Living Stones – Saturday, October 14, 2017
How do you hear?
Matthew 13:3-5
Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow.
More and more Jesus is preaching by the sea as the Jewish leadership become more hostile. Like He did before, He uses a boat to set-up a theatre to deliver his message. And, He uses examples from their society and economy, based on agriculture as it was, as the examples for his parable designed to deliver His message to the hearers.
The story is usually titled in our Bibles “The Parable of the Sower.” The story starts out talking about the sower and Jesus Himself calls it the “Parable of the Sower” in verse 18, nevertheless, His entire explanation is from the perspective of the hearers. Starting in verse 19, Jesus says, “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom …”
The parable, verses 3 to 8 and the explanation, verses 18 to 23 form a unit and tell us that there are different ways of accepting the Word of God, and as a consequence, the result it has on the heart and the fruit it produces vary.
Often people focus on a sower, a preacher whom they like, or who is a big name, or who is entertaining or whatever. This isn’t new, it was as through in the New Testament times as it is today. In Acts 14 there is a story about Barnabas and Paul in a city called Lystra. After a man crippled from birth was healed while Paul ministered the people declared that “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” and wanted to worship and sacrifice to them. Paul had to explain “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God …”
But the success of the Word of God is very much a function of the Hearer not the Preacher. Accordingly, Jesus places hearers in four categories. That was 2,000 years ago and a lot has changed since then. Interestingly however, while the factors and the context are quite different between that relatively primitive agricultural society, and this informative age in which we live with SMART devices and the Internet of Things, hearers still fall generally into the same four categories.
Let’s examine the four hearer groups.
Hearer Group 1, referring to the soil along the path (wayside). These are they with shut minds. These pathways or waysides were paths in the field that were trodden underfoot by both the feet of men and of beast. Such soil cannot accept seed.
Many persons today have shut minds. Minds have been shut by the circumstances and experiences of life. Some minds have been shut by prejudice and upbringing. Others are shut by culture and learning. Still others are shut by abuse and immorality. Some are shut by fear and yet some by a doggedly stubborn and unteachable spirit. There are cases where the mind shuts down because of the conviction that comes from the very word they heard.
Hearer Group 2, referenced by the soil that is shallow and rocky ground. These have no staying power. There are like those today who are always excited about what they heard today in church and plan to be back next week but don’t show up again until the moon in the night sky goes blue.
These, can get very emotional in the moment, be moved by what they heard, but really don’t think things through and appreciate the implications before running off excitedly. They have a tendency to pick up on new things quickly but have no staying power and so drop them as quickly as they picked them up. We see that today in church all the time. Enthusiasm without continuity.
Hearer Group 3, represented by thorns and thistles. These are the very distracted. It is difficult to see what were the distractions these people had in the time that Jesus walked in Palestine. Today, however, we know what all the distractions are. No need to list them.
For these folk, life is too crowed for anything to do with their faith and the ministry and the responsibilities of being a Christian. There is school and work and family and everything else. And while we do counsel everyone to focus on their education and their career and their family responsibilities we must be focused on where we are laying up real treasure.
Often, if an analysis is done, it’s our distractions not our responsibilities that really get in the way. We crowd our lives so that we are too busy to read the Bible, we are too busy to pray, and we are too busy to come to church and get involved in practical ministry.
The distracted today have to learn to manage their technology, their business, school, culture, groups and social organisations, and the call of God on their lives.
Finally, Hearer Group 4, the good ground, the soil where the crop takes root, grows to maturity, and give a very good yield.
Persons in this hearer group, unlike those in Hearer Group 1, have an open mind. They are willing to learn, and they are very keen and inquiring. Unlike those in Hearer Group 2, they have staying power and work to hold on to what they have heard by making real commitments. Unlike those in Hearer Group 3, they are focused and work at balancing all of their commitments and time so that the things of God receive proper attention.
These hearers convert word to action and are fruitful as a result.
Think on these things:
- What kind of hearer are you?
- If you are not in Hearer Group 4 what are the things you must change to move to this group?
- If you are in Hearer Group 4 what support could you provide to those struggling in the other groups?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today that God’s word would always fall on good ground when ministered to us.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex