“Am I My Brother’s Keeper?”
Genesis 4:1-16
Sunday, June 6, 2010

Introduction: Back in 2006 there was a TV show called Justice. This show was about a law firm that would take difficult and often controversial cases. Like most law shows, there was great mystery and intrigue involved in the plots. But this show had a twist at the end of every show. The show ended with a verdict; guilty or innocent, but at the very end the TV audience was shown what had really happened. As a viewer you got to see if the jury got the verdict right or not.
There are many cases in our courts where the final verdict is wrong: either the defendant was guilty, and yet was released, or the defendant was innocent, and yet was sent to jail. How nice it would be to know the real truth of every case. In our scripture this morning, we see that Cain comes before the judge, God, and tries to lie to God; tries to deceive God. But as we know, God knows all things, and so God is not fooled; Cain is found guilty.
But there is more to the story than just the verdict. Today we start a new series called “Great Questions of the Bible.” Each week we will look at a different question, which will help us to come up with important answers, truths that will help us in our lives.

I. The Story- (Genesis 4:1-16; Colossians 3:17)
a. Cain and Abel- The story starts out wonderfully, with Adam and
Eve having their first 2 children (Cain and Abel). The name Cain means “possession,” and was given to him from Eve because she was so thankful to God for this gift given to her, as Eve acknowledged that Cain was given to her “with the help of the Lord.” Eve saw her children as gifts from God, and understood that life was meant to be lived with thankfulness to God.
We next see that both Cain and Abel were given a calling: Cain was called to work the soil, while Abel worked the flocks. It makes sense that they would have different jobs, since both jobs needed to be done. In this we can see that we all have a calling; something we are to do in this life. And whatever that calling is, we are to do it well and do it for the glory of God. Colossians 3:17 affirms this for us, saying: “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Cain and Abel did just this, they worked hard at their calling and seemed to glorify God through it.
We know that Adam and Eve imparted their relationship with God to Cain and Abel, for we see them bringing an offering to the Lord. And yet the offerings were not received the same by God. Cain brought an offering from “some” of the fruits of the soil, and yet God did not look on this offering with favor. Whereas, Abel brought “fat portions” from “the firstborn of his flock.” Abel’s offering was received with favor by God.
Why was this so? Why was Abel’s received by God and Cain’s not? It was based on the attitude with which it was brought. We will talk about this more in a little bit….
God’s rejection of the offering made Cain very angry. In his anger Cain was said to be downcast. His anger was very visible on his face and in his body language. This largely came from the fact that he felt rejected, but even more from the fact that his heart wasn’t in it to begin with. It seemed that he was bringing his offering more out of duty, than out of a deep relationship with God. It also came about because he did not have a humble heart. The person with a humble heart will seek God for what needs to be changed, so that God might accept him. The one with the willful heart will just get angry at the seeming rejection!
God questions Cain about his reaction, and even gives him direction by saying: “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?” And then God gives Cain a warning: “But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door…you must master it.” God recognized that Cain had a problem with anger, knowing that this anger could lead him to sin.
b. Cain and God- We see that Cain does not listen to God’s warnings,
about being careful in regards to his anger. We know this because in the next scene Cain is talking with Abel. But the conversation happens away from everyone else. Why? Because in his anger, Cain wants to confront Abel. So Cain takes Abel out to the field. Abel is very trusting of Cain, and he goes with him.
Does Abel know that God rejected Cain’s offering? Does Abel know that Cain has an anger problem? Does Abel know of Cain’s intentions? It doesn’t seem that he knows any of this, for he goes willingly, and without any concern. This trust he puts in Cain costs him his life, as Cain kills Abel in the field, and then buries his body. We are not told of the circumstances that bring the Lord and Cain together again, perhaps the Lord sought out Cain because of this occurrence. The Lord’s first words to Cain are: “Where is your brother Abel?” Have you ever been caught in a sin? You’ve done something wrong, and you’re not sure if the other person knows it or not, and so you try to hide it at first? This is what Cain is doing when he responds with these well-known words: “I don’t know, am I my brother’s keeper?”
Story: One memorable time when this happened to me was when I was in high school. I had started to hang out with the wrong crowd. One day they were smoking some pot, and I was with them. When I came home I went in to my room to change, and my mom came into my room. She started to talk with me, then stopped and said: “What is that I smell on you?” Thinking I was still not found out, I said: “Some of my friends were smoking cigarettes. The smell must have gotten on me.” And then she said: “That’s not cigarette smoke I smell.” At that point, I knew I was in big trouble!!
After Cain tries to deny any knowledge of Abel’s whereabouts, God responds with these cutting words: “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.” Oooh. Cain has been found out. At this point Cain knows that God knows what he has done. This sin of Cain was caused by the sin of Adam and Eve, eating the fruit and bringing sin into the world. This sin cost them one of their sons. God then curses Cain and makes him a wanderer of the earth. And if you follow Cain and his ancestors, you see that they have anger issues, and become enemies of God’s people.

