When we think of obedience unfortunately we associate this with weakness or letting ourselves down before somebody. Is obedience not the mark of a slave? but it is actually a sign of maturity and a gateway to power. The fact is: It is an important quality in leadership. “You will command so learn to obey” the slogan on a Brazilian army camp reminds us that we can not be a leader if we do not learn to obey, because to the extent we follow to that extent we lead. The great leaders of this world have not been their own masters; they arose and followed someone higher up, and thereby became the greater.
Our physical health depends upon obeying the laws of our physical nature, our strength of character dependence on obedience to God’s order. Obedience is not all that bad as it is projected; in fact there are great blessings stored in the lap of obedience. There are several examples in the Bible of those who have experienced blessings when they obeyed but when they disobeyed they brought disaster upon themselves.
I. WHO SHOULD WE OBEY?
Since the creation God has been looking for people who are obedient to him. Unfortunately the first parents Adam and Eve did not set a good example for us to follow. For a moment of pleasure and with a secret desire for power they have disobeyed God’s clear instructions. We all inherited Adam’s sin and as a result, obedience doesn’t come naturally to us. However, God requires obedience from his people. Only one thing that God expected from Israel was that, Deut 10:12 “And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” Therefore obedience to God is not optional but a requirement.
When we obey God it goes well with us, Micah 6:8 “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act, justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Obedience to God can keep us on a higher ground Deut 28:1 “If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. An individual learns to obey God fully, and then God can place that individual in a position of power and authority. Children begin to obey God he can make them leaders among their peers. Those who are working in government offices or companies obey God he can give them a promotion with a better pay scale. Business men honor God and keep the Sabbath rest he can bless their business. Why? What does obedience have to do with these blessings? When you obey God, you do the right thing, you don’t cheat your spouse, you work hard, you take good care of your body, you are honest in your business dealings, you honor God with your finances, and you are generous in giving.
II. HONORING AUTHORITY:
God gave the Ten Commandments to the Israelites and to the rest of mankind to obey them. The first four commandments relate particularly to our vertical love and respect for God and the rest of the six commandments relate to our horizontal love for people.
God has the supreme authority in our lives; He is the commander in chief therefore he commands our absolute obedience and loyalty, however there are human authority figures also to whom we should give our loyalty and obedience. Let’s look at what the Bible has to say regarding human authority figures such as the parents, government leaders, and spiritual leaders?
III. PARENTS THE FIRST AUTHORITY FIGURES:
Parents are the first authority figures in our lives therefore they are to be honored, respected and obeyed. The fifth commandment says, Exodus 20:12 “Honor your mother and your father so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” Paul writes in Ephesians 6:1-3 “Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. Honor your father and mother which is the first commandment with a promise, that it may go well with you that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”
In the ancient Jewish culture and even today in some eastern cultures this honor and respect to parents is still intact. But in the post modern western society the fifth commandment is badly violated. While the bible teaches children to obey their parents many in our society say that we are to free children from parental authority. I wonder from where that thought came into practice? Michael G. Moriarty in his book “The perfect 10 talks about what might have contributed to this erosion. “Following Dr. Benjamin Spock’s essentially psychoanalytic model of parenthood, the child-rearing prophets of the 1970s and 1980s touted a new democracy in the home where children are accepted as equal partners in the affairs of the family.” Many have applied Benjamin Spock’s child raising methods and the effects have been detrimental to the society even till today. Children, until the time they reach the age of accountability are to obey their parents but honor must continue throughout their life.
Moriarty, explains how crucial it is for children to respect their parents, he notes, “Respect for authority starts in the family and will produce harmonious relationships in the home and in society. Respectful children are a “national Treasure.[1] There is a lot of truth in it. When respect, honor and love is practiced within the family first between the children and parents then it can be observed in the society. But ironically instead of children becoming a national treasure they are becoming national threat. Why is it that way? Why young people would like to rebel than to obey their parents? Who is teaching them to disregard parental authority? Who are brain washing our young people? Many songs on the market today send the message to young people that they should disobey and disrespect their elders, and they should be free to do whatever they like. For example, Britney Spear’s song on Rebellion: Listen to the lyrics:
Be wary of others The ones closest to you (oh)
The poison they feed you And the voodoo that they do,
But in rebellion There's a sparkle of truth
Don't just stand there
Do what you got to do
You'll find it in rebellion
Your body starts breathing
They're not believing what they're seeing 'Cause you're rebellion.[2]
If our teenagers constantly feed on this diet of rebellion through songs, music and movies what else can we expect of them other than rebellion against every form of authority? What has sown the seeds of rebellion in this nation which was primarily founded on Judeo- Christian principles? Do we recognize the moral decay in our culture? Or are we oblivious in thinking that everything is great? Who was to blame for this moral failure? Are we as evangelical Christians setting up a different biblical standard? Or are we going with the flow and let the culture control us instead of us controlling the culture? What does it take to reverse this trend? I am sure many of us do wrestle with these questions.
