The Sower, The Seed, and The Soil
“The Seed Among Thorns”
Matt. 13:3-7;22 “3 He told many stories in the form of parables, such as this one: “Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seeds. 4 As he scattered them across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them. 5 Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow.6 But the plants soon wilted under the hot sun, and since they didn’t have deep roots, they died. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants.
Then in verse 22, Jesus explains the seed among thorns:
Vs. 22 “The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced.”—NLT
_____________
We’ve been talking about seeds for a few weeks now.
The irrefutable, inescapable law of the seed is–we will reap what we sow, more than we sowed, later than we sowed.
Now in the parable of the sower, Jesus is the sower, the seed is the gospel, and the soil is the heart.
In the parable, the gospel seed is sown onto 4 different types of soil or hearts.
There is:
The hard heart by the wayside
The shallow heart of stony ground
The distracted heart among thorns, and
The productive heart of good soil
The first is clueless
The second is rootless
The third is fruitless, and
The fourth is fruitful
The first is unresponsive
The second is unenduring
The third is unfocused, and
The fourth is undefeated
_____________
The seed by the wayside represents the person that doesn’t get saved.
The seed on stony ground depicts a person that DOES get saved.
They experience a temporary growth spurt but because they don’t develop deep roots, they backslide when troubles and persecutions arise.
_____________
And the THIRD seed–the seed sown among thorns–is our focus today.
Jesus says these are those that “hear the word,” yet “the cares of this world (stresses and worries of life), and the deceitful lure of riches ‘choke the word’ and they becomes unfruitful.
Now, the seed sown into the soil among thorns comes under immediate and sustained attack by two sabotagers of spiritual growth:
Worry, and
Wrong priorities
Jesus says that these two culprits CHOKE the word.
–CHOKE comes from a word meaning “to strangle, drown, or crowd.”
So the idea here is that worries and wrong priorities have a strangling effect.
_______________
Now, does the seed among thorns depict a saved person?
I believe it does because Jesus doesn’t say they remained lost, but that they were unfruitful, which sounds more like a saved person that never really grows in their spiritual life.
As Peter wrote, “Like newborn babies hungry for milk, you should want the pure teaching that feeds your spirit. With it you can grow up…”–1 Pet 2:2
_______________
Now, I want to deal with the SECOND enemy first–the lure of deceitful riches.
Jesus says that riches are DECEITFUL.
This means they make a false claim!
Riches promise things they can’t deliver—like happiness, fulfillment, security, and peace of mind.
One commentator writes, “…they promise much, but perform little; offer themselves to many, but give themselves to few; and to those few they bring worry and perplexity, rather than satisfaction and comfort.”
Ecclesiastes pops the lie that riches satisfy:
“He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance with increase. This also is vanity!”–5:10
So riches make false promises that leave you empty and disillusioned in the end!
Paul the Apostle wrote strong words about riches to Timothy saying,
“But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.”–1 Tim 6:9-10
Making riches and material things your top pursuit in life is an unwise priority.
It crowds out and chokes spiritual growth!
–Jesus gave to all believers the NUMBER ONE priority of a balanced Christian life in Matt 6:33,
“Seek FIRST the Kingdom of God, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”
When you do this, everything else has a way of falling together!
______________
Then the SECOND enemy of spiritual growth is WORRY.
Jesus defines the source of worry as, “the cares of this world.”–Matt 13:22
WORRY is from a word meaning, “to go to pieces by being pulled apart, to be constantly distracted and preoccupied with various concerns.”
The Lord often spoke of the uselessness of worry and it’s negative impact.
For instance, He chided Martha for worrying: “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered and anxious about so many things;”—Luke 10:41 AMP
Martha was so worried about this, that, and the other that, though the very Messiah of God was sitting in her living room teaching, her worries kept her from hearing it!
And yet we are too often so much like her!
We worry about money,
our aches,
our pains,
our jobs,
if people like us or not,
we even worry about worrying too much!
Some worry because they’re NOT married, others worry because they ARE married.
BOTTOM LINE: It’s not what you’re eating: it’s what’s eating you that’s the problem!
__________________
–One person wrote, “Worry is interest paid on trouble that you’ve never had and likely never will.”
Will Rogers was quoted saying, “I’ve had many troubles in my life and most of them never happened.”
This is why Jesus warned us not to worry!
He pointed out:
I. The folly of worry
“And who of you by worrying can add one hour to [the length of] his life?”
You can’t lengthen your life by worry, but you might shorten it!
The best doctors have been saying for some time now that worry is:
the mother of cancer,
heart disease,
high blood pressure, and
ulcers.
So WORRY won’t solve a single thing!
It won’t:
move a mountain,
bring an answered prayer,
solve a problem,
heal a body,
calm your mind,
or lead to spiritual growth.
So Jesus says, “Don’t do it.”
_______________
And then Jesus pinpointed–THE TWO TOP CAUSES of worry:
First,
II. The worry over not having enough
Jesus said, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will EAT or what you will DRINK; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than CLOTHING?”—vs. 25
What you will eat, drink, or wear represent the things we need in life to get by, like:
money,
shelter,
health care,
transportation, and so on.
Jesus assures us, “Your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.”—vs 32
To prove His point, He turns to nature and says,
“Look at the birds of the sky, that they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather crops into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.” (Vs. 26)
Birds don’t sow and reap for their food like a farmer.
They don’t have barns to store seed for tomorrow.
They live each and every day in dependence on the provision of God!
And Jesus said your heavenly Father will likewise take care of you, for:
“Aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?” (6:26)
So first, “DON’T WORRY ABOUT PROVISION.”
_________________
And then the second major cause of worry is:
III. Anxiety about the future
“So do not worry about tomorrow;”—vs.34
There are 3 days we all deal with:
Yesterday,
Someday, and
Today.
YESTERDAY is gone, SOMEDAY hasn’t arrived, there is only TODAY!
So since tomorrow isn’t here yet, why worry about it?
You have no idea what God may do between today and tomorrow that changes everything in your favor!
As James said, “You know not what tomorrow brings…” (4:14)
This is why Jesus taught we’re to live life one day at a time!
“…tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matt 6:34).
__________________
So the seed among thorns is the Lord’s warning against the thorns of Worry and Wrong priorities.
Let’s never allow the word the Lord has sown into the soil of our hearts to be choked and hindered by either one of them!