The Parable of the Soils

Savior and Teacher: A Study of Matthew PART 25
Rev. John Lin
29 July 2012

Matthew 13: 1-9
1That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake.  2Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore.  3Then he told them many things in parables, saying: "A farmer went out to sow his seed.  4As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.  5Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil.  It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.  6But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.  7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.  8Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop--a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.  9He who has ears, let him hear."

NATURE OF THE KINGDOM
--Christianity begins as a seed.
--Small and unrealized potential.
--Seed eventually transforms everything.

RECEIVING THE KINGDOM
--Christianity can't just be an intellectual construct.
--Christianity must be deeply personal and move us greatly.
--We can't turn away from it when things go badly.
--Worries of life can choke the seed too.
--Thorns are things in life that we can't control.

PATTERN OF THE KINGDOM
--A kingdom of service and humility.
--Leads to a beautiful and cultivated world.
--To have eternal life, we must be willing to give up our selfish lifestyle.

PARABLE OF THE KINGDOM
--Immerse yourself in the gospel and receive it.
--Change and transform yourself as a seed does.
--It could be a life of toil where we won't see the fruits of our labor to the end.