20250928 Luke 8:1-21 The Gospel and Good Works

Romans 7:4 reads “Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.” After a sermon on this text, that focused on bearing fruit for God, a young man spoke to the preacher. He said, “I'm a bit confused. I must have misunderstood. It sounded like you said I had to bear fruit. This is putting too much pressure on Christians. The Christian message is the good news that we don’t have to do anything because God has already done it for us.”

This young man's concern is helpful. The gospel is the declaration of good news that God has done what spiritually dead humans could not do for themselves. People cannot earn a righteous status, so God offers it freely to us in Christ. Romans 7 does not deny this. It focuses on what follows salvation.

Throughout the Bible, God’s people are called to good works, to bear fruit, and to live for God. Good works do not repay God or prove our worthiness. Our works flow from God's work in us. We have the Spirit working in us, changing our desires, giving us power to do God's will. Our response to salvation is joy and grateful hearts that overflow in good fruit and good works.

Our text, Luke 8:1-21 presents two responses to the Christian message. The verb "to hear" occurs nine times in these verses which emphasizes the importance of responding to the Christian message. This verb implies more than sound waves entering our ears. It is hearing that leads to action. The result of hearing the gospel must be belief, life change, obedience, and fruit.

We will look at the Christian Message (Luke 8:1,4, 9-11), bad responses (Luke 8: 5-7; 12-14), and good responses (Luke 8:1-3; 8, 15, 16-18, 19-21).

As we talk about good works as the fruit of salvation, we need to be careful. We must avoid two extreme wrong gospels and hold the tension of a pastoral concern.

The two extreme false gospels are legalism and license. Legalism mixes works with salvation. Legalism insists that you need to prove you are good enough before God saves you. Legalism may also insist on specific works as proof of salvation.

Legalism is folly and closes the door of salvation for all. The good news is you can’t be good enough, so God saves you when you were unworthy to be saved. Getting too specific on the kind of fruit a Christian must bear gets dangerous.

But the other extreme, is not biblical either, it denies the need to bear fruit. This is called the “license to sin” gospel. It is never voiced as blatantly as this, but it justifies sin because God is a forgiving God. The truth is that saved people live like saved people. Good works is not the way to salvation, but it is the response to salvation.

Now the pastoral tension comes with the phrase I used, "saved people will live like saved people." A lot of us will look at our lives and admit that our lives would suggest that we do not believe the gospel. We struggle with sins that don’t seem to go away, and we do not bear the kind of fruit Jesus seems to expect from a saved person. The pastoral tension of our text is: how to stay true to the warnings and the need to bear fruit, while encouraging Christians who doubt their salvation because of their sin. We need to hold this pastoral concern. We want to call people to turn from sin, while offering hope for sinners.

First, we look at Jesus’ Message in Luke 8:1, 4, 9-11

Luke 8:1, 4, 9-11

Our text says the following in Jesus’ message. According to Luke 8:1, Jesus brought “the good news of the kingdom of God.” According to Luke 8:4, Jesus spoke in a parable. Then, in Luke 8:9-11, Jesus shows the double purposes of parables. Parables explain spiritual realities to some and withhold the truth from others.

Explanation

So what is the message of Jesus? What is the gospel of the kingdom of God? What is the Christian good news that we can believe for salvation?

The whole Bible tells of a unified story. A good God created a good world of harmony and peace. God created humanity to enjoy his good world and rule on his behalf. He wants us to enjoy peace and harmony with him (spiritually), with others (socially), and to enjoy inner peace (psychologically).

Sadly, we sinned. Sin is breaking God's law, and it is the state of being at war with God, with others, and within ourselves.

Since the first sin, God has promised the reversal of the curse of sin through a male human being. The Old Testament announces the coming of this individual who would be a king who rules justly over the whole world. In the NT, the good news of the Kingdom of God, that Jesus announces, is the fulfillment of the OT expectation. Jesus is the King who comes to rule in righteousness, to reverse the curse of sin, and to forgive sins.

His powerful authoritative reign offers us a kind of New Edenic life that includes inner peace, peace with others, and peace with God because of the forgiveness of sins. This gospel is the announcement of the arrival of God's saving reign. We must believe and repent. God softens our hearts to believe the good news and to repent from our sins to submit to King Jesus.

This is the message of the Jesus, the Bible, and Christianity.

Luke shows also that some believe this message, embrace it, and obey it, while others reject it. In Luke 2:34, Simeon said about Jesus, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed.” In Luke 8:10, Jesus says to his disciples, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.” This quote from Isa 6:9-10 explains that parables both explain secrets and veil truth (Luke 8:10). The Bible consistently teaches some will accept, others will reject the message.

