(Mark 4: 1 – 20; Matthew 13: 1 – 23; Luke 8: 1 – 15.)
The symbolism:
The Sower sows the seed. That’s anyone who preaches the Word of God.
The soil represents the heart and the hard, rocky and thorny soil represents some hindrances in the heart to receiving the Word of God and it producing fruitfulness.
The heart is where we believe from. A pure heart is a heart that trusts purely in Christ and not other things. A holy heart is a heart that is separated unto Christ and not other religions, gods, faiths, practice, idols, lies etc.
Understanding represents the ability to truly hear and believe the Word.
The seed producing a harvest some 30, 60 and 100 fold represents faith in the heart in the Word of God that produces fruit in someone’s life. It’s not just about hearing the Word, it’s about believing it. And when you do there will be a harvest. The better the soil the deeper the root, and the deeper the root the greater the harvest.
The only soil that produced a harvest was the good soil which represented someone who could understand/believe the Word of God because they didn’t have hinderences in their heart.
There are 3 things in this parable that hinder understanding the Word:
1) The hard path where the birds came quickly and stole the Word. This represents someone who does not honor the Word and just dismisses it. It will be stolen immediately. Be careful of the thinking “I’ve tried this so many times and it hasn’t worked. Why would it work now?” That’s the path that has been trodden on so many times. It results in a giving up and consequently dishonoring the Word. You cannot produce a harvest in this state.
2) The stony ground where the seed grew up but was quickly destroyed by the sun or rather the persecution that comes from others because of the Word. A stony heart represents someone who still relies and trusts in the law (law written on stone). When you believe you’re still under the law, even slightly, it will not allow the Word to take root in your life. This parable is all about the fruits of true faith but the law is not of faith (Galatians 3:12). Therefore if there is still law thinking in your heart it will hinder your faith and stop your harvest.
3) The thorny ground where the seed grew up but then was choked by the thorns and could not produce represents the cares and worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth. I believe this speaks of the idols in our life or the things that we trust in more than the Word of God. Therefore they choke the Word of God and restrict it from producing fruit in our life. When our faith is in other things then it is not in Christ. When that is the case you cannot produce a faith harvest.
The Good Soil:
Now the good soil is the heart that hears the Word and understands it. It’s the heart that honors the Word, walks in grace (not law) and trusts purely in Christ. It therefore receives the Word by faith and produces fruit in the person’s life.
For example:
Salvation: Firstly, until you can honor the Word of God you can never get saved. You’ll dismiss the Word before it even has the chance to penetrate your heart and it will be stolen. How often have we seen this in the lives of family and friends? But those who are open to the Word of God will not only hear it but it will have the chance to get into the heart. But there are still other obstacles it has to get through. Rocks and thorns = works and idols.
Secondly, law based thinking where people believe that they’re actually good enough to go to heaven. That is self righteousness and works. When you are self righteous you cannot understand the message of the gospel. The gospel is the message of “a righteousness from God that is given to us apart from the works of the law but comes through faith alone in Christ”. You’ll never fully believe in Christ if you are still trusting in yourself and your own works. As long as you are relying on yourself, Christ will have no effect in your life. Faith in yourself is unbelief in Christ. And without faith in Christ the Word will not produce the fruit of being born again, let alone standing through persecution because of your faith in the gift of righteousness!
Then thirdly, there’s the issue of idols. It basically means putting your trust in other things whether it’s other religions, gods, practices, beliefs, rituals possessions and so on. The reason why people fear and worry is because they don’t trust that God is their Father and source but rather look to themselves or other things. Faith can’t get into your heart as long as you’re trusting in these other things.
Then there’s the idol of wealth or rather wealth can deceive us and become an idol. Money and possessions don’t necessarily have to be idols but they become idols when we believe they are more important or powerful than Christ or when they give us a false sense of self sufficiency, which is pride. God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. God resists those who rely on themselves and their works but gives grace to those who give up their trust in self and works and rely purely on Christ. The more these idols are removed the more the heart is ready to receive the Word and see it produce the fruit of salvation. For someone to be saved they need to be able to hear the Word, let go of works and surrender full trust to God.
What about Healing? Firstly, in order to see the harvest of the promises of God in this area of your life the seed needs to take root and grow in good soil. Why do some see results in this area and others don’t. It has nothing to do with the seed. It has to do with the soil of the heart. The seed only needs good soil and will produce every time. Do you honor the Word in regards to healing or do you say, “Well I believe healing has all passed away” or “God is teaching me a lesson through this sickness” or “God only heals those he wants to” or “I’ve been prayed for so many times, maybe it’s just not God’s will?” and so on. If you believe that then you can forget about seeing a harvest of healing in yours and other people’s lives. Why? Because those are all lies that dishonor the Word and when you dishonor the Word you never truly hear it, understand it and believe it. If you don’t understand it then it can’t produce fruit in your life.
Secondly, is their law based thinking still in your heart in regards to healing? Things like:
- I’m sick because I sinned.
- I’m sick because of a genealogy curse where someone else in my family tree sinned.
- I’m still sick because I’m not serving God like I should.
- I haven’t repented of all my sins and am still a bit unrighteous.
- I’m still sick because I haven’t made Jesus Lord of all areas in my life.
These are all lies that get your eyes off the finished work of Christ and onto your own performance. Faith only works when it’s in Christ and not yourself!
Thirdly, are there idols in your belief system? Some people believe that this sickness is good for them? That it enhances them and gives glory to God. That is an idol because it’s Christ who enhances us and brings glory to God through our lives! Healing brings more glory to God than sickness as it proclaims the finished work of Christ, that at the cross He took up our sicknesses so that we could be healed!
Some people like the attention that their sickness gives them and don’t really want to give that up. It gets them sympathy, concern, pampering, and people fussing around them. And that’s not something they want to give up. Why? Because they don’t know how to get their value from Christ. Instead, it comes from other people. That’s idolatry. Now here’s the thing, they’re not sick because of the sin of idolatry, they’re sick because that idolatry is stopping them from trusting in God and his Word!
Now you can also relate this parable of faith regarding financial blessing, being used by God in ministry, victory over various things, and all the other promises of God, to you, through His Word!
Conclusion:
The most important thing in this parable is not the seed but the soil! The seed will always work if it has the right conditions. But without the right conditions the seed can’t work. God and his Word are constant and infallible. If the soil is right then his Word/seed will work every time! If the soil is wrong and therefore the seed isn’t working, we must recognize that it’s not because of the seed but because of the soil. When there are disappointments in our life because we haven’t seen the Word producing the fruit it promised, we mustn’t look at the seed/Word as though there were something wrong with it. We must look at the soil to try and find out why it’s not producing. Is there a full honoring of the Word in our heart? Is there a grace based understanding that’s completely free from law based thinking? Is there a total trust in Christ or are we hoping and relying on other things?
The good news of the parable is that if we can get the soil condition right, then the seed will produce every time! Well perhaps there are some areas of good soil in your heart regarding certain promises in the Word and it’s producing a harvest. Perhaps there are other areas that are hard, rocky or thorny that are hindering a harvest? Well the good news is you are gaining an ability to recognize those things. You can begin to ask yourself, “Do I dismiss and dishonor the Word in this area? Do I still have law based thinking in this area? Do I rather trust in other things regarding this area or totally in Christ?” Well the more you bring your understanding into honor, grace and trust you’ll start to see the Word producing fruit in those areas of your life.” Now that’s good news!
