The Warnings of the New Testament #2
The message of many frequently avoided
New Testament passages
by Anastasios Kioulachoglou
THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER
To start let’s go to the well-known parable of the sower,
mentioned in three out of the four gospels. We will read here the
record of Luke:
Luke 8:5-8, 11-15
"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. And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it
withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among
thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And 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. .... Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The
ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil
comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they
may not believe and be saved. And the ones on the rock are those
who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have
no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away.
And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear,
but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and
riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.
that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it
fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience."
We have in this parable all the possible outcomes of the
seed of the Word of God. As we see, in the first category the Word
did not enter in the hearts of the recipients. They did not believe it.
In contrast, the second and third categories received the Word but
none of the two brought forth fruit. Why, we will see in the next
section. Finally, the fourth category was the only one that heard
the Word, received it and bore fruit. Our focus in this chapter will
be on the second and third categories of this parable, as these
relate more to the topic of this study.
2.1. “THOSE WHO FELL ON THE ROCK”
For the second category we read:
“And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the
word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a
while, and in time of testing fall away.”
Did the people in this category believe? The answer of the
Lord is yes they did. They “believe for a while”, He said. So we
immediately see that faith has a time dimension. In other words,
the fact that somebody believes does not necessarily mean that he
will believe for the rest of his life. It may be that he believes but
only “for a while”. Once this “a while” is over then he is no longer
in the faith, like it happened to the people of this category here.
They started well, but after the start, after “a while”, in time of
temptation or persecution on account of the Word (Mark 4:7) they
fell away. Several examples of this category come to mind: people
who heard the Word, accepted it and then shared it with their
relatives and friends only to be rejected by them. Instead of
holding on accepting the stigma they gave up and departed from
the faith. Others had also the same bright beginning. Then a
temptation arose (it can be anything) and they gave in, perhaps
got offended with God and His people and they also departed.
These people had once believed, but they did not believe any
more. In fact the word translated as “fall away” is the Greek word
“aphistemi”, which means “to withdraw from; hence, to fall away,
to apostatize" (Vine’s dictionary). So, yes, it is possible for people
who believed, under tribulation and temptation for the Word, to
depart, to apostatize. This is exactly what happened with those in
the second category of the parable of the sower. God was once
their choice but they departed from Him, abandoning the faith.
Now the critical question is: if these people do not return
and repent, will they be saved? If we are to believe the doctrine
according to which it is enough that somebody believes even for a
while and he will be saved, regardless of what will happen to his
faith afterwards, then yes these will be saved for they had
believed. However, the problem with this view is that it ignores
the fact that faith is not something static, something that, because
one had it sometime, somewhere, is also guaranteed that he will
never abandon it. On the contrary, faith has a time dimension.
And when people give up the faith, believing only for a while, they
also leave back what was promised to them due to their faith,
namely salvation, eternal life. Because really salvation is not just
through grace, but “by grace through faith”. Grace is God’s part
and faith is our part. Both conditions have to be held and God
always keeps His. But whoever departs from the faith leaves also
whatever he got through faith, i.e. the promise of salvation. The
New Testament has plenty of passages that make this very clear
and the purpose of this book is to bring them out.
To find a way to explain the above passage some support
that the people of the second category of the parable of the sower
were never true believers, for had they been true believers - they
say - they would have never fallen away. But obviously this view
contradicts what the Lord Himself said when He explained this
part of the parable. According to Him: “And the ones on the rock
are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But
these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall
away”. These people received the Word just like you and me: with
joy. And they believed it. The Lord did not say that they
pretended to believe it, nor did He say that they pretended to
have accepted it with joy. In contrast their faith was originally
genuine and real. However, it did not last. It endured, but only for
a while. Therefore, it is the duration of the faith that was the
problem with these people and not whether the faith existed at all
in the beginning, for as we read they really believed, but only “for
a while”.
Perhaps this can explain the agony of Paul to learn about
the status of the faith of the persecuted Thessalonians (2
Thessalonians 1:4). As he said to them:
1 Thessalonians 3:1-8
“Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be
left behind at Athens alone, and we sent Timothy, our brother and
God's coworker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort
you in your faith that no one be moved by these afflictions. For
you yourselves know that we are destined for this. For when we
were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to
suffer affliction, just as it has come to pass, and just as you know.
For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your
faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor
would be in vain. But now that Timothy has come to us from you,
and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and
reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us,
as we long to see you — for this reason, brothers, in all our
distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through
your faith. For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord.”
Two times in just a few lines Paul speaks about his agony.
He knew that the believers were under persecution and he was
eager to learn about the status of their faith. Were they standing
fast in the Lord or not? What were the news concerning their faith?
