10/29/2015 WHAT TO DO WITH THE MESSAGE
Matthew 13:20 Then HE told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. He who has ears, let him hear.”
[New International translation]
Summary
JESUS spoke and taught in parables. HE used simple stories to illustrate a spiritual or moral lesson.
The “parable of the sower” is one of the parables used by JESUS to illustrate a number of points. JESUS explains this parable in the later verses of Matthew 13. The various scatterings of seed represent various scenarios that can occur when a person hears the Good News (i.e. Gospel of JESUS CHRIST). For example:
- The hard path where some of the seeds fell represents the heart of a person who hears the Gospel about the Kingdom of Heaven and doesn’t understand it; then Satan (i.e., the evil one) comes and snatches away the seeds from his heart. (Verses18-19)
- The shallow, rock soil represents the heart of a man who hears the message and receives it with real joy, but he doesn’t have much depth in his life, and the seeds don’t root very deeply, and after a while when trouble comes, or persecution begins because of his beliefs, his enthusiasm fades, and he drops out. (Verses 20-22)
- The ground covered with thistles represents a man who hears the message, but the cares of this life and his longing for money (i.e., the deceitfulness of wealth) choke out GOD’s Word, and he does less and less for GOD. (Verses 22)
- The good ground presents the heart of a man who listens to the message and understands it and goes out and brings thirty, sixty, or even hundred others into the Kingdom. (Verse 23)
Each one of these illustrations is worth studying in detail. Each one is worth meditating. Each one is worth praying about. Each one is worth asking, as the disciples asked at the Passover meal, “LORD is it I.” (Matthew 26:22) Am I that one? “Or, was I that one yesterday?”
Some of us may even ask ourselves if the church that I attend is the kind of “soil” that makes it easy for someone to “hear” the Gospel? Are we a “hard” soil church? Are we a “thistle” church, “tripping others up with protocol or “pointy comments” that hurt the heart. Or, are we good, nurturing soil church, ready to provide the nutrients for those “thirsty for THE WORD?”
Instead of examining “the church,” some may turn inward, for a self-examination, much as you might do on Communion Sunday. (See 1Corinthians 11:28.) Some may ask: “Am I a “prickly person?” Am I open to suggestions or do I always “take the hard line?” “Am I nurturing, helpful and doing things to advance the Kingdom of GOD?” Or, do I treat others like “unwelcome immigrants”--- am I always ready to close the “Kingdom of GOD” borders?
Obviously, there are a number of ways to receive a message, to hear or listen to a message, to be a message or to lay the “ground work” for the message and THE MESSENGER.