Matthew 13:1-9 (reader 1), 18-23 (reader 2) – (While the readers read the scripture, I was handing out a small packet of flower seeds to each person in the congregation)
- Seeds suffer different fates
- Open packets
- Tie to seeds in their hands
- Describe their likely fate
But what is the seed Jesus was speaking of? (The Gospel)
- Analogy of the Gospel to the seeds in their hands
- Review recent decisions made to pursue the Holy Spirit, salvation, and God’s game plan
- Will the seed planted in your heart suffer the same likely fate as the seed in your hand?
Because our heart, or emotions, or simple desires will not grow that seed in our hands. We can stare at it. We can tell it we love it. We can tell everyone to keep their paws off of our seed. But until the actions of our hands plant it, water it, and cultivate it, it ain’t gonna grow. Right?
So we are going to look at some areas and gardening activities over the next few weeks together. My current heart and desire is to return to the Sermon on the Mount. To follow-up Easter by diving right back into the Beatitudes (example of the testimony of others).
But I don’t want to continue forward in our Bible Study until we are ready. Ready to take the seed of the Sermon on the Mount and water it, cultivate it, and allow it to spring forth with life in our very beings.
These areas we are going to look at over the next few weeks come to us out of the book of Acts. Following the resurrection and ascension of Christ, the Holy Spirit has fallen over the early church. People are being converted left and right. Great things are happening, and we are given an insight into the atmosphere and environment of that congregation in Acts chapter 2. Let’s pick it up at verse 41 (read through verse 47).
It all started with their mission statement. This would be the early church’s “Connecting People to God and Each Other by Living and Declaring God’s Word.” It says (read verse 42).
First we are told that they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching. They didn’t have the New Testament back then. They were living it out. So their gospel. Their good news. Their Word was coming directly from the mouths of the apostles, those who had lived and walked with Jesus.
The King James version says they continued steadfastly. It comes from a word that means to “attend continually.” To be steadfastly attentive unto. To give unremitting care to a thing. To be in constant readiness for. That was the early church’s approach and posture to the apostles teaching, which was the teaching of God’s truth.
There are so many things that pastors wish they could just make a part of a congregations life. I just wish that everyone was eager to pick-up a book on the Sermon on the Mount, and spend time in personal devotion and study of what we look at on Sunday morning. I just wish that when we schedule a corporate prayer time, the parking lot would be filled with cars, before it even starts. I wish that when the Word was preached people were on the edge of their seats rather than suffering from near fatal occurrences of whip lash.
There are things that pastors wish they could just make a part of a congregations life. Things they wish they could just birth in the spirit of the people in the pews. But more times than not, we can’t. It has to come from something inside you.
That’s what we see in the early church. They individually, of their own constant readiness. Of their own steadfast attentiveness. Devoted themselves to the teaching of the Gospel message.
It all begins with a longing, a drive, a commitment to God’s Truth. If we want to see this seed grow in our lives. Whether it is the seed of the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Or the seed of salvation. Or the seed of freedom from bondage. Or the seed of deliverance from demonic oppression. For the plant to break from the shell and radiate with beauty. For the seed of God’s Word to spring forth in us with life…
1. WE NEED A DRIVING ENTHUSIASM FOR GOD’S TRUTH.
As an adult, I have seen, and more than ever as a parent, that learning best happens when we are internally motivated. When we are internally motivated, we engage more thoughtfully. We have more joy. We are more consistent in our learning.
And there are all kinds of things that will keep us from having a driving enthusiasm for God’s truth and word. Maybe we have always used the same approach for Bible reading and study. And it has grown stale. Maybe we have gotten out of the habit. Often, a lack of enthusiasm for God’s word is a sign that we have allowed sin a foothold in our heart. Or maybe we feel some external pressure to live up to a certain standard.
Any or all of those things can keep us from that drive and inspiration and commitment to God’s Word, but if that seed is going to spring forth with life in our lives, we have to rekindle an enthusiasm for God’s truth.
Let me ask you to think back to earlier this morning. For some of us it may have been as early as 6:30 or 7 a.m. Whatever time it was that your alarm clock went off, or you opened your eyes and first gave thought to coming to church. What was your spirit like at that point? Was it enthusiastic? Was it anxious? Excited?
Were you thinking, “Ugh, time for church. I wish I had just one day that I could sleep in.” Or were you thinking, “Yes, time to dive into God’s Word. Time to pursue God’s truth. Time to devote myself to the teaching of the Gospel.”
