The Book of Revelation: the Inner and the Outer

I've been reading Revelation this month, and I've come to realize that it's the story of the hidden inner, and the seen outer:

On the inside,

The church is kept safe
The Lion Judah roars
We are at peace
We are the Temple of God
We are the 144,000 sealed
Demonic torment reigns over the world

God rules
The Church triumphant
The Satanic trinity a pathetic parody
Babylon is fallen
There is an unseen Temple in heaven
Demonic action is behind much of what goes on in the world
And Divine determination moves history.

On the outside,

We are persecuted
The Lamb of God is slain
The world at war
The world is the trampled courtyard
Martyrs are slain
This is a chaotic world
Satan rules
The Church is persecuted
The Satanic trinity rules
Babylon rules
The earth is self is chaotic
Earthly reactions hide the demonic powers
Earthquakes roll.

But here's the good news: the hidden, the "inside", bursts its bonds in chapters 19-22. The horror collapses and the whole endures. Good news: Jesus is Lord, and He shall reign forever!

The Parable of the Final Harvest

The Parable of the Final Harvest

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

We look again at the parables of Matthew 13 this week.  Last time we were looking at the parable of the soils, which speak of human receptivity to the word of God.  Our hearts can be hard to the gospel, or be shallow, or be choked with too much stuff (success can be a dangerous thing!).  That’s what Jesus was experiencing in His own ministry, in the way people responded to His teaching, and it’s what still happens today when His message is preached.

We turn to the next parable of Matthew 13, that’s often called the parable of the wheat and the tares, but which I’m today calling the parable of the final harvest.

With this parable, there is a turn toward one of the great themes of the gospels and of the whole Scripture, and that theme is the kingdom of God. 

The driving theme in the teaching of Jesus is the Kingdom of God.  This may surprise you.  Many people think that Jesus’ main theme is heaven or love or even Himself.  If you know Jesus’ teaching as a series of sound-bites, then maybe it’s never occurred to you that the kingdom of God is the central idea around which His teaching revolves. 

What is the kingdom God?  Well, first, the kingdom is not heaven.  The confusion sometimes arises from the fact that Matthew consistently uses the term “kingdom of heaven” in the place of “kingdom of God.”  Here’s what’s behind this.  Most likely, Jesus Himself used the term kingdom of heaven (malkuth ha-shamayim) which Matthew faithfully reproduces for his Greek-speaking Jewish readers.  You see, in Jewish usage, you avoid the word “God” whenever you can as a way of expressing reverence for God.  But Mark and Luke sensibly translate this term as the “kingdom of God” because that is exactly what was meant by the term.  It is God’s kingdom in the sense of His rule and reign that has now decisively entered the earthly experience in the person of Jesus.

But what is the kingdom?   A central Christian belief is that in Christ the fullness of deity dwells (Colossians 2:9).  Let’s think this through in terms of Jewish Old Testament expectation.  The expectation was that in some way, God Himself would show up on earth, in real tangible human history at the end of human history.  God would then exercise kingly prerogatives: to judge, re-order life, to gather His own, and so forth.  This all could be called the kingdom of heaven, as heaven (the eternal dwelling of God) is set now in central position to all human experience and activity.  That’s exactly what the phrase from the Lord’s Prayer means: “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). 

When Jesus comes and declares that the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Mark 1:15), He is suggesting nothing less than the fact that than the consummation of the ages was at hand.   Here’s what it means: it means that Judgment Day, in some strange and surprising way, has already begun.  The kingdom of God, amazingly, is among us now.  It has slipped in quietly with the coming of Jesus.  This is the surprise of the kingdom, and it is central in Jesus’ teaching.  God is establishing His rule now, within history, not just at the end of history. 

