TODAY’S READING IN THE ONE YEAR BIBLE- THE GRACE OF PROFITABLE HEARING
MARCH 27- Deuteronomy 9-10:22; Luke 8:4-21; Psalm 69:19-36; Proverbs 12:2-3
“Hearing” is the common theme in today’s Old and New Testament readings.
As Moses summons the people of Israel to recount their privileges and responsibilities in their covenant relationship with God, he repeatedly calls them to “Hear!”
Jesus, during his second Galilean ministry, speaks in parables. Luke reports,
“As He said these things, He would call out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." Luke 8:8 (NASB)
It is a special gift to be given ears to hear with understanding. It is also a gift to hunger for truth, recognize the truth when you hear it, and to be able to live accordingly.
The Hebrew word used for ‘hear’ is SHEMA. This also is the name for the Hebrew prayer repeated daily by practicing Jews. The prayer is the Hebrew text from Deuteronomy 6:4 and is a reminder of the special summons given to Israel to receive God’s self-revelation through His Word.
4 "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! 5 "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might (Deut. 6:4)
Hear, O Israel- it is a call to worship.
Notice how Moses often calls Israel to hear.
1 Then Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: "Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I am speaking today in your hearing, that you may learn them and observe them carefully. (Deuteronomy 5:1; NASB).
He then repeats the Ten Commandments.
Hear, O Israel- It is a call to obey.
He then tells them WHY they should hear.
Hear O Israel- It is a call to experience what God has promised.
3 Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the LORD God of your fathers has promised you--'a land flowing with milk and honey.' Deuteronomy 6:3 (NKJV)
He reminds them that it is a miraculous privilege of grace to hear the Word of God.
33 "Has any people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as you have heard it, and survived? Deuteronomy 4:33 (NASB)
We are tested on what we hear.
36 "Out of the heavens He let you hear His voice to discipline you; and on earth He let you see His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire. Deuteronomy 4:36 (NASB)
In Deuteronomy Chapter 9, he reminds them that it is a call to go outside their comfort zone. Their problems outsize them, but God outsizes their problems.
1 "Hear, O Israel! You are crossing over the Jordan today to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, great cities fortified to heaven, (Deuteronomy 9:1; NASB)
Moses reminds them that their future victory is not due to the size of their army or because of any righteousness of their own. It is all of grace (See Deut. 7:7-8).
God was bringing judgment upon the Canaanites for their own wickedness. Moses reminds the Israelites that it is only because of God’s mercy that they were not consumed for their stubbornness.
Moses then recounts their history of faithlessness in the many times during which they provoked the Lord to anger. We learn of Moses’ two periods of being on Sinai for forty days and nights. He was on the mount for the first giving of the law, written by the finger of God on two tablets he had chiseled out of stone. This first giving of the law brought condemnation to the law-breakers who were worshiping the golden calf at the base of the mountain. Moses shattered this first set of stone tablets in the sight of all the people. The law was given that we might all see that we are law breakers and in need of a new covenant if we are to be justified as righteous before God.
Moses then intercedes. Through the intercession of Another a second covenant is made (Moses is a type of the Greater Mediator of the New Covenant, Jesus). Tablets are chiseled out of stone and once again the same words, The Ten Commandments, are written upon them by the finger of God. This time the stone tablets are hidden away inside the ark. (Deut 10:5). This law is not broken before the eyes of the people. Instead this revelation of righteousness is kept intact. We don’t look to “keeping the law” as our means of justification and acceptance before God. We look to Christ (the ark).
"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." (Romans 10:4; NASB)
Moses asks the Israelites to HEAR! They are to remember that they are loved and chosen by God. They are to be tender hearted rather than stubborn! (Deut 10:15-16)
The Lord is a God of justice and compassion.
17 "For the LORD your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe. 18 He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing. 19So show your love for the alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. 20 You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve Him and cling to Him, and you shall swear by His name. 21 He is your praise and He is your God, who has done these great and awesome things for you which your eyes have seen. 22 Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons in all, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.
Deuteronomy 10:17-22 (NASB)
Deuteronomy 10:17-22 (NASB)
NEW TESTAMENT READING: Luke 8:4-21
This is the third and final encounter with the Parable of the Soils as we read through the New Testament. Otherwise known as the Parable of the Sower and the Seed, this parable describes how the kingdom begins with the preaching of God’s Word.
The lesson of this parable is that not all who hear the Word of God truly will receive it as such (the wayside hearers). The devil who blinds the minds of those who believe not, snatches the gospel seed away from those whose hearts are hardened. Some will embrace the Word only for a quick fix for a felt need. They receive the Word with joy embracing the prospect of sensing His presence, experiencing miracles, comforts and blessings (the shallow hearer). In the times of testing, when their feelings are challenged, or persecution, affliction or hardships are experienced, they fall away. Some receive the Word but do not make sufficient room for it (the choked hearers), allowing competing interests, cares, riches and pleasures of this life to choke it to the degree it never fulfills its true purpose of growing up to the fullness of the stature of Christ and bringing forth fruit.
