Parable of the People

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Lord, that's uh why we've come.

We've gathered today to take you at your word.

And so it's necessary, if we're going to take you at your word, we need to preach the word.

We need to read the word.

We need to sing the word.

We need to think about the word.

And so we've gathered to do all of those today, God.

And so we didn't what we've not done, what we've not gathered to do is to crown you with our acceptance or approval of your ideas.

We don't crown a king.

You're a king because you've already been crowned.

And so what we've done, what we've gathered in our couches, in our living rooms, or as we drive to work today and listen to this podcast, what the reason we're listening is we're not here to crown you.

We're here to bow in reverence, submission before you, and acknowledge and prove you or and or to demonstrate to everybody around us that Jesus is the priority.

He is that which is ultimate and that which is eternal.

Everything else pales in comparison.

All my music, all my money, my sexual appetites, all of this has been been made to submit to King Jesus.

This is how we prove you o'er and o'er.

We're not here to make you prove yourself to us.

We're here to cease from sinning self.

We're here to stop sending the false message that the greatest thing about God is He forgives us for whatever we do.

And that little teacup theology, that person never stops sinning.

We've come to just take you at your word.

So, Holy Spirit, aid and assist me as I teach the word today and preach the word today.

It is our only hope.

Everything else is just sinking sand.

It's political banter by insecure people with small agendas.

And we pray fire on that hell.

Our hope is not in people.

Anybody.

Our hope is in you.

That's why we come to you.

Our confession is that of Peter.

Where else are we gonna go for the words of life?

We don't need another religious lecture, we don't need principles, we need life.

And so, Lord, Holy Spirit, make life come out of the word today and get lived out in our life.

This is our prayer.

We ask it in Jesus' name, and everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

If you got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open up to Matthew chapter 13, and we're gonna continue our series in the parables, uh, just got kind of the the the stories that Jesus told, uh uh earthly stories that make a world of difference once you understand them.

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

In Matthew chapter 13, I'm gonna be reading what's often known as the parable of the sower.

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

Uh, and and I and sometimes it's referred to even as the parable of the soils, uh, but I want to talk to you about what I think the parable is really about.

And so today I want to talk to you about the parable of the people, the parable of the people.

We're gonna read Matthew chapter 13, starting verse 1, and we're gonna read all the way to verse 23, because we can never hear enough of the word of God read out loud.

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

Amen.

Uh that that keeps the preacher from getting off on his little soapbox.

And so here's what we're gonna see.

Jesus is gonna tell a parable, and then the disciples are gonna be like, hey, dude, time out.

Well, why do you do that?

And Jesus is not offended by questions as long as you're not offended by the answer, okay?

Ask whatever question you want.

And so Jesus basically says, Hey, you guys, you you think that you hit a triple, but you didn't.

You're you were born on third base.

In other words, I chose you, I revealed this to you.

The only reason you understand the kingdom uh is because I revealed it to you.

They don't understand it because I haven't revealed it to them.

See, I, it's just like they sing around the throne of revelation, salvation belongs to our God.

Uh, and so Jesus kind of checks the disciples, like, hey, don't come at me like you're gonna be an advocate for these people who don't get it.

They don't get it because the God who owns it has not revealed it to them.

So check yourself, Skippy, before you wreck yourself.

That's what Jesus says to them.

And then this is one of the few parables that after he tells the parable, after he corrects the disciples, he explains the parable.

And so I'll start reading in Matthew chapter 13 a little Bible fun fact for all you Bible nerds out there.

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

Uh, Matthew 13 marks a shift in Jesus' uh ministry.

And it involves two things.

Number one, he begins to teach outside.

He gets in a boat in this story, and he kind of pushes out from the shore, and the people are gathered.

It's kind of like a floating amphitheater.

I think we should build one of those back over here on our property somewhere, but that's a whole nother uh uh sermon.

But but basically, Jesus being speaking outside, here's why.

Because he came into his own and his own received him not.

When he would go to the temple, religious knuckleheads always try to mess with Jesus, and he's like, Why am I putting up with this?

These people are experts on the truth and dropouts on the way.

And so Jesus takes the message to the masses, and the masses go crazy.

It would be like the modern day equivalent is Jesus comes to church and the church is like, oh, we don't do that.

So Jesus goes and gets on top of Bucky's with a bullhorn, and there's thousands of people at Bucky's listening to Jesus, and you think, oh, there's a crowd because there's a hundred gas pumps.

No, no, no.

There's a crowd because they are hanging and dangling from every word that Jesus speaks.

You got that picture in your mind?

Bucky's, Buckys, Bucky's, beef jerky and Jesus.

Wouldn't that be awesome?

