Read at beginning of Service:
Luke 8:4-15 (NIV)
4 While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: 5 “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. 6 Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.” When he said this, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” 9 His disciples asked him what this parable meant. 10 He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, “‘though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.’ 11 “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. 12 Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. 14 The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. 15 But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.
INTRODUCTION
Your life is not an accident. You were made for a purpose. God designed you to do something significant in this world. Before you can become anything God wants you to be, you have to grow spiritually. Your life in Christ begins with a spiritual birth. What that means is, everything you?ve ever done wrong is completely wiped out ? forgiven and forgotten and God says, “Let?s just start over. Let?s just wipe the slate clean and you get what?s called a new birth.” But after the spiritual birth needs to come spiritual growth. I want to end this series on Clear Thinking by talking about Thinking Clearly About Spiritual Growth.
Jesus once told a story in the Bible which illustrates the three common barriers that keep you from growing spiritually. He also gave us in the story the three keys to growing to your full potential. He says there?s a farmer that goes out to sow seed. In the old days they would literally spread it with their hands. As this farmer throws the seed out, it falls on four different kinds of soil. These represent different responses to God. Later on Jesus interprets the story. He says the farmer in the story represents God and the seed represents the word of God to you. The soil represents your attitude, your heart, your responsiveness to what God wants to do. He says if you learn from this story, you?ll learn the keys to growing spiritually.
He says if I want to grow spiritually?
1. I must BE receptive to God.
I must want to grow. I must be eager to grow. I must be ready to grow. I must be spiritually receptive. The primary reason people don?t grow is real obvious: They don?t want to grow. They are spiritually unreceptive. They are unresponsive. When you came to church today, that showed a degree of receptiveness to learning spiritual truth. There are hundreds of thousands of people within driving distance who didn?t show any kind of spiritual receptiveness to God. Jesus says this is like the first kind of soil. Luke 8:5, “A farmer went out to plant some seed and he scattered it across his field. Some seed fell on a footpath where it was stepped on. And the birds came and they ate it.” Then in v. 12, He gives us the meaning of this. “The hard path where some seed fell represents the hard hearts of those who hear the words of God but the devil comes and steals the words away and prevents people from believing and being saved.”
On every farm there are footpaths the farmer walks as he walks through his crops. Because he walks over and over them, the soil gets compacted. There are two things true of a footpath. One, it?s very hard. Two, it?s narrow. A lot of peoples? minds are like that. They?re hard. They?ve got hardening of the attitude ? “Don?t confuse me with the truth; I have my mind made up.” They?re closed minded. And they?re very narrow minded. When the seed gets thrown on this kind of hard-packed soil it doesn?t even have a chance to penetrate. The birds come along and eat it before it can even take root because it just lays on the surface and doesn?t even get a chance to sprout.
Jesus says sometimes we?re like this. We never give God a chance in our lives. We don?t even give Him the opportunity to work. We don?t give God the chance to answer prayer because we don?t pray. We don?t give God a chance to do a miracle in our life because we don?t even believe in miracles. We don?t give God a chance to grow us spiritually because we?re not even sure we believe in God. So many times we?re just closed minded. When our minds are closed and our hearts are hard and we?re unwilling to listen, nothing is going to grow there. There isn?t going to be any spiritual growth.
What He?s saying is this first kind of soil ? the hardened path ? represents a closed mind. A hardened soil represents a closed mind.
The question then is what causes people to be closed to God? Why is it when sometimes you bring up the issue of God, people go, “Wait a minute! I don?t want to talk about that!” You could just see the curtain coming down, the door slamming shut, the mind shutting down, the heart closing up. What causes us to be so defensive when people even start talking about God? Why are we that way? You can always know it?s one of three reasons:
The first reason we close our minds to God is fear. Obviously if we?re afraid of God, we?re not going to want to get close to Him. We?re not going to want to grow spiritually. We?re afraid. We think, “If I get close to God, what if He asks me to do something I don?t want to do?” That?s a legitimate fear. Or, “If I get close to God, what if He turns me into a religious nut? Like some of those people on TV. I become some religious fanatic and I have to dress in really funny clothes and say really funny things and walk around all the time going, ?Praise the Lord!? What if I become some kook?” That?s a legitimate fear. “What if I lose my freedom if I start growing spiritually and all of a sudden I can?t have fun anymore?” These are legitimate fears. And if you are afraid of God, it?s obvious you?re going to close your mind, you?re going to harden your heart and you?re going to shut down because you don?t really know what God is like.
