Sunday 30 Jan
1994
Luke 8:4b-15
God is looking
for a rich harvest before the final consummation of his Kingdom. That,
I believe, is the climactic message of the Parable of the Sower (as it
is known), probably better called the Parable of the Soils.
Through
the parable Jesus teaches that the harvest comes through the means of
God’s Word; a means which will not be uniformly successful, but
which is guaranteed of final fruitfulness. He teaches that various
specific features of then human heart; of man’s nature will
either help or hinder that work.
Jesus, with his
message Repent, the Kingdom of
heaven is near (Matt 4:17), began the work of the Kingdom by
preaching and teaching; and indeed his work met with uneven response.
We only have to go back to the immediate-preceding passage at the end
of Luke 7 where we have the account to Simon the Pharisee and the
‘sinful woman’ to see that. Yet the work did not end with
Jesus; it just began with him. To his disciples, and through them to
all subsequent followers he said (John 15:16) You did not choose me, but I chose you,
and appointed you to go and bear fruit.
So, God
looks to all who name the name of Jesus Christ to be fellow-workers in
the Kingdom-work of spreading his word. It is through God’s Word
that men and women are brought to new birth.
For you have been born again, not of
perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring
word of God (1 Peter 1:23), and again: He chose to give us birth through the
word of truth, that we might be a kind of first-fruits. (Jas
1:18)
Jesus, in this
parable, firstly shows why God’s Word is not uniformly effectual,
and to do so he used something that would have been familiar to all his
hearers, for he was speaking to an agricultural people. The sower of
the seed would broadcast the seed liberally over the whole of his land,
after which the land would be put to the plough. This was all done
before the rains came, and then the seed would germinate. However, it
wasn’t all that simple. For not everywhere would be conducive to
good growth. In some places there would be only a very shallow layer of
soil over a bed of rock just below the surface. In other places there
would be roots of weeds in the soil, ready to sprout up and flourish
too. In addition, the land was divided up, for ease of working into
small fields with pathways between each, pathways which would be often
trodden on so that the ground became hard and compacted so the seed,
when sown, would lie on the surface. But the sower would sow the seed
everywhere. So it was that there were four soil-types, which as Jesus
explains the parable become four different conditions of the human
heart.
1. Some fell along the path and was
trodden underfoot and the birds of the air devoured it
(v5)…The ones on the path
are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word
from their hearts, that they might not believe and be saved.
(v12)
Many
people may hear the words, but they never hear the Word; they never
hear in any understanding way that would cause them to change. Sooner
of later the Devil comes and takes the Word away. Paul, writing to the
Corinthians said that the god of
this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers (2 Cor 4:4). It is
a fact which the Christian has to face, that many people will never
respond to God’s Word. The Word can never penetrate for the
ground is hardened.
But whom
should we have in mind here? The age in which we live; the age and
society in which we live has indeed turned its back on God- and it
behoves us to pray for the nation. But because the majority of folk
have turned their back on God they will never really allow themselves
to get anywhere near where they have any contact with this word.
I think we should be aware of this, for the parable speaks of those who
hear the word. Just recall the background against which it was spoken;
of Jesus’ recent encounter with the Pharisee Simon. This man
heard Jesus’ words, surely; as a Pharisee, well-trained in the
things of God he should have understood.
No: In
today’s terms these words address those within the churches;
those who have never allowed the word to penetrate hardened hearts;
they are those who profess and call themselves ‘Christian’,
yet have never been born again. The Scriptures are full of warning to
such people. Hebrews 3:12 says See
to it that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns from
the living God. Such people are in the danger of the Children of
Israel after the exodus from Egypt. They kept on putting God to the
test; ‘Just one more proof and we’ll believe’- yet
they never would. Psalm 95 says of them
I was angry with
that generation and I said, ‘Their
hearts are always going astray and they have not known my ways. So I
declared in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest’
(vv 10-11)
There’s a
connection between belief and obedience: the first act of obedience is
to trust God’s promises, and then to act in obedience. There is a
very real warning of the danger of becoming hardened to the things of
God, hardened to his Word, until we become incapable of response;
incapable because eventually the Devil will come and take the Word from
us. There are unbelievers within he fold of the church- and every
church has them.
