Weeds, Stones & The Word

The Holy Gospel According to Matthew 13

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg.

The Holy Gospel according to Matthew chapter 13 verses 1 -9 and 18 -23. That same day, when Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake, such large crowds gathered around them that He got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore.

Then He told them many things in parables, saying,. A farmer went out to sow his seed, and as he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places where it did not have much soil.

It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.

Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop, a hundred, sixty, thirty times what was sown. He who has ears, let him hear. So listen then to what the parable of the sower means. When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.

This is the seed sown along the path. The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time.

When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.

But the one who received the seed that fell on the good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop yielding a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what is sown. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Why Jesus Taught in Parables to Conceal the Kingdom from Unbelievers

You may be seated. In today's gospel text, we are again introduced to Jesus' first and maybe most well-known parable. Now, there is a general misunderstanding about Jesus' parables that needs to be cleared up because why Jesus taught in parables is important to understand in order to understand this parable.

Now, the common misunderstanding about parables is that Jesus told them in order to help people understand what he was teaching.

Wrong.

That is not why Jesus told parables. So we're going to apply our three rules for sound biblical exegesis, and they are, remember them? Context, context, context. And we're going to go backwards a little bit into the gospel of Matthew so we can take a look at what's going on.

And you'll notice if you read through the gospel of Matthew, chapter 12 is a transition chapter, a transition where Jesus goes from being a popular preacher to being one who's actually persecuted. For instance, in the beginning of Matthew chapter 12, you'll notice that there's a little bit of a battle between Jesus and the Pharisees regarding whether or not the disciples are breaking the Sabbath.

Why? Well, they were walking through a grain field, and they were picking some of the grain and doing this with it and then eating the kernels, right? And, well, that's harvesting, and you can't harvest on the Sabbath.

Now, it might seem like kind of a trivial thing, but in reality, the fact that the Pharisees brought this up, it's deadly serious because the punishment for being a Sabbath breaker in Israel is what?

Death.

Okay? So this was not a small thing. Then you get to chapter 12, verse 22, and Jesus heals a guy, drives a demon out. Let me read this to you. Chapter 12, verse 22,. Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see.

And all the people were astonished and said, Could this be the son of David? That's code talk for the Messiah, right? But the Pharisees, you can just see them doing this, right? But the Pharisees, when they heard this, they said, It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.

So Jesus is literally setting people free from bondage to the devil, the type of bondage that you see like in the movie The Exorcist, right? Where somebody is literally possessed by a demon, and they see the miracles, they don't deny that he's performing them, but they say he's doing this by the power of the devil himself.

Then, a little bit later, in the same chapter, it says this,. Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you. What has Jesus been doing?

He's been healing people. He's been feeding multitudes. He's been giving sight to the blind. He's been driving demons out of people. And they come along and they say, It's not enough. Show us a sign.

Right?

So Jesus answered, A wicked and adulterous generation asked for a miraculous sign, but none will be given to it except for the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

The men of Nineveh. Now, this gets really fun. It gets real personal, right? Because remember the story of Jonah. Jonah was sent to Nineveh. Nineveh, by the way, think of them as like the ultimate terrorist nation, if you would.

Their armies were so cruel and so brutal that if you were conquered by them, and you were unfortunate enough to actually survive the military encounter, they would bury you in the sands of the desert out there, up to your neck and let you starve to death.

You know, and die that way.

Just brutal guys.

I mean, and the Ninevites, they were not Jewish boys. They were pagans. They worshiped false gods. And so Jesus kind of throws down here.

He says,.

The men of Nineveh. Yeah, those pagan guys. They will stand up at the judgment with this generation, and they will condemn it. Yeah, this is not good, right?

You know?

So this is like, this would be the equivalent of saying that on the day of judgment, the Nazis are going to rise up, and they're going to condemn the United States. That's kind of like, you know, in the ballpark of what Jesus is saying here.

All right?

The men of Nineveh. So you kind of get the idea. Jesus is now experiencing in his ministry full-on persecution, unbelief. It's unbridled. And so Jesus's solution is not to make his teaching more easy to understand.

No.

Jesus's solution to this type of unbelief is to make his preaching to be almost impossible to understand. That's what's really going on. So that brings us then into chapter 13. The context is growing hostility to Jesus and his message that Jesus begins teaching in parables.

As you're about to see, Jesus didn't teach in parables to make his teaching more understandable.

This is what I said.

He taught in parables to make his teaching impossible for some to understand. And Matthew chapter 13, verses 10 through 17, you'll notice that's the section that got omitted from today's pericope. Let me read this to you.

