Planting in Fertile Soil

Planting In Fertile Soil

Matthew 13:1-9; 18-23

 

            Every fall the attention of many people in Western Pennsylvania turns to harvest.  They gather what they had planted in the spring and spend countless hours preserving and storing what had been sown.  Many had spent a great deal of time and resources to produce what they now have.  Their planning and preparation began long before they picked the vegetables that they now enjoy.  Work is done conditioning the soil before the seeds are even planted in the ground.  This work prepares the earth to produce something that is of value to those who are planting it.  This is the picture Jesus paints for us when he teaches us about the gospel of God’s Kingdom.

            Unlike Pennsylvania, Israel was not a good place for crops.  The soil was often very rocky and shallow, and there were insufficient amounts of water to grow their produce for most of the year.  The unfavorable conditions made it difficult to produce what was needed for the Israelite’s families to survive, but there was little choice.  Food had to be grown if the people were going to live in that land.  Each year the people would walk through their small plots of land scattering seeds across the ground hoping that some of them would land in a place that would allow them to grow.  The way they scattered the seeds was much like the way God offers His gospel to the world today.

 

            As the sower walked through the field the seed was scattered indiscriminately.  Handfuls were tossed about and naturally some of it landed in places that would not grow.  But that did not stop those who scattered the seed from spreading it over all the land they had.  That would maximize the yield of their harvest. 

            Just as the sower during the time of Jesus, God sows His Word broadly throughout the world today.  The “word of the kingdom” is available to all who will receive it.  Even when conditions are not favorable and there is little interest God continues to offer His prevenient grace to all men through the word of His kingdom.  That is why Scripture teaches us that , “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance (2 Peter 3:9).”  Even in a world that discourages faith in God and submission to His reign, He still pursues us relentlessly as He scatters the gospel through His church.  William Barclay reminds us, “We must be prepared to take a risk.  Every time the farmer sows he takes a risk, for so many things can interfere with the harvest.” 

            As Jesus explained the parable of the sower he did not leave out the risk that comes as the word is spread.  Notice as we consider this parable that the risk is not a result anything done the sower, but comes entirely from the various kinds of soil on which the seeds are sown.  That soil provides a commentary on the responses that we see to the Word of God as it is sown in our lives.

            Jesus said that some seeds fell along the path as they were sown, and went on to explain that those seeds were the ones quickly removed by the birds.  This is said to be those who hear the word and do not understand it.  This is something that has become common in our day.  The current relativistic society in which we live does not understand objective truth.  People do not want to hear that there is only one way to God, or that He holds us to a standard of holiness in the lives we live.  This is indeed the enemy taking what God has offered us. 

            The Devil is constantly trying to convince people (and often successfully) that the word of God is subject to our judgment.  This ploy is as old as creation itself.  When Eve was tempted in the garden she was asked, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’ (Genesis 3:1)?”   This question immediately set the command of God against her own judgment, and the moment she chose to sin the truth of that command was stolen from her.  She had “deceived herself” and “traded the truth for a lie.”  Too often we are guilty of deceiving ourselves by believing that God is subject to what we think of Him.  By denying the truth that He has given us we are betraying what we really believe about the character, love, and motive of God in the way He relates to us.

            As Satan plants doubts in our mind about what God “really said” we see debates about definite truth come alive within the church.  We spend our time debating homosexuality and abortion.  I recently watch a video blog done by an emerging church leader inviting those watching to discuss what the “spirit of the Bible” says about homosexuality.  As this leader began the discussion he said, “I want to discuss this philosophically without addressing the six places in Scripture that talk about homosexuality.”  If Scripture specifically addresses it so many times why do we even need to debate the issue?  Do we still believe that truth has come from God, or do we believe that it originates with our own understanding?