II. The Implications- (2 Corinthians 9:7; Galatians 6:2)
Let’s stop the story here, and begin to look at the deeper implications.
a. Dealing with anger- The first implication is Cain’s attitude and
anger. As we said before, Cain did not humble himself before God, but rather was visibly angry at God for not receiving his offering. In this story we can see what comes of envy, anger, hatred. Anger is a great problem in our society, because it leads people to do terrible things.
God warned Cain that he needed to master his anger so that it did not lead him to sin. We would do well to listen to God’s warnings, and seek to know where we stand in our own issues with anger. Here are some true/false questions that you might ask yourself: 1. When a teenager drives by my yard with the car stereo blaring rap or hip hop, I can feel my blood pressure starting to rise.
2. When stuck in a traffic jam, I quickly become irritated and annoyed.
3. If someone treats me unfairly, I’m apt to keep thinking about it for hours.
4. Whenever an elevator stops too long on a floor above where I am waiting, I soon start to feel irritated. 5. When someone criticizes something I have done, it makes me feel annoyed. 6. The little annoyances of every day life often seem to get under my skin. Here are some statistics about anger:
· At least 12% of people say they have trouble controlling their anger.
· One in five people say they have ended a relationship because of how they have behaved when they are angry.
· 64% agree or strongly agree that people are getting angrier.
· 58% of people say they wouldn’t know where to go if they needed help with anger.
Some other statistics involving violence:
· one in four women have experienced domestic violence in her lifetime.
· Nearly 2.2 million people called the domestic violence hot line in 2004.
Child abuse, rape, bullying….These issues and more are very prevalent in our society. Why? People have a problem with their anger and don’t deal with it. Having a problem with anger leads us to not give ourselves over to God, and ultimately affects our relationship with God just as it did with Cain!!
b. Worship- A second issue we see here with Cain is that his heart
was not right when he brought his offering to God. The bringing of an offering to God should not be out of duty, but out of love. The apostle reminds us, in 2 Corinthians 9:7, “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” Worship is about giving ourselves to God; giving our heart to God; giving our gifts to God, willingly and with great joy. When Cain brought his offering, he was not giving of the first fruit of his crop, but just “some” of his crop. He wasn’t giving his best.
A few weeks ago the Hispanic church, that is now renting our chapel, met for the first time. As we came out of the sanctuary, we could see the people spilling out of the chapel. The music was playing; they were singing; even dancing. And I watched as many of you were intrigued by what was happening. Some of you even went into the chapel to see what was going on; you were drawn into the service. Now I know some of you think the music is too loud. But aside from that, there was an energy and excitement in their service that was compelling.
At my CREDO conference that I was at a couple of weeks ago, we were asked to seek God out, and to set some goals for our life. As I reflected on my life, I was thankful that much of my life is healthy (although I did set some goals to improve in the financial area, my health, and my spiritual practices). But when it came to setting a big goal, I focused on the church. I felt God leading me to lead this church into DYNAMIC WORSHIP.
What does dynamic worship look like? It comes from the heart. When you love God, you are compelled to be in church, not because it is what you are supposed to do, or because it looks good, but because you want to share your heart with God. Dynamic worship is energetic, because worship is a verb, not a noun. It is in our fervent prayers, and joyous singing that shows our love for God. In worship, we are moved by the elements of worship, but our energy adds to the worship. I want people who visit our church to be moved by our worship, because they know that we love Jesus!!
c. Am I my brother’s keeper?- Lastly, I want to look at this question
Cain asks: Am I my brother’s keeper? Cain was not asking this with sincerity. Cain was saying this as a way to avoid God’s question, and a way to avoid responsibility for his actions. In essence, Cain was responsible for his brother, since he was the older brother. But in the end, Cain kills his own brother. Abel was a good brother; one who had never done him any harm.
Cain did not want to take responsibility for his brother, or for his
actions against his brother. Cain’s sin is first seen in his anger, then his inability to control his anger that led him to kill Abel, and then he topped it off by showing a lack of remorse for his brother’s death. The only time that Cain reacted with emotion, in his second dealing with God, was when God cursed him. Cain’s reaction was, “My punishment is more than I can bear.” All the while, he did not seem sorry at all that this had all transpired.
How about you and me? Do we care for others as we should? Are we supposed to be our brother’s keeper? We are told in Galatians 6:2, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” The burdens we are to carry are the moral issues that people struggle with and the weaknesses that people have. We are to walk with them in these issues and in these weaknesses and help them to be strong. In essence, Cain’s satirical response reminds us that “yes, we are to be our brother’s keeper.” We are called to be in community, supporting each other.

Conclusion: The word façade comes from the French language meaning “frontage” or “face.” In movie sets we see facades all the time. There is just the front of the building that is seen which is held up by supports. By doing this it saves the movie company money by not having to build a whole building. With think it is real, but it is not.
The word can also be used as a figure of speech to describe the "face" that people show other people. An example of this might be a person who seems very professional and organized on the outside, but is really feeling very disorganised and stressed. And we even show this face to God. We come to worship thinking we can fool God with who we are and how we feel. God doesn’t want us to come pretending. God wants us to be real with Him. When we are, then God can work in our hearts, God will accept our offerings, God will lift us up into His presence, and God will prepare us to do what we need to do in our lives (care for others). Let us not be like Cain, pretending to worship God. Let us give our whole hearts to God so that we might love God with our whole being, and love our neighbor as ourselves. Amen.

“The Parable of Wheat and Weeds”
Matthew 13:24-30
Sunday, May 30, 2010

Introduction: Any great story has a hero and a villain. The villain creates tension in the story and adds suspense to the outcome. The villain enhances the emotions you feel about the story and the characters and adds drama. The villain reminds us that there is evil at work in the world, trying to keep good from happening; trying to keep good from being successful. On the other hand, the hero is the one who is counted on to defeat the villain. The hero is the one who fights for good; the one who protects those who are in danger from the villain.
In our story today we have the hero, a simple farmer, who sows seeds of wheat. On the other side you have the villain, who comes in after the farmer and sows seeds of weeds to grow right next to the wheat. The tricky thing about this, is that because the seeds are underneath the soil, no one will know that this dirty deed has been done until it is too late; until the wheat and the weeds grow up side by side. The weeds will not be noticed until they have grown out of the ground. And in this state they will threaten the health of the wheat.

