Today we return for a visit to the blog Jesus Carries Me, where Lila wrote this post under the title,
Who receives Understanding of the Scriptures?
Scripture Reference: Matthew 13:36-43 (link takes you to NIV; NLT is below)(NLT)13:36 Then, leaving the crowds outside, Jesus went into the house. His disciples said, “Please explain to us the story of the weeds in the field.”
37 Jesus replied, “The Son of Man is the farmer who plants the good seed. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed represents the people of the Kingdom. The weeds are the people who belong to the evil one. 39 The enemy who planted the weeds among the wheat is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world, and the harvesters are the angels.
40 “Just as the weeds are sorted out and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the world. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will remove from his Kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42 And the angels will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s Kingdom. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!
For many Christians the answer to this question is rather obvious, but it never was for me. If one has been fed lies for years like I was, it is an exceedingly exciting time when the Truth intersects your life and enters your heart. Burdens of deception and lies are hurled to the ground and light fills the heart.
You see, for years one of the lies I was taught was that you have to have the title “apostle” in the specific church I grew up in to receive understanding of the Scriptures. This also excluded anyone outside of the borders of this denomination. Only these “apostles” received insights and that meant it was kind of useless to read the Bible since you won’t understand much of what you read anyway. Since I never knew God then (although I religiously attended church), I didn’t understand most of what I read no matter how hard I tried. Consequently I never questioned this lie.
But thanks be to God, one day the Truth entered my dark heart and with that a desire to read the Bible. Not only that, I now understood what I read. I found the treasure I longed for all my life. I found the Truth. I couldn’t get enough of reading the Bible and God proved His faithfulness by first taking me to the Scriptures that would make these lies come crashing down. At first, I didn’t know where to start. But, although I was alone in a room with my Bible, He was there too. He took me from one Scripture to the other and over time taught me His liberating Truth with the precision and timing of a perfect Teacher. One example is this portion of Scripture in Matthew 13:36-43.
After Jesus told the parable of the weed sown among good seed, the disciples approached Him wanting to understand what He just said. Those who love the Lord and His word will desire to receive more enlightenment and will ask for better understanding. Many others may think of the Lord’s word as a nice little story. Some may disregard His words in an off-hand way and some may even mock His word. Folly always mocks anything it doesn’t understand. But His true followers will ask to understand what He says. They realize they don’t know it all and that He is all-knowing. These are the ones to whom He reveals the deeper meaning of His words. I learned that this privilege is not reserved for people with religious titles, but for anyone who humbly comes to the Lord in faith and ask for greater understanding. As we read here, we can see how Jesus gave an exposition on the parable of the seed and the weed to those who asked. He shows them how there will be a separation of the righteous and the unrighteous at the end of time.
Jesus concludes His exposition by saying that this is open to the understanding for all who have “ears.” This is a non-exclusive term. It is open to all who desire to know more. It is not a promise made exclusively to people who flaunt religious titles. Instead, the Lord, in His generous nature, is eager to teach anyone: “Whoever has ears, let them hear.” So, the Lord invites anyone with a sincere desire for wisdom and understanding to ask and it will be given to them. The verses below further confirm that there is no exclusivity. God does not show favoritism.
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. (James 1:5)
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. (Matthew 7:7-8)
As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him. (1 John 2:27)
[These words were written for all believers, not exclusively to church leaders]
Christianity 201 
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