Soils and Secrecy
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
If you have ever seen The Imitation Game starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing, you are familiar with Enigma and ULTRA. Enigma was a German coding machine that allowed the Nazis to communicate about military, naval, and political operations without detection. It was a simple coding idea, but a complex system involving three wheels of 26 letters (later 5) in which communication would be typed out and then the Enigma machine would switch out letters so that no letter was the same in the message, and send the correspondence. This meant that the the letter coding capabilities was 3x10 to the 114th power! Or this number:
3,283,883,583,796,974,198,700,882,069,882,752,878,379,955,261,095,623,685,444,055,315,226,006,433,
615,627,409,666,933,182,371,154,802,769,920,000,000,000
It seemed to be impenetrable to the Allies, and for years it was. In the early 30s, the Poles were actually able to crack the code, but the Germans added the two extra wheels and they became helpless again. Because it was inevitable that Germany was about to invade Poland, they took their findings and handed them over to the British. The British took the intelligence and got their best mathematicians and eccentrics to work. Soon they had been able to figure out some of the coding, but it was Alan Turing and his team finally created a machine to be able to decipher it in record time. The Germans changed the wheels and keys every night at midnight, so every day there was a new code to break. What took hours and sometimes were impossibilities before, with Turing’s machine, nearly every code was broken in 14 minutes!
Why do I tell you this story? Because Jesus often spoke cryptically. We love to read and hear Jesus’s parables, but they aren’t always easy to crack the meaning of them, and that was the point. This morning, we get to the first real parable to a crowd of people that Luke records. There was the parable that Jesus told Simon about the debtors, but this is the first large-scale parable. And as we read this text this morning, I want us to see what Jesus wanted us to see. Specifically, what the Kingdom of God is like. But in that, I want us to see four details regarding this parable. The first is the planting of the seed. The second is the problems of the soil. The third is the produce of the steadfast. And finally the purpose of the secret.
The Planting of the Seed
The Problem of the Soil
The Produce of the Steadfast
The Purpose of the Secret
We’re going to only read the parable itself, but we will be working through this entire section of Scripture.
“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.”
The Planting of the Seed
The Planting of the Seed
As we get into this parable, we actually don’t see Jesus saying why he is even telling this parable. He sees a crowd forming and just starts talking about a man going out and throwing out some seeds. It just seems to come out of nowhere. I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced people who will suddenly start telling you a story out of nowhere, but if you have, it doesn’t take long before you start scratching your head for a whole bunch of reasons.
Where did this story come from? What does this have to do with the conversation we were just having? Is there a point to them telling this? I remember in high school having to read As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner. Within this book is the shortest chapter of any book, only 5 words long. At the end of the chapter 18, a young boy by the name of Vardaman had been told that his mother had died. Chapter 19: “My mother is a fish.” It seems to come out of no where and has left many a high school student scratching their heads. If you want to know why he said this, ask me after the service and I’ll tell you.
In the same way, Jesus seems to speak out of nowhere about a person planting seeds. And as we read, this man is planting the seeds but he isn’t too careful about where the seed falls. Back then, people planted differently than we do today. The seed was cast first and then the field was plowed so the seed would be covered. So here is the man casting the seed. He actually seems to be planting indiscriminately of the soil. Some of it falls onto the path, some onto rock, some among thorns, and some in the actual soil that can produce a crop.
Probably, by my using the word “indiscriminately,” you already know where I am going with this point. While we must be careful with what we are planting, we don’t need to be careful about where we’re planting. As we read,
Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
Christians, like just about everyone else, like to talk. We love to talk about just about anything. And in our talking we are certainly planting seeds. Parents plant seeds into the minds and hearts of their children. Friends plant seeds in the minds and hearts of the friends. Husbands and wives plant seeds into the hearts and minds of one another. The question isn’t whether or not we are about planting seeds. The question is: what seed are we planting?
We often get into our heads that the seed is the gospel, and the seed would certainly contain the gospel. But Jesus tells us that the seed is simply the word of God. The gospel is a major part of the word, and all the word points ultimately to the gospel, but the gospel is not the whole of God’s word. So let me ask, you beloved, what is it that you are planting in your families, in your friendships, and among your coworkers?
