Intro: It amazes me sometimes when I go to some people’s home and they have all this vegetation growing in their home. I mean real live plants, not the fake plastic stuff. Anybody can have the fake plastic stuff, but it takes what we call somewhat of a green thumb to keep plants alive in your home. Julie and I will have a real living plant in our home from time to time, but our house could be considered a hospice for plants. You see, plants come to our house to die. The only green stuff we any success growing around our house in is our refrigerator. It’s amazing we can put in cream potatoes and leave them in their a few months and take them out and their “cream potatoes and broccoli” it’s amazing! Even though I don’t have a green thumb it’s obvious that when the plant turns brown and the leaves fall off – it’s dead. And I know that if the leaves are dead it’s a good indication that the roots aren’t doing so well.
James 2:17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
Faith is the root of our salvation and our deeds are the fruit of our salvation. So if the fruit of our salvation is dead brown and drying up then something is wrong with the root of our salvation.
The Bible tells us that we should examine ourselves. “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves” (2 Corinthians 13:5). We all need to take regular spiritual inventories of our lives to see where we stand with God.
Illustration: When a paramedic arrives on an accident scene and approaches someone who has been injured the first thing they do is begin to check their vital signs. They don’t’ go directly to the injury they first check to make sure the victim is breathing, heart is beating, blood is flowing properly, blood pressure, check pupils for abnormalities. The broken leg or burned skin or whatever the exterior injury may be is not important if the heart isn’t beating or if they are getting enough oxygen. The paramedic’s job is to get him to the hospital alive and let the doctors take it from there. If an untrained person like myself arrives on the scene the first thing I would be concerned with is the exterior injury. The same is true for us spiritually we are too concerned with the exterior appearance of our faith. We need to take a close examination of our interior relationship with God.
This morning we’re going to look at a parable that Jesus taught called the parable of the sower. Now a parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. In this parable the SOWER represents the one sharing the gospel, he’s broadcasting the seed. He’s taking it and spreading it everywhere, not being particular as to where the seeds land. The SEEDS represent the gospel (the good news of the kingdom of God and the forgiveness of sins). The SOILS represent the recipients, how people respond to the gospel.
Luke 8:12 Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.
The HARDPATH represents the ones who hear the gospel but don’t respond the seeds of salvation just bounce off their hearts. This happens every week in every church all around the world and this church is not excluded from it. Some people are setting in church and don’t want to be or they’ve been turned off by the music, or something someone said or didn’t say. Turned off by the preacher, the conditions of the room distracted by someone setting near them and so on. Just as you can tell when you’re talking to someone and their not listening – you can also tell when your talking to a room full of people and someone’s not listening.
The next three soils are professing to receive the seed but have different life responses. A life response is how a life is changed after it has received the gospel seeds. All three of these soils are represented here in this church this morning.
1. ROCKY SOIL
Luke 8:13Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.
They receive the gospel with JOY. Nothing wrong with that, we should all experience joy in our relationship with God. But the problem with this soil is there is no room for roots to be established to provide nutrition to the rest of the plant. They receive salvation with great joy, their excited about being saved, still nothing wrong with that. They start off big guns for God but at the first hint of trouble they’re out. They don’t know how to respond to trouble are difficult times because all they know is joy and happiness, that’s how they understand Christianity to be. Anything other than joy and happiness is wrong, so if I’m not experiencing joy and happiness, if I’m not having fun then something’s wrong with the church so I’m getting out.
Illustration: This is what’s called Chia pet faith. You know those Chia pets that are ceramic shaped objects like sheep, cows they even have them in the shape of human heads. You spread the seeds and this thick pasty goop all over it and in no time it’s growing. Have you ever gone by someone’s house and seen Chia pets growing all over their yards? Of course not! Why? Because the plant doesn’t have any root, you change the conditions just slightly and it dies. You don’t water it perfectly – it dies. It has to have perfect growing conditions to live any amount of time what so ever. And even with that they won’t last long because they must have perfect conditions. The same is true for the seeds that fell on the rock; as soon as conditions change they fall away because they have no root.
A. CHECK THE ROOT OF YOUR FAITH
Do conditions have to be perfect for you to enjoy your relationship with God? Do you expect your Christian life to be a life of ease and comfort without any trials or hardships? Do spiritual matters turn you off when you’re away from the church? Do you see your relationship with God something that only takes place here at the church?
