"Rooted" 2-22-26

Overview

Rooted: Reflections on the Parable of the Sower

In Matthew 13:3-9, Jesus describes a sower who scatters seed broadcast-style—flinging it widely across every kind of ground. Some falls on the hardened path, where birds snatch it away. Some lands on rocky ground, springs up quickly, but withers without root. Some is choked by thorns. And some falls on good soil, bearing a harvest thirty, sixty, even a hundredfold. We often rush to identify ourselves as the good soil and quietly look down on the others. But honest reflection—like the confessions we pray on Ash Wednesday—reveals that all of us, at various seasons, have hearts that resemble the path, the rocks, and the thorns.

The seed is the same in every case: it is the Word of God, which Luke 8:11 makes explicit and which Psalm 18:30 declares to be perfect and flawless. The problem is never with the seed; it is with the soil. The hardened path is the heart that hears but doubts, where the evil one snatches the Word away—just as he did with Eve in the garden, twisting what God had spoken. The rocky ground is the heart with no nutrient retention, where the troubles of life—a hard diagnosis, conflict at home or work—cause an initially joyful faith to wither. The thorny ground is the heart choked by the cares of the world and the lure of wealth, always reaching for more, more, more, until the Word yields nothing.

So how does anyone become good soil? Not by self-cultivation. Christ Himself comes to us in His Word, creating in us a clean heart and renewing a right spirit within us. He prepares the soil. This happens through the ordinary, faithful means He has given: weekly worship, Word and Sacrament, witnessing baptism, gathering in Bible study and small groups, and daily prayer and Scripture. Through these, the Spirit tills the soil again and again so that the seed takes deeper root and bears fruit. As we sang, "Lord, let my heart be good soil… when my heart is hard, break the stone away."

The parable is also missional. A plant that grows produces more seed, and God sends those rooted in His Word out as sowers themselves. Romans 10:13-15 presses the question: how will people call on the One they have not heard, and how will they hear without someone to proclaim Him? We sow systematically with those closest to us, intentionally in pockets of influence, and broadly wherever we go—trusting Isaiah 55:10-11 that God's Word will not return empty but will accomplish what He purposes. We are not responsible for preparing another's soil or guaranteeing the harvest; as Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 3:5-7, one plants, another waters, but God gives the growth. He is not stingy with His seed, with His tilling, or with the promise carried in that seed: that your sins are forgiven, that all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved, and that the work of salvation has already been accomplished for you in Jesus Christ.

Transcript

Please open your Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew 13th chapter. 3s

If you're using a Pue edition of the Bible, this can be found on page 12 in the New Testament. 8s

We are in Matthew 13th chapter. 15s

I'm from Nebraska, but I did not grow up on a farm, and I did not grow up planting crops. 20s

I saw a lot of crops, but I never experienced farming or planting. 28s

And I am so far removed from planting and from farming that any time I attempted, those 35s

poor poor seedlings, they just die so quickly. 45s

I do not have what is called a green thumb. 49s

But as I was preparing for this sermon, I was looking up various processes or various 53s

ways of planting. 60s

And I learned that there are three general ways of planting seed. 61s

There is stripe seeding. 66s

This is where you dig a hole or a row. 68s

And then you plant one seed at a time all along this row. 72s

There's point seeding. 76s

And this is carefully measuring a distance between seeds and making a little hole and 77s

planting a seed and then going a certain distance and planting another seed. 83s

And then there's broadcast seeding. 88s

And this is just scattering seed as you go. 90s

In our parable of the soar, this is what's happening. 95s

It's broadcast seeding. 99s

There's a scattering of seed. 101s

Look with me, please, at this parable beginning in verse three where Jesus told them many 104s

things imperables saying, listen, a soar went out to so. 110s

And as he soared, some seeds fell on the path and the birds came up and ate them up. 115s

