Theme: Listen Up!

I Just Heard and Now What?

 

How many pieces of information will you hear today?  Hundreds probably. 

Your order is ready.

We have it in your size.

You will be contacted in five business days.

They won it all!

Honey, can you help me with this, please?

Dinner is at seven tonight.

It’s a boy!

We need to start chemo as soon as possible.

Your check is in the mail.

We will be closing in 60 days.

These aren’t the only kinds of messages we get on a regular basis.  We encounter lots of messages that are beyond what you might call our immediate life atmosphere.  Everyday, we are exposed to streaming news about strange events, tragedies, and unrest that we can’t do much about.  We just hear the info, think about it for moment and change the channel. 

But, one thing is common to all information:  Whether a piece of information has a large or small impact in our lives, every message connects us to a potential decision of some kind.  A purchase.  A opportunity.  A responsibility.  A goal.  A new future.  A forewarning.  A pay day.  A relationship.  The list is endless.

When Jesus spoke about the gospel, he presented it as a message that was alive with opportunity.  He described it as a seed.  At first glance, seeds don’t look like much.  But, put them in good soil, water them a bit and let the sun do its work and suddenly…germination…life…stalk…fruit!

In Luke chapter eight, Jesus illustrated the power and opportunity that comes with hearing the gospel by telling a simple story.  He took a page from every day.  It is about a sower who sowed seed in different kinds of soil.  But, the story is about a lot more than agriculture.  It illustrates how people receive the seed of the gospel message. Luke 8:4-8 reads:

   4 And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in   a parable: 5 "A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. 7And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. 8And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold." As he said these things, he called out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

Jesus’ point?  The seed of the gospel falls on different kinds of hearts.  Some reject it out right. “Non-sense” they say.  Others take in the message quickly but don’t think it through carefully.  Life pressures eventually wear their faith down and they revert back to a “live for now” attitude.  Similarly, other people grab it up but have difficulty allowing God’s reign to mature in their lives because the carnal world has too big a grip on their hearts.  But, some hearts take the message “to heart” and choose to wrap their lives around it every day. 

Has this seed fallen into your life in some way?  The real question is what kind of soil are you?  Remember!   Information always connects us with something.  And, that’s exactly what the gospel does for anybody who “has ears to hear.”  “And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” 

Father, thank you for the gospel.  It is truly an indescribable gift.  May our ears be open to the blessing that is found in the good news about Jesus Christ and what only he can offer us.  May we seek it , surrender ourselves to it and live with its confession on our lips everyday.  Amen.

Randy Daugherty

Stephenville, Texas