Transcription

Connor
Hey, you’re listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun and practical ways.

Jeff
Well. Welcome back. He’s Chris and I’m Jeff. We’re the Bible guys. And we have an action packed exciting episode today as we talk about parables and weeds. But first weeds.

Chris
Parables and weeds.

Jeff
But first we have a very interesting, exciting, exciting segment. Yeah.

Chris
So the goal for this segment is to do a shout out to a lot of our listeners who listen around. You know, we’re located in Michigan and there’s people obviously that listen that are far outside of Michigan, but we thought we would highlight a wide worldwide, yes.

Jeff
Worldwide.

Chris
World to the ends of the earth, of the earth. There’s people in Africa. No. Forget it. That’s true. Actually, it is true. Yeah. But I was going to say something about mud huts, you know. But maybe why would I why would I say that? I don’t know, so let’s move past that. So the point is we would love to feature a city. And then for people in that city, if that’s you to write in and just let us know from.

Jeff
Any other city, let us know where you’re from. Yeah for sure. Figure out is where everybody’s from. Yeah, yeah. Okay. So let’s give some clues and see if anybody can figure it out.

Chris
Yes. So the first one is this city is known as the City of churches.

Jeff
City of churches.

Chris
So see if you can get it out loud before.

Jeff
I want it is.

Chris
Reveal it.

Jeff
The other one is it’s home to the world’s largest pickle and vinegar processing plant.

Chris
Yeah, well, the people who live in this city already know what it is.

Jeff
Yeah, they already know. They already.

Chris
Know. But number three, in 1989, a youth pastor from the city designed and created the Wwjd bracelets.

Jeff
What would Jeff do?

Chris
Yeah. Nope. Nope. They’d be Jesus.

Jeff
Jesus, what would Jesus do? That’s right. And then lastly, it hosts an annual Tulip Time festival that attracts over a million tourists every year. That should be a big clue. Oh, that’s a big clue.

Chris
Okay.

Jeff
It is whole.

Both
Holland, Michigan.

Jeff
That’s right. Yeah. So we have people all the way from Holland. Yes, Michigan, which, by the way, listen to our podcast.

Chris
My daughter wanted to go to a college in Holland called Hope College. And so we went out to Holland and we spent, you know, like a couple of days out there and we loved it. We fell in love with it because how could you not? It’s so.

Jeff
Nice there.

Chris
It turns out that hope college is.

Jeff
No hope for.

Chris
Her, only for rich people. So with no grants, no nothing.

Jeff
So she went hopeless.

Chris
Well, she went to Grand Valley. That’s nothing to sneeze at.

Jeff
But it wasn’t hope.

Chris
It wasn’t hope. Apparently, Hope thinks that they’re, you know, above Grand Valley, apparently. Okay, so.

Jeff
So, hey, if you’re watching online, if you’re watching on YouTube, make sure you leave a comment and tell us where you’re watching from. If you’re listening from some other platform, you know, Spotify or whatever, send us an email at info at the Bible guys.com, and we’ll be able to highlight other cities around the world. Yeah, that’d be awesome. That’ll be fun. Yeah, yeah.

Chris
So today we’re filming from a different background. We actually are in our auditorium. Yes. So we’re not in our normal podcast.

Jeff
Studio because they’re doing construction. They’re doing.

Chris
Construction. So here we.

Jeff
Are. Here we are. And it looks nice.

Chris
Hey everyone! I’m not sure if you’re an avid Facebook user, or maybe you’re just the kind of person that feels like you have to have Facebook because you know it’s a necessity in life. But either way, it does go a long way. If you were to share a link of the Bible guys or to go to our Facebook and like it because it’ll connect us all. And so we’d appreciate you doing that.

Jeff
And we want everybody to see our happy faces.

Chris
So today we’re picking up about why Jesus taught in parables, and he actually explains as to why he did this.

Jeff
Yeah. So I think we can just read it and be done because he pretty much unpacks why.

Chris
Oh, right. Right. There’s nothing, there’s nothing.

Jeff
How much more we have to add?

Chris
There’s nothing to add to what Jesus says.

