Seeing Jesus - Why Parables

Focus here. Great. So we're jumping back into the book of Matthew.

So if you have a Bible, there should be one in front of you.

If you don't have one, you could open it to Matthew chapter 13.

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

And yeah, we're just going to proceed here. We've been going through kind of the way we do.

We've been going through the book of Matthew in spurts, usually like six to eight weeks at a time.

We'll do some consecutive chapters, some consecutive verses, and then we'll stop.

And so it's been about two months, I think, since we finished out Matthew 12.

And I'm really excited to get back into Matthew. I've just been loving this.

It was like a relief when I'm like, oh yeah, we're back into Matthew,

Matthew 13. It's like a relief. It's like coming home to me now, it feels like.

So just, we're picking up chapter 13, but I think it's always a good idea when

we're trying to read the Bible well and interpret it well, that we orient ourselves a little bit.

When it comes to interpreting Scripture, a general rule, which is true in narrative,

but in any type of scriptural, like if we're reading a letter from Paul or anything,

the best way to orient ourselves in Scripture is to consider the context of

the passage that we're looking at.

In a good way to remember that rule, which really applies in every face,

is this little phrase I think I have up here is context is king.

Context is king. Jesus is king, right? Actually, Jesus is king.

But in the context, when it comes to interpreting scripture,

the major rule that we need to remember is that the context really matters.

I'm just saying this to point this out, because our goal is to be disciples.

Our goal is to be people who take the word of God seriously and apply it.

So, we need to read it contextually.

Context, it's sort of a fancy word, right? When I teach sophomore Bible I have in the.

They're all like, I'm like, oh, you guys know what context means?

They're all like, mm-hmm. And then I'm like, well, what does it mean?

And they're like, I don't know.

Right? So it's one of those words like, well, we're sort of familiar with it.

We know what context means. Like, it's a general word.

It gets thrown around. But it's hard to come up with a precise definition.

But when it comes to Scripture in context, what we're doing is we're determining

in any particular passage that we're trying to understand.

We're understanding what came before it and what came after it.

And how does it sit in the flow of thinking or in the flow of the narrative in particular here?

Because the Gospels, right, in the Bible, every book in the Bible was written by an author.

And authors don't just, like chat GPT now, just predicts, it's predicting text, right?

It doesn't do what it does with intention. It just is good at predicting what

it should say. That's how AI works, right?

But the human mind intends to do something.

When you go out and write, you do so with a purpose, right?

And so when Matthew set out to write the gospel of Matthew, he did so with a purpose.

He was led by the Holy Spirit such that everything that's produced is the word of God.

It's so perfect and accurate and true that we can say this is God speaking to

us. But God used the human person, Matthew, and his thinking process,

inspired by the Holy Spirit, to produce this work.

And so Matthew is telling us, he's painting a picture of Jesus so that we might,

generation after generation, be able to understand who he is.

But he's doing so in a way that he's crafting a narrative. He's doing it intentionally.

And so when we start to try to think, okay, well, what is Jesus saying,

particularly in passage like this, chapter 13 of the book of Matthew,

where we're starting to go into a section of parables, and parables can be difficult to interpret.

What we're doing is we're saying, well, what is the context?

What is the major theme that's being developed by Matthew up to this point?

And if we look back and ask the question, well, what immediately precedes the.

Immediate context of this verse right before these verses in chapter 13 come up.

The context before of chapter 13 is chapter 12 and chapter 14.

Isaiah 12 · chapter mention

What's before it and what's after it.

And the end of chapter 12, Jesus has been developing a theme and it's really

well summarized in the final verse of chapter 12, which is verse 50 and I have

it here. This was Jesus' takeaway.

Now remember it from last time we were in Matthew. He says, whoever does the

will of my father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.

So Jesus has done a lot of teaching up to this point. And thematically,

he's saying, doing the will of God makes you like my family. That's his takeaway.

