Naylor Community Christian Church
Naylor, Georgia
I. Introduction
-- if you have your Bibles with you,
please turn over to Matthew 13 -- we’ll be in that chapter this morning, and
we’ll introduce the passages in a few moments
-- last week, when we were preparing
for Albert’s baptism and we had a lot of visitors in the church, I had you turn
in your Bibles to Jesus’ parable of the workers in the vineyard -- and while
you were doing that, I mentioned that we were starting a sermon series on the
Parables of Jesus with no further explanation or introduction
-- there was a reason for that and
there was a reason why I was led to preach from the parable of the workers in
the vineyard last week
-- first, that parable considers the
difference between those who respond to God’s word early in life and those who
respond to God’s word later -- as you remember, the landowner in the parable
went out first thing in the morning and hired workers for his vineyard --
representing those who come to believe and trust in God for salvation early in
life
-- and then, throughout the day, the
landowner sought out others and called them to come and work in his vineyard,
and many came and did so -- right up to the eleventh hour -- right before the
day ended -- these workers represented those who come to faith later in life --
maybe as young adults -- as middle-aged individuals -- or even as those who are
nearing the end of their life -- who are in their eleventh hour on this mortal
plane
-- and the parable makes it clear
that the reward for believers is the same, regardless of when they come --
whether they were saved as a child and have served God for a lifetime or
whether they were like the thief on the cross or the sinner on their deathbed,
who received Christ in faith and trusted Him for their salvation at the very
last minute -- all of them received the same reward in the end -- eternal life
and the forgiveness of sins through Jesus
-- the meaning of that parable was
very real for us last week, as Albert had come to believe and put his faith and
trust in Jesus later in life -- and then we all celebrated as Albert made his
public confession of Christ and was brought into the church through the
sacrament of baptism
-- and so, I preached this message
to hopefully reach those who were visiting with us last Sunday who might not
know Christ yet -- who might be older and who might be thinking it is too late
for them to come to Jesus for salvation -- this parable makes it clear that
salvation is offered to all who respond, regardless of when they come
-- and secondly, I was led to preach
from that parable as an introduction to this sermon series -- but I didn’t take
the time last week when we had so many visitors in the church to introduce the
series and to explain why Jesus preached with parables for the same reason that
Jesus taught in those parables
-- I want to take some time now to
do that -- because when you understand why Jesus spoke in parables, you’ll
understand why I didn’t spend time introducing the concept of parables last
week
II. Parables
-- to begin, what are parables? -- The
word “parable” in Greek literally means “to come alongside.” -- so, parables,
then were short stories that were given by Jesus to come alongside His
teachings to illuminate spiritual truths to His disciples
-- there are 39 distinct parables
that Jesus gives us in the gospels -- some parables are very short -- only one
verse -- while the parable of the Prodigal Son covers 21 verses
-- some parables only occur in one
gospel -- while others appear in two or all three of the synoptic gospels --
the gospel of John does not record a single parable of Jesus, but it was
written later than these for a different purpose
-- even though parables seem similar
to the sermon illustrations that preachers use today to explain spiritual
truths today, parables are different in one great aspect -- the meaning of the
parable was hidden -- it was not clearly evident to those who heard it -- and
the truth of the parables was only discernible by those who understood
spiritual matters and those whose hearts were attuned to God’s word
-- look down at Matthew 13:10
Matthew 13:10 The disciples came to him
and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”
11 He replied, “Because the knowledge of
the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12
Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does
not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 13 This is why I speak
to them in parables:
“Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
-- Matthew Chapter 13 opens with Jesus
teaching large crowds of people next to the Sea of Galilee -- but this time,
instead of teaching directly from the Scriptures, as He had done with the
Beatitudes, Jesus tells them the story of the farmer who went out to sow his
seeds
-- He told them how some of the seeds fell
on the path and the birds ate it up -- some fell in rocky places, and sprang up
quickly, but then withered -- other seed fell among thorns, which choked the
plants -- but that finally, some seed fell on good soil, where it produced a
crop a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown
-- and then He ended His teaching with no
more explanation -- you can imagine the confusion in the crowd -- He didn’t
expound on the Scriptures -- He didn’t talk about the Law or the Prophets -- He
just gave them a story about agriculture, and didn’t tell them what it meant --
and they didn’t understand
-- so, afterwards, His disciples came to
Him and asked Him in verse 10, “why do you speak to the people in parables?” --
in other words, why didn’t you speak plain to them? -- why didn’t you teach
from the Scriptures as you did before?”
