Date: 22 May 2022
Speaker: Ps Daniel Tan
Sermon Text: Luke 8:1-56
Introduction
Recently, I announced I was going for my evening walk, to which my wife Dawn handed me a cheque. It was with the instructions, to go and drop it off at the OCBC quick cheque deposit.
I set off for my walk and went to drop off the cheque.
1 week later, Dawn received the news from DBS, they could not honour the cheque that they were given. It then dawn on me that the cheque was to be placed in OCBC quick cheque deposit and not DBS.
Somehow, I had not heard the key word OCBC and that was critical. That costs lots of admin hassle and a delay in payment.
10 years ago, the doctor told me, you have high cholesterol, you need to do 2 things. Firstly, increase your exercise frequency and secondly, eat healthier. The doctor said, let’s attempt to improve it the natural way.
After 5 years, the results were still the same. The two habits I was supposed to form did not materialize. At the same time, I started to get chest tightness periodically.
Since I was hitting 50, the doctor told me, your treadmill ECG does not look good, you need to go for a CT Scan and since your cholesterol level is still in the danger zone, there is no choice now but to start you on cholesterol medication and that may be for life.
They sent me to the Polyclinic dietitian twice for consultation. When she asked what I normally eat, everything that I volunteered was on the list that said, eat once a year.
Those 2 consultations for me were truly depressing. And I’m sure for the dietitian, a confirmation that this is a stubborn uncle whom she will one day see admitted for heart issues.
Thank God that the CT scan results were okay and that my cholesterol levels are now within acceptable markers with medication.
As you can see, I’ve selective hearing issues and I’m disobedient to sound medical advice.
The question Scripture is asking us to appraise ourselves with today is, how am I listening to Jesus. Is my spiritual listening just as bad?
Are you, am I, listening to Jesus’ words selectively, hearing only what we want to hear? Are you, am I, just hearing Jesus’ words but disregarding them altogether?
Are we deliberately disobedient to sound divine instruction?
Last week Ps Luwin asked us to consider - are we loving Jesus? Today, the question posed is are we listening to Jesus. If to the question last week, we say a resounding yes, then I pray that today’s text will help us see that those who love Jesus, listen to Jesus in a certain way.
In chapter 7, all the incidences were situated in public areas amongst generally a crowd. In contrast you will find that Jesus interacted mainly with his disciples for the events in chapter 8.
It seems then, even as Jesus was revealing more of Himself to the disciples, he was also at the same time, helping them to understand how a disciple should respond to the revelation of who Jesus is.
His Word requires an appropriate response
Let’s begin to look at Luke 8, starting from v4 to v18. The parable of the sower and the lamp. I would like to use the parable of the sower as the key focus and relate everything else to it.
Bible commentators have labelled this parable of the sower as a mega-parable.
Giving to it the status of a leading parable. This is because it extensively included in all the synoptic gospels – in Matthew 13 and Mark 4.
All three gospels emphasize that we must be very careful about how we hear the word of God. Listening to Jesus is not just a passive matter, it is vitally important how we respond to what we have heard.
At this juncture, it might be good to recap why Luke’s gospel was written in the first place. Let’s go back to chapter 1.
Luke 1:3 it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.
Luke wrote to Theophilus a high ranking Roman official this gospel so that he might have certainty concerning the things he has been taught. It was to instruct and strengthen the faith of Theophilus.
The parable of the sower reinforces this point. When we listen well, it will strengthen our faith.
Why did Jesus give this parable?
Lk 8:10 he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’
Isa 6:9 And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “ ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ 10 Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
Jesus’ words in Luke 8:10 reference Isaiah 6:9-10. In Isaiah’s context the word of God had been given but because it had been persistently rejected, thus God was withdrawing His word from Israel.
So, Jesus spoke the parable of the sower to differentiate between those who will be part of His family and those who will not. Jesus’ disciples have been given the understanding but to those who have rejected Jesus’ words, their hearts will be dull, their ears heavy and their eyes blind.
It is thus a warning of judgement for those who reject the words of Jesus. May we today, heed this warning as well.
And this principle is complemented in the short parable about lighting a lamp in v16 to 18. The warning of v18 says, take care then how you hear, for if you do listen well, more will light will be given, but if you reject, then even the little light that shines will be taken away.
There will always be an impact on our lives when we encounter God’s word. It will not leave us unaffected. If we receive it well, then, more of God’s truth will penetrate our darkness. But if we reject it, then what little light that shines may instead be taken away.
