Jesus’ ministry was breaking barriers on all fronts and came in two stages. 1. Preaching. 2. Teaching. The teaching was usually done in the synagogue not outdoors by the seashore and so here we see teaching happening in a different place and in a different way, with the use of parables. This was something that was never done in the synagogues.
He taught and spoke in parables in a way that people could understand. This is a lesson all preachers and teachers need to learn, keep them simple. Jesus uses illustrations and leaves those listening to discover truth, if people were interested they would come back to ask for more details.
After healing the demon possessed man, Jesus went outside of the house where He performed the miracle, Matthew 13:1 / Mark 3:20. Notice that Jesus got into a boat, Matthew 13:2 / Mark 4:1, as He does often, Mark 3:9. There would have been a small rowing boat that would take the disciples further out to the main fishing boat which was larger. We see this happening later when is asleep on the boat, Mark 4:35-41.
The parable Jesus is about to speak about is unusual in the fact that Jesus Himself explains the meaning of it. Can you imagine what a sight that must have been? What a pulpit that must have been to use, the Master teacher sitting on a boat because His following was so large. Jesus says, ‘Listen’, Mark 4:1, and then goes on to share the parable with those listening.
Notice how Jesus starts the parable and how He ends the parable. He starts by saying, ‘Listen’, Mark 4:1, and ends by saying, ‘He, who has ears to hear, let him hear,’ Matthew 13:18 / Luke 8:8 / Mark 4:9. It didn’t just mean listen to what I’ve just said, it means to think about it, and paying attention to what I’ve just said. Although this is called ‘the parable of the sower’, the key to understanding this parable is understanding that the seed is the Word of God and so maybe it should be called ‘the parable of the soil’.
What is a parable? The word ‘Parable’ comes from the Greek word ‘Parabole’, which literally means a placing beside, a comparison, equivalent to or to compare. Some say that a parable is ‘an earthly story with a heavenly meaning’ but a parable is more than that. The dictionary defines a parable as ‘a short figurative story, designed to convey some truth or moral lesson.’ Or ‘a brief story using events or facts of everyday life to illustrate a moral or spiritual truth.’
But parables come in many different styles and forms. In Luke 4:22-23, we have an example of a parable in the form of a ‘Proverb’. Again in Luke 5:36-39, we find Jesus sharing a parable in the form of a ‘metaphor’ to the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law. And there are many other forms of parables that Jesus used too. But the point is that Jesus used parables as a form of teaching. It wasn’t the only form of teaching He used but it was certainly a form He liked to use a lot.
Throughout the Gospels there are over thirty parables of Jesus recorded in some style or another. Most of them are well known to many people but all of them are classics and Jesus was the Master teacher when it came to parables.
In this parable we find the folowing, which Jesus will explain later. We have a farmer who sowing seed, Matthew 13:3 / Luke 8:5 / Mark 4:3, and four different kinds of soil.
1. The first type is like hard-packed soil, Matthew 13:4 / Luke 8:5 / Mark 4:4.
These hard-hearted people do not let the word penetrate their life, they reject it immediately because they have closed their minds.
2. The second type is like seed sown in rocky places, Matthew 13:5-6 / Luke 8:6 / Mark 4:5-6.
The idea here is of a thin layer of topsoil covering a large rock. When the seed is sown in such a place, it will germinate and grow in the shallow soil, but it will not develop deep roots. When the sun comes out and it doesn’t rain for a few days, the plant will wither and die. This represents a person who eagerly receives the word, but doesn’t develop roots through faith and Bible study. This person will not have the ability to withstand the temptations and persecutions that come along in life.
3. The thorny soil, Matthew 13:7 / Luke 8:7 / Mark 4:7.
In this ground, the plant is overshadowed by taller weeds which suffocate fruit production. This soil symbolizes people who receive the word and although they allow it to continue in their lives, permit competing interests to dwarf it. These other influences may not be bad things in themselves, but they dominate the person’s life so much that the seed can’t bear fruit.
4. The good soil, Matthew 13:8 / Luke 8:8 / Mark 4:8.
This is the good soil in which plants bear abundant fruit. This soil represents Christians who are diligent in the service of God.
The seed fell on three different places, without any lasting success. 1. On the path. 2. On rocky ground. 3. On rocky places. 4. On the thorny ground. However, some of the seed fell on good ground. The seed fell onto different types of ground and the harvest depended on the kind of soil where the seed fell.
Its clear that His disciples and others didn’t understand the parable, Matthew 13:10 / Luke 8:9 / Mark 4:10 / Mark 4:13 / Mark 4:33-34, and so, Jesus said He speaks in parables so that He can reveal secrets about the kingdom of heaven, Luke 8:10 / Mark 4:11.
Why did Jesus speak in parables? Matthew 13:3-8 / Luke 8:4-7 / Mark 4:10-13. His parables were designed to test His hearers, not an intelligence test but rather a spiritual responsiveness test. Jesus shares the parable with the people and says, ‘Do you want to know a secret?’ ‘I’ve shared a secret with you about the kingdom of heaven,’ Matthew 13:11 / Luke 8:10 / Mark 4:11.
And the parable He shared did exactly what the parable was designed to do. They were designed to get a response, Matthew 13:13-15 / Luke 8:9-10 / Mark 4:10-12. It split the people into two groups, those who were interested in truth and those who weren’t, Matthew 13:13-15 / Luke 8:10 / Mark 4:12 / Isaiah 6:9-10.
Morgan, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Jesus didn’t use parables to blind people, but because they were blind. ‘Therefore Jesus used the parabolic method, not in order to blind them, but in order to make them look again; not in order to prevent them from coming to forgiveness, but in order to lure them toward a new attention.’
Jesus is saying ‘My people can see and perceive, My people can hear and understand but they just don’t want to,’ Matthew 13:13-15 / Luke 8:10 / Mark 4:12 / Isaiah 6:9-10. He’s saying they don’t want to turn to God and be forgiven because their hearts are so far away from Me. He says My people have always seen, they’ve always heard but My people don’t want to listen and understand, because they are too stubborn, Isaiah 29:13.
A couple of chapters later in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus says that the religious people were hypocrites who were more interested in the traditions of men rather than the commands of God, Mark 7:6-8. And it’s then, that Jesus asks those who are listening, if they can’t understand this parable, how will they understand any other parable that He will share, Mark 4:13.