The second reason people close down to God is bitterness ? resentment over some way that they?ve been hurt in the past. They think about that hurt and think, “If God allowed that, no thanks, God!” They may not say that consciously but in their mind they?re thinking it. They?re thinking, “God, why did You allow this to happen?” Some of you have lost a loved one. It may have been a child. It may have been a parent. It may have been a spouse or a brother or sister ? somebody you really loved. You say, “Why? Why did this happen?” Some people have been abused emotionally. Some people have been abused physically. Some people have been abused sexually. And it hurt and it still hurts. They can still remember that trauma. In thierr mind they think, “Why did God allow that?” Some people have had a spouse walk out on them or betray them by adultery. Their heart was ripped out from an affair when they chose somebody else over you. And the pain of rejection, they can still feel that today as I talk about it. And it hurts. Some of you have been hurt by other “Christians” ? people claiming to be believers. Maybe you were burned in some other church by some self-righteous, judgmental, hypocritical person who?s holding you to a standard that even they themselves couldn?t keep. You think, “If this is Christianity, if this is God, no thanks, God!” And when you hold resentment in your heart toward God there’s no way you?re going to grow spiritually. You cannot grow and have bitterness at the same time. You?re thinking, “Why did God allow all this to happen?” And you?re angry at God.
Why did He allow it to happen? I don?t know. I do know this: I do know that heaven is a perfect place and earth is not. I do know that God?s given you freedom and that when you have freedom you often choose to do wrong things and that hurts others and when other people do wrong things that hurts you. And I do know that God could take away our freedom and we?d all never hurt each other. I don?t know all the answers but I do know when we get to heaven we?re going to find some answers. But I do know this: God hates sin. Why? Because it hurts people when we sin. God hates sin when I do it and He hates sin when you do it. God hates sin when other people do it to you. I will say this: If you have been hurting, I’m sorry. I’m sorry you hurt. And God hurts with you. But don?t turn away from God. Don?t turn away from Him. Let your pain turn you toward Him where you can receive comfort. Never let another person or another experience get between you and God. If you do, that?s dumb. You?re allowing somebody else to hurt you to get between you and God and that will keep you from growing spiritually. You need to get it out of the way. You need to deal with the issue. Because when we hold onto our hurt, our hearts become cold and hard. And when we?re hardened nothing can grow there. We become defensive.
There?s a third block and that?s pride. Pride keeps me from being receptive to God. Sometimes we just don?t think we need God. We think, “I’m self sufficient. I can handle it. I can figure it out. I caused these problems. I can resolve them.” As a result if I don’t think I need God, or if I’m afraid of God or if I’m angry at God it?s obvious I’m not going to be receptive to God.
Here?s the problem. An unreceptive, hard heart, closed mind is a barren lifestyle. Nothing can grow there. Jesus said the seed gets thrown on it. It does no sprouting. The birds come along and eat it. This life is for the birds! It?s a wasted life. It isn?t going to work. So if you want to grow you first have to say, “God help me to be receptive to You.”
2. I MUST BE RESOLVED TO GROW.
That means I?ve got to make a decision. I have to make a resolution. I have to make a commitment. I have to accept responsibility for my own spiritual growth. If you don?t get anything else today, get this: Spiritual growth, spiritual maturity is a choice. You are as close to God as you want to be. Don?t blame anybody else. It?s not God?s fault. If you feel far from God, guess who moved? God did not move. You cannot blame your husband or your wife or your parents or your kids or somebody who hurt you. You are as close to God as you want to be. If you?re not spiritually mature, it?s because you?ve chosen to not be spiritually mature. If you want to grow you must resolve to grow. Make a decision. Without resolution, without commitment you?re never going to grow spiritually. Instead, without being resolved to grow, you?re going to live a pretty shallow, superficial life.
