Gracepointe Church (Dover, OH)
Gracepointe Church (Dover, OH)
The Parable of the Sower | Shawn Miller
Well, it's been good to be here this morning and worship together. I've really enjoyed the service up to this point. So I would like to start this morning through a series of sermons on the parables of Jesus. The parables have often been fascinating to me and up until now I have not done a lot of studying on the individual parables, but this morning I would like to begin that series. I'm not sure how long the series will go. We'll take that one preaching turn at a time and see where we end up at.
Speaker 1:Turn your Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 1. Turn your Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 1. The parable that I'd like to look at this morning is the parable of the sower. But before we dive into the parable of the sower, I would like to give just a brief overview of the first 13 chapters of Matthew. The book of Matthew is presumably written by Matthew. The book of Matthew is presumably written by Matthew and as we look at this overview, I encourage you to keep in mind that Matthew's profession before he became a disciple was a tax collector, somebody that was not looked upon with a lot of love, somebody that was probably dreaded by a lot of people. I know how we look at the IRS, I know how we look at tax collectors Not saying that we look at them the way we should maybe, but I'm just drawing that to give us a perspective of Matthew before he became a disciple of Jesus. The parable of the sower is found in Matthew, chapter 13. And the reason I would like to give an overview of the first 13 chapters is to just put in context of why did Jesus give the parable of the sower. So in Matthew, chapters 1 through 3, and I invite you to follow through just kind of loosely through your Bible as we go through these chapters just to kind of keep track of the progression up to the parables of the kingdom so in chapters one through three, we have Matthew connecting Jesus, the main character of the four gospels. We have Matthew connecting Jesus to the Old Testament. He starts with the genealogy in verse 1 of chapter 1. It literally reads the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. From the genealogy he goes directly into the birth of Jesus, the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies, old Testament prophetic promises. In Matthew 1, verse 23, I believe it is we have where it says Jesus or thou shalt call his name Emmanuel, also referenced in Isaiah, chapter 7. Emmanuel, meaning God with us, just as God was with the Israelites, his chosen people in the Old Testament, him bringing his son, jesus was literally going to be God with them here at the beginning of Matthew.
Speaker 1:Somebody tell me, maybe one of the children who was one of the main characters in the first five books of the Bible, who was one of the main characters in the first five books of the Bible? Can somebody tell me who was one of the main characters in the first five books of the Bible? Can somebody tell me One of the children who was one of the main characters in the first five books of the Bible, who led the Israelites out of Egypt? Still no one. Yes, moses, thank you, moses, thank you Moses. Moses was one of the main characters in the first five books of the Bible. Here we have Jesus as the main character of the four Gospels, the first four books of the New Testament.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of parallels between Moses and Jesus. Jesus is, in essence, the promised greater-than-Moses figure of the new dispensation of the New Testament. Jesus is the new covenant teacher who, starting in Matthew, is going to fulfill the storyline of starting in Matthew is going to fulfill the storyline of the first five books of the Bible. I'd like to draw some parallels between Moses and Jesus and refer to Jesus here as the new Moses.
Speaker 1:Moses, we know, took the Israelites out of Egypt. Led the Israelites out of Egypt. Jesus, when he was a baby, he also came out of Egypt. Led the Israelites out of Egypt. Jesus, when he was a baby, he also came out of Egypt. First he was put into Egypt to get away from King Herod. The danger of King Herod. Then, after that, subsided, he was taken out of Egypt into, it says, the land of Israel. Moses crossed the Red Sea, a large body of water. Jesus was baptized in a body of water, the Jordan River. How many years did Moses spend in the wilderness, anyone? 40. How many days did Jesus spend in the wilderness? 40. There's a comparison. Moses received the law on the top of a mountain. Jesus' first block of teachings came from the mountain. In the Sermon on the Mount, moses delivered God's chosen people from slavery and of course, jesus saves us, delivers us from our sin, whoever chooses to follow him. That is the overview, a very brief overview of chapters 1 through 3.
Speaker 1:Let's move on to chapters 4 through 7. Here we have, here is this new man, this new figure, jesus, and in chapters 4-7, he brings the announcement and the introduction to God's kingdom. People are still looking for a king. They didn't expect this king to come as a newborn. They didn't expect this king to come as a newborn. Jesus starts making the proclamation that there will be a new way of living God's kingdom, god's rescue operation, god's plan, new plan for the whole world. God sent his son to lead this operation. Jesus was beginning to establish God's kingdom and by doing this he was confronting evil, a lot of demonic oppression, as we've been talking about this morning. He was healing people. He was physically healing people been talking about this morning. He was healing people. He was physically healing people. He came to restore God's rule and reign by creating a new group of people to follow him and to obey his teaching and live under his rule. And as we progress up to the first parable, I'm hoping this will all make sense why I'm doing this overview.
