Ears to Hear

Well, if you're just joining us, welcome.

My name's Justin, and we're starting a new series this morning, something uh that will probably take us three weeks to a month, and it's called Stories Jesus Told.

Stories Jesus Told.

Now, this is actually part of a bigger study that we've been doing all year long.

Started it back in February called Following Jesus.

We're going through the entire book of Matthew.

It should take us right through December, maybe a little bit longer.

We'll see.

But so far we're on track.

We're trying to understand Jesus better than ever before because there's no possibility of being too close to Jesus.

Can't happen.

You can't be too focused on Jesus.

Jesus cannot be too high of a priority in your life.

There's this interesting phenomenon that it's not really a psychological term officially, it's kind of pseudo-psychological, called main character syndrome.

I don't know if you've heard about this, but it's this thing that's really developed in our culture in the last 10 years where because we live in such a self-focused culture, kind of a self-obsessed culture, this main character syndrome is the idea that a lot of people have, like they're the most important person in the world.

That they're the main character of the story.

Whatever's happening in the world, they're it.

And the world just needs to see them and understand them and hear their voice.

And so maybe there's some issue going on in the world, and this person doesn't really know anything about it, doesn't have any background, no real knowledge, hasn't done any research, but they're like, I need to share my opinion, and the world needs to hear it, and I gotta share it loud.

It's this sort of phenomenon that's developed in a social media driven society in the last 10 years.

They call it main character syndrome.

Well, the reality is none of us are the main character of history.

In fact, I would argue that none of us are even the main character in our own lives.

I'm not the main character in my life.

Jesus is.

And the reason I say that is because what Jesus has done impacts my life more than what I do.

And so, my sin, for example, and this is amazing to think about, it's the grace of God.

My sin, and there's plenty of it, impacts who I am less than Jesus' goodness and his righteousness, his death on the cross, his sacrifice, his forgiveness and mercy.

That is a greater factor in who I am and where I stand with God than anything that I've done.

I'm not even the main character in my own story.

Jesus is.

There was a pastor in the 1800s in Scotland, and he had a great quote.

It's endured for all these years.

His name was Robert Murray McChain, and he said, For every look at self, take ten looks at Christ.

For every look at self, take ten looks at Christ.

For every moment that we think about ourselves and who we are and what matters to us and what our dreams are, his advice was every moment you spend doing that, take ten and focus on who Jesus is and what he desires, and what he says, and what he thinks.

When we live our lives focused on ourselves, things always go off the rails pretty quickly.

But when we live our lives and we are laser focused on Jesus, what it means to be connected to him, to know him, to have a relationship with him, to follow him, it's a whole different story.

And so this year we're just week by week zeroing in on Jesus, trying to understand him better, know him better.

I'm so excited about that.

It's been good for me.

I hope it's been good for all of you.

I believe it will be no matter what, because like I said, you can't be too focused on Jesus.

Now, as part of this following Jesus experience, we've been trying to take that literally and follow Jesus along on his journey, in his ministry, but for the last several weeks, really the last month and a half, we haven't really moved at all.

So today we actually get to move again.

Let me kind of catch all of us up so that we have our bearings.

Um, this is uh this is the part of the world we're dealing with.

You've got the Mediterranean Sea, you've got the Dead Sea there on the bottom right, and you've got the Sea of Galilee with the Jordan River connecting it.

We'll zoom in a little bit.

This is this is Israel.

And this is where Jesus lived.

This is where Jesus did his miracles, this is where he taught.

And we'll overlay the regions that made up Israel at the time of Jesus.

Some of these words might be familiar to you if you've ever read the New Testament.

Jesus traveled around and he moved all over the place, taught in different areas, did miracles in different areas, and his fame began to spread.

And what we've been doing all year long is following Jesus in his journey.

And so let's kind of catch ourselves up on where Jesus has been.

Um, he began his ministry leaving his hometown of Nazareth, and he went to a place called Bethany on the other side of the Jordan River where he was baptized.

After that, he goes to the Judean desert.

That's where he gets tempted by Satan.

He overcomes that temptation, he's victorious, and then he goes back to his hometown, but just for a very brief period of time, probably just to get his stuff, say goodbye to his family, and he moves to a village called Capernaum.

Capernaum was on the top of the Sea of Galilee.

It was a fishing village.

That's where he met many of his disciples, and then he began to travel all over Galilee, and he was teaching and he was doing miracles, and his fame began to spread.

So much so that people from all over the place came to see him.

They heard him preach this amazing message.

He he ends up crossing over the Sea of Galilee to a place called Kadarah, and there he actually uh he releases a demon from a person.

It's a crazy story.

Uh he calms a raging storm on the Sea of Galilee during that time.

Then he sends all of his disciples out.

And he sends them out to go all over the place and spread the word about him, and then he himself travels around and he's still doing miracles, he's still teaching, and then he settles down in Capernaum, and that's where we've been for the last several weeks.

Jesus just hanging out at the top of the Sea of Galilee, teaching, interacting with people, and he's been planted in that spot for quite a while.

