Listening to the Light

While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: “A farmer went out to sow his seed.” Luke 8:4-5 

 “No one lights a lamp and hides it in a clay jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, they put it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light.” Luke 8:16 

Now Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him, but they were not able to get near him because of the crowd. Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.” Luke 8:19-20 

The verses above are from a passage in Luke 8:4-21 where Jesus talks about three seemingly very different topics: planting seeds (in the Parable of the Sower), lighting a lamp that goes, not under the bed, but on a stand, and then Jesus comments on his family wanting to interrupt his preaching. These appear to be three disparate themes, yet a thread runs through them all: hearing.  

Jesus mentions hearing or listening eight times in these seventeen verses. 

“Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” Luke 8:8 

‘though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.’ Luke 8:10 

Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away … Luke 8:12 

Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. Luke 8:13 

The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but … Luke 8:14 

But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop. Luke 8:15 

Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Luke 8:18 

“My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.” Luke 8:21 

Verse 18 was especially curious to me. Jesus is talking about a lighted lamp that should be put up on a stand “so those who come in can see the light,” but then he warns, “Therefore consider carefully how you listen.” I wondered about this until I realized that both the seed that is scattered and the light of the lamp are both the Word of God. 

The seed is the word of God. Luke 8:11 

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory … John 1:14 

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12 

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Psalm 119:105 

So what is Jesus saying when he advises, “consider carefully how you listen”? Personally, I think the key to this passage is in verse 15: 

But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it (hold it fast, cling to it), and by persevering produce a crop (bear fruit). Luke 8:15 

Those two words describing the heart, noble and good, tell the story. The word translated “noble” means “attractively good, good that inspires (motivates) others, winsome, appealing.”¹ 

In Matthew 5 when Jesus talks about the light on the stand, he concludes with, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” 

Attractively good, good that inspires and motivates others, winsome, and appealing. I love that! But how different we appear to the world at times. Certainly, not attractive. As pastor Troy Gentz says: “Nobody wants to follow somebody whose followers are jerks.”²  

Unfortunately, it is easy to be a jerk at times. It is not so easy to persevere, slog through, soften the soil, pull up the weeds, produce appealing fruit. And what is the appealing, attractive fruit, the light worth putting up on a stand for all to see by? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). This is not something we can produce in our own strength. The word translated “good” in noble and good heart has the merciful, grace-filled answer to that problem. 

The word is agathós (ἀγαθός), which means “good, benefit” … “as to the believer, [it] describes what originates from God and is empowered by Him in their life, through faith.”¹ 

Wow, yes! A noble and good heart hears and holds fast to the Word and perseveres, empowered by God, to produce fruit. This whole passage is about hearing and responding to and obeying and allowing the Word of God to change us. And as we do this we will be becoming like Jesus, crucified with Him. Attractive. 

And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. John 12:32 

Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works … Titus 2:7 (ESV) 

Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit … Matthew 7:17 

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23 

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. James 1:22-24 

“My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.” Luke 8:21 

¹Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and the HELPS Word-studies from the Discovery Bible. 

²Pastor Troy Gentz, from the Refresh series, October 16, 2022 Sunday Gathering  | Sunday, October 16,  2022 

Photo by Jack Bair

Unplowed Ground

In Matthew 13:1-9 Jesus tells the Parable of the Sower.¹ The parable recounts a farmer sowing seed in different soil conditions, hard, rocky, and full of weeds. Of course, the seed does not do well until it lands on “good soil, where it produced a crop.” Jesus ends the story with these words, “He who has ears, let him hear.” He reveals later that the seed is the “message about the kingdom,” or “the word of God” (Luke 8:11). 

I always thought of these four types of soils as four types of people, and of course, I was a good-soil person who could look down on (maybe even subconsciously) the other struggling types. But recently when I read this parable I thought, what if all of us are all the types? What if the parable reveals our journey toward God? 

Jesus says that having ears that hear is key to understanding the parable. The hard, rocky, overgrown soils are not ready to receive the Word of God. J.D. Walt has said that hearing and responding to the word of God is the ultimate worship – hearing the seed of the Word, letting it sink down roots into our hearts, the seed sprouting and springing up, bringing life-giving fruit. 

Break up your unplowed ground and do not sow among thorns. Jeremiah 4:3 

Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you. Hosea 10:12 

But Jesus said that the hearts of the people had “become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.” Psalm 17 and Proverbs 21 reveal the cause of calloused hearts. 

