True spirituality is discussed a lot but seldom experienced in today’s world. Jesus faced the same problem. So the Lord used parables, stories of familiar things, to point out how unfamiliar people truly were with spirituality.
Here in His famous story of the farmer scattering seed Jesus masterfully describes four different categories of spirituality. Three out of the four types are psuedo-spirituality and only one type is genuine.
Every one of us belongs in one of these four groups.
The first type is SURFACE SPIRITUALITY.
"A farmer went out to plant some seed. As he scattered it across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them." (Matthew 13:3b & 4, NLT)
Later Jesus interpreted this type of hearer for us:
"The seed that fell on the hard path represents those who hear the Good News about the Kingdom and don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches the seed away from their hearts. (Matthew 13:19)
There were many people in the huge crowd to which Jesus first spoke these words who no doubt fit in this category.
They came to this spiritual meeting to hear the greatest preacher in the history of the world yet went away unfulfilled because they simply didn’t have a deep enough understanding of what Jesus was saying to be truly converted.
Jesus even explained the reason for their difficulty.
"That is why I tell these stories, because people see what I do, but they don’t really see. They hear what I say, but they don’t really hear, and they don’t understand. This fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah, which says:
You will hear my words, but you will not understand; you will see what I do, but you will not perceive its meaning. FOR THE HEARTS OF THIS PEOPLE ARE HARDENED and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes - so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them." (Matthew 13:13-15)
"The hearts of these people are hardened", Jesus said, and it has affected their ability to see, hear and understand spiritual truth.
Their understanding is so shallow that even when the seed of the Word of God is placed within their grasp, it cannot take root, remains on the surface and is snatched away by "the evil one".
These are the people with closed minds to the gospel. Minds closed, not because of intellectual inability to understand and believe the gospel, but because of a hardened heart.
There are several reasons why people harden their heart toward the gospel, but one very important reason is often overlooked. Hearts are often hardened because they’ve been hurt, walked on like the footpath in Christ’s parable, and they are trying to protect themselves from any more hurt.
When I was a teenager I was spiritually stirred by the book, "The Cross and the Switchblade" by David Wilkerson. It is the story of Wilkerson’s venture into the gang infested streets of inner-city New York.
Recently I re-read some of Wilkerson’s old "Teen Challenge" literature. In it he and others who work with him described how so many of the inner-city gang members had tough exteriors but inside their hearts were broken. Their hearts were hardened because their hearts were broken. They felt unloved and their rebel behavior was their attempt to cope.
For instance, here’s one dramatic story.
Back in the 1960’s, a young man committed a horrible crime in a New York city park. An old man was resting on a park bench reading a paper, and this 16-year-old boy pulled out a huge butcher knife, and stabbed the man about 130 times. When the police finally pulled the boy off the body, he was still stabbing him. As they arrested him they tried to find out why he had done this.
For the longest time the boy wouldn’t say a thing. The police finally said to him, "Look, who was this guy?" He said, "I don’t know." They asked, "Well, what did he do to you?" "Nothing." "What did he say to you?" "Nothing." They said, "You mean you just went up to a total stranger, who didn’t do or say anything to you, and killed him?" "Uh huh." With disbelief they asked, "Why did you do that?"
The boy said, "Do you really want to know? I’ve got an older brother, and he’s really smart, and he’s a great athlete, and he’s good looking and he’s talented and he’s everything I’m not. My mother keeps on saying, "Why can’t you be famous like your older brother?, and I know there’s no way I’ll ever be famous by being talented or smart or anything else. I just figured if I couldn’t be famous that way, I’ll be famous some other way. So I thought of the worst possible thing I could do and I went out and did it. At least my mother will remember me now..."
Truly that is a sad story. Even more sad is the fact that it has been replayed in various ways millions of times. People have been hurt by their parents, by their friends, by their classmates, and by their co-workers. Some people even have a hurting heart because of things that happened in churches. Satan especially makes hay out of this. He is "the evil one" Jesus talked about in this parable; the "birds" that snatch away the seeds on the surface of the hardened soil. But we can’t even afford to let the hurts we’ve felt in church keep us from receiving the Word of God!
People all around us are hurting and they don’t know how to handle their hurt. They turn away from the answer which is in Christ and turn to violence, immorality, addiction, false religion and materialism. Their hearts are hardened because their hearts are hurting and the seed of the Good News gets to the surface and that’s as far as it gets. It never penetrates their hurting hearts. If they have any spirituality at all it is surface spirituality.
