Sermon: “The Parable of Parables”

Luke 8:4-15
Rev. Mike Werkheiser

Outline

  1. How the Message of the Kingdom is Delivered (Broadly, in Parables)
  2. How the Message of the Kingdom is Received (Narrowly, by Faith)

Quotes

Believers hear the parables and receive them in faith and understanding, even though full comprehension may come only gradually. Unbelievers reject the parables because they are alien to their thinking. They refuse to perceive and understand God’s truth. Thus, because of their blind eyes and deaf ears, they deprive themselves of the salvation Jesus proclaims, and they bring upon themselves God’s judgment. —Simon J. Kistemaker

Jesus claims in some way to be concealing as well as revealing the truth of God’s kingdom, leading some commentators to level serious charges of self-contradiction. [However,] both clarity and concealment go hand in hand as Jesus seeks a creative and disarming way to revolutionize His audience’s thinking about the kingdom of God, especially in relation to the Judaism of His day. —Craig L. Blomberg

The Kingdom of God comes into the midst and throws a man into the crisis of decision, and yet by its veiled form the Word of the Kingdom holds man at arm’s length away in order to give him room and time for personal decision. […] Jesus deliberately concealed the Word in parable lest men against their will should be forced to acknowledge the Kingdom, and yet He allowed them enough light to convict them and convince them. —T. F. Torrance

The sun which melts the wax [also] hardens the clay; and the Word which opens the hearts of some to receive Christ confirms others in their rebellion, rejection and unbelief. The parables become doors by which some enter into the glories of the kingdom, while others are shut out from its blessings. If we understand the parables, it is a sign that we are shut in. If we don’t, it is a sign that we are shut out. One thing is certain: when Jesus speaks, and when the Gospel is preached, there is always a response. —Iain D. Campbell

The mystery is a new disclosure of God’s purpose for the establishment of His Kingdom. The new truth, now given to men and women by revelation in the person and mission of Jesus, is that the Kingdom that is to come finally in apocalyptic power […] has in fact entered into the world in advance in hidden form to work secretly within and among humans. —George E. Ladd
There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.” All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. Those who knock it is opened. —C.S. Lewis