WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:03.919 So uh the last few weeks we have been going through the uh book of Titus. 00:00:04.080 --> 00:00:08.400 I say the last few weeks I've been kind of in and out through the summer, and we've gone through the book of Titus. 00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:12.400 And so I I think for the fall, we're gonna be going through the book of Exodus. 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:18.879 Uh we went through the book of Genesis back uh earlier this year uh in January and and through the spring. 00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:22.079 Uh so we're gonna go just go to the next book in the Old Testament, Exodus. 00:00:22.160 --> 00:00:28.640 But before we do that, I wanted to spend a few weeks in Matthew chapter 13 and go through Matthew chapter 13. 00:00:28.800 --> 00:00:35.840 There's what's called some parables here, and it's Jesus explaining to us what the kingdom of God is like. 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:44.159 And I just want us to spend a few weeks in Matthew 13 learning what is it what does it mean for God to reign in our lives? 00:00:44.320 --> 00:00:48.000 What does it mean for God to be in control of our lives? 00:00:48.240 --> 00:00:53.439 I first off, I need a volunteer, somebody who likes to listen to music. 00:00:53.840 --> 00:00:56.799 Somebody who likes to listen to music. 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:02.479 Heather, would you come? 00:01:02.640 --> 00:01:03.439 Thank you. 00:01:06.319 --> 00:01:12.079 Okay, so all you're gonna do is you're gonna come over here, and I have a song that you are going to listen to. 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:14.159 And um, you put these in. 00:01:14.319 --> 00:01:15.599 And you're gonna write down. 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:16.719 Did you watch them? 00:01:16.879 --> 00:01:17.519 I I did. 00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:20.400 They're not even mine, so they've been in many people's ears. 00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:22.560 I found them in the I found them in the parking lot. 00:01:22.640 --> 00:01:23.040 Is that okay? 00:01:23.200 --> 00:01:23.280 Okay. 00:01:24.159 --> 00:01:30.719 So you're gonna write down uh words that describe the song you're listening to. 00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:31.280 Okay? 00:01:31.680 --> 00:01:34.159 And then I'll I'll come back to you in a second. 00:01:34.799 --> 00:01:36.400 Okay, off you go. 00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:48.000 Okay, so in in Matthew 13, like I said, this is a a chapter about parables about the kingdom, and the kingdom is the power of God in heaven entering the world. 00:01:48.159 --> 00:01:55.439 So, yes, this is the forgiveness of sins, this is uh the taking away of condemnation and shame, but it's more. 00:01:55.599 --> 00:01:57.840 Like I said, it is it's the reign of God. 00:01:57.920 --> 00:02:01.680 It's what does it mean for God to be in control of our lives? 00:02:01.840 --> 00:02:04.879 What does it mean for God to be in control in this world? 00:02:05.120 --> 00:02:12.319 That the kingdom of God, what does it mean for there to be healing emotionally, spiritually, racially, economically? 00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:14.800 Well, clearly we're not there, right? 00:02:14.879 --> 00:02:20.159 I mean, I mean clearly that we are not completely there, but this is what the kingdom is. 00:02:20.319 --> 00:02:24.400 The kingdom speaks into all of these things. 00:02:25.120 --> 00:02:32.000 And Matthew 13 is Jesus trying to get us to understand some things about the kingdom and what it is like. 00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:39.520 What it is like, it is like words describing something that is incredibly marvelous. 00:02:40.159 --> 00:02:43.280 Okay, so let's see how Heather is doing. 00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:45.759 You've only written down one word. 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:47.360 Well, it just they just started singing. 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:48.000 Okay. 00:02:48.400 --> 00:02:50.960 Alright, I'll just keep teaching and I'll come back to you. 