PARABLES OF JESUS: Shiny Soil

This podcast is the Ministry of Graham Parkway Baptist Church.

For more information on our church, please visit GrahamProy.org.

Well, good morning, everyone.

I was told you might not come because it was raining.

But you are a hearty bunch, evidently.

Is that thunder?

You are an amazingly hearty bunch, apparently.

Anyway, I'm so glad to be with you here this morning.

Uh it's it's really divine providence in a number of ways.

I was uh in town yesterday doing a wedding for the Deer Greens, who are very, very good friends, and their uh third, or pardon me, second daughter got married yesterday, and and Neil, of course, was taking his first sabbatical Sunday this Sunday, and they couldn't find anybody, and so they put the word out that they'd take absolutely anyone, and I got the call, and so here I am.

I'm just gonna tell a few jokes and a poem, and then we'll go to lunch.

Anyway, I uh I am really glad to be here.

Um, let me just read this note that I got from Neil.

Dear Colin, enjoying my fishing trip in Alberta.

What a great idea! The congregation bought this sabbatical thing, hook, line, and sinker.

I'm not coming back.

Good luck this morning.

These people cannot be taught.

So, what did you do, this guy?

Anyway, this really is where we're from.

That is a classic Canadian, uh, great Canadian Shield Lake.

We catch fish that size all the time.

This is Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, where we live now.

And uh that is the picture that the Chamber of Commerce puts out when they want to welcome people to Edmonton.

This is actually where we live.

And that is about what I look like with my winter parka on, by the way.

That is about what we look like.

I want to uh bring you greetings this morning from Imagining Church in Edmonton, Alberta.

I'm the lead pastor there, and uh a lot of people look at our name and go, wow, is that like light beer?

That's like that's like light church.

Imagining.

So we've got it, we've got it worked out though.

I'm I imagine that they worship, and they're imagining that I work, and um we just pretend we're a church and I golf a lot.

No, I'm I'm just joking.

Here's the idea behind imagining church.

We are trying to get people imagining that they could have a relationship with God that they never thought they could have.

Or imagining that they could be part of a church that is actually free in Christ and not bogged down with silly politics and grumpy Christians and actually see what God could do in a church full of people who are saying, I am not stopping, it's full steam ahead.

We're imagining a church that can penetrate a city instead of be satisfied with just penetrating itself.

And so we use our name to our advantage all the time.

In every conversation I'm in, the name gets anything started that I want to talk about.

And so uh we are very, very excited about Imagining Church, and uh uh I'll share this with you if you don't mind me sharing it with you.

We just uh about to sign a lease on a 30,000 square foot building that we were just praying like crazy for, and it will be the turning point in our church plant, and uh we're very excited about everything this morning.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Yeah, God is very good.

God is very good.

So, readings from Imagining Church.

This is my family.

There are people here in this room this morning who know these people very well.

Uh I was pastor of uh Christ Chapel for about 10 years, and uh this family grew up right here in Pecan Grove, and and uh boy, we played a lot of soccer over there at the Y.

That's all I remember was Saturday morning sweating my shirt off.

Anybody else doing soccer at the Y?

Is it just me?

Yeah.

Anyway, uh on in this picture on my extreme right, that's my son Austin, he's 21, and my daughter Maggie just graduated last week.

Uh and she's turning 18, and Emma's turning 16.

That's my wife Pauline there in front, and my daughter, oldest daughter, Molly, and her husband Ty on my left there.

This is the picture we show people when we want them to think that we are upstanding, reasonable, fine people.

This is really what our family looks like.

And uh here's our family.

We are a family full of faith, full of love, full of laughter, and shot through with imperfections and flaws like you wouldn't believe.

But the secret to being a family is to agree to no longer be shocked by each other's flaws or imperfections.

And the one thing we've mastered in our family is to accept one another as a whole package.

As a whole package, and that's my crew.

I could not love six people more than I love them.

And I'm grateful that they love me.

I'm one of those guys that's got a face where everywhere I go, people go, I feel like I've seen you before.

You've got one of those faces.

You look like one of those people I should know.

And it's true, but it's not just that you're imagining it.

