Now if you will turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 13.
Matthew chapter 13 we're going to read from verses 1 through 9 and then 18
through 23 which is a parable of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I think it was
about two weeks ago Jan shared with me a story that she was reading. I don't know
if it was in the newspaper or on Facebook. It was about a expert in church
planting and church growth. Now you would think that this guy would know how to make
a church grow right? His church clothes. No more members. They were all gone away,
death, movement, whatever. And he said something that I think is pretty profound
in today's world. He said it's not your fault. It's not the church's fault. It's
the culture's fault because people are not coming to church. So here's a man who
knew the methods, the procedures of church growth, but he's saying it doesn't
matter what you do. The culture is just saying no. Now this is where the pastor
gets to gripe a little bit because I remember being in seminary and you
almost got the impression if you were a true leader you could go into whatever
situation and that church would magically grow. And you know what? It doesn't work
that way. It just doesn't work that way. I remember they told, they were telling us
we got to have a purpose statement, do all this stuff. So yeah we had purpose
statement. The first church I was in did help. No. I did all that stuff about going
around and visiting and seeing people and leaving my card that I was the
minister at the Presbyterian Church. You know what one person did right after I
left because I caught her out of the corner of my eye, threw the card away. We
have a problem. And often what happens is people blame the church, the minister,
there's always someone to blame except for who really is to blame. And that's
what we want to look at today in this parable. Let's read what Jesus says. That
same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds
gathered around him but he got into a boat and sat in it and while all the
people stood on the shore then he told them many things in parables saying a
farmer went out to sow his seed and as he was scattering the seed some fell along
the path and the birds came and ate it up and some fell on rocky places where it
did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. But
when the sun came up plants were scorched and they withered because they
had no root. Other seed fell among thorns which grew up and choked the
plants and still other seeds fell on good soil where it produced a crop a hundred
sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears let him hear and then
let's drop down to verses 18 through 23 where he explains the parable. Listen
then to what the parable of the sower means. When anyone hears the message
about the kingdom of God and does not understand it the evil one comes and
snatches away what was sown in their hearts. This is a seed sown along the
path. The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word
and at once receives it with joy. 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. 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. But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone
who hears the word understands it. This is the one who produces a crop yielding
a hundred sixty or thirty times what was sown. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father
help us to understand your word. Help us to understand not only the word but
this world and what is going on in people. Have mercy upon your people this
morning. I make this prayer in his name. Amen. John Maxwell is a Christian leader
and he told the story of two girls, two sisters. Now one sister turned out to
love swimming. She loved to go to the practices and she turned out to be a
very good swimmer and she got the accolades from it her name in the
newspaper. But the other girl, well she didn't like swimming and she wasn't
willing to pay the price. So one day the father says to the young girl who didn't
like swimming. He asks her wouldn't you like to work hard and get your name in
the paper? Here was the response. Dad I'd rather sit here and eat cookies and
drink milk the rest of my life. Now two children, same household, two different
paths they have chosen. Now that happens a lot in life doesn't it? But it happens
also spiritually speaking too. You can have a dysfunctional family with a father
who is mean and brutal and you can have children in that family. One may turn to
drugs and alcohol and crime. The other may become a Christian and even go on
into the ministry or be a missionary. You see this is what happens all the time
in Christianity and when the gospel is preached you've got some who will respond
and you have some who will not. Some will accept it, some will reject the gospel
and we wonder well why do people accept it and others reject it? Is it because of
slick preaching? Is it because of the programs in the church? Is it because of
upbringing? Or is there something else going on? And I'd have to say to you
there's something else. There's something much deeper and it has to do with the word
of God and the soil of your soul. That's what it has to do. So look at our own
church for instance. This church has done a lot. It has tried to reach out to the
community. It has invited people. It has shown people fellowship. We have had a
youth group. But what's happened? No response. No response. Is it our fault?
Now I'm not saying we're perfect. I'm not saying we couldn't do things better and be
more faithful. But let's also be honest. A lot of the problem may not be ours and
the problem we also face as a church body is discouragement because of what's
going on and it's not just us. It's the entire church world where we see the
numbers declining in various types of church and the blame game goes on,
doesn't it? It's got to be somebody's fault. And we do a lot of what goes on in
America. We blame the wrong people for what the problem is. Now the problem
often is the soil of our souls. And let's delve into this passage to see what
Jesus is going to tell us about what's really going on. And here's what
you've got to realize. There is a mystery in this world and it is the mystery
of God's Word and you see that in the first three verses. It is a mystery of
how God accomplishes his purposes in this world. But it has to do with this word
and we get a glimpse here when Jesus tells us parable. He's at the seashore and
he starts to preach and he begins with a parable in verse 3. Now a parable, it's
like an analogy. It's taking something that is known to explain something that
may be unknown. In this case it is a very common agricultural image which the
people back then would have been very very familiar with. The story of a farmer
who goes out and sows his seed and you've got to get the picture. There would be a
sack of seed and the farmer would be going around, reaching in and just throwing
out the seed. And we need to understand before we look at this parable who the
players are. The sower is God. Then we have the seed which is his word and the
soil are various types of people. And think of this, it's a mystery of how this
is distributed because God is scattering that seed indiscriminately. I want you to
think about who Jesus preached to. The poor, the sick, the Pharisees, the Sadducees.
