Jesus Teaches Through Stories
Matthew 13:1 MSG At about that same time Jesus left the house and sat on the beach. 2 In no time at all a crowd gathered along the
shoreline, forcing him to get into a boat. 3 Using the boat as a pulpit,
he addressed his congregation, telling stories.
Jesus Teaches Through Stories
"What do you make of this? A farmer planted seed. 4 As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road, and birds ate it. 5 Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn't put down roots, 6 so
when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. 7 Some fell in the weeds; as it
came up, it was strangled by the weeds. 8 Some fell on good earth, and produced a
harvest beyond his wildest dreams.
Jesus Teaches Through Stories
9 “Are you listening to this? Really listening?"
10 The disciples came up and asked, "Why do you tell stories?" 11 He
replied, "You've been given insight into God's kingdom. You know
how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight; it hasn't been
given to them.
Jesus Teaches Through Stories
12 Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the
insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no
readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears..
Jesus Teaches Through Stories
13 That’s why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the
people toward receptive insight. In their present state they can stare till doomsday
and not see it, listen till they're blue in the face and not get it
Jesus Teaches Through Stories
14 I don't want Isaiah's forecast repeated all over again:
Your ears are open but you don't hear a thing.
Your eyes are awake but you don't see a thing.
Jesus Teaches Through Stories
15 The people are blockheads!They stick their fingers in their ears
so they won't have to listen;They screw their eyes shut so they
won't have to look,so they won't have to deal with me face-to-face
and let me heal them.
Jesus Teaches Through Stories
16 “But you have God-blessed eyes--eyes that see! And God-
blessed ears--ears that hear! 17 A lot of people, prophets and humble believers among them, would have given anything to see what you are
seeing, to hear what you are hearing, but never had the chance.
Jesus Teaches Through Stories
18 “Study this story of the farmer planting seed. 19 When anyone hears news of the kingdom and
doesn't take it in, it just remains on the surface, and so the Evil One
comes along and plucks it right out of that person's heart. This is the seed the farmer scatters on the
road.
Jesus Teaches Through Stories
20 “The seed cast in the gravel--this is the person who hears and
instantly responds with enthusiasm. 21 But there is no soil
of character, and so when the emotions wear off and some
difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it.
Jesus Teaches Through Stories
22 "The seed cast in the weeds is the person who hears the kingdom
news, but weeds of worry and illusions about getting more and wanting everything under the sun
strangle what was heard, and nothing comes of it.
Jesus Teaches Through Stories
23 “The seed cast on good earth is the person who hears and takes in the News, and then
produces a harvest beyond his wildest dreams."
Jesus Teaches Through Stories
24 He told another story. "God's kingdom is like a farmer who
planted good seed in his field. 25 That night, while his hired men were asleep, his enemy sowed
thistles all through the wheat and slipped away before dawn.
Jesus Teaches Through Stories
26 When the first green shoots appeared and the grain began to form, the thistles showed up, too. 27 “The farmhands came to the
farmer and said, 'Master, that was clean seed you planted, wasn't it?
Where did these thistles come from?'
Jesus Teaches Through Stories
28 “He answered, 'Some enemy did this.'
"The farmhands asked, 'Should we weed out the thistles?'
29 “He said, 'No, if you weed the thistles, you'll pull up the
wheat, too.
Jesus Teaches Through Stories
30 Let them grow together until harvest time. Then I'll instruct the harvesters to pull up the
thistles and tie them in bundles for the fire, then gather the
wheat and put it in the barn.'"
Jesus Teaches Through Stories
God’s Kingdom is a situation where God is King and there are subjects that bow before and serve Him. Jesus, God’s Son, is Lord and
Ruler of the Church, hence God’s Kingdom is found on earth in the church. We know in the end, on that great judgment day the good
and bad will be separated.
Jesus Teaches Through Stories
One will go to eternal glory and the other to eternal damnation. Is he
saying in this story that there should be no church discipline? I
don’t think so, but if or when discipline is needed it better be done carefully, with love and
according to what is laid out in the epistles of the New Testament.
Jesus Teaches Through Stories
Matthew 13:31 MSG Another story. "God's kingdom is like a pine nut that a farmer plants. 32 It is quite small as seeds
go, but in the course of years it grows into a huge pine tree, and eagles build nests in it."
Jesus Teaches Through Stories
God’s Kingdom, the Church, started small in comparison.
3000 souls out of the population of the world started
the Church on the Day of Pentecost after Jesus
resurrection.
Jesus Teaches Through Stories
We will see in the book of Acts in our reading in March that the
number grew rather quickly. So what started out small, like a seed,
grew into a huge tree giving shelter, nourishment and safety to
all who believe Jesus is The Christ.
Jesus Teaches Through Stories
Just like a tree provides the same for birds. At the
appropriate time only God the Father knows the Kingdom’s
subjects will be taken from this earth to their new home in
heaven.
Jesus Teaches Through Stories
Matthew 13:33 MSG Another story. "God's kingdom is like
yeast that a woman works into the dough for dozens of loaves
of barley bread--and waits while the dough rises."
Jesus Teaches Through Stories
I like this view of the Kingdom. Like yeast, the Kingdom, the
Church, permeates throughout the dough, the world,
spreading out and growing so it touches everyone with the
King’s love.
Jesus Teaches Through Stories
Yeast affects all the dough, just as the Church should have an
effect on the entire world. Isn’t that our goal as servants
of Jesus?
Jesus Teaches Through Stories
Luke 8:16 MSG “No one lights a lamp and then covers it with a washtub or shoves it under the bed. No, you set it up on a lamp stand so those who enter the room can see their way.
Jesus Teaches Through Stories
17 We’re not keeping secrets; we're telling them. We're not hiding
things; we're bringing everything out into the open. 18 So be careful
that you don't become misers of what you hear. Generosity begets
generosity. Stinginess impoverishes."
Jesus Teaches Through Stories
Like yeast has an effect on all the dough in comes into
contact with, light affects whatever it shines on. We as subjects of Christ Kingdom need to hold Him up high.
Jesus Teaches Through Stories
We don’t want to budget our light, Jesus our Savior, and
become a penny pincher. No! We ought to be generous
letting our Light shine everywhere.
Jesus Teaches Through Stories
In letting our yeast and light affect those around us we will keep the
tree, God’s Kingdom growing and providing shelter, nourishment and
safety in Jesus. In doing this it will also accomplish what Jesus
commands in:
Jesus Teaches Through Stories
Matthew 6:19 MSG "Don't hoard treasure down here
where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or--
worse!--stolen by burglars.
Jesus Teaches Through Stories
20 Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it's safe from moth and
rust and burglars. 21 It’s obvious, isn't it? The place
where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be,
and end up being.
Jesus Teaches Through Stories
Doesn’t the old saying, “Home is Where the Heart is” ring true? If your heart is truly
with Jesus your home will be with Him. How quickly our “stuff” here on earth can be
gone!
Jesus Teaches Through Stories
Our stuff could be stolen, wiped out by a tornado, or an ice
storm. We better make sure we’re putting all our important stuff in Jesus care in heaven.