Now, just so you know, in terms of time, what we just watched, that's the first year and a half to two years of Jesus' three-year ministry.

He began when he was 30, he's crucified at the age of 33.

And so what we just watched, what we just recapped, that's about two years.

So we have one year of Jesus' ministry left before the cross.

And it's it's gonna be a jam-packed period of time.

It's very, very busy.

But like I said, today, we haven't moved in a while, we haven't had many dotted lines to look at.

Today we get moving again.

So I'm gonna go to Matthew chapter 13, and we're actually gonna start with the end of Matthew 13 and kind of work our way back here in just a second.

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

Here's what it says: When Jesus had finished telling these stories and illustrations, put a pin in that.

Stories and illustrations.

Our theme for the next several weeks is the stories that Jesus told.

But it says, when he was finished telling these stories, he left that part of the country.

He returned to Nazareth, his hometown.

When he taught there in the synagogue, everyone was amazed and said, Where does he get this wisdom and the power to do miracles?

And then they scoffed.

He's just the carpenter's son.

And we know Mary, his mother, and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas, all his sisters live right here among us.

Where did he learn all these things?

And they were deeply offended and refused to believe in him.

And then Jesus told them a prophet is honored everywhere except in his hometown and among his own family.

And so he did only a few miracles there because of their unbelief.

Now, this is such an interesting moment in Jesus' life.

It's so fascinating.

We know that Nazareth was not a very important place.

In fact, early in Jesus' ministry, one of his disciples finds a friend of his and says, Hey, you've got to come and meet Jesus.

You've got to see Jesus of Nazareth.

And his friend says, Nazareth?

Can anything good come from Nazareth?

Nazareth did not have a good reputation.

It wasn't known to produce the best and the brightest.

And so you would think that the people of Nazareth would be so excited that one of their own has become, bar none, the most famous person in the world.

I mean, at this time, there is no one in Israel talked about more than Jesus.

And over the last two years, since Jesus had left and moved to Capernaum, they've no doubt heard story after story of Jesus.

Their Jesus doing miracles, their Jesus, even challenging the religious leaders.

There's stories of scandal, there's all of this buzz about Jesus, and now he's finally back.

But instead of being received with enthusiasm or faith or excitement, it's cynicism, it's skepticism, it's anger, it's resentment, and ultimately it's unbelief.

Now, a quick sidebar: one of my favorite things about this little mini story is the fact that the only dirt that these people have on Jesus is that he's just the carpenter's son.

I actually think that's an incredible testament to how unique Jesus is.

You know, our conviction about Jesus is that Jesus is God.

He is God in human form.

He's the son.

We think of son in sort of a biological sense, but the phrase son of in in the Hebrew language means of the same substance.

Jesus is the son of God.

And he was without sin.

Unlike us, Jesus did not sin.

So when he went to the cross to die as a sacrifice for us, he could pay the price for our sins because he didn't have to pay any price for his own.

And I think that's that's really supported by this story here where the only thing they have on Jesus is he's just the carpenter's son.

Nazareth is a small town.

If you've ever lived in a small town, people in small towns know each other.

Like how many small town people are here?

Like you grew up in a small town, everybody knew you, everybody knew your family, right?

Just imagine if you tried to claim to be God, what those people could say.

Right?

Like if I if I claimed, oh hey, I'm I'm divine, and everyone, you should follow me, like all of my friends from childhood would be like, I promise you, he is not.

Right?

I can, oh, the stories they would have.

So much dirt, so many times where I had done something wrong.

There's no one here that can say Jesus isn't the Messiah.

He's a jerk.

I grew up with him.

There's no one that can say he lied to me.

There's no one who can say he stole from me.

There's not even a guy who's like he dated my daughter.

He's not a good dude.

There's no one who has that story.

The only thing they have on Jesus is he's just the carpenter's son.

He's not that important.

I think that's truly powerful.

It's a testament that he is unique.

That's all they've got.

But why is it that why is it that these people, the people who in reality should have been the most excited about Jesus, should have been the most enthused to be with Jesus?

The people who who saw him grow up, he represents their home.

He's brought honor to the name of Nazareth for the first time in history.

Why is it that they are not excited?

Why is it that they don't have belief, that they have no faith, and they can't receive from Jesus?

And the answer is actually in one of the stories that Jesus told, one of those stories that it referenced.

So let's go back to the beginning of Matthew chapter 13.

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

Verses 1 through 17.

It says, Later that same day, Jesus left the house and sat beside the lake.

This is Jesus in Capernaum before he leaves for Nazareth.

A large crowd soon gathered around him, so he got into a boat.

Then he sat there and he taught as the people stood on the shore.

He told many stories in the form of parables, such as this one.

Listen, a farmer went out to plant some seeds.

As he scattered them across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them, other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock.

The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow, but the plants soon withered under the hot sun, and since they didn't have any deep roots, they died.

Other seeds fell among the thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants.

Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, even a hundred times as much as had been planted.

Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.

His disciples came and asked him, Why do you use parables when you talk to the people?

He replied, You are permitted to understand the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but others are not.

