My first pastorate was a rural church in northwest Oklahoma. A young man in the church returned from military service overseas. He brought his new bride to meet me. She was Irish. It was her first time in the U.S. I asked what impressed her about Oklahoma. She said it was the dirt. I was surprised. I asked what it was about the dirt that impressed her. She said it was red. I asked what color dirt was supposed to be. She said, “Black.”
Jesus tells a parable about different kinds of soil. This parable is found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It’s often called the Parable of the Sower, but a more accurate name would be the Parable of the Soils. The setting for the parable is a little different in each gospel, but they use it for the same purpose. The point of the parable is to emphasize a responsive heart to the truth of God’s Word.
The parable describes four soils, but really it comes down to two soils. One soil is responsive. This is the person who acts upon the truth of God’s Word. He seeks to change and obey the Word. The other soil understands God’s Word but doesn’t seek to apply God’s Word. It is unresponsive.
When was the last time you were having a conversation with someone, but you weren’t paying attention? They are talking, you appear to be listening, but you are a million miles away. You’re thinking: I wish I’d stayed up one more inning for the first game of the World Series. You knew better. It was the longest first game in World Series history, and you went to sleep before it was over. Then you’re jolted out of your daydreaming when she says, “Are you listening to me?” You act like a man and say, “Yes, of course. I heard every word.” Technically you are right, but morally you’re a liar! This is what is happening in this parable.
In chapter three there is the impressive list of dignitaries, but to whom does the Word of God come? It comes to John the Baptist. Jesus returns to his hometown. He preaches a messianic passage and tells them that He is the Messiah. They reject Him. Jesus performs stunning acts of power by healing lepers and the handicapped. He exercises authority over demons, but the Pharisees refuse the obvious testimony of Jesus’ life and teaching. These are examples of unresponsive soil.
On the other hand, there is fruitful soil. Chapter one is Elizabeth, Zachariah, Joseph and Mary. In chapter two are the shepherds, the old man Simeon, and the old woman Anna. In chapter five is the calling of the brothers Simon Peter and Andrew and James and John. Levi, the tax collector, responds to the invitation of Jesus. In chapter seven the sinful woman is saved.
What is Luke doing? He is leading us to this parable to explain why some are responding to Jesus and some are not. The people you’d expect to embrace Christ are not. The people you’d expect to reject Christ are. Why? It has to do with the condition of their heart. Some are responsive like good soil to seed and others are unresponsive like bad soil.
His biblical text for supporting his teaching that there are different responses to the truth of God is found in Isaiah 6. Isaiah has his vision of God in the temple. He commits to obey God before he knows what God wants him to do. He has a responsive heart. The assignment God gives Isaiah is to preach God’s Word but know the people will not submit and obey. They are unresponsive soil. Jesus was saying what was true in Isaiah’s day was true in His day. It’s still true today. Some will hear God’s truth, and they will be changed by it. Others will hear the same message, but it won’t alter their attitudes or actions one wit.
As we study this parable the question is not, “Are you listening?” The real question is, “Are you responding to what you hear?” As I read the text, listen for the two kinds of soil: responsive and unresponsive.
(4) As a large crowd was gathering, and people were flocking to Him from every town, He said in a parable: (5) "A sower went out to sow his seed. As he was sowing, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the sky ate it up. (6) Other seed fell on the rock; when it sprang up, it withered, since it lacked moisture. (7) Other seed fell among thorns; the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. (8) Still other seed fell on good ground; when it sprang up, it produced a crop: 100 times what was sown." As He said this, He called out, "Anyone who has ears to hear should listen!"
(9) Then His disciples asked Him, "What does this parable mean?" (10) So He said, "The secrets of the kingdom of God have been given for you to know, but to the rest it is in parables, so that
Looking they may not see,
and hearing they may not understand.