The other three
cases in this parable- and here I part company with many commentators,
are believers- though only some are fruitful as Christians.
2. Some fell on the rock; as it grew up it
withered away, because it had to moisture (v6)....The ones on the rock are those who,
when they hear the word, receive it with great joy; but these have no
root, they believe for a while and in times of temptation fall away
(v13)
How sad it is
when someone like that comes to belief.For a while all seems to be
different and indeed there has been a Christ-given change in their
lives. They have believed; the seed has germinated, there is new life,
how else can we interpret this? But alas! Many believers fail to go on
with God. Yet he has put his seal on their lives:
Having believed, you were marked in him
with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit, guaranteeing
your inheritance (Eph 1:13)
I came to
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ in 1957, yet for may years I fell
away. Initially my work colleagues were saying, “What’s
happened to you?”; yet the trial of standing out different from
the crowd was too much; I had no Christian fellowship and soon fell
away. Yet God had his hand on my life and a quarter of a century later
he hauled me back in; Praise his Precious Name! For many others, they
become totally unrecognisable as Christians. Such will at th end suffer
much loss, but will be saved from an eternity without Christ; for these
he knew.
3 Some fell among thorns; and the thorns
grew up and choked it (v7)....As for those who fell among thorns,
they are those who hear, but they go on their way and are choked by the
cares and riches and pleasures of this life,and their fruit does not
mature (v14)
It may be
difficult to stand as a Christian today; many youngsters who are known
by their peers as Christian suffer considerable mockery for the fact,
and I believe a day of more widespread persecution will come. But
many do not go on because they cannot separate themselves from the
world.In 1 Cor 3:3 Paul says You
are still worldly, and this letter was written to those sanctified in Christ Jesus,
and called to be holy (1:2)
If Satan
can’t rob us of the Word, he’ll do his best (or worst if
you like) to stop us being effective, and being Prince of this World
one of his main ploys is to beset people with the cares of this world;
to tempt them with its riches and pleasures. The church in this land
will never be truly effective until such time as God’s people
really separate themselves from such things. We see other people
seemingly happy and enjoying life with so much variety; so much to
entertain and it’s easy to become absorbed by such things.
Fading is the
worldling’s pleasure;
all his boasted
pomp and show.
Solid joys and
lasting treasure:
None but
Zion’s children know.
The trouble is
so often they don’t. Do we really look to heaven as our true
home? Do we set more store by the day when we shall go to be with Jesus
for ever or do we go for the more immediate and obvious pleasures?
4. Some fell into good soil and grew and
yielded a hundredfold (v8)....As for that in the good soil, they are
those who, hearing the Word, hold it fast in an honest heart, and bring
forth fruit with patience (v15)
Finally, praise
God, there are those whose lives are truly fruitful. But, what does the
Lord mean here by a ‘fruitful life’? Many commentators
write in terms of the Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience,
and so on, and that’s not inappropriate.
But
surely, in terms of sown seed, the fact is that it produces a crop of
new grain with new seeds ready to be sown. I believe what is looked for
here are Christians who having received the Word of God, having been
born again, hold fast, having allowed the Spirit to deal with any areas
of hardness, any areas of weakness and shallowness, any areas of
worldliness and go on to bring others to the place of new birth.
I believe God
would challenge us with this: When did we last share the truth of
Jesus; when did we last share his Word with someone else; someone
outside the church situation? If we have failed, I don’t believe
he would condemn but encourage us. It’s want he wants from us.
Before we can be fruitful we need to be sure we have dealt with other
areas in this parable. Are we born-again ourselves? Is there any area
of weakness in us? Any area controlled by worldly pleasures? Else we
shall lack motive, courage and confidence.
It was
Archbishop William Temple who said that the Christian church is the
only organisation that exists for the benefit of non-members.
Evangelistic activity is a non-negotiable part of Christ’s call
on Christians and upon his church. As has been said, “The church
of God does not have a mission; the God of mission has a church”
To end where I
began: God is looking for a rich harvest before the final consummation
of his Kingdom. What does that mean; what does it mean for each
one of us; what does it mean for us as a church fellowship?