How's Your Hearing?

Align what you do with what God says.

Your life is filled with words. A few estimates say we hear about 30,000 words a day. That’s about 11 million a year. If you live to be 70 years old, that’s about 766 million words in a lifetime. Where do all these words come from? Think about everything you listen to: your family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, the person checking you out at the grocery store, the tech support person on the phone, your doctor, TV, movies, podcasts, the radio, music. We are listening all the time.

An article on the University of Missouri’s website said: “Listening is the communication skill most of us use the most frequently...Various studies stress the importance of listening as a communication skill. A typical study points out that many of us spend 70 to 80 percent of our waking hours in some form of communication. Of that time, we spend about 9 percent writing, 16 percent reading, 30 percent speaking, and 45 percent listening. Studies also confirm that most of us are poor and inefficient listeners.” (https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/cm150) Then you may wonder: How many of those words do we absorb? One claim is that we remember between 17 and 25 percent of what we hear (https://www.creditdonkey.com/listening-statistics.html).

So think to yourself: what did you hear this week? What did you listen to? Which of those words stuck with you? Think about the words you’ve heard throughout your entire life. There are words you’ve heard that go in one ear and out the other. There are words you’ve heard that have stuck with you for days, weeks, months, maybe even years. They could have been words that hurt and cut deep, leaving scars. They could have been words that gave you hope, made you feel loved, expressed understanding and you cherish those words. The words we hear shape who we are and what we think.

In the passage we are looking at today in The Gospel According to Luke, Jesus speaks to us about his words and God’s words. Since chapter 4, Jesus has been announcing and inaugurating the kingdom of God. Then in Luke chapter 7, people were wrestling with who Jesus is. Some people were seeing Jesus clearly for who he is but for others Jesus was still blurry, only partially in focus, or not at all.

Right before chapter 7, Jesus preached a sermon in chapter 6 where he challenged people to build their life on his words. Now in chapter 8, Jesus again gives a teaching about responding to what he says. This teaching is often called the parable of the sower but it’s really the parable of the soils. The sower isn’t the focus of the parable - the receptivity of the soils to the seed of God’s Word is the focus. Jesus gives this teaching as both an exhortation and a warning about responding to God’s word.

The question for each of us this morning is: what am I going to do with what God says? What are you doing with what God says? How do you typically respond? The word “hear” is used nine times in this passage, telling us that the theme and focus is about hearing and responding to God’s Word. It’s not so much about whether we “hear” in the sense that sound waves have entered our ear but what we do with what we have heard. What’s the quality of our hearing? How do we respond? Does it change us? Do we do anything different as a result of our hearing? Or does it go in one ear and out the other? Or do we get excited about what we hear then not follow through?

Where do you belong? (8:1-3, 8:19-21)

On either side of the teaching, Luke presents us with groups of people who have responded to Jesus. They are bookends.

The first bookend in verses 1-3 summarizes Jesus’ ministry starts by summarizing Jesus’ ministry. What’s he doing? Verse 1 says he was going through the cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. Jesus’ mission includes both words and deeds. He proclaims and brings the kingdom of God. He tells people the good news of the kingdom and shows them what it looks like when God is king - when his rule and reign invade our world.

Luke also lists who is accompanying Jesus on this kingdom mission. The Twelve apostles are with him - these are the twelve disciples whom he appointed in chapter 6 to be his official witnesses and representatives. And there are also many women following Jesus. Three are named specifically: Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Susanna. Luke is the only gospel writer to name women this early. But all four gospels name women as witnesses of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial and of the empty tomb later and they either encounter heavenly messengers or Jesus himself. Many of these women started following Jesus in Galilee and kept following him all the way to Jerusalem where he was killed. Mary Magdalene is actually the first person to see Jesus resurrected.

Including women in such a prominent position both as followers and as witnesses was unique and actually unheard of. They are not screened out of the gospel accounts but are named and shown to be primary characters. Luke specifically says that some of the women had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities. Mary Magdalene had seven demons cast out of her. Jesus’ ministry of release and restoration had touched their lives. Jesus made a difference in their lives. Here we see that they provide for Jesus’ mission financially out of their means. This is their thankful response to what Jesus has done in their lives. Some of these women are examples of the rich humbly responding to Jesus.

The Twelve apostles have a wide variety of different backgrounds and these women have different backgrounds. But it doesn’t matter your gender or your background. What matters is responding to Jesus with faith and devotion. Being “with Jesus” is the essence of discipleship.

