Tools for Spiritual Growth from Jesus’ Parable of the Sower

The parable of the sower is Jesus’ most commanding parable. Like Mount Everest, it towers above all the parables and reveals in a visually pictorial way how to grow as a disciple of Jesus.

In the parable, Jesus portrayed our heart as a garden that produces fruit to God, and the significance of our fruitfulness depends on how we overcome the hindrances we face. Those hindrances are represented by the images of birds, stones, and weeds (Mark 4:2-20).

The first hindrance to fruitfulness was birds. Jesus described a farmer’s wayside—a footpath used by travelers to cut through a farmer’s field on their way to a destination. The wayside was trampled hard by foot traffic. When the seed fell on the trampled path, it bounced on the surface and was devoured by birds.

When our hearts are trampled hard like the wayside, the seed of God’s doesn’t penetrate our hearts. Instead, our unbelief causes the seed to sit on the surface of our hearts, and demons (birds) immediately descend and gobble up that seed. When demons can steal a seed of God’s word from our hearts, they’re energized—and the seed that was meant to nourish us feeds a demon.

Actually, the real problem here is not the birds; the real problem is hardness of heart.

If our heart was soft, the word would have penetrated and the birds wouldn’t have gotten a meal. It’s essential, therefore, that we pursue a soft heart!

The prophets told us to break up our fallow ground (Jeremiah 4:3; Hosea 10:12). The prophets placed on us the duty of softening our heart.

What hardens our hearts? Well, for starters, people. People can trample your heart with their words and attitudes. We’re living in a trample culture. Christians are trampling each other with their words at astonishing levels today. Additionally, our hearts are constantly being trampled by beastly media platforms. It’s like we’re facing a trampling epidemic from people and beasts.

What should you do when you’ve been trampled? Get out your hoe, drive it into your trampled heart, and break up your fallow ground. To be practical, what are some things we can do to soften our hearts?

Our hearts are softened through repentance, weeping, forgiving others, fasting, and receiving the rain of the Holy Spirit on our hard-baked hearts.

The second hindrance to fruitfulness was stones. Stones hinder roots from going deep and accessing subterranean moisture. Then, when the sun rises, the plant is scorched. When stones are allowed to remain in a field, that field will never be hundredfold fruitful.

Stones represent pockets of sin and compromise in our hearts that hinder our fruitfulness.

Stones will surprise you. When gardeners till their soil around April, their shovel can hit into stones never before encountered. Why might stones suddenly seem to appear in a garden? Answer: Change of seasons. When seasons turn, temperatures swing and precipitation fluctuates. In the process, stones buried in the ground work their way toward the surface. Once gardeners spot a stone, they know they’ve got to remove it if their garden is to produce hundredfold.

Similarly, when we identify a pocket of sin or compromise in our hearts, we must dig up and remove that stone. When we remove stones of compromise, our roots can penetrate deeply into the love of Christ and we can become more fruitful.

What are some examples of stones? Things like unforgiveness, anger, hatred, addictions, dating an unbeliever, cynicism, evil speaking, sexual sin, foolish talking, fear, lying, rebellion, coarse language, porn, anxiety. Zero toleration for stones!

When you see a stone, you may not know in the moment how to get rid of it. But decide that the stone must go. It might take time and hard word, but we’re not going to relent until that stone is removed from our hearts. Why? Because we’re reaching for hundredfold fruitfulness.

The third hindrance to fruitfulness was weeds (thorns). If a farmer neglects weed control, his field will become a weed fest (Proverbs 24:30-31). To have a fruitful crop, a farmer must engage in the tedious task of weed management.

Weeds grow faster and thicker than wheat and, if not controlled, will choke the crop so that the harvest is diminished or ruined. Furthermore, weeds always come back. You can cut them away, but they return.

Weeds represent issues in our lives that resurface over and over.

That’s one difference between weeds and stones. When you dig up a stone of compromise, it’s removed; but when you remove a weed from your garden, it’s replaced by seven other weeds.

Weeds represent areas of struggle in our hearts that we must battle for the entirety of our lives.

For example, the love of money is a weed you’ll probably fight for as long as you’re breathing. It wants to master us, but we’re resolved to master it.

