Reading for the Day:
1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6 but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears, let him hear.” (Mt 13:1–9 ESV)
Intro:
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Meadowbrooke. I am so happy you have joined us today. For those who don’t know me, my name is Ben McKay, and I am filling in today for our lead pastor, Keith. I am one of the elders here at Meadowbrooke. I have been serving on the elder board for just about two years now and count it as one of the most incredible blessings of my life to work with a group of men who hold Christ at the center of their lives and have a heart for His church, especially the part of that church found here at Meadowbrooke. My wife, Michaela, works as the office manager here at Meadowbrooke, and we have two boys, Brayden and Grayson. Michaela and I lead a life group and serve in other ministries here. When I’m not trying to keep up with my boys or here at Meadowbrooke, you can find me working at an IT company as a program manager or riding a bike, trying to prepare for an event I’ve been crazy enough to sign up for with Keith.
Our primary reading for today is Matthew 13, and we’ll spend most of our time in this chapter. If you need a Bible, there should be one under a seat in front of you. If you don’t have a Bible at home, please take that one home with you.
At this point in Matthew, we find Jesus leaving a house and walking to the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Many commentators place this residence in Capernaum. On the Galilean shores, we witness a familiar scene in Jesus’ ministry; a multitude is gathering around him. So great was the crowd that Jesus moved onto a boat so that all could hear his message. Jesus is seated in the traditional posture of a rabbi teaching. However, the crowds remained standing. I can relate; wouldn’t you want to get the best view of Jesus? With my size, I may even have tried scuttling up a tree like Zacchaeus!
Cove from Airplane:
The location of this discourse has traditionally been placed at Sowers Cove, just down the shore from Capernaum. It would have been an optimal place to address large crowds. The cove is a natural amphitheater and would have amplified the voice of a person teaching from the water. It is almost as if this place had been divinely created for this very purpose; for Jesus, the Messiah, to teach this message.
Land and Vegetation Around the Cove:
This place today would look familiar to those 1st-century listeners in many ways. Of course, the asphalt road wouldn’t have been there. However, there would have been fields, groves, bushes and thistles, rocks, and even paths. Instead of needing to imagine the scenery Jesus painted in his parable, these people would have looked around and seen precisely what Jesus was talking about. And that is important; this parable was told to first-century listeners, and we must try our best to hear it from their perspective.
As Jesus began to speak, I wonder how many of his listeners thought, “What an odd thing for Jesus to say. Isn’t he supposed to be this incredible rabbi, full of insight and spiritual mysteries?” Certainly, he had more important things to discuss than where to best plant seeds for them to grow.
Some 2,000 years later, most of us have heard this parable many times and know Jesus wasn’t giving a lesson in horticulture but rather a fundamental truth about the heart condition of those who hear his words. There are different heart conditions, and so there are different responses when somebody hears the gospel. However, the fact that we are familiar with something does not mean the words of the Son of God change our hearts. We have this problem as humans that if we know a fact, we think we grasp its truth entirely. But Jesus’ chief concern isn’t that we know the parable; it is that his teaching changes your heart. My goal today is to shake us from this feeling of familiarity and orient ourselves to the vastness and grandeur of what Jesus was ultimately teaching.
To do that, I will bring in a bit of context; okay, a ton of context. It wouldn’t be Meadowbrooke if we didn’t go deep into our study of the Word! You see, Jesus taught eight parables right next to each other. And together, they offer an immense amount of insight that we can miss when taking them out of their broader context.
But first, I want to zoom out and get a picture of what Matthew wanted to communicate through his gospel. Matthew’s primary audience for his gospel, the people of Israel, had been looking for the promised heir to the throne of David for centuries. They were looking for the promised one, the Messiah. Matthew has set out in his gospel to proclaim the good news. The King is here. And Matthew had his work cut out for him; Jesus was not the type of king Israel expected. They thought their king would be a conquering hero who would throw off the chains of centuries of occupation. They were not expecting a suffering servant. And they were not expecting a kingdom like his.