-- Jesus goes on to explain that the
knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven had been given to them, but
not to the crowds -- that He spoke to the people in parables to fulfill the
prophecy from Isaiah, that “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing,
they do not hear or understand.”
-- In other words, the reason why Jesus
taught in parables was not to explain spiritual truths to the crowds, but to
keep spiritual truths from the crowds1
-- when you realize this -- when you
see what Jesus is saying here -- it doesn’t make sense to us -- it seems wrong
-- it doesn’t seem like something Jesus would do -- that He would intentionally
keep spiritual truths away from those who had come to hear Him
-- but the reason Jesus does this is made
evident in the parables that He gives us -- and we’re going to look at several
of these over the next few weeks
-- if you remember, a couple of weeks ago
we looked at the parable of the sheep and the goats -- and in this parable, a
great truth was given -- that at the end of this age, there will be just two
types of people -- those who belong to the kingdom of Heaven -- those who have
put their faith and trust in Jesus and are part of His kingdom -- the sheep --
and those who have not believed in Jesus and turned to Him for salvation -- who
are still part of this world and who belong to the kingdom of the prince of this
world -- these are the goats
-- and we see this division right now on
earth today -- with believers who belong to the kingdom of heaven living on
earth with unbelievers, who belong to the kingdom of this world
-- but in this world today, God’s
prevenient grace is reaching out to those who do not know Him -- through the
Holy Spirit, God is calling out to unbelievers -- speaking to their hearts --
wooing them to the cross -- pointing them to Jesus
-- some hear His voice and respond and
become sheep -- but others refuse -- they close their ears to the truth -- they
harden their hearts -- and they turn away from God and continue to live in the
kingdom of this world
-- all of those different types of
people were in that crowd that Jesus spoke to at the beginning of Chapter 13 --
and He knew that -- so He chose to teach them in parables
-- you see, the vast majority of the
people who were coming to hear Jesus weren’t coming because they were seekers
of spiritual truths -- the vast majority were not coming in response to God’s prevenient
grace -- being led by the Spirit to Jesus so they might learn the way to
eternal life
-- no, the vast majority of people who
were coming to hear Jesus were coming for selfish reasons -- they were coming
to be entertained -- they were looking at Jesus as a distraction from life and
a source of amusement -- they were coming for what they could get from Jesus --
a free meal of bread and fish -- they were coming to see the miracles -- to see
people healed -- to see the show, as it were -- they weren’t coming for
spiritual reasons
-- and even though they saw Jesus and
heard Jesus, they didn’t really see or hear -- these are the ones Jesus
describes, starting in verse 14 -- look at that now
Matthew 13:14 In them is fulfilled the
prophecy of Isaiah:
“‘You will be ever hearing but never
understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
15 For this people’s heart has become
calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.
