Westland Free Methodist Church

“The Parable of the Soils”

7/22/07

Matthew 13: 3-9, 18-23

 

What is it about trees that enamor us?  Their color? Their shade?  Or the way they mix the sun with the shade?  Their usefulness as lumber?  Their strength?  Their beauty?  The way they sway in the wind?  Or for some, is it the climability of a tree? 

 

            Tallest Tree?   417 ft. (British Columbia, 1940)  Douglas Fir

            Oldest Tree?   4900 years old Bristlecone Pine, cut down in 1964

            Ultimate Climbing tree?  2,145 tons, 79 ft. girth, Sequoia Nat. Park, “General  Sherman”

            All of these trees come from seeds weighing 1/6000^th of an ounce.

 

            ****One seed says to another seed, “why try, we are so small, we could never make a difference.”

 

So let’s ask the question begging to be asked today, what is the key to such a healthy long lasting tree?

 

One very important assumption in understanding his parable is this:  The seed represents the Word of God.  So as the word is “sown”, the following soils are our possible responses to the seed, that is the Word or the truth of God as some might say.

 

As we consider the seed in the parable of the soils, we see that the seed fell upon 4 different kinds of soil.

 

1. The first seed is found on the path. 

            V. 4 “As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.”

                V. 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 his heart. This is the seed sown along the path.”

 

q       This could be called the hard-pan soil.

q       You find this kind of soil in between the rows of the field.  It is where many have possibly walked, so it was a trodden-down path.  The seed would often spill out of the sowers bag. 

q       The seed really never grows at all, for it gets picked up by the birds so quickly or the circumstances of life beat you into the ground. 

q       Illus.  Kentucky backpacking trip.  We hiked through tough terrain.  But as a group we followed the same trail.  6 groups of 6-8 in each group.  The path was clear as many followed along.  The smallest of seeds would not survive our hard pressed boots one after the other.  Is it the seeds fault that it couldn’t survive our boots.  No.  Was it the fault of the boots?  No, the seed was misplaced. 

q       2 warnings here:  the first is for the new Christian.  There is more to your faith than just standing at the door of your decision to accept Christ.  Over and again, Jesus said to those who chose him, “follow me”.  The 2^nd warning is for those who are mature.  You often know who those new believers are.  Don’t let them wander in the misunderstandings of the faith.  Draw them into your camp of Christian living, and give them what they need to grow in the right soil of life.  That’s one of the things I love about this past week of camp meeting.  We get to spend time around fires, beaches, services, and down time to reflect on God’s work in our lives. 

q       Putting our hearts in the wrongs places can be the difference  between life and death.  God has a plan for you and me.  Following that plan is everything to the Christian.  Coming to Christ is wonderful and maybe some here are new to faith in Christ.  Remember the seed is the Word of  God that represents the Truth of God. 

 

2. The second seed is found in the stony soil.

            V. 5-6  “Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.”

            V. 20-21 “The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. ²¹But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.

 

q       This kind of soil causes the seed to sprout sooner than it should.  Because of the shallow soil, the seeds travels up since it cannot go down as it should. 

q       The roots have not gone down after the moisture that quickly disappears within inches of the surface. 

q       Here is the danger of the shallow soil.  We can get ahead and look better to people sooner than we ought.  It’s looking good as a Christian, when in reality, we have not taken time to discipline ourselves in faith.  Another way of seeing the trouble of this place is when a person takes short cuts. 

q       ILLUS.  Kentucky – Natural Bridge State Park – 2 weeks of hiking and biking across Kentucky.  The forest was filled with many natural bridges.  The soil was shallow in many parts, especially up on the high rocks.  Trees would nonetheless grow.  As we slept, we could occasionally hear a tree finally slide off the rock face and into the ravine.  It had no root. 

 

q       This is the person who runs after things wild, new, and different without understanding first the full implication of the cost, and the risks attached. 

q       “Count me in” they say, but they have not counted the cost.

q       No “inner strength” has been established, because they have moved so fast from fad to fad, and from fashion to fashion.  They look good, but they are dangerously fragile.

 

            Is your heart stony?  Have you found yourself choking spiritually because of a shallow approach to the spiritual life?