Jesus said this is what the second kind of soil represents. Verse 6, “Other seed fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. This seed began to grow but soon it withered and died for lack of moisture.” What?s He talking about here? Jesus is telling this story in Israel. In Israel, most of the nation is covered by a thin layer of topsoil on top of a solid bedrock of limestone. It?s not like the good soil goes real deep there. When it talks in the Bible about rocky soil it?s not talking about a bunch of rocks in the ground. It?s talking about a very thin layer of topsoil on the bedrock of hard stone, usually limestone. As a result, when you plant things there they will grow to a certain depth but if they don’t have any roots they can?t dig down deep because the bedrock prevents them from getting deep roots and when the desert winds come and the heat?s on and the summertime comes, all those plants are going to wilt unless they are continually watered and irrigated.
Jesus is saying a lot of people are like this. In verse 13, “Some people are like the seeds on rocky soil. They welcome the word with joy whenever they hear it, but they don?t develop any roots. They believe for a while but when their faith is tested they abandon it.” Jesus is saying that the shallow soil represents a superficial commitment. Hard soil represents a closed mind; shallow soil represents a superficial commitment.
Notice He says, “These people welcome the word with joy.” Circle “with joy”. Have you ever gotten excited when you heard a sermon or message that really touched you? Sure you have and you get all excited and you react emotionally and you?re moved impulsively. Maybe a tear came to your eye. Maybe you were excited or intellectually challenged or emotionally stirred. You got a quiver in your liver and you said, “This is really great!” But you walk out the door and you forget it. Because there?s no root, no depth. You?re thrilled but you?re not transformed. Until we let the word of God penetrate the bedrock of our personality, it?s going nowhere. We?re moved, we?re emotionally stirred but it is a shallow commitment because we never really intended in the first place for it to grow. It was just getting exciting, moving emotionally. Sometimes we hear something and we get so moved about it and we?re changed but we forget it even before we get out the door.
Sometimes ? lots of times ? our best intentions don?t last two minutes. What is it that keeps us growing? I have to be resolved to grow. It has to be more than a feeling. It has to be an action. It has to be something more than come and get excited about. It has to be something I decide to do. If I don?t decide to do it, nothing is going to happen.
If I go to one of my children and ask them to pick up their toys and a couple of days later their toys still aren?t picked up and I go back to them and say, “What?s the deal with your toys?” And he says, “When you asked me to pick up my toys, it was beautiful the way you asked. It brought tears to my eyes. I told several of my friends this week about how you asked me to pick up my toys.” But my question is still, “Why haven?t you picked up your toys?”
Sometimes we hear things and we?re excited about things but we never do anything about it. And so because of that, obviously, we don?t grow. It?s a struggle all of us have in this regard. When we hear something, it?s tough to get it done because studies show that we?ll remember only about five percent of what we hear after 72 hours. It?s not easy to remember what was heard. In fact, let?s do a little quiz on this just for fun. During this series on how you and I can begin to think clearly we?ve talked about five ways to improve our relationships. We talked about four ways to protect your marriage sexually. We talked about five ways to get your finances in order. We talked about six ways to reduce stress in your life. How much of that do you remember? Except for the message on sex; we remember everything about sex. But the other ones how much do you even remember? Is the stress just as great? Have you done anything about it? You see how easy it is to come and hear something and never do anything about it?
Matthew 7:26, “Jesus said, ?Anyone who hears these words of Mine and doesn?t put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand?.” It?s not going to last unless you do something about it. The point is I?ve got to invest some time. I?ve got to let it sink in. That?s one of the reasons we give you these outlines each week, so you can take it home, read it again, talk to a friend about it, talk about it in your small group. Let it sink in and decide “What am I going to do about it?” You?ve noticed maybe in your own life, how easy it is to make a commitment to grow spiritually and yet to find yourself when the tough times come, when the heat?s on, find yourself letting go of that commitment incredibly easy. Does that bother you when that happens? How do you make sure that the desire to grow, that commitment to grow is something that sticks?