            We have largely convinced ourselves that we are more enlightened than those who recorded God’s Holy Scripture.  We have more information, better education, access to science and philosophy that was not obtainable by those who lived so long ago.  We “walk in the futility of our minds” as the Gentiles walked during the time of the early church.  Martyn Lloyd-Jones spoke to our situation when he wrote, “It is no use to say that modern knowledge has added new understanding.  It has not!  It has made no difference.  Modern knowledge has told us nothing new about God or about people.  It has told us nothing new about death, and nothing new about eternity.  Here in the bible we read of men and women who believed the truth.  They received the Word that was preached.  The whole intellect was engaged and began to function as never before.”  Too often we lean on the crutches of modernism to ignore the truth God has given us.  In doing so, we have been robbed of the truth.

            Jesus went on to describe another reaction to the sower’s work: some of the seeds fell on rocky soil.  Jesus told his disciples that these were those who received the word with great joy but had no root.  They will serve God for a time, but when the trials of life become too much their faith will ultimately wilt under pressure.  They fall away in the face of persecution and tribulation.  When we plant seeds they must not simply grow upward, but roots must grow deep into the ground if the plant is to survive.  Our Christian life is no different.

            God has never called us to anything less than a constantly growing relationship.  Our relationship must always go further and grow deeper than it has ever been.  The truth that God has revealed about Himself is more than we will ever be able to fully comprehend in a lifetime.  There is always more for us to see and greater things that God has for us.  That is why the book of Hebrews tells us in the first two verses of chapter 6, “Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God…”  Our emphasis today is seldom on depth in our relationship with God.  We need look no further than the popular Christian books and even our own willingness to pursue the truth of God.  People are very willing to spend their free time reading Christian fiction (which is not necessarily a bad thing) but will read little more about God.  This is why we have countless men and women who draw their knowledge of theology from the fiction section of their local bookstores.   Os Guinness wrote about this situation in his book, A Time for Truth, “The emphasis is now on surface, not depth; on possibilities, not qualities; on glamour, not convictions; on what can be altered endlessly, not achieved for good…”

            A shallow faith can never sustain us through life’s greatest difficulties.  When we face troubles we must be able to look wholeheartedly toward God.  Many Christians claim faith in God while simultaneously looking for something else to bail them out of their trials.  God has become our backup plan rather than our provider, sustainer, and lord.  We claim to be citizens of His kingdom, but spend much of the time looking to the governments of the world to solve our problems that originate with sin when all is said and done.  Our relationship with God must be growing ever deeper.  He will accept nothing less.

            Jesus also told us of seeds that fell among the thorns.  They could grow in that soil in the absence of thorns, but the weeds strangled out the seeds and kept them from getting what was necessary for their growth.  Jesus said that this represented the cares of the world and the deceitful riches that are offered by man.  These things do not have to be inherently bad to strangle our spiritual lives.  They have a way of overtaking our vision and focus.

            The Bible teaches us that God is Spirit.  That means our relationship with Him will be a spiritual relationship.  His work will be spiritual.  That means when we talk about vision it is spiritual.  The things of the world have a way of catching our gaze and taking our attention from the spiritual.  They distract us from the work and the will of God, and before we know it we have slipped into “the midst of the years.”  This is the time Habakkuk prayed for God to renew His work (Habakkuk 3:2), and it is a dangerous time for the people of God to live.  There is a lot that can happen when we are caught up in the world during the midst of the years.  This is when marriages and relationships fall apart.  This is when we let our spiritual life fade.  We were once committed followers of Christ, but we find that through the midst of the years we have lost our fervor, our passion, and eventually our faith.  Consider the words of Francis Chan, “I think most American churchgoers are the soil that chokes the seed because of all the thorns.  Thorns are anything that distracts us from God.  When we want God and a bunch of other stuff, then that means we have thorns in our soil.  A relationship with God simply cannot grow when money, sins, activities, favorite sports teams, addictions, or commitments are piled on top of it.”

            This is why God called many people away from the things of the world throughout Scripture.  It is difficult for us to value those things and value God and His word as we should.  The weeds of this world have choked out many of the seeds planted by God, and they continue to strangle our spiritual lives in America today.

