And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it.
Some of the sown word lands where thorns come up together with it and smother it, so it matures nothing and brings no crop to eternal life. The seed is the word of God put into the heart, and the heart is soil meant to be prepared to receive truth and bring forth character and fruit. The thorns are the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the pleasures of this life, crowding the heart with love of the world, gain, honor, and indulgence until there is no room for piety to grow. They choke the word when its first impressions fade and are not carried into daily life, as business, anxiety, dishonest gain, and neglected duties overgrow and starve the good seed until the heart turns away and Christian character is never perfected. No hearer must remain such soil, for by repentance and earnest effort in the strength of Jesus the thorns can be uprooted and cast out, since good and evil cannot thrive together in the same heart.
Parable Setting and Imagery
The seed falling among thorns that grew up with it and choked it so that it yielded no fruit was spoken while teaching the crowd from a boat by the Sea of Galilee. It was spoken beside the sea while looking across the plain of Gennesaret and the hills beyond where sowers were casting seed and reapers were harvesting the early grain on hillside and plain. Its sowers, fields, and other natural scenes were drawn from the surroundings so that those sights would remind listeners of the lessons of truth.
It belongs to the parable of the sower which illustrates the things of the kingdom of heaven and the work of the great Husbandman for His people. Like a sower in the field Christ came to scatter the heavenly grain of truth, and His parable-teaching itself was the seed with which the most precious truths of His grace were sown. Though its simplicity has kept it from being valued as it should be, the natural seed cast into the soil is meant to lead the mind to the gospel seed whose sowing brings man back to loyalty to God. He who gave the parable is the Sovereign of heaven, and the same laws that govern earthly seed-sowing govern the sowing of the seeds of truth, using earthly things to represent spiritual realities and letting nature speak eternal truths.
In the parable the seed is the word of God sown in the heart. The heart is like soil and like a garden that must be prepared to receive the seed of truth, where good or bad seed may be sown and develop character. The sown truth as seed may lie dormant until God's grace awakens it to life and it bears fruit. The parable shows the different tendencies of the human heart and the classes of people taught, and so explains why the ministry had limited immediate results. Within the sequence of soils it stands between the seed on stony places that withered for lack of root and the seed in good ground that bore fruit a hundredfold, sixtyfold, and thirtyfold, describing seed that fell where thorns grew up together with it and choked it.
Thorny Hearts Without Fruit
Some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it, so that it yielded no fruit, brought no fruit to perfection, and yielded no fruit unto eternal life. That unfruitful outcome will be the experience of every gospel laborer.
The thorny soil is hearts crowded by worldly things and evil tendencies that prevent the word from developing and bearing fruit. Its hearers seem to receive the truth, are convinced by it and accept it without seeing the sinfulness of their hearts, yet remain unfruitful. The thorns are the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the pleasures of this life. They include earthly cares that leave no time for cultivating piety, love of the world holding a large place in the affections, making temporal matters primary, unnecessary cares and needless anxiety about gaining or losing means, dishonest dealing to get the best of the bargain, prevarication, deception and fraud to gain means, love of earthly pleasures and worldly honors that riches give, unchristlike traits of character, and unsanctified human inclinations and desires.
The choking happens when worldly cares, temptations, and unfavorable surroundings cause the impressions of the teaching to fade, so hearers abandon the new purpose stirred in them and return to indifference rather than carrying its principles into a holier daily life. The good seed sown in the heart is overgrown and not nourished. Meetings and religious privileges where the heart could be strengthened are neglected for fear of temporal loss, toil for gain is excused as duty to help the cause of God, means wrongly gained overbalances good purposes and intentions and proves a thorn, and the more earthly riches increase the less the heart is inclined to part with treasure, until the heart is fully turned from the loved truth and Christian character is never perfected.
Truth received by a divided or unconverted heart is choked when self-denial and sacrifice are refused, such as in paying tithe, so the truth is not strengthened by practice and is eventually quenched, while genuine conviction and cleansing of the heart leave the thorns no room to grow. The sown truth must be cherished and received into the heart to lead to eternal life, taking root through attentive, diligent study and the Spirit's work, while distraction and erring thoughts can divert the mind and cause it to fail to produce life. Teachings that mix skepticism or fanciful interpretations with Scripture can take root in the heart and choke its fruitful influence, producing infidelity.