 

3. The third seed is found in the thorny, weed-filled soil. 

      V.  7  “Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.”

V. 22 “The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.

 

q       This kind of plant looked real good at first, but underneath it had fibrous roots.  They were entangled in a way that literally choked the plant to death.  Even after the thorns are removed from the surface, the roots remained.  They were willing to be in the right kind of soil, with a commitment to depth, but there were things that choked this person’s life. 

q       Illus.  There is a vine in Kentucky that grows at will.  Plant it anywhere and it flourishes.  It was brought over from Asia as a ground cover.  It covered too good.  If you drive through Kentucky and even surrounding southern states, they fight the vines that take over complete forests along the interstates, and kill off the trees.   Misplaced seed can be disastorous. 

q       This is like having many competitors for the person’s heart:

            Like:                 --pleasures

                                    --Other cares

                                    --cluttered time

                                    --unresolved relationships

                                    --you sit in church, but your mind and your heart are elsewhere.

                                                --a person can even attend church, but the living Word in their heart is dead.

                                                --Remember, good is so often the enemy of the best.

 

q       Wetheral Johnson, once said, “It is only the truly honest, sincere, and good heart that recognized and chooses to yield itself to the main business of seeing that the written and living Word of God has plenty of room to grow within him, until his life is full of the fruit God’s seed always produces.”

q       Do you ever feel choked?  Did you know that most of the time we choke ourselves?  But we don’t see it that way.  We think others are doing it all to us, but in reality, we are doing it to ourselves.

q       It’s as if we are saying I can’t stop, but the truth is this, we won’t stop. 

q       We get this idea that we are not in control of our life.  God gives us incredible control.  We simply make decisions that put us in the thorny soil, and then we gripe at God like he put us there. 

o       We buy the $30,000 car when we can only afford the $10,000 one.  Then we get upset when God does not provide for us. 

o       We make so many commitments of enjoyment, then when it comes time to schedule your stewardship time to the kingdom of God, there’s nothing left, and you blame other things, or people for doing this to you.  The fact is, we do things like this to protect us from real Christian living.  Were living in two worlds. 

o       We’re choking ourselves. 

q       You see there are many moments that God is saying slow down, and we speed ahead like God is the ignorant one.  What does he know. 

 

4. But there is one more soil to talk about today, and that is the good soil.

                        V. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a  hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.

                  V. 23 “But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

 

q       It’s plowed soft.  It is richly deep soil ready for a firmly rooted seed. 

q       But that’s not all.  It even speaks of 3 kinds of good soil:

                        + a 30 yield crop is an good crop.

                        + a 60 yield crop is a crop worth talking about.

                        +  But a 100 yield crop is one that you walk into the grainery with your head held high.

 

                        + a 30 Yield Christian is one who has made their peace with God, and their bearing fruit.  Life is good, and the Holy but have not found the fruit-bearing life God offers.

                        + A  60 Yield Christian is one who certainly has made their peace with God, and also has found the fruit-bearing life, one who is making significant progress in the spiritual life.

                        + But the 100 Yield Christian is one who has made their peace with God,                                              they are a fruit-bearing believer, and have given their full surrender to God in their life.  They would do anything, and go anywhere God called them.  Are they sinless?  Probably not, but certainly filled with the spirit, and living a spirit-led life.

 

                        The good soil can be found in the fruit of Spirit.  Listen to these.  Can you imagine living consistently in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 

 

Illus.  While on our 5-day hiking trip, we came to a place in the forest where life seemed to stand still.  The rock formations, the natural bridge, the plush living of the plants around us.  The perfect sounds, were all there in one moment.  God has in mind to have you live in the midst of that kind of life.  It’s not a life of perfection as this world knows it.  In fact it could mean living in poverty, or living in a limited family, or being in circumstances that in this world make no sense to those around you.  But the truth is this, God will take you into the fruit of the spirit anytime, anywhere.  That is the good soil he has in mind for everyone of us. 

q            You don’t have to wait for a good credit rating to be in a plush field of God’s grace. 

q            You don’t have be out of prison to experience the perfect plan God has for you. 

q            You don’t have to prove a thing to anyone else in this world, to be exactly where God wants you to be. 

 

q            Doesn’t it come down to being rather than doing.  Can a seed do anything but be in the right place to grow.  If you will just be in the right soil, you will grow.

 

Conclusion:

What kind of soil is God’s seed falling upon in your life?

 

ILLUS.  2 maples trees in Davison, MI  were growing in the raspberry bushes across the street in the senior pastor’s yard.  I asked if I could replant them in our front yard.  He said yes, but said why bother.  We replanted those trees, just 4 feet tall.  Today 20 years later, they are 40 feet high and bringing incredible shade and beauty to that front yard.

 

Dear friends, the seed hasn’t changed since the garden of Eden, but the soil has.  What kind of soil do you have in your heart?