Matthew 13: 1-9; 18-23

13 On that day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea. 2 Such large crowds gathered around Him that He got into a boat and sat down, while the whole crowd stood on the shore.

3 Then He told them many things in parables, saying: “Consider the sower who went out to sow. 4 As he was sowing, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 Others fell on rocky ground, where there wasn’t much soil, and they sprang up quickly since the soil wasn’t deep. 6 But when the sun came up they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered. 7 Others fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them. 8 Still others fell on good ground and produced a crop: some 100, some 60, and some 30 times what was sown. 9 Anyone who has ears should listen!”

“You, then, listen to the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the one sown along the path. 20 And the one sown on rocky ground—this is one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. 21 Yet he has no root in himself, but is short-lived. When pressure or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he stumbles. 22 Now the one sown among the thorns—this is one who hears the word, but the worries of this age and the seduction of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.23 But the one sown on the good ground—this is one who hears and understands the word, who does bear fruit and yields: some 100, some 60, some 30 times what was sown.”

This is an excellent example of one of the ways Jesus would teach, with parables. This is a “true Parable” meaning it is told to illustrate only one point and draws from the daily observations of everyday life. In this case it relates to farming, something that would have really been appropriate to the audience he was addressing and can be related to many of us here. I don’t know how many of you are gardeners, I sort of fiddle with it and I have had varied success and failures with gardens over the years.

I grew up in Biloxi, Ms. This is a coastal town and I grew up surrounded by water. The Tchoutacabouffa River

 was a mile behind my house. Biloxi Bay was 5 miles away and it was just a short way past that and you hit the Gulf of Mexico. Growing up I learned a certain to make gardens. So when I first moved to East Texas and tried a garden, I did it the way I learned. I made my mounds about 6 inches high, busted the top of them, and planted the seed and so forth. Nothing worked out right. The corn only grew to about 2 feet tall and other issues. A friend came by and looked at the garden and asked why I made my mounds that way. I quickly explained you had to do that so that all the rain and standing water after the rain doesn’t wash your seeds away. See Biloxi’s average Annual rainfall is 65 inches a year. July is the wettest month with usually averaging over 7 inches just in July…well needless to say I had not taken into consideration the new climate and difference in the soil.  Good gardeners understand for seeds to truly grow, you need the right soil.

This parable is often known as the parable of the sower and the seed, which is really the heart of the message, however I want to look at the soil first. All four types of soil are essentially the same dirt but are in different conditions and respond in different ways to cultivation.

What made one soil more responsive and the other less?

In Biblical times, communities were mainly agriculturally based. The farming methods however were different in those days. They actually sowed the seeds first then plowed them under as opposed to the technical way in which we have of plowing first, making rows and planting each seed to a certain depth depending upon the type of seed.

 

 

A family would be appointed a section of land to farm. Each farmer’s plot was adjacent to his neighbor’s. In order to get to the fields, they walked along the boundaries bordering each field to avoid stepping on the growing plants. The “path” was held in common by all the farmers. Over time, the soil on the path would compact. It was never plowed and never fertilized. In the parable, the seed that is sown on the path is not able to penetrate the ground because of the constant use. The condition of the first soil is hard and impermeable.

 

The second type of soil mentioned in the parable is the “rocky” places” or the shallow soil where the plow didn’t cut deeply enough to break up the shale or hard ground just below the surface. This soil produced only plants with weak, shallow roots.

 

 

The third type of soil mentioned is the thorny soil, most likely found in the corners of the field where the plow couldn’t reach; here, weeds overtook what was planted.

All the types of soils mentioned here are actually in the same plot of ground with one major difference: Only one area was fully yielded to cultivation, to being changed and prepared for planting. That area was called the good soil.

In the explanation, the soil along the path represents those who never really hear the word with understanding. The Word of God must be understood before it can truly bear fruit. One of the enemy’s chief works is to keep men in darkness regarding their understanding of the word.

The rocky ground soil represents those who receive the word enthusiastically but it is short lived. They do not endure because the word has not been allowed to go deep and make strong roots. 

