Gospel Seed Adventure

I like writing things that can be shared again and again when the situation arises - a go-to article for 'You think X? Well, here’s Y.' I have plenty of those I use frequently, and I think this could be another one I might use repeatedly. This one’s about the ways that people can respond to the Christian gospel, ingeniously encapsulated in Christ’s Parable of the Sower. Not only is it one of the greatest, wisest and most truthful parables ever told – it was also being lived out as Christ spoke it, as His disciples, like all who hear His message, had the potential to respond in any of the four ways. Here is the parable, taken from Mark’s gospel:

The Parable of the Sower
A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.

Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop - some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.

So, in terms of an individual hearing the Christian gospel, we have four responses – what I’ll call Snatched (The Seed on the Path), Rootless (The Seed on Rocky Ground), Unfruitful (The Seed Among Thorns) and Accepting (The Seed on Good Soil): 

1)     Snatched: As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them

2)     Rootless: Hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time

3)     Unfruitful: Hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful

4)     Accepting: Hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop (in other words, embrace the gospel, bear the fruit, and grow).

One of the brilliant aspects of this parable is that it literally covers every possible response one could have to the gospel, because they all focus on the condition of the heart. There are, of course, potential changes in the condition of the heart over time – a man could have soil that’s both rocky and thorny, or a woman could start with hardened soil but find the encouragement to cultivate it into good soil, but our response to the seed of the word is always going to be contingent on where our heart is at any period of time in our life. I suppose the most common people in the world are as follows. There are many fellow Christians who have Accepted the gospel, understand it, and allow it to transform their life (praise God). Believers of all the false religions (including smaller cults) would usually come under the Snatched category, where the seed has fallen on the path; they’ve heard the gospel but immediately dismissed it because their existing beliefs seem incompatible.

Another large group are the ones I call ex-churched (they think of themselves as ex-Christian, which I have doubts about). They would mostly fall under the Rootless and Unfruitful – they have experience in church life, often raised in a Christian home, but the seed ultimately fell on rocky or thorny ground. They have experienced one or more of any number of things - a personal tragedy, peer pressure, societal opposition, mistreatment, personal challenges to religious fundamentalism, resistance to dogma, preoccupation with career, relationships, financial success, or social status, the list goes on – and this has been inimical to their accepting the gospel.

Then there are those who’ve made gods or idols of other things – they are also Snatched, and very numerous. They include those whose hearts are consumed by career, status, success, relationships, pleasure, entertainment, material acquisition, socio-political preoccupations, the inflation of their own perceived intellect, and other forms of self-reliance.

The word is powerful and transformative because it stands as the most profound and important truth ever proclaimed, offering hope, redemption, and eternal life to all who receive it. It is not just a message to be heard, it is a seed to be planted deeply in the soil of a heart willing to embark on the full adventure of a relationship with God.