Francis Schaeffer who was recognized as one of the most influential Christian thinkers of the last century, in his book “The Great Evangelical Disaster” explains what caused this moral downfall and also offers a few suggestions on how to regain our ground as Evangelical Christians in this degrading society. Let me read a few thoughts from Schaeffer “Something happened during the past 60 to 80 years which cut the moral foundation out from under our culture. Devastating things have come in every area of culture whether it be law or government, whether it is in the schools, our local communities or in the family. Our culture has been squandered and lost, and largely thrown away.
In 1920’s one word dominated the society more than any other word that was “Freedom” It is the attempt to have absolute freedom to be totally autonomous from any intrinsic limits. It is the attempt to throw off anything that would restrain one’s own personal autonomy. But it is especially a direct and deliberate rebellion against God and his law. This rebellion was triggered through the so called Enlightenment. Schaeffer calls this the problem of “Form and Freedom” Both Form( structure, order, rules, regulations) and freedom are good in themselves, however the problem occurs when they go out of balance or any one of them is taken to the extreme. For example, freedom without a proper balance of form, will lead to chaos and the total breakdown of society. Form, without a proper balance of freedom will lead to authoritarianism, and to the destruction of individual and social freedom. But note further: No society can exist in a state of chaos.” Let me put in perspective how this plays out in our lives
My wife Wilma and I come from two uniquely distinct cultural backgrounds. Wilma grew up in a society and time where “Freedom” was increasingly valued and regard for structure and order was eroding. I grew up in an Asian culture with a lot of form but little freedom. Wilma from the age of 12 in pursuit of freedom kicked against every form of authority and went away from every known Biblical standard of living. I grew up in a very conservative, traditional Christian home not experiencing much of the outside free world. When we both encountered Christ in the course of time and started growing in our understanding of God and Scripture we started learning to appreciate Form and handle freedom. We saw the need to keep both “Form and Freedom’ in a proper balance. We submitted to the authority of Christ, and made His word as our standard for life and conduct not our cultures and upbringing.
So far we have talked a lot about honoring authority beginning with honoring and respecting the parental authority where our society has gone wrong in the first place. But there are other authorities God wants us to respect such as Government leaders and spiritual leaders. A few scriptures to help us understand the need to obey these authority figures in our lives.
IV. GOVERNMENT LEADERS:
The whole chapter in Romans 13 deals with our submission to authorities because there is no authority except which God has established. I Peter 2:13-14, “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.” We not only learn to respect and submit those in authority but we also need to pray for them I Timothy 2:1-2 “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone- for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.”
It is important that we pray for our president, senators, congressmen, police, mayors, governors, firemen, military officers and so on so that we can live peaceful lives. We pray that God will protect them and enable them to do the right thing. However when it comes to obeying certain governmental and spiritual leaders we must use discretion and caution. There are those who abuse power and authority to manipulate people. In such situations we need discernment to obey God rather than obeying men. Time doesn’t permit me to share many examples in the Bible and the church history where people obeyed God rather than obeying men even it meant death.
In the end, in the Old Testament we read specific rewards to obedience and consequences to disobedience. When we obey we will be blessed but when we disobey we will reap the consequences. I like the NASB translation in Deut 28:2 “And all these blessings shall come upon you and over take you, if you will obey the Lord your God.” That is the intention of God for us, he wants to pour out his blessings on us but it all depends on our obedience or lack of it. You may be thinking, well obedience is easier said than done; you talk about obedience as you had never struggled with it. The truth of the matter is every earnest Christian struggles against sin. In Hebrew 12:4 “In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: My son do not make light of the Lord’s discipline and do not loose heart when he rebukes you. Because the Lord disciplines those he loves and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”
There is blessing and life in obedience; and there is curse and death in rebellion. Which one will you choose? Let our simple prayer be the prayer of David, Psalm 86:11 “Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.”
[1] The Perfect 10 by Michael G. Moriarty Page 110
[2] http://www.metrolyrics.com/rebellion-lyrics-britney-spears.html
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Sunday, September 6, 2009
OBEDIENCE,WHAT IS IT?
On an outside wall of the Brazilian Army Academy, cadets can read the words "You will command. So learn to obey!"