An announcement proclaimed this new king at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt 3:2), spoken by John the Baptist. This phrase, kingdom of heaven, is to play a central role in Matthew’s account of the good news. It’s not just that a new king is here; he’s also brought an entirely new kingdom! This term is used 32 times in Matthew, with “Kingdom of God” used five times. To put this into perspective, Christ is used only 20 times, spirit (or spirits) 21 times, and even love is mentioned a mere 12 times. It’s not that these other concepts are unimportant. Instead, Matthew uses this to emphasize how much Jesus cared about this thing called the kingdom of heaven. But what in the world is it? What is it like? If a king is here, where is this kingdom?
In Matthew 13, Jesus sets out to explain his kingdom. What we find is a kingdom unlike any other. We find a kingdom that is here but still needs to be completed. One that is fraught with seemingly impossible problems and immovable obstacles, and yet a kingdom that will be, with absolute certainty, purified of all sin and wrongdoing. To understand how we are called to respond to the new King, let’s dig into scripture and see what we can uncover.
As I mentioned, the Parable of the Sower is the first of eight that Jesus taught together, and to understand this one, I am convinced we must understand them together. The very following parable gives us a glimpse into what this kingdom is like. Jesus continues his teaching.
Parable of the Weeds:
24 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’” (Mt 13:24-30 ESV)
Before we dive in, I want to pause to explain how I will approach these parables. For some, Jesus offers an explanation. My stance is that Jesus is the ultimate authority. He would not have left anything out, and everything he says in his interpretation of the parable is true. Because these parables were given together at the same time (Mt 13:53), each time a specific piece of imagery is used that Jesus has defined before, I will interpret it the same way unless the passage tells me to do otherwise. For example, suppose Jesus says a sower in one parable is the Son of Man (himself). In that case, I will apply that same interpretation if I see the term sower reappear in another parable. Without a definition provided by Jesus in this passage, we will adopt the interpretation most consistent with scripture. I call this out here because it is so easy to let our thoughts shape scripture rather than letting scripture shape our thoughts. This isn’t easy to do. This is why we are conducting a 12-week course to teach the inductive bible study method. How we handle scripture will determine whether we end up with sound or inaccurate conclusions. So, let’s see what Jesus has to say about this parable.
The Parable of the Weeds Explained:
36 Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” 37 He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear. (Mt 13:36-43)
Definitions for Terms:
I’ve broken out each definition on this slide for ease of reference.
Now, it is so easy for us in our culture to jump right to the fiery furnace part of the passage. Instead, let us start at the beginning. We have Jesus, the Son of Man, planting something good. It is wheat. Its seed is nutritious and beneficial. It is supposed to be in the field. However, somebody else comes and plants weeds. This is the enemy. The first to oppose the everlasting God, Lucifer. This enemy then plants something not supposed to be in the field, weeds. People did this back then. If neighbors made you mad, they’d get weeds sown in their field. I don’t condone this behavior, by the way.
Which one is wheat? Which one is weed?:
We are told something exceedingly important; the wheat and the weeds look similar. Some of your Bibles may use the word ‘tares,’ and the specific weed Jesus talks about is called bearded darnel. In this picture, one side is wheat, and one side is darnel. Pretty difficult to tell the difference, right? And this is why when the servants want to pull the weeds, the master immediately says, “No! Wait! What if you pull up some of the wheat, thinking it is a weed?” And here, amid a parable where we often focus on the fiery furnace, we see God’s patience, mercy, and love. Not a single child of the kingdom is God willing to risk.
2 Peter 3:9:
In 2 Peter, we read,
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance (2 Pet 3:9)
Yet, the reality is that there are weeds. We see them in the passage—the sons of the evil one. We read more about them in Ephesians; indeed, we learn that even those who have been saved used to be counted among them.
