When I was growing up our annual family vacations always included a visit to my dad’s side of the family. Dad was raised on a farm located at the end of a mile long GRAVEL drive-way in Tomnolen, Mississippi—which means my grandparents never had surprise company! You could always hear people coming a long time before they actually got there!
To be honest, when I was a little boy, I didn’t really like going to the farm.
- It was hot—and there was no air-conditioning.
- They drank milk straight from the cow instead of “store-bought” milk.
- But my main complaint was there was not much for a “city boy” like me to do.
I mean, their black-and-white TV only got one channel which would be bearable if it weren’t for the fact that in the afternoons (prime cartoon watching time) Grandmom always commandeered the set so she could watch her “stories” — soap operas.
Now, as I grew older I got over that and began to look forward to those annual visits with my paternal grandparents and my dad’s siblings. This is a picture of them all standing on the front porch of the farm house. I believe it was taken the day Dad left for duty in WWII. He’d finished boot camp and had come home on a pass before being shipped out. From left to right: that’s my Aunt Katherine (the only one still living), Aunt Liz, Uncle Jack, Grandmom, Dad—and Grandad in the back.
Well, as I said I got to where I liked our annual visits. I enjoyed helping Grandad with the farm chores and listening to his wisdom dolled out after supper every night as we sat on cane chairs and sipped sweet iced tea in the shade of the big cedar tree in the front yard. I loved to fish in his lake and marveled as I watched Grandmom actually churn butter by hand—and did other things by hand—things we had talked about in history class. When I was a sophomore in college my grandad passed away after a long illness. I was in the middle of exams so I couldn’t attend his funeral, but a few months later—in the spring—I left campus and drove to Mississippi to help my Uncle Jack do some work on my grandfather’s grave.
Now—the graveyard where my grandad was buried was full of red Mississippi clay—and grass wouldn’t grow there very well…nothing would…so, if you wanted your loved one’s final resting place to look good….you had to do a lot of careful gardening. This was no problem from the Adams family perspective because my uncle was of course raised on a farm that was full of red Mississippi clay and he had also worked for the department of agriculture for many years. In fact Uncle Jack headed up an experimental farm for the government and the purpose of the farm was to use science to discover ways to grow crops better in Mississippi so he knew what he was doing when it came to growing just about anything—anywhere.
By the way, I really loved my Uncle Jack. He had a great sense of humor and he was always doing things with us. He was just fun to be with. I have lots of fond memories of my Uncle Jack. I remember once when we were kids, we were riding in his pick-up truck. He always let us ride in the back. He had taken us to the store to get some comic books and a cold bottle of pop and he stopped when we passed an old share-cropper and his son working in the field. They were picking cotton by hand and Uncle Jack asked him if we could join him in his work for a while. The man said yes—and we all did. He gave us bags to put the cotton in and we got to work. One HOT hour later when we got back in the truck Uncle Jack said he had done that so that someday we could tell our friends that we picked cotton by hand. I guess he thought that kind of hard work was sure to get their admiration. Did it?
Well, when I arrived at my uncle’s house that day, we hopped in that same old pick-up truck and drove to the barn on my grandad’s farm. He backed up to the barn door and then told me to take a shovel and fill the bed of the pick-up with the rich, black soil that covered the floor of the animal stalls. My grandad had kept cows and mules in those stalls all his life so, needless to say, the soil was full of the nutrients required for growing things. When I finished we headed for a Uncle Jack’s experimental farm and got plenty of thick green sod.
Then, when we arrived at the cemetery, following my uncle’s instructions, we covered Grandad’s grave with a thick layer of that fertile soil from his barn and then carefully laid the sod, piecing it together and then finished by giving it a good watering. I remember standing back and looking at the fruit of our labors and seeing that Grandad’s grave STOOD OUT among the rest in that cemetery. With it’s lush green blanket surrounded by red clay, it looked like an island in a red sea. And…anytime I went back to pay my respects, it still stood out. Thanks to that special soil, thick green grass always grew there. My uncle told me that for years after my grandfather’s death, people would come to the farm and ask to fill their pick-up trucks with the rich soil from the floor of the stalls in the barn. This is because any gardener worth his tomatoes knows that the most important factor in reaping a good harvest is not the quality of the SEED…or even the WEATHER conditions. No—the most important element in harvesting a good crop…is the condition of the SOIL. After all, you can have the best seeds and just the right amount of sun and rain but if the soil is poor, your crop will still be nonexistent or poor at best. You can’t have crop GROWTH with seeds planted in POOR soil.
For the next few weeks I want us to study stories that have literally changed the world—powerful stories or PARABLES that Jesus told. And in the parable I want us to study together this morning, Jesus used a world-changing story about farming to show us that the same “soil principle” that my Uncle Jack knew so well….this same principle applies to SPIRITUAL growth. In this story—which many feel was the FIRST parable Jesus ever told—our Lord compared SEED to the GOSPEL and SOIL to those who HEAR the gospel. Then, He took this word picture and used it to teach us that the key to bearing fruit in the kingdom of God…the main catalyst of spiritual growth is the CONDITION OF THE HEART of the person receiving or hearing the gospel. More than anything else, this one factor determines our level of spiritual maturity. Take your Bibles and turn to Matthew 13:1-9 and let’s read this parable together:
1 – That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake.
2 – Such large crowds gathered around Him that He got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore.
3 – Then He told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed.
4 – As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.
5 – Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.
6 – But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.
7 – Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.
8 – Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.
9 – He who has ears, let him hear.”
It will help our understanding of this and all the parables of Jesus that we will look at over the next few weeks if we note that the thirteenth chapter of Matthew chronicles a definite TURNING-POINT in the ministry of Jesus.
I say this because at the BEGINNING of His ministry Jesus taught in the SYNAGOGUES but Matthew’s gospel tells us that at this point He left the synagogues and began to teach out in the COUNTRYSIDE.
And, this shift of teaching LOCALES is significant. You see, Jesus changed His “classroom” at this point because the official leaders of Jewish orthodoxy had come to be in open opposition to Him. William Barclay writes, “[At this point in His ministry] when Jesus entered a synagogue, He would NOT find ONLY an eager crowd of listeners. He would also find a bleak-eyed company of Scribes and Pharisees and elders…weighing and sifting every word to find a charge against Him and watching every action in order to turn it into a condemnation and an accusation.”
So, because of this, Jesus took to the “temple of the open air” and began instead to teach men and women in the village streets and on the roads and in their homes and by the LAKE-SIDE as He did here in Matthew 13.
It was also at this changing point in His ministry that Jesus began to use mostly PARABLES in His teaching.
When He BEGAN His teaching ministry, Jesus spoke to the people very clearly and forthrightly, making tremendous declarations about humanity and the Kingdom of God. During this initial teaching period He gave the message we call the “Sermon on the Mount,” undoubtedly the greatest message ever delivered in the presence of men. Well, Jesus longed to open their eyes and minds and hearts even more fully but a change had taken place. Don’t misunderstand—crowds were still pressing upon Him—but not to hear the Word. No—instead they came to be healed of their diseases. More and more, HEALING was becoming the thing that attracted people to Jesus.
People had mostly shut their minds—turned off their ears—to the WORDS Jesus spoke and were intent only upon the DEEDS He performed. So Jesus began to speak in PARABLES. Now, why do this? I mean, why use PARABLES as a teaching method?
(1) Well one reason is the simple fact that a parable is basically a good story…and good stories naturally COMPEL INTEREST.
Everyone loves stories and will listen to them. Narratives have a way of awakening our curiosity. So, by using stories Jesus was able to take the people’s minds off His deeds and get them focused on what He had to say. With this new tactic He was able to motivate them to learn the truths of the Kingdom of God.
(2) Another reason to use parables is that they help to make truth CONCRETE.
Few of us can grasp and understand ABSTRACT ideas. Most people think in precise pictures. For example….it would take me a long time to try and explain what “BEAUTY” is—but I could quickly point at a beautiful PERSON or a beautiful FLOWER or a beautiful PICTURE like this one I took from the shores of Lake Lure near the Murray’s house and say: “That is ‘beauty.’”
It would be difficult for me to define “GOODNESS” but I could easily convey its meaning by pointing to a good DEED or a good PERSON. One great quality of a parable then, is that it makes truth into a PICTURE which people can see and understand. It takes something FAMILIAR and uses it explain something UNFAMILIAR.
(3) Another advantage to using parables is that it is a way to make truth more PALATABLE.
You see, our sinful minds usually find PURE TRUTH to be kind of hard to swallow. As Jack Nicolson said in the movie, “A Few Good Men” — most people just, “CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!” They resist pure truth like kids often resist vegetables. I remember that the only way we could get Daniel to eat his veggies when he was a baby was to mix them with bananas. And using parables is a way of wrapping truth with the enticing “flavor” of a good story.
(4) Another great thing about a parable is that it enables a man to DISCOVER truth for himself.