Let us thus be circumspect when we come before God’s word. May each encounter with the living word leave us richer and not poorer spiritually.
So, the parable explains to us that the seed which is the word of God, falls on 4 types of soil – along the path, amongst rocks, amongst thorns and finally on the good soil.
The crowd hear the parable in v4, but it is the disciples in v9 that get the explanation.
In each of the soil, the seed, which is the word of God is sown. What happens has nothing to do with the quality of the seed, it is dependent on the condition of the soil.
Since all 4 soils depict the spiritual state of man, the condition of the soil that is on the path, confront us with the reality that there are dark spiritual powers at work in our world.
The devil and his kind are actively taking away gospel seeds that are being sown.
We should thus never underestimate how challenging it is to witness for the Lord. It is a spiritual battle that we engage in for the souls of man.
It means also that we do not get discourage when the good news is rejected. We may be disappointed, but we are not surprised.
Do you think that people who exhibit the rocky or thorns-infested soil are true believers? I’m sure many of us Singaporean Christians can identify with them.
Earlier in chapter 6, Jesus said, a good tree will bear good fruit. A bad tree cannot bear good fruit. So, a good tree must bear the right fruit.
Now here in chapter 8, an additional truth is given. A good tree must bear fruit.
No good tree can be fruitless. Thus, rocky and thorn infested soil cannot be the norm for true believers.
So we observe that for the seeds that fell on rocky ground, due to shallow roots, there was not enough moisture, the plant dies. Because the plant does not survive, they bear no fruit.
It means that God does allow times of testing to weed out the fair-weather believers from the genuine ones. Can we see our testing in that light?
Thus for true believers, our testing be the refining fire that God allows us to experience.
Through testing, we grow deeper roots and in so doing, we become assured of the genuineness of our faith.
We have just gone through Covid. I pray that through our response to this pandemic, it has enabled us to display to ourselves and to our loved ones the certainty of the hope that we have in Christ Jesus.
Let’s look at the thorn-infested soil. Jesus describes that they are choked as ‘they go on their way’. Meaning as they live out their lives. The thorns do not all come up at once. It grows along with the plant.
In the rocky soil we could say there was persecution. But here it is preoccupation. No pressure, just pleasure. This is what 1 Jn 2:16 describes as the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes and the pride of life.
Look at this picture of a climbing vine on a tree. These vines kill a tree through various means. They block sunlight from the tree, so little photosynthesis. They add unnecessary weight to the tree and also compete with the tree from nutrients.
They look innocent, not like thorns, yet they are deadly to the tree. The desires of the world are like that too.
Jesus says if your spiritual state is like that of the thorn-infested soil, be warned. For your fruit will not mature. It means you bear no fruit.
For those of us who have been believers for some time, we would acknowledge that for the first 3 types of soil, it would be no surprize that the devil has a hand in all of them.
We can never put it past the devil to use persecution for the faith and the deceitfulness of the world to tear believers away.
So, the first 3 soils are negative examples of listening to Jesus. Thus, the only way to listen to Jesus is that of the good soil. To hear the world, hold it fast in an honest and good heart and bear fruit with patience.
Against persecution, believers are to hold fast to God’s word. Hebrews tells us, Jesus is the anchor of our souls. Hold fast to Jesus.
Against the preoccupation of worldly pleasures, we are to bear fruit with patience.
It means there is discipline in our lives. It means like a responsible gardener, we intentionally tend to our lives and not get side-tracked.
There is steadfastness, there is endurance.
V15 gives us a picture not just of conversion but of sanctification. A long journey of becoming more and more like Jesus.
For such believers, their description is that of 2 Tim 4:7
2 Tim 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
Let us be the good soil that listens to Jesus appropriately. May our lives be modeled after 2 Tim 4:7.
His Word forms His family
Notice with me that Luke bookends the parable of the sower with descriptions of who are his disciples (v1-3) and who are his family (v19-21).
I submit, Luke is showing to Theophilus, concrete examples of those who are the good soil of the parable. Basically, showing in real life, what it means to listen appropriately to Jesus’ words.
And those who listen appropriately to Jesus’ words, He will form into His family. These are the ones who will partake of God’s kingdom.
Luke 8:1 tells us Jesus went about proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. This is the sower sowing the seed.
And Luke says, those with him were his disciples and some women – Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Susanna.