Charles Spurgeon made a good point in stating, “the fault did not lie in the suddenness of their supposed conversion, many sudden conversions have been among the best that have ever happened” So the problem was not the growth but their lack of depth. Without deep roots, they were not able to stand against the storms of life.

The soil that landed among the thorns showed growth, but allowed other things to grow along side and ultimately was choked out for the competition of other things. 

The good soil was those who received the word, let it grow roots, and it bore fruit on differing portions, some 100, some 60, and some 30. 

This would be a good place to pause and ask, what kind of soil am I? This is actually the title of the sermon, but this is really a bit of a trick question. To be honest none of us are just one type of soil, 

Like the path sometimes we allow the Word no room at all in our lives

Like the rocky places, we sometimes have flashes of enthusiasm that quickly burns out

Like the thorny area we sometimes get overwhelmed and bombarded by the other things we allow in our life. The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches are allowed to grow and block out the true priority and therefore choke out God’s Word and prevent its fruitfulness in our life.

And then there are times, like the good ground, the Word bears fruit in our lives.

Each of us has all four kinds of soil in our hearts, but despite all the talk about soils, despite the importance of knowing how we allow our hearts to respond, the Parable of the Sower isn’t really about dirt at all. The Parable of the Sower is, as the name implies, really about the Sower.

Remember I said parables illustrate one main point? In this parable, nowhere does Jesus go and say we need to be good soil. In fact Jesus says to consider the sower and then focuses on the return of the harvest in spite of where the seed lands.

As important as it is for us to be aware of what’s going on in the soil, This story is a description of our loving God. God knows it is foolish to spread seed on unworthy soil, but he does it anyway. God spreads his love with reckless abandon in hearts that are at once all four different types of soil. We see this as Jesus throws seed at the disciples who over and over and over again prove that they have hard hearts, stiff necks, and dim minds. Jesus continues to throw seed at them, continues to work with them, and continues to help them see what God is up to in the world around them. He scatters the seed of the Gospel with wild recklessness, and even when it is clear that his disciples just don’t get it, when they turn him over to the authorities, abandon him in his hour of need, and deny even knowing him; Jesus continues to pour out his love on them by inviting them back into the fold after the resurrection. Throughout His earthly ministry Jesus continued to throw the seed, even to the Pharisee’s and though some never changed their heart, there were many who did because he continued to love recklessly.

God is downright foolish in his love for you and me as well. We who continue in the proud hard hearted, stiff necked and dim minded tradition of the disciples. We who neglect to build the kingdom and instead focus on building ourselves. We who show again and again why we need forgiveness and we forget again and again to give it to others. The good news is: God continues to throw seed at us. He pours out his love upon us relentlessly. And when he finds even the smallest patch of good soil in our hearts, he nurtures the Kingdom within us, producing an abundant harvest: 30, 60, even 100 fold if we will just give him the opportunity. This parable is about God and his wildly extravagant love for us, and that, my friends is more than enough when we allow him to work in whatever kind of soil is in our hearts.

 There is a song by Corey Asbury called Reckless Love , You should listen to it and realize its about His love and you.  I have included the lyrics: Reckless Love by Cory Asbury

Before I spoke a word, You were singing over me
You have been so, so good to me
Before I took a breath, You breathed Your life in me
You have been so, so kind to me

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine
I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah

When I was Your foe, still Your love fought for me
You have been so, so good to me
When I felt no worth, You paid it all for me
You have been so, so kind to me

And oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine
And I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God.

There’s no shadow You won’t light up
Mountain You won’t climb up
Coming after me
There’s no wall You won’t kick down
Lie You won’t tear down
Coming after me

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine
And I couldn’t earn it, I don’t deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah

 

My friends how will you respond to the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God in your life this week? Will you let it be trampled and stolen? Will it get choked out? Or will you let it grow and form deep roots in your heart? 

The loud sound of the gavel striking its wooden sound block echoed through the courtroom. The pain, rejection, feelings of failure, brokenness, and confusion that come from divorce would echo through my mind for years. Life does not always take the path that we expect. Years before that failed marriage even started I spent two entire summers in Queretaro, Mexico. One was spent working in an orphanage and the other was spent living in a Bible school while helping build a church in neighboring San Miguel De Allende. These trips were just one of many instances that God used to place a promise in my heart. A promise that was often obscured from my view by life’s many twists and turns. Promise is at the heart of this post.