Belief in the kingdom of God includes the hope that God will send the Messiah.  The Messiah comes because we, humanity, we all rebelled against God’s order—against the Kingdom of God.  The Old Testament is the story of the beginning of the reestablishment of the kingdom of God.  The New Testament is the story of the coming of the King and describes the pattern of the age we now live in that will lead to the full coming of the kingdom.

Jesus chose to communicate much about the present course of the kingdom of God through parables because it was such a surprise to the people of His time.  Parables, with their surprise twists, were the perfect verbal tool of Jesus to describe the kingdom.  The people expected the kingdom of God to come crashing into the world kind of like an iceberg into the Titanic, overturn the world, make Israel the ruling nation of the world and start Messiah’s kingdom.

Jesus’ plan of the kingdom caught everyone by surprise.  Jesus comes to do battle, but He battles the root cause of humanity’s woes—He battles sin, and He does it on the cross.  Instead of a sudden victory of a Jewish kingdom over the nations of the world, we have the unseen victory of God’s kingdom alongside of the nations.  Instead of a sudden end to the world order, He inaugurates a kingdom that stands alongside the present world without destroying it.  People can turn in faith toward the kingdom, and the final end is delayed.  The kingdom for now comes in quietly, under the radar.  But it won’t always be so.  There is a day of judgment to come. 

This is one of many kingdom parables He tells.  There are five more all here in Matthew 13 in which the main theme is the kingdom of God. 

Like the parable of the four soils, this parable is told in two parts.  Matthew 13:24-30 tells the parable, and then in vs. 36-43, Jesus interprets the parable.  Let’s first hear the whole parable, and the interpretation, with just a few comments.

First, the parable (24-30):

²⁴ Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. ²⁵ But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. ²⁶ When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

²⁷ “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’

²⁸ “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

²⁹ “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

Now, the importance of the parable is highlighted by the fact that Matthew records Jesus’ interpretation of the parable in v. 36-43:

³⁶ Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”

³⁷ He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. ³⁸ The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, ³⁹ and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

⁴⁰ “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. ⁴¹ The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. ⁴² They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³ Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

Let’s discuss that parable and its explanation under four headings:

·         Rejoice: God has a plan; it’s called the Kingdom of God

·         Expect Opposition: the Kingdom of God is the target of Satan and his servants

·         Be Patient: this present age is a time of “mixing” for a good reason

·         Be Hopeful: a final harvest is coming

Rejoice: God has a plan; it’s called the Kingdom of God

Does history have a meaning?  Are events totally random?  The modern atheist has to believe that.  We’re just lucky animals on a lucky planet who are foolish enough to believe that we aren’t anything more than lucky animals on a lucky planet!

Here’s the first, and easiest to miss lesson of the parable.  There is a plan.  Behind all the events of human history, and behind the chaos of all of our individual lives, God stands. 

Recall the opening of the parable, vs. 24-26:

²⁴ Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. ²⁵ But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. ²⁶ When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

“Weeds” here is a specific plant, called in Greek the zizania.  (Older English translations use the word “tares” and the modern word is darnel, but since no one’s heard of that, I’m going to use the Greek word zizania.)

Here’s the deal on zizania: it looks an awful lot like wheat, especially when it first starts to grow. 

Here’s the picture: in world, God has planted His wheat, but the devil has sown zizania in abundance.  And this is how the kingdom of God is, for the time being.  Everyone expected the kingdom to come in and kick down the doors.  Everyone expected the kingdom to vaporize evil.  But not so.  The good wheat and the bad zizania just grow up next to one another.   And that’s the plan.  For the present, God is content to not finish the judgment, and that’s an act of mercy on His part.  You see, He loves the weeds.  He died for the weeds.  I was a weed, and so were you, and it’s a miracle of God to turn weeds into wheat. 

Expect Opposition: the Kingdom of God is the target of Satan and his servants

Look at vs. 25-27 again:

²⁵ But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. ²⁶ When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

²⁷ “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’

The kingdom of God not only doesn’t come into our world like a lightning bolt; it has a lot of opposition.      Recall Jesus’ explanation in vs. 38-39a:

³⁸ The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, ³⁹ and the enemy who sows them is the devil.