To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given.

And they will have an abundance of knowledge.

But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them.

That is why I use these parables, for they look but they don't really see.

They hear, but they don't really listen or understand.

And this fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah that says, When you hear what I say, you will not understand.

When you see what I do, you will not comprehend.

For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes, so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me, and let me heal them.

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

I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people long to see what you see, but they didn't get to see it.

And they long to hear what you hear, but they didn't get to hear it.

This is a turn in the ministry of Jesus.

Up to this point, he's taught a lot, and he's used parables sparingly.

He's told these little illustrative stories.

A parable is a really simple story where you put a common day occurrence, something everyone sort of understands, alongside a spiritual principle, and they they go together.

In math, we have parabolic curves, and those are curved lines that always move together.

Okay, same kind of idea.

Jesus has used parables here and there, but now he begins to exclusively teach in parables when he's out in public.

With his disciples, he'll pull the curtain back and speak more directly, but with the people, it's it's pretty much only parables from here on out, which is interesting.

And his disciples are like, why?

And there's a few different reasons.

Uh one reason is a practical reason.

Remember, if you were here for our last series, we explored how Jesus has gotten to the point in his life where he now has major opposition.

The religious leaders, they they want him dead.

Matthew chapter 12, Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath, did an incredible miracle, but it really messed them up because the leaders up, they didn't think anyone should do anything on the Sabbath.

Matthew 12 · chapter mention

And so it says in Matthew chapter 12, verse 14, the Pharisees called a meeting to plot how to kill Jesus.

Matthew 12:14

Mark gives us more details.

It says that at once the Pharisees went away and met with the supporters of Herod to plot how to kill Jesus.

The supporters of Herod were enemies of the Pharisees.

They didn't get along, they didn't see eye to eye, they didn't have the same views, but they all agreed that something had to be done about Jesus.

And so Jesus now has enemies that are looking to trap him.

Every time he teaches, every time he speaks, there's people there specifically listening for something that he says that they can use against him.

And by teaching him parables, they don't really have anything they can they can trap Jesus with.

Like it's hard to go to the authorities and say, arrest him, because you won't believe what he said about a mustard seed yesterday.

Like you won't believe it.

Like you can't really do that.

So even if they can pick up on what he's saying, it's coded and it's all sort of open for interpretation.

There's a practicality there.

But there's a deeper reason that Jesus communicates, and we'll go into detail about.

He's doing this for a very important spiritual reason.

This is what he's decided to do.

This is how he's decided to teach.

He's looking for people who are listening.

If you want to understand Jesus, you have to understand the stories that he told.

Like the key to understanding Jesus lies in understanding these stories.

And sometimes I wish Jesus would have just explained everything and laid it all out in simple terms with no stories, no metaphor, just hey, explain exactly how this works, but that's not how he does it.

And I have a responsibility as a follower of Jesus to adapt to the way that Jesus does things.

You have to adapt to those who lead you if you want to be successful.

That's just the way it works.

And so I've experienced that in my life.

I was thinking about some of the leaders I've had to adapt to in my life.

And a big chunk of my life was spent working here in a different capacity, working for the person who started our church.

His name was Steve.

Some of you guys were here in the Steve days.

I always say this, so I want to honor Steve.

Easily one of the top two pastors in the history of his hands.

No question, no argument.

Many would say second best.

I think it's that's up to what people say.

That's not for me to determine.

But Steve, definitely top two.

And so for years I worked for Steve.

He's a super successful business guy, kind of intimidating because he started a company from scratch, grew it, sold it, bought this, which used to be a Kmart, turned it into a church, started another company from scratch, grew it, sold that one, and retired.

Okay?

Not many people can do that.

And so working for Steve was intimidating because I've really never known, in many ways, a better leader.

There are certain aspects of how Steve led that I've never seen done better.

But it was tough because I wanted to impress him.

So I remember one of the first things I ever did that he had to approve.

In my early days, I did not report to Steve.

If Steve wanted to meet with me, it was because I was in trouble.

But there was this one event that I was in charge of.

I'd probably only been here for a few months, and I was tasked with designing the like the graphic that would be used to promote this event.

Because when you're a youth pastor, shout out to Madison, our youth pastor, real quick.

When you're a youth pastor, you have to be a teacher, an event planner, a marketer, a graphic designer, a video editor, a counselor.

You have to be all those things.

And so I learned how to use Photoshop because I was told I had to design this thing, and I designed it, and I remember bringing it to Steve.

I was super proud of it.

I'd worked really hard on this for like a week, and he looked at it.

There was another guy in the room.

He was quiet, and he just looked up at me and said, Well, I hate it.

And so I went back and I made another one, and eventually that one got approved.

Years later, I had been given some more responsibilities, and I found myself in charge somehow of like all the graphics here.

And Steve was pretty picky about that stuff.

And so I would meet with Steve about once a month back in the sound booth, and I'd put graphics up on the screen, and these would be the graphics we were going to use for our message series.

Um, our setup was a little different back then.

Those were a big part of our message series back in the day.

