Perception And Understanding
This morning, we are happy to return from our vacation to enjoy the fellowship of our own church. Visiting other churches while traveling is a good time to help us remember the many reasons we love our church so much. Other churches may offer more programs, they may have more professionals on staff, and they may have better aesthetics than we experience here. The major truth about their superlatives is that these peripherals are not what makes a church. The church consists of people who love each other and are common in their commitment to serve the Lord in their community. A beautiful building is not integral to this experience. Pastor Wilson Maungo, our missionary in Kenya, selects a tree and gathers the church under its branches to hear the word of the Lord. New churches do not come with new buildings. If a building could do the trick, none of the members who moved from here would achieve anything but success in finding not one church but many. Sadly, their nearly unanimous experience is weeks, months, and maybe a lifetime finding nothing like what they left. My point is we enjoy hearing the word in other churches, but none, as good as they may be at many things, is as good as home.
I wanted to say this to you before reaching the purpose of this article. Four weeks ago, the bulletin article paralleled the sermon I was to bring on that day. Instead, Pam went to the hospital, and I had to postpone the sermon until now. I find myself in need of a new article for the same sermon. We will discuss parables today as Mark chapter 4 records four parables Jesus used to teach His disciples. We note these parables were not easy illustrations that everyone could understand. Jesus explained them to His disciples privately while He offered no explanations as He taught publicly. Jesus told His disciples He intended the truths taught in the parables for them and for no others. Quoting from Isaiah, Jesus said the people would see but not perceive and they would hear but not understand. Because they rejected Him so often, He turned off the light of spiritual understanding and left them in the dark. We might not like the implications, but we cannot deny the results. He said it Himself. He did not allow their conversion nor the forgiveness of their sins.
The import of His actions shows that salvation is not possible unless God grants repentance and faith. The person who hears the gospel should not mistake that he cannot at any time he chooses begin to follow Christ and obey His teachings. The first problem is that no one wants God’s ways. Secondly, no one loves God. Thirdly, no one listens to God in a way that makes a salvific change in him. Fourthly, salvation comes at God’s decree and by God’s choice not ours. Clear examples of this are Jesus’ quotation from Isaiah and the message a few weeks ago from Ezekiel. The prophet stood before a valley of dead dry bones and told them to hear the word of the Lord. It will not happen until the day and hour that the Holy Spirit uses the word to penetrate the spiritual darkness that blinds everyone to the truth. It will not happen until the Spirit breathes spiritual life into those dead in sin and dull in their understanding.
The parables in Mark 4 make sense to you because you have heard them many times. Theologians write books to explain them. Read a few of them and you will discover widespread disagreements. The truth remains that Holy Spirit guidance is still necessary. Only God can open the sinner’s eyes to perceive and his ears to understand. When He grants perception and understanding, the result is always conversion and forgiveness. We are pleased Berean teaches these truths when so many do not. It makes all the difference in which church we want to attend.
Pastor V. Mark Smith