Welcome to Episode #115 of Way of the Bible podcast. This is our third of eight episodes in our fifteenth mini-series, It’s All About Jesus. On this episode we’re going to take a look at the often overlooked explanations of the Parable of the Sower presented by Jesus in Luke 8.
On our last episode we looked at the parable, Jesus’ reason for parables, and Jesus’ interpretation of the parable all presented in Luke 8:4-15. On this episode were going to see how the passages described as a Lamp Under a Jar and Jesus’ Mother and Brothers found in Luke 8:16-21 illuminate the central theme of the parable up to verse 15.
In addition to presenting different aspects of the parable on our last episode I weaved into the discussion how the narratives of the fall in Genesis 3 and of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4 are reflected in the parable. What is plainly seen in the Bible is Jesus. From Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21, the entire Bible from cover to cover is all about Jesus.
Here’s a short side-bar before I continue. If I’ve learned anything from the word of God it is to get over myself; a reality I still struggle with to this day. It is a daily battle of resisting the flesh to please, impress, inspire, and keep at bay people I don’t even know and to a lesser extent people I do know. How crazy is that? Or should I ask, “How normal is that?”
I’m vividly aware as a born again believer, in-Christ, sanctified, and indwelt by the Holy Spirit I should constantly be yielding to the Spirit in all aspects of my life. Yet I can forget who I am as the cares, riches, and pleasures of the world press in. I can forget whose I am as persecution presses in. And I can forget where I am when I expose myself to those who trample the word of God underfoot.
In each of these instances, the only thing that awakens me out of temporary slumber is the heart piercing and thought discerning word of God. It is not an awakening into condemnation, quite the opposite. It is an awakening into the power of the right hand of God to silence and bind-up any and all that would come against me.
We are each in our own way deeply entrenched in spiritual warfare not against those we know and see but against powers, principalities, and dark spiritual forces in the spiritual realm. We now know their presence as we are no longer part of them. At one time we were part of them being enslaved by the devil to do his will and locked down tight in darkness and death. But now, by the redemptive power of the Gospel, we were set free into true life, into light, into eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ by the grace and mercy of God our Father. We are to constantly remind ourselves we died, we were purchased with a price, we were adopted into God’s family, and we live a new life not of the flesh but of the Spirit.
And in this new life the list is likely endless of the things we’ve become and inherited. A short list I presented by Paul in Ephesians 1:3-14. In this passage Paul tells us in-Christ we are: Blessed, Chosen, Predestined, Adopted, Accepted, Redeemed, Forgiven, Enlightened, Given an Inheritance, Sealed by the Holy Spirit, and Assured of our Salvation. And there’s more much more than these, and given time, LORD willing, over the life of this podcast we’ll explore many of them.
This change from who I was to who “I am,” and then to who I will become takes the rest of this life as Paul and others epistle writers make plain. I encourage you to join with me on this quest to fully Believe God and Follow Jesus and be immersed in the Way of the Bible that leads to life, fellowship, and Union with God through Jesus Christ. And it can all start with this seemingly simple Parable of the Sower. END OF SIDEBAR
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