[This sermon is contributed by Hal Seed of New Song Church in Oceanside, California and of www.PastorMentor.com. Hal is the author of numerous books including The God Questions and The Bible Questions. If you are interested in The Bible Questions Church-wide Campaign, please visit and watch Hal’s video at www.PastorMentor.com.]
Good morning!
When you were a little boy or girl, was there someone in your family who told you stories?
My paternal grandmother did that for me. Granny Alex would come visit us once or twice a year, and when I was a little guy, she’d sit me in a chair and tell me stories about growing up with her nine brothers and sisters.
Hearing my grandmother tell stories about my family did something inside of me. I was only 4 or 5 year old at the time, but her stories made me think that since I was related to these people, maybe someday I could do something worthwhile.
Jesus’ stories had a similar effect on the people around Him. Folks would sit on hill sides, or lakesides or in little synagogues and listen to Jesus tell stories. The stories they heard made them want to change and be more. I want to walk you through one of those stories today, in hopes that it will do for us what my Granny’s alligator-drowning story did for me.
This story is preserved by three of the four gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, so it’s a fairly important story. It’s also my least favorite story in the entire Bible. If there were one truth I could erase from the Bible, it would be this one. But, for the sake of full disclosure, let me show it to you. It’s found in Luke 8, p. 1023 in the Bibles under your chair.
Luke gives the context for the story in the first three verses. I’ll read those to you while you find your place, because the part I want you to major in starts with v. 4.
(read Luke 8:1-3).
Follow along as I read The Parable of the Sower. (vs. 4-15).
This is a story about soil. There is a farmer in the story, He represents God. And there is seed in this story (I like that). The seed represents God’s communication with us.
But the important part, the variable part, is about soil. According to Jesus, there are four types of soil in this world:
Four Types of Soil:
1. Hard path.
2. Rocky soil.
3. Thorn patch.
4. Good soil.
Here’s how farming went in that day.
A farmer would strap a shoulder bag over his shoulder and go out into his field. (Draw field on white board.) The field would have lain dormant for a few months following the previous harvest, so neighbors on the way to town would have felt free to take a short-cut across it. So part of the field would be a hard-packed path.
When the farmer sowed his seed, he would walk out into his field grab a handful of seed and broadcast it all around him. So, some would fall on the path – which was okay, because farmers at that time and place history plowed their fields AFTER they sowed them. So, there was a chance the path would get plowed up, and the seed would wind up in the ground, under nice, fluffy soil.
As the farmer broadcast his seed, some would land in places where rocks where just a few inches below the surface. Some would land near weeds or thorn bushes that had grown up. Hopefully those would be plowed down as well, but with a single sickle blade and a team of ox, farming wasn’t perfect, so some of the thorn bushes would continue to grow, or start growing again after the plowing. And some of the seed would fall into fertile soil, soil that was ready to receive it and grow great crops.
Jesus tells this story and then says, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” – Luke 8:8b. It’s the key to the story.
Key to the Story = Hearing. (v. 8)
Hearing. If you have ears, if you have the capacity to hear, listen. (Note to deaf ministry: this is not about auditory hearing, it’s about hearing from your heart.)
The Disciples can sense that this story is significant, so they say to Jesus, “Explain this to us. What does the story mean?”
Jesus patiently explains that
The Four Soils represent the four ways to respond to God.
“One way you can respond to God,” Jesus says, “is,
1. You can ignore Him.
That’s like the Hard Path.
Some people hear God speak, or hear someone (like me), speak for God, and they say, “No. That’s not right.” Or, “No, I don’t believe that.” Or, “No, I reject that. It might be true, but I’m not going to let it have any effect on me.” The Hard Path is like the condition of their heart – it’s hardened towards God.
“Another way,” Jesus says, “you can respond to God is,
2. You can respond, and then do nothing.
That’s like the rocky soil. The rocky soil has a few inches of dirt over the top, so when the seed lands in it, it’s received, and then roots go down, but they don’t go down very far. So not enough moisture and nutrients get absorbed, so when tough times come, they have nothing to draw from, and they fall away, they die, spiritually.
