On us, but not in us

Pastor Devon Ortiz preached from Matthew 13 on the parable of the sower. "The same day" in verse 1 ties it to chapter 12, where the Pharisees credited Jesus' miracles to Beelzebub. Jesus then spoke of four kinds of ground. The seed is the word of God and the soil is the heart, and Pastor Ortiz said what stood out to him in reviewing the passage was the placement of the seed. The key is that the seed must go under. His fear, he said, is that many people come to church with the seed on them but not in them, and that this is why so many churches are full of immature Christians.

Ears to hear

Jesus ended the parable by saying, "Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." The word of God reaches the heart through the ears, so we must learn how to hear. Some people live their whole lives in church, know the stories, and can even go deep into theology, and that makes them learned but not strong. We are told to study to show ourselves approved unto God, Pastor Ortiz said, but if knowledge were the measure, we would have called the Pharisees strong in the faith. What you know does not equal who you are.

Verse 15 says of the people that "their ears are dull of hearing," meaning they had tuned out the things of God. He compared it to a spouse who is not really listening, or to children who answer "Yes, Dad" about cleaning their room and then forget. They heard, but they did not listen. Many people hear a message in church and never listen to how it should affect their lives.

A farmer, he explained, plants wheat about two inches under the soil, because seed left on top dries up or gets eaten by birds. The seed has to break open and take root before anything can grow. Without root there is no fruit. A seedling may sprout for a while from a little moisture and look promising, but when the heat comes it burns up. Every soil in the parable except one, he said, is a failure.

The four grounds

The wayside ground: exposed but never buried. This was ground packed down by foot traffic and livestock until it was nearly as dense as rock, and nothing could get through. Verse 19 describes someone who hears the word "and understandeth it not." Luke 8:12 adds that the devil comes and takes the word away, and Mark 4:15 says this happens immediately. That is why God can begin working on a heart during a service and a moment later a text message or a grocery list has taken over. Satan knows what happens with the buried word of God. Simply hearing puts the word on you, not in you. Pastor Ortiz said years of church routine with no response, along with being hurt and stepped on, can lead people to build walls so high that when the word of God needs a vulnerable heart, it cannot find one. He cited Matthew Henry, who called such careless listeners trifling hearers and easy prey for Satan.

The stony ground: no depth. Verse 5 says these sprang up "because they had no deepness of earth." They feel good about their faith while at church, but by Tuesday they cannot control their attitude, their mouth, or their thought life, and the Bible stays shut. The same sun that grows the seed in good ground scorches the seed on the stone. Pastor Ortiz said some people enjoy the things of God while living contrary to what they believe, and then feel boxed in and begin to reason their way out: it is okay if I kind of serve, kind of go to church, kind of give. What that really says, he told them, is that we have none at all. You are not your own; you are bought with a price. True salvation is rooted in Jesus Christ, and it shows, because we shall know them by their fruit. Colossians 2:6-7 tells us to walk in Him, "rooted and built up in him."

The thorny ground: choked by what grows alongside. Luke 8:7 says the thorns "sprang up with it." Some of us, Pastor Ortiz said, are growing alongside things that are going to kill us. Asked once what most often turns youth away from their faith, he answered: their friends. Worldly friends lead to worldly Christians. It is easier to pull someone down than to lift them up, which is why helping someone dangling off the cliff of worldliness has to happen together, and why there is no such thing as a lone ranger Christian. Mark 4:19 names the thorns as the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things. Money, work, and secret sin dull us to what we should be hearing. He quoted Charles Spurgeon: "Grace is exotic. Thorns are indigenous." Nobody has to plant weeds in a yard. They just come, and they will always find what is good and kill it.

The good ground: it bears fruit. Whether a hundredfold, sixtyfold, or thirtyfold, the amount does not matter. It bears fruit. Are you bearing fruit? he asked, and said the question alone is an indictment. Each gospel adds something about this ground. Matthew 13:23 says this is the one who hears the word and understands it. Mark 4:20 says such people "receive it." Luke 8:15 says they have "an honest and good heart" and "keep it." So good ground understands what the word means for them, receives it by going and doing it, and keeps on doing it. Too many Christians who used to be on fire for God have not kept it, Pastor Ortiz said, and it is easy to let three, five, or ten years turn into routine. Paul could say, "I have kept the faith."

Except a corn of wheat die

Pastor Ortiz then turned to John 12, where Greeks came asking to see Jesus. His response was, "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone." A kernel on a shelf stays a kernel for years, but a kernel buried in the ground dies and brings new life over and over. Charles Spurgeon wrote that the Lord Jesus had to die and be buried in the grave as the seed corn is put in the ground. Paul links what Jesus did for us with what we must do for Him in 1 Corinthians 15: He died for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day. This is the picture of baptism, he said: buried in the likeness of His death and raised to walk in newness of life. Yet many he has baptized, he said, were buried in the likeness of His death and then raised to walk in their own life.

Romans 6:4-5 says we have been "planted together in the likeness of his death." The key to growing is being planted together in Him. We can either be planted with the weeds of this life or rooted in Jesus Christ. We can give ourselves to the cars, the money, the people, and the 401(k), and after a while we will find how shallow they are. Solomon had relationships, money, and accolades, and the book of Ecclesiastes ends with him realizing what he had missed: fear God. If he could live his life over again, Pastor Ortiz said, he would not do it the same way.

Where is the seed landing?

He closed by asking what the scripture of that morning was doing in each heart. Someone might say they feel nothing, but the word of God never returns void. He prayed that the seed would be received, understood, and kept, and asked those who recognized themselves in one of the other three grounds to raise a hand for prayer, and several did. He also asked anyone who did not know where they would spend eternity to consider that question and come to Christ, and the altar was opened. You have heard it, he told them. Will you listen?