The Parables of Jesus
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| In loving memory of my father Robert Louis (Bob) Padgett July 28, 1931-May 22, 2023 |
The parables of Jesus illustrate principles of the Kingdom of God; they do not speak of salvation. We have identified 40 different parables in the New Testament. To adequately cover all 40 parables would require perhaps two books of great length. Therefore in this message we will look at only five of those parables. We encourage the listener to seek the Lord as to the significance of all the parables.
The key to understanding the parables today is the same key that the early disciples used when Jesus first spoke His parables. The disciples came to Jesus and asked, "What is the meaning of that parable?" Books, tapes, and teachings often help in opening the word to us but only the Holy Spirit can reveal the secrets of the Kingdom of God. And He will delight to do this when we come to the Lord Jesus seeking first His Kingdom.
In the midst of His earthly ministry Jesus taught the listeners through parables. His primary objective was to reveal the Kingdom of God being inaugurated by His presence on earth, but that was not in accord with the Messianic kingdom expectations of the Jews. In explaining the kingdom of God, Jesus exposed the prevailing religion of Judaism to be contrary in almost every detail to the reality of God's grace expressed in the life of the Son. The contrast Jesus was making led to inevitable conflict with the Pharisees. They thought He was a rebel-rouser, a weirdo who was out of His mind, empowered by Beelzebub. When He spoke in parables they rarely could understand what He was trying to say, but they eventually understood that He was talking about them and exposing their religiosity.
Matthew 13 is a very important chapter in the setting forth of the gospel of the kingdom of God. It shows a definite turning point in the earthly ministry of Jesus. At the beginning of His ministry He taught in the synagogues; but when the doors of the synagogue were closed to Him, He took to the temple of the open air, and taught men in the village streets, on the roads, by the lake-side, and in their own homes. In Matthew 13 Jesus began to use His characteristic way of teaching in parables.
The word "parable" comes from two Greek words which mean to place beside. All great teaching begins from the here and now in order to get to the there and then. If a man wishes to teach people about things which they do not understand, he must begin from things which they do understand. A parable helps to open a man's mind by beginning from where he is and leading him to where he ought to be. The first quality of a parable is that it makes truth into a natural picture which men can see and understand.
A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. The story teller has always been the person to whom simple people will listen. People will not listen unless they are interested.
A parable also has great virtue in that it compels a man to search out the truth for himself. Unless we discover truth for ourselves, it remains a second-hand and external thing, and we will forget it quickly. A parable reveals truth to him who desires truth, but conceals truth from those who are either too lazy to think or too blind through prejudice to see.
A parable, as Jesus used it, was spoken, not read, not the result of long study with commentaries and dictionaries.
In His parables, Jesus painted a broad picture of what God was doing by sending His Son to reign as King in a kingdom that was radically different than what was expected and desired by the prevailing Jewish religion. As Jesus continued to teach, the Jewish scribes and Pharisees became increasingly aware that what Jesus was proclaiming was the very antithesis of everything they espoused. The contrast led to open conflict which led to the crucifixion of Jesus at the instigation of the Jewish leaders; but all of that served God's foreordained purposes to bring life out of death and form the eternal kingdom of grace in Jesus Christ.
Let us now turn to Matthew, Chapter 13, Verses 3-8.
Parable of the Sower - We will read those 6 verses first and then come back to each verse.
This parable is one of only 7 parables that appear in all three synoptic gospels. That indicates its importance. This parable pictures the types of people Jesus encountered, although any preacher of the Gospel will encounter the same kinds of people, even among those who call themselves Christians.
He who sows the good seed is the Son of man. Life is in the seed, and it is the seed that produces life. Neither the seed nor the sower is the focus of the parable. That leaves only the soil, of which there are four kinds, and the fruit, of which there is but one kind. The soil is our prime focus. These four different soils, characterized as wayside, rocky ground, among thorns, and good soil represent four different types of people. Since the seed is the same in each of the four soils, the differing results that come forth are not caused by the seed but by the condition of the heart of the one who hears the word. Each soil shows how the hearts of men and women respond differently to the gospel.
Mark 4 speaks of the word which was sown in them. Being in them, it points to the heart. It is the heart of the human being that is the focus of Jesus' interest, for the character of the heart dictates the response to the Word. A relevant verse is 1 Samuel 16:7, "man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart."
