Matthew gives the first parable (of his gospel) which Jesus describes as teaching that allows the follower of Christ to understand the mysteries of God, but hides the meaning from those who do not believe (13:10-17). Jesus often spoke in parables in order to communicate a spiritual truth to His disciples, but disguise the application from unbelievers. This first of Matthew’s teachings is known as the parable of the sower. A sower goes out to sow seed – some of the seed falls on the path that surrounded the fields and the birds devoured the seed (13:4). Some of the seed falls on stony ground and where it quickly grew but soon died because there were no roots (13:5-6). Other seed fell among thorns which choked away the life of the seed (13:7). However, some of the seed feel on good ground yielded a crop – some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty (13:8). In this parable, the sower is God and the seed is the gospel (or the way to God). The seed falling on the path represents the person who hears the gospel, but is distracted by Satan (13:18-19). The seed which falls on stony illustrates a person who hears the gospel, understands it, but abandons it when trials come (13:20-21). The seed among the thorns symbolizes a professing Christian who hears the gospel but loves the world more than God (13:22). So far, all of these people mentioned, who have heard the gospel, are not genuine believers but professing Christians. They have not truly repented of their sins. Verse 23 reveals that a true Christian will hear, understand, and bear fruit as a result of the gospel, some a lot of fruit and some a little bit of fruit. The key is that their life has shown evidence of repentance. Throughout God’s word, faith and works always go hand in hand. Good works never bring true faith, but true faith in the gospel will ALWAYS result in good works (love for God and obedience to His word). It doesn’t mean a person is perfect, but their life is demonstrating good works for God’s glory. If your life is not producing good works, maybe you should check to see if you have ever truly repented and turned to Jesus Christ for salvation.
Dear God, help me to demonstrate that Your gospel has fallen on good ground by producing good works in my life.
