Luke 8:4-8: Keeping On to the End of the Road

INTRODUCTION

Have you ever set out to do something that turned out to be much more difficult than you expected? What made you want to keep going until you accomplished your goal? And if you did keep on with that difficult thing, you now look back with pride and a sense of accomplishment at what you achieved.

Many people set out on the Christian journey, not really realizing what they’re getting into. Maybe it’s good not to know the difficulties that lie ahead, but as we mature in the faith, we find that our Lord gives us the desire and the strength to continue, no matter how many struggles lie ahead.

But sometimes I’ve been disappointed that some Christ followers whom I have loved and admired falter on the journey and give it up.

I started my journey of faith while I was in college in a group of Christian students who showed me the way, not only in the things they told me but also in the quality of their lives—their love, their generosity, and their seriousness. They were my examples and my teachers. They inspired me and I thank God for them.

But somewhere along the way a few of them seemed to lose interest. Some of them seemed to drift away from faith. They stopped going to church. God and Christ and eternity became less and less important in their lives.

A few, sadly, even turned against the faith they had once embraced so enthusiastically.

Some dropped out of the race after only a few months, some after many years.

I have even seen some who were faithful Christians most of their lives, drop out near the very end. There may be some here at Village Ridge who were active in their churches in years gone by, but whom one would never guess now that they they had once been earnest believers.

The Christian life isn’t a sprint; it is more like a marathon.

Someone asked a famous Christian for permission to write his biography. He refused. He said something like this: “I have seen too many men fall out on the last lap of the race. You can write my biography after I am gone if you still want to.”

Jesus warned his disciples that this would happen. He wanted them to understand that it is difficult to keep faith alive to the end. He told them about this in his Parable of the Sower. I’m sure you have heard many sermons about this story, but just to refresh our memories, here it is from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 8:

When a great crowd came together and people from town after town came to him, Jesus said in a parable:

“A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell along the path, and was trodden under foot, and the birds of the air devoured it.

“And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away because it had no moisture.

“And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it.

“And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said this, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

And then Jesus explained his parable:

“Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word form their hearts, that they may not believe and be saved.

“And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy, but these have no root. They believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away.

“And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.

“And as for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bring forth fruit with patience.”

Notice that all the way through the story, the sower is the same.

The seeds are the same.

The difference is in the soils.

The message—that is, the gospel—is the same.

The Lord Jesus—through whom the message comes—is the same.

The difference is in the hearts and lives of the hearers of the Word.

I. First let’s talk about the seeds that fell along the path.

A. There are many who hear the story of Jesus but whose hearts are never really touched by the message.

Maybe they went to a church. Maybe they learned their verses and the Bible stories. But nothing sparked their interest.

Maybe they went to Sunday school because their friends did or because their parents made them. But as soon as they could choose for themselves, they dropped out of church and gave little more thought to what they had heard.

In our church we have confirmation. Confirmation is a course of study that the young people take with the pastor and mentors from the church.

It leads to full adult membership.

But sadly, every so often, the young people, after the ceremony of membership, drop out of church and are not seen again.

B. In Jesus’s parable the soil was too hard for the plant to take root. It was trampled underfoot. Or it was snatched away by the birds. The birds, Jesus tells us, represent Satan, the enemy of souls.

The soil of the path represents hearts unprepared for God’s word, so it can’t take root.

They are like a young man who told me that he didn’t believe in God. He said, “If there is a God, I’ll find out when I get to heaven.”

Gently, I tried to tell him, that when he dies, then it will be be too late.

II. Next comes the rocky soil.

A. The rocky soil isn’t soil with a lot of rocks in it but a thin layer of soil with an underlying bed of rock. If it rains and the sun shines on it, the soil warms up and the seed sprouts quickly in the damp, warm soil. But it also dries out quickly, and the tender plant soon dies.

B. The people of the rocky soil are people who are easily enthused about things. They may respond excitedly to the offer of salvation.

I remember such a one in our college Christian group. Joe was good-looking and had a charming personality. He was so enthusiastic about his new-found faith that we plodding Christians envied him. We wished we had what Joe had.

But after a few months, we never saw Joe at our meetings or Bible studies any more. He had found something else to be enthusiastic about.

In later life Joe became famous. He was an astronaut and traveled in space. He retired a General in the Air Force. I hope he came back to faith, but I never heard.

C. Jesus says that the people of the rocky soil are those who, when temptation comes along, they fall away.

Jesus says, “When you set out on the Christian journey, count the cost.”

Sometimes we only count the benefits—

forgiveness, salvation, a heaven of happiness forever—

We forget that following Jesus also costs—

It costs obedience to God in every aspect of our lives.

Following Jesus costs us our pride, our comfort, our time, our money.

Sometimes it costs the approval of people you care about.

If you are outspoken about your faith in Jesus, people may call you “weird”—“intolerant”—a “Jesus freak.”

III. And then some seed fell among thorns. In dry countries like Palestine, the weeds are mostly thorny.

A. This is good soil, as is proved by the abundant weeds, but there’s too much competition. The wheat is crowded out.

Some of God’s people are good at too many things. They have hobbies and interests. They read books. They watch movies. They have social obligations. They are successful in their work.

Jesus says that the thorny weeds represent the cares, and riches, and pleasures of life.

Cares and riches and pleasures are good things in their place, but they are also dangerous if they take the place of God in our lives.

B. In a church I know of, the Sunday school superintendent approached the older adults’ Bible class requesting volunteers to help with the children of the church.

The spokesman for the class returned this answer: “We are all retired. We have worked in the church. Now we just want to kick back and enjoy.”

Just at the time in their lives when they had more time and opportunity to serve their church than they had ever had before, they decided to retire, not only from their daily work but also from service to their church.

As we grow old, there are many things we can’t do any more. I can’t paint at church any more or tend the flowers. Children need younger people to teach their Sunday school classes. But if we love the Lord Jesus there are still things we can do to put our faith to work.

IV. Finally, we come to the good soil, the soil into which the gospel message falls and produces a good crop.

A. It’s good soil—soft and free of impediments and competition.

We can keep our hearts soft and ready to grow the good seed by using the “means of grace.” The means of grace are the practices that help us go forward in our life of faith, and love, and obedience. Some means of grace are prayer, meditation, study, church attendance, and helping and encouraging others in what ways we can.

B. Jesus says that when the people in whose hearts is good soil hear the word, they “hold it fast in an honest and good heart.”

They confess their sins and with God’s help they seek to root sin out of their lives. They keep tuned in to God.

They hold the Word fast. They hold it fast by keeping Jesus’s Words always in mind. They make it their aim to live out what they believe.

C. And they bring forth fruit with patience.

“Fruit” just means results. The fruit the farmer Jesus is talking hopes for is grain.

It is easy to become fruitless. It isn’t always easy to go on living for God.

It may get harder and harder as our health deteriorates…as our opportunities are fewer…We may feel useless.

We can no longer be active in the ways we used to…and it may be that all we can do is to just hang on.

And hanging on means never giving up—that is also “bearing fruit.” God is pleased when we are faithful in difficult times—when our health is deteriorating…when we face disappointments…when we become discouraged. But we don’t give up on God.

CONCLUSION

The highest achievement any of us can attain is to suffer with patience…

…clinging to God...

…bearing witness to all who know us that we are still trusting…

…still loving God…

…still rejoicing in the Lord.

When I taught fifth grade I used to ask the children to memorize poetry and to recite their poems to the class. One of their favorites was “Mother to Son,” by Langston Hughes, the famous African-American poet. Many of my students memorized this one. Here it is:

Well, son, I’ll tell you:

Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

It’s had tacks in it,

And splinters,

And boards torn up,

And places with no carpet on the floor—

Bare.

But all the time

I’se been a-climbin’ on,

and turnin’ corners,

And sometimes goin’ in the dark

Where there ain’t been no light.

So boy, don’t you turn back.

Don’t you set down on the steps

‘Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.

Don’t you fall now—

For I’se still goin’ honey,

I’se still climbin’,

And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

That poem isn’t just for youngsters. It’s for all of us—because it is hard to keep going on for God.

But that’s what we have to do.

Jeremiah 38:4-13: Ebed-Melech, an Unsung Hero of the Faith

INTRODUCTION

All of us here are ordinary people. We’re not famous. We haven’t done anything spectacular. After we are gone, few will remember us except for those who have loved us, among our family and friends. And someday we’ll be forgotten.

