The Purpose for the Parables

Introduction

My personality as a child was defined in large part by my admiration for my father. I wanted to be just like him. I wanted to have the same job someday. I wanted my hair to look the same.

My dad always knew the right way to do everything, and everyone else was wrong. My dad taught me how to do many things. How to ride a bike, how to make cornbread, how to brush my teeth, and so much more.

Think about the closest relationships you have in your life. Who are the people who are the most special to you personally?

How many of those relationships, like mine with my father, could be called a mentoring relationship? One in which one person is mentoring the other. The connection between a good teacher and student means a great deal to us. They carry importance, and weight in our lives. The impact of these kinds of relationships is often lifelong, and the roots run deep.

I believe that mentoring others and being mentored is a part of being human. It’s something that God made us to do. By nature, we reproduce; we replicate ourselves. It is a good thing.

As we have looked at the parables, we have been mentored by Jesus. The Holy Spirit has taught us about Jesus and the Kingdom of God as we have learned the parables and their meaning. At the end of this section of parables in Matthew 13, Jesus gives us the reason for which we have learned these things. Today, we will see that Jesus helps us to understand the Kingdom of God so we can help others to do the same.

Being like Jesus means helping people to understand the truth of His Kingdom.

It is always an interesting thing when God asks questions in the Bible. Based on what we know of Him, does God ever ask a question because He does not know something? No, He knows everything! So why then is He asking questions?

He is telling us something by asking a question. By His asking this question, we know that we should be asking about this subject. In other words, it is important! And what does He ask about here? Understanding.

After asking all these parables, like any good teacher, Jesus wants to make sure that the students understand what He has been trying to teach them. Essentially, He is asking, is it all adding up for you? Is it clicking for you?

And this is maybe something that is glaringly obvious but important for us to reflect upon. Jesus taught to be understood. As Pastor Thomas said when we started this series on the parables, Christ’s parables both reveal and conceal their message.

So while Jesus is in some ways concealing His real meaning, his goal has always been to teach students who want to learn. And this is one way in which we must be like Jesus. Jesus wanted people to get it. He wanted people to know what the Kingdom of God is.

As we have discussed for several weeks, He wanted people to know about how the Kingdom grows from humble beginnings, by unseen means. He wanted people to see the underrated and inestimable value of the kingdom. He wanted His disciples to know how to have a heart that responds rightly to the message of the kingdom. He wanted it to click for people. He wanted them to get it.

We should want people to get it. And the first person we should work on is right here. Ourselves. Understanding is important to Jesus. Friend, is your understanding of God’s kingdom, and by extension, God’s entire Word important to you?

For some of us, nerd-ing out on things comes naturally, but for some, we don’t think we are the “book learning” type. This kind of person would rather be working with your hands or “doing something.” For this group, academic study is uninteresting, potentially intimidating, and maybe even viewed as pointless.

Now there would have been more followers than just the twelve with Jesus at this time, but just within that group, you had plenty of men who worked with their hands. You have at least four fishermen. Men who worked with their hands. Men who were very practical.

Are you the kind of person who wants to know the point of whatever you are learning? Though academic study is a good thing, and I think we sell ourselves short when we write ourselves off as incapable of doing it, what we are talking about is not actually learning for the sake of learning.

There is a point. Jesus makes that clear here. He makes it clear that understanding is important, I pray that we as a church commit to working to understand the Kingdom of God and His Word. And after he has made that clear, He tells them what they now must do.

The purpose of learning about God’s kingdom is to teach others.

He tells His disciples, therefore...

Based on the fact that they now understand His teachings about the kingdom, there is one final parable for them to understand.

Before we dive into the parable itself, I first want to look at the word he uses to describe them. “Scribe.” What are scribes? They are the authorities on the Law.

Followers of Jesus, trained in His teachings, are to be the Scribes. This reinforces what we have already recognized from this text. That every believer, regardless of their personality, can and should be a student of the Word of God.

Jesus makes it even clearer by saying these scribes have been instructed in the kingdom. This word is the same word as to make someone into a disciple.

Jesus says that His scribes are like householders that bring out of their treasure both old and new. Now the way that our brains work, our minds go instantly to wondering, “Ok, so what are the bringing out of the treasure store? What is old and new?”

While the words “old and new” are important they are not the focus of this text. The focus is the bringing out. What is the treasure that scribes have been given? That which they have learned. They have been entrusted with the sacred writings. They are the keepers of them. And what have we been given? We have been taught, or discipled, in the Kingdom of heaven.

So what are we bringing out? Those teachings. We give them now to other people.

Here is the point that Jesus is making. If someone has invested in you, it is your responsibility to invest in others. Those instructed in the kingdom bring out of the treasure they have received, and instruct others.

Here is the point that Jesus is making. If someone has invested in you, it is your responsibility to invest in others.

Now, someone may say, but Pastor Will, I have never had someone truly invest in me. If you are a child of God, then, friend,

while another follow of Jesus may not have invested in you, God certainly has. He gave His Son for you, that you might have His Spirit in you, making you more like Christ.

However, that is not the case for probably most of us in this room. Whether our parents, pastors, or other mentors, we have all received the benefit, not just of the grace of God in Christ, but also the faithful ministry of the saints.

The bottom line is this: Jesus says every scribe passes on the teachings that they have been given. Not just the ones with a knack for it. Not just the ones who are extroverts. Every scribe does this.

There is another way to say this: disciples make disciples. That is what they do.

What is a disciple or follower of Jesus. It is someone who obeys what Jesus said to do and lives like he lived. If Jesus commanded us to make disciples, and Jesus Himself made disciples, then His followers must make disciples. You cannot obey Jesus or be like Him if you do not make disciples.

Are you actively seeking to help people know and become more like Jesus? For a long time, a lot of churches in American culture have focused on programs. Building large children’s ministries and buildings for people to come to. We would have big attractional events to bring people in. We asked volunteers (or church members) to staff these things. A lot of good things happened, but many times, one of the deficiencies was making disciples that actually obey what Jesus says, not just at church but consistently in personal life.

A lot of us might be really comfortable volunteering for an event or a program, but discipling someone, being the household manager who shares out of the treasure store, is outside our comfort zones. I understand it very well may be this way for some of you. I do not want to make following Jesus unnecessarily difficult. But I did not come up with this requirement. It is one that Jesus gives to anyone who would follow Him.

Matthew 16:24–26 NKJV

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

Jesus let us know up front that following Him would not be easy. It would not be easy. It would not come cheap. But just because something costs something, doesn’t mean it’s not worth it.

Some might feel, “How could I disciple someone? I am not trained for that. Where would I even begin?”

Well, let me please share some very practical steps for becoming the scribe that Jesus calls you to be.

Learn

2 Timothy 3:16–17 NKJV

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

spend time with God daily (becoming a disciple of Jesus is not just about information, it is about becoming someone)

Obey Jesus in all of life

Read other good books about who God is and how to serve Him effectively

Reach

Initiate conversations and relationships

Hospitality (sharing what God has given you)

Teach

Work to help others “understand”

Tell others about Jesus

Hone the skills of “teaching”

Conclusion

Brookdale, can we do this together?