Luke 8:1-15
Key Verse: 8:15
“But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.”
In today’s passage Jesus reveals that God’s word is a seed, which God gives us to save us and produce other fruits in our life that pleases him. Jesus also reveals our hearts are the soil which the word of God must grow up in. In the words of our savior we will learn that just as a farmer needs to cultivate his soil to have hope to produce a bountiful crop, our hearts also must be cultivated. Have you ever tilled hardened soil, unearth rocks from the dirt, planted seeds and pulled weeds? Some of us have. Some of us haven’t. After today’s passage we will learn all of us have to do these to our own hearts. Those of us who do cultivate our hearts will turn it into good heart soil. When we have good heart soil then these words of Jesus will apply to us: “But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.
Part 1. Jesus Proclaims the Good News of the Kingdom of God.
Look at verse1: “After this, Jesus traveled from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God.” These days political candidates’ good news theme is a promise of low gas prices and low crime if people vote for them. Jesus didn’t spread an “if” message of good news about the Kingdom of God. He proclaimed his message meaning it is a fact, it is a reality, it is true whether we choose to believe it or not. If Jesus was to preach in our day his message would not change. He would still go from town and city and proclaim “The good news of the kingdom of God.” This was a serious message Jesus never deviated from. In the beginning of his ministry he preached: “The time has come, the kingdom of God is near, repent and believe the good news. Now half way through his ministry his message is the same; “the good news of the kingdom of God.” At the end of his majestic messianic ministry as he hung racked in pain on the cross he said to a repenting criminal hanging on a cross next to him: “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” In sharing this Jesus revealed the kingdom God he was proclaiming was not to be found in this perishable earth but in the imperishable kingdom of God. Finally when Jesus resurrected and appeared to his disciples he told them to: “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” Mark 16:15,16 Jesus message of the good news of the kingdom of God applies to all creation in all generations. It is not a complicated message of good news. It is based solely on faith in what Jesus Christ alone did for us on the cross and God raising him from the dead. All who ever hear this message of good news should seriously consider it because Jesus tells us those who believe it will be saved while those who don’t will be condemned. Some people think they can consider Jesus’ message of good news at a later time in their life. This could be a tragic wrong assumption. Yesterday a professional bus driver accidentally killed himself by extending his head from his bus and having it crushed by a bridge embankment in northern Virginia. None of us not even the most professional of us have control of our life.
The only certain thing we can be sure of is that one day we will die and then face judgment. This is why Jesus’ message of the kingdom of God is good news. It gives us certainty of good news after death not fear and bad news of being condemned. When I read the obituaries I can feel the pain of those who remember the lives of those who died. I too felt and feel this pain when I remember my dad. Nevertheless, because of the good news of the kingdom of God I do not wish for my father to come back. I believe now the only thing waiting my father is the good news of the kingdom of God. Jesus could have told his disciples “go and heal all the sick people on the earth” but he didn’t because even if they healed them they would still die and be condemned. Instead he did something much, much better for mortal man who lives in this perishable creation. He told his disciples; “Go and preach the good news.” Those who believe and are baptized will be saved. Those who don’t will be condemned. If there is one word of God, above all other words of God we should retain from this message today is Jesus’ message of the good news of the kingdom of God.
Look at verses 2 & 3. From these verses we find Jesus’ disciples were not the only key members that followed Jesus. Many women whom Jesus healed from demon possession and whom he cured of various diseases gratefully followed Jesus to serve his ministry by their own means. Thousands of years before women were given equal rights we see Jesus treated women with equality. The lives of some of the women that followed Jesus were once a danger to society. In Mary Magdalene’s case she had an evil spirit ready to attack her or someone else for everyday of the week. Then she met Jesus. Jesus did not despise her. Nor did Jesus avoid her. Jesus drove out those evil spirits. He turned her from just another demon possessed women to a saint whom the angels of God envied. No one can change women or men. Without Jesus Christ we just become more possessed and controlled by evil spirits, but by the grace of Jesus if we come to him and ask him to have mercy on us he will drive the evil spirits out of us. He will make our lives beautiful and useful to God and to others.
Part 2. Jesus’ Parable of the Four Soils
Look at verses 4-8. Here begins Jesus’ famous parable about the four heart soils. Without Jesus’ interpretation it would be only words a farmer might be able to use. With the interpretation of Jesus we can find the secrets to the kingdom of God. With Jesus’ interpretation we can learn what we must do to cultivate our own hearts for the word of God to bear fruit in our lives. In verse 9 the disciples asked him what this parable meant. From this verse we learn why Jesus gave his interpretation. If his disciples had not humbled themselves he would never have given the meaning of his parable. Look at verse 10. He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.” Until this study I always had difficulty understanding what Jesus meant. Only students like the disciples who asked questions will the teacher make the extra effort to help them understand. We must learn from the disciple’s humbleness and shamelessness not to be afraid to ask questions. Our questions will not only help us they will help other people who also have the same question.
Now let us humbly listen to Jesus as he explains his parable. Look at verse 11: The seed is the word of God. Jesus reveals God’s word is the one seed that can be planted in a person that has the potential to grow and bear fruit that pleases God Almighty. Many people believe that once a person’s character is formed nothing on this earth can change their character. These people have not personally experienced the life changing power of God’s word. In the hot humid summer of 1975 there lived a demon possessed man living in New York City who called himself “The Son of Sam”. This man terrorized the city that long summer, killing many young couples while they were sitting together in their cars. He was eventually caught and placed in prison for life. While in prison another inmate went up to him and told him Jesus told him to share Jesus with him. At first this man, whose name is David Berkowitz, rejected this man’s initiative to share Jesus with him, but slowly the spirit of God softened his heart and he listened. Then he began his own bible study. Not long after this the man’s life turned from being a slave to Satan to a servant of Jesus Christ. No longer does David’s life reveal his old father the devil. Now he uses his life to reveal Jesus Christ to anyone who will listen to him. The word of God has power unlike any power on this earth. It has power to change a person who has the ugly image of the devil into a person who has the most beautiful gentle image of Jesus Christ.
Now look at verse 12: “Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.” When we picture the image of a path in our mind we see many people, bicycles, ATVs, deer, dogs, foxes walking and driving back and forth along it. All these things become like a steam roller turning the soil almost into a hard paved road. In the parable, the birds quickly came and ate the seed that fell on the hard path. The birds represent the devil. We see if our hearts become pounded down with doing this that and 100 other things that keep us running around it we never have an opportunity for God’s word to be planted deep in it out of reach of the devil. In fact we can hear God’s word every day and nothing will happen. Every day the devil will come and take the word away. What is the final result of the devil constantly taking away the word of God? Jesus said: “so that they may not believe and be saved.” I find these words of great value. In this famous parable about four soils and yielding a crop the word “save” is the only tangible fruit Jesus gives us. I’m sure you and I can list pages of other possible types of fruits. Maybe the fruit of love. Or the friuit of self discipline. Many would say the fruit of disciples. In the passage the only fruit specially named is: being saved. This reminds me of what Peter wrote in 1Peter 1:9: “for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your soul.” It also reminds me of what Paul wrote in 1Cor 15:1,2 “Now brothers I like to remind you of the gospel I preach to you which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved if you hold firmly to it.” When we honestly access Jesus’ teaching we must admit path heart people who are busy doing this and busy doing that in this world are not busy making sure they will obtain the goal of their faith the salvation of their soul. In the end they very well miss obtaining the most important goal of all.
In this world of infinite entertainment, fast food, fast travel, fast information we our selves must be responsible to put the brakes on our own busy lives so we can make time to meditate, pray and focus on God’s word. This is exactly why I like going to Bible conferences. At a Bible conference I have only one mission: Study the Bible. Listen to the Bible message. Write testimonies. In this environment I can till my hard heart so God’s word can be planted.
Now look at verse 13: “Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it. But they have no root. They believe for a while but in time of testing they fall away.” In this verse Jesus reveals an important secret. Jesus first shows God’s word is joyful. He says: “Receive the word with joy.” I remember when a number of Pennsylvania miners were saved from a mine shaft that had caved in on them. They all had faces of joy when they came out. Some people respond to God’s gift of grace, forgiveness and salvation as if they have been given a prison sentence. I remember when I first began tasting the joys of God's grace. I was very joyful. I also remember the moment I first began to understand the way of God’s salvation, fiery testing came. It came from family members. It even came from misunderstanding I had with a few of my friends here in UBF. It also came because of my own sins. All these fiery testing had one point, to take my focus and faith away from God’s salvation. Thankfully I had studied this parable many times before. When I received those fiery tests, I made a decision I was not going to allow any of those times of testing take away my personal joy I was receiving from the promises of God’s word. After a week of those fiery troubles and not letting go of God’s word, great peace of God burst forth within me. The important secret Jesus reveals is that when we receive God’s word with joy, time of testing will come right on the heals of receiving this word of God. The only way we can survive these times of testing is if we have soil enough in our heart for the word of God to take root.
Let us now think about how we get more soil for the word of God to take root. First we have to remove the rocks from our hearts. If you travel around and observe plots of land that have been farmed for many generation you will notice the farmers made a rock wall around the land they farm. They didn’t ship these rocks in to make their rock fence. Actually, through much hard labor they pulled those hundreds if not thousands of rocks out of the land so their crops could take deep root. There are also ugly spiritual rocks within us that we need to dig out. As for me some of the biggest rocks I always had to labor very hard to take out of my heart were the rocks of unforgiveness, hatred, lust, and bitterness. I could sense God’s word would never go anywhere in me unless I somehow pulled those rocks out. This is where writing Bible messages became a great spiritual help. It is impossible for me to write a Bible message if those ugly rocks are right beneath the soil of my heart. I remember many hours I wasted attempting to write a Bible message and couldn’t because I had a rock of lust or hatred just below the surface of my heart. The only way I found to unearth those rocks was to sit there and struggle with the Spirit of God and pray He would help me unearth those rocks. These days writing Bible messages are not as difficult because God has graciously helped me unearth many of my biggest rocks.
The next soil Jesus speaks about is the soil that has thorns growing in it. Farming land is not only about tilling hardened soil, getting rid of the rocks and planting the seed. It is also a continuous labor of pulling out thorns and weeds. If this is not done, the seed will sprout but it will never bear any fruit because the thorns will choke off all the life giving nutrients such as sun light, water and other needed minerals. Jesus reveals three spiritual thorns that choke the word of God making it unfruitful.
First is the thorn called life worries. Faith in God’s word is of number one importance for God’s word to grow and bear fruit. The opposite of faith is worry. Worry, if not pulled from us, will choke the word of God from bearing fruit. Ironically the greatest defense against life’s worry is faith in God’s word. Jesus told His disciples who were overwhelmed with every kind of worry: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me; In my fathers house are many rooms.” Every worry can be pulled out when we literally take Jesus at his word and trust in God and trust in Jesus.
The second thorn is life’s riches. Many very strong believing people have shipwrecked their faith in pursuit of life’s riches. Jesus taught his disciples how to pull up the thorn of life’s riches when he taught them to pray; “Father, give us this day our daily bread.” He also taught them the priority of life. It was not riches but to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Jesus does not want us to choke the word of God within us by living a life that tries to gain every comfort and riches. According to Apostle Paul we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it, but if we have food and clothing, we should be content with that. If we can trust God to supply our daily needs and learn to be content with what he provides we will not allow the riches of this world to choke the word of God growing within us.
The third thorn Jesus mentioned was pleasures of this world. Pleasures and fruit that please God is an example of an oxymoron. They contradict the spirit and teaching of the New Testament. Jesus taught whoever would come after him must deny himself, take up his cross and follow him. How can someone think about denying themselves and taking up a cross of suffering while at the same time try to grow a garden of pleasures? It is impossible. There is no quick formula to pull out our pleasure seeking thorns. Apostle Paul teaches we begin doing it by changing our bent of life. He writes: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” 1 Cor. 10:31 Right now our bent may be to live for our own glory and pleasure. God however has made us to live for His glory and His pleasure. This means we can change from wanting to live for our own pleasure to live for God’s pleasure. Shep. Chris Kelly in Richmond has changed his bent in this respect. At the conference some people were sharing how they had nightmares about waking up on Sunday and not having a message prepared. Chris shared he thoroughly enjoys writing Bible messages. It is one of his pleasures in life. I can see Jesus has helped him now live for the pleasure of Jesus not his own. I’m sure Jesus has and will continue to use his life to yield much pleasing fruit for God.