You put down roots. How do you do that? How do you put down roots so this desire to grow that most of us have becomes a reality in our lives? You put down roots by making and keeping commitments. When you make a commitment and then you keep that commitment, that inevitably puts down roots in your life.
In James 1:22, “Don?t only hear the message but put it into practice. Otherwise you?re merely deluding yourself.” There?s something dangerous about coming to church. You can come to church and hear somebody else talk about God, talk about growth, and go away thinking that somehow you?ve grown spiritually. The truth is you?ve just heard somebody else talk about it. Until you or I do something about it, whether I’m talking about it or you?re hearing it, none of us have really grown, made any progress spiritually. It takes some exercise. It takes some work. It takes some commitment.
1 Timothy 4:7, “Take the time and the trouble to keep yourself spiritually fit.” Circle “time” and “trouble”. We all know that if we want to become more physically fit it takes some time and trouble, some energy. What about spiritual fitness? The Bible reminds us that is going to take some time. That?s going to take some energy in our lives also.
Where do you start? You want to put down some roots. You want to make some commitments to put down some roots in your life. Where do you get started? Let me give you five commitments to help you get started.
i. I commit to connect with others. When you decide to spend time around other people who want to grow spiritually you begin to become like the people you spend the most time with. If I look at my own life, I?d love to say that any spiritual growth has happened because I’m so spiritually minded. But that?s not true. The truth is that any growth that I?ve ever seen in my life is because I?ve been hanging around other people that are growing at the same time. That?s the number one factor to helping you grow ? the encouragement of other people.
ii. I commit to build spiritual habits. If I want to spend some time in God?s word I?ve got to make a commitment to do it as a habit. If I want to talk to God in prayer it doesn?t come natural, I?ve got to make a commitment to do it. To build these spiritual habits as a part of life.
iii. I commit to use my talents, to take whatever gifts, whatever abilities God?s given me and use them to help somebody else. Because when I do that, not only are they helped but I grow.
iv. I commit to share my faith, to tell other people the good news about what God has done in my life. Some of you are here this morning because somebody invited you, they wanted you to hear the good news about what has been happening for them. When you take the good news and you share it with someone else, it amplifies it in your life.
v. I commit to fulfill my purpose. The reason God put me on this earth to bring glory to Him, the reason God put me on this earth is so He could make a difference in the world through me!
Make these commitments, start to send down roots in these areas, and you begin to grow spiritually.
You know one day you?re going to stand before God and God is first going to say, “Why should I let you into heaven? What did you do with My Son?” I hope you know the answer to that: “I accepted Jesus Christ into my life. I didn?t trust in my own goodness to get into heaven. I trusted in His grace and His forgiveness to get me a ticket in. He is my Lord and Savior.” Then God?s going to say, “Let?s talk about the rest of your life. While you were on earth, did you do any of the five things I put you on earth to do? Did you ever get connected with a church family? Did you ever get connected with other believers to help you grow? Or did you just try to get through life on your own? And while you were on earth, did you develop any spiritual habits that helped you grow to maturity, to become all that I met for you to become? And those talents and those abilities I gave you, did you just use them on yourself or did you use them to make a difference, a contribution to make the world a better place? And did you tell anybody about Me while you were on earth? Did you ever share your faith? Is anybody going to be in heaven because of you? Did you bring anybody with you? And most important of all, did you fulfill the purpose that I put you on earth to fulfill, that I created you and designed you for?”
I don?t want you standing before God in embarrassed silence going, “I intended to. I just died too soon!” Wrong answer! That?s why if you?re going to grow, you must first be receptive to God and then second, you must be resolved to grow. Make a decision to keep some commitments.
