Listen Up! (part 1)
Luke 8:1-15 ·June 25, 2023· Joel Passmore
Part of: Luke, Listen Up!
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Good morning again. My name is Joel, in case you don't know that already, serving you all gladly as your pastor. We are in a sermon series on Luke. We're moving into chapter 8 this week. This chapter, it opens with a little mini theme on hearing. Just look how many times you see the word hear in this passage, and it's going to come up next week too. So a little mini theme on hearing this week and next. I can tell, and I'm sure you can tell, when someone is not really listening to you. It's pretty obvious. Teenagers, you may want to just take note of that. We can tell when you're not listening. Adults, you can tell when someone's checked out. The glaze look, even when they're still looking at you, the glaze look on their face. How many times a week do you think someone asks you, are you listening to me? I mean, I know I got asked it several times yesterday.
Nikki will ask me that often. Sometimes we say, yeah, yeah, yeah, of course. And then the question comes back, well, then what did I say? And that's when you try your best to kind of piece together the little bit that you heard into a coherent thought and hope that you convince someone that you were really listening to them, right? Now, here's the thing. Jesus also asks us, are you listening to me? He doesn't really need, though, to follow up and say, well, then what did I say?
He just, he can just look at our lives and tell whether we're listening to him. Because listening to him, if we're really listening, it should show up, to show up in our lives. Now, as I said, this passage is about hearing and so is the next passage next week. And it's a challenge. It's a challenge to evaluate ourselves, to see, are we really paying attention? Are we truly hearing God? But it's also an invitation. Don't miss the invitation. It's also an invitation to eagerly, eagerly, quickly go to Jesus and to hold fast to his word. If you, if you find that you haven't been listening, it's not too late. Start listening. Go to Jesus. So it's also a gracious invitation for us. Turn with me to Luke 8.
It'll be, it's in your bulletin. It's up on the screen behind me. This is the very word of God for us. It's true. It has authority. It's trustworthy because that is what God is. That is who God is. And he gave this to us. So let's pay attention. Soon afterward, he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the 12 were with him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities. Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out. And Joanna, the wife of Chusa, Herod's household manager, and Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their means. And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable, a sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot. And the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock. And as it grew up, it withered away because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns.
And the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold. As he said these things, he called out, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, he said, to you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God. But for others, they are in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand. Now the parable is this, the seed is the word of God.
The ones along the path are those who have heard, and then the devil comes, takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root. They believe for a while, and in a time of testing, fall away. And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life. And their fruit does not mature. As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.
Pray with me. Lord, it is only by your power and your spirit working in us that we can be the good soil. So, we are utterly dependent on you, Lord. Help us today to receive your word eagerly. Bear fruit in our lives. Help us to come to you, either for the first time or in new ways, to come to you humbly, to receive your word, and to follow you. Jesus, do good things, great things, bear new life in us. That's the work only you can do, and we need it.
Jesus, thank you. We pray this in your name. Amen. Okay, so here's the title of today's sermon. Listen up. Part one. Here's the main point of the text. New life comes only when we get close to Jesus and diligently receive his word. New life comes only when we get close to Jesus and diligently receive his word. Now, this passage, it doesn't start immediately with teaching. It starts with a summary of Jesus' work and his followers. But what happens in verses 1 through 3 is Luke gives the most space to some of the women who are following Jesus, who are among his disciples.
So I want to take a moment to highlight this. The example of the women. In this time, it was very common for a rabbi to travel from town to town and to teach in synagogues. And most rabbis would have an entourage of disciples with them, following around with them. But it was unheard of for this group of disciples to include women. In this culture, women had very little social standing on their own, sadly. Their social standing was derived from their husband, if they were married, or from their children, if they had children.
To leave home and to travel and learn from a rabbi would be preposterous, maybe even scandalous. But rather than hide what might have been controversial to the first readers of this gospel, Luke highlights it. He brings it to the forefront. All right. Luke wants us to see that theme in his gospel that I've already talked about, that God's grace comes to humble outsiders, including in this culture to women who are oftentimes marginalized. God's grace comes to humble outsiders.
If you have ever found yourself, for any reason, thinking that you, you're feeling like you're an outcast, an outsider, Jesus sees you like he sees these women. And he wants you to respond just like these women have responded. And Luke wants us to take note of their discipleship. They've come from many different places in society. This is really a diverse group of women. It's got everyday women, of course, but also together with women like Joanna, who were, she was married to the wife of King Herod's household manager.
