Several years ago I came across a book by J. Ellsworth Kalas titled Parables from the Back Side. The author’s introduction to the book begins with these words:
Familiarity doesn’t always breed contempt, as the saying puts it, but it often breeds something potentially worse, the glazed eye. We quote favorite sayings and truisms so easily that we don’t really hear them…The parables of Jesus are in danger of such treatment. We’ve read them so often, have heard them taught or preached of have so expounded them ourselves, that their majestic brilliance hardly fazes us.
So over the next nine weeks, I’m going to do my very best to help us take a fresh look at some of these very familiar parables. Like Kalas did in his book, we’re going to examine these great stories told by Jesus through the eyes of some of the minor or unsympathetic characters. By doing that I’m confident that without in any way taking away from the main point of the parables, we can enhance our understanding and deepen our ability to apply Jesus’ teaching in our everyday lives.
In order to do that effectively, we need to take a few minutes this morning to develop our understanding of the nature and purpose of the parables taught by Jesus.
What is a parable?
Our English word “parable” is actually a transliteration of the underlying Greek word:
parabole =
para (“against/beside”) + ballo (“to throw”)
So a parable is a teaching aid that is cast or thrown against or beside the truth that is being taught. In a parable, the story is merely the means to help reinforce the truth being taught. Some have defined a parable as “an earthly story with a heavenly meaning” which is true, but that definition doesn’t really capture the fullness of what we find in the parables.
It is important to note that parables are different than either proverbs or allegories, two other literary forms that are also found in the Bible:
• Unlike proverbs, which are merely pithy sayings, parables always have a narrative that illustrates the truth being taught.
• Unlike allegories, which often use mythical or supernatural events to illustrate a point, parables use realistic events in the narrative. These are always events that either did actually occur or which could occur in everyday life.
We’re going to use the “Connections” time after the worship gathering to explore those differences in more detail.
Interestingly, the parables of Jesus are all found in Matthew, Mark and Luke. There are no parables in John’s gospel account.
Why did Jesus use parables?
Go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Matthew 13. In just a moment we’ll read the actual parable we’ll be studying this morning from that chapter. But since this is the first recorded parable in Matthew’s gospel, it apparently caught the disciples off guard a bit. So after Jesus told that parable, the disciples asked Him a question:
Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”
(Matthew 13:10, ESV)
In the next few verses, Jesus answers their question:
And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
(Matthew 13:11-13, ESV)
In His answer, Jesus reveals 5 reasons for speaking in parables:
1. To reveal divine truth to the godly
“To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven…
2. To conceal divine truth from the ungodly
…but to them it has not been given.
In verses 14 and 15, Jesus quotes from Isaiah 6:9-10 in order to describe the spiritual condition of the ungodly who have become so hardened that they are no longer able to see and hear spiritual truth. It’s interesting that all four gospel writers quote that particular passage and it is also quoted in the book of Acts.
3. To separate “truth-seekers” from “curiosity-seekers”
Later in the same chapter, we see the two responses of those who heard the parables Jesus told that day:
Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.”
(Matthew 13:36, ESV)
The disciples, who were seeking truth, pursued the meaning of the parables. But the crowds, who were just curious but who really didn’t care about the truth, went away.
4. To fulfill Messianic prophecy
All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet:
“I will open my mouth in parables;
I will utter what has been hidden since the
foundation of the world.”
(Matthew 13:34-35, ESV)
5. To provoke a response
Jesus did not just tell parables to reveal a spiritual truth, although they certainly did that. He used the unusual twists in the stories to catch the attention of the listener and jolt them into new ways of seeing things and calling them to action. In many cases, Jesus used parables to get people to assent to the truth before He revealed that it applied to them.
The blessing of studying the parables
But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
(Matthew 13:16, 17, ESV)
With that background in mind, we’re now ready to look at the Parable of the Sower. We’ll start in verse 1 of Matthew 13. Please follow along as I read that passage.
That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.”
(Matthew 13:1-9, ESV)
Do you realize that Jesus actually only explained two of His parables? Fortunately one of those is the parable we’re examining this morning. The other is also found in Matthew 13 and that parable – the Parable of the Weeds – will be the subject of the message next week.