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:51.439 Okay. 00:02:52.080 --> 00:02:52.400 Okay. 00:02:53.520 --> 00:02:57.199 So when we get to Heather, here's the feeling you're gonna get. 00:02:57.360 --> 00:02:58.719 Because you're already having it. 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:00.159 What is this song? 00:03:00.319 --> 00:03:00.560 Right? 00:03:00.639 --> 00:03:02.000 Like, what is she listening to? 00:03:02.159 --> 00:03:03.039 What is this song like? 00:03:03.199 --> 00:03:07.520 And this is the feeling we have when we when we listen, when we hear a parable. 00:03:07.919 --> 00:03:10.960 You you you you read the parable and you're like, what? 00:03:11.439 --> 00:03:16.719 I mean, I mean, it's sort of like this mystery, like Jesus is telling this and you just don't quite get it. 00:03:16.800 --> 00:03:21.840 It's like it's like you've read words about a song, but you haven't heard the song, right? 00:03:23.039 --> 00:03:27.439 And and so what do you do most of the time with a parable is you just turn the page. 00:03:27.680 --> 00:03:45.280 And my hope, what my hope is is in the next few weeks is that as we dig into a parable that sometimes we just skip over because we're not quite getting it, that we could dig into it enough that we could begin to understand what it would mean like, and what it would mean if we understand the reign of God in our lives. 00:03:45.439 --> 00:03:46.639 You're you're you're ready. 00:03:46.879 --> 00:03:47.199 Okay. 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:52.240 Okay, so let's re- you may sit down. 00:03:52.319 --> 00:03:55.039 You feel so uncomfortable, but I'm sure you did a lovely job. 00:03:55.360 --> 00:03:58.639 Okay, so here's what she wrote down. 00:03:58.879 --> 00:04:15.360 She wrote down pure harmony, strings, beauty, worship, praise, joy, girls' voices, bluegrass-ish. 00:04:19.759 --> 00:04:22.560 You hear all of that, but you haven't heard the song, right? 00:04:22.959 --> 00:04:31.759 So you've just you've heard the you've heard the words on an index card, but you haven't heard the song. 00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:02.560 And this is often the feeling we have when we read a parable. 00:06:02.720 --> 00:06:13.600 It's because Jesus is using words to describe something, and yet we have not always experienced something, or we don't completely understand what he is saying. 00:06:13.759 --> 00:06:26.079 And so that's the hope is if we dig into these parables that we're not just reading the words, but that we are actually understanding and experience the thing he is talking about. 00:06:26.160 --> 00:06:28.639 And these are two different things. 00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:38.240 And so it's for us to say, like, if we take away God as belligerent dictator or disappointed parent, what is he like? 00:06:38.399 --> 00:06:41.279 What does it mean for God to be in control of my life? 00:06:41.439 --> 00:06:42.639 What does it mean for him to reign? 00:06:42.800 --> 00:06:46.480 What does it mean for the kingdom of God to be inside of me? 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:47.920 What does it mean for me? 00:06:48.079 --> 00:06:58.160 What sort of posture does this place me in in life as I parent or as I befriend or as I love or I study or I work or I exercise or I do dishes? 00:06:58.560 --> 00:07:00.319 What does it mean for me? 00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:03.600 So let's read the text, Matthew 13, 1 through 9. 00:07:03.759 --> 00:07:08.800 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 00:07:09.279 --> 00:07:13.600 And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and he sat down. 00:07:13.759 --> 00:07:24.079 And the whole crowd stood on the beach, and he told them many things in parables, saying, A sower went out to sow, and as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 00:07:24.319 --> 00:07:31.519 Other seeds fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil. 00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:34.399 But when the sun rose they were scorched. 00:07:34.639 --> 00:07:37.600 And since they had no root, they withered away. 