An Appointment with Christ: The Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1) Part 6

We are almost concluding with this long exposition of the parable of the sower found in Matthew, Chapter 13. We have taken time because as you can see there are many deep and very profitable truths expressed in this brief but profound and rich parable of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We've talked about the different ways people receive the word of the Gospel. So far we have focused on inappropriate ways of receiving the Gospel that unfortunately, as we see, of the 4 types of land on which the seed falls, three, that is to say three quarters, are inadequate land, land that does not receive the seed in the correct way. Unfortunately we could say the same of humanity. Most of the people today receive the word but do not receive it in the correct way and miss the opportunity to have reconciliation and peace with God and to enjoy the wonderful blessings that God has for them. Only a minority often receives the word of God in the proper way and this is not God's desire. God does not want anyone to perish, says the word, but rather that all proceed to repentance and be saved by receiving Christ Jesus as savior and Lord.

We talked last time about this kind of land that is like thorns, that the seed among those thorns and is choked. And the Lord compares this to people who are so involved in the cares of the world, that is to say, in matters of matter, they are so materialistic, they are so confused and involved in the things of the world that they are deceived and do not receive the word in a correct way. They give more importance to the things of the now and here than to the eternal and spiritual things. The deception of wealth, certainly the Bible says not to love money because money is the root of all evil. Money has its place, it has its importance, I think it's important that we work and save, and be diligent in material things, but the Bible certainly condemns eagerness and excessive attachment to money. That falling in love with money, falling in love with the things of the world.

There are people who do not love money so much but love other things in the world. There are people who love what they will say so much, they love the opinion of others so much, you see that they love what their friends think of them more than what God thinks of them, and this seems to me absolute nonsense. I prefer a thousand times to have God's approval than to have the approval of my friends without God's approval. How good it is to have both, but if I have to choose between one and the other, I will definitely choose the good opinion of God. And this is part of that syndrome, it is part of that foolish attitude of striving more for the things of this world than for the things of the spirit that lead to eternal life.

I actually want to dwell on this a little bit longer here because in the last session we didn't have time to fully cover this great truth. A passage from First John came to mind, the First Epistle of the Apostle John already towards the end of the New Testament, in Chapter 2, the Apostle John says: “Do not love the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him, because everything in the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, the pride of life, does not come from the father but from the world, and the world and its desires pass away, but he who does the will of God remains forever.”

It seems to me that you will agree with me that these words that I have just read fit perfectly with what the Lord exposes there in that parable of the seed that falls among thorns, which is equivalent to people who are confused and entangled in the cares of the world, of wealth and in the opinion of others, and professional achievement and fame, and all the things that we identify with making our treasure here on earth. The advice of the word of God, my dear friend, friend who listens to me, is not to love the world, that is, do not cling to the world. The world has very good, very beautiful things, but we are not supposed to love the world.

The Bible says that the children of God are like pilgrims and foreigners, we are in the world passing through, the world is not our home, the world is not our homeland, the child of God, the person who understands who God is , is a person who knows that his true homeland is the heavenly homeland, eternity. We are in this passing world, we work in the world, we can have certain comforts, there is nothing wrong with having a house, a good car, getting married, having children, having a good job, a bank account bank, good clothes, there is nothing wrong with that. The problem is that you love these things, that is, that you give them too much importance, that you focus on them at the expense of your spiritual life. The Christian knows that material things are second or third category. Our love is in the things of God. The Bible says that people of the spirit think about the things of the spirit, carnal, biological, earthly people think about the things of the earth.

I just wanted to ask you a question, where are your priorities? They are in the eternal and spiritual things or in the things of matter, now and here because that, my brother, my sister who listens to me, defines what kind of land, what kind of person you are. If you love the things of this world and the things of matter more than the things of the spirit, if work is more important to you than the house of God, if on Sunday you are busy and loaded and working and trying more instead to seek the house of God to worship the Lord and to serve the Lord, then I fear that the word of Christ is against you. Because it is supposed that as children of God we love the affairs of the Kingdom of God above all things, that is why the Apostle John says: "do not love the world or the things that are in the world, because if you love the world the Father's love is not in you."

Brothers, everything in the world, all the beauties, all the achievements, the great museums, the great machinery, the great hotels and luxury places, all of that is going to burn one day, says the Bible, everything that is going to disappear, all that is temporary, partial. The only thing that remains is the heavenly father, the will of God, the values of the Kingdom of God, that remains forever.

Unfortunately there are so many people who invest in vain things that only last for a moment and then people don't even remember them. How sad that you spend your whole life investing in something that is going to disappear. Invest in the Kingdom of God. The Lord Jesus Christ says, “seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all other things will be added to you”.

God wants you to take away that love you have and that eagerness for the world and put it on the things of God. When you do this then many times you will receive even material things, but without eagerness, without killing yourself, without sinning against God, because God's main commandment is "You shall love the Lord your God" with all your heart, with all your mind, with with all your soul and with all your strength. Put your priority on the things of the Kingdom, love God above all things, worry about heavenly and spiritual things. Enter the Kingdom of God and place your life in the hands of Christ Jesus. May the Lord continue to bless you.