So rather than trying to speculate on the meaning of the parable, let’s read Jesus’ own explanation, which begins in verse 18:
“Hear then the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”
(Matthew 13:18-23, ESV)
Before we take a few minutes to examine this parable from the “back side”, let me ask you a few questions:
1. How many of you are familiar with this parable?
2. How many of you have heard a sermon on this parable at some point in your life?
3. And in your own study and in those sermons, what was the main focus of the message?
I think for most of us, the focus of this parable is almost always on the soils. I even saw a number of sermons and commentaries this week that referred to this parable as “The Parable of the Soils” even though Jesus clearly calls it the “parable of the sower” in verse 18. I’ve certainly seen this parable used to get people to consider the condition of their own hearts and to evaluate whether they have genuinely accepted the word of God into their lives in a way that it produces fruit. And I’ve also seen the passage used in evangelism training as a means of helping to identify where others are as we share the gospel with them. Even Kalas focuses on the soil in his book, using the different types of soils as a picture of the different seasons in the life of a disciple.
Those are all completely legitimate applications of this passage in my opinion. And if God is laying any of those things on your heart this morning, then I pray that you’ll respond appropriately. But I wonder if we’re not more comfortable focusing on the soils because that’s the easier path. Just being the soil and letting the seed fall on us doesn’t require much of us and it certainly doesn’t compel us to get involved in the lives of others.
But Jesus understood that once the seed takes root in us, we are compelled to serve, as well as to be saved. Unlike just being the soil, being a sower demands that we look outside our own little world and get involved in the lives of others. That is why Jesus calls this the “parable of the sower” and not the “parable of the soils.” And that’s why we’re going to examine this parable from the perspective of the sower this morning.
It is interesting to me that Jesus never identifies the sower in this parable. Some have, mistakenly in my opinion, tried to connect this to another parable in this same chapter where the sower is identified as the Son of Man. But, as we’ll see next week, that other parable is completely different than this one, with a completely different application. While I can’t be dogmatic about it, it seems to me that the reason the sower is not identified here is because Jesus wanted all of His disciples, and ultimately all of us to be able to identify with that sower.
Certainly, it is true that Jesus was the first to sow the “word of the kingdom”, but He passed that responsibility down to the apostles, then to the early church and finally to all of us who are His followers. So by focusing on the sower here we rightly focus on our responsibility to be sowers of the Word of God. And by doing that, we can take away the main truth that Jesus has for us in this parable:
Jesus calls His followers to be
serial seed sowers
Before we look at the characteristics of the sower, we need to take a minute to first identify the seed that he is sowing in this parable. Fortunately for us, we don’t have to guess what the seed is because Jesus identifies it for us in His explanation of the parable.
Here in Matthew’s account of this parable, Jesus says that the seed is the “word of the kingdom.” We don’t have a lot of time to dwell on all the nuances of that phrase, but basically the “word of the kingdom” is the message about how to enter the kingdom of God. God is the king over a kingdom that at present is a spiritual kingdom, but which will one day also be a physical kingdom as well. And He is inviting people into that kingdom.
In Luke’s account of this same parable, we get an even clearer picture of the seed:
Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
(Luke 8:11, ESV)
• The seed = the Word of God
That certainly makes sense because it is the Word of God that contains the message of the kingdom and reveals how to become a part of that kingdom. The important thing for us to recognize here is that the “word of the kingdom” is much more comprehensive than just telling people how to “be saved.” It is the good news that they can live right now in a kingdom that is under the control of a sovereign God by submitting to His rule in their lives.
We’re now ready to close our time by seeing what this parable reveals about…
HOW TO BE A SERIAL SEED SOWER
We’ll look at just three actions that we must take if we want to be serial seed sowers. First, we must…
• Sow persistently
In this parable, the word “sower” is a participle that indicates that sowing seed is the persistent practice of this person. The picture here is of someone who is constantly sowing the seed, regardless of circumstances. I’m reminded here of this verse from Ecclesiastes:
He who observes the wind will not sow,
and he who regards the clouds will not reap.
(Ecclesiastes 11:4, ESV)
I know this is an area where I really struggle and perhaps you do, too. I frequently fail to sow God’s Word when I have the opportunity because I perceive that conditions aren’t quite right or that the other person’s heart isn’t yet ready to receive the seed.
But the problem with that mindset is that none of us can tell by looking at another person what kind of soil we are working with. We can’t always tell how trampled down the soil is or where there are rocks or where weeds are going to pop up or which soil is fertile and will produce a bountiful harvest.
That’s why in the parable, the sower just keeps on sowing in all kinds of soil. He doesn’t look at the path and say, “I’m not going to waste my time there.” He doesn’t write off the rocky soil. He doesn’t refuse to sow the seed because some weeds might end up choking out what grows from the seed.
Now I’m certainly not saying that we aren’t to use discernment or rely upon the leading of the Holy Spirit when it comes to sharing our faith with others. But based on my own personal experience and what I’ve observed in the lives of others, when we say we’re waiting for the right conditions to sow the seed, we rarely get around to ever sowing the seed at all. The fact is that conditions are rarely “just right” to sow the seed.
