"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart."
With that in mind, let's get a move on and look at what's on the menu today.
The Parable of the Sower
You may recognise it, you might even know the story. While travelling through various cities in villages, a huge crowd starts to form and Jesus tells them the story of a farmer who goes out one day to sow some seed. The seed falls on various types of ground. One portion of seed fell along the path, onto hard ground, and was walked on and carried of by the birds. Another, fell on rocky ground and so the roots couldn't grow properly and the plants withered in the hot sun because they had no moisture. Some seed fell among thorns and weeds which, as soon as the plant started to grow, choked and killed the plant. The last portion of seed fell into good soil, and produced a bountiful harvest.
You can read the story from:
Matthew 13:1 http://www.esvbible.org/Matthew+13/
Mark 4:1 http://www.esvbible.org/Mark+4/ or
Luke 8:4 http://www.esvbible.org/Luke+8/
Perhaps like you right now (unless you read the passage/s for yourself and know what it means, 10 brownie points and a Blue Peter badge for you!), the disciples were pretty confused and weren't really sure what Jesus was getting at and so asked him what the parable meant.
Before we go on any further, some of you may be wondering what a parable is. It is the word used to describe a story which has a deeper, moral and spiritual meaning and Jesus used these because they allowed him to relate to the people in a way they could understand. In context of this parable, we may not be so hot on middle eastern farming, the people Jesus was talking to totally understood. However, it also meant that these people had to look for the deeper meaning behind the story for themselves; those who were just following the crowd and joined in following Jesus to be like everyone else wouldn't bother looking for the meaning because their hearts weren't in it, but those who really listened to Jesus and trusted in Him wanted to know what the lesson behind the story was- they had a hunger and desire to understand what Jesus was saying to them.
So, now onto the meaning of the parable. The seed in the story is the word of God, the Truth, the good news that can bring salvation to our souls. Some of you may have figured out from the title that the different pieces of ground represent different states of hearts; Heart #1, Heart #2, Heart #3 and Heart #4. So, without further ado let's have a look.
Heart #1 - The Hard Heart
This is the seed that falls along the path. In the fields that Jesus was talking about there were paths that ran throughout the field so that the farmer could sow his seed by hand, these paths were created solely by people walking over the same area time and time again until the ground became hard and a noticible path had been formed. So, farmer is walkin' along sowin' the seed and some of it falls on this path, this hard soil. For the plant to start growing, the seed needs to sink down into the soil so that its roots can grow. You can imagine why this seed wasn't very successful, it just sits on top of the ground, unable to go anywhere or do anything useful, until the birds come along and eat it.
This heart has been trampled on, life has just walked all over it until it builds a barrier, a hard exterior to keep anyone from hurting it again. Unfortunately, this keeps a lot of good things from coming in too, so God's word just sits there on the surface going nowhere. That's when Satan, the birds in the parable, comes and removes it before it has the chance.
Do you find yourself hearing about Jesus and just can't let yourself believe it? It's just a story, a fairytale; you're not even going to consider it because it just can't be true, it's ridiculous. You've been given the chance to accept Jesus but your heart just won't let you. Then in comes Satan and takes it away so you can't believe and be saved and that opportunity is gone. You didn't want it, and so it was taken away. Fair enough, right?
But what if it is true...
Heart #2 - The Shallow Heart
This is the seed that falls on the rocky ground. Now, before we go any further I need to explain what this is: this is not soil with lots of rocks and stones sitting in it. In these fields there were areas of shallow soil with solid rock beneath the surface and that is what Jesus means by rocky ground. So the seed falls on this soil and it all looks great, it sinks down and starts to grow and on the surface things are looking good. However after a while, the plants roots can't develop properly because of the rock so close. Unable to soak up any moisture, the plant dies in the hot sun.
This heart accepts the Good News with joy and on the surface it looks like salvation has taken place, the plant starts to grow. However, very soon a problem arises. The shallowness of this heart means that faith is given nothing to help it grow, it has no root within itself, and so when hard times come along and the faith is tried, it just dies out. Following Jesus and having faith is just too hard. No harvest is coming from that dead plant, and so no spiritual fruit is going to come from a faith that is dead. There's no salvation there for that soul.
