Let’s talk about farming…
The Bible makes many references to farming. The Israelite’s started out as gardeners, shepherds and later on land cultivators or crop growers. Every reference to farming was more than just a story, it was a way of life commonly understood and relatable to everyone in that day and age.
Turn to Matt 13:3-9
The 6 Components to this parable:
- Farmer – God
- Seed – Word of God, no matter the soil type, the seed always has the potential for bountiful harvest, seed is always good
- Path
- Rocky Places
- Thorns
- Good Soil
All of the soil types characterize the state of our hearts!
Let’s go back to our memory verse from the last post: Proverbs 4:23 “Keep your heart with all vigilance for from it flow the springs of life.”
What is your heart?
As referred to in Proverbs, it is:
- Your inner life
- Thoughts, ideas
- The inner place you settle on that builds attitudes and habits
- Drives your feelings, responses to things
- Makes decisions about choices you will follow through on (Luke 6:45 “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart, his mouth speaks.”)
What is this verse clearly saying?
Closely guard your eyes – what you allow yourself to watch & see. Your eyes are a window straight into your soul (Prov 30:17) and the things you fill up your eyesight with will settle deeply into your soul.
Closely guard your ears –what you allow yourself to hear, what you listen to. Letting our ears absorb profanity, apostasy, lies and anything else that’s evil will also settle into our souls and will affect our lives.
The word vigilance/diligence in the Hebrew refers specifically to confinement, take into custody or jail, to guard something intensely. We are to take captive our hearts. Discipline the things we allow ourselves to see (read, TV, video games, magazines, on our phones) and the things we allow ourselves to hear that influence our hearts (negative talk, lies, gossip).
Why is it so important?
Because our hearts are the headwaters to the river of our lives…everything flows out of what’s in there!
As our Proverbs verse states so clearly, we are to protect and guard ours hearts with all diligence for out of it flow (spring) all the issues of life (notably either for good or bad).
Guess what? Satan hates it when you guard your heart! He will trick you by using these cunning words… IT WON’T/DOESN’T MATTER what you see or hear, don’t worry about it! It won’t hurt you!
What does Prov. 4:23 tell us? IT ALWAYS MATTERS!
Before we begin chatting about soil types– a Caveat: The entirety of your life may not be summed up as a “thorn” person or a or “path” person. Your life, depending of the circumstances, may be portions of some of them or all of them at various times.
The Path (Matt 13:3-4)
What are the characteristics of a path?
- Worn down
- Hard
- Visible (no grass, trees, flowers)
- Ground is compressed
- When seed falls on it, it stays on top and dries out in the sun or washes away in the rain
- Cannot establish root of any kind
- Consistent use, habitual, routine
We see that the farmer (God) was scattering seed which means the word of God was falling on soil (hearts)!
How ?
Someone was spreading the word, speaking the word, sharing the word. Romans 10:14 says “How then can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” (NIV)
We see that some of the seed fell on a hardened heart (path) and it wasn’t able to root. It laid out in the open and the birds came and ate it up, it was devoured.
What prevents “path” people from calling on the name of the Lord?
READ: Matt 13:19 “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path.”
What is Satan’s role?
He is waiting for seed to be sown so he can steal it! He is prowling around places and conversations where the word is being sown into hearts. Have you ever thought about that before?
He does not want people to be saved, he is actively working AGAINST people being saved and so he waits until the word has been spoken and then he snatches it away.
How is he able to accomplish this?
A hard heart (path) is already cynical and untrusting so when they hear something that asks for trust and faith, they struggle to understand the message of the kingdom!
Like a well-worn path, people have habitual or predictable responses to hardship, pressure, pain and if they don’t understand what the message of the kingdom is, they won’t be able to see or believe that God loves them and has a message of hope for their life!
Understand…
The Greek word for “Understand” means: set together, arrive at a summary, properly put together. It’s the idea of joining facts/ideas into a comprehensive interlocking whole just like a puzzle. A summation of facts and ideas including life application.
So we see that there’s more to hearing the word than just using our ears!
In order to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved, when we hear the word we have to be able to apply it to our lives! We have to be able to understand it.
Without all of those things – facts, ideas and life application- we are at risk of Satan being able to snatch the truth right out of our hearts.
What do “path” people need?
The surest way to reach someone with a hardened heart is to simply share your story.
Your story has the perfect blend of facts, ideas and true-life application that will resonate with your listener. Don’t worry about trying to say just the right thing. You already have the right things to say and it’s called your testimony.
What mystery was Jesus revealing with this portion of the parable?
Satan inhabits spiritual places in order to steal the word from people’s hearts (church, bible study, small groups, conversations between friends).
A lack of understanding how the word applies to our lives or how it will impact our lives will prevent us from accepting the truth.
The message spoken (word) must be clear and simple, applicable and relatable in order to overcome the boundaries of a hardened heart
I hope this post gets you thinking about a path person you may know. Remember, what the seed needs in order to root in a path person’s life, is a testimony that they can relate to. Share your story! Next time we’ll talk about the rest of the soil types in this parable, stay tuned!