Okay, so Jesus tells the story of the soils, right? There's good soil, there's bad soil, there's rocks, there's weeds, and all this kind of stuff. And everyone goes, what? We don't get it. So the disciples come to him and they say, why are you speaking to the people in parables?

Right?

And Jesus replied, get this. The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has, will be taken from him.

This is why I speak to them in parables.

Here it is.

Those seeing, they do not see.

Uh-huh.

Those seeing, they do not see. Though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah. You will be ever hearing, but never understanding. You will be ever seeing, but never perceiving.

For this people's hearts has become calloused. They hardly hear with their ears. They have closed their eyes. Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and I would heal them.

But blessed are your eyes because they see, your ears because they hear. For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men long to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.

So did you catch that? Jesus' parables are designed to make his teachings to be almost impossible to understand. So, now notice also this, that Matthew assumes that you are a disciple. He assumes that you believe in Jesus.

He assumes that you want to know the secrets of the kingdom of God. So he's going to give you the inside skinny. He's going to give you the inside scoop. What the disciples got to hear as to what the parable means, he's going to share that with you with the belief that you really want to understand these things.

That you do not want to be one of those people who is ever seeing, but never perceiving. Ever hearing, but never understanding. That's the assumption. So, listen then to what the parable of the sower means.

Jesus gives us the interpretation. No guessing required.

At all.

This is kind of nice. And by the way, this little crib sheet that gives us the definition, the interpretation of the parables, gives us the understanding of how then to unpack the future parables that we'll get to over the summer.

Alright, so here we go. Listen then to what the parable of the sower means. When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.

This is the seed sown along the path. Which then begs the question, what is the message of the kingdom that Jesus wants us to hear? What is the message of the kingdom? Do you all remember the preaching of John the Baptist?

What was his message? Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And what was Jesus' message after he's baptized and he's had his little encounter with the devil in the wilderness? Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Of course the kingdom of heaven was at hand. The king was present, right? And so the message of the kingdom is a message of repentance. Repentance from sin. Turning to God. Being forgiven. This is the message of the kingdom.

Paul summarizes the message this way in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Here's what he says. Now brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel, the good news that I preached to you. Which you received and on which you have taken your stand.

By this good news you are saved. If you hold firmly to the word that I preached to you. Otherwise you have believed in vain. For what I received I pass on to you as of first importance. That Christ died for our sins.

According to the scriptures. That he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. And that he appeared to Peter and then to the twelve.

That's right.

The message of the kingdom is that Christ died for our sins. A good summary of this is found in the Nicene Creed. You want to know what the message of the kingdom is? Well, here's its anthem. It's an old one.

I like old things. I believe in one God. The Father, the Almighty, the maker of heaven and earth. And of all things visible and invisible. The message of the kingdom begins with the pronouncement that we are created by God.

Right?

We're not accidents. We didn't evolve from monkeys. We are here because God made us. That's right. And in one Lord Jesus Christ. The only begotten Son of God. Begotten of his Father before all worlds.

God of God. That's who Jesus is. He's God of God.

Light of light.

Very God of very God. He's begotten.

Not made.

Being of what substance with the Father by whom all things were made. And here's the fun part. Who for us men. And for our salvation. That's right. The message of the kingdom of God. Is the good news that God became man for us.

And for our salvation. In other words. We find ourselves in dire need of being saved. Now the question is saved from what? What are we being saved from? A bad hair day? Are we being saved from financial ruin?

Are we being saved from a toxic relationship? What are we being saved from? The answer is the wrath of God. That's what we're being saved from. And you're saying. But God is love.

You mean.

What do you mean? The wrath of God.

The wrath of God.

Against your sin. You were born dead in trespasses and sins. You were born a child of the devil.

And weekly. Daily.

Hour by hour.

Minute by minute. You do not love God with your whole heart. You do not love your neighbor as yourself. And what does this earn you? Well God's justice demands an eternity in hell for this rebellion.

But.

As the Nicene Creed correctly summarizes scripture. The only begotten son of God. Who for us men and for our salvation. He came down from heaven. He was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary.

And he was made man. And he was crucified also for us. Under Pontius Pilate. He suffered. He was buried. And the third day he rose again according to the scriptures. And ascended into heaven. And sits at the right hand of the father.

And he will come again with glory to judge both the living. And the dead. So the message of the kingdom. Is all about the king.

Jesus.

Son of David. Son of God. Born of the Virgin Mary. Who for us men. For our salvation. Came down.

Was crucified.

For us. Repent. And believe this good news. Or as Ephesians chapter 2. Summarizes it. Says this. As for you. You're talking to Christians.

You.

You were dead in your transgressions and sins. In which you used to live. When you followed the ways of this world. And the ruler of the kingdom of the air. The spirit who is now at work. And those who are disobedient.