I actually have been a lot of places and done a lot of things.

And uh, I'll just run through a couple of these with you.

This is me as the weekend prime minister of Canada, and I am working on world relations between Texans and everybody else, and it's not going as well as you had hoped.

It's not going as well as you'd hoped.

That was actually a lot of laughter.

That was a that was a little that was a little energized, I feel.

Uh, yeah, I I spent a lot of time in the gym when I was younger and uh tried my hand at a few other things that I really really enjoy doing.

Uh my game is not as good as it was, but I'm coming back.

I am coming back.

And uh here's another, I love this picture.

That was right after we won.

And then, of course, this is for my buddy Dave.

I tried an acting career for a while.

I I played uh several roles and got Kirk.

That was the this is the biggie though.

This is the biggie.

God, the universe spinning.

Anyway, did you guys see that ad?

I was good in that, right?

I'm just messing with you.

Here's the point.

Maybe you're like me, and maybe over the years you've tried different faces, different phases, trying to figure out what you're supposed to do, who you really are, and who you're supposed to be, so that you can do what you've supposedly been called to do.

We strive for meaning in our lives.

We think that because we got this much education, or we live in that neighborhood, or my daddy was this, or my sister went on and did that, that those things all define us, and they're they're who we are.

The truth is the call of God on your life and mine is far more simple and yet more powerful than any of the things that we imagine we can be or should be.

And many of us, even as Christians, are trying to thrive in a kind of purposelessness lacking meaning and direction, and it shouldn't be so.

If God is God and His Spirit is in us and his word is true, then you and I should have an advantage to being somebody and doing something of impact.

And yet, my experience is in the church that we sort of marvel at the few believers that poke their head up and end up teaching a class, or the the person who has a prayer life, and we're sort of amazed by that, and we all wish we could be the guy that could teach the class, or the woman that has the prayer life, and the rest of us walk around like lemmings with coffee, trying to be nice to each other and calling that Christianity.

There's more to it.

And here's the good news what I'm going to teach you today is exactly what Jesus said we needed to be and do to fulfill the purpose that he called us to fill, both as individual Christians and as the church.

And it's not as tough as any of us thinks it is.

In fact, it's so embarrassingly easy, it leaves us without excuse and calls us to action.

My concern being that many of us have settled for a life of just moving dirt, only to discover that once we have finished creating a pile of dirt that we've moved, some worldly person, leader, boss, whatever, just tells us to move the dirt back.

And we just have a sense of I'm just in a hole and I am just paying this bill and that mortgage and that car, and I'm trying to get through school or get somebody through school, and my life is really not that interesting, and I don't feel like I'm impacting anybody.

I'm just in a hole and I'm I'm just moving dirt.

And folks, for you and I to look the world in the eye and say, oh yes, I'm born of the living God.

He he is in me by his spirit, he's empowered my soul.

I am capable of great things in his name.

Watch me move dirt for the world.

We should be ashamed that that's really all we've got to show them or all we've got to say to them.

Because they're banking on us, knowing something more and doing something better.

Because they already know what the hole is, and they already know they're stuck in it, and they don't know how to get out of it.

And they're for sure hoping that Christians know how to grab the root to the tree and say, not today.

I am taking hold of my God, and I'm gonna climb out of this hole, and I am gonna fulfill the purpose he's given me.

Now look at this slide, and I'm giving away the punchline to the to the story.

What you are supposed to be doing, church, what you are supposed to be doing, Christian, what you are supposed to be doing, pastor, is shine.

We're supposed to shine.

Now, not only are we intimidated by that because we know we're not actually good at it, and we're not sure we're committed to it.

The truth is we really don't know how to do that.

What is it?

What do you mean, shine?

Look at that picture.

Are you saying that at lunch break in downtown Houston, I'm supposed to tear my shirt open in the food court and shine?

And everyone's gonna gather around and go, man, is that guy's chest shining?

What is that?

It must be the Spirit of God.

Well, obviously that's not it.

So, what does it mean to shine?

And why should we shine?

And that's what we're gonna talk about today.

I'm bringing you a message that I've called shiny soil.