I. The church is a mixed community- (Matthew 13:24-27; John 1:12, 3:16, 14:6)
a. The good seed- Of course we can know that the farmer is the
Son of Man, or Jesus Christ. One of Jesus’ roles in His time here on earth was to build up His Kingdom by bringing people to faith. Jesus was establishing the Christian church, building a foundation, and then setting the church loose to evangelize the world. So we see that Jesus was telling people that belief in Him was the most important part; we see this in many verses:
John 3:16- “For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” It is in believing in Jesus that You become part of the Kingdom, as John 1:12 says, “But to all who received Him, who believed in His name, He gave power to become children of God.”
Another well known passage that reminds us of this is John 14:6- “… ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
In these verses we see Jesus planting the seed, that the only way to heaven is through faith, in Jesus Christ. As the seed was planted in the hearer, it was then determined by the condition of the soil (or another way to say it is in the readiness of the heart as we talked about a couple of weeks ago) whether the person would believe and be saved, or not believe.
Since I just preached on this a couple of weeks ago, I won’t go into any more detail. But for those of you who weren’t here, and a reminder to those of you who were, let me say this:
The person who has a heart of good soil and receives the good seed is one who understands that he or she doesn’t have it all together. It is the person who understands that life as we know it isn’t an accident, or didn’t happen by chance, but happens by design. It is the person who doesn’t let himself or herself get deceived by the many things of our world that seem satisfying, but their satisfaction is only short-lived. It is the person who understands that worry and stress do us no good, and in fact they actually affect our health and our lives negatively. It is the person who understands that when you are always wanting more, you can never be happy with who you are and what you have now. It is the person who understands that there is a creator to all that exists, and that this creator cares about us personally. It is the person who is willing to believe/ even when they don’t understand, because they have experienced, or know people who have experienced God coming through time and time again!!!
b. The weeds are discovered- Now after the good seed is planted, the
farmer goes away, not knowing that there will be someone coming along after him and planting seeds of weeds. This in fact isn’t discovered until later, when the two of them grow up together!
As Jesus tells this story, this would present a clear picture to a Palestinian audience in the first century. Tares, or weeds, were one of the curses of a farmer. The farmer would labor hard to get the seeds planted, and to make sure that the soil was prepared well so that the good seeds would grow unencumbered.
The challenge is that tares, in their early stages, resembled wheat. By the time that it could be determined that the weeds were there, their roots were so intertwined with the wheat that it would be dangerous to pull out the tares without plucking them both out, or at least killing the wheat. So because the wheat and the tares could not be safely separated when they were growing, it was the practice to let them both grow up together and separate them once they had been harvested. To make sure that they harvested it well, they did it by hand, by spreading the grain out on a large tray so they could see it well.
Another important note is to understand that planting tares in a neighbor’s field was sometimes done to one’s enemy. That is why Jesus calls the one who plants the tares an enemy. It is actually a crime in Roman law. So we see that Jesus is letting the people know that He has an enemy, Satan, who wants to mess with His field, and wants to cause great problems by planting the weeds amongst His people. Satan wants to keep the good seed from sprouting, if he can.

II. The devil is at work in the church- (Ephesians 6:12; Luke 22:31; Romans 12:18; 2 Corinthians 5:20; Matthew 5:43-44; 1 John 4:19-21)
a. What tares look like in the church- We need to understand
that there are evil forces at work in the world. It is not popular to talk about the devil, even though 65-70% of people say they believe in the existence of the devil. Though they believe, they don’t want to think about dark evil forces. But these forces exist, and are at work. That is why the apostle Paul says in Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil…” The reason why Paul says it this way, that our fight ‘is not against flesh and blood,’ but against evil forces, is because Satan is the one who makes all of this happen.
Satan can’t control us, but he can deceive our thinking and lead us to places that can corrupt our thinking and behavior. EX. In the Disney movie Pinnochio (which I came to love when my kids were young), Pinnochio is carved by Geppetto as a puppet, but soon desires to make his own decisions and become a real boy. In the process he is captured and taken to a circus, and then he is lured away to pleasure island to be turned into a donkey. In some ways he would have been better off staying a puppet, so Geppetto could have controlled his actions and kept him out of trouble…. In the Star Wars movies the character Anakin Skywalker (who becomes Darth Vadar) is lured to the dark side by the evil emperor and turns bad. Like Pinnochio and Darth Vadar, people are lured away to the dark side, and their behavior is anything but holy.
Jesus Himself warned Simon Peter of this in Luke 22:31 when he said, “Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail…” Satan seeks to lure us away with the ways of the world, the pleasures of the world, the desire for independence, and on and on it goes. Anytime we find ourselves choosing our will over God’s will, we are being lured away. And there are many in the church who look like followers of Christ, because they attend, and maybe even say they believe, but they have not given their heart over to Christ; they are still their own lord.
b. How we are to respond to the “weeds”- So if there are tares
around us in the church, posing as Christians, how are they affecting Christians and the church, and how should we respond to them? Should we go on covert operations and try to expose them? Jesus did say in Matthew 12:30, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” So these people are technically our enemies. Should we treat them bad? The answer is “no.”
First, we should be at peace with them. Romans 12:18 tells us, “If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceable with all.”/ Ex. When I was pastor at Ecumenical Church of Pueblo West, there was an interesting dynamic going on, because it was an “ecumenical” church. Now the word ecumenical has a couple of different meanings. It can mean all encompassing within the Christian faith, or all encompassing in regards to faith in general including those outside of the Christian faith. In a Christian church, it is obvious what it should mean. But there were some in the church who thought of the name in terms of the second definition. So, as time went by in my first year there, I had some people who were concerned that I was overly Christian. In fact, one lady in the church came up to me one day and complained that I preached too much out of the Bible. Soon after she left the church and went to a very liberal, eccentric, non-Christian church. Her 15-year-old daughter was a strong Christian who continued to attend our church. Sadly, one day she discovered her daughter dead in her bed!! I was not asked to do the funeral, but the so-called minister of her church did the service. Many of us from Ecumenical church went to the funeral, but were disappointed when not one mention of Jesus Christ occurred. This Christian girl did not have a Christian funeral. But we were supportive to the mother and sought to help in any way we could; we sought to be at peace with her on all accounts.
Second, we should seek to help them be reconciled to God. 2 Corinthians 5:20 says, “We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.” As we are reconciled to God through our faith, so we have a responsibility to seek to help others be reconciled as well!
Third, we should pray for them. Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:43-44, “You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” What should we pray? That God works on their heart to become good soil, so that He could be planted in their life, and their life could be lived for Him, not against Him.
Fourth, we should love them. Everything about God is love. We are told in
1 John 4:19-21, “We love because he first loved us. 20If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.”