In this world, as the Word is preached, there will always be a mixture of people. These 4 types of people will co-exist, the kingdom will grow, Satan will have his agents try to take away the Word, God's people will see the value of the kingdom as it is preached and act upon it, and in the end of the world God will separate His kingdom people from this world's people.
This parable teaches us that the different kinds of people are shown for who they are by the preaching of the Gospel. The parable never shows people moving from one category to another, for example, the stony ground never becomes good ground. This parable also shows us God's sovereignty. Any change, like in the case of Paul, is a work of the Holy Spirit that God works in those whom He has elected in eternity.
Many Christians today seem to have forgotten that Jesus told His disciples that when a city did not hear their message, they were to leave and shake the dust of that city off their feet. We should realize that no amount of pleading, no heaping up of altar calls week after week, no heights of entertainment, and no church growth business models can add anything to the work of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 17 when Paul preached the Gospel in Athens, after a few people believed, Paul left. Even though he was asked to speak again, he got out of there because he recognized that the Holy Spirit had already done His work. We must pray for such discernment.
Someone sows, or preaches, the Word of God. The way side people have no understanding of the Gospel, and they ignore it, treat it contemptuously, and reject it. The fowls of the air represent the devil who picks the Word of God out of these people. Note, however, that it is not his salvation that is snatched away; it is the word of the kingdom that is taken. Satan cannot snatch away our salvation but he will do his best to keep us so bound up by religious tradition that we will not freely and earnestly seek first the Kingdom of God.
We will always be mocked and persecuted by the wayside people. It is a fruitless diversion of our time and resources to try to change these people by continually preaching to them or trying to change their morals through political action or debating with them over various moral, political, or scientific issues. Jesus did not say to browbeat the carnally minded, but to preach the Gospel and disciple those who believe.
Some people who hear God's Word are immediately fascinated with it. But these are shallow people with no moisture (Luke 8:6). Both Matthew and Mark record that immediately the seed sprang up. This simply does not occur without moisture, which speaks of the Holy Spirit. When they are tested through tribulation or persecution (pictured by the scorching sun), they fall away. Because they have not made the Word of God the source of all of their values and what they live for, when the going gets tough they return to worldly ways.
The seed among the thorns are those who hear the word but are so caught up in the distractions, cares, issues, abundance, and pleasures of this world that the seed does not grow to maturity and brings no fruit to perfection. Jesus showed how foolish this is in Mark 8:36, when He said, "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" Some of the people in the first three categories may go to church every week, and some may even be in the ministry with large churches. But because the Word of God bears no fruit in them, they do not understand the Bible or how to live life in a Christian manner. If they preach or teach, it is largely error, and their ministries are run on worldly models, not Scripture.
We should expect that some will fall away in persecution and some will get choked out by the pleasures and cares of this world (including getting caught up in peripheral political and moral issues that distract people from the Gospel). Jesus said, "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them". While we are not to judge, we are to discern. We must be careful with whom we ally ourselves and what causes we take up. We want to stay strong and focused so that we do not even temporarily get pulled off course by the majority who will be among us until the end of the world. Nehemiah in Nehemiah 6:3 said, "I am doing a great work and I cannot come down."
The good ground represents people who have a depth (a God-given gift) not only to hear the word but also to understand, receive it, keep it in their heart, and bring forth fruit ... the fruit of the Spirit, as in Galatians 5.
Why were the disciples' eyes opened and the others' eyes were not? What makes the difference between the good ground and the way side, the stony ground, and the thorny patch?
In Acts 16:14, we read of Lydia, "whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul." Here we see the difference. Lydia "attended unto" (gave full attention to) the Word of God spoken by Paul because God first opened her heart or mind. The difference between the good ground and the way side, the stony ground, and the thorny patch is God's miraculous and sovereign act of opening a person's mind. It softens and gives depth of earth, gives the gift of saving faith, and imparts the Holy Spirit so that the seed of the Word can take deep root and draw upon the "moisture" of the Holy Spirit to grow. The Word will flourish, grow, and bear fruit only in those whose minds God has chosen to open.
The kingdom of God has to be revealed by the Spirit of God; it has to be spiritually caught, rather than logically taught. The Christ-centered mystery of the kingdom is never understood by natural logical and theological thinking, for such means are not capable of understanding "spiritual things" (1 Corinthians 2:14). Religious people are always caught up in the peripherals of religious experience, refusing to allow Christ to be the entirety of Christianity (1 Corinthians 3:21-23). Christ alone is the mystery of the kingdom (Colossians 1:27; 2:2).