He was preaching to everybody. He didn't make a discrimination on who the word
went out to. You've got to think of it like, now I don't see this as much as we
used to but you used to have paper boys who would take the paper, they ride their
bike and they throw that paper all over the place. You get papers everywhere.
Well that's what the preaching of the Word of God is like. It should go out
indiscriminately. It should go out all over the place. And in Acts chapter 8
verse 4, when we look at the great expansion of the church, here's what it
says, therefore those who were scattered were everywhere, preaching the Word. Now
I want you to look at our own community for instance. Is that true? You've got
your street preachers who are out proclaiming the Word. You may disagree
with their methods but they are proclaiming the Word. You can go down
into the prisons, you can go down to these various ministries we have. The Word
of God is being preached. The Word of God is being preached at very rich and
exclusive churches but it's also being preached in less exclusive churches. It
is being preached in charismatic churches, Episcopal churches, Presbyterian
churches. It's being preached all over the place and I want you to think of all
the different types of people who are listening, cooks, cleaners, bank executives,
engineers, teachers, doctors, lawyers, prisoners. And that is the way that Jesus
Christ always intended it. It's not to be towards a select few. The Word of God
was to be scattered all over the place and here's where the tension comes in.
You know if we go by modern standards of efficiency, we'd say it's a waste of
energy because it's not focused enough but God's kingdom doesn't work that way.
What we may consider wasteful, God may be using because the gospel and the way it
works is a mystery and we don't know exactly all the details of how it is
working out and it's also the mystery of productivity because that farmer who goes
out, he sows that seed, some of it goes into the ground, he can't see how it
works yet it grows out of sight. It grows. It is a mystery of God's grace and
productivity and you and I don't know how God's Word is affecting us all. I came
across the following story. It was about a lonely old man named Thomas who outlived
all his friends and no one was at the church and at the graveside. He had
taught Sunday school in the church but there was one person who was there, a
military man, of some rank and after the ceremony this is what he said, you will
perhaps be wondering what I'm doing here. Years ago Thomas was my Sunday school
teacher. I was a wild lad and a sore trial to him. He never knew what he did for me
but I owe everything. I am or will be to old Thomas and today I had to come and
salute him at the end. How does God's Word work? Sometimes out of sight, sometimes
out of mind but it works and people may think we aren't doing any good but I
gotta tell you if there is one person who responds to the grace of God it was all
worth it. If one sinner repents, if one soul is held, if one person becomes a
Christian in all that we do it's worth it because that person has become part of
the kingdom of God and we've got to get over this mindset that we are wasting
our time by proclaiming the gospel. You just don't know what's gonna happen. Now
that is the mystery of God's Word but there's something else that's going on
in this passage here. There's more and that has to do with the soil of people's
soul and here we have to realize people will reject God's Word and why is that?
Well there's one group in this parable, the hard harder. You see it in verse 4 and
verse 16 where it says he was scattering the seed and some fell along the path
and the birds came and ate it up. In ancient Near East the farmland was
sown in long strips and there were paths that ran near it, thoroughfakings and
what would happen is is that because people were walking on it and then you've
got rain and more people walking on it that soil became very hard and of course
when the sower is going out and so some of the seed would fall on those very very
hard paths and it would just hit the ground and stay there. It would not go
deep. Now Jan got a new top to her convertible and here's what was
interesting. We were looking at it one day and after it rained the rain was just
sitting there. It wouldn't go in. I guess it's a new technology for convertible
car tops but it was just sitting there until it evaporated. It's sort of the same
here with the seed. It just sits there and the birds come and get it. It doesn't
go deep and the reason is if we look at human beings it's because of hard
heartedness. They don't want to hear the word of God. They don't like the word of
God. You could give them the best evangelistic presentation. They don't
care. They just don't care how many times when we used to go out and do
Christmas goodie bags, you know, the door shut in my face because they didn't want to
hear the gospel and you know some people may say well I've been offended by the
church. The preacher said X, Y, and Z or I'm disappointed in the church and its
ministry. Oh there's so much hypocrisy going on. Let me tell you there is a
deeper issue. You know what the deeper issue is? People just don't care about
God. They're at war with God. They're angry at God and it's not you. It's your
message. It's what you believe but it's not you. So for example I remember when I
was in high school. Now we had a Christian group that met in the morning and I
remember we were meeting and the bell rang and we were a little slow getting out
and there was some girl banging at the door saying well what do you Christians
do in heaven? An orange juice party? She hated Christianity. When I was a covenant
and I was working summers in a mail room one of the professors came up with this
great little sermon. I thought it was wonderful. Gave it to one of the male
workers. That's nice. He hated God. He didn't want to have anything to do with the
kingdom of God. But that's the way people are. You've got to understand. Jesus said
there's going to be warfare in this world and part of that warfare is that
people don't like the message because they don't want to sovereign God who is
holy and they don't want any claims on their lives. Oh but there's more here.
