The Parable of the Sower
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
After all of the craziness that we have been seeing Jesus goes down to the sea of Galilee and just begins to simply teach.
Tonight we are going to begin to see the parables of Jesus. A parable is story that in the words of one of my professors is meant to “harden those who reject Jesus, soften those who are to accept him, and draw closer those who have accepted him.” Parables are comparison stories that are about the Kingdom of God.
This parable is very useful to us because after Jesus gives this parable the Twelve ask him what he meant and he gives an explanation of it. This is an act of discipleship and helps us to understand what it means and how to understand other parables.
Let’s begin with reading the passage in its entirety then we can begin to break it down.
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. And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 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. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 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, so that
“ ‘they may indeed see but not perceive,
and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they should turn and be forgiven.’ ”
And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. 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. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. 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. And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 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.”
In this parable we see some symbolism that is familiar to us living in farmlands. The first symbol that we see is the sower, this is anyone that proclaims the word of God. The second is the seed, this is the word of God. Finally is the soil, this is the condition of the hearts for the people that hear the word. These are the main three symbols and there are others that we will discuss as we come to them.
Lets pray then we can look at the first type of soil.
pray
Seed on the Path
Seed on the Path
“Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.
and here is Jesus’s explanation of this part:
The sower sows the word. 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 first part of this parable is the seed that fell on the path. Remember that the sower the one that is preaching or sharing the gospel and the seed is the word. Here the seed lands on the path which is far to hard for it to grow so it is easily taken away off the top. The soil in these is the condition of our heart.
Is your heart so hard that the word of God does not penetrate it and Satan can just brush it away. Maybe you are so hardened to the word of God that you are not even listening right now and what little you do hear will be taken away as soon as you leave. This is the hard part of it all, it is all based on the condition of your heart. Will you change your heart so that it is not so hardened towards the words of Christ. So that Satan does not have this power over you.
For those of you that are of true faith in this room tonight this is a tough thing that we have to deal with but it helps us rely on the power of God. Some people are so hardened that no matter what you say they do not listen. They are hardened to God. Don’t let this discourage you because first off it is not us that saves, it is God. Secondly, our only job is to sow the seeds. Sometimes our sowing lands on hardened soil, but this doesn’t mean that we quit sowing because God may be tilling the soil of their heart to be ready to truly hear for the first time.
Seed on the Rocky Soil
Seed on the Rocky Soil
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. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away.
and here is Jesus’s explanation of this part:
And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. 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.
The rocky soil is a tough one because often times it starts out looking great, but then all at once it doesn’t. Often times at camp people will come and profess faith and it seems as though they are on fire for Jesus the rest of the week at camp. Then they get back to regular life where there isn’t a scheduled quiet time and there is no nightly devotion and they get made fun of because of their faith and they immediately renounce it. They claimed faith but it wasn’t really there because it had no depth.
It is not always something that happens quickly though, it could happen over the course of years. Maybe the persecution doesn’t come for a while and then all at once it is obvious that they had no depth. We must work to bring depth to ourselves so that we can be strong in the faith and not people that break under the first sign of persecution. It says in James 1.2-4 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” For the true Christian, trials and persecution strengthen but for the fake Christian when met with these it is obvious that there is no real depth but is is as though their hearts were the rocky ground.
Seek depth
Seed in the Thorns
Seed in the Thorns
Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain.
and here is Jesus’s explanation of this part:
And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
This situation is where they hear and think that they grasp it but still think that the world is better or still go back to the way of the world instead of following. It is obvious that to think that the world is better of that you would rather have the world over God that the person didn’t come close to grasping the riches of Christ. They heard and received in the beginning but let the world come in and overtake them.
As a true follower of Jesus we are called to leave the way of this world and not be of it. The way of this world is sin as I am sure you can see throughout our culture. If we are to not be overtaken by the world, the thorns, we must not become encased by it but we must be of something else, of something better. Dealing with the world can be one of the more difficult things in the Christian life but we can do this by continually working to conform our lives to Christ through reading his word, praying, and worshiping him. This not only helps us to not be in the thorny soil but to also add depth and soften us to him.
The world is a cold dark place and Christ is far better.
Seed in Good Soil
Seed in Good Soil
And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”
and here is the explanation that Jesus gives for this last part:
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.”
Finally we arrive at the good soil. The good soil is the hearts of those that accept the salvation that Jesus offers and begin to bear fruit. This is the desire, this is the hope. The message of the gospel is meant to lead to a response and to the continual following of Christ. Tonight each and every one of you have the opportunity to accept the word and to begin to bear fruit.
In Romans 3.23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” and in Romans 3.10 “as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;” we are all born sinners, we are all short of God’s glory. Later it says in Romans 6.23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” since we fall short of Gods glory and are sinners the punishment for this is death, but there is something else in there. The free gift of God is eternal life, but how does this work since we fall short? It says in Romans 5.8 “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” He died for us sinners that fall short of his glory because he loves us so much. That is the message of the gospel. It concludes with this part about how to make it all happen in Romans 10.9 “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10.13 “For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.””
This is the seed being cast, this is the word of God. It will land in one of the types of soil. Maybe tonight you hear this and want to accept is and desire for this to change your life, for you it landed in the good soil. Make sure that you tell someone about that because we want to talk more and celebrate that with you. Maybe tonight you are reminded of the time you first understood, when it first landed in the good soil. Reflect on that awesome occurence.
Conclusion
Conclusion
The parable of the sower reveals a lot about the receiving of God’s word. But let me tell you this, there is coming a day when Jesus will return and he will reap what has been sown. Not everyone will come because many were stuck in the soils that never led to growth. God’s Kingdom is coming whether you like it or not and you will either be prepared for that or you won’t make it.
Some here tonight are still hardened though and as it says in 3.28-29 those that stay hardened continually will never be forgiven. The wrath of God will remain on them.
I have faith though tonight to know that when the word of God is proclaimed it has the opportunity to land on good soil. Maybe tonight this message has landed on a softened heart for the very first time and you realize the depth of your sin and you want to give your life to Jesus, come to me or any other adult right after I pray here in a moment and we want to celebrate this with you and lead you through what to do next to begin to bear fruit.
For those in Christ, continue to sow and let God do the rest.
