Parable of the sower and the seed: Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23.
Many of us have read the parable of the sower and seed so many times it becomes old hat. For me, the seed is often over looked in the story. I usually focus on myself as the soil, or Jesus as the sower. But the seeds are missed in the story. In life too, seeds are overlooked because they are small and seem insignificant. Seeds are miraculous though. Each one has a storehouse of power and potential that can feed, fuel or shade a nation if nourished. Huge plants can be produced from tiny kernels. Conisder the following for some perspective on this parable of the sower and seeds.
The General Sherman sequoia tree in California is the largest tree in the world, the stats on this monster can give you vertigo:
The astonishing thing is that this mammoth tree started out from a seed about the size of Roosevelt's nose on a dime.
Seeds are miraculous, but start small and are often neglected. Keep this in mind when you read about Jesus and the parable about the sower and his seed in Matthew 13:1-9
Context:
Before jumping too quickly into the parable, it is interesting to check out the setting. This parable was spoken the SAME DAY that the Jews rejected Jesus as Messiah by committing the unpardonable sin (attributing Jesus' power to Satan, Mtt 12:22-45). This is very important context. He must have been crushed in spirit, so disheartened that His own people rejected Him. He came for the world in general (Jn 3:16) but also the Jews in particular as the promised Messiah and heir to King David's throne. The parable was also followed by the beheading of John the Baptist! The one who Jesus called the greatest among those ever born among men! The bookends to the parable are intense! This is why in vs 1 of Chp 13 he goes to the lake by himself to sit down. He is crushed. He has been rejected. His message of the kingdom and his fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant was just trampled under foot and snatched away by birds like seed fallen on a rush-hour pavement.
The Sower
Vs 4: Is the sower sloppy with his seed? Accidentally spilling some on the path and rocky ground? No, I think he is generous. He is a rich farmer, with seed to spare! Seeds were very valuable and if you were a poor farmer you place each seed individually in good soil. But Jesus is rich with his valuable seed, generously casting his seed out by the handfuls! By the bucketful!
The Seed
The seed is the Word of God (vs 19, technically the "message about the Kingdom"). What do we know about seeds? They are small, so small that by looking at it you'd think that nothing much would come from it. How many people overlook the message of kingdom, or consider God's word to be of little value, a collection of some good teaching but little else? They might even have a Bible, but it sits on a shelf, collects dust. Some people don't realize that the message of the kingdom is nothing short of miraculous and would transform their lives. Even many Christians (and me!!) often overlook the Word of God and it gets shoved near the bottom of the To Do List. And then left off of the list altogether. [Confession: it once took me 6 years to complete my "Bible In One Year" reading plan. Awesome. And not because I was super methodical in my study. It was probably the hay days of The Office, 24, Heroes, and Survivor.]
In order to grow, a seed needs soil, nutrients, water, sun. Seeds are a picture of transformation. They are an image of big things growing out of what seems to be insignificant. They sprout roots, send up a shoot, then branches, then flower, then fruit that contains more seeds. Seeds are a step in generations of fruit, nourishment that gives life. Seeds appear to be dead but they are living. An acorn looks nothing like the oak.
So too with the message of the Kingdom. It appears to be just words, just a book, but those words planted in the right place can grow to be huge, transformational and bearing much fruit! When placed in the right soil, with the right conditions the Word of God can grow and radically change your life. Nobody looking at a sequoia seed can imagine the massive transformation and growth potential. But this is fully within the character of God to use the weak, small and insignificant to accomplish mighty deeds for His kingdom and glory.
Jesus calls the message of the kingdom a secret (Matt 13:11-18). Something that generations of prophets yearned to discover. But in Jesus' day and ours it is a secret out in plain sight. A seed sitting on the soil. Seeds are secrets, unless you have good soil, you'll never know what the seed can fully mean.
The Soil
Jesus says that the soil where the seed falls is the human heart. The heart is the very center of our being, it is our inner most soul. When you love something with your heart you adore it with everything you have. There's nothing you wouldn't do for the sake of the one you love. If you're making a vow, you say, "Cross my heart, hope to die, I swear!". You're saying that all of your honor and integrity is riding on your vow. You've sworn with all your heart.