That's just one type of soil. There's also shallowness and you see that in
verses 5 and 6 where it says some fell on rocky places where it did not have much
soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil is shallow. In the ancient world you
did have a lot of rocks and what would happen is you would get a lot of rain
but the soil was very shallow. The water would collect for a while and you would
have some growth. But then the water dried up and then what happened? It just
disintegrated. I mean the plant didn't live long. It died. And what does Jesus say
about this type of soul in verses 20 and 21? He says the seed falling on rocky
ground refers to someone who hears the word and wants to receive the joy but
since they have no root they only last a short time and when trouble or
persecution comes because the word they quickly fall away. What Jesus is telling
us is that there are some people who will react at first very positively towards
Christianity but the moment there is any trouble they don't stick. And in today's
society where Christianity is a stigma that's going to happen because people
don't want to face rejection from friends or family. They will say such
things as you're a pilgrim. Oh he's religious. He's a Puritan. The stigma
of following Christ will cost you and there's some people who just don't want
to deal with that. How many times do we see people who are in a church for a
while? They're all joyful but then they leave and it's probably because of
shabbiness. They don't want to put up with the troubles of following Christ. It's
not us. And there's one other here. There's the lack of commitment. You see
that in verse 7. Other seed fell upon the thorns which grew up and choked the
plants and if you look in verse 22 it tells us the seed falling falling
among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word but the worries of this
life the deceitfulness of wealth choked the word making it unfruitful. So here's
what you got. There are other things that are more important than the kingdom of
God. That's why people aren't interested in Christianity. There are other things
that are more important and I want you to think of what's gone on in our culture.
Now we can blame all the anti-christian forces yes but you know what I think is
really at the root of a lot of it. We become so busy and we have made a conscious
or either unconscious decision church is not the priority. Kingdom of God is not
the priority. The ball games will be the priority. Your trips with your friends
that's the priority and our schedules get so full we don't have time for the
kingdom of God and let's be honest it's just not that important to a lot of
people. That's the shallowness of it all. In Mark 8 36 what good is it for a man to
gain the whole world and forfeit your soul? Charles Spurgeon the Baptist
pastor said this there is only a certain amount of thought and energy in a person
and if the world gets it Christ cannot and isn't that exactly what's happening
a lot? It's not the anti-christian message necessarily but you just don't
want to make time for your schedule and that's what happens to a lot of people
because there are other things that are more important the entertainment the
hobbies the sports whatever. Now if Jesus left us at this point oh it would be a sad
state of affairs wouldn't it? But he tells us about one other type of soil and
you find it in verse 7 and 28. Other seed fell in verse 8 still other seed fell on
good soil where it produced a crop 160 or 30 times what was sown it produced it
grew. Someone is hearing the word they're taking it in to their souls and
they're producing. It's not a mountaintop experience that we're looking for here
it's what the Word of God is doing in your soul. Let me give you an excellent
example of this it is by Louis Pallu. Louis Pallu was a South American
evangelist he was sort of the Billy Graham of South America and he told the
story one time a true story of Rosario who was a terrorist an expert in
martial arts who was known to have killed people policemen but he went to one
of Louis Pallu's revival services. He hated the message but he repented became
a Christian and ten years later he is assisting and he assisted in planning
five churches and founded orphanages and homes for children. The message blossomed
in his soul. You may not be like this person with the terrible
background who had a dramatic conversion you may not have the resources to start
out and build orphanages but there are untold stories of men and women and
boys and girls who have received the Word of God and they have supported their
church and the kingdom of God in whatever way they can. That is an example of the
fruitfulness of the gospel it doesn't have to be dramatic there's a lot of
lesser lights in this world which still shine brightly but that's what God wants
to see. Now why have I told you this this morning because of what's going on in the
world? It is difficult to be a Christian this is not the 1950s anymore it is a
different age and the worst thing that we can do is start blaming ourselves
looking down on what we do having no confidence at all in the gospel. What we
really need to be thinking about is the soil of people's souls and don't blame
God. The blame is with the soul and what people really want in life and maybe
right now what is happening in America is we're beginning to see that there are
those who may have claimed to be Christians but they're really not the
soil that produces. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, our Lord and our God, we
ask now that that word will be sown in more people's hearts because we know
that if is that soil of our soul must be broken so we ask that you apply that
seed into more people's hearts and help us to trust in you and the plan for your
kingdom. Amen.