            There was one more type of soil that Jesus described to his disciples – the good, fertile soil.  In Israel there was far less of this soil than the three other types that were described, and that is probably an accurate description of the soil in our world today in relation to reception of the gospel.  This soil gave the seed the opportunity to sink into it deep enough to grow strong roots and flourish.   This is where the seed was not simply scattered on the soil, but planted in it.  Jesus told the disciples that this represents the hearts of those who hear the word and bears fruit.  When everything is said and done, that is really the measuring rod for the seeds that anyone plants.  Do they bear fruit?

            God is not simply searching for people who will listen to His word, but those who will listen and obey.   This is why Jesus said he taught in parables.  There were a lot of people who were interested in the miracles and the mighty works, but few were interested in obedience to the Son of God, much less submission to God their King. 

            When the seeds sink into the soil they begin to grow in a way that will alter the soil.  The roots solidify the soil around them and keep it from eroding.  That’s what happens when the word takes root in our lives.  It grows and ultimately becomes a part of us.  It transforms us.  That why Jesus could tell John in Revelation 1:3, “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.” 

            The word of God carries with it the power to sustain and bless His people.  It gives us access to the mind of God as we face our day to day circumstances, and shows us the full power of heaven when we come upon trials and temptation.  “For the word of God is living and active,” we read in Hebrews 4:12.  The Psalmist wrote, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night (Psalm 1:1, 2).”  This is the man who will produce fruit in God’s kingdom, and the one in whom God will plant His gospel.

 

            Jesus used something that was a part of the lives of the people of Israel to convey a great spiritual truth to those who would receive it.  He came to establish God’s kingdom, but that kingdom had to be built on a foundation of fertile soil.  It had to be put in a place where it could grow and invade the world around us as God cultivates and works in the hearts of its citizens.  This parable is more about the soil than it is the sower, and it shows the difference our hearts make in our relationship to God and His word.  We know that the sower is all-powerful and infallible, and we are aware that what He sows is beyond reproach and human wisdom.  What hinders this seed is only the soil.

            The soil of our hearts must be cultivated and conditioned.  The weeds and rocks, the obstructions must be removed so that God’s word can grow freely in our lives.  Ralph Earle wrote the Beacon Bible Commentary on the book of Matthew.  He wrote in reference to this parable, “Of course soil is entire passive, but the human spirit is not.  To infer some sort of fatalism or determinism from this story would be to fly in the face of Scriptures as a whole, which everywhere assure individual responsibility.  By the aid of the ever-willing Spirit we can break up the ‘fallow ground’ of our heart.”  This breaking of the fallow ground is not the idea of a lone commentator, but scriptural truth.  “For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: ‘Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns (Jeremiah 4:3).’”  And again the prophet Hosea said, “Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you (Hosea 10:12).” 

            There may be some of us who struggle with God’s word.  It is hard for us to listen and obey what we hear. It is difficult to image that God is willing and able to do so much for us, but that is the “good news” of the gospel of the kingdom – soil can be transformed!  With the right work and effort (farmers are well aware) even rocky soil can become useful for crops.  In the same way, the soil of our hearts can be cultivated so that the word of the kingdom can take root and grow in our hearts. 

            The environments we place ourselves in, the things we fill our minds with, and what we are exposed to are all things that affect the soil of our hearts.  Our culture and environment can have a major effect on the way we hear and view God’s word, His gospel, and His kingdom.  To cultivate good soil in our hearts, we must desire to know God and place His kingdom above the things of this world.  It is this desire that will yield the harvest that God desires. 

 

            David Ravenhill wrote, “Never before in history have we had more translations of the Bible than we do now.  As for Christian books, they are as numerous as the stars of Heaven – everything from diets to demons, health to holiness, prosperity to prophecy, and all subjects in between.  And yet our greatest need is not to hear opinions, but to hear the word of the Lord.”  Since the beginning of time God has been working to reveal Himself to man.  He has been relentlessly pursuing the pinnacle of His creation and calling man to His kingdom.  The word is being spoken, preached, and explained through books and media like never before, but it is also being obscured by those things at times.  If we are going to be God’s kingdom it will be when we cultivate our hearts and open our minds to this revelation of God.  Jesus Christ planted within this gospel the secrets of God’s kingdom.  The harvest depends on the soil.  When that word is planted among us, what should God expect to reap?