It may seem unfair, to some understanding is given and to others it is veiled. Why would God hide the message of salvation from people. In Luke 8:9, the disciples asked Jesus, what the parable meant. The meaning was hidden from them and so they asked. There is a tension in the Biblical text. It tells us that God hides the truth from some and elsewhere Jesus said, “ask, seek, knock,” and you will find. This is what the disciples did.

Jesus both reveals himself and wants to be sought. The way the disciples confirm their place in the kingdom is by seeking and asking. We cannot then, use Luke 8:10 to suggest God’s sovereignty leads to a kind of fatalism that is not found in the Bible. The Bible does not underplay our free will and responsibility. We must seek Jesus. If a parable hides a meaning from you, pursue, seek, and ask.

This is the first point. The Christian message is the gospel of the kingdom of God. The proper response is to hear it, believe it, pursue it, and ask questions. Now, we turn to the responses to the gospel in our text.

In this second point, we look at Bad Responses (Luke 8: 5-7; 12-14)

In Luke 8:4-8, Jesus shares a parable about a sower who sows seeds that land in different places, the path (Luke 8:5), the rock (Luke 8:6), among the thorns (Luke 8:7), and then good soil (Luke 8:8). In Luke 8:11-15, Jesus explains that the seed represent “the word of God” and the soils represent the human heart of the listener and responses to the gospel. Jesus offers three bad responses in his day, that still exist today. Let’s look at them one by one.

Luke 5:12 The First Bad Response is the path…

When the seed falls on the path (Luke 5:12), Jesus explains that people hear the message, but the devil immediately snatches it away from their hearts. They do not believe and are not saved. The path represents hardened hearts that respond negatively immediately.

Today, there are people like this. The path refers to those who end a conversation about Jesus in less than one minute. It refers to those who do not want to hear anything about Jesus because of past harm in the church. The path refers to those entrenched in another worldview. They have built their lives on different assumptions. The truth of the gospel is too disruptive to them. The path are those whose worldview think the idea of God is ridiculous.

The second bad response to the gospel is the rock.

The seed falls on rocky ground, sprouts quickly, but withers in the sun because it has no roots. The rocky ground represents those who receive the word with joy when they hear it but have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing, they fall away.

The characteristic of this encounter with the gospel is an initial enthusiasm, but, it stops there. There is no growth, or depth, or commitment. This response is emotional but not life-changing. The emotional impact phases out quickly in the face of difficulty. This person had no firm foundations to persevere.

For us today, the rock refers to people who depart from the faith as quickly as they came. The rock refers to those who are moved by the gospel upon hearing it but don't pursue Jesus. They are not discipled or connected to a local church. The rock refers to a person who accepts the gospel briefly but abandons it when they hear arguments against Christianity. It can refer to people who profess faith at a good time in their lives, but blame God and walk away when things get hard. They may have believed that a good God would prevent them from suffering. So, they walk away from the faith following illness, job loss, or relationship problems.

According to Luke 7:14, the third bad response is the thorns.

Among the thorns, the seed lacks room for growth. This soil represents those who hear but are distracted by the worries, riches, and pleasures of life, so they do not mature. They have accepted the word and even grow, but their time, attention, and affections compete with other pursuits. The thorns eventually dominate and prevent fruitfulness. Life becomes crowded so there is no room for God’s priorities.

This could be a teenager who is more focused on fitting in that their minds are on worldly things and Christianity seems irrelevant. It could be the person so focused on career advancement and accumulating wealth that prayer, Bible study, and fellowship become afterthoughts. Someone whose schedule is packed with hobbies, entertainment, and social obligations, leaving no margin for communion with God or serving others. It can be a person constantly anxious about finances, health, or family problems. Their worries overshadow trust in God and obedience to His Word.

Application

These categories can be confusing. We teach that if God causes a dead sinner to be born again, that person will persevere until the end. In this text it seems like the second and third categories of the rock and thorns have some level of faith. They are still bad soils because they do not bear fruit, they are not Christians.

An application is that we should not give false assurance to people who a new to the faith and seem to have positive dispositions towards the Christian message. We must care for them and help them grow in their understanding of the gospel, other doctrines, and help to live out their faith in the church. As a church, we must prioritize disciples over converts. Bearing fruit is a community project. We live out our Christian life together as a church.