They (the wicked, the enemies) close up their callous hearts, and their mouths speak with arrogance. Psalm 17:10 

Haughty eyes and a proud heart— the unplowed field of the wicked—produce sin. Proverbs 21:4  

Arrogance and pride – the unplowed field – cannot receive the seed of the Word of God. The people of these fields are self-sufficient; they are alone and barren. And God judges them as wicked – guilty criminals deserving of punishment, rebellious, hostile enemies of God. None of us likes to think of ourselves that way, but that is where we all start on this walk. With amazing grace, we are received that way. We are met where we are and given the faith we need to receive and believe the life-changing word-seed. 

And Jesus, lavishly and lovingly, throws seed on our hard ground. We are urged to respond to it, plowing up our fields, breaking up the hard clods, removing (or allowing God to remove) the rocks, and pulling out the weeds. That is the process of sanctification. 

… continue to work out your salvation [that is, cultivate it, bring it to full effect, actively pursue spiritual maturity] with awe-inspired fear and trembling … Philippians 2:12 (Amplified Bible) 

But sometimes we sit down by the side of the path and remain unplowed for long periods of time. Fearful, prideful, angry at God. God is infinitely patient, waiting for us to get back up and again get behind the plow. Maybe not so patient, or patient but pained, because he is passionate about the end-goal. 

For the goal is intimacy with God, unity. Good soil receiving life-containing seed is a picture of more than farming. It is also a picture of the intimate “knowing” of the marriage between the Bride and the Bridegroom. The two will become one.  

“The daring metaphor of Jesus as bridegroom suggests that the living God seeks more than an intimate relationship with us. The reckless, raging fury of Yahweh culminates, dare we say it, in a symbiotic fusion, a union so substantive that the apostle Paul would write: It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. (Gal. 2:20 NASB)” — Brennan Manning, The Furious Longing of God

This is what really blew my mind while reading this parable today. Jesus is the ultimate perfectly plowed field. He never had any hard ground or rocks or weeds. He responded immediately and without any doubt or resistance or self-anything to what his Father said to him. 

The Sovereign LORD has opened my ears; I have not been rebellious, I have not turned away. Isaiah 50:5 

For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. John 12:49 (ESV) 

… I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. John 14:31 (ESV) 

And isn’t the goal of our plowing to become like Jesus? To be mixed in with his dirt? To be hidden in him? To be in union with Him? To become one fruitful field? To not be lonely, barren fields any longer? 

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. Colossians 3:2-3 

I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. John 17:20-21 

Lord, help me to cooperate with you in breaking up my unplowed ground. Give me grace to surrender the rocks of arrogance and pride, doubt and fear and resistance into your loving hands. Open my ears to hear your life-giving Word. Let me be like you. Let my life be hidden in you. 

¹Also, Mark 4: 3-9 and Luke 8:5-8. 

Photo, fallow, by Robb North https://flic.kr/p/6dWcZL

Let Go of the Seed

Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 2 Corinthians 9:10 

I recently read a blog by EagleSightⁱ that blew my mind. When I saw the title, Letting Go of the Seed, I immediately pictured sowing the Word of God like seed as in the Parable of the Sowerⁱⁱ. I soon realized that the verse, 2 Corinthians 9:10, and the blog were really about generosity in giving, but by then it was too late. The Lord had turned this precious gem and I had seen into a different facet.  

I’m still not sure the blog is not about sharing the gospel it was such a bright flash for me. Especially, this sentence: “You have to let go of the seed in your hand to reap the harvest.” Yes! We believers in Christ have seed in our hands, precious, precious seed. The seed we carry is the Word of life and healing for world. But we hang on to it. At least I do.  

Why do I hang on to the seed? Why don’t I let go of it? Why don’t I just spontaneously pray for that stranger in trouble or that friend in need of strength or healing, that dying loved one? Why is it not the first thing I think about? Why don’t I share the gospel message more? Why don’t I speak the truth in love to those who are wandering off the path?

I may not have any money to be generous in that way, but I can give the seed – “silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you.” These tiny, seemingly insignificant seeds in my hand are precious, they have power – “in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk!” (Acts 3:6).

So, why do I hold the seed back in my hand? Fear, self-preservation, thinking I have to do or be something wonderful. J.D. Walt of Seedbed wrote an articleⁱⁱⁱ on the following verse, which has helped me a lot: 

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 

We have been given the ministry; we have been given the message. We have been given the seed. This would be scary except for that phrase, “all this is from God.” J.D. Walt translated the phrase this way: 

“ALL THIS IS FROM GOD.” 

Translation: This is amazing grace.  

Translation: None of this is from us. 

Praise God, none of this is from us!