Jesus explicitly says in Luke that the seed is the Word of God as it is sown or preached throughout the world. The seed of the Word of the Kingdom was planted in the soil of this world. Like the seed, the Word was covered up; He was crucified; He died and rose again. Such was the activity of God in the "finished work" of Jesus Christ by the crucifixion, resurrection, ascension and continued Pentecostal outpouring. The seed, which is Jesus Christ, has been planted in the world once and for all. The pervasive power of God continues to work today, and His purposes cannot be thwarted.
The reign of Christ in the lives of receptive man will bring forth the fruit of God's character in the behavior of His people. Jesus Christ will indeed reign as Lord and King over all creation. This parable expresses the assurance of the sufficiency of God's work of grace in Jesus Christ, which will bring forth a harvest of fruitfulness "exceeding abundantly beyond all that we could ask or think" (Ephesians 3:20).
God's desire and the continuous preserving work of His Spirit is to cause His people to abide by faith in the Seed and in the Vine so they will bear the fruit of His character unto His glory. It is not what we do, but what He has done that endures and bears fruit.
Parable of the Mustard Seed - Matthew 13:31-32
In Israel a mustard plant may grow 8 to 12 feet in height so it would tower above and overshadow everything else in a field. Like the mustard seed in a garden, when a man receives the word of the kingdom into his heart, it will overshadow and dominate everything else in his life. He will now see everything from a kingdom point of view rather than a salvation perspective.
Jesus likens the kingdom of God to a mustard seed which was the tiniest seed that a first-century Palestinian was aware of. Here the mustard seed is sown upon the earth, which represents the kingdom of God which has been sown into the whole world of mankind by the finished work of Jesus Christ. The small and seemingly insignificant little seed is sown, just as one Man in Palestine was put into the earth and died. The little mustard seed, hidden and obscure, would grow into a great tree just like a little acorn becomes a mighty oak tree. The kingdom of God will come to its intended end with abundant growth and fruition. The tiny will become the biggest reality in the universe. Jesus and His disciples were at that time a rather small and seemingly insignificant group of people, but they were going to affect the entire world.
The Pharisees were harassing Jesus, attempting to quench His activity, but the kingdom He was declaring was destined to triumph. The reign of Christ is unstoppable.
Like the mustard seed, the expression of the life of Christ within the kingdom would come through gradual growth and development. The first-century Jews expected the kingdom to begin with great grandeur in a massive and explosive display of divine power. They longed for visible and decisive action that would expel the Romans and establish their exclusive kingdom in Palestine rather than in the whole world among all men. This is typical of religion in all ages.
They prefer dynamite explosives to mustard seeds. They want to see immediate action and big results. Such religious activism never brings God's kingdom into being or furthers the kingdom, for the quantitative growth must come through the qualitative growth of the life of Jesus Christ. What can we do to make it happen? We are only to be available and receptive to what God wants to be and do in and through us to manifest the life and character of Jesus Christ.
Steadily and inevitably the kingdom of God will grow into a full-grown tree bearing the fruit of God's character as He intended.
Parable of the Leaven - Matthew 13:33-35
Using a more domestic picture, Jesus likens the kingdom of God to leaven that a woman put into a large measure of flour dough. God has invested the leaven of His kingdom into the big dough-lump of the world of mankind by the "finished work" of Jesus. The leaven or yeast works imperceptibly in the lump. Silently and invisibly the leaven penetrates, permeates and diffuses into the dough to become an indwelling union with the flour-meal. A powerful transforming influence is at work that cannot be stopped. God is going to continue His kingdom work in Christ, and such will not be terminated in any "half-risen" or "half-baked" state.
Like leaven in the dough, God is working out the kingdom by the risen life of His Son, Jesus Christ. God does the necessary kneading, both in world situations and in our individual lives, and then in the fermentation process the little pockets of carbon dioxide expand when heated to provide the character-texture that God desires. God will bring it all out of the oven, done to perfection, in His due time. In the meantime we are to patiently endure, always receptive to what God is doing by His grace in Jesus Christ.
Parable of the Treasure in the Field - Matthew 13:44
The emphasis in this parable is that the kingdom of heaven, like the treasure in the field, is a reality in itself, whether or not anyone ever found it ... the truth of its reality does not depend on its being found. But it is hidden from the natural eyes of man. When any man finds that treasure, he hides it in his heart.