And this is really the best teaching method. People internalize truth far better if they discover it than if they are simply told it. This is why we used to tell our youth teachers that they should never TELL a teen something that they could guide them to safely DISCOVER for themselves.
(5) But the main reason I think Jesus resorted to using parables is that they have a way of CONCEALING truth from those who DON’T want to see the truth while at the same time REVEALING truth to those who DO want to see it.
By using parables, Jesus was REWARDING the curiosity of the concerned, those who really wanted to know the truth. But He was also HIDING the truth from the rebellious—prideful people—those who were only listening to Him to find an excuse to arrest Him. Jesus referred to this teaching principle in Matthew 7:6 when he said,“Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs.” I think this is also what our Lord was getting at in Matthew 11:25 when He said: “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have HIDDEN these things from the “wise and learned,” and REVEALED them to little children.”
As Jesus began to speak from His floating lectern that afternoon He no doubt gestured to a farmer actually sowing seed in a field nearby and He took this familiar image of the various types of soils in that particular field and used it as a platform from which to teach vital truth about four ways people respond to the “seed” of the Gospel. Let me put it this way. Jesus told THIS parable to compel His listeners to examine the “soil condition” of their hearts—their own level of receptivity to spiritual truth. And this morning I want us to use our study of this text for the same purpose. As we prepare to start a new year, let’s look closely at this familiar parable to evaluate the condition of OUR HEARTS so that we can gauge our current potential for spiritual growth.
(1) The first soil JESUS talked about was the hard-packed soil.
In Palestine the fields were arranged in long narrow strips; and the ground between each strip was always a right of way—so, that ground was used as a common path and therefore it was beaten down by the feet of countless passers-by so that it became as hard as concrete. That is what Jesus meant when He said that some, “fell along the path.” If seed fell there (and it often did) there was no more chance of its penetrating into the earth than if it had fallen on the road.
This seed really became nothing more than bird feed because the sparrows and crows could easily get to it. Jesus compared this hard SOIL to people who have HARD HEARTS. That is to say their minds are shut—calloused—when it comes to the things of God. These are people in whose minds GOD’S TRUTH has no more chance of gaining an entry than the seed had of settling into the ground that has been beaten hard by many feet. They do not understand the things of the kingdom of God because they have become insensitive to Him. So talking to them about spiritual things is like talking to a brick wall. As Jesus said in verse 13, “They have ears but hear not and eyes but see not.”
I remember trying to learn to play the guitar years ago—one of many times I TRIED to learn to master this instrument but I remember in the first week or so my finger tips would hurt from constantly pressing them on the strings to form chords. After a while callouses would form—hard places on the tips of each finger…and when they did I was no longer be able to feel or sense pain. Like my fingertips, HEARTS can become calloused—so that it is next to impossible for us to feel the presence of God or sense His voice.
What causes this heart problem?
Some people allow their hearts to be hardened by bitter DISAPPOINTMENT or GRIEF or by unfulfilled DREAMS or by PRAYERS that aren’t answered in the way they want. Another cause of “heart-hardening” is SIN. The more we disobey God—the less likely we are to be receptive to His truth. God warns us of THIS repeatedly in scripture. In Psalm 95:8-10 He says, “Do not harden your hearts…do not be a people whose hearts go astray.” In Hebrews 3:15 it says, “Today, if you hear [God’s] voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” In Isaiah 6 God talks about sinful people whose, “hearts were calloused and ears dull.”
Let me just stop and ask, “Christian—how hard is your heart? Have you allowed disappointment or grief or unanswered prayers—or willful sin to make your heart less receptive to God? Have any of these things stolen your joy as a Christian and stunted your spiritual growth?
Before we move on to the second type of soil I must remind you that ANOTHER cause of hard hearts is the refusal of some people to invite God into their lives. It’s like all people have a “NO” muscle and the more we exercise it the harder it becomes. I’m reminded of Felix, the ruler of Caesarea. In Acts 24:25 when Paul confronted him with his need for God Felix said, “That’s enough for now! You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you.” The problem is that the more we say “no” to God…the easier it is to do so—but listen—if you have a spouse or a parent who reminds you of Felix—if you have a loved one who refuses to accept Jesus, don’t give up. Keep praying—keep taking every opportunity to tell them about Jesus because even people with callous hearts can be won to God. In St. Paul’s Cathedral, there is a tablet in honor of Samuel A. Barnett, who preached to the rebellious, sinful people of East London for a half-century….a very difficult mission field! The tablet portrays an engraved figure of the sower, with these words: “Fear not to sow on account of the birds.” You see, Barnett learned that sowing with this kind of people is NOT “just for the birds.” Even hard, calloused people can be led to the Lord. In fact this particular parable was used to reach John Bunyan and lead him to Christ. That blasphemous old tinker of Bedford was known as the most godless man in his village and was regarded as so hardhearted and committed to godlessness that no Christian had any hope for him at all. But Bunyan heard this story of the sower and these very words seized upon his heart. And he said to himself, “Even the devil knows that if a man believes the Word he’ll be saved.” Bunyan believed and was saved. He became the author of Pilgrim’s Progress and a tremendous testimony for God in his age. Like a Potter working with hard, dried-up clay, if we let Him, God can break us when we are hard-hearted, and in that way make us soft and pliable again…receptive to His leading.