The second bookend also emphasizes responding to Jesus. In verses 19-21, Jesus is teaching in a house with a large crowd gathered around him. His mother and brothers come to see him but they can’t reach him. Someone informs Jesus that his family members are standing outside, desiring to see him. Jesus takes the opportunity to teach a lesson. He says, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.” Jesus is not rejecting the family he grew up in but is showing us where our priority should be. Our primary family is other people who have heard God’s word and do it. Our primary family is other followers of Jesus.

You will have parents, siblings, and other relatives who hear God’s word and don’t do it. Jesus is saying that you are less of a family with them than you are with others who hear God’s word and do it. Those who don’t obey God’s word may reject you for doing so, they may not approve of your choices or lifestyle, they may ridicule you for it and make fun of you. Some of you have perhaps lived this reality where you have found your church family a place of comfort and safety compared to the family you grew up with.

Often we can treat our church family as our less real family. We can treat our church family as optional. We can see our church family as a family we are somehow less committed to and less responsible to than the family we grew up with. We might say statements like, “I need to do what’s best for my family” and when we say that, we don’t mean our church family. We put a priority on doing what’s best for our spouse or kids rather than doing what’s best for the family of God. The Bible certainly doesn’t tell us to neglect our spouse, kids, or the family we grew up with. But Jesus is clear here where our priority should be.

Do you believe the person sitting next to you is your brother or sister in Christ? They are really your brother or sister. You have the same heavenly Father as them. That’s what makes you family. Do you see other believers as your mother or father in Christ? The apostle Paul said he was a father to Timothy even though they weren’t biologically related. Where do you see your primary place of belonging? Who’s your family? Where do you feel most at home? Where do you feel you really belong? Jesus puts the priority on the family of God above any other family relations.

Seeing the church as our primary family helps us obey God’s word when it’s hard. It gives us strength and comfort when obeying God means we might lose relationships even with the family we grew up with.

The two bookends of this passage are about the community of people responding in faith to what Jesus says. Let’s now look at the parable of the soils.

Responding to God’s Word (8:4-15)

When a great crowd had gathered around Jesus from various towns, he taught them with parables. We may sometimes think of parables as similar to sermon illustrations - a picture that helps explain an idea or concept. That’s not what a parable is.

The word “parable” comes from two Greek words: “para” which means “next to” and “ballo” which means to “throw, cast, or put”. So when they are combined in the word “parable”, it means something that is put next to or alongside. It’s a saying, teaching, or story that is set alongside something else. In Jesus’ parables, he is setting a say, teaching, or story alongside his mission to proclaim and bring the kingdom of God. Jesus sets them alongside what he is doing and what is happening in order to interpret and explain what he is doing and what is happening. In this case, Jesus sets this story of the four soils alongside how people are responding to the kingdom that he is proclaiming and bringing. Certain elements in the parable correspond to reality. They are symbolic. But not every element is symbolic.

So we see in this parable the seed corresponds to the word of God and the four soils correspond to different responses to that word. This parable explains the different responses to Jesus. Everyone is hearing the same thing. They are all hearing him announce the kingdom. But they are not responding in the same way.

The disciples don’t get the parable at first so they ask Jesus what it means. Then Jesus says something which may sound a bit strange at first. In verse 10 he says:

“To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’ (Luke 8:10)

Is Jesus trying to keep the kingdom of God a secret? That doesn’t seem to make any sense because in verse 1 we are told he went through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.

The word “secrets” is the Greek word musterion which sounds like our English word “mystery”. But when the Bible talks about the mystery of the kingdom, it isn’t talking about a conundrum we can’t solve or some sort of riddle or puzzle that no one can understand. It’s talking about something that was once hidden but has now been revealed.

What was hidden about the kingdom that is now being revealed by and through Jesus? Well people thought the kingdom would come in power and in glory. They thought that the kingdom of God would be obvious because the Messiah would be victorious over all Israel’s enemies. But Jesus knows that he will first suffer then enter into his glory. There is first death then resurrection and glory. In Luke 24, Jesus will make clear to his disciples that this is what the Old Testament taught: the Messiah would first suffer then enter his glory. Those who have ears to hear and eyes to see can see that the kingdom of God is coming through Jesus even though it’s coming in a much different way than was expected.

Jesus here quotes from Isaiah chapter 6 where the prophet was given his mission from God but is told his preaching of God’s Word will not lead to faith and obedience. Instead, people will remain dull, deaf, blind, and unresponsive. They won’t turn to God. When Jesus was just a baby, a man named Simeon told Jesus’ mother, Mary, that not everyone would receive Jesus. Some would fall because of him and would oppose him. And he predicted Jesus’ suffering.

