MATTHEW 13 KINGDOM TEACHING The journey of Jesus brought Him to the shore where He sat in a boat and taught kingdom principles to the people. This time it was ethical and personal teaching. He took time to explain what the kingdom is like. All over the world God's Word is going forth. The seed has life in itself. That seed has to be distributed on the soil in order for the life principle within it to respond to the warmth and dampness of the earth. It also needs the heat of the sun and then life springs forth. it is the same with the Word of God. The soil lies waiting. The warmth of the Holy Spirit and the water of the Word are ready to do the needed work to bring life. The Word of God has to be taken in hand and presented to the people of the world that they might hear God's truth. It is true that some seed doesn't enter into the earth because of the hardness of the ground. In the same way some seed doesn't enter the minds and hearts of people. The devil is there to take it away even as people listen to it. Often a person leaves the place where they heard the Word of God and immediately forget what they heard. We are ever conscious of the many ways Satan uses to keep people away from the kingdom of heaven.
There are the kinds of listeners: the stony ground hearers, recognize the truth of God when they hear it. It often brings conviction of sin on them and it seems like they may be truly saved. The joy they say they have when they hear the Gospel, seems like that of one who is saved by grace. The problem is that when the Gospel of God reaches the conscience it doesn't usually produce feelings of joy but sorrow when people are brought to awareness of the awfulness of sin and repent of that toward God. Joy accompanies the relief of knowing one's sins are forgiven after they are saved rather than hearing of the need of salvation. The seed may have germinated in the awakening of one's need but there is no root into the warmth of the work of the Holy Spirit.
When the seed of the Gospel goes into places where thorns are rooted there, a struggle for the life sustaining power in it occurs. Thorns draw on the same nutrients as good seed but brings forth that which is not of God. Materialism, pleasure, ambition, fame and success all compete for the same life source. The soil that can give good life-sustaining food, can also produce that which is deceitful and harmful.
In the kingdom of heaven often there are difficulties in determining what is true and what is false. There are those who use the same words as the True Sower of the seed, the Lord Jesus as the Son of Man. But being "born again" may to some people be a church ordinance or a resolve to make changes in life rather than a work of the Holy Spirit using the Word of God. Some will use the word "saved" as an experience they have had rather than a work of God that is the result of one coming to Christ and receiving Him. We are not always able to discern the real from the false, so we must faithfully continue to present God's truth and leave the sorting out and the results to Him. The real and the counterfeit are known by Him and in time the reality of a confession will show. It is true - "By their fruits ye shall know them."
Interestingly the Lord used the smallest seed a farmer would plant, a mustard (canola) seed, to teach us that in the kingdom of heaven God can produce much from what seems very small beginnings. The canola oil comes from a small source, but can be used with other crushed seeds to bring great benefit for many people. The reality of faith at work can never be overestimated. It is possible for God to use what seems to us an insignificant act of trust to bring about blessing when He adds the power of His Person and life to a simple act of faith. In a similar way, a little bit of yeast that is unseen and remains unseen can produce large results either for good or bad. What seems to be invisible can have a great impact on the world around.
Many people do not have any idea of the value of the kingdom of heaven among them. To many people, Christians are a hindrance to what they feel is important. But to God, what is valuable is worth more than the whole world. That is the Church He bought and paid for with the blood of Christ. There never should be a question in my mind either, as to what is of real importance in life. I need to learn what is valuable to God and is what is of real value to me. There are some things I need to abandon forever, so that what is important might take the place of greatest importance in my life.
When presenting the Gospel to people God has called me to reach out to, I may have to take steps to separate from what is obviously not good. It is right for the ones who are really saved to be separate from those who are not. There are evidences of reality and sincerity that go along with a real work of God, that are not hard to identify. God knows those that are His. He will produce through those that are truly His, whatever is needed. In the treasury house of God there are provisions for every need. It is our business to bring those things that are suitable for the issues of the moment, to people who are in need of hearing those truths. What they hear by way of review and by teaching, may be things they have never heard before.
Reactions to teaching often varies. Some will appreciate what they hear and others will find fault. It is not unexpected when people who know us well, criticize what we teach. If it is taught by someone they do not know, the reaction would be quite the opposite. Any service we do, really needs to be honestly done for God as our priority. The outcome we will leave for Him to judge, as to suitability and as to how the hearers respond to the teaching. Any teaching that is given, whether it is how to enter the kingdom, or the conduct, principles and practices in the kingdom, has to be received as from the Lord and acted on in faith.
The things taught by the Lord in the past - Need to be applied by the hearers in the present. Kingdom principles are made to last - There is a real purpose as to why they were sent. When the truths of the Gospel are taught - People respond in different ways. Some buy the truth and sell it not - Others' conscience by God's truth is not fazed.
There are going to be those who are not real - Although they make professions of faith. It is not us but the Holy Spirit who seals - Those God reaches and saves by His grace. So, we are limited in what we can do - As far as determining who is in the kingdom. God alone can see all the way through - And knows those who have real salvation.
What we do know is God intends us to sow - And sometimes we are called upon to water The seed of the Word of God that we know -
Then pray God to make that seed prosper - And bring forth good fruit that remains - With evidence that is unmistakable. Those who have been cleansed from sin's stains - Can trust God with an assurance unshakeable.
"Gracious God, Thy Word is being sown here night after night and it seems like it is going somewhere good. It has also been sown and watered here for a long time. Would it please Thee to awaken those who are coming night by night to the reality that it is faith in Christ that saves, not their faith in their own believing. Give light to those in darkness I pray, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen."