Dr. Roger Parrott, Belhaven University Chapel Series

This semester we're going to look at the parables of Jesus and understand how they fit with this great commission that we've been singing about and have read about.

This morning.

Today, we're going to talk about stories that change the world.

Stories that change the world.

Imagine you're in class and you're ready to take notes and the Professor's got a PowerPoint and you got 1, 2, 3, 4 points and you're writing them down because you know that's going to be on the test.

And all of a sudden the professor starts, starts wandering into some story and you kind of listen a little bit and then you're wondering, maybe I'll just kind of tune out for a while because is this going to be on the test?

And so you do.

But then when the test comes later on, you realize that the story truth that was told was the heart of the test.

The test comes in realizing the most important things we learn are often from stories.

And that's what Jesus did and how he communicated.

Stories communicate the most important truths to us in our culture and our society.

They always have throughout history.

Stories that move us to respond.

It's part of the reason I love musical theater and live theater, movies, television.

It makes you respond, it makes you laugh, it makes you cry, it makes you sad, it makes you mad, it makes you want to go do something.

There's some kind of emotional response that's beyond just your intellect.

Often when a story is told that makes you want to respond and those kind of stories move us.

Other stories encourage us to overcome.

I read a lot of stuff about higher education because of my work.

But the thing I love to read when I'm not reading that is history.

And I read lots of history books every year.

And I especially like to read biographies of people who have done significant things not to understand the significant thing that they did that everybody knows about.

I love to learn about the story of what they overcame in their life in order to be prepared for that big moment.

And those stories inspire.

Stories teach us insights that are life changing the, that we can't really internalize otherwise.

I mean, I could tell you about what love is all about and how compelling love can be.

About how strife in a family can tear apart that love, about how jealousy or prejudice can ruin that love.

I could try and tell you all that, or you could just read Romeo and Juliet and you'd have it forever because that's the story of how love works in reality.

You see, stories communicate our most important truths and that's part of why Jesus taught in stories.

But the greatest story ever told was also the greatest life ever lived.

The story of Jesus changed the world, and his life and resurrection changes eternity for us.

Heaven is for real.

Eternity is for real.

The story of Jesus is rooted in history.

It's not mythological.

It's not hopeful.

It's not a fable.

It really happened.

There was really a Bethlehem where he was born.

There was really a star.

There was really a crucifixion.

There was really an empty tomb.

500 People saw him after he was resurrected.

They saw him brutally killed by the Romans on a cross and tortured.

And then they saw him alive after that.

So it's rooted in history.

It's a story that also is centered in the cross.

Every story has a crescendo.

And the crescendo of the story of Jesus is that he didn't just come to teach, but he came to die for our sins.

That's the real reason he was here.

And his gruesome death on the cross shows us two things.

The seriousness of sin.

That sin that we so often take lightly is serious business in God's perspective.

So serious his son had to die as a sacrifice for our sins.

But it also shows us the enormity of God's love, that he would sacrifice his only son to put him through that for our redemption.

So it's a story that's centered in the cross.

It's a story of triumph.

Every story.

Excuse me.

It's not just a story that has a happy conclusion.

It's a story of transformation.

Death is defeated.

Hope is restored.

Eternity is secured.

We are separated from God because of our sinful nature.

And Jesus, restored, Restores us to fellowship with God.

And we're called the family of God.

We're adopted into God's family because of what the story tells us in the life of Christ.

And then the story demands a response.

The story of Jesus is not just information that.

That's really interesting.

Yeah.

Some parts of that I could take and use.

No.

The story of Jesus is an invitation.

An invitation to respond and to follow him.

Just collecting the information doesn't make you a follower of Christ.

Do you realize this?

There were 12 disciples.

One of them was Judas, who betrayed Jesus and then committed suicide because he felt so guilty about it.

There were 12 disciples.

Jesus.

Excuse me.

Judas heard all the Same parables the 11 others heard.

Judas was there for all the same miracles.

The other saw.

Judas was there for all the same teaching the others saw, but he didn't respond to the invitation.

The story Of Jesus was then commissioned to his disciples to go tell the world.

Because it's the greatest story ever told.

We read it in full and just to focus on the Great Commission.

I'll read that part to you again.

Jesus told them, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son, the Holy Spirit teaching these new disciples to obey all the commands I've given you.

And be sure this.

Be sure this.

I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

11 Guys.

11 Guys.

Jesus called together and said, go tell my story to the whole world.

Tell everybody about this story and that story.

Excuse me, that commissioning of those 11 disciples and then passed on to us who are followers today, to share the message of God's love to the whole world.

You see, Jesus spent three years preparing the disciples.

When he first called him, he said, come, follow me.

But they weren't ready for this kind of assignment to go to the whole world until they were prepared.

And so for three years, he spent every day with them, preparing them, teaching them.

And most of that teaching was through his parables.

Now, a parable is a simple short story from everyday life that illustrates a timeless truth.

It's something you can relate to.

There were two men in.

In a vineyard.

There were a lost sheep.

There was a lost coin.

There are things people can relate to, but they tell timeless truths, spiritual truths.

And there are three key understandings to the parables that tie them together and really link them in what they have in common.

The first is this.

The parables of Jesus were a preparation for their purpose.

We tend to read the parables and go, yeah, I can learn something from that.

I'll be a better person.

That wasn't the goal of parables.

The goal of teaching the parables was to prepare them to go and make disciples of all the nations, to go tell the story of Christ.

He didn't give them the Great Commission until they were ready.

And, you know, in Jesus teaching, we often see him teaching to a crowd on a hill.

He was teaching in the synagogue.

He was teaching here and there.

He was, though, primarily always teaching just to those 12 disciples.

The others happened to be around, but he was investing in them.

12 Ordinary guys.

They were not theologians, they were not debaters, they were not Bible scholars.

They were fishermen.

They were laborers.

They were tax collectors.

One was a doctor.

They were just ordinary people.

And Jesus told them, after three years, now you're ready.

Go tell the world.

But see, as he was teaching them through those times, they didn't even always understand.

And, you know, the thing I love about Jesus is you just tell him what you think.

You don't have to sugarcoat it.

You don't have to kind of hide it.

I can't figure this out, or I don't know this, or I disagree with that.

You just say it to him.

And that's what they did.

You can be genuine with Jesus.

They.

They said to him, his disciples came and asked him, why do you use parables when you talk to the people?

He replied, you are permitted to understand the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but others are not.

To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given and they will have an abundance of knowledge.

But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them.

Jesus revealed truth to those who were leaning in.

If you go through this semester and spring semester and say, I didn't get much out of that, it's because you're not leaning in.

Because when you lean into the stories of Christ, when you want to learn, when you want to follow, when you want them to shape and mold you so you can go to the world with the gospel of Christ, that's when the truths are revealed to you and the truths are hidden from those who don't want that.

You see, this isn't just about intelligence, understanding the parables.

It's about willingness.

Willingness.

And it's a progression.

It's not overnight.

Flip the switch.

Okay, I got this.

I'm ready to go.

No, it's a progression.

It's a learning a.

That's why he spent three years with them.

It's a day by day thing.

In fact, next week, when we start into the specific parables, we're going to sing before each message, a chorus.

It's an old chorus, some of you may know.

It's from a musical called Godspell many years ago.

And in the musical Godspell, which is the life of Jesus, they tell the parables in really creative kinds of wonderful ways.

And they share a whole bunch of these parables.

But then it kind of links together with this.

And this is the willingness, the leaning in the wanting to learn from this, to get the truth.

And they sing day by day, day by day.

Oh, dear Lord, three things.

I pray to see thee more clearly, to love thee more dearly, to follow thee more nearly.

And I pray that will be our prayer together as we look at those parables to every day see thee more clearly, love thee more dearly, and follow thee more nearly.

The Parables were Jesus shaping the disciples to think about a kingdom mindset so they could carry his story to the whole world.

Well, the second thing that's common about the parables is that Jesus used parables to show them the kingdom of heaven.

Now, you'll see in these parables he talks about, often he'll talk about the kingdom of heaven or he talks about the kingdom of God.

Those are really interchangeable because where God is is where heaven is and where heaven is where God is.

So they're kind of interchangeable.

But he talks about the kingdom of God.

Jesus wasn't telling them stories for some aha moment.

Oh, now I get it.

It wasn't that at all.

He was telling them stories to help them understand how the kingdom of God is so different from the world.

The kingdom of God is the world as God designed it, with purpose and with order and with purity.

And sin corrupted God's design.

And so we have a world of selfishness, disorder and evil.

And so he was teaching them about the kingdom of the God, of how it should be, and how heaven will be as it's structured back as God designed it.

The kingdom of God is like.

And then he would go on to very specifics about what the kingdom of God is like.

Now, kingdoms and kings were very familiar concepts of the people he was teaching to the disciples.

They understood that because everybody lived in a kingdom under a king, and in a kingdom, the king set the rules.

They weren't debatable.

They didn't have democracies like we know.

People didn't vote, people didn't voice their opinion.

The king said, this is how I order our kingdom to operate.

This is how I structure our kingdom to operate.

And this is the way it's supposed to operate, and that's how it will operate.

And as sin corrupted the world, they were exposed to some horrible, destructive kingdoms, primarily the Roman Empire, where these disciples were.

But the kingdom of God is completely different.

And that's what he was trying to get them to see.

I've got a book I love, and I love it mostly for the title.

It's called the Upside Down Kingdom.

How the kingdom of God is almost always upside down.

From the world we know where the first shall be last, where the meek shall inherit the earth, where the powerful are destroyed, but those who love and serve are lifted up.

When you can see the world through the eyes of God instead of through the eyes of selfish people, which are the objectives the world gives us to try to achieve, then we see God's kingdom in a Whole different way.

Or we call that Christian worldview.

That's what we teach here at Belhaven.

This Christian worldview.

That's the same thing.

Seeing the Kingdom of God and the parables were all designed to describe how the Kingdom of God works and what the Kingdom of God values as opposed to what sin values.

And so Jesus gave them, and we'll go through these this year, some really specific examples.

He said the Kingdom of God is like a lost sheep.

