A Fresh Look at the "Sower"

Do you ever notice how we identify with the heroes in stories? We watch movies where the good guy goes through all kinds of trouble and battles and fights and against all odds comes out in the end as the champion saving the girl, or saving the world from destruction or overcoming the villain. It is easy for us to get involved and get caught up in the story and see how we can overcome in our lives.

I want to consider something today from a approach that is a little different from our usual approach. I want to ask you about how you relate to stories in the Bible. When you read through the story of David and Goliath who do you identify with? Kind Saul, standing in command of an army but unwilling to stand against the giant? David’s brothers, trying to talk David out of going into the fight? The army of men who are scared to go against this giant of a man knowing that their whole nation of people will be sent into slavery if they lose? The giant, standing in opposition to God and His people? The Philistine army, taunting behind their champion? Or David, the meek little shepherd boy, who against all odds goes in against a huge foe with the faith and courage given to him by God?

It is easy to identify with David, and we get excited to think that we just have to stand strong and do what we know needs to be done and all our giants will fall! Here is the problem with identifying with David, what happens when our giants don’t fall? What happens when we get beat up and left for dead? What happens when the enemy comes in and destroys our relationship? Our marriages, our jobs, our family or our church and leave a big old mess in his wake? We feel let down, we feel like God was not on our side, and we feel like we are left picking up the pieces.

In reality, the giant is Satan, our enemy. We can see Jesus as David, standing strong against Satan and we can see ourselves shaking in our armor behind the lines watching this whole battle go down. Now, on this side of the battle we see the victory, we see Satan beaten and we are given hope so we charge against the enemy army and chase them until they are wiped out! That is a story of Victory! It is a story of Christ the overcomer! When we put ourselves in David’s role, we try to be the overcomer and guess what…we are not! It is only through the victory of Christ that enables us to be on the winning side.

You might be thinking, “But wait! We are more than conquerors! Who can stand against us?”

Let’s look at Romans 8:37, “No, in all these things we are more than conqueror through him who loved us.” Or as the NLT says, “despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.”

Back just a few verses in 31 we do read that idiomatic Christian phrase “Who can be against us?” but what does it say right before that? “If God is for us then who can be against us.”

I wanted to introduce this blog in this way so that we can consider our place in the stories that Jesus tells in His parables. We have followed Jesus as he taught large crowds and performed many miracles and now He is standing on the shore of a lake again speaking to many people. Matthew 13:3-9:

“He told many stories in the form of parables, such as this one: ‘Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seeds. As he scattered them across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them. Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. But the plants soon wilted under the hot sun, and since they didn’t have deep roots, they died. Other seeds fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants. Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted! Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”

First of all I want to point out that we often identify with the sower in this parable. We are the ones sowing the seed. We think of the Great commission that tells us to go into all the world spreading this gospel! Get out there and Sow!! We are the ones doing the planting, but I think there is much more being stated here. Jesus is telling us about the reaction of people when the seed is sown.

This is a story or parable spoken to a large group of people. It is not a plain message. It is spoken in a parable form for a reason. In fact the disciple noticed that it was not a simple message and asked Jesus why he was speaking in parables, read verse 10: His disciples came and asked him, “Why do you use parables when you talk to the people?”

Why does Jesus speak this way? Lets read His reply (verse 11-13).

“You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. That is why I use these parables, for they look, but they don’t really see. They hear, but they don’t really listen or understand.”

Now we get an interesting glimpse of What Jesus is doing here. He has spoken to many people, performed many miracles, and what have people done with it? What has been the benefit of all this? Jesus has been sowing seed and now he gives his disciples an inside perspective to what is actually happening. He tells them that they have access to the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven. The disciples heard and understood. They listen and were given more understanding. Jesus points out that there are those who listen and do not understand. They heard but turned their back on the message and now, even the little understanding they do have will be taken away.

Hebrews 6:1-3 says this: “Let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we do not need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God! You don’t need further instruction about baptism, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding.”

We hear about these things, we read the Bible and hear it taught, but do we understand it? Do we grow in our maturity or is the little understanding we do have taken away from us because we do not continue to grow in understanding, in spiritual maturity?

Jesus goes on to explain that this scenario was even prophesied about: (Matthew 13:14-15)

“This fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah that says, ‘When you hear what I say, you will not understand. When you see what I do, you will not comprehend. For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes—so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them.’”

Jesus is saying that this is the way it happens. It was even prophesied that there would be people who do not listen. Their hearts were hardened. Now, when he talks about people with hardened hearts he is not just talking about the lost, unsaved people who have rejected the word. He is talking about anyone, just like the parable states, and how the word of God is handled within the context of their life, within their heart. Is it a heard heart, a rocky heart, a shallow heart, or a god heart?

