Parable: The power of a seed

Our Theme for 2025 is “Live Like Jesus”

It comes out of a simple desire to follow Jesus - and to learn better what that means.

We are spending the entire year in the Gospel of Matthew.

Over the last several months we talked about divine healing, deliverance, forgiveness and being a disciple of Jesus.

We have talked about faith, repentance and having a personal relationship with God.

Last week I said that when Jesus talked about sending demons out of a house and sweeping it clean, that was a kind of parable.

A parable is a story with a point.

Like a joke - it has a punchline - except it is serious!

The point of that parable was - don’t leave the house empty.

And then Jesus goes on to tell the people who are in the house with him that they are like His real family.

They are the ones who are filling the house with their love and with relationship.

This chapter contains another parable - the parable of the sower.

Jesus told us in the parable of the sower that seeds scattered on good soil produced a hundredfold. This reminds us of the early church, where a small group of believers, like seeds in good soil, grew exponentially as they shared faith and love. Their commitment transformed lives and communities, proving that even the smallest acts can lead to a powerful harvest when guided by the Spirit.

Consider a small acorn, seemingly insignificant and fragile. Yet, when planted in the right soil, it has the potential to grow into a mighty oak tree, stretching towards the heavens. Just as this tiny seed can thrive and provide shelter and strength, so can the seed of faith planted in our hearts grow and produce abundant fruit in our lives, as illustrated in the parable of the sower.

The story is told in several parts, each part making a slightly different point, but also somewhat interrelated.

The first part is about the condition of the soil.

I have heard some preachers say that its not the parable of the sower, but the parable of the soils.

It is supposed to make you assess the condition of your own heart.

Then Jesus explains from the prophets that the Word of God is like the seed.

Given the right conditions, that seed contains a whole lot more than meets the eye.

Seeds are little but they produce big things.

Lastly, Jesus explains that there is a resistance to the Word of God that comes not just from our own human nature but from our spiritual enemy.

The enemy may be powerful, but so is the seed.

We cant always tell the difference between the two until we see the result.

When we recognize the power of the Word of God in our lives, we will work with God to make it grow.

Assessing the soil.

Matthew 13:1–3 ESV

1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow.

Matthew begins by announcing a change of scenery from last weeks teaching.

Last week was about taking faith personally and it was for a small audience.

This week is about the Word of God as a seed and it is for a broader audience.

In fact, Jesus gets into a boat, utilizing the acoustics of the water to broadcast his message to a crowd which has gathered on the shore.

The setting is important because it also illustrates the parable that Jesus is telling.

There are many people who heard his message - but not every one received and understood it.

And of those who did receive it - some people move on and seem to forget about it.

Some people seem to receive it and understand it - but they never really get it.

Because the message doesn’t actually change them.

Or if it does, it is just temporary and they go back to living as they always have.

What makes the difference?

The message is a seed - and the seed is the same.

But the soil is the heart that receives it.

And soils vary - just a people very in their response to the message.

So the first point of the parable is that the success of the seed, the message of the gospel, is contingent on the condition on the condition of the hearts of those who receive it.

And that should cause each of us to question...

What is the condition of your heart?

Matthew 13:4–8 ESV

4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 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, 6 but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

Four different soil conditions are mentioned.

Hard soil - the Word is never really received.

It gets snatched away by birds.

People say things that contradict the message and we never give it another thought.

Or they mock and jeer, so that we never really listen.

We just assume “that message is for the birds!”

Shallow soil - its hard, but only just under the surface.

“Sure, I believe in Jesus”” we say it, but we never really think about it.

Or we wear a Christian mask because we want people to think well of us, but it never really becomes our heart’s conviction.

Jesus also called it rocky soil.

Maybe the Word starts to take root, but it encounters a hardness on the inside - hidden obstacles within.

Maybe the voices that would distract us from the truth are not around us but inside our own heads.

And we never verbalize our doubts so they are never challenged.

They keep us shallow instead.

And then there is weedy soil.

The word of God finds fertile soil in our minds, but so do a lot of other ideas.

We may be open and receptive to the gospel, but we lack a filter

So we buy just about anything that anyone is saying.

In fact, maybe its not about what they are saying at all - its who is saying it.

We want so badly to please everybody and to have everyone’s approval.

God is just going to have to wait in line until we have made everyone else happy.

And then there is the good soil.

The seed goes in - our hearts are open.

The seed takes root - our minds are receptive.

And the seed gets to do what a seed does - it grows into what is was uniquely created to be.

And so do we...

Are you open and receptive to truth?

Matthew 13:9–12 ESV

9 He who has ears, let him hear.” 10 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11 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. 12 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.

Do you have ears?- Of course you do, we all have them.

