Sermon(Mt 13:1-9): Good soil

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025286863

 

>> 1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat there; and the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they had not much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6 but when the sun rose they were scorched; and since they had no root they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell upon thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears, let him hear.” (Mt 13:1-9) <<

 

My brethren, is stupidity a sin? My brethren, can't some people accept the gospel because they are really stupid? Of course, some learned religioners can achieve their religious purposes in Buddhism, because Buddhism proclaims that a man can reach Nirvana, that is, can religiously saved, only if he understands its (absurd) doctrines and mortifies all his desire and greed, which only a few ascetic Buddhist monks can do. Of course, I do not agree to Buddhism. I'm saying this because Buddhism is so unfair to the ignorant compared to the learned. But Christianity is not so. You can't be saved just by knowledge and wisdom in Christianity. Some doctrines of Christianity are very hard to understand, nevertheless the salvation of Christianity is open to both the learned and the ignorant even if they do not know them thoroughly. "Jesus is the God and the Only Son of God the Father. He became a man, suffered on the cross to save all human beings, died and rose again on the 3rd day of his death. Whoever believes in him as the Savior will be saved." My brethren, anyone will be saved if he confesses that faith, obeys the words of Jesus, and loves God and man. This doctrine can be accepted as truth by anyone who opens his heart. The contents of Christian faith are not too difficult for ordinary people to understand like difficult math problems or difficult English sentences. Nor does the salvation of Christianity require great efforts and achievements as required when you apply for a popular department at a prestigious university that requires of you a score in the top 0.1% in the nationwide SAT. Christian salvation is easily offered to anyone who opens his heart. In Christianity, a child can be saved if it opens its heart while a university professor cannot be saved if he closes his heart. Jesus Christ the Savior, too, puts emphasis on human mind. "If any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him. (Rev 3:20)" So not 'knowledge' but 'will' that counts for the salvation of Christianity. Therefore the intelligent Pharisees were far from the salvation, but the repentant publicans ignorant of religious truth were close to the salvation.

 

There is a passage of the Scripture that explains why some people do not accept the words of God and are not saved. Jesus quoted the words of Isaiah, the Old Testament, "This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which says: 'You shall indeed hear but never understand, and you shall indeed see but never perceive. For this people's heart has grown dull, and their ears are heavy of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should perceive with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn for me to heal them.' (Mt13:14-15)" (In Korean version of the Scripture, the verse was translated not into 'lest they should perceive ...' but into 'for fear that they should perceive ...' I'd rather take it not for 'fear' but for 'reluctance'.) We should not misunderstand the passage and think, 'God retaliates against the sinners by punishing them after he made them stupid and stubborn so that they might hear the words of God but not understand them and remain sinners.' 'This people's heart has grown dull', that is, the cause of the stubbornness (the dullness) of their heart is not God's intervention but the will of the people themselves. So we can take the passage without misunderstanding like this: "This people made themselves stubborn and became dull in hearing and closed their eyes, because they were reluctant to see and hear my (God's) words in order that they might come to me and be healed." In fact, in the German Bible, it reads as follows: "God said, 'They closed their eyes and ears not to understand what they heard and saw. Otherwise they would have come to me and been healed.'" When Stephen told the truth, the Jews cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears, rushed together upon him, cast him out of the city, and stoned him (Acts 7:57-58). So they rejected the proclaimed truth and hurt the messenger of the truth, thinking, 'You seem right. But we hate to hear you. Who made you our teacher?' To stop ears and to close eyes represent the stubborn heart that would not accept as truth whatever is said even if it is 100% truth. In this case, no medicines (no attempts for salvation) work.

 

God does not do meaningless things. He is not One who, making humans' heart stubborn, gives them his words. He first makes his servants preach people the words of truth, whether they hear or not. Jesus proclaimed the gospel to those who were hardheaded, whether they accepted it or not. Rather, through today's passage (Mt 13:14-15), Jesus accurately diagnoses, "You are refusing the gospel not because the gospel is wrong, but because you are so stubborn." Therefore, perhaps some of those who have refused the gospel because of the stubborn heart repented their sins at this saying of Jesus', made their heart meek, and accepted the gospel. (I've dealt with the issue why God hardened Pharaoh's heart and punished him. The word proclaimed for the judgement on the past sins is one thing, and the word proclaimed for the exhortation to repentance and for blessing is another. Above all, the gospel is the word proclaimed for the reconciliation between God and man. God never gives the gospel to people while hardening their heart.)