A secondary emphasis of this parable is that the kingdom of heaven is such a great and glorious treasure that whoever truly finds it will be totally changed. His life will no longer be centered in himself. The treasure that he discovered became the most important thing in his life. The man did not hold back a little nest egg for a rainy day; he sold all that he had!
Jesus hits right at the heart of religion when he tells a story about valuable "treasure." Christ Himself is the treasure (2 Corinthians 4:7) which God has hidden in the field of the world of mankind via the redemptive "finished work" at the cross. When a man discovers the surpassing value of Jesus Christ there is always great joy. Jesus said that His joy would be made full in us (John 17:13) when we are spiritually united with Him. The joy at the discovery of the incomparable and superlative value of Christ and His kingdom causes one to be willing to give up anything and everything else in order to receive Him. Paul said, "Whatever things were gain for me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ ... for the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord" (Philippians 3:7, 8). It is an all or nothing proposition. "Whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it" (Matthew 16:25). Such is the "cost of discipleship." When we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, we are willing to pay whatever price and give up whatever is necessary to buy the field, and to possess the treasure.
The challenge for us today is ... have we received such a revelation of the kingdom of heaven that it is the single most important thing in our life?
Parable of the Merchant Man - Matthew 13:45-46
Most ministers call this the parable of the pearl of great price. That clouds the meaning because Jesus first calls our attention not to the pearl of great price but to the merchant man who is seeking.
This parable with the previous parable of the treasure hid in a field are complementary. In the previous parable the emphasis is on the treasure. Here the emphasis is on the merchant man. A merchant man sometimes trades his merchandise. That is what we do as a disciple of Jesus. We give up our life that we might obtain His life.
This merchant man knows something about pearls, but he is convinced that there has to be something more out there ... a pearl that is different and better than those he already has, so he sets himself to seek it until he finds it. He represents a special kind of people who are seeking first the kingdom of God with their whole heart. Until we come to a personal revelation of the kingdom of heaven we will be like a merchant man who is content with the pearls that he already has. When the word of the kingdom stirs his heart he will know that there is something more to be found in Christianity beyond being born again, water baptism, and baptism with the Holy Spirit, and he will set his face to seek it with his whole heart.
The parable promises that those who first seek the kingdom of God will, like the merchant man, find their kingdom pearl.
In the parables of the treasure in the field and the merchant man who was seeking goodly pearls, Jesus is inviting us to join all other people who have found the reality of the kingdom of God.
Jesus Christ is the ultimate reality, the object of utmost importance, invaluable worth, incomparable value, and matchless beauty; Jesus is the "pearl of great price."
As the world of mankind seeks reality and value in the "goodly pearls" of wisdom and philosophy or in hard-to-find material objects of value, they may discover that Jesus Christ is "the acquisition of wisdom that is above pearls" (Job 28:18). Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God, the reality of most value in the universe, the essence of the kingdom of God. Whenever a man discovers the spiritually rich pearl of Jesus Christ and His life, he will be willing to give up everything and sacrifice whatever is necessary of material things, relationships or philosophies as the cost of discipleship.
The Pharisaic Jews who were eavesdropping on every word of Jesus were blind to the value of the pearl of God in Jesus Christ. They thought they were the "pearl of God's eye" by exclusive right of race, religion and nation. They thought they had discovered the "pearl of wisdom" in their knowledge of the Torah, legalistic adherence to the Law, and moralistic conformity of behavior. Religion inevitably ascribes value to other things, rather than discovering such in Jesus Christ. Whenever a man thinks he has a complete grasp of spiritual realties, you can be sure he does not! The ways of God are past finding out (Romans 11:33).
Religion repeatedly affirms that it has figured out all the intricacies of God's kingdom. With great detail men will outline their understanding, thoroughly categorized, systematized and theologized as the "fundamentals of the faith."
As "stewards of the mysteries of God" (1 Corinthians 4:1), we must always be aware that the inexhaustible treasure of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:7) can never be figured out and stereotyped in logical fundamentals. The treasure of Jesus Christ is a dynamic and living reality.
May the Lord, by the power of the Holy Spirit, seal these words to our heart, and may the Lord be glorified and the people of God be edified in all things. Amen.
