Surprising Hope

INTRODUCTION:

Today we’re kicking off a new series in our church for the season of Advent.

The word Advent comes from the Latin word “Adventus” which means “coming or arrival.”

This is actually how the Latin Vulgate translated the Greek word Parousia which is the word most commonly used to refer to the second coming of Jesus Christ.

While most people equate the season of Advent with Jesus’ 1st coming (Christmas), it was actually established to help us anticipate and prepare for his second coming.

I say we can actually do both and that’s our plan for the next four weeks in this series.

During my sabbatical I was praying over how we should celebrate Advent at Broadview and my heart was drawn to Jesus’ teaching in the Gospels about his second coming.

In particular, the kingdom parables in Matthew 13.

Setting The Table

Oddly enough the first parable in Matthew 13 is the first parable Taylor covered in his series in Luke.

It’s one of the most popular parables of Jesus and it’s called “The Parable of the Sower.”

The Parable of the Sower is going to establish why the season of Advent is a season of hope.

In Jesus, we have a hope that is unlike any other.

Peter described it as a “living hope.”

In this parable it’s likened to a Sower’s Seed.

The seed goes into the ground and when it takes root it produces an abundance of fruit.

Why Parables

Before we dive into our text let’s establish why Jesus committed himself to teaching through parables.

A parable is simply an earthly story with a spiritual or heavenly meaning.

Often, in telling these parables Jesus would make sense to certain people but with others it’d go completely over their head.

Why would Jesus choose a form teaching that made sense to some but not others?

His answer may actually surprise you.

Matthew 13:10–15 CSB

10 Then the disciples came up and asked him, “Why are you speaking to them in parables?” 11 He answered, “Because the secrets of the kingdom of heaven have been given for you to know, but it has not been given to them. 12 For whoever has, more will be given to him, and he will have more than enough; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 13 That is why I speak to them in parables, because looking they do not see, and hearing they do not listen or understand. 14 Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says: You will listen and listen, but never understand; you will look and look, but never perceive. 15 For this people’s heart has grown callous; their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn back— and I would heal them.

Jesus says the reason I preach in parables is so that the people "can hear do” and the people who “can’t hear won’t.”

He says to his disciples “yall have been given the ability (by my Father) to understand the secrets of God’s kingdom.” But he also says of those outside his circle, “It has not been given to them.”

In other words, God’s kingdom isn’t “fair.” It isn’t “equitable.” Different people receive different things. In fact, those who DO receive end up receiving more and more and those who DON’T receive end up loosing the little that they had.

I told you it’d be a surprising answer.

What Matters

He then references a passage from Isaiah 6 wherein the Lord calls Isaiah to preach to the nation of Israel even though he knew only a remnant of the people were going to actually receive the message.

The difference maker between those who receive God’s truth and those who don’t is the condition of the hearer’s heart.

Did you see that in verse 15?

Matthew 13:15 CSB

15 For this people’s heart has grown callous; their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn back— and I would heal them.

Here’s what Jesus is saying, “Our healing is determined with our hearing and our hearing is determined by our heart.”

“The condition of your heart determines the object of your hope.”

There is a hope, in Christ, that vastly outweighs any other competitors for our joy and peace and love in life. But that hope can only be received by a certain kind of heart.

A bad heart can’t receive a living hope.

Why It Matters

Jesus concludes by illustrating what a tragedy this spiritual deafness really is.

Because the prophets of God who saw shadows of this hope in the Old Testament “longed to see the day” that they were living in.

Matthew 13:16–17 CSB

16 “Blessed are your eyes because they do see, and your ears because they do hear. 17 For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see the things you see but didn’t see them, to hear the things you hear but didn’t hear them.

This is why I entitled today’s message “Surprising Hope.”

Because it was hope in God’s promise being fulfilled that animated “the prophets and the righteous people” in the Old Testament.

Did you circle that phrase, “longed to see?” It’s a Greek word that means great desire. Eager expectation.

The people of God in the OT knew there would come a day that Messiah would come and establish his kingdom.

A descendent of Abram and a son of David who would liberate God’s people and establish justice and righteousness on the earth.

Jesus says that Kingdom is coming but for you to be able to participate in it, you’ve got to have ears to hear and eyes to see.

It’s not going to look like what you think it should. This hope is a surprising hope. This hope is a like a seed.

We need ears to hears and hearts to receive because our “hope in Jesus” is a surprising hope.

So how can we be people who HAVE “ears to hear” and “eyes to see” and softened hearts that understand the hope of Christ?

That is the question behind Jesus’ Parable of the Sower.