Through Jesus, God’s once hidden purpose is now revealed. To some, Jesus isn’t fulfilling expectations. But to those who have ears to hear, they are nodding their heads as Jesus speaks. They see what Jesus is talking about. They are tracking with Jesus. They are understanding and seeing what Jesus is saying about the kingdom and what it looks like. They see Jesus as the one bringing it. For those with eyes to see and ears to hear, the signs of the kingdom of God are there even if it’s different than expected.

Jesus speaks in parables to test people’s soil. Parables both conceal and reveal. They put responsibility on the hearer to understand, go deeper, and apply the meaning. Many will hear what Jesus is saying but won’t grasp the significance and thus will miss the implications.

Do you have ears to hear and eyes to see what God is doing? Many in Jesus’ day said they wanted God’s kingdom but they really wanted their own kingdom because when the kingdom of God came, they missed it or rejected it. They wanted their own personal version of the kingdom. John the Baptist was struggling with this in chapter 7. He thought Jesus was the Messiah, the King, but he’s sitting in prison and wondering: “Jesus, are you the one to come or should we expect another?” What he thought the kingdom of God would be and what he was experiencing didn’t go together. “If the kingdom of God is here, then why am I sitting in prison under a corrupt ruler for preaching God’s word?”

We often miss what Jesus is doing in our lives and around us because we want him to give us our kingdom, not his. Consider what your prayers sound like. What do you ask for? That’s the kingdom you want Jesus to build. Is it his or yours?

Jesus groups people’s responses to him into four types of soil. In doing so, he tells us the greatest obstacles and threats to following him. If you were to list out the greatest threats to your faith in God, what would they be? If you had to answer what the greatest enemies are against your obedience to God’s Word, what would you say? What are the biggest barriers to your salvation? Jesus tells us here.

The first type of soil has a hard heart. The word of God doesn’t penetrate it at all. The seed of the word falls on hard ground and Satan takes it away before it does anything. In 2 Corinthians 4, Paul says, “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor 4:3-4). The result is that they do not believe and aren’t saved. Satan’s tactics of lies and temptation blind us from even wanting God’s rule and reign in our lives. That’s the first enemy. So ask yourself: do you want God in your life? If yes, then God has overcome your hard heart. If no, then Satan is keeping you from him and I’d love to pray against that after service so please come talk to me.

The second type of soil hears the word of God and initially receives it with joy, but then when the time of testing comes, they fall away. “The time of testing” refers to times of opposition to our faith. It means the person believed until it became hard to believe because of outward pressure. They fear the rejection, hostility, and opposition of the world. This describes shallow and superficial faith. Jesus says it has no root. It’s on shallow soil.

The barrier to following Jesus for this soil is what others think or what others will do. If you are this soil, you perhaps get excited about doing what God says but when the time comes, you fear other people’s rejection, ridicule, or criticism more than fearing God. You care more about having the world’s acceptance than God’s. You don’t do what God says in order to belong, be liked, be accepted, or be respected. Instead of holding onto what God says, you hold onto what others think of you or can do to you. You don’t want to bear the consequences from the world for following Jesus.

The third type of soil hears the word of God but then faith is choked out by the cares and riches and pleasures of life. This again is a response that doesn’t last. The pursuit of the things of this world becomes a higher priority than God. They are weeds that choke out response to God’s word.

If you are this soil, your barrier to following Jesus is what this world offers you. You get more wrapped up with money and things than with following God. There’s a reason that Jesus warns about money so much. It’s not that money is bad, but the love of money is. Or the love of stuff. The love of what this world offers. We chase it, we pursue it, we prioritize it, we value it, we desire it. Most of it isn’t bad in and of itself, but it’s when we love it, chase it, pursue it, prioritize it, value it, or desire it above God. Instead of holding onto what God says, we hold onto what we have or what we want to have. We let the cares of bills, house maintenance, car maintenance, and everything else choke out God’s word. We let the pursuit of money and pleasure in things push the pursuit of God and his kingdom out of our lives.

The fourth type of soil hears the word of God then holds it fast in their heart and bears fruit with patience and endurance. This is good soil. This soil has a heart that is soft and responsive to God’s Word and they hold onto it. They do not fall away when opposition comes, but endure it. They do not let the cares, riches, and pleasures of this life choke out their faith.

Four types of soil. Only one responds to the word rightly. This isn’t to say that only one fourth of people who hear God’s word will respond - that’s not the point. The point is about why people are responding differently. As a farmer sows, he sows the same seed everywhere but not all of it comes up.

I want to summarize the big idea for this passage like this: Align what you do with what God says. The good soil people don’t just say “I believe what God says.” It’s more than agreeing with facts. They act in accordance with what they have heard. Verse 21 says they hear the word of God and do it.

