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Luke 8:4-15

“4 While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: 5 “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up. 6 Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture.7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.”

When he said this, he called out, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

9 His disciples asked him what this parable meant. 10 He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you,but to others I speak in parables, so that,

“‘though seeing, they may not see;

 though hearing, they may not understand.’”

11 “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God.12 Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. 14 The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. 15 But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.”

What is going on?

The details of what happened in the parable of the sower are no doubt at least partially embedded into our minds. The farmer was scattering some seeds all over his fields, but these fields have all kinds of different soil that all receive the seed differently. There are paths that run through the farm and when the seed lands there it is trampled on and eaten by the birds as told in verse 5. Then in verse 6, we are told that there is soil sitting beneath rocky ground which when the seed lands the plant begins to grow and appears that it is going to grow into a strong, healthy plant. But then the rainy season ends and the water stops flowing through the rocks and into the soil. The sun comes and because this plant doesn’t have deep enough roots to survive, and thus withers because the rocks are keeping the plant from receiving the small amount of moisture that could come. Other seed in verse 7 fell among thorns which the plant grew up around the thorns but the thorns which were stronger and eventually completely choked out the plant from receiving sunlight and other nourishment needed for a plant to live. Finally in verse 8, some seed fell among good soil. This seed produced a large number of crops, we’re told in Luke that this crop was a hundred times more than was sown, but I prefer Matthew's version where he says in chapter 13 verse 8, it produced a crop - a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown” because I feel that this is more accurate. As the people heard this parable, they were most likely nodding as this was something they knew, farmers tossed seed every which way and the good soil produced good crops and the other soil did not produce an abundance of crops. But verse 10 says “He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.” A lot more is going on than meets the eyes. There is a lot going on here that needs deeper thought. It needs the purpose of that of a parable.

What is the purpose of a Parable?

Well, dictionary.com defines a parable as “a simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson, as told by Jesus in the Gospels.” or the greek word defined as “a comparing, comparison of one thing with another, likeness, similitude, an example by which a doctrine or precept is illustrated, a thing serving as a figure of something else.

And… why does Jesus speak in parables? In Matthew 13:10, Jesus’s disciples asked exactly this...“Why do you speak to the people in parables?” and then in verse 11 he begins to give his answer. It reads “He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. This is why I speak to them in parables: Though seeing, they do not see;

Though hearing, they do not hear or understand.”

He uses parables because of the spiritual dullness of the people. - more extensively as a means of teaching. Parables were effective and easy to remember because he used familiar scenes. Zondervan’s study on this subject says “Although parable clarified Jesus’ teaching, they also included hidden meanings needing further explanation. These hidden meanings challenged the sincerely interested to further inquiry and taught truths that Jesus wanted to conceal from unbelievers. From parables Jesus’ enemies could find no direct statements to use against him. “ So Jesus uses parables because they are easier to connect to, they had hidden meanings which separated believers from unbelievers, and because Jesus’ enemies couldn’t use this information against him.

What this Parable Means

1. Prepare the Soil

The first type of soil mentioned is the path. The seed that falls here and is quickly taken by the birds is like those who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts.  Jesus is talking about the people whose hearts are so hard that the truth of the Word cannot enter their lives. Just as the seed cannot grow until it is actually put into the soil, we cannot grow as Christians until God’s word can penetrate our hearts. Farmers prepare their soil by plowing it. Plowing breaks up the soil and allows the seeds to get into the soil, in the same way we must prepare our hearts for God’s word, so that we can allow it to penetrate our hearts and begin to take root.

