“Whoever Has Ears, Let Them Hear” | Matthew 13:1-23

Show Notes

Episode 722: 
In this episode, Chris and Jeff dive into an exploration of Matthew 13:1-23, where Jesus shares the parable of the sower. Chris and Jeff unpack the meaning behind this parable, discussing the different types of soil that represent the various responses people have to God's Word. They highlight the significance of being receptive to God's teachings and the importance of producing fruit in our lives as followers of Christ.

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You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Hey, everybody, welcome to the Bible Guys. It's good to be here. Chris. Yeah, my name is Chris, This is Jeff. We are the Bible Guys, and we're thanking you for tuning in today. Man. So if you're a new listener with us today, you're in for a treat. Yes. For our longtime listeners, you know how committed we are to bringing only the finest news from the best resources. And so we scour the Internet and we keep coming back to the same source, and that is the Babylon b. It's the only thing you can trust in the whold Internet. Yeah. Well, with all the news today, is probably the most reliable, right. So, if you don't know, the Babylon b is a satire website, but we think it's the most trustful, trustworthy resource. So here's the title for today. This is just a special interest about celebs. People like celebrity guys. Sure, so here you go, Jeff Bezos. Is we funded by your wife's Amazon purchases? Ain't that the truth? Tucson, Arizona local man Jeremy Briggs sadly discovered this week that his wife's Amazon purchases single handedly funded billionaire Jeff Bezos's elaborate Italian wedding. I wasn't surprised, just disappointed, said Briggs. Man. That wedding sure looks nice. Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez wed this week in lavish Italian ceremony attended by political and Hollywood royalty. Guests included Oprah Winfrey, Evanka Trump, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Usher. Jeremy Briggs said he was a little offended not to receive an invitation. I know it was our money that pretty much funded that entire thing, he told reporters. We have Amazon packages shown up every single day at our house. Yesterday I saw Laura had ordered two hundred dollars worth of light bulbs, just quote so we don't run out. That probably paid for a few of the napkins. At publishing time, fifteen new packages had appeared on the Briggs front porch, none of which included a thank you note from Bezos. Much to Jeremy Briggs dismay. Dismay, that is so funny. So have you thought about that? I wonder how much of the wedding you your family fund. Oh my word, are you kidding me? I'm telling you what we we should we should be We should own stock and Amazon, which by the way, might be a good thing. I should I should look into that. But but yeah, it's just terrible how we we We probably get without exaggeration, seriously, I bet you. But by the way, let me just say this because I know my wife's lessening. I'm anticipating her reaction. Speak. Yeah, she doesn't order extravagant things. She orders like paper towels, right, because it's cheaper. And she orders like you know, uh, you know, just basic items. Uh. But but she'll she'll do that if it's cheaper, right, and she gets the free delivery and all that, just like most of us do. And uh and so yeah, it's it's not as if she extravagantly spends. She doesn't. She just does most of it through swipe. So so I would say, without exaggeration, we get three packages is a day? Well, yeah, what. Do you guys get, oh, between my family, Yeah, probably a package a day? Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, although lately it seems like they're just rolling in Yeah. So I just looked it up and it says that the wedding costs somewhere between forty six and a half and fifty five and a half million dollars. Oh yeah, for the wedding. So you got at least be about a third of that. Yeah. I don't think we faced over your family's entire Amazon career. Uh no, I don't know, so, but yeah, I mean, well, come on, I mean, the average person only earns a million dollars in their lifetime. Yeah, well so I know. But you're a preacher. That's oh yeah, yeah, yeah, so you find this hanky. I thought I thought it was funny you talked about money a few weeks ago when I was out right as you wrapped up yeah with with Wesley, Yeah, with Wesley, as you wrapped with the book on Malachi, trying to me to tell you there's a lot of Christians on the internet who hate tithing. Man, they hate it. They're so mad at you about that one. It's hysterical. Yeah. So money is uh, God's not against your money. God's just against the when we let money get a hold of us, right right, And uh, it's so funny, man, I mean so funny. To be honest, there's a part they accused you of being rich, that you're just you're just in this to make it, make money. Sure, sure, yeah, right, yeah, come look at come look at everything I own? Right, Well, I think it's the new Porsch. You're driving people, right, extravagant Italy vacations, Italian vacations. But I will say this, I will say, uh, I understand how people can