The Word Taking Root
Notes
Transcript
happies and crappies
happies and crappies
Getting Rooted
Getting Rooted
Any farmers in the room? Ask questions
I want to say for this too, feel free to raise your hand and ask a question. I know it’s different in the adult service but I’m totally cool stopping so we fully get what’s going on.
Everyone turn to Matthew 13 in your Bibles. Today we’re going to keep talking about being Rooted. It’s been our main point here at Journey for over a year now. Maybe you or your parents went through the Rooted book at the end of last year, or maybe it was just one of the sermons that’s talked about being Rooted. Either way, this isn’t a brand new concept for Journey.
But in the section of Jesus’ life we’re looking at today, this whole following Jesus thing was still pretty new. People were hearing the message of the kingdom of God for the first time, and Jesus tells a parable using roots to show the different ways people react to it.
Who can tell me what a parable is?
And what is the goal of telling someone a parable?
Right, and there’s a middle section in this story that’s a bit of a sidebar that talks about why Jesus uses parables, but that’s for another time. Let’s get into the parable, someone read Matthew 13:1-9
That day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea.
And large crowds gathered to Him, so He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach.
And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow;
and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up.
“Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil.
“But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
“Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out.
“And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.
“He who has ears, let him hear.”
Okay great, now who wants to read Matthew 13: 18-23?
“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 the one on whom seed was sown beside the road.
“The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;
yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.
“And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
“And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.”
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
Sowing
Sowing
Some of us may not know what sowing seed looks like, or others might be familiar with the huge organized farms we have today. *grab bag and start walking* In this time, Jesus is more likely talking about an area of land with some paths, and the sower is kinda just throwing seed everywhere. That’s why it lands in all these different soils. This message of the kingdom does the same thing, it can be received by all different types of hearts.
The Types of Soil
The Types of Soil
The Preacher’s Commentary puts the four types as the indifferent, the shallow, the cluttered, and the responsive.
The Indifferent?
The Indifferent?
and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up.
“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 the one on whom seed was sown beside the road.
Not sure if the first soil is someone indifferent or if it is about the cosmic war we find ourselves in. I had different sources take different positions. If I had to pick, I would think it is someone that is indifferent in receiving the message, someone that doesn’t understand the stakes and doesn’t think too much about it, someone that doesn’t actually put the rubber to the road and start following Jesus.
One of the greatest preachers of all time named John Chrysostom points out that the soil can change. So this indifferent soil isn’t forced to be indifferent, it kinda chooses to be by not taking the message seriously. It’s heart is hardened against the message.
I think for our generation, this is one of the most common types of soil. The gospel message doesn’t mean a whole lot to people so they don’t become Christian. Or worse, they grow up Christian or become Christian and just go through the motions of going to church and praying before a meal, and aren’t actually following Jesus’ teachings. So the seed gets snatched away.
The Shallow
The Shallow
“Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil.
“But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
“The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;
yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.
Another very common one I see today is shallow soil. Now don’t get me wrong, I firmly believe people’s lives are changed after coming to Christ, and I think joy is the proper reaction. However, Jesus shows that joy doesn’t for sure mean the message has taken root. There will be people who spring up in joy at first, but don’t persevere till the end. The only sure way of knowing the word has taken root isn’t feelings or being excited, it is consistently following Jesus till he comes back or we go to him.
The Cluttered
The Cluttered
“Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out.
“And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
Next is the crowded soil. For this I want to tell a story. In my freshmen year of college, I had a buddy from India named Zubin who converted to Christianity. He was fired up about the message and wasn’t going to let being part of a Muslim family hold him back.
But a couple weeks after that, everything shut down for Covid and he was back home in India for over a year if I remember right. We talked a couple of times, but I probably should’ve been more consistent with him. Things were very different when he got back to the States.
We were talking and he asked me “Justin can I be a Christian but keep it secret?”, which is a no so I told him that and wanted to learn more about where this was coming from. He told me that it would be impossible for him to find a wife within his Muslim community as a Christian. He was too worried about his existing community and a potential future marriage for the seed to grow. These other worries of his choked out the seed before it could grow.
Okay, it’s a bummer I know, I think Jesus was bummed telling this one.
The Responsive Soil
The Responsive Soil
Now we get to the fun one. This is what it’s all about, and this is what me and the rest of the leaders and the staff and everyone want you all to be. "...the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.” This is the one who takes the call to follow Jesus seriously, obeys him, and bears amazing amazing fruit. Something I learned this week that I had never noticed in this parable is the “hundredfold, sixtyfold, thirtyfold” thing. Essentially a hundred times more, sixty times more, or thirty times more seed.
When he says they had a yield of a hundredfold, sixty fold, or thirty fold, all of these are insanely high yields. According to Craig Keener, “But for much of Palestine, the average yield was tenfold (meaning that ten seeds were harvested for every seed sown), and all the figures Jesus reports here are very good yields.”
Jesus is showing us that you can’t really be half in and half out. If you don’t act on the message, it will get taken away. If you are just in it for the feelings, when it starts getting hard you won’t make it. If you don’t recognize this is the most important thing and let other things choke it out, it will. I’ve been or known people who are all three of these types of soil, so I’m willing to bet that at least one person here is thinking “Shoot I sound a lot like that one soil.” But remember what John Chrysostom said, the soil can change. You aren’t forced to be one of these rotten soils, you can rise and be the good soil.
Being Rooted
Being Rooted
This is what Journey is really leaning into this year with us doing Rooted. We aren’t going to sit around and be half in half out anymore, we’re diving in SOW THAT we can fully live the life Jesus intends for us.
Any questions?
Let’s hop into our small groups and talk through the questions.
Add illustrations and application points throughout the sermon.
Add the references throughout the sermon.
Make small group questions.