Sowing and Reaping

We've probably read it dozens of times, but do we really know what Jesus was saying? A member of our church in Bible College of all places finally gave the best explanation I've ever heard, so much so, I wrote it down to share!

The Responsibility of the Sower/Leader

Leaders are Sowers just as Jesus used a parable to teach in Matthew 13. A Sower’s job is to plant seeds. A Sower can be any form of authority, the highest and most important being God Himself as well as Jesus and the Holy Spirit. A Sower can also be a teacher, coach, pastor, mentor, boss, or a parent. But sowing is not limited to authoritative figures. As we all have the rights to authority and leadership as God’s children according to His Word, a Sower can also be a best friend, someone you met at an event, or a random person on the street whom God called to plant a seed.

But no matter who the person is, the art of planting seeds is actually the easiest part of the process, at least, it seems to be. Why? Because the only responsibility of the Sower is to plant the seed. I further it with saying, in some cases depending on the position of the Sower, they also provide the water, aka, the opportunity and all the tools necessary for growth, but they don’t actually pour it on the plant. What ultimately happens to the seed after planting them and giving them the watering can is not up to them. It’s up to the follower, aka, the seed.

The Responsibility of the Follower(s)

Leaders sow everywhere, planting seeds regardless of the soil. But despite the Sower’s job as the first and most important of the process (as they’re the ones activating the opportunity), it is not the Sower’s responsibility to know the condition of the seed’s soil (unless the Holy Spirit tells them), nor is it their responsibility to decide if the seed is watered, grows, and bears fruit in the end. Because in life, there are different kinds of soil. If the Sower knew the soil, whether it was good or bad, they may not even give the bad soil a chance, even if God gave it to them.

In Matthew 13, Jesus gave four kinds of soil. Verse 19 says, “The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the Kingdom and don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts.” Wayside means there was no soil (the edge of a road) and without faith-filled covering due to lack of understanding, they were eaten by birds.

Verses 20 and 21 says, “The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word.” The soil is littered with stones and rocks, which shallowed the soil. As a result, the plants were quick to sprout, but the soil wasn’t deep enough for them to grow roots, and much like the wayside, there wasn’t enough covering below them to shield them in the youth of their faith. They were scorched by the sun and withered. A good example of this would be people who are led by their emotions, something God's Word says NOT to do (Ephesians 4:26). Being led by your emotions makes you shallow and when faced with difficulty, it causes you to make bad decisions. In this case, Jesus is saying that being led by your emotions as a seen as a seed in rocky soil can go as far as causing one to, not just sin, but lose their Salvation. Yikes!

Verse 22 says, “The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced.” This soil infested with weeds and thorns. These seeds are rooted, sprout, and grow, but over time, are choked out by the thorns and weeds, because their faith was tainted. In a world where books like the Gospel 4 (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) and Revelation warn us of wolves in sheep's clothing in the last days, they would be considered thorns that choke out a seed. If you look at how a wolf kills a sheep, you'll realize how. Wolves go for the throat, not just for it to bleed out, but in the first dying moments, to suffocate it, so it can't get away. Similarly, when a thorn overtakes a vine, it wraps around to suffocate like a snake squeezing its prey (and we wonder why Satan is always depicted as a snake, and who is also responsible for birthing these wolves!) The weeds are very similar, but in the end, they don't suffocate the seed with thorns. They provoke them. Some pop up and annoy us, while others look pretty until they become bothersome in other ways...or they don't. A person's words may be what you want to hear, but not what you need to. They could be sweet like honeysuckle, but quickly invasive until nothing else can grow. It could be inspired by hell dressed as an angel of light, when underneath, they are leading you on a path that will shipwreck your faith or even destroy you; and both thorns and weeds start at the root.

Example: You could be a worship leader, or a mega pastor, or someone of high vision by your followers...and then one day, it gets to your head and the thorns and weeds of the world gradually lead you to moral failure, sin. A pretty weed of flowering daisies in the congregation who isn't your wife could catch your eye, but instead of using self-control, you listen to the thorns who put you on a pedestal, and eventually, you go and "pick the daisy."