III. Separation won’t happen until the end- (Matthew 13:30, 25:34, 41)
a. Let them grow together- Illus. Every year at the end of the
baseball season, there is an all-star team chosen. The all-star team consists of those kids who are the best players. The team they make up is a very good and talented team. They are chosen because the coaches feel like they have the best skills and have shown themselves to be the best players. Now, this doesn’t happen until the end of the season. Throughout the season all the other kids still get to play the games. They weren’t left out of the season. It is only at the end that the decision is made in regardsto who deserves to go on and play for the all-star team against all-star teams from other leagues.
Jesus says about the wheat and the tares: “Let them grow together until the harvest…” Now the harvest that Jesus is talking about is Judgment Day. But until Judgment Day, the wheat and the tares both live their lives in this world, and for some, in the church. Just like the kids who weren’t as good as the all-stars, got to play throughout the season with those who were all-stars, so Christians and non-Christians get to live in this world together.
Why would Jesus want both the Christians and the pretend Christians to both be in the church? Why not get rid of them? The truth is, we all need Jesus, and church is not just for Christians, but for non-Christians as well. Hopefully church is that place where we learn about Jesus and are challenged in faith. By being in church, maybe the “tares,” the non-Christians, will hear the message, have the seed of God’s word planted in their hearts, and will come to believe. Instead of the tares pulling down the wheat, the non-Christians bringing down the Christians, we as Christians can bring them up to the Lord!!
b. Separation will take place at the end- Jesus says that the
Christians and non-Christians will be separated at the end. Counterfeit Christians will not be able to preserve their disguise forever. It doesn’t matter if they fool you and me, for at the Day of Judgment they will be unmasked. It is not our job to do God’s sifting, or try to do the separation. We are called to love others for the Lord.
Illus. When I was growing up I used to love to watch Scooby-Doo. Do you know Scooby Doo? This show was about 5 characters, (Freddie, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, and his dog Scooby), who would drive around in their Mystery Machine Van solving mysteries by exposing the “so called” ghosts, monsters, and crooks. The villain was always some masked creature that would scare those in the town. But in the end, the gang would catch this criminal and UNMASK them. It would always surprise everyone who the masked culprit was; someone no one expected it to be.
Jesus explains in Matthew 25 how this will be at the end of time… We read in verses 34 & 41, “Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world… Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” In this passage Jesus says that those on the right, the Christians, are the people who feed the hungry, help those who are homeless, care for the sick, visit those who are in prison. Their behavior is this way because they have received Christ as Savior, and let Christ be Lord, which impacts their attitude, the way they love, and their actions. Those on the left, the non-Christians, will not do these things, because they are not guided by Jesus, or His call, or His love.
Now, let me add this, that even though we don’t know who is “saved,” and who isn’t; who are Christians and who aren’t, we still need to live by God’s word and do God’s work. If someone is challenging the Bible, or God’s teaching, or seeking to discredit Jesus Christ and salvation in Christ, then they need to be kept accountable. There is always the call to stand up to any heretical teaching or non-Christian behavior.

Conclusion: We cannot read the hearts of people. We cannot know for sure who is saved and who is not. We are not called to be judge and jury. That role is saved for Christ alone. Christ is the righteous judge. Our job is to seek Christ, follow Christ, and love others as Christ has called us to love, knowing that there will be those in the church who are not living for Christ.
EX. As I coach Tyler’s baseball team, there is an interesting occurrence, which happens to most pitchers: when they warm up before the inning starts, they throw loose; they throw strikes. But then the batter steps up to the plate, and they tend to throw the ball outside. Why? Because they are afraid they might hit the batter; THEY LOSE THEIR FOCUS. Instead of focusing on the glove, they are focusing on the batter. They get distracted from where they are supposed to throw the ball.
If we are strong, and stay focused on Christ and His call to us, then all will be well in the end. We will grow up as wheat, in the midst of the weeds, but unaffected by the weeds. Let us stay focused on bearing fruit for the Lord. Amen.

“Planting the Good Seed”
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
Sunday, May 16, 2010

Introduction: The Bible talks about the idea of how God gives us a seed as a gift. Along with the seed that He plants in us, He sends the water to nurture it, and causes the seed to grow. This seed is God’s word, the Bible, that is given to us for our own growth, but also to share with others. As we share it, and nurture it with our love and support, God is the One who will take it and cause growth.
As we look at the “Parable of the Sower,” this morning, we need to understand that this is a profound story about real life; your life, my life, and the lives of all those around us. It reminds us that while we are to share the seed of God’s word, God’s truth, God’s love, not all people are at a place where they will receive it and use it.
Jesus helps us to understand this by likening people’s hearts to soil. Not all soil is conducive to growing a seed; not every heart is ready to grow the seed of God’s word. So let us take a little time to understand this concept of seed and soil; God’s word and people’s hearts.