In our next message we will continue speaking of the Kingdom of God which is not meat and drink, but righteous, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
The key to understanding the parables today is the same key that the early disciples used when Jesus first spoke His parables. The disciples came to Jesus and asked, "What is the meaning of that parable?" Books, tapes, and teachings often help in opening the word to us but only the Holy Spirit can reveal the secrets of the Kingdom of God. And He will delight to do this when we come to the Lord Jesus seeking first His Kingdom.
In the midst of His earthly ministry Jesus taught the listeners through parables. His primary objective was to reveal the Kingdom of God being inaugurated by His presence on earth, but that was not in accord with the Messianic kingdom expectations of the Jews. In explaining the kingdom of God, Jesus exposed the prevailing religion of Judaism to be contrary in almost every detail to the reality of God's grace expressed in the life of the Son. The contrast Jesus was making led to inevitable conflict with the Pharisees. They thought He was a rebel-rouser, a weirdo who was out of His mind, empowered by Beelzebub. When He spoke in parables they rarely could understand what He was trying to say, but they eventually understood that He was talking about them and exposing their religiosity.
Matthew 13 is a very important chapter in the setting forth of the gospel of the kingdom of God. It shows a definite turning point in the earthly ministry of Jesus. At the beginning of His ministry He taught in the synagogues; but when the doors of the synagogue were closed to Him, He took to the temple of the open air, and taught men in the village streets, on the roads, by the lake-side, and in their own homes. In Matthew 13 Jesus began to use His characteristic way of teaching in parables.
The word "parable" comes from two Greek words which mean to place beside. All great teaching begins from the here and now in order to get to the there and then. If a man wishes to teach people about things which they do not understand, he must begin from things which they do understand. A parable helps to open a man's mind by beginning from where he is and leading him to where he ought to be. The first quality of a parable is that it makes truth into a natural picture which men can see and understand.
A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. The story teller has always been the person to whom simple people will listen. People will not listen unless they are interested.
A parable also has great virtue in that it compels a man to search out the truth for himself. Unless we discover truth for ourselves, it remains a second-hand and external thing, and we will forget it quickly. A parable reveals truth to him who desires truth, but conceals truth from those who are either too lazy to think or too blind through prejudice to see.
A parable, as Jesus used it, was spoken, not read, not the result of long study with commentaries and dictionaries.
In His parables, Jesus painted a broad picture of what God was doing by sending His Son to reign as King in a kingdom that was radically different than what was expected and desired by the prevailing Jewish religion. As Jesus continued to teach, the Jewish scribes and Pharisees became increasingly aware that what Jesus was proclaiming was the very antithesis of everything they espoused. The contrast led to open conflict which led to the crucifixion of Jesus at the instigation of the Jewish leaders; but all of that served God's foreordained purposes to bring life out of death and form the eternal kingdom of grace in Jesus Christ.
Let us now turn to Matthew, Chapter 13, Verses 3-8.
Parable of the Sower - We will read those 6 verses first and then come back to each verse.
3 And He spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirty fold.
This parable is one of only 7 parables that appear in all three synoptic gospels. That indicates its importance. This parable pictures the types of people Jesus encountered, although any preacher of the Gospel will encounter the same kinds of people, even among those who call themselves Christians.
He who sows the good seed is the Son of man. Life is in the seed, and it is the seed that produces life. Neither the seed nor the sower is the focus of the parable. That leaves only the soil, of which there are four kinds, and the fruit, of which there is but one kind. The soil is our prime focus. These four different soils, characterized as wayside, rocky ground, among thorns, and good soil represent four different types of people. Since the seed is the same in each of the four soils, the differing results that come forth are not caused by the seed but by the condition of the heart of the one who hears the word. Each soil shows how the hearts of men and women respond differently to the gospel.
Mark 4 speaks of the word which was sown in them. Being in them, it points to the heart. It is the heart of the human being that is the focus of Jesus' interest, for the character of the heart dictates the response to the Word. A relevant verse is 1 Samuel 16:7, "man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart."
In this world, as the Word is preached, there will always be a mixture of people. These 4 types of people will co-exist, the kingdom will grow, Satan will have his agents try to take away the Word, God's people will see the value of the kingdom as it is preached and act upon it, and in the end of the world God will separate His kingdom people from this world's people.
This parable teaches us that the different kinds of people are shown for who they are by the preaching of the Gospel. The parable never shows people moving from one category to another, for example, the stony ground never becomes good ground. This parable also shows us God's sovereignty. Any change, like in the case of Paul, is a work of the Holy Spirit that God works in those whom He has elected in eternity.
Many Christians today seem to have forgotten that Jesus told His disciples that when a city did not hear their message, they were to leave and shake the dust of that city off their feet. We should realize that no amount of pleading, no heaping up of altar calls week after week, no heights of entertainment, and no church growth business models can add anything to the work of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 17 when Paul preached the Gospel in Athens, after a few people believed, Paul left. Even though he was asked to speak again, he got out of there because he recognized that the Holy Spirit had already done His work. We must pray for such discernment.
3 And He spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:
Someone sows, or preaches, the Word of God. The way side people have no understanding of the Gospel, and they ignore it, treat it contemptuously, and reject it. The fowls of the air represent the devil who picks the Word of God out of these people. Note, however, that it is not his salvation that is snatched away; it is the word of the kingdom that is taken. Satan cannot snatch away our salvation but he will do his best to keep us so bound up by religious tradition that we will not freely and earnestly seek first the Kingdom of God.
We will always be mocked and persecuted by the wayside people. It is a fruitless diversion of our time and resources to try to change these people by continually preaching to them or trying to change their morals through political action or debating with them over various moral, political, or scientific issues. Jesus did not say to browbeat the carnally minded, but to preach the Gospel and disciple those who believe.
5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
Some people who hear God's Word are immediately fascinated with it. But these are shallow people with no moisture (Luke 8:6). Both Matthew and Mark record that immediately the seed sprang up. This simply does not occur without moisture, which speaks of the Holy Spirit. When they are tested through tribulation or persecution (pictured by the scorching sun), they fall away. Because they have not made the Word of God the source of all of their values and what they live for, when the going gets tough they return to worldly ways.
7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:
The seed among the thorns are those who hear the word but are so caught up in the distractions, cares, issues, abundance, and pleasures of this world that the seed does not grow to maturity and brings no fruit to perfection. Jesus showed how foolish this is in Mark 8:36, when He said, "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" Some of the people in the first three categories may go to church every week, and some may even be in the ministry with large churches. But because the Word of God bears no fruit in them, they do not understand the Bible or how to live life in a Christian manner. If they preach or teach, it is largely error, and their ministries are run on worldly models, not Scripture.
We should expect that some will fall away in persecution and some will get choked out by the pleasures and cares of this world (including getting caught up in peripheral political and moral issues that distract people from the Gospel). Jesus said, "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them". While we are not to judge, we are to discern. We must be careful with whom we ally ourselves and what causes we take up. We want to stay strong and focused so that we do not even temporarily get pulled off course by the majority who will be among us until the end of the world. Nehemiah in Nehemiah 6:3 said, "I am doing a great work and I cannot come down."
Now revelation without application is essentially worthless. Each of us, you and me, need to pause for a moment to consider the condition of the soil in our heart. If the Holy Spirit is convicting anyone that you fit into one of these first three groups, take time right now to get clear with the Lord. As you do this, He will be faithful to plow up the way side, clear out the stones, burn up the thorns, and prepare your heart to be good soil for His kingdom seed.
8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.
The good ground represents people who have a depth (a God-given gift) not only to hear the word but also to understand, receive it, keep it in their heart, and bring forth fruit ... the fruit of the Spirit, as in Galatians 5.
Why were the disciples' eyes opened and the others' eyes were not? What makes the difference between the good ground and the way side, the stony ground, and the thorny patch?
In Acts 16:14, we read of Lydia, "whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul." Here we see the difference. Lydia "attended unto" (gave full attention to) the Word of God spoken by Paul because God first opened her heart or mind. The difference between the good ground and the way side, the stony ground, and the thorny patch is God's miraculous and sovereign act of opening a person's mind. It softens and gives depth of earth, gives the gift of saving faith, and imparts the Holy Spirit so that the seed of the Word can take deep root and draw upon the "moisture" of the Holy Spirit to grow. The Word will flourish, grow, and bear fruit only in those whose minds God has chosen to open.
The kingdom of God has to be revealed by the Spirit of God; it has to be spiritually caught, rather than logically taught. The Christ-centered mystery of the kingdom is never understood by natural logical and theological thinking, for such means are not capable of understanding "spiritual things" (1 Corinthians 2:14). Religious people are always caught up in the peripherals of religious experience, refusing to allow Christ to be the entirety of Christianity (1 Corinthians 3:21-23). Christ alone is the mystery of the kingdom (Colossians 1:27; 2:2).
