“He also that received seed among the thorns is he that hears the word, and the care of this world, and deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.”
I imagine that most of you reading this are familiar with the parable of the sower. It is a parable that Jesus gave to the crowd of people who came to the seaside to hear Him speak. The parable was about a farmer who went out to sow his seed. Some of the seed fell by the wayside, or the hard-packed dirt around the field, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seed fell on rocky ground where the seed could not take root in the shallow soil. Some fell in the thorns, where they were able to take root but were choked by the thorn bushes. Other seed fell of good ground, took root and brought forth a crop. Jesus referred to the seed as the word of God and the soils were like people who received the word. My focus for our purposes is on what happened to the seed in the thorny ground. In this case the word of God takes hold and takes root, but the thorns hinder its growth and keep it from bearing fruit. This happens all too often and we need to be careful that we do not get caught in the thorns. In this case, the person hears the word and becomes overly concerned about “the care of the world.” This is a common problem because we live in the world and the world is fraught with cares that can call our attention away from the Lord. This is illustrated in Luke 10:38-42 where Jesus visited with His good friend Lazarus and Lazarus’ two sisters, Mary and Martha. Martha was busy, no doubt preparing a great meal for Jesus – at least that’s my guess. Meanwhile, Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus, learning from Him and worshiping Him. Martha told Mary that she should come and help her, but Jesus reprimanded Martha. He told her: “Martha, Martha, you are careful and troubled about many things, but Mary has chosen that good part which cannot be taken away from her.” In a sense, Martha couldn’t enjoy the visit of the Savior, because she was caught up in the cares of that moment. I think that this is what happens in people’s lives sometimes. They get so caught up with the temporal that they do not give adequate attention to the eternal. Don’t let the cares of this world rob of you of the joy that Jesus can bring into your life. Like Mary, sit as His feet, worship Him and learn from Him. Jesus also said that in the case of the people in thorny ground, they were choked by “the deceitfulness of riches.” Understand that you don’t have to try to get rich to be choked by the deceitfulness of riches. All you have to do is to live your life with the drive and determination to get money, to buy things, to dress well, to drive big cars, etc. There is nothing wrong with these things if they are not robbing us of our joy in Jesus and our worship of Him. “Riches” are deceitful because they promise fulfillment that they cannot deliver. I think that we can replace “riches” with “things.” What thing have you ever bought that brought real fulfillment to your life? When we base our lives on the abundance of things that we possess, we are choking out the word of God. I am not saying that possessions and bank accounts are unimportant. What I am saying is that they are not all-important. When we are possessed by our possessions, we are getting choked and robbing ourselves of a better relationship with God. For that matter, we are also robbing ourselves of a better relationship with our Christian friends. If you feel that you are not as close to God as you once were, you need to take stock of your life and see if you have landed among the thorns. There is always tension between living and making it in this world, and maintaining a viable Christian witness, but it is not impossible. Do not let yourself get caught up by the cares of life and the things that you possess. Take a lesson from Mary and sit at the feet of Jesus. Bro. Joe
1 Comment
CARY COX
1/28/2016 10:20:48 am
THANK YOU BRO. JOE. YES, WE CAN LOOK AROUND AND SEE ALL THOSE THORNS ALL AROUND US, AND NEVER WANTING TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT THEM! AGAIN THANK YOU FOR THIS MESSAGE!
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