Because I Said So!

"Because I Said So!" Growing up, we all hated it when our parents said that to us... and while yes I really do want my kids to do what I tell them, when I tell them, there is a good lesson from kids if we apply it to our spiritual lives... If I tell my kid do not do something or to do something, one of the first things he says is why? Or he will do it anyway... Most of the time, while yes he is disobeying me, he is not disobeying me simply to disobey, but because his curiosity wants to be satisfied. He wants to learn and experience things himself to prove the truth of what was told to him.

While no, I am not advocating children not listening to their parents, I am saying that as adults we now have the faculties, experience and responsibility to prove the truth of what we hear. So as I try to connect this thought process to spiritual life, consider this...

When we attend church or small groups, do we just accept what is told to us? Do we take notes, go home and think that was a good teaching? While I hope for most of us we are getting wholesome teachings and you will not be harmed by this practice, I felt while reading Matthew 13 and other chapters in Matthew that we need to be careful of this... The pastor and our friends are just human, and therefore can make mistakes, or worse, they may not be spiritually in tune with the Lord and might be like the pharisees, teaching the laws of man as laws of God... Sometimes the worst advice people hear are from "friends".

Take some time and read Matthew 13 (More thoughts below text... but please read as that is important to understand context.)

Matthew 13

The Parable of the Sower

¹That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. ²Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. ³Then he told them many things in parables, saying: "A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. ⁸Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. ⁹He who has ears, let him hear."

¹⁰The disciples came to him and asked, "Why do you speak to the people in parables?"

¹¹He replied, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. ¹²Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. ¹³This is why I speak to them in parables:
"Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand. ¹⁴In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
" 'You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
¹⁵For this people's heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.' ¹⁶But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. ¹⁷For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

¹⁸"Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: ¹⁹When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. ²⁰The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. ²¹But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. ²²The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. ²³But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."

The Parable of the Weeds

²⁴Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. ²⁵But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. ²⁶When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

²⁷"The owner's servants came to him and said, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?'

²⁸" 'An enemy did this,' he replied.
"The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'

²⁹" 'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. ³⁰Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.' "

The Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast

³¹He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. ³²Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches."

³³He told them still another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough."

³⁴Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. ³⁵So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:
"I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world."

The Parable of the Weeds Explained

³⁶Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."

³⁷He answered, "The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. ³⁸The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, ³⁹and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

⁴⁰"As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. ⁴¹The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. ⁴²They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

The Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl

⁴⁴"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

⁴⁵"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. ⁴⁶When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

The Parable of the Net

⁴⁷"Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. ⁴⁸When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. ⁴⁹This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous ⁵⁰and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

⁵¹"Have you understood all these things?" Jesus asked.
"Yes," they replied.

⁵²He said to them, "Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old."

A Prophet Without Honor

⁵³When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there. ⁵⁴Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. "Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?" they asked. ⁵⁵"Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't his mother's name Mary, and aren't his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? ⁵⁶Aren't all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?" ⁵⁷And they took offense at him.
But Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor."

⁵⁸And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.

My Thoughts

In the first parable God's word "the seed" is rejected by the majority who hear it as it is spread across the field "the world" Mostly the seed falls to: the wayside, the rocky soil, among thorns... But some good seed takes in the fertile soil and will yield a great crop.

The second parable, the good seed is not the word as in the first parable but rather it is what the word has produced, that is the children of the kingdom. The seed as seen in the first parable were scatted across the field (world) and can be seen in this parable to be a place of activity for Satan. It is a picture of false professions of faith. Where the children of the kingdom are gathered, there, among the wheat Satan sows Sons of the Wicked One who profess to be children of the kingdom and in many ways are so like the children of the kingdom that in the end days only the angles are trusted with separating them. What is worse, is that if you reference back to 7:22-23 those Sons of the Wicked one may be so deceived in thinking they are righteous that when at the end days they stand before God and say we cast out demons and did many wonders in your name, He will say to them depart, for I never knew you.

The parable of the mustard seed is used to show how even the smallest seed can grow into the largest tree. So true is it that the smallest false teaching can cause huge troubles. For example there are entire books in the Bible that are letters from the Apostles to the different churches correcting false teachings that were constantly being planted in the new church and were causing great issues.

The point of being cautious and watching for even small wrong teachings is driven home by his next parable of the yeast. At first I thought the parable was meant to encourage in that a good word can grow and influence many.... but rather is is a warning.

Physically, leaven is a lump of old dough in a high state of fermentation, or a substance that causes dough to rise (yeast). A natural reason for leaven's negative symbolism is the idea that fermentation implies a process of corruption. In every instance that leaven appears in the Bible, it represents evil; the only exception, some say, is Jesus' use of leaven in this parable. Knowing its Old Testament significance, however, Jesus was definitely not using leaven in that manner. For the passage says that it worked all through the dough... Well given the parable of the weeps in the field we were just shown that the whole world will not be made pure from a small amount of goodness so rather it is in keeping with every other reference to leaven in the Bible and is a warning against corruption of false teachings permeating pure doctrine (the two loaves).

The passage goes on to affirm the existence of heaven and hell and that the weeds will be burned while the righteous will be in the kingdom of their Father.

⁴⁰"As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. ⁴¹The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. ⁴²They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

Then in vs 47-50 he covers the same topic again with the parable of the net. Just as fishermen throw the trash away and keep the fish, so will the wicked be separated from the righteous.

The passage is not all warnings though as it also depicts the picture of Jesus' sacrifice in vs 44-46 with the parables of the treasure and the pearl. In the parable of the treasure, the field is the world which was purchased by our Lord at the price of His own blood so that He might have the treasure. Jesus paid for the sins of the whole world (the field) so he could have those who would believe in him (the treasure).

So, I would like to close by encouraging all of you to fight false teachings. Fight them by not just accepting what you hear from your fellow church mates, friends, or pastors. Get into the Word yourself and read God's words. Learn the lessons first hand. Go to Church talk to others and learn from others, just make sure you back up those teachings with scripture. No teaching can be of God that is not backed up by Bible.

In short.. don't get caught up in a false teaching just because some said, "Because I said so!"