But they all had a common experience of deliverance. They didn't have a lot in common else, you know, elsewise, but they had in common the experience of this. They had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities. Jesus had healed them. He delivered them. That was what they had in common. And these women were active in their faith. They provided for the group out of their means. Surely some of them didn't have much. Maybe Joanna had a little bit more to offer than others.
But they all gave generously to support the mission of Jesus. They were traveling from town to town. They had to eat, right? They weren't working jobs. But these women were generously providing so that this group could eat and continue this ministry of healing and proclamation of the gospel. Their discipleship is beautiful. Their example is something we should pay attention to. And these faithful women, that's the backdrop. That's the starting point as we move on to Jesus' teaching in this.
So let's go on to that. Verse 4 says, When a great crowd was gathering, and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable. So let's talk about the purpose of parables. Jesus speaks often in parables. Not always, but often. We've already encountered a couple of these in Luke. The money lender, if you remember that. The old and the new wineskins. The wise and the foolish builders. Those are all parables. But here, Jesus does something more than just give a parable.
He explains why he uses parables. And so before we examine the parable itself, we need to examine what Jesus says about why he uses parables. That's very important. It's important to understand this. Jesus' parables have two purposes. A dual purpose. They give understanding, and they give a warning. Both. Both. And the purpose depends on the audience. That's what Jesus says. To you, it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God. This is what he said to his disciples.
And this is not just the 12 apostles. This is everyone who's following him, including the women that were just named. This is his disciples. This is everyone who's in his traveling group. Who have left everything and who have followed him. Everyone who has centered their lives on him. This is who he's talking to. To you, it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God. Now, in contrast to his disciples, there's the crowd. When you read the Gospels, you see clearly many people come to Jesus for a show.
They come for a miracle, for a healing. They come out of curiosity. But they don't really engage with what Jesus is saying. And they don't follow him. Sad to think that many people were healed and then went the other direction. All they wanted was a quick fix for their lame legs. But they didn't want to follow the one who healed them.
This crowd is one example of that. And how can I say that so confidently? Because they aren't among his disciples. They could be, but they haven't pressed in to join the group that is following Jesus. If you haven't done that, you're just part of the crowd. If you haven't pressed in and said, Jesus, I'll follow you and get close to him, then you're part of the crowd. For this group, Jesus says his teachings are in parables. So that seeing, they may not see.
In hearing, they may not understand. He's quoting the prophet Isaiah from Isaiah 6. This is the great passage where Isaiah sees the king of kings on the throne. Holy, holy, holy. The coal is taken to touch his lips. Remember that passage? And the Lord says, who should I send? And Isaiah says, send me. And this is what the Lord God sends him to do. Go among a people and bring them a message so that seeing, they may not see and hearing, they may not understand.
Isaiah knew that he was going into a mission field where people were hard-hearted. They did not want to hear. God tells him that they are not going to hear. But he says, go anyway and proclaim this message.
Jesus is saying here that people are going to come around him and ultimately, some of them will have no real interest in responding to his message or to his calling or to him himself. To him, the parable, to them, to the crowd, the parables are just a warning. You are not in a good place. You're not in a good place in relationship to Jesus. You are outside the kingdom of God. Be warned.
They're understanding and they're a warning. That's what parables are. Every time one comes out of the mouth of Jesus, they have that dual purpose and the decisive factor, the decisive thing is how near you are to Jesus.
The difference between the word of God being inscrutable sayings or illuminating knowledge is your proximity to Jesus through faith. Recently, we hired someone to come do some CPR training and certification. They came to our house. Several people came over and were sitting around our living room listening to this instruction, watching her do the thing on the dummies and everything. There was a group inside that was learning. Right? Imagine, this wasn't actually true, but imagine there was a different group outside on the lawn.
Let's say it was a nice day. The windows were open. The door was a little bit cracked. Let's say that they had been invited to come in, but they stood out on the lawn and they said, you know, we don't really like that woman who's given that training. We don't really think much of her. We're just going to stay out here.
The people inside are getting trained on how to do CPR. They can hear and understand. How do you think the people outside are going to hear? What do you think they will hear? It's going to be like the adults in Charlie Brown. Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah. They might catch a stray word or two, but they're not really going to understand, are they, if they're outside on the lawn. If they say, we'll just listen from out here because we don't really want to get near to her.
The same training, the same message, two different groups, to one it is clear and compelling and instructive, and to the other, it makes no sense. It's inscrutable.
