"Challenging Our Minds"

Jesus, the Provocative Teacher Series

Sunday, August 3, 2008, Matthew 13:1-9

Introduction: When you see a magic trick, what makes it so captivating? It is the fact that they are doing something that doesn’t seem like it can be done, and you can’t figure out how they are doing it. It captures your imagination and curiosity. For example, the magician gets locked into a box, they put a covering over the box, his lovely assistant stands on top of the box, and the she lifts up a covering around her, and then when the covering drops the magician is standing on the box with his assistant nowhere to be seen. The box is then opened, and out pops the assistant!

God gave us curious minds so that we might seek to learn more. This is what happens here with the “parable of the sower.” You have a story of a farmer who is sowing seeds, and the seed fall on different kinds of soil, and the seed all dies except that which falls on the good soil. In this week’s lesson of “Jesus, the Provocative Teacher,” we see Jesus provoking people in different ways: some who don’t understand go away frustrated or thinking Jesus is crazy, but others find the teaching curious enough to ask for the meaning.

I. The Path- (Matthew 13:3-4, 13-15, 19)

a. Birds- Jesus tells a story, that in one sense should make sense,

because it deals with a farmer, seeds that are sown, and the affect of the ground on which it is grown. Jesus starts off by talking about how some of the seed fell on the path. There was probably a farmer not too far away that Jesus could point to as an example of what He was teaching; using a visual illustration to make His point. Since seed is not very heavy, it would be easy for some of the seed to be blown off the field, which some would inevitably blow onto the path.

What do we know of a path? Well, a path is the place where people would walk. In Jesus’ day the mode of transportation was primarily walking, or carts. The path would be hard from all the people who constantly walked over it, and the wheels of the cart that passedver it as well. Because of this hardness, there would be no way that the seed could find its way into the hard ground, and thus it would stay on the surface. As the birds flew around, they would see the seed on the ground swoop down and pick it up to feed themselves.

So there were 2 strikes against the seed that fell on the path; the first was that it would not be able to find a way to root, for the soil was hard, there was no water, and the birds were there to pick it up. Seed on the path would not bear any fruit, because without the ability to root, no plant would grow.

b. Explanation- Later in the chapter the disciples ask Jesus the

meaning of the parable. The people are confused by what Jesus is saying. They wonder: what does seed falling on a path have to do with Jesus, or religion, or the kingdom of God? So Jesus says to them in Matthew 13:13-15, “This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. ¹⁴In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: " 'You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. ¹⁵For 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.'” Jesus wanted the people to understand that when hearts become hard, when we lose our curiosity about the things of God, then we will not know how we are to act or what we are to believe.

So Jesus goes on to explain what the seed on the path is about. We find this explanation in verse 19, “When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path.” The bird represents Satan, and the path represents this lack of curiosity. There are those who hear the Bible, and teaching about God, and they don’t understand. But instead of it making them curious enough to seek an explanation, they go away confused. Satan then can come and snatch it away, because it has not taken root in their hearts and minds, and they are led astray by Satan and by the ways of the world.

II. The Rocky Soil- (Matthew 13:5-6, 20-21; Luke 19:8)

a. Shallowness- Jesus next talks about seed falling onto rocky soil.

This soil was not ground with rocks all over it, but rather in Palestine it was common to have a thin layer of earth on top, and then an underlying shelf of limestone rock. So, the top layer of soil was just a few inches thick. Because of this, once the seed fell on the soil, it would root quickly because of the thin layer. However, the root would be very shallow because the dirt layer was so thin. Thus, when the sun would come up, it would heat up the soil. Since the plant didn’t have a solid root system, it had no strength against the sun. The plant, when it searched for nourishment and moisture, would find none, since it had been scorched by the sun and would thus wither away.

b. Explanation- Jesus also gave the disciples an explanation for the

rocky soil. This too had a point in regards to the heart and mind; the hearing and understanding of the teaching of God. Jesus likens the rocky soil to the person who hears about Jesus, who hears God’s word, and gets excited about it. On the outside it seems like the person genuinely believes and wants to follow Jesus. This person seems to want to change their life and live for God.

It is like the story of the tax collector Zaccheus, in Luke 19, where he is excited to see Jesus, so much so that he climbs up into a tree. Jesus notices Zaccheus and calls him down. Jesus then invites Himself over to Zaccheus’ house, and through this interaction Zaccheus gives his life to Jesus. This creates an immediate response, as Zaccheus says in Luke 19:8, “But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, ‘Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.’” Now, in Zaccheus’ case the change sticks. But in the parable of the sower, the person whose heart is like rocky soil gets overwhelmed by the troubles and persecution. As they seek to live their life for Christ, they get bombarded by those who think it is foolish or narrow minded to be a Christian. Ultimately they fall away.