be jaded or burnt in the past, right, but that's not but that, But that's no reason to there's no reason to accuse somebody that you don't really know, right, you know what I mean. So it's like it's like, yeah, we've all seen like you know, I mean, didn't Jimmy Swagger just pass away yesterday? Sure? Right, And so it's like we all, you know, for those of us who are our age, remember the eighties, we remember the scandals, right, So so it's like that's all that guy will mostly be known for across the world, you know, poor guy, right, even though he did a lot of good. And so I definitely think, I definitely think people have a right to be jaded or to be you know, when somebody talks about money, who's a preacher, like, there's a guardedness that I do understand. Actually, so I'm giving them grace, right, But if you don't know me personally, and you don't know heritage, then keep your comments to yourself. That's so funny. Well, if you want to give any more thoughts about Chris is just recent messages, just Chris at the Bible guys dot com. I mean, isn't by the way, isn't that? Isn't that just the same as like profiling somebody absolutely who's a different race, who walks into your store as a store owner, right, and you're like, hey, if somebody else in your race behaves badly, I'm gonna assume you're gonna behave badly. So that's that's called profiling. Right, So it's religious preacher profiling. So you could get up and question the virgin birth. Probably get fewer people angry at you online than you talking about time. Oh that's probably good, right, that's it. So it's it's people's favorite thing to be mad about his money. He isn't mad about money. Well, they you know what they say. People are funny about it. It just you know, it just shows where your heart is. Let's just say that's why Jesus went after it all the time. So anyways, uh hey Matthew thirteen one through twenty three talking about Jesus going after it. Yeah, Jesus went after it with the parable of the shower. Yeah, that is going after it. But Jesus said, whoever has ears. We're talking about seeds and soil and ears. He went for it. Yeah, that's right, he said, I used to see and ears to hear it. Yeah he did, he did. That's so funny. Okay. So in Matthew chapter thirteen one through twenty three, it says this. Later that same day, Jesus left the house and sat beside the lake, and a large crowd soon gathered around him. So he got into a boat. Then he sat there and taught as the people stood on the shore. He told many stories in the form of parables, such as this one. Listen, a farmer went out to plant some seeds. As he scattered them across the fields, some seeds fell on a footpath and the birds came and ate them. Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow, but the plants soon wilted under the hot sun, and since they didn't have deep roots, they died. Other seeds fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants. Still, other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, even a hundred times as much as had been planted. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand. His disciples came and asked him, wy do you use parables when you talk to the people. He replied, you are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding you will be given, and they'll have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. That is why I use these parables, For they look, but they don't really see. They hear, but they don't really listen or understand. This fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah that says, when you hear what I say, you will understand. When you see what I do, you will not comprehend. For the ears of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear. They have closed their eyes, so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them. But blessed are your eyes, because you see your ears because they hear. I tell you the truth. Many prophets and righteous people long to see what you see, but they didn't see it. And they long to hear what you hear, but they didn't hear it. Now listen to the explanation of the parable about the farmer planting seeds. The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the kingdom and don't understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts. The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy, But since they don't have deep roots, they don't last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God's word. The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God's word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced, and the seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly here and understand God's word and produce a harvest of thirty sixty or even one hundred times as much as had been planted. There you go, explained it, he did. And so if Jesus had a podcast, what would he do? He would probably talk about his most famous sayings and famous teachings, and this certainly ranks among them. Sure right, let me tell you about a farmer. Yes, yeah, the Kingdom of Heaven is like yep, that's often the way it starts, right, And in this particular case, we are given the privilege of hearing the explanation because