We're supposed to be shiny soil from Luke chapter 8, 1 through 21.

Luke 8 · chapter mention

Now you need to understand that this summer you are going through a series on the parables, and your pastor Neil has lined all this up, and he asked me to bring this parable of the four soils, and uh it is a great privilege.

But here's how this works now, okay?

You gotta understand.

If you hate this sermon, it's because he manuscripted it, sent it to me, and said, do it word for word.

If you love this sermon, it's because I did most of the research and writing myself.

Okay, so there's my out.

I'm like the guy who, just before he tees off, does this.

He goes, oh.

And the other three guys go, Yeah, here we go.

Now, if I hit it straight, I'm like, man, I feel great.

I can't believe my knee is just loose.

If I shank it, then I'm going, football, it's a terrible injury.

It's a wonder I'm even out here.

Look at you guys going, I don't know what he's talking about.

You guys know exactly what I'm talking about.

All right.

So here's the setting.

This is the setup for the parable of the four soils that we're about to study.

After this, Jesus traveled about from town and village to one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God, and the twelve were with him.

So Jesus is doing his usual daily thing.

He's moving around, he's talking to people, he's loving people, he's trying to get in a temple, he's trying to make sure people know that as Messiah, the Christ, the promised one, he has something to say that is leading up to something he's there to do.

And every time he opens his mouth, there's a crowd, and that crowd is made of a number of different kinds of people, starting with that outer fringe, the crowd, the people who don't know who he is or why he's in town, but everyone else is walking out to the field, so I'm going out to the field.

And then on top of that, there are the curious, the people who are saying, Yeah, I think I heard something about this guy.

My brother-in-law said that he saw him two weeks ago and that he healed somebody.

I'm going out to hear what he has to say.

And then there's the committed, the people who are committed to the ideals of Messiah having arrived, but they're not sure who he is or if this is him, so they're going to go out.

And then there's the core.

The people who are so far into Jesus they can't even breathe.

They're already in over their heads.

Now these people assemble.

Every time Jesus goes somewhere, they come to see him, but there's this entourage that is also walking with him constantly.

And today it is the twelve, and also women, verse two, some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases.

Mary called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had come out.

And also Joanna, the wife of Cusa, the manager of Herod's household, Susannah and many others.

These women were helping to support them out of their own means.

I love that.

Right?

While the men are still wondering whether or not they can afford to follow Jesus, the women are already out there trekking along with him, making sure he's never without whatever he needs.

Women are action figures.

Don't ever forget it.

Men, we have been given a lot of responsibility as men to lead, to be men who love and lead.

But women are amazing sisters in Christ, huge followers of Jesus.

And I applaud women all the time because I'm amazed by them, and Jesus was too.

So in case you think that Christianity is a man's sport, it's not.

It's not.

Women are all over it.

They're all over it.

So that's the setting.

Here's the parable of the sower.

Now understand something today.

I'm not going to teach most of you anything that you don't already know about this passage.

Okay, so my goal today isn't to show you some Greek trick where you'll go, you know, I've been listening to that for 25 years and I've never heard it said like that before.

That's not my goal.

My goal is to say it exactly like you've heard it, but to get you to believe it, and even more than believe it, to get you to live it.

That's my goal today.

So don't anybody be sitting here going, well, I've heard that he's pretty good.

I'm just waiting for something new.

That is not what you're getting today.

What you might get today is in touch with the condition of your own heart that would make you listen to a message that is kind of old, but maybe it'll be new to you for the first time.

Maybe you'll say, you know what?

It's about time I step up and live this stuff instead of just listen to it.

Praise God.

That's what we're doing.

So, verse 4.

While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable.

Should we just turn to Genesis 6?

Maybe a whole different message.

Okay.

A farmer went out into his very soggy fields.

Forget it.

Forget it.

A farmer went out to sow his seed.

As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path.

It was trampled on, and the birds ate it up.

Verse 6.

Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture.

Verse 7, other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants.

And then verse 8, still other seed fell on good soil.

It came up and yielded a crop a hundred times more than was sown.

And then look what Jesus says here.