(2) The second soil Jesus talked about was soil that was SHALLOW.
This was ground that was actually a thin layer of earth on the top of an underlying shelf of limestone rock. On such ground the seed would germinate quickly, because such ground easily grew warm with the heat of the sun—but there was no depth of earth so when the plant sent down its roots in search of nourishment and moisture, it would meet only the rock and would soon be starved to death. It’s roots would become weak…unable to stand when storm or drought came. And this kind of soil would also be familiar to Jesus’ listeners because Israel is a very rocky place. Shallow soil is common there. In fact, there’s an old Arabic story that says that when God was creating the world, He entrusted all the stones that He had made to two angels, each with one full bag. As they flew over Palestine one of the bags broke spilling half the stones intended for the whole world. There must be some truth to this story because I remember looking out the window of the plane as we circled for a landing at Tel Aviv when I went to the Holy Land in 1994. I looked down and saw rocks poking out everywhere. Much of Israel is indeed very rocky and because of this it can be a tough place to farm. Well, this second type of shallow SOIL over a rocky layer represents people who have a SHALLOW HEART—individuals who are drawn to the BLESSINGS of salvation but repelled by the COSTS of following Jesus…like the people who FLOCKED to hear Jesus when He did His miracles but LEFT when the going was hard…as did the teacher of the law who went away when Jesus told him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.” (Matthew 8:20)
And…many of us today still fit this description. We are attracted to the joy and excitement of a church where a lot is happening. We enjoy the SPIRITUAL HIGHS—but we don’t sink deep roots. We don’t mature—so when tough times come just as Paul warned in Ephesians 4, we are:/p>
“…tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men…”
We must mature to the point that we understand the hard truth that every Christian will face crisis situations that test our “roots” in God. After all, we live and minister in a fallen world, so difficult, trial-filled times, are going to come. Because of this we need deep roots to be able to withstand the inevitable storms of life.
When I was a kid I used to enjoy watching TARZAN movies on TV and if you’ve ever seen one then you know that in those Johnny Weismuller flicks Tarzan always seemed to have a vine handy that swung in the right direction–no matter which way the bad guys went. Well I wondered about this—especially when I noticed that the forest behind my house had no vines—and I remember speculating about what Tarzan would do if he ever came to forest like that or a clearing in the jungle. This part of the parable should remind us that we must guard against a spiritual mentality that Duffy Robbins used to refer to as THE TARZAN SYNDROME. This syndrome is evidenced by swinging from one spiritual high to the next: from a Promise Keepers rally or a Women of Faith Conference…to a week at the Billy Graham training center in Ashville, NC. People with this syndrome think of the Christian life as a series of VINES….one spiritual high after another. And this is a very dangerous thing because there ARE a lot of “clearings” in life. There are times when there are more TROUBLES and TRIALS than there are TREES. In fact, there are times when life seems like a forest with no vines at all. The truth is life “swings” along much more evenly when we develop a minute-by-minute, intimate, ever deepening relationship with the TRUE vine, Jesus Christ. That way we’re ready—no matter what kind of topography shapes our life journey. When it comes to spiritual growth shallow soil just won’t do! We need deep roots!
(3) The third soil condition Jesus talked about in this parable was soil that was filled with WEEDS.
Every gardener knows that the WEEDS grow with a speed and a strength that few good SEEDS can equal. The result is that weeds are so strong that they throttle the life out of the seed, and it dies, while the weeds flourish. All this would represent THE OVER-INVOLVED HEART, which belongs to the hearer who has so many interests in life that certain things (and often the most important things) get crowded out. Many of us make this mistake—in that we tend to give first-rate loyalties to second-rate causes.
And unfortunately I think one of the main examples of the way we fail to acknowledge this life principle is in our parenting.