All of us lived among them at one time. Gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature. And following its desires and thoughts. And like the rest. All of mankind. We were by nature. Objects of wrath. It doesn't matter.

If you were born in the United States of America. Canada. The United Kingdom.

Papua New Guinea.

It doesn't matter. Each and every one of us. Descendants of Adam and Eve. Were born dead in transgressions and sins. And were by nature. Objects of God's wrath.

But. But.

And here's the fun part. I always like the word but.

Okay.

Remember this. But is one of these words. That has this funny little thing that it does. It has a tendency to erase the things that came right before it.

Right?

We were by nature. Objects of God's wrath.

But. Oh good.

We can get rid of that.

Right? How?

Here's what it says. But because of his. God's great love for us. God who is rich in mercy. He has made us alive with Christ. And even when we were dead in transgressions. It is by grace you have been saved.

That's right. God is merciful. And he's gracious. Even to somebody as rotten as me. As rotten as you.

Right?

An object of God's wrath. And God has raised us up with Christ. And has seated us with him in heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. In order that in the coming ages. He might show the incomparable riches of his grace.

Expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. That's right. Jesus is the ultimate expression of God's love and kindness for us sinners. For it is by grace you have been saved. And it is through faith.

And it is not from yourselves. It's not from you. This is the gift of God. It's not by works so that no one can boast. That's the message of the kingdom.

Right?

That's the message. And so here we are. We're learning this parable. When the message of the kingdom comes.

Okay.

The sower sows out this good seed.

The seed of the gospel.

The good news.

The forgiveness of sins. One by Jesus. God's love and mercy. And some of this good news. Falls along a path. And the person says.

I'm a good person.

I don't need a crucified and risen savior. I don't like the idea of blood on the cross. And you're saying that God has wrath. And I don't know.

Right?

So the good news of the kingdom. Falls on the hard path. It's like cement.

Right?

And there it is. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. And along comes the devil.

Just like the birds.

The gospel then becomes bird food. And Satan takes that quick.

Get that gospel out of there.

Right?

Because Satan knows. If he doesn't get rid of that gospel.

You know.

Even seed has this weird way of growing in the strangest places. Even in cement. He finds the cracks. And finds the soil.

And starts to take root.

Satan knows that's dangerous stuff.

Why?

Because Satan doesn't want you to believe and trust in Jesus. For the forgiveness of your sins. His desire. Is for you to spend eternity in hell with him. In the lake of fire. And he knows that that gospel message.

That good news. If it takes root. Oh no. You might actually be brought to penitent faith in Jesus. For the forgiveness of your sins. So he comes and takes it away.

Right?

So that's one soil.

Okay. Next.

The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places.

Is a rock. By the way.

You farmers out here. Are rocks good to have in your field?

No.

Okay.

Just checking.

I just want to make sure.

You know.

I've never farmed.

Okay.

I'm assuming it's bad.

Okay.

The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places. Is the man who hears the word. And at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root. He lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word.

He quickly falls away. This is the person who.

Well.

For lack of a better way of putting it. Is into emotionalism.

Okay.

Notice.

He receives it with joy.

There's an emotional response.

But see.

Jesus wants to do more in you. Than just give you a happy feeling. A feeling of joy. The Christian life is one of suffering. It's difficult.

It's hard.

And so the Christian life engages both heart and mind. The two work together. And if you're chasing after the latest emotional experience. Then what happens is that the roots of the gospel don't go deep.

And then when persecution arises. Somebody says.

Oh.

You're one of those Christians. That means that you're just a hater.

You hate gay people. You know.

Things like this.

Right.

Okay. Well.

That doesn't make you feel good. And so what do you do?

You chuck the faith.

Because it no longer makes you feel happy. That's what it means to not have any root.

Okay.

The Worries of This Life and the Deceitfulness of Wealth

Here's the more thorny one. If you would. Pun intended. The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns. Or the weeds. Is the man who hears the word. But the worries of this life. And the deceitfulness of wealth.

Choke it. And make it unfruitful.

Now.

Let's get practical here. You all remember. Catechism. You know.

Growing up.

Remember you had to learn Luther's small catechism. Third commandment. You shall sanctify the holy day.

Right.

What does this mean? Here Luther writes. We should fear love. And love God. So that we may not despise preaching in his word. But hold it sacred. And gladly hear and learn it. Third commandment.

Right.

You all remember this from your catechism class?

So.

Here's a question I have for you. When you come to church. Do you begin looking at your watch six minutes into the sermon? Do you begin rolling your eyes at the 12 minute mark? At 15 minutes do you begin seething because you believe the preacher is wasting your time?