The Parable Explained

Let’s now read the parable and Jesus’ explanation given afterwards.

Matthew 13:3–9 CSB

3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying, “Consider the sower who went out to sow. 4 As he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground where it didn’t have much soil, and it grew up quickly since the soil wasn’t deep. 6 But when the sun came up, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it. 8 Still other seed fell on good ground and produced fruit: some a hundred, some sixty, and some thirty times what was sown. 9 Let anyone who has ears listen.”

On the surface this is a pretty basic story.

You’ve got four different types of soil:

Hard soil (path/birds)

Rocky soil (rocks/sun)

Thorny soil (thorns/choked)

Good soil (fruit)

Jesus then goes on to give an explanation of these four soils in verses 13 and following. Matthew 13:18-23

Matthew 13:18–23 CSB

18 “So listen to the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the one sown along the path. 20 And the one sown on rocky ground—this is one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. 21 But he has no root and is short-lived. When distress or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he falls away. 22 Now the one sown among the thorns—this is one who hears the word, but the worries of this age and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 23 But the one sown on the good ground—this is one who hears and understands the word, who does produce fruit and yields: some a hundred, some sixty, some thirty times what was sown.”

In Jesus’s explanation we see that the four different types of soil represent four different conditions of the heart.

The Stoney Heart (hard, fails to understand, Satan snatches)

The Shallow Heart (receives w/joy but no root so in testing they fall)

The Strangled Heart (receives but worries/wealth choke it out, no fruit)

The Surrendered Heart (hears, understands and produces fruit)

ENEMIES OF THE HEART:

So essentially Jesus creates a contrast between two types of people. Those who have ears to hear and those who don’t.

In addition to creating that contrast he also gives three reasons why those who can’t hear don’t.

So with the rest of our time I want to examine these three “enemies of the heart” and how they come to the condition that they are.

In so doing I’d like us to examine our own hearts and see if there’s anything in us that would keep us from having ears to hear and hearts to receive the surprising hope we have in Jesus.

The Stoney Heart

The first heart Jesus mentions is the “Stoney Heart.”

Jesus likens this heart to seed that falls on “the path” and the “birds comes and snatch it away.” (Mat 13:4)

In his explanation he says that this heart “hears the word about the kingdom and doesn’t understand it.” As a result, the “evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.” (Mat 13:19)

I’m going to call this person the “hardened skeptic.”

The hardened skeptic can hear the Gospel over and over and over again but it never really penetrates the heart because it never really persuades the mind.

The satanic lies embedded in the culture keep this person from taking the Gospel seriously.

In this case, the enemies of the heart are “mental obstacles” and “satanic opposition.”

It’s a failure to understand the truth of the Gospel. And from Jesus’ teaching we know these mental obstacles are exploited by Satan to keep us from receiving the hope that is in Jesus.

Profiling Skeptical Sammy

Over the last decade, more and more people in our culture are becoming characterized by this kind of soil.

It’s not that they’ve never heard about the living hope in Jesus. It’s that they don’t care or find it necessarily for living out their life.

These are the people who can show up in church week in and week out - encounter transformational truth that radically changes another person’s life - but then themselves walk away totally unchanged.

Why? Because the truth didn’t penetrate. It didn’t persuade. The problem isn’t with the message. The problem isn’t with the messenger. The problem is with the heart that received it.

For people with this kind of heart it would almost be better that they STOP hearing the message because each time they reject it their heart gets harder and harder and harder.

Addressing The Enemy

What’s needed to minister to this kind of soil? How do we confront the enemies of the heart for the Hardened Skeptic?

One of the best things we can do for the hardened skeptic is to provide persuasive arguments expose the falsehoods undergirding their worldview.

Paul wrote in his letter to the church at Colossae, “Act WISELY towards outsiders. Make the most of your time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so you may know HOW you ought to answer every person you interact with.” (Col 4:5-6)

For that to happen it might require you to stop talking and start listening.

You might have to probe and question why they think the way that they think.

Not from a place of judgment or self-righteousness but from a place of love and compassion.

One of the best books I read during my sabbatical was Street Smarts by Greg Kokul. I loved it because he made a distinction between “Harvesting Evangelism” and “Gardening Evangelism.”

The stoney heart needs some gardening evangelism.

It needs somebody to do the hard work of plowing up that ground and removing those obstacles that keep the person from taking Jesus seriously.

It also requires people who are willing to address the Satanic lies in our culture at a macro level.

This is why we need people committed to Christian apologetics and Christian philosophy. They do the hard work of confronting these intellectual hurdles with logic and truth.

