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(1) The Parable of the Sower.

Matthew 13:3-9, Mark 4:2-8, Luke 8:4-8

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 Note: there are 2 videos on this page, not just 1.
Jesus says this is the most important Parable and we must understand
this parable if we are going to understand the others (Mark 4:13).

 

     This is the most comprehensive, vital parable to understand. Jesus says in it that we MUST understand it. If we don’t, we won’t understand the others (Mark 4:13). Jesus shows us how the parables all reveal the truth of his gospel that he came to bring us from Abba Father God.

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        The Sower, who is God, and whom Paul calls ‘Fathers of the Gospel,’ plant good gospel seed into us. Here it’s called ‘the word of the Kingdom,’ and ‘the gospel of the Kingdom,’ so the WORD and the GOSPEL are synonyms. The gospel is also referred to elsewhere as ‘the word of God,’ as ‘the testimony of Jesus,’ and as ‘the preaching of Christ,’ among other things too.

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If we have what is called ‘good hearts,’ (1) we understand it, (2) we believe it, (3) we receive it into us, and finally (4) we release it, or share it with others. We know that God always looks at the heart (I Sam 16:7), and in this case, he looks to see if our hearts are filled with his gospel truth or not. Or they are filled with someone else’s theology, opinion or way of thinking – or have we just concocted our own opinions?

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This is what I refer to as ‘Burger King Theology.’ Their slogan is ’have it your way.’

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Well, we just want things our way. So much thinking today is, “Whatever I believe is good enough for me.” But if we don’t buy into something else, and instead buy into God’s gospel truth and reality, then this parable says we grow – 30, 60 or 100 times greater. Paul also says the gospel is what produces a good life, and good things in us (Col 1:5-6).

Jesus says we must forsake everything else we hear and believe, and only  believe his gospel. Centuries earlier, God told Moses he’d send Jesus with his Kingdom truth, and he would ‘REQUIRE us to believe it and live it (Deut 18:15-19). Acts goes on to say we will be DESTROYED if we don’t obey it and live it, whatever ‘destroyed’ means (Acts 3:23-26).

Paul says Jesus will return from heaven in flaming fire, and in vengeance to judge us for not obeying and living his gospel (II Thes 1:7-9). The fact is so many think we are going to be judged for sin, but the New Testament says the secrets of our hearts will be judged for not being founded in gospel belief (Rom 2:16).

This parable says we have (1) hard, (2) stony, or (3) busy hearts if we don’t live the gospel. We sure don’t want God to judge us for being too hard, too stony, or too busy for him and his Kingdom, do we?

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This parable shows us we must allow God to fill us with his gospel truth so he can gradually conform us to the image of Jesus. This is why Paul calls the gospel ‘the power of God.’

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This is why we are told, “As a man thinks in his heart so is he’ (Prov 23:7). We are inside-out creations: what is planted inside of us is what grows outside of us. This is why God’s gospel must saturate our thoughts. If we allow it to, we live in his power and presence. But as we’ll see next, if we don’t do this, we live in a very different condition. It’s more like we grow weeds in life, and not good godly wheat. We become one with things of the world, not with Kingdom things. We adopt more of the theologies of man, because speak our same language, which causes us to live outside of the gospel. This is living in WEEDS, not WHEAT.

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This is the text for the 2nd Video:

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 The Parable of the Sower (1A)

 

It’s so very important that we understand this first parable. Jesus says we MUST understand it or we won’t understand the others. In Matthew, he says people honor him with their mouth, but their hearts are far from him (Matt 15:8). He says they worship him in vain because they only listen to preachers who teach their own opinions and theories (Matt 15:9), and not the gospel he says we must believe (Mark 1:15).

Jesus says whatever comes into us just goes through us and passes out of us, but things that come out of our mouth come from inside our heart and can defile to us (Matt 15:17-18). He’s talking about the heart, which controls the core issues of our lives (Prov 4:23). This is why Paul says in Hebrews that it is GOOD that our hearts be established in God’s gospel of grace, and not with diverse and strange doctrines of men (Heb 13:8). We should never forget that the gospel was Paul’s lifelong ministry (Acts 20:24, I Tim 1:11). So, what is being said here is that we should only allow the GOSPEL to come into us, because it is what produces the good things that come out of us (Col 1:5-6).

We are told much the same thing in Galatians. Paul says, “A man reaps what he sows.” We most often think of something being sown OUT FROM US, like things we do and say. But if you keep reading, Paul is talking about what we allow to be sown INTO US. He says that what we sow into our or flesh, or our human desires, does not produce good things. But if God’s good gospel things are planted into our spirit, this produces everything good in us (Gal 6:7-8). Paul means for us to let the gospel take deep root in our hearts.

We’re told, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). What we think in our heart is what we’ve allowed to come into us. Thus Paul tells us to keep our fellowship in the gospel (Phil 1:5). In this Parable of the Sower, if we let God plant his good gospel seed into us, then that is what we think and believe, and what dominates us. Otherwise, Paul says we have 10,000 other instructors in Christ. If we listen to them, and receive what they say, we are not begotten by God in his gospel (I Cor 4:15).

What we’re told here is that if we will allow the gospel truth of Jesus to dominate us, then because we trust him, we live in all of his gifts, blessings, promises, favor, love grace – and everything else he plants into us. If we choose to allow other things into us, then there’s no telling what is in our heart. It must be just some strange doctrine preached one of the 10,000 instructors who teach their own opinions and theories, as Jesus says in Matthew. Paul says he was totally separated to the gospel only (Rom 1:1). He means we should too.

 

 

Go to Parable Video 2: The Wheat and the Weeds

 For a Wikipedia viewpoint: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_Sower