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:42.480 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them out. 00:07:42.879 --> 00:07:49.920 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 00:07:50.240 --> 00:07:54.079 He who has ears let him hear. 00:07:54.480 --> 00:08:09.199 Now Matthew's telling the story to a bunch of people, a bunch of people who know their people's story, and their people's story is a story of being weak, of being pushed around, of having enemies that just dominate them. 00:08:09.360 --> 00:08:20.639 And now Rome rules their land, and they know from their prophets a day will come, God will send a Messiah, and he will deliver them. 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:22.639 And so they're hearing this. 00:08:22.800 --> 00:08:31.600 They're hearing some parables about the kingdom, and they're waiting for the Messiah, and they're wondering if Jesus is the Messiah, and they're going, is God acting on our behalf? 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:32.240 Is this it? 00:08:32.879 --> 00:08:40.080 Is this the moment where the boulder will roll out of heaven and will crush our enemies, will push them into the sea? 00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:41.279 Is this the moment? 00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:49.840 This is what they're thinking, and then Jesus starts to teach about the kingdom, and he doesn't talk about a boulder rolling, he talks about a seed. 00:08:52.639 --> 00:08:54.000 Just a seed. 00:08:55.919 --> 00:08:58.000 Now I I have a tree in front of my house. 00:08:58.080 --> 00:08:59.679 It's this huge oak tree. 00:09:00.080 --> 00:09:01.840 I mean, it is massive. 00:09:03.440 --> 00:09:04.639 It's scary big. 00:09:04.879 --> 00:09:12.639 We're like, you're looking at it, you're going, like, it would just our house, if it ever fell, our house would just be demolished. 00:09:15.279 --> 00:09:20.320 That's scary to me, but I've never been intimidated about a seed destroying my house. 00:09:23.759 --> 00:09:28.000 In in May, Christy and I, we visited my my cousin in San Francisco for a couple of days. 00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:38.720 And our first day out there, we we toured San Francisco, and then we we drove uh across the water to Sasolito, which is this little town on the water, and we looked at boats, and a McLaren pulled up. 00:09:38.879 --> 00:09:40.000 Anyone know about a McLaren? 00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:43.840 It's a car that cost a million dollars, and they didn't know this, but I saw it pull up. 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:45.360 The doors like this. 00:09:45.440 --> 00:09:48.000 You know, some of you know I'm talking about not this, but this. 00:09:48.159 --> 00:09:56.320 And and the McLaren pulled up in front of this little hotel, and I'm freaking out because it's a McLaren in real, I can see it, right? 00:09:56.399 --> 00:10:00.000 Like right there, and I'm just wondering how this is what's gonna go down with a valet. 00:10:00.080 --> 00:10:00.799 What happens? 00:10:00.960 --> 00:10:03.519 Does the valet get into a McLaren and drive it? 00:10:03.679 --> 00:10:07.840 And it was awesome because the guy gets out, doors up, he gets out, doors down. 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:10.720 The valet does, there's no movement to drive the McLaren. 00:10:10.960 --> 00:10:14.799 He just gets construction cones and he just sets them out all around. 00:10:14.960 --> 00:10:19.519 And I'm just wondering, like, at what point in the cost of a car does that happen? 00:10:19.679 --> 00:10:23.360 Like, what's the what's the money value where the valley doesn't get in? 00:10:23.440 --> 00:10:24.799 He's just like putting the cones out. 00:10:24.879 --> 00:10:26.960 Like, I'm not not getting in that one. 00:10:27.039 --> 00:10:36.159 So we were at South Salito, and then uh we went to John Muir National Forest, which is just just north of there, and it's all these redwoods, no McLaren's in that parking lot, by the way. 00:10:36.240 --> 00:10:50.960 Um, and we went into this huge forest, these massive, massive trees, and we hiked up this valley, and there's this creek coming down through this wooded valley, and there's all these boulders in this valley, and these huge redwood trees, massive redwood trees, right? 00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:53.360 The largest tree in the world. 00:10:53.519 --> 00:10:55.919 And and these trees are just shooting up. 00:10:56.000 --> 00:10:58.080 They are intimidatingly big. 00:10:58.240 --> 00:10:59.679 That's how big they are. 00:11:00.159 --> 00:11:01.840 They are so large. 