The Seed and Our Soil

Change of plans- Be faithful to Him

Matthew 13:1-9

Tonight, I want to ask you a question, and its one that for somebody that has accepted Jesus as my personal lord and savior, has always blew my mind to think of.

Have you ever wondered why some seem to embrace God’s good news of salvation and others don’t?

In tonight’s scripture, Jesus, gives us a parable that talks about peoples varying receptivity to God’s word.

If you remember not too long ago, I preached on another parable that Jesus gives us called The Unforgiving servant.

And in that sermon, we went over what a parable is,

and if you remember I told you the best definition I could give you of a parable

was it’s a simple story that Jesus used that had a huge message inside.

Jesus spoke many parables and if you haven’t studied or read them, I want to encourage you to open your bibles and do just that.

But tonight, we are going to be in Matthew 13:1-9

Read

Some of my favorite memories growing up, are those summers spent at my papa’s house learning how to garden.

My papa taught us how to drive and run the tractor.

He taught us how to till up the spot we planned on planting,

and how to make the rows and prepare the field for the seeds.

And you did all that preparation,

all that work to give the seeds the best possible chance to grow.

We were very careful of where we put them how far apart,

we planted them,

and with Papa if you were going to do it you were going to do it right and see it all the way through.

And as I read through this scripture those memories just kept running through my head of how precious

and how much we prepared for what we saw as just a little seed.

In tonight’s scripture, Jesus talks about seed and four different soils.

Back then, farmers would throw out seed from a little pouch, hoping that some would grow.

In this parable its important for us to establish the meaning behind the seed, and to do that we can look at the same parable in Mark chapter 4 vs 14 where Jesus is explaining the parable to the disciples.

He says “The sower soweth the word”. So, the seed is the word and the word here stands for the word of God.

The soil is the condition of our hearts, our inner life.

It represents our receptivity to the gospel, the good news of God’s forgiveness.

In three out of four of his examples, people definitely have heart trouble.

Let’s briefly look at those three, and then we’ll consider what it means for us.

The seed sown along the path was eaten up by birds, which represent Satan, the evil one.

In Jesus’ time, fields were surrounded by walking paths hardened and baked by the sun.

Birds could easily find the seed and eat it up.

Jesus says, in verse 19, these are people who have hardened hearts. The gospel never really penetrates below surface understanding, so Satan easily snatches it away.

Then Jesus talks about seed that falls on rocky places.

There’s a little bit of soil on top of the rock, which leads to instant sprouting.

But the soil is so shallow the plant cannot grow.

Jesus says, in verses 20 and 21, this seed represents people who outwardly embrace the gospel with great fanfare, but their emotional, superficial commitment quickly withers away at the first sign of trouble because it has no depth.

1 John 2:19 describes these kinds of people as it says “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.”

The third kind of person with heart trouble is represented by the seed sown among thorns.

In verse 22, Jesus says the thorns represent the distractions of this world: peer pressure and wealth that come in and choke out any spiritual growth.

This type of person never really breaks with their past.

Worldliness and materialism choke out the word of God, and nothing changes in their life.

And then, without much description or explanation,

Jesus says some people have very fertile soil in their hearts,

and they embrace the Word of God and see amazing growth,

some 100-fold, some 60-, and some 30-.

Tonight, really quickly I want to give you 3 take aways that grabbed me in this parable on our heart’s receptivity of God word.

1. We need to share the good news with everyone.

In the parable, the farmer throws the seed everywhere, not knowing in advance where it may sprout.

Likewise, God calls us to share the good news of his love and forgiveness with everyone we encounter,

sometimes with deeds, sometimes with words.

I read this quote while studying this that said “Preach the gospel at all times; when necessary, use words.”

This was a hard message for Jesus’ listeners, because at this time they thought God’s word was reserved exclusively for the Jews.

Yet, Jesus says in his parable that the seed goes out to everyone the same, and If we’re honest, it is a challenging word for us today.

There are some people we have trouble believing God truly loves. Yet he does!

I know just last week all over the news it was hard for me to imagine and understand how many people in this world are ok with all the abortions, all the worldly lifestyles, all the hate that America is slowly turning too, instead of Jesus

I’m going to be honest with you, its hard to think that Jesus could love such a person.

But oh, me then I’m reminded………………………………

you know………………

Jesus died for them too

I’m reminded of my life before Christ,

how lost and sinful and of this world I was

and how much I still let God down every day.

And I’m here to tell you if God can love me through all my faults and failures.

He can love anybody

When we remember that, everything changes.

We need to share the good news with everyone we meet.

Next

2. We need to trust God to bring the growth.

Sometimes we may grow frustrated with those who don’t embrace the gospel message as we have,

but that is between them and God.

Unfortunately, not everyone will come to Jesus.

Sadly, most won’t.

Look in today’s story, only a fourth do.

In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:13,

Jesus says, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in there at: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

As we allow the soil of our heart to be open to God’s planting the seed of salvation, we enter the narrow road to life.

For those who are not on that road, we can pray that they wake up before it is too late.

And we can continue to love them unconditionally as God does.

And continue to be the light or in this case throw the seed.

We need to share the good news with everyone,

and we need to trust God to bring the growth.

Lastly

3. We need to cooperate with God in the growth he brings in us.

Note that even for those with fertile hearts,

God’s word doesn’t grow at the same level in each of us.

Some will see 30-fold results,

some 60-fold,

and some even 100-fold.

And that’s ok,

because all of those results indicate growth

and reflect Gods Amazing Grace!

We can keep the soil of our heart fertile by regular prayer with God,

reading Gods word,

coming to church,

studying Gods word,

and spending time with other Christians.

All these activities are ways to cultivate our spiritual life,

not to stay busy,

but to connect with Christ, the living Word, at work in us.

And as we connect, we allow ourselves to be transformed by God.

The Word of God takes root in our life and begins producing fruit.

We see God do things in and through us to bring himself glory.

We see prayers answered.

We notice God giving us more love,

more kindness,

more patience,

more boldness,

more grace for others,

more forgiveness.

Folks, we need to share the good news of Jesus with everyone.

We need to trust God to bring the growth,

And we need to cooperate with God in the growth he wants to bring in us.

Then, we can simply marvel as he brings in his amazing harvest.

Tonight I want you to ask yourself this question

Which one of these soils best explains your life?

are you helping throw the seed?

or are you just hearing the word

and letting the world snatch it up before God can use you?

If you’re here tonight or watching on FB live and you don’t know Jesus

I want you to understand that the seed has been sown

The question will be and has always been will you accept it?

Invatation