Being the Right Soil

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Text: Matthew 13:1-23

It certainly is good to be together in worship of the heavenly Father. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
I hope that describes you this morning and if it doesn't I hope that you would be open to letting that describe you. There is no greater feeling in the world than the feeling of being saved by the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

Have you ever been frustrated because other people just can't seem to see what is obvious to you?
I mean there may be a product that you simply can't live without and yet when you share any information with others, they don't get as enthusiastic about it. When this happens you can begin to ask one of three questions:
  1. What's wrong with these people?
  2. What's wrong with the product?
  3. What's wrong with me?
Now, how you are going to answer is very important. The reason being, that the second question is actually the crucial one. If there's nothing wrong with the product then you have got to figure out if you're selling it wrong, or if the people you are talking to is just not seeing the value. But if there is something wrong with the product, or it is not as invaluable as you swear it is, then you've got to do a little self-examining.

When we are dealing with products or ideas that are outside of the scriptures, I hope we all see that these 'can't-live-without' things are actually things some people can live without, or God would have dealt with it.
But, the same kind of frustrating situation can be found in the area of God's will. Let me share you an example:
2 Peter 2:5- Noah, preached for many years, and nobody believed his message.
As a child of God, you have found a product, 'the gospel', that is truly something you just can't live without and yet there are some people who simply don't look at it in the same way. Well, as Christians we must make sure that this product that has got us all excited is indeed the true thing and the gospel of Jesus Christ is something that will not let us down.

In Matthew 13, Jesus dealt with this idea when he spoke one of his most famous parables of:
the parable of the sower.
Please read with me vs.1-9. (The other accounts of this parable are found in Mark 4 & Luke 8)
In Jesus' parable here a wonderful analogy is made where the sower cast the seed on four types of soil:
one was the wayside and the seed that landed there the birds came and ate and nothing grew. The second was a rocky soil, where at first the plants grew but because there was no root the sun scorched them and they died. The third was thorny ground, here as the plants grew; the thorns grew and choked the good plants and they died. Then, some seed landed on the good soil and the plants grew and produced a lot of fruit.

Before commenting on this parable, read with me what happens next this day in vs.10-17.
The disciples ask Jesus to explain this parable (Mark 4:13). I wonder if today we would understand it had Jesus never explained it? In this conversation with his disciples, Jesus makes a startling revelation as to the purpose of the parables. Although some say that the purpose of the parables was for common people to understand them, I think there was another reason:
he wanted some not to understand the mysteries of the kingdom! Why?
Not because he wanted them to perish, but because they did not have the right heart to follow him.(vs.13)

Back to the parable then, what does Jesus mean by all this talk of farming, and sowing and soils?
Read with me vs.18-23.

Let's examine this parable then and see what we can get from it today:
  1. Jesus says the sower went out to sow! Who we might ask is the sower?
    Now, the great sower we could answer is Jesus himself! I think we would all agree that he is the one who really sowed the seed. But, I don't think Jesus is limiting the sower here to just him or the Father.
    Mark 4:14- anyone who sows the word! Anyone who teaches the word of God is the sower of the parable. Now, it is important that we understand who Jesus is speaking about, we are the ones with the message and we are the ones who must sow the seed of the kingdom!
    If the kingdom is going to truly grow, we must plant the word of God into the hearts of men and women everywhere!
  2. The sower did not sow only on the 'proper' soil! Why not?
    Because the sower does not know enough about the soil to recognize what is and isn't 'proper' soil. He sowed the seed everywhere and some will fall on good ground. Is this a wasted effort?
    No, considering we can't discern what is good and poor soil. John 7:24
    Watch my friends, there is never a wasted effort when it comes to telling people about the good news of Jesus Christ!
  3. The sower sowed the seed. What is the seed sown?
    It is the word of God - Luke 8:11. Watch now, for genuine conversion to Christ to take place, the word of God is necessary. For the kingdom of heaven to result, the word of the kingdom must be spoken first. Romans 10:17.
    Some say, I am converted before the word, which's not biblical.
    Ethiopian eunuch- Acts 8:35, Cornelius- Acts 11:13,14, Saul of Tarsus- Acts 9:6. Listen it is the word of God that is the seed which produces Christians. When the message of this book is planted on honest hearts of men and women the kingdom results. James 1:21.
  4. There are four types of soil. Every one of us is spoken about in this parable.
    The first type of soil is the wayward soil. Jesus says, these are the people who hear the word and do not understand. They don't accept it. What happens?
    The devil comes and steals this word and prevents salvation from happening (Luke 8:12). Note: The Devil believes that the word of God can bring salvation to men and women (2 Timothy 3:15) and he will be right there with you trying to take the seed away.
    Whenever we grow tomatoes we have a good yield of about 100-130 fruit each year. Did you know that we lose around 40?
    It's frustrating that the birds or the worms eat those before we can get to them. But, we press on.
    We must never get discouraged because the Devil is ready to steal what you have sown. Keep pressing on, you'll find the good soil.
    The second type of soil is the stony ground. This represents the person who receives the word with joy but because of persecution will get offended. Luke records, he believes for a while (8:13). Why only for awhile?
    Because there is no root! The sun can be a source of strength for the healthy plant, but death to the sickly one. The same is true with Christian tribulation- the person who has deep roots in Christ will become stronger through trials, the person whose joy is only temporary will leave the faith. (Romans 5:3-5)
    The third kind of soil is one of the most dangerous for Christians today: the thorny soil. Again, this person accepts the word of God but four things work to choke him from bearing any real Christian fruit:
    cares of the world, deceitfulness of riches, pleasures of life & lusts of other things.
    My friends, we must be on guard about being or developing into this brand of soil. 4 things that keep us from being the type of Christian God wants us to be.
    1. - cares of the world- this unfortunately keeps many from even doing what they would want to do for the Lord. We become too busy in the cares of this life that we forget to save up treasures for the next. We get too busy to read the Bible, we get too caught up in other activities to pray, there are other things solely concerning this life that take precedence over the assembly of the saints. We won't bear fruit if we are too caught up by the cares of this life.
    2. - The deceitfulness of riches. We fall trap to the lie that if we have riches we'll be all right. God understands that I've got to focus on acquiring or saving and then I can talk about giving and serving. Riches are deceitful because they can leave and they can't purchase anything worthwhile.
    3. - Pleasures of life. Christians can get too bogged down with the pursuit of pleasure.
    4. - lusts of other things. We don't bear any fruit for Jesus because we want to eat of the forbidden fruit. Listen to what Jesus said in Luke 12:15-21.
    Then finally, there is the good ground! This is the person who takes God's word, obeys that word and then bears fruit for Jesus.
    This is the life that strives to serve Jesus. John 15:2, 16.
What describes us in this parable?
Are we the soil that can hear the word of God and it do nothing to us?
Are we the soil that accepts the word with great joy but if our belief lands us in some sort of trouble we abandon it?
Are we even the soil that takes the word of God but when something 'more' important comes up, Jesus & His church take a back seat?
My friends, listen, there is great danger in being the first three. Or, are we the last soil? I hope that describes most of us, the ones who hear the word of God accept it & obey it and then live a life worthily of our calling. Listen to what Paul then says to us, Galatians 6:9!

My friends, let us continue to sow the seed of the kingdom, looking for opportunities to tell the lost what we have found and they are missing. If you have yet responded to the message, where do you place yourself in this category?
Are you ready to have Jesus wash your sins away, is that missing in your life?
Then listen to what Jesus says to do in Mark 16:16..Will you come?

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