00:11:02.080 --> 00:11:07.679 Now, now the the little creek that came down through the valley with the boulders, it was really pretty. 00:11:08.320 --> 00:11:13.440 But nobody crosses the country to see that creek or those boulders. 00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:15.679 People come to see the trees. 00:11:16.399 --> 00:11:20.480 And there is this section of the hike that you hiked in silence. 00:11:20.799 --> 00:11:24.960 And it asked you to hike in silence for the, I don't know, a couple hundred yards. 00:11:25.039 --> 00:11:28.000 And it was it was kind of sacred in some way. 00:11:28.159 --> 00:11:40.399 Maybe you think I'm weird for saying that, but it was it was I don't know, it was almost emotional because the cre God's creation was so beautiful and you're just being quiet and you're just enjoying what he has created. 00:11:40.559 --> 00:11:43.679 I mean, I was hugging trees, you know, that's what you're thinking at this point. 00:11:43.919 --> 00:11:50.240 Um but standing under something like that is is is majestic. 00:11:50.799 --> 00:11:51.200 Right? 00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:52.720 I mean, it's overwhelming. 00:11:52.879 --> 00:11:54.320 It can be intimidating. 00:11:54.399 --> 00:11:59.440 Now, I'm no farmer, but seeds are not intimidating. 00:12:00.159 --> 00:12:03.200 I've never held a seed and been intimidated. 00:12:04.879 --> 00:12:05.200 Right? 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:11.440 I mean, so these people are these people are hearing Jesus talk about the kingdom, and they're going, a seed? 00:12:12.159 --> 00:12:12.720 Really? 00:12:12.879 --> 00:12:15.039 I mean, this is revolutionary? 00:12:15.279 --> 00:12:16.159 I mean, this is it? 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:17.840 This is what we've been hoping for. 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:21.039 We've been hoping for a kingdom of seeds. 00:12:23.440 --> 00:12:24.080 Wow. 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:25.840 Really monumental. 00:12:26.559 --> 00:12:28.399 It just doesn't feel like power. 00:12:28.559 --> 00:12:35.759 It just doesn't feel like it when we first hear it or we first see it, but it is incredibly patient. 00:12:37.600 --> 00:12:39.759 And what we all know is what seeds become. 00:12:39.919 --> 00:12:41.679 It becomes the oak tree in my front yard. 00:12:41.919 --> 00:12:44.080 It becomes the redwood, right? 00:12:44.879 --> 00:12:52.080 But it's not immediate because it is slow and it goes inside and it goes deep. 00:12:52.799 --> 00:12:56.799 And it's not like a boulder that just affects the surface. 00:12:57.519 --> 00:13:00.879 See, earthly kingdoms come by coercion and force. 00:13:01.039 --> 00:13:01.919 This is how we do things. 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:07.440 It's how we run companies, it's how we become educated, it's how we become fit. 00:13:07.759 --> 00:13:10.559 We make things happen in our lives. 00:13:11.440 --> 00:13:22.799 But the kingdom, the reign of God in your life, the joy, the love, the peace of God, it will not come in your life by means of your own means. 00:13:23.039 --> 00:13:25.919 It will come by means of your own lack of means. 00:13:26.080 --> 00:13:29.759 It will become, it comes into your life by means of your own sufficiency. 00:13:31.679 --> 00:13:38.879 And when you finally stop all your pretending and performing and saying, I'm not sufficient, and what happens? 00:13:39.120 --> 00:13:44.320 Finally, you begin to hear, rather than just talking all the time, you begin to hear. 00:13:44.559 --> 00:13:47.279 And what you would hear is you hear the gospel. 00:13:48.879 --> 00:13:59.360 You're not perfect, you don't know everything, and though you're imperfect, God's beloved Jesus helped you become his beloved. 00:13:59.759 --> 00:14:08.240 And you are valued and you are loved and you are justified, and it's not just a boulder for your issues and for your behaviors. 00:14:08.320 --> 00:14:10.879 It's a seed that goes into your heart. 00:14:11.279 --> 00:14:16.720 And it's gentle and it's patient, and it can be a forest in time. 00:14:18.480 --> 00:14:21.360 So the disciples pick back up in verse 10, and they have a question. 00:14:21.519 --> 00:14:25.279 They said, Then the disciples came and they said to him, Why do you speak to them in parables? 