The Power of a Lamb

Revelation 5

 

            The church seems to be in a position of instability today. We know that things are not going well in many places. We don’t really experience the power or promises of God, and we don’t seem to know why. We look to the leadership methods of the world around us, and adopt their marketing strategies to find direction, but even the ploys that bring numbers do not seem to bring spiritual maturity to a church that is starved of God’s Word.

            Each week meetings take place among leaders of denominations, local congregations, and pastors to discuss direction, and the future of God’s church. We look at the latest sociological studies, and try to stay in touch with the modern times. Many continually grasp at straws hoping that, by some chance, they will stumble on to something that will help people see God’s plan of salvation for their lives, but their gimmicks seldom come to fruition.

            As the early church sought direction from God they were brought face to face with an enduring reality: God is revealed through Jesus Christ! It seems redundant to continually wonder what John was thinking when Jesus began to reveal visions of the victorious church to him, but there is value in the realization that his outlook may have been much like ours. Government opposition and oppression kept the church from fulfilling her potential, but there were many more obstacles that came from within. There were congregations that were legalistic, liberal, lukewarm, and even in danger of death, but there was more to the story. In a day when God seemed to be silent, Jesus Christ burst on to the scene to reveal the mind of God from His throne. When we look at the fifth chapter of Revelation we find that the visions given to John center on one specific thing: the Lamb of God.

            “Revelation’s primary purpose is to tell us the story of Jesus, not to predict end-times events in Europe or the Middle East…As New Testament scholar David Barr notes, ‘Once introduced, the Lamb dominates the rest of the action. It is the Lamb who gathers the 144,000 holy warriors on Mt. Zion (Rev. 14:1); it is the Lamb on whom the armies of evil make war (Rev. 17:14); it is even the Lamb who marries and rules after the war (Rev. 19:7, 22:3).’”[1]

            Revelation reveals God’s purposes through the work of Christ. It reveals what true power and victory over the world are and the action from which they came. It shows us the Lamb who was slain. The One who reveals the work of God and through whose sacrifice this work takes place.

            We can search the world for fulfillment and direction. We can “try out” as many religions as we can find, but there remains one place where we find purpose: God’s throne. And there remains one living being who can reveal that purpose to us: The Lamb of God, Jesus Christ! He has the power to meet even the greatest needs, overcome the greatest obstacles, and deliver us through the most intense trials. Jesus Christ stands at the throne of God to open the scroll that shows us God’s will. One by one, the seals He opens show us what it means for the church to live in victory over this world. We will find triumph from no other source. It comes only from the Lamb.

 

The Lamb Has the Power to Meet the Greatest Human Need

 

            As we seek direction and purpose it would serve us well to ask why we lack those things. Many times we simply forge ahead looking for direction, but if we are God’s church shouldn’t we be able to trust Him for such things? Can any of us really claim to know the mind of God as we sit around a table discussing our ideas? Scripture tells us that we cannot. Verse 3 says, “And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it…” They searched through all of heaven and beyond yet no man was able to reveal the mind of God. It came only from the Lamb.

            Our greatest need is not another man-made vision. It is not another program fabricated to bait the unsuspecting sinner. Our greatest need is the power of the Lamb; it is for Jesus to usher the power of heaven into our lives as we walk with Him. When we need direction, vision, fulfillment, or victory the answer is Jesus Christ. Whether we want to admit it or not, we need Him! We cannot even rightly call ourselves the church without Him. It is from this place of need that we begin to see God’s work revealed through the church. Dennis Kinlaw wrote, “Unless we perceive that we have a need, we cannot experience a relationship with Jesus as the Christ.”[2] And without a relationship with Christ we can never be a part of the fulfillment of the plans of God.

