I was watching Fox and Friends this morning and the guy who demos the yard and household items was giving a presentation dealing with yard maintenance and yard growth. The first words out of his mouth were "To have a great yard, you need to buy good seed" and he proceeded to endorse a well-known seed company for having the best seed. In the following parables Jesus uses seed examples to illustrate a point and the following scripture is found in Luke 8:4 Now when a large crowd was coming together, and those from the various cities were journeying to Him, He spoke by way of a parable: 5 “The sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell beside the road, and it was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the sky ate it up. 6 Other seeds fell on rocky soil, and when it came up, it withered away because it had no moisture. 7 Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it out. 8 And yet other seed fell into the good soil, and grew up, and produced a crop a hundred times as much.” As He said these things, He would call out, “The one who has ears to hear, let him hear.” 9 Now His disciples began asking Him what this parable [c]meant. 10 And He said, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest, they are told in parables, so that while seeing they may not see, and while hearing they may not understand. 11 “Now this is the parable: the seed is the word of God. 12 And those beside the road are the ones who have heard, then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart so that they will not believe and be saved. 13 Those on the rocky soil are the ones who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and yet these do not have a firm root; they believe for a while, and in a time of temptation they [h]fall away. 14 And the seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked by worries, riches, and pleasures of this life, and they bring no fruit to maturity. 15 But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word with a good and virtuous heart, and hold it firmly, and produce fruit with perseverance.
We have the best seed since it is the Word of God as Jesus said in verse 11. Point in case: if we don't plant the good seed there will not be a harvest. Some necessary things need to happen as well and in verses 12-15 is the explanation of the parable by Jesus. One seed lands on the footpath and those people refuse to believe in the Word of God. The second seed lands on rocky soil and those people believe the Word of God but don't respond to it. The third seed lands in a thorn patch and those people let worries, riches, and pleasures of life keep them from growing to full maturity as a believer. The last seed lands on good soil and those people hear the Word of God, believe the Word of God, respond to the message of the Word of God, hold it firmly, and produce fruit with the perseverance needed to grow and bear fruit.
The footpath people are not born again and usually continue to reject what the Word of God teaches. The rocky soil people believe in the Word of God but are not born again and show no life change. The Thorn Patch people are born again but don't have much faith because the material things of the world cause a worry that stunts their faith. The good soil people grow and mature in their faith and produce many more believers because they have a good seed and it produces a good fruit in the good soil. The seed guy on Fox and Friends went on to say that the good seed develops roots that are not surface level, but go down sometimes four feet in the ground so they are always getting water nourishment and grow beyond the other grasses.
Jesus taught this parable and showed a deeper walk for those who are born again and encouraged growth as a believer because growth is necessary if we want to produce more fruit. In the explanation Jesus gave about what the seed parable meant, He showed those who were his followers the design for growth in their lives. Just another very personal touch given by the Son of God to a group of followers who needed to see the effect of truly believing the Word of God and the Son of God. Oh, what a Savior!!! Pray for Good Seed!
The Pilgrimage Continues,
David Warren