The description of who is following Jesus and His word gives us clues as to who can qualify. And it basically shouts anyone.
Luke has already given us some description of who the disciples were. In chapter 5, he tells us of Simon Peter, James and John. They were I suppose our equivalent of blue collar workers who runs an SME.
In that same chapter, Jesus calls Levi. And Levi is a tax collector. That’s someone despised by the Jews for they worked for the Roman occupiers and enriched themselves at the expense of the masses.
Anyone can qualify to listen to Jesus’ Word.
Lk 5:11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him…. 28 And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.
In addition, Luke records that when Jesus called them, they left everything and followed him. Church, this is what it means to be the good soil. To put our trust fully in Jesus.
Significantly, 3 women are also mentioned. The Pharisees of the day would regularly pray - “Blessed art thou, O God, for not making me a Gentile, slave, or woman.”
These 3 categories were of lower class in society and excluded from the main area of temple worship. But Jesus had 3 named women as part of His extended group of disciples.
To Theophilus, that would be a highlight. Jesus was totally different from other teachers. He placed women as equals with men.
To add to this remarkable levelling, Mary Magdalene was one whom 7 demons had gone out from.
What a past Mary has had. I’m sure she would rank no lower than the disgraced woman who anointed Jesus’ feet in the house of Simon the Pharisee in chapter 7.
Joanna is the wife of Herod’s household manager. So, part of the Jewish political elite.
Mary and Joanna would I suppose be at opposite ends of the economic spectrum. Yet, they were both equal in the sight of Jesus.
So whether you are male or female, with a past or not, you are all welcome to listen to Jesus’ words. The gospel seed is for you. You can be the good soil.
And Luke says of these women, Lk8:3 who provided for them out of their means.
These women had the financial means to support Jesus and His disciples so that they could go through the cities and villages proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.
Church, this is a living example of what fruit a good soil can produce.
Now we turn our attention to v19 to 20. Jesus emphasizes again, it is His word that forms His family. Those whom Jesus says are His are those who listen to His words. And that means to hear and to do it.
Who can be the good soil, Luke says, anyone. What does it mean to be the good soil, it means hearing Jesus’ words and doing it.
It means following Jesus 100%, it means providing the means for the furtherance of God’s kingdom.
Church, let us be the good soil and listen to Jesus appropriately. May the disciples and the women be our models.
His Word show us His power and enables us to trust His person
We now come to Luke 8:22-56. Here we see 4 miracles of Jesus. Each of them could warrant a sermon but we will attempt to go through them in one sermon segment.
These 4 miracles give us the breadth of the challenges that faces mankind. So, we see that Jesus’ words have authority and power over Disaster, Demons, Disease and Death.
The prophets of old had to pray to God to deliver mankind out of these extreme trials and tribulations. Here Jesus demonstrates that His words alone are sufficient.
Let look at each of the miracles briefly.
In the incident of the storm, we realize that it was a disaster for even seasoned fishermen were afraid. Jesus shows both His humanity and His divinity.
In His humanity, Jesus fell asleep in the boat. He was like us, tired and had to rest. In His divinity, He rebuked the wind and the raging waves and they ceased.
His question then for the disciples was ‘where is your faith’.
Now Jesus is not implying they have no faith in Him at all. He is asking why it did not show up? Why they did not consider, that with Christ in the vessel we can smile at the storm?
The good soil produces trust in God even in the midst of a raging storm. The good soil knows that life’s storms will still hit believers and will hit hard. But the good soil believes that they have Jesus with them as they battle the storm.
Significantly, v25 says they were afraid.
Now this is after the storm had ceased, so they cannot be afraid of the elements. It means then that they were afraid of who Jesus has shown Himself to be. Jesus is God.
The good soil thus knows we should be more fearful of who Jesus is than the circumstances of our lives.
And such fear will give us proper perspective. Let our reverence for God the creator surpass that of our fear of creation.
Now the parable of the sower already informs us that life has a spiritual dimension.
So, in Jesus’ dealings with the demonic man from Gerasenes, we are to be encouraged and assured that Jesus has authority over Satan and his kind.
The legion of demons, pays Jesus the ultimate compliment for they proclaim who He really is - you are Jesus Son of the Most High God. They know of his absolute authority even over them for they plead in v31 not to be sent to the abyss.
We are in Gentile territory since there is a large herd of pigs. Jesus is interacting with someone who is unclean in the greatest level of uncleaness for a Jew.