When he said this, he called out, Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.

Jesus was somehow in tune with the fact that a whole bunch of people who had gathered could be listening to him tell this parable, but some would not hear it.

Some wouldn't want to hear it.

And he knew most of them wouldn't do it, whatever it meant.

So he says, Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.

Now in verse 9, his disciples ask him what the parable meant.

Now, I'm not going to explain this to you right now because Jesus is going to explain this parable.

Jesus doesn't always explain his parables.

Sometimes he just leaves them hanging there.

And everyone's supposed to figure out what it what?

Because these people were used to the law being read.

They were used to Pharisees pontificating about the law and about knowing God and obeying him and keeping the law.

There was no conjecture, there was no opportunity for, hmm, I wonder what that could mean.

Here comes Jesus with his parables, and he's going to start telling stories in earthly terms to communicate heavenly truth.

And he's about to blow their minds, and his disciples are the first one to say, Wow, I didn't see that coming.

Could you explain that to me?

Because I was expecting another lesson on Elijah or Isaiah or something, and here you are talking about farmers.

It's puzzlingly interesting.

Could you help me out here?

I haven't got a clue what you just said.

He knew that those who had ears would hear ultimately, but those who had already turned a deaf ear would never get it.

So they asked him, What does this parable mean?

Jesus answers by saying, 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.

What?

What is that about?

Here's what Jesus was doing.

He was purposely separating out those who would receive the truth and receive him as Messiah and receive a life of discipleship under him as master from those who would reject him most certainly at all levels.

Jesus knows the crowd.

He knows the curious.

It is his goal to get everyone who is in the crowd into the core, but he knows it's not going to happen.

Because he knows that there are lots of people who will be listening to his teaching.

And after he leaves, they turn to each other and go, What a bunch of poppycock.

I'm not even sure the guy is really who he says he is.

You know, some of the Pharisees say he's just a troublemaker.

You know, some of the people say that he didn't really heal.

The guy didn't actually get healed.

Actually, the next day he had a limp.

Jesus knew who he was talking to.

And so he says, Enough didactic teaching.

Because I've been straight with you, I've been quoting the law, I've been quoting the fair the prophets, you're not listening to me.

Those of you who are inclined to the spiritual, inclined to the truth of God, when I speak, you will be able to discern the message within the message.

But for those of you who are already hard-hearted and cold, and you are longing to reject me and my word and my father, I'm done playing nice.

I'm going to speak in parables from now on.

Not to trick you, not trying to be mean to you.

I'm just saying, this is Jesus' words.

Paraphrase.

And so it begins.

And so it begins.

The sheep and the goats, the wheat and the tares, the whole deal.

And so it begins.

And it began right here where Jesus started teaching in parables.

So he says, This is the meaning of the parable.

The seed is the word of God.

Right?

Very simple.

So here is the parable, and the farmer.

And the four soils, and we're just gonna walk through this together.

The farmer is Jesus.

Right?

The farmer is Jesus, the field is the world, the seed is the word, and the soils are four different kinds of hearts that Jesus knew the gospel would have to contend with.

Four different kinds of hearts that man would have in response to him and his truth.

So, verse 12, this is Jesus explaining the parable now.

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.

This is the hard heart.

This is the hard heart that hears the gospel but never opens itself to the gospel.

This is a heart without faith.

And how can a heart with no faith lead to anything but rebellion against God's word and his ways and his will?

And Jesus is saying right up front, boy, this is the tough, this is the tough nut.

There's nothing more painful than watching the gospel in all its truth and all its glory and provision and forgiveness land on a person who is too hard to receive it, will not hear it, goes to great lengths to stay closed and not let it take seed within.

It just chills me every time.

It chills me every time.

Jesus knew these people existed then and they exist now.

Verse 13 those on the rocky ground 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 a time of testing, they fall away.

Right?

When the going gets tough, they quit.

This is the shallow heart.

Situational faith.

Okay, okay, I'll go to church if the girl I've got a crush on is gonna be there.

I'll go to church as long as that guy's preaching, but I'm not going if that guy's preaching.