And I remember first time I was in charge of that, I found this graphic and I tweaked it and I edited it, and I cut I customized it, I was super excited about it.

I put it up on the screens, I'm sitting right back there, and Steve says, Well, I hate it.

And so I had to go back to the drawing board and find another one and do all of that.

But then I realized something about Steve and the way he's wired.

And Steve, if you're listening to this, I'm sorry.

Because I'm revealing this and it's probably gonna uh, whatever, you'll forgive me.

He's a good dude.

Um, I realized that Steve is by nature a contrarian.

It's part of what made him such a great leader, because Steve is not someone who feels a need to go along with what other people want.

There could be a hundred people who all had one opinion, and Steve would be comfortable being like, nah, we're gonna go the other way.

There was something about him that was just wired to go a different direction.

And so I realized he needs something to reject.

And if all I give him is one thing, he will reject it.

He needs options.

And so here's what I would do, and this is why I say, Steve, if you're listening or watching this, I'm so sorry, because um it might seem manipulative, and I think it kind of was, but I needed to have a job.

So, um, so here's what I would do.

When it was time to pick out graphics, I would I would pick one that I really liked and I would customize it, tweak it.

I'm like, this is the one.

This is the one we should pick.

And then I'd pick three or four others that I would just find online that were okay.

And then I'd find two that were terrible.

And I would say, Steve, I've got six images to show to you.

And he'd be like, ooh, six, okay.

And I'd always start with one of the okay ones, and he would go, like, yeah, I don't love it.

It's not horrible.

I don't love it though.

Let's see the next one.

That would be another one of the okay ones.

Yeah, maybe, I don't know.

Then one of the bad ones, oh, I hate that.

And then I'd I'd slide somewhere in the middle the one that I really wanted us to use, that I had worked on, and he'd be like, That one's got possibilities.

We'll come back to that one.

And then another one, hate it, I don't know, hate it.

And then eventually he'd sit there, he was super quiet, and he'd go, Can you show me that third or fourth one again?

And that's the one, and he'd be like, Yeah, let's go with that.

And and that's how I gamed it.

And that's how it worked, and I did that for years.

I did it for years.

Because I know that if I had only presented Steve with the one that he ended up saying yes to, if that's the only option he had, he would have rejected it.

And so I just I had to learn how to adapt to the person who was leading me if I wanted to have success.

We have to adapt to Jesus.

Now, Jesus is not Steve, and you don't have to play games with Jesus.

You can't play games with Jesus.

He'd see through that.

Um, maybe Steve saw through mine too, I don't know.

But you will never find a better leader than Jesus Christ.

There is no one who will lead you better.

And he does things differently.

And he's wired in a unique way, and it's up to us as his followers to adapt to how he does things, to how he teaches things.

And so when it comes to understanding Jesus, we may sometimes wish that he just spelled it all out clearly, and there's never any mystery.

We never have to wonder, but that's not the way he does things.

Teaches with parables and stories, and we've got to come alongside and adapt to that because there's a reason he's doing it, and it's a deeply powerful reason.

It's a spiritual reason.

Jesus is searching for listeners, for people who want more than just what Jesus can do for them, people who actually want Jesus.

At this point in his ministry, he's a miracle worker, and people come from miles around by the thousands because of what Jesus can do for them.

And many of those people choose to follow Jesus, but a lot of them are really happy to receive the momentary blessing of a healing or something else and then be on their way.

Which is a tragedy when you think about it.

They show up, Jesus, he fixes some aspect of their life that was unfixable, and they're like, thanks, and they go back and they don't give him another thought, other than, man, that was great.

But there were others who didn't just want a miracle, they didn't just want what Jesus could do for them right now.

They wanted Jesus.

They wanted to understand him.

They wanted to sit at his feet and soak up everything that he said to them, even if it was difficult.

And that's who Jesus is searching for.

He wants followers, he wants listeners, he wants people who are curious, who have a passion, an almost insatiable desire to know the Lord and to know the Lord better.

And he speaks in parables because parables, I heard a pastor say it this way once, parables don't do your thinking for you.

Parables ask you to engage, they ask you to think.

What does that mean?

And what is that about?

And how does that work?

And when our minds are doing that, when we're engaging with God in that way, it leads to a really good place.

Jesus is searching for those who really want to understand the way he puts it.

He wants those who have ears to hear.

Not everybody does.

He goes on to actually explain this parable.

We should be excited about this because there's actually not that many parables that Jesus just says, hey, here's exactly what this all means.

He says in verse 18.

Now listen to the explanation of the parable about the farmer planting seeds.

The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the kingdom and don't understand it.

Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts.

The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy, but since they don't have deep roots, they don't last long.

They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God's word.

The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God's word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth.

So no fruit is produced.

The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God's word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted.

So Jesus actually explains that the point of his parable is that no matter how the word of God is preached, no matter how the gospel, meaning the message of Jesus, is communicated, some will receive it, and some won't.

And some will receive it fully, and they'll take it in, and it'll change their lives, it'll change who they are bit by bit, slowly but surely.

