Parable Of The Sower, Can This Be Progressive?

[Marilyn C]

On 9/8/2022 at 7:04 PM, Open7 said:

I’ve been reading Matthew 13 today, parable of the sower. I noticed that in the 4 examples Jesus gives of the way people respond to the knowledge of the kingdom of heaven, they seem to progress from the first one as someone who doesn’t understand the message of the kingdom, all the way to someone who produces a crop 100 times what was sown.

My question is, can a person progress from one of these examples, to the next one? Eg the if you were in the second category (the seed that feel on shallow soil), could you, over time, progress to the third category (the seed that fell on thorns) and then to the fourth eventually? Can this be progressive, or, is the category you fit into, set for life?

I understand some of this question may sound a little naive at times.

Thanks

Hi Open,

It is certainly not a naive  question but very important. As I said in my earlier post these parables have to do with Israel who were still under the law.

However, the answer to your question regarding believers in the Body of Christ you will find in Paul`s epistles & Peter` letters. I think you are thinking about maturing of the individual. And 2 Peter 1: 1 - 11 gives us good encouragement. I wont write it all but just highlight the wondrous part of us being able to partake of the Divine nature. (v. 4) This means that over time as we work with the Holy Spirit then Christ`s divine nature is developed within us. And that is all we take to glory.

Sometimes we get side tracked, and then we repent and go on, and then maybe an obstacle or difficult time comes and we think we have back slidden when really it is the wonderful nature of the Lord being outworked in our hearts. You see we need those trials for us to come to the end of ourselves so that we cry out again to the Lord and realise afresh that it is only He who is able to keep us, and change us. (Jude 24)

all the best, Marilyn.

[com7fy8]

On 9/8/2022 at 5:34 AM, Open7 said:

My question is, can a person progress from one of these examples, to the next one? Eg the if you were in the second category (the seed that feel on shallow soil), could you, over time, progress to the third category (the seed that fell on thorns) and then to the fourth eventually? Can this be progressive, or, is the category you fit into, set for life?

Ok, let's look at > 

Matthew 13:19 which says the birds come and take the word . . . Satan snatches the word away as soon as someone hears it. I would say a sinner can have this happening, just ignoring and forgetting whatever you have said. But a Christian might just forget certain things; how about how well we remember what is said during a good sermon? How well are we remembering?  Of course, it could be a seed which is planted below our conscious memory, I suppose. But I think there can be things we need to make sure we remember, that we are told in a sermon and in conversation with our brothers and sisters. 

Matthew 13:20-21 > the word in stony ground is received but in a shallow way so that troubles can have someone giving up on what he or she has been told, and stumbling. But if we see ourselves doing this, we can repent and trust God to make us more deep and strong and mature. For us in Jesus, this could be a temporary experience, with God having us notice our problem and trust Him to correct us. 

"praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God" > in Jude 20-21 > 

"rooted and grounded in love" > Ephesians 3:17.

We are at risk of forgetting what we need to remember, and we can receive what we are getting in a superficial way so it does not work in us.

But we do have how "the word of God" "effectively works in you who believe," in 1 Thessalonians 2:13. So, instead of just saying yay to God's word, pray for Him to have His word produce all He means by His word. Isaiah 55:11 guarantees how God's word "shall accomplish" what God desires . . . therefore what God Himself is able to know He means by His word!

Matthew 13:22 > "Now he who received the seed among thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.'"

In Luke 8:14 Jesus talks, I understand, about people who "are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life". To me, this means a person can be choked from loving. Cares and worrying can keep a person in a wrong spirit not of love > "There is no fear in love," we have in 1 John 4:18. And "riches" can choke us from loving > "those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition," our Apostle Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:9. It doesn't say those who are rich, but the trouble comes just with the desire > just the desire to be rich can keep us from loving the way we could; I can daydream my way into wishing to be rich, boasting what I would use money to do, instead of glorifying God as the One who is able to do so more and better than things of this life can do! Plus, "pleasures of life" can keep a person from loving the way God's word means. Lusts for pleasure are driving and dominating and controlling, and can have us only using people instead of dearly and caringly loving them.

So, we can be choked from loving in the way God's word means to love.

Matthew 13:23 > There is the one who hears God's word and understands it and produces fruit. 