-- because these people did not come with
open hearts and open minds -- because these people did not come seeking the
truth of God’s word and seeking the kingdom of Heaven -- they heard Jesus
speak, but didn’t understand -- they saw Jesus displayed before them as the
Messiah, but they didn’t perceive that
-- their hearts had become calloused and
hardened -- they refused to hear and to see, and so they could not turn from
their wicked ways -- they could not turn to God for salvation and healing --
they had chosen the world over Jesus
-- so, even though Jesus spoke truth to
them -- even though the truth was given to them in the parables -- they
couldn’t hear it -- they couldn’t see it -- they couldn’t receive it -- they
were blinded by this world
-- but there were others in that crowd who
did believe -- who did come to Jesus seeking salvation -- who came in faith --
who came looking for God -- and when Jesus spoke, their ears were opened -- and
they heard Him -- and they saw Him -- and they received what He had to give
them -- they understood the truth of the message that Jesus was giving and
responded to His word by believing in Him in faith and trusting Him for their
salvation
III. Grace in the Parables
-- last week, when we looked at the
parable of the workers in the vineyard, we spoke a lot about fairness -- and
how it didn’t seem fair that those who went to work in the vineyard in the
eleventh hour would receive the same reward as those who came first -- who had
spent all day working in the vineyard
-- and I pointed out that grace is
anything but fair -- that in the Kingdom of Heaven, grace trumps what the world
considers right and what the world considers fair
-- when we consider how Jesus chose
to teach only in parables at this point in His ministry, we might think to ourselves,
“That’s not fair -- these people have hardened hearts because they live in this
world -- they don’t know any better -- they need someone to explain it to them,
so they might hear the truth and respond to it”
-- it’s not fair that Jesus would do
that -- but it is grace -- in fact, it’s grace to those whose hearts have been
hardened and calloused -- whose ears cannot hear the truth -- and whose eyes
cannot perceive the Savior
-- you see, we humans have a
tendency to fall for what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called “cheap grace” -- today, we
would call it “fake grace” -- we talk about the good news of the gospel --
cheap grace is fake news
-- as Bonhoeffer defined it, cheap
grace is “grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without
Jesus Christ.” -- it is the promise of salvation without sacrifice -- the
promise of eternal life without repentance -- the promise of the Kingdom of
Heaven without confession
-- salvation is not free -- we see
that in the gospels -- we’re going to see that in the parables as we go through
them -- there is a cost to salvation -- a great cost
-- Jesus died on the cross in our
place to pay the penalty for sin and to overcome the curse of sin and death in
our lives -- He sacrificed Himself -- not just physically, but spiritually, too
-- as He chose to leave His heavenly glory and come to earth in the form of a
human -- to set aside His deity and His glory to become one of us --
sacrificing who He was so that we might live through Him
-- and there is a cost to us in
salvation, as well -- it requires us to turn from our wicked ways -- to
repudiate the things of this world and to give our allegiance and our
commitment to Jesus and the Kingdom of Heaven
-- salvation requires us to
surrender ourselves -- to deny ourselves -- to take up our cross -- and to
follow Jesus
-- there is a cost to salvation
-- but some try to come to Jesus
without paying that cost -- without denying themselves or committing themselves
to the gospel -- these are the ones Bonhoeffer said were living on cheap grace
and trusting in fake news
-- over the years, the church has
perpetuated a grave injustice on people by offering cheap grace in place of
true salvation
-- we do so when we tell people they
can come to Jesus without repentance -- that they can come to Jesus without
changing their lives -- that they can come to Jesus without confession and
turning away from sin and taking up their cross and following Him with all
their hearts and minds and souls
-- most of us in here are familiar
with the traditional altar calls that we see in church and in evangelistic
rallies -- we tell people that if they come forward and just pray the words of the
sinner’s prayer, that they will be saved -- that their sins will be forgiven
-- and for some, that’s true -- for
those whose hearts are open -- whose eyes are opened -- whose ears are open --
who are responding in truth and faith to the call of the Spirit to come to
Jesus and to surrender their lives to Him -- to turn from their sins and to
take up their cross and follow Him -- that prayer leads them into the kingdom
of heaven
-- but for many, it’s just empty
words given in response to an emotional call or a manipulative message -- it’s
like believing that if you say “Abracadabra,” magic will happen
-- they don’t believe -- they
haven’t seen -- they haven’t heard -- their hearts haven’t responded in faith
and trust in Jesus -- they’re just like the ones Jesus is talking about here in