a lot of times he'll give a parable and then you know, you're you know, you're like, I can understand that well, or sometimes you're like, I think it means this. I'm pretty certain it means this, And that's why Jesus has this unbelievable saying. He has ears to hear let him hear. So you know, sometimes you have to pray, Okay, God, what do you mean? And you know it's so cool. God's word is. Sometimes God will just even even when you're reading in your quiet time and your devotion time, sometimes the Holy Spirit will just whisper and say, this is how this means. This is what this means to you, right, and and we have to determine whether or not that's God. But that's a whole nother sermon altogether. But when we when we hear from God and we determined God, that was the Holy Spirit's voice, and it was it was in line with what God's word says. Uh, it's It's some of the most beautiful moments, isn't that? Yeah? Absolutely? Yeah. And then you know, I always I used to have young people, especially I had a young adult guy one time when I was running a college ministry back in the day, who had this distinctly mystical view of Christianity, like he was just waiting for that miraculous moment when an angel would stand at the foot of his bed and tell him what he's supposed to do with his life. And I said, and he's like, I just want God to talk to me. I want him to speak to me. And I couldn't understand what he was saying. And then finally He says, Jeff, what I'm saying is I want God to speak to me like he speaks to you. And I said, oh, well, you've got to qualify for it. He goes, what do you mean, I saill you you have to be as good of a Christian as I am. He's like, that's what I want. I'm like, dude, that's not how it works. He so, what do you mean? And I said, God already miraculously spoke to you in this book, right here in this book. So if you can't figure it all out, just go to Matthew twenty two. Jesus said, love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. Start there. He clearly spoke on those two things. So today everything you do just do for love, out of love for other people and for good Do that. That's it. It doesn't have to be some mystical thing that you're waiting to hear, right, it's just And so Jesus is saying, either you hear these words of mine or you don't. And his words are pretty plain most of the time. Love God, love people kind of stuff, and then don't hang out with the religious people who are always judging everybody else but not living that same lifestyle themselves, right that they're trying to earn their way to heave it and said, it's a great thing. He unpacks thos. In this situation, he's telling a story that's not super clear to the listeners unless they've been listening. And that's why he says, so, if you've been listening to me, you totally get what I'm talking about. And here's the reason why he's always talked in metaphors. So he you know, yesterday we talked about how he says, Hey, the Kingdom of Heaven is kind of like a shepherd who loses the sheep, and people go, oh, yeah, the shepherd's always God, right, So the main character is almost always God, and then the sheep is God's mission and that's the one that he loves or whatever. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a woman who loses a coin. Oh okay, so God probably is the one and where the one that's lost and she goes and looks right. The Kingdom Heaven is like a man who has a son and his son runs away from him and he loves him so much. When his son finally comes home, then he runs out to him and brings him back into the family. Okay, that father is our father, and I'm probably that son. So people who've been listening to Jesus can hear Jesus tell this story too, right, right? But if you haven't been paying attention, and you're just showing up because he keeps making lunch out of us, out of happy meals, and just because he touches people and heals them, if that's all you're showing up for, you're just there for the benefits of what he might give to you. He said, you're probably not gonna be able to hear me. And so this is that he has because people always ask all the time, what does he mean? He has? Years of here. If you've been paying attention, you're going to understand this one too, That's what he's saying. But then even as disciples go, how come you always talking parables? Right? Right? Just tell us plainly right? Why does that have to be complicated? Come on? Man? Yeah? Okay, So he sits down and he says, let me, let me explain to you, and he basically unpacks it that you know, when he when he starts off with the the the farmer who's the farmer? Then, guys, remember how this works? So who's the always the key figure in all of my stories. It's God, the father, He's the farmer, and now he's throwing seed around. What do you think the seed might be? Oh, it might be the gospel, right, the good news, you know, the whole mission we're on. I think it's so funny. It's not that hard to understand. If these guys had listened to any of jesus other stories, they should be able to figure this one out too. His stories are the same every time, they're the same, and so the seed is going to be the mission we're