Sowing Seed; Life, Faith, Service
Matthew 13:1-9
Sermon one- Parable of the Sower
Introduction-
This morning we start a new series study called sowing seeds; Life Faith, Service.
We will be looking at:
Where we throw our seeds
How we throw our seeds.
What can we expect to happen when and where we sow seeds.
Last, but not least, what are seeds?
I mean, if you want to grow watermelons, you don’t plant cucumber seeds.
Using the principal that Jesus teaches in Matthew 13:
We are going to look honestly at our own life.
Realistically look at our faith, and evaluate ourselves on our service for Jesus.
It should mean weather you are a new Christian or a seasoned saint, there is something for you in this study.
I think if you are honest, there are those that really struggle to really grasp Christianity and really have a hard time walking the walk with Jesus.
This series could change your life. It might even answer a prayer you have been praying.
How bad do you want to serve God?
How much of your life are you willing to commit to the Lord?
If you are serious, He can change your life. If you are not, once again, the principals of God will not work because you have not planted them in good futile soil enriched with the words and promises of God.
Your choice- what results do you want?
Matthew 13:1-9/ Prayer
Background:
The passage begins with Jesus speaking to a large crowd.
Jesus puts Himself in a boat facing the crowd that is listening from the shore.
Jesus created his own amplified mic so people could hear Him and He shares this parable of a farmer.
A parable for them is a life lesson.
Understand this-When Jesus speaks, He has things to be heard.
They are life lessons.
They are Kingdom principal’s .
It is to our benefit to listen and apply to our lives.
He talks about a farmer throwing seed into his field and the seeds landing on 4 different kinds of soils.
Make no mistake about this- to keep this in context.
The seed is the Word of God, 4 different kinds of soil are 4 different kinds of heart conditions that the seed lands on.
The disciples didn’t get it, Jesus had to explain it in (v18)
“Listen to what the parable of the sower means: when anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the Word and at once receives it with joy, but since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty, and thirty times what was sown.”
4 soils that the Word of God is seeded in
Path- heavily traveled, hard. Quickly stolen away from them.
Rocky- quickly soiled, springs up but has no root. Shallow and the sun or life quickly scorches it and burns it.
Thorns- again shallow, not taken care of. Weeds (bad things in our lives) that we allow to choke what God is doing.
Good soil- well fertilized ground that God says will produce 30, 60, 100 times what you plant according to how well the ground is.
Listen,
We live in a day and age of
Hardness of heart toward the things of God.
Shallowness of our relationship with God.
Allow many thorns in our lives to choke God out .
Remember the seed thrower of biblical times did not have the big fancy machine spreader. They threw seeds down like Johnny Appleseed manually and then dug up the ground around it.
You can understand that if the seed was unattended, that there would not be a harvest.
Today, we have churches on TV, Evangelist traveling around the world sharing God’s Word, Churches begging and pleading with people to have a relationship with God. Pastors trying to point people in the right direction.
The number of fruitless hearers was great then, and it is great today.
New ways to throw the seed but still the bottom line is the heart condition that the seed is planted in.
Proverbs 24:30-32
“I went past the field of the sluggard, past the vineyards of the man who lacks judgment; thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds and the stone wall was in ruins. I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw.”
Are we going to apply the word and learn the lesson?
This lesson is the theme of this series- if you do not learn the lesson concerning the applying of God’s word in your life. I can promise you that you will struggle in your life, in your faith, in your service for Jesus.
The choice is yours. Not learning life lessons is what keeps most people from living the lives that God intended and living lives at best that is second best.
The problem is not the word of God-
God promises that His Word will not return void but will accomplish all that He has purposed it to do.
Unless you do not allow God’s word to work in your life.
The 4 soils represent cynics and rebels all the way to the hungry believers that want every blessing and every promise that God offers him.
Some, there is no place for God. They are too proud and too arrogant.
Romans 3:18
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Stubborn
Selfish
Attitude that is so bad that the word of God never sinks in. it is snatched away the first sign of trouble.
The problem is not lack of understanding-
God promises by the power of the Holy Spirit to give us all that we need to comprehend and understand the things of God. No one understands all, but to the hungry, the Lord will give them an attitude that will allow the word of God to be planted in good seed.
Mark Twain-
“”it is not the parts of the Bible I do not understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.”
Jesus said
Ever seeing, but never perceiving.
Ever hearing, but never understanding.
Alright- life application
What are you going to do with this passage?
You can ignore what God has been saying to you or you can realize that He is trying to tell you something and what He tells you He will help you accomplish.
2 choices- 2 different results.
Let’s not take anything for granted.
Who is the sower? Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit bringing God’s word to us with understanding.
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor (Luke 4:18)
What is the seed? The Word of God.
We are privileged to have the complete word of God in our language and available to change our lives. We have the power of the Holy Spirit to give interpretation and understanding.
What’s our responsibility?
To make sure God’s word falls on good soil in our lives.
The Pharisees thought they had it all together.
So religious that they missed the savior Jesus right in front of them.
“Thank God, I am not like that sinner.”
Heart so hard and calloused.
Heart so hard that the word of God just bounced off and never took root.
God’s word carries great power-
Hebrews 4:12
“For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow, it judges the thoughts and attitude of the heart.”
Instead of hard heart, shallow relationships, thorns that choke you- he says that He can soften your heart, put you in a committed relationship, give you sincere compassion and abide with you in good and bad times.
Listen,
You won’t know the results of sowing until the reaping begins (repeat)
Just like you cannot pull the seed out of the ground daily to see if it is growing. You have to allow God to grow that seed and trust that He is checking it daily to make sure it is in good soil.
Closing
Our responsibility is to make sure that God’s word falls into good soil, and the way we do that is to apply God’s Word to every avenue of our lives. EVERY AVENUE OF OUR LIVES! Not just the spiritual things, not just what we like and disregard the things we don’t like. If we are going to see a bountiful harvest, it will be because we nurture it in good soil.
Some of us need to be honest this morning, we have not seen our lives go in the direction that we would like it too.
Our lives are a mess, there is no other way of describing it.
Until we adhere to God’s word, we will continue to have problems.
What do you say? Time to let God in and self out. It is not working, and it won’t work until we give it over to God and allow Him to make the changes.
We have time for everything but God, the very person we need the most.