Sowing Truth and Reclaiming Hearts
No heart that has received the seed among thorns must remain thorny soil, for men are held responsible when they resist the Spirit and allow the word to be neglected. Reclaiming is possible through repentance and choice and diligent, earnest effort in Jesus' name and strength, by which the heart can be reclaimed and the thorns removed. If the thorns are not overcome and uprooted and cut away and cast out as hindrances to Christian growth, they grow and strengthen and kill the precious graces of the Spirit, for good and evil cannot grow in the heart at the same time.
Mere cutting off of the visible thorns is not enough, for the truth must break up the fallow ground of the heart and remove their roots. At the start of the Christian life believers are to learn to follow in self-denial, to bear burdens and work and endure hardship and trust in love. Serving and caring for the lost turns attention away from self and weakens the attraction of worldly pleasures.
Sowers must help prepare hearts to receive and retain the gospel, since logic and argument fail with hearts as hard as the beaten highway and as stony. Christlike sympathy and personal ministry revealing love awakens interest in eternal life and softens the heart so that the seed of truth can take root. Parents must likewise prepare the soil of their children's hearts in the first eight or ten years by keeping them home under their own teaching, making the open air among flowers and birds the schoolroom and nature the textbook, opening the treasures of nature as fast as their minds can comprehend it. Time and labor now wasted on following worldly fashions are to be turned to cultivating their minds and forming correct habits.
The sower casts seed on all kinds of soil and in every place, placing Himself in the great thoroughfares where travel streamed from all parts of the world to sow gospel seed broadcast to all. Some of that seed falls among thorns and yields no fruit and no fruit unto eternal life, and this unfruitful outcome will be the experience of every gospel laborer. Yet failure to see fruit from some seed is not a reason to stop sowing the truth in every place. Placing books containing light and truth in the homes of as many people as possible is such sowing of gospel seed, and that seed will spring up to bear fruit by meeting the needs of those seeking for help.
Some of the sown word lands where thorns come up together with it and smother it, so it matures nothing and brings no crop to eternal life. The seed is the word of God put into the heart, and the heart is soil meant to be prepared to receive truth and bring forth character and fruit. The thorns are the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the pleasures of this life, crowding the heart with love of the world, gain, honor, and indulgence until there is no room for piety to grow. They choke the word when its first impressions fade and are not carried into daily life, as business, anxiety, dishonest gain, and neglected duties overgrow and starve the good seed until the heart turns away and Christian character is never perfected. No hearer must remain such soil, for by repentance and earnest effort in the strength of Jesus the thorns can be uprooted and cast out, since good and evil cannot thrive together in the same heart.
Parable Setting and Imagery
The seed falling among thorns that grew up with it and choked it so that it yielded no fruit was spoken while teaching the crowd from a boat by the Sea of Galilee. It was spoken beside the sea while looking across the plain of Gennesaret and the hills beyond where sowers were casting seed and reapers were harvesting the early grain on hillside and plain. Its sowers, fields, and other natural scenes were drawn from the surroundings so that those sights would remind listeners of the lessons of truth.
It belongs to the parable of the sower which illustrates the things of the kingdom of heaven and the work of the great Husbandman for His people. Like a sower in the field Christ came to scatter the heavenly grain of truth, and His parable-teaching itself was the seed with which the most precious truths of His grace were sown. Though its simplicity has kept it from being valued as it should be, the natural seed cast into the soil is meant to lead the mind to the gospel seed whose sowing brings man back to loyalty to God. He who gave the parable is the Sovereign of heaven, and the same laws that govern earthly seed-sowing govern the sowing of the seeds of truth, using earthly things to represent spiritual realities and letting nature speak eternal truths.
In the parable the seed is the word of God sown in the heart. The heart is like soil and like a garden that must be prepared to receive the seed of truth, where good or bad seed may be sown and develop character. The sown truth as seed may lie dormant until God's grace awakens it to life and it bears fruit. The parable shows the different tendencies of the human heart and the classes of people taught, and so explains why the ministry had limited immediate results. Within the sequence of soils it stands between the seed on stony places that withered for lack of root and the seed in good ground that bore fruit a hundredfold, sixtyfold, and thirtyfold, describing seed that fell where thorns grew up together with it and choked it.