Jesus is saying this secret about the kingdom of heaven is so easy to understand, Matthew 13:13-15 / Luke 8:10 / Mark 4:11. He says it’s so plain and obvious and yet none of you can understand it! He’s telling them that they need to be able to understand this parable so that they can go on and understand other parables He will teach them.
It’s much the same as what Paul says to the church in Corinth, 1 Corinthians 3:1-2. The great call of Scripture is for growth, for us to grow spiritually. The minute we were born again in the waters of baptism, John 3:3 / Acts 2:38, we should be starting to grow spiritually. And the more we study the Word of God, the more we understand and grow, but we need to grow, 2 Peter 3:18.
A lot of kids in the world today are born with a disease that stops them from growing both physically and mentally. But sadly, the same goes for some Christians, not physically or mentally but spiritually, Hebrews 5:11-14. Notice how the Hebrew writer describes how we become mature, “By constant use and training”.
Studying isn’t easy sometimes, but it’s something that all Christians need to do, they need to train themselves to do it. The desire for understanding the Bible will drive us forward to understand even more of the Bible. That’s what Jesus’ disciples did, they wanted to understand more and so, Jesus gave them even more solid food, Matthew 5:6 / Luke 24:27.
So we find that these few people who were listening to Jesus didn’t understand what the parable of The Sower meant, but they had the desire to know and so Jesus explains it to them. He says, ‘Here’s a secret about the kingdom of God’, Matthew 13:13-15 / Luke 8:10 / Mark 4:11. Matthew records in Matthew 13:16-17, that the disciples were blessed because they used their eyes to see and their ears to hear, that is, they were open to Jesus’ teaching and as a result were blessed, Matthew 16:17 / John 20:29.
Many of the Old Testament prophets and righteous people who lived by faith longed to see what the disciples were now seeing, they longed to hear the teachings Christ was teaching His disciples. In other words, they longed to hear the wonderful things which Jesus was revealing to His disciples, John 8:56 / Galatians 4:4-5 / Hebrews 11:13 / Hebrews 11:25-26 / Hebrews 11:39-40 / 1 Peter 1:10-12.
Jesus taught and explained the parable using an everyday life event, He uses the illustration of a farmer sowing his seed. Have you ever wondered why some people become Christians and then a little later they fall away? Have you ever wondered why some people aren’t Christians?
We have people who come into our assemblies, they hear the Gospel of Christ being preached, they know what they need to do to become obedient to the Gospel, and yet, nothing ever seems to happen. How come we don’t get people coming to Christ when the Gospel is preached as it was during Biblical times? Well, maybe the best way to answer that question is by letting Jesus ask the question He was asking. How could the scribes and Pharisees misrepresent God the way they did? Matthew 13:13-15 / Luke 8:10 / Mark 4:12 / Isaiah 6:9-10.
How could the disciples and those listening not totally understand what Jesus was teaching? The way the Word is being sown or being preached isn’t the problem, the problem is the way people receive it. In other words, those people who are honestly searching for the truth, it’s those people whom the truth will become much clearer.
We need to remember whom the Word of God is being preached to, it’s being preached to sinners. People whose hearts have been hardened with sin over the years. Jesus says that people are like the place where the seed lands, Matthew 13:3-8 / Luke 8:5-8 / Mark 4:3-8. He’s talking about four different soils, which represent four different reactions or responses when people hear the Word of God, Luke 8:11 / Matthew 4:19 / Mark 4:14.
1. Jesus said that the birds mentioned in Matthew 13:4 / Luke 8:5 / Mark 4:4, are a picture of the devil himself, who comes down and takes the seed away, Matthew 13:19 / Luke 8:12 / Mark 4:15.
But the reason the devil can so easily take it away is because the Word of God has no impression on these people at all. They’re so hardened in sin, they don’t even understand the significance of the words being said. In other words, the path is hard, Matthew 13:4 / Luke 8:5 / Mark 4:4, the seed has got nowhere to plant its roots, Jeremiah 4:3 / Hosea 10:12. They hear the Gospel but don’t hang around long enough to find out what it means to them. Because when people are hardened with sin, they always think that whatever’s being said doesn’t apply to them.
2. Jesus goes on to describe another reaction to the Gospel.
People who hear the Word of God, accept it with gladness and joy, Matthew 13:5 / Luke 8:6 / Mark 4:5, but they have no root in themselves, Matthew 13:20 / Luke 8:13 / Mark 4:16-17. Jesus says these people are OK for a while but as soon as any persecution or worry comes along from being a follower of God, they just give up.
So the Word that was planted in them at the start, just springs up very quickly but the soil was lacking, Matthew 13:5 / Luke 8:6 / Mark 4:5. And so when the sun comes out, it’s quickly burnt up because it has no root and lacks moisture, Matthew 13:5 / Luke 8:6 / Mark 4:5. Jesus is saying there are hearts out there that will receive the truth with great readiness and joy, Matthew 13:20 / Luke 8:13 / Mark 4:16. And He says it’s not until the heat gets turned up, that these people fall away.
Spurgeon, in his commentary, says the folowing.
‘Then there are many more, whose religion must be sustained by enthusiastic surroundings. They seem to have been baptized in boiling water; and unless the temperature around them is kept up to that point, they wither away, the religion that is born of mere excitement will die when the excitement is over.’
It worries me when people become Christians without even studying the Word of God first. People need to know and understand Who and what they are committing to, Luke 14:26-35. Jesus says whenever the heat of tribulation or persecution comes along because of the Word of God, their delight in the truth just withers away and dries up.
3. Jesus goes on to describe another type of response to the Gospel.
In the case of the seed that fell among the thorns, Matthew 13:7 / Matthew 13:22 / Luke 8:7 / Luke 8:14 / Mark 4:4 / Mark 4:18-19, we must note that there was nothing wrong with the soil. It’s not too hard like the seed that fell along the path, there’s enough soil for the seed to take root, unlike the seed that fell on a rocky place.
It’s not the soil that’s the problem, it’s what is in the soil around it. It’s the environment in which it’s living is the problem. One of the ways that Satan likes to attack God’s people is with worry, worry is the greatest joy stealer there is.
Jesus says there are three things that steal our joy as a Christian. He says there are three things that can stop us from becoming a fruitful follower of the Word.
1. The cares of this world, Matthew 13:22 / Luke 8:14 / Mark 4:19.
People are so caught up in this life that they forget about the next. They worry about their jobs, they worry about their homes, and they worry about having enough money to get by.
