In the gospels Jesus tells the parable of the sower and the seed. I read it recently in Mark 4:1-20, which reads, “Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. 2 He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.” The farmer sows the word.15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.” I believe this is a very important parable, one that gives us great insight into how people respond to the gospel. Jesus makes a parallel between the way people respond to the gospel and four types of soil. The first one is the hard ground. These are people that don’t understand the word and don’t open themselves up to it at all. These people are like hard ground. The seed hits that hard packed ground and just bounces off, it can’t enter at all. The next type of soil is the shallow soil. In this case the seed can enter the soil and it begins to sprout quickly, but the ground is shallow so the seed can not send roots down into the soil. Because it can’t send roots down it can’t get nutrients from the ground and when the sun shines on the plants they whither and die because they have no roots. Jesus says that this type of soil represents people who hear the gospel and have an immediate response to it. In fact they have a big response. They make loud professions of faith or make a big show of coming to the Lord, but it doesn’t stick. When things don’t go as they thought they would or when they see that God expects a lot of them they quickly turn away. They never establish roots and so they don’t last a very long time in their new found faith. The third type of soil is that which is beset by weeds. In this case the plants grow up, but they are surrounded by weeds which choke the plant and prevent it from bearing any fruit. Jesus tells us that this soil represents people who are plagued by cares and worries, so much so that their faith is paralyzed and stifled. Jesus clarifies what these weed represent when he says “the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth and the desire for other things.” In other words the impact of the gospel is weakened by the cares of this world and an inordinate pursuit of wealth. My editorial comment would be that when we allow making a living to take so much of our time that we have nothing left for God then it is a weed that is choking the gospel. Finally Jesus comes to the fourth type of soil which is the rich deep soil that produces a bountiful harvest. These are the people who hear the word, accept it and order their lives in response to it, bearing abundant fruit for God in their lives.

This parable greatly helps us to explain what we see all around us all the time. We see each of these responses to the gospel all the time. Sometimes we don’t understand why people act the way they do. This parable helps us to understand. Obviously we have to be careful not to judge others, only God can do that, but it does give us some insight. It can also give us direction in our prayers for people. We can pray for God to give them hearts that are good soil for the word to take root in. But the biggest thing that the parable shows us is what the end result of the gospel is supposed to be in our lives, that we would be fruitful. In fact the whole point is to bear fruit. We will not all bear fruit to the same degree. Some will be 30 fold, some 60 and some 100, but all of us are supposed to be bearing fruit for God. This is especially true of the 3rd type of soil. The weeds prevent the plants from being fruitful. In other words they stop the plants from achieving their God given purpose.

May the Lord help us to be good soil so that we can bear a hundred fold harvest for Him. Have a blessed week serving Jesus.

In His name,
Pastor Phil

Posted in Pastor's Message

About Pastor Phil