Soil of Sabotage
“When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. … 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” Matthew 13:19, 23. The classic Parable of the Sower.
“Discipleship is a campaign of sabotage.” CS Lewis
What do you think this means?
Lewis continues: “the rightful king of the world has landed in disguise and is calling people to sabotage the evil kingdom. Every square inch of earth is contested ground and a spiritual battlefield between God and Satan.”
If the earth is a spiritual battlefield, then Jesus’ parable of the sower matches Lewis’ hypothesis. Jesus is the rightful king and begins to spread the good news about the true Kingdom that has landed through Him. Therefore the false king or “prince of this world” as Jesus calls Satan is not likely to be pleased and will push back to the in breaking of God’s Kingdom. Jesus references this battle in his parable that has four different responses from humanity:
- The seed on the path is the hardened heart. The message about the kingdom is not understood and the devil “snatches away what was sown in the heart!” Jesus is saying that there is personal opposition to the growth of God’s Kingdom on earth. A hard-hearted human does not understand God’s Word. He can’t put it together in his mind, nor get in line with it, nor yield to it. Theologian Dale Bruner says the word “understand” in Matthew 13 (verses 13, 14, 15, 19, 23) is best understood as “standing under” the Word of God. Or submitting to it! Therefore, the hard hearted man who will not submit to Christ becomes vulnerable to the influence of the evil one.
- The seed that fell on the rocky path is someone with a shallow heart. They receive the Kingdom with joy, but they have no roots. When hardship in life or persecution for believing in Christ comes, they give up on following Christ. Jesus is warning us, remember, there are two kingdoms at war, so of course opposition will come. The question is, when trouble or persecution does come, will we continue to stand under and submit to God’s Word?
- The seed that fell among the thorny soil is someone with a cluttered heart. They “hear” the word but do not stand under it. For when the worries and anxieties of life come, they walk away because they are looking to the idol of wealth to sustain them instead of submitting to the way of Jesus. The truth gets choked out by the world under the control of the evil one.
- The seed that falls in the fertile soil is the receptive heart. This is the person who hears the word and willingly stands under it to stand against the worldly kingdom and the powers that work at stamping out the truth of God’s Word. This is the soil of sabotage that will grow and establish Kingdom fruit for the glory of God. This is where an abundant, productive life will take place: in wholehearted surrender to Jesus, the rightful King.
Every heart is cultivating something. What kingdom is growing in the soil of your heart? Let us be men who are willing to stand under the word of Christ to sabotage the evil whose roots go far too deep in God’s good world.
Where are you standing under God’s Word? Where are you resisting it?
Read and reflect on Galatians 5:13-25