The Parable of the Sower – 8
“Thorny Ground: Riches”
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
Last week we started talking about the Thorny Ground individual. In our text we find three different things that can be indicators that we are the thorny ground person. The first one was the cares of this world chokes out the Word. We covered this last week. This week we are going to briefly talk about the other two things that happen to the thorny ground person.
DECEITFULNESS OF RICHES
Mark 4:19, “And the deceitfulness of riches…choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”
➢ Greek word for deceitfulness is “apate,” and it means the delusion of.
➢ Greek word for riches is “ploutos,” and it means wealth, possessions, materials and abundance.
I want to make something abundantly clear before we even begin this message! God is not opposed to you having riches. He is very much opposed to them holding the wrong place in your life, but He is not against you having riches. If Satan can’t stop you with the cares of this world, he will definitely try using material things to choke out the Word.
Don’t ever allow money to determine whether or not you obey God. If money has become a deciding factor of you obeying God, than it has become a delusion. If you think that money is more powerful and can do more for you than God, you are deceived, because there are many things that money can’t do.
➢ Money can buy you a doctor, but it can’t buy you health.
➢ Money can buy you a warm body, but it can’t buy you love.
➢ Money can buy you an abundance of possessions, but it can’t buy you joy.
That’s all you have to do is look at the lives of Hollywood celebrities whose lives are messed up drugs, divorce, and multiple marriages to realize that money cannot buy happiness, joy and peace. Ultimately, money can’t buy you the most important thing of all and that is salvation.
We do a lot of things in the name of prosperity and blessing, but if it causes you to go into debt, then you are deceived with riches. We live in a society that teaches us and shows us that it is completely normal to go into debt and that is way life should be. This deception is from the devil. He wants to keep us bound by all of life’s things. This is the deceitfulness of riches. We believe God wants us to be blessed, so we go into debt to get blessed, when that is totally backwards to what God wants for us.
My wife and I owe money on our house and our van and that is it! We refuse to go into to debt to buy more things. With the exception of those two things, we are completely debt free. Being debt free happens under the blessing of the Lord, and the blessing comes from obeying God, from being in your assigned place. My wife and I are in God’s assigned place for us right now. He told us to be here, and until He tells us to go, we are going to stay here because we want God’s blessing on our lives and that only comes with obedience and being in your assigned place.
God has an assigned place for you. You are a soldier in God’s army. Soldiers get orders and soldiers are expected to obey. A soldier can’t tell his commanding officer, “I would rather not do that.” A soldier stands at attention and salutes and says, “Yes sir!” When you get orders, it is the commanding officers duty and job to make sure that you have everything you need to fight a good fight. You have to trust the commander.
There are too many soldiers who are missing in action. They are MIA because God assigned them a specific place and they went somewhere else because they thought that was a better choice. People in ministry are all the time moving from place to place for more money or less problems or a bigger church or a higher position. We don’t even consider what God has called us to do or where He wants us to go. Don’t let money dictate your decisions! EVER!!
You don’t leave a church or a town because you decided it was a good idea! You leave a church or a town because you decided it was a GOD idea! Remember this, it is only in God’s assigned place that you get your needs met. Remember Proverbs 10:22, “The blessing of the Lord makes rich and he adds no sorrow with it.” You can get money, but sorrow will come with it if you are not in the place that God has assigned you to be. Find out what God wants and do what He wants. Don’t let the deceitfulness of riches rob you of your relationship with God.
How do we make sure we guard ourselves from the deceitfulness of riches? How do we make sure that we have riches but that riches don’t have us?
I. BE CONTENT
I Timothy 6:6-10, “Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. (The word content means enough) And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation (tests and trials) and a snare, (trap) and into many foolish and harmful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. (It will actually lead you to hell; those are pretty strong words) For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.”
We quote the last part of this Scripture to all the rich people in the world and tell them money is bad. I have honestly seen much more people without a dime fall to this sin. The love of money affects poor people just as much as rich people. Remember, God has no problem with money. We need money to finance the kingdom. The only problem He has is when you love money more than you love Him. In other words, we make all our decisions based on money, not based on the Word. The deceitfulness of riches is one of Satan’s primary tools to sidetrack and destroy people who get the Word. Let’s continue reading I Timothy:
I Timothy 6:10-12, “For which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith.”
I Timothy 6:17, “Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, (proud) nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.”
It doesn’t say to make sure that everyone who is rich gives up all their money and becomes like everyone else so they can go to heaven. Paul tells Timothy to make sure he instructs those who are rich not to trust in those riches, but continue to trust in God. Why did Paul say this? Because lots of people were rich in the church! God doesn’t have a poverty gospel. He wants to bless and prosper you, but He doesn’t want you to get proud over it. He doesn’t want you to think more highly of yourself than the one who is not in the same economic standing as you.
If you have paid any attention to the economy in the last several years, you know that riches are uncertain. You cannot place your trust in riches, but in God. Riches are not my source, God is!
We need to learn to be content.
II. BE RICH IN GOOD WORKS
Let’s keep reading from where we left off:
I Timothy 6:18-19, “Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.”
If you have been planting seed because you have been obeying God, God, the sower, will always bring you a harvest. However, there can never be a harvest when there has not been any planting. God expects us to be rich in good works. He is not looking for selfish people; He is looking for selfless people.
III. SEEK FIRST GOD’S KINGDOM
Matthew 6:33, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
Before this Scripture we find that God is talking about food on your table and clothes on your back. God takes care of the lilies of the field and they don’t even have any bank accounts. Shall He not much more take care of you?
Instead of being deceived by riches, choose to believe that God is your supplier. God has got your back.
