According To Luke: Cultivating A Teachable Heart

According To Luke: Cultivating A Teachable Heart

Opening Illustration:

The other day my youngest son Jett had it in his mind that he wanted to plant apple trees. He was determined. He informed me on the best way to grow an apple orchard. I thought that I might share with you the wisdom of a 6 year old. First, find a fully ripened apple. Check. Did that and ready to go. Next, you eat that apple. Well, not the entire apple, just a portion of the apple. You eat enough of the apple to get to the seeds that are in the middle. Check! Got it. So I found Jett and apple and that’s exactly what he did. He ate that apple right down to the seeds. Then he told me that we needed to plant the seeds. Made sense to me. So Jett and I went outside and found a pot. The pot was a little stale. The dirt had not been moved around for a while so Jett and I got a spade and chopped up the dirt so the seed would have some room to grow. Then Jett noticed that there were some weeds in the pot so we pulled those out. We planted the seeds. Next we watered the seeds. I asked Jett if we were done and he informed me that the real work began next. Really Jett, what is that, “well Daddy, now we just have to look at it until it turns into a tree.” 

That is a funny example but there is a lot of truth in what we practiced that afternoon. To grow, you better have a good seed. It better be planted in good soil with room to breath and receive water and light. Nothing will grow if it is choked out by weeds so those most be tended to and pulled. Jett is right by the way. For something to grow properly, it must be inspected regularly. Taking a close look at growth is important. 

That statement reminds me of Paul’s words captured in 2 Corinthians 13:5 NLT.

 2 Corinthians 13:5 NLT

Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith.

It was in that moment that I thought of Luke 8 and the parable of the four soils. Jett was able to physically illustrate what Jesus meant in the story. Literally, Jesus was unveiling the salvation process through gardening. 

Transition Statement:

So this morning, fill in this blank. Jesus is Unveiling The Salvation Process!

Jesus is Unveiling The Salvation Process!

Background and Context:

Seen in Matthew 13, Mark 4 and of course Luke 8.

The parable of the four soils in Luke 8:4-15 is a brief narrative about farming that could be interpreted in numerous ways. It’s agricultural images, however, are standard metaphors in Jewish traditions both for instruction and for God’s interactions with Israel. They also are standard analogies about education in Greco-Roman traditions: sowers (teachers) sow (teach), and their seeds (words) are received by various soils (students). In this context, the Gospel of Luke uses the Sower parable to illustrate differing responses to the message and ministry of Jesus.

So, let’s read today from Luke 8:4-15 and discover for ourselves the process of salvation. 

Scripture:

Luke 8:4-15 ESV

4 And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable, 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6 And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. 8 And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

9 And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, 10 he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’ 11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. 14 And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. 15 As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

3 Keys From Jesus’ Parable!

I. The Sower vs. 4-5

Luke 8:5 ESV

5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. 

Point:

The society that Jesus was living in was largely centered in and around agriculture. So, using a story about farming to illustrate salvation would have immediately resonated with those listening to Jesus. Remember, most of the people that were in the crowds were uneducated farmers themselves just trying to survive. 

Jesus starts the story discussing a certain sower. It was the sowers job to scatter seed. In just a moment we discover who the sower is. We know that the sower is God Himself. There are a few things that we learn about God from Jesus’ story. First, we discover that God is active. Notice that the sower is not sitting idle. Hardly. The sower is working, moving, active. 

In the same way that God is living, moving and active today. Look around friends and you can witness for yourself the movement of God all around. Don’t believe the hype of the world which would have us believe that churches are irrelevant and that God doesn’t even exits. No. The church is the body of Christ and has been given a purpose through the power of the cross. I see God moving all around and changing people’s lives everyday. God is moving to bind the broken, heal the injured, and saving the lost. I am continually amazed at how God takes the broken things of this life and transforms them into beautiful things. 

Point:

So, the sower is most certainly God. However, the sower is also me and you. When Jesus gives us the Great Commission, we were immediately and forever enlisted into God’s spiritual agricultural assault on the world. We are now the farmers in possession of the seed of the Gospel and it is up to us to pass that message, scatter that seed everywhere we go. 

Does God need us for this mission. Certainly not. However, we become partners with the Almighty in this Holy endeavor and we should see our employ as a joyous privilege. 

Point:

Next, the sower is moving and active but he is also constant. No where in the story does it say that the farmer, the sower, stops. The mission, leading all the way to today is still incomplete. There are still soils around the globe that need to receive the seed of the Gospel. Did you know that there are roughly 6500 languages spoken in the world today. As of 2017 the Bible has only been translated into 670 of those languages. That means that that 5800 languages exist with no translation of God’s Word. How can these people know if they cannot read Christ’s word. 

“Well preacher, that’s why we have missionaries to go and tell them right?”. Right! Good point. Did you know that there are still 5,574 people groups in the world that remain unreached by the Gospel. That means no missionary presence, no Bible, no preaching, no Jesus has ever been heard by these people. 