The kingdom is not only unimpressive in the way it comes, but in some ways is unimpressive in its results.  For every wheat stalk, there’s a dozen zizania.  The kingdom doesn’t seem to be winning. 

But it is winning, and other parables of Jesus make it clear that it is, such as the parable of the mustard seed. 

I hope we are all done with the notion that following Jesus means that we are guaranteed an easy life.  It doesn’t, and as a matter of fact, Jesus coming into a life makes things at least more complicated.  We have a new “wheat” life that is still getting over both formerly being zizania, and is usually surrounded by zizania that can be fairly described as “weeds, armed and dangerous”!

Jesus and the apostles taught us the same.  In John 16:33, Jesus says,

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

And in 1 Peter 4:12-13, Peter writes,

 ¹² Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. ¹³ But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.

The present course of the world means that Satan is active and at war against God’s people.  This age is a dangerous time.

Be Patient: this present age is a time of “mixing” for a good reason

There is an unspoken assumption behind the parable, and it’s very subtle: did you catch when it was that the enemy came in and sowed the zizania?  It was “while everyone was sleeping” (vs. 25).  Jesus could have just said, “At night”; instead it’s while everyone was sleeping.  Here’s the unspoken assumption: there was one who was awake while everyone was sleeping.  How else does the landowner know that “an enemy has done this”?

By the way, messing with your enemy’s fields was something that actually happened.  There were laws on the books of ancient Rome that prohibited what happens here: mixing zizania with wheat.  If no one ever tried it, there wouldn’t be a law against it!  And when Rome defeated Carthage, they seeded their fields with salt to make them useless for generations.

The mixed world we live in now—a mixture of believers and unbelievers, of just and unjust, or godly and godless—it’s there for a good reason.  The people of God now can influence the world for the sake of the kingdom.  God knew what He was doing when He shaped the present age as it is.  This is the age of kingdom witness, the age of the Holy Spirit, when the sons of the kingdom rub shoulders with the sons of the evil one, so that the unrighteous may turn and believe.  Again, this is a good plan and the “mixed up” time we are in is a good thing.

Bible scholars sometime refer to the “already/not yet” nature of the kingdom of God as it’s described in the New Testament.  Yes, the kingdom is “already” here: Jesus proclaimed the kingdom was at hand.  But it is “not yet” all here; this was the heart of the surprise nature of the kingdom of God in Jesus’ teaching, and yes, it is a good thing. 

Last,  

Be Hopeful: a final harvest is coming

While we live in tension today—between “already” and the “not yet”, rest assure, one day the kingdom will be fully established, and the “not yet” will fade away.

Look again at the text, first in vs. 28-30:

²⁸ “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

²⁹ “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

And now Jesus’ interpretation in vs. 40-43:

⁴⁰ “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. ⁴¹ The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. ⁴² They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³ Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

Harvest time is coming.  One day there will be an end to the mixed world of faith and unbelief. 

As zizania matures, it starts to look less and less like wheat.  As time goes on, it’s easier to tell the two apart.  Perhaps as the present age goes on as well, the sharp division between Godward faith and hellward unbelief will be easier and easier to see, but the point is this clear: one day this age will end.  A final scythe will cut down all, and some will be (by their own choice) worthless to God, bundled as kindling, while others will be gathered into the barns as the treasured harvest of God.  Some will know nothing but ultimate despair—weeping and gnashing of teeth, and some will “shine like the sun in the kingdom of 

their Father.”

So be hopeful.  The God who is in charge, who has a plan, and who now wisely delays won’t always delay; the end of the present age is coming. 

At the very end of the parable, at the end of vs. 43, these words: “He who has ears, let him hear.”  That means that you are being called, right now, to take action based on this parable.  What action is that?

