In the Parable of the Soils, Which Soil Are You?

Same Message – Different Response

At the beginning of this Fall, our church in Mt Pleasant started working through a part of the Bible dealing with the life of Jesus – we’ve been in the book of Mark. For the past two weeks, we’ve taken a short break, but this morning, we’re going to be returning to our series. And we’ll continue to see the significance of Jesus’s life and teaching. Now, from a few weeks ago, you may remember that in Mark 3, there were a wide variety of people who were hearing about Jesus – and who were even hearing what Jesus was teaching (including the parable of the seeds and soil we’ll be looking at today). And yet what we saw was that many people came to wrong conclusions about Jesus’s identity and his importance.

You’ll notice, though, that Jesus isn’t all that surprised by this. He’s aware that various types of people are going to hear his teaching – they may even be hearing the exact same things. But different people will respond in different ways. The same word will produce different effects, depending on who’s listening. And we’ll explore this idea more as we consider Jesus’s teaching in Mark Chapter 4. So if you haven’t already, please grab a Bible and turn with me to Mark, Chapter 4. I’ll be reading verses one through 20. But before I read our text, please pray with me:

[Pray and Read Text]

Why Parables?

When I was a kid, one of the things that I enjoyed was when my dad would come tell me bed time stories. And usually the stories involved some way that my dad or someone else in the family had gotten injured. Now, as a kid, I enjoyed the stories simply because I found them interesting. But I realize now that these stories had another effect. They also taught me lessons about life. By telling me about the time that someone threw a rock up in the air that hit my dad in the head, leading to stitches – well, that was a lesson that taught me that I shouldn’t be throwing rocks. By telling me about the time he got stuck inside a hollow crabapple tree, it was impressed upon me that I shouldn’t crawl into tight spaces that I won’t be able to get out of again. Stories can be very effective in getting a point across.

And what we see in our text, here, is that when Jesus stands before crowds of people, and he’s teaching, many of the things he speaks about are actually stories – carefully-crafted stories that are intended to get people thinking. These stories, also called parables, are intended to stick in our minds, and help us to understand God’s truth. And we’ll be digging into some of these parables over the next few weeks.

Specifically, this morning, the first parable that we see here involves a farmer, going out to plant seeds – probably some sort of barley or wheat crop. The farmer is filling his hand with seeds, and he’s scattering the seeds over the surface of the ground. And Jesus explains to his listeners, that there are four different outcomes for these seeds. Some of them land on the path, and are snatched away by birds. Some of them land on rocky soil, and so they germinate – they begin to look like they’re growing – but the root doesn’t penetrate into the ground. So when the sun shines, the seedlings shrivel up. Then third, some of the seeds land in places where there are a lot of weeds, and the weeds choke those seedlings out. And then finally there are other seeds that land in good soil. And those seeds grow, and mature, and produce a big crop.

This little story is pretty easy to follow along with. And most of the people in Jesus’s audience were likely farmers. They could probably connect pretty well with the story. And yet a story like this probably left people wondering – Why is Jesus talking about a farmer planting seeds? What’s the point of it? You’ll notice, in verse 9, Jesus ends his parable by telling the crowd, “He who has ears, let him hear.” He signals to the audience that this isn’t just a fun story – but there’s an important lesson here he wants people to pick up on. But from what we see in our text, the crowds don’t understand. And even Jesus’s own disciples – his twelve closest followers – even they can’t figure out what the point of the story is. And so in verse 10 they come to Jesus when he’s alone, and the twelve ask him to explain the meaning of his parable.

But you’ll notice – even before Jesus unpacks the meaning of his story, the first thing he does is he explains why he’s been telling parables in the first place. And before we get to the parable itself, I want to spend a bit of time here – because Jesus’s reason for speaking in parables might be surprising to many of us – maybe even confusing. Because Jesus says he’s been intentionally speaking with parables so that God’s truth would be revealed to some, but not to others. That’s what Jesus says in our text. In verse 11, he tells his twelve disciples: “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables” – why? – well, Jesus says it’s so that certain people will see without perceiving, and so they’ll hear without understanding.

Now for many of us, the first question that pops into our minds is why would this be Jesus’s plan? Why would he reveal secrets about the kingdom of God to some people but not to all? But that’s actually the wrong question. Instead the real question is why God would reveal special knowledge to any people? Why would we expect God to give glorious messages to creatures of dust like us – to people who have been rebellious and polluted on account of our selfish, ungodly hearts? Because that’s our situation. Ecclesiastes 7, verse 20 confirms, “Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.” None of us deserve the privilege of hearing about the kingdom of God. If anything, we deserve punishment. And so the fact that Jesus has come to reveal good news to many corrupt, sinful people like us – it isn’t a sign that he’s unkind or stingy. Instead, it’s proof to us that Jesus is profoundly generous and good.