What does this mean for the seed in my hand? I received grace from God and those to whom I give my seed will receive revelation and new life from God, from the Word – not from me. For God has promised that his Word that goes out “shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:11)”. He supplies the seed, he supplies the Message, the Word of Life, he will make the harvest happen. He is the Wonderful One. All I have to do is open my hand and drop it. 

The sower sows the word. Mark 4:14 

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls … John 12:24 

ⁱ https://eaglesight.blog/2021/08/02/letting-go-of-the-seed/  

ⁱⁱ Matthew 13 

ⁱⁱⁱ Are You Finally Ready to Receive? https://www.seedbed.com/are-you-finally-ready-to-receive/ 

Image, free download from Pixabay 

Hostile combatants two

You must be ready (adjusted, prepared) all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected. (Luke 12:40 NLT)

Wrestling with the Word implies making an adjustment – changing our thinking and doing to match Jesus’ commandments. It is not a one-time event, but a continual, daily effort. David said, “I have set (shavah) the Lord continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken” (Psalm 16:8 NASB). Shavah (ָׁש ָׁוה) means to level, to agree with, resemble¹ (I always think of a carpenter’s level, with the bubble in it, between me and the Word). This implies changing myself – by attitudes, thinking, words and deeds – to line up with the Word, and the Psalm says this is a continual, constant, daily effort.

The Parable of the Sower is told in Matthew 13:19-23, Mark 4:14-20, and Luke 8:11-15. In each, Jesus essentially tells the same story – until the last sentence, which describes the fruitful hearer of the Word. In Matthew 13:23 this hearer understands or wrestles with the word he has heard, in Mark 4:20 he accepts (admits, delights in, receives) the word, and in Luke 8:15 he retains (holds fast, keeps from getting away, keeps in memory) the word and by perseverance (hupomone) produces a good crop. The word translated “retains” is the Greek word katechó (κατέχω). It also means to “check a ship’s headway i.e. to hold or head the ship”², to keep it on course. Hebrews says, “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away” (Hebrews 2:1 NIV). This retaining the Word, keeping the course, holding the ship from drifting away implies constant effort. It is only possible by “keeping the Lord continually before me” or “fixing our eyes on Jesus.” The key to this perseverance, or hupomone, is hidden in the Greek word itself. But, more on that next time.

Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (James 4:1 NIV)

“Go back?” he thought. “No good at all! Go sideways? Impossible! Go forward? Only thing to do! On we go!” So up he got, and trotted along with his little sword held in front of him and one hand feeling the wall, and his heart all of a patter and a pitter.” Tolkien, The Hobbit (chapter 5)

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2 NASB)

¹ Brown-Driver-Briggs http://biblehub.com/hebrew/7737.htm
² Thayer’s and Smith’s Bible Dictionary

Hostile combatants

      

“When anyone hears (akouo) the message about the kingdom and does not understand (suniemi) it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears (akouo) the word and understands (suniemi) it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matt. 13:19-23 NIV)

In the parable of the sower everyone heard (akouo) the word, but only the last one understood (suniemi). This one was also the only one who bore fruit. Akouo means to hear, consider, and even to understand[i]. But the Greek word suniemi (συνίημι) takes it further – it means to bring together, or join together in the mind. It also has a meaning of bringing together opposing or hostile combatants.

In the Greek world it was used for the bringing together of two hostile combatants and letting them duke it out (Homer, Illiad 1,8; 7,210)[1]. The scripture says that we are naturally hostile to God. “… the sinful mind is hostile to God” (Romans 8:7), but “while we were enemies (hostile ones, opposing) we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son” (Romans 5:10). I think this implies that three of the hearers in the sower parable did not make the effort to adjust themselves to God’s word, to wrestle with the word, until it changed them and became part of them. But, they let the worries and temptations and ultimately the enemy of our souls wipe it out, and they went on unchanged and unfruitful. They looked into the mirror of the Word and then walked away (James 1:23-25).

Have you ever felt that you and the Word of God were hostile combatants? Like you didn’t like the truth and you had to wrestle or fight with it until you could agree with it and become one mind with God? I have many times. I know that I can read the Word or hear the Word and understand perfectly well what it means, but until I wrestle with it, until I can agree with God about it, line up my thinking with His, I will not bear fruit. Even worse, I run the risk of losing the truth altogether.

Praise God! He is not offended when we wrestle with Him, but rather He is pleased. Lord help me not to merely hear but to suniemi.

Continued Hostile combatants two

[1] Thayer’s Expanded Greek Definition, Electronic Database https://www.studylight.org/lexicons/greek/4920.html

[i] All definitions are taken from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible unless otherwise noted.