Healing for Calloused Hearts
Matthew 13:1-23
Pastor Jim Luthy
Let’s try a few riddles from justriddlesandmore.com. Write down your answers and I’ll give the solutions at the end.
1. Cathy has six pairs of black gloves and six pairs of brown gloves in her drawer. In complete darkness, how many gloves must she take from the drawer in order to be sure to get a pair that match? Think carefully!!
2. What is the largest possible number you can write using only two digits – just two digits, nothing else?
3. In your sock drawer, you have a ratio of 5 pairs of blue socks, 4 pairs of brown socks, and 6 pairs of black socks. In complete darkness, how many socks would you need to pull out to be sure to get a matching pair of the same color?
4. A woman goes into a hardware store to buy something for her house. When asked the price, the clerk replies, “The price of one is twelve cents. The price of forty-four is twenty-four cents, and the price of a hundred and forty-four is thirty-six cents.” What does the woman want to buy?
The answers…
1. 13. She could take out 6 black left hand gloves and then 6 brown right hand gloves before the next would have to match.
2. 387,420,489 or 99.
3. 4. Unlike the gloves, socks don’t require a fit for the left or right foot.
4. House numbers.
In our next encounter on our long walk with Jesus, he is going to tell the Parable of the Sower. This parable is not a riddle, but like a riddle, the story will leave it up to the audience to figure out what it means.
That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. Then he told them many things in parables, saying: "A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop-- a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. He who has ears, let him hear." (Matt 13:1-9; NIV)
In the parable, Jesus is telling of his experience sowing the seed of God’s kingdom. His message was almost exclusively about the good news of the kingdom of heaven. As he traveled the countryside sharing the message, there were many who believed him and became his followers and others who did not. Notice carefully that Jesus told this parable and then left it to the crowd to figure out what he meant. I picture Jesus here as a user-friendly version of Batman’s archenemy, the Riddler. Why did Jesus do that? The disciples wanted to know.
The disciples came to him and asked, "Why do you speak to the people in parables?" He replied, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. This is why I speak to them in parables: "Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. (Matt 13:10-13; NIV)
I think an illustration from my life as a fingerprint examiner might illustrate Jesus’ answer. Spreading the good news of the kingdom is much like dusting for fingerprints. When I came to an object to look for prints, I would begin with a visual inspection of the area. Then I would dust over a broad area, looking for prints to begin developing. If I saw something that looked like fingerprints, I would focus my development on that area. I would breath on it to add moisture to the print. Then I would dust over that area again and again, allowing the powder to adhere to the moisture on the print. When the fingerprint appeared to be fully developed, I would lift the print with tape and put it on a contrasting background for preservation.
Jesus came and spread his message broadly throughout Israel. As he shared his message, he looked for those who were able to understand his teaching. These were the ones prepared by the Holy Spirit to receive ears to hear what Jesus was saying. That is why Jesus ended his parable saying, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Those who could hear became his followers, and as his followers they would be given even more.
Now, it seems to me that if that was Jesus’ approach to proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, it ought to be our approach as well. Our mission is to give glory to God and to search for those who are spiritually receptive to that revealed glory. This means, first of all, that we have to live and proclaim the good news of the kingdom. Gresham is like this door, our target area. We bring glory to God by dusting our city broadly with our message. This means that wherever we work, eat, play, drive, shop and so on, we ought to be sowing the seed of the good news of Jesus’ kingdom. Then, as we find those who are spiritually receptive, we ought to draw near to them. We need to come so close as to breathe on them with the breath of God in us. Jesus said, “ Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." (John 7:38; NIV). Are you close enough? Then, having let Christ in us rub off on them a little, we dust over them again and again until it is clear what the Holy Spirit is doing in them. Those who hear are to be brought along as disciples, given more teaching and gaining more understanding in the kingdom. Like those disciples of Jesus, they are to be raised up and released to do the work of spreading the good news even farther, adding to his family and building his church.
Is this not the story of your life? Should it not also become the method by which you live and breathe the gospel? Are you receiving more, adding to what you’ve learned and becoming a participating member of the local church? Or are you just a spectator, waiting on the sidelines and scratching your head and asking, “What did he just say?”
Jesus then quoted the prophet Isaiah, who also was sent to reconcile the people back to God about 800 years earlier. The condition of Israel had not changed much in that time.
In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: "’You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’ (Jesus then turned to those who did hear and were adding to their learning…) But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. (Matt 13:14-17; NIV)
Jesus utilized Isaiah’s prophecy to demonstrate that there were many among the crowd whose hearts had become calloused. The Parable of the Sower was his “riddle” to point out just who had calloused hearts and who had been given ears to hear.
"Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path.” (Matt 13:18-19; NIV)
These are the ones in the crowd who would say, “I hear, but I don’t understand.” Their hearts are hard. When the seed of the gospel is given to them, it bounces off like Wile E. Coyote hitting a rock face. When the good news comes to them, the evil one comes and turns it into something it is not. He convinces them that the gospel is only condemnation, that it is oppressive or unbelievable. They believe it because their hearts are calloused. There are a number of things that can cause this kind of callous on the heart, making it impossible for the seed of the good news to penetrate and grow.
