Four Kinds Of People We Preach To Series

Bob Marcaurelle

bmarcaurelle@charter.net

FOUR KINDS OF PEOPLE IN CHURCH

Matt. 13:3-9; 18-23

God knows the way to a person’s heart is through his mind. There is incredible power in words. Hitler launched Germany into a program of world conquest with words. Karl Marx put words on paper and Communism was born. The pen IS mightier than the sword. How much more powerful are words when they are the words of God!

The common people were amazed at Jesus’ authority (Matt. 7:28-29). Even His enemies said, “No man spake like this man” (Jn. 7:46). His astonished disciples cried out, “Even the wind and sea obey His voice” (Mk. 4:41). His disciples, speaking His word, in His name, “turned the world upside down with their teaching” (Acts 17:6). If this is true, why is there so little change in the lives of church members who are bombarded with words from God’s word? Is it because God’s word is not preached? I think not. There is some pitiful preaching in our churches, but I will give it this, it is based on the Bible. Is it because God’s Word is not powerful? No! A thousand times no! It is because we are not receptive to, we do not open our hearts and lives to God’s Words. In this parable Jesus tells us why. Look first at:

The sower here is anyone who shares the Word of God, especially the gospel, with others. The greatest sower or witness is Jesus Himself. Preceded by Old Testament witnesses and followed by church witnesses, He stands supreme. He is our example and our subject in witnessing. When you share your faith with a friend, when you teach a Sunday School class, when I preach from this pulpit, we are sowing the word of God into hearts of men. Most people rejected the message of Jesus and most will reject our message. But this is not our responsibility or our fault. If we sow the truth, truthfully, prayerfully, lovingly and patiently, we can say with Paul that our hands are clear of the blood of our hearers.

We are not in sales, we are in advertising. He trouble is in the attitudes and priorities of those who hear. Communication is a two-way street and every preacher is a prisoner of his congregation. Jesus compares our message to:

II. THE SEED

The seed, says Jesus, is the Word of God. This is the whole counsel of God as it is recorded in Holy Scripture. But especially it is the part of Scripture we call the gospel. It is the proclamation of the person and work of Jesus Christ. It is the story of His incarnation - where God becomes a man. It is the story of His sinless life and crucifixion - where God dies for man. It is the story of His resurrection, ascension and reign. It is the invitation to all men everywhere to repent and to believe and to align themselves with the Christ of God and the cause of God through baptism and to endeavor to live a holy life in an unholy world. You will find all of this in the first gospel sermon preached in the early church (Acts 2).

Friends, if our “church talk” is not the gospel then the fault is ours. When Peter, by preaching, and the Apostles, by witnessing, sowed the seed on the day of Pentecost, 3000 people were saved. The sad fact is that so few of us ever saw the seed of the gospel in the lives of our lost, hurting friends and neighbors. Statistics reveal that 95 percent of church members never make an attempt to tell anybody about the Lord. Even the small segment that does muster up the courage to attempt to witness, seldom get beyond talking about the church and its programs. Even the tiny little section of church members who can and do share the facts of the gospel in some “plan of salvation” often do not communicate the gospel at all.

They come on impersonally and rudely and academically like door-to-door salesmen and the people before them hear the words but do not hear the heartbeat of God. Paul says, “Preach the truth in love.” The moisture that helps germinate the gospel seed is love. And love requires some sort of relationship, some bond of friendship and fellowship and understanding. Words need love to have life. Even those who are saved by reading the words of some gospel tract or by hearing the words on television or radio, have usually had their hearts opened to receive the words, by some kindness shown them by a Christian.

III. THE SOILS

We have the sower, anyone who shares Christ. We have the seed, the truths of Christ saving love, shared in love. And then we have the soils, the four kinds of people we will encounter. First we have: