There is a secret hidden in God’s Word that is the key to fruitfulness in the life of a believer. It is the secret to understanding God’s word – all of it. Not that all understanding comes at the same time – understanding the scriptures is a lifelong process of seeking, studying, sweating, praying, pursuing, asking, trusting. The parable of the sower speaks of the type of soil required for fruitfulness as well as the process of coming to understanding.

Seeking and understanding God’s Word is the objective of God’s Word. But what does it mean to understand? I know many people who can quote scripture from memory but seem to have no understanding of the very things they quote. Its great to know scripture but its better to understand it. Fruitfulness requires even more. If we consider ourselves followers of Christ (biblical Christians), and there is no fruitfulness then we’ve missed something. (What it means to be “fruitful” as a believer is another important topic which will be addressed in an upcoming post.)

The parable relates how the Word of God works in a person. Using different kinds of soil as an analogy, it clearly identifies the spiritual factors at work which bring fruitfulness as well as factors which oppose it.

The insight into the spiritual dynamics we get in this parable are incredibly important. Believers must understand what they are up against as well as what is required for fruitfulness – a spiritual harvest.

I’ve covered the different soils that oppose fruitfulness in the life of a believer. Spiritually speaking, what is “soil” in this parable? The definition of good soil is found in only one tiny phrase in one of the gospels. Its there, but you have to dig for it…which seems appropriate in an agricultural parable.

Good Soil Defined

I grew up in Kentucky where the soil is the richest in the country – maybe the richest soil in the world. It will grow anything. Good soil is productive. It is fruitful. It faithfully produces a harvest year over year as long as the conditions are right. This is the analogy of the good soil in the parable.

It is a spiritual truth that Jesus is getting at with this parable. Spiritually, what is “good soil”? The gospel of Luke is the only one that is descriptive of spiritually rich soil – the good soil of the parable. Luke defines it as an “honest and good heart“.

That’s it. The good soil is an honest and good heart; the key to spiritual fruitfulness. That must mean that the other soil types are also speaking of the heart.

If there is nothing else you take away from any of my posts, take this one simple truth: you must have an honest and good heart to expect fruitfulness in your life of faith.

What’s in your heart? Is the Word of God snapped up by the enemy as soon as you hear it? Is it shallow, rocky soil that is incapable of producing growth? Is it thorny soil surrounded by brambles that chokes out and prevents a harvest? All of these soils are analogies used by Messiah to describe the spiritual condition of your heart – how you respond spiritually to the Word of God. Lets review the process described in the parable.

The Process of God’s Word

This parable describes the right soil and reveals the full process and activity of God’s Word from hearing it to fruitfulness in a walk of faith.

The person with the good soil, an honest and good heart:

• hears the word and understands it. Matthew 13:23
• accepts it. Mark 4:20
• holds it fast. Luke 8:15

Fruitfulness comes from God.

Without the right heart, this process can break down at any one of the steps. What are the steps or the process of God’s Word within the heart of a person?

Step 1 – Hear the Word of God: What does it mean to hear the Word of God? There is an aspect to hearing that implies listening and processing, not just perceiving noise. Often we hear but there is no attentiveness or engagement with the mind…like sermons in church sometimes?

Jesus says “Listen to this!” (Mark 4:3). Many people hear but refuse to listen to the Word of God. This is the seed along the path.

Consider the definition of a court hearing:

“The purpose of a hearing is for the court to hear arguments, ask questions, and rule. Your arguments and comments should thus be addressed to the court, not counsel.”

(TATUM, Malcolm, What is a Court Hearing?, November 06, 2022, https://www.mylawquestions.com/what-is-a-court-hearing.htm)

This secular description is very helpful. It contains all the elements required to understand and make a decision. Today, this would be called “active listening“. Read the article at the link. Its in context of psychology but it is spot-on to what it means to “listen”.

Step 2 – Understand the Word of God: the Greek word for understand means “to put together”. Understanding requires assembling ideas communicated in words. Understanding is an outcome of active listening which takes time and effort.

As an engineering student, I heard the facts all the time in thermodynamics class but I had no idea what it all meant. I had to consider it, mull it over, ask questions, research it in various books. Eventually, the light bulb goes on to achieve understanding.

Nothing much has changed since the first century when Jesus delivered the parable. How many people came to him afterwards and asked about the meaning of the parable? I count only 15 people. To these people Jesus said it was granted for them to understand the mystery of the Kingdom of God.

Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.

Matthew 13:11

What about the crowds? Different soil. Here is what he said about the rest of the crowd:

WHILE SEEING, THEY MAY SEE AND NOT PERCEIVE, AND WHILE HEARING, THEY MAY HEAR AND NOT UNDERSTAND, OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT RETURN AND BE FORGIVEN.”

