At the Feet of the Master
Scripture Reading: Matthew 13:1-23
1 On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea. 2 And great multitudes
were gathered together to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat; and the whole multitude
stood on the shore.
3 Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to
sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured
them. 5 Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they
immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. 6 But when the sun was up
they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. 7 And some fell
among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. 8 But others fell on good ground
and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears to
hear, let him hear!”
10 And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”
11 He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For whoever has,
to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even
what he has will be taken away from him. 13 Therefore I speak to them in parables,
because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14
And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:
‘ Hearing you will hear and shall not understand,
And seeing you will see and not perceive;
15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull.
Their ears are hard of hearing,
And their eyes they have closed,
Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should heal them.’
16 But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; 17 for assuredly, I
say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not
see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
18 “Therefore hear the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word of the
kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what
was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. 20 But he who
received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives
it with joy; 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when
tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. 22 Now he
who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world
and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. 23 But he who
received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who
indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”
Two weeks ago we talked about the u-turn that is required as a new believer
comes to faith. Last week we spoke of us as a branch from the wild olive tree
being grafted into the cultivated olive tree that is cultivated because of faith and
obedience. This week we follow along in the natural progression. Our scripture
reading begins with Yeshua at the beach. All these people had come to hear Him
speak so He got into a boat just offshore so He could address the people. He
begins with a parable that you likely heard many times; the parable of the sower.
This sower goes out and sows seed. Some by the wayside, some on stony
ground, some among thorns, and some on good soil. He tells the outcome of
each but then leaves it at that. I'm sure there were people in the crowd that just
turned and looked at each other as if asking what in the world that means. Even
His disciples must have looked at each other with some confusion. So much so
that one of His disciples asked why He spoke to the people in parables. His
response is a difficult one to understand. He says that the mysteries of the
kingdom have been given to the disciples but not to them. He also says that
whoever has, more will be given and whoever doesn't have, even that which he
has will be taken from him. This doesn't seem fair to our human mind. We have a
'Robin Hood' mentality that expects that those who have an abundance should
give to those who have little so everyone can have an equal amount but this quite
obviously goes against what Yeshua each teaching us her. We'll get back to this
in just a bit.
The next thing Jesus does is quote from Isaiah to explain why it is this way, but
even this is hard to understand. It seems that He doesn't want them to see or
hear or understand, but why? You would think He would want everyone to get it.
Scripture is clear that God does not want that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9).
However, scripture is also clear that without faith it is impossible to please God
(Hebrews 11:6). You must have faith. Somehow, I believe, there is a lack of faith
here. It's a bit like when it says that God harden pharoah's heart; pharoah had to
first harden his own heart. I believe that their blindness, deafness, and lack of
understand was something they had brought onto themselves first and God was
just honoring their choice. God is a gentlemen, so to speak. He won't force His
will on anyone. I was listening to Ravi Zacharias recently and heard a quote that
seems to fit here. I don't know who the quote is from so I can't give them credit.
"There are two kinds of people. Those who say to God, 'Thy will be done.' and
those to whom God says, 'Alright then. Have it your way!'"
So, then Yeshua explains the parable to His disciples. The seed the sower was
sowing was the word. The seed that fell by the wayside was word that is heard but
not understood. The seed that falls on stony ground is that which is heard with
joy but because there is no root in him, when the going gets tough he stumbles.
The seed the falls among thorns is that which is heard but the troubles of this
world choke it out so it can't do anything. For our discussion today we'll be
looking at these first three scenarios and comparing them to the seed that falls on
good soil and becomes profitable. It is not an accident that Jesus quotes the
words of Isaiah about them not seeing, hearing, or understanding in the middle of
this parable. It's like a parable, within a parable, referencing the parable.
Let's consider this, what was the difference between those people in the crowd
listening to the parable, and the disciples? The only difference I see is this; their
proximity to the Master. The disciples had come close enough to sit at the
Master's feet to ask questions, whereas those in the crowd were satisfied just
being nearby. The disciples had made the sacrifices required to focus on their
relationship with Him while those in the crowd had not. They wanted to see want
He had to offer them and still be able to go back to their homes and jobs and lives
without sacrificing anything. Let's take a look at how two followers acted very
differently in the presence of Yeshua.