Now let us look carefully at the one type of soil that not only allowed the seed to sprout up. More importantly to the farmer it yielded a crop a hundred times what was sown. Look at verse 15: “But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.” First the bible shows us the fruitful soil begins with a noble and good heart. A noble and good hearted person does not mean the person at the hearing of God’s word was or is a morally virtuous person. The woman who loved Jesus more than anyone in the New Testament we learn last week was recognized by her fellow citizens as a woman who had the worst moral character. Yet when she heard Jesus preach God’s word her life was undeniably changed for the better. She repented of her dark ways. She instead loved Jesus with what was most precious to her. She gave up her life in service to Jesus. Therefore I contend the noble and good hearted person in verse 15 is a person who is willing to repent at the hearing of God’s word. Their heart is capable of turning from the thoughts and life styles that oppose God’s word to surrendering themselves to the Savior Jesus Christ. Here in Washington UBF we have many such noble and good hearted people. One of them is Missionary Grace Park. Even though she has studied the Bible for more than three decades you can see she still holds a great respect for God’s word and Jesus Christ. She never takes God’s word lightly. When I watch her write her personal testimonies she does it with the same careful detail an archeologist would treat a long lost precious manuscript. Missionary Grace would never acknowledge she had a noble and good heart. Yet in this world full of imperfect people she is one of the best living examples of a person I know who has a noble and good heart.
Looking back at Jesus’ words in verse 15 we see when these noble and good hearted people hear the word of God, they retain it. Unlike the path hearted people or the rocky hearted people, Jesus says these noble and good hearted people retain God’s word. The word retain is a small word but when it is applied to the word of God it has the power to yield a crop 100 times what was sown. The two broad definitions the dictionary gives of the word retain are: to keep in possession or use. And to keep in mind or memory. For the sake of easier application for us I will narrow these definitions of retain by to “keep in our memory” and to “use”. Notice this is exactly what the path heart does not do. It never kept God’s word in memory. This is exactly also what the rocky soil did not do. In time of testing it did not “use” God’s word. Let me give you two military examples to aid us in understanding what it means to retain. First is map reading as it applies to keep it in memory. When I was taught map reading in the army they began the course by telling us: an infantry man that does not know map reading is a dead infantry man. They began the course with this comment to help us make an extra effort to learn and retain the map reading skill they were about to teach us. The comment at least worked for me. I still remember one night being all alone in a dark swamp with only my compass, map and flash light. Without my flashlight I couldn’t even see my hand two inches from my face. I don’t know if you have ever been in a swamp but the place has no paths to follow. At this time by the grace of God I didn’t panic. Instead I brought to memory the map reading the army taught me. I applied it to my uncomfortable situation I was in. By doing this I was able to walk out of that dark swamp late at night and meet back at the rendezvous point they gave us. Keeping in memory God’s word is even more important. We must learn before reading daily bread time, Bible study or Sunday worship, we should make an extra effort to keep in memory God’s word. When we do the devil cannot easily snatch it away.
Second is the word “use” as it applies to retain. General Patton may be one of the greatest combat generals this country has produced. This man is quoted as saying: A soldier who surrenders to the enemy even though he has a weapon is greatest fool of all. In other words he was telling his soldiers they should use their weapon against the enemy not surrender it. God’s word is the weapon God has given us to use in time of testing and troubles. We should not give it up in times of testing. Instead we must use it as our weapon by placing our faith in the word of God we have kept in our memory. God’s word is the most potent weapon of all. It never fails. It never jams. It is the only weapon that can destroy the strategies of the devil.
Finally how long should we retain God’s word? “Jesus uses the word persevere to tell us how long. Persevere means to never give up, especially when facing trial. The Bible from beginning to end is full of people who persevered with God’s word to the very end. Jesus Christ is the best example of all of perseverance. Hebrews 12:2 and 3 encourage us to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Jesus persevered through all opposition and suffering because of the joy of the kingdom of God that was awaiting him after his death. What was the final result of his glorious perseverance? God raised him from the dead and gave him a seat at his right hand in the kingdom of God. This is exactly the same joy and glory Jesus promises to all who will retain God’s word and persevere with it. Let us pray we may please Jesus by retaining his word and persevering to the very end with it.