John Kenneth Galbraith, a Canadian American economist (1908-2006) in his autobiography, A Life in Our Times, illustrates the devotion of Emily Gloria Wilson, his family's housekeeper:
It had been a wearying day, and I asked Emily to hold all telephone calls while I had a nap. Shortly thereafter the phone rang. Lyndon Johnson was calling from the White House.
"Get me Ken Galbraith. This is Lyndon Johnson."
"He is sleeping, Mr. President. He said not to disturb him."
"Well, wake him up. I want to talk to him."
"No, Mr. President. I work for him, not you. When I called the President back, he could scarcely control his pleasure. "Tell that woman I want her here in the White House."
It is rare to find such unwavering loyalty and prompt obedience. Obedience is not a popular concept and is altogether scorned by skeptics. It is seldom preached from the pulpit, yet the Bible talks a great deal on this subject. There are several examples of people who obey God. In Luke 1:17, we read John the Baptist came “to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Jesus after he rose from the dead called his frightened disciples and said, Matt 28:18-20 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” If it was not for the disciple’s obedience to the great commission, where we would be today?
Those who excel in life are the ones who have learned to obey the Lord. I wonder how many of us have learned obedience in childhood? Obedience ties in with parenting and child raising. Not many parents these days expect obedience from their children. Dr. Sears a Christian pediatrician who teaches on attachment parenting writes about that “so few children obey because so few parents expect them to obey.” Yet the wise parent knows that teaching obedience to a child is imperative for the child's success. From the time a child is about one year old a parent can start teaching and expecting a child to listen and obey, the earlier the easier.
The wonderful opportunity that God grants parents is to build relationship with their children. God has beautifully designed marriage, sexuality and family. The way a child is conceived in the mother’s womb and snugly grows there for 9 months before it is born and a child’s dependency on the loving care of a mother and father is all meant to foster relationship and trust. Psalm 22:9 “You made me trust in you even at my mother’s breasts.”
When a child is consistently and lovingly cared for, trust is build and when trust is build obedience is easily learned. The truth is few of us have learned obedience growing up, partial obedience and respect at best I guess. By nature we all were born sinners as a result we are bent more to disobedience than to obedience both to our parents and as adults towards God and authority figures. When we were saved and born again into God’s family. God has become our father, we are His children. As we get to know Him better we are thrilled to discover that God is the perfect parent and that He loves us without limit. Wow! What is your response to the amazing love of God for you? What does God look for in His children? Obedience! Why is it so important?
Obedience has to do with boundaries and limits. It is the recognition of ones place in the grand scheme of things, that I am not God, I am not ultimately in charge, and I don't own all the wisdom in the world. A child who is told not to touch the stove and does it anyway gets hurt.
Certain things are not good and right for us if we go ahead and do those things anyway we get hurt. Have we learned yet that God loves us so much that he has laid out clear guidelines for right living? Or do we have no such trust and do we kick and scream at the very thought of obeying God? Let’s find out.
I. WHY OBEDIENCE TO GOD IS IMPORTANT?
For God, obedience is far more important than anything else because everything depends either on our obedience to God or our disobedience. We realize that obedience is not something that we acquire from birth, but it is learned along the way sometimes it is learned the hard way. We can learn something about obedience from the way Arabian horses are trained.
Arabian horses go through rigorous training in the deserts of the Middle East. The trainers require absolute obedience from the horses, and test them to see if they are completely trained. The final test is almost beyond the endurance of any living thing. The trainers force the horses to do without water for many days. Then he turns them loose and of course they start running toward the water, but just as they get to the edge, ready to plunge in and drink, the trainer blows his whistle. The horses who have been completely trained and who have learned perfect obedience stop. They turn around and come pacing back to the trainer. They stand there quivering, wanting water, but they wait in perfect obedience. When the trainer is sure that he has their obedience he gives them a signal to go back to drink. Now this may be severe but when you are on the trackless desert of Arabia and your life is entrusted to a horse, you had better have a trained obedient horse. Similarly we must accept God's training and obey Him.
Jesus modeled obedience to God throughout his life from his childhood on until his death on the cross. But it did not come easily for him, he had to learn it. In Hebrews 5:7-9 “In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.”
In the garden of Gethsemane his obedience was challenged. During his ministry he taught his disciples unless you pick up your cross and follow me you are not my disciples. Now his very own teaching was being tested, will he go to the cross willingly or not? At that moment everything with in him must have cried out and said it is too hard, give up and let go of your rescue mission. He could have given up infact he cried out saying, (Matt 26: 39) “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me, but thank God he did not, he wanted to obey His father all the way so he said “yet not as I will but as you will.” That is called the total obedience.
