The Parable of the Sower
In our exploration of the Parable of the Sower from Matthew 13, we delve into the profound truths Jesus shares about the different responses to His message. We see that the sower represents Jesus and anyone who spreads the gospel, while the seed symbolizes the Word of God. The crux of the parable lies in the four types of soil, which illustrate the varying conditions of human hearts. The hard path represents those who hear the gospel but do not understand it, allowing the evil one to snatch it away. The rocky ground depicts those who initially receive the Word with joy but lack depth, causing them to fall away when faced with challenges. The thorny soil symbolizes those who are choked by life's worries and the deceitfulness of wealth, ultimately becoming unfruitful. Finally, the good soil represents those who hear, understand, and bear fruit, yielding a bountiful harvest.
As we reflect on this parable, we recognize that our response to God's Word is crucial. We are challenged to examine our own hearts and consider what kind of soil we are. Are we allowing distractions and hardships to hinder our growth, or are we nurturing a heart that is receptive to God's truth? The parable encourages us to be diligent in sowing the seed of the gospel, trusting that God will cultivate the soil of our hearts and the hearts of those around us, leading to transformation and fruitfulness in our lives and communities.
Key Takeaways
- Everyone has a response to the gospel; there is no neutral ground when it comes to Jesus.
- The condition of our hearts is crucial in determining how we receive and respond to God's Word.
- Three of the four soils represent negative responses to the gospel, highlighting the challenges we face in our faith journey.
- The good soil symbolizes a heart transformed by grace, which produces a fruitful harvest in response to God's Word.
- We are called to sow the seed of the gospel generously, trusting God to cultivate the hearts of those who hear it.
Scripture References
Discussion Questions
- What type of soil do you identify with in your current spiritual journey, and why?
- How can we cultivate a heart that is more receptive to God's Word?
- What distractions or worries in your life might be choking out your spiritual growth?
- In what ways can we actively sow the seed of the gospel in our communities?
- How does understanding the different responses to the gospel help us in our relationships with others who may not believe?
Matthew 13:3-9, 18-23
Series Overview: The parables of the gospels answer the question “what does Jesus teach?” – v. 1-3
The reality of Jesus’ teaching is…
Everyone has an opinion – v. 4-8, 18
Some are victims of evil – v. 19
Some are victims of experience – v. 20-21
Some are victims of excitement – v. 22
Many are beneficiaries of grace – v. 23
Parabolic Wisdom: “You must decide in your heart what you truly believe about Jesus” – v. 9
Transcript
· And the first time following Jesus actually costs them something. Maybe a friend mocks them.
· Maybe life gets harder. That at the workplace it's more uncomfortable. All of a sudden social
· media someone disagrees with you because that's the worst thing in the world, right?
· And all of a sudden when life pushes back because we say we're going to follow Jesus,
· all of a sudden the feelings start to fade and they're gone.
· But hey, if you have a Bible, go ahead and grab it and turn to Matthew chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13
· is where we're going to be laying down our roots this morning. And if you were here last week,
· we launched this brand new series called Parables. And I was gone. I was out of town
· and Kyle preached for us. And when I love to give guys preaching opportunities to kind of
· raise up more preachers and do a good job. But usually when I do that,
· I want them to preach worse than me so I sound better the following week. So thanks a lot,
· Kyle. Where'd he go? He was supposed to lower the bar and he heightened it. He did a great
· job. But he did a phenomenal job. And you can give Kyle a hand for that. That's right.
· But he did a great job just launching us into this new series, Parables. And we're
· doing this on the back end of eight weeks going through the miracles of Jesus.
· And in the miracles of Jesus, we said over and over again, the question that came out
· of those passages is who is this man? Who is Jesus? What does he about? And we saw
· throughout this pieces of his authority that ultimately pointed to him as God and our Savior.
· And as we turn the page to the parables, the question shifts from the identity of Christ
· and it answers a different question. In this overview, as we see the parables of the
· Gospels answer the question of what does Jesus teach? This God who came down to earth
· to be with us, to die on a cross and raise for our sins. We must ask the question of,
· okay, if Jesus is God, what does he say for us to do and how do we actually follow it?
· And you see, as you go through the Gospels, we're going to see very clearly
· that Jesus was the greatest teacher who ever lived. And his favorite way to teach was the
· parable. Jesus often taught in stories. Actually, if you go through the Gospels,
· 35% of everything Jesus says in the Gospels comes to us in the form of a story.
· He talks about farmers and seeds, lost coins and prodigal sons, wedding feasts and buried
· treasures. And every story attempts to crack open heavenly truth that brings it down to
· our earthly domain. And today, as we jump into Matthew chapter 13, starting in verse one,
· here's how we see that we just plummet into this text. And it says here on that day,
· Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around
· him that he got into a boat and he sat down while the whole crowd stood on the shore.
· Then he told them many things and parables saying, we're going to stop right there and
· pick that up in just a second. But as we launch into this text, I just want you to picture
· this scene for a second, that there's this massive crowd that was following Jesus wherever
· he went. Now, how annoying would that be? Like you can't escape, right? I have four kids,
· I can't escape them, but I can't imagine a crowd following you wherever you go.
· Wherever Jesus goes, this crowd is just behind him and he comes out and they're just pushing
· in, they're pushing in, they're yearning for more. So Jesus steps into a boat,
· it gets pushed out a few feet into the water. And this is before big old church buildings like
· this, this is before microphones and AV equipment. This is 2000 years ago. And as Jesus
· pushes out, because he is God, he's pretty smart, he uses the water as an amplifier for
· his voice. And as they're sitting on the shoreline, Jesus is using this and speaking
· like a microphone to the crowd around him, like an amplifier. And in this amphitheater
· type setting, in the very first story out of his mouth that we see today,
· is this foundational one that he sets as he says, you must understand if you're going
· to understand any of the others is about a farmer casting seed. Now, if you look at me,
· you probably could assert that I don't know much about growing anything. I'm a city boy.
· When I came to Surprise and I was at Phoenix, Crossroads Phoenix for about
· eight and a half years, someone said, if you're going to go to Surprise,
· you need to wear boots. And I said, you'll never see me in boots because if I wore boots,
· I'd be a fraud. So I wear books instead of boots. Some of you get that, some of you don't.
· But it's like, I will never wear boots because I'm not a cowboy. I'm not a farmer.
· I've been watching Yellowstone to catch up. But let me see, as I watch that,
· I'd be like, I ain't doing that, right? Like I ain't killing someone at a farm and
· burying them. A different story I think I'm getting from that.
· But here's what I love about this parable. As we dive in here, Jesus is going to tell
· this parable twice. First, he tells it to the crowd as his voice reverberates through the water
· to all those onlookers. But he's going to tell it a second time in the privacy of him and his
· disciples as he explains it and as he walks them through it. And I love this because
· sometimes when we read scripture, we feel like we have to guess, we have to read a lot of
· commentaries, we have to see who said this and what does it mean. But we don't have to
· too hard what it means when Jesus tells us exactly what it means. But it picks up in our story in the
· second half of verse three. And I want to read this in full and then take some time breaking
· it down and going through how this applies for us. But it starts here in the second half.
· He says, consider the sower who went out to sow. As he sowed, some seed fell along the
· path and the birds came and devoured them. Other seed fell on rocky ground,
· where it didn't have much soil and it grew up quickly since the soil wasn't deep. But when the
· sun came up, it was scorched. And since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed
· fell among thorns and the thorns came up and they choked it. Still other seed fell on good
· fruit. Some 100, some 60, some 30 times what was sown. Let anyone who has ears listen.
· Let's pray over our text this morning. Dear God, I thank you this morning.
· Lord, I thank you how glorious you are, how great you are, Lord, as we just dive into this
· parable. And God, we ask of how you cause us to move, what you cause us to do as a result,
· how the seed falls and what we must do in response. Lord, I just ask that you guide our time,
· that you guide our hearts. And Lord, that we leave this place changed knowing what we must do.
· God, thank you for your presence that dwells with us here this morning.