• Scripture: Galatians 3:23–29    
•  23 Before this faith came, we were confined under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith was revealed. 24 The law, then, was our guardian until Christ, so that we could be justified by faith. 25 But since that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ like a garment. 28 There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise.

 

There seems to be  four main ideas in Paul’s thought in Galatians 3:23–29. 

First, Israel was confined under the law, which functioned like a guardian (or tutor or governess). Until Faith came, this provided restraint and guidance but could never give the inheritance (3:18).

Second, A great movement of faith came with Jesus. 

Third, whenever and wherever men and women give their lives to Jesus they are justified, and become children of God, regardless of who they are. 

Fourth, therefore, we who have accepted Jesus as Savior are heirs of His promise to Abraham.

 

• Confined Under Law

 

The first point is taken in verses 23 and 24, “Now before faith came, we were confined under the law, kept under restraint until faith should be revealed. So that the law was our guardian until Christ came.” The word translated as guardian comes from the Greek word paidagogos (pahee-dag-o-gos) and can be translated as schoolmaster/ custodian and refers to a servant of the family responsible to watch over the son, from the nursery to his entrance into manhood. He governs the child’s behavior and instruction until the child has the maturity to do what is right without external constraints. The child was not allowed so much as to step out of the house without them before arriving at the age of manhood. However, No matter how important this person was, the paidagogos does not have the power to make the child’s heart good, nor can he give the child his inheritance.

That’s how the law functioned for Israel. It provided direction and restraint. It showed the way a mature child should behave. But it could not give Israel a new heart nor could it give the inheritance. And according to 

Hebrews 4:2 the reason the law did not benefit Israel was that it did not meet with faith. Faith is the mark of maturity, which the law prescribed, and so the law kept Israel under restraint until faith came.

 The purpose of the law was to instruct Israel how to live a faithful life in the promises of God but their response was more often than not rebellion. Israel, for the most part, did not humble themselves, and so the law functioned to expose Israel’s sin and hold them under restraint until the day when God began to take away the blindness and give them a heart to trust Him.

And the law works that way today, too. If you are not truly trusting God and relying on mercy, the law feels burdensome, offensive, like the assignments given by a harsh taskmaster. But if you trust God with all your heart and rely on his mercy, then the law will feel like a prescription from a wise Physician, like exactly what you need. What the law is for you depends on what you are toward the Law-giver. 

1 John 5:3 says, “This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.” 

 

• Faith Has Come

 

The second point in Paul’s thought is that faith has now come. It’s coming is simultaneous with the coming of Christ. Verse 25, “But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.” What does he mean: “Faith has come”? He doesn’t mean that no one in Israel had saving faith before Christ came. Abraham did. Psalm 32 portrays a man whom the Lord reckons righteous by faith apart from works. Hebrews 11 gives a believers’ hall of fame from the time of the law. So Paul does not mean that no one had faith before Christ came, nor that justification was by works before Christ came. No one can earn it, it has to come by faith. There were believers who were justified by faith all along, 7,000, Paul says, in the time of Elijah in his letter to the Romans (11:4)

So what Paul means when he says that “faith has come,” is that by God’s grace a period in redemptive history has come in which great numbers of people, especially Gentiles, are responding to God’s Word in faith. “Faith has come” means that a great movement has begun whose members are marked by this above all else—they trust like little children in the mercy of God. When the law was preached, it met with very little faith. But when the gospel is preached, many people believe and are saved. This movement has spread around the world. The reason for this is not that the law taught men to earn salvation while the gospel offers salvation freely to faith. No, both the law and the gospel offer salvation freely to faith, and both describe the obedience that shows the genuineness of this faith.

