In Life, there are all kinds of people. There are optimists and pessimists, happy people and sad people, rich and poor, good and bad, and on and on. And between the extremes, there’s everyone else. But, in death, there are only two kinds of people;
- Unbelievers & Believers
When it comes to believing in Jesus Christ, a wise person once said, “Do or do not. There is no try.”
Some say they’re agnostic, meaning they neither believe nor disbelieve in God, much less that Jesus is the Son of God. There’s no fence-sitting. “Believe or believe not; there is no try.” When we stand before God, it’ll be whether we believe or not. I almost believed; isn’t an answer you want to give Jesus. Listen to what Jesus says about this in Revelation 3:15-17.
God has given us all the ability to believe. And besides the ability he’s prepared us throughout our life, we’re ready when the moment comes for us to believe. We don’t have to try; we just let it happen. You really have to “TRY” not to believe.
This brings us to; The Parable of the Sower, Matthew 13:1-9.
Jesus makes it easy for us by explaining this parable in Matthew 13:18-23.
There you have the meaning of The Parable of the Sower. I’ll see you next week.
No, right. We still need a little explanation. OK, let’s “dig” into this parable a little deeper.
What Jesus said happens naturally when hearing the word (Organic Spiritual Growth).
Each person “heard” the word in the four examples but with different results.
The Greek word; *Akouo – Ak-oo’-o; means to hear, to listen, or to pay attention.
In Matthew 13:19, Jesus gives us an example of how an “Unbeliever” hears the word.
They’re curious about Christ, but they’re curious about a lot of things. Faith is a “Break Glass” in an emergency option. They don’t let what they heard sink in and take root because God isn’t at the top of their priority list right now. They have other things to focus on. Maybe later. I’ve had a lot of people tell me that. But no one knows the hour of their death. This first example is an Unbeliever. They had to try not to believe.
Jesus said the “evil one” comes and snatches away what’s been sown. The Greek word used here is Poneros (pon-ay-ros), meaning bad. Bad influences or conditions. We listen to science telling us there is no proof of God. We listen to governments and ideologies… we send our children to public schools that fill their heads with all kinds of anti-God views… These are “Bad Influences,” not a red creature with horns and a pitchfork. It’s people who look like us but despise the thought of God.
In Matthew 13:20-21, Jesus shows that some who believe are very shallow in their faith.
This is a person that begins with the best intentions, but they misunderstand what’s required of the kingdom of heaven. When hardships come, they negotiate an easier path through difficult situations instead of staying on the kingdom of heaven course. Tribulation (Thlipsis – thlip’-sis; meaning trouble or pressure) Persecution (Diogmos – dee-ogue-mos’; meaning to pursue or press against) “on account of the word” is specifically mentioned by Jesus.
Think of Jesus’ audience. They’d be ridiculed if they told their family, priest, or rabbi about what Jesus of Nazareth said. When new believers tell their family and friends they’re reading the Bible or they believe in Jesus, the same thing happens today. They believe but compromise what they believe because of family or peer pressure. This is someone who makes the word fit their life rather than making their life fit the word.
In Matthew 13:22, Jesus shows us a believer who can’t untangle themselves from the world.
These believers think God’s kingdom and this world are the same thing. They try to live in both worlds. The result is they fail at both. These believers are distracted by care, popularity, wealth, and fear.
The Greek word Akantha (ak’-an-thak) means thorn, from a word meaning ‘pointed.’
Jesus specifically mentions “the cares of this world.” What are the cares of this world? What is it that pokes believers and “chokes out” their spiritual growth?
What people think of you (family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, etc.). What can society do to you (shun, ignore, challenge, etc.)? Being different and not fitting in with everyone else. Being ridiculed. Being threatened by public mob intimation. These are Confused believers.
In Matthew 13:23, Jesus shows us how a believer takes the word of God to heart.
This is the believer that’s fully aware of what it means to believe the message of Christ and the requirements of the kingdom of heaven. This is a Conscious Believer.