Your friends are going in, hey man, give me a cup of that coffee house blend and some of that pepper jerky.

Hook a brother up, okay?

And you're just sitting there gnawing and just kind of like, yeah, I don't know everything.

I don't understand it all, but I know when that guy talks, my heart beats faster, and I don't want to sin anymore.

That's what was happening.

The build the building couldn't contain the people.

So we'll just read in Matthew chapter 13.

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

And by the way, he he second thing is he tells starts talking in parables.

He teaches outside and he starts talking in parables.

Uh up to this point, he's not taught a lot.

And by the way, another Bible fun fact Jesus is the only person that used parables.

Paul didn't, none of the disciples did.

He's the only person that spoke in parables.

Matthew 13, verse 1.

Matthew 13:1

That same day Jesus went out of the house and he sat beside the sea, and great crowds gathered around him, so that he got into a boat and he sat down, and the whole crowd stood on the beach, and he told them many things in parables, saying, A sower went out to sow.

And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them.

The other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil.

And immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil.

But when the sun rose, they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered away.

Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.

Other seeds fell on the good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Then the disciples came and said to him, Why do you speak to them in parables?

And he answered them, To you has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.

For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance.

But for the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

See, Jesus was not a spiritual socialist, he just didn't.

We live in a country full of morons that want to push socialism down our throat.

And he's not talking about material goods here, so don't get it twisted, sister.

He's talking about spiritual understanding.

And he said, This ought to motivate you if you have spiritual understanding.

Jesus said, Hey, the one that has a little bit, if that person exercises and lives in light of that understanding, they're going to get even more understanding.

Verse 13.

This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

Indeed, in their case, the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says, You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.

For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and with their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.

But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears for they hear.

For truly I say to you, many prophets and the righteous people long to see what you see and did not see it, and hear what you hear and did not hear it.

And then Jesus explains the parable.

He says, Hear then the parable of the sower.

Verse 18, hear it again, hear then, because we've established the fact that you got ears.

Now hear, hear then.

You people with ears, the parable of the sower.

When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart.

This is what was sown along the path.

And for what was sown on the rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy.

Yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while.

And when tribulation or per persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.

As for what was sown among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word.

But the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it.

He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case, a hundredfold, in another, sixty, and in another, thirty.

I don't know if you noticed, but in that last little percophy, that last little section, verses 18 to 23, the seed goes from being this impersonal seed to being persons.

That's why I refer to this as the parable of the people.

There's four kinds of people that are listed here that Jesus is talking about.

He's not just telling a willy-nilly story to an agrarian culture about a guy that sows seeds.

He's talking about four kinds of people.

And let me just lay this out here from the get-go.

He is not talking about four kinds of Christians, he's talking about just one.

And here's why the Bible cannot fathom a non-fruit-bearing Christian.

John 15, 8, Jesus says, It is to my Father's glory that you bring forth much fruit, and in so doing, you prove yourselves to be my disciple.

I don't prove myself to be a disciple because I prayed a prayer.

I prove myself to be a disciple because I bear fruit.

Not just fruit for a moment, but fruit for a lifetime.

And so there's not four kinds of Christians.

Well, these first three struggle, they need help.

And then this last one, man, he's just lucky.

He just got it.

He was just born to a good family, went to private school, he he read the right books.

No, not at all.

Not at all.

And so there's just four people.

And so the parable of the people, let's look at the first person uh in verse 18.

And basically, uh, this person lacks understanding.

There's two words you need to understand this verse in order to understand this person.

The first one is kingdom.

The kingdom he says, verse 18, hear then the parable of the sower.

When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart.

You ought to ask yourself, why would the evil one, the devil, Satan, why would he want to come and snatch away when people hear the word of the kingdom?

Now, now, by the way, a lot of churches preach themselves.

Uh, church-based churches are struggling right now.

Kingdom-based churches are flourishing uh uh because they have a different mindset and a different mantra.

But the word kingdom uh it means this uh literally, it's a territory subject to the rule of a king.

A kingdom is territory.

Think of your body, think of your affections, think of your appetites.

As a believer, the territory called you is subject to the rule of a king.

Now, why would the evil one come and snatch this away?

Now, when you look at that definition that a kingdom is territory subject to the rule of a king, your eye is drawn to one of two things.

If you're a negative person and you're always looking for the out or the excuse, your eye is drawn to the word rule.

Rule.

I tell you what, nobody's gonna rule over me.

I'm I'm I'm a self-made man or whatever.

Good luck.

Good luck.

Keep me posted.

But what what what I wish your eye was drawn to, and I think what what the gospel wants our eye to be drawn to is not rule, but to that little word king.

Is that you don't get a kingdom without a king.

