“KEEP SOWING” Luke 8:4-15
FBCF – 2/4-24
Jon Daniels
INTRO – Monticello Bapt Church – built FLC in 2005. Great facility! Used it in so many ways to impact our community w/ the Gospel.
- New SS rooms – New Youth room w/ a café & game room
- Commercial kitchen
- Gym w/ walking track around 2nd floor
- Multipurpose floor – basketball, volleyball, banquets – “Evening in December”, concerts, conferences
- Churchwide fellowship meals
- “Team Impact” – Hundreds heard Gospel & gave life to Christ.
- Installed showers in case we needed to be a hurricane relief center. Finished bldg in April – Katrina hit in Aug. Housed 100 people from New Orleans for about 2 weeks.
Did all the things necessary for a bldg program – plans, architect’s drawings, construction contractor, capital campaign (“Building on Faith”), groundbreaking ceremony.
But before any of the great things happened in that bldg,
before a single shovel was stuck in the ground, a single brick laid, something else had to happen. Had to have soil borings taken on site where FLC would be built. Reasons:
- Determine makeup of the soil
- Decide if the soil could support weight of bldg.
- Discover anything that might be a problem:
o Environmental issues
o Structural issues
o Geographical issues
- Company, Soil Structure Interface Consultants, website: “When building anything, it is wise to do some soil borings. All structures are founded on soils, & soils come in all strengths.”
This morning, as we start a new series – “Parables” – we are going to do our own soil borings – spiritual soil borings. Going to let the Holy Spirit do HIS work in us to show us what kind of soil is in our hearts. Going to dig deep &:
- Determine the makeup of our heart’s soil – What kind of soil will you find in your heart? Which soil in our Scripture passage will represent your heart?
- Decide if the soil in your heart can support the weight of your life – “All structures are founded on soils…” – Luke 6:46-49
- Discover anything in your heart that might be a problem – something contaminating your soil – something that could cause structural problems in your life – something that is causing your soil to be impure.
EXPLANATION – Luke 8:4-15
Parables – Earthly stories w/ a heavenly meaning. Jesus told about 30 of them, all recorded in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, & Luke). None in John. Pointed toward the K’dom of God – what it’s like – who’s included & who’s not – how to live as a citizen of the K’dom.
APPLICATION – Keep sowing the seed, no matter where it falls.
WE ALL NEED TO HEAR THE WORDS OF JESUS – v. 1, 8b, 18a, 21
Jesus had a strong teaching/preaching ministry.
- Fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy @ beginning of His ministry – Luke 4:18-19 - “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, b/c He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives & recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”
- Luke 4:43 – “…He said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.”
- Luke 5:31-32 – “And Jesus answered them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.’”
Preaching was Jesus’ business. It was what He came to do – His primary call & mission.
- V. 1 – “Soon afterward…” – means “one after the other; an orderly successive step.
- Shows us that right after the banquet at the Pharisee Simon’s house, Jesus got up & got back to His business of preaching & proclaiming the Good news – He got back to sowing the seed of the Word of God.
- He was driven to preach & proclaim God’s message of salvation to all who would hear it.
o “proclaiming” – kerusso – to preach, to publish, to be a herald, to preach the Gospel as a herald
o A herald is one who signal that something is coming, someone who ushers in something or someone.
o Jesus was ushering in the K’dom of God – the rule of God over the hearts of those who submit to Him & His authority.
- We all need to hear Jesus’ words whenever a preacher of the Gospel proclaims them. Look at those who were hearing His words:
o City folks – village folks
o The 12
o Women who had been demon-possessed
o Women who had been sick & weak
o Mary Magdalene – 7 demons cast out of her
o A wealthy woman named Joanna
o The fact that Jesus had preached & ministered to women was scandalous & broke all the rules of that day.
o BOTTOM LINE: Everyone needed to hear His words as He preached.
o We do, too!
WE ALL NEED TO EXAMINE OUR SOIL – v. 11-15
Notice something about all 4 groups of people in parable. All had something in common: they all heard the Word.
- Parable speaks to every person. A warning to all hearers of the Word, especially those who are not genuine followers of Christ.
- A word of assurance to those who do hear & apply the Word to their lives.