Jesus says we shouldn’t be getting distracted by anything, He’ll take care of all your worries, Matthew 6:25-34 / Matthew 6:33. He says, listen, we’re Christians, we don’t need to worry about these things, 1 Peter 5:7, just leave the worrying to the unbelievers.
2. The deceitfulness of riches, Matthew 13:22 / Luke 8:14 / Mark 4:19.
The world’s biggest con these days is this, ‘get rich fast and you’ll be happy’. Whether that comes in the form of a new car or a new home, it doesn’t matter. I don’t know if you have noticed, but over the past few years, the ‘National Lottery’ has now got even more chances for you to win every day of the week. They now have a daily ‘National Lottery’ draw.
And that’s because they realise that in a world that’s so commercial, people are lusting after the quick fix answer to their problems or a get me rich fast answer to your problems. But Jesus tells us that, that’s not the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5:22-23. He says that those riches are the fruit of the world. He says people are being deceived into thinking that material goods are the answer to life.
The only answer to this life is Jesus Christ Himself and if we want answers about this life then we need to look to Jesus, John 14:6. Because He’s the only one who has the answers for this life.
3. The pleasures of this life, Matthew 13:22 / Luke 8:14 / Mark 4:19.
Everyone likes to have fun and there’s nothing wrong with that but the problem comes when the fun becomes more important than godly living. There’s nothing wrong with playing cards but the problem comes when we start gambling and our gambling habit takes over our life.
There’s nothing wrong with having a drink, but the problem comes when the drink comes more important than God himself. God has given us the gift of pleasure, which in itself can be innocent. But we need to remember that the world’s idea of enjoyment is totally opposite to God’s idea of enjoyment.
These three things or these three thorns, that we have just mentioned are constantly in the environment that we live in every day. And what they do is smother and choke the Word of God, Matthew 13:22 / Luke 8:14 / Mark 4:18-19. And Jesus says, the reason that these people don’t bear any fruit is because of these thorns.
He says, they look promising, they look like they’re going to bear fruit but they never do and so they end up choking to death. He says the thorns soak up all the moisture and riches that are in the soil and so the world ends up with all their attention and God just gets the dregs of whatever is left, Matthew 22:37. They are starved of the truth, which is found in the word of God.
4. Jesus speaks about the good soil, Matthew 13:8 / Matthew 13:23 / Luke 8:8 / Luke 8:15 / Mark 4:8 / Mark 4:19-20.
Jesus says, ‘this is the soil I’m looking for, this is the kind of response to My words that I’m looking for.’ This soil is the total opposite from the three other soils mentioned. These are the people whose hearts are soft and tender, they received and cherished the seed, when it was planted.
These people soak up the Word of God and gain strength from it and go on to produce a crop of ‘thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown,’ Matthew 13:23 / Luke 8:15 / Mark 4:20. These are the people who plant good seed in people’s hearts and are rewarded with a good crop, that is a good number of people responding to the Gospel message, 1 Corinthians 3:6.
They can see the world’s riches for what they really are, they guard themselves against worldly pleasures, Proverbs 21:17. And they cast all their anxieties onto Him because they know He cares for them, 1 Peter 5:7. They produce much fruit and it’s these people who are the long-distance faith runners, who are faithful to the end.
And it’s to those people who Jesus says, ‘Do you want to know a secret?’ Matthew 13:11 / Luke 8:10 / Mark 4:11. Don’t be surprised when people don’t want to hear about Me. Don’t be surprised when people become Christians and only last a short time. Don’t be surprised when people look like they’re going to be great ambassadors for Christ but they fall away.
Everyone has a place in the parable of the sower. Jesus wants us to evaluate which type of soil we are.
1. Hopefully, we won’t be the hardened, wayside soil.
If we are, we will close our minds to the truth and refuse to allow the Gospel to penetrate our hearts and change our life.
2. Perhaps we’ll be the rocky soil.
On the surface, we appear to be growing and serving the Lord enthusiastically. But we aren’t deepening our roots through faith, study and a deeper personal relationship with Jesus Christ. When times become tough, we will fall away, and others will marvel because on the surface it looked like we were doing so well.
3. If we end up being the thorny soil, we will continue to ‘be a Christian,’ but our life will be dominated by other activities and we will never have much time or attention to share with spiritual concerns.
This is probably the most subtle danger because the plant in thorny soil never completely falls away. As a result, we can soothe our conscience and believe that we are still doing OK, when in fact, we aren’t bearing fruit.
4. Ideally, we will be the good soil that bears the fruit of righteousness for the Lord.
God’s Word doesn’t vary but man’s heart does. The nature of the response is dictated by the nature of the heart that receives it. The secret is this, don’t give up planting the seed, but persevere, Galatians 6:9. We never know what kind of response you’re going to get.
Jesus explained that the seed represents the word of God, Luke 8:11. There are many lessons that can be learned by the analogy between seed and the word. For example, a seed always produces after its kind. That is, rice seed always produces rice plants, corn seed produces corn plants and pumpkin seed pumpkin plants. There are no exceptions.
By the plant results, one can determine what seed was planted. So it is in the spiritual realm. When the pure word of God is planted, the resulting plants are Christians. It would be theoretically possible to eliminate pumpkin plants from the face of the earth. Yet if pumpkin seeds were preserved, someone many years later could plant them, and again produce pumpkins. So also in Christ. The seed is the word of God, 1 Peter 1:23-25.
Even if there had not been servants of Christ on the earth for a long time, when people returned to following the Bible only, they would become Christians. Our goal should be to reproduce pure disciples of Christ in the twentieth century, just like they were in the first.
The biggest mistake we can make as Christians after studying this is to look around us and say, ‘Yes, I know people who fall into one of those categories’. ‘I know someone who didn’t last long as a Christian’, that’s not the point of the parable. The point of the parable is to get you to look at yourself, is your heartfelt response to the Gospel described in this parable?
And let me just say that it would be very foolish for anyone to stand and say, ‘Yes, when the seed fell on me, it fell on the good soil.’ Because you can’t answer that question until the day Jesus returns or the day you die, 1 Corinthians 10:12. Let’s not judge each other with this parable. But let’s continue to encourage each other to remain faithful to the end and trust in God to help us produce the fruit He requires.
Jesus explains the meaning of this parable later in this chapter, and so, we’ll identify the different characters when we get there. Jesus again is describing the kingdom of heaven to a man who sowed good seed in his field, Matthew 13:24, however, while he was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away, Matthew 13:25. Instead of keeping watch over the field, the person in charge was asleep, Galatians 6:1.
