“Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. He who has ears, let him hear.” (Matthew 13:3-9)
Are you good soil? Jesus expounded upon the meaning of the parable in the following text:
“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.” (Luke 8:11-15)
In this text, Jesus talks about different types of “ground.” Of course, the ground represents the spiritual condition of the person receiving the word. Here, the word gives us five characteristics of good soil:
1) Noble and Good Heart. Let us never forget that the Lord knows the inner workings of our heart. You may be able to “play Christian” on Sundays and fool the entire church, but you’ll never fool Jesus. Just as a noble man is one who retains his nobility throughout his life (as a condition of his noble bloodline), a noble heart is one that never wavers from the truth (as a condition of our adopted bloodline).
2) Hear the word. I have, in my past, been guilty of listening to the word, but not hearing it. Listening is the act of tuning in to a sound and allowing it to reverberate in your ears. Hearing is something else entirely. It involves an attitude of acceptance and a willful desire to comprehend. Remember, faith doesn’t come from listening, it comes from hearing.
3) Retain the word. You expect the Pastor to show up and preach the word every Wednesday night and Sunday morning. How often do you remember the subject of the sermon the next day? If you want to truly become fertile ground into which others will earnestly desire to sow seed, you need to retain the word. Write it down! Chew on it throughout the week. Memorize the word. Every one of us should be approaching the Pastor on Wednesday night and telling him how we’ve chewed on and applied the word that he gave us on Sunday. We should pound it into our hearts until we can’t depart from it.
4) Perseverance. Stuff happens. It’s life. You can’t escape it, and Jesus never promised that getting saved would result in less trials, tribulations, and persecutions. Do you pull up your tent stakes every time your church goes through something tough and move on to the next congregation? I certainly hope not. Neither should you waver from being a believer to being a heathen based upon your circumstances. Jesus is not just Lord when everything is great. If you ever want to get promoted, you’ve got to get a hold of this.
5) Produce a Crop. It’s one of the overwhelming themes of the teachings of Jesus. “You shall know them by their fruit.” Likewise, if you’re receiving the seed of the Word of God, you should be producing a crop that looks like Jesus. If you’re not producing a crop that looks like Jesus, there must be something wrong with your soil. That brings me to my last point:
There is one more type of “ground” that needs to be discussed: the fallow ground of an unrepentant heart.
Charles Finney, in his famous writing entitled “Breaking Up the Fallow Ground,” speaks to the conditions of the heart that lead us to become infertile. He says, “Fallow ground is ground that has once been tilled, but has gotten hard and now lies in waste. It needs to be broken up and made soft again before it is ready to receive seed.”
You see, hard ground, by it’s very nature, is incapable of receiving seed. Hard, unrepentant hearts, by their very nature, are incapable of receiving the Word of the Lord. Take the following verse in Hosea as proof of the condition of which I speak:
“I said, ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.’ ” (Hosea 10:12)
Is repentance in order? Ask yourself. I know what I need to do.
