Matthew 13: 1-42

Theme: Salvation

Series: Parables of the Kingdom

SEEDS, SOILS, AND WEEDS

I had a friend whose father was not a Christian. His mother was, he was. His father knew the Bible from cover to cover. He could quote it to you all day. But he refused to make a commitment to Christ. He knew that he was a sinner. He knew that Jesus died for his sins. Yet, he would not come to Christ. He went to his grave an unbeliever. I have known several people like this and it boggles my mind.

Then, there is Mortimer Adler. Adler is a renown 20^th century philosopher. He was the architect of the Great Books project. I use to see him on Firing Line with William Buckley and was always amazed by him. He was a great classical philosopher, moralist, and friend of orthodox Christianity, but he was not a Christian. I always wondered how a man so smart and so wise and who very much understood the truth of the Bible would not become a Christian. This also seemed to have baffled Buckley as well. Yet, in his 80s, during a serious illness, someone prayed for him and soon he professed Jesus as his savior.

Why? Why does someone who knows about the work of Jesus Christ on the behalf of sinners, just refuse to accept him? Jesus addresses this in a parable.

Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea. Perhaps that morning, Jesus rose early to go out and pray and meditate as he was apt to do. Even Jesus needed time for solitude, to get away from the crowd and rest. As the sun rose and the day began, a great crowd gathered around Jesus to hear more words about the Kingdom of God. They were curious. They wanted to know more and to be a part of it. The kingdom of God is like sowing seed, he told them. It was a story, a parable, to illustrate who enters the kingdom.

The sower went out to sow his seed. And he just slung seed everywhere. He did not take care, he just slung his seed. His seed fell onto four kinds of soil. The first was on the footpaths. The farmer would even spread some of the seeds on the roads that ran through his farm. But the seed was exposed there and the birds would come along and eat it.

Some of the seed fell on rocky soil. Here the seed sprouted but the soil was shallow, the rocks were just beneath the surface, the roots could not go deep and there was no moisture, so the seeds withered and died. Some of the seed fell into good ground and grew. But, in the dirt was the seed of other plants, all weeds. It was good soil, in fact, weeds will grow only in good soil. The seed of the sower grew up, but it was chocked out by the weeds and it never produced fruit. But much of the seed fell on good soil and it sprouted and grew and it produced a bumper crop of 100 fold.

The disciples got Jesus off to the side later on and began to question him. What does it mean? Jesus said, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but the rest it is in parables in order that seeing they may not see and hearing they may not hear." What a strange thing to say. But he is quoting from Isaiah 6: 9-10 which reads as follows:

In essence he is saying I have spoken to them the word of God and they have refused to understand it. Jesus is not speaking to them in parables because he does not want them to understand. Jesus is speaking in parables because they have deliberately rejected his message. Their lack of hearing is in itself, judgment. Yet, the story is a powerful device. Perhaps after a time the story would work its way into their hearts and one day they would say, I see now, I understand.

It is important that we grasp this. The hearer is given the responsibility to hear the gospel, it is up to the listener to hear and understand. If we don't understand the simple gospel it is because we rejected it. Let us look at the interpretation that Jesus gave to us.

First he says very plainly that the seed is the Word of God. God sows his seed very liberally, all over the place. He is not discriminating about where he sows his seed. It is for all people in all walks and stations of life. But some of the seed falls on people who simply out right reject it. He says Satan comes and takes away the word from their hearts so that they may not believe and be saved. Notice that believing is connected with being saved. Why does Satan come and take away the seed? Is it because Satan is stronger than God? No! The reason is the hearer has entertained Satan, he follows his ways and he listens to him rather than God. That is why so many people reject the gospel, they simply would follow evil rather than follow God. It is a deliberate decision on their part. It is heart breaking to know someone and to love someone who will not even give God's Word a hearing.

The second group is the seed that falls upon rocky ground. They receive the word with joy, but it is a shallow reception. It is an emotional response. Underneath is hard rock and the roots cannot penetrate the heart. The first crisis comes along, temptation knocks on their door and they fall away. Our church roll books are full of people like that. They are like a roman candle and they shine for one brief moment and then fissile out. They did not really commit themselves to Christ. Many give their hearts to religion or a way of life. But we are not called to do that. We are called to die and to follow Christ as dead men and women who are now made alive by God himself.

It is not an easy road. To follow Christ calls for us to sometimes go against every desire that is in our body. But to become a follower of Jesus means that we do just that. We give up our rights to have our way, to get what we want, to seek our revenge. We are dead men, dead women, we live as only the Lord would have us live. It is sometimes a hard life and that is why so many are like seed in rocky ground. They sprout but their hearts are hard, the roots have no place to go.

Third kind of seed is very common in the church. It is the seed that fell among thorns. These are the ones who have heard the gospel and seem to have accepted it. But they are choked by the worries and riches and the pleasures of this life. Therefore, they bring no fruit to maturity. These are your common, ordinary, everyday pew sitters. They come to church once and awhile. But they do nothing that bears good fruit. They will not participate in the life of the church. They are too easily swayed by the things of this world. They will always find something more important to do than to worship and serve God. They are more concerned with the weeds and the thorns. That is why churches are so powerless today, so many Christians are being choked by thorns.

There is the final kind of soil. It is the one that is good and deep and clean of thorns. This is the Christian who has heard the word with an honest and good heart. First, this person listens attentively to the word. Second, he keeps what he hears in his mind and heart and thinks about it until he discovers for himself, it's meaning and how to apply the truth to his life. Third, he acts upon it, he translates the truth that he loves into action. In fact, he or she is the kind of person who will not settle for just knowing what is truth, they must live out the truth. Often they are criticized by those who are being choked by thorns for being too jubilant, too enthusiastic, taking their faith too seriously. But the one who takes his faith seriously is the one who not only produces fruit, he produces a hundred fold.

The responsibility to follow Jesus rests solely on you. No one can believe for you. No one can force you into the kingdom of God. Jesus closed the parable of the soils with these words, "he who has an ear, let him hear." Do you hear the Word of God this morning? What kind of soil are you? I hope it is the good kind.