“But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” (Matthew 13:23).
TEXT — Matthew 13:1-23
Message
One feature of the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ while He dwelt among men is the use of parables. His parables were made to teach life-changing lessons and express profound spiritual truths relating to God’s kingdom. Like theories, parables provide simplified explanations of complex realities. They dwell on principles that are applicable to different situations and times.
The parable of the sower in the text is one of the most popular and profound parables of Christ. The story has to do with a sower who sowed seeds that fell on four different grounds – wayside, stony places, among thorns and on good ground. Where the seeds fell determined what eventually happened to them. The only seeds that became productive were the ones that fell on the good soil. The wayside seeds were quickly picked up by the birds, the stony-ground seeds sprung up fast but had no depth of soil and got withered; and the seeds that fell on thorny ground germinated but were choked by the thorn upon becoming plants.
Christ also interpreted the parable. The seed is the word of God; the sower is the preacher while the different soils represent the hearts of men. Some people possess the wayside kind of heart that neither understand nor care about God’s word because Satan has blinded their minds. The stony-ground heart belongs to people who hear God’s word but are carried away by the frills of religion and lacking spiritual depth, are scorched by simple challenges. The seeds prove unfruitful in thorny hearts that are beset by the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches.
The good ground represents the heart that is prepared to receive the word. They apply the word, which in turn produces positive results – to differing degrees in their lives.
Thought for the day
The seed of God’s word remains potent, but the receiver determines what to make of it.
Listed among “500 most powerful people on the planet” by the Foreign Policy magazine in 2013, Pastor (Dr.) William F. Kumuyi is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. DCLM started in 1973 as a 15-member Bible study group right in Kumuyi’s apartment at University of Lagos where he was a lecturer. His revolutionary Bible teaching on personal holiness and commitment to evangelism soon gained so much traction and resulted in a widespread revival.