But there are other specific reasons why Jesus is revealing truth to some but not all. Let me mention three additional things that Jesus is accomplishing by speaking in parables like this. First, Jesus is proving that he’s a true spokesman for God. Because God’s true messengers in the Old Testament, the prophets – they were sent out to speak with a similar expectation, that many would hear their word without understanding it. In Exekiel 12, verse 2, Ezekiel is told that he dwells among a people “who have eyes to see, but see not, [and] who have ears to hear, but who hear not.” And in Isaiah 6, 9 and 10, the LORD tells Isaiah, “Go and say to this people: “’Keep on hearing, but do not understand, keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ Make the heart of this people dull and their ears heavy and blind their eyes lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn, and be healed.” And here in our text, in Mark 4:12, Jesus references these words from the prophet Isaiah and he applies them to himself. Jesus confirms that he’s following and fulfilling the same pattern of those true prophets from the past – and so therefore, he should accepted as God’s true spokesman in the present. So that’s one thing that Jesus accomplishes by explaining the purpose of his parables.

But here’s the second thing. Jesus also humbles us. He makes it clear that not everyone will understand what he says. And so whenever we’re reading the Bible, we should run to Jesus and ask for wisdom – just as the disciples ran to Jesus when they couldn’t understand his parable. Jesus helps us to see that we need the help of his Spirit in order to rightly understand and receive his word.

But let me point out one more thing Jesus accomplishes, by explaining the purpose of his parables. He also gives us the right expectations when we talk about our faith with others. Because Jesus has made it clear – as his Word goes out, he intends that some will receive the good news, but not all. So when we speak, we should expect that some people will shut us down – after all, people ignored and rejected Jesus, too – and yet we should also expect that there will be people who accept the word and understand it! Because God himself says so. That should motivate us to keep speaking with hope and confidence, recognizing that some won’t listen – but many will.

And what’s interesting, here, is that Jesus’s parable is actually related to this very idea. He’s making the point that not all who hear God’s Word will receive it – but many people will. And so in our remaining time together, let’s look at how Jesus explains the spiritual meaning of this story about the seed, the four soils, and the successful harvest. I’ll work through Jesus’s story under those three points – the seed, the soils, and the successful harvest.

The Seed

As Jesus explains what these things in the story represent, the first thing he talks about is the seed. Right away in verse 14, Jesus explains that the sower sows the word. Or, to say it another way, the seed that’s being planted – it’s a message that’s being communicated.

Now, you’ll notice, Jesus doesn’t say anything specific about who the sower is – who the person is who’s doing the planting. He doesn’t say whether it’s an adult or a child. He doesn’t say whether the sower is highly skilled and experienced, or whether the person planting the seed is struggling along for the first time. That’s not what matters. The focus here isn’t placed on the ability of the sower. But instead the focus is placed on the significance of the seed – the significance of the word.

Of course, that raises the question – what’s the word that’s being sown here? In our text, Jesus doesn’t come out and explicitly quote for us what the word or the message is that he’s talking about. But it’s strongly implied from our text that Jesus is referring to his own word – the message that he himself has been proclaiming, and that he’ll be passing on to his disciples.

You may remember, back in Mark Chapter 1, verse 15, we’ve already seen a summarized version of what Jesus’s basic message was. Jesus came, saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel [– the good news].” Since the time has come, and God’s king has arrived – in response to this, people should repent – they should turn back to God from their wrong ways of living. And they should also believe. They should trust in God’s chosen king, Jesus, to save them and to bring them into his kingdom. This word has been at the heart of Jesus’s teaching since the very beginning of his ministry.

And this is the same word – the same core message – should be at the heart of what we talk about, too, if we want to be sowing the life-giving seed of God’s Word. It involves calling people out of their unbelief, arrogance, and evil desires – and urging them to rely on King Jesus for forgiveness, and transformation, and new life. Sometimes, when we’re speaking to people about the Christian faith, we’ll talk about more than this – but we mustn’t ever talk about less than this. Because this good news is the life-giving seed – the word that Jesus is talking about in this story. The sower fills his hand with good news. He spreads it generously over the soil surface. And he waits with the eager expectation that his work won’t be meaningless – but that God will bring growth.

The Soil

And yet, the as the seed of God’s word lands on the ground, the soil isn’t all the same. And this brings me to my second main point, dealing with the soils. Jesus identifies four different soils. And these four soils represent different ways that people respond to God’s Word.