And so let your eye be drawn.

When he says a kingdom is territory subject to the rule of a king, that ought to go, bell ought to go ding inside of you.

In your intellect and in your affections, there ought to be like this something that says, Hey, oh, something big just happened.

Let's not miss that.

Here's why.

Because when people grasp, here's why the evil one comes and snatches the seed away as quickly as he can.

Because when people grasp it, there's a king.

There's a king, there's somebody in charge of the affairs of the world, and then he sits enthroned over it all right now.

Coronavirus, school online, maybe for school hybrid, whatever.

He he sits sovereignly ruling over all of it.

That there's a king.

See, when this person grasps that there's a king, and that secondly, that the king is one.

We're not going out here to fight for the king.

I'm so sick and tired of people, I'm a culture warrior.

No, you're not.

You're a person with a really underdeveloped eschatology.

We're in a battle.

Did Jesus not accomplish enough?

There's a king, the king is one, the king is good, and the king wants to give me the kingdom.

That changes everything.

That's why the evil one comes and snatches this away and says to people, to humanity, oh, he wants to rule over you.

You're gonna take that?

And your heart and your head ought to go, oh, but if there's a king.

Go back to that part about the king.

What did you say about the king?

There's a king.

You mean somebody has already conquered, and I get this to dwell and to flourish in the realm of all that he's conquered?

Yeah.

Here's the second word we ought to grasp is the word understand.

He said, When he hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it because the evil one is the last thing he wants you to do.

You can understand church all you want.

You can go talk about your church all you want.

You can compare and compete with other churches, which most churches pathetically do.

The devil doesn't care.

But when you understand the kingdom, the Greek word for understand is sunniamy, and it means this to set or to join together in the mind.

To set or to join together in the mind for this person, this gospel.

The person that doesn't understand the gospel, it doesn't make sense, it doesn't click, uh, they're offensive.

Uh, it's offensive to their rational mind, and they get angry about it.

They speak in terms of, you know, I just can't believe in a God, don't let anybody go to hell.

And if there's a God, and it's all quasi-intellectual.

A lot of them went to college on a coast, East Coast, West Coast.

They're kind of intellectual elites.

They're people that pay hundreds of thousands of dollars that they could for an education they could get for 50 cents and a library card at the library.

But I went to here and I went to this school and blah, blah, blah.

And I have this intellectual framework.

And they're some of the most educated, dumb people you'll ever talk to.

And it's not that, oh, I have a problem with the Bible, it's just that I want to live a homosexual lifestyle.

Or I want to live, and I'm not pilot homosexual, or I want to live an immoral lifestyle as a heterosexual.

I want to live with my girlfriend.

And so the Bible can't be true because of what you prefer.

You're your own authority.

And so you, of course, you have to have this condescending, pseudo-intellectual, oh, the Bible's just written by man, blah, blah, blah.

When in reality, here's what's really happening: Romans chapter 8, verses 7 and 8 says, For the mind that is set on the flesh, hear that part.

Romans 8:7

The mind that is set on the flesh, the mind that says, I'm gonna do what I want to do, is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law.

Indeed, it cannot.

Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Now you say, What do you mean?

It's important that we understand that this inability to believe, this because the seed gets just kind of the evil one comes and just snatches it away.

This inability to believe is not personal, it's moral.

It's not personal.

You can't take it personal when people laugh at you and tell you you are so stupid for believing in an invisible God.

I mean, don't you realize this is the 21st century?

Don't you realize?

I mean, I mean, come on, don't you realize that the next president, after we put Joe Biden in office for about 10 months and he quits, is gonna lead us to the promised land?

Don't you realize that?

And we're gonna write all the wrongs going back to 1619.

It's all gonna be made right.

Don't you realize that?

No, no, I don't.

No, I I don't at all.

And I can I can I can endure, I can even enjoy because it's not personal, it's moral.

And if you don't grasp that, you take it personally.

When I say what do you mean when I say it's moral?

This person cannot believe the gospel.

It's not been revealed to them.

Their moral standing and posture towards God is hostile towards God because the the constitution, the moral constitution of all of humanity is hostile towards God.

That's why the Bible says that we are born as God's enemies.

It's not like, hey, I really want to believe that.

I think that has some merit to it, but but but but I just have some intellectual objections.

No, no, no, no.

You are antithetical to this whole thing.

We're the people.

These are the people that Travis preached a couple weeks ago about the parable about the nobleman who's gone to get for himself a kingdom.

We're the people that send a delegation after that man, uh, that that who went to get for himself a kingdom, i.e., Jesus.

We're the people in that passage that send a delegation after him to say, we do not want this man to rule over us.

That is how hostile we are towards God.

