Explore the Bible Lesson Preview February 28, 2016 Access Granted Background: Matthew 13:1-58 Lesson: Matthew 13:1-13 Motivation: This chapter marks a change in Jesus ministry; we see a change in venue as well as a change in methodology. I. A Crowd On that day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea. 2 Such large crowds gathered around Him that He got into a boat and sat down, while the whole crowd stood on the shore. 3 Then He told them many things in parables, (1-3a). A. Timing On that day connects the events in Chapter 12 to those in 13. t he house was probably Peter s house where he healed Peter s mother-in-law. B. Territory by the sea His place of teaching became the seashore rather than the Synagogue. C. Target large crowds It s good to remember that Jesus primary teaching target was his 12 disciples. Such large crowds were often a hindrance to this purpose. 1 / 10
D. Teaching He told them many things in parables. (3a) His plan of teaching became the parable rather than a presentation of truths. The impact of parables was immediate: 1) They took a listener from the concrete to the abstract; 2) They took a listener from the known to the unknown; 3) They required a listener to discover truth; and 4) They provided a word picture. HCSB; p. 1636: 13:3-9 The word parables can refer to a wide variety of figurative speech. Although many interpreters insist that Jesus parables were simple metaphors that teach only one main truth, Jesus interpretation of His own parables may suggest that many of them were allegories that carried multiple points of symbolism, teaching several related truths. II. A Parable Consider the sower who went out to sow. 4 As he was sowing, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 Others fell on rocky ground, where there wasn t much soil, and they sprang up quickly since the soil wasn t deep. 6 But when the sun came up they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered. 7 Others fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them. 8 Still others fell on good ground and produced a crop: some 100, some 60, and some 30 times what was sown. 9 Anyone who has ears should listen! (3b-9; 18-23) A. Implications of the Soils 1. The Wayside Soil - the closed spirit - rejection (4, 19) - Some people are hard hearted toward the gospel; they have no interest in it. 2 / 10
2. The Stony Soil - the changeable spirit - reformation (5-6, 20, 21) - Some people receive the Good News with joy, but their reception is superficial. They have no room to put down roots and are soon pursuing the latest fad. 3. The Thorny Soil - the choked spirit - repression (7, 22) - Some people give evidence of receiving the Word but are not willing to make Christ Lord of their lives. They begin to focus on the worries of this age and the seduction of wealth. (22) Christ is either Lord of all or He s not Lord at all. 4. The Good Soil - the committed spirit reproduction (8, 23) - Notice that even among the mature plants there is a marked difference in productivity: 30, 60, 100. B. Implications for the Sower 1. If you don t sow at all, you ll be destitute of a harvest. 2 Cor. 9:6... whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. (NIV) 2. If you sow generously, you ll sometimes be disappointed. Three of the four types of soil bare no fruit at all. 3. If you sow only with a short-term focus, you ll be deceived. a. Some immediate successes will in fact be failures. b. Sometimes a 100-fold increase will come from a single seed. You may not even see the seed germinate but the fruit will remain. 3 / 10
4. If you sow with faith, you ll be divinely rewarded. a. The seed of the gospel is powerful, able to get a hearing in even difficult circumstances. b. The harvest is inevitable; the 30, 60 or 100 fold increase more than makes up for the seemingly wasted seed. (Isaiah 55:11) c. While the sower is to be wise in the area that he concentrates the seed, he cannot produce growth. (I Cor. 3:7) The receiving individual is responsible before God to hear the Word and understand it. III. A Reason Then the disciples came up and asked Him, Why do You speak to them in parables? 11 He answered them, Because the secrets of the kingdom of heaven have been given for you to know, but it has not been given to them. 12 For whoever has, more will be given to him, and he will have more than enough. But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 13 For this reason I speak to them in parables, because looking they do not see, and hearing they do not listen or understand. (10-13, 14-17) A. The Principle of Responsibility - Taken in context with the Parable of the Sower, Jesus is teaching an inescapable fact of life: People are responsible for their own actions and direction of life. (I Cor. 2:14) Some get it and some don t - but all have access to truth. The quote from Isaiah (14-15) is not to imply that God hides truth, but that people close their hearts to it. HCSB; p. 1636: 13:14-16 Matthew frequently explained how Jesus ministry fulfilled prophecy. Here Jesus Himself described the fulfillment of Is 6:9-10. The application of this text to Jesus contemporaries probably implies that Israel s 4 / 10
hardened rejection of Jesus was not permanent, since Is 6:11-13 showed that the hearts of the people would someday be softened and that God would preserve a righteous remnant in Israel. The word never (Gk ou me ) in the phrases never understand and never perceive means will absolutely not rather than never will. Thus the picture is of stony resistance, not permanent resistance. B. The Principle of Accountability In verse 12, Jesus is applying another fact of life to the spiritual realm: If you don t use it, you lose it. Remember that required French class in school, or the piano lessons or the garden you started. The price of inattention is loss. HCSB; p. 1636: 13:10-13 Jesus parables had two distinct purposes: (1) to reveal truth to those who were willing to hear and believe, and (2) to conceal truth from those who willingly rejected truth because of their calloused hearts (v. 15). The hiddenness component of Jesus teaching may seem harsh, but since greater exposure to truth increases one s accountability to God in judgment (11:20-24), the concealment may represent God s graciousness toward those whom He knew would be unresponsive. IV. The Parable of the Weeds among the Wheat (13:24-30, 36-43) A. Wheat and Weeds are Sown Together - The sons of the kingdom and the sons of the evil one (38) are planted in the same field. While environments are similar, they are grown from different seed; their very nature is profoundly different. B. Wheat and Weeds are Grown Together - The implication is that we see them mingled together at work, at the mall, and, yes even at church. Outwardly, they are very similar, even intertwined in relationships. C. Wheat and Tares are Known Together - An ultimate day of judgment will come based 5 / 10
on fruit. While they look similar to wheat, weeds produce no fruit. The harvester recognizes them for what they don t have. V. The Parable of the Mustard Seed and Leaven (13:31-33) A. The Power to Grow - The mustard seed reminds us to look beyond the beginning and dwell on the possibilities. B. The Power to Influence - Leaven is usually a symbol of evil. The quality stressed here is its ability to influence events far beyond its proportional size. A strong stand for good or for evil will influence others and make waves far beyond the point of impact. VI. The Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl (13:44-46) A. God s Kingdom for Us - Both parables remind us of the joy of discovery. When we find the Kingdom of God, it is worth any price or any sacrifice to obtain. Each man sold everything he had. (46) B. God s Redemption of Us - Both parables should bring to mind that God valued us so much that He sacrificed his Son to redeem us from sin. (John 3:16) God s people are His treasure. (Ex. 19:5; Ps. 135:4; Eph. 5:25) VI. The Parable of the Net (13:47-52) A. Put Out a Big Net (47) - Two kinds of fishing nets were commonly used in Palestine. This drag net was pulled behind a boat and was much larger than the hand held casting net. Jesus is instructing us to plan big. (John 21:6-7) 6 / 10
B. Don t Be Picky collected every kind of fish (47) - Barclay comments on page 89 of his Matthew Commentary Vol. 2: There have always been two views of the Church - the exclusive and the inclusive. The exclusive view holds that the Church is for people who are good, people who are really and fully committed, people who are quite different from the world. There is an attraction in that view, but it is not the New Testament view, because, apart from anything else, who is to do the judging, when we are told that we must not judge? ( Matthew 7:1). It is not any man s place to say who is committed to Christ and who is not. The inclusive view feels instinctively that the Church must be open to all, and that, like the drag-net, so long as it is a human institution it is bound to be a mixture. That is exactly what this parable teaches. Realize that there was pork on the ark; Esau as well as Isaac; Judas among the Twelve. C. Persevere to the End when it was full (48) - When Jesus called His disciples to be fishers of men, He was not talking to rod and reel sportsmen who went fishing occasionally. Rather, fishing to these men meant an everyday pattern of life that resulted in great hauls of fishes. Jesus implies here that if we are faithful in drawing the net, He ll be faithful in filling it. (Matthew 9:37-38; 11:28-30) D. Leave the Judging to God (49-50) - Instruction is given in scripture for dealing with a church member who is publicly bringing shame on the church through flagrant sin (I Corinthians 5:1-2, 9-13). However, the clear implication of this chapter is that the church will always be a mixture of godly and ungodly. Rather than judge others, we must be examples of what God desires. In God s eyes, there are no big and little sinners (James 2:10). So, our vision would be to gather as many people together as possible to hear the powerful Word of God. Some will be hypocrites and pretend to be what they are not; but, in the final judgment, the perfect Judge will sort it all out. Our process is to know, grow, go and sow. Our role then is to be gathers (47) and learners (51-52). We draw from the Old Testament as well as the New to answer the question Have you understood all these things? (51) VII. Unbelief in Nazareth (13:54-58) When Jesus ventured to Nazareth they were offended by Him (57) Why? 7 / 10
A. Unbelief Comes from a Skeptical Heart - How did this wisdom and these miracles come to Him? (54) Sometimes seeing is not believing. Because they could not figure it all out for themselves, the villagers chose to doubt. Immanuel Kant writes of a leap of faith. Leaping into the unknown always takes one out of his/her comfort zone. (John 5:24, 6:29; Romans 4:3; 2 Cor. 4:17-18, 5:7; 2 Thes. 1:3; I John 5:4) B. Unbelief Comes from Taking the Divine for Granted - Isn t this the carpenter s son? (55) What do we read into these words: doubt, fear, perhaps envy? Sometimes we know so much about the speaker, preacher or teacher that we fail to see God s presence in the presentation. Familiarity does indeed often breed contempt. (John 20:24-31) C. Unbelief Comes from Unwillingness to Change - So where does he get all these things? (56) The residents of Nazareth were not willing to change their perspective of Jesus. In effect, they denied the work of God in His life. We must be very careful not to deny a person s ability to change through the Holy Spirit. (2 Cor. 5:17; Rev. 21:5) D. Unbelief Blocks God s Powerful Works He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief (58) The same sermon or Bible lesson brings different results in the lives of the various hearers. The congregation, in effect, preaches more than half of the sermon. (James 4:2, 17; Romans 14:23, Mark 10:27) Application: 1. Christians are to sow, to observe and to gather with an eye to the harvest. 2. Individuals are responsible and accountable for their response to the gospel. 3. God s Kingdom is a treasure worth any price or sacrifice. 8 / 10
Leader Pack item 10: Poster: The Parables of Jesus in Matthew Biblical Illustrator: p. 63 Agriculture and Farming in Ancient Israel Notes: **You may access David s Lesson Preview in MP3 format at: www.hfbcbiblestudy.or g ; also, the Highpoint Bible Study (Downtown) is available on MP3 at the HFBC site under the Highpoint link/downloads. Dates: 2016 2/27 - Men:Serve; 2/28 Parent Commitment; 3/6 SPF Mentor Kickoff; 3/12-17 RUSHMORE 2016; 3/13 SPF Birthday Bash; 3/24 Lord s Supper (Broken for You); 3/25 Good Friday Church offices closed; 3/26 SPF Hippity Hoppin Easter; 3/27 Easter No LBS 8:00, 9:30, 11:00 & 5:00; 3/28 Staff Wives Fellowship; 4/3 Spring LBS Luncheon; 4/6-9 Summit Snow Jam; 4/8-9 HUB Girls Retreat @ Hunt; 4/9 Men: Serve; 4/10 175 th Anniversary; 4/15 MYA Dinner; 4/17 SPF B-day Bash; 9 / 10
4/22-24 Summit Retreat; 4/22-23 Faith @ Work Conf. (Dallas Theological); 4/24 MIYCO; 4/30 Widow & Widowers Spring Luncheon. 10 / 10