BURIED TREASURE: Exploring The Parables Of Jesus
by J. W. Jepson, D.Min.
Life In Christ Center, 3095 Cherry Heights Road, The Dalles, Oregon 97058
(541) 296-1136
Copyright © 1997 by J. W. Jepson
All rights reserved, including the right to grant the following permission and to prohibit the misuse thereof:
The Author hereby grants permission to reproduce the text of this article, without changes or alterations*, as a ministry, but not for commercial or non-ministry purposes.
*Permission is given for publication of excerpts and condensed versions.
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3.
AN HONEST AND GOOD HEART
The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side. And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.
And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying,
Behold, a sower went forth to sow; and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up. Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: and when the sun was up they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirty-fold.
Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
--Matthew 13:1-9
AN HONEST AND GOOD HEART
It was one of Jesus' busy days in Galilee. During the morning the Master taught a large crowd of people. The demands of ministry pressed so heavily on Him that He found no time to eat.
The opposition was there, too, insolently demanding a sign. His family and friends accused Him of being crazy and came with the intention of taking Him away by force.
During the afternoon the Lord sat in a boat and delivered a whole group of parables to the throng assembled on the shore. Later He spoke a few more parables privately to His disciples.
That evening they crossed the Sea of Galilee in a storm. Jesus was so exhausted by then that He would have slept right through it had the disciples not awakened Him. After Jesus calmed the storm, they sailed on to the country of Gadara. There two demoniacs met the Master and were delivered. Fearful, the people of the region asked Him to leave, which He did, making another trip back across the Sea of Galilee that evening. Indeed, it had been a long day.
The first parable that Jesus spoke to the multitude that afternoon is commonly called the parable of the sower. It is recorded in all three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke). We are following the account in Matthew.
The main focus of the parable is on the different kinds of ground. In each case the sower was the same and the seed was the same. Only the ground was different, and that is what made all the difference.
Jesus Himself explained the parable to His disciples. We find His explanation in the same chapter, beginning with verse eighteen.
The seed is the word of God. The various types of ground are the widely differing heart-attitudes of those who hear.
First, as the sower broadcast the seed, some fell by the wayside. This was probably a footpath running alongside the edge of the field. Its surface was packed and hard. Any seed falling there stayed on the surface and was stepped on. The ground did not open up to it. Like the other seed, it had life in it and the ability to multiply. But it produced nothing. It was left for the taking, and soon the birds came along and devoured it.
These are the careless hearers. Their hearts are hard, closed to the word of the Lord. Whatever they might hear they do not understand because they do not wish to understand. It is not important to them. Other things have their attention.
Now Satan does not want that gospel seed lying around, not even on the surface. The person might wake up, notice it and become interested. So the devil sends the "birds" to snatch it away. It is easy. He simply replaces it with something else in their mind, something he knows will excite them, occupy their attention and divert then from the truth. The person had no heart-hold on it, anyway. It was merely lying there; so when the devil robbed them of it, they did not even notice that it was gone. It was like taking a diamond out of the hand of a sleeping baby.
It is like a starving man deeply engrossed in solving a fascinating puzzle. Someone sets a plate of life-saving food beside him. He smells the appetizing aroma, but is too mentally and emotionally involved in his pursuits to realize what is there and how vital it is to his welfare. A little later, he thinks, and continues the pursuit of the moment. Meanwhile, someone takes the plate away. He continues to ponder his puzzle, hardly noticing that his food is gone. Eventually he starves to death.
Does it sound insane? Spiritually people do it every day.
Then there is the rocky ground. The people knew what Jesus was referring to. In Galilee limestone rocks surface here and there in the fields. People farm around them. When the seed is scattered over the fields, some falls on these rocks. When the seed springs up, so does the sun, and the promising little sprout withers and dies.
Jesus said that these are the impulsive hearers. They respond quickly, but their response is tied to their emotions and is very changeable. The soil is insufficient. The decision is shallow. They will follow Jesus as long as they feel like it--as long as it is easy. But when the first real difficulty arises, they wilt and are gone.
These people wither away quickly for two reasons: no root and no moisture. No root--no abiding principles, no firm grasp on the truth, no deep commitment, no determination to go all the way with Jesus come what may. No moisture--no follow-through in the means of grace, no consistent Bible reading, no prayer life, no faithfulness to the fellowship of the church, no proper spiritual care.
When someone says or does something they do not like, they stumble. When trouble or persecution comes along, they fall away. They are spiritual dropouts.
Next is the thorny ground--the crowded soil. These are the diverted hearers.
The soil here is fertile, so fertile that anything can grow in it. That is the problem. The heart is wide open to everything: to the cares of this age, to the deceitfulness of riches, to lusts of other things, to the pleasures of this life. All these things are able to sink their roots into the heart.
The word of God must have exclusive control of the heart. Our devotion to Christ must be just that--devotion, and not merely "one of the things we are involved in."
These people bring forth fruit, but not to completion. They become spiritual "scrubs." They go only so far. Then, somewhere along the way, they make the wrong value decisions. They set their hearts on the wrong things--and die. They do not drop out; they let themselves be choked out.
Wrong priorities are fatal. Colossians 3:2 commands us, "set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
Finally Jesus mentioned the good ground, the prepared soil. These are the diligent hearers. They are the only ones who really amount to anything, the only ones who receive God's approval, the only ones who get to Heaven.
What makes them different from all the rest? Luke 8:15 tells us: "But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience."
An honest and good heart! There it is! These people are not playing games with God. There is nothing phony about them. They mean business. When they hear the word of God, they keep it. These hearers bring forth fruit with patience. In an honest and good heart truth written becomes truth understood and truth understood becomes truth lived and experienced.
Hold onto the word of God. Hide it in your heart. Value it above all else. If you do, no one can take it from you.
God's word is living, dynamic, productive seed. We must get it into us. We must let it come alive in us. We must allow it to master us. We must allow it to multiply itself in us to the fullest extent of the capacity that God has given us--thirty, sixty, a hundredfold!
God wants the Bible to happen in us. We can be what it says, have what it says, do what it says. When the living, written word of God takes root inside an honest and good heart, it will produce its own beautiful fruit in the life.
And let us not overlook that word "patience." Jesus said that His words must abide in us (John 15:7). He made it clear that fruitfulness results from relationship with Him. And steadfastness is the very essence of a relationship. The seed produces fruit only if it has root. No root, no fruit.
God wants to reproduce His word in our conduct. He wants it to energize us, to become operative in us, to become visible in us, to be exemplified by us.
The power of God's word is sometimes explosive, especially in the demonstration of the miraculous. Scripture is the written revelation of the nature and purposes of God, and part of God's nature and purpose is miraculous. God is the God of miracles; then so must also His word be.
Yet we must keep in mind that the main thrust of the dynamic of Scripture is aimed at producing character in the believer. Character is forever. The sower sowed seeds, not firecrackers. The force of the word is the power of an endless life (Hebrews 7:16). The essence of that life is to know "the only true God, and Jesus Christ" (John 17:3). That is, it is a steadfast relationship. Its fruit is the image of Christ in us (Romans 8:29).
So let us press toward the mark, not stopping until we seize the prize. Let us open up honest and good hearts to the powerful, living word, and let it produce its delightful fruit abundantly in our lives.
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