Luke 8:1-15 (Seed For Four Hearts)

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Luke 8:1–15 ESV
Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means. And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable, “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’ Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those 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. As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.
Introduction:
Much of evangelical subculture has influenced our imaginations when it comes to spiritual warfare. When many people picture spiritual warfare, they envision a battle with heroic looking, armour wearing angels, warring with dark looking demonic spirits in the sky. I can remember one piece of art years ago in Christian bookstores where this type of conflict was happening over the top of a child’s bed. The child was sleeping and the father was kneeling and praying. The depiction was of the warfare that goes on when we pray for our children. Some people speak of spiritual warfare in a way that is more influenced by what they have seen on tv or heard a famous preacher say rather than what is actually in scripture. We do find out about spiritual warfare in the bible. I want to put before you today that the spiritual warfare that is more common and that you experience more often is the type that Jesus is talking about today in Luke chapter 8. It’s also a warfare that is going on right this minute. Hearing the Word of God proclaimed is spiritual warfare. In today’s passage, Jesus explains this with a parable. I want you to see three particular parts here. One, the redeemed are ready to serve, the reason Jesus taught in parables, and the responses to the Word being heard.
Main Idea: Hearing the Word rightly produces a right response and right fruit.
The first item we come to is that those who have been redeemed are ready to serve Jesus.

I. Redeemed and Ready to Serve

Luke makes a point to mention the prominence of women in the earthly ministry of Jesus. While it was common for women to support a rabbi, it was unheard of for women to travel with one. Theology in those days was thought to be a man’s game. We read about these women, who Luke makes point to mention by name, supporting Jesus’ preaching ministry out of their means. What would drive them to do this and to travel with him against typical cultural norms?
These women had all been all been forgiven and served by Jesus.
People who have truly tasted the freedom of salvation in Jesus Christ WANT to serve Jesus and DO serve Jesus. They want to see His ministry go forward. Freed people want to see other people get freed from their sin.
These women were vital in the earthly ministry of Jesus and women were also vital in the early church and spread of the gospel. What you notice about it is that it is in a way that is complementary to the preaching ministry. They are not doing the preaching and teaching but supporting those who do, in this case the ministry of Jesus.

II. Jesus taught in parables for a reason.

If you were to ask most Christians about the parables, they would probably say that parables are stories that Jesus tells to make the kingdom of God easier to understand. And they would be partially right. But that is not the full, usual purpose of the parables. Jesus teaches his followers in verses 9 and 10 what the purpose of His parables are.
Luke 8:9–10 ESV
And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’
Parables have a purpose to both reveal and conceal.
The stories are easy to follow but the deeper meaning in this is more difficult to understand.
According to Jesus, there are times when a parable is told to conceal the meaning or prevent understanding.
In verse 10, “secrets of the kingdom of God”…
Secret, sometimes translated as “mystery” in the Bible is not something that only God knows but is something that God has also revealed to His people. This is, as one commentator words it, “something about salvation we would not know unless God reveals it.” Because God has reveled it to His followers, it’s more like an open secret.
Jesus quotes Isaiah 6:9 in his explanation of why He teaches in parables. It says,
Isaiah 6:9 ESV
And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “ ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
In the days of Isaiah, the prophet, the people had rebelled against God’s Word and part of his judgement on them was hardening them in their unbelief. They would hear but not understand. They would see things and not truly know what it was all about. He intentionally hardened them to go ahead with judgment before He would bring about His salvation.
If you continue reading that passage in Isaiah you find
Isaiah 6:11–13 ESV
Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said: “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste, and the Lord removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled.” The holy seed is its stump.
The hardening of the hearts of some of the people would actually raise up a remnant. That is what is referred to as “the holy seed” in verse 13 of that passage.
So we can think of parables in the reveal and conceal method or another way to say it would be that the parables have a two sided purpose. They teach spiritual truth to people who believe in Jesus and at the same time, they deliberately harden the hearts of unbelievers in their unbelief. You could say, as one commentator did that “God uses them to differentiate those in and out of the kingdom.”
With that understanding of the purpose of the parables, let’s turn to Jesus’ explanation of the meaning of this particular parable and what it tells us about the people as they hear the Word of God.