Our hearts can be in different conditions:
--Beaten and trodden down, hard packed like a road trampled and travelled by thousands of people. Nothing grows on a path, nothing sinks in.
--A rocky place, with some shallow soil but no room for roots to grow deep. Seeds can grow in the crack of a concrete road, but the plant easily withers in tough times.
--Weed choked. With competing invasive plants that steal nutrients, light and water. Blackberry thorns will take over anything in its way and can swallow entire houses if left unchecked.
--Rich, loamy fertile soil. Seeds planted here flourish, grow with deep roots, have no choking weeds, produce lush plants and make a fruitful crops with returns up to 100 fold!
What condition is your heart in? Is it ready to receive the seed and be productive?
There might be thorns that are choking the seed. The worries of this life, the deceitfulness of riches and desire for things are toxic to the message of the kingdom. These things take over the seed, grow very fast and suck the nourishment from the soil. How many times have I had a fantastic worship experience on Sunday, been blessed by the Word of God preached in a sermon, then completely forgotten it all by Thursday because the worries of life choked it out?
Hosea 10:12 Puts a great perspective on the condition of the soil in our hearts:
There is an absolute direct connection between the quality of my relationship with Jesus and how much time I spend in the Bible. Not out of work or a sense of duty, but because the Holy Spirit prepares my heart, makes it fertile ground for the message of the kingdom to take deep root and bear fruit. A tenfold crop is amazing, but God can make a 100-fold crop, bear so much more fruit than we can ask or think, if we receive the simple, small seemingly insignificant Word of God, such a tiny seed, and have our hearts prepared. Never overlook the awesome power hidden inside the message of the kingdom.
Many of us have read the parable of the sower and seed so many times it becomes old hat. For me, the seed is often over looked in the story. I usually focus on myself as the soil, or Jesus as the sower. But the seeds are missed in the story. In life too, seeds are overlooked because they are small and seem insignificant. Seeds are miraculous though. Each one has a storehouse of power and potential that can feed, fuel or shade a nation if nourished. Huge plants can be produced from tiny kernels. Conisder the following for some perspective on this parable of the sower and seeds.
The General Sherman sequoia tree in California is the largest tree in the world, the stats on this monster can give you vertigo:
--The tree is 275' tall
-- 36' diameter at base
-- 103' circumference
-- Weighs 2,100 tons (just the trunk, not including "branches" that are bigger than most trees and even a few NFL players)
-- About 2700 years old! That's back when Internet was still dial up! And when you didn't have to click something to friend somebody.
-- The trunk is 52,000 cubic feet of wood in volume. You could make 1.9 billion tooth picks from the tree! Or 2,100,000 baseball bats!
The astonishing thing is that this mammoth tree started out from a seed about the size of Roosevelt's nose on a dime.
Seeds are miraculous, but start small and are often neglected. Keep this in mind when you read about Jesus and the parable about the sower and his seed in Matthew 13:1-9
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 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
Context:
Before jumping too quickly into the parable, it is interesting to check out the setting. This parable was spoken the SAME DAY that the Jews rejected Jesus as Messiah by committing the unpardonable sin (attributing Jesus' power to Satan, Mtt 12:22-45). This is very important context. He must have been crushed in spirit, so disheartened that His own people rejected Him. He came for the world in general (Jn 3:16) but also the Jews in particular as the promised Messiah and heir to King David's throne. The parable was also followed by the beheading of John the Baptist! The one who Jesus called the greatest among those ever born among men! The bookends to the parable are intense! This is why in vs 1 of Chp 13 he goes to the lake by himself to sit down. He is crushed. He has been rejected. His message of the kingdom and his fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant was just trampled under foot and snatched away by birds like seed fallen on a rush-hour pavement.
The Sower
Vs 4: Is the sower sloppy with his seed? Accidentally spilling some on the path and rocky ground? No, I think he is generous. He is a rich farmer, with seed to spare! Seeds were very valuable and if you were a poor farmer you place each seed individually in good soil. But Jesus is rich with his valuable seed, generously casting his seed out by the handfuls! By the bucketful!