The reason why the law seemed to mostly shut people up in sin while the gospel wins faith from large numbers is that the preaching of the gospel is accompanied by a powerful work of the Holy Spirit to open the hearts of the listeners. The cross brought a change in relationship between people and God while the Holy Spirit brought power. (Acts 16:14; 2 Corinthians 4:6). “Faith has come” means that God is fulfilling the promises of Ezekial 36:26 “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. If God were not causing the gospel of Christ to be accompanied by the convicting, opening work of the Spirit, the gospel would shut us under sin just like the law did. But that was not God’s plan. And every one of us here who lives by faith in the Son of God is living evidence that by the sovereign, effectual grace of the Holy Spirit “faith has come”—even to us, and taken up residence in our hearts, and made us new. If you know the hardness of your own heart apart from renewing grace, you know to  thank God every day that you are a believer.

 

• United to Christ

 

The third point in the text is that faith in Christ so unites us to him that all the benefits he can give become ours. This harkens back to the picture of the loving father and the Prodigal Son. Though the son did not deserve it,  the love of the father wrapped the son in both his arms and His robes

That’s how it is with Christ. If you entrust yourself to Christ, and say you want to be his eternal guest, and wear his garments, and accept his customs, because of his love, Because of the cross, the father would be denying himself in the work of Christ to turn you away. And so all he has is yours. Foremost in verse 24 is justification—that is, acquittal of all guilt, forgiveness of all sin.

It is important to understand this is complete forgiveness without any restitution on our part. We understand justice has been served when someone has paid his debt to society such as doing time in prison, a fine, etc. We pay nothing, we have no requirements outside of faith for this justification.  However in this justification Jesus paid our debt to God on the cross. Then, as verse 26 says, sonship and daughtership becomes ours. To belong to Christ is to be a child of God with all the stupendous privileges implied in that relationship. The idea here of baptism is amazing. It is a deeper meaning than just having been water baptized.

The Greek Word Baptizo means to be immersed, and so Paul isn’t saying just to be baptized, but to be baptized in Christ, to be immersed in Christ. 

When we are immersed in Christ, we are changed. It doesn’t matter what we were before. The reason is we have put on Christ like a garment, again that image from the prodigal son where the father covers the dirt and filth with His robe, Jesus covers all of our filth with Himself. Verse 28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female.” Every possible ground for boasting is removed; every possible reason why we shouldn’t receive it is also removed. We are immersed in the cleansing and saving power of the cross and all who go through that power are changed and are part of the same family. Whatever our differences, racial, social, economic, whatever, we are all utterly dependent on the power and love of Christ, not the value of our distinctiveness. There is nothing more secure.

 

• Heirs to the Promise

 

Finally, the fourth point is simply this: we are heirs to the promise. Verse 29: “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.” To be a descendant of Abraham and to be a child of God are virtually the same in Paul’s mind. You become both when you entrust yourself to Christ and say, “I want to be yours.” I already mentioned the idea of sonship, with that comes inheritance. The promises of God are for those who are in his family. 

In Genesis 12 God told Abraham 2 I will bless you and make your descendants into a great nation. You will become famous and be a blessing to others. 3 I will bless anyone who blesses you, but I will put a curse on anyone who puts a curse on you. Everyone on earth will be blessed because of you. 

Later this was established again in covenant when Abraham was 99 years old. We see this in Genesis 17 :  I will always keep the promise I have made to you and your descendants, because I am your God and their God. 8 I will give you and them the land in which you are now a foreigner. I will give the whole land of Canaan to your family forever, and I will be their God.

We are part of the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham as well as recipients of His Promises to His people. If you are Christ’s then you are Abraham’s heir. This place of high privilege comes according to the promise, not according to law or works.

Because of Christ, we are connected with the long line of God’s people assembled throughout all the ages.This promise is only for those united by the blood of Christ, and if we are Christ’s, then we find our place in eternity, because we are sons and daughters of God. 

 

 

 

 

Several years back while on a Walk to Emmaus retreat, God reminded me of  a night I was at a service in Mexico. I had come to think because of many reasons, the biggest being my failed marriage that though Salvation was there for me, I was damaged goods and not good enough to be used in ministry any longer. During this moment God reminded me of a night in Mexico when I was pouring my heart out to Him as a young man distraught with his own shortcomings and inadequacies looking into the face of what God wanted Him to do explaining why I was not the right man, in much the same way Moses did, God reminded me what HE told me then. I was never worthy or good enough to begin with. It has nothing to do with my worth and everything to do with His Grace. When He called me, He knew the path my life would take, and though I had free will, HE knew the choices I would make, and would give me promises anyway, promises that HE stood by, He wanted to know would I believe those promises and continue to walk toward them and lay hold of those promises. The journey of my life has taken shape in ways I never expected, there have been highs and lows and many in between that over time I am sure you will hear about as we grow in this new relationship. Yet through all of that nothing has changed regarding God’s promises.