III. Responding to the Heard Word

First, we can quickly see this parable is an allegory. I must caution you not to view all parables as allegorical because they certainly are not. But this one is so we can look at the elements and see what they represent.
The seed is the Word of God.
The sower is God or possibly those who preach the Word of God.
The soil are the hearers of the Word as it is spread about.
Right away you can identify that based on this, not all people are equally open or receptive to the Word. If you’ve ever done any kind of outreach ministry or missions work, you know what I mean. Not everyone will greet the Word with open arms.
In those days a sower would have his seed and he would take handfuls of it and rhythmically, scatter it back and forth. In many of the fields there would be foot paths that would pass through and the seed that fell on these would get taken by birds or trampled by passersby. This shows the first type of heart soil in the parable.
The hard - indifferent heart - hardened by maybe a bitter experience in life, some hard and unjustified feeling they have against God, an unwillingness to turn from their sin, or a cold indifference to spiritual truth being shared.. What is very clear is that the enemy here is Satan is working against them absorbing the Word. He snatches it away as birds on the path before it can root in their heart.
The shallow - The soil in ancient Israel was shallow in places. It would only go down a few inches before you would hit bedrock. Seed that fell here would often shoot up quickly but would not survive. This shallow soil is the second soil in the parable. This shallow soil reminds me of youth camp. As a youth pastor I would take students to camp and they would have concentrated times in the Word. They would often respond with tearful prayers and testimonies and commitments to change when they got home. It would last about a week or two and they’d be back partying or sleeping with their girlfriend. When troubles come, when real testing comes, they fall away because their roots have not grown down deep. They shot up fast. But some pressure came and they gave it up. This isn’t limited to teenagers. It happens many times with adults as well. Did you ever see someone who seemed to immediately start to grow after coming to faith and then a year later, they’re nowhere to be found? J.C. Ryle has a quote about this that he noticed when preaching in Liverpool, “It is quite possible to feel great pleasure, or deep alarm, under the preaching of the Gospel, and yet to be utterly destitute of the grace of God. The tears of some hearers of sermons, and the extravagant delight of others, are no certain marks of conversion. We may be warm admirers of favourite preachers, and yet remain nothing better than stony-ground hearers. Nothing should content us but a deep, humbling, self-mortifying work of the Holy Ghost, and a heart-union with Christ.” In other words, a faith that endures, that is deeply rooted in who Jesus is and what He has done and NOT on how we feel.
The distracted - The third soil is fast to grow but it’s distracted and never produces fruit that lasts. Weeds choke off the spiritual growth. What are these weeds?
Cares or trouble that comes
Riches
Pleasures - Bad things can become distractions from the Word taking heart in our lives. But Jesus wants His hearers and us to know that good things in our lives can distract us from being deeply rooted in Christ. The raise we got at work is great but if we are living for it and working and focusing everything on it, we will be distracted. You could say the same about vacations, tv shows, really any type of pleasure. God has given us good gifts to enjoy but the good things should never become our main things. The fruit of this soil does not mature and is of little use to the kingdom of God.
The fruitful soil is the final in the parable.
Luke 8:15 ESV
As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.
When you grow seed in good soil, you get a good harvest. If you look back to Jesus’ telling of the parable, in verse 8,
Luke 8:8 ESV
And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
A hundredfold. The point is this good soil produces an abundant harvest. It’s useful fruit to the kingdom. This heart holds fast to the Word. It isn’t too hard to hear and get the Word snatched away, it isn’t too shallow for there to be roots, and it’s not distracted by the cares or the riches and pleasures of the world.
Phillip Ryken says this about this type of heart,
“It is a heart that holds on to God’s word: reading it regularly, believing what it says about sin and salvation, and living in obedience to its commands. This heart is also an honest heart—one that is sincere in its desire to grow in the knowledge of God. It is a good heart—one that has been made good by the grace of God. It is a patient heart—one that perseveres through life’s trials without giving up on God. Such a heart will always bear good fruit, because when it is planted in a good heart, the good seed of God’s word grows a harvest of love, patience, righteousness, and all the other fruits of godliness.”
Conclusion:
Knowing the purpose of the parables, it would be good of us to look at this particular parable as both a warning for those hearing it and at the same time an encouragement to those out there sowing the Word when they see people not believe or seem to fall away.
This parable described what was going on right then and there. The women were good soil. The disciples were good soil. The men like the Pharisee, Simon who had invited Jesus to his home in chapter 7 was an illustration of hard soil.
This parable also describes what is going on right this minute. God’s Word is being proclaimed. I’m spreading it around here. It’s falling on your hearts and each of our hearts is in one of these categories.
I wanted a way to illustrate a point of application so I messaged my mother-in-law to find out something from my father-in-law, as you do. :) Dale is a farmer and I found out that they have to test the soil occasionally. You take samples and then you take them to the county Farm Service Agency. They send them to a lab and you can find out what you’re working with. Today I am advocating that you test what kind of soil your heart is. Are you hardened to the things of God? Do you hear the Word and immediately move on to something else? Are you shallow? Are you easily distracted by the things of the world? Do you easily skip church for some other pursuit? What type of soil are you? Do you want to be deeply rooted?
The parables take interpretation and application. We need to study to know what they mean and then apply that to our lives. If you now understand then what will you do with it?
So I encourage you to evaluate your hearts before the Lord based on what the Word of God says about them.
A second word of application, is actually encouragement. I find this parable to be encouraging on one level. It is encouraging to keep on sowing the Word. Keep sharing the Word. At the very beginning of the chapter we saw that those who have been forgiven by Jesus work for the Word to go forth. Let this encourage you. How so pastor? I mean, three out of the four soils didn’t work. Yes, that’s true. And it’s a reminder that there will always be people who will reject the gospel. There will be people who reject the Word of God. Not everyone makes it. Here’s the encouraging part: God is responsible for the outcome. It is God who saves. It is God who reveals the Word and by His Holy Spirit that we can understand it. In so many ways, this relieves some of the pressure you may feel in your personal ministries. It’s not up to you to MAKE someone believe. It is up to you to sow the Word of God and to love people. But it is God who opens their hearts to understand. So let’s do our part, and trust God to do His part.
And that good soil, those hearts that believe and endure, produce good and lasting fruit for the kingdom.
Let’s pray.
Pray.
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