When You Know That You Know Because You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know Series

“When You Know That You Know Because

You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know”

Luke 8:9-10

A sermon for 8/1/21

Pastor John Bright - Harmony & Swansonville UMC

I want to take time today and look closely at two verses in this new section of Luke 8. Next week, I will need your help to “un-pack” the Parable of the Sower. Please be sure to bring your “thinking cap” so we can discover together this foundational teaching for modern day disciples.

In Luke 8:4-8, Jesus tells the Parable of the Sower and then cries out, “He who has an ear, let him hear!” v.8. We read this many times in the Gospels when Jesus is teaching and it is the phrase that concludes each of the seven letters in Revelation 2 & 3. - “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Most often, we interpret this as meaning – “This is important so don’t miss it!”

In Luke 8, this seems to prompt a question from Jesus’ disciples – v. 9 “Then His disciples asked Him, saying, “What does this parable mean?” What do you hear when they say this? I hear them saying,

“We do not understand!” Jesus is using a familiar image – the sower. In that day, to get seed in the ground, the soil would be prepared and rows cut. Then, with a bag of seed over the shoulder, a sower would walk and toss the seed. This is called “broadcast sowing.” While the disciples may know this image, they don’t get the meaning, so the question they ask is reasonable – v 9 “Then His disciples asked Him, saying, “What does this parable mean?”

Jesus gives them some explanation before He interprets the parable for them – v. 10 “And He said, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that

‘Seeing they may not see,

And hearing they may not understand.’”

We learn several things from this verse:

First, this parable is teaching something about the Kingdom of God

“To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God”

What’s that? The Kingdom of God is a core concept of Christianity that we learn about in the New Testament. I used the whole teaching sheet today for a full article from Got Questions Dot ORG. There you will see a broad and a narrow meaning given – “Broadly speaking, the kingdom of God is the rule of an eternal, sovereign God over all the universe. Several passages of Scripture show that God is the undeniable Monarch of all creation: “The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all” (Psalm 103:19). And, as King Nebuchadnezzar declared, “His kingdom is an eternal kingdom” (Daniel 4:3). Every authority that exists has been established by God (Romans 13:1). So, in one sense, the kingdom of God incorporates everything that is.”

“More narrowly, the kingdom of God is a spiritual rule over the hearts and lives of those who willingly submit to God’s authority. Those who defy God’s authority and refuse to submit to Him are not part of the kingdom of God; in contrast, those who acknowledge the lordship of Christ and gladly surrender to God’s rule in their hearts are part of the kingdom of God. In this sense, the kingdom of God is spiritual—Jesus said His kingdom was not of this world (John 18:36), and He preached that repentance is necessary to be a part of the kingdom of God (Matthew 4:17). That the kingdom of God can be equated with the sphere of salvation is evident in John 3:5–7, where Jesus says the kingdom of God must be entered into by being born again.”

https://www.gotquestions.org/kingdom-of-God.html

So, this Kingdom of God is both physical and spiritual. God is sovereign over the whole universe He created. If there are any quantum physics fans out there that believe there are multiple realities or a multi-verse, well then God is sovereign over all of that, too. The spiritual side of the Kingdom of God is what we experience most often. As Believers, we have the in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit. That makes us, as spiritual beings, a part of the Kingdom of God that is right here and right now.

We can only experience that part of the Kingdom of God that exists right now, but there will be so much more! Every time we gather for Communion, we experience a “foretaste” of what will come later – Revelation 19 “6 And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! 7 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. 9 Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.”