Paul brought out this total surrenderance and obedience to God the father in Philippians 2:5-8 “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself and became obedient to death even death on a cross.” His father saying, up then Salvation would not have been made possible.”
If Jesus being the son of God needed to learn obedience how could we not learn? What makes us think that obedience is not a big deal? Obedience to God should not be drudgery thing, rather when we obey him we are remaining in his love. John 15:10 “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.”
Either you are a seasoned Christian or a baby Christian we all need to learn the art of obeying God. It has not been always easy for me to obey him there were times I disobeyed him, but the most important decisions in my life were born out of obedience God. Very early in my Christian walk I realized that I can not lead others to obey Christ if I myself am not obedient. To the degree we follow to the same degree we can lead others. May the Lord help all of us to grow in the grace of obedience?
John Kenneth Galbraith, a Canadian American economist (1908-2006) in his autobiography, A Life in Our Times, illustrates the devotion of Emily Gloria Wilson, his family's housekeeper:
It had been a wearying day, and I asked Emily to hold all telephone calls while I had a nap. Shortly thereafter the phone rang. Lyndon Johnson was calling from the White House.
"Get me Ken Galbraith. This is Lyndon Johnson."
"He is sleeping, Mr. President. He said not to disturb him."
"Well, wake him up. I want to talk to him."
"No, Mr. President. I work for him, not you. When I called the President back, he could scarcely control his pleasure. "Tell that woman I want her here in the White House."
It is rare to find such unwavering loyalty and prompt obedience. Obedience is not a popular concept and is altogether scorned by skeptics. It is seldom preached from the pulpit, yet the Bible talks a great deal on this subject. There are several examples of people who obey God. In Luke 1:17, we read John the Baptist came “to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Jesus after he rose from the dead called his frightened disciples and said, Matt 28:18-20 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” If it was not for the disciple’s obedience to the great commission, where we would be today?
Those who excel in life are the ones who have learned to obey the Lord. I wonder how many of us have learned obedience in childhood? Obedience ties in with parenting and child raising. Not many parents these days expect obedience from their children. Dr. Sears a Christian pediatrician who teaches on attachment parenting writes about that “so few children obey because so few parents expect them to obey.” Yet the wise parent knows that teaching obedience to a child is imperative for the child's success. From the time a child is about one year old a parent can start teaching and expecting a child to listen and obey, the earlier the easier.
The wonderful opportunity that God grants parents is to build relationship with their children. God has beautifully designed marriage, sexuality and family. The way a child is conceived in the mother’s womb and snugly grows there for 9 months before it is born and a child’s dependency on the loving care of a mother and father is all meant to foster relationship and trust. Psalm 22:9 “You made me trust in you even at my mother’s breasts.”
When a child is consistently and lovingly cared for, trust is build and when trust is build obedience is easily learned. The truth is few of us have learned obedience growing up, partial obedience and respect at best I guess. By nature we all were born sinners as a result we are bent more to disobedience than to obedience both to our parents and as adults towards God and authority figures. When we were saved and born again into God’s family. God has become our father, we are His children. As we get to know Him better we are thrilled to discover that God is the perfect parent and that He loves us without limit. Wow! What is your response to the amazing love of God for you? What does God look for in His children? Obedience! Why is it so important?
Obedience has to do with boundaries and limits. It is the recognition of ones place in the grand scheme of things, that I am not God, I am not ultimately in charge, and I don't own all the wisdom in the world. A child who is told not to touch the stove and does it anyway gets hurt.
Certain things are not good and right for us if we go ahead and do those things anyway we get hurt. Have we learned yet that God loves us so much that he has laid out clear guidelines for right living? Or do we have no such trust and do we kick and scream at the very thought of obeying God? Let’s find out.
I. WHY OBEDIENCE TO GOD IS IMPORTANT?
For God, obedience is far more important than anything else because everything depends either on our obedience to God or our disobedience. We realize that obedience is not something that we acquire from birth, but it is learned along the way sometimes it is learned the hard way. We can learn something about obedience from the way Arabian horses are trained.
Arabian horses go through rigorous training in the deserts of the Middle East. The trainers require absolute obedience from the horses, and test them to see if they are completely trained. The final test is almost beyond the endurance of any living thing. The trainers force the horses to do without water for many days. Then he turns them loose and of course they start running toward the water, but just as they get to the edge, ready to plunge in and drink, the trainer blows his whistle. The horses who have been completely trained and who have learned perfect obedience stop. They turn around and come pacing back to the trainer. They stand there quivering, wanting water, but they wait in perfect obedience. When the trainer is sure that he has their obedience he gives them a signal to go back to drink. Now this may be severe but when you are on the trackless desert of Arabia and your life is entrusted to a horse, you had better have a trained obedient horse. Similarly we must accept God's training and obey Him.