That's the first person.

Second person's in verse 20.

It says this.

As for what was sown on the rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy.

Yet he has no root in himself, but he endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.

See, this is not a Christian because a Christian doesn't fall away.

If they go out from us, the Bible says, they were never a part of us.

Let's get our soterology right.

We have a flawed soterology, a doctrine of salvation in America.

It's like, well, you know, Susie gets saved every year at camp, but it never sticks.

Susie just cries and uses student ministry to get her attention needs met.

Susie should be told to sit down and shut up.

In love.

Of course, in love, always in love.

Uh, the second person immediately responds to everything with great enthusiasm and emotion, but everybody knows it won't last long.

They're consistently inconsistent, and over time they realize it, and eventually they quit.

It looks like this.

I give you a visual.

This person, it's kind of like they feel like, you know, their Christian life is like this, and they're just they're always bouncing off the ceiling with enthusiasm, but the ceiling doesn't get any higher because they're just bouncing off the ceiling.

What they real, what they don't realize, instead of being mostly bouncing off the ceiling, they should dig a hole in the floor and go deeper.

But they don't go deeper.

This person lacks depth.

That's what the Bible says.

Look at it again.

Hear the words of Jesus.

Verse 20.

That's what was sown on the rocky ground.

Rocky ground is not ground that's covered with rocks, it it's ground that has bedrock just beneath the surface of the soil.

And so the plant cannot get roots very deep and draw nourishment.

So it springs up really fast.

But when the sun comes out or the persecution that comes because of the word, we'll get to that in just a minute.

This thing shrivels and shrinks.

This person runs a great 20-yard dash, they go to camp, they go to disciple now.

This person lives for the events that the church puts on.

Here's one of the things that's happening in America right now during the coronavirus.

You're seeing who really knows God and who's dependent on the church.

There's a lot of students, especially that are just floundering.

Oh my gosh, I just, why?

Because they're not getting their stimulation fixed.

They're not getting hooked up to the life support mechanism of the church.

People that know God, they're like, hey, I can't wait to gather as believers, but in the meantime, I'm still walking with God.

I'm still enjoying God.

This person chases everything and follows nothing.

Lots of worship nights, conferences, books where they read about the first 28 pages and they quit.

They listen to five podcasts a week.

Their radio is always on KSBJ.

They sign up for everything and follow through with nothing.

Ordinances like baptism are an indication of their intent instead of their experience.

Every time they have an emotional high, they're like, I need to get baptized again.

I need to get rebaptized.

We're not treating the ordinances of the church like they're here to just affirm your desires.

Oh, why won't you baptize me again?

Because this makes the fifth time.

If you read the Bible, it says there's one faith, one Lord, one baptism.

It marks the death, burial, and resurrection of the individual and celebrates the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

And you say, Hey, what happened to him has happened to me, and I've been raised to walk out of this waters and newness of life.

You don't need that over and over.

That's what I mean when I say that they they use the ordinances of the church to make them feel better.

It's kind of God, I'm really pumped up.

I really mean it this time.

It feels as if they're just I mean, just gotta go, gotta go.

But here's what happens ultimately.

Now, when you talk to this person, when you lovingly say, I'm really not saying, hey, be harsh to these people, but but when you lovingly say, No, we're not gonna baptize you again because this is like the third time.

It feels like you just this this is not just another emotional experience.

They get offended.

Uh look at verse 21.

He says, or uh verse 20, as for what was sown on the rocky ground, this is the one, this is the person who hears the word immediately, hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself but endures for a while.

And when tribulation and persecution arises on account of the word, immediately falls away.

What does it mean when persecution or tribulation arises on account of the word?

In other words, the Bible promises that a Christian that in this life you shall face tribulation.

You realize that, right?

It's a this person that's like, oh, I didn't sign up for this, and they fall away.

Actually, when it says that he falls away, that's not, hey, this person loses their salvation.

It doesn't refer to a person who loses their salvation because that is impossible.

The Bible says in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 30, that we're sealed by the Spirit to the day of redemption.

Ephesians 4:30

A person whom God reveals himself to, and that person is regenerated, and that person repents, that person goes on to continue to walk in sanctifying uh holiness.

Uh, that person, not perfection, uh, but progress, uh, that person doesn't lose their salvation.

They cannot lose their salvation.

It wasn't their idea to begin with.

They're not maintaining it with a bunch of external behaviors.

The word, the phrase there falls away is the Greek word scandalizo.

And here's the definition.

I know I talked about the Greek a lot, but I don't normally do that, but it's so rich in this parable.

The phrase falls away is the Greek word scandalizo, and it means to cause a person to begin to distrust and desert one whom he ought to trust and obey, to be offended in one, to see in another what I disapprove of and what hinders me from acknowledging his authority.

