3 And He [Jesus] spoke many things to them in parables, saying, "Behold, the sower went out to sow; 4 and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 "Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. 6 "But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7 "Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. 8 "And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. 9"He who has ears, let him hear." (Matthew 13)
Sow the Seed is the title of this post because I find that to be the most definite theme in the text. Jesus explains the different conditions of soil, but the purpose in this is above all is to encourage His disciples, both the original twelve, the others listening, and us. To start let us break down this passage so that we might better understand the text.
Jesus said, "Behold, the sower went out." Who is this sower? Christ was the sower. "The sower sows the word," Mark 4:14. Christ was the one who went out and sowed the seed. He was the original sower. He was the one sowing then. But we to are sowers also. As the ministry of Christ passed on to the Apostles, so it has passed on to us down through the generations. As we have received the seed, so now we are responsible for sowing. What then is the seed? "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside" (Matthew 13:19). The seed is the word of the kingdom, the very Word of God, the message of Christ crucified in the New Testament church. And what is the soil? Look back at Matthew 13:19. It is the heart of the man? Jesus was sowing the word of God into the hearts of men. Now we know who sower is, what the seed is, and what the soil is. Now let us look at the different conditions of soil.
1 The Road: In Palestine the crops were done in rows and they were long and narrow. Along the borders there would be roads, or as the NKJ version says, "waysides." This soil here would be very hard, well packed from men walking on it and dry from the hot sun. Jesus says that when the seed landed here the birds came and ate it up. In verse 19 it says the "evil one comes and snatches away." Now we have seen this. How many have we talked to and when we tell them of Christ it just seems to bounce off, as if it had no effect at all. Jesus said as soon as it hit the surface the birds, the evil one, came and snatched in away, because it could not get through the surface.
2 Rocky Places: Now these can be deceiving. Here is a seed that springs up fast and looks great. It is very likely that this seed will spring up faster then the rest. Why? "[T]hey did not have much soil" (13:5); this soil was not rocky in that it has rocks in it. Rather, in Palestine there is a rock shelf underneath the soil. Either the plower of the soil would be unaware of this or maybe it is too thick and strong to break. This is why the plant sprouts up quick. Because when it begins to grow it is unable to go down so all of its growth is up. It has no root and when the sun comes it withers away. These are deceiving to the sower because he might expect this seed to spring up and produce the best crop and he is saddened when it withers away. Have we seen this in the church? Jesus says this about this soil, "this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away" (13:20-21).
We have to be extremely cautious about this in the church; cautious of the ones, who receive the gospel with great joy, immediately, with little thought, highly emotional, a sense of euphoria, excitement, and without counting the cost. They look good, and usually exceed above others who are responding to the message of the cross, but they lack any root. The rock bed is still there. They have not truly repented, turned away from their sin. It is a superficial joy and when persecution comes they fall away. So look out for the ones who are all smiles and joyous when they hear the message of Christ crucified, and don't receive the gospel with morning over sin or a hunger for righteousness. If ones confession of Christ does not come from a deep conviction over sin and since of being lost, a desire for His cleansing and righteousness imputed, and a desire for self-sacrifice, a willingness to suffer for His sake then there is no root, no true salvation. There is nothing and it is a matter of time till the sun comes and so will death. If one is not willing to take up the cross and follow Christ he is not worthy to be His disciple.
3 Among the Thorns: Now I find this to be the most dangerous condition of soil. Jesus said this is the soil that has thorns in it. These are the soils infested with weeds. I have a friend named Lance and early in his academics he was going to be a lawn specialist. Now that isn’t what it is called, but he would have worked on golf courses, athletic fields, and private lawns also I assume. But one of the classes he took was Weed Science. We use to give him a hard time about it. It turned out that he enjoyed the class and learned a lot in it. Now he has changed he major and this information might not do him much use, but he claims he will have one of the best, if not the best, yards in town, no matter where he lives. I bring that up because we were talking about weeds and their great durability. The seed of a weed can out last any other seed, such as that of wheat and barley. That is why a sower has to sow yearly, where as the seed of a weed never needs sown, but persist to come back. Much technological advancement has taken place in the agricultural industry to deal with this. They now use herbicides to kill of the weeds.
But the heart of the man is far beyond the instruments of technology. This is the heart of the man who has the "worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth" (13:22). The worries of the world are security, power, and popularity, and deceitfulness of wealth is "the love of money," which "is a root of all sorts of evil" (1 Timothy 6:10). These are men who are double minded. They want to have the seed, the Word of God, but don't want to give up the things of the world. They want the Word, but don't want to follow it. Christ said this seed is choked out and "becomes unfruitful" (13:22). This is why I say it is the most dangerous. Where as the first soil totally rejects the seed, and the second lets it fall away, the third lets it remain, but because it doesn’t have the nutrition to support both seed and thorn, the seed is unable to produce fruit. It is the church member who fills the pew and does nothing more. There is no fruit, only foliage.
4 Good Soil: But there is some good soil, which "yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty...this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty." (13:8,23). Notice that the man who understands it (the one who receives it, grows roots in it, and fully accepts it and does away with all other) is the one who bears fruit. Now we are told that a good crop would bring in sevenfold, so tenfold would be a great crop. We are told that the least of any crop would be thirty fold. We see here that Jesus is showing that salvation is not judged on initial reactions to the gospel, but on the fruit that comes from it. Now this is not supporting a legalistic approach that says we earn our salvation. Actually it is supporting just the opposite; that it is only through salvation that we are capable to do good works, to bring forth fruit.
So we see that the first three soils were not ones able to adequately receive the seed, the gospel of Christ crucified. Only the fourth was able to receive the gospel and bring forth fruit, showing evidence that it was well rooted and nourished. All the others failed, showing that it was never genuine.
I entitled this "Sow the Seed" because I think this was more than just an explanation of the soils, but an encouragement to Christ's disciples to preach the word of the kingdom. Notice, in none of the examples was their ever anything wrong with the seed. Neither was there ever anything wrong with the soil. It was all the same soil, but the condition of the soil was what posed a problem. The truth be said about the human heart. We all have the same heart, though some are hard on the surface, others are shallow, and others care only of the world, but we can rejoice that there are hearts that will receive the message and bring forth fruit. We are simply called to sow the seed, preach the message. This is not dependent upon us. If a father and son were sowing a field, yes the fathers throw would be more precise and more would hit the good soil, but the seed that hit good soil by the child would still grow and bring forth fruit. So many say they would witness more, but they feel inadequate. No one is inadequate if they have received the grace of God (1 Corinthians 1:7).
Yes, we will have resistance from some, short term converts, and double minded men because of the evil one, the flesh, and the world, but let us not lose focus that there is good soil out there, there are good hearts out there and the more we sow the more likely we are to hit it. So go...sow the seed.