Some will receive it with enthusiasm, some will receive it, and maybe it's even a major part of their life.

You basically, you know, you have four groups.

The first soil, those would be like people who are truly unteachable.

Some of you have known people like this, maybe some of you have been people like this, where you are just nothing gets in, nothing penetrates.

An unteachable person.

This would be like trying to tell a joke to someone who has no sense of humor.

It's pointless.

It could be the best joke in the world.

It's not going to land, it's going to cause offense because the person has no ability to laugh.

Some of the people listening to Jesus, in fact, often these were like the Pharisees, the religious leaders, the people who should have been the most receptive to God, or the hardest.

And they can't let anything in.

And I want to say this: look, the point of this parable ultimately is Jesus is talking to the disciples, and he's telling them that as they go out and they teach and they preach, some will receive it, some won't.

That's that's who he's speaking to.

It's about how the message is received.

But the natural tendency for any of us who who read this or hear this is to think, what soil am I?

Like that's the natural thing to wonder.

Am I first soil?

Am I third?

I want to be fourth.

Am I fourth?

Like, it's natural for us to do that, and if that's what's in your mind, or maybe I just put that in your mind, you're like, well, I thought I was good, now I'm not.

You know, if that was that, I'm sorry, didn't mean to do that, but it's natural for us to think like that.

And it's okay for us to engage with this teaching in this way, to search our own hearts.

Is anyone here unteachable?

Period.

You're not, of course you wouldn't raise your hand.

I'm just joking.

I don't think there's any, I don't think there's anyone here that's why why would you be here to hear about Jesus and to grow in your faith with Jesus if that's who you are?

And if you know someone who's like this, I think sometimes when we know the Lord, and not all of us here have decided to follow Jesus, that's totally okay.

I hope all of us do.

He's amazing, there's no one like him.

But but maybe you know someone who is first soil.

They are unteachable.

And maybe you've even tried to tell them about Jesus and it's been rejected fully, wholeheartedly.

Maybe it's someone you deeply care about.

It's a family member, it's a loved one, it's one of your children, it's a parent.

And no matter how hard you try, you've tried to witness to them, you've tried to share your faith, you've tried to show them all the good things that God has done, it's just rejected, rejected, and you're like, oh no, they have hard hearts.

Does that mean they're doomed?

Be encouraged because God can change that.

Ezekiel 36, 26.

God says, I will give you a new heart, I will put a new spirit in you, I will take out your stony, stubborn heart, and give you a tender, responsive heart.

So even someone who has a hard heart can be changed by God, but it has to be God that does it.

And that's encouraging to us to remember that we don't have the ability as people to change hard hearts.

And we can try, but there are certain things that only God can do.

And there's a bit of a warning in this that when you continually reject God and you reject God and you disobey God and you you run the other way from God, you can become hardened in your heart.

That can happen over time.

And we have to be on guard against that and be encouraged that even if it does happen and we go, wow, I'm kind of further than I ought to be, God can change that.

Okay, so that's the first soil.

Unteachable, hard-hearted people.

One of my favorite things about this church is I've yet to meet someone like that here on a Sunday, so thank you so much.

Second soil, really interesting.

These would be people who are emotionally driven in their response to Jesus.

They do respond to Jesus, they do respond to his word, to the message, but it's it's just an emotionally charged, short-lived thing.

And we all know what that's like.

Like we've all had emotionally charged, short-lived experiences in life, right?

I was a vegetarian once.

For a week.

It's true.

One week.

I was like, you know what?

It's time to get right.

Vegetables are good for you.

And I'll just eat those.

And for the first day or two, I was like enthusiastic.

I remember being at a restaurant with a friend, and I ordered only vegetables, and he was like, whoa.

And I was like proud.

Like, yeah, I'm a vegetarian.

You know, I'd been one for two days.

But I said it like, it's just how this is just how I live my life, you know?

I don't know if you guys have tasted meat.

It is so good.

And uh so that that didn't live very long, right?

How many of us have said you've started a book and you've read the first few chapters and you're excited about it, but it just kind of wanes, right?

You started an exercise routine, a diet program of some kind, some new venture you're gonna do in life, and it's like, yeah, I'm all about this.

Oh, this is hard, never mind.

Well, there's people that receive Jesus like that.

And there's a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of excitement.

Sometimes we get, I've even known people who follow Jesus for years that feel convicted sometimes.

They're like, well, that person seems more excited than me about Jesus.

And we should all be excited about Jesus, but we should also recognize that excitement is not the primary indicator in terms of how mature someone's faith is.

Excitement is awesome, but it's not the same as endurance.

And some people receive Jesus and they're excited about it because he's awesome.

I mean, why wouldn't you be excited about Jesus?

But as soon as it gets hard, as soon as they're persecuted, as soon as life doesn't go the way that they think it ought to go, maybe God doesn't answer the prayer that they they want answered a certain way, they leave.

There's no roots.

The third soil, I think, is probably the most apt for conviction because it's basically someone that receives the message of Jesus and they're like, Yeah, I love Jesus.

It's just that they don't love Jesus more than they love anything else.