Ephesians 2:1-3:
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (Eph 2:1-3)
And now we have the problem entirely in front of us. In our field, the world, there is some wheat but also some weeds. And they look strikingly similar. Differentiating is so tricky that even angels cannot distinguish between weed and wheat. The master needs the weeds to be removed. But even a single child of the kingdom is too many to lose. What to do? And here is where we see the distinction between the weeds and the wheat. When the harvest is ready, we can tell them apart.
At harvest, the weeds are much different from the wheat:
The proof is in the seed, the fruit, of the plant. The difference is more easily seen if we compare wheat with the darnel now.
But there is something else to know about darnel as well. It isn’t just that the seed it produces is lacking in nutrition. It is poisonous. If ingested, it will lead to nausea and dizziness; in large enough doses, it can cause somebody to die. People also have used it intentionally to achieve a high and experience hallucinations.
Isn’t it amazing how something that appears so similar can be so different? And yet, isn’t this precisely what we see play out in the real world? A lie that looks like the truth is much more effective than one wholly made up. Go back to the beginning, to the first lie we believed. The serpent, the evil one, first misrepresented what God said. “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” (Gen 3:1) He knew that was not the commandment. And after he had worked that little wedge in there, planted that tiny seed of doubt, “Why is just this tree off limits?” he told a lie.
Genesis 3:4-6:
4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. (Gen 3:4-6)
The bait had been laid, “What if God is holding something back from me? There must be something even better than the promises He gave.” We have been living that same lie ever since. We reach out, yearning to define what God alone can define, and try to grab the fruit that we desire, just like our ancestors did. We want to say what is right and wrong, good and evil. And this happens even to this day.
Unfortunately, there will be false teachers and doctrine where there is false wheat. The weed may look for a time like wheat, and the wolf may for a time be clothed like a lamb, but weeds can be poisonous, and wolves have sharp teeth. I can only spend a little time on this because I have many other parables to discuss, but I want to leave you with three things I see commonly in false doctrine. Keep an eye out for these and think critically whenever someone teaches doctrine. Do the same for this sermon and any other you hear from this church. Take your Bible and open it. Mediate on it. Pray over it. Read the works of people whose lives have borne the fruit the Bible promises. If my words conflict with this book, throw my words out. Here are the things I would recommend you watch for and flee from.
- False Teaching #1: False teaching will attempt to diminish Jesus. The Bible teaches unequivocally the centrality of Jesus to God’s eternal plan for salvation. There is no other way. There is no other path. This can either be overt, as in claiming all paths lead to God, or in a more subtle way, by removing the divinity of Jesus. You can see this in Jehovah’s Witness teaching that Jesus was created when all scripture clearly shows he is co-eternal with the Father and the Spirit. Jesus is God, and that is why he can receive worship. God will give his glory to nobody, but himself, and a created being trying to obtain that worship is precisely what got Satan in trouble.
- False Teaching #2: False teaching will attempt to add something to justification by faith in Jesus. In his book The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis referred to this as “Jesus and.” You must have Jesus and go to this particular church. You must have Jesus and the teachings of Joseph Smith. You must have Jesus, and worship services must be on this specific day. This is what the Pharisees did; it’s called legalism, and it is as wrong today as it was back then.
- False Teaching #3: Finally, false teaching will attempt to make promises that the Bible does not make. We often see this manifesting today as, “Do this, and Jesus will bless you with material wealth, a long life, or any number of things.”
To wrap this parable up, we must chat about the harvest. We’ve already established that God shows patience in this passage and won’t allow even one child of heaven to be thrown away. But the harvest is real, and so are the consequences. For heaven to be heaven, it must be devoid of sin. Notice that all causes of sin and all lawbreakers are included in the explanation that Jesus gives to this parable. The weeds are thrown into a furnace. You see, the eternal life part of this whole God thing is easy for people to swallow; we like it. But many people don’t like to be told what to do, thank you very much (remember the fruit in the garden?). And… well, why can’t I rule my life into eternity like I do now? But you see the problem with that.