In this third point, we turn to Good Responses

Now we turn to the good soil (Luke 8:8, 15). The seed falls on good soil, grows and produces a crop with a hundredfold return. The good soil represents a heart that is receptive to the gospel. In this case, there is openness, sincerity, and willingness to be changed. The hearing is attentive listening, seeking to understand. The good soil hears the word, holds fast to the word, meditates on it, values it, and agrees with it. This response is connected with endurance through hardship, pressure, and challenges.

This good soil refers to all Christians. We heard the gospel and it changed our lives! The good soil follows Jesus, meditates on his word and obeys it and communes with God in prayer, and live out their faith as members of a local church. Time continues to confirm that we are good soil, as we persevere through hardship and still trust Jesus. It does not mean that we don't sin, it doesn't mean that our growth is constant. Our endurance through trials reveal our faith in Christ is genuine. We bear the fruit of God working in our lives. The fruit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Luke 8:1-3 The women

Luke 8:1-3 also illustrates the good soil. These verses describe the women who were touched by Jesus' ministry and then support him “out of their own means.” The hearing of the gospel leads to practical action and commitment. Their gratitude and faith led to their investment of their time, energy, and finances.

For us, we need to be careful. We do not want to equate service with genuine faith. Faithful service can be a way to seek praise, or be done out of a sense of duty rather than love. Faithful service can flow from a desire to control or to avoid personal issues. So we want to be careful before making assumptions about people who serve. And, also the right response to the gospel is faithful financial giving, and volunteering time and talents to care for others.

Luke 8:16-18 The Lit Lamp

Luke 8:16-18 offers another illustration of good soil. No one hides a lit lamp. It is placed on a stand to give light. This analogy teaches that when the good soil receives the word, change is visible. True faith cannot be hidden indefinitely.

Luke 8:19-21 Jesus’ Family

The last explanation of good soil is in Luke 8:19-21. Jesus’ mother and brothers arrive. When he is told about them, he says, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and do it.”

This message may feel life a heavy burden to place on people but Jesus is being is clear. The evidence of a right response to the gospel is obedience. True relationship with Jesus isn’t based on proximity, heritage, denomination affiliation, or a verbal agreement, but trusting him in a way that leads to doing God’s word. Jesus teaches that obedience and bearing fruit is a defining mark of belonging to his family.

The text’s teaching is really clear. Just because we are saved by faith without works, does not mean works are not necessary in the Christian life. That is what this text is all about.

Conclusion

If you read the parable of the sower thinking it is about how to become a Christian, you will get Christianity wrong. It describes the fruit that a person, who is a Christian, bears.

A Christian is a good soil, who receives the seed, the Gospel. God prepared the soil. God renewed our minds and changed our hearts to be good soil to receive the gospel and bear fruit.

This text is a helpful warning, but it can cause some of us to panic.

This is how it is helpful. Sometimes you hear of people who don't seem to care about what the Bible teaches. They just live however they please, but they also claim to believe in Jesus, so they believe their sins are forgiven. This text is helpful. If a person is not interested in doing what Jesus said, they are not a Christian.

Where I am more nervous, is for those who continually second guess themselves. My fear is that someone takes this text, and because they are struggling with a sin, they think they are not bearing the good fruit, and so they must not be Christians. Every Christian sins. The good soil struggles with sin. The bad soil accepts their sin without struggling. The good soil confesses their sin and turns to Jesus with their sin. The bad soil departs further and further from God with their sin. If you are worried about the warning in this text, that may be a healthy sign that you are a Christian and want to obey Jesus. If this message does nothing to you, and does not stir in you a deeper desire to repent from sin, maybe that is a bad sign.

I want to suggest two takeaways, one for our thinking and the other for our lifestyle. For our thinking, remember the two false gospels. Legalism is insisting you need to perform for God to love you.  Or that you need to do good to prove you are a Christian. The other false gospel was license that teaches that because God forgives us apart from our works, it does not matter how I live. Both legalism and license are wrong. The Gospel is that Jesus is so wonderful that he saves us because of his love, and we are so moved by his love that good works overflow from our joy in him.

The takeaway for lifestyle - Jesus could not make it clearer. Christians obey Jesus. They obey what the Bible teaches. 1 John 5:3 says that those who love Jesus love doing what he commands. His commands are not a burden. Jesus died for our sins so that we would live differently.  The Gospel is the absolute greatest news and it is God's power for salvation. Our sin makes us liable for judgment. But God forgives all of our sins so that we can enjoy a relationship with him for eternity. It is impossible to believe this news and not bear fruit! AMEN