And we have what the fruit of the Holy Spirit is > "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." (in Galatians 5:22-23)

My personal take on this is that this is talking about how our character becomes. And this has to do with how God is. I see a trinitarian thing here > God is love, Jesus is joy to us and to our Father, the Holy Spirit has us in God's peace; our Father is longsuffering, Jesus is kind, the Holy Spirit is good to share God's own love with us (Romans 5:5); and our Father is faithful, Jesus is gentle, and the Holy Spirit gives us self-control; of course, all three Persons have all these good things of character. And we grow in this so it is our character to be and therefore love like Jesus.

And then from this fruit of character comes the works of God's love, having His creativity for how to love each and every person.

And the first thing Jesus talks about in His Sermon on the Mount is how to be > 

poor in spirit

meek

merciful

pure in heart . . . 

how to become in our character. So, if we understand this from God's word, we seek our Father to deeply change and correct us to be His way in our character (Hebrews 12:4-14). All His word means is done as we grow in His character so we can live His love meaning of His word.

Edited September 14, 2022 by com7fy8

[Open7]

On 9/14/2022 at 7:49 AM, com7fy8 said:

Ok, let's look at > 

Matthew 13:19 which says the birds come and take the word . . . Satan snatches the word away as soon as someone hears it. I would say a sinner can have this happening, just ignoring and forgetting whatever you have said. But a Christian might just forget certain things; how about how well we remember what is said during a good sermon? How well are we remembering?  Of course, it could be a seed which is planted below our conscious memory, I suppose. But I think there can be things we need to make sure we remember, that we are told in a sermon and in conversation with our brothers and sisters. 

Matthew 13:20-21 > the word in stony ground is received but in a shallow way so that troubles can have someone giving up on what he or she has been told, and stumbling. But if we see ourselves doing this, we can repent and trust God to make us more deep and strong and mature. For us in Jesus, this could be a temporary experience, with God having us notice our problem and trust Him to correct us. 

"praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God" > in Jude 20-21 > 

"rooted and grounded in love" > Ephesians 3:17.

We are at risk of forgetting what we need to remember, and we can receive what we are getting in a superficial way so it does not work in us.

But we do have how "the word of God" "effectively works in you who believe," in 1 Thessalonians 2:13. So, instead of just saying yay to God's word, pray for Him to have His word produce all He means by His word. Isaiah 55:11 guarantees how God's word "shall accomplish" what God desires . . . therefore what God Himself is able to know He means by His word!

Matthew 13:22 > "Now he who received the seed among thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.'"

In Luke 8:14 Jesus talks, I understand, about people who "are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life". To me, this means a person can be choked from loving. Cares and worrying can keep a person in a wrong spirit not of love > "There is no fear in love," we have in 1 John 4:18. And "riches" can choke us from loving > "those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition," our Apostle Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:9. It doesn't say those who are rich, but the trouble comes just with the desire > just the desire to be rich can keep us from loving the way we could; I can daydream my way into wishing to be rich, boasting what I would use money to do, instead of glorifying God as the One who is able to do so more and better than things of this life can do! Plus, "pleasures of life" can keep a person from loving the way God's word means. Lusts for pleasure are driving and dominating and controlling, and can have us only using people instead of dearly and caringly loving them.

So, we can be choked from loving in the way God's word means to love.

Matthew 13:23 > There is the one who hears God's word and understands it and produces fruit. 

And we have what the fruit of the Holy Spirit is > "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." (in Galatians 5:22-23)

My personal take on this is that this is talking about how our character becomes. And this has to do with how God is. I see a trinitarian thing here > God is love, Jesus is joy to us and to our Father, the Holy Spirit has us in God's peace; our Father is longsuffering, Jesus is kind, the Holy Spirit is good to share God's own love with us (Romans 5:5); and our Father is faithful, Jesus is gentle, and the Holy Spirit gives us self-control; of course, all three Persons have all these good things of character. And we grow in this so it is our character to be and therefore love like Jesus.

And then from this fruit of character comes the works of God's love, having His creativity for how to love each and every person.

And the first thing Jesus talks about in His Sermon on the Mount is how to be > 

poor in spirit

meek

merciful

pure in heart . . . 

how to become in our character. So, if we understand this from God's word, we seek our Father to deeply change and correct us to be His way in our character (Hebrews 12:4-14). All His word means is done as we grow in His character so we can live His love meaning of His word.

This is brilliant and so helpful, will read this a couple of times