Now listen to me, church. Jesus is not trying to confuse people who genuinely want to hear him. The people who genuinely want to hear him are his disciples. They have come in the door. They're in the living room. They're listening to the training now. They are receiving the instruction. Jesus has no interest in deliberately confusing them. He says, come in. Come to me. Listen.
To them, Jesus gives the secrets of the kingdom of God. He doesn't turn away anyone who comes to him in faith. That's why he says here, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. This is a call. He knows, I'm getting ready to explain this parable. If you want to hear, come with me. I'm about to unpack it for you. Do you want the secrets of the kingdom of God? Then you've got to come near to Jesus. As an ambassador of Christ, I want to call anyone here, anyone who's listening to my voice.
It may be 10 years from now someone looks up this sermon on YouTube. Anyone who is still on the outside of the kingdom of God, I am urging you, knock and the door will be opened to you. Seek and you will find.
Come to Jesus in humility, in repentance, in faith, and you will find not only understanding, but peace that surpasses understanding. That's the promise for all who seek Jesus.
And we had to pause on that because Jesus pauses on that, right? He took time to say that. Now let's move on to the parable. Jesus is talking to his disciples. He's unpacking the parable for them. He's telling them two things. For one, he's telling them these are the different outcomes that you're going to see when you spread the word of God. When you spread it around, you're going to see these outcomes. Many will hear the word of God. It will reach their eardrums.
There might even be some outward kind of signs of response. But not all will diligently receive the word of God and so not all will truly hear the word of God.
But it's not just a lesson about other people. It's a call for them to examine themselves. It's a call for us to examine ourselves. This is where we're going to spend some time today. Each type of soil is a lesson for us. It teaches us something about how to truly hear the word of God. The bad types of soil are cautionary tales. Don't be like that. Watch yourself. If you see this pattern in your life, run away from it. Change it. It's what not to do.
Jesus wants his disciples to look carefully at their lives so that they can more and more be good soil to receive his word. So that's what we're going to do today. Let's start with the path worn soil. The path worn soil teaches us to pay attention. Pay attention. Now this parable, you might think that this is a parable of a guy who doesn't really know what he's doing. He's just kind of throwing seed everywhere. He's kind of an idiot farmer. It's actually not true.
I learned that this week, that this parable is actually a pretty accurate description of how sowing was done at this time. You would sow before you would plow. We're used to plowing and then sowing. They did it in reverse. They would sow and then they would come along and plow.
If a field had never been used before or if it hadn't been used in a while, the sower wouldn't be able to tell immediately what was beneath the soil. He'd just be walking around throwing out seed. But what they would see was that footpaths would crisscross the field because foot traffic was common. There would be worn paths through the field. That's why some of the seed lands on the path. It's not a problem. The plow would eventually come, till up the soil, and it would get down in the soil.
But until then, until that plow comes, it's vulnerable. The birds are clever. They see the seed, they come and they take it away. Jesus tells us that the birds are the devil, the evil one, the great enemy of God. So we need to hear this and we need to receive it as this, don't ignore the reality of spiritual evil around you. Satan is real and he is not neutral. Every time the word goes forth and it lands in our ears, a battle ensues. You need to think of it that way.
It's invisible to our spiritual battle and it is real. You don't have to fear. God is greater than Satan. His power is greater. But you do need to pay attention and take it seriously. Friends, when the word of God goes out, pay attention. Don't ever, ever let it go in one ear and out the other. Do your best to take hold of it as what it is. It's precious. It's vital. It's life-saving and it's life-keeping.
Be ready for it. Ask God to till up the soil in your heart. That would be a good prayer for you to pray every time before you open the word of God, before you come to church. Lord, will you till up the soil in my heart? Make me ready to receive it.
Now, the rocky soil. This teaches us to get prepared. Some seeds land on the rock. This is probably not just a big rock that's exposed. It could be, but it probably is just a place where the soil is thin and there's a base of rock underneath it that you can't see when you're just out there sowing. At first, things look fine. The seed goes in and something sprouts up. It looks encouraging, but there's a problem. There's no deep growth and so it cannot last the inevitable seasons that come.
It's interesting to note here, Jesus doesn't talk about some kind of weather disaster that comes that strikes this plant. It's just ordinary seasons. Though some receive the word with joy, they have no root and so in a time of testing fall away.