Jeff
So we’re reading from Matthew chapter 13 and we’ll start off in verse 34. And then we’ll also read Mark chapter four. We’ll start in verse, which, by the.

Chris
Way, every time you read a passage, there’s sort of two components. You, you, you dive deep and there’s a, there’s a component of explanation which is a deeper understanding of what he said. Right. Or what the Bible says. And then there’s application. That’s right. Which an application you can go all day long. Right. All day. Right. So if there’s if there’s really not too much to explain, then we’ll just go into the application. Okay. All right. Yeah.

Jeff
And then if we can’t think of anything to apply, we’ll just tell stories for 20 minutes and then be done.

Chris
No no I don’t think so.

Jeff
Okay. Bad strategy. So here we go Matthew chapter 13. It says Jesus always used stories and illustrations like these when speaking to the crowds. In fact, he never spoke to them without using such parables. This fulfilled what God had spoken through the prophet. I will speak to you in parables, and I’ll explain hidden things hidden since the creation of the world. In Mark chapter four, very similar, it says Jesus used many similar stories and illustrations to teach the people as much as they could understand. In fact, in his public ministry, he never taught without using parables. But afterward, when he was alone with his disciples, he explained everything to them. So then he goes on in Matthew 13, verse 36 and explains the parable of the weeds. Remember when we did the parable of the weeds? Yes. So he says, then, leaving the crowds outside, Jesus went into the house and his disciples said, please explain. Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field. Jesus replied, The Son of Man is the farmer who plants the good seed. The field is the world, and the good seed represents the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people who belong to the evil one. The enemy who planted the weeds among the wheat is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world, and the harvesters are the angels. Just as the weeds are sorted out and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the world. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will remove from his kingdom everything that causes sin, and all who do evil. And the angels will throw them into the fiery furnace, and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Jeff
And then the righteous will shine like the sun in their father’s kingdom. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.

Chris
I think in 31 years of ministry, this is the first time that I’ve ever read the explanation of a parable without reading the parable. First reading the.

Jeff
Parable I know.

Chris
And by the way, let’s just be clear to explain. So we’re reading directly out of the Chronological Life Application Study Bible, which actually takes the harmony of the Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, which often tell the same stories. A lot of the Gospels include all four stories, some and a couple of different ones. And what they do is they sort of mash them together, and then we get like various accounts of the exact same story. Right? Right. So what it has done is it is matched Matthew 13, Mark four, and then the rest of Matthew 13, or at least the, you know, the, the connecting passage. And, and this is the part where Jesus goes out of his way to explain a parable, but it doesn’t actually let us read the parable. Right?

Jeff
Well, last week we finished up with the weeds and the parable of the mustard seed in the yeast.

Chris
Yes, yes.

Jeff
So we finished those and then we’re picking up in that whole idea is not wasn’t finished right last Friday. So here we are on Monday.

Jeff
Doing it right.

Chris
It just happened to fall on a weekend. Right right.

Jeff
Right.

Chris
So so Jesus tells a story of a farmer scattering seed. And some fell on a on a stony path and, and grew up because there was no roots. They choked up and some fell and they took root. But then the thorns came up and choked them. And then some fell off the path, and then the birds came and snatched them, and then some took root and grew up and actually buried fruit. Right, right. And then and this in this particular passage, he’s actually explaining why he was saying that, because, remember, the disciples came to him and said, why do you speak in parables? And what the heck are you saying? Right, right. And then Jesus decided to explain, you know, the comparison.

Jeff
Do you think that they were Jesus church members who came and said, Jesus, we just wish that you would preach deeper messages. Quit telling so many stories, right? Is that what you think was right?

Chris
Give me meat and potatoes.

Jeff
Yeah. I just want more meat and potatoes. Quit telling so many stories.

Chris
Dude, if I hear that one more time, I want meat and potatoes. Fine. There’s an outback, right? Right down the street.

Jeff
Yeah. So?

Jeff
So what is the definition of a parable?