I'm gonna be a believer, providing I get the promotion and the raise.

If I don't get the promotion of the raise, I'm not going back to church because God's not doing anything.

Situational faith.

I've heard the word, I've sort of accepted it, and providing that the conditions are perfect I'm in.

But if you test me, if God doesn't come through for me, well, you know what that means, folks.

That's a faith that is still all about us.

There's no surrender in there, and it leads to weakness.

That the first sign of testing, poof, that faith is gone.

They're back to where they started.

Verse 14 the seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way, they are choked by life's worries, riches, and pleasures, and they do not mature.

I believe that the North American Evangelical Church is fat to the walls with this type of believer right here.

Just fat to the walls with this kind of believer right here.

And you understand, of course, that these first three kinds of hearts are not believers, but they're in our churches, they're in our families, they're in our small groups, and they're looking and they're wanting, they want to have what you have, they would like to live the life you seem to live, or the life that we say should be normal to the Christian, but they can't grab it because right when they start to surrender, oh man, that next bill has got them choked.

The worry about their job or the fact that their marriage isn't perfect, or they got a bad teenager has got them so wound up tight they can't fully immerse themselves in the things of God and a deep faith that actually keeps them instead of dismisses them under pressure.

This is the strangled heart.

It's a restricted faith and it leads to chronic immaturity.

I can't afford to grow up.

I can't afford to go deep.

I've got too many distractions.

Once I get this figured out and I get that figured out, and once I get that paid for, and after we build this, then I'm gonna I'm so gonna be godly.

Verse 15, this is the verse.

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.

All right, so this is the believer.

This is the person who receives the gospel, trusts in Christ, is born again, and changes, if you'll let me use the word, suffers under the ministry of the Holy Spirit and suffers life change that is quite apart from his selection.

This is the difference between salvation and sanctification.

Salvation is that millisecond where you and me uh we fall before the Father at the cross of Christ and we confess our sin and we say, God, I'm a sinner, forgive me, and he forgives us, and we are born again by the Spirit of God.

But from that moment on is a life of sanctification where you and I are being changed moment by moment into the likeness of Christ instead of being us, we're becoming him.

And it takes a whole lifetime of flaws and imperfections being greeted by the Spirit of God as He chips away and reshapes us and changes us into the people that Christ wants us to be.

The goal of your life and mine is to stop being me and start being him.

And it takes good soil.

Good soil, a good heart with solid faith leads to a life of obedience.

Jesus said, if you love me, you'll obey me.

He's not talking about the law, he's talking about walking with him in a relationship where you so want to please him and he is so pleasing.

Why would you choose to disobey?

He'll never understand why we choose to disobey.

Although nobody understands sin better than him because he died for the whole pile of us.

This is the person who hears the word, retains the word, and perseveres in the word.

And the product is that he himself produces a crop a hundredfold by making more disciples like himself who also have good hearts.

You are great people, and you have the equipment that you need to take that good heart, that that soil that has been worked by God in advance, cultivating the opportunity for the gospel and then making a way for it to be planted and for it to be watered and for him to cause the growth.

And you start to change, and the people around you see you change, they feel you change, and they want to be like you, a person with a good heart.

And you might not know it, but you are part of God's plan to, through your surrendered life, produce a crop of other people with a surrendered life.

Christian, stop telling me that you have no meaning and no purpose and no gifts and no ministry and nothing to do.

You have everything to do.

He's done it all, and he's just saying, walk in it by faith and watch me work through your life.

You average Christian.

We say, I'm just an average Christian.

Yes, God couldn't be more pleased.

Be average, but be full of Him.

Break it open and let Him pour out, and lives will change, and you'll be a farmer producing a crop of people just like you.

Love it.

So, here's the thing.

If I were to teach you the shortest parable in the Bible, it would be this one.

And if I were to teach you this parable, I would go to the farmer in the four soils as the foundation and the context for teaching you about this parable.

A lamp on a stand.

In verses 16 through 18.

Right?

So Jesus says, No one lights a lamp and hides it in a clay jar or puts it under a bed.

Instead, they put it on a stand so that those who come in can see the light.

Jesus is saying this right after he taught them the meaning of the previous parable.

Alright?

Verse 17, for there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.

We need to camp here for a second because that verse 17 has been abused by preachers for a hundred years.

Maybe more.

Look at that verse 17.

For there's nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.

Here's what that means, brothers and sisters.

You need to get your filthy lives right with God because the day's coming will you die.

And you'll get to heaven, and God's gonna have a video screen on the wall, and he's gonna take your life with all its habits, and he's gonna show it to all of heaven, all the angels and all your friends watching your dirty deeds.

Anybody grow up in a church like that?

Oh Lord, help us.

Bless your hearts.

Bless your hearts.

Listen, here's what Jesus meant by this.

He's saying, I am commissioning you, I am commissioning you as my disciples to preach the secrets of the kingdom of the world to the world.

And the secrets of the kingdom are how to enter it via the gospel, via the Messiah who would come to die for mankind, to make a way for man to be forgiven and regain fellowship with the living God.

Those are the secrets of the kingdom.

And he's saying, you need to lift the light up high so that nothing is concealed.

What is he talking about?

He's talking about sin.

He's talking about sin.

He's saying, look, God sent Jesus.

Jesus wants to send the disciples into the world, doing what?

Shining.

Shining what?

The light.

What is the light?

The truth.

What is the truth?

The gospel.

That men need to repent of their sin and be saved.

So he's not talking about the sins of men, he's talking about the things of God.

This is about disciples preaching the truth.

And folks, this is not about the original 12 disciples preaching the truth.

This is about you and me preaching the truth.

And the key question becomes: are you a disciple?

Am I a disciple?

Or am I just part of the crowd, part of the curious, part of the committed, but I'm not the core?

The call is for you and me to move in from the outside to the inside and be part of the core.

And for us to be the ones who preach the truth to the world, which is God's new covenant of grace.

Verse 18, therefore consider carefully how you listen.

Whoever has will be given more.

Whoever does not have, even what they think they have, will be taken from them.

God's saying, look, you've been given an amazing endowment through Christ and his gospel, his death on the cross.

You have been given an endowment, you are supposed to invest that so that the gospel goes forward.

He says, those who have, if they don't use it, it's going to be taken from them.

Not lose their salvation, but the opportunity will be robbed from you.

The rewards you could have gotten had you been obedient would be robbed from you.

He says, We need to be active believers here.

So listen, this is where it caps off.

I love this.

Jesus' mothers and brothers, mother and brothers are outside.

They want to see Jesus in Luke 19, 8, 19 through 21.

Now, Jesus' mother and brothers came to see him, but they were not able to get near him because of the crowd.

Someone told him, Your mother and brothers are standing outside and wanting to see you.

And Jesus says, My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into practice.

Don't tell me about my mother and brothers outside wanting to get in and have a visit.

I'm already visiting with the people who are my family.

My family are the people who take God, my father, seriously.

Anyone who's hearing and doing is family.

So the conclusion here to this whole teaching is that the family of God is defined by heart condition.

People with good hearts are the people who have the soil that have received the gospel message and Christ by faith, and they are defined as active in their faith, and they are the people who are shining.

And we've all been asking this question what does that mean to shine?

Stop using the word shine and tell me what it means.

It means to share.

Now, if I had gotten up here this morning and walked around and sort of did sort of like a blend of Dr.

Phil and Dr.

Oz and all the people who are working so hard to make you better.

And I'd have some sort of a clay thing here where I open up your heart and you can see how dark it is inside.

If I'd gotten up here as an ooey-gooey, touchy-feely preacher, and I just said, Oh, you need to get out there, you need to share.

You need to share.

Everyone say it with me.

Share.

Say it.

You guys, you'd be golfing, even in the rain, you'd be over there teeing off, going, Oh man, another day at church.

But how about when you learn something that you can do because of someone you are?

You can share.

And if you will share, it means that you're shining.

It means that you're shining.

Is that you?

I mean, none of us are that guy, right?

You know, just having it with God and there's light, and none of us are that guy, but you can be that person that shares.

So the opportunity for you to shine is right at your desk tomorrow morning.

