The Parable of the Sower

Matthew 13:18-23

Imagine, if you will, four people who come to church. All of them experience the same worship service. They hear the same sermon. But each of them has a totally different response.

Why is it that one person responds to the gospel and is deeply moved and all they can think about is knowing Jesus, and all they can talk about is sharing Jesus with others—while at the same time, another person seems to care less that Jesus died for them? You find one person moved to tears by the gospel and another cold and distant.

Not everyone responded the same way to Jesus and His message of the kingdom of God. Some thought Jesus was the son of God, their awaited Messiah. Others thought Jesus was a deceiver, even the devil. Why do people respond so differently? Why does one person come away with a radically changed life and the truth begins to bear fruit in his daily life—while others go away unmoved, unchanged, and unfruitful?

Jesus sheds some light on this in His Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13. Last time, we saw that Jesus began speaking to the crowds in parables (Matt. 13:1-2). He taught about the kingdom of God or kingdom of heaven (Matt. 13:11). As we said, His subject had not changed, but now His method was different. We saw that Jesus taught in parables as an act of judgment because although many heard Him teach, they did not have ears to hear His truth. They were dull, deaf, blind, and hardened to the message of the gospel of the kingdom.

So, in Matthew 13:10-17 we saw that Jesus taught in parables both to conceal the truth from those who did not really want to receive it and to reveal their unreceptive ears and calloused hearts. On the other hand, Jesus spoke in parables to reveal the truth to those who believed in Him. His disciples believed and were blessed to hear and understand His teaching about the kingdom.

We looked briefly at the first parable—the parable of the sower, the seed, and the soils. It was an illustration taken from a real-life situation to convey spiritual truth about the kingdom of God. But remember, Jesus did not explain the meaning of the parable to the crowd—only to the disciples later. All the crowd got was a short story about farming. They heard the story but did not have ears to hear the message Jesus taught by the story. Later, Jesus explained the parable to His disciples. In Matthew 13:18 Jesus says to them, “Therefore hear the parable of the sower.” That is what we will consider today—Jesus’ explanation of this parable.

The Elements of the Story

First, let’s consider the elements of the parable. Jesus tells a story about a sower, seed, and four types of soil. Consider first,

The Seed

Jesus clearly teaches that the seed is “the word of the kingdom” (Matt. 13:19). In Luke, Jesus says, “The seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11). In Mark, Jesus says, “The sower sows the word” (Mark 4:14). The explanation is consistent. The seed is the word of God or the message of the kingdom. From the beginning of His ministry, the Lord preached, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 4:17) and “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). It is kingdom seed—preaching the King—God who became flesh and dwelt among us. The word of the kingdom points to the King’s work as Prophet who revealed God to us, as Priest who atoned for our sin by His death and resurrection, and as King who rules and governs our lives as members of His kingdom. It is gospel seed.

Let’s make a simple point of application here. Everything that grows and bears fruit starts with seed. Imagine a farmer complaining about the barrenness of his land. He says, “I’ve borrowed a small fortune to buy this land. The previous owner told me is was good land. But I think he lied. I’ve worked that soil. I’ve irrigated it. I’ve invested in the best fertilizers known to science. I’ve been spraying insecticides and pesticides. I’ve worked from sunrise until it was dark. And nothing is growing on that land!”

You might say to this farmer, “That’s very odd. I can’t imagine getting absolutely nothing for all your effort. What did you plant?”

“Plant?”

“That’s right, what seed did you sow?”

“Seed? What do you mean, seed? I didn’t know you had to plant seed.”

If you want to have a harvest, you have to plant seed. What’s true in farming is also true in spiritual growth. The harvest of righteousness only comes when we faithfully plant the seed of the word of God. It’s true in salvation. The Bible says we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:8) and that faith comes by hearing the word of God (Rom. 10:17). Peter writes that we have “…been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,” (1 Pet. 1:23). It’s also true in spiritual growth. 1 Peter 2:2 says, “as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby.” Salvation and spiritual growth must start with sowing the seed of the word of God in our hearts.

Knowing what the seed represents in the story helps us to understand who is represented by…

The Sower

Jesus said, “Behold, a sower went out to sow” (Matt. 3:3). The sower is the one who proclaims the gospel, the word of the kingdom. Jesus Himself constantly sowed the message of the kingdom. John the Baptist did before Him (Matt. 3:2). Jesus also sent the twelve with that message in Matthew 10:7, saying, “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” Now, after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus has given the commission to His church to proclaim the word of the kingdom, the gospel message (Matt. 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-47; Acts 1:8).