Hello.

It's John chapter 6, verse 66, where Jesus is laying down some really clear teaching, and the Bible says, Hey, and some of his disciples turned and walked with him no more.

John 6:66

They were like, Done, tapping out, you're crazy.

You mean I can't I can't sleep, whoever, you mean the Bible wants to have dominion over my morality?

This is my body.

You walk away, you fall away because you were never converted.

You're offended.

You're like, ah, who I don't know who God thinks he is.

This whole God and Jesus thing isn't working for me.

No, Jesus said, All those who are coming to me, I'll in no way turn aside.

This person is scandalous.

It's like, oh my gosh, they're offended.

What do you mean?

You mean you mean I I'm a Christian and I'm struggling?

Yeah.

Yeah.

This person, what offends them is that Christianity is hard.

Because persecution comes on account of the word.

Because look at me, the word has integrity.

Everything the word says is going to happen.

So when Jesus says, after a long teaching section in John, John chapter 14, 15, 16, gets to the end of chapter 16, verse 33, and says, These things have I spoken to you, so that you may have peace, because in the world you will have tribulation.

John 14 · chapter mention

That these people don't read that part.

Again, they're ruled by their emotions, by their feelings.

They love happy clap, they go to conferences and tours and buy tickets, everything.

And they never just sit down and read their Bible.

You may be thinking, Well, hey man, I kind of want to go deeper.

I want to be a person of depth.

I'm I want to be helpful.

Let me give you five or six or nine things or whatever.

Uh, just just just hey, how do you become a deeper person?

Uh, here's a list of things.

Number one, read.

Read.

Not sexy, not sexy.

We're a listening, watching culture, not a reading culture.

Uh just just read.

Uh, secondly, think.

Think.

The way your mind is oriented towards the truth determines how you see the world.

Just think.

See, we don't think, we agree.

We find somebody in the public domain, typically, if they're famous, Beyonce, oh, Beyonce got a song.

I'm down with that.

Who cares what Beyonce thinks?

And don't come to me and go, oh man, you hate on Beyonce.

I don't hate on Beyonce.

I'm just like, morally, she's not an authoritative person.

I don't care what she thinks.

Oh, you're you're picking her because she's black.

I'll pick a white person.

I don't agree with people based on their skin color.

I know that's not that that's impossible nowadays because everything's racism.

I I don't agree with Donald Trump on everything.

How about that for a white person I disagree with?

Oh.

Think.

Think for yourself.

Stop trolling the internet and going, me too.

That's not thinking, that's parroting.

And you have a you have a memory, but you don't have a mind.

Your mind is not a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth, where people have lunch with you and they walk away, kind of like, whoo! I wasn't prepared for that.

Not out of pain, but out of pleasure.

It's kind of like, I want to think differently.

Thirdly, suffer.

Doesn't that make your spirit just soar?

You're like, oh, thank you, Jesus.

Why?

Because you're suffering right now.

And it's not, as the Bible says, don't think some strange thing has come upon you.

You're going to suffer.

Don't get your way.

It's good for your soul, and it's very Christ-like.

Here's another one.

The fourth one.

Experience.

Your appetite for more experience is fueled by the act of experiencing.

Experience.

The things you read about your whole life.

Just experience them.

Solitude.

This creates space in you for the things of God and exposes the space in you taken up by everything else.

Let me say that again.

It creates space in you for the things of God and it exposes the space in you taken up by everything else.

Silence.

This turns down the volume on the unnecessary and turns up the volume on the necessary.

Here's the last one obedience.

Just obey.

You're like, that's kind of a given.

No, it's not.

No, just obey.

Because God, when God sees a man or woman that obeys, not just here and there, but consistently, not only look at me, not only does God trust that person, He entrusts more to that person.

And some of you, you're frustrated with your Christian life because God doesn't trust you enough to give you what you say you want.

And it's because God really knows you.

It's John chapter 2, verse 24, and Jesus would not entrust himself to men because he knew what was in them.

John 2:24

They come up to Jesus, Jesus, you're awesome.

And Jesus is like, Yeah, well, you're a religious hypocrite who mistreats people and loves money too much.

But go ahead and compliment me.

He knows what's in them.

By the same token, he knows what's in me, he knows what's in you.

The third person is in verse 22.

Scripture says this, that's for what was sown among the thorns.

This is the one.

See, it's not seed anymore, it's a person.

This is why it's the parable of a people.

This is real personal, folks.

That's what was sown among the thorns.

This is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

This person lacks priorities.

The first person lacked understanding, second person lacked depth.

This person lacks priorities.

