0:00 [Music] today we are going to look at matthew chapter 13 verse 1 to 23 in a message entitled growth the parable of the sower growth the parable of the sower we all really want to grow in the knowledge and understanding of our lord isn't it there is nobody sitting here who really doesn't want to grow like we want to grow in our career and grow in our knowledge of what we are studying or something like that we also desire to grow but how does growth really happen what are the steps we must take
0:48 so that i can grow in the lord in christ likeness that's what we are going to look today open your bibles with me to matthew chapter 13 and we're going to read from 1 to 23 that same day jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it while all the people stood on the shore then he told them many things in parables saying a farmer went out to sow his seed as he was scattering the seed some fell along the path and the birds came and ate it up some fell on rocky places where it did not have much soil it sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow
1:33 but when the sun came up the plants were scorched and they withered because they had no root others other seed fell among thorns which grew up and choked the plants still other seed fell on good soil where it produced a crop a hundred sixty or thirty times what was sown whoever has ears let him hear verse 10 the disciples came to him and asked why do you speak to the people in parables remember this is a scene number two scene number one is a huge crowd has come around jesus so he takes the boat and the people in the shore and he's talking to them so this discourse is over he spoke to them in a parable and they leave
2:19 and then after the crowd leaves somebody comes to jesus who are they the disciples listen growth happens when the crowd lives you still remain in christ you see the how growth happens crowd comes hears and leaves but if you really want to grow abide in christ even if crowd is not there nobody is holy i will still remain and that's what the disciples are doing read verse 10 the disciples came to him and asked why do you speak to the people in parables he replied so when you come to jesus
3:06 he is willing to answer you if you are in the part of the crowd you can just hear the message and you can have the feeling of the crowd and you can just walk away the choice is that we make if you really desire to grow you come to him with your questions and he's patient to answer us our doubts the disciples came to him and asked and verse 11 he replied because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you but not them so who has the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom the one who remains in christ one who asks jesus question
3:54 not to the crowd are you a part of the crowd or are you a part of the one who remains in christ whoever has will be given more who are has that thirst to know about kingdom you will be given more and they will have abundance whoever does not have even what they have will be taken from them and that's why i speak to them in parables then jesus gets into an old testament prophecy to talk about the kind of crowd that he was preaching to those seeing they do not see though hearing they do not understand
4:42 verse 14 in them is fulfill the prophecy of isaiah you will be ever hearing but never understanding so what is jesus telling to his disciples now he spoke to the crowd the crowd left the disciples came remained in him asked questions and he said you are coming and asking me for you more will be given to you but these people the crowd i am compassionate about the crowd i spent time speaking to the crowd but they have just gone away and they are like the people of isaiah and what were the people of isaiah like they were in sin they were aligning with the assyrians and the babylonian style of worship and style of functioning so isaiah cries out in his book of isaiah
5:27 that if you continue in this lifestyle like an unfaithful to the covenant that god has given to you punishment is coming because god is speaking through me to you guys to repent and you are not repenting you are hearing the words of god and you are not turning to god and now he is comparing himself to his generation to the people of isaiah and he's telling them verse 14 in them is fulfill the prophecy of isaiah you will be ever hearing but never understanding ever seeing but never perceiving for this people's heart has become calloused they hardly hear with their ears and they have closed their eyes otherwise they might see with their eyes hear with their ears understand with their hearts
6:14 and turn and i would heal them but blessed are your eyes because they see so he's comparing those crowd with the time of isaiah's crowd and isaiah has been speaking by the spirit of god and their hearts were hardened and they could not hear and see and now jesus is saying that the messiah himself has come and i have been preaching the kingdom and none of these people are getting my message and they are like isaiah's crowd they are not getting the message of the kingdom of god but blessed are your eyes because they see your ears because they hear for truly i tell you many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it and to hear what you hear but did not hear it
7:00 verse 18. listen then to what the parable of the sower means now you see how beautiful jesus is over here the crowd went and the disciples remained they went and asked him the meaning of the parable and jesus is not giving the meaning of the parable immediately he is talking to them something else and again they remained maybe the disciples did not understand even what jesus spoke about isaiah but they said okay i don't understand but i want to remain in the presence of god and after some time jesus is opening up the meaning of the parable and many times when we really want to grow we may not understand at first reading
7:47 of the scripture what it means and what jesus is dealing in our lives but if we just remain in christ if we just trust in him and abide in him slowly and steadily god will open up himself to us plans regarding our life plans regarding the scripture he will start relating to us the fact is we are too impatient we want our answers now and here whereas god wants us to abide and trust in him and in his time he will reveal his secrets to you that's what jesus is doing over here isn't it now in verse 18 he's saying listen then to what the parable of the sower means
