What's the Soil of Your Heart?

Call to Worship:

Psalm 103:1–5 ESV

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Sermon:

Do you enjoy a good story? I love a really good story, lately I haven’t has as much time as I would like to be able to read, but I rememeber as a kid I was constantly reading because good stories are so captivating. Some of my favourite stories from when I was a kid I can still remember today, because they were captivating, they held my attention, and I remember them because I was moved by them.

Last night we watched the Lord of the Rings with my parents, and some of my siblings. It’s a great example of a really captivating story. There’s this problem where the dark Lord Sauron is after this ring, and this young Hobbit Frodo has to go on a quest to get rid of the ring to destroy Sauron and save everyone, and during the story there’s dozens of epic battles and chases and speeches and sacrifices, and it’s all about this struggle between good and evil. And learning how to fight for good in an evil world.

It’s epic, I loved it when I was a kid I love it now. But I think the thing I didn’t notice when I was a kid, that I do see now is that it’s an allegory.

An allegory is a story that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.

In the Lord of the Rings, there’s this idea of fighting for the good in the world, and self-sacrificing to be able to save the world. What’s that an allegory of? It’s Jesus! A guy who nobody thought much of, raised in a simple small town, then begins this three year ministry bringing the kingdom of Heaven and the enemy is trying to stop Him, and ultimately Jesus sacrifices himself for everyone.

Another allegory is the Chronicles of Narnia

You have these four children who go into this world where an evil queen reigns, but they hear this hope that the good king, the lion Aslan is coming to rescue them, and Edmund, one of the boys betrays everyone to the white witch, but Aslan sacrifices himself for Edmund, but then he rises again, and defeats the evil queen, and the children and Aslan reign together in this new kingdom. And it symbolizes Jesus’s death and resurrection and our reigning with him in the kingdom of heaven.

Last one, The Pilgrims Progress

A story about a man named Christian who’s trying to get to the kingdom of light, and he has allies like Evangelist and Hopeful, and Faithful. But he also has these foes like the Giant Despair, and worldly wiseman and Appolyon. And this incredible story shows the different things that Christian’s encounter in their walk with Christ in getting to heaven.

I’ve heard before that all good stories, have some form of hidden meaning that makes you think. And honestly, I think there’s a lot of truth in that. In fact, Jesus himself told tons of fictional stories that helped to prove a point and show a hidden reality about the kingdom of heaven.

These stories were called parables, and they’re sort of like short allegories. Except they’re a little bit different, when we think of short moral stories, sometimes we think of one’s we would use to try and teach kids about right and wrong.

Think about the story of the boy who cried wolf. The boy’s watching sheep, he runs to the village and lies and says a wolf at them, the people see that he lied, he does this a second time, they come check again and see he lied again. Then a wolf did actually come, the boy goes running no one believes him, and the sheep all die. It’s a moral story to tell kids not to lie.

So it’s a short story that makes one really clear moral point, and this is closer to what Jesus did with his parables. But Jesus’s were even more direct, his did have a meaning that people could chew on for a long time to come, and they did often have a specific point to make about how people should live, but his were about himself, his mission and how people should relate to him and his mission.

I used to be told that a parable is, “an earthly story with a heavenly meaning”. And I don’t think that’s wrong, but it’s more specific than that. Jesus’s parables are stories that Jesus told about himself and the people right in front of him, and how he and they fit into the kingdom of heaven.

So let’s take a look at some of his parables. The one I want to start with is in Matthew 13:1-9, and this one is unique because it’s one of the only ones that Jesus actually provides an explanation for. So, we’ll read it, put it into it’s context, and then hear Jesus’s explanation about it.

Matthew 13:1–9 ESV

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.”

One of the questions that I was prompted to ask by the Pastor R.C Sproul was, why is the sower wasting the seeds?

Most of the people were likely farmers themselves, so Jesus is using something common to them, and so they understood something that we miss in our 21st century context.

