It could have been spring when Jesus taught this parable. He explained something personal by the illustration of a person planting a field. Many of us grew up planting gardens, and we learned a lot. We see here that we have a relationship with God by receiving the word of the gospel, the truth of the gospel, and the person of the gospel in Jesus Christ.
Luke 8: 4And when much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable: 5A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. 6And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. 7And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. 8And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. 9And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be? 10And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.
Imagine the people expecting Jesus to speak great things yet he spoke of the simple act of sowing seed. It wasn’t that some couldn’t receive the Lord. Everybody has the capacity to understand. Sometimes we hear but act like we don’t. We have a tendency to be self-willed. God commands us to grow, but we hesitate by our refusal to do the will of the Father in heaven. He asked why the people called him Lord but didn’t do what he said. The Bible says we are to be doers as well as hearers of the Word. It’s for our sake as well as that of others.
The crowd was expecting something deep yet Jesus began by saying a sower went out to sow. He talked about planting seeds.
- Some of it fell on hard ground, the wayside. The fowls ate the seed. Critters can sniff out a garden can’t they?
- Some seed fell on rocky ground. It sprang up okay but with no depth. The rocks kept the moisture low and the roots from going deep. When the sun came out, the little plants died from the heat.
- Some seed fell in thorny areas. The good seed sprouted, but so did the thorns. Weeds and thorns don’t choke each other. They grow faster than the seed and kill it. There are so many things that can grow up and ruin our life for the Lord. Not taken out of a garden, thorns and weeds will wrap around it and choke it.
- Some seed hit good ground. The rocks had been removed out of the ground. The weed roots had been pulled. The ground was made soft and pliable. It’s not an easy task to be fruitful, to produce results. You have to remove anything that hinders, anything that is between you and God. Nothing on the good ground hindered the seed. It was the only fruitful ground.
What can we learn about the kingdom of God? Verse 11 tells us the seed is the Word of God. Matthew tells us the sower is the Son of Man. The Bible is God’s book to his children. There is truth. To be saved one must hear the truth of the gospel of the Word and accept it into his heart. One must believe in Jesus as the Son of God and Savior of the world.
We must prepare ourselves to receive him. If we are to grow, it will be through the medium of the Word of God. The field only becomes a garden when sown with seed. You can’t look at a field and tell it to “go for it. Become a garden.” It has to be planted. We must have the seed. We must have prepared space. Break the ground. Make the soil pliable. Get rid of rocks and thorns. Anything that would keep the seed from growing must be taken out and gotten rid of.
The only way to claim a real relationship with the Lord is through the Word. In order for the seed to be sown in our heart, it must be the right seed. We can’t allow just any old seed to be sown in our life. It must be the Word of God.
If we want carrots, we must plant carrots. If we want the blessings of God, we have to let him sow the seeds he chooses. The sower is not us. We want to look at the seed of the Word from Genesis to Revelation and sometimes choose what we want or don’t want, what we like or don’t like. We can’t always dwell on comforting passages of scripture. There are commandments to obey, sacrifices to make, separation to make, and living right to do.
We generally sow a garden with what we like to eat. There are lots of good things in the Bible, but there are some really hot peppers too. Jesus is the sower. Are we willing to accept the entire seed he sows in our garden? Whether is suits our taste or not, it is good for us. The best thing we can do is let him sow what he wants, how he wants.
In one area of ground there can be hard spots. There can be rocky spots and thorny spots. Are there hard spots in your life? Are there thorny spots that don’t want the Word? Are there spots that don’t have room for him? Are you trying to keep the seeds with the weeds? You can’t. The weeds have to go.
Verse 14 tells us what one of our problems is. We get choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. Our garden becomes grown over; our spiritual life is a sham. Your field is yours. The sower is the Lord. Let him sow. The property, the field, is yours and your responsibility. My field is my responsibility. If there is no fruit at harvest time, it will not have been the sower’s fault. It won’t have been the seed’s fault. It will be the fault of the field; it will be your fault, my fault. As the owner of our field, it is up to each one of us to keep our life in such a way that we can take to heart the Word of God. We let it change us. We become what the Bible says we are to become. We can be what God wants. We can be fruitful. We can be a blessing to others.
We have what it takes to be a real Christian: (1) Jesus, the sower; (2) The Word of God, the seed; and (3) Our being, the field. Preparation of our field for growth is imperative. What are you doing with your field? Are there hard places that don’t allow God to work? If you harden your heart, the devil will work. Let the Lord help dig out the stones so you can grow. Don’t let the cares of the world choke out your efforts to serve the Lord. The Lord will help you hoe your garden. What about it? Is your ground soft and pliable?
Adwolfe Freewill Baptist Church 