8:32 when anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart this is the seed sown among along the path the seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy but since they have no root they last only a short time when trouble or persecution comes because of the word they quickly fall away the seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word making it unfruitful now listen the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word
9:20 and understands it so who is a growing christian very simple a growing christian hears the word of god and understands the word of god and who makes us understand the spirit of god makes us understand god's word but for that we need to abide in god's word remain in god's word slowly and steadily we will get to know what the word of god is the plan of god in our lives right and that's the kind of people god wants us to be because if you abide look at that if you remain hear the word and understand it this is the one who produces a crop yielding a hundred sixty
10:06 or thirty times that was sown this is the word of god and may god add his blessing to the reading of the holy scripture this is a kind of first parable a long discourse of jesus given by matthew and in this section onwards chapter 13 onwards jesus is coming up with a new pattern in his teaching from now until now he has been very direct about the kingdom of god he inaugurated the kingdom of god he taught in the sermon on the mount very direct talks and then he spoke about healing and the kingdom but the people were believing initially but when you come to chapter 11 and 12 the context of this passage people are having a large scale rejection of the lord jesus christ
10:53 and who is doubting jesus chapter 11 verse 1 onwards it is john the baptist who is doubting jesus and then we can find chapter 12 the ending part of chapter 12 jesus own family thinks that he is out of his mind and they have come to meet jesus and asked jesus to come out and meet them so they are also doubting jesus so in the group of doubters over here who are rejecting the kingdom message we find john the baptist close people to jesus his own family mother and brothers are there and not only they the pharisees are rejecting jesus and if you read chapter 12 the pharisees are planning to murder jesus secretly we somehow have to kill him and looking at the miracles of jesus they are telling that you are
11:39 doing this miracles not by god's power but by the power of the devil so jesus ministry has found rejection when the man of god came and confronted the evil and the stubborn and hard hearts people are meeting him with doubt and unbelief so how much ever jesus is teaching the message of the kingdom is being rejected by the people so jesus decided now i'm going to change the way i teach i'm going to teach in parables i'm not going to use theological terms to teach them about spirituality but i'm going to use real life lessons to teach to them the parables and the things regarding the kingdom of god
12:25 so what is a parable the parable is the comparison of two subjects for the purpose of teaching in other words you take a known subject and make them understand this subject so that they can understand a subject which they cannot understand you understand that's the that's a parable or parable proceeds from the known to the unknown farmer seed soil they all knew it right in first century palestine they knew about farming and seeding so they used a common thing to teach about the unknown thing spiritual realities or the parable is a common everyday story with a spiritual meaning
13:11 or earthly story with a heavenly meaning and jesus beautifully spoke on parables and taught his people friends parables are often misinterpreted why because we try to allegorize parables what is allegory allegory is if there's a story to find out meaning of every word and every sentence and every twist of that story and spiritualize it is called allogorizing and many times we make a wrong interpretation and understanding of the parables because when jesus is telling a parable he primarily has only one meaning to it or maybe an additional alongside that
13:56 meaning a secondary meaning but we find meanings for every aspect of that parable and we mess up the interpretation of parables the rich man and lazarus another story jesus is driving just one point over there but when we talk about hell and heaven and after life from that parable it messes up our understanding of what jesus is really saying parable has one core meaning don't try to find multiple meanings and if you spend time reading it and some people who have spent time understanding those parables read their writings you will be able to understand what that parable is talking about this parable talks primarily about jesus those farmers sower
14:43 sowing the seed and what is the seed the word of god and what is the soil the soil is different kinds of heart that is receiving the word of god that's it and what brings the yield a good soil it is the same soil in every place but what brings this yield is the soil in the right environment becomes fruitful seed that is in jesus time jesus is telling that i am sowing the seed as a farmer of god's kingdom into your lives and many of you are not able to receive that word because your hearts are not prepared the environment of your heart is not right and only when your environment of the
15:28 heart is right you can receive that seed and that seed can grow out of you that is the primary meaning of that parable what jesus is talking to and he's talking about the different heart environments so that you can understand where your heart is and come to the right environment of your heart and right soil so that you can have fruit and growth in the kingdom of god that is the primary meaning he's talking about how to understand god's scripture and what enables us to understand uh the challenges of comprehending the truth of jesus christ in our lives that is the primary meaning one more meaning i can allude or i can add on to it is today as i'm preaching god's word i am again standing as the disciple of
16:14 jesus or a minister of jesus taking jesus words and speaking to you so who is preaching god's word that day jesus spoke and today i am speaking but whose word god's word so the seed is the same right in the first century it was their hearts and today whose heart your hearts our hearts or the soil or the environment so we can have that meaning and have a secondary meaning in relation to that meaning but not derive many meanings out of a parable and don't allegorize a parable so now coming to the uh parable in matthew chapter 13 was three to nine this very simple parable a
