Be Patient With Others - Matthew 13

After thinking about how best to introduce this lesson there seemed to be no way that I could improve on what the author in Life Way wrote in his introduction in “Explore the Bible,” I have heard similar questions and discussions many times and Matthew seems to answer them as well as any of the other books in the NT. The following paragraph quotes Dr. Luther Dorr a retired seminary professor of 20 years at New Orleans Baptist Seminary.

“Why does God allow evil to persist in the world? Why doesn’t He just zap all the evil—and evil people: Surely all the evil that people are doing can’t please God, can it? Why doesn’t God just punish wicked people now and get them out of the way of good people? Most Christians have heard questions similar to these and may have asked similar questions themselves. The lesson for this week focuses on Jesus’ answers to these kinds of questions because people were asking such questions two thousand years ago. Jesus taught His followers how to deal with evil people. My first question for you is: Do you like to be able to make your own choice about whom you will serve? Or would you prefer to have God tell you, on the day that you become accountable: “You have no choice—you have accepted me as Savior and will serve me here on earth, and when you die you will go to Heaven?”

At first, this may sound great—but remember the Bible teaches that there are two roads—one is narrow and few will travel this road to its final destination, heaven. The other road is wide, and the gate is wide, and many will enter in. My second question is: What if you were one of the many who would hear the Master say: “You have no choice—you have accepted Satan as the one you will serve here on earth and when you die you will go to Hell?” It is sad but the majority of all people will hear this.

Why doesn’t he zap all evil people? If he did, no one would go to heaven, because the bible teaches that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We were conceived in sin and born in inequity. All would be bound for Hell. In fact that is our condition—we are all bound for Hell. Except for one condition: when we reach the time and age of accountability—God gives us the chance to realize our condition and the ability to accept Christ’s death on the cross as the total payment for our sin. God has given us our freedom to choose between heaven and hell and I am thankful. The beginning of the 13th chapter shows a definite turning point in Jesus’ ministry.
He has been in the cities and towns usually in the synagogues or temples teaching and now in today’s lesson we find him in a boat that has been pushed off from the bank with the people gathered on the shore. There is no doubt that his opportunities to teach in the houses of worship are closing. Some were too small for the crowds that were gathering. By this time in his ministry, he is only welcomed by the common people who have witnessed and been blessed by his healing ministry. However the leaders of the Jewish movement [Sadducees and Pharisees] were now in open opposition to him. Have you ever stopped to realize that Jesus Christ was banished from his own church while he was on earth ministering to his people? I sometimes wonder how long he would have been able to survive at First Baptist in Heber Springs.

When they forced him out of the synagogue he went to the open air along the sea shores. In this lesson today, we see that he left the people on shore and he entered a boat and pushed out from the bank. He did this so there would be room for the people to gather in closely along the sea shore and the expansion of water between them and the boat helped to carry his voice making it possible for the people to hear. [When I was a youngster, traveling evangelist would preach in “Brush Harbors”] Stop and think about this for a moment. Why? There were always country church buildings somewhere near, but the evangelist preferred the brush harbor to the existing sanctuary. Why? [People have always felt more at ease in a neutral site.]

It is far more important that you understand that Jesus changed his teaching style to the use of parables than it is that he changed the place where he was teaching. Jesus was definitely the master of the “short story” or parable way of teaching. He used parables to teach because they always make the truth seem so concrete. Anything abstract is difficult for us to understand. Did you know that people, [you and I] think in pictures? Think about it for a moment. If I mention the word Elephant—what comes into your mind? You see an elephant. If I simply say the word hurricane—immediately you see a funnel cloud reaching from the sky down to the ground. Finally if someone says son, daughter or grandchild…I do not see a picture of some unknown child…no! I see a picture of Kay, Rebecca, Lance, or Nicholas because these are mine…and you see Pamela or Cassie, Tori, Tiffany, or Courtney because they are yours. We see and think using pictures that are realistic in our minds. And that is why Christ chose to start emphasizing his parables…they painted pictures.

