Sowing the Soils
Matthew - Masterclass • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 29:52
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· 1 viewSowing the Soils Matthew 13:1-23 Jesus sows the word of the Kingdom, and people respond differently according to what soil they are. Jesus does not teach us to "be better soil" but that there are different types of soil. If this is true when Jesus is the sower, how much more when his disciples (us) are sent to sow the Word. We will certainly not be 100% successful in evangelism... but we must be faithful in sowing to multiply 30, 60, 100-fold. Let's be bold disciples!
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Jesus sows the word of the Kingdom, and people respond differently according to what soil they are. Jesus does not teach us to "be better soil" but that there are different types of soil. If this is true when Jesus is the sower, how much more when his disciples (us) are sent to sow the Word. We will certainly not be 100% successful in evangelism... but we must be faithful in sowing to multiply 30, 60, 100-fold. Keep sowing: it’s worth it. Let's be bold disciples!
California Farming
California Farming
Did I ever tell you about my stint as a California farmer? This is just slightly up the hill from my farm. Just on the other side of that tree to the right.
Little plot of land in the backyard. No raised bed, just the rectangle I dug up: 10 feet by 6 feet. I lined it with some bricks, dug it up, mixed in some fertilizer… I planted rows of vegetables, and I watered it faithfully (or semi-faithfully) for weeks. No timers or anything like that. Just me and a hose.
The one harvest I remember was when I got some peas. Sugar snap peas, I think.
Honestly, I was pretty disappointed. It was the only thing that really grew, and I got one bowl full of these peas. I cooked and ate ‘em… but it was largely a bust and I stopped watering after that. What was the point?
LA is basically desert, when I stopped watering everything was dead like the next day. Not desert friendly plants.
I learned later… too late… that snap peas will keep producing, every couple days for up to a month. Think of all the peas I missed out on! Tragic!
When I was in Israel I was struck again and again how similar Israel is to Southern California. Exact same weather patterns, nearly the same Latitude, both have the big sea to the West, and the big desert to the South East, and the mountains.
And similar farming territory. Stuff will grow, but it’s rough going. Great farming in California, just not so much where we lived.
Same with Jesus. Great farming… but not so much where Jesus is thereby the Sea of Galilee. You can make it work, and folks still do today, but it is hard back-breaking work… and they didn’t have hoses.
The Parable
The Parable
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.
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.
9 He who has ears, let him hear.”
The Purpose of Parables
The Purpose of Parables
The disciples ask: “why parables...” and Jesus tells them… their hearts have been hardened, whether by themselves or by God or both… and their ears are barely open, and they have closed their own eyes. They don’t get to know.
But blessed are you, ‘cause you do. Right now.
I don’t think that’s a forever condemnation of the others, but it isn’t going to happen in this time and place. And maybe, in the language of his own parable here, Jesus plants a seed that couldn’t get through any other way but through a mysterious and unexplained parable.
But he does explain the parable, in detail, to his disciples.
And here we are: his disciples. We too get to know, we get to hear. What an absolute blessing and privilege.
So, as we go through, let’s put ourselves in the parable. I bet we have all been or known these different experiences.
The Meaning of the Parable of the Sower
The Meaning of the Parable of the Sower
18 “Hear then the parable of the sower:
Important for later: what is the name of the parable? Most of those headings in the Bible are the editor, or tradition, but Jesus names this parable. The “parable of the sower.” Note taken.
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.
What is sown? The word of the Kingdom. The logos, the self revelation of God. Jesus is the King and it’s his Kingdom, and he himself is called the Logos. So the very stuff Jesus is teaching, that’s the word of the Kingdom, and even Jesus himself is THE Word of the Kingdom.
But some people won’t hear it. The “evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown.”
The picture there is the devil, the evil one, the adversary, standing by any time the Word of God is sown… ready to snatch away at the first opportunity. How many times have you been distracted or tempted right after church, or right after a God encounter.
The devil is watching and wants to steal away the good stuff!
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.
Oh… this one is heart breaking. To us, it looks like it landed, it looks so good. The person is joyful and thrilled, but it is shallow.
