The Soils
by Rev. Paul Howden
January 27, 2008
Sexagesima
Luke 8:4-15

While driving in Kansas you sometimes see combines and tractors plowing and tilling their fields. The parable Jesus told about the soils probably took place near a field where a sower was casting his seed. Jesus stopped the crowd, pointed to the sower, and instructed them concerning the mysteries of the Kingdom of God.

The parable of the soils represents four types of hearers. Through this parable the Lord tells us what kind of hearer we should be. Jesus says in Luke 8:5, “A sower went out to sow seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside, and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it.” What is the seed? The seed is easy to interpret. Jesus Himself tells us in verse 11, “The seed is the word of God.” The Word of God means the preaching of God’s Word from the pulpit, the teaching of God’s Word in Bible studies, and your personal reading of God’s Word at home. “A sower went out to sow seed.” It was good that a sower went out to sow seed. It always is. The Kingdom of God needs sowers. Never underestimate the preaching, teaching, and reading of the Bible. Preachers must not only preach well, but hearers must humbly pay attention and try to apply that Word to their lives. Now let’s examine the four soils. That is our purpose this Sexagesima Sunday. Reading Luke 8:5,9-12.

A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be?  And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.  Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.  Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.

I.            The road, or footpath, is the first type of soil. The footpath represents the unreceptive hearer. Traffic packs down the dirt. In Bible times a foot path often ran right through fields. As soon as the seed hits this kind of soil, the devil comes and takes it away. Here we insist that the devil exists. The devil is a mighty spiritual monster of death. He is not as powerful as the Holy Spirit, but he does plenty of damage. He has his bad birds, his demons, that do his bidding. They pluck up the seed. When the Word of God is preached from the pulpit the devil tries to hinder it from getting into the hearts of people. The devil and his fallen spirits cause wandering thoughts, distraction, and lack of attention.

In C. S. Lewis’ Perelandra, Ransom, a Christ figure, calls on a friend to come to a country cottage where he is staying. This meeting is part of Ransom’s strategy to save the planet of Perelandra from Weston, a Satan figure. There are no buses or trains so the friend must get to the cottage by foot. On the way he experiences confusion, fears, malaise, weariness and more. Several times he nearly stops, turns around, and cancels the rendezvous. Happily, he plows through these distractions and finds Ransom in the cottage. “By Jove, I’m glad to see you,” said Ransom, advancing and shaking hands with me… “I say – you’re all right, aren’t you? You got through the barrage without any damage?”
“The barrage? – I don’t understand.”
“I was thinking you would have met some difficulties in getting here.”
“Oh, that!” said I. “You mean it wasn’t just my nerves? There really was something in the way?”
“Yes. They didn’t want you to get here. I was afraid something of the sort might happen but there was no time to do anything about it. I was pretty sure you’d get through somehow.”
“By they you mean the others – our own eldila?”
“Of course…” [Perelandra by C. S. Lewis. P. 21.] In other words, the devil and his demons were the ones behind the barrage of malaise, doubts and weariness hindering Ransom’s friend.

Just as Ransom’s helper met a barrage of distractions on his way to do good, so you will meet your own barrage of obstructions when you plan to attend worship, or Sunday School, or read your Bible at home. The devil sets up a barrage. He wants you to quit. Be ready for it. Resist it in the power of Christ. Is the soil of your heart a hard, compressed surface where the birds easily gobble up the seeds? Does the Word of God do nothing for you? Are you an unreceptive hearer? Do the birds snatch it away? Repent of your sin today. Ask God to soften your soil, clean up your heart and make it receptive to His Word.

The Prayer Book shows us how to pray to be a receptive hearer on page 94. “And to all Thy People give thy heavenly grace; and especially to this congregation here present; that, with meek heart and due reverence, they may hear, and receive thy holy Word; truly serving thee in holiness and righteousness all the days of their life.”

II.            The second type of soil is rocky. Let’s read Luke 8:6, 13.

And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.

We have plenty of rocks in Northeast Penn. When you take a walk in the woods you often have to look down in order to avoid tripping. In order to make a garden at my house, we had to throw out a lot of rocks. Judea too was a rocky region. Soil on top of rocks traps the moisture so that plants can grow quickly, but the roots cannot go deep. The hot sun then dries up the water, causing the young plant to die for lack of moisture. Such soil stands for the unproductive hearer.

Many people fit that description. Their shallow hearts are attracted to something new. They hear the Gospel and get excited. Church seems fun. They pick up some God-talk. Their emotions run high. They hear the Word, it feels good, and they bask in it.

But then something happens. A detail rubs them the wrong way. Church gets to be a routine. The novelty wears off. The going gets tough. In a former church I attended, a young man got very active because he liked one of the young ladies. When the girl failed to return his romantic overtures he left. He went back into the world. There are people like this. If God will not keep them feeling high they will quit. If they do not see a perfect church, a pure church, they will have no part of it. So they wither away on the rocks. They lack perseverance. The faith of such people is shallow. At best, the unproductive hearer is a flash in the pan.

Does the shallow soil refer to enthusiasm? Possibly. The tendency among the unproductive hearers is to sustain an emotional high on which to rest their faith. Religion for them hangs on adrenaline, feelings; emotional highs. Feeling is important. We feel hope and love and peace and fear. There is no need to stifle feelings, nor check delight in the Word. Do not think that it is wrong or dangerous to have your emotions moved to tears by the hymns, the liturgy, or the Eucharist. Let your heart burst with love and joy. The warning is simply this: avoid building your faith upon emotions or good feelings. A dependence on feeling is rocky soil. Rocky soil is bad. A garden full of rocks is unproductive soil. The plant will wither when the dry spell comes. Remove those rocks from your soil. Be a productive hearer of God’s Word. Trials will come. Good feelings and excitement will evaporate. At that point you need to calmly and decidedly take up your cross, and follow Jesus. The Bible was given to help you mature and grow up as an image of God. That means getting through the dry seasons. Don’t let God’s Word dry up in you. Get rid of the rocks.