Speaker 1:After Jesus begins calling his disciples and forming his movement in chapter 5, he takes them up a mountain and starts his first block of teaching, which we refer to as the Sermon on the Mount. In this teaching, jesus makes sure that people understand that he has not come to set aside the commands of the Torah, he has not come to set aside the commands of the Old Testament, but he has come to fulfill the commands of the Old Testament. But he has come to fulfill the commands of the Old Testament and the prophecies of the Old Testament through the way he lives his life and with the way he teaches us to live our lives. He is here not to bring more focus to the external and all the laws with every dot, I cross, I dotted and T crossed, but he is here to focus more on the internal, to change the hearts of the people in order for the people to truly love God and to truly love their neighbor and to truly love their enemies. That's the essence of the purpose of Christ coming to earth and establishing God's kingdom.
Speaker 1:Now we move to Matthew 8 to 10. Here Jesus brings this new kingdom concept into everyday living. Jesus does this, brings it into everyday living by starting to now physically be among the people, physically touch and heal people. He does this by healing people that are sick or is rescuing people that are in danger, something that the people can literally get a hold of Something tangible, something that's making their life better. But it's interesting between these stories in chapters 8 and 9 specifically, and 10 to a degree, between these stories there's twice that he again is calling people to follow him. I'd like to just, if you have your Bibles open, to chapter 8, I'm just going to go through here and read my paragraph headings and I think we'll find it very interesting how Jesus begins to establish his kingdom by doing something for people that makes their life better.
Speaker 1:The first one in chapter 8, he cleanses a leper, and then we have the faith of the centurion. It's a healing. Then we have Jesus heals many in verse 14. Then is one of the two instances where he again is calling people the cost of following Jesus. Then in verse 23, jesus calms a storm. He's rescuing somebody that's in danger, and then in 28, jesus heals the two men with demons. Chapter 9, verse 1, jesus heals a paralytic, and then again we have the second time that he again is calling people. The second time that he again is calling people, jesus calls Matthew and the disciples to follow him, and then down in verse 18, a girl restored to life and a woman healed Verse 27, jesus heals two blind men. Verse 32, jesus heals a man unable to speak.
Speaker 1:And then we come to chapter 10. I think Matthew's point here to the readers is that one can experience the power of his grace by following Jesus and becoming his disciple. In chapter 10, it seems, jesus decides I can't do this on my own, so he expands his reach by sending out the 12 disciples to help with the work that he started of establishing the kingdom of God. In chapter 10, jesus tells his disciples that not everyone will accept what I am attempting to establish, and by not everyone accepting this specifically Israel's leaders there could be persecution coming your way. Actually, I'm sorry, that's in chapter 12, I believe it is, but he does warn them. He does warn his disciples that just because I'm Jesus he doesn't specifically state that, but not everyone's going to accept what we're trying to do here, the movement we're trying to start. Actually, yes, jesus tells the disciples that they can expect persecution as well as rejection.
Speaker 1:And then in Matthew 11 through 13, here Matthew has collected a group of stories about how people began responding to this message or this concept of this kingdom of God. Some were positive about it, some people were all in. They loved Jesus as a person and they believed that he is indeed the Messiah that they were looking for. Some people were neutral, even at times. John the Baptist or Jesus'. Own family, not expecting Jesus was not necessarily what they expected to see in the promise of a Messiah and they might have actually been questioning is he the Messiah? And then we have the negative group, specifically the leaders of Israel, the Bible scholars, the Pharisees, totally rejecting Jesus as a false prophet. He is not the Messiah, he's just a man that says he is.
Speaker 1:Jesus was not surprised by these diverse responses. He actually takes it to a focal point with the parables in chapter 13, where he then says sometimes the seeds may fall on good soil, sometimes the seeds may fall on rocky soil, sometimes the seeds it doesn't. It's not up to us what the soil is, it's. We are supposed to be the sowers. But Jesus is accepting the fact that not all men will take on what he is trying to establish here, and that is God's kingdom. These parables in chapter 13 are actually a commentary to the stories in chapter 11 and 12. Some people are accepting Jesus with enthusiasm, but a lot of people are rejecting him altogether.
Speaker 1:If I put myself in that setting, and here is Jesus with his 12 chosen men attempting to establish a kingdom that is different from what most people had imagined. I have to ask myself the question would I have accepted it? What would I have thought? What would I have believed? Would I have thought it's too gullible to believe what Jesus is promoting here? Would I have been steeped in tradition to where I would have rejected what he was bringing? These people were versed in the Old Testament law. That is all they knew up to this point. Yes, they had the prophecies, but this was the first time they had something tangible and I think they were really resisting and wrestling against that. Jesus was okay with accepting the fact that there will be different responses, and he addresses that. It says that same day.
Speaker 1:Turn your Bibles now to chapter 13. And I'd like to read chapter 13, verses 1 through 9. So the context of this parable is the different responses that Jesus had been experiencing through the first 12 chapters up to this point in attempting to establish the kingdom of God, what God had sent him down to earth to do, and the responses were so varied. And he addresses it in this parable. Let's read the parable, chapter 13, verse 1. That same day, jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea, and great crowds gathered about him, so that Chapter 13, verse 1. Along the path, and the birds came and devoured them, other seeds fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose they were scorched and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.
Speaker 1:It's interesting to me that God, or that Jesus, rather Jesus uses soil. Jesus uses dirt ground, something that everybody is used to seeing, something that everybody knows what it is. How many of you enjoy gardening? Please raise your hand. Okay, okay, I am not. I do not have a green thumb. Monita loves gardening. She loves flower beds. I enjoy looking at them and I enjoy eating the food that comes out of the garden and I don't mind helping, but it's not something that I look forward to. I wish Myron would be here this morning, because he could give us a lot of info on the proper soil prep before planting any crop.
Speaker 1:Every spring, as I drive the roads and I see the farmers in their fields, I tend to look at it as, oh, they're planting corn again, but I forget and I don't realize what all goes into the preparation of that soil before they start planting. There's a reason that we drive past some fields where the corn crop looks okay and literally a mile down the road you drive past a field and there's this luscious field of corn, and I believe it has to do with the preparation that the farmer, the money, the preparation time that the farmer spends in preparing the soil. This morning, as I go through these different types of soils and as we look into this parable, two things that I like for us to keep in mind as we go through this parable, and that is if I were back in Jesus day and I would have literally been able to see Jesus as as a man just like me walking around on this earth, would I have believed or rejected what he was promoting? And then today, how is my soil? What condition is my soil? The seeds that have been planted or the seeds that people plant in my life, what's happening with them? And then also, when I plant seeds, am I worried about the soil that I'm planting? Does that get my attention off of what I should really be thinking about, and that is spreading the gospel? I am not the judge of your soil or your soil or your soil. I am in charge of my soil.
Speaker 1:Before we go into the explanation of the parable, it is interesting that between Jesus giving the parable and then Jesus explains the parable to his disciples, that his disciples ask Jesus, why do you speak in parables? Why do you speak in parables? The disciples had it pretty nice here. They could simply ask Jesus to explain the parable and he explained it to them. Jesus also told the disciples that the spiritual meanings of the parables would be unclear to those who reject him. I had to think through that and I'm still not totally sure what to do with that. What to do with that? Because in my human thinking I would think that the people that reject Him, those are the people that it should really be clear to so they accept Him. So I'm not quite sure what to do with that and I'll just leave that there.
Speaker 1:I do believe Jesus used parables in order to kind of gauge, test the waters on who actually does believe and who is rejecting, and I think he could tell that by their responses to the parables. But we know we do know this. Only those who receive him and become his disciples will have the ability to understand the deepest truth that the Bible is trying to teach us. So the parable explained in verse 18 through 23,. Let's read verses 18 through 23 in chapter 13. Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path.
Speaker 1:I'm going to stop after each type of soil and maybe expound a bit on this. First, we have the wayside hearers, the hard-hearted, unresponsive. It falls on hard-packed ground. I've helped seed in numerous yards in my lifetime. It falls on hard-packed ground. I've helped seed in numerous yards in my lifetime and one of the things that's always very important in seeding in a yard is making sure that it's very fine dirt and making sure that it's not packed or hardened in order for the seeds to get a good root system.