This “falling away” is like a trap door falling away, the sense of “trap” is right there in the word. There is offense there, like “no one said this would be hard!” kind of anger.
When the going gets tough, some people go home. That’s real.
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.
Oof. So much this. I think this is much of the modern church right here. The Word of God is true, and it gets read and spoken… but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke it out.
What are riches? Deceitful. You think you own them, but turns out they have your heart. And they are sneaky about it. Different than the devil sneaky, it’s a real trap. As we talked about in youth group, if you have a fridge with food in it, you are richer than 75% of the world… and easily in the .001% if you think across history.
We are at risk, there be thorns all around us that would seek to choke out the Word.
But when the Word lands on good soil, watch out:
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.”
That good seed lands, takes root, grows and does what seeds do: reproduces more of itself. In this case, that is more “Logos of the Kingdom.” Good Words, Word of God, even Jesus Himself.
A hundredfold, sixty, and thirty. Don’t know why the different measures other than Jesus says “sometimes it’ll be different.”
This is different in different plants. Different grains, you hold back grain for seed in different proportion. I know from my stint as a California farmer! ;)
Jesus teaches that the Word of God goes out, and it lands differently in different soils, and has a different outcome in all those cases.
And he takes the time to carefully explain each situation to his disciples.
Why?
The Parable of the Soil?
The Parable of the Soil?
This is NOT the parable of the soil. That’s an easy direction to take. DON’T be bad soil, be good soil. Soil yourself! No… that’s different.
Clear away the rocks. Pull the weeds. Resist the devil, don’t let him steal that seed!
Honestly, those are all good words, true and good things to do.
But it doesn’t seem to be Jesus’ point. It’s the parable of the “sower”, not the soil.
He is going to immediately tell another farming/sowing parable, and explicitly identify himself as the Sower. Literally the next passage, but he explains it in 13:37
37 He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.
That is a different parable, but I think it’s clear that the one currently sowing is Him. Who is giving the “word of the Kingdom” at this moment? Jesus is. Clearly.
He is the Sower. But he is explaining all of this to his disciples, and disciples are to follow in His footsteps. To be as He is. To do as He does.
He will make them “fishers of men” he says to the fishermen.
He will make them shepherds and under-shepherds as He is the Great Shepherd.
Here, he might say he will make them Farmers of Men, Sowers of the Kingdom. And he has sent them out before, he will send them out again to teach and preach the “Word of the Kingdom.”
They are going to be Sowing.
One lesson you could teach is to aim better!
This is not industrial farming. This is not Nebraska with hundreds of miles of cultivated fields that you couldn’t possibly do anymore without industrial equipment.
This is the land you can tend and cultivate yourself. Honestly, the best land in Israel was by the coast, the land they almost never took and kept possession of… but where almost the entire population of Israel lives now. Along the coast. That isn’t where the Jews are living in Jesus’ day, that isn’t where Jesus is now. They can farm, but it isn’t all that great.
It’s a whole lot, in every sense, like Southern California, but without a hose. At least here they are near a freshwater lake.
Small plot farms wrestled by backbreaking labor from the surrounding hilly and rocky terrain.
You sow… and you get what you can.
Jesus doesn’t give a single word to “aim better.” He doesn’t say “don’t bother sowing by the path, or amongst the rocks, or in the weeds.”
He doesn’t even say “dude, pull some weeds!” Though the weeds are the “cares of the world and deceitfulness of riches.” Please pull those weeds wherever you find them. Jesus gives ample warning about their dangers, and commands to free yourself from idolatry and distraction.
But that isn’t the focus here. It isn’t what Jesus says, it isn’t where Jesus lands, it isn’t what the disciples really go and do.
The focus is on the seeds that land on good soil.
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.”
And you keep sowing, casting out seed, EVEN THOUGH you know some will get choked out, some will not take root… because it is WORTH IT for the seed that does take root.
Keep Sowing
Keep Sowing
It’s worth it.
As Wayne pointed out last week, I have now been Lead Pastor for 10 years here at Next Step… and was Assistant Pastor for 4 years before that.