All truth is God’s truth. We have nothing to run from. The weapons of our warfare are powerful to destroy strongholds and to take every thought captive and make it obedient to Jesus Christ. (2 Cor 10:3-5)

The Shallow Heart

The second heart Jesus mentions is the “Shallow Heart.”

Jesus likens this heart to the seed that “fell on rocky ground where it didn’t have much soil, and it grew up quickly since the soil wasn’t deep. But when the sun came up, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away.” (Mat 13:5-6)

In his explanation he says that this heart, “hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. But he has no root and is short-lived. When distress or persecution come because of the word, immediately he falls away.” (Mat 13:20-21)

I’m going to call this person the “Fair Weather Fan.”

The shallow heart has several things going on with it.

There’s no root because there’s no depth.

There’s initial joy but eventually it “falls away.”

The thing that causes it to fall away? “Distress or persecution caused by the word.”

So in this case, the enemies of the heart are “shallow commitment” and “difficult circumstances.”

Both of these are problems but the shallow commitment usually isn’t exposed until the difficult circumstances start to surface in their life.

Profiling Fair-Weather Freddy

This is the person who gets really really excited about following Jesus because he thinks following Jesus is going to make his life better.

And he’s not wrong to think that! Following Jesus absolutely makes your life better in so many ways.

Jesus even tells his disciples “Blessed are your ears because they DO hear...” The word means “happy.” Joy and contentment and goodness find their way into the life of a man or woman who puts their hope in Jesus.

But even though following Jesus has a way of making your life better, following Jesus also has a way of making your life HARDER.

Following Jesus makes life harder because you’re going to war against your flesh and the devil.

Paul told Timothy “All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” (2 Tim 3:12)

Notice the persecution isn’t just professing Jesus as lord. It’s LIVING as if Jesus is Lord.

Our culture is happy to let you believe whatever it is you want to believe so long as that faith doesn’t change the way you actually life your life.

So long as it doesn’t bleed over into your politics, and relationships and lifestyle decisions.

Youth Camp Illustration:

Some people simply aren’t ready to follow Jesus if it means making their life more difficult.

Addressing The Enemy

One of the best things we can do for this kind of heart is provide deeper discipleship and a supportive community to help them persevere.

I remember as a young Christian how difficult it was to live as Jesus wanted me to live.

I remember falling into sin and thinking to myself, “How am I supposed to live this way if none of my ‘Christian friends’ are willing to come along and support me.” You begin to feel isolated and weak.

This is why our church needs to focus on getting people connected to discipling relationships that provide accountability and support so we can withstand that scorching sun when it begins to shine.

Deeper discipleship is what helps a believer understand that following Jesus isn’t just to receive salvation after we die. It’s about dying to ourselves and beginning to live a new life hidden in Christ.

If something is shallow then you dig a little deeper and that’s what one-on-one discipleship can do for another person.

But it’s not just about deepening the mind. It’s also about providing protection for the seed. We do this through a supportive community.

We cannot prevent that testing and trials that come as a result of the Word. But we can foster an environment that encourages perseverance.

Trials & Tribulations - as the tech bros would say, “are a feature, not a bug.”

We can’t prevent them but we can provide an environment that removes those rocks and improves that soil so the root DOES run deeper and the seed CAN begin to bear fruit.

Many hands make for lighter work. When you feel like your surrounded by people who are walking the same walk and committed to following Jesus as a community then you find confidence in that support and begin to walk the same way.

How many more people do we have to see “fall away” before we start taking seriously our responsibility to address this kind of soil?

Would you be willing to do everything you can help our church grow in this area?

The Strangled Heart

The third heart Jesus mentions is the “Strangled Heart.”

Jesus likens this heart to the seed that “fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it.” (Mat 13:7)

In his explanation he says that this heart, “hears the word but the worries of this age and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.” (Mat 13:22)

Let’s call this person the “Carnal Christian.”

I put the word “Christian” in quotations because it’s really hard to tell whether this person is or is not a Christian.

In the case of the Stoney Heart the bird carries the seed away.

In the case of the Shallow Heart the sun withered the seed away.

But in the case of the Strangled Heart the seed takes root but never bears fruit.

On the one hand, it receives the word and begins to grow. But on the other hand it never produces any fruit so can we say it really it really possesses the living hope of Jesus?

It’s really hard to tell. Jesus says you’ll know a tree by it’s fruit. This tree has no fruit so therefore it has no confidence whether it does or doesn’t belong to Jesus.

In this case, the enemies of the heart are “sterilizing anxiety and fear.”

