Seeds on the Hard Path
(Matthew 13:1-23)
1st in a series on: “The Parable of the Soils”
Introduction:
An old farmer who was about to die called his two sons to his bedside and said, "My boys, my farm and the fields are yours in equal shares. I leave you a little ready money but the bulk of my wealth is hidden somewhere in the ground, not more than eighteen inches from the surface. I regret that I’ve forgotten precisely where it lies." When the old man was dead and buried his two sons set to work to dig up every inch of ground in order to find the buried treasure. They failed to find it but as they’d gone to all the trouble of turning over the soil they thought they might as well sow a crop, which they did, reaping a good harvest. In autumn as soon as they had an opportunity they dug for the treasure again but with no better results. As their fields were turned over more thoroughly than any others in the neighborhood they reaped better harvests than anyone else. Year after year their search continued. Only when they had grown much older and wiser did they realize what their father had meant. Real treasure comes as a result of hard work.
It should come as no surprise that the things in life that are the most important take honest effort and hard work. Take the gift of salvation for instance; though it is offered as a free gift from God through the cross of Christ it was never cheap, nor was it ever easy. It took hard work and firm resolve for Jesus to walk that road. However, it also takes hard work for us; it takes us forsaking ourselves, it takes taking up our own crosses to follow Christ daily, it takes seeing others as greater than we are, it takes loving our enemies, and serving each other.
As Jesus was talking to the crowds one day as the people had gathered, he spoke his first parable to the people, and it was the Parable of the Soils. In it Jesus talks about four specific types of soil and a sower who was scattering seed. Let’s take a look…
Matthew 13:1-9 (NLT)
Later that same day, Jesus left the house and went down to the shore, [2] where an immense crowd soon gathered. He got into a boat, where he sat and taught as the people listened on the shore. [3] He told many stories such as this one:
"A farmer went out to plant some seed. [4] As he scattered it across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them. [5] Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The plants sprang up quickly, [6] but they soon wilted beneath the hot sun and died because the roots had no nourishment in the shallow soil. [7] Other seeds fell among thorns that shot up and choked out the tender blades. [8] But some seeds fell on fertile soil and produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted. [9] Anyone who is willing to hear should listen and understand!"
Matthew 13:18-23 (NLT)
"Now here is the explanation of the story I told about the farmer sowing grain: [19] The seed that fell on the hard path represents those who hear the Good News about the Kingdom and don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches the seed away from their hearts. [20] The rocky soil represents those who hear the message and receive it with joy. [21] But like young plants in such soil, their roots don’t go very deep. At first they get along fine, but they wilt as soon as they have problems or are persecuted because they believe the word. [22] The thorny ground represents those who hear and accept the Good News, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares of this life and the lure of wealth, so no crop is produced. [23] The good soil represents the hearts of those who truly accept God’s message and produce a huge harvest—thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted."
I believe people are born as healthy, rich, fertile soil. I don’t believe anyone is born hardened, rocky, or weedy. But as we grow I believe there are things that can be implanted (via upbringing, life-situations, and the like) that suck out all the nutrients that allow for healthy growth. I believe there are relationships that we foster that have a tendency to drain us, or lead us to become hardened. I believe there are things that we watch, read, or listen to that have direct influences on us that are negative. I believe we can get caught up in some pretty selfish pursuits that, in the end, leave us empty and dry. And, I also believe that there are things that we entertain in the private realms of our minds that harden the soil in our lives.
This is why it takes hard work to keep the soil rich and fertile for the Sower’s seeds to take root and grow a good harvest. God doesn’t do all the work for us; he expects us to take the responsibility of cultivating the soil. We must always be ready and willing to receive the seeds that he wants to plant in our lives.
Part of that hard work I’m talking about today takes knowing that there are numerous things which have the tendency to trample hardened paths through the soil of our lives; paths so hardened by the realities of everyday living that no seed could ever germinate if it fell upon them.
