Matthew 13 1-9

  8th Sunday after Pentecost

Matthew 13:1-9 (18-23)

“Soil Conditions”

May 2nd, 1999

Intro:  It’s Spring Time.  It is time for planting.  Farmers are getting ready to plant their crops.  Many things need to happen to ensure a successful crop.  The Ground has to be broken up or tilled.  Fertilizer and chemicals need to be added.  These things prepare the ground for the reception of seed.  One of the biggest determinants of a crops success or failure is the condition of the soil.  Bad soil results in crop failure.  Good soil results in a crops success.

            In today’s text Jesus speaks to us about crop failure and crop success.  The crop Jesus is talking about isn’t wheat or corn sown by the hand of man.  This crop is sown by the proclamation of God’s Word.  It is a spiritual crop and it’s first fruit is faith.  Like crops of wheat and corn, this spiritual crops failure or success depends on the type of soil the seed falls upon.  This soil is made up out of the hearts of people.  Our hearts.  This is the soil that the seed of God’s Word falls upon.  Today we will contemplate how God’s Word effects the lives of the people who hear it.  How is your soil condition?

I.       The Sower and the Seed.

The sower is Jesus.  The seed that he sows is the Word of God.  It is made up of both Law and Gospel.  This Word is the splendid Law of God that convicts people of their sin and shows them their need for salvation.  It is the Law that curbs the desires of our sinful flesh.  It is the Law that by the Holy Spirit guides the new man on how to please God.  God’s Word is also the comforting gospel that proclaims sinners forgiven in the name of and for the sake of Jesus’ life death and resurrection.  In a way the sower, Jesus, is also the sown.  He sows the seed and He is the seed that is sown.  Christ is the Word and the seed that is sown into the soil of people’s hearts.

II.    The Four Types of Soil.

A.    The Hard Path.

There are four types of soil described - the Hard Path, the Shallow soil with rock underneath, the Thorny soil and the Good soil.  The Hard Path represents the soil of the heart that hears the Word of God and is impervious to it.  God’s Word is a passing thought.  For scores of reasons it is rejected out-right.  Satan then snatches it away like the birds in the parable that snatch the seed off the path.  The life giving seed is taken away and the soil remains lifeless.

B.     The Shallow Soil.

The shallow soil with the rock beneath it represents the heart that hears God’s Word and gladly receives it.  Faith germinates, grows and tries to blossom.  This is the Christian who is glad to be apart of God’s kingdom.  He is excited about becoming a member of a congregation.  However, he expects that his faith will exempt him from the troubles that people experience in life.  He looks for success and prosperity.  After all isn’t he a child of God?  And doesn’t God want only good things for his children?  Then problems come and he wonders why.  Persecutions come from his friends and his family because of his belief in Christ.  Perhaps they make fun of him or don’t understand why his life has changed.  His faith falters and he wonders if God is still with him.  Finally he finds it easier to return to his old life.  Faith dies.

C.     The Thorny Soil.

The thorny soil represents the hearts of Christians that hear and believe the gospel.  But faith grows in the midst of thorns which are the desires of success and wealth and worldly pleasure.  The Apostle Paul wrote that “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.  Some people, eager for money have wondered from the faith and pierced themselves with many grief’s.”  The roots of these thorny desires strangle the roots of faith.  The thorns pierce and crowd out the plant of faith and it dies.

D.    The Good Soil.

The good soil represents the heart that gladly hears and believes the Word of God.  It believes and grows by the grace of God through it’s branches of faith and its roots grounded deep in Christ.  It grows and bears much fruit as it waits for the final harvest where it and other plants like it will fill up the barns of Heaven.

III. How’s Your Soil.

Four kinds of soil….the hard path, the shallow, the thorny and the good soil.  How’s your soil?  What condition is it in?  When I look at this parable I am tempted to think about other people.  I thank God that I am not like the people that have rejected His Word.  I am glad that I don’t have a shallow faith or have conflict with the thorns of life.  I Thank God that he has made me the good soil.  Is that your temptation too?  If so, and if it were true, I guess we could pat each other on the back and go home.  That isn’t the case though.  No, if we look closely we may see that our hearts contain all four types of soil.