00:14:25.759 --> 00:14:29.519 All these people, they're not going to understand, is what the disciples are saying. 00:14:29.840 --> 00:14:37.279 And Jesus answered them, To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 00:14:37.679 --> 00:14:42.799 For to the one who has more will be given, and he will have an abundance. 00:14:42.960 --> 00:14:47.519 But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 00:14:47.759 --> 00:14:55.279 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 00:14:56.159 --> 00:14:59.519 Some of this is about God's sovereignty over salvation. 00:15:00.399 --> 00:15:05.679 And at this point, a lot in me says, Well, help them understand. 00:15:06.159 --> 00:15:08.559 Like I'm just reading this going, that's a simple. 00:15:08.799 --> 00:15:09.840 Help them understand. 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:12.720 But that's almost the point, is that they don't understand. 00:15:12.799 --> 00:15:18.720 And in Jesus, in this in this dialogue, he's starting to lament that they don't understand. 00:15:19.600 --> 00:15:23.120 He is saddened that they don't get it, and they don't get him. 00:15:23.360 --> 00:15:31.279 And so that he quotes Isaiah in verse 14, you will indeed hear, but never understand, and you will indeed see, but never perceive. 00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:36.720 See, he says that their hearts have grown dull, they can barely hear, they have closed eyes, and they don't get it. 00:15:36.879 --> 00:15:42.480 They don't get him, but if they saw him and they heard him, he would heal them. 00:15:42.720 --> 00:15:44.080 He's lamenting. 00:15:44.559 --> 00:15:46.720 He is saddened that it's not a threat. 00:15:46.879 --> 00:15:48.000 He's not threatening them. 00:15:48.080 --> 00:15:50.639 He's actually, he's saddened that they don't get it. 00:15:52.240 --> 00:15:54.320 And then he goes into these different soils. 00:15:54.480 --> 00:15:58.559 And so a lot of us, maybe if you've grown up in the church, you've heard lots of sermons about the soils. 00:15:58.720 --> 00:16:03.039 Here are the three soils, which soil you don't become that soil, don't be that soil, here's what to do, not to be that soil. 00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:03.279 Okay? 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:11.919 So before we get into the soils, let me first make one overarching point, and then we'll look at the soils, and we'll come back to that point. 00:16:12.159 --> 00:16:21.919 Here's the point the whole of the parable helps us not remain the dangerous parts of a part of the parable. 00:16:22.399 --> 00:16:28.320 The whole of the parable helps us not remain one of the dangerous parts of the parable. 00:16:28.559 --> 00:16:31.679 See, the parable keeps putting us back in our place. 00:16:32.799 --> 00:16:34.240 That we're not in control. 00:16:35.919 --> 00:16:36.799 Hearing. 00:16:37.039 --> 00:16:40.240 Hearing is not a position of control. 00:16:42.960 --> 00:16:46.320 Now let's look at these parts and we'll come back and see what that what that means. 00:16:46.639 --> 00:16:50.639 Verse 18, uh, Jesus starts to explain the parable. 00:16:51.279 --> 00:16:53.440 Here then the parable of the sower. 00:16:54.000 --> 00:17:00.480 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. 00:17:00.639 --> 00:17:02.639 This is what has sown along the path. 00:17:02.799 --> 00:17:09.039 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. 00:17:09.200 --> 00:17:21.200 Yet, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. 00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:32.480 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 00:17:32.960 --> 00:17:38.079 As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. 00:17:38.319 --> 00:17:45.039 He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, another sixty, and another thirty. 00:17:45.119 --> 00:17:50.960 And I like that ending there because it says to me there's some room here for how fruitful we are, and I need that. 00:17:51.279 --> 00:17:52.240 So here's the deal. 00:17:52.400 --> 00:17:54.880 These three different soils you don't want to be, right? 00:17:55.039 --> 00:17:59.039 The first one is beware of listening with a hard heart. 00:17:59.839 --> 00:18:06.400 So this is the seed that lands on apathy, on pride of intellect. 00:18:06.640 --> 00:18:06.960 Right? 