on. The hardest part is to figure out what do the path and the rock means? Right? Like that that might be like, oh what does that represent? Right? But definitely soil, seed, farmer? Right? Yeah, plants they grow up, plans it disappeared. And what do you think a crow would represent? Crows always represent bad news, they always represent right. It's not that it's not rocket science. And and and it's easy to figure out the last one because the good soil produces a bunch of fruit. Yeah, well so that's easy. Well, so as soon as you realize the whole the celebrated part of the story is the good soil. Then you realize all the bad ones are. Hey, there's lots of people who never put down roots. There's lots of people who never produce anything. The goal is production. So the father plants to seed. If you're one who puts down roots, the whole goal for you is to produce. That's it. For the for for the farmer, that's the whole goal. It's it's it's hysterical to me that they struggle with it, but I get it so also tired. I remember, I remember one time I did a study on what these are called in the Bible. So this and I have the NIV version right here, and it says that it calls it the parable of the sower. What does yours say? The parable of the four soils? Right? So the parable of the four soils? And then uh, and then there's like there's a there's all these different types of labels based on the versions of the Bible, right, but but it's you know, most of them, most of them, the majority of them actually focus on the sower. Right there, there's also like the parable of the sower and the seed, right, but the actual heading that yours is the parable of the soil. That's actually more accurate. Right. The reason why it's more accurate is because it's it's actually all about the condition of the soil. Right. So it's like it's like we have to have hearts that are ready to receive, you know, God's word. And so the point of the story is to be you know, in a position to receive God's word and and uh and to you know, to let it grow in our lives. So the point is the soil is your is your heart like the condition of a hardened path right where it's not tender, right where the where the ground is like fallow right, or is your heart like a you know, uh, thorny And it's it's not it's not rid of all of the garbage that you have to clear out in order to grow fruit. You know. It's like there's there's all these different kinds of conditions of the heart. But that's really what it's about. So I think that the heading the parable of the four soils that you have is actually the most accurate. Yeah, and then the whole the whole goal is to produce a harvest, right, right, That's why he was planting the seed the reason the gospel came to you. So if the seed represents a gospel, and if you are one who the roots of the gospel grew deep, and now you're growing up as a follower of Jesus. The goal of God for you is that you produce fruit. Jesus said, herein is my Father glorified that you produce much fruit. That's what he says. He says, I'm the vine and you are the branches. So does the vine produce the fruit? No, the branches produced the fruit. R Right, he says. Apart from me, you can do nothing. The reason why we need Jesus in our life isn't just to make all our wildest dreams come true. Now he does answer prayers, he does do the things. But man, if your primary motion motivation in your faith is to just have Jesus answer all your prayers and be your good luck charm, I think you're always going to be frustrated in your life because Jesus said, a double minded man and is unstable in all his ways. Well, it's the Book of James says a double minded man is unstable in all these ways. If we're looking at man, my goal is faith is important to me. But faith is important to me because I believe faith is the source of me getting everything I want. Now, all of a sudden, you have your eyes on the world, trying to use your faith to give you the world right, rather than God saying, let me use you in the world right. And we're in the world but not of it. And so a lot of Christians live with this tension and frustration, like sometimes their faith isn't fulfilling, or they feel like God doesn't answer their prayers or whatever. But when we begin to realize, okay, God's goal is for us to bear fruit. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. He that win his souls is wives. One of the fruits that we're supposed to be producing is new believers. New we're supposed to be disciple makers. We're supposed to make new disciples. This the last command Jesus gives. And then the fruit of the spirit, love and joy and peace and gentleness, kindness, you know, And so that kind of fruit should be being produced. And so the little bit God puts in us to turn into thirty, sixty, even one hundred times more than was planted, that's just a normal thing. If you understand God's goal for you on this earth is to produce for him, you will find so much more satisfaction, and you will see way more of your prayers answered, and you will find your purpose and your mission in life. It's a totally different things. It's one of my favorite illustrations he uses is this idea is if