Everything sort of competes equally.

And so they love Jesus, but they also love the things of this world.

And when the things of this world and God are fighting against each other, they they go with the things of this world.

There's so many, there's so many things that that applies to.

It can be our careers, people that we really love, right?

It could be youth sports.

And it's like, man, I love God, but you know, if baseball and God, if there's a tie, you know, that one wins.

And I'm not saying that to convict anyone here who has children that play youth sports.

I actually know some people that do some really interesting things, and and when they have kids and they have a tournament, um, they'll go to a different church or they'll find a Sunday evening service and they'll basically say, hey, whatever we do, we're gonna worship God on this day.

And there's a place for that.

I'm I'm just saying that there's a lot of people in this category that it's like, I love God, I just I love God like I love everything else.

And I heard a pastor put it this way once who wins, who gets the tie?

Right?

Who gets who if it's God and it's money, if it's God or it's some other experience, if it's God or what, who wins that tiebreaker?

And if we live our lives and God never wins the tie?

What does that mean?

And then there's that fourth soil.

And this is not, by the way, like a super Christian.

This is not someone who's a pastor.

This is not some, by the way, pastors are often not super Christians at all.

There, I don't think there are super Christians.

I don't think there's anyone who's more spiritual than anyone else.

I certainly am not.

My point is you don't have to be someone who works at a church or as a missionary to be a fourth soil follower of Jesus.

This is someone who receives Jesus and their heart is primed and ready.

And when they see Jesus, they see him for who he is.

They recognize that he is unlike anyone else.

They recognize that Jesus is not merely a good teacher, that Jesus isn't just a miracle worker.

They recognize that Jesus is more important than anything in this world, and everything, everything has to bow to Jesus.

Everything gets submitted to Jesus.

And they live their lives doing everything that they can just to honor the Lord and to be obedient and to be faithful to God.

And when they're in their business, they do things the right way.

When they're at home, even when they struggle and fail, there's humility and they ask for forgiveness and mercy because they recognize that their behavior has not, it's not painted Jesus in the right way because they're a representative of Jesus.

Maybe when they go play basketball at one life at noon, I don't know, on like a Wednesday, and they get into it with an 18-year-old.

Afterwards, they're like, hey, I'm really sorry because I'm a Jesus follower, and you know, you probably shouldn't talk like that to me next time, but it just I still shouldn't have said that.

And maybe.

But these are just people who love Jesus.

And they love Jesus so much that they will never stop adjusting their lives to better follow Jesus.

That when something is off, they go, ooh, that's off.

How do I change that?

What do I do?

And even if it takes years to figure that out, they will never stop trying because Jesus wins and everything must bow to Jesus, and everything has to work around Jesus because he is everything.

And man, I want to be that person.

And I'm sure all of us do.

Like anyone here going, man, I really think that second soil sounds fun.

Like, is there anyone here that has like, we should change our name to Second Soil Church?

And we just try to make every Sunday exciting.

Every Sunday is just like, yes, awesome.

Emotions, emotions, emotions, but no depth.

No.

Or third soil, I like I would love to just Jesus among some other things.

You know?

No, the desire of our heart is to be fourth soil people.

And and sometimes we ask ourselves, am I that person?

And it's okay to ask that question.

What is not okay is to let Satan try to accuse you and tell you you're not.

So, like, if you hear that, like, okay, Lord, is that you?

Is this you convicting me and saying, hey, some things need adjusted?

But what's funny is that if that's your heart and you're like, do I need to make any adjustments, Lord?

That's probably indicative of a fourth soil heart.

Because you want to.

Jesus is reminding us in this story that the reason that the people of Nazareth couldn't receive him, that the reason that they rejected him is they just did not have hearts that were ready to receive.

Jesus is who he is, unashamedly so.

And as churches, what we, I mean, the churches all over the world have to do is just present Jesus as he is, unashamed, unafraid.

We don't have to mess with Jesus, we don't have to like alter Jesus to make Jesus more palatable to the world.

We don't have to try to tweak the seed, so to speak, in the story.

Not at all.

This is Jesus, this is who he is, take him or leave him, but he is everything, he is amazing.

And then what we have to do as people is examine our hearts and say, Lord, give me a soft heart.

Give me ears to hear.

Give me ears to hear.

Worship team, you guys can make your way up as we wrap up.

I want to share just a few things that that help us maintain that soft heart.

Again, the point of this parable is not so much, hey, be careful, because you could be third soil or second.

That's not, Jesus is talking to his disciples about when they go out and preach, this is what they're going to encounter.

But as people who hear it, it is natural, like I said, for us to go, well, which one am I?

We want to be that fourth soil, we want to have soft hearts, and and we probably do, but there are things we can do just to maintain that, so that at every season of life our hearts are in the right place to receive and to experience that deep relationship with God.

So a few things really quickly as we wrap up.

Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12 says, For the word of God is alive and powerful.

Hebrews 4:12

It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, the cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow, it exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.

The word of God can penetrate the heart.

And so if you want to be someone who just constantly maintains this soft heart that's that's just locked in with God, it isn't about having to necessarily do all the right things all the time.