00:18:07.039 --> 00:18:07.680 It's just like that. 00:18:07.759 --> 00:18:10.319 You you know it all, like you've got it figured out. 00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:13.519 There's nothing else that you could possibly learn. 00:18:13.680 --> 00:18:15.440 Like you just, you know it, you got it. 00:18:15.599 --> 00:18:17.839 You're in control, you got it. 00:18:19.440 --> 00:18:30.160 This could be the pride of uh, it could be a religious pride, and the seed actually just feeds your own self, righteous, religious ambitions. 00:18:31.920 --> 00:18:36.000 And the seed never goes into the core of your being. 00:18:36.880 --> 00:18:39.119 Because your heart is hardened. 00:18:39.920 --> 00:18:48.559 And so the seed's never creating a new heart, a new identity, a new person, and giving you a righteousness that's formed on the inside and comes out. 00:18:48.799 --> 00:18:50.400 So that's the first soil. 00:18:50.640 --> 00:18:53.279 The second, beware of listening with a shallow heart. 00:18:53.359 --> 00:18:57.759 So that these people, according to Jesus, he's saying, hey, these are people who they they receive the gospel. 00:18:57.920 --> 00:19:12.400 They receive it with joy and they're emotional and they're exciting, and we make a testimony video, right, on Sunday morning because they had this incredible transformation, and we put the testimony video up, and then some suffering comes in their life six months later, and they're gone. 00:19:13.119 --> 00:19:14.319 They're gone. 00:19:16.079 --> 00:19:17.920 Jesus was just a helper. 00:19:18.880 --> 00:19:22.480 He was never a savior into the core of their being. 00:19:22.799 --> 00:19:24.799 He just helps some issues. 00:19:26.480 --> 00:19:29.599 And then thirdly, beware of listening with a divided heart. 00:19:29.680 --> 00:19:31.680 And these folks stick around. 00:19:31.920 --> 00:19:36.160 They stick around, but always anxious, always lacking a little peace because they're being choked. 00:19:36.240 --> 00:19:38.000 They can't quite breathe. 00:19:39.759 --> 00:19:42.559 And maybe Jesus is savior for them. 00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:50.400 But man, they have some other saviors in their life that play dominant roles in just choking the life out of them. 00:19:50.559 --> 00:19:52.319 They can barely breathe. 00:19:52.559 --> 00:20:01.359 And so they never experience God's power in their life because God's grace has always been an option, not the option. 00:20:03.839 --> 00:20:05.279 So here's how it all comes together. 00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:10.480 Like I said, the whole of the parable helps us not become the dangerous parts of the parable. 00:20:10.720 --> 00:20:17.680 So the whole, you're not in control, helps you not become the parts, the hard soil, the shallow soil, or the weeds. 00:20:18.240 --> 00:20:33.279 See, your behavior will not be the solution out of your problem of insecurity or depravity or anxiety or feel fear because the problem, your problem, my problem, is not on the surface. 00:20:33.359 --> 00:20:35.039 It's not a behavioral problem. 00:20:36.079 --> 00:20:37.839 It's inside of us. 00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:40.319 That's why it has to be a seed. 00:20:41.039 --> 00:20:43.359 That's why the kingdom has to be a seed. 00:20:43.440 --> 00:20:50.160 It has to go inside of it, and it has to be slow and gentle and patient because that's what we need. 00:20:53.200 --> 00:20:55.200 Will we finally stop and listen? 00:20:55.759 --> 00:21:00.720 Will we stop all of our effort forward and all of our own effort and our striving? 00:21:00.880 --> 00:21:03.119 Do we stop long enough to hear? 00:21:05.680 --> 00:21:08.000 Stop thinking that the world has enough for us. 00:21:08.160 --> 00:21:10.960 Stop thinking that we have enough for ourselves. 00:21:11.599 --> 00:21:18.319 See, and hearing is not the metaphor or springboard for me to give you ten spiritual disciplines of how not to be the other soils. 00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:21.279 Spiritual disciplines have place. 00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:23.680 That's just not this passage. 00:21:24.640 --> 00:21:30.960 This passage is about you and I being paupers, having nothing. 00:21:32.079 --> 00:21:43.039 And our only position being that we would hear an outside word that is spoken to us, and the work was done outside, and it's given to us. 00:21:45.519 --> 00:21:46.960 You know what you'll hear? 00:21:48.240 --> 00:21:50.319 I've been waiting for you to stop. 00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:55.359 I've been waiting for you to stop all that pride. 