all kinds of evil. When people love riches and pursue
riches to the point of not having time or a place in their heart for the
pursuit of God, the deceitfulness of riches has overtaken them. As Jesus said
in the Sermon on the Mount, "You cannot serve God and mammon." Riches appear to
offer everything that a human could need for happiness, when actually
the opposite is often true. Riches cannot buy happiness, peace of mind, love,
friends, or health. As a matter of fact, some people have had their lives
ruined because of riches. But even for those who do gain some advantages in
this life through money, remember that Jesus said, "What should it profit a man should he gain the whole
world and lose his own soul, or what could a man give in exchange for his soul?"
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Copyright; 2007 by Charles F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved