Luke 8:1-21

I'm sure it's happened to you.

You've been in a conversation with a friend at a coffee shop.

You've been talking with your spouse after the kids have gone to bed.

You're driving along and your kids are chattering away in the back seat.

And you find yourself saying, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.

And suddenly with horror you look up and you realize their mouth is still moving.

And you have no idea what they are saying.

And you have completely stopped listening minutes or even more ago.

Maybe you've been there.

We get distracted.

We get caught up in our own thoughts.

We find that in the middle of conversation,

we're still thinking much more about ourselves than what is being said to us.

It happens to us when we get on airplanes.

The steward and stewardesses stand up in front and give instructions on what to do in an emergency.

Have you been on a plane recently?

Have you noticed how few people even put down their reading material or look up?

How easily we don't listen.

I remember one time I did listen.

It was the first time I went rock climbing.

The guy who took us said,

this is your harness.

Put it on this way.

Clip it in this way.

Double check it like this.

And I listened because my life depended upon it.

But often, so often in life, we don't listen, do we?

And I know that this is true not only in our interpersonal life,

but it is true in our spiritual lives as well.

How often we stop listening.

Even when the words continue to come to us,

we stop listening to God.

We stop looking for Him to speak to us.

We stop believing that what He has to say to us is really, really important.

We get distracted.

We start thinking about ourselves.

And we stop listening.

And in all this way,

we grow in patterns of becoming deaf

and not listening to God

and what He has to say to us this morning.

We are going to continue in our series in the book of Luke.

If you want to pull out your pew Bibles,

we're on page 864.

Luke chapter 8 is our passage this morning.

Luke 8 · chapter mention

And it is about hearing and listening.

So, turn with me there,

and we will read our passage together.

And dive in.

Luke chapter 8.

Luke 8 · chapter mention

We're going to read verses 1 through 21.

Soon afterwards,

He went on through cities and villages,

proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.

And the twelve were with Him,

and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities.

Mary called Magdalene,

from whom seven demons had gone out,

and Joanna,

wife of Chusa,

Herod's household manager,

and Susanna,

and many others who provided for them out of their means.

And when a great crowd was gathered,

and people from town after town came to Him,

He said in a parable,

a sower went out to sow his seed.

And as he sowed,

some fell along the path

and was trampled underfoot,

and the birds of the air devoured it.

And some fell on the rock,

and as it grew up,

it withered away,

because it had no moisture.

And some fell among thorns,

and the thorns grew up with it

and choked it.

And some fell into good soil

and grew

and yielded

a hundredfold.

And as He said these things,

He called out,

He who has ear

to hear,

let him hear.

And when His disciples asked Him

what this parable meant,

He said,

To you it has been given

to know the secrets

of the kingdom of God.

But for others,

they are in parables,

so that

they may see,

they may not see,

so that seeing,

they may not see,

and hearing,

they may not understand.

Now the parable is this,

the seed is the word of God.

The ones along the path

are those who have heard.

Then the devil comes

and takes away the word

from their hearts

so that they may not believe

and be saved.

And the ones on the rock

are those who,

when they hear the word,

receive it with joy.

But these have no root.

They believe for a while,

and in time of testing,

fall away.

And as for what fell

among the thorns,

they are those who hear,

but as they go on their way,

they are choked

by the cares and riches

and pleasures of life,

and their fruit

does not mature.

As for that in the good soil,

they are those who,

hearing the word,

hold it fast

in an honest and good heart

and bear fruit with patience.

No one,

after lighting a lamp,

covers it with a jar

and puts it under bed,

but puts it on a stand

so that those who enter

may see the light.

For nothing that is hidden

that will not be made manifest,

nor is anything secret

that will not be made known

and come to light.

Take care,

then,

how you hear.

For to the one who has,

more will be given,

and from the one who has not,

even what he thinks he has

will be taken away.

Then his mothers

and his brothers

came to him,

but they could not reach him

because of the crowd,

and he was told,

your mother and your brothers

are standing outside

desiring to see you.

And he answered them,

my mother

and my brothers

are those who hear

the word of God

and do it.

Let's pray.

Lord,

even as we have just sung,

we pray now.

We pray that you would speak to us,

that you would speak to us

through your holy word.

Lord,

we thank you

that you have given us

your word,

and we thank you

that you have given us

your Holy Spirit

by which we have understanding,

and by which you open our eyes

and our hearts

to know

and to understand

what it is

that you are saying to us.

