David Bahn – Reflections

Life without the Word of God deeply rooted in our hearts will be fruitless and sterile. Life on the hard, rocky, unrepentant edge will be consumed by the cares of the world. Life in the thicket of worldly pursuits and the tangled lure of affluence will be choked out. But life with the word of God planted deeply in repentant hearts will flourish. There will be fruit.

Matthew 13:18-30

¹⁸ “Hear then the parable of the sower: ¹⁹When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. ²⁰As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, ²¹yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. ²²As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. ²³As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

The Parable of the Weeds

²⁴He put another parable before them, saying,  “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, ²⁵but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. ²⁶So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. ²⁷And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ ²⁸He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ ²⁹But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. ³⁰Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”

On the one hand there’s nothing we can do to earn God’s favor, effect our own salvation, or be saved. It’s all God’s work. He sent Jesus to die for us. He forgives our sins for Jesus’ sake. He brings the good news of Jesus Christ to us. He even converts us by the Holy Spirit so that we believe in Jesus Christ and come to him for life and salvation. On the other hand we can, by the power of the same Holy Spirit, seek to let the truth of the Gospel grow deeply into our hearts – taking root against the day of tribulation or persecution. We can stay out of the thorns and weeds of worldly pursuits and avoid the tangled lure of affluence. We can hide God’s word in our hearts so that we do not sin against him, but rather allow his word to flourish from within our souls and bear the fruit of love for God and neighbor.

The cares of this world, the tribulations of life, and the work of the devil steal the joy of the Gospel and keep us from bearing the fruit that God desires from us. There will come a Day when the people of God will be gathered for God’s glory. Until that time God will protect his own – even as the devil seeks to undercut the work of God in our lives. That’s the message of Jesus’ parable of the sower and the parable of the weeds in the wheat.