What is a “Conscious Believer”? To be conscious means to be awake and aware of your circumstances. To know the end from the beginning. To know what is truly meaningful and everlasting and what is empty and temporary.
What does it mean to bear fruit 100%, 60%, and 30%? Why not 200% or 1,000%, or 1%? Don’t get hung up with percentages. It isn’t about how fruitful; it’s about being fruitful. Was Paul more fruitful than Peter? Was John more fruitful than Thomas? How would we know who is more fruitful? Only God knows. It depends on the resources given to each person. Everyone has different expectations based on the role and gifts provided to each by God. God is the only judge.
So what do these four examples of people who hear the word look like in practice?
As believers, Jesus tells us the practical application of the parable in Matthew 7:15-20;
As people hear the word of God, there are others, bad influences, who are trying to snatch away the word and prevent it from taking root. As one example of a “bad influence” in our world today (and there are many, many more), we have the Woke movement.
Is Woke Godly? What is the purpose of Wokeism? It’s a religion. It’s a “Post-Christian Neopaganism.” Under the guise of protecting the weak, the poor, and the least in society, it determines to redefine and restructure right and wrong. What’s wrong according to God is now right according to their god. In the Neopagan religion of Wokeism, their sins are justified, so they don’t require salvation. Therefore, they don’t need a Savior. The only sinners are Non-Woke.
Woke followers are pushing to lower the age of sexual consent so they can teach sexual identification in elementary school. As I pointed out in a previous episode, Israelites were sacrificing their children to the pagan god Molech in the fires of Gehenna outside Jerusalem while other Israelites watched it happen. We are seeing our children sacrificed to the god of “Wokeism,” and are we going to say nothing as believers in Jesus?
To the unbeliever, this is their gospel. To the compromising believer, maybe they’re right. To the confused believer, they won’t get involved because they don’t want to get poked. But the conscious believer sees it for what it is; a new pagan religion to exchange the true God for a god that won’t hold them accountable for their actions. Jesus said you know a tree by its fruit. The fruit of the conscious believer is to speak up for the truth of God and bring salvation through Jesus Christ to those who are trying to transition sin into “woke righteousness.”
Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 7:21-23;
The Disciples and Evangelists of Wokeism think they’re doing their god’s work. And believers say nothing because they think they’re being kind and compassionate toward others. Is it kind and compassionate to watch someone perish without showing them the true God and his Son?
Listen to what Jesus says about hearing the word and doing nothing with it in Matthew 7:24-27;
Paul told the Philippian believers to “hold firmly to the word of life” so that they would “shine like stars” in a “warped and crooked generation.” His words are very relevant to us today. Even more so as the darkness grows, one day, Wokeism will fall, but what of the damage that will come with its fall? Like the house Jesus spoke of… Which of these four examples are you in our world today? Are you an “Unbeliever,” a “Compromising Believer,” a “Confused Believer,” or a “Conscious Believer”? Those who hear the word either believe or believe not. They either do or do not. There is no try.
Someone may ask you or me, “Why does it matter to you about Wokeism? Why does what another person does with their lives matter to you?”
I’d ask you, “What if Jesus thought that same way? Why did it matter to him about our sin and our death sentence? What we do with our life isn’t his problem.”
But it is his problem, and it does matter to him because he loves us. His love for each one of us is so great that he sacrificed everything to bring us the truth. He took our place and gave his life for our sin; the sinless for the sinful.
And what did he ask of us in exchange for his love? To love one another as he loved us. Jesus told us, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:34).
What Wokeism is doing to our world, to our generation, and to our children matters to me, and it should matter to you because of love for others who are being influenced by evil. Love doesn’t look the other way, as lives are being lost forever. As in the days of Jesus, so our world today is also crooked and perverse, probably even more so.
Has God’s word fallen on the roadside, the rocky ground, the ground filled with thorns, or the good ground?
The fruit of the word that has been sown in the hearts of everyone who believes will be revealed in our response of love toward others by warning them about the evil of Wokeism.