you really put your roots down in Jesus, you will produce for him. Yeah. And I love the fact that the disciples went to Jesus and wanted to know more. You know, have you ever? You know? You and I are in the business of you know, church, and so we'll give, for instance, like a message, and in the message everything's rooted obviously in God's word, so you know, sort of deliver either a passage or several verses and some ideas based out of scripture. And then there are people who, you know, there's all sorts of people in the audience. There's there's the thorny paths, right, there's there's the hardened path, there's the you know, the good soil, and then there are people who you know, the good soil are people who actually receive it and say, oh, I want to I want to understand this. So here's here's what I love about this parable is that here are these disciples. And and by the way, in another gospel version we learn who the disciples are who go to Jesus. It's Peter, James, John, and Andrew. It's those four. So they they're the ones that go. I think it's the one in yeah made himself. Yeah, But anyway, they're the ones that go to Jesus, and they're the ones that say, hey, can you tell us more about the parable? Because been understand it. And here's what's ironic. By actually going to Jesus, they're actually demonstrating the point of the parable. I was I was going to go in that same accident, yeah yeah yeah, so so so ironically they're going, could you please tell us more becaus been understand and Jesus is like, bingo, there it is. There it is. You're you're you're wanting to receive God's word and you're wanting to understand it, and you're wanting it to produce fruit. You wanted to make a difference, and you're seeking to learn more, which is exactly what the good soil is. And so he goes down and it's just it's just so funny to me. How uh you know, they're demonstrating good soiled hearts, and that's really the point of the parable. Well teachability, I think is a big part of demonstrating whether or not the heart is good soil. So I was going to reference that same thing. So I started off kind of poking front of the fact they couldn't figure this out. Yeah, because Jesus goes, if you have ears here, right, what he's saying is if you've ever heard me talk before, you know what this one means too, right, It's one of the things he's saying there. So but so I poked fun on the front end. And the reality is, if we would just spend time in God's word, we would understand God's word. The more you spend time in God's word, the more you understand God's words. It's astounding how the Holy Spirit begins to cross reference in your mind as you read a thing and you're like, what does that mean? And then he reminds you of something else you've read in the past that sheds light on it. The Bible is its own best commentary. I say that all the time. So when they didn't understand James tells us, if anybody lacks wisdom, let them ask of God, who gives to everybody without judgment. Right, everybody who asks can have wisdom. So he says, go ask. And so what did they do. They went to the word. Jesus is the word John w went in the beginning was the word. The word is with God. The word was God, and he became a man who dwelt among us. Right, So they went to the source. They went to the word to find out what the word meant. And this is one of the reasons I always say the Bible's its own best commentary. The more time you spend in God's word, the more you're going to understand God's word. The more time you spent in God's word yesterday, the easier it'll be to understand God's word tomorrow. It just I can't even explain that. It feels like a supernatural thing to me, just a little bit. And this is why he over and over and over says, if you have the word, ears to hear here. Part of it is if you spend spending time with me, you know what I'm talking about. Part of it is the Holy Spirit's the one who teaches you what you're hearing, right, Yeah, yeah. That's big. Yeah, well that is a great place to wrap up. And what a great passage that Jesus taught. And so can you say one more thing? No, wait a minute, let me think. Yes, I was also going to say I will allow it. You know, we also have the mission of spreading the seed. Yeah right, And our job is not to determine who gets the seed. We spread it everywhere and it's God's job to produce the harvest. So that Paul says that he said I planted, somebody else watered, right, But God's the one who gives the increase. And so you might look at it and go, oh, I'm not going to share the gospel with him. He's too hard hearted. You don't know, you don't know what's on the inside. Right. You just keep planting the seed with everybody that you're around, and some are going to be able to receive it and some aren't. But that's okay. Your job isn't to determine the harvest. Your job is to spread the seed. Let's spread the good news. That's what Paul says, right, Yeah, plants, and he says, hey, we plant, we water me and paul Us all of us, but God gives the increases. That's right, So let God do what God's going to do. Yeah, that's good, that's great. Okay, we'll hopefully we'll see tomorrow on the Bible. Guys,