 

Jesus says of Devil's work as another reason why humans do not accept the word of God. "When any one hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in his heart; this is what was sown along the path. (Mt 13:19)" There are two kinds of people in the world. One is a person who accepts only what he can understand, and the other is a person who, though he can't understand it, accept it as a truth what the speaker says, considering the speaker's character and position. You know antinomy. Two propositions stand in antinomy when they apparently look equally valid but are in contradiction. For example, the proposition, 'God is not in the space,' and the proposition, 'God is in all the space at once,' are contradictory and opposed to each other, but each of them has some validity. The problem is human ability to prove. But some propositions, by their nature, can't be clearly proved however you may try. For example, how can we prove that God has existed from eternity by his own power to be? Can we prove it by mathematical formula? Or by the laws of physics and physical phenomena? You can never do that! But one thing we can admit is that some antinomies can be resolved over time. For example, the first case can be explained as follows: 'God exists in himself, that is, in the dimension of God himself, so he does not exist in the space; however God, if he wants, can set his being in the space, so he can exist in the space.' If we think so, the two theses are not in contradiction or in opposition to each other. As for the second case, we can conclude like this: 'we can't prove the existence of God who absolutely self-exists, that is, subsists, either by mathematics or by logic or by science, but we can just accept it through our faith when God reveals himself to us. Of course, we can infer the existence of God who exists by himself, considering us and the world that can't exist by themselves.'

 

The problem is that a lot of people refuses the truth or the gospel preached by others because they can't understand it. It is natural that a man, if he is not able to prove the existence of God, should leave the door open for the existence of God and believe by referring to various signs in the world. But stupid people, thinking that they must not believe in what can't be proved, reject all Christian truths as well. Of course they take that attitude because they have never met a personal God. He who has ever met him in person can never deny his existence.

 

Jesus says that a wicked one (the Devil) snatches away what is sown in the man who does not understand the words of the kingdom of God (Mt 13:19). Both an elementary school student, a Christian and a university professor, an atheist, can understand the sentence, "God created the world." However the elementary school student thinks it to be a truth while the university professor, a lie. Both have normal linguistic comprehension, but different attitudes toward the authoritative word proclaimed to them. What is the problem? They behave so, because the elementary student admitted that God made him and that he belonged to God, while the university professor did not want to admit it. Stopping ears and closing eyes refer to the heart that hates to accept the declared words of God even if it believes they're true. But some people can understand ‘the word proclaimed’ grammatically, but don't think it is a fact (a truth); because there is a wicked one in them. These people accept the wicked one's authority, so they reject the truth of the gospel that is contrary to the wicked one. A materialist who accepts the authority of matter as contrasted with spirit never regards the gospel as a truth. He who accepts the authority of the vain teachings of Buddhism can never accept the gospel of Christianity, the absolute truth, as a fact. The heart of such men is like the path along which seeds were sown (Mt 13:19). A path is a place on which people walk, not a place where plants can grow. He who, excluding the good God, acknowledges the authority of evil thoughts has the heart like the side of the path. All good truths of Christianity can not work on him. Jesus, through today's words of God, advises those, who have refused the gospel so far, to see what there is in their heart as an authority. Is that theory of physics, or materialism, or pantheism? Everyone, get real! Theories of physics are nothing but the wisdom of God that he used when he created the world; the material matter is a creature God created by his word; and pantheism is a mere human thought. Expel the phantom authorities from your head! Hedonism and mammonism also are evil authorities, so we must eradicate them. Devil strives to set up such authorities in your heart. Jesus’ words of grace come to us as truth when you expel such evil authorities from your heart. The words can take root in you then.

 

Jesus mentioned also rocky ground where plants can't strike root deep. He added an explanation about that kind of man: "As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. (Mt 13:20-21)" There are some Christians who are like a nambi (냄비), which gets hot very easily over fire, but cools down immediately when the fire goes out. Their heart becomes hot quickly when touched, and becomes cool suddenly. You know ddukbagi (뚝배기), which has the opposite nature of nambi. Once heated up, ddukbagi keeps the heat long. Trees in the mountain are easily blown down if they are on the thin soil over a rock. But some trees strike root in the cleft of the rock and do not fall down in the strongest wind. Can they be blown down when they strike root in the strong rock? A house on the sand is a similar analogy to the rocky ground. A house built on the rock is in contrast to a house built on the sand. Yes, my brethren! We must have a root of faith that can overcome the tribulation. Wouldn't it be nice to have a root of faith that could penetrate even rocks? A living tree takes root into even narrow clefts of rocks and lives. All the tribulations and persecutions in the world can not fell us down if we believe in the omnipotent God and his steadfast love. Tribulations and persecutions will last until we die. I can't remove them myself, because they come from outside to me. However the rock-like problems can't be severe obstructions to us if we take root of faith into them. The rocks could hold us fast the more. Those who have overcome all the adversities of life have stronger faith than any other men.

 

Of course, Jesus compares the heart that does not allow the word of God to strike root deep, to rocky ground, and the persecution and the tribulation of the world to the hot sunlight. A man of rocky ground gives up his faith when he meets tribulations. The best medicine will not work if it doesn't fit your constitution. But bad things can be familiar to you if you come in contact with them frequently. If you smoke frequently, the cigarette tastes bitter at first, but later it will taste so good that you can't live without it. So does alcohol. Constitution or taste changes either in positive or in negative direction, if you make an effort. Some Christians have accepted the gospel and been baptized to be saints, but they still have the constitution of worldly body and spirit. When your body and spirit is changed and has the constitution that can take the good medicines of the gospel, you will always say Amen as you hear the words of God. However, those who still have worldly nature feel uncomfortable about the words of grace. They keep trying to vomit them. They feel uncomfortable when they hear such words as dedication, patience, and sacrifice. But If they are changed into Christian human beings, they delight in devotion, perseverance, and sacrifice. We can't remove tribulations and temptations of the world, but they matter little to us if we are true Christians having Christian constitution. Getting a driver's license doesn't meant that you are a good driver. You can be a veteran driver when you have experienced all the difficulties of driving for a long time. If we try to be a man of Christian constitution every day, the words of God take root deep in our heart, so that our faith does not wither but is full of vitality. On the contrary, if a man having a good religious constitution keeps destroying the church, such deeds are incorporated into his constitution. We call it Devil-like constitution, that is, an instrument of Devil. The rocky ground in the biblical text refers to the worldly and demonic mental constitution. If we have such a heart, the words of God can't take root in us. We should be 'church-constitutional' and 'Holy Spirit – constitutional', or should be disposed to live for the church and the Holy Spirit.)

 

Jesus defines 'the seed sown among thorns' as 'a man who is unfruitful thanks to the cares of the world and temptation of wealth'. Some Christians do not have other wicked authorities in their heart, but serve only God and are of Christian constitution, that is, they are neither roadside nor rocky ground; yet their faith does not grow. If seeds fall upon thorns, they may sprout, but can't grow well because they will be robbed of sunlight and nutrients. Christians of such kind could accept dedication, patience, and sacrifice gladly. They could be equal to a good Christian life. But they love the world as well as God and his words. The love of God and that of world rival each other in them. Strictly speaking, they have both a Christian constitution and a world constitution. They are ready to accept both good worldly things and God's words. However they become sorrowful when the words of God command them to give up the worldly things. (Jesus told a young rich man to sell his possess and give to the poor and follow him, but the man went away sorrowful. (Mt 19:16-22)) Some anxiety or other, or sometimes worthless anxiety grows like weed in them and makes them weary. They think that they can obtain the eternal life by the word of God, and the secular blessings by their ability and worldly means. So they could give up God's way in order to earn money and to achieve great things in the world. And they will be sorrowful when they see their inability. They serve God not in the perfect way God wants but in their way and by their efforts. Their decisive weak point is that they produce no fruits (Mt 13:22). Of course, they may have produced many worldly fruits, such as the fruit of money, the fruit of community service, and the fruit of academic degrees. However, the problem is that they have no fruit of faith. They made little contribution to the construction of the church because their companies were in bad circumstances; they didn't served in the choir or in Sunday school because they must study to enter a prestigious university; they couldn't take on any responsibility in the church because they were too busy with worldly things. Christians lacking complete and pure faith in God! Christians who have forgotten their mission! Christians who are like salt that has lost its saltness (Mk 9:50)! Christians too greedy for worldly things! These have a heart like thorns. All kinds of useless weeds and thorns are growing in their heart, so that the mission of God can find no space to take root in. You will be good soil at once if you set the goal of your life to the mission of God. You begin to yield fruits when you look to only the God. Sometimes hundredfold, sometimes sixtyfold, and sometimes thirtyfold.

 

My brethren, practice circumcision on your hard heart so that it can be a meek heart. Drive out false authorities like scarecrows from you. And be changed from world-constitution or Devil-constitution to genuine Christian constitution. Lastly, please have perfect faith in God and do not forget the mission of God for you. And have a good friendly heart toward God and man always. This is the process of making your heart good soil. If your heart is good soil, the words of God become living seeds, sprout and grow well to yield a lot of good fruits through you.

 

May your heart be good soil and yield a lot of valuable fruits.

 

Chong Tack Kim

                                        - Dongtoma Sunshine Church -