Study of Matthew |
||
Matthew Chapter 13
What are parables?
We receive only what we really desire when it comes to spiritual things from the Lord. To those who seek the Lord for salvation, that seek the Lord just because He is God, to those who seek to find, to those who desire to know the Lord and live by His word; they shall understand. To those that only desire to find fault, to find a loop hole so that can enter heaven but keep their sin, to those that are only half hearted and do not really want God; they will not receive understanding. Those that want to understand and seek to understand will understand. In other words we really get from God what we really desire with all our heart. I would have loved to have been among the crowds to hear the words of Jesus right then and there. That would have been awesome. Yet, our wonderful Lord has provided a copy of His words that is available now in department stores, libraries and book stores.
Many do not want to hear and do not seek to understand. The Pharisees for example came to hear Jesus to find occasion to accuse Him. For they were jealous of the crowds He attracted and wanted an excuse to tear down His ministry. They could hear all the parables they had time to hear but they would never understand. Let us not be among those that have these things available and we ignore these words of life. Some people do not want to be where the word of God is taught. Some do not because they don't want to hear the words, "Repent, the kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Some will attend those that have the best entertainment or those that put on the best shows. Some will only attend to hear those that make them feel good in their sins and still make them feel saved. Yet, sadly too some are driven away because the messages are delivered in a harsh demeaning way, many times adding to the words and commandments of God. Love is lacking with no compassion. Yet, in saying that, God has blessed us with many who do teach and preach truth, do love people, do want to see them saved, born again and working for the gospel of the kingdom. Those that are blessed enough to have a balance between the positive and negative messages of the bible preached and taught in context without manmade opinions and traditions, have something to be thankful for. Yet there is a narrow way. Some will seek to know God and find His will for their lives. Some seek Him for His salvation and for understanding of His word. Those that really want to know who God is and to understand His word, are the ones who will understand. That narrow way is the only way of salvation through Jesus Christ. It isn't a narrow way made by man. Through the shed blood of Christ is the way to be cleansed from sin and receive salvation. To be reconciled back to the Father that the original sin of Adam separated us from is to come through Christ. He is the way the truth and the life and no one person can come to the Father except through Christ. Without Christ we remain in our sins. After receiving Christ we keep building on that foundation walking in obedience to His word. To say we believe in Christ but reject any of His words is really saying we don't know Him.
Some Old Testament prophets would have given all they had to have been among the crowds listening to Jesus when He walked among men. What a great opportunity we have before us. We have access to the word of God and the very presence of God. Ah, why settle for sixteenth of what we could have? I'm not talking of material wealth as blessings of God. I'm speaking of things of much more value. The things of the Spirit and the deep things of God. God gives us His salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Included in this salvation is forgiveness of sins, cleansing from sin, and being born again by God's spirit. Yet it never stops, we keep seeking Him and walking with Him in constant fellowship. When I say seek Him, I'm not talking about responding to an altar call and going to the front. It's okay to seek God that way but we need to get use to seeking Him in private when no one sees or hears us but God. That way we learn to trust Him on a one on one basis. He has for us a baptism greater than water baptism although water baptism shows that we are acting by faith and are obedient to His word. When we are baptized in water it is showing openly our acceptance of Jesus Christ into our lives. The baptism in the Holy Spirit though, is the earnest of our inheritance and is a greater baptism than of water.