It's not about just, man, I'm I march and I do everything right and I'm perfect.

No one is.

But if you spend significant time reflecting on the word of God, if you spend time reading scripture, listening to it, there's amazing apps, by the way, that you can, there's a great app called Dwell.

If you've never heard of Dwell, you can just listen to the Bible as you drive.

You can even choose the accent of the person who like gives you, it's great.

You want to hear Jesus talked about in a British accent, go for it.

Australian, they've got it.

Dutch, sure, why not?

Right?

It's amazing.

Um, you can just listen to scripture and this the word of God, the truth of God, it penetrates your heart.

And it can sort of stir you.

It's like it tills the soil.

And so I found in my life that the further I am from Scripture, the further I am from really focusing on the Lord, from a mind that's thinking about God, the more I'm focused on the world, the more I'm into news and what's happening in the world around me, that stuff's all fine and good.

But the further I get from spending time reflecting on God's word, you know, my heart's just not in the right place.

But if you're in the word, it just has that tendency.

It tills the soil, it stirs you.

And sometimes it's a conviction, oftentimes it's an encouragement.

But I would just challenge all of us, hey, be in the word.

Not out of guilt, not out of shame, not because if you don't read the Bible every day, no, none of that, but because it's good for you, like it it softens your heart.

So be in scripture.

And like be here.

Because one of the nice things is that every Sunday, you know, we're gonna open up scripture.

We're gonna read a lot of scripture every Sunday.

But in your own life, between Sundays, open up God's word.

It doesn't have to be chapter after chapter, it could be a few proverbs, it could be a psalm, it could be.

I have a really good friend, and he reads a proverb every day, because there's 31 chapters of Proverbs, you can read a chapter of Proverbs each day of the month.

He reads that, and he at least reads a chapter of the gospels because he's like, I need that wisdom in my life, and I never want to be far from reflecting on Jesus.

And he adds to that, but his base is just a chapter of Proverbs, that takes five minutes to read, and at least one chapter from one of the gospels, because he just wants to be with Jesus.

Okay, so scripture.

Number two is just saying yes to God.

Nothing will soften your heart like obedience, especially when it's God prompted.

Like when God leads you to do something, maybe there's an act of generosity.

You know, you have some extra cash in your pocket and you see someone who that would mean more to them than it means to you, and you just feel that pull, hey, give it.

When you do that, when you're just like, Lord, if this is you, I won't.

If it is, I want to.

If you obey, oh.

Like that softens your heart.

I was working on the message last night.

Um, not because I'm a procrastinator, um, not at all.

But last night I'm I'm just putting the final touches on it.

And uh as I'm as I'm writing, my kids are kind of used to this.

That's Saturday night.

I kind of lock in for a while, and my two youngest came to me and said, Dad, dad, dad, can we can you come outside and play baseball with us?

Like, can we play baseball?

And uh I didn't really want to.

I'm being honest.

You know, I love my kids, I spent a lot of time with my kids, but you know, you're tired, your energy levels are different than like an eight-year-old, and it's hot outside, and you've just gotten into a flow, like you're just you're doing the thing you're supposed to do, and it's it's like clicking in there, but they're standing there and I'm looking at these boys, and I'm I'm about to say no, but it hits me.

Like, how much longer are they gonna want me to play baseball with them?

Probably not that much longer.

And every time they come to me and say, Dad, will you spend time with us?

And I say no, over time their desire to spend time with me will lessen.

And so I'm like, let's go, let's do it.

And I whooped them in baseball.

And I know actually, no, they they did really we had fun.

Baseball's not like our family's sport, it's our fun sport.

And we were having fun in the backyard.

We did it for probably 30 minutes, it was great, it was awesome.

And so, what do I do when God prompts my heart to spend time with him?

And obviously, no metaphor is perfect, no analogy is perfect.

God will never want to spend less time with you.

It's not like if God says, hey, be with me, like, let's come on, pray, let's spend time together, and you say no, that eventually God's like, well, I don't want to anymore.

God is not an eight-year-old child.

That's a good thing.

But just the way that relationships work, the more you push someone away, the further away you are, or at least the further away you feel.

And so if you want to have that maintained, soft heart that's receptive to what God has, then when you feel God prompts you, say yes.

Turn off the TV, put the phone down, pray.

Listen, just be quiet and say, Lord, do you have something you want to share with me?

Is there something I need to know?

Put on some worship music and just be in his presence and worship him.

Like worship him.

Worship him on a Tuesday at 4 p.m.

See what happens.

One final.

Proverbs 423 says, Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.

The condition of our heart matters.

And there are a lot of things in this world that would desire to pull our hearts away from God.

And again, the encouragement is always, Ezekiel 36, 26, God can change our hearts.

So even if our heart has been negatively affected, even if we've allowed the influence of the world to sort of harden our hearts because we've allowed things in, we've thought on things that aren't good, that aren't holy, that aren't right, that aren't healthy, and it's sort of twisted the way we see the world, God can change that.

But only God can change that, and we need to ask Him to help us change that sometimes.