Verse 23 says, “The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” This soil consists of deep moist dirt without rocks, birds, or thorns. They can take root, sprout, and eventually, bear fruit with the true faith they were willing to hold onto, even if it meant to change. They listened to the Holy Spirit and obeyed and trusted God in all circumstances. They were faithful even as He remained faithful to them. And here's the best part. The "fruit" you bear lines up with the Fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5. And when that fruit ripens, it will hand out its own seeds to other people to grow more fruit!

But notice the Sower tossing seed didn’t even look or care about where he was throwing the seeds. He knew his job was only to plant, not to toil. Now, it doesn’t say that He didn’t care where he was planting. When Jesus went around healing, choosing His 12 disciples, reasoning with the Pharisees, and performing miracles, He wasn’t choosing people on a whim even though it sounded like it. The Holy Spirit told Him who to plant a seed in. But notice all of these people were planted in different types of soil. Peter’s heart was in good soil when Jesus planted him. Yeah, there were moments where his faith was wavering and he denied Jesus 3 times, but in the end, he never lost his faith. If anything, it grew, because those moments of failure were tests that were used to grow his faith. Just because you are in good soil and are willing to change by the time God plants you doesn’t mean your growth isn’t going to have obstacles. And I don’t even mean once you are above ground. Plants go through many other struggles than rocks, birds, thorns. Underground, they are prone to worms, moles, shovels…Roundup. Once they sprout, they’re prone to the open elements: Wind, rain, plant-eating animals, lawnmowers, getting trampled by snot-nosed kids…the debilitating heat of the snot-nosed Oklahoma sun. But Peter didn’t let any of that scorch him, did it? Because he was willing to change when Jesus planted that seed. He wasn’t only willing to be planted, but he was also willing to apply the resources Jesus gave him to grow his faith. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger; what doesn’t kill your faith makes it stronger. One more rephrase: what you don’t let kill your faith will make it stronger.

Judas was one of the twelve. God still planted a seed in him even though He knew his soil was infested with thorns. His faith was already tainted, but Jesus still gave him a chance to change. In the end, Judas chose the wrong choice. He never pruned his thorns, and they choked him to a physical death. Those thorns had names. Pride, greed, and shame. He had a problem with stealing money, which gave Satan the foothold. He didn't always trust how Jesus did things. He was the classic example of people who say yes to God on their terms, people who don't want to fully surrender. The thorn of pride was used to justify the thorn of greed, which led to Jesus’ betrayal, which groomed the thorn of shame, which led him to hang himself. Every thorn you have in your soil is connected. Thorns grow on branches. Those branches are called pride and every thorn they produce are its fruit! Then after that desire (that branch) is conceived, it gives birth to sin (the thorns); and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death (chokes your faith to death)” (James 1:14-15). Every thorn you don’t prune will feed another and if you let them choke you out of your faith, more will grow until your life is all thorns and no room for fruit to grow…or faith to come back.

The crowds Jesus preached to were perfect examples of individuals planted in rocky soil. The same people who worshipped him with palm leaves as he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, were the ones who cursed and mocked Him as He was crucified. And by the way, the turn in their heart posture was within five days (Palm Sunday to Good Friday). Their faith was so shallow with rocks, they didn’t last a week.

The Pharisees are perfect examples of seeds planted on the wayside. Jesus reasoned with them over their own truths and gave them the chance to hear God’s Truth as opposed to their own. But in their stubbornness, they were unaffected by it and any chance of accepting it was devoured by a spirit of religion. They didn't want to be moved from the wayside to the soil.