And that is the context for what we're going to be reading now here in Matthew

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

chapter 13. I just want you to have that in your mind. We're going to come back to it in a second.

So Matthew chapter 13, verse 1 begins like this. On that day,

Matthew 13:1

Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea.

Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and he sat down

while the whole crowd stood on the shore.

And then he told them many things in parables, saying, Consider the sower who went out to sow.

As he sowed, some of the seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured

them. Other seed fell on rocky ground where it didn't have much soil,

and it grew up quickly since the soil wasn't deep.

But when the sun came up, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away.

Other seeds fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it.

Still other seeds fell on good ground and produced fruit. Some a hundred,

some sixty, and some thirty times what was sown.

Let anyone who has ears listen.

So, Matthew is developing a picture of Jesus' teaching ministry,

Jesus has claimed that his family,

people who are part of his ministry Connected to him are the people who obey

And then he begins immediately to go and he sits down And crowds gather around

him and he teaches in parables He teaches this parable And you're probably familiar

with it if you're kind of familiar with the Gospels It's probably Jesus'

most famous parable The parable of the sower right?

And it's this story illustrating some reality, some spiritual reality,

but through a story, through this sowing of seed into different types of soils.

And we're actually, we're not going to dig into this parable today because we're

just kind of introducing the idea of parables today.

Next week, we're going to dig into the parable because also after the verses

that we're going to look at here, starting in verse 10, Jesus goes back to the

parable and explains it to his disciples.

So next week, we'll look at the parable and Jesus' explanation of it.

For the time being, I want us to just think about this question.

Why does Jesus teach in parables? Because this is the first time he's really

doing it in such an overt way.

And it is a really good question because these little scenes that Jesus is drawing,

they're fascinating to us.

They're interesting to us. It's a novel way to teach, particularly as the way

that we normally go about learning things in our, you know, TED Talks and in

our classes that we learn online or in our classrooms at school.

Like, I've never been in an instruction environment like in my life where someone taught in parables.

Or if I did, it was somebody who was doing something very like,

oh, that's really out of the box. But Jesus uses this teaching device of parables.

But you would think, again, from my experience, and I think the disciples probably

felt this way too, as we're going to see here in a second, you think that Jesus

could have been more clear.

Like you think he could have explained himself in a clearer way than speaking in a parable.

Like if Jesus has something to say, he could have done so more directly.

And oftentimes Jesus does. I mean, we've looked at this several times throughout

the book of Matthew so far.

Jesus is really direct and he's very clear, but sometimes he chooses to use these parables.

And we just, it kind of leaves us, I think, scratching our heads and wondering why.

And we're not alone because the disciples were wondering the same thing.

Picking up in verse 10, we see them ask the question.

Then the disciples came up to him and asked, Why are you speaking to them in parables?

There it is. They didn't get it either. And he answered, Because the secrets

of the kingdom of heaven have been given for you to know, but it has not been given to them.

For whoever has, more will be given to him, and he will have more than enough.

But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.

That is why I speak to them in parables. Because looking they do not see and

hearing they do not listen or understand.

Isaiah's prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says, You will listen and listen

but never understand, and you will look and look but never perceive.

For this people's hearts have grown callous, and their ears are hard of hearing,

and they have shut their eyes.

Otherwise, they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand

with their hearts and turn back and I would heal them.

So Jesus' answer to his disciples' question, why are you doing this?

Why are you speaking in this way? Why are you teaching in parables?

It's pretty straightforward. He actually gives them two reasons.

The first is he speaks so that his disciples, the people who have found life

in him, he's talking to them.

He says, I'm speaking so that you would know the secrets of the kingdom.

Like in this words, in these words, in these parables, in these little stories,

these little word pictures, there are secrets, there are treasures,

there are good and important things hidden in them.

I think that is worth remembering. These stories, these parables,

they hold treasures and we shouldn't underestimate their power.

They are important. I think I have a slide that does that they're really valuable

and they're really important.