Our own denomination, Southern Baptists, are doing what we can. Did you know that the Southern Baptists produce the strongest evangelical and missional opportunities of any denomination. That’s right, Southern Baptists have more missionaries working at home and abroad than any other denomination to the tune of about 4500 missionaries. That may seem like a lot but when you look a the world’s 7.6 billion population, it is a small drop in the bucket. The fields that we should be sowing are massive. We have plenty of seed, but the sheer size of the field is overwhelming. 

Point:

Ok, so now that I have made the problem so big, allow me to shrink it down for you. Let me make it easier for you to become the sower that you were created to be. Did you know that an unreached people group may be living right next door to you. The other day my family took some visitors to our church out for lunch. While eating lunch and talking about the Gospel, this family revealed to me that this was their first time in church. When I say first time in a church, I mean that they have never set one toe inside the doors of the church, any church. This family did not have a Bible in their home and while they had heard about Jesus, they knew very little about Him. The other day I was sitting on the front porch of my home with a neighbor that had just moved in a few doors down from me. We began to talk about faith and he told me that the last time he was in church was when he was baptized in the Catholic church as an infant. That’s it. Friends, your field to sow for the Gospel is, in many cases, one step out of your front door. Never assume that your field is planted and blooming. Trust me, it’s not. 

Point:

God is the sower, but He has given us a Holy privilege of partnership. Are you burdened for people that never hear the Gospel? 

Jesus even reminds His disciples His purpose of sowing in Luke 4:18-19.

Luke 4:18-19 NIV

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

3 Keys From Jesus’ Parable!

I. The Sower vs. 4-5

II. The Seed vs. 4-5 and 11

Luke 8:4-5

Luke 8:4-15 ESV

4 And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable, 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed.

Point:

So we know that the sower is God. The sower is also you and me. It is a big job and the field is large. But what is the seed? Jesus elaborates on that point in verse 11. 

Luke 8:11 ESV

11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.

The seed that is being cast into the fields is the Word of God. Now that is a big statement because the word of God is something truly awe-inspiring. This is not the only time that Jesus talks about seeds. Remember the mustard seed and power that it can generate. 

Jesus actually mentions the mustard seed three times. Today, we will just look at two of them. First in Luke 17.

Luke 17:6 NIV

He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you.

Remember, a mustard seed. 

Have you ever seen a mulberry tree? 

Well you will the seed and even on a screen that blows it up, it is still small. Look at the Mulberry tree, in comparison, the tree is huge. Yet, that little seed, that little faith can uproot that tree in an instant. 

Jesus again mentions the power of a seed. Another mustard seed. Listen to Jesus in Matthew 17:20.

Matthew 17:20 NIV

He replied, "Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

Ok, look at the seed again. Small. What mountain was Jesus even talking about in that reference? The mountain that Jesus is referring to is anything that seems impossible, overwhelming, daunting. With just a small fraction of faith, nothing is impossible. 

Point:

Are you seeing the power of the seed. The seed, the Word of God, is able to generate tremendous, overwhelming spiritual power that takes impossible things and makes them possible. That same seed is able to take the dead, unregenerate heart of a human being and transform them into animated spiritual beings with passion and purpose. The same Word of God that spoke the Universe into existence is the same seed that we possess. That seed that generates spiritual life is in our hands to distribute each and every day. 

Illustration:

You have probably never heard the story of Keith Repult. Keith grew up in the foster system of California. He did not have a father and his mother did not care about him. He grew up never hearing the words “I love you” or “I care about you”. He never belonged and he never fit in. He began to find comfort in drugs and alcohol and soon became a drug dealer. 

One day he stumbled into a bar which doubled as an adult book store. The bar tender and owner hired him to start shipping his pornographic materials to distributers in the city. He went from shipping, to sales, to producing pornography himself. 

Keith started his own porn production company and after a week in business became richer than he could have ever imagined. By years end he had a $60,000 watch, cars, and houses. However, Keith was empty on the inside. As Keith explains, there was a vacancy in his heart. He began searching. 

Keith met a pastor from a local church who took interest in him. Listen to this conversation between Keith and this pastor.

"I told him my whole story, and I said, 'well, do you still like me?'" Keith said. "All he said was, 'God knew what he got when he got you.' When he said those words, I hung onto them, I wanted to change my life, but I didn't know how. He told me, 'Keith, just keep looking to the cross.'"

It was a long hard process for Keith but eventually Keith gave his heart to Christ. His wife, after seeing the transformation in Keith’s life, gave her heart to Christ. Then their 3 children accepted Jesus as their Savior. Today, Keith Repult is on staff as the Recovery Pastor at Mission Church in Ventura, California. He even wrote a book about his transformation called “Just Breath: All Stories Redeemable, All Brokenness Repairable, All Addictions Breakable” which tells his story of how the Word of God transformed his life. 

Point:

You see friends, that seed can do the impossible if we will do what sowers do. Spread it! Cast it! Give it away. You’ll never know whose life God will change. 