I mean, so many times we allow the busy-ness of life to crowd out time with our children—precious moments that only come once. Charles Swindoll tells the story of a father in Montgomery, Alabama who carefully planned the annual family vacation—a camping trip. But—not too long before they were due to leave he announced that he would not be able to go with them. He said it couldn’t be helped. The press of business would keep him tied to the office.
Being committed to their happiness, he assured them of his desire that they take the trip and enjoy the fleeting summer days. In fact, he helped them plan every day of the camping trip. They would load up the family mini-van, drive to California, camp up and down the coast, and then travel back home together. Each day was carefully arranged—even the highways they would travel and the places they would stop. Dad knew their whole route, the time they would reach each state, planned almost to the minute—even that moment when they would cross The Great Divide.
It’s what he DIDN’T tell them that made the difference. After the family left, the father took off work (he’d planned it that way all along) and arranged to have himself flown to an airport near where his family would be on that particular day of the trip. He also arranged to have someone pick him up and drive him to a place where every car on that route had to pass. Then, with a wide grin, he sat on his sleeping bag and waited for the arrival of that familiar mini-van packed full of kids and camping gear. When he spotted the van, he stood up, stepped out onto the shoulder of the road, and stuck out his thumb. Can you visualize it? Can you “hear” the conversation that took place in that mini-van? “Hey mom—look—that guy looks just like—DAD!!!!!” The family assumed he was a thousand miles away, sweating over a stack of papers. It’s amazing they didn’t drive off into a ditch when they saw him with his thumb out! But, can you imagine the fun they had the rest of the way—and the memories they stored away in their mental scrapbook? Those kids would NEVER forget that day! When this unusually creative father was asked why he went to all that trouble, he replied, “Well, someday I’m going to be dead. When that happens, I want my kids and wife to say, ‘You know, Dad was a lot of fun!’”
Parents don’t you want your kids to have similar memories? Don’t you want to nourish a Godly, growing relationship with your children or with your spouse? Let me put it this way—if we are not careful we miss moments to enjoy our children—not to mention moments we can teach them vital Godly truth and help them to grow. We miss these VITAL times because we focus on unimportant things. So, we need to listen this part of Jesus’ parable…and let Him use it to teach us to nurture the things that are genuinely critical in life.
(4) The last soil Jesus spoke of was the good soil….the fertile soil.
The good ground was deep and clean and soft. The seed could gain entry. It could find nourishment. It could grow unchecked. In this good ground it brought forth an abundant harvest.
And this reminds us that there are times when we are like the good ground….prepared to hear…not too proud or busy to listen. This is the soil of the OPEN HEART.
These are the people who are receptive to God’s truth. They hunger for it. They grow and mature and bear fruit for His kingdom. Jesus said, they, “…produce a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown…” which would have astounded these people who knew that the average crop yield in those days was less than 8 to one. As Hebrews says, these believers grow and produce fruit. They… “leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity.”(6:1) They are like the young man described in Psalm 1 who is, “like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season and whose leaves do not wither.”
Now….I want you to be sure and note something about this parable: ALL OF THE FOUR SOILS WERE FROM THE SAME FIELD. In other words, Jesus was saying that this does not necessarily represent four different types of people but four different responses in the same person. And when you think about it, all of us have times in our lives when our hearts are HARD…or SHALLOW…or OVER-INVOLVED…or even OPEN. Our lives are a blend of many responses to God: at times callous to His voice…at other times we settle for a shallow, artificial faith…at other times we are overly-concerned with things that don’t really matter ultimately. And there are those rare times when we are like the warm and fertile soil…productive responsive to His bidding. In times like this, we grow in His likeness and bear much fruit in His kingdom.
Which soil are you most like this morning?
I get an add about every spring from companies offering to do a free SOIL test…to evaluate the condition of the dirt in my yard. They do this in the hopes that I will be convinced to pay them to add the nutrients to make my soil healthy and productive. Today I think we all should ask God to perform a test on the “soil” of our hearts. As we prepare to start a new year, let’s use King David’s words in Psalm 139 and say “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.” I pray every week that worship will provide us with a time of self-examination…a time to evaluate our walk with God….to allow Him to search us and guide us to respond to His sowing! Perhaps our worship has shown you of a specific way you need to respond to God. You may feel led to join this church or commit to do all you can to deepen your walk with Him. There may be some here this morning who are not Christians and our time together has shown you that you are ready like the good soil upon which the word has fallen….you are ready to receive Jesus into your heart and life. If you have a decision to make public I invite you to do so by walking the aisle as we stand now and sing.