Day 26

Seeing With God’s Eyes:

The Parables of Jesus (1)

Roger and Eileen Himes

www.ThePracticalGospel.com

We Christians often have misconceptions of the parables Jesus taught. They are often viewed as being for unbelievers — the unsaved. If they are seen as being for Christians, they’re often seen as only being elementary teachings. They’re often also looked upon as only being ‘moral surface level teachings,’ and not ‘the deep stuff.’

These are MIS-conceptions. They are WRONG perceptions. Nothing gets deeper in our lives than the parables. They help reveal what we’ve just spent two days looking at: our mission and purpose in life, as well as the way we live life daily (our plans and goals). They show the picture of a loving Father, and the reality of his Kingdom dimension. They lift our spirits to see the fullness, goodness, and grace of God. Jesus said, “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father.”

In looking at the parables we are not going to ‘study them’ per se. There are many good studies of the parables available like this. Instead, we will just look at the truth of some of the parables, as they relate to the gospel, and they practically impact us. You must read the passages on your own to grasp the facts. My purpose is to look at the TRUTHS of the parables, not the facts or the illustration of the parables.

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GOSPEL TRUTH #51

There are a lot of misconceptions about the parables. Parables that Jesus told are not for unbelievers. They are meant for mature believers who are firm in their love for God (Mat 13:34-35).

The parables are designed to awaken our spirits to deeper truths, and mysteries of God. They are deep revelation, not bedtime stories for children, or elementary teaching for kindergarten (Mat 13:14-15). The parables are not just moral, ethical teachings. They are like heart surgery. Their purpose is to do surgery on our souls — taking OLD hindrances and worn out parts, and transplanting them with NEW Testament gospel truth. They are truths to be absorbed like daily manna, experienced personally, and then shared with others.

The parables are the easiest way to see spiritual truth. As we take them in, they expand exponentially within us (Mat 13:10-13).

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Parables are (1) WINDOWS, through which we see God and look into his Kingdom, and (2) MIRRORS, through which we see US in relationship to God and his Kingdom. They reveal what can’t be seen any other way. And they are interactive. They cause us to engage them.

Christianity is too often presented as a system of beliefs, behavior and rituals. It is presented as dogma: principle infested religion that only finds relevance behind stain-glass windows. In reality, the gospel truth revealed by the parables makes us part of the will of God: “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth.” The parables draw us into living the powerful reality of his Kingdom: in our plans and strategies that express the mission and purpose of God. They are NEW wine, without the OLD wineskins. They impact our hearts, not our heads.

Parables are the practical application of Ezra 7:10: “Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord, and to practice it, and to teach his statutes and ordinances in Israel.” This was the OLD Testament way. The NEW Testament gospel way is focused on (1) learning gospel truth, (2) implementing and living the truth, and (3) sharing gospel truth. What the law was in the Old Testament, the gospel is in the New.

Old Testament law was focused on TRUE, reliable things. They were helpful things to apply to life, or to avoid. New Testament gospel TRUTH is intrinsically personal in the here and now of our lives. It is a state of present reality that governs life experience. It is not just something to be known and utilized, but to empower us in life.

The gospel shows HOW God’s kingdom works. Jesus used parables to reveal the gospel process — ‘mysteries,’ and not seen by everyone, because not everyone seeks them. They must be seen through mature spiritual eyes. Thus, this gospel fast did not begin with the parables.

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We’ve talked a lot about The Parable of the Sower. The first two days of the fast were about this parable. But we need to see it again, but in a different light. Again. in Mark 4:11-13, Jesus said we MUST understand this parable or we won’t understand the others!

This parable is about: (1) the sower who plants, (2) the seed that is planted, and (3) the soil, or the heart into which the seed is planted. The Sower is of course God, or at least Fathers of the gospel. Both God and Fathers plant ‘the word of the kingdom,’ or gospel seed (Mat 13:19).

Four hearts are mentioned: (1) hard, (2) shallow, (3) thorny (which are crowded or busy), and (4) good or fruitful. Each of us has all four types of hearts in us. Most preaching emphasizes the negative aspects of the heart (the darkness). The gospel emphasizes the POSITIVE aspect of our hearts (the light). Let’s take a look at this closer.

To have a fertile, good field, all we have to do is to be RECEPTIVE to God’s gospel seed. That’s it! Period! So many struggle with this, due to all the other seed they are offered by instructors in Christ. Receptivity means you are receptive DAILY. It doesn't mean just in church services on Sunday morning, or whenever you attend. The Gospel Road is daily, not just periodic. The Sower is always sowing; are you always receptive? We don’t like to submit daily, and at all times. We want to be in control of life. A certain time on Sunday is o.k., but not ANY time. That’s too demanding. That’s too constraining. But this is what God asks.

Most of us spend our time in yesterday (which is ‘if only’ thinking), or in tomorrow (which is ‘what if’ thinking). Like Jesus we are crucified between two thieves that steal TODAY from us. The Bible says, “Today is the day of salvation.” This means a lot more than just being born again. Living in yesterday and tomorrow makes us dysfunctional and dyslexic. We live in fantasy, not reality. We know true things, but not truth.