When Jesus explained what the weeds are, He talked about the hard and happy sides of life, and how both sides are empowered by money. There’s a hard side to life—the side of life where we fight to survive. We go to work to pay the bills, buy groceries, keep the kids in clothes, get an education, establish a career, pay the rent, pay off the car loan, prepare for retirement, etc. Sometimes life is hard, and the fight to survive can be so consuming that we neglect the garden of our hearts and compromise our fruitfulness.

The other kinds of weeds, according to Jesus, regard the happy side of life. There’s a sweet side of life that’s characterized by vacations, hobbies, entertainment, shopping, good food, good drink, recreation, etc. And it’s all powered by money. Jesus indicated that we can become so choked with the pursuit of financing our desires that we bear little or no eternal fruit.

Materialism is a weed, and the way to cut it back is through generosity. When we give offerings to the Kingdom of God and to the poor in Jesus’ name, we cleanse our hearts of greed (Luke 11:41). When we keep our weeds cut back to the nubs, our hearts can grow and become increasingly fruitful to God.

For years, I didn’t understand this parable. For example, I looked at the trampled wayside, watched as the birds stole the seed that was sown, saw that the wayside was fruitless, and thought to myself, “Well, that’s not me. I’m not a fruitless wayside. I’m a fruitful Christian.”

Then I looked at the part of the field that had stones in it, saw that the plants were scorched because their roots weren’t deep enough, and thought, “Well, that’s not me. I’m not stone-filled and scorched. I’m a fruitful Christian.”

Then I looked at the weeds in the field, saw how they choked the wheat from becoming fruitful, and thought, “Well, that’s not me, either. I’m not a weed-infested person who is so choked by weeds that I don’t bear any fruit to God. I’m a fruitful Christian.”

Now I realize—the whole parable speaks personally to me. Even though I’m a fruitful Christian, I’m not yet hundredfold fruitful—and it’s because of birds, stones, and weeds.

Suddenly I saw it! Jesus was teaching me, in the parable, how to overcome the hindering birds, stones, and weeds, and become more fruitful to God.

Therefore, I’m devoted to breaking up all the hard places in my heart that have been trampled by people and the beasts of culture. Even though my heart is mostly soft, I still have hard patches that need to be softened to the word.

Second, I’m determined to dig up and remove every stone of compromise that I find in the garden of my heart. If I’ll keep tossing my stones when I see them, my roots will penetrate deeply into the love of Christ and I’ll bear much fruit.

Third, I’m going to cut back every weed that tries to choke my heart and distract me from seeking first the things of the kingdom that are truly fruitful.

In other words, I’ve discovered that everything in this parable is relevant to my life personally. Jesus had me in mind when He gave this parable.

Jesus gave us this parable to incentivize each of us toward hundredfold fruitfulness, and then He gave us the tools to overcome the birds, stones, and weeds.

I invite you to join me in responding to this brilliant parable. Let’s break up our fallow ground, remove all stones of sin when we see them, and cut back the competing cares and pleasures that want to choke our hearts like weeds. If we do, we’ll continue to move forward toward hundredfold fruitfulness.

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This article is condensed from Bob Sorge’s book, Secrets of a Fruitful Heart. See the parable of the sower like never before. Discover Jesus’ way to fruitful discipleship. For more information on this book and the accompanying Discipleship Manual CLICK HERE.

Here are other articles by Bob Sorge…

Bob Sorge is “the speaker who can’t talk”—that is, he is reduced to a whisper because of a debilitating vocal injury he suffered over 20 years ago. Through the journey, God has given him an empowering message that explores God’s purposes in fiery trials. It’s not the fire that changes you but your pursuit of God in the fire that changes you. Bob has a unique way of helping us process our journey so we stay in the race and overcome. Whether you’re reading one of his books or listening to him, you’re about to receive a message from the heart of God that will strengthen your faith and draw you into greater intimacy with Jesus.

CLICK HERE to watch one of the most powerful videos we have seen. Don’t watch it until you have 5 minutes to finish it. It’s about why and how God dealt with Job and it addresses suffering today. Very deep and thought provoking, God could have left Job alone, by Bob Sorge, produced by his son Joel Sorge.

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