Category: Parables of Jesus

TWO LEVELS OF UNDERSTANDING
 
“A man of understanding walks straight.”  Proverbs 15:21

It’s one thing to read something and say, “Yea, I see the reasoning here.  This makes sense to me.”  It’s quite another to act on the premise and experience the truth firsthand.  The first produces a casual nod of the head.  The second, a fluency born of experience.

I am struck by Solomon’s choice of words.  He didn’t say that a man of understanding thinks straight.  He walks straight.  To be a woman of understanding, I take the Word to heart enough to go out and live it.  I try it on when it’s convenient and when it’s costly.  I obey it when I feel like it and when I don’t. I get to see God’s precepts spring to life as they are proven true in my experience.  I develop the credentials to become a teacher because I know how God’s truth fits into the scenarios of life.  I have the ability to, not only comment on them, but discuss each one at length.  The many nuances of truth are golden to me because I have mined them through a discipleship that has transcended the classroom.  People who know me will always be able to tell when I’m blowing smoke and when I am intimate with my own sermons.  Continue reading “Two Levels Of Understanding” →

DO MY EFFORTS MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

He said, “What’s a good image for God’s kingdom? What parable can I use to explain it? Consider a mustard seed. When scattered on the ground, it’s the smallest of all the seeds on the earth; but when it’s planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all vegetable plants. It produces such large branches that the birds in the sky are able to nest in its shade.” Mark 4:30-32

         I can give superhuman effort to something and make little difference. Yet, at the same time, I can give small efforts to something else and make a huge difference. Is there insight beyond this parable to help me gauge where my energies should be expended? Yes. Continue reading “Do My Efforts Make a Difference?” →

CLUTCHING WHAT IS NOT REALLY MINE

“There was a householder who planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and let it out to tenants, and went into another country. When the season of fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants, to get his fruit; and the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first; and they did the same to them. Afterward he sent his son to them, saying, `They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, `This is the heir; come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.” Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: `The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing the fruits of it.” Matthew 21:33-46

         Those who heard Jesus tell this parable understood it well. The hills of Galilee were full of vineyards and it was customary for the owners to let out their estates to tenants. Though the Pharisees understood the illustration, they were offended at Jesus’ implication. They understood it to be prophetic and a direct warning because they knew that God considered the Jewish nation to be the ‘vineyard of the Lord.’ Isaiah 5:7

         The message to them from Jesus was clear. You are not in line with God’s purposes. Though you are proud of your positions and believe you are functioning well as religious leaders, you are really failures. You are abusing good servants and on top of that, you are rejecting me, the very son of the Vineyard owner. My rights threaten your territorial reign.

         Jesus has been so generous to entrust His kingdom to us to rule, in his absence. He has conferred upon us the authority to do so. When He left, He made sure He modeled how to care for it. He set everything in motion for His business to function perfectly. Instructions were complete and all tenants are without excuse. We understand that His leadership style is to serve and His paradigm is always relationship instead of religion, heart over intellect. But are we Pharisaical as tenants?

         I am a tenant of the vineyard. When Jesus, the owner, returns, will He be pleased with the way I handled the assignment? Continue reading “Clutching What Is Not Really Mine” →

EVEN WHEN I’VE WALKED AWAY

And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.  But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” Mark 4:26-28

         Get ready. This parable is comforting. If you need peace that the spiritual seeds you have sown in someone else are still at work, even in your absence, this message is for you.

         I often believe that I need to nag others to do the right thing and that if reminded enough times, they will make that behavior their own. Nagging doesn’t change anyone as it just causes them to modify behavior.

         I’m so glad that the Word of God can truly transform way beyond the effects of nagging. When sown into a person’s heart, it works in secret. God promises that the seed will sprout, then grow into a blade, then blossom into an ear, until one day it is ripe for harvest. Humanly speaking, I never see it working when it’s in the tender stages of early growth. Yet Jesus wants to relate the nature of the combustible seed of the Word of God. He message is this ~ I can count on its power. Continue reading “Even When I’ve Walked Away” →

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” Matthew 7:24-27

I don’t think any person would say that they’d rather build their house on sand. We all know the outcome. The first storm will begin to erode the foundation. How many storms will it take to topple the house?   Not many. Craftsmanship and architectural creativity will have nothing to do with the outcome. Expensive trappings will all become rubble. Remember the last picture you saw of homes devastated by an F5 tornado? You couldn’t tell the difference between a mansion and a shack. Rubble is rubble.

This parable applies to so many levels of life. Personally, I need to do what it takes to build my own foundation. Knowing God, knowing His Word, cultivating spiritual disciplines out of passion and desire for God, these are the things that will become my bedrock. I will become like the tree in Psalm 1 that does not move when the storms batter against me. But this parable also applies small groups. It applies to every single church that claims to worship God. It applies to the leader of a home who determines whether his house will be strong against the current of our godless times.

Will each of us do what it takes to build a rock solid foundation?  Otherwise:

• I will have no divine perspective on anything that happens to me. I’ll take everything personally and seek fairness, justice, and love from my self-imposed throne. My life will crumble with me at the helm.
• My home will consist of an ignorant and immature group of adults and children who don’t know the mind and heart of God. We’ll look impressive in good times but when the first storm hits, no one will have a refuge for comfort or a counselor for wisdom.
• My small group will consist of baby Christians who are battered by life. Self-pity, resentment, and selfish ambition will be the ugly beasts at every meeting. Without strong teaching, we will become a huddled group of sand castles – trying to hold each other up when the wind blows. The outcome is not promising.
• My church will consist of pews of baby Christians. Church experience will be based on tradition and ritual rather than Spirit-driven worship. People will languish for lack of knowledge from Monday to Saturday and learn not to expect answers on Sunday. The foundation of every, and any, church will erode without a leadership committed to build on the Rock who is Christ Jesus. To refuse to do so is to incur God’s judgment. Spiritual prosperity will slip like sand through his fingers.