· And we lift all this up in Jesus name. Amen. We've always called this the parable of the
· sower. And actually, we call it the parable of the sower because Jesus actually names it
· the parable of the sower in just a second. But what's funny about this is I think when
· we apply it to us, it almost, the sower in the story never changes. The sower,
· the seed that the sower is throwing out, it never changes. The same farmer scatters
· the same seed across the whole field. The only variable, the only thing that changes
· in the story is actually the soil. So for our sake, I almost think a better name,
· if I were to tell Jesus what a better name for the story he tells is, you're shaking your head,
· you're like, are you going to be a heretical right now? This is like the parable of the
· soils because he's going to walk through four different soils and how it impacts us and how
· we respond and how us as the soil are supposed to respond to this text. And in his explanation,
· Jesus tells us which each of these elements stand for. The sower is the son of man, Jesus
· himself and anyone who carries out his gospel. The seed is the word of God, the good news of
· the kingdom and the soil is the human heart. So as we engage in this text, here is the reality
· that is being taught through here. And the reality of Jesus teaching is I believe that we
· see five things that come from this text. And the first thing we see is that everyone has an
· opinion. You see the first thing about this parable that it forces us to admit is that when
· the seed is scattered, something happens every time. The seed never just like hangs and floats
· in the air. Like that would define gravity, right? Like that would make no sense. Like the
· hits the ground in every single setting, in every single way. When it lands somewhere,
· wherever it lands, the soil responds to it. And I think this is important because that's the
· picture of Jesus' ministry. He scatters the word everywhere, the way a first century farmer
· walked his field, flinging seed in every direction. I remember my first house that I
· bought my first house, I had a lawn, a front and a back lawn. That was a bad idea because I had to
· mow and overseed both of those. The longer we lived there, what I decided to do is I would
· only do winter lawn in the front yard and not the backyard because I had to make it look nice
· on the outside when my backyard really was terrible and dying. But I remember the first
· time I went to overseed my lawn, I got one of those things you push and you put the seed
· in and it sprays it on nicely. Yeah, I found out year two that takes too long. So instead,
· as a farmer does, I took a bag and just threw it, right? That's the way you know you're
· winning. And now, as I've moved to Surprise, Arizona in North Surprise, my grass is awesome.
· It is fake. So I don't ever overseed it anymore. Yeah. Hallelujah for that.
· Every winter it looks fantastic. Every summer it looks fantastic. You can't beat it.
· But the picture we get here of Jesus is he's spreading seed. And the important thing we
· need to see is everyone has to do something with it. Nobody walks away from hearing the
· message of Jesus Christ neutral. Everyone has an opinion about Jesus whether they realize it
· or not. Look at verse 18 where Jesus begins his explanation. This is in Matthew 13.
· Skip down to verse 18 when he begins to explain this to his disciples,
· he says, so listen to the parable of the sower. He's like, listen to the message
· that I'm giving you. Listen to this story. And I'm going to explain upon it to the
· disciples. He said, what this means for you. And he starts here is listen because all of
· you are going to have a response to this. There is no neutral ground when it comes
· to Jesus. I think about in Arizona and we're going to get a little bit further once we pass
· this summer that is really just beginning if we're honest. But as we get later in the year
· and usually as you get into October and you get into election season, I love to just drive
· around Surprise and see all the bright election signs that are so fun to look at. And you
· see none of them stay like neutral on everything. Vote for me. Everyone has a
· position. Everyone aligns red or blue or something else. Like everyone says we believe
· this. We're standing for this. This school board vote on this prop vote on this. There
· is no neutrality when it comes to that. And even more so when we talk about our
· spiritual life. Sometimes we think me and Jesus, we can just be bros and we can
· just be neutral and don't have to talk that much. But here Jesus establishes that
· everyone has an opinion. Everyone has to make up their mind on what they believe
· about Christ. And the four soils are going to represent this four responses to
· Christ. And here's the sobering reality as we get into this is three of them are
· negative and one of them is positive, which is not a fun way to start out. But
· as we dive into this first, the first thing we see and I think the three negative
· I think are all ways that we can become victims to the world and to the sin around
· us. And the first response we see is that some people are victims of evil. Keep
· going. In this passage, when Jesus says in verse 18, listen to the parable of
· the sewer, he starts hearing, he says, when anyone hears the word about the
· kingdom, he is talking about the kingdom of God. When anyone hears the
· kingdom and they don't understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what
· was sown in his heart. This is the one sown along the path. You see, this is
· the first soil that we see. The first soil is what is referred to as the
· path, the hard ground. Think of a dirt road packed by years of foot traffic
· and horses and wagon wheels. The seed hits that surface and it just lies on
· top. Now, here, if you think back 2,000 years ago, they did not have
· sidewalks, okay? They had gravel packed dirt in Rome. They didn't quite, they
· might have had some kind of different areas where maybe you had some brick
· and stuff, but it was not the same of what we have now. And I have a
· feeling their construction moved faster than it does in Surprise Arizona.
· Can I get an amen for that? All right. Like, why are we doing construction
· on what we just did construction on six months ago? What were we talking
· about? Anyway, but here's what happens. This hard packed dirt, when the seed
· hits it, it can't penetrate. It just lays on top of that dirt until some
· birds come and eat it, snatch it away, and take it off. And you see,
· Jesus tells us exactly what this means. He says the birds are the evil
· one, Satan himself. And he says, this is the heart that hears the
· gospel, and before it can ever take root, the enemy steals it away. Now,
· we've all seen this soil. Maybe you've even been this soil. It's the person
· at the funeral who hears the gospel clearly, feels something stir for 90
· seconds, and by the parking lot, it's gone, and they're back to their
· old way of life. It's the skeptic who decided before you ever opened
· your mouth to talk about Jesus that what you're saying is nonsense,
· and they will not hear it. Commentators call this gospel deafness,
· where the book closes before it is ever open to hear the good news of
· Christ, and so do their ears. It kind of reminds me about what
· happens here in monsoon season, which maybe is going to kick off
· today. That would be great, right? But here's what's funny. When
· monsoons happen, we think our desert, like, we desperately want it.
· We're like, hey, as soon as rain hits that water or hits that dirt,
· it's just going to soak it all up, right? We think it's just going
· to go straight there. You know why we have flash floods in the middle
· of monsoon season? It's because the ground is so hard that when
· that water hits it, it just keeps rushing on by, and it just
· floods and floods until it gets into the washes, and then the
· washes become full of weeds, and then it gets hot, and then
· there's fires in there later, and it's the cycle of the deserts,
· right? But it becomes the ground is so hard-packed that even
· when life in water itself comes to nourish it, it has become so
· hardened that it cannot take it in. And I think if we're honest,
· a hard heart is the same way the word pours down, but it just
· runs right off because it cannot receive it. But notice I call
· this person, this soil, a victim. And here's the deal is they
· are in a sense because the evil one, Satan, is real, and he is
· actively at work to rip the word out of human hearts. There
· is a thief that roams around us. But don't miss what Jesus says
· at the front in verse 19. He says, this is the one who
· hears and doesn't understand it. There's still responsibility
· there. Satan can only snatch away what was never allowed to
· sink in. You see some are victims of evil, but some are also,
· as our next point here, that we see are victims of experience.
· Check out verse 20 and 21, after we've seen how some,
· they hear God's word, and they won't respond to it. This
· next, our victim of evils, check it out, verse 20, it
· says, and the one sown on rocky grounds, this is the
· one who hears the word and immediately receives it with
· joy. This sounds great right now. They're receiving God's
· word with joy, but verse 21, but he has no roots, and it
· is short lived. When distress or persecution comes because
· of the word, immediately he falls away. Some are victims
· of experience. This is the one that looks promising at
· first. Rocky ground here doesn't mean that it is
· covered in stones. It means that there's a thin layer
· of topsoil sitting on top of a limestone bedrock. That's
· what was very common at this time in Rome, and this was
· all over Galilee at this time, and the seed would land,
· but because the soil was so shallow, it would warm up
· really fast. It would get water really fast, and all
· of a sudden, it would sprout up. It was the quickest,
· greenest growth in the entire field, but the problem
· was is there was no depth. There was no roots. There's a
· slab of rock that's underneath, so the moment the
· sun comes up and it heats, and the heat just hits
· like we know heat can hit, right? The plant has nothing
· to draw from. It has no water underneath that it can get
· to keep going, and it withers as fast as it sprouts.
