After teaching what I call “The Great Heart Physics Parable,” (which others call “The Parable of the Sower” ) Jesus concludes with this statement: blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear (Matt. 13:16-17). When it says “they desired to see and hear,” the Greek literally means “they had their heart set on it!” It’s hard to believe we see and hear things that the greatest prophets of the Old Testament never saw; but it is true!
I thought about you, our World Changers Family, over the last couple of weeks as I ministered to people who were moving in grace but struggling with its reality. They longed to see (perceive) what you see and hear in your hearts about God! I ministered to wonderful people, many of whom enjoy the genuine grace of God. But too many only had an academic concept of grace. Sadly, some embraced a doctrine of grace that was not only unscriptural, it was anti-Christ! It is heartbreaking to watch these people want to fight and argue over their doctrine of grace when, in fact, it isn’t even working in their own life. This brings my thoughts to you…. Thank God we trust in the finished work of Jesus, believe the Word of God, and are alive to the Holy Spirit in our heart! How incredible!
But looking at this passage there is so much more than meets the eye. First, Jesus says He uses parables so we can know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven. One thing we know is this: you will never grasp the concepts of the Kingdom (which are essential for Kingdom living) if you don’t grasp the teachings of Jesus. Many false teachers say we shouldn’t follow the teachings of Jesus because He was a teacher of the law. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Jesus was a Teacher of the Kingdom of God. His teachings give us the guiding principles for understanding all of the Old Testament and all of the Epistles. Without His teachings we are left to create our own humanistic philosophies as a basis for interpreting the Bible (Matt. 13:19, Mk 4:13).
The next thing He points out is the fact that people who do not grasp and understand His teachings have a heart issue (Matt.13:15). The heart (not the mind) is the facility of spiritual understanding. The mind is essential for calculating factors in the natural world, but only with the heart can we grasp, understand, and be empowered to live the truth of God’s Word! In fact, unless truth is believed in the heart, the grace of God cannot empower us to live in that truth because grace works from the heart!
Then Jesus points out the root of their heart issue: They don’t want to change! If they opened their heart they would be made whole (healed). The benefit (secondary gain) they are getting from their hard hearts, blind eyes, and dysfunctional behavior is valuable to them. Since they do not trust in the goodness of God they would rather not be whole. They would rather keep what they trust for happiness than to trust God. So, while mouthing their mantra about how good God is, they don’t actually believe it enough to trust and follow Him. So, they create a doctrine of grace that justifies sin, compromised living, and all manner of corrupt logic. Circumstance theology is the doctrine we create to justify staying in our current situation.
Here is a phenomenal grace factor: Since grace works in the heart the person who is not listening and yielding to God in their heart cannot experience grace. In their mind they can embrace the doctrine, but it will never empower their lives to be who they really are in Jesus. Grace doesn’t work in the mind, it works in the heart. Belief in the heart always leads to transformation because to believe in your heart living in the truth must be the reality you perceive. As I often tell you, belief in the heart always causes a shift in how you see and experience yourself.
Many people who talk about grace and the goodness of God reject the value of the law and the Old Testament. Ironically, one of the ways you can identify when people do not really believe in the unchangeable goodness of God is when they can’t reconcile the Old Testament and the New Testament. When they see the law of the Old Testament as bad, harsh, and destructive it shows that they don’t really see God as He is. They are not realizing that Jesus came to show us what the law would have looked like if it had been applied from the perspective of love as God intended.
The capacity to perceive the paradox of being free from the law but still recognizing God’s wisdom for living in the law; the fact that we are not striving to obey the law, but when we walk in love we fulfill the law; we are not under the law but we are not lawless – these paradoxes are only comprehended by those who believe the truth about God’s limitless goodness! God is good and He always has been. Any perception, doctrine, or interpretation of Scripture that makes any of His action appear to be bad is the product of hearts that do not understand the truth! Because we have the teachings of the Lord Jesus we are able to grasp with our heart what we could never reconcile with our mind; thus, we are able to enter into and enjoy Kingdom living and experience His continual goodness.
This month I am releasing a new series, The Victory Pack, which I know will be an incredibly powerful tool for you. This series will:
• Provide the foundation needed to always live in victory
• Be a great “go to” source when you find yourself struggling
• Be the perfect tool to minister to your friends and family about the goodness of God
• Deliver a great boost when needing to activate your faith
I pray that you will once again come alive to the incredible goodness of God! I pray that you be refreshed! And I pray that you experience grace in your heart as you embrace the incredible goodness of God!