So friends, is your faith prepared for hardship? The best time to prepare for hardship is once it starts if you're not prepared you're playing catch up. Often times Nikki will ask me to check the spare tire in the car the thing that's underneath everything in the back of your car all the junk you have back there to make sure it's full of air and I usually I'm like why bother we got four tires on the car they're all doing fine that's pretty foolish isn't it right check the spare tire before you have a flat tire otherwise it does you no good just like a plant our faith will go through difficult seasons it's not a matter of if but when just like a plant we have to have deep roots if we're going to endure let's take a look at this picture I took this picture maybe five or six years ago now granted this is a neat picture the tenacity of life right it finds a way to break through even a slab of concrete don't aspire to be this not a mighty tree it's been stepped on it has no root no root no fruit now in contrast the root system of a healthy tree it spreads out two to four times the diameter of the crown that you see above the earth two to four times as deep as what you see so when conditions are harsh they stand up aspire to be this next kind of tree instead aspire to be that tree the wind has blown and it's blown and it's blown so much that it has shaped the tree but it is still there it still has leaves on it it is still alive aspire to be that tree the initial enthusiasm of a spiritual
experience it's only the beginning now listen carefully I am not diminishing the emotional side of our faith and neither is Jesus he's not saying joy is bad but we need more than joy we need deep roots we need both we need both nurture your faith in knowledge and worship press into the word of God read study learn seek more understanding of him and his promises and here's what's going to happen your stability and your joy will increase that's what happens when you press into the truth of God's promises in his word your stability and your joy increase not a thorny soil this is what this is what it teaches us remove competition in Palestine farmers deal with thorny weeds that can grow six feet tall this is what they look like six feet tall those are intimidating intimidating looking thorns aren't they I don't want anything to do with them but the real problem is the competition that these plants have with the thing that you want to grow these weeds are greedy they are greedy they take nutrients they take space the seed sprouts but the weeds grow quicker I know you all can relate to that they grow quicker the good plant is entangled it can't fully develop it's choked out underneath it's choked out on top and its fruit does not mature it is no surprise at all when we read that Jesus says the thorns represent the cares and the riches and the pleasures of life but it would be or living in the lap of luxury he's not talking about extravagant wealth we can't just say well I'm not driven
to get fabulously wealthy so I've got no problem with thorns in my life Jesus is talking about the everyday things the everyday cares ordinary pleasures of life these are things that compete for our affection for our attention we give time and the energy to seek them and then when we have them we spend even more time and even more energy so we can keep them things like this hinder our growth and include good things that God has given us Tim Keller said that when good things become ultimate things that's idolatry when good things become ultimate things so what has a choke hold on your faith what's most likely to choke out your faith don't be afraid to consider that question what competes most with God for your attention your devotion and your energy we've all got something is it your job is it your hobbies is it your family is it your phone keeping up with information and with social media is it Netflix and Hulu and Disney plus is it music is it sports exercise whatever competes with God for your attention Jesus wants you to remove it it's going to be painful to grab hold of those thorns and to rip them out of the ground but it's important now some things they might just need to be put back into the proper place in your life they might not need to be removed entirely just put back where they belong this has become an ultimate thing it needs to be put back down below God but friends there might be some things that need to be removed entirely if it's competing with God we're going
to certainly not me that's true no one does Jeremiah 17 9 says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick but the good news is that God can make our hearts honest and good and that is the work that he does all you have to do is ask him pray like King David created me a clean heart oh God and me and this is how the almighty God answers you when you pray that prayer I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put in you I will remove from you your heart of stone treasure treasure it build your life on it this is how we are nourished this is how we bear fruit that's the promise my friends that we will bear fruit with patience it's a promise you will bear fruit with patience but it does take patience but oh it is worth the wait some of you are waiting right now for your gardens or your fruit trees to bear waiting on figs to ripen it is worth the wait to get that fruit it is amazing it is amazing it's one of the greatest joys I this this isn't you this is the work of God in my heart and my life and it is amazing it is amazing there is no better feeling to know that God is at work and he's bearing fruit in you and praise God my savior lives and he is living in me do you know that feeling do you want more of that feeling that sweet feeling of knowing that your fruit then hold fast to the word of God it will happen it is a promise for you if God has changed your heart treasure him and his word and you will bear fruit he who has ears to hear let him hear let's
pray Jesus it is amazing that people with a and can look like our savior that we could bear the image of Christ by the redeeming and sanctifying work of you in us that is beyond comprehension we praise you that that is not only possible but it's promised for all who hold on to you in faith Lord will you help us to hold fast to your word to draw in even closer to Jesus to learn from the bad soils to avoid those tendencies in our life and to strive to more and more be the good soil do work in us Lord by the power of your spirit we thank you for your promise we thank you for your work it's your work it's not ours and we give you all the Jesus we pray this in your name