III.            The third type of soil stands for the stunted growth hearer. Let’s read Luke 8:7, 14.

And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.

Besides the hard heart of the pathway, the emotionalism of rocky soil, there is the immaturity of the thorny ground. The roots of God’s Word have sunk down into your soul, but that doesn’t mean you are bulletproof. The danger of being strangled by thorns is real. This is the stunted growth hearer.

What are those thorns that could choke out your heavenly reward? Verse 14 says, “Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.” The thorns and thistles rob the flora of the nourishment it needs. Some weeds have trailers or vines that wrap themselves around the good plants, smothering them. Also, the foliage of the weeds robs the good plants of the light and warmth of the sun. What is the result? Fruitlessness. The plant gets stunted and wilts. No fruit.

What are the thorns and thistles that choke out faith? Riches are common. The quest for money can become an obsession. Money is not intrinsically evil but it sure can ruin a person. Gollum fixated on the ring of power, and look where he ended up.

While I was pastoring a Latino church in Texas years ago, there was a middle-aged gentleman who began attending. His name was Heliodoro. After a few months hermano Heliodoro ran into some work problems. One thing led to another, and I invited him to move in and rent a room with me. Our house had a good-sized backyard, and we started a garden. We put in tomatoes, hot peppers, radishes and lettuce. The seedlings came up everywhere lush and green, everywhere except one place. For some reason, nothing would grow in a ten foot area. We tried time and again to get something to sprout. If we planted seeds, nothing sprang up; if we transplanted vegetables they died. I gave up. At this point my roommate got some funny ideas.

According to legends Heliodoro had learned while growing up in southern Mexico, where gold is buried, there vegetation will not grow. Thus, he began to suspect that there might be hidden treasure buried underneath our infertile square. He began digging. With pick and shovel, he carefully excavated a 10’ by 10’ square hole, one-foot deep. He encountered no gold. So he dug two feet, then three. Still no treasure chest. The hole kept getting deeper. When he reached six feet I urged him to quit. He refused. It seemed like a frenzy had taken hold on him. Day after day, week after week, the digging continued unabated.

The weird became the bizarre. He began having dreams at night in which voices assured him that just a little further and he would hit eureka. The hole became an abyss. To go down and come up, he acquired an extension ladder. To take out the loose earth from the bottom of the pit he tied a rope around the handle of a five-gallon bucket. When the bucket was full, he ascended the ladder and pulled it up by the rope to dump the contents on the ever-growing mountain of earth next to his hole. It was quite an operation. Who knows how long this would have lasted. The hole must have reached 25-30 feet. Eventually, neighbors looked over the fence, noticed what was happening, and called the police. The authorities came twice and threatened to send him to jail, so he very reluctantly gave up, and filled in his mineshaft. Soon thereafter he shacked up with a woman down the street, abandoned the church, and renounced the faith. What happened? His faith got choked out with buried treasure. The soil of his heart was full of thorns: “cares, riches, and pleasure.” Are thorns and weeds taking over the garden of your heart? Do you have a mania for riches, possessions, or pleasure? Does your daily routine leave out time with the Lord? How about the computer game pandemic? Is that illness choking your life and keeping you a perpetual child? Are the TV and computer keeping you away from reading God’s Word and praying? Get rid of the weeds. Get rid of whatever it is that is stopping you from attending Church and hearing God’s word. Be a mature, growing Christian.

IV.            The last type of soil is the one to which the entire parable has been heading. It is the productive hearer. The productive hearer receives the Gospel like good soil receives nice seeds. The seedling sinks into the soil. It gets water, sunshine, nitrogen. It sprouts. The branches reach up and out. The roots sink down and wide. These are the plants that “…bear fruit with patience” (v. 15). What sort of fruit does a productive hearer bear? The fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-discipline (Galatians 5). A productive hearer of the Word will abound in such works ten-fold, thirty, sixty, and one-hundredfold.

What is one evidence of a genuine reception of the Word of God in a person’s life? How can you be sure of your salvation? Fruit. Is there fruit? Are you growing in your hatred for sin, your love of righteousness; your love for God and your neighbor? If so, you gradually take on the character of Christ. The fruit of the Spirit blossoms and yields a bountiful crop. Those who claim to be believers but never show any fruit can hardly find security in their salvation. On the other hand, those who bear fruit in a righteous walk do indeed enjoy a comforting assurance of God’s grace. They sense God’s forgiveness and love, and they look for their satisfaction and mansion in Heaven.

Is the Word producing fruit in you? Are you receptive to God’s truth? Do you allow it to transform your life and thinking so that it turns you away from sin, directs you to Jesus, and produces the fruit of the Holy Spirit?

The theme for Sexagesima Sunday is intended to prepare you for Lent. As Ash Wednesday draws nigh, ready the soil of your heart. Don’t be an unreceptive hearer! Nor an unproductive or immature one! Determine today to be a productive hearer. “How can I do this?” you ask. You can’t, but the Lord can. Seek God’s grace to change the bad habits of your heart. Ask your Heavenly Father to strengthen you against the strangling weeds of riches and the flesh. Beseech the Holy Spirit to sanctify you. Use the means of grace the Lord has placed at your disposal: prayer, fellowship, the Word of God, the sacrament. Allow the Spirit to make the soil of your heart a rich, fertile, and productive garden.

Let us pray.