(11) "This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. (12) The seeds along the path are those who have heard. Then the Devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. (13) And the seeds on the rock are those who, when they hear, welcome the word with joy. Having no root, these believe for a while and depart in a time of testing. (14) As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are the ones who, when they have heard, go on their way and are choked with worries, riches, and pleasures of life, and produce no mature fruit. (15) But the seed in the good ground—these are the ones who, having heard the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it and by enduring, bear fruit.
I. OBSTACLES TO GROWTH (LUKE 8:4-7, 11-14)
The fields were in long strips. People would walk on beaten paths between the fields. There were no fences. The path would be as hard as cement. The farmer would tie a sack to a donkey with holes in it. He would walk back and forth over the field. Some of the seed would spill on the road or path.
The first soil is skepticism. Jesus was speaking of the Pharisees. Notice that it is the devil that snatches away the truth before it has a chance to take root. This attitude prevents faith in Christ.
The Pharisees refused to be open to the truth about Jesus. Their attitude was they didn’t need anyone tell them about God. They knew the way to salvation. They were OK. Look at how righteous they were. They never miss a temple service, even if it rains. They memorize Scripture and tithe. They were trusting in themselves. They thought God accepted them on the basis of their works.
These people have no use for Jesus. Bill Maher, the political humorist, said, “Faith means making a virtue out of not thinking. It's nothing to brag about. And those who preach faith and enable and elevate it are our intellectual slaveholders, keeping mankind in a bondage to fantasy and nonsense that has spawned and justified so much lunacy and destruction.”
This soil represents people who will simply make no place for Jesus. I talked to a high school boy and shared the gospel. I asked if he would like to receive Christ. “No,” was his answer. I asked why. He said he was not through having his fun yet. The devil had snatched away the truth about the consequences of sin and the abundance of life that Jesus brings.
What’s our response to the skeptics, to those whose heart is hard to the Good News of Christ? Keep casting the seed. We know people we thought were too far gone to ever respond, but a seed of the gospel got through an opening and came to life. I have uncles, aunts, and my grandfather who would fit this category. They had no place for Jesus, but finally a seed brought them life. Keep telling the story. The second biggest box office movie in 2004 was The Passion of the Christ. It was about the last 12 hours of Jesus’ life. Millions, believer and unbeliever, attended this movie. You just never know when God will break through to the skeptic.
In verse 13 is the second soil. The seed that fell on rocky soil represents the passing response of emotionalism. Jesus refers to a few inches of soil that cover a great slab of limestone. He’s not talking about a field full of rocks. The slab of rock helps warm the soil resulting in the seed sprouting quickly. The problem is the rock prevents the development of a root system to sustain the plant when the dry, hot weather comes, and it will come. Without the stability of the root system, the planet withers and dies before it gets to the place of fruitfulness.
Jesus is referring to the large crowds that followed Him enthusiastically in the beginning, but fell by the wayside when things started requiring sacrifice. We know that later the Pharisees said if a person persisted in following Jesus Christ as the Messiah, they would be put out of the synagogue. That’s more than having your name removed from the church rolls. It had an economic effect. The community stopped trading at your business or no longer hired you for labor. It had educational ramifications. Your children can’t go to synagogue studies. Multitudes of people said that this was too much. They didn’t have a root system to sustain them. It cost too much to obey Jesus.
During the 1970’s, the former Beatle John Lennon was living in virtual seclusion. During that time he became an avid viewer of Billy Graham and Pat Robertson on TV, and at some point he had an experience that he thought was a conversion to the Christian faith. During those few months people say he peppered his conversation with phrases like “Praise the Lord,” and
Thank you, Jesus.” John’s wife Yoko Ono was upset with John’s newfound interest in the Christian faith. She feared that John would challenge some of her occult ideas. But John’s experience was just that: an experience. When the flood of joy and enthusiasm wore off and he began to experience the displeasure of his wife, he left behind his interest in Christ. It was after this time that John Lennon wrote his song “Imagine,” which asks us to “image that there’s no heaven.” John Lennon’s heart was shallow soil, so his response was shallow and temporary.