God has for those that believe and obey Him, the power to overcome sin and serve Him by walking completely in the Spirit. The baptism in the Holy Spirit is given to those that obey Him holding back nothing. Having been cleansed from sin, God will baptize us completely in the Holy Spirit. We may experience speaking in an unknown tongue or prophesying when the Holy Spirit is poured out among us. Some may preach, some may teach, some may lay hands of the sick and they recover. These gifts are given to further the gospel so that others may be saved. Signs will confirm the word we preach and teach. Speaking in tongues is important because that is one gift that is individual and not just for service within the body of believers. This Holy Spirit baptism helps us pray in the will of God and worship in spirit and in truth. These gifts are not just for the first century Christians as some teach, neither were they just for the apostles. Had the church in the Middle not failed to continue in the things of the spirit of God and substituted religious works and rituals in their place, they never would have started torturing and putting people to death for disagreeing with their doctrine. We need to be filled with the spirit continually for the Holy Spirit is the one that sheds love for one another within our hearts. In all these holy gifts from God, let us be careful not to accuse our brethren (sisters) if we don't see eye to eye on everything or if someone does not experience the same things we may experience. Leave that for the direction of the Holy Spirit to work in their lives as well as in our own life. For example, we should be careful not to criticize and accuse those that speak in tongues when they pray and we also don't accuse those that have never spoken in tongues. The gifts are given from God to us. A person can't pray or speak in tongues if God has not yet given that gift to them. It is God that gives the gifts. We have no power to make someone speak in tongues. Let us not berate those who have not yet received this gift because we have no way to enforce that. Only God can do that. On other hand I cringe when I hear someone criticize those that do pray in tongues and say it doesn't exist today. How can we deny something many have received because of some rumor they've heard? If it's in the word of God, it can still happen today unless it is something Jesus Christ has fulfilled like the law of sacrifice. We have the written word also to keep us from being deceived and to show us who God is and how this great salvation has come down to us. When we study the word, we will not fall prey to any false doctrine that comes down the pike sometimes by those claiming to represent Jesus Christ.
This is one that may receive the word half heartedly and do not really want to live for God with all His heart. He doesn't build upon what He heard and so lets the enemy take it from his heart before it has a chance to grow and produce fruit.
This one likes the sound of the word he hears. He even receives the word with joy. The next day though when people start to criticize him for his new faith, the person is offended and gives up. The word has not taken root so it quickly dries up just like a seed planted upon stony ground. This may have been a very emotional person who can run, jump and shout for joy but the moment the trials come, he loses the joy. He lives by circumstances and his faith is mostly feelings rather than in the word itself. He has faith only when things are going good and he feels good.
This is a good description of the church of Laodicea. Rich and increased with goods and has need of nothing so they think. They think to gain in godliness. The world chokes the true word of God and they think they are okay but are really poor, blind and without any spiritual clothing. The New Testament is full of warnings about the love for money, the love for the world and the god of mammon and we must try hard not to ignore this. False preachers tell us that God really wants us to have all these things and we will get all these things if we send money or sow seed into their ministries. Yet we need to open our eyes. The only ones getting rich are the ones we send our money to. The widow that sends in money every month is not getting rich. Hello. Wake up. We are never called to fleece the flock of God. Jesus teaches giving and it shall be given to us but He means necessary things to sustain us in this life until He returns. He means for us to have compassion on the poor and help those that cannot give. He means for us to send the gospel to those that can't pay us to give them the gospel. Give and it shall be given is to give to those that have not. We are fast losing our compassion on the poor thinking that God is not blessing them so we don't have to give to them. This is not what Jesus taught.