1 Peter 1:13 reads “Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.”

We are to have our minds alert and fully sober anytime we are hearing the word of God. This includes church; I’ll be the first to admit that I stay up too late on Saturday before church and then complain that i’m tired all day Sunday which I know in advance will consist of waking up, going to church and then later going to youth group where I will once again expend any energy that I have left playing basketball, but I do this anyways, I don’t get enough sleep on Saturday and so on Sunday I am not being fully alert.We are supposed to get 7-8 hours of sleep every night, yet 40% of Americans get less than 7 hours of sleep every night according to a poll done in 2013 by Gallup polls. I can guess that on Saturday night that 40% increases to something much higher as that is a weekend. We should get more sleep so that we can come to church every Sunday morning and hear God’s word as a community of believers. While researching commentary on this parable I saw a very neat section that comes from a pastor named Steve Dow. He says “Seek to learn how the word applies to your life and not the person sitting next to you. Anytime you are walking away from a service and think, “That was great. I hope so and so was listening because they really needed that”. Anytime you walk away from a service thinking something like that, you have missed the entire point. The point of going to church is to hear from God personally.” What I get from this that is, if you are going to church and you feel like you’re not getting the message or you’re not growing spiritually. Then I challenge you to consider that maybe you are allowing your heart to harden and you need to prepare your heart for God’s word just as the farmer plows the soil to prepare it for the seeds. God is scattering seeds, but you need to allow God to plow the soil that is your heart. You need to allow God to break up the hardness that exists within your heart.

2. Let the seed grow and take root

Jesus then tells us in verse 13 that “Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. Crops that have no root are going to die. In the same way we should allow the Word of God to grow within us and take root.  As we turn to chapter 6, starting with verse 47, we read “As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.”  We build our lives on the rock, when we build our lives on Christ alone, we will not be shaken. We are to let the seed grow and to let it take root within us, we must continue to take care of this crop, we must continue to get into the Word of God each and every day and we must be like the builder who built his house  upon the rock. But what happens when we hear the Word of God but do not obey the word of God? Well in Luke 6:46 Jesus asks exactly this “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” Jesus is asking us to reflect on our lives and to determine for ourselves are we allowing the root to continue to grow and become firm within ourselves? He goes on in verse 49 to tell us what happens to those who do not allow the Word to take root when he says “But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.” If we do not get into the Word everyday, we are going to be destroyed the moment the storm hits, we absolutely must allow the Word to take root in our lives and not just the Words of Christ, but also his actions. In 1 John 3:18 we are told by God’s word to not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. Not with words or speech but with actions and truth. DO NOT be like those described in Titus 1:16 which reads “They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for doing anything good.” I found a quote that fits perfectly into this section of letting the Word live within you. “The Devil doesn't care if you go to church or read your bible, as long as you don't apply it to your life.” But we should continue to go to church, and continue to read the bible, and pray all of the time,we must use these things in our actions. We should continue going to church because the bible tells us to in Hebrews 10:25 when it tells us to “Not give up meeting together,as some are in the habit of doing.” We must come and fellowship, so that we can be in community and so that we can learn from one another as we continue to grow closer to Christ in our walk with him. We must get in the Word everyday as in Matthew 4:4 we are told “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” We should be in the Word more than we eat, we must feed ourselves both physically and spiritually, we must live in the Word. And not only this but we should always pray. In 1 Thessalonians 5:17 it simply reads “Pray Continually”. We are to pray constantly, unceasingly, without ceasing, without intermission. Simply live in the word and pray constantly and the roots of the Word will be so deep within you, you will be able to face any situation.

