Download The Parable of the Sower

Page |1
The Parable of the Sower – Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
Over the next few weeks we are going to look at some of Jesus’
most famous parables. These are the parables that are recorded
in more than one gospel. Later on in the year we are going to look
at some of the parables recorded in only one gospel. These are
important stories because these are the teachings of Jesus.
Perhaps repeated in different locations on different occasions
they became the core of what Jesus’ teaching ministry was
about. We want to begin with one of the best known parables of
all – the parable of the sower. Except – it is not about the sower, it
is about the soil.
A man was very busy. As usual he had overstretched himself and
was running from one appointment to the next. He would dash
home, wolf his food down and then dash out again. When he was
home he was tense, his mind always racing to the next
commitment or two and as a consequence irritable and snappy
with his family. His young daughter came to him one day,
something very exciting had happened at school but she knew
her father did not have much time. “Dad, I want to tell you
something but I will tell it to you really quickly!” It was in that
moment he realised that he needed to slow down. He replied,
“You don’t have to tell me quickly, you can tell me as slowly as
you want!” His daughter replied, “Then, will you listen slowly?”
perhaps we have lost the art of listening. Evenings of families
telling one another stories, listening to the radio and your mind
painting pictures as the story was told, has been supplanted by
images on the TV screen that have already been imagined for us
because we have become so busy we are too tired to imagine
for ourselves. Jesus was talking about four kinds of listeners and the
challenge is as relevant to us today as it was in Jesus’ time. Let’s
look at the parable and ask ourselves what kind of listener are
we?
A hardened listener
Page |2
The first type of listener is the hardened listener. Jesus likens this
listener to a path. It is well trodden and has become compacted.
The seed lands on it but it is easily snatched away. There is no time
for it to become established and take root. A man loved his father
and father-in-law. Both, tragically, contracted cancer at the same
time and the specialist gave them little time to live. The man
wanted to tell them both about the love of God. His father had
never shown any interest in God. It was as if someone had run
over his life with a pneumatic compactor. As the disease took
hold he became harder, more bitter and less and less receptive to
what his son said. His words fell on deaf ears. His father-in-law had
gone to church as a boy. As his son-in-law began to talk about
the love of God the seeds that had been sown all those years ago
began to take hold. He became more and more receptive until,
just before he died, he entrusted his life to Jesus as his Lord and
saviour.
Jesus warned, that our enemy the devil, prowls around waiting to
snatch the good seed that is sown. There are many in our lives that
we have sown good seed into and experienced the frustration of
it bouncing on pneumatically compacted hearts. Nothing seems
to take hold and whatever good that is done is soon snatched
away. How we have longed for a pneumatic drill to break up the
hardness so that there is greater receptivity. How we need to pray
that the Holy Spirit would come along as a pneumatic drill to
make hard hearts receptive.
Yet there can be a hardness to our own listening. We carry offense
in our hearts against someone. They have trespassed on our
territory and though we have forgiven them we still feel the pain
of what they did. When they stand up in church to read or pray or
even preach, they may say something that is deeply anointed by
God but we cannot receive it because we carry offence in our
hearts. Or we could be a hindrance to people. We see someone
crying in church and immediately we go over to comfort them.
We feel this is the loving thing to do but we have failed to be
Page |3
discerning. God is ministering to them and as we put our arm
round them we interrupt what God is doing and snatch away the
blessing God has for that person.
How can we address the hardness in our heart? It is good to praise
God, it is good to worship God, it is good to tell of his goodness
and testify to his unfailing love. All these things can help break any
hardness that has occurred during the week that has impacted
our hearts so that when the Word is read and preached we are
receptive and do not find the seed snatched away. When there is
hardness in our hearts the power of worship can act like a
pneumatic drill and make our hearts receptive.
A shallow listener
The second type of listener is the shallow listener. Jesus likens this
listener to rocky ground. The seeds lands on it but it is short lived.
The sermon is received with joy, it’s a good Word, but it is soon lost
and forgotten.
Procrastination MPEG
Jesus warned, tribulation and persecution occurs, life gets tough,
and the word dies. We can find programming on the BBC more
hostile, comedians being savage with their humour and work
colleagues being derisory about faith. That initial enthusiasm with
which people came to faith can be discouragingly lost. Many
who face persecution suggest that our greatest challenge in the
West is our freedom. It is harder to make the right choices and the
advances we should when there are so many options to entice
our commitment away from God.