The fact I am pastoring two churches, writing a blog, Doing ScriptureTalk Live!   (an online interactive bible study Mondays at 6pm Central time archived episodes is available) is all because of God’s faithfulness to his promises.

So we find our place in society, because we are brothers and sisters in the family of God, and we find our place in history, because we are part of God’s plan of the  ages. A plan that cannot be stopped by anything or anyone. 

God never goes back on His word or His purposes. I challenge you to dig into His word and see the promises that are written to you, if you are immersed in Christ, these are promises to you. Dust off the old prayer journal, what promises has God spoken over your life? What promises has He spoken over your family? This church? This city?  We are at least 3000 years from when God gave Abraham his promise, and yet God is still showing Himself faithful to that promise, do you think He is going to start being unfaithful now? No we are heirs to the promise just as we are evidence of the promise. Start laying a hold of those promises by faith and let’s look with expectation for what God is going to do next.

Apologetics is defined as reasoned arguments or writings in justification of something, typically a theory or religious doctrine. It is the aspect of theology that deals with the defense and establishment of the Christian faith. It is NOT apologizing for a faith in Christianity. It is simply defined as defending the faith, or as J Warner Wallace puts it, “Christian case making.” I like that better because God does not need someone to defend him against anyone, but other people need guidance and help in understanding.

The word, “apologetics,” comes from the Greek word, “apologia,” pronounced “ap-ol-og-ee’-ah.” It means “a verbal defense.” It is used eight times in the New Testament: Acts 22:1, 25:16, 1 Cor. 9:3, 2 Cor. 10:5-6, Phil. 1:7, 2 Tim. 4:16, and 1 Pet. 3:15.

1 Peter 3:15 is the verse that is most used as to the reason all Christians should be familiar with Apologetics.

15 but honor[ the Messiah as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.(HCSB)

Verse 16 goes on to give direction regarding how and why.

16 However, do this with gentleness and respect, keeping your conscience clear, so that when you are accused,[those who denounce your Christian life[d] will be put to shame.
Always be ready to give a defense to anyone. Right there in a nut shell is the instruction for all Christians to be knowledgeable in apologetics. Now this does not mean everyone needs to go to college and earn a degree in Christian Apologetics. However it does mean everyone should know what they believe and why they believe it.

There is a story I tell my students when I a stressing the importance of knowing why the believe something and not just take other people word for things. I would like to share it.

A young girl is in the kitchen with her mother learning to cook. This particular meal they are making a ham. As she carefully watches what her mother does, she asks,”Why do you cut the ends off the ham?” After a slight pause the mother replies,” I really don’t know. This is just how my mother did it.” “oh, ok.”
Later in the week the mother is on the phone with the grandmother discussing this and that when she remembered her daughters question.
“Hey mom, Sarah was helping me with the ham the other day and asked a question i just never really thought of before, why do we cut the end off the ham before baking it?” “Well gosh Honey, I really don’t know either, that is just the way I was taught by mom.” This Great grandmother of this family was still alive and as the curiosity built up regarding this mysterious technique, Sarah’s mom called the great grandmother, posing the same question.
“Nana, why do we cut the end off the ham before baking it.” After a considerably amount of laughter, she answered,” Oh child, you don’t have to cut the ends off the ham. I used to do that because I didn’t have a pan large enough for the whole ham to fit into and Papa liked sandwiches made from the end pieces for his lunch.”

Not knowing why you believe what you believe can lead to doing things or holding on to ideas that are not relevant. So Apologetics not only allows us to tell others about our beliefs, it helps increase our faith because it builds a more solid foundation of what we believe, and why we believe it.
Great Apologetic resources:

https://carm.org/introduction-apologetics

http://www.thepoachedegg.net

https://answersingenesis.org

http://www.josh.org