By the way, I I read this, and when I read this, here it helped me say no to some non-reciprocal friendships.

Uh, but but but here's the quote: I don't I don't think it's in my notes, but never allow someone to be your priority while allowing yourself to be their option.

Never allow someone to be your priority while allowing yourself to be their option.

There was a point years ago I realized I have a lot of friends that I'm always calling to check on and check on, and they don't do anything reciprocal to me.

So I just stopped calling.

One of them took almost a year.

He said, Hey, bro, I hadn't heard from you in forever.

I said, What does that feel like?

See, I'm treating you like you're a priority in my life, and you're treating me like I'm an option in yours.

I ain't got time for that.

Oh, I'm sorry if you're mad.

I'm not mad, I'm just seeing really clearly.

Oh, well, I mean, uh I enjoy talking, I get a lot out of it.

Well, I wish I felt the same way, but I don't.

See, this third person lacks priorities, and the person lacks priorities because of two things.

Number one, the cares of this world.

The cares of this world.

What do you mean when you say the cares of this world?

These are the things that people of this world worry about.

If you look at Matthew 6, Jesus says, hey, don't worry about what you're gonna eat, what you're gonna drink, what you're gonna wear, because don't the pagans run after these things?

Don't people that don't know me, don't they worry about those things?

Why do you worry about those things?

The gospel gets diluted in its significance and consideration because we worry about what the world worries about.

Right now, against the backdrop of this global pandemic is a great opportunity for Christians to demonstrate to the world, I'm not worried about what you're worried about.

I'm not irresponsible, I'm not risky, I'm just not worried.

Well, you could die.

We're all gonna die.

Are you prepared to die?

You better be prepared to die because not dying's the easy part.

Being judged by an all-knowing God, that ought to concern you.

That's the conversation we should be having, not hiding under our beds with our masks on.

Really?

This third person lacks priorities because the cares of the world.

Here, 1 John chapter 2, he says, Do not love the world or the things in the world, for if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

1 John 2 · chapter mention

For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world.

And the world is passing away along with its desires.

But whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Student, this is why I couldn't be a student pastor ever again.

Because I want to say to my students, hey, just read this part right here where he says, For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life.

I would say to my students, hey, go look at your Instagram feed and tell me when you just lay those three things down as a filter, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes and the pride of life.

Or, as the original says, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.

If you remove from your Instagram or whatever social overrated social media platform you're on right now, anything that was convicted by those three realities, what would you have left?

You would have to take off the picture of you and your bikini on that burner account your parents don't know about, but every boy in Fort Bend County has seen.

That's the lust of your flesh.

You're like, hey, I want you to notice me.

I posed with you in mind.

No one just snapped that.

I stand like this all the time and I push my lips out.

That's your flesh.

That's just your flesh.

And I'm not hating on you, I'm loving you enough to say, oh God, here's the thing.

All that, and by the way, typically when you have a kid that's into that, you walk it back, you have a mom that's into that.

So, mom, don't email me.

I'm not talking about your kid, I'm talking about you.

Oh, can can we get Blake and Travis to come back?

They're so much more pleasant.

Sure, they can come back next week.

But that's just you, mom.

That's you.

Your pride of life is your children.

It's like, look at my kids, aren't they pretty?

Look at my kids, don't they have a good body?

You're a pimp, not a parent.

That's all you are.

You're just pimping your kids.

You should you should be humiliated, but you're not, because that's the pride of your life.

It's like, hey, if you have experiences that less than 1% of the world can have, maybe don't post it on social media so everybody can envy you.

I have a friend that climbs and hikes and goes on these exotic vacations.

I mean, just all over the world, Singapore, whatever, and he's always posting it.

He's hey you check out my post.

No.

Why?

I I wouldn't be envious, but I just it just feels like you're just bragging about what you get to do.

I think most people just look at that and just kind of go, hey, my life stinks.

Look at this guy.

He's parasailing in Costa Rica.

Well, bro, you've been to Costa Rica?

Yeah, I hiked up a mountain with Brian McKee and a bunch of guys from my church and lost nine pounds in four days and ate beef jerky and gave food away.

We didn't parasale.

Well, would you do?

We've built a school for a bunch of kids in a village we adopted.

And we didn't post it on social media either.

Now, am I against parasailing?

Not at all.

What I'm saying is don't kid yourself.

The lust of your flesh, the lust of your eyes, and the pride of life, that will get you.

That will get you.

See, there's two things persons lack priorities because one, the cares of this world.

Secondly, the deceitfulness of riches.

Riches is the Greek word plutos, which refers to, quote, an abundance of external possessions.

Now, listen very carefully, because instead of piling on people we think are rich, let me just say this: the way you keep this from happening is that you and I have an abundance of internal possessions.