In the parable, the sower broadcasts the seeds generously, knowing that some of the seeds will lodge on good soil and produce fruit. He sows liberally because he wants a harvest. So, we learn from the sower to scatter the seeds of the gospel generously, liberally, on all types of soil. We are to scatter the gospel seed everywhere to everyone. Not everyone will receive the gospel message and bear fruit, but that should never limit our sowing the seed.

That brings us to …

The Soils

The different soils represent the different conditions of the heart in response to the gospel. The seed, Jesus says, “was sown in his heart” (Matt. 13:19). In the Bible, the heart is not just the center of our emotions but also our understanding and volition. It is where we think, feel, and choose. And each of the four soils where the seed fell—the wayside, the stony places, the thorns, and the good ground—are meant to illustrate various ways people receive the word of the kingdom in their hearts.

1. The Hardened Heart

In His parable Jesus said, “And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them” (Matt. 13:4). Because the soil on the “wayside” would be packed down and hardened, the seeds could not penetrate the soil, but lay exposed so that the birds snatched the seed and ate it up. Jesus’ explanation for this soil is, “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside.” (Mat 13:19).

Jesus said these people hear the word but do not understand it. Is the problem that the word is too hard to understand? No, the problem isn’t with the seed. The problem is with the soil, their hearts are hard. The Pharisees in Matthew 12 were like this. They heard Jesus teach and saw Him do miracles and they rejected it completely and willfully. Jesus said, “… the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed” (Matt. 13:15). The seed of the word of God just bounced right off the surface of their hard hearts.

How do people get such hardened hearts? Maybe they love their sin and refuse to believe. Maybe they are calloused and cold toward the things of God and refuse to hear. Maybe they have heard the call of the Gospel for years and shrugged it off, or said, “I’ll get serious about God someday.” But with each rejection, like a path repeatedly trampled underfoot, their hearts have become hard.

Here is the danger that this person does not see. Even what little bit of gospel he has heard and understood is taken away from him–“the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart” (Matt. 13:19). Here is a warning to anyone that tries to brush off their need for Christ. The evil one may very well snatch away what has been sown in their heart so that their intentions of later following Christ will go unheeded.

The devil will make them think that the gospel is either so complicated that it takes a degree in theology to understand it, or so simple that only an idiot would ever think it was true. He’ll send all the distractions in his power. He doesn’t care how it’s done; just so long as the word of the gospel is snatched up from the hearer before he or she can understand it, and believe it, and be saved by it.

I pray that no one here has such a hardened heart. The second soil is…

2. The Shallow Heart

In the parable, Jesus said, “Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away.” (Matt. 13:5-6). The stony place has an underlying layer of limestone rock with just a thin layer of soil on top of it. There was enough soil to plow and plant but no depth for plants to take root. Then Jesus explain this in Matthew 13:20-21, “But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.” (Matt. 13:20-21).

Notice that Jesus uses the word “immediately” twice in describing this person. He “immediately receives it with joy” and “immediately he stumbles.” He received it quickly with joy and excitement but when trouble came he abandoned it just as quickly.

I have met many people like this over the course of my life. They suddenly appear at church and are very excited about everything that is going on. They tell everyone how much they love Jesus and how wonderful life is. They are happy, but they remain shallow in their faith. They jump into church activities and even read their Bible, but they stick to passages that make them feel good and avoid things that would force them to stretch their faith and think deeply.

Then, just as suddenly, they disappear. You go to them and what do you find? Some difficulty has arisen in their life. They have some personal difficulty such as a physical illness or financial problems or a troubled relationship. They question why things are not easy anymore and they stumble and fall away. They say, “I tried Christianity, but it didn’t work for me.”

So, what happened? Again, we know the problem wasn’t anything in the seed. The problem wasn’t the tribulation or persecution—those things come to all of us. Those things only revealed the problem. Jesus says they had no root. In Colossians 2 the apostle Paul writes, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught.” (Col. 2:6-7) You must be rooted in Christ. A person with no root is a person without Christ. It was a false profession. Those who heard the word and received it with joy but later fell away had a shallow faith that did not go deep enough to change their hearts.