Then heaven wouldn’t really be heaven. Sin and lawlessness would persist because we, as humans, myself included, are terrible at determining right and wrong. And God wants his creation to be reconciled to him, to be the glorious thing He created it to be. And so, the infection of sin must be rooted out and, with it, the cause. Can you imagine a place where the Fall, humans seizing the claim to right and wrong themselves, persisted for eternity? We just heard a story about a militant group in Uganda that murdered children in school and abducted others. We heard about this during the visit this past week with the Ugandan children’s group. This is a direct consequence of humans claiming that they can define good and evil. Those people, I guarantee, justify their actions. It is right in their eyes. Now reason with me for a minute, if humans were eternally allowed to hurt each other, create death and chaos, and treat other image-bearers of God as objects for our selfish desires, as we do now… doesn’t that sound an awful lot like hell? And that, brothers and sisters, is precisely what the God of the universe has resolved to do away with in his perfect plan of salvation. And in that kingdom, the redeemed will shine like the sun. David Platt puts it so well,
Those who have believed on Christ as King, Lord, and Savior will radiate His glory forever and ever. (David Platt, Christ-Centered Exposition: Matthew)
Now, another parable in this series has the same interpretation. Jesus is using a method many good teachers use, repetition. Here it is:
Matthew 13:47-50:
47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. 48 When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Mt 13:47–50.)
Notice the similarities? Jesus is trying to make a point using repetition, so we shouldn’t miss it. As weeds are among the wheat, there are good and bad fish. There is a time for sorting out. It’s not done yet. Jesus’ kingdom is here. It looks messy right now, but there will be a final day when all will be accomplished.
Conclusions from First Parable Set:
So, let’s clean this up a bit so we can look at everything as a whole:
- God’s goal is to restore his perfect creation.
- Before that, there will be a day of harvest, where wheat is separated from weed.
- God is both patient and unwilling to let even one of his children perish.
- In this age, weeds and wheat can be challenging to tell apart. That is why we must pay close attention when people teach doctrine. But ultimately, God will be the one to separate.
God Has a Perfect Plan:
Ultimately, when we package all of this together, we see God has a perfect plan. This is the foundation; God has a perfect plan.
Next, we have two parables that we will look at simultaneously.
Parable of the Mustard Seed and Leaven:
31 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” 33 He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.” (Matt 13:31-33)
In this first parable, we have a tiny seed. In fact, at the time, Jewish thinkers used the mustard seed as the definition of the tiniest thing that the human eye could see (Grudem, Systematic Theology). It is important to note that Jesus is talking about garden plants and their seeds. These are things that everyday people hearing the parables would have been familiar with. Jesus is not teaching a biology class or attempting to make an entry into the Guinness Book of World Records. Do not be bothered by the fact that there are smaller seeds somewhere in the world; Jesus was using garden plants in Israel to teach a lesson about his Kingdom. That some try to point to this as an error on Jesus’ part, I think, shows both their desperation to try to find an error, any error, in the scriptures and that they don’t understand hyperbole.
Now, this seed is to grow into a massive plant. Indeed, it will become a tree! Mustard trees are incredible things. They can grow up to 30 feet high and are often as broad as they are tall. They have immense amounts of foliage and are used by birds to nest in. Jesus is teaching that his kingdom will start small but grow into a large tree, disproportionate to the size of the seed it came from. And here is a crucial thing about the mustard plant; they grow extremely fast. This is precisely what we saw with the early church. It grew and spread extremely quickly, reaching the furthest parts of the Roman empire within a generation. Notice also how all the mystery cults and religious pantheons in that area are now gone. What started with what seemed to be a fledgling group of Jesus and a small number of followers has grown quite unexpectedly into a tree spreading out to the entire world. This would have been unbelievable at the time Jesus lived and was even more so when he breathed his last on the cross. But by the power of God, what was unbelievable has been made real. We can read about this in the Old Testament prophesy in Ezekiel.