· One commentator put it perfectly that this soil is
· quickly green and quickly gone, and Jesus names exactly
· what the sun is in the story. It is not heat in
· general, but he said it is distress or persecution
· because of the word. Now, what does this mean for us?
· How do we have a rocky heart that impacts us? Well,
· I think this is the person whose faith was all
· experience, all emotion. They responded with real tearful
· joy at the retreat or at the concert in the high moment
· at the camp, but it never went below the surface.
· In the first time, following Jesus actually costs them
· something. Maybe a friend mocks them. Maybe life gets
· harder that at the workplace, it's more uncomfortable.
· All of a sudden, social media, someone disagrees
· with you because that's the worst thing in the world,
· right? And all of a sudden, when life pushes back because
· we say we're going to follow Jesus, all of a sudden,
· the feelings start to fade and they're gone. It's almost
· like what we see every January with New Year's
· resolutions. People make resolutions. I'm going to go
· to the gym. I told you was my goal this year is
· like, I don't want to be like those people who start
· the gym and quit the gym, so I'm not going to start
· the gym, so I can't quit the gym. But I was like,
· actually what I'll do is I'll start in February because
· it'll be cleared out. No one will be there. In February,
· I actually turned into May when my wife signed us up
· for a membership. She didn't really ask. She just
· signed us up. She's like, I'm starting this plan.
· We're doing it. She's going five days a week.
· I'm going one and a half-ish in hiking some.
· But as we're going to the gym, it's like those
· people. You get super excited about it. The
· feeling is there, but as soon as it gets hard,
· it's like, I think I'm going to quit this. I think
· I'm done. I'm all jazzed up about Jesus in the
· moment, but as soon as life punches me in the face,
· I'm going to fall out. I've seen this over the
· course of 10 years of pastoring. I've seen this
· all the time, and I'm going to say it's the
· addict behavior of Christianity, and sometimes
· all people come to me. They're like, dude,
· I'm jazzed up for Jesus. I want to do
· everything. Tell me what can I do at the
· church tomorrow and Tuesday and Wednesday and
· Thursday and Friday, and I'll be here every
· moment I can, and I say, hey, can you come
· back next Sunday? They're like, yeah, but what
· can I do Monday through Saturday? I want to
· do more, and I'm like, just keep coming on
· Sunday for about a month. And if you can do
· that, I'll find out what we can do next.
· And here's what's often happened is they
· wanted to be all in, but as soon as they
· couldn't be all in in that moment, they
· would not commit to making this a lifestyle
· rather than just an experience that's a high
· for a little bit, but comes scorching down
· as soon as life gets hard. And you see,
· this is why here at Cross Church we talk
· about we don't want just an experiential
· Christianity. We don't want just a
· Christianity that's charismatic on the
· outside but is not rooted in Scripture
· on the inside. Every time we gather for
· a service, here's our goal, and you've
· probably heard these words, and we're
· gonna say them more and more as time
· goes, is we want to take a piece of
· Scripture. We want to pray through it.
· We want to praise through it. We want
· to preach through it so that you can
· practice it during the week. And here's
· the difference with that is when we are
· rooting in Scripture and in God's Word,
· we are not gonna have this shallow
· little root that hits the rock that
· as soon as the sun comes out, the
· distress, the persecution were ripped
· right out. We wither away and our
· Christianity is gone. You see, this is
· a sobering soil church because it
· warns us that an emotional response
· is not the same as a converted heart.
· Jesus tells us throughout Scripture
· that those who continue
· in his Word are truly his disciples.
· Sprouting fast is easy. Putting down
· roots is hard.
· You see, some are victims of evil. Some
· are victims of experience, but we also
· see some are victims of excitement.
· This seems very similar to the last
· one, but let's break this down a
· little bit more because it's a
· continues in verse 22. It says,
· now the one sown among the thorns,
· this is the one who hears the Word,
· but the worries of this age, the
· deceitfulness of wealth choke the
· Word and it becomes unfruitful.
· This in some ways is the most
· dangerous soil of all and I believe
· is the most dangerous soil for the
· church in America today because
· nothing dramatic happens.
· No birds swoop down. No scorching
· sun comes out. The seed actually
· takes root and it starts to grow.
· This plant looks like it might
· make it, but the problem is it's
· not growing alone.
· There are thorns that are coming
· up right alongside it, growing
· slower, but growing with it.
· And slowly, quietly, they
· choke the life out of it.
· And Jesus identifies the thorns in
· the story as two things. Number one,
· he says the worries of this age.
· Does anyone have worries in this
· room? Does anyone have worries in
· this room?
· There are so many worries we have
· in this age and this isn't even a
· new thing. This isn't like all of
· a sudden we got worries in 2026.
· Jesus was telling them they had
· worries in 1 AD. That's probably
· about 30 AD, but in that time they
· had worries of this age. But number
· two, he says it's the deceitfulness
· of wealth. Oh, that's a whole
· nother sermon I don't have time
· for, but we'll get some cliff
· notes on it. But think about
· this worry and wealth, the
· anxious grind of life and the
· seductive pull of stuff. Now I
· called this the soil victim of
· excitement and here's what I mean
· is this person is genuinely excited
· about 100 other things. Their
· calendar is full, their cart is
· full, they're chasing the
· promotion, the bigger house, the
· next vacation, the kids travel
· ball every weekend and none of
· that is bad. None of it is
· necessarily evil, but that's
· what makes it deceptive because
· all of it when it comes
· together, it slowly crowds out
· Jesus of your life and there's
· no room left for him to grow.
· And here's what's scary about
· this. It's like when you don't
· watch your front lawn and here's
· what I've learned is that I
· moved into our house, our new
· house about almost two years ago
· in North Surprise and we did a
· new build out there and they
· put all the plants in your
· front yard and they're all
· native desert plants and as they
· grow and get a little messy,
· you don't even notice because
· they look like they're
· supposed to be there in the
· desert. But then weeds start
· growing too and I don't really
· unless you're in right by
· the plants, you don't even see
· the little weeds sprouting and
· then all of a sudden one day
· you pull into your garage and
· there's weed this tall and
· you're like, what happened to
· that weed? And then you're
· going to pull it and you
· realize there's thorns all over
· it and it hurts your hand and
· it's killing you and then
· you realize it's killing the
· plant that was supposed to be
· there. And the same happens
· in our lives. These little
· weeds sprout out without us
· noticing. All of a sudden
· they start crowding the
· things that are most important
· and there's a warning here
· that the thorns do not
· announce themselves. The
· thorns don't say, hey, this
· is going to steal from your
· relationship from Jesus. This
· is going to get you sidetracked.
· This is going to harden and
· this is going to ruin your
· path. This is going to destroy
· the foundation of your family
· for the generations to come of
· following Christ. They don't
· announce themselves like that.
· They say, hey, this is a good
· thing. Follow this. And we
· start busily filling our
· calendars with stuff that all
· of a sudden we forsake the
· most important thing, which is
· right in front of us. And
· here's the scariest part
· about this church is I don't
· care who you are, is you don't
· mature past these things. Just
· this past couple months I have
· had this struggle in my heart
· where sometimes I scroll
· social media and I get annoyed
· because I see people I know
· when I grew up with and I'm
· like, oh, they're going on
· that vacation. They bought
· that house. They have that
· car. I'm smarter than that
· person. Like I should be
· making more money than them.
· I should be doing this. And
· I'm like, and God has to
· like stop me in my tracks
· and be like, dude, why do
· you care about that stuff? Why
· care about the worries in
· this age? Why do you care
· about the deceitfulness of
· wealth? It is here today,
· but it is gone tomorrow. He
· says focus on the main
· thing. Focus on the purpose,
· on the path, on what I have
· provided for you because
· what matters more than all
· of it is the person of
· Jesus Christ that our
· world is trying to choke
· out in these deceitful
· thorns. They are so hard
· because they are creeping
· up in us, trying to crowd
· out Jesus of our life.
· So that's three soils,
· three failures, the heart
· that is robbed by the
· evil one, the shallow
· heart that couldn't
· survive the heat, the
· crowded heart that is
· choked out by worry
· and wealth. If Jesus
· stopped here, this would
· be such a depressing
· parable, but he doesn't.