God,

I pray this morning

for our hearts

and our ears

that we would be open

to you,

that we would be ready

to receive

what you want to say

to us this morning.

Lord,

use me

that the words

that I speak

would be your words,

would be useful

for all of us

as we sit under your word.

We pray these things

in Jesus' name.

Amen.

So this section

is quite a long section,

and it comes right after,

if you remember,

Pastor Nick last week

talked about the encounter

that Jesus had

at Simon the Pharisee's house

with Simon and the woman,

and what you saw

was that these two people

responded dramatically differently

to Jesus

because of their understanding

of who he was,

but also of their understanding

of their own sinfulness.

The woman

who was completely

an outcast

in the culture

received Jesus

with worship

and adoration

sacrificially

and even shamefully

showing her devotion

to him,

demonstrating

that she understood

who Jesus was

and her need for him.

Whereas Simon,

the proud Pharisee

who thought he was righteous

in his own

and had very little

to be forgiven of,

treated Jesus

shamefully himself.

by not giving him honor

nor showing him love

and respect.

And so,

this story

which reveals the hearts

of these two people

is then,

I think,

the springboard

that launches us

into this section of text.

And you see

at the beginning

and at the end

what you have

is a community

of people

around Jesus

as he's going around

and doing his ministry

of preaching and teaching.

At the beginning,

you see,

there's this,

Luke recalls,

Jesus is traveling around

doing his ministry

of proclaiming

the word of God

and with him

are traveling disciples.

And so interesting,

isn't it,

that Luke makes sure

to mention.

Look,

do you see?

It's not just the woman

at Simon's house.

Here are other women

who are hearing

and receiving

and being brought in

to God,

to Jesus' circle.

They're the ones

who are hearing the word

and responding

and seeing its power

at work in them.

And then at the very end,

he brackets it

with his own flesh

and blood

coming to him

and saying,

come out and see us.

And Jesus says,

oh,

don't you see

how important

the word of God is

in our community?

In fact,

it takes greater precedent

than flesh and blood.

Those who hear

the word of God

and do it,

those are the ones

who are my real

spiritual family.

And so,

Jesus shapes

this whole story

around this

hearing the word of God

and talking about

how it is,

how important it is.

And at the center

of it,

of course,

we see

is this parable.

Now,

a brief note

about parables

because parables

are kind of fun.

Jesus uses parables

a lot.

This is the first

major teaching parable.

There was a little one

back in chapter 7.

But in the book of Luke,

this is his first parable.

Parables are stories

that have a point,

that have references

to things that people

understand

to make a point.

Most of the time,

they're not allegories.

An allegory is something

that has one-to-one

correspondence

between each detail

and some truth

that's trying to be

communicated.

In fact,

this is the one parable

that seems more

allegorical than many

because both the seed

and the soil

are representative

of particular things.

But most parables

simply have one point

that they're trying

to make.

Jesus uses these parables

and it's fascinating

when you saw this

when we read it

in verses 9 and 10

as the disciples

asked him about parables.

Why are you preaching

in this way?

What is going on?

He says,

I'm preaching

so that you

who receive the secrets

or maybe

the word underlying

that secret

is the idea of mystery.

You're actually

receiving a mystery

not like some

esoteric knowledge

that you can only have

through being

physically deprived

for a long time

and having a spiritual

experience.

But a mystery of

this is something

that wasn't known before

but now has been

made known by God.

And so he's saying

you are receiving

you are receiving

this message

this message of knowledge

about what it is

that God is doing

in the world

and who he is.

But it's interesting

because he then goes on

and quotes from Isaiah

about those who hear

but never hear

and those who

listen but don't understand.

And he says

part of the reason

I tell in parables

is because some people

will listen

and some people won't.

And to those

who listen

it will be great food

that will feed

and fuel

their understanding

of God.

But to those

who won't

to those who can't

in fact

it will harden them

and they will be

increasingly frustrated

and their hearing

will have less

and less

power in their lives.

And so that's

just want to clear up

some of the

the sort of

surrounding things

because we're going

to spend most of our time

talking about the parable.

And what I want you to see

is all these things

point to

the meaning of the parable

is the meaning

of this whole section

I believe.

We see Jesus' exhortation

in verse 18.

Take heed

how you hear.

This is his point.

This is the point

of the parable.

And this is the point

of our sermon

this morning.

Take heed

how you hear.

And as you see

the parable

I'm not going to rehearse it

it's a fairly

straightforward thing.

It's a common

Palestinian picture

of how you would

sow a field.

A guy has a bag

with a lot of seed

and he walks up and down

and he just reaches in

grabs a handful

and he throws it.

And the picture

is he's throwing it abundantly.

He's throwing it

without regard

to how receptive

the soil is

from his own perspective.

He's just sowing the seed

and he walks up and down

the field

and he does this.

And he's sowing it

on the edges

where there may be

thorns growing.

He's throwing it

where the soil

doesn't look very good.

In Palestine

the soil sometimes

was very shallow

and you couldn't see

that the rock

underneath it

was very near

the surface.

There would be

walking paths

at times

right through the middle

of an agricultural field.

And so

he's just sowing the seed

and seeing how

it falls

in different soils.

And that's what he says

in this parable.

And there are two things

I want to examine

this morning with you.

One is the seed itself

and two

is the soils

that they land in.

And how that informs us

as we think about

Jesus' primary exhortation

for us to take heed

how we hear

what Jesus has to say

to us.

So let's look first

at the seed.

In verse 11

it's very clear.

Look with me.

Now the parable

is this.

The seed

is the word

of God.

The word

of God

is not a phrase

actually used

often in the Gospels.

Luke uses it

just a couple of times.

In Luke 5

he uses it

to describe

what the crowds

were coming to hear

when they gathered

to listen to Jesus

as he preached.

It's used in chapter 11

most likely

to refer to the Scriptures

that they would have had

in the first century

which would be

the Old Testament

in that time.

But we see

Jesus

and we see Luke

shaping this whole section

of

or we see Luke

shaping this whole section

that we've been looking at.

Do you remember

back in chapter 4

Luke

began by quoting

Jesus

as he read

the prophet Isaiah

in the temple.

And he said

this prophecy

about the

kingdom of God

being at hand

and about how

the lame

would leap for joy

and how the blind

would see

and how the captives

would be set free.

And he sat down

and he said

today

in your hearing

this Scripture

is fulfilled.

So Jesus' teaching

was always about

how the Old Testament

was informing

what does it mean

that the kingdom of God

is at hand.

But

he was saying

more than that.

He was saying

that this points

to something new

that is happening today.

And so this is what

I want to talk about

for a little bit.

What is the seed

of the word of God

that Jesus is referring to?

I think there are

two aspects to it.

First

the seed

is a seed

that has content.

The message

of the kingdom

is the message

that Jesus

is proclaiming

about how God

is fulfilling

all of his promises

in the Old Testament.

And if you were

reading Luke

it would have been

post-resurrection.

It would have been

post-ascension.

It would have been

after Jesus

had risen

from the dead.

And you would have

probably heard about

or if you read

through the whole book

you would have gotten

to chapter 24

verses 26 and 27

where Jesus

opens the scriptures

to his disciples

after the resurrection

and talks about

the prophets

and Moses

and how they all wrote

concerning him.

how he would be

crucified.

How he would

offer himself up

on the cross

for sinners.

How he would

rise again

from the dead

three days later

demonstrating

his victory

over sin

and death.

And so the message

of the word of God

is focused

on Jesus

himself.

it is about

him and his work

and how he

is the fulfillment

of the riches

of God's work

throughout all

of creation

redemption

and even

into glory.

And so the content

of it

wasn't just

information

this is what

God is like.

It wasn't just

history

this is what

God did.

It wasn't

just

theology

this is how

it works

although it is

all of those

things.

But the message

the word of God

is more than that.

The message

of the word of God

is about a person.

And this is the seed

that Jesus is

referring to

when he says

the seed is the

word of God.

I just want to

stop for a minute

and point out to you

that we don't have

Jesus preaching

today but we have

this

and this

from Genesis

to Revelation

helps us to

know

this

this Jesus

and this word

of God

this is the word

of God

because it points

to what John

refers to

in John 1

the word of God

who became flesh

and dwelt among us

and we have beheld

his glory

the glory

of the only

one.

this morning

I want to ask you

what do you think

about the word of God

when I say that?

Is it ethical

instruction?

Is it morality?

How to be a better

person in this world?

Is it advice

on how to live?

How to

wisdom

on how to do better

in your finances

or your marriage

or whatever?

is it information?