Jesus modeled obedience to God throughout his life from his childhood on until his death on the cross. But it did not come easily for him, he had to learn it. In Hebrews 5:7-9 “In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.”
In the garden of Gethsemane his obedience was challenged. During his ministry he taught his disciples unless you pick up your cross and follow me you are not my disciples. Now his very own teaching was being tested, will he go to the cross willingly or not? At that moment everything with in him must have cried out and said it is too hard, give up and let go of your rescue mission. He could have given up infact he cried out saying, (Matt 26: 39) “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me, but thank God he did not, he wanted to obey His father all the way so he said “yet not as I will but as you will.” That is called the total obedience.
Paul brought out this total surrenderance and obedience to God the father in Philippians 2:5-8 “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself and became obedient to death even death on a cross.” His father saying, up then Salvation would not have been made possible.”
If Jesus being the son of God needed to learn obedience how could we not learn? What makes us think that obedience is not a big deal? Obedience to God should not be drudgery thing, rather when we obey him we are remaining in his love. John 15:10 “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.”
Either you are a seasoned Christian or a baby Christian we all need to learn the art of obeying God. It has not been always easy for me to obey him there were times I disobeyed him, but the most important decisions in my life were born out of obedience God. Very early in my Christian walk I realized that I can not lead others to obey Christ if I myself am not obedient. To the degree we follow to the same degree we can lead others. May the Lord help all of us to grow in the grace of obedience?
Sunday, August 30, 2009
THE PARABLES OF JESUS: "ARE YOU BEARING FRUIT?
There is a little fable in which a woman goes into the town square and sees a store sign that reads "God's Fruit Stand." "Thank goodness," she says to herself. "It's about time they began selling some decent produce in the square." She enters the store and says, "I would like a divine banana, a divine cantaloupe, and some divine strawberries and peaches." God, (who was behind the counter) says, "I'm very sorry my dear woman, I only sell seeds."
This story illustrates that if you want to have a divine fruit you need to sow a divine seed. The outcome of the fruit depends on the SEED. Some times the seed may be good but if it is not planted in the right soil it will not bear fruit. During his ministry on earth Jesus told stories or parables to communicate powerful truths to his followers. On one of those occasions Jesus shared the parable of the Sower and the SEED (Luke 8:4-15) The Parable:
A farmer went to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed some of it fell on the road; it was trampled down and the birds ate it. Other seed fell in the gravel; it sprouted, but withered because it didn’t have good roots. Other seed fell in the weeds; the weeds grew with it and strangled it. Other seed fell in rich earth and produced a bumper crop.” Are you listening to this? “Really listening? (Message Bible)
In eastern practices the seed was sometimes sown first and the field plowed afterwards. Roads and pathways went directly through many fields and the traffic made much of the surface too hard for seed to take root in. You may be asking what these four different soils represent. What is the seed? What does this have to do with me today? In the parable the seed is the word of God and the grounds represent four types of people1. I would call them, 1. The Skeptics 2. The Enthusiasts 3. The Compromisers 4. The Implementers.
I. THE SKEPTICS: “As the former sowed some fell on the road, it was tramped down and the birds ate it up” The way side people are mainly the skeptics, the unbelievers, they hear the gospel preached over and over again but they never respond to it because the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts so that they won’t believe and be saved.
Have you wondered why inspite of many wonderful Christian TV channels preaching the gospel, churches doing the evangelistic outreaches so many still remain un-touched by the Gospel? Even some of those who regularly attend church, and listen to inspiring messages every Sunday could also remain unchanged. Why? Because there truly is satanic opposition. Our enemy doesn’t want people to come to know the “Truth”, if they come to know the truth they can no longer be under his control, they will be free indeed.
Paul writing to Corinthians exposes the strategy of the Devil 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” The message of the gospel can be stolen by Satan if we let him. Paul writing to Ephesians reminds them who they were coming against, “Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Even today we are up against a strong enemy but we have some one who is greater and stronger than our enemy.
II THE ENTHUSIASTS:
The seed that fell in the gravel sprouted quickly but because it didn’t have deep roots it withered as quickly it came up. This year we have tried our hand at some gardening and learned a few lessons in the process. One thing we learned that in order for plants to survive and bear fruit their roots must go deep into the ground. If they are shallow they will wither and die quickly. We see this in the Christian life too, some people whom I call the Enthusiasts, they respond with great enthusiasm but their excitement doesn’t last long. When they encounter trouble or tough times they quickly “throw in the towel” and quit walking with God.