Ezekiel 17:22-24:
22 Thus says the Lord God: “I myself will take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar and will set it out. I will break off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain. 23 On the mountain height of Israel will I plant it, that it may bear branches and produce fruit and become a noble cedar. And under it will dwell every kind of bird; in the shade of its branches birds of every sort will nest. 24 And all the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord; I bring low the high tree, and make high the low tree, dry up the green tree, and make the dry tree flourish. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.” (Ezek 17:22-24)
Now, before we get too carried away here, there is what I think is a warning in this fantastic and wonderful news about the rapid growth and ultimate size of the church Jesus planted. Remember early on when I said I would interpret symbols used in these parables consistently? Well, Jesus uses the term birds in one other parable: the very first one. We’ll get to this in more detail later, but it is easy to tell those birds snatching up seeds from our first reading today is not good. I think the warning here is that some will use the wonderful thing, this magnificent church that Jesus, the sower, has planted for their selfish purposes. This is what we see today. I’ll use an extreme example with the Mother of God cult. They profess that Jesus has already returned. He returned and died. If you read your Bible, you know that wasn’t supposed to happen. But that has not stopped their cult from growing and leading people astray, even here in Cheyenne, by worshiping an idol, a false god. I call this group, and others like them, out because they attempt to use the true religion, the one of the Bible, as a roosting space to build their cults. They are truly dangerous because they teach a false Jesus—one created by man, not the one who is one with the Father.
The second parable in this pair, the parable of the leaven, illustrates a woman placing some leaven inside a large batch of dough. This would have happened with a piece of dough already leavened being placed into a new batch with no leaven. It’s kind of like friendship dough. Has anybody here ever made sourdough or friendship dough? Ya, I tried making (growing?) friendship dough once. For the life of me, I can’t figure out what is so friendly about it. All I did was forget about it for a week, and it turned evil. It smelled like nothing I had ever encountered, and I swear it had grown the ability to talk.
But my lack of ability to follow simple instructions aside, what is supposed to happen is that the yeast in the inserted bit permeates into the rest. This happens as a natural consequence of what yeast is, much like the consequence of mustard seed being planted is that it grows into a tree. We don’t really see it in action, but it does spread. We are told that the church will spread to the whole earth, to all nations.
Matthew 24:11-14:
11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Matt 24:11-14)
Notice, just like in the parables we are reading, false prophets will come, people will be led astray, and lawlessness will increase. But, the gospel of the kingdom, Jesus’ kingdom, will spread to the whole world and all nations. Then, just like in the parables, the harvest.
Conclusions from Second Parable Set:
Ok, so we have a few things from these parables:
- The church, the seed Jesus plants, will seem so small as to be completely insignificant.
- It will grow into a vast, massive, incredible thing. It will cover the whole world.
- However, at least for now, there are still imperfections and dangers.
We see a kingdom probably not what Jesus’ listeners would have expected. This may look bleak by worldly standards. Our world isn’t attracted to small kingdoms or ones invisibly working. In this age, Jesus’ kingdom isn’t going to be perfect, and like the yeast permeating the dough, we may not see all the movement that God is making in the world. We see the image of the outcome of having the wheat still infested with weeds and are disheartened. But, there is good growth; the gospel is getting to people.
Growth in this Age:
That is the second step. God has laid the foundation; there is a final plan. He’s in control. And this age is for growth.
The church is supposed to spread to all nations. That was the promise to Adam and Eve; the snake would be crushed. That was the promise to Abraham; through your line, all of the nations of the world will be saved.
We know there is an ultimate plan; we saw it in the Parable of the Weeds and Parable of the Fish. But how is Jesus going to be able to get us out of the mess and tragedy of this current age?
