Jesus: Seed, Sower, Tree of Life. Part 5 – Jesus Sows Over All Types of Soil
In the parable of the Sower (Mark 4: 1 – 20), Jesus is the sower and the seed. He sows seed – Himself – over all types of ‘soil’, or hearts, from hard packed soil – a heart hardened to His word; to good soil – a noble and good heart, where His seed will grow. Even though He knows the condition of each person’s heart, He sows seed everywhere. His desire is for all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the Truth, who is Jesus; His desire is for the abundant life – the Tree of Life – to grow in every person, although not everyone will receive the Truth.
“This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one mediator between God and men, the Man Jesus Christ, who gave Himself as a ransom for all men” (1 Timothy 2: 3 – 5 NIV).
“This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance . . . that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe” (1 Timothy 4: 9, 10 NIV).
As Jesus tells us in the parable of the sower, not all soil produces a Kingdom crop. But ‘bad’ soil can be made good. Hard-packed soil can be tilled and broken up. During the time of Jesus, farmers sowed the seed over the ground and then they plowed the ground. Rocks and stones can be removed from rocky ground, and thistles and weeds can be pulled up. Soil can be watered and fertilized. This is the purpose of healing prayer, spiritual deliverance, daily prayer, reading and studying God’s written word, worship and praise, and consecrating each day to our Father – opening ourselves up to the work of the Holy Spirit. Together, these actions, in the power of the Holy Spirit, can make bad soil good – they can prepare, redeem, and restore the human heart so that it can receive the seed of Jesus. Jesus wants every heart to prepare Him room. “He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3: 9 NIV).
“The Kingdom of God is not about eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14: 7 NIV). Jesus wants every human heart to prepare Him room so that He can grow in them, bringing an abundant life of righteousness, peace, joy, and freedom.
In the same way that new wine should not be put into old wineskins, new seed should not be put into old soil. For many, the soil needs to be healed and made whole in the name of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit for His seed to grow into new life. God’s plan has always been to plant the seed of His Son Jesus into the hearts of humans for His purposes and His glory.
This is another way of saying that “we must be born again”. “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised by My saying, you must be born again” (John 3: 5 – 7 NIV).
In the same way each person was originally born from a seed (human flesh), we must be born again from another ‘seed’, the seed of Jesus (Spirit gives birth to spirit). All life requires a seed, even new life in Christ.
Like a real seed, the growth of the seed of Jesus in the soil of the human heart depends upon water and nutrients in the soil – the more nutrients, the faster the seed will grow and the stronger the resulting plant or tree – the Tree of Life – will become. Scripture tells us that God waters the seed of Jesus in our heart with living water – the Holy Spirit. “But the water I give him will become a fountain of water springing up into eternal life” (John 4: 14 NKJV). We can provide our heart with the nutrients the seed needs by:
· Consecrating our heart to Jesus every morning. We can bind our heart to His, our will to His, our mind to His, and our ways to His ways. At the same time, we can loose from our hearts anything that keeps us from Him – the metaphorical rocks and thistles of the parable of the Sower.
· Giving our human spirit to Him, asking for the gift of being poor in spirit – to be empty in our spirit so that we can receive all that He has for us today.
· Asking Jesus for the gift of humility – for more of Him.
· Repenting daily of our pride and asking forgiveness for our sins.
· Spending time with Him in prayer and filling our hearts with the written word of God.
· Constantly seeking His presence, listening to God’s rhema word to us, receiving His personal and intimate revelations.
· Worshiping in Spirit and in truth.
As we allow the Holy Spirit to water the seed in our hearts and as we provide the seed with nutrients, pull weeds that try to choke the seed, and remove ‘rocks’, we will grow in humility. As we grow in humility, we will become more ‘poor in spirit’, an essential element of holiness. Holiness is God’s plan for us as we grow up into the image and likeness of Jesus. Of course, satan hates the idea of holiness and ‘pure in spirit’; he laughs at these ideas because to him they are weakness. But it is humility and holiness that defeated satan at the cross.
God planted the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden. The hearts of human beings are now God’s garden. “For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field (“God’s cultivated garden”, TPT), God’s building” (“the house He is building” TPT) (1 Corinthians 3: 9 NIV). His plan is to plant the Tree of Life in every human heart, supplying us with everything we need for life. We know many hearts will be tightly shut to God’s seed. But God does not give up on them. He calls us to join with Him in releasing the Father’s love into their hearts, preparing them to receive the seed, who is Jesus. Those who receive the seed of Jesus will grow into His likeness because the seed of Jesus carries in it the spiritual DNA of Jesus. As we grow into His likeness, we experience the transformed life; we become treasures of life for God’s building of life. God’s plan for His creation is life, abundant life, and we are the containers and carriers called to join God in spreading His life over the earth. The Tree of Life has fruit, and that fruit has seeds. We sow these seeds when we share the life of Jesus with others.
Do you see the intrinsic significance of Jesus Himself as the seed that Jesus talks about in the Parable of the Sower? If we understand that Jesus is the seed in that parable, then we understand this incredible (incredible for us, but think about the crowd who heard Him along the shore of the lake!) truth that when we believe in Him, when the soil of our hearts is prepared to receive the seed, He will plant Himself in us. Not just Jesus in us, but God In us, the fulfillment of all of Scripture. “You are of Christ, and Christ is of God” (1 Corinthians 3: 23 NIV); therefore, you are of God! This is the only way we can be born again – the only way we can grow up into His likeness. We are born by water and the Spirit, but all life requires a seed. In the case of new life, that seed is Jesus.
But if you understand the “word” or the “word of God” in the Parable of the Sower to be the written word of God – primarily, but not exclusively the New Testament – and believe those words are ‘the seed’, you will be disappointed. The written word of God carries the seed, is used to sow the seed, and once the seed is implanted, to water and nurture the seed. But the written word of God is not the seed. Jesus is the seed. Without the Seed growing in you, the written word of God will not release into your heart the life it carries, because that life is unlocked by the Holy Spirit -- the Spirit of Christ, the Seed.
“The intrinsic significance of Christ as the seed of life, the Tree of Life, implanted and growing in us is the intrinsic significance of the heavenly vision of God’s economy and purpose” (after Witness Lee), of our living the life of “priests of the Lord . . . ministers of our God”. It is this seed, flourishing in the heart of a man, that allowed David to write about Jesus’ followers:
“You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings, and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet” (Psalm 8: 5, 6 NIV).
One of the most amazing realities about the Christian faith is that Jesus is truly alive in every person who receives the Seed. Jesus told His disciples, “On that day (His resurrection) you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you” (John 14: 20 NIV). Or, as Paul wrote, “Christ in us, the hope of glory”. How does Jesus ‘get into’ us? Through a seed.
Today, thank God for His presence in you – a seed, Jesus, growing up into, “An oak of righteousness, a planting for the display of His splendor” (Isaiah 61: 3), the true Tree of Life; a fountain of living water, bubbling up and flowing out; “a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail” (Isaiah 58: 11 NIV) – all metaphors expressing that same idea – abundant life for the believer, no matter our external circumstances or situations, to share with the world because of Jesus, His death on the cross, His intimate presence in us, and His great love for us.
John