First, take action to trust God.  The world is in chaos, and your personal world may be in chaos.  Do you trust God now?  They expected a Messiah that would just do it all at once, bring down history’s curtain and judge the world.  Can you trust a God who’s letting the world go on in what looks like a field of weeds on the promise that there’s wheat in there?  Can you trust Him as Savior, Guide and Friend, even when all seems harsh, mad and cruel? 

Second, Jesus’ words are a call to faith.  This, says Jesus, is the present course of the kingdom of God.  Do you believe?  Will you follow Me?  Have you crossed the line of faith?  Do you stand outside the kingdom or inside?

One more part of the story, easy to miss.  The owner alone sows the seeds.  He has servants, but only the owner—the Son of Man, Jesus Himself, is said to have sown the seed.  If you are in the kingdom of God, it is because Jesus bore the pain of planting you there.  He went out into the field, bearing you and me.  It takes the rest of the gospels to understand that that means the cross.  It means the blood, and the tears and the pain and the agony of the cross.

Harvest is coming.  It will be a rich harvest.  But it cost Jesus His life.  He regards the price as worth it.  Such is His love.

Be Better Dirt

Be Better Dirt

Matthew 13:1-23

Do you want to be productive for God?  Do you want your life to count?  Do you want the best life you can have?  Well, it won’t come by having the best house, the best car or the best job.  It will come by being better dirt.

Welcome to the wonderful world of parables!  Jesus loved teaching through parables, and we’re going to look at a bunch of Jesus’ parables. 

Parables are interesting things.  In simple terms, a parable is a comparison.  (We actually get the word parable from the same root we get the word parallel.)  Jesus didn’t invent the parable, but He sure perfected it! 

Parables are interesting things in the way they work: they both reveal and conceal.  What I mean is, parables are windows into spiritual reality through common experiences.  That’s how they reveal.  But they also conceal: it’s possible to hear a parable and not get any insight into spiritual things.  You just hear it as a story, or you twist it around and hear it for what you want to hear. 

One of the first parables Jesus told is commonly called the Parable of the Sower.  Matthew, Mark and Luke all contain the parable.  Sometimes it’s (more accurately) called the parable of the soils.  We’re going to look at this as it’s found in Matthew 13, and I think it will help us a lot if we take the time to read the whole passage, Matthew 13:1-23, with a few comments as we go:

First, the setting and the parable (1-9):

¹ 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.”

Next, Jesus explains a little about parables to the disciples (10-17):

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.

There’s the reveal/conceal paradox of parables!  Finally, Jesus explains the parable (18-23):

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.”

OK, what we have here is a sower sowing seed, four kinds of soils that the seed falls on, and four different outcomes or responses based on the nature of the soil.  And all this stands for four different ways people respond when they hear the word of God. 

The immediate context tells us that Jesus is talking about His own ministry.  In another parable in the same passage, the person who scatters the seed is “the Son of Man”, the Messiah.  Jesus is preaching the word, and a lot of people hear the word, but only a small portion respond to the word in faith and follow Him.  That’s the parable.

Now, today, Jesus is still scattering seed, and when His word is sewn through preaching, teaching, and sharing the word that changes lives, only a small portion responds and becomes that person who “hears the word and understands it.  He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (v. 23)

Here’s another way to get the message of the parable.  Jesus also tells us what makes a person unproductive soil.  Let’s follow that angle and look into the parable and find three things we have to get rid of to be better dirt for God to grow good things in.

Break up the hard soil (13:3-4, 18-19)

The first kind of soil described in this parable is ‘the path’.  There were paths through and around farmers’ fields and it was inevitable that some of the seed being scattered would fall upon these hardened paths. The paths were packed down hard because people walked on them.  Seed couldn’t penetrate that soil, so the seed ends up as bird food. 

Jesus is referring to people whose hearts are so hard that the truth of His word cannot penetrate their lives. Just as a seed cannot grow unless it penetrates the ground so the seed of God’s word cannot grow unless it can penetrate the heart.