The core of it

I believe

is the understanding

is that the word of God

is revelation

it is God

in his

as my seminary

professor would call it

God's gracious

self-disclosure

the word of God

is God

coming to us

as humanity

and saying

this is who I am

I have created you

to know me

and I want you

to know

what kind of God

I am

and I'm going to show you

what kind of God

I am

through history

through all the works

that I do

through all the ways

that I change life

but at the pinnacle

of it

I want you to see

who I am

by seeing me

in human flesh

in the person

of Jesus Christ

this is what

the writer of Hebrews

says

in the times past

long ago

and many times

in many ways

God spoke to our fathers

but now

in these last days

he has spoken to us

by his son

God is making himself

known to us

through his word

this is the whole point

and so it has content

Jesus Christ

and him

crucified

at its center

but it also has power

Jesus uses the image

of a seed

if you go out there

and you take an acorn

and you plant it

under the sidewalk

in 20 years

the sidewalk

will be gone

and there will be

a tree growing up

uprooting

that sidewalk

the seeds

have this incredible

imagery

of power

when you plant

a seed

what happens

it produces

life

what seems like

this dry

raisin like thing

that won't do anything

when you plant it

in the ground

in good soil

it actually

produces

life

and this is why

he uses this image

because it's so powerful

to capture

what the Bible

thinks about

the proclamation

of the word

of God

this is what

Nick referred to

in the beginning

in the book

of Ezekiel

the prophet

went and preached

to a valley

of bones

and yet

it had power

and in that power

God worked

to bring life

it's what we read

earlier in Isaiah

I will not let

my word

return

to me

empty

but it will

always accomplish

the purposes

for which I sent it

it is what

in the book

of Romans

the apostle Paul

talks about

the gospel

the message

about Jesus

being the power

of the word

of God

for all people

and why he says

in chapter 10

how can anyone

be saved

unless someone

preaches to them

unless they

let me say that

right

how can anyone

be saved

unless they hear

the message

and how can

anyone hear

the message

unless someone

preaches

to them

you see the Bible

tells us

that the verbal

proclamation

of this message

of who Jesus

is

is at the very

center

of the powerful

work of God

doing things

in our life

to bring life

spiritual life

where there is

death

friends

does God's word

bring life

to you

maybe you

see it as

restrictive

or condemning

maybe you see it

as legalistic

maybe you think

it's dry

or boring

or irrelevant

Jesus is reminding

us this morning

that the word

of God

is a seed

that has power

to bring life

to us

spiritually

so he says

the seed

is the word

of God

take heed

how you hear

it

but then he goes

on and he talks

about the sower

as he throws

the seed

there are all

of these soils

aren't there

there are all

of these different

soils

that that seed

lands on

the first seed

is the

the rocky path

it's hardened

it's not

receptive

what does

this look

like

sometimes

I think

we think

a hardened

person

is someone

who fights

with us

when we talk

about God

or those sorts

of things

he's the one

who responds

angrily

or defensively

against it

but I'll tell you

what

you know

what I think

the truly

hardened

heart

looks like

disdain

it doesn't

matter

I don't

care

it's completely

irrelevant

to me

you can

argue

what you

you can

if you argue

you care

about something

when you don't

care at all

a hardened

heart

I think

looks like

that kind

of dismissiveness

and the word

just bounces

off

as it

would

if you

threw it

on a

well-worn

footpath

in first

century

Palestine

as one

pastor

describes it

in the

hardened

heart

the seed

never

penetrates

the mind

it never

touches

the conscience

it never

enters

the heart

not only

is the heart

hardened

then

but Jesus

says

but also

there is

another

dynamic

that comes

along

the birds

symbolizing

the spiritual

forces of

darkness

and the

enemy

of our

souls

he comes

in

and he

whispers

to us

that seed

doesn't

work

that's

absurd

no one

would do

that

you

you're

going to

look

really

foolish

to your

friends

if you

believe

that

well

that's

not

going to

really

help

you

when the

rubber

meets

the

road

the

enemy

comes

in

and he

whisks

away

this

word

with

all

of

these

lies

I

remember

when I

was a

teenager

I

grew up

I

actually

went

to a

church

I

don't

believe

it

preached

the

gospel

very

clearly

but it

talked

about

Jesus

we

read

the

Bible

it

bounced

off

me

it

bounced

off

me

for

years

and

years

I

remember