I. Seed on the Path- (Matthew 13:4, 19)
a. The seed planted- Jesus here talks about a sower, who went out to sow
some seeds. It seems that he wasn’t too particular about where he sowed the seed; he simply threw them out as he went along the path. The first place the seeds went is the path. This is just a natural road where people would regularly walk. So if we think about this, we could easily understand that a path where people walked would be beaten down and hard. Not the most likely place to plant seeds. Because of the hard ground, the seed would not be able to penetrate the soil and thus would sit on top of the ground.
Now if you were to put this into personal terms, what kind of person might Jesus be talking about here? Well, it could first of all be a person with a closed mind. I’m sure we’ve all encountered such a person. As you talk to them and the subject comes around to God, you can see their defenses immediately go up. You can tell that they do not want to hear anything you have to say about God. They are closed, hard hearted on this matter. Maybe it is because something terrible has happened in their life and they can’t believe in God. Or maybe they have great intelligence and can’t see a way to reason out who God is. Or maybe they seem to have all they think they need, and don’t see how God can fit into their lives. Or it could even be a person with a shallow mind; someone who doesn’t think things through; Someone who jumps onto the newest craze while its hot, but then moves on when it doesn’t seem to be working any more. But whatever reason it is, they don’t want to even hear about God.

b. The seed snatched- It doesn’t take too much thought to understand
that this is not the kind of heart of someone who is ready to accept Jesus. It doesn’t take too much thought to realize that the seed will not take root here. Instead, the seed will just stay on the surface, ready to be swept away by wind, or foot traffic, or the birds that come along and see it as food. And isn’t this what Jesus said, that because this person doesn’t understand the kingdom, the evil one, Satan himself will come along and take the seed.
Example- Story of Portland Trailblazer basketball fan and tickets.
There is a story of a man who was a fan of the Portland Trailblazers, who was waiting at the Portland airport waiting for the arrival of the Trailblazers after a game they had in Los Angeles against the Lakers which they won. He was hoping to get a couple of tickets for the next game. As he approached a scalper, the scalper offered him 2 tickets for $150. The man replied: “Do you realize that you are talking to a plain clothes officer. I’m going to turn you in.” The scalper began to backpedal, talking about how he had a family and didn’t want to get in trouble. The man then said: “Just hand over the tickets and we’ll forget about it… Now get out of here and I don’t want to catch you here again.” The kicker of the story is that the man was not an officer, but just thought fast on his feet of a way to get 2 free tickets to the next playoff game. The scalper had been ripped off!! (Swindoll, “Come Before Winter,” p. 126-127.)
Satan’s strategy is as crafty as this well-dressed man. Satan does not want us in any way to come to know Jesus, and so he waits for his opportunity to pounce on us and keep the seed of God’s word from planting itself in our hearts!

II. Seed on Rocky Ground- (Matthew 13:5-6, 20-21)
a. The seed planted- But there is a second kind of ground on which the
sower casts his seeds, and that is the rocky ground. Now with the rocky ground there is some similarities, and some differences from the path. The similarities: it is hard and not real conducive to growing seeds. The differences: while the path had much soil (even though the soil was hard) the rocky ground, we are told, has little soil. Now planting 101 tells us that you have to have soil to grow seeds. So by simple deduction we can understand that the rocky ground is not the place you want to plant your seeds. You want to have plenty of soil so that as the seed goes into the ground, it will be able to send its roots deep into the ground. When you have shallow soil, you have no place for the roots to go.
Jesus tells us that this kind of person is one who “hears the word and immediately receives it with joy…but it only endures for a while.” Do you know anyone like this? Do you know the kind of people that immerse themselves in something, but get over committed and burned out, and then can’t continue? I know that we all have this tendency in us, but some have a habit of living their lives like this. And so when it comes to receiving the seed of God’s word, they joyfully receive it, the desire is there it seems, they have good intentions, but they just have no long term commitment; they don’t let God’s word root itself in their lives.
Now understand, this is not talking about Christians who get stretched thin doing church work. The people Jesus is talking about here, are non-believers. They aren’t Christians. They might have acted like they believed for a time, but they no longer believe. Jesus Christ has no meaning in their life any more.
b. The seed scorched- Jesus really takes us to the crux of the issue here
in verse 21, where he says, “Yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away.”/ I have to tell you that I have seen this happen so many times in regards to our Alpha class. Alpha is our class where we get back to the basics of the Christian faith. It is designed for those who don’t believe in Jesus Christ or who are looking to deepen their understanding. It is designed for people like this because it casually takes you through the important aspects of the Christian faith (Who is Jesus? Why did Jesus have to die? How can I overcome evil? And so on.). So many times people have come 1 or 2 times, and then all these challenges come into their lives. Satan is throwing roadblocks in front of them to keep them from coming back. And unfortunately we see that often times they stop coming!!
Jesus never told us that believing would be easy, or that the Christian life would take away all the troubles of the world. What Jesus did tell us is that He would be with us in the midst of all things. What Jesus did tells us is that He would give us the strength to endure. What Jesus did tell us is that He would work good, out of the bad in our lives. What Jesus did tell us is that He would use us to do great things. But to do all this, we have to stay faithful and we have to endure.
T. F. Buxton once said: “… with ordinary talent and extraordinary
perseverance, all things are attainable.” (Illus. Unlimited, p. 169)
Those whose hearts are like the rocky ground don’t stick around long enough to receive the presence, power, and protection of Jesus, but bail as soon as things don’t go well for them. Because of this, we see them falling away from Jesus. What seemed to be faith is scorched away.

