Parable of the Sower

Luke 8 - Parable of the Sower

"And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable: "A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold." As he said these things, he called out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, he said, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that "seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand." Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience." (Luke 8:4-15 ESV)

What is the seed? What does the word of God mean? Today it means the Bible, but what was Jesus talking about?

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:1-5 ESV)

Jesus is the Word made flesh, the story of God's salvation jumping off the pages of scripture and literally into the world.  So in the parable, he is referring to himself, the savior. The image of the seed taking root and bearing fruit means that someone receives the good news of Jesus' death and resurrection and grows in faith.  

The seed, (aka The Word, aka Jesus) in the parable is also referring to the Old Testament. Check out the story about the rich man and Lazarus:

"There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, "Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame." But Abraham said, "Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us." And he said, "Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house— for I have five brothers —so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment." But Abraham said, "They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them." And he said, "No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent." He said to him, "If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead." (Luke 16:19-31 ESV)

Pretty strong message huh? Listen to Moses and the prophets. . .ear the scriptures.  There are people who will hear the word an ignore it.  Jesus says no miracle will be powerful enough to convince those who reject the message of the Bible. 

I listened to a message by Ravi Zacharias who said that the brothers would not have believed no matter what. They would have explained the dead man away, saying

I was drunk or I was dreaming. To those bent on disbelief, no amount of proof will suffice. Think about the Jews who watched Jesus perform miracles and instead of believing, tried to stone him or throw him off cliffs.  Their response to a miracle is to attempt murder and eventually they do succeed in having Jesus executed. They saw and heard of the miracles; but instead of falling on their knees, the stuck their fingers in their ears, put out their tongues and said blahbehelehejekeleheh to the God who was literally dying for them.

Could you see someone saying this today? "I'd believe if I saw a real miracle, if I someone raised from the dead."  This literally happens every day at the hospital, dead people are brought back to life. But who do we worship an praise for it? A doctor who performed the resuscitation? The genius of humanity for creating clever devices of healing? The amazing health care system we have in America? Do we praise the God who made the person who died, who gave the doctors their life and brains? Do we praise the God who created the air we breathe that it could even be pushed through the dead man's lungs? We disbelieve "supernatural" miracles and dismiss the miracles we see every day.

Back to the parable of the sower, who is the sower?

God through the Holy Spirit, first and foremost, and also us as his instruments (seedbag)

1. God wants all men to be saved:

This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:3, 4 ESV).

2. God has made his power and glory clear through creation:

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. (Romans 1:19-25 ESV)

3. God has revealed himself and salvation through scripture.

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:14-17 ESV)

Why is scripture so important?

Scripture shows us the truth! It reminds who we are and who God is. We are but dust. We are carbon with life breathed into us by a genius creator who though it would be fun to create a race of people who would reject him. We see that God made the world, the sun an stars, he knows the very number of hairs on our head, he knit us together in the womb. We see his plan and path for salvation, first through sacrifice under the law of Moses, and then through sacrifice under the law of Grace through Jesus Christ. The word shows us that God can raise the dead, both spiritually and literally. Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life!!

Let's go back to the parable of the sower and see how:

What are the 4 kinds of people in this parable?

1. Bob -

Bob is what his name sounds like, one of those dudes who just bobs through life. Maybe he sees a beautiful sunset and for a moment has a thought of God, but then a mosquito bites him and he forgets it. Or maybe he was invited to church, but then got an invite to play golf instead. Bob is a lot like the human that Uncle Screwtape tempts away from salvation in C.S. Lewis's famous book.

Remember, he (Bob) is not, like you, a pure spirit. Never having been a human (oh, that abominable advantage of the Enemy's!) you (Slumgob) don't realise how enslaved they (humans) are to the pressure of the ordinary. I once had a patient, a sound atheist, who used to read in the British Museum. One day, as he sat reading, I saw a train of thought in his mind beginning to go the wrong way. The Enemy (Christ) of course, was at his elbow in a moment. Before I knew where I was I saw my twenty years' work beginning to totter. If I had lost my head and begun to attempt a defence by argument, I should have been undone. But I was not such a fool. I struck instantly at the part of the man which I had best under my control, and suggested that it was just about time he had some lunch. The Enemy presumably made the counter-suggestion (you know how one can never quite overhear what He says to them?) that this was more important than lunch. At least I think that must have been His line, for when I said, "Quite. In fact much too important to tackle at the end of a morning," the patient brightened up considerably; and by the time I had added "Much better come back after lunch and go into it with a fresh mind," he was already halfway to the door. Once he was in the street the battle was won. I showed him a newsboy shouting the midday paper, and a No. 73 bus going past, and before he reached the bottom of the steps I had got into him an unalterable conviction that, whatever odd ideas might come into a man's head when he was shut up alone with his books, a healthy dose of "real life" (by which he meant the bus and the newsboy) was enough to show him that all "that sort of thing" just couldn't be true. He knew he'd had a narrow escape, and in later years was fond of talking about "that inarticulate sense for actuality which is our ultimate safe guard against the aberrations of mere logic." He is now safe in Our Father's house (Hell).

