The Sower, the Seed and the Soil: 2016 Gospel of Luke #27
This is an exposition of Luke 8:1-15. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, August 28, 2016.
Intro:
I am a product of the television age. And I can testify that television expands your horizons and broadens your understanding of this vast, complicated world we live in. Television taught me so much. It took me from my Leave It To Beaver world and provided me with insight into cultures vastly different from my own. I learned of the mysteries of the deep and of the strange creatures under the ocean through Sea Hunt – starring Lloyd Bridges. Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Green Jeans taught me valuable lessons like the need for honesty and fair play. Of course I also learned how to deal with a depressed Moose but that’s another matter. Perhaps one of the most valuable shows for me, as it turns out, was a show that provided great insight in to rural American culture – Green Acres! Valuable to me because it prepared me for my first pastorate. For after graduating from Seminary Rheadon, Zac and I moved to the country. Now I’m not suggesting that Pawnee is Hootervil but I know if you take the back road from Masham to Ponca City you go right past the Pixley Cemetery!
Culture shock hardly seems adequate to describe what we went through in our first days in the country. For the first month we got up to watch every time a car came down the road. We watched it until it was out of sight. Of course that only happened a couple of times a day. We soon adjusted to the silence, the howl of the coyotes and the smell of Bill Webb’s pig farm a few miles to the west! It didn’t take long until we fell in love with the people God had given us to serve.
After a few months surrounded by wheat fields and various farming operations we decided we ought to have a garden. Actually, Rheadon decided we ought to have a garden. The idea was mentioned at church the next morning a neighbor appeared with his tractor and began playing up our yard! “That ought to make a nice little garden,” he said as he hopped off his tractor. It was huge! Word was out. The parsonage was there at the church – we couldn’t back out. The long and the short of it is – folks would walk out and look at our garden on Sunday morning and bring us vegetables Sunday night!
Though our efforts at farming proved disastrous I did learn some things about sowing and reaping. Soil preparation is essential to reaping a bountiful harvest. Good seed doesn’t do anything in lifeless soil. The soil must be prepared, cared for and constantly worked if you are to enjoy the desired effect. The same can be said in the spiritual realm. The condition of the heart has direct bearing on the productiveness of the “seed.” That is the focus of the teaching of Jesus in the opening verses of Luke Luke 8.
Text: Luke 8:1-15
Luke is writing to his friend Theophilus with an evangelistic purpose.
He desires to accurately tell the story of Jesus and then call for commitment to Him.
Luke’s method involves pulling together various events, teachings, and miracles of Jesus and weaving them into a compelling drama.
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In the opening verses of Luke 8 we learn that Jesus was traveling from town to town “proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God.” We have here, Luke’s description of the ministry of the Lord Jesus. He went from place to place preaching the Gospel. The word “proclaiming” is used to describe a herald sounding forth a message. And that message was “good news” – the Gospel. The coming, the arrival of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God and the kingdom of Heaven are used interchangeably in the Gospels. It has to do with the rule or reign of God over His people.
This is at the heart of why Jesus came. You cannot understand the mission and ministry of Jesus if you do not get this. The Messiah, God’s anointed the great king has come. This is the beginning of His kingdom. This has to be foremost in our thinking. This is what we are to be about in the church. Our mission in the world is to preach the Gospel. Represent the King and declare His glory. Luke tells us that is what Jesus was consistently doing.
We are also told about those who were traveling with him. I don’t know that I could prove it but it sounds as if He had just spoken at the WMU meeting at the First Baptist Church! Luke gives reference to some of the women who were following Him and lets us know that some prominent women were among them and they were financing, to some degree, His ministry.
Luke then records another of Jesus’ parables. A parable is an earthly story with heavenly significance. It is the use of the everyday and the ordinary to explain the extraordinary. Jesus used word pictures to describe great truths regarding the kingdom. Let’s make sure we set this parable in its historical context. Luke just told us that Jesus went from town to town, village to village preaching the Gospel. What is happening as a result of this ministry? A growing number are “believing” and a good many are rejecting the message. Some are embracing the message others are attacking the message. Some hearts are being opened, others hardened. It’s the same message – very different responses. What’s going on? Why is this happening? That is the focus of this parable.
Parables were meant to be heard. They were meant to leave an impact. Rather than be carefully studied and scrutinized they were told orally and left the hearer with a basic truth. As we explore this parable we discover:
Thesis: The seed of the Gospel produces abundant fruit in the receptive heart.
And we also are reminded of its parallel truth:
The seed of the Gospel is of little value in the unresponsive heart.
In this passage we find the Sower = the preacher, in this case the Lord Jesus.
The Seed = the Gospel, the good news of the kingdom of God.
The Soils = the hearts of those who hear.
In each case the sower and the seed are the same.
They are both “good”. They are not the problem.
The variable is the soil.
In the parable we find 4 different soils.
4 different hearts with various results.
- The hardened heart rejects the word of God and is totally unaffected. (8:5,12)
- The shallow heart gives ear to the word of God but soon fades because of a lack of depth. (8:6,13)
- The crowded heart hears the word of God but it is soon rendered ineffective due to neglect. (8:7,14)
- The responsive heart gladly receives the Word of God and produces abundant fruit. (8:8,15)