Listen Well Luke 8:1-21

How many of you have heard the phrase, “God gave you one mouth and two ears so you should listen more than you talk.”

This is usually said to those of us who speak to much and listen too little.

It’s funny just a couple of weeks ago at the Ice cream social I was talking about when I was younger and I would just say whatever came to my mind without any type of filter.

I told the people I was talking to that I had a foot shaped mouth.

And I understand that we all want to be heard, but what is most important being heard or listening to others?

I would argue that when we listen is when we learn.

In the scripture we are looking at this morning, Jesus calls for people to listen to what he says.

In fact in these 21 verses, he says in some capacity “Listen to me” some 8 times.

That’s why I’ve titled this sermon Listen well.

Jesus is concerned with his followers listening to him.

But not just listening, listening well.

After all, Jesus has come to preach and proclaim the kingdom of God, which is the most important teaching ever.

So I pray this morning that as we make our way through the scripture that we will listen well.

That we will hear God’s word and that by hearing God’s word it will transform our life.

Let’s Go to the Lord and ask that of him.

We are going to begin this morning by looking at the first 3 verses in chapter 8.

These verses are just a transition from Jesus’ interaction with Simon the Pharisee and the woman who washed his feet to the next movement in Luke’s gospel.

Now there is a lot to unpack here, but I’m just going to hit the highlights so that we can get down to Jesus’ first major parable in Luke.

Luke 8:1–3 CSB

1 Afterward he was traveling from one town and village to another, preaching and telling the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses: Mary, called Magdalene (seven demons had come out of her); 3 Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward; Susanna; and many others who were supporting them from their possessions.

Jesus’ Supporters

Here’s some key things I want us to take away from these verses.

Jesus was continuing to travel.

Why was he traveling?

He was preaching and telling the good news of the kingdom of God.

Remember this was Jesus’ mission.

People need to hear the gospel.

They need to respond to the gospel.

It is important for them to know that Jesus has come to accomplish what was promised in the OT.

He is traveling with the 12, but we are also introduced to some new characters.

Women who had demons cast out of them including Mary Magdalene.

There was Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward; Susanna and others.

So first, I want us to see that these are women who are supporting Jesus.

And that they are recognized by Luke as important to Jesus’ ministry.

Though he’s the Son of God and he’s going out to preach and proclaim the good news, it cost money to travel.

So these women have stepped in to help Jesus and the 12 accomplish their mission.

Not only that, but these are the exact type of people that Jesus came to proclaim the good news to.

Women were viewed as second class citizens in during Jesus’ time.

They were property. To be seen and not heard.

They fall into the category of outcasts and the poor.

But Jesus sees them as valuable.

He preached the good news.

And He healed them.

He cast out demons.

Demonstrating that the gospel of Jesus is available to the least of these.

And the last thing I want us to see about these women is that Jesus’ ministry has reached a wide variety of people and has caused them to work together.

Joanna had access to the court of Herod through her husband.

Herod was one of the governors at the time.

And Joanna’s husband served as Herod’s steward.

Susanna is mentioned once in all the gospel, but she served faithfully in Jesus’ ministry.

And the thing that brought all of these women together was their love and devotion to Jesus.

They didn’t let their social status or past get in the way of serving their Lord.

What an example for us as the modern church today.

Let’s not let anything get in the way of serving Jesus.

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Any way let’s shift gears and get into the meat of this morning’s sermon.

Luke 8:4–8 CSB

4 As a large crowd was gathering, and people were coming to Jesus from every town, he said in a parable, 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some seed fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the sky devoured it. 6 Other seed fell on the rock; when it grew up, it withered away, since it lacked moisture. 7 Other seed fell among thorns; the thorns grew up with it and choked it. 8 Still other seed fell on good ground; when it grew up, it produced fruit: a hundred times what was sown.” As he said this, he called out, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”

Parable of Soils

As I stated earlier this is the the first major Parable of Jesus’ ministry in the book of Luke.

We have seen some little parables earlier.

In Luke 6, Jesus talked about the good tree producing good fruit and the bad tree producing bad fruit and the two foundations one of rock and one of sand.

Those were sort of the introduction to Parables in Luke’s gospel, but this is the first major teaching.

I guess the first question that needs to be asked and answered is what it a parable.

A simple definition is a story used to illustrate truth.

We are story telling creatures.

We love good stories, this is why movies, television, and books are such a big thing in our culture.

Jesus knows that this is innate in humanity so he uses stories to illustrate truth

This parable, other than being the first one in Luke, is also found in the other synoptic gospels.

That would be Matthew and Mark.

Jesus uses this parable to do a couple of things, one of the things he does and we will see in the next two verses, is he uses this as an opportunity to explain why he uses parables.

