HEARING THE WORD OF GOD

Three consecutive sections of Luke 8 focus on the theme of hearing the Word of God. Jesus offered two major categories of people in Luke 8 based on hearing the Word of God.

© CreationSwap/ Natanis Davidsen 2010

Luke 8:4-15
And when a great multitude had gathered, and they had come to Him from every city, He spoke by a parable: “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold.” When He had said these things He cried, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
Then His disciples asked Him, saying, “What does this parable mean?”
And He said, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that
‘Seeing they may not see,
And hearing they may not understand.’
“Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.

It begins with the parable of the sower. The Lord classifies hearts by the way they hear the Word of God, likening them to different kinds of ground. It is worthy to note that the sower in the parable sowed in various grounds. When the sower cast His seeds they fell not only on good ground but on other types of ground. God is the sower. That the seeds He sows reaches all sorts of ground whether they are fruitful or not manifests His mercy to us all. He gives everyone the chance to encounter Him and choose for themselves whether they will obey or not. Further, we find in this parable that there is a particular heart condition that promotes growth.

1. Wayside.

Luke 8:5
“A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it."

Luke 8:12
Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.

There are those who have heard the Word who are like the wayside. The wayside is hard ground and thus seeds are unable to penetrate them. It is ground on which vehicles and people pass through. The seed, therefore, being exposed is trampled down and devoured by the birds of the air. When there is a hardening of a person's heart, perhaps because of sin or offense, the word of the Lord is not absorbed. It does not sink in because sin in a person’s life dulls the understanding. Sin also provides a foothold for the enemy in a person’s heart. So that when a man hears the word of God, the enemy being in that person, easily wards off the Word of God from the person’s heart. The seed has no opportunity to penetrate the soil. Like a busy wayside where people, animals, and vehicles pass by, a hardened heart is like soil where the seed hardly gets to hit the ground before it is trampled upon by the enemy who injects thoughts of condemnation, deception, and discouragement. When the Word of God reaches his ears, it is easily drowned out by wrong voices. It prevents the hearer from receiving the word with understanding. It gets trampled upon by wrong thoughts. The birds of the air also easily snatch the seed. The enemy is able to snatch away the Word from their hearts lest they believe and are saved.

2. Rocky Ground

Luke 8:6
Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture.

Luke 8:13
But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away.

There are those who hear the Word of God who are like rock. When the seed is sown in them, they receive it with joy and the Word springs up quickly in their hearts. However, it does not grow roots so when temptations come, they fall away. The parable says that it was a lack of moisture that caused the shoot to wither away as soon as it sprang up.

But when Jesus explained, He gave the reason for the lack of moisture. The plants had no roots. Moisture comes from water that is absorbed by the roots. Thus, without roots, the plants will not have enough water in them. Roots are what anchor the plant on the ground. Water speaks of the Word of God. If a person does not grow deep and wide in his understanding of the Word, he will not be anchored and he will be malnourished such that when trials come, he will not survive.

The Word of God washes our minds. Therefore, it cleanses us of wrong thinking and thought patterns. How important is the Word in standing strong against the wiles of the enemy because it is in the mind that sins can germinate. We must grow deep in our understanding of the Word of God and we must also grow wide in terms of the breadth of Scripture that we understand. It takes familiarity with the whole of Scripture to interpret the Scripture soundly.

3. Thorny Ground

Luke 8:7
And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it.

Luke 8:14
Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.

There are also people who hear the Word of God but they are thorny. The Word of the Lord sprang up in their hearts together with the cares, riches, and wealth of the world. There was a lack of wholehearted dedication to the Word of the Lord. Such hearts are divided between God and the things of this world. Unfortunately, hearts that are divided will soon be taken over by thorns. The thorns will choke the shoots of the Word of God. They will overpower and sap energy from the planted Word. As a result, the plant may survive but it cannot produce fruits that will mature. It takes a lot of energy from plants to produce fruit. The same goes for a man's heart. However, the love for this world, the distractions, worries, riches, and pleasures, can sap away precious energy and resource from a man's life that he will be unable to gather the needed strength to produce matured fruit.

4. Good Ground

Luke 8:8
But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold.” When He had said these things He cried, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.

Finally, there are hearts that are like good ground. What is good ground? It is a noble and good heart. This means that the heart has right motives and is free of entanglements. This heart is not only in good condition but it also does two things. He keeps the Word and bears fruit with patience. We need to meditate on the Scripture. We need to memorize and be well acquainted with it. We need to write it. We also have to patiently nurture the Word until it bears fruit in our lives. This means learning to live out the Word day by day.

What we see in this parable as well as in the succeeding passages is this thought that our hearing of the Word of God must produce.

This first section of Luke 8 on hearing and doing shows us that when we do not only hear but also do the Word, we bear fruit.

The next passage is about hearing the Word of God and shining it forth.

Luke 8:16-18
“No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a lampstand, that those who enter may see the light. For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light. Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.”

The Word of God has to produce in our lives. Hearing alone will not bring forth growth and transformation. We must shine forth the light of the truths that we have received. The light must be seen by others. The Word must translate to our actions, words, and conduct. We are to be doers of the Word because when we live out the Word, we are able to shine forth light on others. Their path is lighted up when they see us doing God’s Word and they are guided. Our lives can bring clarity to those who are confused. Our lives shining forth can bring encouragement to those who are under the cloud of gloom. Our lives can show the way to those who are lost. There is power not only in the spoken Word but in the lived out Word. Your testimony counts.

Psalm 119:105
Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path.

We must not only look at the Word of God as a book of promises but also as a book of instructions. It is exciting to hear the promises of God but we must go beyond and understand what the promises require.

Going on in Luke 8, we are given a sobering reminder. We are told to take heed how we hear. For those who will live out the Word they have received, they will be given more. But those who do not, even what they have will be taken away. The Word of the Lord must produce.

We see this take place when Jesus told the parable of the mustard seed.

Luke 8:9-10
Then His disciples asked Him, saying, “What does this parable mean?”
And He said, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that ‘Seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’

The multitudes heard the parable but it was the disciples who heard and understood. Why? Because it was only the disciples who inquired what it meant. The multitudes were content with just having heard the Word.

But the disciples sought to understand. And the encouraging thought is that Jesus wants to make us understand if we are intent on understanding.

The Word of the Lord must not return to Him void.

Finally, we ought not only to hear the Word of God but also do it because it is those who hear and obey whom Jesus’ considers His own. It is those who hear and obey the Word of God whom Jesus considers part of His family because they share His nature. People from the same family share commonalities. They have similar outward appearances as well as demeanor and even attitudes. Do we share in the nature of the Lord? Those who hear and do the Word of God do.

Luke 8:19-21
Then His mother and brothers came to Him, and could not approach Him because of the crowd. And it was told Him by some, who said, “Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see You.”
But He answered and said to them, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.”