Chris
The definition of a parable is a. Well, I kind of like it, too, a metaphor, right? It’s sort of a metaphor because, you know, a metaphor is is is not a simile. A simile is it’s sort of like it, but a metaphor is that thing. And he’d often say, well, the farmer is God, the seed is the Word of God. And in this case, what he’s doing is, is he’s making a direct comparison, which, by the way, is why I love teaching practically. Because if you’ve ever gone to a church service where somebody read something and you didn’t understand it, and you walk out and you feel like, oh man, I went to church and so I can check the box or, you know, now it counts because I put in my religious duty. But if you don’t understand what is being said, then you’re missing the point, because Jesus, you know, talked on the bottom level. Often times he’s like, hey, look at that fig tree. Just like that fig tree produces, you know, an olive berry can produce figs and all this kind of things. And I think that he does the same thing. I’m the shepherd. You are the sheep. Do you understand the comparison? Yes, Lord. We do, you know, and I think that that’s often the most profound kind of teaching because we understand the dynamics of what he’s talking about.

Jeff
So the definition of parable that I’ve always heard, it’s kind of a simplistic way of saying it, but it’s an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.

Chris
Sure. Right.

Jeff
So he would use he would use something that everybody was familiar with to connect to, to God’s. It’s always the kingdom of heaven is like this, right? So he’s trying to explain something that’s incomprehensible by using something that they already kind of understand, and then he will connect the dots. But he doesn’t always connect the dots. Not always. He only does one. When the disciples come back and say, uh, could you connect the dots for us? Right. We have no idea. At one point, the disciples come back to Jesus and go, we have no idea what you’re talking about, right? Right. That’s what they say. And so there is a little bit of confusion sometimes when he tells a story about a farmer who’s planting seed and they’re like, what are you talking about? Because I think humans don’t naturally comprehend the things of God. Yeah. And so he has to help connect the dots. Okay. Well, let me explain. So the farmer is God, the seed is the word of God, right? There’s different kinds of people and how they respond to the word of God, that kind of thing. And so that’s what he’s doing here. But I think it’s interesting. It says, in fact, he never spoke to them without using parables.

Chris
Yeah, never.

Chris
Yeah. And by the way, he often said he often said anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand. And really what he’s pointing out here is he’s talking about the condition or the heart or the desire of the listener. Yeah, right. And so it really does depend on those who seek meeting. So if you really, truly seek just like the disciples, you knock on Jesus’s door and say, could you explain that a little bit more? You know what? What did you mean by destroying the temple and rebuilding it in three days? Because I’m pretty sure it took them a long time to build this temple. And I don’t get it, you know? And he’s like, uh, like the belly of Jonah. And they’re like, oh, I’m starting to get it. So I think that when he says he who has ears to hear, let him hear, he’s talking about the condition of the listener. And and I honestly believe that if you try to think, okay, what did God mean about this? Let me press into this. Let me, let me, let me do a deep dive and let me try to really let God unpack the spiritual truths that are spoken in his wisdom words. Then I think what happens is, is that God does such things. God does that. I mean, how many times have you read a passage of Scripture and you’re like, God, let me let me pray about this. Help me to understand. And then as you’re even preparing for sermons or whatever, it’s all of a sudden it’s just like these truths sort of leap off the pages, right? And they just enter into your thoughts and your mind and your spirit and you’re like, oh, I never saw that before. Chris
And I think that it’s the condition of the heart, which, by the way, is the point of the parable of the soil. Yeah, it’s the condition of the soil, really. That’s the featured point of this story.

Jeff
Yeah, yeah.

Jeff
In, in. So you went to Bible college and Bible college. There’s always a class. We usually have two classes, one hermeneutics and one homiletics. Yeah.

Chris
Right. Right.

Jeff
So hermeneutics is how to understand the Bible. Homiletics is how to teach the Bible.

Chris
Dr. Gleason taught both.

Jeff
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jeff
So in the homiletics class how to teach the Bible, we were warned about being too illustrative in our teaching. We were we were taught. You need to have a compelling opening. Yeah. Right. Then usually three points. If you’re trying to preach for 30 or 45 minutes.

Jeff
It’s like it.

Chris
Says the preachers from the 70s.

Jeff
Three alliterated points. They need to have A’s or S’s or.

