Parable Of The Soils Series

“The Parable of the Soils”

Luke 8:4-21

A sermon for 8/8/21

Pastor John Bright

This is such an easy parable because Jesus explains the meaning - easy peezy lemon squeezy! Or is it?

Lot’s of things are not as easy as they look – like getting older - Three elderly sisters, ages 92, 94 and 96, shared a house together. One evening, the 96-year-old sister went upstairs to take a bath. As she put her foot into the tub, she paused. Then she yelled down to the other two sisters and asked, "Was I getting in the tub or out?"

"You fool," said the 94-year-old. "I'll come up and see." When she got half way up the stairs she paused. "Was I going up the stairs or down?"

The 92-year-old sister was sitting at the kitchen table drinking a cup of tea and thought, "I hope I never get that forgetful, knock-on wood" and she knocked on the table. She shook her head and called out, "I'll be up to help you both as soon as I see who's at the door." 😊

Last week, I explained the imagery of the sower – let me repeat myself - In that day, to get seed in the ground, the soil would be prepared and rows cut. Then, with a bag of seed over the shoulder, a sower would walk and toss the seed. This is called “broadcast sowing.”

To understand what Jesus is trying to tell us in this parable, I want to put verses side-by-side to see what we can discover. One thing right away – this parable is not about the sower or the seed. Jesus spends the most time talking about where the seed falls. This is a parable about 4 types of soil.

The first discovery is about what is being sown

Luke 8:5a “A sower went out to sow his seed.”

Luke 8:11 “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.”

In that day, this word is a message of the Kingdom of God that Jesus reveals to the people in Israel (or Samaria in John 4). Last week I talked to you about the Kingdom of God as we unpacked v. 10 – “And He said, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that ‘Seeing they may not see, And hearing they may not understand.’”

So what’s the seed today? The proclamation of God’s Word by clergy and laity – not just at church. We, you and I, can share God’s Word everywhere we go. We can all learn to turn a casual conversation into a spiritual conversation. Example 1 – it’s not uncommon for me to strike up a conversation with a guy or gal at the next gas pump. “how are you doing today?” (Well, it’s been a rough day) “Hey, can I pray for you?” (99% of the time they say yes and I ask two questions) “What’s your name?” & “Anything specific I can pray for you?” (My name is Fred and we just got a diagnosis of cancer for my dad) “Hey Fred, let’s pray for your dad.”

Example 2 – Say this to your server when he or she is taking your drink orders at the restaurant, “In a few minutes we are going to pray and ask God to bless our meal. What can we pray for you?” (Nothing right now. I’m ok. I’ll be right back with your beverages) Now, 9 out of 10 times when I hear that, he or she comes back with my unsweet iced tea and I hear this, (I thought of something, my daughter goes to a new school next week and I’m nervous) I then get her name and say, “Jill, we will pray for you and your daughter when we pray for our meal.” Easy peezy lemon squeezy!

When you do these things with a caring heart, folks want to hear more about God – so start today! Now – the four soils:

Soil #1

Luke 8:5b “And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it.”

Luke 8:12 “Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.”

Here is a new part of the discovery – the different soils are different people. In the parable, the first soil is the road which isn’t a soil at all – that’s where people walk and the seed can be trampled. On a hard surface, it will also be exposed for the birds to get. As we look to v. 12, it’s not feet or birds in the explanation. It’s the evil one, the devil.