Luke 10:38-42
38 Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha
welcomed Him into her home. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the
Lord's feet, listening to His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with all her preparations;
and she came up to Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all
the serving alone? Then tell her to help me."
41But the Lord answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered
about so many things; 42 but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good
part, which shall not be taken away from her."
You see, Yeshua does not commend the sister that is working so hard to try to
serve the Master. He commends the sister that has seemingly cast off her
responsibility to do what many would see as being lazy. She had her priorities
straight. She did not let the worries of the day become thorns in her soil. She
focused on gaining understanding and Jesus said that it was the one thing that
was necessary and that she had chosen wisely. Have you chosen wisely? What
have you given up to sit at His feet? I said we would get back to that whole point
of more being given to those who have already and this fit perfectly into that. If
you take the time understand all you can on a natural level, He will give you more
on a supernatural level. But if you don't take the time to understand, even that
which you thought you understood will be taken from you. Do you know how many
born again teenagers go off to college or out into the world and lose their faith?
Statistics vary from 50-70% of them no longer claim to be born again and have
stopped going to church by three or four years out of high school. Why? I believe
it's because they never had any real understanding. They never sacrificed a
thing to sit at the Master's feet. They skated along on what was really their
parents' faith and not their own, so as the parable explained, the word they
thought they had was taken from them.
Here's where I think a good part of the problem comes in. Many consider
themselves believers because they had a feeling at some point. Maybe it was in
some kind of worship service, maybe at a church retreat, or at a Christian
concert. So, they had this feeling stir within them and responded. Most people
tend to react and respond to what they feel; to their emotions. But what will
happen when your feelings and emotions change? What happens when you feel
what you feel in the backseat of a car with someone whose not your spouse? Or
when your college professor starts coming against the things the things you thinks
you believe and makes you feel completely stupid for believing them? How about
when someone makes you so mad you feel like killing them? Do you follow your
emotions then? The fact is that believers are not supposed to be led by their
feelings. It says in 2 Corinthians 5:7, For we walk by faith, not by sight. Do you think
Abraham felt like taking Isaac up to the mountain believing he would be sacrificing
him there? No, but he did it by faith; not by feeling, not by emotion.
So many new believers come to what they call faith because of their emotions and
unfortunately many let those emotions take them away from faith just as easily.
There are a bunch of emotional believers that like the parable said, have no root
in them so when the storms of life come, they fall away. So what is the root that
they're missing? Revelation 22:16, “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these
things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning
Star.” Yeshua is that Root, without which we will easily stumble. Part of the
trouble is that in many ways the focus has be on getting people to have that
feeling and convert; to become Christians, to come to church, to come down the
aisle, but then what? Is this what Jesus told us to do?
Matthew 28:18-20
18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in
heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe
all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the
age.” Amen.
Jesus didn't tell us to go make converts. He told us to go make disciples. Disciple
means student; someone who learns. Remember the parable, those by the
wayside heard the word but had no understanding. They were like the people in
the crowd who heard but did not make the necessary sacrifice to come to the feet
of the Master to get understanding. Like Martha who was in the house with the
Creator of the Universe yet she was so focused on the trivial things of life that she
could have missed her chance to gain understanding from Him. Jesus told her
that Mary had chosen the one thing that was important; getting understanding.
Are we getting understanding? We've been discussing starting up a new ministry
class. The word 'talmidim' is the Hebrew word for disciple, so I'd like to do a
'Talmidim Night'. It's going to be either Tuesday night after Bible Study or
Wednesday night. I'd like to start this week if there's enough interest. We'll not
only be focusing on why we believe what we believe but also discussing different
world views we'll likely come across and how to witness to them. It will be in a
format where like the disciples of the Master, questions will be encouraged. What
Yeshua says is important should be what we make important.
Proverbs 16:16, How much better to get wisdom than gold!
And to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.
Proverbs 4:5-9
5 Get wisdom! Get understanding!
Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth.
6 Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you;
Love her, and she will keep you.
7 Wisdom is the principal thing;
Therefore get wisdom.
And in all your getting, get understanding.
8 Exalt her, and she will promote you;
She will bring you honor, when you embrace her.
9 She will place on your head an ornament of grace;
A crown of glory she will deliver to you.”
