Parables Of The Kingdom – The First - The Sower Or Rather The Soil – Part 7 Of 7 Series

PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM – THE FIRST - THE SOWER OR RATHER THE SOIL – Part 7 of 7

This final message is covering some new ground for you. We have been looking at the Parable of the Sower and now look into its position in Church History. It is a shorter message.

TWO INTERESTING, IMPORTANT FOLLOW-ONS FROM THIS PARABLE OF THE FOUR SOILS/SOWER

The parallels of the 7 Kingdom Parables of Matthew 13 with the 7 churches of Asia Minor to whom the Apostle John wrote are quite remarkable - The 7 Kingdom Parables match the 7 Churches in Asia Minor. This is quite fascinating actually. Shortly we will see that there there is some correlation with 7 periods of Church History from Pentecost to now.

What I am going to write on now might seem strange to some because they have never heard it before. Some might think it is fanciful but please consider it. If you are encouraged through it, very good, but if you disagree I won’t take issue with you.

[A]. NUMBER 1 – THE CHURCH AT EPHESUS

In this series we will match each parable with one of the churches in Asia Minor from Revelation 2 and 3. This time it is Ephesus.

WE DO THE FIRST HERE. THE SOWER AND THE CHURCH AT EPHESUS

Ephesus is the most doctrinal letter Paul wrote discounting Romans, which I like to think of as The Gospel According to Paul.

Ephesus was crowned by the Temple of Diana, four times as large as the Parthenon and the city was chocked by idolatry and occult practices. Its name means “Desired one” or “Desirable”. It is the term applied by a lover to the woman of his choice. All these churches arose from within Asia meaning “slime” or “mire.”

Jesus called His Church through the cross, (the Church = the Desired One}, from the mire of the world. He has established it forever as the Desired One, His Bride. Ephesus represents the calling of His Church as it was in the first century.

The City was the centre for the study of arts and magic; renowned worldwide for talismans, incantations, magical books and charms. The city was deeply infected with black arts of the exorcists, mystic names, secret magical rites.

John’s letter to this church shows the wooing of the church, the decline of the first love and the rise of ecclesiastical pretensions. That is the picture existing at the end of the Apostolic period, around 100 AD. A church council at Ephesus of 200 bishops in AD 431 decided to call Mary “The Mother of God”, a further elevation of her position to a supreme being. Long before this though, even at the end of the first century, love had declined and enthusiasm was disappearing. This letter covers in a prophetic sense the church history from Pentecost to the end of the first century.

QUICK EXAMINATION OF THE EPHESIAN LETTER – Revelation 2:1-7

(A). THERE WAS A REAL TRUENESS TO THE PREACHING OF THE SOWN WORD. John commended them – {{Revelation 2:2 “I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot endure evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles and they are not, and you found them to be false.”}} It is wonderful that the Ephesian church of A.D. 96 remained true to the teaching of Paul. The seed had fallen on the good ground.

(B). The church fought against error. {{Revelation 2:6 “Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans which I also hate.”}} They fought hard to maintain the purity of the good seed to keep it from contamination.

(C). THE SEED WAS BEING TESTED. There was the beginning of fracturing here – {{Revelation 2:4-5 “but I have this against you, THAT YOU HAVE LEFT YOUR FIRST LOVE. Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and REPENT and do the deeds you did at first, or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place - unless you repent.”}} The Ephesian church remained loyal to the true seed they had accepted, and became converted, but their love for the Lord was slipping.

After 45 or so years they would have scored very highly, BUT they had settled down and did not cherish the good seed as they should have, and so they left their original love they had in Paul’s time. People misquote this. They had NOT LOST their first love; they had stepped slowly and imperceptibly away from it, leaving it, and may not even have noticed. That is a real challenge to us also.

[B]. NUMBER 2 – THE APOSTOLIC AGE

The 7 Kingdom Parables also match 7 periods in Church History. This is quite fascinating actually.