FRUITFUL HEARING
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on May 20, 2020 under AM Bible Study |
AM Bible Study Group: May 20, 2020 from Luke 8:4-15
Theme: Many hear the word, but only those who hear in such a way as to keep it will bear fruit.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
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This morning, we begin looking at a section of Luke’s Gospel that has to do with the various responses of people to a hearing of the word of God.
What an important subject that is! Most of us—living as we do in modern America—own several copies of the Bible. And what’s more, we all have almost constant access to the Bible on the Internet through our mobile devices. We all have radios or televisions or computers that we interact with throughout the day, through which we are able to access a multitude of great Bible teachers who give us great expositions of God’s word. In addition, we all very likely have several books and guides that help us to understand God’s word. And add to this all of the regular sermons and Bible studies the average Christian hears at church during the week. We are truly very rich in our encounters with the revealed word of God. We ‘hear’ it a lot. But unless we are careful how we hear that word—that is, not just by a physical hearing with the ears, but by an earnest spiritual hearing from the heart—then all of that rich abundance of God’s word will not bear fruit in our lives. It will be as if we never heard it at all … or worse.
So; in Luke 8:4-21, we have some stories about what our Lord had to say about truly ‘hearing’ the word of God as we should. And the first thing we find is perhaps the most well-known of His instructions on this subject.
It’s the parable of the sower who went out to sow seed. It would have been a common sight in those days—to see a sower broadcast-sowing seed in his field by just grabbing handfuls of seed from his side-bag, and tossing it out to wherever it may fall. And in this parable, our Lord tells us that there are four kinds of ‘soil’—four kinds of hearers of Gods’ word. The word is the same; but only one response to it will result in the production of fruit.
In Luke 8:4-15, we read;
And when a great multitude had gathered, and they had come to Him from every city, He spoke by a parable: “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold.” When He had said these things He cried, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
Then His disciples asked Him, saying, “What does this parable mean?” And He said, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that
‘Seeing they may not see,
And hearing they may not understand.’“Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience” (Luke 8:4-15).
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When I read this parable, I think of the people in my life who came to know Jesus Christ at an early age. I had watched many of them as I myself grew up in the Lord. And I often used to wonder why it was that some people started off so strong and excited in the Lord; but after time, wandered away and were no longer walking with the Lord. I praise God that most are still walking with the Lord. But some have wandered away. They heard the same gospel message I heard. They were taught from the same Bible. Why did there end up being such a difference in outcome?
Well; this passage helps us to understand why. There is no deficiency in the gospel. It is, as it says in Romans 1:16, “the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes”. There is no deficiency in God’s word. It is, as it says in Hebrews 4:12, “living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword”. The difference is in the hearing. Some heard, but didn’t keep what was heard. Some heard and kept, but don’t let it sink in deep enough. Some heard and kept and allowed it to sink in, but don’t keep the way clear for it to grow. And some hear it in the right way—they kept it, and allowed it to sink in, and made the way clear for growth—and it then went on to bear great fruit in their lives.
Now, I want the word of God to bear fruit in my life; don’t you? In fact, I want it to bear much fruit. I don’t want all those years of hearing God’s word to go to waste. I don’t want to have suffered loss; or be among those who had received a great deal of God’s word, but don’t end up have anything to show for it. And in this parable, the Lord Jesus shows us how to be the kind of ‘hearer’ of His word that bears much fruit.
Now; let’s begin by hearing the parable itself. Do you know what a parable is? The word itself means ‘something thrown down with something else’. It’s a figure of speech for using something that is well-known in everyday life and then ‘throwing down’ a spiritual truth next to it; so that a lesson can be learned from the comparison. It’s a fundamental teaching method; and our Lord Jesus is the Master Teacher who used it wonderfully well.
So, first let’s consider …
1. THE GIVING OF A PARABLE (vv. 4-8).
We’re told that, before this parable was spoken, a great multitude of people had gathered around our Lord. In fact, we’re told that they came to Him “from every city”. In verses 1-3, we’re told that Jesus had been going, along with His disciples and certain of the women who had followed Him, “through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God.” These would have been all the cities along the coast of the Sea of Galilee. And it must be that after He had completed His travels to these various cities and villages, that the people in them came in great numbers to Him.
But even though many people came, it must be that not all of them came to hear in the right way. And so our Lord gave His famous parable. He said that a sower went out to sow and threw some of his seed in such a way that it fell along the pathways and the wayside—and not on to the field itself. The ground was hard; and the seed was easily trampled on. And the birds came and ate it before it could do any good. Other seed fell onto rocky areas—where the ground was hard. And it actually took root and began to grow. But because it wasn’t deep soil, the little sprouts were scorched in the sun and withered away because they didn’t have enough water. Other seed fell on what appears to have been good soil. It took root and began to grow and made progress. But the thorns and sticker bushes also grew up around it; and they choked out the growth of the seed so that it didn’t produce fruit.
Now; it was the same seed in each case. The sower wasn’t necessarily concerned with making sure that every seed fell where it should. He simply cast it all; and it went where it went. But in only one situation did it grow and produce fruit. And that was when it fell on good soil that can be defined as having no birds come and eat it and no feet come and trample it, and as having sufficient depth in which to take root and receive moisture, and as having nothing else growing in around it that would choke it out. In that good ground, the seed sprang up and grew, and it yielded “a crop a hundredfold”.
Isn’t it marvelous how that happens? My wife and I are growing a small vegetable garden in the back yard. We didn’t ‘broadcast-sow’ our seeds. We planted them carefully in rows. And we water it daily and try to keep the birds and squirrels away. But all we do is put the seed in—and if the conditions are right, the seeds grow and produce food we can enjoy later this year. And it’s really the same with you and me. We have opportunities every day, dear brothers and sisters, to spread God’s word around us. We just throw passages of the Bible out through whatever means God gives us—through notes, through letters, through Facebook posts, through simple everyday conversations of encouragement and exhortation, or perhaps through Bible studies, we get to lead the Bible messages we are able to give. And God does what He desires through it. I love what it says in Isaiah 55:10-11;
“For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,
And do not return there,
But water the earth,
And make it bring forth and bud,
That it may give seed to the sower
And bread to the eater,
So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:10-11).
God’s word always accomplishes what He sends it out to accomplish. But here is the surprising thing we discover: He doesn’t always send it out to be heard properly. Sometimes, what He wants to be accomplished is that the word be heard but not responded to rightly. Sometimes, He sends it out to fall upon hard hearts; so as to be misunderstood or rejected, and thus to be a condemnation to those who will not hear.
It may surprise us to discover that that’s the case; but that’s what we find as we see what Jesus says about …
2. THE PURPOSE OF PARABLES (vv. 9-10).
After our Lord spoke this parable, we’re told in verse 9 that His disciples came to Him and asked what the parable meant. And He told them; “To you, it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that ‘Seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’” He was quoting here from a passage in Isaiah 6; and He was actually telling His disciples that it is only given to some to understand the truths of God’s word—and not to all.
In a fuller record of this story in Matthew 13, we read;
And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” 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. 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. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 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;
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.’But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; 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 (Matthew 13:10-17).
It may bother us to think that the word of God is sometimes spoken in parables so that some of those who hear will not understand. It may bother us to think that it is actually not meant for everyone to understand. But we should always remember that it can be heard and understood by everyone who truly wants to. To whoever “has”—that is, to whoever has a sincere heart to hear and to obey and to keep God’s word—it is available. But to whoever “does not have”—that is, to whoever doesn’t really have a sincere heart to hear and understand and obey—then even what they think they have is taken from them. And what’s more, if we do indeed hear and understand, we should be very thankful; because that’s a gift of God’s grace.
How important it is, then, that we have a sincere heart that truly wants to hear.
Now; the disciples were proving that they were good soil. They went to Jesus to hear more. The Bible tells us in Mark 4:34 that He did not speak to the crowds without a parable; but “when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples.”
And so; let’s now consider …
3. THE EXPLANATION OF THIS PARABLE (vv. 8:11-15).
We can be very sure of the interpretation; because it comes from the lips of Jesus Himself. He said; “The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved” (vv. 11-12). The word of God is the word of salvation. It tells people to believe on the Lord Jesus and they will be saved. And so, the enemy of our souls hurries to snatch that word away before it can sink into someone’s heart. No sooner do they hear it than they hear one of the devil’s ambassadors mock it and ridicule it. Or he may quickly put a distraction in their way, so they cease to have their attention upon it. He snatches it away before it can have its saving effect.
Jesus went on to say, “But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away” (v. 13). In some people, the devil doesn’t snatch the word away in time; and they receive what they hear. They like it. Perhaps they hear beautiful verses that calm their soul. But it doesn’t go in very deep. And as soon as a trial comes along, or as soon as someone puts the pressure on them to abandon it, or as soon as they begin to lose friends or receive the hostility of family members and suffer because of the word, they very easily turn from it. It’s terrible to think of how many people have lost the value of God’s word in this way.
And then, Jesus said, “Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity” (v. 14). These would be folks who heard the word, believed it, received it, and even let it sink into their hearts so that it begins to grow. But then, the demands of this world begin to take precedence over God’s call upon their lives. Pretty soon, they’re thinking about their career, or about building up their home, or even just the regular pleasures of life—things that aren’t wrong in and of themselves; but that become wrong whenever they turn us from God’s will. Pretty soon, such folks don’t have time for the things of God anymore—and no fruit is produced.
Finally, Jesus said, “But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience” (v. 15). Note what Jesus said about the heart—that it was “noble” (which is translated “honest” in the English Standard Version). I think here of the story we’re told in the Book of Acts about the people of Berea. They heard Paul preach the word; and were “more fair-minded” than others because they “searched the Scriptures to find out whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11). Jesus also said that their hearts were “good”—that is, hearts that were reverent toward God and His goodness. They heard God’s word, kept it, and allowed it to bear fruit in them “with patience”. In another Gospel account, it says that bore fruit and produced “some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” (Matthew 13:23).
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So then; many people hear the word, but only those who hear in such a way as to keep it will bear fruit from it.
And let me suggest to you how we can become the kind of “good soil” that produces much fruit from the word of God. It’s all right here in the things our Lord has said. We just determine that—by the enabling power of the Holy Spirit—we will not be like those other soils. With all of our hearing of the word of God that comes our way, we decide that (1) we won’t let the enemy snatch it away; and that (2) we’ll let it sink in deeply—not abandoning it during times of trial and persecution; and that (3) we will get rid of the things in our lives that hinder its growth—the sins, the questionable habits, the concerns of this world, and the pursuit of pleasures. That’s how we can be good soil.
And as we do this, may we—with patience—trust the God who gives the growth to produce the good fruit His word in our lives.
EA
