The MVP - new life
We’re looking into The parable of the sower. It was this parable that Jesus referred to as the “key” to understanding all His parables (Mark 4:13), or as I’m calling it, The Most Valuable Parable – The MVP. All three of the synoptic gospel writers included this parable. It can be found in Matthew 13:1-23, Mark 4:1-20, and Luke 8:4-15. So far, we have looked at the sower and the soil of the path.
It’s at this point in the parable that many commentators and preachers have stumbled over what Jesus is saying. As we read the parable, rather than relying on what others may have told us, we need to approach the text with as little bias as possible. We must allow the text to speak for itself. Admittedly…this can be hard to do, especially for veteran Christians or those of us who have been in church since we were little. The attitude of “oh yeah, that story” or “I already know what the preacher is going to say” is quite dangerous. That kind of closed mindset can prevent the Holy Spirit from teaching us something new or correcting us on something we have gotten wrong. Therefore, we need to be careful with our observations.
We’ll see in verse 11, Jesus tells the disciples, “The seed is the word of God.” So as you read the parable, think about what happens to the seed as it is added to each soil. Also watch for what’s different between the seed that fell on the path and the seed that fell on the other soils:
Luke 8:4-8, 11-13
As a large crowd was gathering, and people were coming to Jesus from every town, He said in a parable:
“A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some seed fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the sky devoured it. Other seed fell on the rock; when it grew up, it withered away, since it lacked moisture. Other seed fell among thorns; the thorns grew up with it and choked it. Still other seed fell on good ground; when it grew up it produced fruit: a hundred times what was sown.” As He said this, He called out, “Let anyone who as ears to hear listen.”
…“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. The seed along the path are those who have heard and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. And the seed on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy. Having no root, these believe for a while and fall away in a time of testing. As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are the ones who, when they have heard, go on their way and are choked with worries, riches, and pleasures of life, and produce no mature fruit. But the seed in the good ground – these are the ones who, having heard the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it and by enduring, produce fruit.”
Do you see the difference in what happened to the word of God? It was never accepted by the path, and the birds took it away. Without the seed there, the path-person could not believe and be saved. From Jesus’ statement, we can see that belief is the only condition for salvation (just like we learned with the Samaritan woman in John 4).
Many preachers and commentators focus on the maturity of the plant to gauge if a person is a believer or not. By doing so, they miss Jesus’ point – Notice that even in less than ideal soil, the word of God was accepted and new life was born! This is true for the rocky soil, the thorny soil, and the good soil. In all three, the word of God brought forth new life, but their individual fruitfulness – their visible productivity – is what varied.
There aren’t different types of believers (“true believers”, “false believers”, etc) among Christians – either you are persuaded that Jesus is the Son of God and you believe in Him for eternal life…or you don’t. Based on Jesus’ parable of the soils, we find that after the word of God brings forth new life, each believer’s maturity depends on how long they hold to their belief and if they allow their circumstances to influence their growth.
Over the years, I have observed how easily Christians write-off others as being “not truly saved” because that other person’s behavior doesn’t match up with how they think a “true believer” would act. They try to judge a person’s justification by how far they have progressed in their sanctification. Put simply, they fail to distinguish between having eternal life and bearing fruit. Christians who are focused on judging others like this end up wasting their time trying to pigeonhole other people’s eternal destiny…and worse yet, put themselves in the place of God.
If your natural-born brother or sister was misbehaving or living a lifestyle that was contrary to your family’s ideals…would you question their status as a member of your family? Of course not. We say things like this all the time “I love them and they’re still family, but…” Because the relationship is strained due to their maturity/behavior and there are steps that will need to be taken to help them “come back into the fold”. We’ll get some more insight into these situations as we look at what Jesus had to say about the rocky soil and the thorny soil.
Keep Pressing,
Ken