The only remedy for hard soil hearts is plowing.  Is your heart nice and mushy and soft for God’s word to penetrate, or have you also become hard, unyielding, and unteachable? 

Maybe you didn’t plan to be hard soil.  Maybe you’ve been walked all over, you’ve had it rough and you’ve gotten tough.  As a result, you’ve built a kind of psychological/spiritual wall to protect yourself, and in process, you’ve become a cross-armed resister of anything that will upset your illusion of having everything under control.   Word of wisdom here: hard soil receives no seed.  Hard hearts cannot hear the voice of God. 

So how do you break up your own dirt?  Think of hard soil as resistant soil.  What’s the opposite of resistance?  Surrender. 

If you look again to v. 19, we’re reminded of an important element in what happens when the soil of your heart gets so hard:

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.

Hardness gives the devil—the evil one—a landing strip into our lives.  The first sin was Satan’s attitude of resistance to God.  The first human sin involved turning away from God’s word—from the scattered seed—by ignoring the commands about the tree in the garden. 

It’s then no surprise to read what James’, Jesus’ half-brother, writes in James 4:7:

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.   

Submit to God.  Have a soft heart toward God.  Have a soft heart toward His word.  Have a soft heart toward the preaching and teaching of the word of God.  Expect God to speak to you, and don’t assume that that you’re always right.

Resist the devil, not the word of God.  It’s one or the other.  You can’t resist God and the devil.  Either you’re on one side or the other.  Peter learned that when He suggested Jesus didn’t really have to suffer (that was God’s side) and Jesus rebuked him by staying, “Get behind me, Satan!” (Matthew 16:23)

So break up the soil of your life.  Don’t resist God in any way.  Be soft to Him.  And repent of being hard toward Him.  Next,

Put down deep roots (13:5-6, 20-21)

One striking feature of the land of Israel is how there seems to be rock everywhere.  In much of the land, only a thin layer of topsoil covers rock.  In the parable, the word fails to take root because the rocky soil keeps the plant from taking root.  That’s the reason the plant fails: the rock blocking the roots, not the hot sun. 

So, how’s your rockiness versus root score?  That is, are you putting down deep roots, or are there too many rocks in your soil? 

If we put this in terms of what’s required of us, it’s both a matter of getting the rocks out and putting down deep roots.  Rocks must be removed to make room for roots.  Verses 20-21 says,

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.

The reason so many people wilt when they face hardship is that they have no root system to speak of.  In Ephesians 3:17, Paul prayed that believers would be “rooted and established in love.”   It’s a natural metaphor to describe health and stability.  A shallow, unhealthy, unstable faith just can’t survive hardship. 

Let me, real briefly, give you five dimensions of deep spiritual roots.  If you are well rooted, you’ll have all five of these going.  Here we go:

(1) Worship.  A deeply rooted believer is a worshipper; that means both for gathered times like this, and on his own.  That means moving the rocks of time management and indifference to make it happen.

(2) Discipleship.  A well-rooted believer is growing as a fully informed and fully formed follower of Jesus; he’s growing.  He spends time in the word of God and is connected to a smaller group who together seek to go farther with God.  That means moving the rocks of inertia and laziness to be a growing disciple.

(3) Ministry.  A deeply rooted believer has found ways to serve fellow-believers with their spiritual gifts.  That means moving the rocks of inconvenience and selfishness to make it happen.

(4) Fellowship.  A deeply rooted believer spends significant time with other followers of Jesus.  That means moving the rocks of shyness and apathy to get involved in other people’s lives and to allow them into your life.

(5) Witness.  A deeply rooted believer tells other people about the greatness of Jesus.  That means moving the rocks of indifference and our self-protective nature in order to share Him with others.

Pull weeds (13:7, 22)

If you think of the stony soil as having it too hard—with persecution and hardship—the fourth soil, the weedy/thorny soil has it way too easy:

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.