Jeff
The first.

Jeff
You know, as the as the points. Then there needs to be like a heart grabbing moment, a poem. Yeah. A tear jerking illustration poem.

Jeff
Right? Right. Is it the last time?

Chris
That’s the last time you brought out a poem.

Jeff
I still hear preachers use poems, right? Yeah. And so there’s supposed to be like a heart grabbing illustration, a tear jerking illustration, something like that. And then a call to repentance or a call to a decision.

Jeff
Right.

Chris
Action or something.

Jeff
Yeah, rarely an action, but. Yeah, to to repentance or to a decision. And that was it. And so there are people even today who would say the appropriate Bible teaching is to start at one verse. And at the end at a later verse in the same passage and go, phrase by phrase, by phrase by phrase. And that’s the only right way to preach. Expository preaching is the only right way to preach.

Chris
So that that indicates to me that anybody sitting around a campfire in the in the first century who talked about the Bible was inappropriate. It was inappropriate.

Jeff
Well, so there’s a difference between sitting around talking about the Bible like we are. We’re just a couple of guys just sitting here talking about the Bible.

Jeff
And preaching. And so people would say that the appropriate preaching was, is, you know, what they what they call expository preaching start at one point. And at the other point, I don’t disagree with that. I think that expository preaching is great. The idea is to expose the meaning of the text, but that’s not what Jesus did. Jesus did not start at one place in the Bible and end at another place. Jesus always only taught parables.

Chris
So so that means that the apostle Paul in Acts 17 of the Acropolis had a horrible.

Jeff
Yeah, he messed it up.

Chris
Unbiblical sermon.

Jeff
If only he knew. If only if he if only he’d had a seminary professor explain to him the appropriate way to preach.

Chris
I’m telling you what you know what? It’s actually not the method. That’s that’s a bad teaching. Like, if somebody told me in a Bible college class, like, this is a great way to preach, I’d be like, absolutely. That’s it’s a good way.

Jeff
Yeah. Yeah.

Chris
But but then oftentimes what happens is they go that extra mile and let’s say the way. Right. They’ll say, they’ll say it’s the only way and any, any other way is wrong. And and so you’re now excommunicated from Baptist Bible College, which.

Both
By the way. So the idea.

Chris
Is every five minutes.

Jeff
So the, the, the idea is to expose God’s words to the people. Right. And so how do you do that? Jesus found that the best way for people who didn’t know anything, they did not understand the kingdom of God at all. They knew about God, right? They knew the rules. They knew the commandments, all that stuff. But they didn’t know God. They didn’t have a relationship with him. And so Jesus was connecting heaven to earth. And the way to do that was to take things they knew about. They knew about farmers. They knew about sheep, they knew about. Right. And he connected heaven to earth in a way that would capture their attention long enough so he could capture their their hearts for God and God’s kingdom. Right. And then and then if they asked, he would say, let me unpack it for you. Here’s what it means. And he would connect the dots for them in a meaningful way that hopefully would draw them to an understanding more of God’s kingdom, their role in it, and call them to action. And I think that that’s what preaching is, regardless of the formula or the the tools that you use to get it there, it’s connecting heaven down to earth in practical ways.

Chris
Yeah. So one of the best books that I ever read was communicating for a Change by Andy Stanley. And I think that a lot of our listeners who are Bible college students, I think would probably benefit from reading that. And and like, just like you said a minute ago, there’s many ways to preach, right? Many ways. And so I don’t disagree with any method.

Jeff
There’s my way in everybody else’s way.

Chris
Right.

Jeff
There’s the right way.

Chris
Correct. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Chris
But but let me tell you, the point of me mentioning this is that what I discovered is and we even talked about this last night with the elders, we talked about like a different way to approach. And I think I think that this by far by far by leap years, it is the best way to connect with people who are far from God, because you already have the people who are interested. Yeah, the people who come through the door like, hey, I’m a Christian for 30 years, 20 years, whatever. And I’m going to listen like they can put up with seven minutes of introductory felt need kind of conversation because you have them already. But the people who come in and they’re like, I don’t like church. I can’t believe my neighbor brought me here. And I just cannot believe that I’m sitting here. And instead of going directly into something that they do not care about, what happens is you sort of have to cater to them, which is like, I’m trying to capture their attention. Yeah, capture their attention. And you sort of have to meet them where they are, which is why I believe that what I normally do is so I do it a little different than than what the book says. But Andy calls it me we God, you, we. Which is hard to remember. Yeah. And he says, me why is it you have to build a tension? And basically if you’re talking about worry, here’s what he says. He goes, me says, hey, I worry. And then we says, don’t we all worry?