The weeds were a plant which looked like wheat until they became fully grown, Matthew 13:26. The weeds would hamper the growth of the wheat and the harvest. The farmer wouldn’t know that the weeds had been sown in the field along with the wheat until it was harvest time when the grain was formed, Matthew 13:27-30.
The farmer couldn’t remove the weeds while the wheat was growing, otherwise, the wheat would also be destroyed in the removal process, Matthew 27:29. And so, the farmer would have to wait until harvest time to separate the weeds from the wheat, Matthew 13:30.
In the ‘The Parable Of The Growing Seed’, Mark 4:26-29, we see how Jesus explained how the spiritual kingdom of God grows. We see that this kingdom’s growth was orderly. Just like our physical growth, we grow through infancy, childhood, youth and manhood. In other words, it takes time and we need to be patient.
We also see how the kingdom’s growth is from God Himself. We plant the seed and water it when we get the chance but it’s God who causes the seed to grow. And we don’t know how God does this but we know He does because we’re Christians today.
Jesus is going to teach us another aspect of this kingdom’s growth but from a different point of view, from the view point of a garden or the field, Matthew 13:31-32 / Luke 13:18-19 / Mark 4:30-32. Everything God created has a purpose and we can learn many lessons from nature, and that includes the mustard seed.
During Biblical times, it was very common practice to talk about the mustard seed as one of the smallest seeds, Matthew 13:32 / Mark 4:31. Strictly speaking it wasn’t the smallest seed around at this time but the tiny mustard seed was used to speak of anything minute. For example, Jesus spoke of faith, as a grain of mustard seed, Matthew 17:20 / Luke 17:6.
Let me say a few words about the mustard plant before we go on because this will help us in our understanding of the parable. The Palestinian mustard plant, because of its size wasn’t usually found in the garden, it was usually found in an open field, and these plants grow to between ten and twelve feet in height.
When it comes to shrubs, this was the giant, its branches were so large they would spread out like a tree. And so because of its size, it would very often attract many birds, Matthew 31:32 / Luke 13:19 / Mark 4:32. During the time of Jesus, birds would often be seen in the branches of the mustard plant as they fed on the small black seeds of the mustard pods. And like we know about all of Jesus’ parables, He reveals a secret about how the kingdom of God grows from an everyday event. I’m going to share with you three points on this parable.
1. Just because something is little, doesn’t mean it’s not important.
When we look at the small mustard seed and we see how microscopic it is, we might be forgiven for thinking it’s not worth much. But when we talk to someone who grows these plants, we will find exactly how valuable it really is. As a spice, mustard is sold in seed or powder form and even today we can buy it in paste form. In other words, the little mustard seed by itself doesn’t look so important, but our experience teaches us not to minimise it.
I guess what I’m saying is that the little things in life should never be discounted. When we look at the world today, it’s obsessed with bigness. The Great Wall of China is seventeen-hundred miles long. The Alaskan Pipeline runs for eight-hundred miles. The Empire State Building, which was built in New York in 1931, is one-hundred and two-story high. So many of our modern-day skyscrapers dwarf the tower of Babel. When we think about our farmers, they’re termed as successful according to the bigness of their operations.
So to a world obsessed with magnitude, Jesus says, ‘pay attention to the little things’. A cup of cold water, Mark 9:41, a visit to the sick, a welcome to a stranger, a lost sheep, Jesus says, ‘these are the little things’. In Matthew 25:35-36, when Jesus is talking about the great division which will happen on judgement day, notice He doesn’t want us to feed the world, He doesn’t want us to solve world poverty. It’s not big things He wants from us, it’s little things.
Give a hungry person someone to eat, give a thirsty person something to drink. Give someone who needs clothes, some clothes, look after and visit the lonely and sick. These aren’t big tasks, they’re little mission fields that we all can do. Just because someone has a small task within God’s kingdom doesn’t mean that it isn’t important. Doing a good deed for someone spreads the Gospel faster than 100 sermons. That’s because just like a grain of mustard seed, they increase in size beyond imaginable proportion.
2. However important little things may be, the parable focuses on the consequences of little beginnings.
The Egyptians were famous and still are famous for their pyramid buildings and one of the greatest pyramids built was built at Giza. It contained an inner chamber where the Pharaohs were buried. His followers were usually buried in there too, along with some of his personal artefacts. The rest of the pyramid complex consisted of a large enclosure, an adjacent mortuary temple, and a walkway leading down to a pavilion. And when we look at these magnificent structures, we can’t help but stand in awe. But when we think about it, these structures started with one brick.
Vincent Van Gogh has got many famous paintings but each one started with a single stroke of the brush. The German composer Ludwig Van Beethoven started his great symphonies and concertos with a single note.
In literature, every book ever written, every essay, and every poem all comes from the twenty-six letters of the alphabet. In fact, the world’s biggest things have generally had small beginnings. Momentous deeds and earth circling revolutions can be traced back to a speck, like a germ of mustard seed.
When we think about Christianity, the world’s greatest movement had its beginnings in a manger in Bethlehem, Luke 2:10-12. The proud and busy Roman world didn’t take any notice of the day when Jesus was born. And it casually took notice of His life, and even when Jesus died, the Roman world didn’t care much, why? Because Jesus was born in a manger, He was a carpenter from Nazareth and when He died, He was now gone, so much for a great leader!
Certainly, in outward appearances, Jesus looked less than the least of all seeds, His followers were counted by the dozen, not by the thousands. And yet, from only a handful of disciples, and in spite of their leader’s death on a cross. There sprang into existence the universal church of the Lord Jesus Christ, which you and I are members of today.
Twenty-one centuries have come and gone, and today, He still remains the central figure for much of the human race. We should learn the lesson from the mustard seed. A thing may be small, almost without hope but that doesn’t mean it’s not going to succeed. Jesus is saying that small beginnings can succeed because it’s God who is behind it. Do we honestly think that the first-century disciples ever thought that their small faith would have had such an impact on the world today?
Their faith began unnoticed, just like the tiny mustard seed but look at it now, it has gone all around the world, Colossians 1:5. Jesus said with faith like that, ‘we can move mountains, we can tell a tree to go and plant itself in the sea,’ Mark 11:23. That’s faith, that’s leaving things in God’s hands because we know that God is in control.
3. Don’t miss the point of this parable.
Some people like to believe that the branches, which Jesus talks about here, Matthew 13:32 / Luke 13:19 / Mark 4:32, are symbolic of modern-day denominations. In other words just as the birds come and sit in the branches of the trees, it’s said that people can come and enter the different branches or denominations of the church.