He is a Gentile who is demon-possessed, who lives among the dead and I’m sure has been in contact with pigs.
Yet, Jesus willing heals the man with His Word. What a powerful lesson of inclusiveness and acceptance Jesus was teaching his disciples. The good soil would do likewise.
Assuming this man was one of their own, through the reaction of the town’s people to Jesus, what type of soil would they be?
After the miracle of deliverance, they instead drove Jesus away from them for they were fearful. Were they fearful for their livelihoods or that Jesus was a stronger demon than what was in the man?
We are not told, but we wonder, why did not, the contrast of the man, before and after meeting with Jesus, not cause them to be open to Jesus?
Could they be the soil that is along the path?
In contrast, the delivered man shows us that he is the good soil. He seeks to be with Jesus and to follow Him.
To that, Jesus commissions him. Follow me by being a witness for me in your home. The man promptly exceeds his commission. He does it not just in his home but throughout the whole city.
Which soil are you today? That of the fearful town folks or that of the passionate missionary?
Finally, we look at Jesus’ miracle over disease and death.
We see that the woman with the discharge of blood has been having this condition as long as the daughter of the synagogue ruler has been alive. Both are 12 years.
The case of the woman with the illness comes across as a helpless case. Due to her condition, she is a social outcast as Mosaic law says she is unclean.
She cannot visit anyone and no one can visit her home since she has been bleeding for 12 years, social isolation must be terrible for her.
She is also economically challenged. She has spent all her living on physicians. Dr Luke must truly have compassion on her for he truly understands her medical condition.
This woman craved anonymity. But Jesus brought her out into the open. He said, someone touched me in faith.
Jesus gave her then the opportunity to give a confession and her testimony. And we see that significantly Jesus addressed her as daughter.
Remember the 2nd sermon section, who is Jesus’ family, those who hear the word of God and do it.
This woman is the good soil for she knew who Jesus is, knew His power to heal and she, in faith approached Jesus.
By giving her the opportunity to testify, Jesus brought her back into community. It would have been a challenge for her to testify otherwise of her healing but now Jesus enabled her to do so.
Could the equivalent today be our sacrament of baptism where we publicly testify of God’s grace in our lives and are then welcomed into the faith community which is the body of Christ.
When we become a believer, we are reconciled not just with God but also with His people.
Now if you were the synagogue ruler, how might you have received this interruption of healing this woman?
Your only daughter is dying and Jesus was on the way to your home to heal. As you try to keep your impatience from exploding, you receive news from our household, do not trouble the Teacher, your daughter is dead.
What testing this is from the Lord!
It has intensified, moving from disease to death. And Jesus says to the ruler, do not fear, only believe and she will be well.
To the ruler’s credit, we see that he continues to trust Jesus for he proceeds to bring Jesus to his home.
Consistent with all in chapter 8, we see that this is witnessed by only Peter, John and James. Jesus’ disciples and not the crowd.
The synagogue ruler is the good soil. The good soil continues to trust God even when things seem impossible.
The ruler trusted Jesus when it was urgent, now he showed that he continues to trust Jesus when it seemed hopeless.
The disciples witness thus how a good soil bears fruit. The fruit of enduring trust.
Because Jesus lives, I can face tomorrow, because Jesus lives, all fear is gone.
Because I know Jesus holds the future, so life is worth the living just because Jesus lives.
Conclusion
Church, how are we listening to Jesus’ Words?
The parable of the sower tells us that it is very important that we listen appropriately.
We are to be the good soil that hears it and holds it fast in an honest and good heart and thus bear fruit with patience.
The 4 miracles show us the power of Jesus over the most extreme of human experience – disaster, demons, disease and death.
And if we say yes and Amen to all that, we then have to ask, what does listening look like in reality?
Luke tells us, look at the Jesus’ disciples they left all to follow Jesus. Look at the 3 women, they provided out of their means.
Don’t follow the example of the disciples in the boat, they feared the storm more than they revered Jesus. Don’t be like the town folks of Gerasenes, they reject Jesus.
Instead testify of Jesus like the delivered man and the woman healed of the bleeding. Finally, the good soil produces the fruit of enduring faith like that of the synagogue ruler.
Whatever your life’s situation is today, I’m sure you will find it in Luke 8.
And so may I end with Jesus’ words that is both an encouragement and warning - ‘he who has ears to hear, let him hear’.