Jesus goes on in verse 16 of Matthew 13:

“But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but they didn’t see it. And they longed to hear what you hear, but they didn’t hear it.”

Then Jesus gives us his explanation of the parable. He explains not the role of the sower nor the way that we need to get out there and spread the message, but this is a parable of the effects of the message of the Kingdom on the lives of different types of people. He explains (13:19):

“The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the Kingdom and don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts.”

Have you ever been given an explanation of something and just plain old didn’t understand it? What do you do about it? Some would ask for clarification, others would research the topic until they get it, but many would just shake their head and walk away. They did not understand it so then the seed that was sown is snatched up so that their interest is not piqued later. And the evil one wins.

This can happen over and over in the life of a Christian. There is so much to understand about God, and about his saving grace and about living our lives for His glory! We are in a constant state of learning. But when we are taught something about God that we do not understand what do we do?

Do we have an insatiable desire for God’s word? Do we have an unquenchable hunger to understand the things of God and His will in our lives? Whose responsibility is it to fulfill that desire, that longing for knowing God? Is it the pastor’s? Is it the Elders job? That reminds me of the old Hymn “You never mentioned him to me! You helped me not the light to see!” Wait a minute! Is it my job to make sure you are getting into God’s word and studying? Doesn’t the Bible say to show YOURSELF approved unto God? It’s your role! It’s your job.

The seed has been sown into your life, What is it doing? Has it landed on hard ground that doesn’t get it right away? Then before Satan comes and snatches that seed, cultivate the soil, till it, fertilize it and allow it to sprout. Go talk to an elder, talk to the preacher or someone you trust as a knowledgeable source to help you find understanding. God will give more understanding to those who understand. If you don’t strive to understand, then the little understanding you do have will be taken away.

Now let’s see verse 20-21:

“The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word.”

Here is soil that takes the message in quickly! They get it and they start to grow, but there are things that are causing the roots not to go down deep. This is a maturity issue. This is where many Christian find themselves. They get to a certain point of growth and they stop. They don’t know why really, they just stop. They don’t mature in their faith. Then they fall over because the stalk of the plant is not strong enough to hold them up. Then they get kicked while they are down. Ha! You thought this Christianity thing was going to pull you through but there you are lying on the ground dying!! Why did you even bother?

This is what happens in persecution. How deep do your roots go? Are they deep enough so that when you are kicked and persecuted for believing in God that you can withstand it? Are you like a tree that’s planted by the waters; are you like a wise man who built his house on a rock so that when the storms come you will have a firm foundation in God? Or are your roots shallow?

Let’s keep reading in Lets keep reading in verse 22:

“The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced.”

Wow! Here we see Christians who heard the message, receive it, but the things of this life have distracted them. Their worries are choking them. The lure of wealth is distracting them. No fruit is produced. Jesus taught about worry. What did he say about it? To NOT to! Don’t worry about this life! This life is not your reward! Your reward is in heaven! The things in this life that we worry about will burn up—they will pass away!

Then Jesus touches on another topic that is pretty sensitive—wealth. I bet if I asked how many wealthy people are reading this none of you would say, Yeah, I’m wealthy. And when we read about the cautions to the wealthy people in scripture we think, “Oh! That’s not talking to me because I’m certainly not wealthy!” But yet what do we spend so much of our waking hours doing? Working! For what? Wealth! It is a lure. What do you use lures for? Any fishermen (or fisherpersons I should say)? You use them to catch fish. Then what do you do with them? You fry ‘em up with some butter and bread crumbs and eat ‘em!!

Wealth is not something to take lightly! It will choke the life of the message of God right out of you! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God! Wealth is not evil, but it certainly has the strong ability to turn us aside from what our purpose on this earth is!

This person who receives the message but is choked out by the thorns does not produce fruit! Are you producing fruit? Did you receive the message of God and take hold of it and grow in its glory and then because you could not contain it this message spills out every time you open your mouth? See that is the kind of heart the last seed found (in verse 23):

“The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!”

It produces a harvest! This heart received the message and grew! It didn’t just grow, but it produced fruit! What do you find in fruit? Nutrition, good taste, beauty, but I think most importantly…more seeds! Then those seed can be planted to produce more fruit! Then in those fruit more seeds are found and because of one willing heart of good soil a harvest can be produced thirty sixty or even a hundred times more than just that one seed produced!

Here is the message of this parable: he who has an ear to hear, let him hear! The message is spoken; the seed has been sown in your life. What are you going to do with it?