But there are a few problems with this interpretation. They fail to ask the questions we have been asking with every parable we’ve looked at. Who was Jesus speaking to and what did it mean to them? Jesus was speaking to His disciples, Matthew 13:10 / Mark 4:10. Was denominationalism around in Jesus’ day? No!
Some people try to understand the parable by looking at Christianity today. What they need to do is look at Christianity as we find it in the first century. It’s all too easy to make something mean something, which Jesus never meant it to mean. It’s too easy to speak of branches of the church, but in the days of Christ and His apostles, these different so-called branches or divisions of Christianity were unknown.
The Bible nowhere teaches that there are many churches, the Bible always talks about the unity of the church as in singular, Ephesians 4:4-6. Jesus didn’t say, ‘on this rock, I will build my churches.’ He said, ‘I will build my church,’ singular, Matthew 16:18.
There are other people who like to say that this parable was a prophecy of Jesus. In other words, this parable remained unfulfilled until the recent rise of denominationalism, rubbish! This takes their interpretation too far, there’s no need to make everything in the parable mean something. The branches of the mustard tree aren’t the main focus of Jesus’ attention any more than the man who sowed the mustard seed or the nests that were made in the tree’s branches.
The point of the parable is simply that the microscopic mustard seed grows into a tree large enough for the birds to come and nest in it. The man who sowed the seed, the field or garden, the nests, and the birds themselves, are all incidental to the one central truth of the parable.
And that’s this, the kingdom of God, Matthew 13:31 / Luke 13:18 / Mark 4:30, even with a small beginning would prosper and prevail over all other kingdoms. That’s what Jesus is getting at, that’s what He is teaching His disciples.
Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, Daniel 2:31-45, is important because it helps us in our understanding of this parable. Let me give you a quick rundown of what this dream means. Daniel 2:32, talks about ‘the head’ as being made of pure gold, this is talking about The Babylonian Empire. Daniel 2:32, also talks about ‘the chest and arms’ as being made of silver, this is talking about The Medo-Persian Empire.
Daniel 2:32-33, also mentions ‘the belly and thighs, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay.’ as being made of bronze, this is talking about The Roman Empire. And in Daniel 2:34, he talks about ‘this rock’, which is not made by human hands. The stone cut not by human hands, struck the image down and became ‘a great mountain and filled the whole earth,’ Daniel 2:35. In other words, Daniel prophesied that God’s kingdom was destined to conquer all other kingdoms.
Did Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream come true and was it accurate? Yes, it did, all we have to do is read our history books and we will see how accurate it was. And we will read about how one kingdom fell after another, all the great historian writers tell us all about it.
What can we learn from this parable? Let me give you a couple of things to think about. Do you realise that you are a part of a kingdom that will never be destroyed and will last forever? But don’t take my word for it, take God’s word, Daniel 2:44. If you’re a Christian today then you’re a part of God’s spiritual kingdom right now.
Notice that Paul doesn’t say, concerning our citizenship, ‘will be in heaven’ but ‘is in heaven’, that’s present tense, Philippians 3:17-20. Now you may be thinking to yourself that you would like to become a part of this kingdom but you haven’t got much to offer, well just remember what we’ve learned today.
Jesus says that it’s the little things we have got to offer that can make all the difference. We might not be able to preach or teach, but we can certainly write a letter of encouragement to other Christians in Jesus’ name. We might not be able to song lead, but we can come to worship and encourage everyone with our friendly smile in Jesus’ name.
In a world where people say that size matters, Jesus says, ‘give me what you can and I will do wonders with it.’ Look at what He did with a couple of fish and five loaves of bread, Matthew 14:13-21 / Matthew 15:32-39. Look at what He did with six stone water jugs after they have been filled with water, John 2:1-11. Imagine what He can do with you if you would only give yourself to Him first.
Jesus is still teaching about the kingdom of God, Matthew 13:33 / Luke 13:20, and in this parable, He shares a lesson from something He saw His mother doing time and time again, Matthew 13:33 / Luke 13:21. We know bread was made at home in Palestine during this time and everywhere you went you would see women making bread. Everybody knew about the little piece of dough, which had been kept over from the previous baking, which was called yeast, and the yeast was basically a piece of fermented dough.
Jesus told a parable here, which would have highly offended those who were listening. We might be thinking well, what’s the big deal, He’s talking about yeast. Well, to understand why they were offended we need to enter the mind of the Jews again.
In Jewish thinking, yeast or leaven is almost always connected with an evil influence. The Jews connected fermentation with deterioration and rottenness, and yeast stood for that which was evil, Matthew 16:6 / 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 / Galatians 5:9. Now we can understand why the Jews would struggle with this parable.
They would be thinking how could the kingdom of God be compared to yeast? How can God’s kingdom be compared with evil? Remember when God spoke to Moses and Aaron about what the Israelites were to do in preparation for the Passover? One of the ceremonies of preparation for the Passover feast was that every scrap of yeast had to be taken out of the house and burned and destroyed, Exodus 12:8-10.
I believe that Jesus chose this illustration of the kingdom deliberately. Imagine if you were a Jew and you were there listening to Jesus, there would be a certain shock in hearing that the kingdom of God is compared to yeast. But that shock would arouse interest and get attention, as an illustration from an unusual and unexpected source always does.
Jesus spoke of yeast in the good sense, He saw how the women use it for a good purpose to make light and wholesome bread. And so when you look at yeast the way Jesus looks at yeast, you can understand that the kingdom of God is like yeast in many ways. So now that we understand the background to this parable, I would like to share with you three thoughts about this yeast or leaven as some translations have it.
1. The yeast of Christ works from the inside out.
Those of you who are bakers and make your own bread will know exactly what I’m talking about. When you’re making bread, you know that yeast will do nothing to your mixture unless you mix it through, and that’s because yeast does its work from within. In other words, yeast can do nothing to the dough unless it’s put inside, it has to get right inside the dough to work properly.
Christianity works the same way, the influence that changes a person works within a person’s heart. You can change the external things about your life but your heart will still be the same. A poverty-stricken nation may receive food and clothing and better housing, but that nation will not really be changed until it’s given something within.
The task of Christianity is to make new men, not new things. It’s not the outward things that are the problem, it’s the human heart that’s the problem, Mark 7:21-22. In other words, once the new people are created, the new world will follow. A man isn’t converted unless he’s converted within, a person isn’t converted unless their heart is changed. So Christianity is like yeast, it’s not the outside trying to get in, but the inside trying to get out, Proverbs 27:19.