3. Pull the weeds

Finally Jesus tells us in verse 14, “The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches, and pleasures, and they do not mature.” From this, we know that we absolutely must pull the weeds in our lives. We need to get rid of the thorns that are constantly surrounding us in our Christian walk and suffocating us as we do walk with Christ. When you google why we must pull weeds in a garden we are met with the answer “The weeds compete with native plants for space, nutrients and sunlight.” I add on, and thus they take the life from the plant. Allowing ourselves to be choked by life’s worries, riches, and pleasures keeps us from maturing. Chasing after these things we spend time trying to be entertained and make as much money so that all of our worries will go away or be hidden, but all this does is keep us away from spending time with Christ. As I was trying to determine what I was going to give up for Lent this year I spent a lot of time asking God what to do and also talking with my friends of strong faith. They always asked “Well, what did you give up before?” and I would answer “Pop” but as they all knew I haven’t drank any pop for nearly 9 months and so I definitely couldn’t give up pop for Lent this year. I continued to pray and I determined my two distractions from God; school work (which I obviously couldn’t give this up as I am so close to graduating and going to college and then being able to preach every Sunday that I will be a pastor at.) and my other distraction was Netflix/YouTube but I also couldn’t give this up because sometimes I listen to Christian music on YouTube or watch a good devotional video on there and there are a ton of good Christian movies on Netflix. I found myself tangled in these lies to myself, yes I sometimes listen to Christian music on YouTube and occasionally I watch a Christian movie on Netflix but overall that is not what I use these two services for most frequently. I use these services as a distraction from life, as a way of entertainment. I watch funny videos on YouTube and binge entire shows in a few days on Netflix. I continued to look for something else; what else can I give up for Lent? But this became very clear to me that I needed to give these two things up. Obviously Lent started on the 14th and I am proud to say that in a week and a half, through prayer- conversing with God I have not allowed myself access to either of these services. On the night of the 14th I layed down in my bed and grabbed my tablet as I did every night and I flipped on the screen. My reflection shone back at me and I realized I could not use this tablet for at least two weeks as I knew if I got on it I would find myself watching a Try Not to Laugh video on YouTube and I would once again be completely distracted from Christ. In this time period I have spent so much more time reading the Bible and praying, so much more so that on Tuesday night I had over half of this sermon  complete. I knew the passage I was to preach from and so I ran with it, but I felt that God was telling me “right scripture, wrong message.” and so I started from scratch on Tuesday night. The other two times I have preached I had my sermons mostly prepared two or three weeks in advance but this one I felt like I needed to completely restart only five days before. I pulled some weeds, removed some thorns and writing this sermon, which I had found very complicated became so clear and easy for me to do.

Some of you might not find your weeds in that of Netflix but possibly in the pursuit of money. A study was recently conducted by Harvard Business School in which it surveyed 4,000 millionaires of various degrees of wealth to determine if they were happy. “The study found that across all wealth levels, millionaires said that to be 100 percent happy they would need to grow their fortune by leaps and bounds — just a bit more wealth wouldn't be enough. Respondents most frequently said that they would need to increase their wealth by a whopping 1,000 percent, followed by 500 percent for total happiness.” Not just a bit richer, but leaps and bounds richer. Money will never be enough to satisfy us. As we return to scripture, we jump to 1 Timothy 6:10 which reads “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” and then jumping to Mark 10:25 we read “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” We do not need to pursue money, because then we will pursue more  money, and more money. These 4,000 millionaires are evidence. There is no such thing as enough money if our hearts are hardened. We should instead avoid the distraction of “more money, more money” and continue to live in the Word of God and Pray Continually. Matthew 6:19-21 says “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moths and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” If we focus more so on the things of the world than that of God we will die spiritually just as the seed that fell among the thorns which grew up with it and choked the plant. Matthew 6:31 and then skipping 32 and going right into 33 reads “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’...But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.” We should not focus on worrying, or entertainment, or money, but rather Jesus, and where our treasure is, their our hearts will also be. I hope our treasure is spiritual and that our hearts are with Jesus.

Conclusion:

To conclude this, I want you all to know that if you really want a strong spiritual life that is productive, you can have it. Jesus tells us in the Sermon of the Mount in Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

If you truly desire to live a strong spiritual life I challenge you to plow the soil that is your heart, do not allow it become hardened. Allow God’s Word to take root in you life, not just in words, but also by actions so that you can get through the storms of your life. Pull the weeds out of your life, cut away the thorns that are suffocating you and keeping you from a strong relationship with Jesus. I challenge you to find that weed or thorn that hinders you from your relationship with Christ and reduce it or remove it from your life, as you must pull the weeds and get rid of the distractions that keep you from living a strong spiritual life with Christ. If you do plow the soil, let the roots do their thing, and pull the weeds out of your life then you will have good soil and God will produce an abundant harvest in your life. If you do these things then you will be the harvest yielding a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown. When you follow the What Would Jesus Do (WWJD) mindset you will quickly realize that the results are extraordinary and miraculous.