If riches is an abundance of external possessions, it's not just money, it's man, I got so much stuff I can't even actualize it all.

The way you keep that from happening is you have an abundance of internal possessions, which means when you think about it, you can have a lot of stuff.

You can have a lot of money even.

But as long as you have more internally, you possess more internally, you're gonna be fine.

But it's hard.

That's why Jesus calls it the deceitfulness of riches, because you you stop looking internally and you start looking externally, like, oh, check me out.

Look at what I got.

Hello, I ain't worried about no global pandemic.

I'm stacking paper up in here.

Nothing can get to me.

Here's you got to be careful.

You become deceived by riches when you look to money to do what it can never do.

And when you do that, the air supply to all that is essential gets choked out.

That's what Jesus says.

That's for what was sown among the thorns.

This is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

It just doesn't do it for you anymore.

The Bible just becomes unfruitful.

It's like, man, I don't read anything.

I read the Bible and I just feel like I'm going through the motions.

Let me give you a because believe it or not, I have friends that have money.

Uh, and years ago, one of them said to me, Hey man, would you write me some stinger questions?

And I was like, excuse me.

He goes, I like having breakfast and lunch with you because it kind of jolts me.

And I said, I don't like that.

He goes, No, no, no, I mean in a good way because I can kind of drift and get goofy.

I'm like, okay.

So I wrote my friend some questions.

Here's the questions I wrote to my friend years ago.

Uh, do you think more money would make you happy?

Because this guy, he said, I have money, I love money, I want more money.

Isn't that refreshing?

Because most people feel that way.

And he just said it to me at a Waffle House restaurant.

He goes, I I would never eat here, but you introduce me to this.

I love this.

I said, You act like this is poor people food.

Like you're better than this.

If Jesus came today, he'd be the line cook at the Waffle House.

He'd be snickering over rich people like you who who just love money inordinately.

He's like, Shut up and just send me some questions to think about.

I said, Okay.

So I said these are the questions I sent him.

Do you think more money would make you happy?

Do you use money to control people or get your way?

Do I see money as a means by which I get what I really need?

He said he called me a couple days later after I sent these to him.

He goes, What do you mean?

I said, Do you just think I'm tired, I'm cranky?

Oh, I need to go to South Beach and lay out for three days and work out and have drinks out by the pool?

Or do you say, you know what?

No, I'm not gonna run somewhere.

I'm gonna stay right here and face and figure out what's gnawing at me.

Like, well, I don't, I don't, I don't like you.

I'm like, okay, so what?

Uh do I believe I'm more deserving than those who have less or more?

Am I stingy or have I grown in the joy of generosity?

Does being generous still humble you?

What do you mean?

I mean, when you're able to be generous, are you just do you just think, man, I'm awesome?

Or do you think, oh God, I so humbled by the fact that I have so much that I could just be a blessing to somebody else the way you've been a blessing to me?

Am I content to be anonymous in my giving, or do I like people knowing?

Do I manage well what I've been given and can I enjoy it guilt-free?

My friend had so much that he couldn't he couldn't experience it all.

He's like, I go to my lake house.

I'm like, I ain't got time to go to your lake house, and neither do you, and that's what bothers you.

Maybe you don't need a lake house.

Now I'm not I'm not against having a lake house.

Don't email me, okay?

I don't care if you got five lake houses.

Don't have so much that you can't experience it the way it was it was intended to be experienced.

Do I manage well what I've been given and can I enjoy it guilt-free?

Whose reputation grows as my money grows?

Can I meaningfully experience all that I possess?

In my hands is money a weapon or a tool?

Yeah, we our friendship survived.

I would get calls.

Hey, question number seven.

That feels personal.

They're all personal.

You said, and I quote, I remember what I said.

No, let me let me hear it, let me say it to you again so it jolts you.

You said, I have money, I love money, I want more money.

Here's the fourth person.

Pay careful attention.

This will be real short.

Verse 23.

Ask for what was sown on the good soil.

This is the one who hears the word and understands it.

He indeed bears fruit.

He indeed just hear that, those two little words.

He indeed.

He indeed, of course, of course, he bears fruit.

Are you kidding me?

He can't help but bear fruit.

Indeed.

He indeed, Gary, indeed, Brian, indeed.

Some of you, when they say your name, they're not gonna be indeed, he's gonna be really.

He indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.

Well, I mean, it's gonna be short.

Here it is, and I'm done.

This person has understanding, this person produces depth, and this this depth, this understanding produces depth, and this depth informs their priorities, and these priorities yield fruit.

Let me say it again.

This person has understanding.

This understanding produces depth, this depth informs their priorities, and these priorities yield fruit.

