Are You Wasting Seed?

Jesus identifies 4 soils which all have a different response to the word of God that comes into their lives …

The first response is the path. The hear the word of God, but it doesn’t penetrate them at all. Their heart is HARD. What God has says, just sits on the surface, making NO IMPACT, bringing no conviction of Sin. Jesus says, the devil comes and takes the word from their heart so they can’t believe. People with hard hearts may be in this building now. They come to church because it is the thing to do. The come to church because their friends are here. But during the Sermon or the prayers, they are fiddling, thinking about what they are going to do when they leave here. The word of God hits them, but doesn’t soak in at all. They don’t follow God whole heartedly because they are hard.

The second response is the rocky ground. These people hear the word of God and take it in. They receive it as an impulse with joy and excitement, but there is no depth to them. They have SHALLOW hearts. They believe in what they hear – for a while, but when they are faced with a tough choice, they don’t have the roots to stand. Their faith WITHERS WHEN PUT UNDER PRESSURE. These are the sort of people, that come to church and show a lot of emotion in worship and seem really excited about the faith, but when they go to work and someone asks them whether they are a Christian, they deny it because they are scared to admit up to it in case they get teased. They are the sort of person that if something bad happens in their life, they ditch God and throw in their faith because they can’t believe God would allow bad things to happen to them. They don’t follow God whole heartedly because they are shallow and don’t understand.

The third response is the thorny ground. These people hear the word of God and take it in. It is growing nicely, but then weeds grow up around it and they suck away the nutrients from the soil. They shade the seedling and prevent it’s growth. What sort of hearts are these? They are DISTRACTED hearts. They believe, but their faith is stunted because they are distracted by other things in this world. Instead of making their relationship with God a priority – instead of reading God’s word and praying and coming to church, they choose instead to chase a promotion at work, to get absorbed by a hobby or a sporting pursuit. Their faith is SQUEEZED OUT BY OTHER CONCERNS OR INTERESTS. They focus more on the worries in their lives than on the God who can help them sort out their problems. They focus more on the pursuit of money, possessions and a comfortable life, than about the one who can provide them with an eternal life in a place where even the streets are made of gold. They don’t follow God whole heartedly because they are distracted.

The last response God talks about is the good soil. These people hear the word of God and take it in. It grows into a strong healthy plant and it bears fruit – 100 times what was sown originally. They have a PRODUCTIVE heart. This kind of person, hears. They seek to understand the mysteries of God and their faith grows to an extent that they are able to spread the word of God themselves. God’s truth has TRANSFORMED THEM AND THEY ARE BEARING FRUIT. They are bearing witness to God through their actions and by what they say.