Heart #3 - The Worldly Heart
So, heart #3 is the soil with the thorns. Here, again, the seed is able to sink into the soil and the plant begins to grow. Unfortunately, plants and weeds can't exist in the same space. Either the ground has to be weeded so the plant can grow or the weeds will soak up all the water that the plant needs and the plant will die.
What we have here is a heart that is divided. Like heart #2, God's Word has been received joyfully and again, it looks like there has been a real salvation experience. The problem is that this heart doesn't think Jesus is enough, and it gets caught up in the cares of the world and materialism and trying to make itself happy. These things don't coincide with faith in God and so that faith becomes choked and dies. No salvation.
Heart #4 - The Genuine Heart
This is the heart that represents the good soil. The seed sinks down into the ground, the roots have plenty of breathing space and there is nothing else in that soil that is going to detract the plant's growth. The seed that falls on this ground produces grain, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold and some thirtyfold. That's a lotta grain.
In this heart, the Truth is accepted wholeheartedly with joy, there is no hardness or unbelief to stop it. It is a steadfast faith that doesn't waver in face of trial or persecution and that gives up everything to follow Jesus, not allowing itself to be distracted or divided. This kind of faith makes itself evident in a person's life. It is impossible not to notice, and it makes things happen. This is what we call spiritual fruit- this is the harvest in the parable. No fruit means no faith, and no faith means no salvation. Without salvation, we're headed to a lost eternity.
If you're reading this blog, the chances are that you've also read my other ones and if you haven't I would be overjoyed if you gave them a look at. I've told you the Truth, it's up to you what you want to do with it: take it or leave it. Jesus is longing for you to accept Him, but because He loves you, he lets you make your own decision, even though it breaks His heart when you reject Him. He came down from Heaven to live as a man on earth so that He could die for your sins, so that you could be free and be saved from spending your eternity separated from God. In Hell. You don't have to go there, you have this choice... but if you choose not to take it then you'll have to take the punishment for your sins, because you chose not to accept Jesus' payment.
There is a scary part to this parable. Two out of three unsaved hearts appear to have been saved. They think they're safe because they said a prayer at some point in their lives but the fact is they're not. Their faith is dead and they're doing nothing to change that.
There is an easy way to diagnose a faith that's dead. If there is no faith, there is no fruit. I'm gonna show you a passage from the bible that talks about fruits of the flesh and fruits of the spirit to make this a bit clearer:
"Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires."
(Galatians 5:19-24 ESV)
(Galatians 5:19-24 ESV)
Have a look through that list and be honest with yourself, which fruits are you growing in your life? I'm speaking to people who would call themselves christian here. If you've read my first blog then you know what being a christian really is, but let's say you've read that and you'd still say you're a christian: you believe the bible, you go to church, you've prayed the prayer. Let me ask you this: are you bearing fruit for Jesus? Does your faith prove to you and to those around you that it's alive and growing? Do you put everything on the line for God: your popularity, your sense of humour, your social life, your lifestyle, your love life, your work life, the words you use, your reputation?
After being told that God lives inside of us after we ask Him into our lives a small child asked, "But isn't God bigger than us?" The Sunday school teacher answers, "Yes, of course."
"Doesn't that mean that He would show through?"
Is God showing through in Your life?
If I were to go around your friends, your family, your work colleagues, anyone you spend time around and gave them a list of the qualities listed in the passage from Galatians and asked them to tick the ones that you showed, which ones would they tick and what conclusion would that bring you to about your spiritual life? Are you spiritually alive or are you spiritually dead?
There are only four categories of heart and they are all listed in this blog. Do yourself a favour and be honest with yourself: which are you?
The next question you need to ask yourself is: what do I want to do about it?
Guys, I share these things with you because I love you and I need you to know the Truth so you can make a fair decision. That decision is up to you and I can't do anything about that, but I can't let you make that decision before you know the facts and that's what these blogs are all about.
God is pursuing you. He loves you with a love that we aren't deep enough to understand, a love that meant a perfect and holy God, dying so that He could pay for your sins. He wants to spend eternity with you, it's not an offer you can turn down lightly.
Praying for you guys, may you find God's peace.
In Christ Jesus,
Amy
P.S So sorry that I haven't written in so long! Will make it up to you with more coming soon hopefully :)