· There is evil. There's
· there is excitement, but
· church, here is the good
· news is that many are
· beneficiaries of grace.
· Many are beneficiaries
· of grace. Keep going as
· we go through this
· passage and we see as
· Jesus ends his commentary
· on this in verse 23,
· it says, but the one
· sown on the good ground,
· I love that phrase, on
· the good ground, this
· is the one who hears
· and understands the
· word who does produce
· fruits and yields some
· 100, some 60, some 30
· times what was sown.
· Here's what this
· parable has been
· billing to. He's gone
· through the bad soil
· and he leads to the
· good soil. This is the
· fourth heart that we
· are embracing and
· notice what makes it
· different is this heart
· as she describes, it
· hears and it
· understands. It doesn't
· just hear, but it
· also receives. It
· takes root. It produces
· a harvest and not even
· a small one. It says
· a hundredfold, 60 fold,
· 30 fold in the ancient
· world. A seven fold
· return was considered
· a great harvest. So
· this was like a
· mind blowing harvest.
· How much return came
· from this. He's
· describing a yield that
· is off the charts, but
· it begs the question
· here and understand
· what we're saying here
· and understand the
· gospel, the gospel,
· the good news of
· Jesus Christ, that
· Jesus lived, that
· Jesus died, that
· Jesus paid the price
· for our sins, that
· Jesus rose from the
· grave and Jesus is
· the ultimate God, the
· one and only who can
· change our life now
· and for all of
· eternity. When we hear
· and we receive that
· truth that scripture
· proclaims, but as
· we go in this point,
· I want us to be
· careful and there's
· a little warning here
· because it would be
· easy to read this
· and walk out thinking
· the whole point of
· this is be better
· soil. Try harder.
· I guess you try to
· receive it a little
· bit more, but church
· soil doesn't make
· itself good. A path
· doesn't decide to
· become farmland. Rocky
· ground can't dig out
· its own bedrock. A
· thorny field can't
· pull its own weeds.
· Good soil is cultivated.
· It is worked. It is
· graced by God above.
· You see the good
· soil heart isn't the
· heart that was
· naturally better than
· the others. It's the
· heart that grace got
· ahold of. God
· softens the hard ground.
· God breaks up the
· rock. God clears out
· the thorns. Ezekiel
· 36 tells us about
· this. It says that
· he takes our heart
· of stone and he
· gives us a heart of
· flesh. You can't
· manufacture good soil
· on your own. You
· receive it when you
· humble yourself before
· God. And then a
· heart that truly has
· received grace. Here's
· what it tells us. It
· will always produce
· fruit. A fruitless
· Christian, many
· commentators say, is
· an oxymoron. When
· the word truly takes
· root, a harvest is
· guaranteed. In the
· late 1700s, William
· Carey, he was a
· missionary. He left
· England for India for
· a missionary journey.
· And when he was
· there in India, he
· labored for seven
· years before his
· very first convert
· to Jesus. Seven
· years of scattering
· seed that seemed to
· land on nothing but
· hard paths and rocky
· ground. People told him
· to quit. People said
· you are wasting your
· life. You are wasting
· your talents. But he
· kept sowing in his
· seed. And his motto
· became this, expect
· great things from God.
· Attempt great things
· from God. He said,
· expect great things
· from God. Attempt
· great things for God.
· He trusted the
· Lord of the Harvest
· would in his time
· produce the good
· soil. And he did.
· And he is one of
· the most renowned
· missionaries to this
· day. You see, that's
· our encouragement here
· today. Cross Church
· that if you're a
· believer, your job
· is not to manufacture
· the harvest. Your
· job is to keep
· sowing the seed.
· Generously, everywhere,
· even recklessly. Don't
· use that stupid little
· thing that you push
· and it spreads the
· seed evenly. Just
· take a handful of
· seed and chuck it
· wherever you can get
· it to. That's what
· this calls us to do
· in trust that wherever
· that seed lands, God
· knows the soil that
· it's hitting. Keep
· praying that the
· hard-hearted spouse
· that soil will soften
· and that seed will
· seek in. Keep
· loving the rebellious
· kid which you know
· he has rocky soil
· in his life. And
· keep hoping that God
· will till that soil
· so that it can receive
· the word. Keep
· sharing with the
· apathetic co-worker
· that is so caught
· up in the stuff
· of the world that
· all of a sudden,
· God will create this
· soil in their heart
· that it changes
· everything. Church,
· you sow and God
· grows. That is the
· message of Scripture.
· We just scatter
· and scatter
· and scatter.
· But now how look at how
· this story ends
· in the first half of
· this to the crowd
· in verse 9.
· I just love this
· how Jesus has
· he's been building
· this parable
· and he's saying
· and he walks through
· these different soils
· in verse 9.
· He says to end
· this to the crowd.
· Let anyone who has
· ears listen.
· That's not like
· a throwaway line.
· Jesus doesn't do
· throwaway lines.
· This is a challenge.
· One paraphrase renders it.
· Are you listening to this?
· Are you really listening?
· And here is where all
· this builds to us today.
· The wisdom,
· the parabolic wisdom
· we see in this story
· is today you must
· decide in your heart
· what you truly
· believe about Jesus.
· Nobody can decide
· that for you.
· You must decide
· what you truly believe
· about Jesus
· in your heart
· not in someone else's.
· You see it's the same seed
· the same sower.
· The only variable
· in this story
· is the soil
· which means the real
· question this morning
· is not is the gospel true?
· The gospel is true.
· The Bible that we have
· was written over
· thousands of years
· by dozens of authors
· all pointing to
· the same message
· that Jesus is God
· and Jesus saves
· the question is not
· is this true?
· This is true.
· The real question
· that you must answer
· is what kind of soil are you?
· What heart will you receive
· the truth of the gospel in?
· You have to decide
· you have to decide
· in your own heart
· what you truly believe
· about Jesus Christ.
· Nobody can decide it for you
· and notice every one
· of these soils
· heard the same word.
· Hearing is not the issue
· although it is
· for some of us maybe sometimes
· especially when my wife
· asked me to do things
· but hearing isn't the issue
· here is the true issue
· within the church
· receiving God's word is
· and you can sit
· in this room
· in rooms alike it
· across our country
· and across our world
· every single Sunday
· with ears that work perfectly
· and you can still
· let the birds of the air
· steal the seed away
· the sun scorch it
· the storms choke it out
· you can sit here
· and not receive it
· but let me ask you plainly
· this morning
· which soil are you?
· Are you the hard soil
· that every time you hear
· the word of God
· it's just sitting on the surface
· ready for Satan to snatch it away
· you're not even
· making it hard for him
· you're leaving that seed out there
· knowing that it's not going to go anywhere
· are you the rocky ground
· and there is a moment once
· maybe you cried at a youth camp
· maybe you broke down
· at a men's retreat
· maybe you even cried in church
· and God was gripping your heart
· but you let that experience
· just be an experience
· and never take root
· in the word of God
· are you the thorns
· you believe
· you really do
· but your schedule is so full of other stuff
· that you are pushing out
· you are choking Jesus out of your life
· or are you the good soil
· who has received the word of God
· who it has changed everything in your life
· and now your role
· is a pick up a bag of seed
· and keep throwing it to the world around us
· you see in this beautiful story
· we also have a warning
· and our warning plays out
· in such a vivid picture
· in the Old Testament
· in Exodus chapter 10
· if you've grown up in church
· you know the story of Moses
· standing up to the Pharaoh of Egypt of that day
· who probably used aliens to build his pyramids
· but that's a different story right
· at least demon technology
· we can agree on that
· I'm just kidding
· but as he confronted Pharaoh
· and he said let my people go
· Pharaoh had time and time again
· to respond to the God of the universe
· but we see for the last time
· the commentary on his heart comes in Exodus chapter 10 verse 20
· it says but the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart
· and he did not let the Israelites go
· now sometimes in the church we read that passage
· like that's pretty messed up
· like why did God harden Pharaoh's heart
· why did he make his soil hard
· why did he not let him receive the truth of the gospel
· here's the thing God did not say
· I am choosing Pharaoh to condemn
· Pharaoh made his own choice
· here's what precedes that in Exodus chapter 9 verse 34
· it says when Pharaoh saw that the rain,
· hail, and thunder had ceased
· listen to what this guy did
· when he's like I might win my battle
· I might win my war
· I might still be the victor in this
· he said he sinned again
· and he being Pharaoh hardened his heart
· he and his officials
· Pharaoh had a chance
· to recognize the God of the universe
· let's say I gotta change my ways
· but he kept on sinning
· he kept on hardening his heart
· he kept on pushing down his path
· and God sent him in his way
· and said you want a hard heart
· you got it man keep going down your path
· and for us today
· as we examine the soil of our life
· God will let you go in the direction you choose
· if you're choosing the hard path
· you're choosing the rocky
· you're choosing the thorns
· God will let you go down there
· he will let you make your decisions
· he will let you harden your heart
· and wreck your life
· but he does not desire that for you
· instead when you fall humbly before him
· when you pray God open up my heart
· God's gonna break out that tiller
· and start breaking apart
· everything that's holding that soil back
· so that when you hear the gospel truth
· of what he has
· when you hear the message of what he's done
· that everything changes
· and we get to see exactly what we're gonna witness
· in just a second in baptism
· how God changes lives
· how we can say yes to Christ
· and our life is different now
· and for all of eternity
· church that is great news
· can I get an amen
Part of Series
Parables
View all episodesTranscript
· And the first time following Jesus actually costs them something. Maybe a friend mocks them.