Just like my experience of growing up in church and being somebody who listens

to a lot of preaching in the evangelical world, whether you like that label

or not, that's kind of what we are theologically.

Evangelicals, we love Paul because Paul is super direct.

And he's very thoughtful and logical and he builds an argument and it's clear.

And we're just like, yes, you're making sense to me, Paul.

You are being just like hard hitting and direct.

But in my experience of church, I don't hear pastors teach on Jesus's parables very often.

And when I think of all Bible study, I think, oh, well, parables,

you know, I know those things, right?

What's there to know? They're little stories. And yet Jesus says,

I'm speaking these words to you, which seem opaque, which seem confusing,

which seem like not immediately relevant and clear or direct.

And Jesus says, so that you would understand the secrets of the kingdom.

So there's something here in these parables that we would be fools to ignore.

And yet it is very easy to do so because we think we know.

More than we do. And I use this quote before I can remember some,

some ancient philosopher says there's nothing more difficult than trying to

teach someone something they think they know.

Nothing more difficult than that. Jesus says, I'm giving this to you so that

you can absorb it, hear it, listen, and it will be like keys to the kingdom.

Not getting you in, not earning your way in.

I'm not talking about salvation. I'm saying like, if you want to step in and

live this kingdom life that Jesus

was all about, because that is Jesus' message, is the kingdom has come.

It's because of me, and y'all can step in, and you can know,

and you can be in fellowship with the Lord, and you can have this kind of life,

this kingdom kind of life.

He says, and if you want to have that, spend some time in the parables.

It's here. There's an invitation here for people.

So he says that it's important because the disciples need to hear it,

because there's treasures for them in there.

But you'll notice that there's a second reason that Jesus speaks in parables, he says.

And that is, it's actually meant as a means of proving the character of a person.

Whether there's someone who is going to be the type of person who's coming into

the kingdom, or they're going to be the sort of person who resists the kingdom.

And Jesus speaks this way as a means to convict those who would hear Jesus, hear the words.

Pay some attention to him, who would come with maybe some interest and some

curiosity, but hear them, but not do anything with his words.

Hear what Jesus says, but miss the point of what he's saying,

which he's saying is what's happening.

He sees that this is happening all over the place as he's confronting the scribes

and the Pharisees and other religious people.

And just like lots of people generally, he's saying lots of people are coming to me.

It's great for those who hear me and understand me because I had this open invitation,

but a lot of people think they know what I'm saying, but they're missing it.

And so he's speaking in parables to make things clear to those who are coming

in and yet also to kind of frustrate and to test the character and to prove

the character of those who are missing the point.

And see, what I think is pretty clear, the dividing line here is that parables

actually speak to the heart.

They don't speak like laws do in terms of restraining our behavior.

The parables tend to expose spiritual realities, things that are going on within me.

You know, my inward life. They're stories that seem like unrelated,

but they are actually pointing to realities that are going on inside of me.

So they don't give me simple do's and don'ts. They're not simple instructions.

It's not a three-step, you know, three steps to have a kingdom life,

you know? It's like, here's a story. Think about it.

These are the secrets of the kingdom. Parables paint a picture of the difference

between people who are moving towards Jesus, who are growing in their maturity,

in their devotion to Jesus, and those who are stagnating.

They're helping us to see where we fall and inviting us to correct the things

that we need to correct and to change the things that we need to change and

to hear what Jesus invites us to, which is something so much better than stagnation,

so much better than seed being scattered in places where it won't grow or where

it will be stolen away or will be choked out, but to thrive and to grow and

to let the word spoken to us actually bear fruit.

An invitation, it's also a condemnation, it's a warning. It's speaking to the heart.

And Jesus, what he's doing is actually a fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy.

He's speaking this way because he knows that many have and many will come to

God on the basis of their own self-righteousness,

not on the basis of faith, which is not on the basis of God's faithfulness and

an expectation and a hope that God is gonna deliver just like he always has.