I want us to look at a few of these things today that trample the soil in our lives and hinder us from growing a good crop of faith in Christ as we look at the first type of soil that Jesus talks about in this parable.
1. Our friends and acquaintances.
Proverbs 12:26 (NLT)
The godly give good advice to their friends; the wicked lead them astray.
Who do you consider to be your friends? What groups of people to you hang out with on a regular basis?
I believe the relationships that we have help to determine the type of persons we become. We are a people so influenced by those around us. Those we keep company with have a certain amount of control over us with their opinions and lifestyle behaviors. Whether we like it or not, all of us, in some way, form, or fashion, are either directly or indirectly influenced by peer pressure. And it’s because of this that it’s vitally important to choose wisely who we consider to hang out with and consider our friends.
Typically, we like to make a good impression on those we have relationships with. We don’t typically want them to see what lies within the dark regions and corners of our lives. We don’t want them to see our insecurities and short-comings. And because of this, we become vulnerable to behaviors that may be unbecoming at times, or out of character for us.
I think we can be so influenced by others that we begin to emulate their behaviors so as to avoid possible rejection.
Most of us don’t like being the outsider; most of us don’t like going against the flow of popular opinion, even if it is wrong. Many of us don’t like to make waves and be considered a “goody-two-shoes.” And so, when we get wrapped up in relationships with people of questionable character and integrity, we oftentimes get swallowed up by the dominant behaviors that knock us off course.
If we spend too long in these types of relationships, we become numb to the world around us, we become cynical, and we find ourselves in self-deprecating behaviors that can destroy us and those we love.
What kind of relationships do you have? Are they ones that bring out the best in you, or do they bring out the worst?
Finding the right friends is vitally important in tilling and fertilizing the life-giving soil in our lives.
2. What we read, what we watch, and what we listen to.
Proverbs 14:12 (NLT)
There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.
What we put into our minds via visual stimulation or through words on a page has an effect on us. The philosophies of various worldviews, the particular slant and bias of the pop-culture and the media, or even the zany plots, characters, and storylines of modern-day television shows and movies have subtle, if not at times blatant, positions that seek to move us to action on a specific topic or subject.
Many of you may be thinking you’re too old to succumb to the pressures of things around, but just take a look at the heavily commercialized society we live in. As I’ve mentioned before many of us are able to quote and/or sing campaign slogans and commercials that are either trying to sway us to their way of thinking, or buy their product. If you don’t think you can be influenced by the thoughts and opinions of others, this is a good test to see whether or not you are.
I’ve heard the arguments, as I’m sure you have, that the music we listen to doesn’t have an influence on us. I remember growing up and hearing my friends say they just liked a song for the rhythm and beat. But inadvertently they were taking in the lyrics whether they liked it or not. That’s just the nature of the beast.
Studies are even showing how we are affected by what we watch on television, hear on our radios, or read in books and the paper.
A study recorded in American Psychologist reported that “Psychologists have studied the effect of violent media on aggression for several decades. Hundreds of studies have been conducted on this topic. Scientific evidence from a collection of studies, such as those on media-related aggression, can be integrated and summarized in a narrative (qualitative) review or in a meta-analytic (quantitative) review. Both types of reviews have been conducted on the research literature about media violence and aggression, and all have come to the same conclusion: that viewing violence increases aggression (e.g., Hearold, 1986; Hogben, 1998; Huston et al., 1992; National Institute of Mental Health, 1982; Paik & Comstock, 1994; Surgeon General’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Television and Social Behavior, 1972; Wood, Wong, & Chachere, 1991).
“On the basis of such findings, in July 2000, six major professional societies-the American Psychological Association (APA), the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the American Psychiatric Association signed a joint statement on the hazards of exposing children to media violence, noting that ‘at this time, well over 1 ,000 studies point overwhelmingly to a causal connection between media violence and aggressive behavior in some children’” (Brad J. Bushman and Craig A. Anderson, Iowa State University, http://www.psychology.iastate.edu/faculty/caa/abstracts/2000-2004/01BA.ap.pdf).