Bad or good? This was the question and Paul was urgently
waiting to hear its answer from Timothy. Therefore faith is not
something unmovable; something that, once you have it, is
guaranteed that you will keep forever. If it was like this, Paul
would not worry. In that case, since they were once in the faith,
they would always be in the faith despite the persecutions and
temptations. But it is not like this. The purpose of the tempter, the
devil, is to overthrow our faith, to make us take offense with God
and His people and depart from the faith. In short, his purpose is
to devour us (1 Peter 5:8). The fact that we were standing fast
before the tribulation does not mean that we will necessarily also
do so after the tribulation or the temptation. We have to make up
our mind. God will support us and hold us but we have to hold
on too; we have to decide that we will stay with Him, no matter
what. Some do this but some do not. Those who do not, abandon
the faith. They may not say it publicly, but in reality they do not
mind much anymore. I believe that whoever is in the faith for
some time knows perhaps some related examples. But let’s now
pass to the third category of the parable of the sower.
2.2. “AND SOME FELL AMONG THORNS”
Moving now to the people in the third category of the
parable of the sower: these are the ones who heard the Word, “but
as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches
and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature1”. It is not
that these people did not receive the Word. Those who did not
receive the Word, because they did not understand it and Satan
stole it, were in the first category. In contrast, those in the third
category had a heart for the Word, but they had - or they acquired
on the way - also a heart for the world, namely the pleasures and
cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches. These acted as
thorns chocking the Word with the result that it did not really
bear fruit. Thus we see that it is not enough to have the Word in
_____________________________
1 To avoid misunderstanding the phrase “their fruit does not mature” does not
mean that they were somehow fruitful. This is obvious by Matthew 13:22 which
has this as “and they prove unfruitful”.
order to bear fruit. The Word on its own does not become fruitful,
if the things that act in competition to the Word – the cares of this
world (i.e. caring for what the world cares for2), the deceitfulness
of riches and the pleasures of this life – are not rooted out. If this
rooting out does not happen, the result is a worldly, unfruitful
“Christian”. He may know and originally he may have received
the Word but there is no fruit. The other things that were not
rooted out made it unfruitful.
Indeed, as the Lord made it very clear, it is impossible to
serve two masters. In the long run one of the two will have to go:
Luke 16:13
“No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one
and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise
the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
And as He again, in Luke 21:34, warns us:
“But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with
dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come
upon you suddenly like a trap.”
Also John tells us:
1 John 2:15-17
“ Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves
the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the
world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of
life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is
passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of
God abides forever.“
_____________________________
2 We need to make a clarification here: going to work to provide for our family is
not a care that will take us away from God. It is in fact an obligation. However
being a workaholic is a care that will take us away from God. Basically “cares of
this world”, means to care about what the world cares, making the interests of
the world our interests and way of life.
And James, calling adulterers and adulteresses those who
run after the world, says:
James 4:4
“Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship
with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to
be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
An adulterer is one who is married to somebody but runs
after or lusts after somebody else. Those that run after the world,
after the cares of this world, the riches, the dissipation and the
pleasures of this life are also called adulterers. Why? Because they
abandoned Christ the bridegroom and run after the world.
Back to the parable of the sower, those of the 3rd category
have followed the deception of riches or serve other masters (cares
and pleasures of this world etc.) and hence they cannot serve
Christ at the same time.
Now the critical question is: will this fruitless category, if it
remains so and does not repent, enter the Kingdom? To phrase it
differently: does it really matter concerning salvation whether
somebody’s faith is a fruitful faith, or is it OK and there is no issue
if somebody allows the Word of God to be choked, to be
effectively killed, by his simultaneous love for the world? Is it OK
if somebody who has confessed Jesus as his Lord abandons Him
serving other lords? What will happen in this case? We do not
need to think about the answer. The Lord Himself has answered
this question, over 2000 years ago and we would do well to pay
attention to His answer. By the way, His answer clearly also
applies to those of the second category of the parable i.e. those
that believed “for a while”:
John 15:1-8
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch
in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that
does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already
you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself,
unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I
am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in
him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do
nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch
and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and
burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask
whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is
glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”
I believe that the answer of the Lord leaves no space for
doubt: the only way to bear fruit is to abide in the vine, in Him.
People who do not bear fruit are people who do not abide in the
vine and if this does not change they will be gathered like dried
branches and at the end, as the Lord said, they will be burned.