And other seeds fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil. 121s

And they sprung up quickly since they had no depths of soil. 125s

But when the sun rose, they were scorched and since they had no root, they withered 129s

away, other seeds fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked them. 134s

Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some 100fold, some 60, some 30. 140s

Let anyone with ears listen. 147s

Most of us are familiar with this parable, the parable of the soar. 154s

And being familiar with this parable, we oftentimes want to read into it a certain sort of 161s

smugness because we know that we're the good soil. 171s

We know that we understand it. 178s

We know exactly who we are. 181s

And we look at those other those first three soil types. 185s

And we look down our nose. 191s

And we consider how grateful we are that we, that we are the good soil. 195s

I want to take a look at these soil conditions. 203s

The first soil is that that path. 206s

A path is soil that has been walked on it. 210s

It's trotting down. 214s

It's hardened. 216s

It's packed. 217s

It's hard to penetrate. 217s

The seed just sits on top and really doesn't do anything. 220s

That second soil, the rocky ground, there is absolutely no nutrient retention. 226s

The seed may start to take hold, but it really isn't rooted. 233s

It doesn't have any nutrients that it's gaining from the soil. 237s

And plants really cannot thrive because there's nothing for them to grow on. 243s

There's nothing for them to be fed with. 251s

That third soil, that's the soil that's covered with thorns. 255s

It's this aggressive, deep, rooted weeds that surround the seed. 258s

It's a very competitive soil where the strongest weed will win out over any other plant. 265s

So these are these soils that we're dealing with. 276s

We, unlike most of the years in Jesus' time, we get the benefit of Jesus' explanation. 280s

We, like the disciples, get to turn to Jesus and say, explain this to us. 290s

Explain this to us. 296s

Well, the first thing that we need to understand in this parable, this parable that is an earthly 299s

story with a heavenly purpose. 305s

We're going to look at the purpose in a two-fold fashion today. 309s

The first being the personal and the second being the missional. 313s

So thinking about this seed, the first thing to understand is that the seed is the word of God. 319s

In Luke's recounting of this parable, he states very clearly that Jesus says the seed is the word of God. 324s

And notice that in this parable, the seed is the same. 333s

The seed that is scattered is the exact same seed. 338s

The soar does not take seed from one pouch and plant it or scatter it. 343s

And then take from another pouch and plant or scatter it. 349s

He takes the same seed and scatters it on all of the soil. 352s

The problem is not with the seed because the seed is the word of God. 358s

And as Psalm 18 tells us, this God, his way is perfect. 365s

The promise of the Lord proves true in the NIV translation of this verse. 370s

It says that that God's word is flawless. 377s

So we know that there is nothing wrong with the seed. 382s

The seed that goes forth is the perfect and true word of God. 387s

The problem is with the soil and the condition of the soil. 395s

So let's look here at verse 18 as Jesus extrapolates and explains the soils to us. 402s

He says here then the parable of the soar. 411s

When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, 414s

the evil one comes and snatches away what is shown in the heart, 420s

this is what was shown on the path. 425s

We hear this and we think, oh, that is all of the unbelievers. 430s

They just don't hear the word of God. 436s

But the word of God went forth. 441s

They heard it but it did not take root. 445s

Think of Eve in Genesis. 448s

What did Satan do? 451s

He took the word of God that was given to her and he planted doubt. 453s

And he questioned the word of God and he snatched away from Eve. 461s

The very truth of God's word and she ate of the forbidden fruit. 468s

I'm sure that there are times in our lives where we've come across God's word. 477s

We've heard it preached, we've read it, we've been in Bible study and it's scattered 486s

and it sits on our minds, it sits on our hearts. 493s

And we question, does God really mean what he says here? 498s

And we attempt to take authority over God's word and our hearts are hardened 506s

and the devil tempts us and tries to snatch away God's own word for us. 514s

Moving on to verse 20, as for what was so non-rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word 522s

and immediately receives it with joy, yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while 529s

and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word that person immediately falls away. 537s