If I stand on a beach during a storm, I am pelted with the sand that the winds kick up. There is nowhere to hide. In and among the rocks however, there is refuge and protection.

Give us the spiritual grit to commit ourselves to fortify our foundations. In Jesus’ name, Amen

LETTING DOWN MY GUARD

“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” Luke 10:25-37

         Each child of God knows that he is to love people. He also knows that he is to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Each of these commandments is easy to embrace when it’s vague but each of us has our prejudices. We believe we are exempt from showing love to certain people. We are willing to evangelize the ones we perceive deserve to know Jesus. Jonah was willing to speak difficult things to an audience of Jews but when asked to go to the Ninevites, brutal enemies of his people, he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. He didn’t want them to experience God’s mercy. Bloodthirsty, the Ninevites had long exacted forms of brutality against the Jews. Jonah’s heart had its limits. Continue reading “Letting Down My Guard” →

GOT TO HAVE IT NO MATTER WHAT IT COSTS

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. Matthew 13:44-46

  Have you ever found something you really wanted in a store, hid it on some obscure shelf so that when you came back for it, it would still be there? I have. This is the picture of someone like you, or me, who finds a treasure hidden in a field. Unfortunately, there is not enough money to buy it so the prize is buried deeper so that no one else will find it before we come back for it. We go immediately to sell everything we own, raising enough money to buy this incomparable treasure.

  There is no greater picture in the scriptures of what it means to embrace Christ than how Jesus, Himself, describes it in this parable. He makes it clear that it’s not some intellectual decision. This is a radical decision of the heart. I remember that Jesus said ‘Where my treasure is, there my heart will be also.’ Matthew 6:21 Becoming a disciple of Jesus is to discover Him and give up everything I own in order to make Him mine. Christianity is not a choice of convenience where I weigh the options of heaven and hell and then play it safe by acknowledging Jesus as Lord. Continue reading “Got To Have It No Matter What I Costs” →

WHICH GOD IS MY JUDGE? 

Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’ ” Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?            Luke 18:1-7

The judge is so different from my Father.  If I don’t know the difference, I will not ask for too much in prayer because I fear God doesn’t have a heart for me. And, if I pester Him for too long, He will tire of me.

Though many of us don’t want to admit we’ve ever felt this way, I’m convinced this is the reason we were slow to cultivate a lifestyle of prayer. A sound contrast between Judge and Father is needed to re-kindle our love for God and His love for us.

• The judge did not have a heart for people. The Father does.
• The judge did not know this woman. The Father knows the numbers of hairs on our head and we are His precious children
• The Judge was not moved by the widow’s story of injustice. The Father promises to avenge all wrongs done to any of His children.
• The woman had to plead her case on her own but Jesus rose again to be our advocate, our personal lawyer in heaven’s courts.
• The Judge moved on her behalf because he got sick of her asking for help. The Father moves, and will move, whether or not I even see the injustice.
• The woman had a one-time audience with the judge. We have round the clock access to our Father because Jesus made it possible.

To whom would you like to appeal to for help? I am sure that no one wants a judge but prefers the Father. Yet, perhaps you haven’t pleaded your case because you feel like you’re praying to the judge. You feel you’re in a stalemate between asking and being afraid to ask. Know this. The stalemate is based on emotion, which is not reliable. You have a Father and He waits to talk, to move, to comfort, and to avenge. Put your faith in the unwavering character of God as confirmed in scripture. Though you may feel one way (based on human experience), you can act on a truth you do not feel – yet affirm to be true. This will always be the right choice.

You are always the Father and when I feel You’re not, my sources for proof are my experiences with infallible and sinful people. I need Your grace to have faith when my heart betrays my trust. In Jesus name, Amen

THE WRONG COMPANY

When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. “Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Matthew 16:5

            The message about yeast, from a baker’s perspective, is that a little goes a long way. Just a half teaspoon affects an entire loaf of bread. Spiritual yeast is the same and Jesus wants us to know this by warning us. Yeast is considered a harmful thing in the kingdom so be careful with whom you keep company. Proximity and extended time with the wrong people have great effect on our spiritual lives.

            The disciples didn’t get what Jesus was saying. Immediately, they assumed he was talking about physical realities instead of spiritual. He even gave them clues that He was speaking about the Pharisees and Sadducees. Being with them was to be in danger of being infected with the spiritual yeast they spread.

            The Pharisees judged everyone by how similar they were to them. They believed they were the only ones who were favored by God. They gave no room for being different. If you were a Gentile, you couldn’t worship God. Doesn’t this sound familiar? Fundamentalist thinking is to endorse your own denomination and believe that you are the only ones who are spiritually sound. To the Protestants, Catholics aren’t believers. To the Catholics, Protestants are out of favor. To the Baptists, Presbyterians are misguided. To the Presbyterians, the Baptist way is distasteful. How dare we categorize according to differences. The defining line should be the major tenets of the Gospel message. Period. Continue reading “The Wrong Company” →