When a pastor preaches to you, or a teacher or a coach teaches you, they don’t study or do your homework for you, do they? They plant you, and give you the opportunity, and all the resources to grow, (I like to say they hand you the watering can) but they don’t water you. It’s your job to take the water the Sower gave you and water yourself. A doctor will tell you to drink your water, but it's up to you to do it. He can't make you. For those of you planted on the wayside, they can’t move you to better soil. For rocky soil, they aren’t responsible for taking care of the rocks so you can root. And for thorny soil, they aren’t responsible for pruning away the thorns. It is your job to do those things as the seed. It is your job to change your heart posture, let go of the things God tells you to let go of, and cultivate your own soil so that you can grow. If not, you’re going to wind up devoured, scorched, or choked…and you won’t be able to blame the Sower!!! That’s not going to fly when you get up there for judgement! “God, You failed me! You planted me and handed me a watering can, but You never watered me! You just turned around and left me to die!” Jesus is going to look you dead in the eye and say “Oh, is that why I never knew you? I literally handed you the water of life. Why didn’t you drink it? I gave you the fruit from the tree of life, why didn’t you eat it? I gave you my physical body for bread and wine, why didn’t you consume it like I asked you to? I gave you My Father’s Word, why didn’t you read it? I gave you My Spirit, why didn’t you obey Him? Why did you keep ignoring Me every time I convicted you? I don’t know people who won’t talk to Me to tell Me who they are. And if I don’t know who they are, I can’t teach them and I can't have fellowship with them. I’m sorry, I don’t know you. Depart from Me.”

We have people today who do blame the Sower. Students are failing classes after not doing their homework (or do and then don’t turn it in) or studying and blaming the teacher. People are getting fired from their jobs after slacking off and disrespecting their coworkers and blaming their bosses. Churchgoers are leaving the church because of church-hurt and blaming the pastor. And MOST of those times, the pastor simply said something they didn't want to hear, so they left! And believers are leaving their faith, because of unanswered prayers, and a misunderstanding of religion versus relation, and blame God! You have to really think about it to understand that growing in your faith is a two-part process. It’s not all about you. If the Sower does their part, but you don’t do yours, don’t blame the Sower. The Sower hasn’t failed you. You have failed yourself! Let me repeat that: God did not fail you! It may be the Sower’s job to get the ball rolling, but it’s up to you to keep it rolling. When you first learned how to ride a bike without training wheels, your mom or dad held you and pushed you along, right? But once they let go of you, it’s your job to start pedaling to keep yourself both upright and going! If you were to fall, you wouldn’t blame your parents, would you? It's a bike, not a wheelchair (and even wheelchairs are designed to be rolled by the sitter!). If the teacher does their part in teaching you and gives you all the things needed to pass the class (turning in completed homework and studying), but you don’t apply them, how else did you expect to get good grades and pass the class? The teacher had nothing to do with that! You didn’t do your part! It’s the same with faith and literally everything else in life, like your job, your church, and your faith. Life is full of seed planting, Sowers, and leaders! You were specifically designed by a Master Creator to keep yourself going with His help once the Sower has done their job!

This doesn’t mean the people planted in the bad soil don’t have a chance, but Jesus didn’t give one in the parable, because He didn’t want to miscommunicate the role of the seed or the Sower. He didn’t want to lighten the heart posture of people who represent those seeds. He wanted it to be taken seriously, not for the people listening to give any foothold to the devil. Yes, one of the footholds the devil uses are truths not taken wholeheartedly. If you think Satan has a chance, he’s already taken it. Rocks can be plucked, thorns can be pruned, and even seeds on the wayside can be moved, but it’s not the Sower’s job to do it. It’s the follower, the seed. But we serve a God who moves people and motivates them to move or move back into good soil, and He uses His Holy Spirit to convict us to take out the rocks and pull out the thorns and weeds. Knowing this, let’s go back to Peter. Now that I’ve explained, we could actually argue that Peter’s faith was planted on rocky soil instead of good soil. But could it be that instead of letting it scorch him; he was willing to change and decided to move the rocks so he could root? “Master, wake up, we’re all going to die! This storm is going to wreck the ship!” *Jesus yawns* “It’s fine, just go move a rock, Pete.” “No, Jesus, we won’t let you die! We will defend you!” “You, Satan, get behind me! And you, Peter, go move a rock!” “Master, save me, I’m going to drown!” “I got you Peter! When you get back in the boat, go move a rock!” “No, I swear, I don’t know the man!” *Rooster crows* “I forgive you Pete, go move a rock!”

