We have been studying the Gospel of Luke and we have been learning from the parable of the Sower and the Seeds. What’s a parable?
Picture this in your mind for a moment; it is early in the morning in the Philippines, you’re in a large room where several hundred people are seated; they are all waiting nervously for their name to be called; they are all hoping to get an interview to get a visa to travel to America. Can you picture that? Hold on to that picture in your mind for later.
2000 years ago parables were common practice, teachers taught by having their students picture in their minds a story, then relate a lesson to that story. Parables are word pictures with a lesson. The parable we are studying is about a gardener scattering seeds. Why does a gardener scatter seeds??
Seeds are scattered for the purpose of growing a plant which will produce a beneficial crop for harvest!
God tells us that the parable of the Sower and Seeds is about God sharing His truths and what type of people will grow and produce a crop.
Please grab a Bible, God’s Truths, open it to Luke 8. Let’s pray our commitment to God’s Word….
Read along with me again verses 4-15….
Again, Seeds are scattered for the purpose of growing a plant which will produce a beneficial crop for harvest! God tells us that the parable of the Sower and Seeds is about God sharing His truths and what type of people will grow and produce a crop.
What kind of ground are we? What type of people are we?
God of course tells us the type of people He is looking for. As told by the Lord Jesus Christ in Luke 8:15……………..
We will talk more about this next week as we remember our Lord through Communion.
Let us focus on v14 today. What should we watch out for?
Look again at the parable in v7……
These seeds were able to grow but the thorn plants grew up with it and eventually choked these new plants.
Before we look at Jesus’ explanation in v14, let’s fully understand the picture; plants grew from the seeds scattered by the sower, but weeds grew up along with those plants, and the thorns of the weeds choked the good plants.
As I studied this, I wondered what God meant here by choked; so I looked up the original Greek word for choke and 2 similar Greek words can be found:
aponego which means to suffocate and epepnego which means to throttle or to overgrow.
Do you all have a rubber band? Will you take that rubber band and wrap it several times around your pointer finger….. Are you sensing anything? Because you’re choking the bloodflow to your fingertips, will your finger be healthy if you kept this going??
Let us now look Jesus’ explanation in v14….
And so, the seeds are God’s Word and some people will hear them and they will grow, but they allow worries and the focus on riches and pleasures choke their maturity in life. Without the constant focus on God’s Word, one’s life will be suffocated, held back, and even taken over.
Like a finger being choked by a rubber band, worries and focusing on riches and pleasures lead to unhealthy lives.
And of course, if your life is suffocated, held back, or even taken over, you will not be able to produce anything significant.
How can we apply the Biblical Principles from this passage?
1. Do we really desire a life of significance?
God wants us and empowers us to have lives of significance! It is really up to us to yield to the Almighty, Loving God for a significant, abundant life. God has done everything for us through Jesus Christ!
2. Are we allowing worries “choke” our lives?
Let’s jump briefly to Luke Chapter 12; read along with me v22-26….
It is clear we are not to worry because it doesn’t add anything to our lives. Worrying is a waste of precious time! Now, does this mean we should live like we shouldn’t care about anyone? Whenever our daughter Manika drives by herself during a snowstorm, we worry! But God says do not worry! How do we solve this conundrum? You see, it depends on definition.
The dictionary defines worry as mental distress. The problem with worry is that it is just a state of mind! Worry is a mental distress which we don’t do anything about; we just worry; it doesn’t do a thing but stress us!
How can we stop worrying? Turn your worrying into a concern to which you take action! And what’s the first thing we should do when we have a concern??
Prayer turns a worry to a concern!
And what should we pray for when worries come up??
When worries come, pray for at least 3 things:
- Truly trust God to handle it and accept what will happen.
- Ask God for wisdom in what you can do.
- Depend on God to empower you in doing what is necessary and do it!
Remember that picture in your mind earlier with those hundreds of people waiting to hear their name for an interview for a visa? That was the situation for Awene last Wednesday. Let us hear from Awene what her concerns were and what happened….
We are to desire a life of significance. We are to turn our worries into concerns to which we take action. And there’s one more thing Jesus tells us to avoid from v14. Do not focus on riches and pleasures in life.
Does this mean God doesn’t want us to have anything? Of course not!
God gave us lives to live and so He will provide for our needs including riches and pleasure. God wants us to work. God wants us to give and receive! God wants us to have rest! Money is not the root of all evil; it is the love for money that is the root of all evil! And so what is God asking us?
3. Do not allow riches and pleasures become an idol!
We are to be obsessed with God’s Word not riches and pleasures! Here’s a simple question: What do you think about during the day, God’s Word or riches and pleasure?
Let us close by personally praying to our Lord Jesus about these things. Let us do this: take your rubber band and twirl it around your pointer finger again.
As you pray, think about things which are choking your life; worries, obsessions with wealth and pleasures. Pray to the Lord for help in those areas. Then, as you make a commitment to focus daily on God’s Word, break off that rubber band around your finger and praise God!