17:00 farmer went out to sow his seed some fell along the path some fell along rocky places some fell among thorns and some fell on good soil and in the good soil it produced a crop of 160 and 30 fold there are three main elements the soil is the human heart i already told you the seed is the word of god and the sower is jesus and what are the different kinds of soil compacted soil the pathway rocky soil soil in the thorn bushes and good and prepared soil right all these soils can be prepared the rocky soil can be dug and prepared you can take the thorns or rocks and prepare that soil the environment can be
17:47 changed and if the heart is in the right environment you will receive the word of god and you can grow in your christian life so i'm going to speak about four environments that this parable is speaking about of the heart and we need to strive to go to the fourth one that is a good environment for our spiritual growth in our lives okay environment number one is the unreceptive heart it is talking about the seed that fell on path the hard calloused hardened path where the birds come and take it away interpreting and giving meaning to this parable jesus spoke in matthew chapter 13 verse 18 and 19 when anyone hears the message
18:32 about the kingdom and does not understand it the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart this is the seed shown along the path so what is it when we hear the word of god as you are hearing the word of god we have selective hearing to god's word have you seen that we like to hear some messages we don't like to hear some messages we like to hear preachers who speak on prosperity and blessings and revival and abundance we don't like to hear preachers talk on repentance and sin and the kingdom of god both of them are hearing god's message but god's message is a whole council of comfort correction sin and repentance second
19:20 coming and everything but many of us we have selective look at the kind of messages that you look into in your free times we like motivational messages right so when we come to god we are very selective in what we want to hear and that is a hard heart why because this person does not want to hear about sin this no person does not want to hear about love and loving your enemies loving your neighbors but this person wants blessings this was breakthrough miraculous supernatural good that is good but it is a selective so that is a hard heart secondly when it comes to obedience of god's word we are again selective
20:05 we are very obedient in one area but we are very negligent in the other area i love my wife but i do not have time for my wife do you love your wife yes do you give time no see you're very selective in your obedience i don't steal but i speak lies can you see the calloused heart where the devil takes away the fruit is very selective kind of believers they want to obey certain things of the bible but conveniently they know that this is hurting them and they don't want to change so their heart is calloused and they don't want to obey that so this person is a never maturing person think about the sin that we do when we do a sin
20:51 the first time we are convicted we cry we repent our heart is troubled but when we do the same sin again we are not as convicted as before and then it becomes a part of our life and we are obeying god in many other areas but this is okay for us heart is callous the devil has snatched away the evil one has snatched away and dear friends we are living in a reality of two worlds the good kingdom of god is in us but the bad evil age is around us so if we are not careful we can be selective in our obedience and we can fall out of growth and rooted in the
21:38 lord jesus christ okay moving forward the environment number two is a non-productive heart what is a non-productive heart it went on the seed was placed in rocky places did not have much soil it sprang up quickly so both this are hearing god's word these are all people in the church the first one also is a person in the church the second one is also because they're all hearing the word of god so second when when it fell on the rocky place it sprang up very quickly wow sudden praise the lord sudden worship but the soil was shallow no root and jesus explains verse 20 and 21 the seed falling on rocky ground refers to
22:23 someone who hears the word and at once receive it with joy today's worship was super blessed i really like the worship i really like the message i'm not telling that all who say like that is shallow people no genuinely you say that but for some people it remains over there and that's it when you move out of this place you switch off that spiritual mode and you bring in the have you seen in your phones you have an airplane mode like that we switch our christian modes when we come over here we bring in our praise the lord hallelujah holiness and worship but when we go out many of us switch off that mode and we get into the default mode and that is not a good place either receives it with joy but since they have
23:11 no root it only lasts a short time okay so in other words there is so much of enthusiasm but then after that enthusiasm it just dies down and there is no continuity in the lord morning devotion are you doing yes pastor morning when i get up 20 minutes devotion praise god but after that morning devotion and prayer that continuity is not there that mode is switched off and when we get into the world we are like one in the world have you thought about that have you thought about believers who are so-called believers but in the marketplace they've talked filthy language they are corrupt they take bribe they behave one like the worldly people and you question is he a believer have
23:56 you come across people like that why because they are non-productive heart the word of god has gone in rocky places initially there is a lot of excitement but there is no root when they go out there is no continuity in christ and such people cannot grow and the third kind of thought is a destructive heart the seed falls among thorns and it chokes the plant and do you know what chokes our christian life christian life is a happy life a happy journey but if you want to really choke it and have a troubled christian life this is an example of such a believer verse 22 the worries of life and the deceitfulness of wealth