Many of Jesus’ contemporaries talked about the kingdom of God. They looked for the Messiah and the establishment of God’s rule among His people. But when the King came, they rejected Him as not fitting the bill (the wayside hearer). These were the Pharisees and scribes, who by this point in Jesus’ ministry had rejected Him. The devil took away the seed. They were already looking for ways they could get rid of Him.
Some received Jesus because of His miracles and blessings. He could feed them. But when His popularity began to wane, as He spoke about His indispensability as the One who would feed them salvation through the offering of His body and blood, they followed Him no more. Suffering, persecution, hardship and the prospect of identifying with Someone who insisted that we must be Losers- those who lose their life in Him in order to find it- was too much for them. These were the shallow hearers.
There were those who heard the word but did not make sufficient room in their hearts for it. Jesus spoke of counting the cost. The deceitfulness of riches is that they promise what they cannot deliver. When we seek earthly pleasures and become preoccupied with the cares of this age, the goal of the Word to reproduce Christ in the heart is aborted. The rich young ruler returns home sorrowing.
Some people think they are Christ-followers and kids of the kingdom, but they fail to repent of their own plans of salvation. The kingdom of God starts with the Word sown in the heart. It is sown for the purpose of reproducing Christ in such a way that hearers grow to become fruitful children of the kingdom. This is the goal of Christian discipleship.
THE PURPOSE OF THE PARABLE
Jesus explains the purpose of the parables. To some they will clarify the truth of the kingdom. To others they will conceal the truth of the kingdom (Luke 8:10), thus fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah:
9 He said, "Go, and tell this people: 'Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand.' 10 "Render the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Otherwise they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed." Isaiah 6:9-10 (NASB)
The prophecy Jesus refers to from Isaiah has to do with Israel not receiving the Word given. On Jesus’ first campaign in Galilee He made known His identity as Messiah (Luke 4:16-21). The religious leaders quickly rejected Jesus and would soon attribute His miracles to Beelzebub thus sealing their rejection of Him as Messiah. Now they would seek ways to deliver Jesus to death.
THE TRUTH WILL NOT BE HIDDEN FOR LONG
The light was not meant to be covered over with a bushel. It was not meant to be put under a bed. That’s a good way to set the bed on fire. But this is what the enemies of the gospel were doing (and do today). They take the truth of the Word and hide it from people. Or they foolishly put it in the wrong place, to their own destruction.
But there is a day of full vindication coming for the Word of God. The gospel of Jesus Christ is not meant to be kept a secret. One day everyone will know it is the truth. As C.S. Lewis said, “Eternity will make believers out of everyone.” “Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ in Lord to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:11). The gospel is not meant to be“the Secret” to which only a few have access (as taught by Gnostics, New Thought practitioners, and other religious gurus). God used the rejection of the religious leaders for His sovereign purpose. They did what God had planned (Acts 4:28). So seeing, they saw not, and hearing, they heard not.
Jesus speaks of a Day of Reckoning. What did we do with the Word?
18 "So take care how you listen; for whoever has (a capacity to receive as a child of God), to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has shall be taken away from him." Luke 8:18 (NASB)
Let us not only receive the word of God with a tenderized heart, but let us exercise our capacity to practice it. By God’s grace we will persevere, grow into the fullness of the stature of Christ with other believers and bring forth fruit. Yes, more shall be given!
He that has an ear, let him hear!
PRAY FOR THE NATIONS: CANADA (from Operation World)
Canada is the world’s second-largest country. It has a wide diversity of mountains, prairie grasslands and forests, but much is sparsely populated wilderness and arctic tundra.
Answer to Prayer
The strong legacy of parliamentary democracy has been influenced and shaped by Christian faith across all major parties. The proportion of elected members of parliament who are committed Christians is much higher than the average population.
Challenge for Prayer
The influence of Christianity has seen a long, sustained decline in Canadian society, not just in numbers but also in public presence. This is ostensibly for two main reasons:
a) Increased and deliberate pluralization and secularization. The non-religious population has made the greatest gains in recent years, but other religions are also growing rapidly through immigration and high birthrates. As with several other Western nations, biblical Christianity faces significant antipathy from the media and popular culture.
b) A failure of relevance, morals, and theological and spiritual dynamism in the Church. Protestants and Anglicans together numbered 45% in 1950, but are now only 11%. In each denomination, the degree of theological liberalization – especially in the mainline United Church and in Anglicanism – has generally coincided with the rate of decline. On the positive side, this fading of Christendom has trimmed the “deadwood” from churches, but it still reflects a sad decline in the influence of the gospel in Canada. Pray for a much-needed revival, starting in the Church and radiating outward.
More information is available as we pray for Canada (p. 193-197)
Pastor David
So, naturally, we proclaim Christ! We warn everyone we meet, and we teach everyone we can, all that we know about him, so that, if possible, we may bring every man up to his full maturity in Christ. (Colossians 1:28, J.B. Phillips paraphrase)
New Life Community Church, Concord, MA 10742
Meeting Sundays at 10:30 AM at the Emerson Umbrella for the Arts, 40 Stow Street, Concord MA
Mailing Address: Post Office Box Five, Concord, MA 01742
Church Offices: 35 Bypass Rd. Lincoln, MA 01773 978-369-0061
Home Office: 978-371-3176
New Life Fine Arts
"Theater you can believe in."