Speaker 1:When we plant the yard the wayside hearers it falls on hard packed ground. It falls on ground that has been trodden over many, many times. It falls on ground that has been driven over. It falls on ground where there might be a lot of hurts from the past. It falls on ground where there might be things in the past that have never been taken care of or never been reopened. It falls on the ground of things that might have been stuffed for years and years and years and the consciences have become seared or the hearts have become hardened. Seeds that don't penetrate the soil and soon turn into bird feed. It says the birds came and just eat it up. Satan snatches it away to make sure it doesn't take root.
Speaker 1:The soil represents a sin-hardened heart of a person, no concern for the things of God, completely indifferent. Stephen, I'm sure you've encountered a lot of people like this in going into the big cities and I know our mind often goes into those areas. But folks, this morning I think we have those people's, those people in our own areas, right here, wayside. Hearers, hard-hearted, un, unresponsive. Verse 20,.
Speaker 1:And as for what was sown on rocky ground? This is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on the account of the word, immediately he falls away. Here we have the stony ground. Hearers, shallow-hearted, superficial, Can we say believers. This is not a soil that is just full of rocks, but it's rather depicted as a soil, a thin layer of soil covering a bed of solid rock, to where, right at first, there is some growth and then, as soon as things don't go well, there's no root system and that person reverts back to his old way of living. Could be an emotional conversion experience rather than truly repenting of sin. Very shallow, no root system. As long as things go well, they seem content with their relationship with God, but as soon as a crisis strikes, these people fall away from God. They get angry at God and they want nothing more to do with God.
Speaker 1:Verse 22,. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke out the word and it proves unfruitful. I'm not going to speak for any of you here this morning, but I will say this for myself. This is the ground that I battle with at times the thorny ground. What do we mean by the thorny ground? The thorny ground, hearers of God's Word, half-hearted, worldly-minded. The soil looks good, but when the grain sprouts, so do the thorns. When the good crop comes, so do the thorns. It's kind of like a cornfield, a newly planted cornfield, and all of a sudden, at times it looks like a newly planted cornfield is. Not only do you see the green rows, but it's just green across the field. And that's usually before the farmer sprays, or the organic farmers before they cultivate to get rid of the weeds. If I allow my life to have that soil, even though there's good things happening, eventually the thorns choke out the good crop because they take all the moisture and the nourishment.
Speaker 1:The person that retains a measure of faith in God but gradually and ultimately finds his fulfillment in the cares of this world. And the deceitfulness of riches. Would you all agree with me that deceitfulness of riches is a that's a real thing? Most of us men have, probably in our younger years, as we started a new career, we've made ourselves goals of someday I want to make this amount of money and we reach that and then we say, okay, I'd like to make this amount of money, all to find out we're never making enough money. The deceitfulness of riches. It's like I think it was was it Randy? Or somebody used the illustration of snipe hunting You're chasing something that's not there. I've been there and I still struggle with that.
Speaker 1:The deceitfulness of riches. Is it choking out my walk with God by chasing after that which will not satisfy, this person drifts away from God by actually doing good things, the things that lay up treasure on earth rather than laying up treasure in heaven. And then we have verse 23. As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty and in another thirty.
Speaker 1:We have the good ground hearers. The good ground, hearers of God's word, wholehearted and receptive. The soil is in good condition, almost perfect condition to support a healthy crop. People with an honest heart, people who, with an honest heart, receive the word of God and let it become the source of our daily living and our daily conduct. Wow, that's easier said than done. That is easier said than done. These are the people that are committed to following Jesus and his teachings. They work in God's kingdom and help produce more followers of Jesus.
Speaker 1:Sadly, only a small part of those who hear God's word will respond favorably to his message. It's sad that 25% of the hearers that Jesus talks about are good soil. Three out of the four are bad soil. How is the condition of my soil this morning, even despite the small percentage that will hear the word with good soil? Us as sowers, we are not the judge. The soil on which we sow, that's God's job. To grant the increase. We are to be faithful as good sowers.
Speaker 1:So this morning, again, two questions. Would you have accepted or rejected the kingdom concept that Jesus came to establish here in Matthew, the first 12 chapters of Matthew, and even today, are you accepting or rejecting that kingdom? And the second question is what condition is my soil? What condition is your soil? Is it good? Does God's word take root, to where it drives us, the way we live and the way I conduct myself? Let's bow for prayer Our Father God, this morning. Thank you for who you are, thank you for the examples that you use in scripture, and you use common themes that bring out great and deep truths. So, lord, this morning, help us to take hold of what your word says and we ask that you would grant the increase. I pray this in your name, amen.