Well, good morning, everyone. I’m so glad to be with you again. My name is Neil Schori and I'm one of the pastors at The Edge Church. We hope that you've been a part of these last handful of weeks as we've done a series called Unity In Diversity, as we've explored how the church is all made up of different parts but plays a role that God has created for it. I'm excited to start a new series today with you called The Parables. For the rest of the summer, our teaching team will be sharing a short message every week from one of the parables of Jesus from scripture, and then also sharing questions for you to consider.
For some of you, this is the first week that you may be gathering with other people and watching this sermon together. We're encouraged by that. Maybe you're just hanging out with family members, or maybe you're going to make time this week to talk with someone over Zoom or FaceTime about some of the questions that we're going to discuss at the end of our message today.
Let's start with a quick definition of the word parable so that we all really start from the same launch spot. And then we're going to get into our first story. A parable is a simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson. They aren't literal, but they make points that apply to our lives, particularly as Christians who are citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Today, we're going to look at the parable known as The Parable Of The Sower. And it's really about a farmer who scattered seed on the ground and what happened afterward. You can find this parable in all of the synoptic gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
Today we're going to focus on the gospel of Matthew. You can find the parable in chapter 13, verses 1 through 23.
The Parable of the Sower
13 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 seeds fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seeds 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.”
10 The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”
11 He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12 Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables:
“Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
15 For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’[a]
16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17 For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
Now here's the thing about this story and all parables in order to have a proper understanding of what Jesus was conveying to his audience—we need to really make sure that we understand the terms and also the characters. So in this story, the farmer is God, the seed is God's message of the gospel to humanity, and the different types of ground represent the hearts of the listeners. There are several types. The path, which is hard-packed dirt because people walk on it. So you get this image of a lot of people walking along dirt and it packs it down. It represents the heart that is hardened. The rocky ground has some soil, but not a whole lot of it. So the seed grows quickly, but it doesn't have a lot of depth. So it actually dies. The ground with thorns, it actually chokes out the growth of the seed. Then the good soil we all understand. It enables the seed to grow, there are lots of nutrients, and the return is really large.
Now we could focus on any number of things in this passage, but there's one idea that really stands out to me. And it's really simple: it’s that God loves us so much, regardless of the condition of our hearts. And he reaches out to us over and over and over again. I really want you to grab a hold of that. His love for you and me is not conditioned on how good our hearts are. He scatters seed on every type of heart that exists, and it's not to shame wounded hearts. And it's not to make fun of hearts that are leery or broken hearts or sinful hearts. But his goal is to invite every kind of heart to the table in his kingdom.
When I read this parable, my tendency is (and I suspect it probably is a similar tendency for many of you) to see myself as the one with the heart that has good soil. And that makes it easier for me to look at others as the ones who need to change. Sometimes I have to admit I'm like the religious leaders of Jesus's day that he came down on so hard for. The ones that said, God, I thank you that I'm not like those people. I thank you that I'm not like the people that do bad things, but here's the problem with that. And here's the reality. I know myself pretty well, and I'm quite aware of how often the soil of my own heart can change, honestly, even moment to moment. And what if that's what God wants us to know about ourselves, that we aren't so good, that we have moments where we're receptive and moments where we're closed off. We have moments where we grow and we have moments where our roots aren't actually very deep. And how would that encourage us to treat other people in our lives, if we looked at them the same way? What if we offered grace to others the same way that we offer grace to ourselves?
This tells me something really important, and I believe it's the most significant thing that we can grab ahold of in this parable, in this story. The parable is less about soil and more about the farmer. It's less about our lives and how well we do in our lives and more about who’s we are. If we're Christians, we belong to the one who promised not to stop the work that he started in us. The one who promised to walk with us the whole way, for the duration of our lives, as he conforms us to the image of his Son, Jesus Christ.
The big story that we found ourselves in is not really our story after all. And that takes some of the pressure off of us, doesn't it? Because the story that we found ourselves in is about the great God who regularly sends out to his sons and daughters, this gracious offer of salvation. And he sends it out to people that have soft hearts. And he sends it out to people that have hard hearts. And he sends it out to people that have broken hearts and thorny hearts and every other kind of heart, his offer is not based on the condition of your heart, but on how good He is. He sends out a rescue to us from the moments that threaten our peace and from the things that take away our focus on the most important things in life, which are always two things: on God and on our fellow travelers on this journey.
I think this message is especially sweet to me this week because we've had a loss in our family. Brandi’s Aunt Donna passed away last Sunday. Right when we got back from our gathering up at the Price’s house, we found out that she had died. She was just 58 years old. This message that God consistently reaches out to us is particularly moving to me in light of eternity. That He always is for us, that He’s not looking to get us in trouble, that He's not looking to condemn us, but he's always desiring to save us in every single way.
Before we get to our discussion questions today, I have a main question for you and it's, have you made the choice to repent of your sins and follow Jesus and receive eternal life? That is the first question that all of us need to hear and answer. It's the most important thing that you can do in your whole life. If you'd like to know how to do that, Acts 2:38-39 tells you exactly how to get on that path. It says
“Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
I don't know exactly what your perception of God has been throughout your life. If it's like me, it probably has varied. But some of you probably feel as though God is standing at a distance and he's waiting for you to make a mistake so that he can kind of swing his divine hammer and bring you back into line. But that's not the actual story of God and his love for you. The story of God and his love for you, is the creator who loved you so much that he didn't want to live without you. So he sent his son to pay the price that you could never pay so that you could come home and know him forever.
I want to encourage you now to really set aside pretense. I want to encourage you to be real with yourself and with the others that you may be with today. Where do you find yourself in this story? When you hear the story of The Parable Of The Sower, what kind of condition is your heart in today? And I've got several questions, I'm going to read these questions to you and then give you time to process these with your group.
Here's the first question, is your heart open to God? Is that the position of your heart today? Are you actively seeking to follow and obey Jesus? Now here's the thing, that's a great place to be. And you'll experience many blessings as you do that, but make sure to keep your heart centered on the purpose of your whole life, which is Jesus, and not on how good your heart is. Because if you focus on Jesus, your heart will stay good. But if you start to pat yourself on the back about how good your heart is, your focus can't be on Jesus.
Here's the second question: is your heart closed off to the gospel of Jesus? The good news of Jesus? It's okay, be honest. You hear it, but it doesn't really stir you. Maybe you've heard it a whole bunch of times and it just doesn't really take root in you. For whatever reason, you hear the story of Jesus and you think about people in your life, maybe that have claimed to follow Jesus, but you didn't really see them follow Jesus. I want you to be really honest about that. And I want to dare you to pray something, ask God to reveal himself for who he is to you today if that's you. Don't hide where you are, just be real. I promise you this, God will never turn away an honest seeker. He just won't.
Here's the third question today: did you once have a fresh faith, but then your roots didn't go very deep? So now you know deep inside that you really are just a Christian today in name only. You say you're a Christian, but you don't see much difference in your life. There's also a prayer for you to pray too. Ask God to reignite your faith, ask God to give your faith roots so you can weather that storm.
Here's the final question I want you to consider today, and I think this probably applies to more of us than we'd like: have the riches and worries of the American dream stolen your desire to serve the Lord? It's really, really easy to get caught up in the worries of life. The worry about not having enough, the worry about finding that right job or climbing the corporate ladder, or maybe you've got all those things and you realize that the things that you thought would bring you freedom have actually enslaved you.
I would encourage you to pray a prayer like this:
God help me to live wisely, today, because today is all that I'm guaranteed.
I thank you so much for joining us today. And I pray that as you process these questions for your group, that you would be just encouraged in your hearts and in your walk as you seek to follow Jesus more. I'm going to pray and then I'll turn it over to your groups.
Father, thank you so much for this day. I thank you that we can gather together in person and online. I thank you for every single person who's watching. And I pray, Lord, that you would help us to see your deep love for us. And I pray that we'd be real about where we are. No matter the condition of our hearts. God, you are still for us and you still love us. And all we have to do is turn to you, help us to know that we play a role in this story that you've created, but you are the main character. Help our lives be characterized by focusing on you more than our circumstances in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.