The third soil represents…

3. The Worldly Heart

Jesus’ parable says, “And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them.” (Matt. 13:7). Jesus explains this saying, “Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.” (Matt. 13:22).

Jesus says that a worldly focus can choke the word out of a person’s life. And he gives us two examples of what a worldly focus looks like.

First, there are the worries of this life. Some people say, “Well, I would receive Christ, but this is such a bad time. I have so many problems at home, with the kids, with the car, etc. Once I get everything all straightened out, then I’ll come to Christ.” And so, the word gets choked out, because the person gets distracted by the worries of this life. The things that distract and draw people away, in and of themselves, may not be wrong things. We all have to live in a house. We all have to drive cars. We all have to work, and make a living, and care for our families. But when these things begin to occupy the place in our lives that only the Lord should have, that is where the problem is.

And then the second thing is the deceitfulness of wealth. Think of the rich, young ruler who walked away from Jesus because he could not part with his wealth. That seed got choked out real fast! But you don’t have to be wealthy to get tripped up by this one. Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21) You don’t have to have a lot of money to have your heart set on it. Paul warned, “But those who desire to be rich fall into temptations and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (1 Tim. 6:9-10). Jesus asked, “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matt. 16:26).

I have to say that, in my experience, this is where many “church-going” people fall off. The apostle Paul even lost a trusted co-worker in this way. He told Timothy, “Be diligent to come to me quickly; for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world . . .” (2 Tim. 4:9-10).

The seed of the message of the gospel had reached three kinds of ground—the wayside, the stony places, and among the thorns; but it was unfruitful because it was either snatched away by the evil one, or thrust away because of persecution and trials, or choked out because of the cares of this life and the deceitfulness of riches.

While these kinds of soils are used to speak about the matter of salvation, there is another application that we can draw from them as well. If we are not careful, we that are saved can allow ourselves to develop the wrong kind of heart. We can become hard hearted toward the things of God, toward His House and toward His Word. When this happens, we will find ourselves fruitless and defeated as a believer! Or, we can grow shallow in our commitment to the Lord and His work, this too can hinder our fruit production. Or, we might allow our lives to become filled with the wrong kinds of things, thorns of sin and worldliness that will hinder us and keep us from being fruitful for the glory of the Lord.

Finally, we see the fourth soil…

4. The Fruitful Heart

Jesus’ parable says, “But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” (Matt. 13:8). This “good ground” was in the middle of the field away from the “wayside,” the “stony places,” and the “thorns.” Because they fell on “good ground” and were not hindered, they “yielded a crop.” There was an abundant harvest. Jesus explains this saying, “But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” (Matt. 13:23).

The seed in the good soil represents the person who hears God’s word, understands God’s word and then grows in God’s word. The soil of his heart was proved to be good because it produced fruit. Of course, this cannot means that this person was saved because they were good. Their fruitfulness was not due to their own personal merit. We can’t take the credit for our salvation. The farmer didn’t produce the fruit, and neither did the soil. What produced the fruit? The seed.

It is the word of the kingdom, the gospel message, that produces the fruit of salvation. Paul says in Romans 1, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes,” (Rom. 1:16). It is the seed that produced the fruit. Someone had to sow the seed, and the soil had to receive the seed, but God did the work of making it grow. You see the progression—he hears the word, understands it, and bears fruit.

What kind of fruit? It is the fruit that God produces in us from hearing the word of God, understanding it, accepting it, and holding fast to it. It would include the fruit born out of serving God to His glory as Jesus described in Matthew 5:13-17. You will be salt and light, and your good works will glorify God. It would include the fruit of the Holy Spirit which Galatians 5:22-23 lists as love, joy, peace, patience, longsuffering, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. It is the fruit of righteousness, the fruit of Christ-likeness. It would also include the fruit of our witness as we go out to sow the seed of the gospel in the hearts of those who are lost.

If you are not producing fruit, it’s time to examine your heart. The ground did not become good by producing fruit, it was proved to be good because it produced fruit. We are not saved by our good works, but we do good works because we are saved.

Can you be honest with yourself today? If you can, ask yourself the following questions:

What kind of soil is my heart?
Have I become hardened to the things of God?
Am I shallow in my commitment to Him and His work?
Am I constantly distracted, burdened and defeated by sin and the cares of the world?
Am I bearing the kind of fruit that indicates a heart transformed by Christ?