Thorny Hearts Without Fruit
Some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it, so that it yielded no fruit, brought no fruit to perfection, and yielded no fruit unto eternal life. That unfruitful outcome will be the experience of every gospel laborer.
The thorny soil is hearts crowded by worldly things and evil tendencies that prevent the word from developing and bearing fruit. Its hearers seem to receive the truth, are convinced by it and accept it without seeing the sinfulness of their hearts, yet remain unfruitful. The thorns are the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the pleasures of this life. They include earthly cares that leave no time for cultivating piety, love of the world holding a large place in the affections, making temporal matters primary, unnecessary cares and needless anxiety about gaining or losing means, dishonest dealing to get the best of the bargain, prevarication, deception and fraud to gain means, love of earthly pleasures and worldly honors that riches give, unchristlike traits of character, and unsanctified human inclinations and desires.
The choking happens when worldly cares, temptations, and unfavorable surroundings cause the impressions of the teaching to fade, so hearers abandon the new purpose stirred in them and return to indifference rather than carrying its principles into a holier daily life. The good seed sown in the heart is overgrown and not nourished. Meetings and religious privileges where the heart could be strengthened are neglected for fear of temporal loss, toil for gain is excused as duty to help the cause of God, means wrongly gained overbalances good purposes and intentions and proves a thorn, and the more earthly riches increase the less the heart is inclined to part with treasure, until the heart is fully turned from the loved truth and Christian character is never perfected.
Truth received by a divided or unconverted heart is choked when self-denial and sacrifice are refused, such as in paying tithe, so the truth is not strengthened by practice and is eventually quenched, while genuine conviction and cleansing of the heart leave the thorns no room to grow. The sown truth must be cherished and received into the heart to lead to eternal life, taking root through attentive, diligent study and the Spirit's work, while distraction and erring thoughts can divert the mind and cause it to fail to produce life. Teachings that mix skepticism or fanciful interpretations with Scripture can take root in the heart and choke its fruitful influence, producing infidelity.
Sowing Truth and Reclaiming Hearts
No heart that has received the seed among thorns must remain thorny soil, for men are held responsible when they resist the Spirit and allow the word to be neglected. Reclaiming is possible through repentance and choice and diligent, earnest effort in Jesus' name and strength, by which the heart can be reclaimed and the thorns removed. If the thorns are not overcome and uprooted and cut away and cast out as hindrances to Christian growth, they grow and strengthen and kill the precious graces of the Spirit, for good and evil cannot grow in the heart at the same time.
Mere cutting off of the visible thorns is not enough, for the truth must break up the fallow ground of the heart and remove their roots. At the start of the Christian life believers are to learn to follow in self-denial, to bear burdens and work and endure hardship and trust in love. Serving and caring for the lost turns attention away from self and weakens the attraction of worldly pleasures.
Sowers must help prepare hearts to receive and retain the gospel, since logic and argument fail with hearts as hard as the beaten highway and as stony. Christlike sympathy and personal ministry revealing love awakens interest in eternal life and softens the heart so that the seed of truth can take root. Parents must likewise prepare the soil of their children's hearts in the first eight or ten years by keeping them home under their own teaching, making the open air among flowers and birds the schoolroom and nature the textbook, opening the treasures of nature as fast as their minds can comprehend it. Time and labor now wasted on following worldly fashions are to be turned to cultivating their minds and forming correct habits.
The sower casts seed on all kinds of soil and in every place, placing Himself in the great thoroughfares where travel streamed from all parts of the world to sow gospel seed broadcast to all. Some of that seed falls among thorns and yields no fruit and no fruit unto eternal life, and this unfruitful outcome will be the experience of every gospel laborer. Yet failure to see fruit from some seed is not a reason to stop sowing the truth in every place. Placing books containing light and truth in the homes of as many people as possible is such sowing of gospel seed, and that seed will spring up to bear fruit by meeting the needs of those seeking for help.