Listen to Paul’s words captured in Romans 1:16 concerning the power of the Gospel. 

Romans 1:16 NIV

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

3 Keys From Jesus’ Parable!

I. The Sower vs. 4-5

II. The Seed vs. 4-5 and 11

III. The Soils vs. 5 and 12-15

Luke 8:5 ESV

5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6 And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. 8 And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Luke 8:12-15 ESV

12 The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. 14 And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. 15 As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

Point:

We discover that the sower is God, the seed is the Word of God, and the soils are people. Different types of people in different conditions and situations. I suppose it is important to understand that while God created all people to hear the Gospel, not everyone will receive the Gospel. It is my belief that all people are called by God to redemption and that Jesus died for all people unto salvation. However, not all people will respond. Sadly, while God provides a path for all to enter heaven, the road leading to destruction is wider and broader and it is traveled by a massive majority of people. Small is the road that leads to salvation and much fewer find it. It is important to remember though that God does provide a road to salvation. That road was paved with the blood of Jesus.  

Matthew 7:13 NLT

"You can enter God's Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way.

Point:

So, lets take a second and talk about these different types of soils.

Four Soils, Four Types of People

A. The Calloused vs. 12

Luke 8:12 ESV

12 The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved

The hard ground represents someone who is hardened by sin; he hears but does not understand the Word, and Satan plucks the message away, keeping the heart dull and preventing the Word from making an impression.

The first hearts Jesus addresses are those that are never able to internalize the gospel because it's snatched away by the evil one. These are people who never have the opportunity to make a decision about the good news. Their hearts are never softened through reflection, conviction, or repentance.

So when the gospel is presented to them, they're too focused on life's material aspects—what they can see, touch, smell, and taste. They’re so consumed with the world's entertainments and baubles that the kingdom message has no way to have any significant influence.

Hebrews 3:15 NLT

Remember what it says: "Today when you hear his voice, don't harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled."

B. The Cowardly vs. 13

Luke 8:13

13 And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away.

The stony ground pictures a man who professes delight with the Word; however, his heart is not changed, and when trouble arises, his so-called faith quickly disappears.

These are the people who hear the gospel and rush down to the altar to respond. They're completely sincere, but the gospel meets resistance as it works its roots into their heart.

Jesus promises us that "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).

These people fall away when they start experiencing pain and resistance. Maybe it's because they believe that following Jesus should put them above opposition and unrest, or perhaps it's because they just don’t know how to place their trust in Him. Either way, they’re unable to develop the root system they need to sustain them when life gets complicated.

Luke 9:26 NASB

"For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

C. The Crowded vs. 14

Luke 8:14 ESV

14 And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.

The thorny ground depicts one who seems to receive the Word, but whose heart is full of riches, pleasures, and lusts; the things of this world take his time and attention away from the Word, and he ends up having no time for it.

The heart of the thorny soil is enthusiastic about the gospel, but it's too easily distracted by the what the world has to offer. They're so busy grasping at everything that they forget what they should hold onto. It’s not that any of these distractions are wrong in themselves, it’s that they divert the heart's attention. It’s like Paul explains to the Corinthian church:

"'I have the right to do anything,' you say—but not everything is beneficial. 'I have the right to do anything'—but not everything is constructive" (1 Corinthians 10:23).

When the heart can’t differentiate between what is beneficial and what's destructive, the destructive forces eventually crowd everything else out. What's difficult is that re-establishing your priorities isn't a one-time job. Like a weed, once you pull out one misplaced priority, there are thousands of concerns waiting to take its place. Developing single-mindedness is a must for disciples.

Matthew 6:24 NIV

"No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

D. The Converted vs. 15

Luke 8:15 ESV

15 As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

The good ground portrays the one who hears, understands, and receives the Word—and then allows the Word to accomplish its result in his life. The man represented by the “good ground” is the only one of the four who is truly saved, because salvation’s proof is fruit 

Sometimes the seed falls on soil with just the right nutrients and pH balance, and everything works like it's supposed to. It sends out a root that takes hold, a beautiful plant grows, and it produces fruit. As Jesus says, it produces a crop yielding a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.

It's probably wise to point out that, just like we see in flora, the seed is in the fruit. As the Christian heart develops, it produces healthy fruit: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22–23). The more fruit a healthy heart produces, the more it impacts the environment around it. When people see that fruit in people’s lives, the more receptive they are to the seed of the gospel.

John 15:5

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Point:

So what is the application for today’s sermon. There are several really. First, God is always planting, always sowing, alway farming the the hearts of men with the seed of the Gospel. For believers we are partners in this endeavor. Second, the seed we possess, the same seed that has transformed our lives can transform the dead into life. It can make the impossible possible. Lastly, we need to ask our selves what type of soil are we. We all know people that have fit into each category. 

Today, what sort of ground will you be? Will you be receptive to the Gospel or will you be hard hearted and not let the seed penetrate your spirit?

Where Will You Plant God’s Seed Today?