            The scroll of Revelation 5 finds is significance as God’s plans are carried out through the lives of His people. Lillie McCutcheon explained, “The book, which is in God’s right hand of power, symbolizes God’s plan of redemption through all ages. In scroll form, seven pieces of parchment individually sealed express a complete book, completely sealed. Even Gabriel could not bring the world a revelation of God’s plan…Neither could Moses nor the prophets unveil the hidden plan.”[3] Jesus came to meet the need we have to know God. He came so that the love, mercy, and grace of God could be revealed to us even in our greatest weakness. These things come to the fallen world only through Jesus Christ manifested in our lives. It cannot come in any other way. If we want direction what we must seek is Jesus. If we want to know where God is leading us, we must ask how we can know His Lamb more, and walk closer with our Savior. It is in this way that we begin to understand God’s purposes.

            The church today has everything she needs except for the presence of God. It has been said that the Holy Spirit could leave us and many would never know the difference. The presence of Jesus Christ through the manifestation of the Holy Spirit is the greatest need of God’s people today, and the one thing that is lacking. Jesus did not come – as many suppose – to set up a political kingdom on earth, but to give us victory over such things. To provide a spiritual life that transcends the devices of the world that hold us in bondage. He came to show us a better way to live, and a better way to walk with God. “Christ was not primarily the fulfillment of a national dream, but the fulfillment of a universal hope; not primarily the culmination of a divinely ordained process, but the answer to human need.”[4]

            Jesus bridged the gap between man and God so that we might come to God’s throne when we don’t know what else to do. He died so that we could seek God’s help in our weakness and would not have to carry out this divine work alone. Isaiah told the Israelites, “your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear” (Isa. 59:2). There is no other, in heaven or on earth, who can restore our relationship with God. There is no access to God except through Jesus Christ. No other sacrifice will overcome sin. “The blood of animals, being inferior to the blood of infinite man was too weak to redeem him. Man himself could not redeem himself: angels in heaven could not affect this. God gave his only Son. Being both God and man – the Son of God and the Son of man – he could make an atonement that would meet the demands of justice, and redeem the human family.”[5]

            If we are to be a church that walks with proper direction and purpose, it will be only when we do so because the Lamb has revealed it to us.

 

The Lamb Has Been Given All Authority

 

            The Lamb portrayed in John’s throne room vision had seven horns. Horns are used in apocalyptic literature to represent authority. The number seven signifies completeness. The vision of the Lamb reiterates the statement of Jesus, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matt. 28:18). We spend countless hours planning and working out our ideas when it comes to direction in the church, but we have forgotten that the authority to carry out God’s work has not been given to us. It was given to Jesus Christ alone. He must be the center of all things as we live as the church. It is under His authority that we walk, and His reign that we testify to His goodness.

            When we walk by our own strength we often find ourselves easily overcome. We face obstacles that we cannot defeat and mountains that we cannot climb. But when Jesus Christ becomes the center of the churches focus we find that there is no earthly power or principality that can contain the power of God’s Lamb. Michael Lodahl asks, “If Jesus’ ministry of self-emptying love, culminating in the crucifixion, brought a halt to the momentum of human sinfulness, how much more does his resurrection let loose a divine power in the world for the aggressive conquering of sin and death?”[6]

            It is through our relationship with Jesus Christ that we find the full power of heaven released into the world. It is through His power – not our programs – that lives are transformed, sinners changed, and societies reformed. It is through His power that we see sins forgiven, families mended, obstacles overcome, and Satan defeated. “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 15:26).

 

The Lamb Discerns All Things

 

            We also see the Lamb of Revelation portrayed with seven eyes. These, we are told, are the seven spirits of God. Eyes represent vision, or discernment. While we may not be able to see all things, Jesus can see the whole picture. He is aware of the circumstances of our lives, the difficulties we’re facing, our weaknesses and our strengths. It is easy for us to look at the church and try to do the things we think we need to do. We assume there are some things that churches are “supposed to do,” so we make every effort to pursue those things. Maybe we feel like we must have a small group ministry, or a great program for the children in our neighborhood. We don’t know how to do those things, but we know we have to do it because the church down the street grew when they did it. Is it possible that we don’t have those ministries because God has called us to something else?