It’s easy to discriminate isn’t it? Perhaps among your believing friends and family, you don’t have to worry so much. They love Jesus. You love Jesus. They love the Bible. You love the Bible. So to talk about those things isn’t too hard. Of course, sometimes we don’t want it to seem like all we care about is Jesus and God’s word! So we hold back.
But then, we have even more doubts when it comes to non-believers. We discriminate against them in that we don’t plant seeds nearly as much. They wouldn’t want to hear about the passage we read earlier. They wouldn’t be moved by God’s grace and mercy. To hear the stuff that comes out of their mouths is all we need to know that they would never be interested.
Jesus simply says, there was this guy, planting some seeds. Some of it fell here. Some there. Some over there. At this point, the spreading of the seed is all the guy is concerned about, because as the great theologian, Wayne Gretzky said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
Paul demonstrates this idea in Romans. Right from the get-go, he wrote:
I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.
So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
He would tell the Corinthians that he became all things to all people so that by all means he may save some. So beloved, let’s be careful about what we’re planting, but not so much as where we’re planting it.
The Problem of the Soils
The Problem of the Soils
So the first detail of the parable that we need to see is the planting of the seed being indiscriminate. The second detail comes about because of the problem of the soils.
Three-fourths of the soils are problematic. Three-fourths are not able to give the seed the chance it needs to produce a crop.
The first soil is just hardened soil.
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.
Like the birds in the parable, so the devil comes and snatches the word. For the most part, these are the only ones in this parable that can be said from the outset that they are unbelievers. Like the path, the hearts are hardened so that the word does not implant itself into the heart. Instead, the devil comes and take the word away as soon as possible.
In C. S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters, Screwtape, an old but experienced demon is telling his protege Wormwood, how to snatch the word or thoughts regarding the word, away.
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, 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.
Any way that Satan can snatch the word of God from the hearts of man will be done. But the end result is wretched. No faith. No salvation.
Another problematic soil requires rocks.
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.
These are people that we would look at and for all intents and purposes, would find to be believers. But there is very little depth of God’s Word in their lives. Whereas the first soil was too hard to absorb any of the word of God, this rocky soil absorbs it, but not very deeply. To be rooted, the soil needs to be abundant. It needs to hold water. And the rocks allow for neither of those.
So while they believe for a while, however long that may be, at the moment of testing, they cannot stay strong. There’s no soil to hold them. There is no water to strengthen them. They just simply whither.
Whatever the testing is, it is just too much. For some, the testing is the rejection of friends and family. They cannot withstand the pain of rejection. Jesus promises great blessings for those who would withstand such a testing, but many just can’t do it. Another is sickness or death. Faith is great until someone gets sick. It may be that the one who believes that gets sick, but more often it is a loved one’s sickness or death that gets the best of them. There is an anger with God because they expected God to intervene when he would not. It could be persecution at the state level. Being tortured or imprisoned or threatened with death has a way of causing people to deny the faith. Many who seem like good, strong believers fall away, whither under the heat of testing.
Still a third problematic soil involves thorns.
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.
Before we look at the thorns, let’s notice the plant. The plant seems to be pretty well embedded into the soil. This isn’t rocky soil keeping it from growing roots. It seems to have the roots and I say that because it actually has borne some fruit! The problem is that it doesn’t get to mature. It’s baby fruit!
It’s like there was a blossom and then a little bud of fruit begins to appear, but suddenly the plant dies. Why? Thorns choked it. It was surrounded by dangers, but not persecution-type dangers. It was surrounded by the cares, riches, and pleasures of life.
Paul warned Timothy about these dangers.
But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.
John wrote about these dangers.
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.
And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
There are those here this morning that are wondering why they are not producing the fruit they think they should be producing. Could it be that you have been hearing the word of God for some time, but are continuously distracted by this world?
You have been going to church your entire lives but rarely think about the sermon past Sunday morning. You’ve been reading your Bible years and yet forget what has been read just seconds after closing it. We are so easily distracted. And when I say we, I mean we. We cannot wait to get home so we can binge-watch our favorite show, watch the game, play a game. We turn on the news, listen to the radio, read a book, play the stock market, and the list goes on. And none of those things are bad in and of themselves. But they certainly are distracting. Perhaps that Screwtape letter works here as well.
These are cares of the world. These are the pleasures of this world. And they vie for our attention so that we don’t think deeply about God’s Word and so cannot produce the mature fruit that it can give.