· Maybe life gets harder. That at the workplace it's more uncomfortable. All of a sudden social
· media someone disagrees with you because that's the worst thing in the world, right?
· And all of a sudden when life pushes back because we say we're going to follow Jesus,
· all of a sudden the feelings start to fade and they're gone.
· But hey, if you have a Bible, go ahead and grab it and turn to Matthew chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13
· is where we're going to be laying down our roots this morning. And if you were here last week,
· we launched this brand new series called Parables. And I was gone. I was out of town
· and Kyle preached for us. And when I love to give guys preaching opportunities to kind of
· raise up more preachers and do a good job. But usually when I do that,
· I want them to preach worse than me so I sound better the following week. So thanks a lot,
· Kyle. Where'd he go? He was supposed to lower the bar and he heightened it. He did a great
· job. But he did a phenomenal job. And you can give Kyle a hand for that. That's right.
· But he did a great job just launching us into this new series, Parables. And we're
· doing this on the back end of eight weeks going through the miracles of Jesus.
· And in the miracles of Jesus, we said over and over again, the question that came out
· of those passages is who is this man? Who is Jesus? What does he about? And we saw
· throughout this pieces of his authority that ultimately pointed to him as God and our Savior.
· And as we turn the page to the parables, the question shifts from the identity of Christ
· and it answers a different question. In this overview, as we see the parables of the
· Gospels answer the question of what does Jesus teach? This God who came down to earth
· to be with us, to die on a cross and raise for our sins. We must ask the question of,
· okay, if Jesus is God, what does he say for us to do and how do we actually follow it?
· And you see, as you go through the Gospels, we're going to see very clearly
· that Jesus was the greatest teacher who ever lived. And his favorite way to teach was the
· parable. Jesus often taught in stories. Actually, if you go through the Gospels,
· 35% of everything Jesus says in the Gospels comes to us in the form of a story.
· He talks about farmers and seeds, lost coins and prodigal sons, wedding feasts and buried
· treasures. And every story attempts to crack open heavenly truth that brings it down to
· our earthly domain. And today, as we jump into Matthew chapter 13, starting in verse one,
· here's how we see that we just plummet into this text. And it says here on that day,
· Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around
· him that he got into a boat and he sat down while the whole crowd stood on the shore.
· Then he told them many things and parables saying, we're going to stop right there and
· pick that up in just a second. But as we launch into this text, I just want you to picture
· this scene for a second, that there's this massive crowd that was following Jesus wherever
· he went. Now, how annoying would that be? Like you can't escape, right? I have four kids,
· I can't escape them, but I can't imagine a crowd following you wherever you go.
· Wherever Jesus goes, this crowd is just behind him and he comes out and they're just pushing
· in, they're pushing in, they're yearning for more. So Jesus steps into a boat,
· it gets pushed out a few feet into the water. And this is before big old church buildings like
· this, this is before microphones and AV equipment. This is 2000 years ago. And as Jesus
· pushes out, because he is God, he's pretty smart, he uses the water as an amplifier for
· his voice. And as they're sitting on the shoreline, Jesus is using this and speaking
· like a microphone to the crowd around him, like an amplifier. And in this amphitheater
· type setting, in the very first story out of his mouth that we see today,
· is this foundational one that he sets as he says, you must understand if you're going
· to understand any of the others is about a farmer casting seed. Now, if you look at me,
· you probably could assert that I don't know much about growing anything. I'm a city boy.
· When I came to Surprise and I was at Phoenix, Crossroads Phoenix for about
· eight and a half years, someone said, if you're going to go to Surprise,
· you need to wear boots. And I said, you'll never see me in boots because if I wore boots,
· I'd be a fraud. So I wear books instead of boots. Some of you get that, some of you don't.
· But it's like, I will never wear boots because I'm not a cowboy. I'm not a farmer.
· I've been watching Yellowstone to catch up. But let me see, as I watch that,
· I'd be like, I ain't doing that, right? Like I ain't killing someone at a farm and
· burying them. A different story I think I'm getting from that.
· But here's what I love about this parable. As we dive in here, Jesus is going to tell
· this parable twice. First, he tells it to the crowd as his voice reverberates through the water
· to all those onlookers. But he's going to tell it a second time in the privacy of him and his
· disciples as he explains it and as he walks them through it. And I love this because
· sometimes when we read scripture, we feel like we have to guess, we have to read a lot of
· commentaries, we have to see who said this and what does it mean. But we don't have to
· too hard what it means when Jesus tells us exactly what it means. But it picks up in our story in the
· second half of verse three. And I want to read this in full and then take some time breaking
· it down and going through how this applies for us. But it starts here in the second half.
· He says, consider the sower who went out to sow. As he sowed, some seed fell along the
· path and the birds came and devoured them. Other seed fell on rocky ground,
· where it didn't have much soil and it grew up quickly since the soil wasn't deep. But when the
· sun came up, it was scorched. And since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed
· fell among thorns and the thorns came up and they choked it. Still other seed fell on good
· fruit. Some 100, some 60, some 30 times what was sown. Let anyone who has ears listen.
· Let's pray over our text this morning. Dear God, I thank you this morning.
· Lord, I thank you how glorious you are, how great you are, Lord, as we just dive into this
· parable. And God, we ask of how you cause us to move, what you cause us to do as a result,
· how the seed falls and what we must do in response. Lord, I just ask that you guide our time,
· that you guide our hearts. And Lord, that we leave this place changed knowing what we must do.
· God, thank you for your presence that dwells with us here this morning.
· And we lift all this up in Jesus name. Amen. We've always called this the parable of the
· sower. And actually, we call it the parable of the sower because Jesus actually names it
· the parable of the sower in just a second. But what's funny about this is I think when
· we apply it to us, it almost, the sower in the story never changes. The sower,
· the seed that the sower is throwing out, it never changes. The same farmer scatters
· the same seed across the whole field. The only variable, the only thing that changes
· in the story is actually the soil. So for our sake, I almost think a better name,
· if I were to tell Jesus what a better name for the story he tells is, you're shaking your head,
· you're like, are you going to be a heretical right now? This is like the parable of the
· soils because he's going to walk through four different soils and how it impacts us and how
· we respond and how us as the soil are supposed to respond to this text. And in his explanation,
· Jesus tells us which each of these elements stand for. The sower is the son of man, Jesus
· himself and anyone who carries out his gospel. The seed is the word of God, the good news of
· the kingdom and the soil is the human heart. So as we engage in this text, here is the reality
· that is being taught through here. And the reality of Jesus teaching is I believe that we
· see five things that come from this text. And the first thing we see is that everyone has an
· opinion. You see the first thing about this parable that it forces us to admit is that when
· the seed is scattered, something happens every time. The seed never just like hangs and floats
· in the air. Like that would define gravity, right? Like that would make no sense. Like the
· hits the ground in every single setting, in every single way. When it lands somewhere,
· wherever it lands, the soil responds to it. And I think this is important because that's the
· picture of Jesus' ministry. He scatters the word everywhere, the way a first century farmer
· walked his field, flinging seed in every direction. I remember my first house that I
· bought my first house, I had a lawn, a front and a back lawn. That was a bad idea because I had to
· mow and overseed both of those. The longer we lived there, what I decided to do is I would
· only do winter lawn in the front yard and not the backyard because I had to make it look nice
· on the outside when my backyard really was terrible and dying. But I remember the first
· time I went to overseed my lawn, I got one of those things you push and you put the seed
· in and it sprays it on nicely. Yeah, I found out year two that takes too long. So instead,
· as a farmer does, I took a bag and just threw it, right? That's the way you know you're
· winning. And now, as I've moved to Surprise, Arizona in North Surprise, my grass is awesome.