            Jesus Christ sees the places where we live and the people to whom we minister. He knows what those people need, and how we need to reach them. He is power and authoritative, and is willing to empower His people to succeed, but only in the things to which He has called them. We cannot assume that we are supposed to do a specific ministry because everyone else does it and then expect God to bless it if it is not His will. All too often, however, this is what we do. We do not have the discernment of the Lamb. It is this that will help us to see what God is doing.

 

The Lamb Hears Our Prayers

 

            Make no mistake, there will be days when we don’t know what to do, or where to turn. There will be times when we struggle to find direction and just don’t know what God is calling us to do. But even on those day, the Lamb hears our prayers. The four living creatures around the throne each hold a golden bowl of incense, “which are the prayers of the saints.” It is the prayers of God’s people that are being offered before the Lamb. He works through our prayers.

            We can make all the excuses we want – and we do – but Jesus Christ honors the prayers of His people. Scripture is replete with promises of answered prayer, and power through our prayers. It is difficult to understand why so few Christians take advantage of the ability to converse with God. One of the most humbling things in all the world is that the divine trinity of God allows us to enter into conversation with the Father, Son and Spirit through our prayers. Yet we so seldom do. The church is called to a faith in Christ that requires our prayers. It is from this altar that our sacrifices must continually be made.

            We pray to the Lamb of God because He hears our prayers, and stands before God on our behalf. “Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25). When we ask God for discernment, direction, mercy, or strength it is Jesus Christ who asks on our behalf. It is for this reason that are prayers are of such great importance.

 

The Lamb Is Worthy of Our Praise

 

            Those who surround God’s throne sing praise because “He [the Lamb] has made us a kingdom and priests to our God.” Can you imagine such a thing? Jesus Christ has revealed God’s mind to us so that we may serve in His presence. He has provided for us a place before the throne of heaven. “In a very important sense the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost all dwell in the spiritual church, or new Jerusalem, and are thus ‘in the midst’ of God’s people, surrounded by the redeemed host who unceasingly worship them, and thy, in turn, have the praise that ‘the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them’ (Psa. 34:7)…”[7]

            Jesus took those who had been victims in this world and turned them into the victors of heaven; those who have overcome every ploy of the enemy. This is the reason God’s people sing around His throne. This is why we sing today as we look forward to the day when we have overcome this world and live eternally victorious in God’s immediate presence.  F.G. Smith commented, “A few gifted voices of earth may possess such power and sweetness as almost to entrance us with their melody of song; but what an oratorio will it be, my brethren, when, released from the narrow limits of mortality, that sublime strain sung by the redeemed of all ages and ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of angels, bursts in upon our ransomed souls!”[8]

 

            We can spend lifetimes searching for direction. We must believe that most Christians want to see God’s work done. In spite of this we spend the bulk of our time trying to do His work our way. But it is not through our own ideas or methods that we see God’s work, or hear His voice.

            “If you want to hear God’s thunderous voice, just read His Word and hear His mighty voice as he speaks like thunder through its sacred pages. If you want to view God’s   footprints, just reflect upon your journey through time and look back at the places where He has carried you through the      hard times and narrow places. But, if you want to see the very heart of God, just look away to Calvary where a lone figure silhouetted against a darkened sky wrestled single-handedly against the enemy of our souls and purchased your salvation and mine with the shedding of His life’s blood. That crimson fountain that flowed from those nail pierced hands and feet and that punctured brow, along with the flood that streamed from His riven side has given life to me and to all who will plunge into its cleansing stream. As I look to Calvary I behold the love of God, the very heart of Him who sits on the throne.”[9]

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[1] Barbara R. Rossing, The Rapture Exposed (109)

[2] Dennis Kinlaw, The Mind of Christ (59)

[3] Lillie McCutcheon, The Symbols Speak (33)

[4] Dennis Kinlaw, The Mind of Christ (58)

[5] D.S. Warner and H.M. Riggle, The Cleansing of the Sanctuary (452)

[6] Michael Lodahl, The Story of God (163)

[7] F.G. Smith, The Revelation Explained (89)

[8] Ibid, (87)

[9] Richard Bradley, Scenes From the Throne (163)