Parable of the Sower

Matt 13 1-10 Whoever has ears let him hear

This is how Jesus ends his teaching

We as human beings as well as other creation have a privilege to hear

It is a privilege, a blessing to use our ears

It is a blessing to be able to hear stuff

It is a blessing to see.

With our ears we are able to hear and make rational and moral decisions

And with our sight we are able to we are able to move in the proper directions, by what we hear

This is why it is important to listen more and speak less as the proverbs go

This is why it is important to listen to our

Parents

Pastors

Leaders

Teachers

These are the people that are throwing the seeds to you

These are the people trying to pour the Love of God and the Knowledge of God into you!

All of these people battle for your attention to tell you something

By what they say and how we listen, we then make a decision on how we apply or not apply what we hear

But the problem is some of us have selective hearing

Who ever has an ear let him Hear Jesus says

Jesus says this very phrase 8 different times in the gospels and 8 times in the book of revelation

When Jesus says this we are reminded that is not enough to have ears but to actually use them

parables - v 13 Those who do not allow for a healthy measure of understanding will not perceive or understand and, therefore, will not be forgiven -- have to know God and understand him to truly know who God is

you cant be a Christian and not understand who God is

In this parable, Jesus uses soil to illustrate how our ears work in relation to the Word of God

Were told of a farmer that is scattering seeds, meaning the Word

Some seeds fell on the ground and birds eat them

Some seeds fell on shallow and rocky soil and when the plants started to grow, the sun scorched them because of the lack of roots

So, what in the world does this mean? We see the answer in verse 19.

Matthew 13:19 “19 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.”

This is the Worldly Heart

Matthew 13:7 “7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.”

Did your parents ever make you do landscaping and made you pick out all the weeds?

Some weeds just grow everywhere

Some weeds are thorny and they can hurt you if you're not wearing gloves.

Some weeds are just hard to get rid of

And if you're not careful to remove all the weeds, it can take over the whole garden.

Matthew 13:22 “22 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.”

So even if you have good soil, (weeds like good soil too),

Even if you have good soil, the seeds that will sprout into crops and fruits will eventually get choked out by the weeds.

All the nice plants and trees will taken over by the weeds

Even whole areas and building will eventually be covered by weeds if not kept up

The weeds and thorns also have a way of sucking up the moisture and nutrients from the good crops and in the end they choke out everything that is beneficial

The world and its riches will choke out the word of God out of you.

Not bearing fruit in your life? Does the world have a weight on your heart?

So here the soil is pretty good, and decent, and plowed and worked

Only problem is, the soil is tainted and corrupted with impurities

And it can happen to the best of us if were not careful how we weigh out the world over the relationship to Jesus

2 Timothy 4:10 for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica.

James 4:4 “4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

1 John 2:15 “15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

That is the danger of a worldy heart !

But some seeds fell on fresh and fertile ground and there when the seeds were planted the crops grew large and a great harvest was reaped

This is the Shallow Heart

This shallow soil that is on this foot path represents a shallow heart

Remember, its hard to see what is the right way if you don’t listen to good instructions

This type of person responds immediately to God’s Word, but it is only superficially.

Many people hear God’s Word and are even joyful about it,

but there is no root and eventually in difficult times they fall away.

As soon tough times come their way…..boom they fall out of faith

As soon as temptations show itself, boom they fall right into it.

Plants cannot live without deep soil and good roots

If they do not have deep soil and deep roots, They will eventually die.

If our faith is not deeply rooted

Rooted in the Word of God

Rooted in Prayer

Rooted in spiritual disciplines

We fall in danger of loosing our faith.

Shallow soil is the killer of seeds and plants.

A shallow heart is the killer of faith

And this isnt new!

People in the Bible struggled with this as well

Galatians 1:6–9 “6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.”

John 8:31 “31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,”

Colossians 1:23 “23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.”

Some seeds fell along the thorn bushes and when the plants sprung up the weeds and the thorn bushes choked the plant

This is the Fruitful Heart

Matthew 13:23 “23 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.””

Here we see the heart of someone who’s soil :

is worked

is plowed

has had all the rocks removed

has had all the weeds removed - and killed them

has fertilized the soil

And is now ready to receive the word.

This person has

A deep understanding of who God is

A deep understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit in their life

A deep understanding of the Love and saving Grace of Jesus

A deep understanding of the work and Word of God

A deep understanding of living in submission and obedience to God

Not out of a religious heart, but out of a transformed heart.

A person with this kind of soil is a truly transformed Christian

Galatians 5:22–23 “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

These are all examples of our ears and hearts

For some of us when we hear the word we just shut off our hearing, the seeds to find soil to be planted in and the seeds get eaten by various animals

For some of us we hear the word, maybe understand it and agree but never lives it out because the plants never take root.

For some of us we hear the word but the worries of this life and the anxieties of this life choke our faith and choke our witness to God's greatness and goodness and faithfulness

And for some of us, we hear the word and because our hears are attentive and our minds are attentive and our hearts soil has been fertilized and ready for crops yield a harvest of fruit and crops

Now in every one of these scenarios, it’s the same seed being sown and it’s the same farmer sowing, there is no difference.

What is not different is the message. What is different is the listener.

Do you want to know why we are failing the same tests and temptations?

Do you know we continually fail at basic christianity?

Do you know why we still slip up with bad language?

Do you know why we tend to lie and cheat?

Do you know why we still hang out with the people our parents told us not to?

Its because we are simply not in the word enough

We are not engaged with the word enough

And we are not listening to the word enough

The only way to solve this issue is by getting in the word.

Romans 10:17 - So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Psalm 119:105 - Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Us as Christians need to have our faith increased and our battles won but our faith cannot increase and we cannot win the battles when we are not listening to the word of God

Young people this is why it is not healthy being on your phones during church when the Word is being preached.

You are creating soil that is shallow and rocky and sooner or later there will be no soil left to plant on.

And ive seen this way to many times in the ministry

Here are a couple of practical applications we can learn

When was the last time you had uninterrupted, undistracted quiet time with God?

To spend in reading the bible?

To spend in prayer

To meditate on what you read in scripture?

Apparently Jesus did this

Mark 1:35 - And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.

When are we spending time with the father?

I don’t only think it was a discipline for Jesus to do that but also he longed to have fellowship with the father.

Jesus made an effort to spend time with God

Now if Jesus, the Son of God, the Son of Man, the savior of the world made time to spend with God, shouldn’t we do the same?

Another practical thing we can do is memorize scripture - Talentul in Negoti

When jesus was tempted by satan after 40 days and 40 nights,

Jesus went toe to toe with satan

Jesus went punch for punch with satan

Jesus went blow to blow to satan by using the Word of god

Jesus match his opponent jab for jab punch for punch only using the Word of God

In order to become more like Jesus

In order to overcome the temptations of this world, we must find some time in the

mornings,

during our commutes to work

lunchtime

evenings

whenever

to talk to God and listen to God

Whoever has ears let them hear