III. Seed among thorns- (Matthew 13:7, 22)
a. The seed planted- The sower continues on/ in Jesus’ story to plant
some more seeds, this time in ground that has many thorns. Now, we all know that sowing seeds in an area of weeds and thorns is not smart; and we will talk about this more in a couple of weeks when we talk about the parable of the wheat and weeds. As little about planting as I know, I still know this much: don’t plant seeds where there are weeds. So to not sell the sower short, we must understand this more. The thorns are not obvious in the ground. It is ground that has probably been weeded, or turned over, but the ground was not fully picked clean of the weeds and thorns. So because of this, in time, the thorns will return, and when they do, they will make it difficult for the seeds to grow. And what is worse, is that weeds and thorns grow quicker than seeds. And so as they grow together, the weeds are so strong that they inhibit the growth of the seeds.
Jesus takes us to the next issue that is challenging to faith. It might surprise us that this issue was even a problem in Jesus’ day, but we can definitely see how it is a problem in our day. It is the issue of caring for the things of the world. It is the issue of caring about the wealth of the world. It is the issue of caring about the material things of the world.
Example- If you have ever watched the show, “Extreme Makeover: Home
Edition,” you know that it is a wonderful show in many ways, because the families they choose to build a new home for are usually families who have suffered a lot. And so by coming and building them a new home, they are showing love, and compassion, and good old fashioned caring. They are trying to bring encouragement and hope back into these people’s lives….At the end of the show when the family comes home to see their newly built house, there is tears, and excitement, and gratitude!! One Sunday as my family was watching, it just struck me that what was bringing them hope was the material aspect of a new home, and it made me wonder if that might give people a false perspective; a false hope. Their hope is in something material, a home, that cannot meet so many other needs that they have.
b. The seed choked- In this case, the word of God, the truth of God, is
coming to the person whose heart is like that of thorny ground. Their heart is like thorny ground because they still have thorns in their heart; they still carry around the sin of the past and the pain of the past and the mindset of the past. They can’t let themselves get past their past (their mind hasn’t been renewed). Their enthusiasm as they receive the word of God is like the turning over of the ground. But the weeds are still there. So as God’s word comes to them, it comes to them in the midst of all the other turmoil that exists in their mind, and so it is hard for them to really hear God’s word and process God’s word.
Now in the first two illustrations, we were talking about non-Christians; people who never gave themselves over to Jesus Christ. But in this case, we are talking about Christians who are right on the verge of bearing fruit, but the thorns keep them from being fruitful. They hear the truth of God, but they can’t fully accept the truth and put into practice the truth because they are still being guided by the sin and the pain of their past. Or they are people who have bought into the idea of the way of the world, going after the wealth and materialism of the world, and thus are taken away from God by these things.
Unfortunately they haven’t trusted Christ enough to give Him their sinful desires, and their pain. They haven’t trusted Christ enough to give Him their worries. They haven’t trusted Christ enough to believe that the things of God (learning how to love unconditionally, being an encouraging person, forgiving others, learning how to praise God with their life), that these things are more meaningful than the wealth of the world. And so these thorns in their life choke out their opportunity to grow and bear fruit for God.

IV. Seed in Good Soil- (Matthew 13:8, 23)
a. The seed planted- Finally in verse 8 the sower’s seed gets to the good
soil. I say finally, because if you are like me, as you listen to this parable, it is disheartening to hear story after story, person after person who is not getting it. And isn’t that true in real life. We attempt to share Jesus with another, and they seem to be hard hearted, or they seem to be shallow, or they seem to be too preoccupied with other things. And yet, we must remind ourselves that there is hope; there are hearts of good soil waiting to hear God’s word and be changed by God’s word. And even more, we must believe that there is a way of preparing the hearts of people, so that they can be moved from hard soil, rocky soil, or thorny soil, and have a heart of good soil. If we don’t believe this, then we don’t believe in the power of God to change a life.
The person who has a heart of good soil is one who understands that he or she doesn’t have it all together. It is the person who understands that life as we know it isn’t an accident, or didn’t happen by chance, but happens by design. It is the person who doesn’t let himself or herself get deceived by the many things of our world that seem satisfying, but their satisfaction is only short-lived. It is the person who understands that worry and stress do us no good, and in fact they actually affect our health and our lives negatively. It is the person who understands that when you are always wanting more, you can never be happy with who you are and what you have now, and therefore you will never be happy. It is the person who understands that there is a creator to all that exists, and that this creator cares about us personally. It is the person who is willing to believe/ even when they don’t understand, because they have experienced, or know people who have experienced God coming through time and time again!!!
b. The seed bears fruit- And what of this person? This person, Jesus says
in verse 23, “… hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” If you have ever had the desire at all to make a difference with your life, Jesus tells us the formula right here: believe the word of God, seek to understand it, and apply it to your life, and you will bear fruit. You will make a difference!! This is the promise of God to you and to me.
This message then is a message of hope. It is a message of hope because it tells us that the harvest is sure. We should never get discouraged, because if we are faithful to plant the seed of God’s word, then in time it will reach the heart of good soil. And even more, by loving others, helping others, befriending others, encouraging others, being there for others, we can cultivate people’s hearts/ so that they will become good soil/ ready to have the seed of God’s word planted in them.
Example- Whenever we have done our Alpha class, the Alpha leaders would meet a couple weeks prior to the start of the class to plan, prepare, and pray. One of the ways we prayed was for the people we believed God would lead us to/ so that we might invite them to the class. I always challenged every one, including myself, to put names on the list of people we want to invite to the class; people God puts on our hearts; whether or not we believe we will have an opportunity to ask them.. I don’t know why I was amazed, because I do believe in prayer, and I do believe that God answers prayer, but I was always amazed at how God brought me to the people on my list. He just gave me one opportunity after another to invite the people on my list!! Now, they didn’t all come, but the point is God gave me opportunities to plant His seeds!!
No farmer expects every seed he plants to germinate and bring forth fruit. However, if the possibility of the seed not producing caused the farmer to get frustrated, then the farmer wouldn’t plant any seeds, and the farmer would have no crop. We can’t let Satan frustrate us by what seems to be unfruitful seeds. We must faithfully, and diligently share the truth of God and the love of God with others, whenever we have the opportunity!

