From Parables to Understanding!

From Parables to Understanding!

[My Offline Bible] Matthew 13 10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? 11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. 13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. 14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: 15 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. 16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. 17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

The position we are with God matters. God has no favourites but there are positions in our relationship with God and each position determines what we get.

It is clear throughout the days of the earthly ministry of Jesus that the crowd is apart from the disciples. Within the disciples we have the 70, within the seventy we have the twelve and within the twelve, we have the three and within the three we have the one, the bossom friend.

We know also that the degree of commitment separate one from the other and not just primordial sentiments. There are conditions for becoming a disciple of Christ apart from being just in the crowds.

If you continue in His word, you will become one. If you forsake all you possess, not having any personal attachment to whatever God has given you for Christ's sake you will become His disciple. When you rate your relationship with and commitment to Him higher than that with anybody else, you are fulfilling the demands of discipleship. When you deny yourself and carry your cross and follow Him daily, you fulfil the discipleship condition. If you walk in a sacrificial, responsible love towards all especially those in the faith, you work yourself into His elite group. If you get committed to bearing fruit and blessing others with what God has given you, you become His disciple. When you aspire to be exactly like Him in all things and you are ready to commit all to that aspiration, you are on your way there!

And when you do, you leave the crowd behind. You go beyond entertainment to real understanding. You go beyond sentimental attachment to real mutual commitment. You go beyond parables to mysteries of wisdom and of the knowledge of God's word.

The crowd members are content with parables, they are burdened with anything beyond that. Once they are fed with food and physical comfort they are satisfied. They won't ask questions and they feel good with the parabolic stories.

Disciples won't rest. They would like to be fed also with knowledge and understanding. They don't mind the miracles but they also want their faith to be built to move mountains like that of their Master. They seek more than fish, they want the hook, the line and the sinker! And so their eyes are blessed they see more than the public show, their ears are blessed they hear like the learned. To them is given to know the mystery of the kingdom. They are more than those who discovered a gift in them to follow Christ, they are those who by personal decisions and sacrifice followed Christ. They were not after what they can get but to become like their Master.

These have ears that ear, they are not dull in hearing. They don't ever get tired of hearing the word undiluted, they can endure sound doctrines. They don't have itching ears wanting to hear what they want to hear, but always ready to endure the hard sayings of inconvenient truth. They are content with Him who has the word of life!

They have eyes that see. That see beyond what eyes normally see. They see beyond the lusts of the eyes, they see with concentration and so see beyond deceptive facades. They don't see distractions, their eyes are single and they are full of light. They see beyond signs to what the signs point to. They see beyond wonders to what creates the captivating scenes so that they don't continue in captivity. They won't stop at the sign post, they follow on to the destinations. They are not easily satisfied so they aren't easily deceived.

They seek understanding. They aren't satisfied with human wisdom or with devilish or earthly wisdom, they want the wisdom from the Only wise. And because they hear with their ears, see with their eyes and understand with their heart they operate at another level of conversion, full persuasion and renewal of mind that give God no options than to attend to them as a doctor attends to a patient. God is always on call waiting on them.

It's time to remove the dullness from our ears, and get excited to learn of God more and more. It's time we open our eyes to see what's important to God. It's time we remove the weight on hearts waxed gross to receive with meekness the engrafted word able to save souls. It's time we seek understanding rather than entertainment. It's time to move from the crowd and become His disciples and gain access into all that's available in Christ.

Good morning!

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The Bible Class, TBC
Non denominational Bible Discussion Class, Ikeja centre

As from Thursday 26th February 2015 Next Thursday

Afterwork hours 6pm

83, Adeniyi Jones Avenue Ikeja, Lagos