III. The Thorns- (Matthew 13:7, 22; Matthew 6:24)

a. Choked off- Next, Jesus talks about the seeds that fell among the

thorns. The soil is good, which causes the farmer to plant the seeds there. So there is a deceptiveness about this ground; the farmer can’t know that the thorns exist there. The plant and the thorns end up growing together. But the problem lies in that the thorns are all around the plant. Thorns tend to grow more quickly than a plant. And so when the plant starts to grow, the thorns outnumber the plant; the thorns are all encompassing. And in time, since there is not enough room for the plant to blossom, the thorns end up choking out the plant.

b. Explanation- Jesus’ explanation for the thorns is about those who

start to live their life for God, they try to change their ways, but they get caught up in the ways of the world (the worry, problems, wealth), and turn their back on God.

There are many examples of thorns in the world. One is the example in the business world. People have rooted themselves in Christ, but then they get into the workplace. The workplace offers many challenges for a Christian. There is the temptation of moving up in the work force. It is a strong pull to want to increase your job position; to “move up” in the world, as they say. There is the temptation of being gossipy about others. There is the temptation of committing yourself too much to your work, and not finding enough time to serve God. These temptations are all “thorns” in the Christian’s life.

Another thorn is that of lifestyle. The Christian is called to give more than seek. But we live in a world that teaches independence, and seeking to fulfill your own needs. There is much in the world that calls out to us: fancy trips, cars, big screen tv’s, computers, laptops, etc… When we get caught up in the thorn of materialism, it can cause our faith to wither. We tend to forget God. As Jesus said in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”

A third thorn I have seen is that of relationships. God has designed for us to be in relationship with others. And when we are in healthy relationships, it is a great blessing to our lives. We have others who are there to support us, encourage us, and keep us strong. But there are times when others let us down, and when this happens, we can’t let it affect our view of God. I have seen many people get turned off to Christianity because of the sins and shortcomings of God’s people.

IV. The Good Soil- (Matthew 13:8-9, 23)

a. Fruitful- The last soil Jesus talks about is the “good soil.” Jesus

doesn’t give any question about what the good soil is. To know the good soil is to look at the results. It isn’t about what is seen as you look at the soil, it is the finished product of what the soil produces. As I said before, the soil that produced thorns looked like good soil from above ground, but it not only nurtured the good seed, it nurtured thorns as well. The good soil will be known because it will yield a healthy crop; as Jesus said in verse 8, “…(it) brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” Why does Jesus use 3 different yields? Because there was not one typical yield of grain from seeds that were sown. It is not so much the size of the yield, but the fact that the seed yields grain.

b. Explanation- Jesus explains the good soil in verse 23- “But the one

who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”/ First, you need to be at a place where you hear the word of God. There are many ways to do this: church, radio, internet, Bible study, personal reading, and so on. But then after hearing the word you need to understand it. Sometimes you will hear a sermon or a devotional thought, or you will read God’s word, and it will make sense to you; you understand it.

But other times you need to seek out the understanding more. That is why Jesus said in verse 9, “ Let anyone with ears listen!” The people in Jesus’ time weren’t any different than you or me, they all had ears on the side of their head. But not everyone uses their ears all the time. I know that often I will say something to my kids, only to have them respond: “What?” On top of this, we might hear something taught, but it doesn’t make sense to us. It is okay if we don’t understand something about the Bible. Jesus says that it isn’t okay to not seek to gain understanding of it.

Third, what will show God that we not only hear, but that we also understand is that we will bear fruit with our lives. The fruit is unspecified, which means it can be seen in many varieties. It could be the fruit of people coming to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior. It could be the fruit of you bringing people to church, so they not only get plugged in to a place to worship God, but a place where they can use their gifts God has given them. It could be the fruit of you helping someone, and they in turn help someone else; kind of like a “pay it forward” Christian style. But no matter the fruit, there WILL be fruit born. If there is no fruit, then we need to seek God to affect our heart and mind; we need to ask God to give us “ears that hear.”

Conclusion: It is interesting to me to see that God wants all to come to Him, and that God wants people to know His word, and yet Jesus often talked in “parable” form. Jesus would purposely teach through parable to weed out those who were following Him simply for the “wow factor. Because of Jesus’ popularity and miracles, people often followed Him because it was the thing to do, or to see another miracle. They wanted to be wowed. But Jesus wasn’t there to be an entertainer, Jesus came to lead people to salvation. And Jesus’ style of teaching was designed for the true follower.

As a preacher and teacher, I want my sermons to be understood. I would be disappointed of a large number of people went away not understanding what I had said. Jesus was provocative in that He wasn’t concerned with this. Jesus knew that those who really wanted to understand, would stick around and ask questions. Jesus knew that those who were sincere in their pursuit of God would persevere through the mysteries of God.

How about you? Do you pursue God and God’s mysteries, or do you allow yourself to go away with questions and not understanding? I want to challenge you to ask questions when you don’t understand; seek God with your whole being. Be a person who has “ears to here.” It will make the difference in your fulfilling God’s purpose for your life, and for your life to really count. Amen.