What?s your next step? It?s one thing for me to talk to you about it, but what?s your next step? If you haven?t joined a small group, take that step. If you haven?t gotten involved in a ministry ? whatever it is ? don?t just listen and be deluded thinking you?re growing. Hearing and growing are not the same thing. You?re not growing until you put it into action.
There a third step you need to take if you want to grow.
3. I MUST BE RUTHLESS WITH DISTRACTIONS.
Things that keep me from really growing, I must be ruthless with distractions. Your most important objective in life is to grow spiritually. Once you know Jesus Christ, it?s more important than your job. It?s more important than your marriage. It?s more important than making a million dollars and retiring. It?s the very reason you were put on this earth. God put you here not to retire. He put you here to get to know Him, develop a relationship with him and grow spiritually and become what He meant for you to be. If you miss this you have wasted your life. What we?re talking about this morning is no small matter. It is the most important thing in your life after you?ve come to know Christ.
Because of that, there are all kinds of distractions. The devil will think up all kinds of things to keep you from growing spiritually. He will do things to get you off track and there are lots of things that can steal your focus. There are lots of problems and events that can waste your time and energy, dampen your enthusiasm for growing spiritually.
The Bible calls these distractions weeds. The weeds grow up in your life and begin to choke out the spiritual growth so you don?t have any vitality to get to know God. You don?t have any vitality to become what He wants you to be. Jesus says the third type of soil represents this barrier to growth. He says in verse 7, “Some seed fell among thorny weeds. But the weeds grew up and choked the good plants.” Verse 14, “The thorny ground represents those who hear and accept the message but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. So they never grow into maturity.”
Circle the word “choked” in v. 7 and “crowded out” in verse 14. He says the seed sprouts in your life and you begin to grow spiritually but after a while it?s choked out by weeds. It?s crowded out and it can?t bear fruit.
This is the third barrier that keeps you from growing spiritually. One, closed mind and hard heart. Two, superficial commitment, shallow living, never really intending to grow. Three, a crowded life. An overcrowded life. When I get so many things in my life that crowd out God, I?ve got this overcrowded life and it chokes out my spiritual vitality. Why are there so many people who live unproductive lives? An overcrowded life. Why are there many people that become believers but they never grow, they never bear fruit, they never grow to maturity? An overcrowded life. Are any of you vaguely familiar with this situation?
He says we get weeds in our lives. What is a weed? A weed is anything that crowds out God. It could be a good thing. It could be my family, it could be my career, it could be my hobby, it could be television, it could be fun things to do, it could be my investments. But anything that crowds out God and keeps me from growing spiritually becomes a weed. And it grows up in my life and it chokes out my spiritual growth.
I heard of a sign that says this, “Beware of the barrenness of a busy life.” We often confuse activity and productivity. They are not the same. You can be very busy and still be unproductive, not really producing anything. You?re just doing a lot of activity, running around in circles. Sometimes we can get so distracted by the concerns and the plans and the worries and activities, we don?t grow. Because we don?t have time for God. We don?t have time to pray and talk to God. We don?t have time to sit down and spend a little time reading His Bible every day. I don?t have time to get connected with other Christians. I don?t have time to be in a small group. You?re too busy! You have chosen to take second class things and put them in first class place in your life. One day you can explain to God why you did that. God said, “I put you on earth to get to know Me and grow and become what I meant for you to be but you?ve allowed other things to crowd out your life.” Some of you used to be really close to God. You were on fire and there was a passion and joy and enthusiasm in your life. And you really felt close to God. But you don?t feel that way any more. Those fires have gone down and your life has become kind of routine. The joy just isn?t there anymore. Why? Overcrowding. You?ve allowed something else to sap off your energy and your joy and your vision, your vitality. Jesus, in this verse points out three kinds of weeds.
i. Cares. The cares of life. The problems and the pressures and the worries of life ? the stress of success. Success can draw you away from God. The word here in Greek merimna means “pulled in different directions”.
ii. Riches. Riches can choke your vitality. You can be so busy making money and watching your investments, you don?t have time for spiritual growth. So busy making a living you don?t make a life.
iii. Pleasures can be a weed. You can be too busy having fun that you forget God. “Sorry! Don?t have time. I’m going to the beach? out to the golf course? to the movies.”