[Let me say in passing that one of the reasons Jesus met so many physical and emotional needs before He led people to a faith in Him was because He saw the hurting heart as a problem that had to be dealt with before people would trust Him by faith. The church can learn from this - although that will be the subject of another sermon.]
Now according to the Teen Challenge literature I was recently re-reading, there are several characterisics of a hardened or hurting heart.
(You will recognize yourself or someone you know in these charcteristics.)
1. They display a lack of concern for others. A hard-hearted person cares little about anybody else.
2. They are sensitive and touchy. Hard-hearted people often come across as having a tough exterior, but inside they are often fearful. (Their tough exterior is an attempt to hide their hurt.)
3. They become very possessive with just a few friends, and rarely have any really close friends. they also have an unnatural fear of losing friends.
4. They tend to avoid meeting new people.
[The scriptures speak of the withdrawal and communication breakdown of the person with the hurting heart in Proverbs 18:14 - "The human spirit can endure a sick body, but who can bear the spirit if it is crushed?"]
5. They show little or no gratitude at all. Gratitude means vulnerability and they don’t want to be obliged to anyone.
[Paul spoke of this being a common characteristic of people in the last days. "For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to parents, and ungrateful. The ungratefulness of our world exemplifies a lot of hurting hearts.]
6. They will usually speak words of empty flattery or harsh criticism.
7. They hold grudges against people, often for a long time. They find it extremely difficult to forgive.
8. They often have a stubborn and sulking attitude.
[1 Samuel 15:23 describes King Saul with this attitude problem. "Rebellion is as bad as witchcraft, and stubborness is as bad as worshipping idols. So because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you from being king." When we are stubborn against God we are committing a sin as bad as idolatry.]
9. They are often unwilling to share or help anybody.
10. They end up experiencing mood extremes - very high and happy one minute, and the next thing you know, they’re so low they can reach up and touch bottom.
If you see yourself or someone you know even faintly in this list you may have a hurting heart that needs healing. If your life, or the life of someone you know is dominated by these characteristics, help is definitely needed for a hurting heart.
Now why is this so important? Because the Word of God cannot penetrate a hurting/hardened heart.
If you are not yet a Christian, your hurting heart could become a hardened heart and keep you from Christ.
If you are already a follower of Christ, your hurting heart could keep you from growing in the Lord like you should.
So here’s how to help yourself or someone you know get over a hurting heart.
1. Make a list of the people who’ve hurt you. Then underneath each name, write down everything they’ve done to hurt you. You may write things like, "my parents didn’t keep their promises." "They gave more love and affection to other members of the family." "My dad took his bad temper out on me." "My spouse tries to make me into someting I’m not." "My friend wasn’t there when I needed him."
2. Make another list of the things you’ve done to hurt them. This is a little harder because we don’t remember these as easily. We don’t want to. You could put down things like laziness and ungratefulness as things you did to get back at your parents when growing up. (By the way, when was the last time you thanked your parents?) You might put down "deceitfulness" for all the times you did things behind other people’s backs to get back at them.
If we’re going to get over this problem we’re going to have to see and admit our wrongs toward those who have hurt us. A lot of ways people have hurt us are the very same ways we have hurt other people.
3. Take a good look at how you’ve hurt the Lord. Don’t hold on to your sins. The blood of Christ cleanses sin, not excuses.
Did it ever occur to you that God knows what it’s like to be deeply hurt? Genesis 6:6 records the fact that God’s heart was broken after He created the first people. He gave them a perfect environment and perfect spouses, and gave them everything they needed for existence - and they didn’t have to work for any of it! What did they do in response? They broke the only rule God gave them. It broke God’s heart. The Hebrew word in Genesis means "to have difficulty breathing." God’s heart was so broken, that if you put it on human terms, it caused Him to have difficulty breathing. That’s how broken His heart was!
He understands your broken heart and He wants to help it heal.
But you must do your part.
4. Pray, and ask forgiveness of God and man.
Matthew 6:14,15 - "If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins."
5. Destroy your files. Tear them up and burn them if you like. But stop returning to the examples of how people have hurt you.
I reiterate why this is all important. If you want to get beyond "surface spirituality" you’re going to have to let God heal your hurting heart, lest it become hardened and the seed of the Good News won’t take root.
Don’t put it off another day.