· It is fake. So I don't ever overseed it anymore. Yeah. Hallelujah for that.
· Every winter it looks fantastic. Every summer it looks fantastic. You can't beat it.
· But the picture we get here of Jesus is he's spreading seed. And the important thing we
· need to see is everyone has to do something with it. Nobody walks away from hearing the
· message of Jesus Christ neutral. Everyone has an opinion about Jesus whether they realize it
· or not. Look at verse 18 where Jesus begins his explanation. This is in Matthew 13.
· Skip down to verse 18 when he begins to explain this to his disciples,
· he says, so listen to the parable of the sower. He's like, listen to the message
· that I'm giving you. Listen to this story. And I'm going to explain upon it to the
· disciples. He said, what this means for you. And he starts here is listen because all of
· you are going to have a response to this. There is no neutral ground when it comes
· to Jesus. I think about in Arizona and we're going to get a little bit further once we pass
· this summer that is really just beginning if we're honest. But as we get later in the year
· and usually as you get into October and you get into election season, I love to just drive
· around Surprise and see all the bright election signs that are so fun to look at. And you
· see none of them stay like neutral on everything. Vote for me. Everyone has a
· position. Everyone aligns red or blue or something else. Like everyone says we believe
· this. We're standing for this. This school board vote on this prop vote on this. There
· is no neutrality when it comes to that. And even more so when we talk about our
· spiritual life. Sometimes we think me and Jesus, we can just be bros and we can
· just be neutral and don't have to talk that much. But here Jesus establishes that
· everyone has an opinion. Everyone has to make up their mind on what they believe
· about Christ. And the four soils are going to represent this four responses to
· Christ. And here's the sobering reality as we get into this is three of them are
· negative and one of them is positive, which is not a fun way to start out. But
· as we dive into this first, the first thing we see and I think the three negative
· I think are all ways that we can become victims to the world and to the sin around
· us. And the first response we see is that some people are victims of evil. Keep
· going. In this passage, when Jesus says in verse 18, listen to the parable of
· the sewer, he starts hearing, he says, when anyone hears the word about the
· kingdom, he is talking about the kingdom of God. When anyone hears the
· kingdom and they don't understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what
· was sown in his heart. This is the one sown along the path. You see, this is
· the first soil that we see. The first soil is what is referred to as the
· path, the hard ground. Think of a dirt road packed by years of foot traffic
· and horses and wagon wheels. The seed hits that surface and it just lies on
· top. Now, here, if you think back 2,000 years ago, they did not have
· sidewalks, okay? They had gravel packed dirt in Rome. They didn't quite, they
· might have had some kind of different areas where maybe you had some brick
· and stuff, but it was not the same of what we have now. And I have a
· feeling their construction moved faster than it does in Surprise Arizona.
· Can I get an amen for that? All right. Like, why are we doing construction
· on what we just did construction on six months ago? What were we talking
· about? Anyway, but here's what happens. This hard packed dirt, when the seed
· hits it, it can't penetrate. It just lays on top of that dirt until some
· birds come and eat it, snatch it away, and take it off. And you see,
· Jesus tells us exactly what this means. He says the birds are the evil
· one, Satan himself. And he says, this is the heart that hears the
· gospel, and before it can ever take root, the enemy steals it away. Now,
· we've all seen this soil. Maybe you've even been this soil. It's the person
· at the funeral who hears the gospel clearly, feels something stir for 90
· seconds, and by the parking lot, it's gone, and they're back to their
· old way of life. It's the skeptic who decided before you ever opened
· your mouth to talk about Jesus that what you're saying is nonsense,
· and they will not hear it. Commentators call this gospel deafness,
· where the book closes before it is ever open to hear the good news of
· Christ, and so do their ears. It kind of reminds me about what
· happens here in monsoon season, which maybe is going to kick off
· today. That would be great, right? But here's what's funny. When
· monsoons happen, we think our desert, like, we desperately want it.
· We're like, hey, as soon as rain hits that water or hits that dirt,
· it's just going to soak it all up, right? We think it's just going
· to go straight there. You know why we have flash floods in the middle
· of monsoon season? It's because the ground is so hard that when
· that water hits it, it just keeps rushing on by, and it just
· floods and floods until it gets into the washes, and then the
· washes become full of weeds, and then it gets hot, and then
· there's fires in there later, and it's the cycle of the deserts,
· right? But it becomes the ground is so hard-packed that even
· when life in water itself comes to nourish it, it has become so
· hardened that it cannot take it in. And I think if we're honest,
· a hard heart is the same way the word pours down, but it just
· runs right off because it cannot receive it. But notice I call
· this person, this soil, a victim. And here's the deal is they
· are in a sense because the evil one, Satan, is real, and he is
· actively at work to rip the word out of human hearts. There
· is a thief that roams around us. But don't miss what Jesus says
· at the front in verse 19. He says, this is the one who
· hears and doesn't understand it. There's still responsibility
· there. Satan can only snatch away what was never allowed to
· sink in. You see some are victims of evil, but some are also,
· as our next point here, that we see are victims of experience.
· Check out verse 20 and 21, after we've seen how some,
· they hear God's word, and they won't respond to it. This
· next, our victim of evils, check it out, verse 20, it
· says, and the one sown on rocky grounds, this is the
· one who hears the word and immediately receives it with
· joy. This sounds great right now. They're receiving God's
· word with joy, but verse 21, but he has no roots, and it
· is short lived. When distress or persecution comes because
· of the word, immediately he falls away. Some are victims
· of experience. This is the one that looks promising at
· first. Rocky ground here doesn't mean that it is
· covered in stones. It means that there's a thin layer
· of topsoil sitting on top of a limestone bedrock. That's
· what was very common at this time in Rome, and this was
· all over Galilee at this time, and the seed would land,
· but because the soil was so shallow, it would warm up
· really fast. It would get water really fast, and all
· of a sudden, it would sprout up. It was the quickest,
· greenest growth in the entire field, but the problem
· was is there was no depth. There was no roots. There's a
· slab of rock that's underneath, so the moment the
· sun comes up and it heats, and the heat just hits
· like we know heat can hit, right? The plant has nothing
· to draw from. It has no water underneath that it can get
· to keep going, and it withers as fast as it sprouts.
· One commentator put it perfectly that this soil is
· quickly green and quickly gone, and Jesus names exactly
· what the sun is in the story. It is not heat in
· general, but he said it is distress or persecution
· because of the word. Now, what does this mean for us?
· How do we have a rocky heart that impacts us? Well,
· I think this is the person whose faith was all
· experience, all emotion. They responded with real tearful
· joy at the retreat or at the concert in the high moment
· at the camp, but it never went below the surface.
· In the first time, following Jesus actually costs them
· something. Maybe a friend mocks them. Maybe life gets
· harder that at the workplace, it's more uncomfortable.
· All of a sudden, social media, someone disagrees
· with you because that's the worst thing in the world,
· right? And all of a sudden, when life pushes back because
· we say we're going to follow Jesus, all of a sudden,
· the feelings start to fade and they're gone. It's almost
· like what we see every January with New Year's
· resolutions. People make resolutions. I'm going to go
· to the gym. I told you was my goal this year is
· like, I don't want to be like those people who start
· the gym and quit the gym, so I'm not going to start
· the gym, so I can't quit the gym. But I was like,
· actually what I'll do is I'll start in February because
· it'll be cleared out. No one will be there. In February,
· I actually turned into May when my wife signed us up
· for a membership. She didn't really ask. She just
· signed us up. She's like, I'm starting this plan.