John Lennon’s story leads me to ask, “Is the Word taking root in your life?” We are surrounded by preaching of the Word. On the radio and TV are some of the best preachers in Christian history. The air waves are awash in Christian music and Christian advice. Never has there been as much access to the Word of God. But where is the corresponding harvest of Christian obedience and faithfulness?
Recently a report by Thom Rainer said the average attendance has dropped from just over twice a month to around 1½ times/month. Rainer said that shows up in a 25% drop in church member attendance. A Barna report said something that I struggle to accept. It reports that 95% of Christians do not witness about their faith. Southern Baptist said if giving trends of the younger generation doesn’t improve, 50% of current churches may close their doors because of a shortage in offerings once the older generation passes away.
One of the leading churches in our nation several years ago self-reported that they did a study on their own member’s lifestyle. The megachurch Willowcreek, in an act of exemplary boldness, reported that they had reached a lot of people for salvation but that a vast number of those people showed no signs of having actually changed. I don’t know that it would be different in our Baptist churches.
Is the Word of God taking root in your life? Are you discernibly a different person because of your relationship with Christ? When squeezed by life is there more of the Spirit of Christ revealed or your old sinful nature? This is the soil of shallow emotionalism.
The third soil is preoccupied materialism. Jesus said in v. 14: As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are the ones who, when they have heard, go on their way and are choked with worries, riches, and pleasures of life, and produce no mature fruit.
What are you worried about right now? Money? Family? Job? Is that out of God’s control? Of course not. One problem of worry is it keeps us tethered to this world instead of trusting and obeying God.
Jesus says riches have the possibility of keeping Christ from being priority. The Bible does not condemn wealth, but it warns us it can be a hindrance. Jesus is not talking to the filthy rich. It is our word “hedonism.” It refers to anything not rooted in God but in our sinful nature. Material pursuits become priority. This person is working when they should be worshiping. Greed and gold is their god.
A gardener not only must love flowers, he must hate weeds. He must constantly wage war on the weeds that try to take over the flowers. We must be on guard against the deceitfulness of riches or they will choke out the priority Christ in our life.
The Wall Street Journal ran an article several years ago of an interview with six top executives, all of them making six-figure salaries. That means they made a minimum of $100,000 to a million dollars a year.
They asked these wealthy, successful executives, “What is your greatest fear?” The words were different but the answer was the same. Their answer was they feared they would not have enough. They were asked, “How much is enough?” All of them answered, “a little more.” Their ship came in but they feared it was going to sink in the harbor.
To be Christ-like is to be generous. The cross is the emblem of how generous Christ was toward sinners. But He didn’t stop there. He went on to give us His Spirit and eternal life. The word “grace,” which may be the most distinctive word to describe Christianity, is simply God being generous toward us for no good reason.
What is preventing some from being saved, attending church, or growing in their spiritual likeness to Christ? They love money more than Christ. They put the earning or saving or spending of money before obedience to being generous Christ-likeness. This is real. I could give you names.
Jesus asks us, “Are you listening? Do you understand what I’m saying?” What’s the answer to the poor level of Christian living in our generation? It could be a preoccupation with worry or riches or the pleasures of life. These things close openness to hearing and heeding the Word of God.
This is the time we pray and give to our international missionaries. When our missionaries come back to the U.S. for stateside assignment, they don’t have a car. Our Association provides a van for a missionary family to drive while here. Our financial support of Union Baptist Association contributes to that benefit. When they are home for stateside assignment they don’t have a home or any furniture to equip a home. They attempt to find a missionary residence close to family, but it may still be hundreds of miles away. If they bargained doing the will of God based on the pleasures of life, very few would be on the mission field. Could there be someone here this morning and this describes what is hindering your obedient response to Jesus?
Have you ever thought of giving some of your vacation time to the work of the Lord? Maybe you’d participate in VBS or a camp or a mission trip. Why does it all have to be spent on you?
Jesus concludes this parable with the opportunities for growth.
II. OPPORTUNITIES FOR GROWTH (LUKE 5:8, 15)
(15) But the seed in the good ground—these are the ones who, having heard the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it and by enduring, bear fruit.
Why are people not responding to Jesus? Maybe it is the work of the devil. He has sown doubt and skepticism into their heart. The Word never gets a chance to change them. Maybe it is the superficial response of emotionalism. The Word never sinks in deep and gets a hold on a person. When it becomes difficult and costly to follow Jesus, this person gives up. Maybe the response is a preoccupation with materialism. Something other than Jesus is priority. But some do respond. Why?
The explanation for why some become devout followers of Jesus and others fall along the way is not because of some deficiency in Jesus. It’s not the fault of the sower or the seed but the soil.
This person is open to hearing the Word. He wants it to have preeminence in his life. They are not only attentive but retentive. They don’t quickly forget God’s truth. It is carried beyond the Bible reading session or the worship service. The person reviews his life in the light of God’s truth. The seed is not washed out of the soil of their heart. It begins work its way into his thinking and behavior. He holds on to the Word.
They endure. The devil, the world, and our sin nature conspire to get us to quit being an obedient follower of Jesus. Probably, every good gift in your life is the result of your perseverance. Jan Collins plays the piano beautifully. Obviously, she has a gift and talent to play the piano, but she can play the piano because she did not stop practicing. For her music is the product and pleasure of her endurance.
Fruit is the outcome of something. If you obey God’s Word and persist in God’s Word the promise is fruit in your life. Fruit is sometimes referred to as Christ-like character: love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The New Testament refers to fruit as souls that are saved or gifts of generosity or worship. Satan and sin will do everything within their power to stop that from happening. But they are powerless before the Spirit-filled disciple that is attentive, retentive, and continuing.
CONCLUSION
Edwin Thomas was a master of the stage in the latter half of the 1800’s. This small man with a booming voice was one of the best known actors of his time. He played the part of Richard III at fifteen, and quickly established himself as a premier Shakespearean actor. In New York he performed Hamlet for one hundred consecutive nights. He won the approval of the tough British critics. When it came to tragedy on the stage, Edwin Thomas was in a select group. When it came to tragedy in his life, the same could be said as well.
Edwin had two brothers, John and Junius. Both were actors, although neither rose to his stature. In 1863, the three brothers united their talents to perform Julius Caesar. In the play, Brutus kills Julius Caesar. John played the role of assassin in the play. It’s eerie because two years later he would take the literal role of assassin when he fired a bullet into the head of President Abraham Lincoln. You see, the last name of the brothers is Booth—Edwin Thomas Booth and John Wilkes Booth.
Edwin was never the same after his brother’s assassination attempt. Shame drove him into retirement. He might never have returned to the stage had it not been for a twist of fate at a New Jersey train station. Edwin was awaiting the train when a well-dressed young man, pressed by the crowd, lost his footing and fell between the platform and a moving train. Without hesitation, Edwin locked a leg around a railing, grabbed the man, and pulled him to safety. After sighs of relief, the young man recognized the famous actor.
But Edwin did not recognize the young man. That came weeks later when he received a letter, a letter he carried in his pocket to his grave. The letter was from General Adams Budeau, Chief Secretary to General Ulysses S. Grant. The Secretary thanked Edwin Booth for saving the life of the child of an American hero, Abraham Lincoln. The young man that Edwin yanked to safety was Robert Todd Lincoln, the son of Abraham Lincoln.
Two men: Edwin Thomas Booth and John Wilkes Booth. Same father, same mother, same profession—yet one chose life and the other chose death. Why do people choose the way they do? The answer is not found in the Sower or the seed but in the soil. Their choice reflects the true condition of their heart. Do you understand?
1. Sermon by Brad Newsome, New Orleans chapel, 8-2-15.
2. www.sermoncentral.com.
