Just like Jesus part 2: Ears to hear
Jesus tells a story about a seed scatterer and soil. MT 13:1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: "A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop--a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 He who has ears, let him hear."
JAS 1:22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 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 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 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.
About 8 times throughout the Book of Revelation Jesus says these words He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. In this passage Jesus uses that same phrase, He who has ears let him hear. The heart of Jesus is a listening heart.
In this parable Jesus using allegory, The seed= the Word of God, The Soil=our ears. Some of us have ears like that hard road, we refuse to let the Word in, unreceptive to the Word. The rocky soil is those who have ears that are hard, we hear but we do not let it take root, our ears are unreceptive to the Word of God and do not let it change us. Still others have ears like a weed patch, we are listening to too much stuff, there is too much competition going on for our attention to let that seed grow. Then there are those who have ears that hear, attentive, discriminate and ready to hear God’s voice. In all these cases the seed is still the same Word of God, the sower is the same sower, it is the listener who is different. 75% of the “listeners do not hear” or should I say 75% of the hearers are not listening. Each of these cases has ears, but they are not all listening.
Pilate was like that, he was told by his wife “have not to do with that man because he is innocent. Jesus himself told Pilate “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to me.” But Pilate like the 75% of the listeners has selective hearing. It was the voice of the crowd that prevailed that day. When God throws his seeds our way, what do we do? When was the last time we gave God a portion of our time, undiluted, uninterrupted time of listening to Him? Jesus did so everyday. MK 1:35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
Jesus often went off to a solitary place to pray. If Jesus felt the need to do so, why don’t we?
Jesus not only took the time to pray, but also in God’s Word. Now we don’t see the Gospel writers telling of Jesus taking out a parchment and reading it, but we do see Jesus using scripture to answer critics and to answer temptation. The picture of Jesus is that he knew his way around scripture, well of course He wrote it. He is the Word of God. If we are to be like Jesus we need to have ears that listen. Romans 12:12 “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” James 1:25 “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.” If we are to be Just like Jesus we must have a regular time in prayer and Bible reading.
Now don’t tune we out. I know some have tried Daily Devotions and Bible time, but we have become too busy, too distracted, too overworked to have a consistent Quiet time. I’ll just listen to the preacher and draw from his experience, after all that is what we pay him for. If that is your approach your spiritual experiences are secondhand not firsthand. You are eating regurgitated food. We don’t do that with other areas of our lives why do it with our Spiritual lives. We don’t send someone on vacation for us to tell us what it was about so that we don’t have the hassle of traveling, packing, and that. We don’t have someone experience Romance for us and tell us about it, there are some things we must experience for ourselves. One of those is spending time with God.
To have these ears we should select a time and place.
Some prefer the morning; Psalms 88:13 But I cry to you for help, O LORD; in the morning my prayer comes before you.
Some prefer the evening; Ps 141:1-2 O LORD, I call to you; come quickly to me.
Hear my voice when I call to you. 2 May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.
Don’t be discouraged if we do not reap a huge harvest each day. Some days we may only need a little. Understanding comes over a period of time. It is not just reading but understanding, listening to God. Sometimes when I read I ask God, “Please show me what you would have me understand today.” Sometimes I read with a notebook and pen at the desk, taking notes as I read. Sometimes it is with the Bible alone. But the main attribute we are after today is not just hearing but listen.
When we pray; Speak the language of Love.
When my kids were small, just coming home and saying “Daddy’s home” they would come running. We would spend the next moments speaking the language of love, hugs, playing on the floor, tickling, laughing, and playing. Sometimes it would be “hey Dad guess what, we played football in the backyard and I scored a touchdown.” Or “we found worms” or other such events of their day. Just being together was and enjoying each other. But suppose our children would greet us each day with “I want more candy, I want more toys, take us to Disneyland” How would we react? Yet sometimes in our prayer time that is what we do with God.
First tell him how much you love him. Why because that is what he does to you.
Jer 31:3 The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying:” I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.
Romans 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."
The Lord takes delight in us, he will quiet us/ calm us with his love and HE will rejoice over us. So if He has this attitude about us, why shouldn’t we have this attitude about Him? There is a time when God wishes us to be still and let Him sing over us. We might sit there now and say “I am not worthy of such love” well we aren’t. But God in his great grace does this. Judas wasn’t worthy yet Jesus washed his feet, Peter wasn’t worthy yet Jesus fixed him breakfast, and we weren’t worthy, yet Jesus went to the cross for us.
Then let your requests be known. Jesus said “ask anything in my name and I will do it” “Ask and you shall receive”. We are to ask
But then don’t forget to thank God. Phil. 4;6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Let God have you, let God love you, and then in your quiet time, don’t be surprised if you hear things you never heard before.
Being led by His hand
Having a God-Intoxicated Heart.
What a wonderful day indeed when we stop working for God and begin working with God.
We treat God sometimes like he is some big CEO and we are his loyal workers. He has his office and we have ours. We can call him, fax him, talk to him as often as we want, but we go and he stays. Is that our attitude?
Read 2 Cor. 6:1
As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.
We are God’s fellow workers. Colaborers, God and us working together. Imagine the shift in thinking this creates. We work with God. He leads we follow. There is never a time we are out of his presence. Is there ever a time when God is not with us. Can we fall asleep in his arms, wakened to his presence. Can we have that?
Jesus had that. He told the crowds The son can do nothing but only what he sees the Father doing. This is not past tense but present tense, actually an ongoing tense. He goes on to say “Whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.”
When Jesus walked he communicated God to the people, we must do the same.
Jesus heard what others did not, he heard His Father. And because he could hear the Father he reacted differently than others. While others saw children as bothersome, Jesus said “Let the children come” when others told the lepers and the blind to be quiet, Jesus asked “what do you want?” While others tried to stop people from getting to Jesus, he went to them. He did what the Father did, he heard what others did not hear and followed. Does the Father do that with us today? Yes, He has chosen us to be like His Son. (Rom. 8:9) God wants us to have this same intimacy that he had with Jesus. Look at John 15:5-7
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you
We will bear fruit as long as we remain attached to the vine. That is the vine and us working together to bear such fruit. The branches are to remain connected to the vine for the work to be done. God does not want us to connect with Him on Sunday morning and leave Him Sunday night. NO, he wants us to connect with Him continually. Everyday, every hour of everyday.
The phrase that is used here is “remain in me and I in you” is like a marriage. Healthy marriages have a sense of remaining. There is love, there is tenderness, there is communication ongoing. If not, if we only pop in when we want something, a good meal, a clean shirt, a little romance, then what we have is not a home but a brothel. Do we really want to treat God that way?
Just like in a marriage, communication and togetherness is not a bother but a delight. Look at the words of David in Psalms 84:1-2
How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD Almighty! 2 My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
God desires to be as close to us as He was with Jesus. Will you let him?