And I want to quickly clarify, here. Jesus isn’t claiming that people are stuck into one of these four categories. He isn’t saying that there are four different psychologies of people, who mechanically respond to God’s Word the same way, all the time. Instead, Jesus is explaining four different ways that people might respond when they hear God’s word. And what we see is that all kinds of different people hear – the seed of the word is spread freely over various types of soil – but not every soil really understands and receives the word.

The first soil that Jesus talks about, in verse 15, is the soil of the path – the regular path that the farmer walked on to gain access to the field. A path like this would be very compacted from all the people or animals walking on it. And because of how flattened and compressed the dirt of the path would be, seeds wouldn’t be able to get down into any loose soil. The seeds would just be left out on the surface, for hungry birds to fly down and snatch up the seeds.

And Jesus explains that the hard dirt of the path is like the hardened hearts many people have when they hear God’s word. The main problem with this soil – the main problem with this response to God’s word – is that there’s no penetration of the word. People simply don’t listen. It could be because people don’t like what they’re hearing. And so they tune it out. Or it could be that some people simply don’t care – and so they don’t even try to pay attention to Jesus and his message. In either case, the result is the same. The word doesn’t penetrate. People don’t internalize it. And so the evil one – Satan – he takes advantage of the opportunity and he snatches the truth away. And so, ultimately, that soil doesn’t produce any fruit.

But the second soil Jesus talks about is the rocky soil. When I was growing up, there was a corner of our garden back home that was kind of like this. The soil was rocky – almost gravelly in some places. And when we tried to put plants in, the seeds would sometimes seem to grow at first. For a short time there’d be a sprout of green – the appearance of growth. But then when it was hot and dry, and the sun was beating down – many plants would shrivel up, because there was a stoniness of the soil that prevented the seeds from rooting down deep.

Again, this second soil describes another way that people often respond to God’s word. The problem with the first soil was that there was no penetration of God’s Word. The problem we see with this rocky soil, is that there’s no persistence in God’s Word – no endurance. I expect that many of us have seen people respond like this before. We might know people who have heard about Jesus’s good news – maybe at a camp, or from a friend, or during their time in college – and for a time they say, “This is great. Let’s go. I’m ready to follow Jesus.” But then Jesus explains in verse 17, that many of these people – “they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation of persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.” In other words they only want Jesus for as long as he’s popular – for as long as he gives them good feelings – for as long as he makes life easy. But as soon as trouble comes, as soon following Jesus has any sort of cost to it, they don’t stick around. There’s no persistence. And Jesus explains that the reason why there’s no persistence – no endurance – is because there was no real rootedness of God’s word in their heart.

And so Jesus is pressing us here to ask the question – is the word of God deeply rooted in your life? I’m not just asking if you like Christian music artists, or if you like the vibe of certain churches, or if you like spending time with your Christian friends. Because those things aren’t at the heart of Christianity. Instead, the question here is do you love God and His Word? Are you convinced of what he’s told us in the Bible? Because people who aren’t rooted like this – they won’t persist when problems and persecution come. And again, the soil of their hearts won’t produce good fruit.

But there’s a third soil that Jesus mentions – the thorny soil. The sower plants seeds in the thorny soil, and the seeds start to grow, but they eventually get choked out by the weeds. Again, this represents a way that people respond to God’s Word. And the problem with this particular soil is that there’s no priority of the word. These people hear the word, as Jesus explains in verse 19: “but the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke out the word, and it proves unfruitful.”

And so Jesus, here, explains – these people aren’t closing their ears to God’s Word. They’re listening to it. They don’t have any objections. They agree that it’s all true. They may be convinced that Jesus it the Lord of heaven and earth, and the Savior of sinners. And yet – notice – they don’t personally make space for the word of God to grow in their hearts. They don’t make time for Bible reading. They don’t talk about their spiritual questions or thoughts with other people. They don’t set aside a few minutes throughout the day for prayer. They don’t commit themselves to gather for weekly worship with a local church. And if you get right down to it, the reason they don’t do these things is because they believe that other things are more important – other things are more pressing than God’s word. And this way of responding to God’s Word is just as terrible as the first two. Because when Jesus’s word isn’t a priority, the end result is the same. We don’t produce good fruit.

And so these first three soils – they all represent wrong ways of responding to God’s Word. There are problems with our heart, when there’s no penetrating of God’s word, when there’s no persisting of God’s word, and when there’s no prioritizing of God’s Word.