“A third way,” Jesus says, “you can respond to God is,
3. You can respond, and then get distracted.
That’s the thorny soil. Jesus defines thorns as, “Life’s worries, riches and pleasures.” Thorny soiled people hear God’s words to them and then they get distracted. Remember the first commandment? It says, “I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods before me.” People with thorny soil let other things, other gods, come before God. So their spiritual life gets choked out.
“Then,” Jesus says, “there’s a fourth way you can respond to God.
4. You can respond and do what He says.
That’s the good soil. – It responds to God, does what He asks or suggests, and produces 30, 60, and 100 times as much as was sown in it.
Some people receive Christ and then wonder why their life doesn’t seem any different from a person who isn’t a Christian. It’s in part because they’re not living any differently than the person who isn’t a Christian. Good soil produces fruit, 30, 60 and 100 times what was sown.
Can you see why I hate this story?
Jesus says, “God is speaking to us all the time.” The Bible says, “The heavens declare the glory of God… day after day they pour forth speech…” – Psalm 19:1, 2 When you look up at the sky, or at the beauty in nature, God is talking to you about Himself and His beauty. God speaks to us through godly friends. God speaks in our small groups. God speaks to us in church. God speaks to us when we pray. God is speaking all the time.
I hate this story because it’s true.
I hate this story because it means that every time I speak, there are four possible responses to the message, and three of them are bad.
I hate this story because over the years, I’ve met many hardened and rocky and thorny people who turned away from the God who was speaking to them.
I hate this story because it means that the spiritual well-being and the spiritual development of every person I love is out of my control.
What Jesus is saying in this story is, your response to God rests in your hands. God can speak, but you must respond. Friends can encourage, but you must take action. At the end of the day, every person must take responsibility for their own spiritual development.
Recently, I sat down with a young man who was having a tough time with the way he was thinking about life. “I hate this world,” he said. “I don’t like being with people. I don’t trust very many people. I don’t respect America. I think Americans are all self-indulgent materialists.” And then he said, “And my dad doesn’t call. My dad doesn’t love me. How can I believe that God loves me when I’ve never experienced love from my father? My dad never talks to me and God never talks to me.”
He went on like that for a long time, and then I said to him, “How would you expect God to speak, if He did speak to you?”
He thought for a minute and didn’t really know.
I said, “Would you expect Him to whisper to you, or talk to you?”
“Maybe.”
I said, “Psalm 19 says, ‘The heavens declare the glory of God.’ On nights when you look up into the sky and are overwhelmed with the size and beauty and mystery of the universe, that’s God speaking. He’s saying to you, ‘I’m here!’”
This young man grew up in a church, so I said, “How would the pastor of the church you grew up in say God speaks?”
He thought again, and didn’t know. So I said, “I think he’d say to you that God speaks to you through the Bible. – Do you read the Bible?”
“Not much,” he said. “Not lately. And when I do, I never hear from Him.”
I said, “Well let’s just try something for a minute. Do you have a Bible?”
He had one right on a shelf next to us, so I reached over and opened it to Philippians 4:9. Philippines 4:9 says, Brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.
I said, “The Bible claims that this is God’s word. That God speaks to us through these words. If that’s true, then God has just spoken to you. He’s just said, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things. You heard that, didn’t you?”
I said, “Here’s what I think probably happens to you when you hear words like that. You either say, ‘That’s not true.’ Or, “I don’t want that.’ Or, ‘I’m going to ignore that.’ Or, “I refuse to hear that. I refuse to acknowledge that that’s God speaking to me.’ If you do any of those, it’s not that God hasn’t spoken, it’s that you have chosen not to hear.”
I said, “I think God is speaking to you all the time. He’s whispering, ‘I’m here!’ When you’re with people you don’t like He’s saying, ‘These people matter to me.’ When you’re depressed about yourself, He’s whispering, ‘You matter to me. I love you.’ But you choose not to hear. And if you choose not to hear, you become used to not hearing. It becomes hard to hear.”
I said, “God has been saying to you, ‘You’re life can count. You can be a contributor. You can make a difference. You can love your wife and pour into her. You can care about your neighbors and make their lives better. God has been saying, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things. Think about these good things.’ But you haven’t heard. So you’re desperate to hear. You really want to hear from God, don’t you?” I said.
He said, “I do.”
If God wanted to make sure you heard Him, how would He do it?
