Yesterday we began a look at Jesus’ story of “the sower,” a
parable that tells about how God’s kingdom works. The seeds are God’s Word – the ground is us,
our hearts – the Sower is the Spirit of God.
Jesus unfolds the parable’s problems, showing us what keeps us from
being all God promised us we could be.
In part one we saw that the problem of hardness is the seed
of God’s Word and grace falling on a hard, unwilling heart. The Proverb writer called that person a
fool. Prov 29:14:1 Now consider:
THE PROBLEM OF SHALLOWNESS
The seed
on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive
it with joy. But
since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems
or are persecuted for believing God’s word. Matthew 13:20 - 21 (NLT)
The shallow
or superficial believer lacks commitment.
Timothy[1]
calls him one who has a form of godliness (religion), but denies the power of
God.
Vance Havner
used to say a person like this had a theology that was a mile wide, and an inch
deep; there’s no conviction, no deep stand on Biblical principles. A marginal hold on Christianity will produce
someone who takes a stand on nothing, and will fall for anything.
The
superficial believer is a "miserable Christian." Without a strong faith, rooted deeply in the
Word of God, how could one possibly serve God AND withstand this world?
Jesus said
that this type of follower will be really glad to be a part of things for a
while. But when difficult decisions come
and there is a tough choice between the easy way, and serving Christ, there are
no firm roots to hold the plant.
The sun will
vitalize a deeply-rooted plant, but it will scorch a shallow one. Many people who have made a profession of
faith in a church, and have not continued to serve Christ are examples of
this. They rock along while things are
going fine in church. But their lack of
strong faith in Christ shows the first time trouble comes.
It shows up
most in relationships between fellow believers.
Often the
carnal thin-skin will be
offended by the smallest annoyance.
Jesus was offended by every one of His followers, yet he loved and
forgave them; he didn't give up on them.
When the thin-skins
leave, it is because they have been scorched by the genuine message of the cross
– denying self, picking up the cross and following Jesus.
Today
If you find yourself a mile-wide on
your theology and only an inch-deep on tolerance of people, the question
today: Is that what Jesus wanted in his
family?
Pray that God might give you
forbearance to withstand the temptation to create or escalate tension and anger
between believers and unbelievers alike in difficult situations.
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