They're gonna come to God on the basis of saying, well, God,

haven't I earned it? Don't I deserve it? Don't you owe this to me?

And God has always, in the Old Testament and the New Testament,

said, that's not why I'm blessing you. That's not why I'm inviting you into a relationship.

I'm inviting you into a relationship, of Israel and the New Testament church,

because I love you and I'm gracious and I'm kind and I'm faithful and I know you aren't.

And so when you try to mess with that sort of relationship that I've set up,

this kind of covenantal faithfulness of God, and you try to say,

well, I'm going to make it so that you owe me, God, and I'm going to do best

and I'm going to perform my greatest.

I'm going to really impress you and I'm going to really earn righteousness.

God just says, well, you don't understand your own heart.

I understand your own heart. I understand your own weakness.

I understand what's really going on. So you can't even mess with that stuff.

God knows that there are people who are going to see the works of God,

his faithfulness and his grace and his kindness and his invitation and his word,

but they're not going to respond in repentance.

They're not going to respond in turning towards him. They're going to respond

in trying to earn their salvation,

earn something from God, and to kind of keep the relationship at a distance

instead of throw themselves on the mercy and the love and grace that God offers his people.

They're going to hear the word of God spoken to them in Jesus,

but they won't actually do anything with it.

They're going to have callous hearts, hearts that are hardened to what God is saying.

And Jesus speaks in parables with the intention of unsettling the comfortable.

That's why he's speaking in parables, so that there might be something that

rubs them the wrong way and makes them realize, I don't think I quite get it,

if they're willing to admit that.

And what we do with Jesus' teaching is consequential. I'm not talking about salvation.

There's a whole theology of that, and that's just like, I think a lot of us

spend time worrying, am I saved? Am I not saved? I don't think that's really that.

It's a really important question. You turn to Jesus, trust in him,

you'll be saved. Full stop, okay?

But in terms of how we grow, what we do with Jesus' teaching matters.

If you want to be a satisfied Christian, a growing Christian,

a hopeful Christian, a joyful Christian, what we do with Jesus' teaching,

particularly with the parables, really matters.

If you want to follow Jesus, if you want to be kingdom-shaped,

an empowered person, then you need to pay attention.

And Jesus makes that clear. He says, there's good for you in actually heeding

my word. He says in verse 16, Blessed are you, are your eyes because they do

see, and your ears because they do hear.

For truly, I tell you, many prophets and righteous people long to see the things,

but didn't see them, and to hear the things that you hear, but didn't hear them.

So Jesus makes it very clear to his disciples that the parables have a way of

dividing and exposing us, and yet also inviting us into something good.

So how do we, people who are trying to follow after Jesus and be disciples,

how do people who want to be disciples, who want to follow after Jesus,

walk into this blessing, this blessing of knowing and hearing and listening?

How do we take Jesus up on what he's offering here?

How do we, in other words, not miss what Jesus is saying? How do we actually see him and hear him?

And I'm just going to give you actually just three quick things.

And they're sort of going to help us as we think about the parables in the upcoming

weeks and what we're going to do with them.

The first is that if we want to see Jesus, if we want to hear Jesus,

then we need to be people who intend to obey. I didn't say be people who do

obey, but intend to obey.

And I'm not trying to diminish the importance of obedience, but I am saying

that the parables speak to the heart, not to your competence, but to your heart.

I fail at so many things. Full stop.

It would be a discouragement to me to think, oh, well, I need to obey perfectly

or to a certain standard in order to walk into the kingdom and to have this

kind of life. I don't think that's it.

I think what Jesus makes clear, and we'll keep going on this if you have some questions.

I think Jesus, the divide between those who are hearing and it's not having

an effect and those who do and it is having effect is really,

I think, just down to this.

Those who hear and for whom the word has an effect, they're trying to do something with it.