If you're a student, it's the person next to you, in front of you, behind you, or the teacher.

If you're going to work somewhere, it's the guy across from you, it's the lady beside you, it's the person you see at the water cooler, it's the guy you see on the bus, whatever.

To shine is to share.

Sharing begins with caring.

For you to show interest in another human being with the intention of bringing it around to the fact that the reason you care is because someone cared for you.

And the reason you'd like to share is because someone shared with you.

And that what you'd like to share has to do with a loving God.

And it is my experience, the bolder and bolder that I get in sharing life with real people is that not nearly the number we think are hardened unbelievers are hardened unbelievers.

They're not.

They're just desperate to find authentic believers that will actually step up and live what they already know that the Bible and our Savior has told us to do, which is to share.

And so they're not impressed with the fact that you can hit your thumb with a hammer and not cuss.

They're not impressed with that.

They're waiting for you and me to shine, which means to share, because we care.

And until they see that, they will sit back and go, Yeah, you're just religious.

You're just being good to win your way into heaven.

But show me a consecrated, changed, spirit-filled, loving heart that cares about me and my miserable life, and you've got five minutes.

Translation.

Do you really love me?

Really?

Or are you getting brownie points at the church because you shared?

Because if you really love me, you'll ask about how I'm doing tomorrow.

And you'll ask how I'm doing a month from now.

And you won't be ashamed to be seen with me.

And you'll come to my house, not just have me come to your church barbecue.

People know they are just desperate for authentic Christians.

Desperate.

Step up, church.

I've been doing this for years.

Close your eyes right now.

Visualize the person you already know God has called you to share with.

And I'm not talking about a hardened gospel presentation.

I'm talking about a person at work or in your family or in your neighborhood.

God has already whispered to you to care about that person.

But you've talked yourself out of it.

You've got nine excuses and two reasons.

Can you see the face?

I know you can.

I do this all the time.

I can see the face of my neighbors on my cul-de-sac right now that God has told me to love, and I am still trying to figure out when I'm going to do that.

I am a hypocrite for preaching this stuff at you people this morning because I've got my own list of people that God has already whispered me to me about, and I have not reached out to them yet.

Here's the meaning of this text.

Jesus would preach the word of God to all the world, and many would reject it.

But those with good hearts who hear it, remember it, and preach it themselves and raise up many new disciples, those are the people that Jesus is talking to, depending on you and me.

Jesus saw those with good hearts and solid faith and obedient lives as his true family.

The implication, the master wants the disciple to watch him and be like him.

The disciple is to study the master and imitate him.

So Jesus is one who sows God's word in the world as disciples, as his family, as the church, we should be sowing God's word in the world.

How?

By not hiding God's truth, God's word from the world, instead of throwing it under the bed or putting it in a jar for us, you know, lift the lid, a little shine, a little shine.

That's what we do as Christians.

Go to church, lift the lid.

Oh, look how bright it is.

It's fantastic.

He's saying, don't do that.

Hold it up so the world can see the truth and know him also.

The lesson is light allows a person to see in the dark.

Your friends and neighbors and mine, they're living in the dark and they think it's normal.

When you hold up the truth of God's word and the power of his gospel, when you hold it up, then people can see clearly what?

Their own sin and their need for forgiveness.

But it starts with you and me being people who are not afraid.

And this is why we cannot run from the truth.

John 3, 19 through 20, this is the verdict.

Light has come into the world, but men love darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.

Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

Men.

Tell me you don't understand that.

I don't want anybody looking at my stuff.

No wonder we scurry away from the light.

We pull back from God because we know he is about to shine on us.

But he doesn't want to shine on us to embarrass us, he wants to shine on us to change us.

Our responsibility, in closing, Matthew 5, 14 through 16, you are the light of the world in the same way.

Let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

With that, would you guys stand to your feet?

Let me speak a word of blessing over you.

Hold your hands out like this if you could.

The world is a desert, wasteland with no fruit.

But your God throw seed into your good heart.

So like a tree planted by the streams in the desert.

Go and bear fruit.

Fruit that will last.

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

Amen.