Observations on Sharing the Gospel from “The Parable of The Sower”

³ Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow. ⁴ And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. ⁵ Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. ⁶ But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. ⁷ And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. ⁸ But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. ⁹ He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” Matt 13

This parable is a about how the world responds to the Gospel. Later on in Matthew 13:18-23, Jesus explains what the parable means. The seed is the Word of God and the four different types of soils are the conditions of the hearts that the Word falls on once sowed.

The four types of hearts have four different responses, and they are all interesting. The first type of heart is a heart that is as hard as pavement; the Word just kind of bounces off it.  These seem to be the people who just out right reject the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Whether they be atheist, agnostics or believe in false gods, they want nothing to do with the Gospel of Jesus and make no bones about it.  

The second type of soil/heart, rocky soil with no depth,  may be the most interesting. When they hear the Gospel they receive it with joy! Sounds promising, doesn’t it?  However, Jesus says that there is no depth in them, and when hardships or persecution comes they stumble. This certainly seems like a very promising beginning, but in the end as Jesus says they “withered away.”

The third type of soil/heart is similar to the second. There is no outright rejection of the Word, but ultimately the “cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful” (vs. 22)  

Finally the forth soil/heart is the good soil. The Word of God falls on it and, finally, there is fruit! Producing fruit is the main reason seed is planted in the first place. In this parable fruit is changed character and good deeds that is the evidence of salvation.

I would like to leave you with a couple of quick observations from this parable in regards to sharing the Gospel: 

1. The seed/Word of God does not change. It is the one constant in all four cases. Many people and ministries try to change their approach to sharing the Gospel because they perceive that the Word will not be accepted. However, it is not the Gospel that is the variable in this parable. The variable is the condition of the heart. Stick to the Biblical Gospel. 
2. The seed/Word is thrown on all types of soils. We cannot see the condition of someone’s heart. You don’t know beforehand whether the soil is rock hard or good for sowing. Our job is just to spread the seed/Word.  You never know when that unfriendly looking person next to you might turn out to be good soil.