Profiling Carnal Charlie

This person identifies as a Christian, goes to church on Sunday, but Monday-Saturday lives as if his hope in Jesus is totally disconnected from “real life.”

Jesus mentions the “worries of this world and the deceitfulness of wealth.” So you might imagine that the enemies are worry and wealth. But I think it’s deeper than that.

The problem isn’t that our lives are filled with worry and wealth. We can’t help that. Especially living in the richest, tech-advanced, country in history.

Worry and wealth are not themselves the enemies. They become enemies when they begin to “choke out” our hope in Jesus.

That’s why I call the enemy “sterilizing anxiety and fear.” Worry and wealth become sterilizing in that they keep you from bearing fruit in your Christian life.

What does this look like? This looks like

materialism and debt that keeps you from being generous towards God’s mission.

busyness and overcommitment that keeps you from worship or connecting with a small group.

Career climbing and status seeking that keeps you from surrendering to God’s will for your life. (or meeting the spiritual needs of your family)

The list could go on and on but you get the basic idea. It’s not that we’re confronted with busy schedules and bigger paychecks.

It’s that we begin to “seek first” after those things instead of “Jesus’ kingdom and his righteousness.

Addressing the Enemy

Addressing this enemy is challenging because so much of our culture is characterized by this kind of soil.

As a local church, we can’t control your calendar or the way you think about your money.

But we can provide loving accountability that what you profess with your mouth begins to bear fruit in your life.

But you can. You can do the difficult work of assessing whether or not worry and wealth have had a sterilizing effect on your hope in Jesus.

When is the last time you bore fruit for the glory of God in your Christian life? When’s the last time you had absolute assurance of your salvation in Jesus?

If you sense that these things have begun to “choke” the hope of Christ out of your life then it might require a violent removal of these things from your life.

It might require you to drastically simplify your calendar and your lifestyle so that you can begin seeking first God’s kingdom above all else.

Maybe you can begin protecting Sunday mornings with the same vigilance that you protect your checking account or your social reputation.

God has given us so many good things in this world. The Lord has even blessed some of you with great material prosperity. But those great gifts can become a curse if you allow them to choke the hope of Christ in your heart.

What is preventing you from stepping out in obedience to God’s will for your life? Whatever that thing is, it’s choking you.

SURRENDER & SUBMISSION

If we want ears that hear and hearts that receive the living hope of Jesus, we need hearts that are characterized by humility and submission.

So the final heart we’ll examine this morning is the Surrendered Heart in Matthew 12:23.

Matthew 13:23 CSB

23 But the one sown on the good ground—this is one who hears and understands the word, who does produce fruit and yields: some a hundred, some sixty, some thirty times what was sown.”

The reason I’m calling this heart the “Surrendered Heart” is because it both “hears and understands the Word.”

Anybody who truly understands the message of the Gospel also understands it can only be received by those who humble themselves, recognize their need for salvation and surrender themselves completely to God.

That act of surrender is really a dying to self.

It was Jesus who said that unless a seed dies it will never bear fruit. The same is true in the Christian life.

Bearing fruit in the Christian life means dying to yourself.

So it’s not just that we surrender to God but also that we submit ourselves to the Lordship of Christ.

As the Apostle Paul said, “I’ve been crucified with Christ. It’s no longer I who live but Christ who lives IN ME.” (Gal 2:20)

That is the only way our lives will bear fruit. And the greater the surrender the greater the fruit.

Some will be one hundred fold. Some sixty. Some thirty. It’s ultimately up to God to produce the fruit. Our job is to surrender our lives.

Hearing Keeping & Hoping

The surrendered heart not only “hears” the Word of Christ but they also “keep it.”

I want to close with Jesus words to his disciples in verses 16. Matthew 13:16

Matthew 13:16 CSB

16 “Blessed are your eyes because they do see, and your ears because they do hear.

Jesus pronounces a blessing on those who have ears to hear and eyes to see the hope that is in him.

This isn’t the only time Jesus makes this connection. In Jesus’ final word to his church he makes a similar connection.

Revelation 1:3 CSB

3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep what is written in it, because the time is near.

There, as here in this parable there is an inextricable link between hearing and keeping. And keeping and hoping.

Those who hear keep and those who keep hope.

What’s the relationship between hoping and keeping?

Hope is a commitment to keep God’s word based on the conviction that God keeps his promise.

Hope is keeping God’s Word because God keeps his promise.

That is what Advent is all about.

And if we have any doubts about God keeping his promise around the second coming. All we have to do is look at what he accomplished through Christ’s first coming.