2. There’s real quality in the transforming power of yeast.
Did you know that when yeast is put into the baking meal, it changes the ingredients? It does, what happens is that the dough is turned into a bubbling, seething mass. When Christ and His kingdom are introduced to people, great changes take place. And that’s because Christianity is a disturbing thing, it disturbs people, it upsets people, Acts 16:20-21 / Acts 17:5-8.
But why do they get upset? They get upset because God’s Word exposes their sin, Hebrews 4:12. And sometimes you don’t even have to say a word about God but because they know you’re a Christian, you’re exposing their darkness, and people don’t like being exposed, John 3:20.
But these are the kind of people that Christ can help because when Christ comes into a person’s heart, that person becomes a new man or woman. Paul says when a person lets the yeast of Christ work in them and through them, they have new thoughts, Colossians 3:1-4.
A Christian starts to think differently about themselves and the world they live in. Paul says that a person who comes into contact with Christ starts to live differently, Colossians 3:5-7. But something else happens to a person when they accept the yeast of Christ. When the disciples were talking about places of honour, Jesus says that when you become a Christian your idea of work changes, you get new ambitions of work and service, Matthew 20:25-28.
The yeast of Christ is so powerful it can take a person like the apostle Paul who said that he was the worst of all sinners. And how does He do that? Christ does that because He loves us and He has told us that whoever becomes a Christian is a new creation because the old has gone, 2 Corinthians 5:14-17.
When you allow Christ to influence your life with His words, you will be amazed at the results. Jesus Christ can change someone who is willing to allow God to change them, Galatians 5:22-24. The yeast of Christ is powerful loved ones and there’s not a person you have ever met or will ever meet who cannot be changed by the Word of God.
3. The yeast of Christ cannot be contained.
Yeast works contagiously, Matthew 13:33 / Luke 13:21. When yeast gets put into the mixture it doesn’t stop until it has spread through the whole mixture. And Jesus says that’s exactly what the kingdom of God is like, it spreads like an infection.
When you think about some of Jesus’ first disciples, other people brought them to Him. In other words, Andrew found Peter and Philip found Nathanael, and from then onwards the number of disciples just grew and grew and grew, the early church multiplied by leaps and bounds, John 1:40-45.
When you think about the Lord’s church, it’s very much in the soul-winning business. Where we’re reps for Jesus Christ and the only way the church can do its business is for every single member to be a soul winner for Christ too.
Those who have searching hearts will hear the message of the parables, Matthew 13:34. Because of their desire for and love of truth, they will not reject the message that is being communicated through the parables, Acts 17:11 / 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12.
The truth that is given through the means of metaphorical language is understood only by those who have open minds and hearts. Those who have closed minds and hearts with hidden agendas will twist the message of God that has been given in metaphorical language, 2 Peter 3:15-16.
Understanding the kingdom of God as it is explained in the parables, therefore, becomes a test to determine if one has an open mind. If one comes to the parables with an established theology, he will not be able to objectively discover the message of the parables. It was for this reason that the scribes and Pharisees failed to understand the kingdom of God that was revealed through the parables.
Jesus quotes Asaph’s words from Psalm 78:2, in Matthew 13:35, which showed that even in the choice of that teaching method Christ was following exactly the guidelines laid down in prophecy. The ‘things hidden’, Matthew 13:35, imply that Jesus’ teaching was going to be direct. The kingdom things in this context concerning His direct teaching concerning the kingdom of heaven.
After leaving the crowd Jesus enters a house and His disciples ask Him to explain the parable of the weeds to them, Matthew 13:36.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The desire of the disciples for an explanation of that parable is understandable. Even with the Lord’s explanation, men do not fully understand it, as evidenced by the most diverse opinions regarding it. It must have appeared dark indeed before the Lord illuminated it.’
In answer to the disciples’ request, Jesus identifies each element in the parable. The Sower is Christ Himself, Matthew 13:37, who is proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God, Matthew 4:23. The field represents the world, Matthew 13:38. This field is where the Son of Man came to sow the seed, Matthew 28:18.
The good seed, that is, the wheat, are the people of the kingdom, Matthew 13:38. These are those who gladly own Jesus as their Lord and King, submitting to Him freely. The weeds are the people of the evil one, Matthew 13:38. These weeds are those who offend and practice lawlessness. They are within the Lord’s dominion, His realm, but they clearly are not submitting to the His authority. Their actions reveal that they are really ‘people of the evil one’.
The enemy who sowed them is the devil, Matthew 13:39. This is the one who tried to tempt Christ in the wilderness and failed, Matthew 4:1-11. Now he tries to destroy the efforts of Christ to save souls and enlarge the influence of His kingly rule through his clever yet dastardly deeds.
The harvest is the end of the age, Matthew 13:39. This ‘age’ is when the Gospel of the kingdom is being preached, it’s also when people who receive the Gospel can become the ‘people of the kingdom’. In other words, it is this present age, the Christian age, Colossians 1:13 / Revelation 1:9. This is an ‘age’ that will end with a great ‘harvest’. It is identified elsewhere as the glorious coming and appearance of our Lord, Matthew. 26:31-32 / 1 Timothy 6:14-15.
The reapers are the angels, Matthew 13:39. These are the angels that will accompany Christ when He comes again, 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9. They will separate the wicked from among the just, Matthew 13:49.
Jesus stresses the main points of the parable. The problem of the ‘weeds’ will not be fully addressed until the ‘harvest’, Matthew 13:40. This is done out of consideration for the ‘good seed’, Matthew 13:29. It is at the end of the age that the Son of Man will finally resolve this problem, Matthew 13:41.
With His angels He will ‘will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.’, i.e. the people of the evil one. Those so gathered out of His kingdom will be properly dealt with! Matthew 13:42. They will be cast into ‘the blazing fire’, where there will be ‘wailing and gnashing of teeth!’ After the harvest, the righteous will ‘shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father’, Matthew 13:43.
Unlike the world we live in today where we have banks and building societies, the people of Jesus’ day didn’t have these facilities. The safest place to keep your valuables in Biblical times was buried in the ground, Matthew 13:44 / Joshua 7:21 / Matthew 25:25. Many people would bury their treasures under the ground, especially if they knew that war was on its way.