Feeble as they may be, weak as you might be, as little as you might understand,

at least you come to Jesus on this basis of saying, all right,

Jesus, like, I want to listen. I want to do your will.

Jesus can work with that.

Again, I think this, and I think this very strongly because,

again, remember the context of this parable?

That's Matthew 12, 50. Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brothers and sisters.

And then he goes into this parable, and he's saying, because a lot of you guys

just don't really want to do God's will.

You want to just do your own will and think that that will be good enough for

God and that that will earn your righteousness.

He says, but you don't even understand what righteousness is.

And so you have to come on the basis of trust and a willingness to obey.

And this is fundamental for us, as we come to parables because parables are confusing.

They are sometimes difficult for us to understand. But whenever we approach

the word of God, we need to try to obey.

Eugene Peterson says this about obedience. He says, obedience,

and when it comes to reading scripture, he says, obedience is the thing,

living in active response to the living God.

The most important question we ask of any biblical text is not,

what does this mean? What?

What can I obey? A simple act of obedience will open up our lives to this text

far more quickly than any number of Bible studies and dictionaries and concordances.

And he goes on to affirm the importance of Bible studies and dictionaries.

And you got to have some understanding.

But understanding without any intention to obey will not be fruitful.

His point is, and I think it's 100% right.

And I think this is the issue that we have going on here. There are people who

are coming to Jesus all throughout his ministry, and they're really compelled

by him, and they want to learn from him.

But when it comes down to, when push comes and shoves and says,

Jesus says, well, will you really obey me?

Like, will you follow after me as Lord? They say, nah, we just want to learn

a few things from you. Like, we like your style.

We like your ideas, but you, not so much. And so there's really no intention

to obey. They are not going to come in.

If we are going to be people who receive this understanding from Jesus and have it be fruitful,

to hear and actually listen, to have the word come into our lives and bear the

fruit it's intended to do, then we need to be people who listen and who heed

and who act as much as we are able,

as much as we can hear from the Lord and have him convict us and lead us.

We need to be in that posture of a desire to obey.

I've given you this quote from Dallas Willard before. I have to.

You know, it's just the law. It says the organ of spiritual knowledge is obedience.

Just as you open your eyes to see color, you know the presence of the kingdom of God by obeying it.

You act on the knowledge that you have. In acting, you encounter the reality

of the kingdom. I think this is so accurate.

Jesus is not saying, oh, unless you obey me, I'm going to shut the door.

What he's saying is the door is wide open and you come in through this intention to obey. you come.

That's why the confession of every Christian, you begin your life in Christ

by saying, Jesus, your Lord, I repent of my sin.

I turn from me and I turn to you on the basis of your faith and like faith in

you, your grace, your kindness.

I'm going to turn from myself, my self-rule, and I'm going to give my life to

you, Jesus, and entrust myself to you so that you'll be the authority that I

obey more than my own preferences and more than my own desires.

We come to Jesus on the basis of faith that he truly is the authority,

the one who is able to speak and direct, the one whom we can safely obey and

who will take care of us simply on the basis of his kindness and his grace.

But in order to step into that kind of relationship, you have to,

like, it just doesn't make sense to confess that Jesus is Lord,

to trust in him without trusting in him. Trust involves trust.

Faith involves faith. When we say that we trust Jesus, that we're going to rely

on him, that will require, not on the basis of performance or earning,

but simply on the basis of logic, us stepping in and being willing to obey.

Jesus actually, in another parable in Matthew 21, which we're going to jump

to, Matthew 21, verse 28.

Matthew 21:28

If you want to skip ahead, you can, but I'll put it up here.

I just want to read you this because he sort of draws out what obedience looks like.

He says this, speaking to a bunch of Pharisees, he says this,

what do you think? A man had two sons.

He went to the first and said, my son, go work in the vineyard today.

And he answered, I don't want to.

But later he changed his mind and he went.

And then a man went to the other and said the same thing. I will,

sir, he answered, but he didn't go.

Which of the two did his father's will?

Well, they said, the first. And Jesus said to them, truly I tell you,

tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you.

See, Jesus was speaking to people who were concerned. They understood that God

cares about the law. God cares about righteousness.

The invitation to be a Christian is the invitation to receive from Jesus his

righteousness and to receive from Jesus his righteousness.

But that righteousness actually changes us. It does transform us.

We become, over the course of long obedience in the same direction,

of more Eugene Peterson, trusting Jesus, like it changes you.

You become a person of obedience who is becoming a person of righteousness.

But what Jesus says to these tax collectors, and these, sorry,

to the Pharisees and the scribes, right? because they were basically saying,

well, we know all about righteousness.

We're good at righteousness. We obey all the rules.

We're really good at obeying all the rules. What he's saying to them is,

yeah, like you come to me and you say, Jesus, I'm all set.

I don't need to trust you because I obey all the rules.

And you think these other people, tax collectors, prostitutes, like they're so bad off.

But what I see is this, is that there's so much, they're in the kingdom of God.

They're able to walk in and trust me. Why? Because they've said,

yeah, I'm a mess and I'm not going to fix myself, but I'm going to listen to God from now on.

I'm going to trust in Jesus. And Jesus says, those people are in the kingdom.

They're entering in before you and you're being excluded because you're trying

to come on the basis of your own righteousness, on the basis of all these things

that you think are going to impress God.

The only thing he's asking you is just to listen and obey.

Same thing he's asking the tax collector and the prostitute.

But the tax collector and prostitute knows they're a mess and you think you

have it together. You're deluded.

So Jesus cares about our obedience, but he complicates the idea of obedience.

The one who actually obeys is not the one who says, yes, absolutely.

The one who obeys is the one who sits with the word of God,

lets it do its work, and then they respond even after the fact,

even later with, okay, I'm going to be willing. I'm going to be willing.

So the second point I want to make here is, if we want to see Jesus,

if we want to hear from Jesus, particularly in the parables,

is that we need to be people who, please put it up. I'm like, how did I phrase this?

Ponder his words. Ponder, that's

the word I couldn't find. You need to be people who ponder his words.

You know, this illustration of the parable of these two sons,

you know, the first one said, absolutely,

and then just like wasn't really interested in doing the thing.

But the first son said, no. But then he considered his father.

He considered the what he was asked to do.

And he thought to himself, all right, I'll do these things.

Look, the thing about parables is that they're not clear instructions.

They're not stop doing this, definitely do this. I mean, even we think about

the parable of the sower. How do you obey that?

Well, the thing what Jesus is asking us to do as his disciples is to just sit

with his words and ponder them and let him tell us what they're about.

So as I consider the parable of the sowers, I can sit and say, I've got to be good soil.

I'm going to obey. I'm going to be good soil. What does that even mean?

I don't want to be the rocky soil. I don't want to be the weedy soil.

I don't want to be all these other things. So what do we do?

We have to take these parables and we have to sit and we have to put them in our heart.

And we have to ask ourselves this question. What does Jesus want to do with my life?

Implanted the word of the gospel, which is this free, gracious gift of salvation and eternal life.

And he said, and it's going to bear fruit as it's planted.

And so how do I do that? So like the seed is bearing fruit. I'm not bearing

the fruit. I'm just the soil.

So I have a part to play, though it's not the one doing all the work,

but I have a part to play. So, Lord, what does that mean for me?

What does that mean for me on Monday when I'm around my coworkers? They're just the worst.

What does it mean for me when my family is driving me crazy and my kids are

driving me crazy and these people on Exit 25 trying to go to Maple Valley?

Have you seen Facebook lately? Snow Call Me people?

Y'all, every single day, three

people complain about this and then the discussion is always the same.

It's all the same. Yes, new traffic pattern.

Things are difficult. Everyone's mad. We understand, right?

