SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/4/2022 9:36 AM
My Worship Time
Focus: PT-2
“The Worldly Hearer”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matthew 13:22
Message of the verse: “22 "And the
one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word,
and the worry of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and
it becomes unfruitful.”
In our SD for today we continue looking at the third
patch of soil, the one that is infested with thorns which represents the man
who hears the word, the man who is too worldly.
In
the gospels Jesus spoke to a man who was very rich. The man came up to Jesus and started to tell
him how “great he was” as he believed that he was keeping the law, and felt
that that was enough to get him into heaven.
Jesus told him in so many words that his riches were the problem, to
give up what he had and give it to the poor.
Now Jesus was not saying this to all people who are rich, because there
are some people who are not controlled by their riches like this man was, but
the ones who this verse we are looking at certainly have this problem. 1 Timothy 6:10 tells us “For the love of
money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered
away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” Now we will look at a couple of verses from 1
John, verses that many believers can probably quote by heart: “15 Do not love the world nor the things in
the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For
all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the
boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 The
world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will
of God lives forever.”
I
want now, to quote a couple of paragraphs from MacArthur’s commentary,
remembering that what the first paragraph contains happened in the 1980’s. “Some years ago the US Department of Agriculture
developed a soil treatment that contains 6 percent ethyl alcohol. When the solution is applied to a field in
the proper amount, it reportedly causes all the weeds to sprout and grow
vigorously. Once they are grown, the
weeds can then be mechanically removed before they have a chance to develop
seeds. The field becomes virtually free
of weeds for up to five years.
“That
is something of a picture of true conversion.
Christ’s cleansing is complete and thorough. The preaching of the law of God makes sin
flourish (cf. Rom. 7:7-12), and in salvation He removes all the weeds of sin in
order to cleanse the field of the heart and prepare it for the pure seed of His
Word. Subsequent sin requires subsequent
cleansing; and that sin, too, when confessed, Christ is also ‘faithful and
righteous to forgive’ (1 John 1:9). The
Lord’s desire is to keep His people free from all sin at all times.” It is my hope that all who read this will
find these two paragraphs as interesting as it did for me.
Now
the one who fits into this type of soil may be unconcerned about sin in his
life, and even perhaps does not hate evil, but is to love righteousness, which
is true of those who fit into this type of soil. When this happens to a professing believer of
this type of soil he will eventually discover that his love of the world and
his identification with Christ’s word cannot coexist. This is what happened to the “rich young ruler”
we spoke of earlier in this SD. However
if his faith is genuine, he will forsake the world; if it is not, his sin will
choke out what knowledge of the word he has.
We
conclude with this final paragraph from MacArthur’s commentary on this type of
soil. “A person who comes to church but
never becomes committed to serving who is continually preoccupied with money,
career, fashions, sports, and everything but the Lord’s work is a person with a
weed-infested heart. A person who claims
to love Christ but who cannot remain faithful in marriage has a weedy
heart. The person who refuses to let go
of his worldliness is a person in whom the seed of God’s saving gospel has not
found root and is in danger of being choked out altogether.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I
have to admit that there are times when the things mentioned in this last
paragraph are problems for me, as I think that this could be true of all
believers, especially living in the West.
My Steps
of Faith for Today: When I find myself getting to close to the
world I must confess that and remember that only the things I do for Christ
will last. I want to remember Ephesians
2:10, remembering that the Lord has given me things to accomplish for Him in
the power of the Holy Spirit for the cause of Christ and be sensitive to what
He has called me to do, and do it.
4/4/2022 10:09 AM
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