Stories With Purpose!

SERMON OUTLINE:

Why did Jesus speak in Parables?

Parable #1. The Sign Of Jonah (vs 29-30 & 32)

Parable #2. The Queen of The South (vs 31).

Parable #3: The Lamp of The Body (vs 33-36).

SERMON BODY:

Ill:

• (1). A teacher tells this story in Readers Digest magazine.

• Performing Mozart should have been the highlight of my middle school chorus class.

• But after a few uninspired attempts, an exasperated student raised her hand and said,

• “Mrs. Willis, we want to sing music from our generation, not yours.”

• (2). A parent phoned her child’s school to complain,

• During a school swimming trip her child’s towel was stolen,

• The irate parent said,

• “What kind of young criminals are in class with my child?!”

• Calmly the teacher replied,

• “I’m sure it was taken accidentally, what does it look like?”

• The angry parent said.

• “It’s white, and it says Holiday Inn on it.”

• TRANSITION: Being a teacher is not always an easy thing!

• Whatever age group you are teaching, children, students, or adults!

Jesus never entered a classroom as we know a classroom.

• He never had a degree as we understand an educational degree,

• Yet Jesus was the master teacher, the great communicator.

• 2,000 years since he walked on planet earth,

• All around the world people are still teaching and studying and living by his words!

• Jesus taught in using many teaching styles.

• One of those styles was to use parables.

• And we read three of them in our Bible reading.

• Note: Jesus did not invent parabolic teaching,

• It was a Jewish way of learning, and many Rabbis taught this way,

• There are at least 29 parables in the Old Testament*.

• One of the best-known being, The Potter (Jeremiah chapter 18 verses 1-10).

• *(Source: https://www.lookinguntojesus.info/BSTopics/Parables/PARABLES-OT.html#:~:text=29%20Old,Testament%20Parables ).

Question: Why did Jesus speak in Parables?

Answer: Let me suggest these reasons.

(1) To be interesting.

• We all like to hear stories,

• And we live personal stories because we are nosey!

• A preacher knows that when his congregation have had enough,

• A good story will recapture and hold their attention,

• The best communicators use stories, illustrations.

• To make facts and information more interesting.

• The parables of Jesus acted like windows.

• That let in the light and made clear difficult theological truths.

(2) To reveal new truth.

Ill:

• Our English word, ‘Para’ is actually a Greek word!

• It means, ‘alongside.’

• e.g. Parachute – is a chute alongside.

• e.g. Parallel lines – are one line alongside another.

• e.g. Para-Olympics is one event alongside another event.

• Jesus comparing spiritual truths with things already known.

• As people grasped the one many of his hearers also got the deeper meaning.

(3) To help the interested.

ill:

• If you enjoy baking or cooking, you will have at some time used a sieve.

• You put the flour in the sieve shake it,

• The fine flour (good) falls through and the lumps (the bad) gets stuck.

• TRANSITION: Jesus spoke in parables to sieve his audience.

• So that only those who were genuine and had a real desire to find him could.

• Jesus required that his listeners seek out the truth and not just casually look for it.

(4) To hinder the uninterested

• Those who came to Jesus for the wrong reasons,

• Who just wanted to see signs and miracles or be entertained.

• Never got the point in his parables.

• They heard a story about everyday life and left thinking, “What was all that about!”

• So, Jesus spoke in parables to sieve his audience.

• So that only those who were genuine, who had a real desire to find him could.

(5) To add even more truth.

• In the first parable that Jesus taught, ‘The parable of the Sower or four soils.’

• Jesus said in Matthew's account chapter 13 verse 12:

• "Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance".

• Jesus is talking about insight into His message.

• The more we desire from a good heart the more God will give us.

Ill:

• Think about learning a foreign language.

• You learn so much in a classroom,

• But when you spend time living with a family who speak the language,

• Suddenly your langue skills really take off!

(6) To take away truth.

Matthew's account chapter 13 verse 12:

"Whoever does not have even what he has will be taken from him. This is why I speak in parables".

Ill:

• It is often said, “If you don’t use it, you lose it,”