Grow: Whoever has ears, let them hear

September 23, 2020

Welcome to Wednesdays with Warren. On Monday, Michael challenged us to focus our eyes on Jesus. Our text today from Matthew 13 challenges us to tune our ears to Jesus. Two times in Matthew 13 as Jesus tells parables, he offers this refrain, “whoever has ears, let them hear.” Both times in Matthew 13, the phrase, “whoever has ears, let them hear,” shows up at the conclusion of parables.

Jesus shares several parables in Matthew 13. The two that have this refrain of listening describe the kingdom of God as seed sown in a field. The first parable describes different types of soil: the path, rocky soils, soil with thorns, and good soil. The good soil produces an exponential harvest. Then Jesus, says, “whoever has ears, let them here” (Matthew 13.9).

The second parable that we will look in more detail this Sunday, is called the a parable of the weeds by the disciples. Again, a farmer sows good seed in a field, but as the wheat emerges so do weeds. The farmer tells the servants than an enemy has sown these weeds among his wheat. The farmer instructs the servants to let them grow until harvest. Then, take the weeds first and bundle them together and burn them. Then take the wheat and gather it up into my barn.

The disciples ask Jesus what this parable means. Jesus gives them their answer in Matthew 13.36-43

Matthew 13:36–43 NIV

Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.

We’ll unpack this parable more on Sunday. For now, let’s ask ourselves the question, “Am I listening to the message of Jesus?” Let’s be honest. We still live in an evil world. And part of us wants to take justice into our own hands and pull out the weeds of injustice. But at least part of the message of this parable is to wait and listen. If you wait and you listen, then you’ll shine. This week, we look at stage 2 of the spiritual growth process, the seedling. In my opinion, the seedling stage is the most vulnerable stage of spiritual growth. Seedlings are vulnerable to the elements: too much sun and the seedling burns up. Too much water, and the seedling rots.

In the book, MOVE, by Greg Hawkins and Cally Parkinson, the identify two insights to help people move from seed to seedling or from Exploring Christ to Growing in Christ. 1-The Church is Indispensable. The church’s role in this stage is that of teacher, encourager, and pursuader of core Christian beliefs. 2—The Church’s Most important Job is to build trust in Christ.

Whoever has ears let them hear. Lord willing, next Monday at noon we will have a special guest for Mondays with Michael. You will want to check that out. Also, join us online or in person this weekend for our worship gatherings. In person gatherings will be Sunday at 8:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. Online goes live a few minutes before 10 a.m. Thanks for joining us and listen to Jesus.