In His Foot Steps
“Dig Deep!”
Matthew 13:1-23
When we look around at churches today, one of the things that we quickly discover is that there are not enough believers who are really living a healthy, growing Christian life. Everywhere we look we find people who have heard the gospel, they have heard the teachings of the Bible but their lives have not been changed. Many in fact have started the Christian life but for one reason or another they have simply stopped growing.
An old Indian story tells of a chief who was telling a group of young braves about the struggle we have inside of us. He said, “it is like 2 dogs fighting inside of us. There is 1 good dog who wants to do the right thing and the other dog always wants to do wrong. Sometimes the good dog seems stronger and is winning the fight. But sometimes the bad dog is stronger and wrong wins the fight. The young brave said well who is going to win in the end. The chief said, the one you feed.
It seems to me today that too many believers have been feeding the wrong dog. You see when we feed our worldly desires this dog grows into a ferocious animal that ruins our lives. Jesus told a parable tat tells us exactly why this happens. In this parable Jesus tells us how our hearts are like various types of soil. And he shows us how if we want to produce a great harvest we must learn to cultivate our hearts.
Look with me at verses 3-4, then 18-19. Jesus tells us here if you are going to grow spiritually (1) you need to plow the soil. The first type of soil described in this story is called the path. There were various paths around the farmer’s fields. And of course what makes a path, a path is that people constantly walk on it and the dirt gets packed down. Hard. So hard that when you throw seed on it, itjust sits there and the birds come along and eat it all.
Jesus is referring of course to those whose hearts are so hard that the truth cannot sink in. Farmers remedy this problem by plowing the field. Plowing breaks up the ground so that the seeds can get beneath the surface. Some of us need to do some plowing. The book of 1st Peter says that we need to prepare our minds. One things this means is this...if you are going to get anything out of the worship service on Sunday mornings then you must prepare your hearts and your minds before the service. How do you do that.
1. Get a good night’s sleep. And change your clocks. To be prepared for Sunday mornings you need a good night’s sleep. Someone told me a few weeks ago they got very little sleep Friday and Saturday but they were finally able to take a nap during the sermon Sunday. Get rested.
2. Ask God to open your heart and give you understanding. Remember it’s God’s word-so we need His help to understand it. And we need His help to live accordingly.
3. Apply the scripture to your life, not the person sitting next to you. Any time you walk away from a worship service and think man, that was great. I sure hope so and so was listening because they sure needed to hear that. Any time you walk away from a service in that frame of mind, you have definitely missed the point. The main purpose of Bible study is for you to hear from God personally.
You see plowing is not always a pleasant experience...it may hurt but it’s always worth it. You need to plow the soil.
2. You need to put down roots. Matthew 13:5-6; 20-21. The 2nd type of soil that James speaks of is rocky. He’s not talking about soil that has some rocks in it; he is talking about a very shallow layer of soil on top of solid rock. Like placing a couple of dirt on top of your driveway and trying to grow something. Won’t work. The rock will stop you from putting down roots. It’s important to note her that the plant doesn’t die due to the scorching sun. The sun is necessary for growth. It dies because the roots are not deep enough. Think of it this way. You can take a mature believer and also a believer who has a shallow faith and when a trial comes along the one who is shallow will be devastated. While the one who is mature will grow to be even stronger. If you want to grow through your trials, your difficulties, you must put down some roots.
The story is told of a ten year old boy who decided to study judo. The problem was he had been in a car accident and had lost his left arm. So he started the lessons and was doing well but he couldn’t understand after 3 months of lessons that his coach had only taught him one move. So he said to him Sensei, shouldn’t I be learning more moves. This is the only move you know, but this is the only move you will ever need to know. The boy didn’t understand but he kept training. Several months later he took the boy to his first tournament. To his surprise he won the first two matches. The third match was more difficult but eventually his opponent got impatient and charged him and when he did the boy used his one move and he won the match. Now he was in the finals. His opponent was bigger, stronger, more experienced. For a few moments he seemed to be outmatched. His opponent was hitting hard. The referee was afraid the boy might get hurt so he called a time-out. His coach stepped in and said no let him continue. In a few moments after they started back his opponent made a critical mistake; he dropped his guard and the boy used his one move to pin him down. So the boy was declared the champion. On the way home the boy and his coach reviewed every move in each of the matches. Then the boy got up enough courage to ask his coach, how did I win the tournament with just one move? He said well you won for tow reasons...(1) you mastered one of the most difficult moves in all of Judo. (2) the only known defense for that move is for your opponent to grab your left arm.
His biggest weakness had become his greatest strength. This will only happen when you learn to sink your roots deep. The reason so many believers lose the battle when they face trials is that they have a shallow root system. Paul prayed that the church in Ephesus would be rooted and established in love. A shallow believer cannot survive when trials come and trials will come. You need to plow the soil. You need to put down roots.
3. You need to pull the weeds. Matthew 13:7, 22. The 3rd type of soil Jesus spoke of was the soil that was full of thorns/weeds. These weeds grow up and they choke out the plant. The weeds consume the water and the nutrients in the sol so the plant dies. These thorns represent the cares of life and the desire for worldly things. These things then choke out the Word of God. You see if we use all of our energy to consume material things then you will have no energy left to pursue spiritual things.
There was an interesting article that appeared in the Wall Street journal. It was an interview of 6 top executives-all of them making 6 figure incomes. All over
$ 100, 000 a year and some close to $1,000,000. Now you’re probably thinking if I made that much a year I’d be in great shape. No worries. No problems. But in the interview each one was asked, tell me what is your greatest fear? All of them answered that their greatest fear was that they would not have enough. When they were asked how much is enough? ... they all answered - a little more. The things of this world will never be enough. You find a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and the price of gold falls. You strike gold and the price of gold falls. You strike oil and the market falls apart. Your ship comes in and it sinks in the harbor.
If the “worries of life and the deceitfulness of wealth” are choking out your spiritual life then you need to restructure your life. Instead of making worldly wealth your biggest objective, make spiritual wealth your priority.
Popcorn illustration.
Matthew 6:25-31
Matthew 6:32-33 (NLT) Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs, [33] and he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.
What is this saying? Put Jesus first! Not wealth. Not the cares of this world. Put Jesus first.
There is an old fable about a very wealthy man who went to visit a rabbi. He was miserable and he wanted to figure out why. The rabbi took the rich man by the hand and led him to a window. He said look out there. What do you see? He said I see men, women and children. Gain the rabbi took him by the hand and this time he led him to a mirror. He said, what do you see? He replied “now I see myself.” Then the rabbi said in the window there is glass and in the mirror there is glass. But the difference is the mirror is covered with silver... silver represents wealth. And as soon as the silver/wealth is added you stop seeing others and you only see yourself.