A.    We are Hard Hearted.

1)      Our hearts are sometimes like the hard path.  The Word of God seems to be impervious to our lives.  We suffer from the hardness of stubbornness that does not do what the Word of God clearly proclaims.  We are hearers of the word and not doers.  We suffer from the hardness of apathy when we are confronted by the Word of God, but just don’t care about it’s relevance in our lives.  We suffer form the hardness of disinterest when we neglect reading God’s word.  Our Bibles gather dust.

This section was edited from the delivered sermon:

2)       In the Paths We Walk.

We are shallow in another way.  There is a hard path that we follow.  This path is packed down because it is well traveled by other people.  Some of us might title this path as “Tradition” or “we’ve always done it that way” or “why should we change”.  Others of us might call the path “the latest trend in worship” or “everybody else is doing it”.  These paths are well traveled.  This doesn’t make them wrong out-right.  The danger lies for us if we follow the path in blindness.  If we follow traditions, but don’t understand how they relate to the gospel then the traditions are meaningless.  The gospel is snatched away.  If we jump on the band wagon with new forms of worship, without considering how they relate to the gospel or our confession as a church, we again risk having the gospel snatched away.  What hard paths do you walk down?    

B.     We are Shallow. 

1)      In the Time of Testing.

Our hearts are sometimes like the shallow, rocky path.  Sometimes we are enthusiastic in our faith.  We live in the splendor of what God has given us.  Then problems come.  Our faith may be severely tested when we and our loved ones become sick and die.  We may doubt that God is truly for us and will never forsake us.  When we are persecuted because of our faith in Christ we may question why we believe.  We wonder - God do you really love us.  Our shallowness is revealed to us even if it remains hidden behind a facade of faith.

2)      In our excitement. 

Our shallowness is shown when we get excited about different programs, evangelism or mission work.  Then when it comes time to donate money or spend time working our excitement fades and we leave the work to someone else.  Things always sound better as ideas, but acting on them is work.  Our soil is shallow.

C.     We are Thorny.

Our hearts are sometimes like the thorny ground.  We desire the wealth, prosperity and pleasure that this world offers.  To get them, we may be tempted to lead two different lives.  One is Christian and the other is secular.  We may go to great lengths to keep these lives separate.  It’s like the man who says - “Work is work with its own set of rules and morals.  The number one rule is to succeed, no matter what it takes”.  And then he says - “church is church, where we act like Christians, or at least try to”.  The thorns of our desires pierce us with grief because faith is crowded out because of our desires.

IV. The Good Soil.

A.    Is Made Out of the Bad.

                        What about the good soil?  Where does it come from?  Certainly we suffer from hard, shallow, and thorny, weed infested hearts.  It is into these hearts and under these conditions that the sower sews His seed.  It is with soil like this that God creates in us the  miracle of good soil, that believes in and trusts in His Word.  How does God make life spring up out of hearts like ours.  It is by the power of His holy Word.

B.     Is Chosen.

First He chose the soil of your hearts as the place to plant His most treasured seed.  That seed was Christ who made you into good soil by walking down the hard path to the cross.  It is at the cross that he suffered for your hardness of heart and your shallowness of heart.  It is at the cross where he wore the thorns of your desires as a crown.  At the cross Christ died for you.  Then he was planted in the earth and rose to life as the first fruit of the grave.  The good soil of your hearts comes from His empty tomb. 

C.     Is Created.

God, like a farmer preparing his soil, plowed your hearts with His Law.  Just as the plow tears open the earth to make it ready for seed, your hearts were made ready for His Word. You heard Christ Jesus preached and the forgiveness of sins in His name alone.  Then His Word germinated within your heart and faith sprouted.  He watered the seed of your faith with the everlasting waters of your Holy Baptism.  Slowly you grew and you developed in the light of His Word.  You will bring forth a tremendous harvest.  Your soil conditions are good. Through Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit you bear the sweet fruit of faith.

Conclusion:  God will continue to create good soil in your heart.  He will break up the hard ground of your lives and he will clear away your thorns and prepare you for the seed of His Word.  May our prayer be the final verse of the hymn that we will sing: #338 When Seed Falls on Good Soil :   Lord plow the trodden way,  and clear the stone away;

Tear out the weed and sow the seed.  Prepare our hearts your Word to heed, that we good soil may be.  Begin, oh Lord with me!  Amen.