At least one of the lessons we can learn from this parable is that it is much better to sow the seed in imperfect circumstances than it is to never sow the seed at all. My guess is that most of the time if we would just be bold enough to tell people about the kingdom of God even when it doesn’t seem like the right time, we’d end up with a much larger harvest than we experience when we’re always waiting around for the right time.
That leads us to the second thing we can learn about being a serial seed sower…
• Sow plentifully
I remember one year when our kids were younger they decided to see if they could grow a mesquite tree from some of the seeds that had fallen off the mesquite tree in our front yard. So they took a whole bunch of those seeds and planted them and watered them and eventually a few of the seeds germinated. When they got a little larger we took a couple of those trees and planted them in the back yard. Eventually one of those trees grew into a fully mature tree. It took a lot of seeds to produce just one tree.
The sower in this parable sowed his seed as far and wide as he could. He understood that a certain amount of his seed – in fact the majority of his seed – wasn’t going to produce a crop. But since he wasn’t exactly sure where the best soil was, he kept sowing everywhere he could in order to increase his odds for a good crop.
I don’t know if we can draw a direct parallel, but it seems that the proportion of good soil to unproductive soil in the parable at least reveals that we should expect that most of the seed we sow will never produce lasting fruit. While we can’t necessarily conclude that only 25% of the seed will produce a crop, the parable certainly does illustrate that we should expect that much, if not most, of the seed we sow will never produce fruit. So that means if we want to see a harvest, we must sow a lot of seed.
Finally, if we want to be serial seed sowers, we must…
• Sow patiently
I remember as a child wanting to take some apple seeds and grow them into a tree. But I never had much success with that. This week I read a couple of articles that revealed why. First of all, most apple trees are not grown from seed but rather by grafting or budding. It is possible to grow a tree from a seed, but it takes a lot of patience. Even for those seeds which germinate and eventually grow into mature trees, it will take somewhere around 10-12 years before the tree will ever produce fruit.
In the parable, the sower kept on sowing his seed even though he understood that it might take a long time before he ever saw a harvest of any kind. He did that knowing that the odds of producing fruit were small, but also understanding that there would be a few successes in which his sowing would make a tremendous difference in the life of another person.
Ultimately, when we sow the seed, we have to trust God and leave the results to Him. That’s the point Paul was making in his letter to the church at Corinth:
I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.
(1 Corinthians 3:6-8, ESV)
Ultimately, whether the seed becomes fruitful is completely up to God. Our responsibility is just to keep faithfully sowing the seed and then give the Word of God time to do its work. And what this parable shows us is that eventually God’s Word will reveal the true condition of every heart.
The message for us from this parable is really pretty simple:
Jesus calls His followers to be
serial seed sowers
This morning, if you’re not a part of God’s kingdom, then some of His seed has been sown in your life through God’s Word. And your response to His Word is going to reveal what kind of soil you are. It is certainly our prayer that you will be the good soil and that you will hear, understand and receive that Word into your life and enter into God’s kingdom. Please let us know if we can help you in that process in any way.
If you are already part of God’s kingdom this morning, it is because one or more of Jesus’ followers took the time to sow the word of the kingdom in your life. And they probably did that, not knowing what kind of soil you were at the time. And now Jesus has entrusted His seed to you and called you to sow that seed persistently, plentifully and patiently. That is your calling. He hasn’t asked you to become an expert in analyzing the soil or to get special training in how to sow the seed. He just asks you to sow the seed the very best you know haw and to leave the results to Him.
As I was thinking about how we need to respond to the message of this parable, the prayer request of the apostle Paul in Ephesians 6 came to mind. If there was anyone whose life was characterized by being a serial seed sower, it was Paul. And a lot of the seed he sowed certainly fell on the path and the rocky soil or was choked out by the weeds. But some of it also ended up bearing abundant fruit. So as we close our time this morning, let’s take a few minutes to meditate on what Paul asked the church in Ephesus to pray for him. I’m going to put that prayer request up on the screen and ask you to take some time to chew on it and then see if you can paraphrase it and make it your own prayer to God. Then after the announcements we’ll pray a similar payer together to ask God to help us sow seed as we become the church scattered this week.
…To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.
(Ephesians 6:18-20, ESV)
Corporate Prayer [after individual prayer time]:
Heavenly Father,
• Guide us and give us the right words as we share the word of the kingdom.
• Give us boldness and confidence as we proclaim the gospel
• Help us to patiently trust in you as Your Word does its work in the lives of others
• As you will, give us the joy of seeing others enter Your kingdom as a result of the seed that we sow
• In all this, we pray that You would receive glory
In Jesus’ name,
Amen
