Its Up to Us to Sow!!

So, we have talked about building our lives on obedience, rock or shifting sands.

We have learned between the wheat and the tare to look for fruit.

The ten virgins….

Today we learn a parable of the sower…

Passage:  Matthew 13:1-9 18-23, Mark 4:1-9 13-20, Luke 8:4-8 11-15
Audience: A great crowd
Context: A teaching by the sea (literally in a boat)

Mark 4  Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. ² And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 

³ “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 

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In the time of Jesus, a farmer would walk through his field with a sack full of seed, scattering it by hand as he went. In a time when daily bread didn’t come by way of the grocery store and corporate farming, seed was life, or at least the promise of it…

- a promise that could be stolen by birds, drought, fire, or war.

⁴ And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. ⁵ Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. ⁶ And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. ⁸ And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” ⁹ And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

The Purpose of the Parables

¹⁰ And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. ¹¹ And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, ¹² so that

“‘they may indeed see but not perceive,
    and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they should turn and be forgiven.’”

¹³ And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? 

Jesus, standing there in that boat looking up at thousands of people on the shoreline, was the sower.  Interestingly, Jesus never identified himself as such. He just stood there in the scene, rocking gently on the water, and embodied the parable.

In a profound way, this is what Jesus came to do: to release seed into the world.

He released his own life into the fields of this scarred and vulnerable earth, knowing that not every seed would reach its full potential. Knowing that much of it would be stolen, choked out, rejected, or abused.

It’s good to look honestly at the field of our lives — and where is His seed it growing?

¹⁴ The sower sows the word.

Jesus used this parable to explain to his followers and the disciples how there are different responses to the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ. The sower in the parable is Jesus, and the seed is the word of God (both Jesus's spoken word and today the Bible).

¹⁵ And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. 

The hard ground represents someone with a hardened heart full of sin who hears the word of God but does not accept it. Satan can keep this person from growing at all.

The first person is hard (“tramped underfoot”). Therefore, the word will not “sink in.”

Once we impart Jesus’ meaning into “soil,” we know hard, tramped on soil (people) will not receive the good news of the kingdom into their souls. It’s like when someone tells you to “talk to the hand.”

That’s immediate rejection. They may be present when the Gospel is proclaimed, but they do not hear it; it does not in any way permeate their soul. It’s easy then for the evil one to come to snatch it away—as if it was never there—for hardened ground leaves no imprint

¹⁶ And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. ¹⁷ And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.^[a] 

The stony ground is someone who shows interest and awareness in the Gospel, yet his heart isn't fully convinced when trouble comes to his faith, which is not strong enough to stand.

The second soil (person) is rocky and unable to be tilled. (we call these the 2 to 3 weeks Christian, they need Jesus to fix something, He does, they are gone)

He receives the word with joy (excitement and emotion) but does not let it root (no depth). He is like the man described in James 1:23-24, a hearer only but not a doer. He meets “tribulations and persecutions because of the Word” (the seeds) and then falls away (rejects the faith). The gospel brings no fruit in him because He does not yield to it; he has not read or studied the word nor let it build his foundation.

¹⁸ And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, ¹⁹ but the cares of the worldand the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 

As for the seed that fell among the thorns, these are the ones who hear; but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.  Luke 8:14

1. S. Lewis picks up this theme in The Screwtape Letters.  

Lewis pictures Satan carefully avoiding that which might awaken us to our true spiritual condition.  Thus, we see senior demon Screwtape, advising his demon

Wormwood:You will say that these are very small sins; and doubtless, like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the Enemy [God]. It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one.

Indeed, the safest roads to Hell are the gradual ones like “the cares and riches and pleasures of life.”  These distance us from God and choke out the Word of God in us. 

The thorny ground is a person who receives the Gospel but who has many other idols and distractions in life - worries, riches, and lusts, which take over his mind and heart, and he cannot grow in the truth of God's Word.

The third soil (person) is thorny.

He hears the Word, but the thorns (the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches) are his undoing. They choke the word right out of him, and he is unfruitful. (you live an unfruitful life)

Object Lesson on cares of this world suitcase… (have basketball, gaming, computer, phone, facebook, fishing, money, bread, ungodly relationships, desire to do you own thing, music)

All three of the above soil types describe people who do not fully hear the Word, for to hear it is to understand (believe) it, obey it, and live it.  

²⁰ But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

The good soil is someone who has heard and received the Word of God and allows it to take root and grow within his life. This person represents true salvation that bears good fruit.

The good person (soil) not only hears the Word, but he also understands it.

In the parable, to understand the Word is to believe it and obey it. This person “bears fruit, and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty” (Matthew 13:23). He takes what is sown in him and shares the gospel of the kingdom with others, many coming to faith because of his obedience as God works through him.

It’s not a matter of getting onto the good soil; it’s being the good soil! 

Romans 1:20-21 tells us God’s invisible attributes (His eternal power and divine nature) are clearly perceived by all, and we are without excuse when we do not recognize His presence. The regenerative work of the Holy Spirit prepares the soil—soil in which the Gospel is received, obeyed, and grown (John 16:8).

Hear the Word

Obey the Word

Grow in the Word

When we think on this parable we must evaluate our lives.

Know that just cause you said a prayer at one point in your life doesn’t mean the enemy will leave you alone.  He is actively looking for ways to take out the effect and purpose of God’s word in our lives.

Are you are the hard ground, never followed Christ.

Are you the two to three weeker? Something hard happens and you are out?

What are you allowing to choke out the word of God? Cares of the world. Desire for other things. Pleasure.

Today would you commit to hear, obey, and Grow?