Conclusion: So what should we take away from this parable, this lesson that Jesus lays before us? Well, in verse 9 Jesus says: “Let anyone with ears, listen.” Meaning, that as the people of God, we need to hear these words of Jesus, and put them into practice. When we come across someone who doesn’t know Jesus, or who isn’t faithfully following Jesus, we need to share God’s love with them, and encourage them, and pray that God would mold their hearts into good soil, so that they will hear, believe, follow, and bear fruit. Amen.

“The Kingdom of God”
1 Chronicles 22:6-10
Sunday, May 9, 2010

Introduction: Today I want us to think about the Kingdom of God. Of course one way we know about this idea through the Lord’s Prayer that we say every Sunday: We say, “Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven…” We also know about because Jesus talked about it often. What you might not realize is that God’s original purpose was not a kingdom, but a theocracy. Meaning, that God wanted to rule over His people directly, without any human king.
There came a point in time, however, that the people wanted a king; they wanted an earthly ruler. In doing this, really they were rejecting God. The prophet Samuel warned them that a human king would become oppressive and would not lead them in the right way. But they persisted, and so God gave the people what they wanted. Even though the king was to be the servant of God, it didn’t take long for sin to overcome the kings, and they sought out power, and wealth, and their own ideals; not God’s. So the prophets began to speak of a more ideal kingdom. What would that kingdom look like?

I. God’s Kingdom would be righteous- (Jeremiah 23:5; John 1:14; Hebrews 4:15; Romans 4:5-8)

First, this kingdom would be righteous. Of course, for a kingdom to be
righteous, it had to have help, because the kings of the day, the leaders of the day could not bring about a righteous kingdom. So the prophets began to speak of the coming Messiah, who would rule over the people with justice. We see this spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, in Jeremiah 23:5- “‘The days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.’” Of course, this was a prophecy of the coming of Jesus. Christ is from the line of David, referred to as a “righteous branch.” But not only from David’s line, but also come upon the scene like David; starting from a humble beginning, then growing to prominence (David was a shepherd who became the king; Jesus was born to a carpenter, in a stable, a very humble beginning).
He is a righteous branch, because Jesus is righteous. Really, Jesus is the only righteous one. No one else could bring about righteousness to the Kingdom, because no one else could live a righteous life like Christ. John 1:14 tells us that Jesus exhibits the “glory of the One and Only.” Hebrews 4:15 says: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.” So Jesus is the righteous One, as the scriptures attest to, come to bring righteousness back to the Kingdom of God.
But Jesus was not to be an earthly king to rule over the people. The confusion came when the people thought that Jesus’ reign was going to be here on earth. They believed that Jesus would establish Israel as the dominant nation, and Jesus would reign over her. They did not understand that to do this would be short lived, because setting up a kingdom on earth would not bring them salvation. Jesus was bringing back righteousness through His sacrifice. By giving Himself up to the cross, Jesus could bring to us His righteousness; impart onto us His righteousness. We could be righteous then in a spiritual sense, not an earthly sense. Christ’s rule would be spiritual, not earthly. He would be our king, but not physically here on earth.
We see this whole idea of righteousness imparted to us in Romans 4:5-8, “However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. 6 David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: 7Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 8 Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”
Illus. Think for a moment about a role model you have, or have had. Maybe this role model was a parent, or a teacher, or a coach, or your minister. They were your role models because they modeled behavior that you wanted to follow; you wanted to be like them, or act like them…. While it is good to have role models, and while having Jesus as a role model would be good, Jesus is more than just a role model. Jesus doesn’t just show us how to live right; Jesus doesn’t just help us to behave less sinfully. Jesus removes our sin, and by doing this imparts His righteousness to us!
IN THIS WAY JESUS MAKES THE KINGDOM OF GOD RIGHTEOUS! Because of our sin, the Kingdom of God will not be righteous here on earth, but it will be righteous again in heaven. Yet, while we are here on earth, the more who choose to follow Jesus, the more the Kingdom of God, here on earth, will be righteous; more like it is meant to be and as it is in heaven.

II. God’s Kingdom being peaceful- (Matt. 10:34-39; 1 Corinthians 15:26)

Second, the Kingdom of God was to be peaceful. If you look at the history of
Israel, including the time of King David’s reign, you would see that there were many wars. These wars caused all kinds of unrest in the land and for the people. We see that as a response to this, David names his son Solomon, which means peace. In our passage this morning, we see that David is giving a charge to Solomon to build a house to the Lord. This house was to be built by David, but God forbade it because of all the blood that was spilt during David’s reign.
Solomon’s reign was to be one of peace. Solomon was to establish this peace in the kingdom again. Solomon gives himself over to this work. But the work began to be for him the place he sought fulfillment. As I read for you a couple of weeks ago, from Ecclesiastes, he built many things, but they did not satisfy. That is because the work we do, if it is not for God, will not satisfy us or bring us peace. And in the end, even if someone like Solomon seeks to establish peace, inevitably there will be conflict again.
When Jesus came, not only did he seek to bring righteousness to the world, but He also sought to bring peace. Isaiah tells us that one of Jesus’ messianic titles was “the Prince of Peace.” And yet Jesus knew that even with His being here in the world, there could not be peace when so many did not seek peace. As Jesus said in Matthew 10:34-39, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn " 'a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law - 36a man's enemies will be the members of his own household. 37"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
These don’t exactly sound like words of peace; do they? How could Jesus, as the Prince of Peace, speak about turning people against one another? What Jesus is saying here, is that the way to peace and peaceful living is by giving yourself fully over to Him. If anything or anyone is more important than Jesus, then those who aren’t following Jesus will be in conflict with those who are. In fact, they will be in conflict with themselves as well, because they will not have peace without having a relationship with Jesus.
For God’s kingdom to have peace, people must all be living together in Christ, completely sold out to Christ. Because this is not happening, people are not at peace within themselves, with each other, or nations with other nations. Peace will not exist here on this earth because of sin, and sinful leaders. In fact, 1 Corinthians 15:26 tells us that the last enemy to be defeated is death. The peace of the Kingdom of God will be seen in heaven, where the Prince of Peace resides and where we will go after we die.