00:21:55.599 --> 00:21:59.279 I've been waiting for you to stop to replying that mistake. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:04.400 Been waiting for you to stop that self-righteous project. 00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:06.799 I've been waiting for you to stop all of that. 00:22:06.880 --> 00:22:08.079 And I love you. 00:22:08.400 --> 00:22:10.880 And I love you stripped of your self-righteousness. 00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:12.480 I love you stripped of your pretending. 00:22:12.559 --> 00:22:14.640 I love you, stripped of all of that pride. 00:22:15.119 --> 00:22:17.599 I love you before all that other stuff you do. 00:22:17.839 --> 00:22:18.480 You know what we'll do? 00:22:18.559 --> 00:22:20.240 We'll start to explain ourselves. 00:22:20.640 --> 00:22:21.839 That's what we do. 00:22:23.200 --> 00:22:25.599 And Jesus just says, it's been taken care of. 00:22:25.759 --> 00:22:27.440 I took care of it. 00:22:28.480 --> 00:22:31.920 And there is a kingdom waiting to reign in you. 00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:34.400 But you have to stop and hear. 00:22:36.880 --> 00:22:38.400 I've never had a vegetable garden. 00:22:38.559 --> 00:22:38.720 Me. 00:22:38.799 --> 00:22:41.039 This is me speaking now, not Jesus. 00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:43.680 Sorry, bad transition. 00:22:45.759 --> 00:22:47.200 I think I planted one tree. 00:22:47.519 --> 00:22:51.519 I think I planted a dogwood in our yard at Shannon Way when I was little. 00:22:51.599 --> 00:22:53.920 I think that's the only tree I've ever planted. 00:22:55.200 --> 00:22:58.880 But I walked in the woods this week and I looked down a lot at the dirt. 00:22:59.039 --> 00:23:02.640 I was doing some research, soil research, okay. 00:23:03.839 --> 00:23:06.640 Dirt just doesn't do a lot. 00:23:07.920 --> 00:23:09.440 It's pretty passive. 00:23:09.839 --> 00:23:12.319 It's a pretty passive material. 00:23:13.039 --> 00:23:14.160 It's slow. 00:23:15.680 --> 00:23:18.799 I'm just saying it's easy to think I've got to change myself. 00:23:18.960 --> 00:23:22.160 I've got to change myself to be the other soil, and it's got to be today. 00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:25.519 And perhaps you've tried to do this. 00:23:26.160 --> 00:23:26.799 I have. 00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:28.240 And you know what it's like? 00:23:28.799 --> 00:23:34.400 It's like reading the index card over and over and over again, but never hearing the song. 00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:37.359 That's what it's like. 00:23:37.599 --> 00:23:41.279 And there is a song, and it is a marvelous song, and we sing it. 00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:42.640 We sing it in many different ways. 00:23:42.799 --> 00:23:44.559 We sing Jesus Loves Me, This I Know. 00:23:44.720 --> 00:23:45.920 We sing Your Love is Deep. 00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:48.160 We sing Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound. 00:23:48.319 --> 00:23:51.119 We sing, Oh, love that will never let me go. 00:23:51.359 --> 00:23:54.160 See, the lesson is not that you change yourself. 00:23:54.240 --> 00:23:57.759 It is for you and I to become incredibly passive. 00:24:00.319 --> 00:24:01.680 To be the pauper. 00:24:02.880 --> 00:24:04.160 To be done. 00:24:05.039 --> 00:24:09.359 To hear a word, a seed sown to you. 00:24:11.119 --> 00:24:15.200 And now you're in the position for something to grow inside your heart. 00:24:15.920 --> 00:24:20.400 And for me, this is always wonderful and it is horrible. 00:24:21.599 --> 00:24:21.920 Right? 00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:26.000 I mean, some of you know what I'm talking about because it's horrible because you have to see yourself. 00:24:26.079 --> 00:24:28.240 You have to see that you have some hardness. 00:24:28.400 --> 00:24:34.880 You have to see that you believe in some things in the world, that they're not gonna, they're choking life out of you, but you keep going back to them. 00:24:35.039 --> 00:24:37.279 You have to see that you're very shallow in some areas. 