There are some who respond to the gospel with great enthusiasm but never go deeper in their understanding of who God is and what his will is for their lives. Initial enthusiasm is great, but that is not an end in itself we should learn to go deeper with God. That is why discipleship is so important. This is how Jesus put it just before he returned to heaven in Matthew 28:18, 19 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
Let’s suppose you were enlisted in the army, it may be a great feeling initially but if you never attend the nine week intense Basic Combat Training (BCT) where you are not only trained in skills but also in character by learning the core values of the Army such as receiving orders, loyalty and the importance of teamwork, duty, respect, selfless service, honor and Integrity, you will never come out to be a proud soldier of the United States Army.
We can not keep on surfing on the waves of enthusiasm, and excitement forever, sooner or later they will crash. When the rubber hits the road what makes us stand strong is not our enthusiasm but our discipleship, which is our personal commitment to obedience. The crowds followed Jesus because they were excited about his miracles and message but when he turned to them and explained the cost of discipleship by saying “unless you pick up your cross daily and follow me you are not my disciple,” every one left except the twelve.
These twelve Disciples stayed back because they were willing to go deep with Christ. They were the ones who in the end went and turned the world upside down through their message.
III. THE COMPROMISERS:
Other seed fell in the weeds; (In other translations it reads thorns, but I think in this part of the world we can relate better to weeds) the weeds grew with it and strangled it. This spring we learned that before you plant seeds you remove the weeds, till the ground and then plant the seeds. After a while we have noticed along with the good plants there were weeds also growing with them. From time to time we had to remove the weeds otherwise the plants wouldn’t have grown and borne fruit.
The seed that fell in the weeds represent another group which I call “The Compromisers. These people hear the truth, they respond to it and they seem to be growing in it but along the way some things happen and they begin to compromise with the truth. They let other things (weeds) come in between them and God. What are these weeds? It is important to take note of this, what are the 3 things that could easily cause anyone of us to stagnate in our Christian growth? In the NIV it says it crystal clear; the word is choked by life’s, worries, riches, and pleasures.
Is it wrong to worry about life? Is it wrong to become rich and enjoy pleasures? Most Christians nowadays would be quick to say No!! There is nothing wrong with enjoying the good life. Over the years I have come to observe a difference though in the life and the fruit of Christians who want to have it all and those who are willing to deny themselves certain legitimate riches or pleasures for the sake of the Kingdom. The world pushes us towards self advancement; where as Jesus calls us to a life of self denial and sacrifice.
Moses grew up in the palace, he could enjoy every thing to his hearts content if he wanted to, but when God called him to follow him on the narrow way, Hebrews 11:25 “He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time.” Instead of choosing the pleasures of this world that will choke our faith we need to learn to come to God because he has made known to us the path of life, he will us with joy in his presence with eternal pleasures at his right hand (Psalm 16:11).
IV. THE IMPLEMENTORS: Other seed fell in rich earth and produced a bumper crop.” During this spring we have planted Tomatoes plants and flower plants. We watered them every day and now it is harvest time. However simple we enjoy these tangible fruits of the earth, it is very satisfying to pick and enjoy produce from ones own garden.
The seed that fell in the rich earth represents people I call, “The Implementers” They hear the truth, receive it, retain it and implement it under severe trials and testing’s hence they produce fruit. In other words they not only hear the word but they act upon it. Similarly, the more we apply the truth the more growth we will experience. It is not so important how much you know but how much you practice.
In the Bible the word “hear” is often associated with obedience, and action. In the NT several times Jesus emphasized the correlation between hearing and obeying. We all are familiar with the Sunday school story of “The wise and foolish builders” the main point in this story is not whether you should build your house on the sand or on the rock but it is about hearing and obeying. Matthew 7:24 "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man…Matthew 7:26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man.
These days we have information over load. We attend church regularly and hear great sermons, or tune into Christian TV/radio listen to the best preachers, and enjoy the best worship team, by doing all that we acquire a lot of information about life and God. But ironically how much of it do we really apply in our lives. Marva Dawn explains why so many people while they receive so much information apply either little or none of it in their daily lives. I quote “The problem with the media revolution that bothers me most is what Neil Postman calls the “Low information-action Ratio” (note the acronym) Television offers its viewers enormous amounts of data about which they cannot do a thing; consequently it trains them to receive and discard information without acting on it. Television makes us L.I.A.R.s because we do not what we could with the truths we learn. We watch news reports about poverty, but we don’t lessen our consumption in order to give more away to feed the hungry and to build economic possibilities for others. We learn about war and crime but we contribute to violence ourselves because we don’t have enough time to listen to our children.”