III. God’s Kingdom was to be stable-

As originally planned, God’s kingdom was to be stable. God did not create
His world and His people to be in chaos but to have stability. That is one of the reasons Samuel tried to dissuade the people from having a king like other nations. You think they would have seen the chaos the other nations were in, and understood that God needed to be their king. But they wanted to have a king, and with a king came instability.
If you were to read through the book of 1 and 2 Kings, you would see that the thrones of Israel and Judah were mostly unstable, and fairly brief. Kings fought against kings, and nations fought against nations. Kings were unjust to their people and were overcome with the desire for power and possessions. Because of this many who were put on the throne by God turned against God because they didn’t want to live for God and be subject to God. Consequently there was much unrest.
If you were to follow the nation of Israel you would see that they did not have stability either because of their sin. Sometimes they just went astray from the Lord and from God’s ways, and God gave them over to other nations. Other times they chose to believe in other gods or join themselves with other nations. Again, this caused unrest in the nation itself and in the life of the people.
When Jesus comes on the scene, Israel is under the rule of the Romans and the roman kings. As with His coming as a king, Jesus also came to bring stability to the people, but not a stability based on earthly rule. The stability is to be found in our relationship with Christ. If Christ is our Lord, then we know whom we belong to, we know how we are to live, and we know where we will go when we die. This is the stability we have; the stability of the Kingdom of God.
However if you think of the Kingdom of God in Messianic terms, meaning the Kingdom that Jesus is setting up for all eternity, you see the stability comes in Jesus preparing the way by His death and resurrection. The Kingdom is not just subject to a particular people or land, but includes all who have put their faith in Jesus Christ. The foundation of the Kingdom is Jesus Himself, which gives it all the stability it needs!


IV. God’s Kingdom impacts our lives- (John 14:13)

As I’ve talked about the Kingdom of God, up to this point you might wonder
what all this has to do with you. If you are interested in having a general understanding of the Kingdom of God, this might be of interest to you. But what does this say to us in a practical way? Why do we need to care about what the Kingdom of God was supposed to be, what it became, and how it has fallen short?
This is all very important because our world has so much evil, and conflict, and instability. We understand this has all come about because of the sin in individuals, in leaders and in nations. Most people are concerned with the world we live in because it is so unstable. When the economic downfall hit a couple of years ago, it caused great concern for everyone; and in many ways still brings concern. It reminded us of the instability of the world we live in.
Understanding the Kingdom of God helps us to live with an eternal perspective. An eternal perspective takes into account the past, the present, AND the future. In the past, we see the kingdom of God existing through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and existing through the prophets and through the kings. In understanding it in the present, Jesus wanted us to know that the Kingdom of God was a present reality in Christ; it is here and now. And yet, the Kingdom of God also has future implications. There is an aspect of the Kingdom of God that still is to come; a meaning for when the end times would come; when heaven and earth would be done away with and a new heaven would come about.
We need to understand the Kingdom of God because it should shape our daily life. It should shape our life by our giving our unconditional faith to Jesus Christ. In John 14:13 Jesus said: “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” We see that the Kingdom of God has fallen short because the people did not obey God’s rule and God’s reign; both by demanding an earthly king, and by the kings who were set up to govern the people turning away from God.
The Kingdom of God understanding should also guide our lives by leading us to follow a biblically defined leadership. A biblically defined leadership guides us to choose leaders based on the qualifications God gives us in the Bible, and by seeking God for guidance on whom He wants us to choose. Leadership needs to be given to those men and women who are full of the Spirit of wisdom.
The Kingdom of God understanding should give us a concern for the poor and oppressed. Jesus was always concerned with the poor, and was always concerned with justice. When we see people struggling, we need to seek to honor God by caring for those in need. This requires us to humble ourselves before God and seek out how to meet these needs; even if it is uncomfortable for us.

Conclusion: We tend to look to leaders to make things right for us; better for us. That is what Israel hoped. But the truth is, the only leader that we should follow is God. We should look to God to understand what He wants for our lives, our church, our country, our world. We would be much better off if this was the case. Unfortunately, we have too many leaders who do not seek to follow God, and thus we live in a world void of peace and stability.
Story: Once there was a man who asked for a flower and a butterfly…
But instead God gave him a cactus and a caterpillar.
The man was sad and didn’t understand why his request was misunderstood.
Then he thought, ‘Oh well, God has too many people to care for, and
decided not to question it. After some time the man chose to check up on the
cactus, only to discover that out of the thorny, ugly cactus had grown
a beautiful flower, and the caterpillar had become a beautiful butterfly.
God always does things right. His way is always the best way. Even when we mess it up, God’s Kingdom is about making it right.
If you have asked God for one thing, and gotten another, you can be sure that God has gotten it right. Today’s thorn can become tomorrow’s flower.
While the world has messed up the Kingdom of God, but not allowing God to rule over us, God has made it right in the end: The thorn is Christ’s death;
the flower is Christ’s resurrection. The thorn is the evil in the world, the flower is the love and peace we bring to it as Christ’s followers. The thorn is that there is great instability. The flower is that we have eternal life with Christ. The Kingdom of God is here, but even more, will be eternally experienced in heaven. Amen.