Secrets of the Kingdom of God

01/22/12

Scripture:

Good morning.  Glad to see each of you here today.  How many like secrets?  Anybody here like a good secret?  Not too many confessing that this morning.  You know, there's something special about knowing a secret, and most people like a good mystery.  Well, the message this morning has some secrets.  I'm going to be revealing some secrets and it isn’t for everyone.  It’s only for those who have ears to hear, eyes to see, and with hearts to understand.  In the passage that I’ll be reading in a moment Jesus says, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you.   Blessed are your eyes because they see and your ears because they hear.”  

We continue the Finding Your Way into the Kingdom of God sermon series this morning with a sermon entitled, “Secrets of the Kingdom of God.”  Our text this morning is Matthew chapter 1, verses 1-23.  I’ll be reading from the New International Version of the Holy Bible, which is God's inspired word for us today.  And as we begin we find Jesus in the city of Capernaum on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee.  He has been teaching the crowds and they brought in many people to be healed including a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, significant for the passage.  He was blind and mute and Jesus healed him so that he could both talk and see.  And so we might ask ourselves today am I really able to hear?  Am I really able to see?  Do I need the Lord to heal me this morning?  This passage is called The Parable of the Sower.  

Matthew 13:1-23 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake.  ² Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore.  ³ Then he told them many things in parables, saying: "A farmer went out to sow his seed.  ⁴ As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.  ⁵ Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.  ⁶ But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.  ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.  ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop-- a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.  ⁹ He who has ears, let him hear."  ¹⁰ The disciples came to him and asked, "Why do you speak to the people in parables?"  ¹¹ He replied, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.  ¹² Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.  ¹³ This is why I speak to them in parables: "Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.  ¹⁴ In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: "'You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.  ¹⁵ For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.'  ¹⁶ But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.  ¹⁷ For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.  ¹⁸ "Listen then to what the parable of the sower means:  ¹⁹ When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path.  ²⁰ 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.  ²¹ 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.  ²² 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.  ²³ But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."

This ends our reading of God's word about the parable of the sower.  May the Lord give us understanding as we listen with spiritual ears, as we hear his word in our hearts, and as we apply it in faith to our lives. 

This parable of the sower is somewhat unique.  It’s not the only one, but it’s one of the very few in which Jesus gives the meaning in response to the disciples’ request for an explanation.  Jesus said the ‘seed’ is the word.  It’s the message about the kingdom.  You are hearing that message right now.  It’s a message that we call the gospel, which means the good news.  It is sewn through preaching and through teaching, but it’s not forced upon anyone.  The proclaimed word is dependent upon your receptivity and your acceptance for it to be productive.  God gives, but on our part we have to be willing to receive and to accept.  

In the parable the various places where the ‘seed’ is sewn refer to human hearts.  Some hear the word of the kingdom superficially, but it never enters their heart.  They never understand it.  The evil one...a reference to Satan or the devil...is able to snatch the word away from them.  This reminds me of a man that I was observing during one of our Christmas Eve services.  He had a kind of an expression and attitude about him that, you know, I'm here because I have to be here—I’m fulfilling my once a year obligation to come to church.  During the message he had his eyes closed and it was clear he wasn't listening.  He wasn't interested.  He didn’t want to be here.  It would be so easy for Satan to snatch away what he heard because he didn’t really hear it.  

Some hearts are shallow.  They hear with their intellect or their emotions and seem to accept the gospel but they have no depth of acceptance.  There is no resolve and no determination of the will to follow Jesus.  When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.  If we don’t have that determination, if we don’t have that resolve that this is what our life is going to be, this is how we want to live, that we want to receive, then the word will not take root in our lives.  

Some are like thorny ground, Jesus said.  They’re focused on the cares of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth.  They’re materialistic and worldly and hard hearted.  They love their riches and that’s what their minds and their time and even their speaking is focused upon.  It’s all about money.  They love riches and they’re conformed to the values of this world.  They do not accept the humble nature of dwelling in God's kingdom and living by God's values.  Jesus said you cannot serve God and money.  The word is choked by their other concerns making it unfruitful in their hearts.  

This is a part of the mystery of the kingdom.  Though the kingdom is given by a powerful God, it may be rejected by us.  It’s offered by a sovereign God, but it’s dependent upon us to choose to receive it into our hearts.  God's kingdom can be resisted or ignored by humans who choose other priorities that are motivated by self will.  God does not compel us to receive the kingdom into our hearts.  I think God gives everyone the opportunity but he never forces himself upon us.  I’d like to say this, that God is a perfect gentleman.  He never forces himself into any situation or into any life where he is not welcomed.  Our response has to come from willing hearts and submissive wills.   Not everyone will receive the kingdom of God. The ones who received the seed that fell on good soil are people which hear the word and they understand it.  They produce a crop yielding 160 or 30 times what was sewn.  

Jesus used parables such as these to teach about the kingdom of God.  A parable is a story drawn from every day experience which illustrates the central truth of our Lord’s message.  We’re going to talk about that in just a little bit.  The central truth of our Lord’s message...what is it?  The parables of Jesus also have a spiritual component to them.  They contain hidden meanings or what Jesus called ‘secrets’ which cannot be understood by people who do not have spiritual eyes and spiritual ears.  God hides the meanings from those who reject him, but he reveals the meanings to those whose hearts are open to him.  And there’s the key for us—there’s the key for anyone who hears the gospel.  There are those who reject it.  There are those who want nothing to do with it.  There are those who turn away, but thank God there are also those who accept, whose hearts are open to the Lord and who say yes, I want to receive what you give Lord, I want to be yours, I want to live as you want me to live.  

Jesus said, “Blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.  For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”  Scripture says even the angels longed to look into and to understand these things that are given freely to us.  When the disciples came to Jesus and they asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?” Jesus replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you but not to them.”  And then he said something else and this is a verse that’s very often misapplied.  About the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven Jesus said, “Whoever has will be given more and he will have an abundance.  Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.”  Sometimes that’s taken and applied to material things.  People think well, if you have a certain amount of material goods you’ll be given much more, and if you don’t have they’ll be taken away.  What Jesus is referring to here is the knowledge of the kingdom, the secrets that are revealed to you as believers, and to you, Jesus said, what you’ve been given you’ll have much, much more.  You’re going to have an abundance of that knowledge given to you by God, and to those who have little it’ll even be taken away if they don’t accept.  

Now here is the core message and I want you to really hear this.  You may even want to write it down.  The kingdom of God existing here and now within our hearts is the divine mystery that has been revealed through Jesus Christ.  Sometimes when we think of the kingdom we only think of the future kingdom and there’s an aspect of that, the return of Jesus Christ and Jesus establishing his reign, his rule upon the earth.  That aspect of the fulfillment, the final fulfillment of the kingdom, is yet to be realized.  But there is this nature of the kingdom of God that’s here and now, and that is the core mystery.  That is the secret, that the kingdom of God exists now within our hearts.  It’s here and that’s the divine mystery that’s revealed through Jesus Christ.  Folks, we are so blessed to understand that.  We are so blessed to experience, to receive that.  We are so blessed to be given spiritual eyes and spiritual ears to be able to hear and to see and to have minds to be able to grow in that knowledge and understanding of God's kingdom.  

In the coming weeks as Pastor John and I continue this series of sermons on finding your way into the kingdom of God, our prayer is that you will open your hearts so the word of God's kingdom will take root in your daily lives and you will increase in your knowledge and understanding and experience of God.  Let us pray together. 

Father, open our eyes to see and our ears to hear.  Make us hunger and thirst for the knowledge of the secrets of your kingdom.  May your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.