Do you know anyone like Bob? Someone who may have briefly heard of Christ, but never believed.

2. Rocky  

Rocky is the classic retreat Christian. He goes to the church retreat with some friends, hears about Jesus, gets really pumped up, but then goes home and nothing has changed. His parents are still jerks, his grades still stink, the guys on the football team encourage him to get into trouble. He truly and honestly was fired up about Jesus, but it was very short lived in his tough life.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. (John 15:4-6 ESV).

Why does Rocky quickly forget about Jesus? He is not at church, he is not doing Bible study, he is not surrounded by friends to remind him of Jesus. His life is tough, and he slips away from the One who received with Joy. . .God's work did not take root in his heart.

Who do you know that reminds you of Rocky? Is there anything you can do, any way you can help?

3. Suzy

Suzy Thornbush is a great kid. She comes from a fantastic family, grows up in church, sings the lead in church pageants. Fantastic person, fun to be around. She loves Jesus, no doubt. She is the queen of confirmation class and stands up in front of church and describes how she will serve Christ by getting involved in the youth group.

When she gets to high school, sometimes she has too much homework, or sometimes there is a big dance on Saturday night. She thinks her Sunday school teacher is a little goofy and church is kind of boring, so when her parents let her skip, she doesn't feel too guilty.

Then she gets to college, meets some fantastic girls, and joins their sorority. They have a ton of fun, but suddenly her freshman year is gone and it's when she comes home for summer break and starts talking to her mom that she realizes she hasn't really thought about God all year. She helps with VBS that summer and has a blast, thinks she should get involved with a campus ministry that fall, but when she goes back to school in the fall, college life goes back to normal.

Toward the end of college Suzy meets a great guy. Smokin hot, kind, very hard-working. . .he's going to medical school. She loves him, her sorority sisters think he's great. But her mom asks if he's a Christian. Sure he is, she thinks, but she truly never talks to him about God. They get out of school, get married, med-school starts, the tennis league comes up on Sunday morning. Suzy feels a tinge of guilt, so she joins the Junior league - she feels needs a good way to give back to the world. She gets pregnant several years later, the baby comes, and her mom asks where they want to have the bapstism. "Hmmmmm. . .i guess at your church mom? Pastor Hellmers is still there and I always loved him".

Suzy starts to rethink life with her new baby girl. She and Mr. Smokin' Hot find a church and start attending every once in a while. She begins to pray regularly and read bible stories to her baby. Suzy feels great about life, and they continue like this until the twin boys come along. The twins are a handful. They terrorize Sunday School, so they don't come as often. . .why ruin it for everyone else? When soccer and baseball start happening on Sunday mornings, Suzy doesn't have the heart to tell her boys no. They need the exercise and love playing. . .and before she knows it, the boys are grown heading off to college. She's going to have a bunch of free time, maybe she should start going to the women's bible study on Tuesday mornings. . .

Do you know Suzy? How do you not become her? Is she even all that bad?

Are Suzy, Rocky, and Bob Christians? Will they get in to heaven? Even they do, what have they missed or neglected?

Last but not least, Alfonso - a real, not a fictitious person

Alfonso. . .I honestly don't even remember what this guy looks like. I met him at a camp years ago and gave a speech that I didn't remember, but that motivated him. Kind of like Rocky, every one at camp was fired up about Jesus. But unlike Rocky, Alfonso didn't go home an forget, he walked with Christ, founded a tennis ministry to reach inner city kids through sports and the gospel. He called me up 10 years later because I apparently told my group of guys, "I know you are fired up today, but the real proof of your walk with Christ is what you will be doing ten years from now. He wrote down my phone number and called me 10 years later. . .pretty amazing. One little seed bore fruit a hundred-fold.

Do you feel like God has used you to plant seed? Where?

Get out two pieces of paper, lets do some writing:

What do you want your life to look life in ten years? What to want to have accomplished? How do you plan to be walking with Christ? How do you want to be scattering seed?

Who has scattered seed in your life?  On the second piece of paper, take a minute to write them a thank-you note.