And that is that it was a common practice in Ancient Israel to sow seed before tilling the earth. If you think about gardening today in our climate, you til the soil and get it all nice and loose and soft before you put the seeds in. But in their day you would sow the seed and then till the soil.

The irony of the examples then, the seed on the path that gets stolen, the seed on the rocks that don’t take roots, and the seed in the thorns that gets choked. Is that the path would not have likely been tilled at all.

My Dad’s a gardener, we have a pretty big garden in our front yard most of the year, in raised beds, and between the raised bed he has paths that he doesn’t till because he doesn’t plan on growing anything there.

The same is true in this story, the seed on the path would not have been tilled, the seed was as if it was never planted.

In the case of the rocky soil, Israel, being near the equator, is incredibly hot, and gets very little rain. This means that the ground was often hard with caked mud and rocks, and it was hard for seeds, even after being tilled to gain roots, because of the caked layers of mud.

In the case of the thorns, where the thorns were was likely not being tilled, and so when the seeds started to grow they got choked out.

Ok, so we got the farming part. But what about the Jesus and the kingdom of heaven parts?

If we were to read it without any other clues to what it meant, I think that we would end up in a similar place to what Jesus meant.

The path seed that gets eaten by a bird, are people who hear the message of Jesus but it doesn’t take a hold of them, they don’t really think about it.

The seed planted in rocky soil, are people who hear the message of Jesus and they’re super excited about it at first, but then when life gets hard they let go and move on.

The seed that is planted and choked by thorns, are people who hear the message of Jesus and they’re doing ok until they hear the messages of the world around them and they believe that instead of Jesus and so they let it go.

And the seed that is planted on good soil, are people who hear the message of Jesus and they choose to root their lives in it, and they follow him wholeheartedly

And this is a half decent understanding of it, but Jesus explains it even better.

Matthew 13:10–17 ESV

Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: “ ‘ “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.” For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

So what’s going on? The disciples come to Jesus and they’re like why do you use parables? And Jesus says this weird line about having ears and eyes, and he says these weird contradictions like seeing, they don’t see, and hearing, they don’t hear. Which seems like a really odd thing to say, but then he explains himself.

And this is the key to all of the parables. Jesus says that people are hearing but they are not getting it. Think about it like this, I remember when I was a kid and my parents would say something along the lines of “Oh, your room is a mess” and in my mind I would just be like “oh yeah, I guess it is”, but if I had stopped and thought over it, I would have known they were saying, “Your room is a mess, you need to clean it”.

Obviously, that’s an overly simple example. But it’s this same concept. Jesus used parables to explain to people what was right in front of them, in a way that if they thought about it a bit they would get it. But if they didn’t think about it at all it would go over their heads. Jesus wanted people to think about what he was saying and choose to follow him with their whole heart after they had counted the cost.

And Jesus then explains the parable of the sower through this idea. That the parables he’s using are the word of the kingdom, which is the seed being sown.

Matthew 13:18–23 ESV

“Hear then the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

So this “word of the kingdom” it’s the parables that Jesus has been teaching, which tell the people the good news of the gospel, that Jesus is hear and he’s bringing the kingdom of heaven.

Let’s look at some of these other parables.

Luke 15:1–24 ESV

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” ’ And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

So let’s use these parables as an analogy for the seed of the parable of the sower. Jesus is telling people these parables, and they have a choice.

They can hear these parables and not understand them. And they’ll be like the seed on the path and they just won’t get it or let it take root in their lives.

They can hear these parables and they can be super excited about the message behind them, that Jesus is coming to seek and save the people who are lost. But like the seed on the rocky soil life will get hard and they’ll claim it was all a lie and that it’s not worth their time.

They can hear these parables and they can think it’s good but then they’ll hear these lies that there are other ways to get saved, or they’ll see the next thing they think will be more fulfilling for them than being saved by Jesus, and they won’t root theirselves in him.

They can hear these parables and they can actually let them change them, they can root themselves in it, and understand that they’re lost and need Jesus’s help to rescue them from their sin. And then they’ll bear spiritual fruit.