So, but how do I, how do I say, okay,

as I sit here in unnecessary traffic, just wanting to take a left to my home,

what does it mean for the word of God to come into my life and to me to be a

sort of person who has, is a disciple of Jesus here in this moment?

And, well, there are no instructions about driving in the Bible,

but there's so many instructions about love, joy, peace, patience,

kindness, goodness, faithfulness, the kind of things that are going to be flowing out of my life.

And I say this as somebody who occasionally lays on their horn.

So, right, I have yet to ponder enough the calling of being a person who steps

into God's words and receives it.

And lets him kind of make my life and my heart the kind of habitable place,

the environment in which the word of God, the gospel of Jesus,

can flourish the way it's called to.

And I can't just make a list or steps to how to bring that about that will be

situationally applied in every part of my life, but I can take his word and

I can take his parables, which are speaking to my heart,

and I can consider them and ask him,

Lord, what does this mean to me? What does this mean to me?

And so we're going to be stepping into, I think there's five parables here right

in a row in Matthew 13. And so like my assignment to you is to ponder them.

And you've already got the parable of the sower that we've talked about.

So this week, would you ponder?

Set some pondering time aside when you're out on your run or you're up in your

early morning coffee and just don't don't make a run to the end zone of saying, all right, Jesus.

I'm going to make a change. I'm going to do this thing. Sit with Jesus.

Let him speak these words, which are not immediately applicable, and then ponder them.

And then in a guilt-free sort of way, understanding, I'm just receiving something that you've done.

I'm not trying to perform righteousness for you. I'm just trying to be the kind

of environment where your word can grow.

Sit and just say, okay, well, Jesus, well, then like what things in your grace

and in your kindness and in your invitation, can you help me to work on?

Because there are probably habits and hangups and hurts and things that are

just in the way that I'm angry about or I'm holding on to bitterness that I'm

letting come into my life.

There's probably fear that is holding me back from trusting you with my finances,

with my marriage, with my job, with whatever the thing is.

Politics, no one has that problem.

So you can sit with the Lord and you can ask him, God, what do these words,

what is the treasure of the kingdom? Like, what is the invitation here?

What is the good thing that you want to do with your words? So what I'm asking

you to do is to stay a week ahead.

So like consider the parable of the sower now, and then I'll teach on the parable

of the sower, and then each week take a new one.

And then you kind of prepare yourself for the parable for the next five weeks,

the upcoming five weeks.

Okay, so I'm asking you to do that. And worship team is going to come up here.

The last thing I want to leave you with is to let gratitude lead.

Let gratitude take hold in your life. I was listening to a podcast interview with Ray Comfort.

I'm not sure if you guys know Ray Comfort. He's an evangelist from New Zealand.

And he began his little testimony on this podcast with, he said this.

He says, when Jesus came into my life, I exploded with gratitude and it's gotten worse over the years.

Which I just, I just love that. I just, I'm just like, oh, I want that so bad. I want that.

Like that, that is a good soil, you know, because it receives the word.

He, he, he didn't, he, he realized like he came to this point where he just

fully aware of his sin, fully aware of his brokenness.

And then he heard the gospel, which is got that covered.

Forgiveness, grace, undeserved favor,

the very kindness of God, the open invitation to step into the kingdom,

which is knowing and experiencing that God who created the whole universe sees

you even on your worst day and in your worst times and in your most shameful

moments. And he still loves you.

And he realized that and he said he exploded with gratitude and what a soil

for the gospel to grow in.

The soil just understands I'm not bringing anything, but I have received the

good seed from the sower.

His initiative, his word spoken to me. It's coming into my life.

And so it's bearing fruit. And I am just amazed that I was lucky enough to have that done for me.

That Jesus loves me.

That my Father in Heaven cares for me.

And gratitude grows.

Now, again, I don't know how to be grateful.

I don't know where the grateful switch in my heart is, but I think it is on

somewhere hidden in the pondering in considering what Jesus has done.