Repent! Do you have eyes but do not see? Do you have ears but do not hear? What is more important at this moment. Than for you to hear and receive the word of God? The weeds and the cares of this world are choking out the word.

And rather than despise the weeds. You are instead cultivating them. Why would you do such a thing? Don't you know that the weeds are going to be burned up on the day when Jesus returns to judge the living and the dead?

Are you really so foolish that you would despise the treasure that is God's word for a bunch of weeds? Now let's look at some of those weeds for a second. Some of you might be saying but preacher I've got important business to tend to today.

Six days you have for tending to your business and you cannot spare more than 15 minutes on a Sunday to hear God's word? Sounds like you've made your business or the pursuit of wealth into an idol. Repent or you may burn along with your riches.

By the way it's not an accident. There's only two times that Jesus talks about wealthy people. The rich man and also the guy who was a farmer who was saying oh it's been great. I'm going to sit here and look over the blueprint of my new silo.

My grain. I'm going to store all kinds of grain. I'm going to take it easy. And that day his life was demanded of him. In both senses the rich persons ended up in hell. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.

Than for a rich man to be pulled into heaven.

Right?

So if your wealth, your business, your farm, whatever it is that you do for a living is more important than actually sitting and hearing Christ's word preached into your ears. And the forgiveness of sins.

You have an idol and that idol cannot save you. It might actually damn you. Repent. But preacher football season starts in a couple of weeks and I've got to get home so I can watch the game and catch the highlights.

Do you even hear what you're saying? Did the Minnesota Vikings die for your sins? They're not even that great of a football team.

Sorry.

That's right. And you've made Jesus and his word less of a priority than a mediocre football team. Plus they have this thing called a DVR. You could buy one of those for just a few hundred bucks. And then you can have your football games recorded for you.

And then when you get home you can actually fast forward through the commercials and stop wasting your time watching them.

Right?

Repent. Let me ask you this. You who think football is more important than the hearing of God's word. Do you not feel the fires of hell burning beneath your lazy boy recliner?

But preacher.

The election is coming up. And I have to get home and watch my favorite news channel so that I can know the latest political news and strategies and things that the enemy is up to. These are all weeds.

And they're choking out the word of God and making it unfruitful in your life. Jesus died for you. And he died to save you. He did not die to save the United States of America. The USA doesn't need you to sit in front of your TV watching CNN or Fox News for five, six hours a day.

The USA needs Christians who will preach the good news of the kingdom of God and call people to repent and be forgiven by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Your time is better spent in God's word preaching and teaching others and making disciples than it is wasting your time.

Whether on the left news channel or the right news channel doing this and constantly be fearing about the latest scheme that the government is up to take advantage of you. Turn it off. Open up your Bible.

Preach the word. Christ died for you.

He did not die for the United States of America. There will be a time when this country will not exist. There will be a different government in place. Are your roots deep enough that they could handle that kind of switch?

Right?

Repent. And now the last one. The one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and he understands it. He produces a crop yielding 160 or 30 times what is sown. Let me ask another question to the farmers here.

Do any of you have any self-plowing fields? Have they invented the self-plowing field yet? Okay, good. I didn't think so. I was a little bit worried that maybe some weird guy has come up with a self-plowing field.

Here's the good news. Each and every one of us, me included, in hearing these list of things about weeds and rocks and stuff like that realized there's weeds and rocks within the soil of our own hearts.

But we're not called to plow up our own fields. Jesus is the one who plows up those fields. He's the one who overturns the soil and He's the one who removes the weeds. He's the one who removes those rocks so that His word can bear harvest.

Right?

And He does it through the preaching of His word. So, if you heard anything that stepped on your toes today. If you heard that you need to repent of something today and you realize that there's rocks and weeds.

Right?

The good news is this. Your crucified and risen Savior knows this. Pray to Him and ask Him to mercifully remove those rocks and weeds and hard places in your own life. So that His word can bear fruit.

You do not want to be one of those who hears but doesn't understand. Sees but doesn't perceive.

Right?

And the good news is that your crucified and risen Savior is so, pardon the phrase, hell-bent on saving you. That He went to the cross to die for your sins. And He desires to save you. And He does not want to burn you up with the weeds.

He suffered the burning wrath of God on the cross in your place. And so, even now, He, He will answer that prayer that says, Oh Lord, I fear that I may be seeing but not perceiving. Hearing but not understanding.

Oh Lord, till up the soil of my heart. Set me free from sin. And make it so that Your word, Your gospel bears fruit in my life. He answers that prayer and He will do so. Let's pray. Blessed Lord, since You have caused all Holy Scripture to be written for our learning, grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them.

That we may embrace and ever hold fast to the blessed hope of everlasting life. Through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You in the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Amen.

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