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: March 11, 2007
Scripture Reading: Matthew 13:1-23
1 On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea. 2 And great multitudes
were gathered together to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat; and the whole multitude
stood on the shore.
3 Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to
sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured
them. 5 Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they
immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. 6 But when the sun was up
they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. 7 And some fell
among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. 8 But others fell on good ground
and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears to
hear, let him hear!”
10 And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”
11 He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For whoever has,
to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even
what he has will be taken away from him. 13 Therefore I speak to them in parables,
because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14
And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:
‘ Hearing you will hear and shall not understand,
And seeing you will see and not perceive;
15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull.
Their ears are hard of hearing,
And their eyes they have closed,
Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should heal them.’
16 But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; 17 for assuredly, I
say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not
see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
18 “Therefore hear the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word of the
kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what
was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. 20 But he who
received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives
it with joy; 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when
tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. 22 Now he
who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world
and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. 23 But he who
received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who
indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”
Two weeks ago we talked about the u-turn that is required as a new believer
comes to faith. Last week we spoke of us as a branch from the wild olive tree
being grafted into the cultivated olive tree that is cultivated because of faith and
obedience. This week we follow along in the natural progression. Our scripture
reading begins with Yeshua at the beach. All these people had come to hear Him
speak so He got into a boat just offshore so He could address the people. He
begins with a parable that you likely heard many times; the parable of the sower.
This sower goes out and sows seed. Some by the wayside, some on stony
ground, some among thorns, and some on good soil. He tells the outcome of
each but then leaves it at that. I'm sure there were people in the crowd that just
turned and looked at each other as if asking what in the world that means. Even
His disciples must have looked at each other with some confusion. So much so
that one of His disciples asked why He spoke to the people in parables. His
response is a difficult one to understand. He says that the mysteries of the
kingdom have been given to the disciples but not to them. He also says that
whoever has, more will be given and whoever doesn't have, even that which he
has will be taken from him. This doesn't seem fair to our human mind. We have a
'Robin Hood' mentality that expects that those who have an abundance should
give to those who have little so everyone can have an equal amount but this quite
obviously goes against what Yeshua each teaching us her. We'll get back to this
in just a bit.
The next thing Jesus does is quote from Isaiah to explain why it is this way, but
even this is hard to understand. It seems that He doesn't want them to see or
hear or understand, but why? You would think He would want everyone to get it.
Scripture is clear that God does not want that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9).
However, scripture is also clear that without faith it is impossible to please God
(Hebrews 11:6). You must have faith. Somehow, I believe, there is a lack of faith
here. It's a bit like when it says that God harden pharoah's heart; pharoah had to
first harden his own heart. I believe that their blindness, deafness, and lack of
understand was something they had brought onto themselves first and God was
just honoring their choice. God is a gentlemen, so to speak. He won't force His
will on anyone. I was listening to Ravi Zacharias recently and heard a quote that
seems to fit here. I don't know who the quote is from so I can't give them credit.
"There are two kinds of people. Those who say to God, 'Thy will be done.' and
those to whom God says, 'Alright then. Have it your way!'"
So, then Yeshua explains the parable to His disciples. The seed the sower was
sowing was the word. The seed that fell by the wayside was word that is heard but
not understood. The seed that falls on stony ground is that which is heard with
joy but because there is no root in him, when the going gets tough he stumbles.
The seed the falls among thorns is that which is heard but the troubles of this
world choke it out so it can't do anything. For our discussion today we'll be
looking at these first three scenarios and comparing them to the seed that falls on
good soil and becomes profitable. It is not an accident that Jesus quotes the
words of Isaiah about them not seeing, hearing, or understanding in the middle of
this parable. It's like a parable, within a parable, referencing the parable.
Let's consider this, what was the difference between those people in the crowd
listening to the parable, and the disciples? The only difference I see is this; their
proximity to the Master. The disciples had come close enough to sit at the
Master's feet to ask questions, whereas those in the crowd were satisfied just
being nearby. The disciples had made the sacrifices required to focus on their
relationship with Him while those in the crowd had not. They wanted to see want
He had to offer them and still be able to go back to their homes and jobs and lives
without sacrificing anything. Let's take a look at how two followers acted very
differently in the presence of Yeshua.