This is my goal and should be the goal of anyone who loves Jesus Christ and desires the truth. This does not necessarily refer to soul winning because we all have different gifts and callings. It may not necessarily mean good works as far as what the world thinks are good works. A little child who is poor and has no means in which to do great things can produce a hundredfold fruit by being obedient to what little they may know. On a personal level this means to be fruitful in the Lord. The fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance which is self-control. It is not how many healings we see when we lay hands on the sick, it is not how many souls we win to Christ that show our good fruit but it is our obedience to what light we have received, it is the fruits of the spirit within us and our love for the Lord that produces that hundredfold yield spoken of here. Now, how do I know that? Because the gospel of Jesus Christ has to be the same for everyone. What applies to a big name evangelist must also apply to a small child. What applies to rich American Christians must also apply to the poor 3rd world Christian. What counts for the rich Christian is whether he or she is letting the thorns choke out the seed of the word or is he being obedient to God's word and does he love the Lord more than his riches? What counts for the poor persecuted Christian is that he is faithful and does not lose heart by those that come against him because of his faith and he is not offended in Christ. To be obedient to the word is to live by the word and the light that has been revealed to us. If we are called to preach, we preach. If we are called to the mission field, we go and if we are called to teach toddlers, we teach toddlers. Our fruit is our obedience to the word and our love for the Lord. Our lives must reflect what we teach or preach. One example may be this: A man is called to preach and he wins many souls to Christ by his obedience to God's calling. That is good, but I believe if he has a wife who stands by him and labors hard to feed and clothe her family and those God may lay on her heart, she will be rewarded the same as he. Those that help those in leadership faithfully will be rewarded also. It all works together, to exhort, to help, to give, to support, to love and just to obey what God lays on our hearts.
The enemy will continue to do this until Jesus returns again. He will try to steal the truth and sow discord among us.
Let both grow together until the harvest. We are not to kill, persecute, torture and harm anyone who brings false doctrine. God has to do the reaping in His own time. We are not to harm anyone. We can stop them from preaching falsely within our own group but if they go out and gather their own followers, we have no right to harm them and try to forbid them to speak. Let God bring the judgment in those cases. The reason I say this is because of reading church history. Those that burned heretics to the stake thinking they were doing God a service were actually the ones who were in the wrong. They were the ones who had strayed so far from the original word of God that they didn't recognize the truth when someone pointed it out to them. We could be killing those that represent God Himself. Jesus Christ told us to go into all the world and make disciples, teaching them all things that He commanded. He never once gave any authority to the church to kill anyone for heresy. Why? Because in trying to root out the tares, we may harm wheat without realizing it. I've seen church splits. Some will stay faithful to the Lord, some are offended and hurt, fall away and do not ever return back to God. See how important it is to walk in love, pray fervently and by led by God's spirit in all things. The harvest is the end of this present world when the Lord Himself comes back with His saints with Him. That is when He will separate the wheat from the tares. We must not attempt to do this ahead of time. This does not mean that we do not expose false teachers and warn against false doctrine. We may even have to name names at times to keep people from being deceived. However, we are never to persecute, kill or imprison someone for their doctrine. The law of the land says that we have to imprison those that steal, kill and harm the innocent. That we know to be true. The church though has no authority from Jesus Christ to take over governments before the literal second coming of Christ. We are to concentrate on the gospel and bringing people to Christ so they can be "born again" by God's spirit and inherit eternal life. That is our only mission. We are not to take over the government and try to build a city of God by force. A heart has to be changed by the power of the gospel. We can't force this on someone by having them baptized in water or accept a religion we call Christianity. They have to be born again and changed by the spirit of God from the inside before they are really Christians. Just accepting a religion we call Christianity does not make one a Christian.
Leaven represents evil. So we see that we have the gospel going forth but not all that come under the branches will be of the truth or obedient to the Lord in all things. There will be heretics, dissenters and those that believe in name only not in deed and in truth. This continues the discussion of tares and wheat. Evil and good will dwell within the visible church until the harvest or end of the world when angels will gather up the tares into bundles. The the righteous shall shine forth like the sun. We are never to attempt this ahead of time by force. We must attempt to purge the leaven by teaching, preaching, correction, laboring and exhorting all believers and finding the lost while we are doing that. We are never to try to separate tares from wheat by physical force like the government has to do with law breakers. Go forth and teach Jesus says, being wise as serpents but harmless as doves.
That way it is hidden from those that rebel and do not really want the truth but it is revealed to those that desire to change their lives and live for God. Notice also that the previous verses show that Jesus is teaching the multitude outside by the sea. Now Jesus is in doors teaching those that inquired after further understanding. Those of us who really want to understand and believe will receive understanding. Those that are half hearted and do not really care enough to seek, usually will not understand.
