Steve Hanchett, pastor
Berry Road Baptist Church
“But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.”
Here we find another test of faith. It could also be looked at as a test of love. We already spoke about how the prime characteristic of a Christian is love and especially love for Christ. That love for Christ is deep and strong. And one of the evidences that a work of God has happened in our hearts is that we love Christ that we will not abandon our walk with Him when it brings trouble to our lives.
In this parable Jesus describes a person who apparently make some sort of commitment or profession of faith. As a matter of fact they respond very quickly and with great enthusiasm to the message of the gospel. There is every reason to believe from outward appearances that this person has genuinely been converted.
But to come to that conclusion would be a mistake. For it seems that just as quickly as this person makes a show of Christianity, it is all abandoned. And the reason it is abandoned is because the very same message that brought such joy has also brought with it a great deal of trouble. And the trouble or the cost of recieving the message does not seem to be worth it to this person so they abandon the word. This person sacrifices eternal salvation for short-term peace.
Jesus uses two words, “tribulation” and “persecution.” Both words imply that the reason trouble has come is because of this person’s profession of faith. And we see clearly that this is what Jesus is saying. For he says these things, “arise because of the word.”
This should not surprise us. Remember what the Scriptures say:
“In the world you will have tribulation.” John 16:33
“We must through many tribulations enter the Kingdom of God.” Acts 14:22
“We told you before when we were with you that we would suffer tribulation, just as it happened and now you know.” 1 Thessalonians 3:4
This is not meant to discourage us. Actually, this frank honesty about what to expect in living for Jesus is meant to encourage us. It is intended by the Lord to keep us from being caught off-guard. Someone might think that God has forsaken them when they find themselves abused or hated because of their faith in Christ. So God warns us ahead of time that these things are to be expected.
Recieving the message of the gospel certainly is a cause for joy. Nothing could be more wonderful than to know that your sins are forgiven and that you have entered into a relationship with God. What could be more exciting than to know that you are assured a place in heaven? But we should also recognize that there is not only a great blessing in knowing Christ, there is a great cost as well.
This is why Jesus emphasized so often the cost of following Him. The told those who indicated that they wished to be His disciple that discipleship to Jesus required a resolute decision. There is no room for reluctance. A man that puts his hand to the plow is not fit for the Kingdom of God. You can’t come to Christ with your own qualifications and demands about how and when you will or will not follow. Jesus demands an absolute, irrevocable, clear-cut decision.
Jesus also told those who wished to follow Him that discipleship to him required a radical decision. He recognized that a decision to follow Christ may mean a decision to risk rejection by family and friends. Jesus understood and clearly communicated that to follow Him meant that we had to cut off anything that stood in the way of our walk with Him. Further, this decision to follow Christ was so radical that Jesus said it meant that a person had to die to themselves. Discipleship to Jesus means that everything and everyone has to be laid at His feet and surrendored to His Lordship.
Not only is this a radical decision, and a resolute decision, it is a risky decision as well. When a person chooses to follow Christ they put themselves at risk of experiencing persecution and tribulation. As Jesus says in this passage there is an offense that comes with the gospel. The word that He uses in the Greek has come to us in English as the world scandal. The gospel of Christ is either a rock on which a person can anchor His life or it is a stone over which people trip to their own destruction.
Now I would not say that God brings persecution or tribulation upon us. But I would say that God permits them and that He uses them for our good. One thing God can use tribulation and persecution for is an opportunity for us to show the love and kindness of Jesus Christ. Michael Card told the story of a Masai warrior named Joseph. One day he was walking alone on one of those hot dirty African roads when he met someone who shared with him the gospel of Jesus Christ. Right then and there he accepted Christ. He was filled with such excitement and joy that the first thing he did was to return to his own village and share that same good news with the members of his local tribe.
Joseph began going door to door, telling everyone he met about the Cross of Jesus and the salvation it offered. He expected to see their faces light up the way his had. To his amazement the villagers not only did not care, they became violent. The men of the village seized him and held him to the ground while the women beat him with barbed wire. He was dragged from the village and left to die in the bush. Joseph somehow managed to crawl to a watering hole and there, after days of passing in and out of consciousness, found the strength to get up. He wondered about the hostile reception he had received from the people he had known all his life. He decided that he must have left something out of the story or told it incorrectly, he decided to go back and share his faith once more.
Joseph limped back into the circle of huts and began to proclaim Jesus. “He died for you, so that you might find forgiveness and come to know the living God,” he pleaded. Again he was grabbed and held while the women beat him, reopening the wounds that had just begun to heal. Once more they dragged him unconscious from the village and left him to die.