But then Jesus describes a fourth soil – which he refers to as good soil. And in verse 20, Jesus explains that this good soil represents people who “hear the word and accept it…” And even though Jesus doesn’t go into detail here to explain what it means to accept God’s word, he doesn’t really need to. Because we’ve already seen what it means to not accept God’s word, by looking at what’s wrong with the three bad soils. And so we can flip those three things around to know what accepting God’s Word should look like.

A good-soil type of heart is a heart that God’s word is penetrating – it describes people who’re careful to pay attention whenever the Bible is opened up – people who’re humble, and receptive under the truth of everything God says. And a good-soil type of heart is a heart where God’s word is persisting. Those types of people are holding on to God’s Word, not just because of an emotional experience they’ve had, or because of the influence of their friends – but they’re holding on, even when it’s hard, because they know God’s word is true, and because they’re convinced that it’s worth dying for. And then finally, a good-soil type of heart is a heart where God’s word is prioritized. These are the people who make decisions and who arrange their priorities in life based on the goodness of what God has said. These are the people who prioritize a relationship with God, who are taking steps to grow in their understanding of the Bible, and who understand the importance of godly character and genuine love. They don’t let their schedules get full of things that choke out time for God – but God’s word and God’s ways are number 1.

The Successful Harvest

And at the end of this parable, God tells us what the result of having a good-soil type of heart is. There’s a successful harvest. And this is my third and final point. Jesus tells us about this successful harvest at the end of verse 20. The good soil – the good heart – bears “fruit, thirtyfold, sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

So the first thing Jesus points out to us here is that receiving his word brings fruitfulness and abundance in life. And you should have this figured out by now – Jesus isn’t literally telling people that their lives will be filled with kernels of wheat, or an abundance of money or the momentary riches of this world. But he’s saying that there will be a spiritual abundance – a great flourishing of things like contentment, joyful obedience, hope, peace, courage – things like that. When we accept God’s word, and it grows in us, and it changes us, it doesn’t deplete us or bring death to us. Instead, it actually takes the dead soil of our hearts, and it brings forth real life.

Ironically, I think that there are many people who get Christianity all wrong. They’re really uncomfortable with it. Because they’re afraid that if they accept what the Bible says, it’ll take away their happiness. Right? You probably know people like this. They’re concerned that if they start doing what God commands them to do, they’ll be tied up and restricted. They’re afraid that it’ll make life miserable. But the opposite is true. In fact, the only way to find life that’s truly life – the only way to find eternal life – is to have a heart of soft soil that’s open to the seed of God’s word. That’s why in John 14:6, Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” And as Jesus prays to God the Father in John 17:3, he says, “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” When we know God by accepting, and internalizing, and trusting his word – it brings forth abundance of life.

But you’ll also see, here, that some plots of soil – some people, produce more fruits than others. As the word grows, in some places it brings forth thirtyfold, in other places sixtyfold, and in other places – quite remarkably – it brings forth 100-fold. And make sure you notice – Jesus isn’t critical of the plant that produces thirtyfold, compared to the plant that produces sixtyfold or one hundred-fold. Instead, Jesus is simply celebrating all the different levels of fruitfulness.

And it’s important for us to have a similar mindset – to celebrate fruitfulness wherever we see it, without being caught up in comparisons. Because there might be days when you’re tempted to look around at other Christians, and to play the comparison game. You might be tempted to look down on people who you think are less productive, or you might be tempted to feel inferior when other people seem to have lives of greater spiritual fruitfulness. But that’s not the point.

True – there are going to be differences. Every soil is different – it comes from a different background – it comes from different types of bedrock, and it’s going to have different properties. Not all soil is going produce the same amount.

But Jesus wants us to seek fruitfulness – and wherever we see the word landing in human hearts, and sprouting, and bringing forth a crop – wherever we see it, whether the harvest is modest or magnificent – in either case we should rejoice that we have a God who brings life. We should treasure the Lord Jesus, who gives us the seed of his word. Because it’s all a gift. And the growth isn’t anything that we can boast about. The growth comes from the Word of God – not from us.

What Soil Are You?

But as I wrap up here – at this point I’m sure you can see that there actually aren’t four different types of soil – but ultimately, there are just two types. There’s soil that produces a harvest of abundant life – and then there’s soil that doesn’t. There are two types of people – those that truly receive the word of God as a precious treasure, and those that don’t. So which one are you? What will you do with God’s word? How deep will you let it go?

The word of God has been given, not to make our lives barren and dry – but in order to give us true vitality and fruitfulness. So whenever God’s word is spoken, be careful how you listen. Don’t fall into a pattern of dullness – don’t push it away saying “Yeah, yeah, I already know that.” But receive what Jesus says with humility. Grow in the truth. And delight in the life-giving power of God’s Word. Let’s pray.