Jeff
We all worry.

Chris
And then God says, what does God say about worry? And then you, the you part says, what should you do in light of what God says about worry? Right? And then the we that he has is very different at the end, very different. He says, what would it look like if we all stopped worrying? Right. And so he has that sort of like a conclusion punch. Right. And, and so and I think I think what ends up happening is that people who just really have a hard time connecting to why I should be listening to this, to this pastor right now, I think if you spend the first few minutes trying to grab their attention, they go, oh, so there is a reason why I should pay attention, which is the only reason why I gravitate toward that style. But I really do think that. That there is a benefit of just being well-read and understanding the different approaches to communicating. Which, by the way, if I’m doing like a Wednesday night, like a believers type service where there’s only like 300 people in the room and they’re all like super Christians, or have you ever spoken at a chapel at a Christian college?

Jeff
One time.

Chris
For real?

Jeff
One time. Wow.

Chris
Yeah. Well, anyway, but if you ever speak at a Christian school chapel or whatever it is, like, you don’t have to do any of that, right? Like, you can go right in and just go, thus saith the Lord. And and you know, whether they, you know, are with you or not is another thing. But at least there in terms of like, you know, engaged, you don’t have to prep them for anything.

Jeff
Yeah so then the point with Jesus teaching was, well, the result of Jesus teaching is that many times in the Gospels the people go, wow, he doesn’t teach like the Pharisees teach. He teaches with authority. Yeah, right. And and so they were very compelled by the fact that he wasn’t coming in with a professor view or a professor approach, a lecture based approach, or even a chit chatty conversational, like a, like a synagogue kind of thing, where experts stand up and debate an idea in a conversational way, and all the non-experts sit around and watch it. Instead, Jesus came directly to the people. Jesus did not approach the kingdom of God and the teaching about the kingdom of God, as if it’s an expert based faith. Instead, he took it right to the farmers. He took it right to the fishermen. He took it right to the housewives and said, you can understand it because you’re part of it, too. Yeah, right. And that’s one of the things I love about the way that Jesus taught. He put it on the bottom shelf for all of us can reach it. And and that’s, you know, if I’m going to make a mistake, that’s the mistake I want to make is try to make sure that every person sitting in the room from start to end can grasp the ideas of God, and then just let the words of God be what penetrates the heart, not me. And my formula that’s trying to.

Chris
Yeah, well, I mean, I was taught a long time ago, God promises to bless his words, not ours. That’s right, that’s right. So that’s where the power comes from. Yeah. And by the way, let’s maybe a last wrapping up thought could be this is that let’s all keep in mind that simple is not a synonym for easy.

Jeff
Oh right. Right. So simple or dumbed down.

Jeff
It’s not dumbed down just because it’s simple.

Chris
Yeah. Right.

Chris
So simple is a simple concept that Jesus delivers. And and it’s those simple concepts are very hard to do. Yeah. Right. They’re just simple to understand. Right. And so oftentimes when somebody you know says I want more meat and potatoes that’s fine. We all we all love meat and potatoes. In fact that’s actually scriptural and biblical right. Yeah, absolutely. We all want meat and potatoes. But Both
There is more.

Chris
There’s more. There’s definitely more for sure. But but just keep in mind that that doesn’t always mean the complexities and the details and more knowledge. It’s actually as long as as long as we understand you know, it’s not about information, it’s about application.

Jeff
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s not. What’s life changing about God’s word is not how much you know, what’s life changing about God’s word is how much you do.

Chris
Right, right, right.

Chris
Well, that’s a great place to end. And so we will see you next time on The Bible Guys.