To have survived the first beating was remarkable. To live through the second was a miracle. Again, days later, Joseph awoke in the wilderness, bruised, scared and determined to go back.
He returned to the small village and this time, they attacked him before he had a chance to open his mouth. As they flogged him for the third and probably the last time, he again spoke to the of Jesus Christ the Lord. Before he had passed out, the last thing he saw was that the women who were beating him had begun to weep.
This time he awoke in his own bed. The ones who had so severely beaten him were now trying to save his life and nurse him back to health. The entire village had come to Christ.
Sometimes God uses tribulation and persecution in our lives to bring others to faith in Christ. It seems like this is what we see happening in China. This is what happened when Paul and Silas were thrown in the Philippian jail and were singing and praising God at midnight.
I don’t want to suggest that we ought to seek out persecution. I only want to say that at times God can use it to demonstrate the reality of Christ in our lives and through that witness to others and cause them to turn to Jesus as well.
God also uses tribulation and persecution to develop our spiritual life. This is what James is teaching us when he says that the testing of your faith produces patience. There is something about going through the fire that purifies our souls and drives us into a deeper walk with Christ.
But there is another thing that God does through tribulation and persecution. He tests our faith. James uses this very language, “The testing of your faith produces patience,” is the way he says it.
It is one thing to say “I believe” when nothing tangible is at stake. It is quite another when it is going to cost us something. It is like splashing cold water on our face. It forces us to wake up and choose. Trials force us to trust a God we can’t see, in the middle of a world we can see. It forces us to align ourselves with the One who seems distant and silent, or with those who are right next to us and very loud. These trial test the very core of our heart.
In our culture we are not facing the kind of overt persecution that others face. No one is threatening our lives. I doubt if anyone here lives in any fear that someone might come and beat you, or burn your house down, and we don’t sit here today wondering if our church building might be destroyed by those who hate Christ and the gospel. We have a great amount of freedom. And we are thankful for all of those blessings. We should never take it for granted. But while we do not face those kinds of problems, we do face another kind of pressure - the pressure of standing alone.
Calvin Miller, in The Singer, paraphrases one of the beatitudes as saying, “blessed are all those who yet can sing when all the theater is empty and the orchestra is gone.” I like that. Can we still sing when nobody will listen. Will we still walk with Jesus when nobody will walk with us.
We should never think we are all alone. God always, in every age, has a people for Himself. There are multitudes who love Christ and are standing with us in this faith. But sometimes it just feels like we are all alone.
We feel alone in the classroom when no one else will stand with us for what is right and true.
We feel alone at work when we are the only ones who won’t tell the dirty jokes, and go out with the guys after work for a beer, and cuss, and use God’s name in vain.
We feel alone when our family members reject our faith.
We feel alone when the culture we live in mocks our faith and our values.
Yes, there are times when we feel all alone in our faith. Now, here is what God is doing. He is testing us. Will we love Jesus enough that we stand for Him when it is going to cost us something?
In the parable of the sower we find that Jesus teaches some people do receive the word and do so joyfully, but do not really become committed followers of Christ. They do not have the courage of their convictions and they fall away when the pressure comes. They did not count the cost of following Christ and once they see what the cost is they decide to back out of the deal. They are like person who goes to the car dealer and sees a car they like. They like the color, the comfort, the options and the style. They tell the salesman that they are going to but the car and that they will be back the next day to close the deal. But that night they go home and get the calculator out and begin to figure what the down payment is and how much they payments will be, what kind of interest they will have to pay and how much the insurace is going to cost. They think about having to pay the tax and buy the tag and suddenly it doesn’t seem like such a good idea.
Now, following Jesus is certainly nothing like buying a car. But my point is that some people seem to like what they hear about the forgiveness of sins, the peace of God, heaven forever, but when they begin to see the other side - the cost - they decide it is just not worth it to follow Christ.
When persecution (the pressure of opposition), or tribulation (the problems resulting from living it out) come they bail. It is just easier to get along with the world and in the world when you are going with the flow of the world.
Those that do bail have proven that they were never really saved. In John 8:31 Jesus said, "If you abide in my Word then you are my disciples indeed." The text says Jesus was talking to Jews who believed in Him. And what he was saying was that the reality of their faith and their conversion was going to be proven by their continual abiding in Him.
We have no reason to believe that those who abandon the faith have ever been converted. They may have momentarily recieved the word with joy. But if their hearts were rocky soil and the seed does not produce any fruit their souls are lost forever.