Illustration: It’s like when you are at a restaurant and the waiters bring out the food that gets everybody’s attention. Even when they bring the food to the table next to you, especially when they bring out the deserts. You say, “Wow look at that cheese cake, or that mud pie, oh that looks good! We don’t ever say Wow, look at that Sea Bass, or look at those vegetables! We get all excited about the desserts because they taste good. They may not be good for us but most importantly they taste good. And so we run the risk of coming to church and saying, “man I love the music – it lifts me up”. But does it cause you to worship? I like the teaching because it’s relevant and it helps me relate. But does it help you follow Jesus? I like the donuts because I don’t have to make breakfast on Sunday morning. But does it cause you to fellowship?
The first thing that causes this first group to fall away is exactly what makes Christians stronger. The Bible is very prolific on the effects that trails have on our faith.
James 1:2-4
2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
2. Thorns
Luke 8:14
14The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.
This soil has some depth to it unlike the rocky soil. The professing believer depicted here is much more balanced than the one with no root. The professing believer among the thorns begins a walk of faith that involves Bible study, prayer and fellowship in the body of Christ. They’re involvement in church and ministry doesn’t revolve around feelings or a need for perfect conditions to serve. But even though they are in ministry for the right reasons and have some root to their salvation they loose sight of spiritual things in their life. They loose sight because the busyness of worldly things distract them away from the spiritual.
Many times people in this situation live their spiritual life through the glass of the past. “I used to, or back then – I had perfect attendance in Sunday School – or I was a Sunday School teacher” – they used to serve the Lord in some way back then. But now they just don’t have the time. Too busy working to pay for all the THINGS we just can’t live without. PLEASURES – heedonoón: to please, sensual delight; by implication or desire. This word speaks of the search for satisfying the senses. Doesn’t this describe the world we live in today?
Illustration: I have lived under the assumption that like me most men don’t like to shop. Until I visited the Bass Pro Shop in Grapevine and now I’m seeing things differently. They have everything you could imagine as far as outdoor equipment and supplies are concerned. I have literally spent hours in their just – shopping I didn’t think I was capable of that. You can shop a while then you can look at the aquarium full of all kinds of fish, it also has a little pond stocked with fish that also has duck swimming around on it. And if you get hungry – no problem it has a little restaurant right in the middle of the store. You don’t have to leave, a man has everything he needs right their. They even have little broachers that have information about planning a whole vacation around staying right next to and shopping in the Bass Pro Shop. It’s a place where an outdoorsman can spend way too much time and money because it caters to the sensual desire. It’s like when you go to Wal-Mart and buy things you didn’t even know you needed until you saw it in the store. This world is totally barraging your senses with all kinds of good things you don’t even know you need. If you’re not careful you will get too many good things and it will chock the spiritual life right out of you.
B. DON’T TRY TO SLOT GOD IN
Matt 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
We need to be careful not to make God just another priority - to enjoy good healthy roots and the spiritual nourishment we need God must have all of our life. It isn’t just about giving Him the right slot in our life; it’s about giving Him all of our slots. The THORNY SOIL represents the life that is crowded with stuff. A life that can only look back in time to prove their faith.
3. Good Soil
The good soil is void of hardness and receptive to the Holy Spirit. The good soil represents the life that hears the Word of God retains and produces spiritual fruit as a result. This person is going to experience a life response that will change the very way they live their life. A life response that is not temporary but eternal. The interesting thing about the three soils is you have a choice how you respond to the Word of God.
C. MAKE SURE YOU CAN SEE GROWTH
Two types of fruit to look for in your life ACTION and ATITTUDE. Action fruit is the kind of fruit that God produces through your life that touches the lives of other people. Attitude fruit is very simply found in Gal 5:22-23 22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control.
In our relationship with God if the root is healthy (our faith) we will be producing healthy fruit (spiritual action). This doesn’t mean that things will always be perfect and we will have no problems, but it does mean that when you hit hard times you will be sure to struggle through them and come out stronger on the other side.
Conclusion: How are you doing? Are you bearing fruit? Examine yourself!
Sometimes we drift away from God like when you’re at the beach and on a floatie drifting in the lake soaking up the sun. When you realized that all the sounds of the beach grow faint. You look up and realize you have drifted a couple of miles away from the beach. Drifting away from where we want to be or intended to be is never a pleasant experience. This is the same thing we do spiritually, when we just sit back and relax spiritually we tend to drift away from God. Maybe today you’ve unintentionally drifted away from the Lord. Take this time to examine your faith where you stand with the Lord right now at this moment, not a decision you made at one time, but where you are now.