Jesus explicitly says in Luke that the seed is the Word of God as it is sown or preached throughout the world. The seed of the Word of the Kingdom was planted in the soil of this world. Like the seed, the Word was covered up; He was crucified; He died and rose again. Such was the activity of God in the "finished work" of Jesus Christ by the crucifixion, resurrection, ascension and continued Pentecostal outpouring. The seed, which is Jesus Christ, has been planted in the world once and for all. The pervasive power of God continues to work today, and His purposes cannot be thwarted.
The reign of Christ in the lives of receptive man will bring forth the fruit of God's character in the behavior of His people. Jesus Christ will indeed reign as Lord and King over all creation. This parable expresses the assurance of the sufficiency of God's work of grace in Jesus Christ, which will bring forth a harvest of fruitfulness "exceeding abundantly beyond all that we could ask or think" (Ephesians 3:20).
God's desire and the continuous preserving work of His Spirit is to cause His people to abide by faith in the Seed and in the Vine so they will bear the fruit of His character unto His glory. It is not what we do, but what He has done that endures and bears fruit.
Parable of the Mustard Seed - Matthew 13:31-32
31 Another parable put He forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:32 Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.
In Israel a mustard plant may grow 8 to 12 feet in height so it would tower above and overshadow everything else in a field. Like the mustard seed in a garden, when a man receives the word of the kingdom into his heart, it will overshadow and dominate everything else in his life. He will now see everything from a kingdom point of view rather than a salvation perspective.
Jesus likens the kingdom of God to a mustard seed which was the tiniest seed that a first-century Palestinian was aware of. Here the mustard seed is sown upon the earth, which represents the kingdom of God which has been sown into the whole world of mankind by the finished work of Jesus Christ. The small and seemingly insignificant little seed is sown, just as one Man in Palestine was put into the earth and died. The little mustard seed, hidden and obscure, would grow into a great tree just like a little acorn becomes a mighty oak tree. The kingdom of God will come to its intended end with abundant growth and fruition. The tiny will become the biggest reality in the universe. Jesus and His disciples were at that time a rather small and seemingly insignificant group of people, but they were going to affect the entire world.
The Pharisees were harassing Jesus, attempting to quench His activity, but the kingdom He was declaring was destined to triumph. The reign of Christ is unstoppable.
Like the mustard seed, the expression of the life of Christ within the kingdom would come through gradual growth and development. The first-century Jews expected the kingdom to begin with great grandeur in a massive and explosive display of divine power. They longed for visible and decisive action that would expel the Romans and establish their exclusive kingdom in Palestine rather than in the whole world among all men. This is typical of religion in all ages.
They prefer dynamite explosives to mustard seeds. They want to see immediate action and big results. Such religious activism never brings God's kingdom into being or furthers the kingdom, for the quantitative growth must come through the qualitative growth of the life of Jesus Christ. What can we do to make it happen? We are only to be available and receptive to what God wants to be and do in and through us to manifest the life and character of Jesus Christ.
Steadily and inevitably the kingdom of God will grow into a full-grown tree bearing the fruit of God's character as He intended.
Parable of the Leaven - Matthew 13:33-35
Using a more domestic picture, Jesus likens the kingdom of God to leaven that a woman put into a large measure of flour dough. God has invested the leaven of His kingdom into the big dough-lump of the world of mankind by the "finished work" of Jesus. The leaven or yeast works imperceptibly in the lump. Silently and invisibly the leaven penetrates, permeates and diffuses into the dough to become an indwelling union with the flour-meal. A powerful transforming influence is at work that cannot be stopped. God is going to continue His kingdom work in Christ, and such will not be terminated in any "half-risen" or "half-baked" state.
Like leaven in the dough, God is working out the kingdom by the risen life of His Son, Jesus Christ. God does the necessary kneading, both in world situations and in our individual lives, and then in the fermentation process the little pockets of carbon dioxide expand when heated to provide the character-texture that God desires. God will bring it all out of the oven, done to perfection, in His due time. In the meantime we are to patiently endure, always receptive to what God is doing by His grace in Jesus Christ.
Parable of the Treasure in the Field - Matthew 13:44
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.
The emphasis in this parable is that the kingdom of heaven, like the treasure in the field, is a reality in itself, whether or not anyone ever found it ... the truth of its reality does not depend on its being found. But it is hidden from the natural eyes of man. When any man finds that treasure, he hides it in his heart.