Its an idiom - an expression that means more than what it says.

Everybody has ears, but not everybody hears the same.

It’s a cryptic way of saying, “do you really hear what I am saying?”

Wink - touch your nose- if you understood the secret message, nod your head.

Some of you are nodding just to look like everyone else.

So why does Jesus speak in parables?

Why doesn’t he just announce that He is God in the flesh come back to reclaim the world for Himself.

Why doesn’t He just raise up an army of followers and blow away the opposition.

That’s just what everyone expects Him to do.

God doesn’t operate that way.

He’s not here to conquer human will and set up a dictatorship.

That is the way a fallen humanity operates.

God wants something different - He want people’s hearts.

He wants people who follow Him voluntarily because they love Him.

An that requires an approach that is more organic.

Hearing the Word.

Matthew 13:13–15 ESV

13 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. 14 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.” 15 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.’

Wait, what did I just read?

Is Jesus saying that He doesn’t want people to get the message?

Jesus is quoting from Isaiah 6.

This is the chapter where Isaiah has a vision of the throne of God.

Isaiah 6:1 ESV

1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.

Then God calls Isaiah:

Isaiah 6:8 ESV

8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”

This is the message that God gives to Isaiah:

Isaiah 6:9–10 ESV

9 And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “ ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ 10 Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

In other words - people are not going to listen to you Isaiah - but tell them anyway.

Why? - Because it is the truth and they need to know it.

Why speak the truth if they are not going to listen?

Because it is a warning - judgement is coming.

They will eventually be held accountable and they won’t be able to say they were never told.

And some people, eventually, will understand.

What makes the difference?

Hear the Word and value it.

Matthew 13:16–17 ESV

16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. 17 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.

When you think about the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, are you grateful for what you know?

My wife Karie was not raised in a Christian home, or if it was it was only nominal. She shares in her testimony that when she surrendered her life to Jesus Christ at the age of 22, she was so grateful for what God saved her from that she just wanted to spend the rest of her life telling people about Jesus. And for her, that meant everything from staying up late at night to lead a Bible study in a local coffee shop to going to the ends of the earth. Taking the gospel to the least reached.

My story is a little different than that.

My parents made me go to church. That’s not a bad thing - but I didn’t always feel that way at the time. I encountered Jesus as a child walking in the woods and talking to God. Church gave me a foundation, but my own encounter with God is what convinced me that God is real. Not everyone gets that.

I find that not everyone who hears the Word of God appreciates and values the true significance of what they are hearing.

Jesus told his disciples, “Do you know how many people have anticipated and looked forward to hearing the message that I am bringing?”

Isaiah, for one.

Isaiah declared that Israel was going to go into exile over a hundred years before it happened.

They had to go into exile, because they are stubborn, selfish and they never change.

It was going to take seventy years of exile in Babylon and being scattered among the nations to teach them to follow God from their heart.

Guess what… for many of them… that didn’t do it either.

What would it take?

It would take Jesus, Himself coming to earth - His own exile.

And he would humble Himself to show a self-centered humanity that God is not like us.

But He became like us - so that we could be like Him.

2 Corinthians 5:21 CSB

21 He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

I don’t think we truly get it - we don’t value what Jesus Christ did enough!

If we truly understood just how important it is; what Jesus did for us- then no sacrifice we could ever make for Him would be too much.

Charles Studd, the founder of WEC International, is famous for saying, “If Jesus Christ be God, and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for him.”

Valuing the Word of God is demonstrated by what we do with our lives in response to the gospel.

It doesn’t mean that you have to quit your job an move to Africa - though it has meant that for some.

It means that whatever you do, you do it for Him!

Hear the Word and understand it.

Matthew 13:18–23 ESV

18 “Hear then the parable of the sower: 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. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 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. 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. 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.”

If you hear the Word of God and understand it - it will bear fruit.

Fruit is the natural outcome of the growth that results from transformation.

Transformation leads to more transformation - that’s just how things work.

A seed doesn’t just carry the potential for a plant.

But when that plant is mature, it will also produce a flower

Which turns into some form of fruit

Which also contains a seed or seed which perpetuate the cycle and give increase.

I talked about this when I preached a series from Galatians a few years ago.

The life that Christ brings is meant to reproduce itself, spread and increase.

The Word of God feeds into a positive cycle of personal growth and transformation.

But then there are the obstacles - and Jesus also identifies them here.

Those birds - they’re not just birds - those are messengers of satan who are waiting for the opportunity to snatch the truth right out from under you.

That rocky ground - that is persecution.

The world makes life difficult for those who are trying to follow God.

And some people give up thinking its not worth it.

And then there’s the weeds.

The weeds are not all bad things.