00:24:37.440 --> 00:24:42.480 You have to see all of that, and it's horrible to see all of it, to see that that is me. 00:24:42.640 --> 00:24:46.160 But that's the very thing that helps you become the good soil. 00:24:46.799 --> 00:24:57.359 And so it's horrible, but it's wonderful because then you can hear at that point, and you can receive at that point, and then the reign of God can be in your life. 00:24:57.839 --> 00:25:00.240 Perhaps your faith is really just in yourself. 00:25:00.319 --> 00:25:08.960 You're here, and really, if we really bewilder not, faith is in yourself, maybe religious or secular, but at the end, your faith is in yourself, is not in the work of Jesus. 00:25:09.119 --> 00:25:14.480 And you've been trying to manufacture life out of yourself and it isn't working. 00:25:16.400 --> 00:25:29.440 Or perhaps you'll hear this marvelous song of the gospel, and you'll start to find that the reign of God will start to find its way in all different areas of your life. 00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:33.200 Areas of your life maybe you've tried to change before. 00:25:33.440 --> 00:25:36.640 But the only way it's going to change is when you became the pauper. 00:25:39.599 --> 00:25:42.319 See, it comes by our humility and his grace. 00:25:42.640 --> 00:25:45.279 Ran into this quote, long quote this week. 00:25:45.359 --> 00:25:49.680 You can follow along in your bulletin, but it's worth me reading as I close. 00:25:50.079 --> 00:25:53.599 It's by the great British preacher Martin Lord Jones. 00:25:54.079 --> 00:25:55.599 It is quite simple. 00:25:55.759 --> 00:25:58.000 I won't do the accent, by the way. 00:25:58.480 --> 00:26:00.160 It is quite simple. 00:26:00.400 --> 00:26:04.079 Do the opposite of what Isaiah said that these people had done. 00:26:04.480 --> 00:26:08.799 Instead of shutting your eyes in blind prejudice, open them and pay attention to the message. 00:26:09.119 --> 00:26:12.319 Come as a little child, as a pauper. 00:26:12.559 --> 00:26:17.440 Come as you are, not to criticize, not to be clever, not to justify yourself. 00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:21.200 Come and acknowledge that you have nothing. 00:26:22.079 --> 00:26:30.480 Except yet be converted, says our Lord, and become as little children, yet shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. 00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:33.119 You need the simplicity of a little child. 00:26:33.279 --> 00:26:42.480 You need, in other words, an acknowledgement of your sin, of your utter failure, an acknowledgement that your great brain is of no value at all here. 00:26:42.720 --> 00:26:45.359 Indeed, that it has been your greatest hindrance. 00:26:45.519 --> 00:26:49.440 You have got to come saying, I am nothing, I have nothing. 00:26:49.680 --> 00:26:52.319 God have mercy upon me, a sinner. 00:26:52.640 --> 00:27:08.480 At that moment you say that, you are announcing that you have this humility, this repentance, which is essential to receiving the blessing of God and salvation and entry into the eternal kingdom of God. 00:27:09.599 --> 00:27:10.799 Let's pray together. 00:27:11.119 --> 00:27:18.000 God, we come before you to receive this parable. 00:27:19.920 --> 00:27:21.599 Help us to hear. 00:27:24.319 --> 00:27:30.559 We are busy people with busy hearts that love to do. 00:27:31.680 --> 00:27:36.400 And we need to be passive and we need to hear. 00:27:37.039 --> 00:27:38.960 And we need to hear your gospel. 00:27:39.599 --> 00:27:41.279 And we need to slow down. 00:27:42.400 --> 00:27:50.160 And we need to have open hands, and we need to have an open heart, and we need to see ourselves. 00:27:51.920 --> 00:27:56.640 Would you help us to hear the simplicity yet the depth? 00:27:57.039 --> 00:28:01.039 That we are sinners in need of a savior. 00:28:05.200 --> 00:28:12.880 God, would we be receivers before you, not just this morning, but tomorrow and later this week? 00:28:13.200 --> 00:28:37.519 Would we live in a position, a posture of hearing, of receiving, that seeds might actually make their way past the surface of all of our activity, and that we would hear a song that is so marvelous that it changes us from the inside out. 00:28:42.559 --> 00:28:44.559 The work of Jesus is enough. 00:28:45.920 --> 00:28:47.200 And you love us. 00:28:48.400 --> 00:28:50.160 In his work, in his name we pray. 00:28:50.319 --> 00:28:50.720 Amen.