By using this parable, Jesus sets up the reality that Parables are going to be a big part of his teaching ministry.

Parables are a big part of Luke’s Gospel.

In fact, he has more parables then all the other gospel accounts.

This gives us a different perspective of Jesus in Luke’s gospel then we get in Matthew, Mark, and John.

Luke loves parables and even includes 18 parables that aren’t in any other gospel account.

Now at times, Jesus gives us an explanation of his parables and at other times he doesn’t.

This parable is one of the times that he does. in v.11-15, Jesus explains what it meant by this parable of the soils, and we will look at that a minute.

So I’m not going to go into the explanation yet, I’ll do that when we get there.

But I do want us to just observe a few things before we move forward.

I want us to notice, what are the constants in this parable.

What are things that never change?

First we see that that farmer doesn’t change.

He’s out there doing his job.

Moving across the field spreading seed so that there will be a harvest.

The next thing we see is that the seed never changes.

The seed is constant as well.

These consistencies are important for understanding the parable.

What does change?

What isn’t the same?

The soil that the seed lands on.

Some lands on the path.

Some land on shallow soil.

Some land among the thorns.

Some land on good ground.

Knowing these things, though they may be simple help to rightly interpret and apply the parables that Jesus teaches.

To wrap up the teaching of the parable, Jesus finishes with this phrase in v. 8, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”

This is the first of 8 times Jesus is going to tell those listening to hear him and hear him well.

Remember the call to listen to Jesus isn’t just a call to understand his words.

It’s a call to respond to his message.

I want us to practice a thought experiment real quick.

It’s not going to be easy, but I want us to imagine that we are one of Jesus’ disciples right after he tells us about the farmer, seed, and ground.

Knowing that we have no other context to this teaching.

We live at a time and place where this parable is pretty well known in the church setting.

But this may have been the first time the disciples heard Jesus speak this parable.

They don’t have any context or knowledge about what it means.

We wouldn’t either.

Farmers, seed, ground…What does all this mean.

So the disciples ask Jesus to clarify what this teaching was all about.

Just so they could have a grasp on what is happening.

That’s what we see in v. 9-10

Luke 8:9–10 CSB

9 Then his disciples asked him, “What does this parable mean?” 10 So he said, “The secrets of the kingdom of God have been given for you to know, but to the rest it is in parables, so that Looking they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.

Confused Disciples

The disciples don’t understand why Jesus is teaching in parables.

Specifically this parable.

From their perspective it seems a little more difficult to understand this one as compared to the earlier parables that Jesus has told.

But Jesus is using parables for a purpose.

Now this may sound harsh.

It may be hard for us to wrap our minds around.

But Jesus teaches in parables so that only those who desire to hear his words actually get it.

His teaching about the kingdom of God in this parable means that he is excluding some from understanding what he says.

They are called secrets in this translation.

In other they are called mysteries.

These mysteries or secrets aren’t something that only God knows, but they are mysteries that God has to reveal to those who believe.

There are mysterious teachings of God that are only understood through his revelation.

This means that to truly understand what Jesus teaches.

To have the fullness of understanding its not just hearing his words, but a divine intervention.

This is the reason that Jesus can say in

John 5:39 “39 You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, and yet they testify about me.”

Understanding what Jesus says, specifically about salvation, can only be understood through God’s divine revelation.

And Jesus is going to offer the explanation to the disciples.

He is going to give them revelation b/c they are following after him.

Yet to the rest, this is simply a parable.

A story that they may take away something, but not the fullness of truth.

Jesus tells us the reason that he speaks in parables.

Luke 8:10 “10 So he said, “The secrets of the kingdom of God have been given for you to know, but to the rest it is in parables, so that Looking they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.”

Why would this be the purpose of speaking in parables?

It is serving to fulfill what God spoke about in the OT.

This is a quote from Is 6.9.

To add a little context to why Jesus would quote Isaiah here, during Is. time Israel had rebelled against God.

God had called Isaiah to go and preach to the Israelites to repent and turn back toward God.

But God also told Isaiah that the people wouldn’t listen.

That they would stay in their rebellion and their hearts would be hardened.

This was God’s judgment on them.

Jesus is saying that his ministry is similar to Isaiah’s.

He’s going to bring the Lord’s message of repentance, but there will be those whose hearts would be hardened and they will not respond to the message of Jesus.

So Jesus is speaking in parables as a judgement on those who have hardened their heart toward God.

And yet, Jesus is gracious to those who follow after him, he explains the parable in the next section.

Luke 8:11–15 CSB

11 “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. 12 The seed along the path are those who have heard and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 And the seed on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy. Having no root, these believe for a while and fall away in a time of testing. 14 As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are the ones who, when they have heard, go on their way and are choked with worries, riches, and pleasures of life, and produce no mature fruit. 15 But the seed in the good ground—these are the ones who, having heard the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it and by enduring, produce fruit.

Parable of Soils Explained

Explaining this parable is a gracious act of our savior.

Remember what I said earlier.

Understanding what changes and what stays the same is part of the key to understanding what Jesus taught.

He begins by talking about what stays the same.

The seed is the word of God.

This is the word about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The is life.

It carries within itself truth about God, Truth about Jesus, truth about salvation.

And the word is being spread by the farmer.

The farmer is doing what he always does.

Going out and sowing seed.

There is some debate by scholars as to who the farmer is.

Some say the Farmer is God while others say it’s anyone who belongs to Jesus that is out sowing the seed of the gospel.

I tend to lean toward the later explanation especially in the context of who Jesus is speaking to.

This parable will help to comfort them as they see various responses to the message of Jesus.

So let’s look at the various responses.

First we see that the seed lands on the path.

This path would have been compacted ground that was regularly traveled by those who sowed seed and harvested in the field.

This ground wouldn’t allow the seed to penetrate it.

The heart of this man is hard and indifferent.

He doesn’t care about the word of God.

He doesn’t care about the work of God

Maybe he is bitter. Maybe he just has prejudice against spiritual matters.

Either way, the things of God and the gospel can never crack the surface.

So the seed of the gospel is snatched away by Satan and this person is never responds to the gospel message.

The heart of this individual is pretty self-explanatory and I’m sure we have all met people like this.

They are disinterested in the things of God and even at times they are hostile.

Their hearts are hardened.

The second soil we read about is superficial.

This is ground that may have some top soil, but just under the soil is bedrock.

This is a common attribute of soil during Jesus time.

The seed lands in the soft soil and then sprouts up but quickly is destroyed b/c of the lack of foundation.

There is no depth to their belief.

They do at first accept the Word of God with Joy, but when they are faced with suffering or pain, they quickly abandon the Lord.

This is why the gospel we preach must be fully formed in it’s presentation.

We must let people know that though their sins are forgiven and they have peace with God through Jesus it doesn’t mean that life is going to get any easier or less painful.

This kind of superficial belief is what we really see in a lot of youth and teens.

I’ve seen and experienced it at youth camps and events.

The superficial response to God’s word is built upon emotions and feelings rather than truth.

So when the emotions and feelings go away and the world gets back to normal, there is a feeling that God is far away.

We must know and preach the gospel that tells people that to follow Jesus means walking in his footsteps.

Sure there will be times of emotional highs and lows.

But those emotions don’t tell us the truth.

The truth is following Jesus is a calling to come and die.

In fact it’s in the troubles, it’s in the pain that our faith is tested and we either persevere or we waste away.

The only type of faith that truly endures is a faith built on who Jesus is and what Jesus has done, not one built on how we feel.

The third type of soil show us someone who gets distracted by the things of this world.

They maybe excited about God and his word.

They may have responded to his word in some way.

But they get distracted and pre-occupied with the things of this world.

They are anxious and worried about life and the events of the world.

They are consumed with money, riches, and greed.

They seek after pleasure in this life.

I want us to remember money and pleasures are not bad things.

They are gifts from God.

He desires that we enjoy this life.

He grants us the finances and money to provide for our families.

So Jesus isn’t saying avoid money or pleasure.

He’s saying that they can so easily become a distraction.

Money and pleasure can quickly become purpose in our lives.

They can be the driving force for our existence and we lose sight of what truly matters, Following Jesus.

B/c the pursuit of these things, though they are not inherently evil, causes no mature fruit to be produced.

Toiling after the pleasures and trappings of this world causes growth and perseverance in Jesus to be stunted and eventually choked out.

Finally, Jesus leads us to the seed that fell on good ground.

After hearing the good news of the gospel, there is a response in faith.

They have trusted the word of God and the work of Christ.

And notice what this seed does that none of the other seed does.

It endures and produces fruit.

This is the heart and soul of a person who is sold out to the good news of Jesus.

The good news of the kingdom of God.

This person holds tightly to the word.

Continually running back to God’s word to find life and purpose.

Knowing that it is attached to vine of life.

This person has listened well to the word.

And we know he has listened well b/c he doesn’t just hear the word, but he does it too.

His life has been transformed and he is growing into the image of God.

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Here’s the thing.

Knowing that most people are going to respond negatively to the gospel does not mean that we aren’t supposed to share it.

As those that have been saved by Jesus, we are called and commissioned to be ambassadors for his kingdom.

And Jesus tells his disciples in the next section not to be discouraged, but rather to shine their light Brightly.