This parable both warns us and exhorts us. It warns us about what can get in the way of aligning what we do with what God says and the consequences. Jesus states a proverb in verse 16 about how no one puts a lamp under a jar or under the bed but on a stand so it may give light. Then he makes a point that everything secret and hidden will be made known and come to the light. Then he gives a warning in verse 18 saying, “Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.” The basic point is that what someone has aligned themselves with will eventually be brought to the light. And those who have aligned themselves with God’s Word will receive more. But those who have aligned themselves with the world - with the opinions and things of this world - will have even that taken away.

This parable also exhorts us to take our response to God’s Word seriously. Jesus is pushing us toward self-reflection and self-examination. What am I doing with what God says? Am I aligning what I do with what God says? Or am I aligning what I do with something else?

We need to align what we do with what God says. So what does God say?

• Align what you do with what God says is true. Specifically, align what you do with what God says is true about himself and about you.
• Align what you do with what God says he will do.
• Align what you do with what God says to do.

What’s the word Jesus is sowing? It’s the gospel. We are aligning ourselves with the gospel.

Difficulty in aligning what we do with what God says is an ancient problem. The first attack on God’s Word happened in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, the first humans. That’s where Satan first attacked. He questioned God’s Word and got them to question it too. Will Adam and Eve align their lives with what God says? Or with what Satan says? They decided they didn’t want God in charge and that was expressed by doing what God said not to do.

Israel too was called to obey God’s Word. They were given the Ten Commandments as the basis. But they constantly fell out of alignment with what God said. The prophets called them back to alignment with God’s Word but Israel didn’t listen.

Jesus was always aligned with what God said. John 1 even calls Jesus the Word of God. John 1:14 says the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus is God’s Word who became flesh. Jesus is the embodiment of God’s Word. If we want to know what God says is true about himself and humanity, look at Jesus. If we want to know what God says he will do, look at Jesus. If we want to know what God says we should do, look at Jesus. He is God’s Word in human form. What does it look like to align our life with what God says? Look at Jesus. Jesus is God’s word in the flesh - God’s commands, God’s promises, God’s revelation of himself. The written word reveals what God is like; the living word reveals what God is like in human form. Ultimately, we align what we do with Jesus.

Think back to the soils. What are you most concerned about in life?

• Are you most concerned with what others think of you?
• Are you most concerned with how much you have?
• Or are you most concerned with doing what God says?

Does God come into the picture...

• ...when you make decisions about money?
• ...when you make decisions about time?
• ...when you think about the future?
• ...in how you treat people?

Are your behaviors in these areas aligned with what God says? What determines your actions? Is it the opinions of others? Is it the pursuit of worldly cares, riches, and pleasures? What is your life aligned with? The only way to live in alignment with reality, with what is real and true, is to live in alignment with what God says.

How do you know if you are a child of God? If you do what the Father says. How do you know you are part of Jesus’ kingdom? If you do what the King says. This isn’t about perfection but about the pattern of our lives. Is our pattern one of making the effort to align what we do with what God says? Or is our pattern more aligning ourselves with what people think of us and what we have?

Here’s the thing: We will all fall short of fully aligning our lives with what God says. We are all failing at this at some level. Sin is doing what God says not to do or not doing what God says to do. Sin is not aligning what we do with what God says. There’s no way to do this perfectly. The good news is that Jesus, the Word, became flesh and died in our place so we can be forgiven. One of the major points God makes in his Word is that we all sin and fall short and are in need of forgiveness. God’s Word doesn’t only say what we need to do. It also says what God has done to take care of our sin problem. Jesus shows us God’s plan and promise for us: that all who turn to him will be washed clean of their sin. God’s word all points to the good news about Jesus Christ.

That good news is what we have that we can share with those around us. The main point of this passage isn’t about sharing the gospel with others, but it still helps us with it. What is the sower responsible for? Sowing the seed. They aren’t responsible for the soil. The seed will do its work if it lands in the right soil. So when it comes to talking to others about Jesus, our responsibility is to spread the seed of the gospel without worrying about the soil. We often don’t sow the gospel seed because we think, “Oh they aren’t interested” or “they don’t want to hear it” or “they aren’t into religious stuff”. Or we are afraid of how they will react. But we don’t have to worry about what kind of soil they are; we just need to spread the seed of the gospel and leave the results to God.

As a church, God’s Word is part of our name. We are Good News Church - we are a family and community formed by the gospel, Jesus’ words. That’s what’s at the center. It’s what brings us together. It’s what defines us. It’s what shapes us. It’s what transforms us. It’s what determines how we live and what we do.