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if only we obey 1% of what we hear from God, our lives and Church will be radically transformed? The only way we can bear fruit is not by hearing the word but by obeying it. Why bearing fruit is is so important? It is so important because God is looking for fruit in our lives. Read John 15:1-8. What kind of fruit that God is looking for? Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
Each of us can fall into either one of the four categories. Some may be skeptics. They listen to the word again and again but never believe it. Some may be Enthusiasts, they hear the word, get excited about it, and keep moving from one experience to another but never take time to go deeper with God. Some may be compromisers, they hear the word but let the worries of this life, pursuit of riches and pleasures keep you them from maturing. Some are implementers, They hear the word, receive it, cherish it and act on and have started to bear fruit and there is much more to come. Which one of the four are you today? I hope to be in the forth category where I am growing in bearing fruit much fruit for God. May God help us to bear fruit for Him.
.
This story illustrates that if you want to have a divine fruit you need to sow a divine seed. The outcome of the fruit depends on the SEED. Some times the seed may be good but if it is not planted in the right soil it will not bear fruit. During his ministry on earth Jesus told stories or parables to communicate powerful truths to his followers. On one of those occasions Jesus shared the parable of the Sower and the SEED (Luke 8:4-15) The Parable:
A farmer went to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed some of it fell on the road; it was trampled down and the birds ate it. Other seed fell in the gravel; it sprouted, but withered because it didn’t have good roots. Other seed fell in the weeds; the weeds grew with it and strangled it. Other seed fell in rich earth and produced a bumper crop.” Are you listening to this? “Really listening? (Message Bible)
In eastern practices the seed was sometimes sown first and the field plowed afterwards. Roads and pathways went directly through many fields and the traffic made much of the surface too hard for seed to take root in. You may be asking what these four different soils represent. What is the seed? What does this have to do with me today? In the parable the seed is the word of God and the grounds represent four types of people1. I would call them, 1. The Skeptics 2. The Enthusiasts 3. The Compromisers 4. The Implementers.
I. THE SKEPTICS: “As the former sowed some fell on the road, it was tramped down and the birds ate it up” The way side people are mainly the skeptics, the unbelievers, they hear the gospel preached over and over again but they never respond to it because the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts so that they won’t believe and be saved.
Have you wondered why inspite of many wonderful Christian TV channels preaching the gospel, churches doing the evangelistic outreaches so many still remain un-touched by the Gospel? Even some of those who regularly attend church, and listen to inspiring messages every Sunday could also remain unchanged. Why? Because there truly is satanic opposition. Our enemy doesn’t want people to come to know the “Truth”, if they come to know the truth they can no longer be under his control, they will be free indeed.
Paul writing to Corinthians exposes the strategy of the Devil 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” The message of the gospel can be stolen by Satan if we let him. Paul writing to Ephesians reminds them who they were coming against, “Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Even today we are up against a strong enemy but we have some one who is greater and stronger than our enemy.
II THE ENTHUSIASTS:
The seed that fell in the gravel sprouted quickly but because it didn’t have deep roots it withered as quickly it came up. This year we have tried our hand at some gardening and learned a few lessons in the process. One thing we learned that in order for plants to survive and bear fruit their roots must go deep into the ground. If they are shallow they will wither and die quickly. We see this in the Christian life too, some people whom I call the Enthusiasts, they respond with great enthusiasm but their excitement doesn’t last long. When they encounter trouble or tough times they quickly “throw in the towel” and quit walking with God.
There are some who respond to the gospel with great enthusiasm but never go deeper in their understanding of who God is and what his will is for their lives. Initial enthusiasm is great, but that is not an end in itself we should learn to go deeper with God. That is why discipleship is so important. This is how Jesus put it just before he returned to heaven in Matthew 28:18, 19 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
Let’s suppose you were enlisted in the army, it may be a great feeling initially but if you never attend the nine week intense Basic Combat Training (BCT) where you are not only trained in skills but also in character by learning the core values of the Army such as receiving orders, loyalty and the importance of teamwork, duty, respect, selfless service, honor and Integrity, you will never come out to be a proud soldier of the United States Army.
We can not keep on surfing on the waves of enthusiasm, and excitement forever, sooner or later they will crash. When the rubber hits the road what makes us stand strong is not our enthusiasm but our discipleship, which is our personal commitment to obedience. The crowds followed Jesus because they were excited about his miracles and message but when he turned to them and explained the cost of discipleship by saying “unless you pick up your cross daily and follow me you are not my disciple,” every one left except the twelve.
