2.7.11 2.11.2024 Luke 8.4-15 Certain About the Word

Start:

Entice: Some stories are easier to tell than others. Some are difficult because understanding them is essential to understanding the whole Kingdom intent of Jesus. And so, we come to the

Parable of the Sower.

Luke 8:1–15 ESV

1 Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, 3 and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means. 4 And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable, 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6 And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. 8 And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” 9 And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, 10 he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’ 11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 The ones along the path 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. 13 And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. 14 And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. 15 As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

This is one of the few parables Jesus himself named, He also provides an explanation. He really hands us a key to understanding what He thought and intended to do.

For good reason, NT scholar Klyne Snodgrass describes the Sower as,

“A parable about parables.”

Jesus told many parables, of diverse form, length, and intent.

The Sower is both a story in and of itself, and a guide.

This story helps

the abstract,

analogical

teaching method of Jesus make sense.

Many of Jesus’ stories are oblique.

There is not a straight path from what He says

and what He expects from us.

His message enters our mind,

we mull it over.

It impacts our emotions.

Eventually we act with our will.

Engage: Let me ask a question.

Why do you come to Church and listen to God’s Word?

As you think let me propose some generic answers.

You believe it to be true.

It provides life guidance.

It helps you understand.

Ultimately the Word of God, the seed that is sown into our lives, takes on a life of its own.

It may be trampled,

eaten,

choked out,

or ignored.

Or it can transform us

into fruit-bearing disciples.

That is what Jesus wants.

Expand: So why didn’t He just tell us?

Jesus uses parables like an intellectual feather. He tickles our understanding not to give us the answer but to get us to scratch that itch ourselves. Then, thinking with clarity we can grasp what He teaches about our kingdom responsibility.

Excite: Jesus not only wants us to bear a bountiful harvest He wants us to choose that harvest. He wants us to cultivate the soil of our hearing and doing so that we can become fruitful. We can grow ever more certain of the Word as we reap a bountiful harvest.

Explore:

The full potential of God’s Word is realized when it grows and bears fruit in our lives.

Expand: Like ascending a staircase, we must carefully take each of these steps so that we can understand how to bear that fruit that our Lord expects.

Body of Sermon: The first Step is

1 A Familiar image.

1.1 Agriculture is both particular and universal.

The mysteries of this parable stand out because the primary image is so prosaic.

The technology and labor changes, but farming is farming. Seed into Soil.

1.2 The imagery involves us and stimulates our own thinking.

It is not a long story, yet we are able to picture it in our minds and inhabit it.

The next step, as clear as it is, is a bit disarming for a 21st century audience. The next step is that Jesus has an

2 An Explicit motive.

His teaching was opaque, not His motivation. Jesus’ words to His disciples discloses this motive. He applies this passage from Isaiah to describe how parables provoke a distinction between those who “get” His message, and those who don’t “get it”. Let’s look at it.

Isaiah 6:9–10 ESV

9 And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “ ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ 10 Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

Jesus’ motives involve

2.1 Perception.

Jesus is not describing something magical; He is describing the process of faithful hearing.

Which leads to our

2.2 Participation.

in the revealed mystery.

For those who choose not to hear with receptive faith that choice becomes a

2.3 Prohibition.

from understanding. Specifically, if they won’t, they can’t.

To us this seems insensitive even harsh. For Jesus and His Church, it allows for a clear demarcation between insiders and outsiders.

Parables enable those who respond in faith to see, understand, and participate in Jesus’ Kingdom teaching. Those who do not respond in faith will not understand.

This leads to the final step; Jesus explains the parable with

3 A Compelling Application.

To apply this parable to our present Kingdom living we must draw the conclusions Jesus intends.

To begin with

3.1 Sowing is presumed.

The Father, Jesus, the disciples, the earliest Church, Us. We are sowers of God’s good seed. He says very little about it. He assumes we know the Word and as disciples are committed to sowing.

And,

3.2 The seed is fertile.

The seed is the Word, and it is always ready to germinate and grow.

However, Jesus wants us to understand that

3.3 The Dirt makes a difference.

In some dirt the seed is Vulnerable.

In some dirt the seed becomes Rootless.

In some dirt the seed becomes Distracted.

But blessedly,

In some dirt the seed becomes Productive.

3.4 Good Dirt=Good Character.

A good and honest heart.

Fruitful reception.

Shut Down

This parable is the story of Jesus’ ministry in a nutshell.

This is the story of the Church’s 2000-year ministry.

This is the story of the ministry of this congregation.

It is the story of my own preaching ministry,

and will be

the story of whoever follows me in this pulpit.

The power of this story is that it manages to be timeless and specific at the same time.

Luke begins by focusing on the virtue of the seed and ends up focusing on the harvest of those who have ears to hear.

Are you listening?

Can you hear the voice of our Master when we read these words?

Do you thirst for more of this Word?

Are you sowing?

Are you caring for the soil of your life?

Are you cultivating your patch?

Are you allowing the Word to bear fruit?

That’s our goal. The Church, like a farming cooperative, is here to help all those who have ears to hear, to bear fruit. I’m gonna pray, then it’s time to pitch

hay.