“FOUR SOILS”
If walking with God is the greatest invitation in history, why isn’t everyone doing it?
If He’s so great and it’s always been His plan to walk with His people, why aren’t more people enjoying the goodness He has to offer?
If walking with God is the greatest invitation in history, why isn’t everyone doing it?
Why do so many Christians with good intentions settle for a mediocre relationship with Jesus?
Yesterday, we discovered that we must guard against distractions if we are going to treasure our relationship with God. Over the next three days, we will identify three stumbling blocks on our journey with Jesus.
FOUR SOILS
Jesus loved telling stories called parables. Each story is like the face of a diamond, illustrating a different truth about the arrival and value system of His Kingdom.
He would share the parables with a crowd, but would often explain the deeper meaning to his disciples when they were alone.
We must guard against distractions if we are going to treasure our relationship with God.
Here’s one of his most famous parables.
“Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.
Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away.
Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain.
And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”
And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Mark 4:3-9 ESV)
Jesus’ story would have been familiar to his listeners. A farmer scattered his seed without being able to predict where each grain would fall. The seed fell on four types of soil with four diverse results.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
When Jesus told the parable, his disciples were confused. They pulled Jesus aside, and asked him, “What the heck did that mean?” (My paraphrase)
Jesus, ever the patient teacher, began to explain. The sower sows the word. (Mark 4:14 ESV)
Jesus’ story would have been familiar to his listeners.
Jesus says that the seed is the word. This could mean scripture in general. More specifically, it is Jesus’ announcement about His kingdom and His invitation to be a part of it.
He continued. And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. (Mark 4:14-15 ESV)
Jesus explained that the four soils represent four heart conditions. Each soil responds in a different way to the news about his kingdom. Over the next three days, we’ll look at the four responses. Today, let’s look at the first soil.
THREAT #1 – A HARD HEART
Nothing happens with the seed in the first soil. It falls on a hard path and the birds (which Jesus equates to Satan) come and snatch it away.
Soil #1 is a hard heart, the first and greatest threat to entering God’s Kingdom. Someone with a hard heart cannot receive the word of God.
A hard heart is the first and greatest threat to entering God’s Kingdom.
If you’re reading this, you probably want to grow closer to God. This means your heart is soft.
But before skipping over this threat, let’s examine two causes of a hard heart.
CHOOSE TO SIN, CHOOSE TO SEAR
First, sin hardens our hearts.
In Romans 1:18-32, Paul explains the sin-spiral that leads to hard-heartedness: When humans reject God and choose to deny his rightful reign over our lives, our hearts (Romans 1:24), passions (Romans 1:26), and minds (Romans 1:28) become seared and desensitized to God. We believe lies, our desires become perverted, and our thoughts warp toward evil.
Like a white-hot metal on tender flesh, repeated sin without confession and repentance leads to a seared conscience and a dulled sensitivity to God and His Spirit.
When humans reject God and choose to deny his rightful reign over our lives, our hearts, passions, and minds become seared and desensitized to God.
There is great danger in hardening our hearts. According to Romans 1, God may eventually “give us over” to our desires if we continue to sin. In other words, God will say, “have it your way.” He will give us exactly what we ask for: life and eternity void of His Presence.
God, please keep our hearts soft.
A BLOATED EGO HARDENS US
Secondly, self-righteousness (aka pride) hardens our hearts. Pride is the original sin and the root of all others.
Let’s explore how self-righteousness hardens us.
Jesus criticized Pharisees more than prostitutes. He reserved his harshest criticism for these religious leaders. He once said of them: For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.
The Pharisees made sure a tenth of their oregano was given to God but were part of a system that oppressed those in need. Imagine using God’s name to steal from people who had nothing, then dropping a tenth of your salt and pepper in the offering basket while feeling great about yourself. That’s self-righteousness.
As we spend more time around the things of God, our potential for self-righteousness increases.
Another time, Jesus claimed that the Pharisees knew everything about scripture but missed the whole point of it. (see John 5:39-40)
As we spend more time around the things of God, our potential for self-righteousness increases. Instead of trusting in God and his power, we begin to put stock in our efforts. Instead of aligning our values to the Kingdom, we pick and choose which commands to obey so that we will feel good about ourselves and look great to others.
As self-righteousness grows, we become the hero of the story, not Jesus.
IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEART
The first and greatest threat to our faith is a hard heart.
Let’s take a moment and ask God to examine us. Ask him to reveal any hardness of heart in our lives. Let’s pray the prayer of David in Psalm 139: Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! (Psalm 139:23-24 ESV)
Let’s align our desires with the writer of Hebrews: Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. (Hebrews 3:15 ESV)
NEXT STEPS
1: Read Mark 3.
2: Spend 5-10 minutes in Solitude reflecting on the scripture you read, and listening to God’s voice about the condition of our hearts. Write in your journal what God spoke to you.
3: Text one friend one thing that you learned.
BONUS: Watch this video from Bible Project on How To Read The Parables
Tomorrow: Week 3, Day 3 – “Rocks”