How's Your Dirt?, or Seeds, Soil, and Harvest

How’s Your Dirt?

(Introduction)

Back yard grass in sad shape. Some areas grow well, others poorly do to tree shade and roots. Some areas are dirt.

All the gras was the same. But some areas of the yard were not conducive to supporting it.

Parable of the sower —>> Parable of the dirt. The seed sown is all the same, it’s the suitability of the soil that makes all the difference.

Examine your condition and ability to hear and receive the Words of God.

Pray

Mark 4:1–20 NLT

1 Once again Jesus began teaching by the lakeshore. A very large crowd soon gathered around him, so he got into a boat. Then he sat in the boat while all the people remained on the shore. 2 He taught them by telling many stories in the form of parables, such as this one: 3 “Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seed. 4 As he scattered it across his field, some of the seed fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate it. 5 Other seed fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seed sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. 6 But the plant soon wilted under the hot sun, and since it didn’t have deep roots, it died. 7 Other seed fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants so they produced no grain. 8 Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they sprouted, grew, and produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” 9 Then he said, “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.” 10 Later, when Jesus was alone with the twelve disciples and with the others who were gathered around, they asked him what the parables meant. 11 He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secret of the Kingdom of God. But I use parables for everything I say to outsiders, 12 so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled: ‘When they see what I do, they will learn nothing. When they hear what I say, they will not understand. Otherwise, they will turn to me and be forgiven.’” 13 Then Jesus said to them, “If you can’t understand the meaning of this parable, how will you understand all the other parables? 14 The farmer plants seed by taking God’s word to others. 15 The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message, only to have Satan come at once and take it away. 16 The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. 17 But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word. 18 The seed that fell among the thorns represents others who hear God’s word, 19 but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced. 20 And the seed that fell on good soil represents those who hear and accept God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!”

How’s Your Dirt?

Jesus teaches that not all will hear, not all will receive the blessing of the wisdom of the Kingdom of God.

In vs. 14, Mark says the sower sows the Word. In Matthew we have a little honing of this: “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom” (Matt. 13:19)

What ‘word’ is this, exactly?

It is the description, the call, and the glorification of the rule and realm of God. It is truth and teaching that points us towards embracing the presence of God and trusting Him to let go of the dependance on this world.

These words are the seed scattered. They are as a first-person account of the glory of God. By bible. By Jesus. And by each of His followers. God reveals Himself to us. When we respond to the Spirits prompting in our lives to live for Him and not for ourselves. When we have accepted the forgiveness of sin and received a new heart from God. We have our first glimpses at the Divine presence of the almighty God!

As His Word works in us, is planted, grows and matures, seeds are produced from our own lives. Words - testimonies - of what God has done in us. Our own lives, transformed by the goodness of God, are the scattered word too.

As we approach this passage, it asks us to reflect on our own lives. How is your dirt? In other words...

Will I remove the impediments to God’s transforming me?

We might be stuck spiritually.

Know what’s next, unwilling to let go of what’s holding us back.

Like where we are and not eager to seek God’s Word

Either way, God has something much grander for you! He can plant the seeds of miraculous transformation. The seeds that someone else desperately needs, stored up in your eager obedience.

When we examine our lives and how God is moving and transforming us, we must look honestly and squarely at how receptive we are to that word.

How is your dirt?

What’s the Diagnosis?

What are the things preventing God’s word from flourishing in your life?

As we look at the four types of soil, they represent two things.

The field of evangelism: The hearts of those who hear the good news of God’s forgiveness and how they respond.

The field of the believers heart: How, as followers of Jesus, we are willing to hear, to pursue, to persevere, and value the words of truth in our lives.

As we look at the diagnosis, we will examine the first three soils. We’ll get to the last soil in the next section.

Footpath - Truth Confusion

The soil on the footpath - Satan takes it away. (Satan - this title literally means “one who opposes”. He is an accuser.)

The seed lays on top the soil. It is not cherished or valued.

The words of Satan carry the same weight as the words of God.

There is no consideration of the words of God, no crack in the ground for the seeds to find shelter.

The purpose of the dirt is business and unproductiveness. It’s a footpath. traveling back and forth. There may be another season when the boarders between fields changes and this section of ground gets broken up and tilled, it’s just not today!

What verse would typify this Diagnosis?

Romans 1:24–25 ESV

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

This passage goes on to talk about the very type of confusion of truth and morality we see in the world today.

Rocky Ground - Truth Devalued

The next seeds fell on rocky soil. There’s dirt, but it’s not deep or rich. Not much room for roots, quick to dry, easily overheated.

The seed finds its way in to be considered. And it is recieved with joy!

But, that joy is very fleeting. Maybe it’s heard because it’s a new thought, But it isn’t life-changing.

With any pushback or hardship, that truth is discarded as unneeded and unwanted. “That was interesting, but this is a ‘real world problem’”

Hosea 6:4 ESV

4 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away.

James 1:23–24 ESV

23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.

When we entertain the words of the Kingdom of God as we do the words of a good novel, when we value them so lightly that we are less sustained and less delighted in them than we are a good meal, they will not impact our lives or transform our souls.

You can’t expect a passing interest in hearing God’s words to have a profound impact. If we value them little, that is the value they will have for us.