Mark 4:12

This is a prophecy from Isaiah 6. This prophecy is still active today, even more so with the darkness of social media. Social media has nothing to do with “active listening” or critical thought. Its mob-think that oppresses the active listening process and poisons the soil of the heart. Mob-think is spiritually blind and deaf. There is no useful soil; only soil fit to be tread underfoot along the path.

So get off social media as soon as possible. Be like the 15 disciples who came to Jesus to seek understanding. Now there is the secret: go to Jesus and “Listen”. Sometimes we may have some understanding in our spirit but we hesitate to take the next step. We must decide is what we have heard and understand is the truth. That is the next step.

Step 3 – Accept the Word of God: the Greek word caries the meaning of “holding it close”. Its similar to the American euphemism “to receive it with open arms”. I think this is the recognition that the understood message is embraced and welcomed as truth. Obviously a critical step, but a step that cannot be achieved without the right condition of the heart as well as hearing and understanding as described above.

Things in the culture have changed rapidly since the deployment of information technologies. It began with the internet. I recall my first exposure to the internet and browsing technology back in 1993 when somebody showed me the White House web site using one of the first browsers available: NCSA Mosaic. I thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Little did I know how insidious the internet would become, and how effective it would be as a tool used by spiritual forces of darkness to suppress not only the truth but the process that leads to the truth. “Truth” today is whatever the internet mob says it is.

There isn’t much fertile soil left today, but then there aren’t many sowers either, at least not the kind of this parable. There are sowers of a different seed at work, and that is the topic of a soon coming post.

People today are among the crowds (social media group think mob) unable to understand, perplexed by the things of God, their hearts not fertile soil but, instead, the path along which the seed of God’s Word is immediately taken away by the evil one.

If you have received the Word of God with an honest and good heart – good soil – there are two more things to remember: hold it fast and fruitfulness with perseverance.

Holding Fast the Word of God

The gospel of Luke is the go-to for the good soil. It has some crucial information all believers need to take to heart.

Luke says, with regard to receiving the Word, to hold it fast. There is a single Greek word, strong in its meaning, that is translated as “hold it fast”, or “cling” as one translation puts it. The Strong’s definition includes synonyms such as “keep secure”, “keep firm possession of”. This is what defines the good soil and leads to fruitfulness – keep firm possession of God’s Word at the very center of your heart. Do not let the enemy steal it, starve it, or choke it out. The three other soils: the path, the rocks, the brambles are devices of the enemy to prevent growth, harvest and fruitfulness. Only by holding fast to God’s Word, can a believer become fruitful.

Fruitfulness With Perseverance

The Gospel of Luke says the good soil will “bear fruit with perseverance”. The Greek word translated as perseverance is “hypomonē”. If you look up this word in Strong’s Concordance, it can also mean “cheerful”, “patient”, or “steadfast”. I like the way the New English Translation states it as “steadfast endurance”.

We tend to think of a harvest as a one time event when actually its a lifetime production of fruit. What farmer seeks only one good year of harvest? Any field or orchard, as long as it is cared for with perseverance, produces a harvest over and over again, year after year.

Conclusion

This ends the analysis of the parable of the sower. I hope its provided some insight into how God works in the person with a “good and honest heart” to bring understanding, acceptance and fruitfulness with perseverance. I also hope you have better insight into how the enemy works to oppose that. The bad soils: the path, the rocks, the brambles are the spiritual tools of the enemy to steal, starve, and choke the Word out of you.

This parable is, in my opinion, the key to understanding the Kingdom of God and the complete counsel of His word. It is one of the most important passages of scripture.

I’d like to leave you, if you believe in God’s Word, with a few questions:

• Do you believe God’s Word is inerrant and complete? If you don’t, its only seed along the path.
• Do you come to Messiah, the Lord Jesus, as a disciple seeking understanding of the Word? If not, you are rocky soil incapable of growth.
• Do you spend your time with the social media mob-think crowd or feeding on the poison available on the internet? If so, then your spiritual life will die, choked out by the spiritually hostile culture around you and so easily accessible.

If you don’t have the good and honest heart, I don’t think its possible to sustain a life of faith – to be fruitful. I do believe soil can change with a little fertilizer, weeding, and water. God is a good gardener. If you want good soil, then ask, pray, seek. Watch what He does.

One last question for believers: are you a sower? Jesus never identifies the sower but the writings of the apostles would go on to say that the church is the pillar of the Word (1 Tim 3:15). We uphold it and the mission of the church is to preach the gospel and make disciples.

If you are a believer in Messiah, His follower, then YOU are the sower of the parable.