And so what we're going to do now is we're going to do exactly that.

We are doing communion today. I'm going to get my stuff here.

I'm asking just instructions. You guys can come up.

We're going to do a song, get the bread and the grape juice and take it back

to your seat and just ponder a little bit about what this really means.

Because this is our reminder of what Jesus did thousands of years ago.

He left heaven where he was eternally with the Father.

The Logos, the second person of the Trinity, God himself comes down,

takes on flesh, born as a baby.

I mean, talk about a rude awakening from the glories of heaven to the humiliation of a manger.

But Jesus said, I'm going to do this.

I'm going to step in as a weak person, as a vulnerable person.

I'm going to live. I'm going to demonstrate the kindness and grace of God.

I'm going to speak wisdom and life into the world and the people that I've come

to serve and to care about will hang me on a cross and kill me there.

And that is the demonstration of my love, that I love even my enemies,

and I love those who are in rebellion, and I love people who hate me and have

lived their life against me and who never consider my word and who's shut up

their ears and their hearts and they've turned away from me.

It says, and I love them so much, and I'm going to keep on offering out my love

so that they might see that I look past their sin,

and I've taken care of it, and I've forgiven it on the cross,

and that they can just come and explode with gratitude and grace and my mercy.

The whole world is going to see the kingdom of God come as they just turn,

and I'm going to do amazing things.

I'm going to bring healing and peace and restoration and joy and life change

and eternal life, and the kingdom is coming because of what Jesus has done.

And so we consider the fact that God went to endless length,

that he died and gave of himself.

He withheld nothing, even his own death and his blood and his body broken on the cross.

And he did that to demonstrate the love and forgiveness of God to you,

his creatures, his creation, even though you don't deserve it.

This is the seed, the life and death and resurrection of Jesus that we can respond

to in gratitude and seek to obey and seek to receive and hope in and put our faith in.

This is the thing that we are saying, thank you, Jesus, for doing this.

Because from this point in time, you're dealing with my heart and you're drawing

me in and you are opening up my life to me. and I want to obey you and I want

to seek after you and I want to be filled with your spirit.

And so would you go back once you've got that, would you sit and would you consider what Jesus has done?

Died on the cross, forgiveness of sin. And if that's new to you,

or maybe you feel really bad about all the things you've done and how wrong

you are, this is just a gift.

It's made no better by you feeling bad. It's no better.

In fact, gratitude and thankfulness is the way that these things grow and become fruitful.

Like if you feel like you failed and you don't obey rightly, that's perfect.

That's wonderful. There's something in your heart. There's some difficulty.

If you feel like you're not grateful enough, great, wonderful.

Come to Jesus with that. Just say, Lord, I thank you that your word implanted

is enough and that it will grow.

And I don't know what's going on in my heart, but would you just,

in your graciousness and your kindness, which you've made so clear,

would you just deal with my heart?

So would you take some time with Jesus and do that?

And if you just never have done this, if you've never just said,

all right, I want to trust in Jesus, now's a great time.

You can do that. You can trust him. You can accept his gift, his forgiveness.

And it's a beautiful thing. So that's what I got.

So let's pray. You guys, again, take it, go back to your word,

spend some time with the Lord, and then we'll come back and we'll continue to

worship. But I'm just going to pray for us.

Lord Jesus, thank you. Thank you for all the things that you're doing.

In our lives and in our church and everything that's going on,

but Lord, but we never want to get our eyes off of you.

Lord, you, Jesus, are worthy. You're worth it all. You're good.

You're kind. You're gracious, Lord.

Lord, let us explode with gratitude.

Lord, let us put off the grave clothes and realize that you are the God who is resurrected.

Lord, the God who's bringing life into even the dead things in our discouragements, Lord.

Lord, you are forgiving and washing away sin. Lord, you've done all the work required to forgive us.

So thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord.

Amen. All right.