A Lesson in Evangelism, Part 2
Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. Matt. 13:18.
In Matthew 13:18-23 we find something quite rare in the Gospels: Jesus explaining each part of His parable of the sower found in verse 3-8. The lesson is of crucial importance both to those disciples and to us because it is all too easy to get discouraged in evangelistic outreach and give up, thinking that the problem must be in something we are doing wrong. No, says Jesus. The fault is in the soil?
Some individuals are pathway hearers or no-growth people. The fields of Palestine tended to consist of long, narrow strips divided by pathways. Anybody who has ever had a vegetable garden knows that such pathways soon come to be packed soil in which even weeds have a difficult time growing. Similarly, some hearers' hearts and minds have been hardened. They have an impenetrable shell of emotional and intellectual defenses that refuse entrance of the gospel message. Satan is all too willing to snatch it away before it has a chance to take root.
Other people are shallow-growth people, represented by shallow soil underlaid by a sheet of rock. Such hearers have some good soil, some hope. They look like a successful plant at first, but have no adequate possibility for root growth. Such individuals, Jesus says, are shallow-soil people. They have potential, but they don't allow God's Word to enter deeply into their emotions and intellect. It doesn't become the controlling force in their life. As a result, when trouble comes they just fade away like an inadequately rooted plant in the full glare of the summer sun.
Still other people are stunted-growth hearers. Any gardener knows that weeds grow faster than vegetables. And if not controlled, they will crowd out the good stuff. Such people first respond to the gospel message, then get strangled by the things of this world. Jesus noted that it is the love of things that crowds out and eventually kills their religious experience.
It is only after that dismal catalog of potential Christians who fail in one way or another that Jesus comes to the full-growth people who bear fruit for the kingdom. They may not be as consistent or as plentiful as the sower may desire, but they will emerge. Failure in evangelism should not cause us to become discouraged. As long as there is sowing, there will be reaping.
The end lesson: keep on sowing in spite of whatever the level of apparent success.
Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. Matt. 13:18.
In Matthew 13:18-23 we find something quite rare in the Gospels: Jesus explaining each part of His parable of the sower found in verse 3-8. The lesson is of crucial importance both to those disciples and to us because it is all too easy to get discouraged in evangelistic outreach and give up, thinking that the problem must be in something we are doing wrong. No, says Jesus. The fault is in the soil?
Some individuals are pathway hearers or no-growth people. The fields of Palestine tended to consist of long, narrow strips divided by pathways. Anybody who has ever had a vegetable garden knows that such pathways soon come to be packed soil in which even weeds have a difficult time growing. Similarly, some hearers' hearts and minds have been hardened. They have an impenetrable shell of emotional and intellectual defenses that refuse entrance of the gospel message. Satan is all too willing to snatch it away before it has a chance to take root.
Other people are shallow-growth people, represented by shallow soil underlaid by a sheet of rock. Such hearers have some good soil, some hope. They look like a successful plant at first, but have no adequate possibility for root growth. Such individuals, Jesus says, are shallow-soil people. They have potential, but they don't allow God's Word to enter deeply into their emotions and intellect. It doesn't become the controlling force in their life. As a result, when trouble comes they just fade away like an inadequately rooted plant in the full glare of the summer sun.
Still other people are stunted-growth hearers. Any gardener knows that weeds grow faster than vegetables. And if not controlled, they will crowd out the good stuff. Such people first respond to the gospel message, then get strangled by the things of this world. Jesus noted that it is the love of things that crowds out and eventually kills their religious experience.
It is only after that dismal catalog of potential Christians who fail in one way or another that Jesus comes to the full-growth people who bear fruit for the kingdom. They may not be as consistent or as plentiful as the sower may desire, but they will emerge. Failure in evangelism should not cause us to become discouraged. As long as there is sowing, there will be reaping.
The end lesson: keep on sowing in spite of whatever the level of apparent success.
RSS Feed