Luke 8:16–18 CSB

16 “No one, after lighting a lamp, covers it with a basket or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a lampstand so that those who come in may see its light. 17 For nothing is concealed that won’t be revealed, and nothing hidden that won’t be made known and brought to light. 18 Therefore take care how you listen. For whoever has, more will be given to him; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken away from him.”

Shine Bright

We have been given the brightest light to shine.

That light is the good news of Jesus Christ.

We go from enemies of God to his sons and daughters.

We go from being dead in our sins and trespasses to being alive in Jesus.

This is some amazing news for us.

And we shouldn’t desire to keep it to ourselves.

Here’s the thing we aren’t responsible for how people respond to the gospel.

We aren’t responsible for the soil of their hearts.

However, we are responsible for going out and sowing the seed.

And not only is this seed demonstrated in the words we speak, but also in the way we live.

We are to be obedient and submit to Jesus commandments.

Our lives are to be beacons of hope and radiate the goodness of Jesus.

Too often modern Christians are so focused on our personal relationship with Jesus.

And I would agree that we have a personal relationship with the creator of the cosmos.

However, no matter how personal our relationship is, it is not private.

We aren’t supposed to keep our relationship with Jesus hidden from anyone.

We aren’t hiding it under a basket.

We using the light we have been given.

We are using the message of hope and reconciliation as a light that draw people to Jesus.

And part of what Jesus is doing here in this short parable relates back to the parable of the sowers.

The true response to the message of Jesus is going to be revealed eventually.

Here’s the thing, The word of God will always reveal our true motivations.

Luke 8:17 “17 For nothing is concealed that won’t be revealed, and nothing hidden that won’t be made known and brought to light.”

Like 2 of the 4 soils they may be interested in God’s Word, they may be intrigued by the the message of the gospel.

But their true belief will be found out.

If you aren’t fully committed to the life of a disciple you will either burn out or be choked out by the cares of this world.

Only those who are sold out will endure and produce good fruit.

The only way to truly tell if someone has given their life to Jesus is to see if they endure to the end.

Their lives, actions, and devotion will expose them for who they really are.

and who they actually follow.

This is why it is so important to Jesus that we listen well.

That we pay attention to what he says.

Some of us take for granted what we have been taught in the church.

Whether as children or even as adults.

But Jesus wants us to know that the only true devotion and transformation happens when we listen to him well.

And if we listen well and obey his instructions then we will be given more.

But if we don’t listen well even what we think we own is going to be take from us.

I believe that this is an allusion to our lives.

We think we own our lives.

We think that we get to make all the decisions.

Those who don’t listen to Jesus think that they know what’s best for themselves.

I’m my own person. I get to live my own truth.

I get to make my own decisions.

But here Jesus is warning us that we don’t own our lives.

God owns everything. And if we trust in him and believe his word then we will be given more.

Eternal life.

But if we don’t listen well then our lives will be taken from us and we will taste eternal death.

So Jesus here draws a line in the sand.

Either we listen well to Jesus and submit to his lordship gaining eternal life.

Or we ignore what he says and taste the bitterness of death.

For most of these parables, Jesus has been highlighting unbelief and those who don’t listen to his instruction and teaching, but in the next few verses there is some excitement for those who have heard and listened to Jesus.

Luke 8:19–21 CSB

19 Then his mother and brothers came to him, but they could not meet with him because of the crowd. 20 He was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.” 21 But he replied to them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear and do the word of God.”

True Family

We’re running short on time some I’m not going to spend a ton of time highlighting whats going on here.

Suffice it to say that Jesus is essentially shining a spotlight on those who have listened to him.

Those who have listened well have been elevated to the position of family.

We aren’t simply servants.

We aren’t simply disciples.

We are part of Jesus’ family.

But again out of the mouth of Jesus he tells us who is a part of his family.

Those who hear and do the word of God.

All of the examples of people he’s used in the stories above have heard the word of God, but only a few respond to the message.

Few actually take what Jesus said and put it into action.

However, that’s what we are called to do.

If we want to be his disciples we must first hear and respond to his message.

Then as a proof that we are his then we do what God’s word commands.

We live a life that honors, magnifies and glorifies God.

And we love our neighbor as we love ourself.

So this morning the question that is hanging over each of our heads is this…are you a part of the family of God.

Have you listened well to his word?

Have you responded to his message?

Are you doing what he has commanded?

These are all markers of a life that has been transformed by Jesus.

If you can’t honestly answer any of these questions.

The I want you to listen well.

I want you to know that you aren’t living the life that Jesus died for.

Do some reflection and think about your life and what Jesus demands of you and respond accordingly.

He is offering new life…Will you respond?

Let’s pray.