We all know that Palestine is steeped in history, especially when it comes to wars. And as usual, Jesus teaches a parable about something that was very relevant to those who were listening. It was common practice for people to bury their treasure in the ground until the war was over and then they would return to find it again when there was peace in the land.
In this little parable, there are two main points that Jesus is stressing.
1. The joy of this man’s discovery, Matthew 13:44.
This man was going about his daily business, doing his work when he found the treasure. It wasn’t so much by accident, ok, he stumbled across it but he was working diligently in the field. And I say diligently because this treasure would have been buried deep in the ground.
He wouldn’t just be scraping the surface of the ground in his day’s work, he would have been digging deep into the ground. And it’s while he’s digging deep that he discovers the hidden treasure. And it’s then that he hides it again and goes on his way.
The treasure is the Gospel, the Word of God itself and it’s called treasure because sometimes it takes a little effort to find it. We’re not talking about a physical treasure here that this man found, we’re talking about a spiritual treasure, Isaiah 33:6. We’re talking about salvation, wisdom and knowledge, we’re talking about fearing the Lord Himself.
2. What’s the Gospel worth?
This man was willing to give up everything to make the treasure his own. And it wasn’t even an effort for him to give up everything, he was happy doing it. This treasure gave him so much joy that he was even willing to sacrifice everything he had to attain it. He wanted salvation so much you couldn’t put a price on it.
It’s only our salvation that brings lasting joy, Isaiah 12:1-6 / Philippians 3:7-9 / Philippians 4:4. A disciplined life is never easy, Matthew 16:24, but the joy that you receive in return from doing God’s will far outweigh the sacrifices you need to make, Matthew 6:21.
Historians tell us that in the ancient world pearls had a very special place in men’s hearts. People from all over the world desired to possess a lovely pearl, not only for its monetary value but also because of its beauty. Unlike many people today, back then people would take time and find pleasure simply by handling it and thinking about it. They found a certain joy in simply possessing and looking at a pearl.
And the historian writers tell us that the main sources of these pearls were found around the shores of the Red Sea and around the coast of Britain. But they said that these merchants who went looking for these pearls would travel all over the world to find one pearl which was more beautiful than all the others they had seen.
But why would Jesus say that the kingdom of heaven is like a pearl? Matthew 13:45. Just like the man who found the hidden treasure, they both found something that was beyond value. They both found the means to eternal life and just like the other guy, he too sold everything he had just to get it, Matthew 13:46.
After all what price can you put on your salvation? How much is your soul worth to God? It cost God the price of His precious One and only Son, to make your salvation possible, Romans 5:6-8. That’s how much your soul is worth to God. Your soul means everything to God, and your salvation should mean everything to you.
Jesus also tells us that the pearl is like the kingdom of heaven because ‘it’s the most beautiful thing you could ever posses’. A soul saved is the most precious and beautiful thing we will ever see and witness, Luke 15:8-10 / John 14:21. It’s not enough to know that something is valuable and beautiful. You need to know and then take hold of it and then live your life by it, Matthew 25:23 / James 2:26, and then you will discover how precious your salvation is to you.
We need to understand that there are other pearls we can find in life. There are many other things that people can find such as a good job and a nice home. People can find pearls in knowledge and art or even in serving other people.
It can be found in friendships and relationships. These are all lovely and beautiful pearls of life but the supreme and most precious pearl lies in seeking to do God’s will, Matthew 6:33. Doing God’s will doesn’t belittle these other pearls but living your life in accordance with the will of God is the most precious and valuable thing you can possess. The man who found the hidden treasure in a field stumbled upon God’s will, while he was working.
But these sea merchants would deliberately travel all over the world to find a special pearl. He found him deliberately, he spent his whole life looking and searching for this gem of a pearl. He searched everywhere until he found what he was looking for and he did that because he knew exactly what he was looking for.
And no doubt he saw many pearls on his travels and he would have stopped and admired some of them because of their beauty. But how did he know which pearl was the most precious pearl? I’m sure there are some pearls to be found within most religious groups but how do you know that the pearl you possess is the right pearl?
A good start would be to be like the people that Paul talked to about Christ in Acts 17:21. We should never go to any church and just sit there and accept what the preacher or teacher is telling us is true, 2 Timothy 2:15. Go home with that same great eagerness and examine the Scriptures for yourself to see if what the preacher has told you was true or not.
Jesus here describes the kingdom of God as the method of fishing used at that time. The net that Jesus mentioned is similar to a ‘seine’, a large net. This net was placed in the water, and a large circle was made with it. Whatever was in this circle was trapped in the net. When the circle was completed and the net was full, it was pulled to shore and after the net was pulled to shore, the separation began. The good fish were gathered into vessels and anything bad was discarded.
The net, which represents the preaching of the Gospel, is cast out into the lake, Matthew 13:47, which represents the world of the hearts of men. All sorts of fish are caught to represent those who respond to the Gospel. There are multitudes of people, young and old, good and evil. The net gathers ‘all kinds’, that is, the Gospel is publicly proclaimed to all and when this is done the gospel net draws all kinds.
The meaning of this parable is straightforward. At the end of the world, there will be a separation, the wicked will be separated from the just, Matthew 13:48-49, and note that He doesn’t say anything about what will happen to those who are just.
He speaks only about what will happen to the wicked, they will be thrown into ‘the blazing fire’, and in there, there will be ‘weeping and gnashing of teeth’, Matthew 13:50. This place is obviously a reference to hell, Matthew 3:11-12 / Matthew 8:12 / Matthew 25:41 / 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 / Revelation 20:15.
After sharing all of these parables, Jesus now asks if they have understood them, Matthew 13:51. He wants to know if their minds have been opened to what He has been teaching them.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Divine truths must not be lightly passed over. Our Lord’s question here shows them to be matters of the utmost weight and importance, and that they should be considered again and again, till they are thoroughly understood.’
The disciples tell Jesus they understand, Matthew 13:51. The person who is responsible for the keeping of the family can instruct by using old truths that need new applications, Matthew 13:52. The disciples understood the old truths and Jesus was in their presence with new teachings and applications of old truths.
Smith, in his commentary, says the following.
‘So there are these glorious things that we are constantly discovering in the richness in Christ and ever discovering new experiences in the old troops. And so the faithful householder who keeps bringing forth out of the treasury these glorious things.’
Dummelow, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The old and the new old truths which God had long made known to the Jews, as well as the new truth declared by Christ.’