The Seed
The seed is the Word of God (vs 19, technically the "message about the Kingdom"). What do we know about seeds? They are small, so small that by looking at it you'd think that nothing much would come from it. How many people overlook the message of kingdom, or consider God's word to be of little value, a collection of some good teaching but little else? They might even have a Bible, but it sits on a shelf, collects dust. Some people don't realize that the message of the kingdom is nothing short of miraculous and would transform their lives. Even many Christians (and me!!) often overlook the Word of God and it gets shoved near the bottom of the To Do List. And then left off of the list altogether. [Confession: it once took me 6 years to complete my "Bible In One Year" reading plan. Awesome. And not because I was super methodical in my study. It was probably the hay days of The Office, 24, Heroes, and Survivor.]
In order to grow, a seed needs soil, nutrients, water, sun. Seeds are a picture of transformation. They are an image of big things growing out of what seems to be insignificant. They sprout roots, send up a shoot, then branches, then flower, then fruit that contains more seeds. Seeds are a step in generations of fruit, nourishment that gives life. Seeds appear to be dead but they are living. An acorn looks nothing like the oak.
So too with the message of the Kingdom. It appears to be just words, just a book, but those words planted in the right place can grow to be huge, transformational and bearing much fruit! When placed in the right soil, with the right conditions the Word of God can grow and radically change your life. Nobody looking at a sequoia seed can imagine the massive transformation and growth potential. But this is fully within the character of God to use the weak, small and insignificant to accomplish mighty deeds for His kingdom and glory.
Jesus calls the message of the kingdom a secret (Matt 13:11-18). Something that generations of prophets yearned to discover. But in Jesus' day and ours it is a secret out in plain sight. A seed sitting on the soil. Seeds are secrets, unless you have good soil, you'll never know what the seed can fully mean.
The Soil
Jesus says that the soil where the seed falls is the human heart. The heart is the very center of our being, it is our inner most soul. When you love something with your heart you adore it with everything you have. There's nothing you wouldn't do for the sake of the one you love. If you're making a vow, you say, "Cross my heart, hope to die, I swear!". You're saying that all of your honor and integrity is riding on your vow. You've sworn with all your heart.
Our hearts can be in different conditions:
--Beaten and trodden down, hard packed like a road trampled and travelled by thousands of people. Nothing grows on a path, nothing sinks in.
--A rocky place, with some shallow soil but no room for roots to grow deep. Seeds can grow in the crack of a concrete road, but the plant easily withers in tough times.
--Weed choked. With competing invasive plants that steal nutrients, light and water. Blackberry thorns will take over anything in its way and can swallow entire houses if left unchecked.
--Rich, loamy fertile soil. Seeds planted here flourish, grow with deep roots, have no choking weeds, produce lush plants and make a fruitful crops with returns up to 100 fold!
What condition is your heart in? Is it ready to receive the seed and be productive?
There might be thorns that are choking the seed. The worries of this life, the deceitfulness of riches and desire for things are toxic to the message of the kingdom. These things take over the seed, grow very fast and suck the nourishment from the soil. How many times have I had a fantastic worship experience on Sunday, been blessed by the Word of God preached in a sermon, then completely forgotten it all by Thursday because the worries of life choked it out?
Hosea 10:12 Puts a great perspective on the condition of the soil in our hearts:
Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up the unplowed ground. For it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers righteousness on you.
There is an absolute direct connection between the quality of my relationship with Jesus and how much time I spend in the Bible. Not out of work or a sense of duty, but because the Holy Spirit prepares my heart, makes it fertile ground for the message of the kingdom to take deep root and bear fruit. A tenfold crop is amazing, but God can make a 100-fold crop, bear so much more fruit than we can ask or think, if we receive the simple, small seemingly insignificant Word of God, such a tiny seed, and have our hearts prepared. Never overlook the awesome power hidden inside the message of the kingdom.
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