We need to stir up a driving enthusiasm for God’s Truth.
Two observations from Haiti that stick in American pastors and Christians minds when they visit there, or just about any other third world country: First, there is no shortage of early arrivers. Second, they battle for the front row. They would not understand why we clamor for the courtside seat at a UK basketball game, and the back pew at a church service.
When you travel the world, you see an enthusiasm for God’s word that has them on the edge of their seats, devoted, and awaiting the teaching of God’s Truth.
Another piece of getting the seed of God’s Word to spring forth in us with life is to…
2. [WE] MAXIMIZE OUR EXPOSURE TO GOD’S TRUTH.
Regular exposure and absorption of God’s truth is a key to spiritual growth. We are told in Acts 18 that to solidify the faith of the believers at Corinth, “Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.” (v. 11)
The amount of time we invest in learning God’s truth does matter.
Listen to how the Psalms start, “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” (Psalm 1:1-3)
Think about the balance of your week. How much time was spent listening to advice, or recommendations, or the suggestions of other people? Many who may not even have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Versus how much time was spent in God’s Word, gleaning the law of the Lord, and meditating on it day and night?
Anyone watch Oprah or Dr. Phil this week? (Example – Oprah’s New Show compared to time in God’s Word…on Sunday!)
It is so important that we believe the right things, because we become what we believe. And we believe what we hear over and over again. Whether it is the message of the world, or the message of God’s Word.
Paul wrote to Timothy, “Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” (I Timothy 4:2 - 4)
That time is here. So we need to maximize our exposure to God’s truth. And we have to work harder at this today than we did 20 years ago. There is no more Sunday night Bible Study. There is no more mid-week church. The era of two or three times a year having week long revival services to charge us up and feed us is gone. So we have to make personal, deligent, enthusiastic efforts to maximize our exposure to God’s truth. (i.e. Podcast)
Then, to get that seed of God’s Word to spring forth in us with life …
3. WE FULLY EMBRACE GOD’S TRUTH.
James 1 says, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.” (v. 22-24)
Everyone close your eyes real quick. Now, picture what the person to your right is wearing. To your left. Can you see it? Open your eyes. How did you do?
That is how many of us handle the teaching of God’s truth. The reading of God’s word. We saw it. We were with it. We were right next to it. And as soon as we walked away, it was like closing our eyes and forgetting what we had seen.
In I John it says that, “We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.” (1 John 2:3-6)
It begins with a desire for God’s Word, but moves past that into a life of discipleship and devotion. It is not simply about having a heart that is stirred for God, but hands that are willing to live out the truth of God’s Word.
On your message outline, you will find a few continuums. Actions and activities that the early church in Acts 2:42 made a regular part of their pursuit of God and journey with Him. Let’s take a few moments for some self-evaluation. We are going to utilize two marks.
First, place a “heart” at where you want to be in your heart. When you think about it, when you reflect on who you wish you were, when you find yourself frustrated because you are not doing what you want to do. Where is your heart? Mark that with a heart.
Then, place an “X” on the spot that reflects your actions. What is reality? What does my life look like day in and day out?
Start with the idea we have looked at in the past few minutes. Living a life that is committed to the pursuit of truth. God’s truth. Does that resonate with your heart? How strongly? Put a heart along the line.
Does it show in your actions? Are you reading God’s Word? Studying it? Committing to the teaching of God’s Word in our Celebration Services, or other avenues throughout the week. Put an “X” on the spot that reflects your actions.
There are three other areas there that we are going to explore together. Ways that we can cultivate what we have already learned, and what we will continue to learn in the Sermon on the Mount, and throughout God’s Word. Take a moment and evaluate them.
Your commitment to being discipled. Where’s your heart? Then where are your actions? Are you in a small group? A one-on-one mentorship? An accountability partnership?
Living a Christ-like life. Do you even want that? Do you have a heart to pursue a holy lifestyle, or do you prefer to just get by? What would those around you say they see in your actions?
And finally, your prayer life. Do you have a heart for communion with God in prayer? How does it look on your calendar? Does God have any appointment slots outside of Sunday mornings? Do you talk to Him enough to know His voice?
(Read Matthew 13:19 through verse 23)
I want to see life spring forth in you. I want to see your seeds break forth in beautiful, fruit bearing plants. But it won’t happen by just sitting for an hour, getting hit by some seeds, and then walking away. We have to have a heart for growth, and a commitment to cultivating activities.
Connecting with God, and each other by living and declaring God’s Word.
Let’s pray.