The callous on their hearts might have come from navigating this world without a loving father, so they cannot see the love and acceptance of our Abba Father. The callous on their hearts may have come from an oppressive legal and religious upbringing, making them unable to hear or understand the messages of forgiveness and grace. The callous on their hearts might have formed an intellectual roadblock, as they try to explain the supernatural with the natural laws of science and cannot believe. The grand-daddy of them all—the super glue hardening agent of the heart—is pride. Pride presumes to make it on its own, without help from God or man. It opposes any kind of dependence on God, making our hearts especially hard.
Are any of these conditions (or others) causing your heart to be calloused?
The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. (Matt 13:20-21; NIV)
These are the ones who say, “I rejoice, but I can’t follow through.” Often times, these are the spectators at church services. They come to the services and close their eyes and wave their arms when they worship, but they have no root. They go out in the world and they are controlled by the old nature, giving in to old patterns. They will often come to church for several weeks, and then disappear for a couple of months. They love the big churches, where the message and music are still very good, but where they also have no accountability.
After saying he is the vine and we are the branches, Jesus repeated over and over again to remain in him. The Apostle Paul wrote about the need to be rooted in Ephesians 3:16-19…
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Without being so rooted, your faith is nothing more than emotionalism. It makes you feel great when things are going well, but it devastates you when trouble or persecution comes. The callous that makes the heart like rocky soil also comes from a number of sources. Hearts are hardened by the defense mechanism that is looking for a spiritual high to mask the pain of past abuse or trouble. Hearts are also calloused by fear of the light, when people fear their deeds will be exposed.
The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. (Matthew 13:22; NIV)
These are the ones who hear, but never change. They never seem to become more like Christ in character or in life purpose. They display no more of the fruit of the Spirit than before they claimed to be born again, if they are willing to claim it at all. Their hearts are calloused from both faithlessness and unfaithfulness. Faithlessness is the worries of life that demonstrate that we do not or cannot believe that God has it under control. Unfaithfulness is the deceitfulness of wealth that grabs our attention and all our affection, making illegitimate lovers of our money and possessions.
I believe this is the number one cause for calloused hearts in America. We are a rich nation. Our poverty level puts us at upper class status in most nations in the world. I recently visited a church where the pastor did a little research and determined that 70% of the people gave $1000 or less in 2002. Using the Old Testament law of giving 10% of your income as a pattern for what a surrendered heart should give, he said, “Folks, I know we’re making more than $10,000 per year.”
Why doesn’t the church in America give as it should? Some don’t give because of faithlessness; they’re too worried that they won’t have enough. Others don’t give because of unfaithfulness; they have put their money and possessions higher on the priority list than obedience to God. If revival is ever going to sweep across America, it will only occur when we do a lot of pleading for mercy over hearts that are calloused by greed and materialism.
Jesus indicated that there can be healing for calloused hearts. He finished his explanation of the parable with good news.
But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown." (Matt 13:23; NIV)
There are those who can say, “I hear, I understand, and I thrive.” Jesus had explained that he spoke in parables so that those who hear would know they’ve been blessed. “Blessed are your eyes and ears,” he said. Another time, he turned to Peter and proclaimed, “Blessed are you, Simon, for these things were not revealed to you by men, but by my Father in heaven.”
Have you received the blessing of seeing and hearing? The evidence will be a multiplying harvest. If you have ears to hear, you will be able to grow in the grace and knowledge of God through a continuous revelation of Jesus. Your work of ministry will grow a hundred, sixty, at least 30 times over what was initially sown. When the Holy Spirit comes over you and opens your eyes, he immediately makes you an effective witness. Go and tell what you have seen and heard.
This is why we encourage everyone at TLC to complete the Equipping Track. It is a way to add to your knowledge, for sure, but it is also a way to prepare you and release you as a multiplying leader of TLC Groups. We view everyone as a potentially fruitful leader of TLC Groups and I submit this message from Jesus as proof of what he can do through you.
Jesus wants to produce life in you and through you. His number one desire is healing the one thing that can stop you—a calloused heart.
"Therefore say: ’This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again.’ "They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols. I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. (Ezek 11:17-20; NIV)
Allow me to conclude with three practical suggestions for cooperating with the Holy Spirit to soften your heart. First of all, pursue understanding.
My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. (Prov 2:1-6; NIV)
Second, deepen your roots. Plant yourself by the stream of God’s mercy by confessing the hardness of your heart. Rest in the garden of God’s redeemed, the church. “Do not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing.” “Confess your sins to one another, any you will be healed.” Do you hear the need for repentance and community?
Finally, throw off everything that entangles you. Ezekiel’s prophecy called for the people to remove all their “vile images and detestable idols.” Cast aside your worry and those things that have become too important to you. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