Notice that fruit bearing is never the goal.

It starts with understanding, then depth and priorities, and a result of this process 30, 60, 100fold.

This is the believer in the passage.

All these other people, they did things like fall away, which believers are incapable of doing.

And it's not out of effort.

Just hear that little word.

He indeed bears fruit.

She indeed, of course.

What else could she do?

She's a Christian.

This beloved is the parable of the people.

Don't get hung up on the numbers, 30, 60, 100fold.

There's people out there, usually they're church planting evaluators who tell people, oh, we think you're a 30-fold person, you're a 60-fold person, you're a hundredfold person.

That's terrible.

Because the the size of the crop that's produced is not about the person, it's just about God.

But just indeed.

He indeed bears fruit and yields.

He bears fruit and yields it up.

Indeed, of course, he couldn't help but do it.

Why?

This is a person that knows God.

This is the consequential life that the Bible talks about.

Let's pray together.

We like to teach the Bible here at Grand Parkway in its fullness.

Even if it means we go over time like I have today, I could care less.

It's raining canned hams outside, and all you got to do is sit in your house and be bored.

But I just I just want to plumb the depths of the passage.

I don't want to cheat it for the sake of time.

We don't like to just teach the Bible.

We like to say, hey, here's some here's some questions that help us think about the Bible.

Questions like if your friends understood more about the King, God.

Do you think they'd be curious more about life in the kingdom, Christianity?

What is the last thing you did or experienced that deepened you?

Are you most often offended or convicted?

Is someone or something your priority that should not be?

What is the Bible becoming to you?

Is the word becoming unfruitful?

Or is it still full of wonder?

What is your theology of money?

And so, Holy Spirit, just as in the beginning, when it says the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters, just hover over us.

You've given us a good word today, and just hover over that, Lord, because we'll try to squeal off and save our flesh.

Wiggle free.

Oh, we love to wiggle free.

Well, I know it says that, but what I think what it means is who cares what you think?

So, Lord, we're just gonna stop talking and we're gonna listen.

Holy Spirit, as you just brood over us in the parable of the people, Father.

We uh we like to call ourselves as people who read the Bible when in reality the Bible reads us, it sees right through us, it exposes all our small agendas, our preferences, and that's not hate, God, that's love.

It shines light on the dark places that we want to keep hidden and says, hello, what about that?

Doesn't that belong to King Jesus?

Shouldn't that be subjected to his rule and reign in your life?

And so, Holy Spirit, don't let us squeal off by saying we're offended.

Let us embrace the beauty of being convicted, and may we have more friends in our life that convict us.

Lord, this is our prayer.

We prayed in Jesus' name, and everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

If you're our guest, I want to say thanks for checking out our podcast.

Know this that you're always welcome.

We'll be updating you soon about when we're gonna start back.

Uh, this cannot go on forever.

The church has got to rise up and be the church.

Uh, that means when we start back, it's not a litmus test on your spirituality, anyone.

If you feel comfortable coming, you come, you gotta wear a mask, and they'll tell you all the rules and regulations.

If you're like, you know what, I'm gonna keep checking it out online, that's great too, because in Christ, there's freedom.

The Bible even says that it was for freedom that Christ set us free, okay?

So exercise your freedom.

Don't let anybody jam you up.

We will never do that.

If you're checking out our church and you're not meaningfully connected to a church here in our city, we would love for you to fill out our online connection card because we would love to connect with you and follow up with you.

We're still working, we're here every day.

Uh, our our our staff is here working every day.

We are preparing for what is next.

Whenever they say, hey, we can lift this thing and we can get back together, we're just gonna keep on doing what we've been doing all along, okay?

Uh, there's a few things we want to make you aware of by way of announcement, so let's give our attention to that right now.

Never mind, there's not.

Here's an announcement for all you boys and girls out there.

If anything I said today offended you, made you angry, made you look at your mom and dad like, oh, I think he's talking to me.

Have me over for dinner.

And I will come to your house and fight you in person.

And I will be gentle, but I will crush your adolescent logic that's no logic at all, or I'll crush your mom's logic or your dad's logic, as long as there's dessert and coffee to follow.

Amen.

Thank you very much.

No, seriously, seriously, when you hear the word, any questions you have, we want to answer those questions.

Because we're subjected to it as well, okay?

Let's just don't go through life being offended and never convicted, because that person never has to change, okay?

We'd like to conclude our service.

Now that I really offended you, we'd like to conclude our service with a spoken blessing.

So stand to your feet, hold your hands out.

I want to speak a blessing over you.

Be of good cheer, oh little flock.

But it is your father's pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Depart now and live as citizens of the kingdom.

In the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you.