There can be a shallowness to our listening. We are not prepared
to make the effort to enable the Word to take root. With a little bit
of discipline we could more effectively remember what we
believe God has been teaching us. Or perhaps we are driven by
experience rather than good theology. We have prayed for
people to recover but they have not, perhaps they have even
Page |4
died on us, so we are not receptive to teaching on healing. We
cannot deny that God’s Word says, he heals all our diseases.” But
to protect ourselves from further disappointment we are not going
to pursue something with any great commitment. To justify our
position we develop a theology of justify failure. We will not listen
to what the Word or others have to say.
How can we address the shallowness of our hearts? As God
speaks to us it is good to write things down. We highlighted this
when we used Habbakuk 2:1-2 as our verse for the year. If we
wrote one thing down that God says to us during the service, then
prayed for the rest of the week during our Quiet Time, then we
would give God’s Word chance to take root in our lives.
A distracted listener
The third type of listener is the distracted listener. Jesus likens this
listener to the person who receives the Word but it takes root
amongst thorns. As it grows it gets choked. So often we cannot
see what is happening. A man was out shopping one day for a
new suit. He found a nice one hanging on a bargain rail. The label
read, “SLIGHTLY SOILED -- GREATLY REDUCED IN PRICE.“ He felt the
Holy Spirit nudge him, “That’s what happens when we get soiled
by gazing at a vulgar picture or inappropriate film, reading a
course book, or allowing ourselves a little indulgence in dishonest
or lustful thoughts. When the time comes for our character to be
appraised, we are greatly reduced in value. Our purity, our
strength is gone. We are just part and parcel of the general,
shopworn stock of the world."
Jesus warned that the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of
riches can distract us and choke God’s word in us. The world we
live in is full of many good things that God has granted our
enjoyment of. Yet it is easy for them to take on a disproportionate
place in our lives. We listen to the voices that they speak with
rather than being determined to hear what God has to say.
Page |5
We can become distracted listeners. The thing Jesus highlights is
the pressure of a comfortable life. God wants to bless us with
success, it does him no glory if we are pitiful and poor, yet success
can be so hard to handle. It can lead to a greater sense of
comfort and complacency in our lives that we fail to push on with
God. We become content with what we have and preserving
things as they are rather than taking risks because God might
have more in store for us than we could imagine. We become
lethargic and morose in our Christian life rather than the finely
trained athlete Paul spoke of. Perhaps we entertain some sin and
before we know it we cannot believe where we are. We know
Christians should not be unequally yoked, but we think there is no
harm in a non-Christian girlfriend. Then we end up engaged,
married and soon the fire we once felt for God is barely glowing.
How can we address the distracted listener in all of us? It is
important that we talk through what God is saying to us. How
many of us have felt that they are just too tired to make Small
Group? Yet when they have gone they have experienced what a
blessing it is. Yet the next week they give in to the feeling of tired
and that Word for that week gets choked. Even if it is not to bless
us we can bless others through going. It is easy to get distracted.
A receptive listener
The fourth type of listener is the receptive listener. Jesus likens this
soil to fertile ground. As it grows it produces an abundant harvest. I
love what BMS are doing in some of the poorest communities
around the world. Recognising that they need better nutrition but
have not got farmlands to grow produce they are introducing
innovative ways of growing things. They grow crops up the sides of
buildings. The house may have a square foot of ground but
produces a rich harvest for the household.
Jesus says he expects fruitfulness. I want you to pay particular
attention to the order Jesus gives. In Mark’s gospel it is 30, 60 and
100 which I think is the way most people think. Here in Matthew’s
Page |6
gospel it is 100, 60, 30, our expectation is first drawn to 100 fold. In
Luke’s gospel he gets rid of the 30 and 60 and just has the 100 fold.
Matthew and Luke have carefully retold the story in a way that
encourages their readers to think of maximum fruitfulness. Don’t
expect or aim for 30 fold, expect greater things of God because
the seed is good and God is gracious.
I was hoping that as we passed the toilet round last week we
might get thirty pounds to encourage the young people so they
could twin each toilet downstairs. Actually, you were so generous
that we got £140 so we can twin every cubicle. Expect fruitfulness.
I love praying for people as they go to work. A number of you email me to tell me what has happened as a result of praying.
People pray, others receive that prayer in faith, and God brings
great fruitfulness. God loves to surprise his people with good
things.
How can we be fruitful people? Begin by being ambitious – our life
will produce a hundred-fold harvest. Be ambitious – that we will be
found faithful so we can host more of the presence of God. Be
prepared to be ambitious encourage one another to be
adventurous in of our faith.