It is comforting to know that God uses ordinary people like us.

I have been reading a book by Francis Collins, a superstar scientist who is also a follower of Jesus. I found the book encouraging because if someone so brilliant and knowledgeable as Francis Collins is a man of faith, it helps me know that faith in Christ is credible.

I thank God for the famous believers, but I like to see ordinary people also do extraordinary things for God. Some of my heroes in the Bible are people you may never have heard of. They are what people used to call “unsung heroes.”

One of the ordinary people in the Bible who did something extraordinary is the little Israelite slave girl who told her Syrian mistress about the God of Israel, and something important came of it (2 Kings 5). Another ordinary person who is honored in the Bible is Onesiphorus, who came to St. Paul and served him in prison (2 Timothy 1:16f). Another is Epaphras, who St. Paul praised as a mighty wrestler in prayer (Colossians 4:12).

But the unsung hero I want to tell you about is Ebed-Melech. You’ve probably never heard of him. He doesn’t get into the Bible story books or into the Sunday school lessons, but he is worth remembering because he played an important part in the history of salvation.

Ebed-Melech lived about 400 years after the days of King David and about 600 years before Christ was born.

I. Before I tell you about Ebed-Melech, I need to tell you something about Jeremiah, because Ebed-Melech is part of Jeremiah’s story.

A. Jeremiah is my favorite Old Testament character. I like Jeremiah so much because Jeremiah is so human. His book tells us about his personality, his struggles, his disappointments, and his love for his people. In Jeremiah you don’t just have words and actions, but he shares his heart, using vivid language.

Did you ever know someone who just hated his job? Jeremiah was called to a job that he hated. He had to tell his people about disaster that was surely coming because of their unfaithfulness to their God, and his people hated him for it. What God asked him to do broke his heart. In one place exclaims:

O, that my head were a spring of water

and my eyes a fountain of tears!

I would weep day and night

for the slain of my people (9:1).

That is why Jeremiah was called “the weeping prophet.” In that way he was much like our Lord Jesus, who we read was “a Man of Sorrows.” But Jesus wasn’t so continually sorrowful. Jesus went to parties and enjoyed his friends. Poor Jeremiah was pretty well isolated because all he had to tell his people was bad news.

B. So here is what happened. Jeremiah was called by God—against his wishes—to tell his nation that God was sending disaster upon them because of their idol worship and their sins.

Because his message was so grim, Jeremiah was forbidden to marry or to go to weddings or funerals or to any house of feasting.

Because he kept telling people that disaster was coming, he was considered a traitor to the nation. He was attacked by his own brothers, beaten and put into the stocks by a priest and false prophet, and imprisoned by the king.

But some of the princes were still not satisfied. They came to the king and said:

“Let this man be put to death, for he is weakening the hands of the soldiers who are left in the city and all the people, by speaking such words to them. for this man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm.”

Zedekiah, the king, gave in without protest. He said, “Behold, he is in your hands; for the king can do nothing against you.”

“So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. And there was no water in the cistern, but only mire, and Jeremiah sank in the mire.”

We see how weak-willed King Zedekiah was. He knew what he agreed to was evil, but he didn’t argue. To be put into a cistern would mean slow, painful death, for Jeremiah’s enemies meant for him to starve to death down in that miry pit.

II. That would have ended Jeremiah’s career and aborted his mission except for an unlikely hero, a man named Ebed-Melech. Ebed-Melech was a nobody, but what he did was magnificent.

A. Listen:

When Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, a eunuch, who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern—the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate—Ebed-melech went from the king’s house and said to the king, “My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they did to Jeremiah the prophet by casting him into the cistern; and he will die there of hunger, for there is no bread left in the city.”

Then the king commanded Ebed-Melech, the Ethiopian, “Take three men with you from here, and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.”

So Ebed-Melech took the men with him and went to the house of the king, to a wardrobe of the storehouse, and took from there old rags and worn-out clothes, which he let down to Jeremiah in the cistern by ropes. Then Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Put the rags and clothes between your armpits and the ropes.”

Jeremiah did so. The they drew Jeremiah up with ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.

B. Ebed-Melech has been called “The Good Samaritan of the Old Testament.”

Ebed-Melech was a righteous man. He knew that Jeremiah was a prophet and a good man. He decided that he couldn’t just stand by and let Jeremiah die.