- A word of challenge to every Christ-follower to go & keep sowing the seed of the Word everywhere.
Everyone in this parable heard the Word. All had the opportunity to have their lives forever changed by the Living Word of God that is “God-breathed & useful to teaching, rebuking, correcting, & training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). But not all of them responded correctly to the Word. The soil of their heart was no receptive to the Word. And yours may not be either.
We all need to examine the soil of our heart & determine its condition. It’s spiritual soil-boring time!
The seed along the path – v. 12 – Tragic! Hear the Word, but do not respond to it all. We have a very real, very terrible enemy who is a “thief who comes to steal, kill, & destroy” – a liar & the father of lies.
- Gk – “take away” – Image of an owl swooping down to snatch its prey in its powerful & deadly claws, & soaring back victorious to its perch where it devours its victim.
o The enemy did this to Judas
- This is exactly what Satan tries to do week after week in this place. Wants to snatch away the Word before you’ve had the chance to believe it & internalize it.
- He does not want you to hear & believe how terrible hell is going to be, how long eternity is going to be, how dreadful God’s judgment is going to be.
- Hearer, don’t let him snatch away the Word today! Believe on the Lord Jesus & be saved RIGHT NOW!
The seed on the rock – v. 13 – Represents shallow hearers of the Word. Hear the Word, receive it w/ joy, but never let it penetrate deep w/in their lives. When tough times of the Christian life come, they fall away.
- Make an emotional response to the Gospel – Spur of the moment decision w/ no personal commitment – “Head” tells them this seems like right thing to do – “feels” right – But never truly counted the cost, never truly surrendered their will, their total lives, never truly denied themselves, never truly changed, no evidence of any relationship w/ Jesus. First sign of trouble sends them looking for another emotional high.
- This is why sometimes we see folks coming to truly know Christ years after they’ve been baptized. Come to realization that their 1st “profession of faith” was nothing more than an empty, emotional response w/out any true commitment.
- Is that YOU today?
The seed in the thorns – v. 14 – Represents those who hear the Word but are unwilling to give up their worldly pursuits in order to be a fully devoted follower of Christ. Try to live w/ one foot in the world & the other foot in Christ.
- Jesus has a strong word for these folks. Calls them “lukewarm” in Rev. 3:14-16 – “I know your deeds that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish you were either one or the other! So, b/c you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth” – “spit” – “spew” – “vomit”
- Hearing the Word & not truly responding to it causes suffocating worry & anxiety – you’re “choked by the cares & riches & pleasures of life.”
- Pursuing the world’s riches, letting greed & materialistic desires overtake us will choke us out.
- “pleasures” – hedone – “hedonism” – the pursuit of or devotion to pleasure & gratification – sensualism, self-indulgence, debauchery
- “The hearers of the Word who are distracted by the constant call of the world will never fulfill God’s awesome plan for their lives” (Beth Moore, Jesus: The One & Only, p. 139).
The seed on good soil – v. 15 – Represents those who hear the Word, hold on to it, apply it to their lives, & live it out daily.
- Their hearts are “honest” – “noble” (NIV) – means fair, just. Has idea of holding fast. These believers honestly desire to know the Word & hold on to it tightly.
- Their hearts are “good” – Devoted, committed, given over to the truth.
- They are “holding…fast” to the Word – “retain” (NIV) – They keep it close to their hearts. They don’t let the enemy snatch it away. They don’t give it away. They don’t let the tough times cause them to be shallow. They don’t let the pursuit of ungodly worldly pleasures choke the Word out of their lives.
- They persevere & produce fruit in their lives – They endure no matter what the enemy throws at them. Constantly study & grow & serve & minister & witness & disciple others. Constantly tend to their soil by plucking the weeds that get in through sin, & they water the Word through worship & fellowship in the Church. They keep growing & producing spiritual fruit in their lives until the day that they are called home to heaven.
WE ALL NEED TO STRIVE FOR GOOD SOIL – v. 15 – How? By being a hearer AND a doer. Isaiah 55:11 – “[My Word] will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire & achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” (NIV)
CONCLUSION – Back to v. 8 – “…He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Not a casual hearing, but an intentional listening to Jesus’ words – “Listen to me!”
