Jesus spoke many parables. A parable is
defined as a story, the object of which is to learn a spiritual lesson. The
narrative is of a physical story, but the hearer or reader has to make the
analogy to learn the spiritual lesson. Jesus used it often in a crafty way; For
one thing, He wanted to point out the deficiencies of the Jewish spiritual
leaders without pointing His finger directly at them. In their guilt, they knew
He was talking of them, but they needed real proof to take His life.
I think parables added some time to His physical life. He was allowed to
speak "freely;" He was “lucky” (but there is no such thing as luck to
God's plan, right?) to have lasted over 3 years before they had Him silenced
--but only for a little while, right?
One group of parables is called Kingdom parables. Some of them are on the
subject of how to get to heaven. Definitely important--so let’s study a few.
Many Who Start Out As Believers Get Rejected
in Final Judgment
Since Jesus has no less than 8 parables on
this subject (see below), it is obviously important. I believe, considering
many sermons I have heard and read about, that most unsaved people, if they are
Protestant—and even many Catholics-- are deceived on this subject. They
think they are saved when they are not. If they read Scripture with an open
mind, they would see that. The Protestants’ biggest problem is this: They conveniently assume that once they are
saved, they don't have to be sensitive to their personal ongoing sin. So
as a result, they don’t change their life much. But in the parables listed below, Jesus makes
it crystal clear that it is not a simple case. Pastors today are not helping;
they avoid dealing with seemingly contradictory verses in Scripture. If they
studied them with the help of the Holy Spirit, they could reconcile those
verses. I am speaking of one group of verses that praise works as an element of
salvation, and other verses that say to rely on faith only, not works. The
pastors refuse to deal with this difficult subject. They feel people wouldn’t
understand, or that they are in the business of making people comfortable. They
refuse to talk about sin in any detail, or the necessity of sanctification. They pick out Bible verses that are all on
God’s love. Pastors want to confirm people, not warn them. And they won’t bring
up hell or have sermons on the depths of our sin-natures. And it’s unlikely
that they talk about repentance. These silent subjects WERE talked about in
previous days, and brought about some real revivals. Avoidance like this amounts to deception. Since it's possible that we have been deceived
without realizing it, and since “where we spend our eternity” is at stake,
heaven or hell, let’s keep our minds open, and seek the real reason why they
(or you) could be rejected for heaven, so we can avoid such tragedy.
Demonstrated in: Parable of the Vine, John 15:1-10
The Sower, Matthew 13:3-8, 18-23
The Wedding feast, Matthew 22:1-14
Five foolish and five wise virgins, Matthew 25:1-13
The faithful and wise servant, Matthew 24:45-51
Talents, Matthew 25:14-28
Separating the Sheep and the Goats, Matthew 25:31-46
Houses built on the Rock and Sand, Matthew 7:21-27
I picked four of the above for discussion:
The Vine: John 15:1-6: “I am the true vine, and My
Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He
takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more
fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless
it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 I am the
vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much
fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he
is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them
into the fire, and they are burned
These are some of the most important Words
from Jesus in the New Testament, aside from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is
the Vine; some of us become His branches (when we were first saved). We derive
(eternal) life ONLY by staying attached to Him, and getting our nourishment
from Him (vv 5-6). True, these verses don’t say how to get on the Vine in
the first place, the initial salvation (it takes repentance and faith,
explained elsewhere in Scripture). But these parables, from the
lips of Our Truth, Jesus Christ, do a wonderful job of explaining the second critical
issue--how do I “abide” in Christ, once I have experienced initial salvation? Otherwise,
as the verses above clearly say, I could end up in hell. Abiding, and I cannot stress this strongly
enough, determines whether you end with salvation. You need
both (initial and abiding) salvation to get to heaven. Building a relationship with
Jesus fulfills that second requirement, and heaven opens up to you. Without
abiding, the destination, shall we say, changes. So here we go.