When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there, Matthew 13:53. This rejection of Jesus in Nazareth took place at the close of Jesus’ ministry. The rejection of Jesus recorded in Mark 6:1-6, took place at the start of His ministry. The residents of Nazareth had two chances to hear Jesus, but they wouldn’t listen on either occasion.
Jesus was now under the full power of the Holy Spirit to carry out His ministry, Luke 4:14-30. In His incarnation, He had given up equality with God, Philippians 2:5-11. It was now the Spirit working through Him to accomplish the miraculous works of His ministry in order to fulfil the purpose of His coming into the world, Matthew 13:54. The need for the Spirit to work through Him explains the extent of the incarnation. Jesus truly became a man in order to identify with those whom He sought to deliver from the confines of the flesh, Philippians 2:5-11.
As was the custom of the Jews, Jesus went to the synagogue to listen to the reading of the Old Testament law, Matthew 13:54. However, the Sabbath assembly in the synagogue wasn’t a part of the Old Testament law. The synagogue came into existence in Palestine after the Jews’ return from Babylonian captivity in 536 B.C.
Keep in mind also that not all Jews in a community met in the synagogue simply because the synagogues were not large structures. The synagogue was a Jewish cultural centre where the reading of the law could be heard. The Jews’ custom was that the Old Testament law is read only while the reader stood.
Everyone knew who Jesus was. He had grown up in the town of Nazareth, Matthew 13:54. They had heard of the miraculous happenings that surrounded His conception and birth. They knew of Him as a wise and obedient child of Mary and Joseph, Matthew 13:55. They also knew that He was one who had been very knowledgeable of the Old Testament Scriptures since childhood.
Jesus’ brothers are named but not His sisters, Matthew 13:55-56 / Mark 6:3. Notice in Mark 6:3, they don’t call Jesus the carpenter’s son, but ‘the carpenter’. This suggests by the time of this event, Jesus’ father, Joseph has already died. In Greek, the word ‘carpenter’ is ‘builder.’
He was the ‘local boy’ whom the village or town fathers couldn’t accept to be the Messiah at this time in His ministry, Mark 6:4 / John 4:44. He could do no miracles because the people weren’t driven by faith to go to Him, Mark 6:5-6. No wonder Jesus says, ‘a prophet is not without honour except in his own town and in his own home,’ Matthew 13:57 / Isaiah 53:3 / Mark 6:4 / Luke 4:16-29 / John 4:44. Rejection usually comes from those who are closest to us, or from those who should know better.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following concerning, ‘a prophet is not without honour except in his own town and in his own home’.
‘Christ quoted this same proverb on his other visit to Nazareth, Luke 4:16-29. The human side of Christ’s dual nature was foretold by Isaiah who noted that the Messiah would be ‘despised and rejected of men’, Isaiah 53:3. Nazareth provided the first in a series of rejections, but it should be remembered that this was precisely what was prophesied, the very unbelief of the people becoming, therefore, a further testimony of his divinity.’
Since they considered Him only a local personality, they didn’t accept Him as one who had authority over the supernatural, Genesis 19:22 / Genesis 32:25. This event explains the faith that one needed to have in order to be healed. The faith was in the One through whom God worked to heal. In this case, it was faith in Jesus to heal, Matthew 13:58 / Mark 6:6. Because those of Jesus’ home country wouldn’t accept Him, He didn’t have the opportunity to heal many people, for few believed in Him, Matthew 13:58 / Mark 6:5. And so, once again Jesus is being rejected. The people in Nazareth forfeited an ideal opportunity to have the Lord with them, Matthew 13:58.
With intense interest, therefore, they were here expecting something of Him at this time because the age of thirty was the accepted age at which one began any ministry among the Jews. They possibly expected Him to make some formal announcement of His intentions concerning His life. He did, but what they heard wasn’t what they expected. He claimed to be the specific fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecies concerning the Messiah.
Those of one’s own hometown are slow to accept the greatness of one who is from that town, Matthew 13:57 / John 4:44. Those of Nazareth were surely proud of Jesus as a teacher. But it was difficult for them to accept Him as the Messiah who had been promised through the prophets. Those who are accustomed to the prophets of God are often those who reject what the prophets say. In this case, Jesus was saying that those who were accustomed to Him in Nazareth would reject Him, though others throughout the world would receive Him.
These Jews of Jesus’ hometown were greatly prejudiced against the Gentiles. When Jesus said that the Gentiles would receive the prophets of God before the Jews would, such greatly angered the Jews. They couldn’t accept the fact that others would be more righteous and privileged than they. Their religious prejudices at this time in Jesus’ ministry were stirred to the point of attempted murder of Him, John 8:37 / John 10:31.
He could do no miracles because the people weren’t driven by faith to go to Him, Matthew 13:58 / Mark 6:5. And so, once again Jesus is being rejected. The people in Nazareth forfeited an ideal opportunity to have the Lord with them. Jesus went around the villages teaching, Matthew 9:35-38 / Mark 6:6. This one statement explains the ministry of Jesus, and thus gives an example to teachers who would function in following the example of Jesus’ ministry.
We must keep in mind that though these people didn’t respond to Jesus at this time when they later considered all that Jesus did in fulfilment of the prophecies concerning the Messiah, they would believe. This event was early in His ministry. It occurred before they had all the facts concerning His fulfilment of prophecy, Acts 6:7.
Some people accept the Gospel and others reject it, we should share the Gospel with everyone who wants to listen but what can we learn from Jesus about who is more likely to listen to the Gospel message? There are times especially if someone is getting aggressive that we just need to walk away.
What else can we learn from Jesus, in terms of who is more likely to listen to the Gospel message? Please read the following passages and see if you can notice the common denominator, Acts 9:20 / Acts 13:5 / Acts 13:13-14 / Acts 14:1 / Acts 17:1 / Acts 17:10 / Acts 17:16-17 / Acts 18:4 / Acts 18:19 / Acts 19:8.
Those who are already ‘religious’ will be more open to talking about their faith and we can lead them to the truth if they only know partial truth and we need to take advantage of those situations. Many people claim to be believers, but they haven’t read the Bible or obeyed the Gospel.
It is tragic to see people discarding the fantastic opportunity to be blessed by Jesus. In the country of the Gadarenes, they simply asked Jesus to leave, Mark 5:1-20. Here in Nazareth, they refused to believe and therefore didn’t even bring their sick for Jesus to heal. As a result, they missed out on the opportunities that others, like Jairus and the woman with the bleeding, benefited from. What about us? Do we take advantage of the opportunity to know Jesus and to be blessed by Him?