The Holy Spirit cultivates our good, fruitful field. He is the one who tells us to rest — to receive gospel truth, and live in its reality. And he leads us to do this DAILY. He plants just what we need each and every day, if we trust him. He does it intimately, not remotely. He knows what each of us needs is different and unique. He knows just the right seed to sow, — the right things of God’s Kingdom to plant. Paul says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13). This is drawing power from divine sources — that God’s power (and his seed).

God’s field is huge. Sure, there are hard roads through the field, and there are rocks and hard ground next to the road. Sure there are thorns, weeds, tares, and thistles. But Most of the field is lush, expansive and gorgeous. This is how we look, in Father’s eyes, living a gospel life. What it takes is desire to see God’s seed planted in us. Not all Christians have this desire. Some are too consumed with principles, and living life in their own kingdom of self. Their main goal is to experience a better life. Their goal is the wisdom of man, born from The Tree of Knowledge. The Holy Spirit will always feed you seed from The Tree of Life.

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The problem is that the sower is not always good, and the seed they sow into us is not always good. Sometimes they sow bad seed into us: weeds or ‘tares’ (Mat 13:24-30). Thus Paul says preachers don’t always understand what they say, even though they preach with confidence, power and human wisdom (I Tim 1:7).

The seed they plant in us looks good. It looks like wheat (gospel truth), but it’s really not — its weeds. It may be something that is true, but it’s not empowering truth. It may be something that gums up our spiritual channel rather than opening it. Gospel truth is what profits us (Heb 4:2). God sees us as being wheat or weeds. Wheat is produced by his gospel; weeds come from religion, and living a life in rote that is based on principles and rules.

When we have wheat planted in us, we live in JOY (Mt 9:14-15, Mk 2:18-29, Lk 5:33-35). JOY dominates God’s Kingdom. Our life becomes like a constant wedding feast with God because of intimate relationship with him that the gospel produces in us. Thus we ‘enter into the JOY of our Lord’ (Mat 25:23). Paul says we are married to Jesus (Rom 7:4). Our whole life is meant to be one of intimate divine relationship.

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Living in New Testament gospel truth does not mean we throw the OLD garment away (Mat 9:16, Mk 2:21, Lk 5:36). Old Testament ways are still respected and kept account of, especially as a means of comparison to our better, New Covenant. But the Jews expected Jesus to mend their old ways, but he didn’t. The old way brought BONDAGE, the new brought BLESSING. He knew they could not be combined.

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GOSPEL TRUTH #52

Jesus says we cannot pour new wine into old bottles (Mat 9;17, Mk 2:22, Lk 5:37-39). The old is easier to understand, and he says some folks will always say ‘the old is better.’ But this is not true. The New wine cannot be kept in Old wineskins. Doing this ruins both the new fervent wine and the old, inflexible wineskins. Both the Old and the New had their glory (II Cor 3:6-11), but the Old outlived its glory and was thus replaced by the New, — as Jesus describes in his parables.

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Both the Old and the New Testaments are GOOD treasures (Mat 13:51-52), but their purpose is very different. The Old is ‘the ministry of condemnation’ and the other is ‘the ministry of righteousness’ (II Cor 3:6, 9). One takes from us (demands), while the other gives to us (reveals).

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Roots, whether they be good or bad, produce spontaneous growth (Mk 4:26-29). This means automatic growth: things produce after their own kind, as Genesis 1 says. You can’t plant apple seeds and raise pumpkins. Good roots produce good fruit; bad roots produce bad fruit (Mat 7:18, 12:35). It’s just the way of the world. That’s why the sower and the seed are so important, and why Jesus says we MUST understand the parable of the sower beyond anything else.

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This is what the parable of the yeast and the leaven teach (Mt 13:33, Lk 13:20-21). These are invisible elements inside of us, down deep in the roots of our soil. Our whole person, — spirit, soul and body — becomes leavened by what is put into us. It’s a process we cannot help or hinder, except by the cultivation of our soil, and WHAT we allow into it. Once the process begins, it just continues.

It’s also like a mustard seed (Mt 13:31-32, Mk 4:30-34, Lk 13:18-19). But here you can see the growth: it’s visible. We can add to our faith: virtue and many other things, as Peter says. The gospel can have very small beginnings (like the tiny mustard seed). It doesn’t require much, because it is the power of God himself. It grows fast while we rest.

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The parables of the hidden treasure, and the pearl of great price reveal we must treasure the kingdom seed that is sown into us, and protect it (Mt 13:44-46). The hidden treasure was obscure and the man didn’t even know it was there. He just found it accidentally. He stumbled over it, much like Paul on the Damascus Road. But the pearl of great price was sought for purposefully because of its known value. The gospel of the Kingdom comes upon us both ways. Our only response should be to RECEIVE it when it does manifest itself to us.