This last part is what it means to really grasp the good news of Jesus. First, we need to understand that we’re lost, that we don’t have a way to save ourselves without Jesus’s help. Second, we need to turn to Jesus and let him save us like the boy returning to his father. Third, we need to be rooted in Jesus and this takes discipline, but it’ll bear fruit.

Just like a seed once it’s been planted needs daily attention; it needs water, sunlight, proper temperature, oxygen, soil nutrients, etc… our souls once they have received the news that we are lost, in need of saving, and that Christ has come to save us, also need constant attention.

We need what are called spiritual disciplines

There are lot’s of spiritual disciplines, and what they are at their core are anything we are doing regularly that is pointing us towards Jesus and his kingdom mission, and allow us to grow closer to Jesus in our walk with him.

Pastor Elliott Cooke wrote a book called The Five Disciplines for Every Christian, where he talks about these five, Fellowship, Bible Study, Prayer, Ministry, and Witnessing, as ones that will help to grow the seed that is the gospel in the soil of your heart.

Fellowship

We meet together as the church, to better understand Jesus together, and to worship him as the body of Christ. When we sing songs of worship we are in fellowship with each other and God, and something deeply spiritual occurs that waters the soil of our souls. The same is true when we give of ourselves to each other and the church, we don’t give our time, money, and effort just to run another social club, or to upkeep another building, we do it as an act of sacriifice where giving of ourselves to God, together, helps each of us to grow closer to each other and to God. And it nourishes our community, both the local and global church.

Bible Study

Each of us needs to be studying God’s word daily.

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

Joshua 1:8 “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

2 Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,”

Spending time in God’s word changes us. It allows us to the see the realities of our world, to place ourselves in the story of Jesus and what he’s come to do for us. It instructs us in how we should live, and it gives us a better understanding of God and how we can worship Him.

If there’s one discipline that has helped to water the soil of my heart and helped me to grow as a Christian it’s this one. Which has allowed me to see where I was lost, and has helped me to see how I can be found in Christ.

Prayer

Prayer like bible study allows us to have a better idea of both ourselves and God. As we pour ourselves out to God, asking Him to take control of our lives, giving Him our worries and burdens, and asking Him to show us how to live. We become stronger, and we grow from this conversation that we get to have all the time with our heavenly Father.

Ministry

We need to be people who are serving. God made us to serve, to serve each other and to serve our communities. This is an important aspect of our Christian growth, as we grow as disciples of Jesus, we become more like him and we learn how to take care of the sick, poor, broken, lonely, oppressed people of this world. We learn to seek the lost like He did, and to help bring our great shepherd to them. And this helps us to grow and become more like Him.

Witnessing

Part of ministry is also witnessing. Each of us has a story, a testimony of when and how we understood that we were lost, and we accepted Jesus as our saviour, and then trusted him to be the Lord and commander of our life. It’s important for us to share our stories, because our stories have the ability to show others how Jesus transforms, how he saved people like us who were lost and broken, and how he can do the same for them. This is also sometimes called evangelism, and it’s important for our growth and for other’s growth to share our stories with them, especially our friends and family who aren’t saved yet.

Are you allowing your heart to be good soil for the message of Jesus? Have you come to a place where you understand that you are lost and have asked Jesus to become your Lord and Saviour? Or are you hearing and not understanding? Because there are thousands of people who are in churches across the world this morning who are hearing the word of God, but they don’t understand it. We’ve been going to church so long that we never actually stopped and asked if the good news of Jesus was actually growing in us. Are you praciticing spiritual disciplines that are daily and weekly growing you closer to Jesus? What kind of soil is your heart? Is it good soil? And if not, what do you need to do to fix that? This question is the most important question you could ask yourself today. If you’re not sure then talk to me after the service, you need to figure this out between you and God.

Benediction:

Ephesians 3:17-19 “[May] Christ dwell in your hearts through faith—[so] that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”