this passage -- but they’re told that if they just “say the words,” they are
saved -- and that’s not true
-- God is not a vending machine --
you don’t just put your quarter in and God has to give you something in return
-- God is not some magic genie in the sky where if you say the right words, He
has to grant your wish -- that’s not the way salvation works -- that’s not the
way Christianity works --but that’s what we tell people
-- and so many people respond in the
moment and come forward with the crowd and say the sinner’s prayer, but they
aren’t really saved -- their hearts are still far from God -- and they’re still
bound up in sin’s grasp -- they’re still living in the kingdom of the world --
and they are still just as far away from God as ever
-- and they get up from the altar believing
a lie -- that’s why we see a lot of people today who claim to be Christians,
but who don’t act like they know Jesus -- who claim to be Christians, but
aren’t living their lives in service to Him -- who claim to be Christians, but
who are not living lives of grace and obedience to His commands
-- they’re pretending to the world
and themselves to be part of the church of Christ while still belonging to the
kingdom of the world -- and because of this, they refuse to respond to the true
gospel when it is presented to them -- this is why so many won’t come to Christ
even when God’s word is preached to them
-- and that’s why Jesus preaching to
the crowds through parables was an act of grace -- that’s why Jesus never gave
an altar call
-- rather than having the crowd
respond to Him in lip service only -- in cheap grace -- rather than having them
say they believed, when they didn’t -- and leaving there thinking they were
okay with God when they weren’t -- Jesus preached the message of the Kingdom of
Heaven in parables that only those with seeking hearts who were responding in
faith and only those already in the Kingdom of Heaven could hear and understand
-- on the surface, it doesn’t seem
fair to hide the message from the crowd in parables -- but Jesus did so as an
act of grace -- to protect those with hardened and calloused hearts from
believing a lie about salvation and to give them time to respond to the call of
the Spirit and reach the point where their hearts were ready to believe in
faith in Him
-- that’s why Jesus spoke in
parables -- look at verse 34
Matthew
13:34 Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say
anything to them without using a parable. 35 So was fulfilled what was spoken
through the prophet:
“I
will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter things hidden since the
creation of the world.”
IV. Closing
-- the example that Jesus gives us
about presenting the gospel and the truths of the kingdom of heaven in parables
is why I am so careful with altar calls -- this is why I try to make sure my
messages are not manipulating people to respond emotionally in the moment
-- I fear misleading people -- I
fear leading people astray be offering them cheap grace
-- there have been times when I have
met with people going through a crisis -- when their emotions were raw -- when
things were going wrong -- and they were looking for a lifeline -- for anything
that would get them out of their trouble
-- and in those moments, I realized that
it would be so easy to get them to respond to the sinner’s prayer -- so easy to
just get them to say the words -- but I also knew that if they did that, it
wouldn’t be real -- they wouldn’t be responding in true faith and trust in
Jesus
-- it’s like they were lost at sea
and casting about for anything to hold onto -- they would have grabbed onto any
rope that came their way -- and to lead them in the sinner’s prayer at that
moment would have been to introduced cheap grace to them -- and the rope they
grasped would not have saved
-- I always tried to follow up with
people after the crisis had passed -- to share with them the true message of
the gospel at a later time when they could hear the message and consider the
cost and respond to God’s word with true hearts
-- so, when I preach and teach -- when I
meet with others to disciple them or counsel them -- I try to emphasize the
truth of the message of Christ and the path to true salvation through faith in
Him -- I try to avoid cheap grace and empty promises
-- I try to make it clear that
salvation doesn’t come through works -- salvation doesn’t come through words --
salvation doesn’t come through the act of responding to a message and falling
down at the altar
-- salvation comes through a relationship
with Jesus -- it is more like falling in love than it is anything else -- salvation
is giving your whole heart to Him -- giving your whole being to Him --
surrendering yourself to Him -- denying yourself and turning away from your
past -- putting all your faith and trust in the person of Christ -- that is the
path to salvation -- that is how you come into the Kingdom of Heaven
-- and that is why Jesus taught in
parables
-- so, we’re going to close now with
a prayer -- and over the next several weeks, we’re going to look at several of
these parables of Jesus and see what we can learn about the Kingdom of Heaven
through these parables
-- with that, please join me in
prayer -- let us pray
1
https://cfc.sebts.edu/faith-and-culture/why-did-jesus-teach-in-parables/]
No comments:
Post a Comment