Even before this time Jesus had been using the seedlings of true parables. This was his major method of teaching. As a former teacher in public schools, I relate to this method. The teacher starts with something that students understand in order to get to the things they do not understand. We have already witnessed his use of the salt of earth and light of the world; the wise and foolish builder; the garments and wine skins; and the birds of the field and the lilies of the valley; these are truth in pictures. Now in this chapter the pictures [parables] are more fully developed…they are truth in pictures. We all have problems thinking in the abstract…we can comprehend the concrete. A young child may not have the understanding of what the word ‘beautiful’ means; show a boy his pet dog and explain that he is beautiful; show a girl her favorite doll and explain her beauty; show both of them a read rose and they will soon understand the abstract word beautiful.

A parable does not think for you; but it tells or shows you an interesting story and lets you decide what the moral of the story really is. Did you know that there are some things you can not be taught? You can not be taught ‘truth’ and you must discover for yourself. You hear a story—what does it mean? What is the truth in it? You must decide for yourself.

The first twenty three verses tell us the parable of the four soils, or the farmer planting seed. Crowds had forced Jesus to get in a boat and push out to sea a short way—using the boat as a pulpit and the water as a megaphone he taught and they could hear him. In my minds eye I can see a farmer just behind the crowd plowing in the field. He calls their attention to the farmer as he was planting his crop. He was there…they could see him…they knew what he was doing…Christ used things they already knew to teach the unknown. Jesus used the farmer as the text of his message. He started talking about something that everyone on the shore would understand and proceeded to tell them about the Kingdom on earth—something that few if any fully understood. Time will not allow us to cover each point that Christ made, but he explains what he said and how it relates to each person that is represented by a seed planted either to prosper and grow or wither and fail. You must be a student of the bible—do not rob yourself of the blessing of self understanding…read it now!

There is a second part of this parable in these same verses—it is about the word and the hearer—and is aimed at two sets of people. The first is the hearer with a closed mind. There are people who have already made up their minds as to what they want to believe and nothing will change their thinking. Christ’s illustration reminds me of my back yard. The soil is hard clay, water will run off and the ground remains hard. If I scatter seed they wash away and never take root and grow. My front yard can be tilled to a loose loamy soil and seed will germinate in it immediately…the wetter you make it the faster the grass grows. Few seeds are ever wasted. When it was my garden, the fruit grew plentiful…its mind was not closed and new things grew therein.

The second hearer has a mind like the shallow ground; thin and infertile, so that seed may germinate, but nothing worthwhile ever comes from the seed that are up and growing but soon will wilt and become useless. This man lets important things get crowded out; he is to busy to pray; he is preoccupied with worldly thoughts and deeds and never has time to study God’s word. He always has time to serve on a committee or council; may be a great Rotarian, or community volunteer, or a great business man. None of these things are wrong, sinful, or bad…but they are surely ‘second best’ but second best is always an enemy of the best. He is not planted in the deep and rich soil where God always grows and furnishes the best elements of our life.

This entire chapter is one parable after another and can be summed up to say that it is the story of all kinds of people, with good and bad works and intentions. Christ had to deal with all of them in a positive way in order to help the best of men grow stronger and in order to claim the lost, hardened unbelievers that were not plesant to deal with. Now think about the title of this lesson…BE PATIENT WITH OTHERS…we have to deal with the same kinds of people with the same talents or lack there of, men that refuse to use what they know to be good, in order to help them grow in God. As sowers of seed, as workers in the church, we will find some easy to teach, wanting to learn—and some that have closed minds…no matter who we are dealing with…we MUST BE PATIENT WITH THEM, Christ was!

In the last few verses of this lesson we find the sad story of Jesus returning to Nazareth his home town. It is here that we learn the lesson he learned and that is that it is hard [sometimes maybe impossible] to be successful among your home town people. The lesson that I see here lies in the fact that the congregation does a lot more preaching than one would think, just by the attitude they bring to the service. If they attend service with a mind that is closed to the preacher for their own personal reasons, it will be impossible for him to create a worshipful, spiritual uplifting feeling among the people. We must attend church to worship God…not to judge the pastor.

Our ministers must have our support. We must remain open minded—desiring to worship and be lifted up—and we must be patient, always believing that we are there not only to grow spiritually ourselves, but we must be willing to patiently wait and desire that the lost be reached. Wherever we attend church…when we meet on Sunday morning or Wednesday night to listen to the word of God being taught, we must come with eager expectancy and think not about the messenger but yearn for the Spirit of God to speak through him. Membership criticism is a pastor’s worst enemy!!!