Sermon Tone Analysis

Copyright February 26, 2023 by Rev Bruce Goettsche

As you went through school you undoubtedly had some teachers that you called good and some you called “not-so-good.”

Of course, your evaluation doesn’t make the evaluation true.

Mostly, the good teachers were those who connected with you.

Perhaps they were big on hands-on learning, or they had the ability to relate subjects to modern life, or they were great with analogies or illustrations that made the foggy clear.

Perhaps you are like me in saying there are some subjects you never did get excited about largely because of the teacher.

Jesus was a master teacher.

The Bible tells us that people listened to Him because he spoke as one who had authority, not like the Teachers of the Law who merely quoted authorities!

This morning we are going to look at one of the most popular of Jesus’ parables, the Parable of the Sower, sometimes called the Parable of the Seeds.

It is recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

Before we get into the parable itself let’s look at the verses in the middle of the account that explain why Jesus taught so often in parables.

11 He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secret of the Kingdom of God.

But I use parables for everything I say to outsiders, 12 so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled:

‘When they see what I do,

they will learn nothing.

When they hear what I say,

they will not understand.

Otherwise, they will turn to me

and be forgiven.’”

(Mark 4:11-12)

Why Did Jesus Tell Stories?

On first hearing, it sure sounds like Jesus is saying to his disciples, “I want you to understand the Kingdom of God, however, I want to keep everyone else confused.”

I hope you immediately recognize that this is not at all what Jesus was saying.

However, the question is, “What IS He saying?”

When I was in Seminary working on my Christian Education degree it was drilled into me the importance of what was called discovery learning.

It is the truth that a person will learn things faster and in a more lasting way if they are active in the learning process.

Let me give you an example: do you learn to drive best by watching videos or listening to instruction or by driving?

You do not learn a skill in your favorite sport by watching a video, you need to do that skill!

This is what is called “discovery learning.”

People learn faster and longer what they have discovered over what they were merely told.

I believe this is what Jesus was doing.

Jesus told stories that required you to dig and think to learn.

His point is: the people who really want to learn about God, those that are hungry to know Him, will think about a parable and work to find its meaning.

Those who have a superficial interest in the Kingdom of God will only hear a story and they won’t understand its deeper meaning.

Parables were the opposite of the dictation method of teaching that was so common then (and now).

Parable were indirect and required an investment of the mind and imagination to understand.

They required a person to be engaged in the learning process.

Jesus was always trying to whet the appetite of people to get them to think more deeply.

It is still the best way to teach (even though in a sermon we are talking and you are listening!)

The Parable of the Sower

In some ways this parable is two parables in one.

The first thing we focus on is the Sower.

We know seed is expensive.

You want to utilize every single little seed if you can.

So, we are surprised when we learn the Sower was throwing his seed and some of it landed on the hard path, some in shallow ground, and some in ground that would choke out the seed.

It seems like quite a waste.

One commentator wrote,

Simply put, it is the kind of farming the Israelites practiced in the ancient world.

At that time and place, the land was not cleared of stones and plowed before the seed was planted.

The common way of planting was to go out and scatter the seed, then plow.

In fact, the term plow has little relation to what we think of as plowing today.

In ancient Israel, a plow was little more than a pointed stick with which one broke up the soil a little so that some seed would sink in.”

The point that we should take from this is the importance of sowing seed widely.

The seed in this context is the message of the Gospel.

We know that not everyone is going to respond to the seed that was sown, but we want everyone to have the opportunityto respond.

We may miss some of the supernatural work of God if we only sow the seed of the gospel to the people who seem most likely to receive it.

The best approach is to tell EVERYONE you meet about Jesus.

Some will welcome the message; some will turn away from it.

Our job is not to determine who is worthy to receive the message, our job is to “go into all the world and preach the gospel.”

In other words, we don’t need to tell only other church people about Jesus, or only people like us economically or racially.

To do this is to fail in the command the Lord has given us.

We should tell the jocks as well as the castoffs, we should tell the wealthy as well as the poor, the healthy, and the addicted.

The message is for everyone.

ANYONE who puts their trust in Christ will be saved.

It is not our job to determine who “anyone” should be.

We are to scatter the send widely and then watch for God to work expectantly.

Different Responses to the Seed

The second lesson in the story is the different kinds of soil that receive the seed.

Fortunately, this parable is interpreted by Jesus Himself at the end of the text.

Let’s jump right to the interpretation.

13 Then Jesus said to them, “If you can’t understand the meaning of this parable, how will you understand all the other parables?

14 The farmer plants seed by taking God’s word to others.

15 The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message, only to have Satan come at once and take it away.

16 The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy.

17 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.

18 The seed that fell among the thorns represents others who hear God’s word, 19 but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced.

20 And the seed that fell on good soil represents those who hear and accept God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!”

I believe Jesus is cautioning us not to judge too quickly how someone has responded to the gospel.

We hear it regularly, someone went forward at a meeting, responded to an altar call, or they said a prayer asking Christ to come into their lives with a friend or family member and when this happens, we announce they are “saved.”

We are understandably ecstatic.

We know we are saved by trusting Christ as our Lord and Savior.

We know there is nothing we must bring to our salvation.

However, we have met too many people who seemed like “rent-a-Christians.”

They were excited about Christ for a period but then they seemed to lose interest and walked away from the faith.

Some of these people concluded it didn’t matter what they did because they “received Christ.”

In this parable, I think Jesus is explaining they never really received Him at all.

There are four types of soil.

The first is that hard path (or we would say the sidewalk).

The seed on this path did not do anything and was likely just eaten by the birds.

It never got beneath the surface.

These are the people who hear the message of the gospel and then turn away, rejecting the message.

They are not interested in the slightest.

We KNOW these people are not saved.

They could be saved sometime in the future if they give up their disinterest and embrace Him as their Savior and their Lord.

Jesus says the second soil represents,

those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy.

17 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.

These people have a shallow heart.