There are many different kinds of weeds that will choke your spiritual growth.
What does it take to grow weeds? In your backyard, how much effort does it take to grow weeds? Zero! Zip! It doesn?t take anything! Do you have to plan the weeds in your lawn? No. Do you have to fertilize the weeds in your garden? No. Weeds are always the sign of one thing ? neglect. When I neglect my lawn, weeds grow. When I neglect my marriage, weeds grow up in my marriage. When I neglect my relationships to my kids, weeds grow up in my relationships to my kids. When I neglect my relationship to God, weeds grow up in my relationship to God. They are a sign that I am not spending the time that?s needed to cultivate and maintain that particular relationship. They?re a sign that I?ve slacked off.
What do you do with weeds? (And the answer isn?t smoke em!) What do you do with weeds? Rip them out! Uproot them! Eliminate them! Get rid of them! I?ve learned something since moving into the house I live in over a year ago. This yard of this house had been neglected for a while and I discovered that I hate weeds with a passion! I’m not polite to weeds. I don?t say, “May I please pull you out?” I am rude to weeds. In fact, I hate weeds so much I use Roundup. Roundup is that stuff you spray on and kills those suckers to the root. I don?t want to pull of the top of a dandelion and have it grow back in three weeks. And I’m very liberal with the Roundup. I’m going to kill all those suckers! If I don?t get those weeds, our flowers aren?t gonna grow, they?ll spread to the lawn — they?re going to suck the energy and vitality out of that soil that rightly belongs to those other plants.
What do you need to weed out in your life? Some of you need to use some spiritual Roundup. You need to be ruthless in eliminating distractions. You can get so many irons in the fire you put out the fire. Some of your schedules? If you?re burning the candle at both ends, you?re not as bright as you think you are! You?re going to burn out.
So what needs to be uprooted? What is it in your life that needs to be eradicated from your schedule? I’m not going to let you go on this one. If you walk out this door and don?t even think about it, you won?t think about it again. The birds will come along and take that seed and it?s gone. I want to pause right now and I want you to think of one thing you need to stop doing so you can have more time for spiritual growth for getting to know God. Think of one thing in your schedule that?s pulling you away from God. It may be good but it?s pulling you away from God. You might even need to write it down. If we aren?t ruthless in eliminating distractions, we end up wasting our lives.
Which of these three barriers have caused you to stop growing?
A closed mind? “I’m afraid to get close to God! I’m mad at God! I don’t need God!” Your heart has grown cold and barren.
A superficial commitment? I get full of joy. I love going to church. I don?t intend to do anything about it but I love going to church. And as soon as I walk out I’m forgetting what we talked about. I’m going to lunch!
An overcrowded life? If we did a spiritual CAT scan on you today, an MRI, what would the tests reveal? That you had a closed mind? That you?ve allowed guilt or bitterness or fear or pride or something to keep you from getting close to God? You?ve allowed somebody else to come between you and God? Would it reveal a superficial commitment? And you get all excited about things and you enjoy coming to church but when the heat?s on, you wilt because you don?t have any roots. How about an overcrowded life? Are you too busy for the most important things in life?
What we?re talking about this morning is of utmost importance.
First, you need to cultivate an open attitude toward God: “God, I am receptive ? anytime, anywhere, anything You want to do in my life, I’m open. I trust You. I know You want what?s good for my life so go ahead whatever You want to do in my life, go ahead!”
Second, you make a commitment ? a decision ? to say, “I am going to grow! I’m going to do whatever it takes to grow. I’m going to make and keep some commitments.” These five commitments, take the next step whichever one it is in your case.
Then you need to discover, identify and eliminate the weeds and be ruthless about second class causes that you?ve given first class allegiance to.
I want to warn you. The moment you walk out of here, Satan is going to try to steal that seed. Don’t let him con you!