This rocky ground has no nutrient retention. 547s

This is when the world begins to get in to our lives. We've heard the word, we know the word, 554s

we may even have words or God's word of comfort before us and yet as the troubles of this world 562s

weigh us down. As we go and get a difficult diagnosis, as we work with coworkers that are 571s

hard to relate to, as we argue with our spouse or loved ones, the ways of the world begin to take 580s

hold and we have trouble remembering and being rooted in the seed that has been shown. 592s

Look with me please at soil number three, verse 22, as for what was so n among thorns, this is the 605s

one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choked the word 612s

and it yields nothing. When we are focused, believers and unbelievers alike, 618s

when we are focused on keeping up with the jones is, when we are focused in our attention and our 630s

energy is driven to make more have more be more, no more, more, more, more. The seed, the word of God 638s

that has been scattered, that has been planted is choked out and our attention goes elsewhere 653s

and our energy goes elsewhere and our desires and our wants and our searching goes elsewhere. 664s

When we read the parable of the soar, the parable that so many of us are very familiar with. 677s

We read of these first three soils and we think the Lord that we are not them. 685s

I want to recall with you, some of the confessions that we made on Ash Wednesday together, 698s

confessions that we have been deaf to your call to serve as Christ served us. We have not been 708s

true to the mind of Christ, we have grieved your holy spirit. We confess to you, Lord, all our 716s

past unfatherness, the pride, hypocrisy and impatience in our lives, our self-indulgent 723s

our intent, love of worldly goods and comforts in our dishonesty and daily life and work, 737s

our negligence and prayer and worship and our failure to commend the faith that is in us. 745s

Kind of rings true of a soil condition that is not nourished. It rings true of a soil condition 756s

that chokes out the seed that is planted. It rings true of a soil condition that cannot 770s

have a plant or a seed take root and we realize that we all experience the condition of a soil 781s

that is not right for planting, not right for growth, not right for a ripe and rich harvest. 798s

And we realize we realize that we are created and we live so much of our lives 814s

in a soil, in a soil that is in a condition of sin. 828s

In the Him that we had before the gospel reading today, we sang together, 840s

Lord let my heart be good soil. Open to the seed of your word, Lord let my heart be good soil, 847s

where love can grow and peace is understood. When my heart is hard, break the stone away, 855s

when my heart is cold, warm it with the day, when my heart is lost, lead me on your way, 864s

Lord let my heart, Lord let my heart be good soil. 872s

What is good soil? Look with me please at verse 23, where Jesus says, 885s

as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. 893s

The good soil, the good soil is that which is nourishing, which feeds, which grows the seed or 902s

the seed that is planted is able to grow within it. The seed that is planted is the word of God. 913s

And we are praying to God that He will make our hearts good soil because we know that if we are left 922s

to our own planting and we are left to our own cultivating, that we are not going to have a soil 931s

that is right and right for the seed of the word of God to take hold and to take root. 940s

But Christ comes to us in His word, the word of God being the one who soes the seed and He comes to us. 951s

And He says, I will create in you a clean heart. I will renew in you a right spirit. 965s

I will prepare your soil, the soil of your heart so that my word will go forth, that my word 974s

will be planted, that my word will grow. It is God, it is God who soes the seed, 982s

it is God who prepares our hearts, it is God who roots the seed within us and grows the seed from us. 992s

The personal growth, the nourishment, this is found in our weekly worship, in our time where we come 1008s

and we hear His word and in some a time when we come with our brothers and our sisters and we gather 1015s

around word and sacrament and we are fed with His body and blood. It's nourished until the soil of our hearts 1022s

when we gather and we witness a baptism and the watering of the spirit and the making of a new disciple. 1036s

The seed of growth is nourished and takes root as we come together for weekly Bible study and small groups. 1050s

As we come together to pray with and for one another as we engage with God's word on a daily basis, 1060s

as we pray to the Lord that soil is tilled over and over in the seed that the Lord has planted 1068s

takes greater and greater root so that it may grow continually being nourished. 1079s