I stumped him again.
I said, “If God had been whispering and you didn’t hear. If He’d been speaking through His word, but you weren’t picked it up. If God loved you and wanted to make sure you heard because He really, really, wanted you to know that you matter to Him and that He really does speak, you know what I think He’d do so that you wouldn’t doubt you’d heard from Him?...”
He looked at me like, “What? How would He do that?”
I said, “If I were God and you were in the situation you’re in, I’d send your pastor over here to speak to you. I think I ended up at your house tonight because God sent me. I wasn’t planning to be here tonight, but here I am. And I am absolutely sure that God is speaking to you now. Whatever is true, noble, right, lovely, think about these things. Look up, have hope. Decide that you will embrace these words and live them out. This is God’s word to you.”
You know what else I think, friends? I think this is God’s word to you too. I think we are in this room together right now, and God is speaking to you, through the words of your pastor, and this is what He’s saying:
“There are four ways to respond to God. You can ignore Him, you can respond and then do nothing about what you’ve heard, you can respond and then get distracted by other things, or you can respond and do what He says. Every day you must choose. You must take personal responsibility for your spiritual growth and your spiritual responsiveness to God.” This is God’s word to you.
I walked my small group through this parable this week. We had a very stimulating discussion on taking personal responsibility for our spiritual growth. At the end of it, I asked, “So, where would you rate yourself right now on a scale of 1-10 on how firmly you have been taking responsibility for your own spiritual growth these days.” One of the guys spoke up and said, “I think I’ve been coasting. I’d rate myself a 5 or 6.” A second one said, “I’d put myself at a 7.” The third and the fourth said the same thing. But then one at a time, guys started pointing out the decisions someone else had made to up their spiritual life. I pointed out that the 5-6 guy has actually make huge strides in his commitment to prayer recently. Another guy pointed out that the 7 guy just committed to using his shepherding gifts to start a Fireproof Small Group. A third one is joining a Fireproof group. – And I suspect if you were to benchmark yourself this morning, you’d probably go that way to. You’d have to admit that you haven’t exactly had your foot all the way on the accelerator of your spiritual life, but so many of you have made decisions to up your personal responsibility by signing commitment cards, like we did a few weeks ago, or signing up for leading or attending a small group, that I believe we’re a church that is heading upward towards greater and greater spiritual maturity.
Which raises the question, if we’re going to take responsibility for our spiritual growth, what does full spiritual maturity look like? What are we shooting for anyway? Does it mean that we can recite a lot of verses from the Bible? Does it mean that we could give the sermon on Sunday?
The Bible gives us a picture of full spiritual maturity. It’s Jesus, on the Cross. Having been beaten and nailed there to die, He looks at His assailants, and then He looks up to heaven, and He says, “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.”
When Jesus said that, I don’t think He struggled to get the words out. I don’t think He said it begrudgingly. I think it was the natural overflow of His heart. Jesus had walked so closely with His Father, had been so responsive to God’s words and promptings, that thinking of others, serving others, looking out for their welfare, acting like God does, just came naturally to Him.
How does that kind of spiritual maturity come to us?
It comes by reading about it in the Bible, so we begin to think like God. And thinking about God’s ways, which is called, “Meditation.”
It comes from studying the Bible with others, so it’s reinforced to us through them.
It comes from serving, and giving, and praying, and attending church.
How do you get there?
The Spiritual Disciplines (explain how this works – it works into your thinking, then into your feeling (fake it), then into your actions consciously, then into your actions unconsciously.
Over the centuries, people who have thought deeply about how you become more and more like God have come up with about 30 different habits people can cultivate that head them higher spiritually. I’ve included a partial list on the back of your notes. You might find this list helpful. In fact, you might find some things on here that you’ve begun doing lately, or are about to begin doing as a result of what talked about during Lifeflow or Small. You might find God talking to you through this list as you read it. And if you do, I hope you’ll be responsive to Him. In fact, my entire hope for this service could be summed up this way:
I hope you will become good soil. I hope you’ll be responsive to God every day. I hope you’ll take responsibility for your spiritual growth and become more and more a person who looks more and more like the One whose name we bear. I’ve been praying this for you all week.
Invite people to receive Christ. Invite them, and others, forward for prayer.
Pray.
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