But we're supposed to live with guarded hearts.

My heart belongs to Jesus.

And I'm not going to share that heart with anything else.

Sometimes I'm tempted to.

Sometimes I fail.

But if we live with not fear, not paranoia, but a wise, careful approach.

Approach to what we allow into our lives, that's what it means to guard your heart.

To say that my heart belongs to the Lord, and so I'm not going to spend time, I'm not going to waste time allowing lesser things to influence me.

Even if it's funny, even if it's trendy, even if it's exciting, my heart belongs to the Lord.

So I'm going to guard it.

If you guard your heart, if you spend time allowing the word of God to penetrate your heart, to stir your heart, if when prompted, you say yes to God and obey Him, that's just what a soft heart looks like.

And Jesus says that, man, when that's the condition of your heart, whatever God puts in your life grows and grows in abundance.

You grow in wisdom, you grow in love, you grow in discernment.

It's powerful.

And so pray, Lord, soften my heart.

Make me a person, God, that has ears to hear.

If there's anything that clogs my ears, unclog them.

If there's anything that's blind in my sight, remove it.

Because I want to have ears to hear, Jesus.

I want to be that person that is so curious and so passionate about you that I'm sitting at your feet.

I'm not there just because of what you can do for me.

I want you, and I'm here to listen.

I'm here to learn.

I'm here to engage.

So tell me whatever story you want to tell me, and I will think about it.

I'll obsess over it.

I'll wrestle with it because I want it to change me.

I want you to change me.

If that's where we're at, guys, oh my goodness.

How pleased God is with a heart like that.

We're going to wrap up before we have a couple more baptisms by taking Lord's Supper.

And if uh if you didn't know about this, if you're new on the tables in the back, we have little cups.

We do this every week.

Every week.

We've done this every week for as long as I can remember.

Um, but you're free to go grab a cup if you didn't grab one on the way in.

You're not gonna mess anything up with that.

You know, one of the things that Jesus said, I'm gonna go back to Matthew chapter 13, verses 9 through 13.

Matthew 13:9–13

He said, Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.

His disciples came and asked him, Why do you use parables when you talk to people?

He replied, Well, you are permitted to understand the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but others are not.

That phrase, secrets of the kingdom, the Greek word there means mysteries.

And it's interesting, we think about mysteries often like a mystery to be solved.

It's like you're playing the board game clue and you're trying to figure out who did it where, whatever.

But that's not what the biblical word for mystery means.

That word is it's really unique, it means something that is completely unintelligible until it is revealed to you.

It's not a secret or mystery that you can work out yourself.

It's not something you can figure out on your own.

It is something that has to be revealed to you.

And once it's revealed to you, it's like you're you'll always see it.

Every Sunday when we take Lord's Supper, if we have ears to hear, we are actually partaking in one of the most powerful mysteries, one of the most beautiful revealed secrets in the history of the world.

Because to someone who's never had it revealed to them, this might just be a really silly ritual where we eat a tiny piece of bread and we take a tiny little sip of juice.

Like, what is that about?

Or even if someone knows that this is about Jesus dying on the cross, they would look at that as a failure.

I mean, it's just a failed prophet.

That's how many in Jesus' day saw him, right?

Oh, let's see what became of Jesus.

Oh, there he is on a cross.

He's dying, he failed.

But if you have ears to hear and eyes to see, you recognize that this represents the most powerful moment of victory.

Where sin was defeated by love and forgiveness, where death was defeated by power and might.

This is the God of the universe sacrificing himself to save lowly people, like me and you.

And every single time that we take this meal together, we are participating in a beautiful mystery.

That the God of this universe loves us so much that he gave his life to save us from our sin.

And so with that in mind, and with ears to hear, let's take this bread and let's reflect on what this really means.

Let's let's explore this beautiful mystery.

Father, we thank you for this bread.

In and of itself, Lord, this bread is nothing.

It's I don't even think I'm holding a single calorie in my hand.

Can't really do much for my body.

But for my spirit, Lord, this represents the life of your son Jesus.

Jesus, there is no one like you.

There's no one who comes close to you, and you deserve all the worship, you deserve all the praise in this world, Lord.

And in my mind, you belong on some mountaintop, and I belong at the bottom in the valley, doing my best just to look up and recognize how much greater you are than me.

But in this moment, Lord, I take you in.

And you're part of me, and we're one.

And I don't understand how all that works, Lord, but it is a it is a beautiful mystery.

It is a powerful story, and I'm so glad it's part of mine.

Let's take the bread.

Lord, we thank you for this cup of juice.

Thank you for what it represents.

This is the blood of your son.

Jesus, this is your blood.

And Lord, you reveal to us through this moment just how far you're willing to go for the people that you love.

You never stop forgiving us.

You never stop giving us second chances.

You never stop making your mercies new.

We thank you for that, Lord.

It doesn't always make sense, but mysteries often don't.

But through this, Lord, you reveal to us that we're yours.

We have been purchased with your blood.

And now we are free and forgiven.

We love you, Lord.

Let's take this.