The last couple of years I have tried to plant grass seed in areas of my lawn…with not much success. The grass will sprout up and turn a very pretty green…then die. I have tried fertilizer, aeration, treatments and some will grow but the same areas struggle every year. I know there is an issue but I have a lot that takes time away from concern about grass that is not growing. I have a suspicion that there is something that I am missing…probably something elementary…something very basic…but I am missing it. If I were to hire an expert, they could probably use some words or instruction to express what I am missing…and I may still miss it. People listening to Jesus did.
In Matthew 13, Jesus is addressing…something very basic…and he uses “parables”, an illustration of one subject by using another subject to illustrate it. In verses 1-23, he takes three basic elements that were familiar with the people who were gathered around him…the sower, the seed and the soil. Now at first, the people around him get how the sower/seed/soil thing works as he illustrates what happens with the fate of the seed and where it landed – 1) along the path where the birds ate it, 2) some fell on rocky soil with shallow growth, 3) some landed in good soil but was suffocated by thorns that took away all its nutrients and chocked the life out of it , 4) yet some landed on good soil and produced 100/60/30 times the crop compared to what the seed originally looked like. “Whoever has ears to hear let them hear”…that is what Jesus said after that…referring to those that hear the spiritual truth that Jesus is giving them in a very basic way. What he is saying is something close to this: Do they hear the important, pointed truth with it going in one ear and then letting it slip all the way through the other ear with no opportunity for affectual change? Do they hear the truth and act like they get it but do nothing with the truth so that when things get hard and tough, the truth doesn’t fit their lifestyle anymore? Or is it that they have heard the truth, it found some soil in an open mind, grew in an hungryheart but then disappointment, discouragement, hurt, negative voices they heard from other “Christians” or fellowshipping with shallow friends and their faith was choked out? Do you find yourself identifying your relationship in any of these categories? Well, let me share some good news with you…there is a way to cultivate good soil! Hear the truth Jesus is speaking into your life, read the word of God and listen to truth…ask God to help you to have an open mind and heart to the truth you are reading or hearing, ask Him to soften your heart, renew your mind and give you a right spirit…(Psalm 51:10 – “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me”) The good soil that will be cultivated by the Holy Spirit will produce great results. When the truth of God is allowed to work in the good soil of your life, there is no limit to what God can do for you and through you! Read these following verses from Matthew 13 and let God’s word speak to you. MATTHEW 13:1-23 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 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.” 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.’ 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 Whenanyone 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.”
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AuthorThe Pastors of Cornerstone Wesleyan Church Archives
July 2017
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