Parable of the Sower

After a discussion with my mate Jack I have decided to write a wee thought about the parable of the sower. The parable of the sower was a story told by Jesus during his ministry while sitting in a boat on the edge of the lake of Galilee. The story is found in three of the four gospels so that would suggest it is an important story and we can learn many lessons from it. I am going to use the extract from Matthew 13 but the story can also be found in Mark 4 and Luke 8.

Matthew 13 v 3-8, 18-23

³Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴ As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.

¹⁸“Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 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 their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. ²⁰ The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. ²¹ 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. ²² 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. ²³ But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

I have heard this story many times and sometimes I think that a familiarity with certain stories can obscure our thinking and lead us to make assumptions that are maybe not true. I think that as Christians we sometimes assume that we are the good seed in this story and the other types of seed in this story are just different types of non christians. I think that this assumption is incorrect and that several of the different types of seeds actually refer to christians. So lets not make any assumptions but instead allow the Holy Spirit to infiltrate our hearts and minds and bring us a fresh understanding of this story.

Let us start off with the seed that falls on the path. As Jesus explains in verse 19 the seed that falls on the path refers to someone who hears the message of God but when they do not fully understand it the devil comes and takes the message away. I believe that all of us are like this at some stage. Before we put our faith in Jesus and repent from our sins, there are many times when we hear the message of God but when we don’t understand it we forget about it. So often as Christians we forget that we were once like the seed on the path and can be prone to writing people off and judging them. Do not let this thought put you off but instead encourage you, because if we were once like this seed on the path then your friends and family who currently have no interest in Gods message may one day become interested.

Then there is the seed that falls on rocky ground. As Jesus states in verse 20 this seed represents someone who hears the message of God believes it and receives it with joy but because they have a shallow root they quickly forget it and return to the way of the world. I believe that a lot of people fit into this category of seed but for several reasons do not last on their walk with God. I think the primary reasons for this are limited understanding and poor discipleship from the Church and other Christians. So often churches see salvation as the finishing line when really its only the beginning of the journey. Becoming a Christian doesn’t just save you from hell but it saves you into purpose and new life. New christians need help in their walk with God from their Church and older Christians. Many people who come to faith have a limited knowledge of the Bible and may not understand what it takes to become a devoted, sold out follower of Jesus Christ. The Church has a responsibility to teach new Christians the Bible and how to live their lives as followers of Jesus. By doing this it would help reduce the number of people who are like the seed on rocky ground, where they hear the message of God but doesn’t have a lasting impact in their lives.

The seed that falls among thorns represents most Christians in their walk with God. All of us have areas in our lives which are like the seed among thorns. We love and follow Christ but struggle to remain fruitful and overcome the desires of this world. The thorns represent anything we put before God. In many cases we assume that the thorns refer to bad things like drinking, stealing, pre marital sex or lying but in fact good things like a girlfriend/boyfriend, football, cars, music or clothes can be thorns in our lives. These good things are gifts from God which he wants us to have and enjoy but if we put them before God it is going to impact our fruitfulness negatively. Matthew 6 v 33 says, “³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” This means that if we put God first in our lives he will give us everything we need after that but God must come first. I don’t want us to be discouraged by the fact that we have thorns in our lives but instead recognise that there are thorns there and do our best to remove them. All Christians have a certain number of thorns in our lives because we are not perfect but by reducing the number of thorns we can become more fruitful.

The good seed represents someone who hears the word of God and understands it. I believe the good seed represents what we as Christians should aim for, to be perfect like Christ. By reducing the number of thorns in our lives and putting Christ first we can become good seed. We will never achieve perfection but as long as we put Christ first in our lives we will be fruitful. Our crop can produce fruit 30, 60 or 100 times what was sown. The crop represents the word of God in our lives and if we stay connected to God we can produce a great fruit and bring many of our friends, family and other people we meet to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The story of the true vine found in John 15 also gives us a good outline of how to stay fruitful, as I discussed  in my previous blog. All of us have the potential to be good seed that produces a bountiful crop when we stay connected to Jesus and put him first in our daily lives. So let us all try to become the seed in the good soil or remain as seeds in the good soil by removing all the thorns in our lives and by continuing to put Jesus first in our lives.

I hope this wee thought has helped remove some of the assumptions and stereotypes we can make when reading familiar passages and that it has helped us to achieve a greater understanding on how to be fruitful Christ followers. May God bless everyone who reads this blog 🙂

Staying Connected

A story that has been on my heart now for quite some time is found in John 15 where Jesus describes himself as the true vine. I remember back to a few years ago where I was studying this story and I really struggled to get my head around it. More recently however God has really spoke to me through this story and I would like to share what he has taught me through it.

