3 "Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. 6 But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. 8 But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
In Matthew 13:3-9, Jesus tells the story of the sower who went out to sow (the word of God). The seed falls upon four types of soil,
a. the wayside or path vs.4
b. the rocky ground that did not have much soil vs.5
c. the ground covered in thorns representing the worries and riches of this world vs.7
d. the good soil that bears a good crop. vs.8
I think we would all like to think of ourselves as being in the fourth category, the one who bears fruit. This is one who hears and understands the word that he hears and applies it to their life. The nature outflow of this from the Spirit of God is that it bears fruit. This is primarily the fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23. The soil is good soil because the person is in such a place that they can hear and understand what they are hearing. The word understand is the greek word syniemi- to set or bring together. The person is able to take what they hear and apply it. Interestingly, the person described as the path is one who hears, but never does understand. And because he or she doesn't apply it with understand they end up losing it. Like the old phrase that you may have heard "Use it or lose it."
How does a person become then the good soil that bears fruit? One way is found in Galatians 5:16 where it says to "walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh." One walks by the Spirit by a constant trust and faith in Christ and staying in close communion with God. Even Jesus when he walked this earth stayed in close communion with God and got away to pray often. Are you a person who spends consistent time in prayer? This means that this person lives with a different perspective on their problems as well as joys. They see things through what we would call a Christ centered view or Christocentric view. Much like as a new testament believer we interpret the Old Testament through Christ and what he says in the New Testament.
The person who has rocky ground has not depth to their soil. So, when hardship comes along there is no root and they tend to fade away Matthew 13:5. The truth is that in life there are always hardships that come along. In fact, in Matthew 4 we see Jesus go through some of those hardships himself when he is in the wilderness being tempted by Satan. The book of Acts is full of stories about believers going through hardships. Hardship can test our faith and produce endurance and help us to be complete in Christ James 1:2-4. But, the person on rocky soil has no firm faith and so the rocky soil bears no fruit.
I think for most of us though the soil that is most likely to represent us is the soil covered in thorns. The thorns Jesus said represent the worries of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desire for other things Mark 4:19. In other words, this person's loyal is divided and their concerns are full of the noise of this world. In our culture, this is a constant danger. Did you know that in America alone there are about 40 million people who have a anxiety disorder that could be diagnosed at any one time. This is why John said in 1 John 2:15-16 not to love the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life which is not from God, but from the world. A divided heart is a distracted heart, one who is not truly listening and therefore won't understand. And the truth is that it takes special effort and skill and practice 1 Corinthians 2:14-15 to hear God's voice and to understand it.
I want to be the kind of believer who hears and understands the voice of God. John 10:4 says that the shepherd puts forth his own sheep and goes before them and they follow him because they know His voice. The sheep will run from a counterfeit, of which there are many today, because they don't know his voice. They have trained themselves from long hours of being near the shepherd to hear his voice and to be able to tell the difference. They know the shepherd has their best interest at heart and want to give them an abundant life John 10:10. While we are saved by grace through faith in Christ and it is not a thing to be earned Ephesians 2:8. There is a sense in which we can either continue to grow in our lives as christians or become stagnant and unfruitful or carnal. It takes some discipline and effort on our part to make the effort to be still before God and to take time to listen to him Psalm 62:5-7.
David Guzik's commentary on Matthew 13
https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/guzik_david/study-guide/matthew/matthew-13.cfm?a=942024
