The Parable of the Sower – 7
“Thorny Ground: The Cares of This World”
Luke 8:11-14
“Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.”
So far we have learned, in this parable, that:
➢ God is the sower
➢ The Word of God is the seed
➢ We are the ground.
We have also talked about the power of the seed, the supernatural, dynamite power of the Word of God. Then we discovered that we don’t want to become wayside ground, which is the type of person who doesn’t really listen to the instruction of the Word. We don’t want to listen when God tries to lead by that still, small voice. We also discovered that we don’t want to be stony ground, which is the kind of person who is easily offended by affliction and persecution.
Today, we are going to talk about the thorny ground individual. Our text gives us a clear picture of what the thorny ground person is all about. Just like the stony ground person, the thorny ground person hears the Word. They know the power of the Word. They receive the Word, but because of the cares of this life, the Word gets choked out. The busyness and the stress of life overrides the promises found in the Word. It is easy to become overwhelmed by our problems and struggles. It is easy to get so caught up in the day-to-day busyness that we let it supersede the power of the Word. It is so easy to become this type of ground and hardly even realize it.
A Scripture comes to mind that we need to hold on to. Maybe you are stressed out at life, maybe your circumstances are overwhelming at this point. We need to take care of our ground, especially in these stressful times.
I know we live in a world full of sickness, a world full of grief, a world full of violence. We live in a world that is truly messed up. But there is hope, but the only hope is found in God’s Word. We cannot allow ourselves to grow full of care.
Paul tells us not to allow anything to cause us to be full of care or worry.
Philippians 4:6-7; “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
The word translated keep is a military term in the original Greek. It means to keep with a military guard. The word Christ in the Greek means anointed. Therefore, since we know from John 1:1 that Jesus and the Word are the same, we could paraphrase that verse this way:
➢ “The peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep, as a military guard, your hearts and minds through the anointed Word of God. (or through the seed)”
Seeing it that way makes it easier to apply to our own situations. I can now use the anointed Word of God as a military guard, to keep, or guard my mind and my heart. Remember, my heart is my ground. It may be difficult for me to keep my peace in times of trouble and tribulation, but the anointed Word acts like a military guard to keep my mind stayed on the Word and on the peace of God when trouble comes. We cannot allow the cares of this life to choke out that anointed Word.
John 16:33; “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (KJV)
In the world we are going to have trouble and tribulation. There are going to be hurts in the world. There will be disappointments in the world and obviously there will be cares of life in this world, but Jesus encourages us by telling us that, yes, these things will come, but even through these things you can experience peace because of the anointed Word of God, but we have to be good ground. There is a perfect example found in Scripture of the stony ground person.
I. CARE BRINGS TROUBLE
Care (or worry) brings on trouble. However, the Word of God brings peace. We see good ground and we see stony ground in the story of Mary and Martha.
Luke 10:38-42; ¶ “Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”
And Jesus answered and said to her, “ Martha, Martha, you are worried (careful) and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her” (NKJV)
Why did Jesus slightly rebuke Martha for being careful and troubled about many things? Well, we just read in Philippians to be careful for nothing. But here Martha is full of care, anxiety, worry, and trouble. So, obviously when you are full of care, you are going to be troubled. What is it that chokes the Word of God out of people? CARE! Care is one of the thorns that choke out the Word., so the Word produces no fruit.
Jesus said, “Martha, you are care-full and troubled about many things.” So, Martha is not breaking out of her trouble, she is actually filled with care and she is troubled by the things that she is full of care about. But look what Jesus says next:
Luke 10:42; “But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
Jesus was NOT rebuking Martha for being busy. He was NOT rebuking her for not sitting at His feet as we have heard once in a while, He was rebuking her because she was full of worry and care while doing all those things. My wife would be the perfect example of Martha in that she stays busy all the time. Always doing something, but Jesus would not rebuke her for doing her work and taking care of her family, but He would if she was doing all that while worrying about everything else too. The problem with Martha was not the busyness; it was the anxiety and worry that consumed her. It actually caused her not to receive the words of Jesus.
II. SPIRITUAL PRIORITIES
Martha is a good example of the first thing that happens to believers when they lack peace in their lives and their hearts are troubled. They begin to neglect the most needful part of their lives. Whenever your life is filled with care and anxiety, you know you have been neglecting the most needful part of your life.
The most needful part of life is not the serving part; the most needful part is the Word part. Mary sat at the feet of Jesus to hear and receive the Word of God. Luke 4:4; “It is written, ‘man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’” The Bible is saying that you need something more than bread to exist. You need every Word of God. That is the needful part. We must understand spiritual priorities and understand that the most important part of your Christian life is the Word of God and prayer. In the midst of your busy life, just don’t forget the most important things.
Psalm 119:165 ¶ “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.”
By setting your priorities right, and by loving the Word of God, the Bible declares to you that you will have great peace. Some may say, “How is that possible?” There are so many promises in the Word, that whatever you are going through you know the answer is found in the Word and because of that promise; you have peace that people can’t even understand.
Remember care brings trouble and we don’t want trouble, also if you want to overcome care, you need to set your spiritual priorities in line and that is putting the Word first. In order to overcome care, I have
III. THE PERFECT SOLUTION
Until you get your spiritual priorities straight and make an irreversible decision to live in the Word, you will continue being full of care and you will continue to be defeated by trouble. If you don’t get in the Word, you will be stuck in a vicious circle, the more care and trouble you let into your life, the more the Word will be choked out of it; the more you neglect the Word, the more full of care and troubled you will be.
Remember, the Word of God, and the peace, which comes from it, are there to guard and keep your mind and heart like a military guard. If you will concentrate on the needful part of sitting at the feet of Jesus and hearing His Word, if you will get your priorities right and put the Word before your service, the peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your heart and mind through the anointed Word. Let’s read a little further in our text:
Philippians 4:6-9; “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. 9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.
It ends by stating that the peace of God be with you. How do you get that peace? It comes with keeping your heart guarded with good things. Good ground