John 15 v 4-8

⁴Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

   ⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. ⁷ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

 

In this story Jesus decribes himself as the vine and us as the branches. Jesus chose to use a vine in his story because they were walking through a vineyard and it is a metaphor that the disciples would have understood and been familiar with. If the idea of a vine and its branches is a little hard to get your head around then imagine a plant or a tree. God has taught me 3 basic principles through this story…

1. Stay connected – If you are connected to Jesus you will automatically produce fruit.

If Jesus is the vine and we are the branches then that tells us that we must stay connected with Jesus. A branch cannot grow unless it is connected to the stem or vine. If the branch does not grow then it cannot produce fruit. If we want to grow in our Christian walk then it is essential we stayed connected to Jesus. So often we pray prayers like ‘God please stop me from sinning, or God please help me forgive Jonny or God please help me to stop cursing’ and these are not bad prayers but I think from this passage that maybe a better prayer we should be praying is ,’help me be a better follower and make me more like Jesus’. If we stay connected to Jesus then we will automatically produce fruit. If a branch is connected to the vine then the automatic result is grapes. A branch will always produce grapes as long as it is connected to the vine. Our christian walk is the exact same, if we stayed connected with Jesus we will always produce fruit. So by praying and asking God to make us better followers of Jesus we are getting to the heart of the issue. By becoming better followers of Jesus the result is that we will sin less and it will become easier to forgive others. It is our connection with Jesus through the Holy Spirit working in us that produces the fruit in our lives. We cannot produce this fruit by ourselves and through our good works but these fruits are as a result of our connection with Jesus through the Holy Spirit. So by staying connected with Jesus we will produce fruit.

2. Deepen our roots – the deeper our roots the more abundant the fruit

The amount of grapes that a vine produces is down to two things; the depth of its roots and the nutrients its being fed. The deeper the roots of the vine the more fruit it will produce. Shallow roots will produce fruit for a while but it will eventually wither and die. Deep roots however will produce lots of fruit and this fruit will last for longer. As christians we are the same as the vine. The deeper our roots in Christ the greater fruits we produce and the longer these fruits will last. If our roots in Christ are shallow then the amount of fruit that He can produce in our lives is limited and eventually the fruits will stop and our walk with Christ will die. Lets deepen our roots in Christ so that we can produce more fruits in our lives. We deepen our roots by feeding on the correct nutrients.  A vine needs a certain amount of nutrients in order to grow and an essential one of these is water. Without water a vine or plant will not grow, but too much water will kill it. Our walk with Jesus is the same as the vine. We need to feed ourselves on the correct things or eventually we will wither up and die. We need to fill our lives full of the word of God, full of prayer and full of worship. By reading Gods word, praying and worshipping we deepen our roots in Christ and deepen our relationship with him. As we deepen our relationship with Christ we will produce good fruit and lots of it that will last. We must also be careful not to over indulge on the wrong nutrients. There are lots of things in this world that God gave us to enjoy but if we over indulge in them we can begin to wither. God gave us music, football, cars and friends to enjoy but if we put these things before God our fruits will suffer. We must make sure not to over indulge in these things and put God first in everything. If God is first in our lives and we devote our time to reading His word, praying and worshipping him then our roots in Christ will deepen and we will produce fruit abundantly and our walk with God will not wither.

3. Winter is always followed by Spring – a time of hardship will always be followed by a time of plenty

Although I have said that we must stay conencted and deepen our roots in order to produce fruit we must understand that we will always have to go through a period of winter. During winter it might look like the plant is dead but really its just feeding and preparing for the sun to come out. Our christian walk is the exact same, we all go through periods of trouble and struggle, and our fruit may appear to be dead but whenever God provides that breakthrough then our fruit grows once again. During winter a plant appears dead but its actually just preparing for the sun coming out. During winter a plant is still connected to the roots and is still feeding off the nutrients. This is so that when the sun comes out the plant will be ready to grow big and produce an abundance of fruit. As christians we will all have to go through periods of trials and suffering but if we keep feeding on the word of God through the Bible and prayer and attending Church then just like the plant we will be ready to produce fruit when the sun comes out and God provides that breakthrough in our lives. So even if you are in the period of winter in your lives and the fruits of the Spirit arent noticeable in your lives keep praying and reading God’s word because its only a matter of time till the sun comes out and God brings breakthrough in your situation.

In this story we are so blessed to know that if we do these 3 things we can be guaranteed that our walk with Jesus will produce an abundance of fruit. I hope someone has found this wee thought helpful. Praise God for his wonderful revelation through his most perfect word. 🙂