Among the Thorns - Truth Unfocused

The third diagnosis is for those who sincerely desire the word of God in their lives, but they desire many things along with it.

It is no sin to enjoy things in the world. It is no sin to care deeply for others and their situations. It is no sin to work hard and receive the wages of your labor.

The dynamic at play here is that those in this group can’t, or don’t, differentiate the primary value. Everything is on the same level in a competition for attention.

Let me tell you, it is easy to let go of the wealth of wisdom and truth God has given and called us to and get busy doing something else. Often good things. Choosing to put God in His proper place will never leave you without what is truly valuable.

Luke 10:38–42 ESV

38 Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

Choose that portion that can not be taken away.

Desire the Cure. Reproduce!

The last group is the good soil. Those in whom the seeds fell on, were tilled under, gave priority to the truth, nurtured and saw the transformation of the seed into a plant, and finally into a harvest.

This is where God blesses and works in His people!

But what does this actually look like? This is discipleship!

It begins with receiving and results with reproduction.

Every group had the same beginning, but only one the needed result. All had the seed (word) shared with them.

Commit to the primacy of God’s Word

Primary place of authority in our lives.

We must bury God’s word in the dirt of our lives and heart.

Psalm 119:111 ESV

111 Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart.

Commit to the efficacy of God’s Word

God’s Word is effective.

When you are driving and you need to merge into traffic, you trust that accelerator pedal will be effective.

When you feel stopped and powerless as a child of God in the wizzing world of sin and self, trust the effectiveness of God’s word!

The first step...

Psalm 119:11 ESV

11 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

When it’s hidden in our hearts, a soul-mate of sorts with the Spirit of God who dwells in us, He will bring to mind time to speak his word. And when we do...

Hebrews 4:12 ESV

12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Is the target of the discerning word someone else or ourselves? Either.

When the Word of God convicts or exposes our sin, we can trust Him to do good in our lives.

Respond to the power of God’s Word

There are so many things that can choke the power of the Word of God out, and maybe chief

Trust the working of God’s Word

There are many who trust and follow God with their whole heart. But the produce each brings is not the same. We are not to judge another quantity, but that there IS fruit. Let the harvest be determined by God.

Paul knew the result of his discipleship efforts in Corinth wasn’t up to him

1 co 3:6

1 Corinthians 3:6 ESV

6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.

When God Is ready, there wont be enough people to bring what He will produce!

Matthew 9:38 ESV

38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

We can expect the produce of the seeds God has planted in our lives. Every seed is ripe in it’s own season. Some produce quickly, others take years to be mature enough to produce.

When we continue in faithfully following our part, we can trust God in His.

Closing illustration...

Illustration

John was a pool man for one of my members. She had been witnessing to him for a number of months - when he was diagnosed with cancer. She asked me to pray for him - so I went to visit him. When I introduced myself he said, "I know I'm going to hell." I asked him how he knew that. He shared with me some terrible things he had done as a sniper in the military. So, as he was talking, I was praying. "What do I say? Do I discuss 'just war,' do I try to convince him he was under orders?" -- Then he said, "My problem is how can God forgive me, if I can't forgive myself." God said, "Interrupt - get in there," and I responded, "Because He is better at it than you - He invented forgiveness." To make a long story short, he prayed like a condemned criminal before a harsh judge. God saved him. For a few weeks he would ask me, "Pastor, are you sure God has forgiven me." "John, who are you trusting, lets look at God's Word." -- In the last few weeks he did not ask questions out of doubt and fear - God gave him the fruit of assurance. Today, I will bury John. I am thanking the Lord for team work with a Christian lady in the church who witnessed and cared and loved -- who cast the net. I am thankful for the privilege of drawing the net.

Matthew 9:37–38 ESV

37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Study...

The crowds grew even larger, but those who sought the truth were few.

Many are drawn to the words of Jesus, but fewer are drawn to His truth. Fewer still allow the word to take root, grow, and produce fruit.

v. 14 - In Matt. ‘the words of the Kingdom… into their heart’,

Who is the sower?? The sower is, of course, Christ and anyone else who puts forth God’s Word, whether in preaching or in personal exchange.

R. Kent Hughes, Mark: Jesus, Servant and Savior, vol. 1, Preaching the Word (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1989), 104.

What is the expected harvest??

Why the parable? - “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding: otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!” (vv. 11, 12).

What did Jesus’ mysterious pronouncement mean? The parallel account (Matthew 13:12, 13) sheds some light: “Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see: though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’” In essence Jesus was enigmatically saying that the condition of one’s heart determines its receptivity to truth.

R. Kent Hughes, Mark: Jesus, Servant and Savior, vol. 1, Preaching the Word (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1989), 104.

Mark—Jesus, Servant and Savior Authentic Hearing ( Mark 4:1-20 )

If we are believers, we must set ourselves to always respond to God’s truth as we read it or hear it from another believer or from the pulpit. An excellent spiritual discipline is to respond to truth by saying, “God, you have spoken to me, and I will do it.” We must respond to truth!

When God’s word takes root, and grows, and flourishes, we become not only the field, but the seed.

John 12:23–28 ESV

23 And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. 27 “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”