A secondary emphasis of this parable is that the kingdom of heaven is such a great and glorious treasure that whoever truly finds it will be totally changed. His life will no longer be centered in himself. The treasure that he discovered became the most important thing in his life. The man did not hold back a little nest egg for a rainy day; he sold all that he had!
Jesus hits right at the heart of religion when he tells a story about valuable "treasure." Christ Himself is the treasure (2 Corinthians 4:7) which God has hidden in the field of the world of mankind via the redemptive "finished work" at the cross. When a man discovers the surpassing value of Jesus Christ there is always great joy. Jesus said that His joy would be made full in us (John 17:13) when we are spiritually united with Him. The joy at the discovery of the incomparable and superlative value of Christ and His kingdom causes one to be willing to give up anything and everything else in order to receive Him. Paul said, "Whatever things were gain for me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ ... for the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord" (Philippians 3:7, 8). It is an all or nothing proposition. "Whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it" (Matthew 16:25). Such is the "cost of discipleship." When we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, we are willing to pay whatever price and give up whatever is necessary to buy the field, and to possess the treasure.
The challenge for us today is ... have we received such a revelation of the kingdom of heaven that it is the single most important thing in our life?
Parable of the Merchant Man - Matthew 13:45-46
45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
Most ministers call this the parable of the pearl of great price. That clouds the meaning because Jesus first calls our attention not to the pearl of great price but to the merchant man who is seeking.
This parable with the previous parable of the treasure hid in a field are complementary. In the previous parable the emphasis is on the treasure. Here the emphasis is on the merchant man. A merchant man sometimes trades his merchandise. That is what we do as a disciple of Jesus. We give up our life that we might obtain His life.
This merchant man knows something about pearls, but he is convinced that there has to be something more out there ... a pearl that is different and better than those he already has, so he sets himself to seek it until he finds it. He represents a special kind of people who are seeking first the kingdom of God with their whole heart. Until we come to a personal revelation of the kingdom of heaven we will be like a merchant man who is content with the pearls that he already has. When the word of the kingdom stirs his heart he will know that there is something more to be found in Christianity beyond being born again, water baptism, and baptism with the Holy Spirit, and he will set his face to seek it with his whole heart.
The parable promises that those who first seek the kingdom of God will, like the merchant man, find their kingdom pearl.
In the parables of the treasure in the field and the merchant man who was seeking goodly pearls, Jesus is inviting us to join all other people who have found the reality of the kingdom of God.
Jesus Christ is the ultimate reality, the object of utmost importance, invaluable worth, incomparable value, and matchless beauty; Jesus is the "pearl of great price."
As the world of mankind seeks reality and value in the "goodly pearls" of wisdom and philosophy or in hard-to-find material objects of value, they may discover that Jesus Christ is "the acquisition of wisdom that is above pearls" (Job 28:18). Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God, the reality of most value in the universe, the essence of the kingdom of God. Whenever a man discovers the spiritually rich pearl of Jesus Christ and His life, he will be willing to give up everything and sacrifice whatever is necessary of material things, relationships or philosophies as the cost of discipleship.
The Pharisaic Jews who were eavesdropping on every word of Jesus were blind to the value of the pearl of God in Jesus Christ. They thought they were the "pearl of God's eye" by exclusive right of race, religion and nation. They thought they had discovered the "pearl of wisdom" in their knowledge of the Torah, legalistic adherence to the Law, and moralistic conformity of behavior. Religion inevitably ascribes value to other things, rather than discovering such in Jesus Christ. Whenever a man thinks he has a complete grasp of spiritual realties, you can be sure he does not! The ways of God are past finding out (Romans 11:33).
Religion repeatedly affirms that it has figured out all the intricacies of God's kingdom. With great detail men will outline their understanding, thoroughly categorized, systematized and theologized as the "fundamentals of the faith."
As "stewards of the mysteries of God" (1 Corinthians 4:1), we must always be aware that the inexhaustible treasure of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:7) can never be figured out and stereotyped in logical fundamentals. The treasure of Jesus Christ is a dynamic and living reality.
May the Lord, by the power of the Holy Spirit, seal these words to our heart, and may the Lord be glorified and the people of God be edified in all things. Amen.
In our next message we will continue speaking of the Kingdom of God which is not meat and drink, but righteous, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
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