As a branch, we grow through pruning, which
hurts. Jesus told us that staying with Him has a cost. One of the costs is
disapproval from others. If we experience no disapproval, and we are “just one
of the guys,” then we have a weak witness for Our Lord, and our Christianity
can be questioned. Another cost of discipleship is sacrificing the world and
its lusts. We must go to extremes to avoid temptation (Matthew 5:29ff); we spend
money and time only on what God wants-- we do not buy luxuries, or things to
satisfy our sinful nature—but we give that money to the Lord’s Work. Another
cost is organizing our life activities around His commandments. We attend a
solid Christian church, since that’s what Scripture demands. We pray. We study
the Word to know Our Lord better, to know what He likes. We meditate,
introspectively, with the Holy Spirit’s help, to figure out what He doesn’t
like in our thoughts and behavior. This will not threaten our salvation; God
knows about it; He is waiting for us to confess and ask forgiveness. We confess
to Him, we repent (I John 1:8-9 does not say that we only do this once). He
loves our humility. We get to know Jesus like we would do for the opposite sex
who we are in love with. All these are what “abiding” is all about. It’s not
just emotion. As these verses clearly
show, to finally get to heaven, and not be tossed to the fire, we must, through
abiding in Christ, bear fruit. The above activities are part
of that—as long as we don’t do it by “rote.” If we don’t abide and bear fruit,
we are “cast out,” we are “withered,” we are thrown into the fire, and we burn.
An obvious reference to hell. The word “abide,” in the Greek, is defined as “continue,
remain, tarry.” It suggests a relationship of bonding
which we must seek with our Savior. We fail once in a while, but God is
patient—to a point. Since by Jesus’ death in our place, He gave true believers
heaven instead of hell for eternity. We see the love He had, and we owe all of
our lives to Him. And we give it, even the important decisions, because we
trust Him. We get help from the Holy Spirit to break the habits of sin. God
gives grace for our occasional slip-ups, and forgives us when we confess and
repent them to Him. (But we must not abuse His forgiveness by giving false
repentance when we confess. Continuing for too long in the same sin, despite
guilt and warnings by the Spirit, threatens your Christianity).
An aside: This theological concept of initial
and final salvation that I’m alluding to, seems revolutionary, since it's
seldom preached on-- but it's in Scripture, where it is set forth plainly. Also,
the earliest church fathers saw that you could lose your salvation (see another
blog, “Initial and Final Salvation”). This is not Catholic doctrine, not
really Protestant either. Protestant Reformers like Luther, tried too
hard to be the opposite of the Catholics. If the Catholics said “works are big,
obey them to gain sacraments,” and they forget about initial repentance, and
assume that you had a good start for heaven just by being baptized, Luther had to say “forget works, it’s all grace.”
I don’t deny grace. It is all grace for God to pay any attention to us sinful
creatures. Catholics distorted their idea of works (they say a relationship
with Christ is not necessary; just say your rosary, attend Mass, Confession,
etc). But Protestant Reformers also distorted grace. They say a relationship
with Christ, and intentional sanctification, are not necessary, though it’s
beautiful. As a minimum, just accept Him, and you are saved forever. Through
His unconditional grace, He will make sure that you will persevere to the end,
they say. But I have seen many who start out well, but don’t change their lives
or grow—they are not persevering. They are not into a relationship with Our Lord.
They are deceived.
The
Sower and the soils agrees with this. Soils are defined as people’s
willingness to live for Christ. In two of the four soils—actually, the first
soil was impossible to penetrate, so three of the four soils—were failures. Only
one out of four was a success in bearing fruit. In two of the soils (persons),
they showed early promise, but finally were unsaved because they did not
produce fruit. Here’s Matthew 13:21-22
on the two soils’ immediate response to the Seed sown:
…he who received the seed on stony places, this
is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. 22 Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world
and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.