One of the absolute greatest privileges of my life.
Across that time, I have had the great privilege to write and preach 532 sermons. That’s a few.
My sermons are usually somewhere between 2-3000 words each. That’s the written part, I usually actually say a lot more than what I’ve written. That means, on the low side, I have said somewhere between 1 and 1.6 MILLION words from this pulpit. Crazy!
Some of you are saying “that sounds low, actually, that guy talks FOREVER!”
That blew my mind.
Of those words, well a lot of that is me getting going, or adding my opinions, or maybe just wrong. Let’s say 10% of what I said counts as “Word of the Kingdom.” Call it 100,000 words of the Kingdom.
Or call it 1%, still 10,000 words of the Kingdom.
Of all those words… how much do you remember? Some of you have been here for almost every one of them. How many of those words landed in good soil? 8?
How much landed for squirrely teenagers over there, slapping each other during service?
That maybe sounds defeatist. It isn’t.
Because the answer is NOT 0.
Every once in a while, I’ll hear at youth group or at camp, something come out of their mouth that I taught them. “Well, Pastor Dusty said...”
And every once in awhile, it’s a good thing that I taught them.
And I want to cry. It’s why I’m here. The idea that I could be used by God to multiply His Kingdom, His love, His forgiveness, His grace and kindness, and the little seed of a word, through me to them, to you… would take root and multiply 30, 60, 100 times.
That’s worth a million words.
This isn’t just about converts to Christ. It isn’t just about how many SOULS you won today. That’s real too, that’s part of it.
But Jesus is talking about every WORD of the Kingdom.
Sow the Word. His Word of love. His Word of salvation. His Word of grace and forgiveness, of life and life everlasting. His Word, that’s all the Kingdom. Words after His Words, Teaching as He Taught.
His healing, his spiritual deliverance, that’s all Word too. His Kingdom.
Yes, look, don’t be surprised that it isn’t always going to land!
Keep on sowing the Good Word.
Be bold. Be lavish. Cast those seeds to the wind! Guess what, you won’t run out! A million words, keep going, it’s worth it.
Because when it lands… what a beautiful harvest.
That one landed, a 100-fold. That one landed, 30-fold. Still GREAT!
Is it heartbreaking that not every seed lands? Of course, but God has more Words. He isn’t running out, and you never will.
Be bold. Be persistent. Be faithful in Sowing the Word. It’s worth it.
That literally is “evangelism” because “evangelism” literally means “announce good news.” The gospel. That is “speak the Word of the Kingdom.”
Be a Sower.
That doesn’t always mean “Jesus died for your sins, and rose so you could live and He forgives you, do you believe? Let’s pray, Amen!”
It absolutely is that, but it isn’t just that. Is that all Jesus ever said and taught and did? No, he came that we could love as he loved and taught us to live.
To live life rightly and righteously and fully and more abundantly. To give grace and mercy. All of these things, when we teach them, proclaim them, give them, that’s Word of the Kingdom.
When you walk and talk in the footsteps of Jesus, that’s the Word of the Kingdom.
That doesn’t mean it’s easy and automatic and you don’t have to stretch and get uncomfortable. You do, and God will continue to send you, to stretch you, just as Jesus challenged and stretched the twelve disciples.
But it is so beautifully worth it.
Picture this. You aren’t sure if you should say something… but you do. A little “You know, I don’t know if you need to hear this, but God loves you! He made you.” at work, or school.
And maybe most times, that doesn’t land. But the one time it does, and someone hears and receives a message of love and encouragement from the Creator of the Universe through you, and you get to see it have impact and transform a day. How incredible!
Keep sowing, it’s worth it!
And, picture this, that friend you’ve been praying for. At just the right time, God nudges you to ask a big question. “Do you know Jesus? Do you know what Jesus did for you?” And you maybe get the incredible privilege of praying with them, and seeing their soul transferred from the Kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of heaven?
Worth it? Every moment! Just keep sowing!
This isn’t a task Jesus gives us because he needs help. It is among the greatest honors and privileges of our life here on earth, to Sow with the Sower, and see the Harvest.
Amen and Hallelujah!