Parable of the Hidden Treasure and Pearl of Great Value:
Well, now we get our following two parables:
44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. 45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46 who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. (Matt 13:44-46)
So, these two parables are typically interpreted as the value of the kingdom of heaven being so enormously high compared to everything else that it should be a delight to give everything else up in exchange. And I agree. It is a bargain for the Christian if called to give everything, even their very life, for the kingdom of heaven. However, this only shows one side of the coin. In my scripture study, you see, I have been drawn to how big, how glorious, and how magnificent our God and Savior is. And it has drawn my heart to see how little and powerless I am but how almighty, all-powerful, and perfect He is. And I’ve realized that I may never be put into a position where I must sacrifice all. But there was one who did. One who gave immensely more than I could ever imagine.
Philippians 2:4-8:
4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Phil 2:4-8)
Here we see the majesty and grandeur of what our God has done for us through Christ. In the current age, everything, including ourselves as Christians, can look so broken, but Jesus, the second person of the triune God, emptied himself for us; for you, for me, for every person who will call upon His glorious name. Now, I can’t imagine what it is like for a being beyond time, capable of speaking the universe into existence, mighty to defeat death and regenerate us to new life to empty himself. But I can say that what Jesus gave up is more than I can ever imagine. And here is what makes it even more crazy. Look at this!
Ephesians 1:3-4:
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. (Eph 1:3-4a)
Jesus Paid it All:
Before the foundation of the world, Jesus was the plan! Before God spoke the universe into being, He knew this was what he would have to do. That is how much He desperately loves His people! This is the thing about an all-powerful, all-knowing God. Nothing surprises him. Jesus wasn’t the backup plan. He was always the only plan. The cross was always the answer. And here is the thing. He loves his people so much that He did it anyway. The crown of thorns, the nails, all of it. And yet he chose to create everything, including you, knowing full well that the plan of redemption would end at the cross. And all of it is to His glory.
Full Pyramid:
And this is why we need these other parables to see the first one in its true light. This is what we are responding to. This is what our hearts should be softened to. Despite all the brokenness and hardship, this is God’s eternal plan, and it is so much better than anything we could ever dream up. Jesus, the king as a suffering servant, is the answer.
So, in our final moments together, let’s look at what Jesus has to say about those seeds sown in the first parable we read this morning. Let’s see how Jesus says different types of heart conditions will respond to this fantastic news that we can be redeemed from this present brokenness.
Parable of the Sower Explained:
18 “Hear then the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 23 As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” (Matt 13:18-23)
Seed 1: Like soil, our hearts can be hard:
The first seed falls onto a pathway. The soil on a path, especially one that has been frequently used, gets compacted. The path we are discussing in this parable would have been well-traveled. It led to the fields that had to be worked to produce food. And the point that this parable is attempting to make is that, just like soil, when we make decisions again and again in our lives that turn away from God, the soil of our hearts will harden. Then, the seeds will sit on top of the soil, never gaining root, and will be exposed to birds, the evil one, who will come and snatch them away.
But notice here that Jesus says this is somebody who hears the word and doesn’t understand. He talks more about this when the disciples ask him why he teaches this way.
The Disciples Questions Jesus:
11 And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. (Matt 13:11-13)
To Jesus’ disciples, his faithful followers, he gave the ability to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. We see here that, to understand what Jesus was talking about, a listener must first have a relationship with Him, abandon all else and follow him. That is what discipleship means. It is not intellectual ability but rather a disposition of the heart towards Jesus that determines whether somebody truly understands. Check this out. Jesus quotes Isaiah.
The Disciples Question Jesus cont.:
14 Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: “‘“You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.”15 For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’ (Mt 13:14-15)
It is because of the people’s dull hearts and their hardness to God that they fail to understand even though they hear. 1 Corinthians puts it succinctly.
1 Corinthians 1:18:
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Cor 1:18)
Seed 2: Without healthy roots, every plant will fall:
Second, there is the seed that falls on shallow soil with lots of rocks. The roots don’t grow deep. This is familiar to us here in Cheyenne, where the ground seems to be turning into rock right before our eyes. Stuff may grow in the spring, especially springs like this one, where it rains daily. But when summer sets in, that plant without deep roots will shrivel. This is very similar to a house built on a foundation of sand. It’ll stand if nothing huffs and puffs on it. But there will be catastrophic structural issues once the winds and rains come. It’s not enough that our hearts are soft enough for the seed to sprout. They must be soft enough for that plant’s roots to grow deep and pervade everything in our lives.
Seed 3: Crowding will stifle growth:
Third, and this is an especially acute problem in our culture today, is the seed that falls amongst the thorns. Here, the cares of this world and material things choke out the Word of God. Now the Greek word used here can also mean to suffocate or drown. Do the cares of this world or material things, especially paying for and managing them, make you feel like drowning or suffocating? Jesus is trying to tell us that will impact our spiritual life. I’m explicitly reminded of what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount:
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” (Matt 6:24)
Seed 4: A cultivated heart will produce growth and fruit:
Now good soil is unlike the other three types we’ve discussed. It isn’t packed so hard that seeds just sit on the surface. It doesn’t have rocks that prohibit roots from growing deep. And it is free of thorns and weeds, which will choke the life out of plants. Then, what happens? The plants flourish, each yielding many times itself. When freed from these impediments, our hearts and lives allow evident growth. Now, this is key. The regenerated person, the disciple of Christ, is explicitly identified with fruit. We can read about this fruit in Galatians.
Galatians 5:22-23:
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Gal 5:22-23)
R.C. Sproul, in his commentary on Matthew, put it so well:
We are justified by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone. True faith always yields the fruit of obedience to one degree or another. (R.C. Sproul, Matthew: An Expositional Commentary)
So, what does all this mean for us? How do we apply this response to the kingdom of God in our lives?
Application:
The first condition of not understanding the Word, the hard heart, comes from not being a disciple, a faithful follower of Jesus. If this is you, all I can do is plead. Truly investigate the scriptures; read them with an open mind and a humble heart. I earnestly believe everything in this book is true. We’re all fallen, and I think we all know it at some level. Don’t dismiss this out of hand. To apply this lesson, I think the right question is, where is my heart hard, and am I letting God in at all? Where am I not responding to his message that his kingdom is here and he has made a way?
The second condition is the rocky ground, where we only have a shallow depth for our roots. This is something that you may be the only person to answer this question for yourself. But we should all be asking this honestly; are my roots deep? Am I only allowing God access to the surface of my life, or am I letting him into every area? Am I spending the time I need with him and his word?
The third condition is the ground which is covered by thorns. Is there anything, especially worries, and material things, choking out your relationship with God and slowly strangling your spiritual life? Is my life too crowded? Is there enough room for my spiritual life to flourish? If not, what can I give up to get that growth? If you don’t have enough time to prioritize daily communion with God and be in his Word, I would hazard to guess that your life is too full.
The final condition is fertile ground. If this is how you find your life, that is fantastic! But now, it is time to bear fruit, and part of that is helping other plants bear fruit like you. The question I’d like to ask you is, how can you continue and even grow your effectiveness in bearing fruit?
Parable of the Scribe:
Jesus' final parable puts a wonderful wrapper on everything he taught. He asks his disciples:
51 “Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” 52 And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” (Matt 13: 51-52)
Everything in this book, Old Testament and New, points directly to Jesus. If we are like this scribe, we will be wise to pay attention to the treasure in front of us. Let the Word of God work on your life. Please read it. Meditate on it. Pray over it. Never let it depart your lips. And remember what scribes do; they don’t keep to themselves. They bring out their treasure, old and new, to share with others. I pray that the ground of our hearts, yours and mine, will yield fruit for the kingdom, and one day we will shine like the sun in the kingdom of our Father.