Now I want you to notice how a good church
and an unhelpful church may also get involved, let’s say on intercession. In
each of the soil examples above, if a person “receives it with joy,” or actually
“hears the Word,” he might be in a church that, seeing this initial response, affirms
his salvation. But if this person doesn’t follow through for years, they
might, if they were smart, figure this person is becoming apostate. Which means
he is likely to have turned and become unsaved and out of the Kingdom and on
his way to hell. Hopefully church people
notice his change of behavior, and a senior member can pose some tough
questions to him to make him aware of his dangerous state. Leaders should observe behavior to get an idea
if the discipleship is gone—in other words, they observe his “works” to get an
idea where his heart is. (You may call this “judging”—dealt with in another
blog—or “invading his privacy.” Then I say, “Do you care if this person ends up
in hell?”) On the other hand, if a church and a pastor disaffirms “works,” the
church will act completely different—and unhelpful to warn him. As long as they
believe he was saved initially, their idea of warning him will be a confusing
bag: “You are still saved, but we are worried.” I will assure you: In the
confusion, he will only hear the first four words. This Calvinistic church is
going the wrong way in treating him. These words are not an effective warning.
Getting back to our main church doctrines, both
these theologies—whether Catholics believe in piling up sacraments and leaning
on baptism to be saved, and Protestants who say “faith, not works are enough to
stay saved”-- are lies, and put you in danger of hell, as these Vine and Sower parables
clearly point out. You have to abide, too. And that takes works for final salvation,
intentionally changing your life. Remember, you are a new creation, right? (II
Corinthians 5:17} But does anybody notice the difference in you? The Book of James needs to be read, not just
Paul’s books.
Example #3, Sheep and Goats:
Matthew 25:31-46: “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all
the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All
the nations (people) will be gathered before Him, and He will
separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.
33 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34
Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink;
I was a stranger .... 37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord,
when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?... 40
And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as
you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ 41
“Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed,
into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 for I was
hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty....44 “Then they also will answer
Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger...45
Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did
not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 And these
will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
The issue in this parable is, if we do not
have enough love for our fellow man so we do not care for him in his hour of
need, then this total lack of love means we are not a Christian. Jesus is
asking us, did you care for the poor and the sick? To some people, caring for
someone dressed in Goodwill knockoffs, or with messy hair, is beneath them.
They have too much pride—and we know how God feels about pride. I would like to
insert a plug for independent caring missions and relief organizations. If you
give all your charity money to the local church, what if the church spends
little on missions or the poor? Maybe they give free bread downtown to whoever
wants it—but that is not efficient, because middle-class people come out of the
woodwork when they smell a freebie. Some
churches would rather build a nicer church, or give the pastor a raise, or more
staff. We need to watch this stuff; stewardship of God’s resources is
important. You don’t want all your money to go to people who have it better
than many Christians elsewhere in the world (did you know that over a billion
people live on less than a dollar a day?) Too many people are unable to put
good food on the table, or drink unpalatable water, or have miserable housing,
or poor medicine--or are persecuted. This is serious: Look at what God says in
James 2:13:
For judgment is without mercy to the one who
has shown no mercy.
Example #4, Rock or Sand:
Matthew 7:21-27: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall
enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who DOES the will of My Father
in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not
prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in
Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from
Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of
Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his
house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds
blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the
rock. 26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them,
will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain
descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it
fell. And great was its fall.”
As anyone can read, hearing His commandments
and DOING them (is Jesus requiring works?) is building a foundation of rock, and keeps
our spiritual house toward heaven. But hearing and NOT DOING, no matter
how much “service” you do at church—for people of status or to obtain friends
of the same financial class-- you are headed for spiritual rejection. We must
“do the will” of our Father. Let that sink in: We don’t do things for show. We
do them for people who need them. Many verses praise works. As these verses
point out, there is a necessary place for ‘works after we are initially saved.
For a little more proof, I cite John 5:28-29:
28 Do not marvel at this; for the hour
is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come
forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and
those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.
This is what Jesus preached; since you can
lose initial salvation through no fruit, no obedience when the chips are down,
final decision is made on faith and follow up, doing His will, versus those who
have ignored His commandments through sins of commission or omission. We should
explore our gift (I Corinthians 12), find out what we can do best—and do it.