24:42 once you become a christian that money making mind should go out you understand god will provide for all our needs we don't have to lie for making money we don't have to steal we don't have to bribe we do not have to cheat people right you may be in any business real estate or whatever business you may be a lawyer or whatever it is because such things will choke out that fruit and it will not enable us to be a good christian worries of this world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke and making it unfruitful it is a divided heart what is it on one side i'm a member of a church i'm
25:28 a christian but on the other side my master is money my master is the prestige of this world my master is worldly positions worldly values you cannot produce fruit dear friends we saw three kind of hot environments jesus mentioned what a profound parable isn't it what a profound parable very personal to us we can relate ourselves to this kind of heart because we keep switching these hearts at various times in our lives one is a hardened heart selective obedience selective hearing i want to hear what i want to hear but what i don't want to hear i will not hear and even if i hear i will not have a because my heart is calloused secondly it is in rocky places it is when you hear the word of god in morning
26:14 devotion morning when you get up the first thing is devotional songs running in your house by evening it will be bad language coming from that door because it's no continuity in christ the third one in christ but also in the world the deceitfulness of the world wealth and money and position and property and things like that do we need that yes but not at the cost of losing our christian identity and then jesus talks about the fourth kind of soil that can produce a hundred fold one grain producing a hundred fold result 60 fold 30 fold
26:59 and what is it the good soil come to see the good soil verse 23 but the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it now look at that you don't only hear and you go through the week you will take this parable and you will start reading it you will start reading one chapter before one chapter after i really want to understand and you spend time in that word of god do you know that such people will produce fruit understanding and if you don't understand what you do look at the disciples i already told you when jesus spoke from the boat jesus said the benediction the crowd went away
27:46 but who stayed back the disciples stayed back and they came to jesus master what is the meaning of this we don't understand that means even the disciples don't understand the mysteries of the kingdom and when will a disciple understand when you spend time in the world when you spend time with your master wow what a mystery what a god what understanding of the scripture i never knew it and for that you need to move from that crowd mentality to abiding with christ and slowly and steadily you will start putting root look at the disciples lives
28:33 now their root is slowly beginning they are trying to abide with christ they left everything they are following jesus remaining in him when they are in doubt they are asking questions to jesus after that did they fail sometimes yes peter failed they did not believe in jesus but slowly and steadily it's taking root except judas iscariot everybody brought in a harvest in the kingdom of god isn't it slowly and steadily so if you start abiding in god and his word and his presence in the future sometime in the way god will make your life productive useful for the kingdom of god can i hear an amen church
29:20 but if you don't have that thirst we can have this mixed priorities our life like that somewhere i had to make a decision to spend time with god i remember my younger days when i just learned the keyboard and i learned the guitar i would know three chords or five chords of a family that's it i remembered at my age of 14 15 taking the guitar to my terrace and worshiping god for hours loving to spend time with god and taking the word of god and trying to understand the word of god and today when i look back all those times spent in the presence of
30:05 god in the obscurity of life nobody was watching it has paid off by god using me in the presence of god dear friends god has plans to use every one of you and if you spend time in the presence of god and if you just abide in him he will open the kingdom locks and you will be able to see the mysteries of the kingdom of god but do you spend time will you take a commitment i don't want to be like a crowd i am in for growth in the kingdom and remember this kingdom lasts forever the kingdom of this world is coming to an end so where should be our more effort and time spent it should be in kingdom of
30:51 god his peace and his righteousness what is your heart condition today is it a hard heart like a pathway i'm selective in my obedience to god and the devil comes and takes away everything that has been sown what is getting in the way of your growth how well is the soil of your heart cultivated are there rocks that you refuse to let go that you don't understand is hurting your plant your growths are there thorns that is choking out jesus out of your life
31:36 thoughts things that take your mind and things that captivate your soul or is there sin brokenness something that is unrepented that jesus is convicting you today and you lost your conviction all together because your heart has become so calloused and so hard and so casual about those sins and you're no longer responding or even moved by god or the word of god or the spirit of god ask god to give you a good soil a good environment a good soil has to be churned and tilled it has to be torn up it's painful growth is painful
32:22 remember the garden flow the pickaxe that is used to prepare a garden soil it hurts your heart but it is good it is preparing your heart it is a beautiful depth of your soil to prepare it to bring the abundance of 160 and 34 make a commitment lord i want to be a growing christian and how does it happen denying yourselves following jesus every day taking up your cross [Music] abiding in christ and asking jesus when you don't understand and he will make you fruitful
33:08 and you will grow in your christian life [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]
34:00 [Music] [Music] you