And Ebed-Melech was a courageous man. He knew he was outnumbered. People more influential than he had persuaded the king to let Jeremiah be murdered. Sometimes it takes great courage to stand with God for what is right. He was brave enough to confront the king who had given in to his officials and let them do this evil thing. Ebed-Melech didn’t know that the king would change his mind. Maybe he would toss Ebed-Melech into the pit to keep Jeremiah company. Ebed-Melech also didn’t know what the evil princes might do to him when they learned he had saved the life of the man they hated.

Ebed-Melech was a righteous man; he was a courageous man; and he was also a compassionate man. Ebed-Melech could feel what Jeremiah was experiencing. Ebed-Melech knew that in his weakened state they couldn’t just throw him a rope and drag him out. They might kill Jeremiah trying to pull him out of the cistern. So Ebed-Melech collected those rags, let them down to Jeremiah and instructed him to put them under his arms so that he could be lifted out without injury.

C. And God rewarded the Eunuch for his righteousness and courage and kindness.

At the end of the next chapter we read that God told Jeremiah to go and say to the Ethiopian: “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will fulfil my words against this city for evil and not for good. …But I will deliver you on that day,…and you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid. For I will surely save you, and you shall not fall by the sword; but you shall have your life as a prize of war, because you have put your trust in me, says the Lord.”

Ebed Melech was a righteous man, a courageous man, a compassionate man, and a man of faith.

I wonder whether Ebed-Melech knew the 40th Psalm. It’s supposed to have been written by King David. If he knew that psalm, he would have realized that he was doing God’s work. In Psalm 40 we read these words:

I waited patiently for the Lord;

he inclined to me and heard my cry.

He drew me up from the desolate pit,

out of the miry bog,

and set my feet upon a rock,

making my steps secure.

He put a new song in my mouth,

a song of praise to our God.

Many will see and fear,

and put their trust in the Lord.

(Psalm 40:1-3)

APPLICATION

I like to read stories in the Bible insignificant people did splendid things. Ebed-Melech didn’t get much respect. He had two strikes against him.

He was not a Jew. He was a foreigner, but somehow he had become one with the people of God and had learned to love the Lord better than most of those who were born Jews.

Probably Ebed-Melech was a slave. Many eunuchs were slaves. Boys were castrated so that they could never marry or have children. That way they could give their full attention to their work assignments. Some had responsible jobs, but as eunuchs they would be looked down upon.

In Israel no one with such a mutilation could worship at the Temple. So Ebed-Melech was an outsider. But he served and trusted the Lord, and he is honored by having his story and his name recorded in the Bible.

Theologians say that Jeremiah was the greatest of the prophets, because without Jeremiah, Israel’s faith would have failed because of the disasters that befell the nation when the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and their Temple and carried the people off to captivity in Babylon.

Without Jeremiah’s message the Jews would have blamed God for failing to make good on his promises. Jeremiah convinced them that it was their wickedness and not God’s failure that caused the destruction of their nation.

But if Ebed-Melek had not saved his life, Jeremiah couldn’t have succeeded in his mission.

Whether we are important or obscure, if we do what we can, if we serve in whatever way we are able, we can make a difference. Whether anyone else notices it or not—and even if we don’t realize the importance of what we did—someday our Lord will tell us: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Stories like this tell us how important it is that we not leave God’s work to the important and talented people. God has work for each of us. And which of us knows the difference a faithful action may make?

The lights were dim and the hospital wing was very quiet. In room 322 a minister lay dying. Softly there came the sound of someone singing:

No one ever cared for me like Jesus,

There’s no other friend so kind as he;

No one else could take the sin and darkness from me—

O how much he cared for me!

The pastor opened his eyes and saw a hospital janitor mopping the floor just outside his door. As the janitor sang on, the pastor began to nod, slowly in time with the music—just enough to cause the janitor to see the movement and come to his bedside.

The janitor reached for the pastor’s hands, took them in his own, and prayed aloud: “Lord, put new strength in this man.” Then he went on about his mopping.

From that moment on, the minister began to recover. Today he’s pastoring again.

Ask God to show you what you can do for him—and do it. It will probably be something you can do for someone else.