my

sophomore

year

some

of

my

friends

were

really

vibrant

Christians

and I

mocked

them

and I

made

fun

of

them

the

holy

rollers

I

called

them

because

they

were

praying

for

their

friends

and reading

the

Bible

and I

thought

it

was

foolish

maybe

you

remember

what

it's

like

or

maybe

you've

known

people

you

love

for

whom

that's

true

take

heart

God

changed

me

he

can

change

them

too

so

that's

the

hardened

heart

what

about

the

shallow

heart

challenge

of

trials

and

expectations

the

seed

seems

to land

well

oh

I'm

so

excited

about

this

there's

a

great

emotional

response

of

joy

and

happiness

yeah

that

sounds

great

that

sounds

wonderful

but

it

falls

on

shallow

and

rocky

soil

and

the

root

doesn't

go

deep

the

gospel

doesn't

penetrate

into

the

recesses

of

our

lives

it

doesn't

get

down

into

our

values

and

our

priorities

it

doesn't

take

hold

of

the

breadth

of

all

that

we

are

and

then

when

a

trial

comes

along

when

it

becomes

hard

when

it

becomes

costly

to

believe

what

we

believe

there's

no

power

for it

the

wind

comes

and

pulls

it

up

I

have

a

neighbor

she

is

an

organic

vegan

something

or

other

I'm

not

quite

she's

but

she

grows

the

most

amazing

garden

in

the

world

she

actually

has

chickens

and

she

moves

her

coop

so

that

their

fertilizer

can

fertilize

their

garden

and

literally

she

plants

the

same

seeds

I

do

and

I

see

in

my

pitiful

little

garden

these

sprouts

that

come

up

and

when

I

go

away

for

two

weeks

in

the

summer

and

it

gets

dry

and

there's

no

rain

and

nothing

happens

my

plants

wither

and

die

hers

are

like

burgeoning

and

overflowing

over

the

fences

and

she's

like

do

you

want

three

bushes

of

tomatoes

because

I

can't

handle

all

the

ones

that

I

have

friends

this

is

what

happens

our

hearts

are

like

the

soil

in

my

garden

when

it

gets

hard

when

it

gets

dry

can't

stand

up

strikes

me

that

I

see

this

happening

in

two

different

ways

two

different

seasons

of our

lives

one

is

transition

for

those

of you

who

are

college

students

when

you

leave

college

so

many

times

the

root

is

shown

to

be

shallow

in

the

trial

of

that

transition

or

maybe

you're

about

to

have

a

baby

having

a

baby

is

one

of

those

times

when

it

can

be

very

easy

for

the

soil

to

just

show

its

weakness

and

the

plant

to

show

its

lack

of

roots

sometimes

it's

the

changing

of

friendships

the

loss

of

people

who've

helped

us

spiritually

sometimes

it's

being

hurt

by the

church

by

people

in the

church

relationally

it's

at

these

times

when

we

see

how

deep

the

root

goes

it's

also

of

course

as

Jesus

makes

clear

during

times

of

trial

whether

it

be

facing

sickness

or

a

loss

of

a

job

the

breakdown

of

a

relationship

I'm

sure

each

of

you

can

fill

in

the

trials

that

you

have

seen

or

the

trials

that

you

have

seen

others

walk

through

to

say

I

felt

those

I

know

what

they

are

so

some

seed

falls

on

hardened

and

bounces

off

some

seed

falls

on

the

shallow

and

yet

doesn't

take

root

some

seed

is

choked

out

by

the

cares

and

the

riches

and

the

pleasures

of

life

notice

that

it's

not

all

bad

things

right

I mean

Jesus

in the

imagery

uses

thorns

and

thistles

and

interestingly

there

are

like

140

plus

different

varieties

of

thistles

that

grow

in

Palestine

in

Israel

and

so

that

was

an

interesting

side

note

that

there

were

lots

of

them

to

grow

up

but

to

notice

that

they're

not

all

bad

things

certainly

we

can

let

bad

things

grow

up

in

our

life

and

choke

out

our

desire

to

know

God

and

His

word

but

sometimes

it's

good

things

it's

success

it's

a job

promotion

it's

getting

married

it's

another

kid

it's

moving

into

a new

house

and

yet

all

of

these

things

can

rise

up

and

choke

out

the

word

of

God

and

whether

they're

good

or

bad

at

the

end

of

the

day

we

love

these

other

things

more

than

we

love

the

word

of

God

we

love

these

other

things

more

than

we

love

Christ

and

can

I

just

say

that

there

are

times

when

in

this

modern

era

in

evangelicalism

today

I

fear

that

we

out

of

a

desire

to

avoid

being

legalistic

don't

stand

and

make

a

priority

of

the

word

of

God

in

our

lives

we

don't

want

to

make

our

quiet

time

a

legalism

so

we

say

well

we'll

get

to

it

when

we

can

except

when

we

don't

and

the

more

we

do

that

the

more

we

don't

and

suddenly

we

find

it's

been

months

since

I

last