Sometimes they are good things, even great things - like money or fame.

Anything to distract us from following God with all our heart.

When God created the world and put mankind in the garden - growing things was humanity’s first occupation.

It didn’t become a chore until after the fall.

All of those obstacles to the task of the Sower and the growth of the seed are a result of the fall.

Genesis 3:18 MSG

18 The ground will sprout thorns and weeds, you’ll get your food the hard way, Planting and tilling and harvesting,

The parable of the Sower is really the parable of the seed.

And it lets us in on the secret of God’s plan.

How He is working to undo the effects of the fall.

And to restore the world to Himself.

Undoing the work of the enemy.

Matthew 13:24–26 ESV

24 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also.

A favorite trick of the devil is to make us blame God for our problems.

God is not to blame for evil in the world.

Only good things come from God.

James 1:17 CSB

17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

So why isn’t life all good and wonderful?

It’s because of the fall.

When satan sowed doubt into the minds of Adam and Eve - he sowed some really bad seed.

And the thing about bad seed is it lies dormant and you don’t see it until its already there-

right beside the good plant with its roots wrapped around it.

Try to get rid of evil and you find that it has hold of you too.

Truth and error may have the smallest differences.

Matthew 13:27–35 ESV

27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ” 31 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” 33 He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.” 34 All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. 35 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.”

Why doesn’t God just eradicate evil from this world?!

I do believe that is His intention - eventually!

But it’s not that simple - sometimes evil is hard to identify - especially when it is mixed with some good.

Have you ever noticed that the devil doesn’t just show up and announce, “Hey I’m the devil and I will be ruining your life today! What will it be- sin, total destruction or just general mayhem?

It doesn’t work like that - evil comes disguised as good things.

Sin comes disguised as pleasure - you want to feel good, right?

Nothing wrong with pleasure, within certain boundaries.

Destruction comes disguised as impulsivity.

Don’t be a prude - sometimes you just have to blow off some steam.

Famous last words...

Mayhem doesn’t usually begin as evil - it begins as busyness and eventually gets out of control.

It’s easy to see other people making mistakes, drifting off the path and succumbing to temptation - but we rarely ever see it in ourselves- until it’s too late.

It’s delicate work - separating good from evil - discerning truth from error.

It’s not something that you can just mass produce.

Each one must allow God to do it for themselves - thus preserving the freewill that He gives us.

He also gives us the Holy Spirit to help us untangle our own minds and motives.

The only other way to sort things out is to let each seed mature to reveal its true nature.

In the parable of the wheat and the tares, you can’t tell the crops apart until they go into head.

When the heads emerge, you have a brief window of time to eliminate them before they go to seed and the cycle starts over again.

But knowing the difference will have the greatest consequences.

Matthew 13:36–43 ESV

36 Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” 37 He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

Evil will eventually be seen for what it is.

Sometimes when i look at the news, I wonder why God allows things to go on like they have.

I believe the Apostle Paul gives us the answer.

2 Thessalonians 2:3 NLT

3 Don’t be fooled by what they say. For that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness is revealed—the one who brings destruction.

Jesus is not going to come back until the man of lawlessness is revealed.

Just as in this parable - the tares need to emerge and be sorted before the wheat can be gathered.

I believe God allows evil to continue so that it will come to a head.

Evil must be allowed to do what it wants to do so that it will be seen for what it really is.

In the mean time, we need to be watchful of ourselves - that we are letting the Holy Spirit sort out our own hearts and motives.

After all we might find that some of our own roots have been intertwined with that of the tares.

We need to cultivate the soil of our hearts to be sure that the good seed of the Word of God has a place to grow.

And we need to examine the fruit of our lives to be sure that what is growing is good.

We would want any bad fruit going to seed and making more bad fruit.

Our lives will be judged by what is growing and perpetuating through our lives - the goodness of God - or something else.

And if your life seems like it is a confused and tangled mess at the moment.

If you recognize hardness, rocks or weeds.

Just chop them all up and call it “fertilizer”

Accept the Word of God and don’t underestimate the power of a good seed.

Questions for reflection:

What is the condition of the soil of your heart? Is is hard or soft? Is it shallow or deep? Is is open or crowded? Our first occupation as humans was to cultivate a garden, a place to meet with God. Perhaps you can do that in your own heart?

What about the wheat and the tares? Have you become preoccupied with the threat of evil? Have you ever found yourself getting wrapped up in it and choking the life out of you? Let God bring things to a head, but be sure to bloom where you are planted.

The Bible says that the Word of God accomplishes what it was sent to do. Read and meditate on Isaiah 55:10-11. God’s Word is a seed, a small thing that makes a big difference. What is the Word of God producing in you?