Enemies from other lands or tribes would sow tares in the fields of their enemies. Tares are not ordinary weeds. it is weeds that look like wheat while it is first growing but later reveals itself as a strong plant and very poisonous. Remember that God sends the angels to gather the ones that offend. We are not to attempt this ahead of time. That is the whole reason for the parable of the tares. Leave them alone Jesus said. We are not to physically harm any heretic or anyone we think is a heretic. The church in the Middle Ages was wrong when they killed people they thought were heretics. We must not do that again. What happened then can happen again if the false church rises to power. They ended up killing the innocent while the false church itself was in apostasy and heresy. This is just my speculation but I believe Jesus put this parable in here to warn of that which came after 325 AD when Constantine liberated the church. We fight against heresy by teaching, preaching, and living in holiness and truth. We don't fight against them by brute force. Our weapons are not carnal but are supposed to be by the power of the Holy Spirit. The reason the church went into apostasy is because they no longer were being filled with the Holy Spirit. They had substituted the doctrines of men in place of the word of God. Church tradition took the place of the word of God. Authority of men took the place of the power of the Holy Spirit.
The kingdom of heaven here is the one that is within us as we become believers in Christ. We forsake our old life and our old ways and embrace this new and living way through faith in Jesus Christ. The apostate church in the Middle Ages made the same mistake the Jews made in the days that Christ walked the earth. They were looking for a Messiah that would set up an earthly kingdom and free them from the Romans and rule the world from Jerusalem. The apostate church forgot to preach the gospel that would save individual souls and began to try to set up an all Christian world by force. Only Jesus will be able to set up a righteous government. We must wait on Him.
That pearl of great price was indeed the salvation of God obtained by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and He power to take away our sins and give us the Holy Spirit.
We see that the good dwells along side of the bad until the harvest. We can't cast them out first or we will harm innocent wheat. This is what Jesus is teaching. Be harmless as doves but wise. We fight against evil by teaching and preaching under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. We do not fight against evil with swords. I'm saying this as a body of believers that some call the church. I'm not saying this as a country that has to defend itself against invaders and evil dictators. I believe it is okay to fight for one's country and such. Israel had to do that many times. As a nation we have to have law and order, police, and government until Jesus returns. The called out ones though, or believers in Christ are not to take over governments and create a church state. We are to preach the gospel of repentance from sin and faith in Jesus Christ as savior from sin. We are to teach about walking in the spirit and being obedient to the word. We are not to try to win converts by government or force. There is no way we can make someone become a "born again" Christian. God and only God can save the soul and change a life.
We have to discern what is fulfilled in Christ and what is still to be kept. Christ brings in a new living way and a new beginning having fulfilled all requirements of the law to insure one's salvation and eternal life. We now have all this treasure to study and keep that which still is in effect and not try to live by that which has been fulfilled and done away with to replaced with a better way. Now salvation is through faith in Christ. It was made simple for a child to believe. Repent of sins and turn to Christ. We don't have to bring sacrifices and keep feast days to earn any salvation. We don't have to require circumcision or any ritual to make ourselves more holy. We are made holy only through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Faith in what Jesus did on our behalf will sanctify us and make us holy as we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. We now can be completely baptized in the Holy Spirit.
We see that Jesus grew up among these people but did not start his ministry until the time appointed by God His Father. He had natural brothers born after the birth of Jesus. He had natural sisters. Mary and Joseph continued living a normal life and had other children. Jesus is the only one that had no earthly father only an earthly mother. He was born into such an ordinary family that they couldn't believe He was full of such wisdom.
Its strange how people will believe a stranger rather than one they know. When the antichrist arises many will believe in him and be deceived. He will not be ordinary but will be a popular celebrity full of false signs and lying wonders.
Beware of those that promote their own name even if they claim to come in the name of Jesus. DC
|
||
|
HOME |
SITE MAP |
BIBLE STUDY INDEX
|
||