And he told them what grace really means when that sheep is lost.

The Kingdom of God is like an unpayable debt.

And he taught about forgiveness.

The Kingdom of God is like the prodigal son who left and came home.

And he taught them about restoration.

The Kingdom of God is like a wise and foolish builder, one on the sand and one on the rock.

He taught them about sustainability.

The Kingdom of God is about the use of talents.

And he talked about accountability.

The Kingdom of God is like the Good Samaritan.

You know, in the times that Jesus taught that the Samaritans were the most hidden people in the whole region.

Nobody liked the Samaritans, didn't want to be around.

In fact, the Jews, when they had to go through the other side of where Samaria is, they go around it rather than going through it because they did not want to be in touch with a Samaritan.

And Jesus, by using that one illustration, changed the Samaritans from the worst to the best.

Because when we think now about a good Samaritan, we think about somebody pretty remarkable.

And in that, he taught about service.

The Kingdom of God is like the rich fool.

And he taught about what's really worth and what our worth is about.

The Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed.

And he talked about faith, how a tiny mustard seed can grow.

And the Kingdom of God is like a wedding.

Be prepared for the moment, whenever that may come.

Jesus used parables to show them the kingdom of God, a life and a world designed as God designed it, not like sin corrupted it.

And the third thing we see about these parables is that Jesus used parables to bring them into the family.

The parables reveal the heart of Jesus.

They reveal the priorities of Jesus.

The they reveal the values of heaven.

That's what we find in the parables.

You see, the interesting thing about the parables are for Jesus.

These were family stories.

You have family stories.

I love our family stories.

Every time we have a birthday, we tell our family stories.

Remember the kids did that?

Remember when mom did that?

Remember when I did this?

We we tell those stories over and over again because those stories connect us as a family into a culture we share together as a family.

And if you came and sat around our table, you wouldn't get our stories and I wouldn't get your family stories either, because every family has their own stories.

Well, these are the family stories of Jesus.

The parables are the family stories of Jesus.

They connect us to the bigger story that we are adopted as a child of God and he has taken us in to the family.

They teach us the depths of God's love for us and how we're to love the people that he loves.

And so when you think about the parables as family stories that bring us into the family as we're adopted, they take on a much fuller meaning.

And that's what Jesus intends when he shared those parables.

Jesus didn't tell parables to make the disciples good guys.

That wasn't the goal.

He didn't tell parables hoping they'd straighten up, they'd do better, and all that kind of stuff.

No, their redemption came through what Christ did for them, not what they did.

He brought them into the family to give them a new focus by telling the parables to helping them understand not just what life should be in this world, but what eternity will be and what it values.

Jesus told these parables always then to press for a decision.

Are you going to choose a sinful life or are you going to choose the kingdom of God?

Always a decision was built into so many of these parables.

As a family, what do we value?

Do we value this versus that?

Are you going to stand with the family in this value or are you going to take out outside the family and go here?

That's what Jesus did.

He told us those values and he brought people to decision.

So is the house you're building going to be built on sand or is it going to be built on rock?

Choose one.

Is the.

Is the home a place where you're going to stay or you're going to take off on your own?

Choose one.

What kind of soil is your heart going to be?

Fertile soil or rocky soil?

Choose one.

Every time he tells a parable, he brings us to a decision point.

These parables were never told for entertainment.

These parables were told as an invitation.

What the Great Commission calls us to do.

He was teaching the disciples to call people to do, to go and to share his story with the whole world.

And if you want to be that kind of a Christian who fulfills the greatest purpose God has for us to Tell his story to the world, to the nations.

What, Whatever nation you could reach.

It starts and ends right here.

The bottom line, we can't make disciples unless we are disciples.

And it took those disciples three years to grow to the point they were ready to go and tell that story.

Parables help make disciples.

So this year in chapel, I hope you'll lean into the teaching of God so you can see what the kingdom of God is like.

Not for an end in itself.

So that we can go to the world and tell them about Jesus.

Jesus told us to go to all the nations and tell them.

That doesn't mean just geographic nations.

It means the nations of culture groups.

Some of you can go to the nations of the.

The arts that I can't get into because I don't have the credentials.

But you can to tell the story of Jesus.

Some of you can go into medical community and do that.

Some of you can go into sports and do that.

I can't do that because I'm not an athlete list anymore.

Some of you can go into lots of different places depending on what God has gifted you to do.

To go to a nation that's closed off from the message.

And you can be the one who makes disciples in that nation as you tell the story of Jesus, if you're prepared.

And the only way to be prepared is to understand the parables of Jesus.

Because that's how he prepared the disciples for their ultimate purpose, which is to go and make disciples of all the nations with the promise.

And be sure of this, I'm with you always, even to the end of the age.

May God be with us as we become disciples ready to go to a world where we can have influence that nobody else can reach.

And tell this marvelous story of Jesus.

May God do that in your life.

Let's pray together.

Our benediction.

No eye is seen, no ear is heard, no mind is conceived.

What God has prepared for those who love him.

Go Blazers to all the nations.

Wait for the code.

It's coming up.

Do that before you leave.