The Produce of the Steadfast
The Produce of the Steadfast
We’ve seen the planting of the seed and the problem of the soils as the first two details surrounding this parable. The third is the produce of the steadfast.
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.
Notice that every single soil hears the word of God. Only one type reaches the point of producing mature fruit. Jesus said this soil is good soil. It’s steadfast soil. It’s honest and good soil. In the original Greek, these words are emphatic. This makes all the difference in the world.
You may remember a few weeks ago, I was talking about the difference between good and good. Jesus was talking about a good tree producing good fruit. And that word meant that the tree/fruit was healthy and pretty. That’s the word “kalos” where we get the word calligraphy—beautiful writing—from. But then there was the good heart and good treasure just a few verses later. This is the word “agathos,” and I said to think about Agatha Christie who wrote good mysteries. But the word generally means moral goodness but also means useful and beneficial. Those are the two words used to describe the soil—the heart of the one who produces good fruit.
It is healthy and morally good. In other words, the soil of this heart has been fertilized. It’s been plowed, fertilized; it’s not easily overcome with afflictions and not easily distracted by pleasures of the world, and so it is ready to take in the seed so that it grows and produces a crop.
And it doesn’t just do it because it’s been sown into the soil. But because the soil—the heart of the person hearing—is steadfast in making sure it produces the crop.
Now, let me tell you what I am not saying and what I am saying in that last sentence.
What I am not saying is that you’ve got to get your heart right before you can become a Christian. None of us can do that. The Bible tells us that we all have hearts of stone and only God can change that. All of us would be the hardened soil if not for God’s plowing and preparing us first. Remember, the only soil that is explicitly said to be unbelievers is the first.
What I am not saying is that there are a list of rule that need to be followed in order to be a good Christian. I am not saying that we are to work in our own strength and that producing fruit is solely up to us.
What I am saying is that we do have a part to play. As Paul wrote to the Philippians, what God is working inside of us, we are working outside of us. As he told the Colossians: we toil in his strength and in the power of his might.
So the steadfast work that we are doing is being done with God’s strength and accomplished because of what God is doing within us.
Paul wrote,
he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,
if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
We are to be stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel. It’s what we reformed folk call the perseverance of the saints. That’s actually the word used for “patience”—perseverance. And Jesus just gave the warning that the testing of this world or the pleasures of this world.
The Purpose of the Secret
The Purpose of the Secret
I quickly want to move on to the fourth detail surrounding this parable. That is that the meaning of some of Jesus’s parables was a secret.
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.’
Often times, Jesus’s parables were cryptic. They were codes that were indecipherable to certain people. In essence, God in his providence and sovereignty, used the parables revealing the kind of soils the people had. Jesus said that they see and may not see. They hear but they may not understand. At the end of the parable, he says to everyone, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Now Jesus said some just don’t have those ears. They hear, but they don’t understand. The purpose of the secrecy was to show what kind of heart was listening. Will they be content with a nice story or will they go deeper? Will they receive it with joy but then forget about it when persecution comes? Will they stick with it until the pleasures of this world become unbearable? Or will they hear, plant it deep, and bear mature fruit?
Conclusion
Conclusion
So as we finish with this parable, we’ve seen the planting of the seed was done indiscriminately. The problem of the soils involved both the afflictions of this world and its pleasures. The produce was because the soil was ready to have the seed sown so long as the word was held steadfastly. And the purpose of the secrecy was to show that the same word of God could be received and understood by some and produce fruit, but heard by others and never understood because of their own hearts.
It’s easy to have gone to church our entire lives and think that we are safely in the good soil category. Yet the reality is that the testing and pleasures of this world are always coming our way. Let us pray as is in the Middleburg Liturgy.
A few months ago, I read a prayer out of the Middleburg liturgy that blew me away. It goes like this:
Almighty God, and most merciful Father, we humbly submit ourselves, and fall down before your Majesty, asking you from the bottom of our hearts, that this seed of your Word now sown among us, may take such deep root, that neither the burning heat of persecution cause it to wither, nor the thorny cares of this life choke it. But that, as seed sown in good ground, it may bring forth thirty, sixty, or a hundredfold, as your heavenly wisdom has appointed. Amen.
There is not one of us here this morning that ought not be praying this same prayer, because there is not one person here this morning who is not susceptible to falling to testing or worldly pleasures.