To say that what we take in on a daily basis doesn’t affect us is a foolish statement.
What are you watching, reading, and listening to? Are these things cultivating good soil, or are they hardening your heart?
What you put in to your heart and mind will ultimately come out of you at one time or another.
3. The pursuit of pleasure and our personal ambitions.
Ecclesiastes 1:8 (NLT)
Everything is so weary and tiresome! No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content.
The pursuit of pleasure is something we Americans know a lot about. Most of us have dreams of financial success; of owning nice things, new cars, boats, houses, jewelry, and all the amenities that money can buy, and we think this will bring us pleasure. But these things are only fleeting; these things are just illusions of pleasure.
Real pleasure is found in contentment with what we have and with who we are. Real pleasure is found only in the pursuit of God.
Matthew 6:33 (KJV)
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
When we put God first in our lives we never go wrong. And though we may never be on the cover of Forbes Magazine, or be counted among the world’s richest people we can know true, unadulterated pleasure that is out of this world. There is nothing more pleasurable than knowing that all of our needs are supplied; that God would never let us go hungry or provide for our basic needs. Even like the apostle Paul, as believers we can know that, “God will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.”
What are you pursuing? What is it that has center stage in your life? What is it that you are truly seeking in this life?
Seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness is the place we can find real pleasure and contentment.
4. Our private thought life.
Proverbs 27:19 (NLT)
As a face is reflected in water, so the heart reflects the person.
There’s a saying about a person’s character that goes something like this, “I am what I think about when alone – not what I pretend to be in public.”
At the heart of us – the core center of who we are – beats the private worlds of each and every one of us. And it’s in those deep recesses that our characters are formed and are ultimately reflected to the rest of the world.
Author W. Phillip Keller writes, “Perhaps more often that anything else, the ground of our persistent old thought patterns is the toughest soil [God] has ever had to tackle. Some of us harbor places where unforgiven grudges and grievances have hardened against others across the years. Even the dynamite of His Holy Spirit can scarcely break up the compacted clods of scorn, censure, and cruel hostility that harden us” (W. Phillip Keller, A Gardener Looks at the Fruits of the Spirit (Word Books: Waco Texas, 1979), 25).
Our thoughts are a part of this character construction. When we linger longer on thoughts that are malicious and hateful, seeds of bitterness and resentment arise that distort the image of God within us. When we foster thoughts of lust and sexual immorality, we view the opposite sex as mere objects to tickle our own fancies. When we allow thoughts of hatred to fester within us, forgiveness becomes virtually impossible, and, all the more, we become the sum of all that we hid in our hearts and thought life.
Paul reminds us in…
Romans 8:5 (NLT)
Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.
The key to overcoming the sinful nature is to change our behaviors; and a change in our behavior – in order to be truly genuine – must always take place within those deep corners of our lives; within our thoughts and within our hearts.
Paul goes on to say…
Romans 12:2 (NLT)
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.
Finally, Paul instructs us how we should be thinking…
Philippians 4:8 (NLT)
And now, dear brothers and sisters, let me say one more thing as I close this letter. Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
What thoughts are in the secret recesses of your mind? What is it you struggle with thinking about that you wish you had more control over?
When we fix our hearts and thoughts on the things of God we are able to rise above those things that seek to consume us with despair, frustration, anger, and guilt.
Conclusion:
So, what’s the condition of the soil in your life? Have you been hardened to the point that God’s seed can’t germinate in the hardened soil of your life? If so, what’s it going to take to furrow and cultivate a life of faith within you? What’s it going to take to shatter the stubborn resolve of indignation that has hardened you through the years to God and all his goodness? What’s it going to take to get you to change your friends, to change what you watch, listen to, and read, to pursue the kingdom of God rather than pleasure and personal ambition, and to change your private thought life?
The way to freedom in life is through surrender. Our surrendering our will to God is the first step in cultivating the hardened soil in our life. When our pride gives way to humility we experience the sheer, raw faith that grows into maturity and bears much fruit.