This is God's doing. He makes us to have hearts of good soil so that as he plants and scatters 1091s

that seed it takes hold and by God's grace through His holy spirit, he nourishes that seed 1104s

and he lets it root within our hearts and it springs forth and it grows within us. 1116s

And just as a plant grows that is rooted in the soil grows and then produces more seed 1127s

God does the same thing with you and I so we know that the parable of the soar, the parable of the soar is 1136s

very personal because it is God who makes us to be a rich good soil. It is God who creates in us 1144s

the soil which receives the good word, the soil which can be nourished and is nourished and grows 1154s

the word that is planted. But the parable of the soar also has a missional component to it 1162s

because as we are rooted in God's word, as His word grows in us, then what? Now what? Just as a seed grows 1171s

and repopulates itself and it carries further seed along the wind. The same goes forth, the same is true 1187s

for God's word in us. An an additional, an additional purpose God uses us 1199s

as His soars He uses us to also scatter the seed. We're used to so seed and I think about this 1210s

and I think about how farming is a very, very hard job. It's a thankless job, it has long hours, 1220s

it's hard work and yet without farmers sewing the seed we would not eat. The same is true 1232s

with the seed, the word of God. In Romans 10 we read in verses 13 through 15, 1246s

everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now that's a seed. But how are they to 1255s

call on one in whom they have not believed and how are they to believe in one whom they have not 1263s

heard and how are they to hear without someone to proclaim Him and how are they to proclaim Him 1269s

unless they are sent? As God soes His seed within us and roots us in His word and plants it 1277s

and it grows within us, then He sends us forth to share and to so further seed, to share His word, 1288s

God uses us to be the soars of the seed. He uses us to soes His seed in a variety of ways. We can soe 1298s

in that stripe method where every person in our lives we share the word. We share in a systematic way 1311s

planting that seed. He helps us to soe the seed in that point planting where we have these little 1324s

pockets of life where we have influence where we have the opportunity to share and He also uses us 1334s

to plant seed in that broadcast scattering where everywhere we go we proclaim the good news 1345s

and where it lands we don't know but we continue to soe because we are called to soe and we know 1355s

because we have been promised that God's word as it is soe will do that which it is purpose for. 1365s

In Isaiah chapter 55 we read for as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return 1378s

there until they have watered the earth making it bring forth and sprout giving seed to the soe 1385s

and bread to the eater so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. It shall not return to 1390s

me empty but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and succeed in the thing for which I sent it. 1397s

And it's not incumbent upon us as the soeer to make sure that the soeel is prepared because God 1406s

prepares the soeel and we scatter the seed we scatter His word in our lives. 1418s

In 1 Corinthians chapter 3 Paul under the inspiration writes exactly about this he says what then 1429s

is a policy what is Paul servants through whom you came to believe as the Lord assigned to each. 1436s

I planted a polo swatter but God gave the growth. It is God who roots us in His word. 1444s

It is God who grows His word in us. It is God who prepares our hearts to receive His word 1456s

and we don't as fellow soeers, as soeers who scatter the seed, as soeers who share God's word 1466s

we don't always get to witness the harvest. We don't always get to witness the ripe 1476s

ripening of the plants because we don't know where we fall in that person's life in whom we 1485s

shared God's word but God is not stingy. God is not stingy with the seed. God is not stingy with 1497s

tilling of the soeel. God is not stingy with His word and God is not stingy with the promise 1510s

that is held in His word for you and for I. The promise that your sins are forgiven. 1522s

The promise that all who call in the name of the Lord will be saved, the promise 1530s

that the work of salvation, the work of God has been accomplished for you and for me. 1542s

This is the seed that has been planted and rooted in our hearts and this is the seed that 1553s

as it grows continues to go forth with each of us as we share the good news of the gospel 1564s

of Jesus Christ. 1573s