What does this mean for those in the 3rd (as well as those in the 2nd)
category of the parable of the sower? It means that if they do not
repent, returning to the vine and thus bearing, by abiding in the
vine, the fruit that marks somebody as a true disciple of Christ,
they will have the end of the dry branches of the above passage i.e.
they will be “gathered, thrown into the fire and be burned”. I
know I have perhaps offended some readers here, but did I say
this? No, I did not. In contrast it is something the Lord said,
speaking to the closest of His disciples and on the very night of
His arrest. Now, is what He said a surprise? Is what He said
something bizarre? No when we understand that a true Christian
is not one who once made a confession but later practically
abandoned it or never in fact practiced what he confessed. In
contrast a true Christian is one who tries to live, to practice, with
whatever mistakes may come with practicing, his faith. If we have
confessed that Jesus is Lord, yet He is not truly our Lord, then it is
obvious that our confession was either not an honest confession or
it might have been honest in the past but it no longer holds true.
Whether what we confessed is true or not is proved by one and
only one standard: the fruit we bear, and bearing the desired fruit
becomes possible only by abiding in the vine, in Christ. We saw it
in the above passage of John 15 where the Lord said:
fruit and so – i.e. by bearing much fruit – prove to be my
disciples”. Therefore, the fruit we bear is the proof of whether or
not we are true disciples of Christ.
In fact, the Lord gave the same measure, the measure of
the fruit, to help us discern between false and true prophets:
Matthew 7:15-20
"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing
but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their
fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears
bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased
tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut
down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their
fruits."
Many are afraid to speak about fruit, because they think it
lessens the grace. It does not! Can an apple tree not produce
apples? Trees produce fruit, and the seed of the Word, when it is
taken care of, does exactly this: it produces fruit. Faith comes first,
then the fruit follows. What is really more unnatural than trees
that are supposed to bear fruit and yet remain unfruitful? Would
we call such trees healthy? If you had such a tree in your garden
and expected fruit from it, as God expects from us, would you say
that “it does not matter”? I do not think so.
Fruit is absolutely natural for a Christian and it is
absolutely unnatural when it is missing. As Ephesians 2:8-10
makes clear:
Ephesians 2:8-10
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not
your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that
no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we
should walk in them.
We were not saved by works, yet we were created for good
works. “Created for” means that this is our destiny, our purpose.
To say it differently: cars are “created for” taking us from A to B.
Trains are “created for” running on the rail tracks. The apple tree
“is created for” producing apples. Equally speaking, “we are
created in Christ Jesus for good works”. Therefore, good works and
faith go hand in hand. It makes really no sense to say that we are
in the faith but it does not matter whether we will bring forth the
fruit associated with those who are in the faith. It is like saying we
are having a car but it does not matter whether it works or not.
We all know that it does matter.
That works, being the fruit of a genuine faith, do matter, is
made plain by James in his epistle:
James 2:14-17
“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but
does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or
sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you
says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving
them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also
faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”
“Faith without works is dead”, exactly as the body without
the spirit is dead. To say it differently, there is no such thing as
fruitless, yet true, faith. Fruitless faith is a dead faith and such
faith clearly does not get somebody into the Kingdom of God.
Staying a bit more on the crucial subject of works, Paul
said several times:
Titus 2:13-14
“waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our
great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to
redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people
for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
Titus 3:1
“Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be
obedient, to be ready for every good work”
2 Timothy 2:20-21
“Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver
but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for
dishonorable. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is
dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as
holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.”
And 2 Timothy 3:16-17
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching,
for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that
the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
The Scripture, the Bible, is not there to give us head
knowledge. It is not there to make the man of God a theoretical
theologian. It is there to make the man of God complete, fruitful,
equipped for what he is destined for: for every good work.
Going back now to the parable of the sower, only the
fourth category bore fruit:
“And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a
hundredfold…. As for that in the good soil, they are those who,
hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear
fruit with patience."
The second and third category of people heard the Word
but they did not hold it fast. But this category here, heard the
Word and held it fast in a good and honest heart and gave with
patience fruit. Therefore, to bear fruit we need to hold the Word fast in a
good and honest heart and with patience we will bear fruit. This is the
key. If, after we receive the Word we allow other things to take it
over and move us away from Christ the vine, it will not bear fruit.
Guarding our heart with all vigilance (exactly as Proverbs 4:23
tells us), repenting from old practices and renewing the mind to
what the Word of God says is therefore very crucial to the
outcome of the Word.
Closing this chapter: may we all be in that fourth category
and never leave it. Also may those of us who are not in this
category return, abiding in the vine and bearing forth the much
fruit that brings glory to God and shows whose disciples we truly
are. May we check ourselves and if we see thorns may we uproot
them and throw them away, instead of essentially deceiving
ourselves that we can live with them. We cannot. It is either them
or the Lord. One of the two will have to go and we chose which
one it will be.
Posted January 5, 2015
To be continued on next post...
28
No comments:
Post a Comment