· We're doing it. She's going five days a week.
· I'm going one and a half-ish in hiking some.
· But as we're going to the gym, it's like those
· people. You get super excited about it. The
· feeling is there, but as soon as it gets hard,
· it's like, I think I'm going to quit this. I think
· I'm done. I'm all jazzed up about Jesus in the
· moment, but as soon as life punches me in the face,
· I'm going to fall out. I've seen this over the
· course of 10 years of pastoring. I've seen this
· all the time, and I'm going to say it's the
· addict behavior of Christianity, and sometimes
· all people come to me. They're like, dude,
· I'm jazzed up for Jesus. I want to do
· everything. Tell me what can I do at the
· church tomorrow and Tuesday and Wednesday and
· Thursday and Friday, and I'll be here every
· moment I can, and I say, hey, can you come
· back next Sunday? They're like, yeah, but what
· can I do Monday through Saturday? I want to
· do more, and I'm like, just keep coming on
· Sunday for about a month. And if you can do
· that, I'll find out what we can do next.
· And here's what's often happened is they
· wanted to be all in, but as soon as they
· couldn't be all in in that moment, they
· would not commit to making this a lifestyle
· rather than just an experience that's a high
· for a little bit, but comes scorching down
· as soon as life gets hard. And you see,
· this is why here at Cross Church we talk
· about we don't want just an experiential
· Christianity. We don't want just a
· Christianity that's charismatic on the
· outside but is not rooted in Scripture
· on the inside. Every time we gather for
· a service, here's our goal, and you've
· probably heard these words, and we're
· gonna say them more and more as time
· goes, is we want to take a piece of
· Scripture. We want to pray through it.
· We want to praise through it. We want
· to preach through it so that you can
· practice it during the week. And here's
· the difference with that is when we are
· rooting in Scripture and in God's Word,
· we are not gonna have this shallow
· little root that hits the rock that
· as soon as the sun comes out, the
· distress, the persecution were ripped
· right out. We wither away and our
· Christianity is gone. You see, this is
· a sobering soil church because it
· warns us that an emotional response
· is not the same as a converted heart.
· Jesus tells us throughout Scripture
· that those who continue
· in his Word are truly his disciples.
· Sprouting fast is easy. Putting down
· roots is hard.
· You see, some are victims of evil. Some
· are victims of experience, but we also
· see some are victims of excitement.
· This seems very similar to the last
· one, but let's break this down a
· little bit more because it's a
· continues in verse 22. It says,
· now the one sown among the thorns,
· this is the one who hears the Word,
· but the worries of this age, the
· deceitfulness of wealth choke the
· Word and it becomes unfruitful.
· This in some ways is the most
· dangerous soil of all and I believe
· is the most dangerous soil for the
· church in America today because
· nothing dramatic happens.
· No birds swoop down. No scorching
· sun comes out. The seed actually
· takes root and it starts to grow.
· This plant looks like it might
· make it, but the problem is it's
· not growing alone.
· There are thorns that are coming
· up right alongside it, growing
· slower, but growing with it.
· And slowly, quietly, they
· choke the life out of it.
· And Jesus identifies the thorns in
· the story as two things. Number one,
· he says the worries of this age.
· Does anyone have worries in this
· room? Does anyone have worries in
· this room?
· There are so many worries we have
· in this age and this isn't even a
· new thing. This isn't like all of
· a sudden we got worries in 2026.
· Jesus was telling them they had
· worries in 1 AD. That's probably
· about 30 AD, but in that time they
· had worries of this age. But number
· two, he says it's the deceitfulness
· of wealth. Oh, that's a whole
· nother sermon I don't have time
· for, but we'll get some cliff
· notes on it. But think about
· this worry and wealth, the
· anxious grind of life and the
· seductive pull of stuff. Now I
· called this the soil victim of
· excitement and here's what I mean
· is this person is genuinely excited
· about 100 other things. Their
· calendar is full, their cart is
· full, they're chasing the
· promotion, the bigger house, the
· next vacation, the kids travel
· ball every weekend and none of
· that is bad. None of it is
· necessarily evil, but that's
· what makes it deceptive because
· all of it when it comes
· together, it slowly crowds out
· Jesus of your life and there's
· no room left for him to grow.
· And here's what's scary about
· this. It's like when you don't
· watch your front lawn and here's
· what I've learned is that I
· moved into our house, our new
· house about almost two years ago
· in North Surprise and we did a
· new build out there and they
· put all the plants in your
· front yard and they're all
· native desert plants and as they
· grow and get a little messy,
· you don't even notice because
· they look like they're
· supposed to be there in the
· desert. But then weeds start
· growing too and I don't really
· unless you're in right by
· the plants, you don't even see
· the little weeds sprouting and
· then all of a sudden one day
· you pull into your garage and
· there's weed this tall and
· you're like, what happened to
· that weed? And then you're
· going to pull it and you
· realize there's thorns all over
· it and it hurts your hand and
· it's killing you and then
· you realize it's killing the
· plant that was supposed to be
· there. And the same happens
· in our lives. These little
· weeds sprout out without us
· noticing. All of a sudden
· they start crowding the
· things that are most important
· and there's a warning here
· that the thorns do not
· announce themselves. The
· thorns don't say, hey, this
· is going to steal from your
· relationship from Jesus. This
· is going to get you sidetracked.
· This is going to harden and
· this is going to ruin your
· path. This is going to destroy
· the foundation of your family
· for the generations to come of
· following Christ. They don't
· announce themselves like that.
· They say, hey, this is a good
· thing. Follow this. And we
· start busily filling our
· calendars with stuff that all
· of a sudden we forsake the
· most important thing, which is
· right in front of us. And
· here's the scariest part
· about this church is I don't
· care who you are, is you don't
· mature past these things. Just
· this past couple months I have
· had this struggle in my heart
· where sometimes I scroll
· social media and I get annoyed
· because I see people I know
· when I grew up with and I'm
· like, oh, they're going on
· that vacation. They bought
· that house. They have that
· car. I'm smarter than that
· person. Like I should be
· making more money than them.
· I should be doing this. And
· I'm like, and God has to
· like stop me in my tracks
· and be like, dude, why do
· you care about that stuff? Why
· care about the worries in
· this age? Why do you care
· about the deceitfulness of
· wealth? It is here today,
· but it is gone tomorrow. He
· says focus on the main
· thing. Focus on the purpose,
· on the path, on what I have
· provided for you because
· what matters more than all
· of it is the person of
· Jesus Christ that our
· world is trying to choke
· out in these deceitful
· thorns. They are so hard
· because they are creeping
· up in us, trying to crowd
· out Jesus of our life.
· So that's three soils,
· three failures, the heart
· that is robbed by the
· evil one, the shallow
· heart that couldn't
· survive the heat, the
· crowded heart that is
· choked out by worry
· and wealth. If Jesus
· stopped here, this would
· be such a depressing
· parable, but he doesn't.
· There is evil. There's
· there is excitement, but
· church, here is the good
· news is that many are
· beneficiaries of grace.
· Many are beneficiaries
· of grace. Keep going as
· we go through this
· passage and we see as
· Jesus ends his commentary
· on this in verse 23,
· it says, but the one
· sown on the good ground,
· I love that phrase, on
· the good ground, this
· is the one who hears
· and understands the
· word who does produce
· fruits and yields some
· 100, some 60, some 30
· times what was sown.
· Here's what this
· parable has been
· billing to. He's gone
· through the bad soil
· and he leads to the
· good soil. This is the
· fourth heart that we
· are embracing and
· notice what makes it
· different is this heart
· as she describes, it
· hears and it
· understands. It doesn't
· just hear, but it
· also receives. It
· takes root. It produces
· a harvest and not even
· a small one. It says
· a hundredfold, 60 fold,
· 30 fold in the ancient
· world. A seven fold
· return was considered
· a great harvest. So
· this was like a
· mind blowing harvest.