Luke 10:38-42
38 Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha
welcomed Him into her home. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the
Lord's feet, listening to His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with all her preparations;
and she came up to Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all
the serving alone? Then tell her to help me."
41But the Lord answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered
about so many things; 42 but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good
part, which shall not be taken away from her."
You see, Yeshua does not commend the sister that is working so hard to try to
serve the Master. He commends the sister that has seemingly cast off her
responsibility to do what many would see as being lazy. She had her priorities
straight. She did not let the worries of the day become thorns in her soil. She
focused on gaining understanding and Jesus said that it was the one thing that
was necessary and that she had chosen wisely. Have you chosen wisely? What
have you given up to sit at His feet? I said we would get back to that whole point
of more being given to those who have already and this fit perfectly into that. If
you take the time understand all you can on a natural level, He will give you more
on a supernatural level. But if you don't take the time to understand, even that
which you thought you understood will be taken from you. Do you know how many
born again teenagers go off to college or out into the world and lose their faith?
Statistics vary from 50-70% of them no longer claim to be born again and have
stopped going to church by three or four years out of high school. Why? I believe
it's because they never had any real understanding. They never sacrificed a
thing to sit at the Master's feet. They skated along on what was really their
parents' faith and not their own, so as the parable explained, the word they
thought they had was taken from them.
Here's where I think a good part of the problem comes in. Many consider
themselves believers because they had a feeling at some point. Maybe it was in
some kind of worship service, maybe at a church retreat, or at a Christian
concert. So, they had this feeling stir within them and responded. Most people
tend to react and respond to what they feel; to their emotions. But what will
happen when your feelings and emotions change? What happens when you feel
what you feel in the backseat of a car with someone whose not your spouse? Or
when your college professor starts coming against the things the things you thinks
you believe and makes you feel completely stupid for believing them? How about
when someone makes you so mad you feel like killing them? Do you follow your
emotions then? The fact is that believers are not supposed to be led by their
feelings. It says in 2 Corinthians 5:7, For we walk by faith, not by sight. Do you think
Abraham felt like taking Isaac up to the mountain believing he would be sacrificing
him there? No, but he did it by faith; not by feeling, not by emotion.
So many new believers come to what they call faith because of their emotions and
unfortunately many let those emotions take them away from faith just as easily.
There are a bunch of emotional believers that like the parable said, have no root
in them so when the storms of life come, they fall away. So what is the root that
they're missing? Revelation 22:16, “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these
things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning
Star.” Yeshua is that Root, without which we will easily stumble. Part of the
trouble is that in many ways the focus has be on getting people to have that
feeling and convert; to become Christians, to come to church, to come down the
aisle, but then what? Is this what Jesus told us to do?
Matthew 28:18-20
18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in
heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe
all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the
age.” Amen.
Jesus didn't tell us to go make converts. He told us to go make disciples. Disciple
means student; someone who learns. Remember the parable, those by the
wayside heard the word but had no understanding. They were like the people in
the crowd who heard but did not make the necessary sacrifice to come to the feet
of the Master to get understanding. Like Martha who was in the house with the
Creator of the Universe yet she was so focused on the trivial things of life that she
could have missed her chance to gain understanding from Him. Jesus told her
that Mary had chosen the one thing that was important; getting understanding.
Are we getting understanding? We've been discussing starting up a new ministry
class. The word 'talmidim' is the Hebrew word for disciple, so I'd like to do a
'Talmidim Night'. It's going to be either Tuesday night after Bible Study or
Wednesday night. I'd like to start this week if there's enough interest. We'll not
only be focusing on why we believe what we believe but also discussing different
world views we'll likely come across and how to witness to them. It will be in a
format where like the disciples of the Master, questions will be encouraged. What
Yeshua says is important should be what we make important.
Proverbs 16:16, How much better to get wisdom than gold!
And to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.
Proverbs 4:5-9
5 Get wisdom! Get understanding!
Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth.
6 Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you;
Love her, and she will keep you.
7 Wisdom is the principal thing;
Therefore get wisdom.
And in all your getting, get understanding.
8 Exalt her, and she will promote you;
She will bring you honor, when you embrace her.
9 She will place on your head an ornament of grace;
A crown of glory she will deliver to you.”
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: March 11, 2007
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