Wasteful Sower Gracious God

Week 6 Public Meeting

It’s easy to read the parable of the sower and focus on the soil. So we can read it and hear it say, be good soil. Don’t get lured away by the world. Watch out for thorns or birds. But if that’s the focus, why do we call it the parable of the sower? Why not the parable of the four soils? What is this parable about? I’ll read it again and you try to spot the emphasis.

Luke 8:4 And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable, 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path 6 And some fell on the rock, 7 And some fell among thorns, 8 And some fell into good soil…

Anything stand out to you? What kind of sower is this? Imagine you start at a new company fresh out of uni and you are given one job, but try as you might you only get it right 1 out of 4 times. It’s safe to say you probably wouldn’t last long there. This sower has a hit rate of 25% at most. What kind of sower is this? It’s astonishing! Does he even know what he’s doing? I bet I could do a better job. After all, if God exists He sure is doing a terrible job with the world.

The word of God must be received by grace

But Jesus says that’s exactly what God is like. God is like the farmer who insists on sowing seeds amongst the weeds, between thorns and behind rocks. It doesn’t make sense but you know what, grace doesn’t make sense either. The sower sows indiscriminately. He doesn’t go looking for only the best soil. God doesn’t reserve Himself only for good people. His word is available to all. Not only that, the sower sows unconditionally. He doesn’t first remove the rocks or till the ground or pull the weeds before he sows. He just sows. God never waits for us to turn our lives around before he talks to us. You don’t have to completely break that bad habit before you go to God. You can approach Him in whatever circumstance. He is gracious.

Here’s another way to look at it. The ground, no matter how fertile, can never produce a plant on its own. The ground doesn’t have a voice that can call out to the sower or plead his case. The ground doesn’t do anything. The sower has to come and sow the seed. No sower = no seed = no life. What appears to be terrible farming practice is actually an illustration of the grace of God.

The word of God must be handled with care

16 “No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. 17 For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. 18 Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.”

Verse 18 is linked to verse 8. V.8 He who has ears to hear let him hear, v.18 take care then how you hear. They are like two bookends that frame this whole passage. That’s how we know it is still talking about the same thing. It’s just that the metaphor has changed.

On some level, the picture we are left with at the end of verse 15 can look like someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing or cares all that much about his job. He’s sowing the seed in all the wrong places and he doesn’t bother to prepare the ground beforehand. It’s what you might expect of someone with dementia which I suppose is how some people think about God. He’s like this old grandfather figure up in heaven. Until you get to verse 16 which tells us what God who is the sower is actually doing. And it is frankly terrifying.

Jesus says “no one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar…” The issue is not whether to turn on the light or not. He assumes the light is on. It’s the after. It’s about why the light has been turned on. Why does the sower sow the way he does? Answer: it will expose what’s on the inside of people.

17 For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. 

That’s what the word of God does. And you know what the scary part is? This is happening right now. Think about it. It’s only as the seed is sown are the different types of soil revealed for what they are. The word of God is sown indiscriminately and it shines into the darkest corners of our heart showing us who we are. Take care then how you hear.

Now we’re ready to look at the four types of soils which describe four kinds of hearers. Four different ways you can hear the word of God.

12 The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 

Technically this isn’t a kind of soil. It’s like a dirt path or pavement. You know what happens when a seed lands on a path? Nothing. It just sits there, that’s why it gets taken away. Freely come, freely go. I would guess this is most people here in ECU. They’re not particularly anti-Christian or staunch atheists. Most people just don’t really care. They have no time for it. There’s no soil.

13 And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. 

The second kind of hearers are those who on the outside look very Christian. They attend church regularly, pray in public, you get into their car and they always have Christian music playing. Definitely Christian right? Not if you look on the inside. Roots don’t grow above ground and are visible. It’s underground. You can’t see it. Even me. None of you can see whether I have roots or not. But times of testing will tell.  

14 And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. 

One of the scariest things the devil can do to you is give you success. Graduate uni with honors and get that dream job with the 6 figure salary. You might even thank God for it. Then you get promoted. Now you can afford to buy a new car and a house. More and more success. You’re busy, but hey you’re successful. You still go to church and still believe in God there’s no question there. But you haven’t really grown as a Christian much since. The fruit does not mature.

15 As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

Lastly, these are the ones who make it to the end. What’s the key thing here? Hold fast in an honest and good heart. It’s a very interesting description by the way. Why do you need honesty in order to hold fast? I think it’s because sometimes holding fast can make no sense. Holding fast might require us to admit we don’t know things or that we can’t do things. And we’re ok with that. When we read the Bible, there will be things which we won’t understand or doesn’t line up with how we think. You can do one of two things right? You can say see, this is why the Bible is unreliable. Or you can say, you know what, I don’t know why God is saying this or why that is in the bible, but I’m not going to dismiss everything God says because I don’t like this one thing.

Jesus says the sower went out to sow his seed. Thank God he does and does it the way we need him to. We who have ears to hear, let’s take care in how we hear.