· How much return came
· from this. He's
· describing a yield that
· is off the charts, but
· it begs the question
· here and understand
· what we're saying here
· and understand the
· gospel, the gospel,
· the good news of
· Jesus Christ, that
· Jesus lived, that
· Jesus died, that
· Jesus paid the price
· for our sins, that
· Jesus rose from the
· grave and Jesus is
· the ultimate God, the
· one and only who can
· change our life now
· and for all of
· eternity. When we hear
· and we receive that
· truth that scripture
· proclaims, but as
· we go in this point,
· I want us to be
· careful and there's
· a little warning here
· because it would be
· easy to read this
· and walk out thinking
· the whole point of
· this is be better
· soil. Try harder.
· I guess you try to
· receive it a little
· bit more, but church
· soil doesn't make
· itself good. A path
· doesn't decide to
· become farmland. Rocky
· ground can't dig out
· its own bedrock. A
· thorny field can't
· pull its own weeds.
· Good soil is cultivated.
· It is worked. It is
· graced by God above.
· You see the good
· soil heart isn't the
· heart that was
· naturally better than
· the others. It's the
· heart that grace got
· ahold of. God
· softens the hard ground.
· God breaks up the
· rock. God clears out
· the thorns. Ezekiel
· 36 tells us about
· this. It says that
· he takes our heart
· of stone and he
· gives us a heart of
· flesh. You can't
· manufacture good soil
· on your own. You
· receive it when you
· humble yourself before
· God. And then a
· heart that truly has
· received grace. Here's
· what it tells us. It
· will always produce
· fruit. A fruitless
· Christian, many
· commentators say, is
· an oxymoron. When
· the word truly takes
· root, a harvest is
· guaranteed. In the
· late 1700s, William
· Carey, he was a
· missionary. He left
· England for India for
· a missionary journey.
· And when he was
· there in India, he
· labored for seven
· years before his
· very first convert
· to Jesus. Seven
· years of scattering
· seed that seemed to
· land on nothing but
· hard paths and rocky
· ground. People told him
· to quit. People said
· you are wasting your
· life. You are wasting
· your talents. But he
· kept sowing in his
· seed. And his motto
· became this, expect
· great things from God.
· Attempt great things
· from God. He said,
· expect great things
· from God. Attempt
· great things for God.
· He trusted the
· Lord of the Harvest
· would in his time
· produce the good
· soil. And he did.
· And he is one of
· the most renowned
· missionaries to this
· day. You see, that's
· our encouragement here
· today. Cross Church
· that if you're a
· believer, your job
· is not to manufacture
· the harvest. Your
· job is to keep
· sowing the seed.
· Generously, everywhere,
· even recklessly. Don't
· use that stupid little
· thing that you push
· and it spreads the
· seed evenly. Just
· take a handful of
· seed and chuck it
· wherever you can get
· it to. That's what
· this calls us to do
· in trust that wherever
· that seed lands, God
· knows the soil that
· it's hitting. Keep
· praying that the
· hard-hearted spouse
· that soil will soften
· and that seed will
· seek in. Keep
· loving the rebellious
· kid which you know
· he has rocky soil
· in his life. And
· keep hoping that God
· will till that soil
· so that it can receive
· the word. Keep
· sharing with the
· apathetic co-worker
· that is so caught
· up in the stuff
· of the world that
· all of a sudden,
· God will create this
· soil in their heart
· that it changes
· everything. Church,
· you sow and God
· grows. That is the
· message of Scripture.
· We just scatter
· and scatter
· and scatter.
· But now how look at how
· this story ends
· in the first half of
· this to the crowd
· in verse 9.
· I just love this
· how Jesus has
· he's been building
· this parable
· and he's saying
· and he walks through
· these different soils
· in verse 9.
· He says to end
· this to the crowd.
· Let anyone who has
· ears listen.
· That's not like
· a throwaway line.
· Jesus doesn't do
· throwaway lines.
· This is a challenge.
· One paraphrase renders it.
· Are you listening to this?
· Are you really listening?
· And here is where all
· this builds to us today.
· The wisdom,
· the parabolic wisdom
· we see in this story
· is today you must
· decide in your heart
· what you truly
· believe about Jesus.
· Nobody can decide
· that for you.
· You must decide
· what you truly believe
· about Jesus
· in your heart
· not in someone else's.
· You see it's the same seed
· the same sower.
· The only variable
· in this story
· is the soil
· which means the real
· question this morning
· is not is the gospel true?
· The gospel is true.
· The Bible that we have
· was written over
· thousands of years
· by dozens of authors
· all pointing to
· the same message
· that Jesus is God
· and Jesus saves
· the question is not
· is this true?
· This is true.
· The real question
· that you must answer
· is what kind of soil are you?
· What heart will you receive
· the truth of the gospel in?
· You have to decide
· you have to decide
· in your own heart
· what you truly believe
· about Jesus Christ.
· Nobody can decide it for you
· and notice every one
· of these soils
· heard the same word.
· Hearing is not the issue
· although it is
· for some of us maybe sometimes
· especially when my wife
· asked me to do things
· but hearing isn't the issue
· here is the true issue
· within the church
· receiving God's word is
· and you can sit
· in this room
· in rooms alike it
· across our country
· and across our world
· every single Sunday
· with ears that work perfectly
· and you can still
· let the birds of the air
· steal the seed away
· the sun scorch it
· the storms choke it out
· you can sit here
· and not receive it
· but let me ask you plainly
· this morning
· which soil are you?
· Are you the hard soil
· that every time you hear
· the word of God
· it's just sitting on the surface
· ready for Satan to snatch it away
· you're not even
· making it hard for him
· you're leaving that seed out there
· knowing that it's not going to go anywhere
· are you the rocky ground
· and there is a moment once
· maybe you cried at a youth camp
· maybe you broke down
· at a men's retreat
· maybe you even cried in church
· and God was gripping your heart
· but you let that experience
· just be an experience
· and never take root
· in the word of God
· are you the thorns
· you believe
· you really do
· but your schedule is so full of other stuff
· that you are pushing out
· you are choking Jesus out of your life
· or are you the good soil
· who has received the word of God
· who it has changed everything in your life
· and now your role
· is a pick up a bag of seed
· and keep throwing it to the world around us
· you see in this beautiful story
· we also have a warning
· and our warning plays out
· in such a vivid picture
· in the Old Testament
· in Exodus chapter 10
· if you've grown up in church
· you know the story of Moses
· standing up to the Pharaoh of Egypt of that day
· who probably used aliens to build his pyramids
· but that's a different story right
· at least demon technology
· we can agree on that
· I'm just kidding
· but as he confronted Pharaoh
· and he said let my people go
· Pharaoh had time and time again
· to respond to the God of the universe
· but we see for the last time
· the commentary on his heart comes in Exodus chapter 10 verse 20
· it says but the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart
· and he did not let the Israelites go
· now sometimes in the church we read that passage
· like that's pretty messed up
· like why did God harden Pharaoh's heart
· why did he make his soil hard
· why did he not let him receive the truth of the gospel
· here's the thing God did not say
· I am choosing Pharaoh to condemn
· Pharaoh made his own choice
· here's what precedes that in Exodus chapter 9 verse 34
· it says when Pharaoh saw that the rain,
· hail, and thunder had ceased
· listen to what this guy did
· when he's like I might win my battle
· I might win my war
· I might still be the victor in this
· he said he sinned again
· and he being Pharaoh hardened his heart
· he and his officials
· Pharaoh had a chance
· to recognize the God of the universe
· let's say I gotta change my ways
· but he kept on sinning
· he kept on hardening his heart
· he kept on pushing down his path
· and God sent him in his way
· and said you want a hard heart
· you got it man keep going down your path
· and for us today
· as we examine the soil of our life
· God will let you go in the direction you choose
· if you're choosing the hard path
· you're choosing the rocky
· you're choosing the thorns
· God will let you go down there
· he will let you make your decisions
· he will let you harden your heart
· and wreck your life
· but he does not desire that for you
· instead when you fall humbly before him
· when you pray God open up my heart
· God's gonna break out that tiller
· and start breaking apart
· everything that's holding that soil back
· so that when you hear the gospel truth
· of what he has
· when you hear the message of what he's done
· that everything changes
· and we get to see exactly what we're gonna witness
· in just a second in baptism
· how God changes lives
· how we can say yes to Christ
· and our life is different now
· and for all of eternity
· church that is great news
· can I get an amen
More from this series
Parables