Jesus else says that it’s as hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God as it is for a camel to go through the eye of an needle.  When people have nothing, it’s not that hard to tell them that in Jesus, they can have something, but people who think they have it all—what can Jesus add to their lives? 

Now, I hope that you’re wise enough to know how foolish that is.  I recall an article I read about a Hollywood talent agent.  She said that she knew dozens of the top paid actors in the “industry” when they were unknown.  And of the stars, most had gone from being decent people to being, as she said, “horrible human beings.” 

Success makes people a little crazy.  Make some money, and suddenly you feel the right to spout off on any topic like you’re an expert.  So you have stars that tromp off to Capitol Hill to give testimony on things they don’t have a clue about just because they’re famous.  You have basketball stars who think they’re experts on music and investors who think they’re experts on science.

Success tickles the ear with the suggestion that maybe you are a kind of god yourself.  But it’s a false god; I mean there’s a reason that call the show “American Idol”, not American God, isn’t there? 

All false gods let you down, eventually.  But not before exacting a toll.  Your ships come in, but it sinks in the harbor and takes your heart with it.

Weeds, thorns, they must go.  Look, there’s nothing wrong with success and even wealth, but they are potential gods that have to be kept on a short leash. 

And another thing: this isn’t just a “rich guy” thing.  Over in 1 Timothy 5:10, we’re told that the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil.  It’s not just “money”; it’s the “love of money.”  I known many believers who’ve achieved material success, but who don’t allow their possessions to possess them; I’ve also known poor believers who were obsessed with money to the point of compromising their faith to get it. 

If “the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth” are choking God’s work in your life, then, pull weeds.    

God’s appointed spiritual discipline to teach us to keep perspective is giving.  Giving is not about “the church needs money.”  Giving is about you and your heart; only as a side-benefit does it finance valuable kingdom activities.  Giving is also about trust; about trusting God, not things, to be your source of security and happiness.

Listen, if God doesn’t have your checkbook, He doesn’t have you.  Some of us blow more on coffee each month than we give to God.  If that’s the case, coffee is your thorny weed, and you need to pull it.  For some of us it’s our yearly over the top vacation.

The thing is, not, “Don’t drink coffee, don’t do on vacation”; it’s really just “Put God first.”  What you do with the rest is sanctified by putting God first. 

There’s an old story about a rich man who went to visit a rabbi. The rabbi took the rich man by the hand and led him to a window. "Look out there—what do you see?" asked the rabbi. "I see men, women, and children," answered the rich man.  Again the rabbi took him by the hand and this time led him to a mirror. "Now what do you see?" "Now I see myself," the rich man replied. Then the rabbi said, "Behold, in the window there is glass, and in the mirror there is glass. But the glass of the mirror is covered with a little silver—representing wealth—and no sooner is the silver added than you cease to see others, but you see only yourself.”   Putting God first takes that silver away so we can see others as well.

So, what kind of dirt are you?  I hope that you are soft dirt, so that the word can enter you easily; dirt with rocks removed, so that the roots of love and service can enter you completely; weeded soil, so that no worldly concern chokes out the word.  I hope you are the soil of v. 23:

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.

Never forget: to be useful to God also means to know the greatest joy possible. 

Hear the word and understand it: in Scripture, to hear means more than to hear a sound; it means to heed the word, to listen with the heart.  This is the one with soft soil, rocks and weeds gone.

And what about the crop?  You don’t scatter seed hoping to just get back what you scattered.  In good soil, seed multiples.  You can have an influence for God that far exceeds your natural capacity—that just won’t bless you, but blesses others too—if you’re the kind of seed that Jesus can use. 

My prayer for us, all of us, is that we be found soil of excellence.  The Sower—Jesus—is sowing seed right now.  Really now…what kind of soil are you?  Folks, let’s all resolve right now—to be better dirt!