The Parable of the Sower Analogized

The different types of soil represent the condition of the human heart. Your heart posture determines whether or not you are willing to change in order to grow in your faith and keep it.

The wayside seeds represent people with empty faith; people who hear the Word, but are unaffected by it, and the moment someone comes along and contradicts or challenges it; or they realize they don’t want to change their heart posture, they lose it. I used the Pharisees as an example.

The rocky soiled seeds represent people with faith, but a shallow form of it; people who hear and further accept the Word, easily even, but they are too weak to keep it. They have no roots in it, aka, the understanding of how to take care of their faith and how to handle obstacles like the rocks. Without the holding, they become subject to the same things as a wayside victim and lose it. The only difference between the rocky seeds and the wayside seeds is the time in which they give up. I used the crowds of Jerusalem as an example.

I’ll give you a modern example: Atheists. Leading studies now show that 94% of atheists were once Christian. The problem? A rocky heart posture. Now, the situation differs. Their soil could have been wayside or thorny, but either way, their heart posture wasn’t healthy enough to sustain the seeds planted in them by their Sower. And for a good chunk of that 94%, the death of their seed was the result of God not answering their prayers the way they wanted, and that one misunderstanding was all it took to kill it.

The seeds among thorny soil represent people with real faith, who take root and grow in their faith without wavering, and in rare cases, bear fruit and other seeds. But amid their journey, they remain in attachment with ungodly things without a change. Secret habits or desires they hold onto or the shame of their past. Or it could be ungodly people they look up to remain in company with, or listen to, who ultimately choke out their faith. Over time, they become spiritually exhausted and damaged or are led astray by false teachings. Eventually, these thorns cause them to drift away from God and their faith. In worse unfortunate cases, they renounce Christ altogether in order to honor the things they refused to let go of when they had their faith. I used Judas as an example.

I have a friend whom this happened to, unfortunately, and even more wrenching, she was one of the rare seeds who planted other seeds and bore fruit before the thorns she had been holding onto choked out her faith. Well, not really her faith, but her philosophy on it. She and her husband were spirit-filled witnesses to children. They had their own freelance ministry, leading hundreds of children to the Lord. But she had three thorn plants in her life that she let grow too big and refused to prune them even when my family attempted to minister to her concerning them. Amid her faith was a mostly secret struggle with homosexual desires and thoughts. To this day, I don’t know if she ever honored them back when her faith was strong, but she did eventually fall into it once she drifted. The second was false teaching. Somehow, she became infatuated with the hyper grace message, which in turn, aided the first thorn’s growth. The third and last straw was the death of her husband, her life partner, and her ministry partner. She loved him so much that when he passed, instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to heal her and let the thorns go, she let it fuel the other two. Eventually, she drifted away from the true faith and now lives a carnal Christian life, which has opened the door to new thorns to add to the three.

Conclusion

It’s the Sower’s job to plant you and give you the resources to grow, like water and nutrients, but it’s the seed’s job to apply those resources and grow yourself. It’s God’s job to work through His children to sow seeds in other people, but it’s up to the people they influence to change. It’s not God’s job to change you. It’s your job to change yourself so that He can work through you. If you’re a seed who was planted while they were sitting in bad soil, then it’s up to you to move off the wayside, pluck out those rocks, and clean out those thorns and weeds before you start applying, or that watering will only get you so far until you start exhibiting the consequences of your spiritual neglect! If you’re a believer who has a bad heart posture right now, God’s not going to magically change your belief system with a snap of His divine fingers all because He had somebody talk to you. You have to be willing to change your heart posture and your belief system in order to accept the truth of your faith for it to grow. If you don’t, your faith is already tainted, and it will eventually die. And it won’t matter who that Sower was or what they told you, because they did not fail you. They did their part and it’s up to you to finish it. But lastly, growing in your faith as a seed is not for the faint of heart. There are testing periods and obstacles associated with a healthy journey. God tells us in James 1:12, “blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love Him.”

To plant is the charge of the Sower. To listen, change, and endure is the charge of the seed.