What do most people do, upon reading this?
Are you going to possibly twist the obvious meaning of these parables? Or are
you going to say, "It could be too dense for me. Pastor will
explain." But pastor is trained something different in seminary. He
parrots that; it might not save you. Some pastors are not open-minded, or
they hate talking theology with people who have no degrees in it. A simple reading of Scripture makes it clear:
“Doing good” or doing His will, or bearing fruit, (with the help of the Lord
when you call on Him) helps get you final salvation. If this seems to disagree
with what Paul seems to say about ignoring the law (especially in Romans and
Galatians), you need to keep context in view. His frequent mention of
ignoring the law could be explained by this: he had to deal with Judaizers—new
Jewish Christians who wanted us to keep all their man-made laws to be saved.
“Let’s get all the male believers in Christ circumcised,” they said. “They have
to follow the law of Moses to be saved.” That’s what Paul couldn’t stomach. He
didn’t want us to just follow (Jewish civil or food) laws; he wanted us to have
a relationship with Jesus. (I have other blogs on “Paul vs. James” on this
subject, too).
A final aside: Most of us like to have a large savings
account, so WE can control our lives, not God. So we give little to the
church or to people in trouble but it goes to savings instead. Such a
determination to be in control at all times means we have no clue about how the
Holy Spirit could go to bat to help us. If we sacrifice material things for
Him, THEN, later, if we run short, we can ask God to help
Theme #2: God’s Kingdom People Will Have
Non-Believers Among Them In Church; Let God Weed Them Out at Final Judgment
Demonstrated in: Wheat and Weeds (tares),
Matthew 13:24-30, 37-43
Dragnet, Matthew 13:47-50
In the interest of space, we only comment on
one.
Wheat and tares, Matthew 13:24-30, 37-43: Another parable
He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed
good seed in his field; 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares
among the wheat and went his way. 26 But when the grain had sprouted and
produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 27 So the servants of the owner
came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then
does it have tares?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants
said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ 29 But he said,
‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30
Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say
to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to
burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”…(ed, now speaking only
to disciples) “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field
is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the
sons of the wicked one. 39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest
is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.40 Therefore as the tares
are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. 41
The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His
kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness,42 and will
cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of
teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of
their Father.
In every church, there will be fakers and
there will be sincere folks. That's the way Satan plans; wheat and weeds
together--saved and unsaved people. Chaos will reign. Suppose we start looking
for those in our congregation who may not show enough growth to be saved.
Then we want to remove the tares from the assembly. But can we really
tell who is a genuine Christian? This Scripture warns us that we can't.
Jesus said, in these verses, Do not
worry about all that; the angels will pull out “those who practice
lawlessness.” Elsewhere He says to focus only on our sins, concentrate on
"pulling out the plank" in our own eye, vs. focusing on specks that
others have in their lives. Thus, it's clear that we are to let everyone
attend who wants to attend—within reason. If that guy gets loud, and prophesies
in the middle of the sermon, find a way to muzzle him. Scripture says he has
control of his emotions (I Corinthians 14:32). As an extra way of avoiding
chaos within the church, if someone is in a known fornication or adulterous
relationship, the church must discipline. Scripture has much to say about that.
Let's let Jesus do the deciding, in the last days. Let’s love the foot-draggers
and the fearful of new things or fearful of risk people among us, and encourage
them to do better. The tares sometimes put up obstructions to the Lord's plan,
and we have permission to rebuke them. But not under the goal of throwing
them out. IF God wants us to do something, He will find a way around the
troublers. We may go slower, but it’s a
good test of the practice of love, too.
Well, think awhile on these important
parables. Don’t twist them to meet your previous theology. Don’t ignore them,
thinking them too hard to understand with their couched language. As you can
see above, Jesus’ language is really quite clear. We often just don’t like what
He’s saying.
Acknowledgement: David Bercot CD, “Kingdom Parables,” Scroll Publishing
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