These twelve Disciples stayed back because they were willing to go deep with Christ. They were the ones who in the end went and turned the world upside down through their message.
III. THE COMPROMISERS:
Other seed fell in the weeds; (In other translations it reads thorns, but I think in this part of the world we can relate better to weeds) the weeds grew with it and strangled it. This spring we learned that before you plant seeds you remove the weeds, till the ground and then plant the seeds. After a while we have noticed along with the good plants there were weeds also growing with them. From time to time we had to remove the weeds otherwise the plants wouldn’t have grown and borne fruit.
The seed that fell in the weeds represent another group which I call “The Compromisers. These people hear the truth, they respond to it and they seem to be growing in it but along the way some things happen and they begin to compromise with the truth. They let other things (weeds) come in between them and God. What are these weeds? It is important to take note of this, what are the 3 things that could easily cause anyone of us to stagnate in our Christian growth? In the NIV it says it crystal clear; the word is choked by life’s, worries, riches, and pleasures.
Is it wrong to worry about life? Is it wrong to become rich and enjoy pleasures? Most Christians nowadays would be quick to say No!! There is nothing wrong with enjoying the good life. Over the years I have come to observe a difference though in the life and the fruit of Christians who want to have it all and those who are willing to deny themselves certain legitimate riches or pleasures for the sake of the Kingdom. The world pushes us towards self advancement; where as Jesus calls us to a life of self denial and sacrifice.
Moses grew up in the palace, he could enjoy every thing to his hearts content if he wanted to, but when God called him to follow him on the narrow way, Hebrews 11:25 “He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time.” Instead of choosing the pleasures of this world that will choke our faith we need to learn to come to God because he has made known to us the path of life, he will us with joy in his presence with eternal pleasures at his right hand (Psalm 16:11).
IV. THE IMPLEMENTORS: Other seed fell in rich earth and produced a bumper crop.” During this spring we have planted Tomatoes plants and flower plants. We watered them every day and now it is harvest time. However simple we enjoy these tangible fruits of the earth, it is very satisfying to pick and enjoy produce from ones own garden.
The seed that fell in the rich earth represents people I call, “The Implementers” They hear the truth, receive it, retain it and implement it under severe trials and testing’s hence they produce fruit. In other words they not only hear the word but they act upon it. Similarly, the more we apply the truth the more growth we will experience. It is not so important how much you know but how much you practice.
In the Bible the word “hear” is often associated with obedience, and action. In the NT several times Jesus emphasized the correlation between hearing and obeying. We all are familiar with the Sunday school story of “The wise and foolish builders” the main point in this story is not whether you should build your house on the sand or on the rock but it is about hearing and obeying. Matthew 7:24 "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man…Matthew 7:26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man.
These days we have information over load. We attend church regularly and hear great sermons, or tune into Christian TV/radio listen to the best preachers, and enjoy the best worship team, by doing all that we acquire a lot of information about life and God. But ironically how much of it do we really apply in our lives. Marva Dawn explains why so many people while they receive so much information apply either little or none of it in their daily lives. I quote “The problem with the media revolution that bothers me most is what Neil Postman calls the “Low information-action Ratio” (note the acronym) Television offers its viewers enormous amounts of data about which they cannot do a thing; consequently it trains them to receive and discard information without acting on it. Television makes us L.I.A.R.s because we do not what we could with the truths we learn. We watch news reports about poverty, but we don’t lessen our consumption in order to give more away to feed the hungry and to build economic possibilities for others. We learn about war and crime but we contribute to violence ourselves because we don’t have enough time to listen to our children.”
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if only we obey 1% of what we hear from God, our lives and Church will be radically transformed? The only way we can bear fruit is not by hearing the word but by obeying it. Why bearing fruit is is so important? It is so important because God is looking for fruit in our lives. Read John 15:1-8. What kind of fruit that God is looking for? Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
Each of us can fall into either one of the four categories. Some may be skeptics. They listen to the word again and again but never believe it. Some may be Enthusiasts, they hear the word, get excited about it, and keep moving from one experience to another but never take time to go deeper with God. Some may be compromisers, they hear the word but let the worries of this life, pursuit of riches and pleasures keep you them from maturing. Some are implementers, They hear the word, receive it, cherish it and act on and have started to bear fruit and there is much more to come. Which one of the four are you today? I hope to be in the forth category where I am growing in bearing fruit much fruit for God. May God help us to bear fruit for Him.
.
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