December 7th 2025
Cultivating Good Soil
Matthew 13 v 1-23
Picture the scene in your mind. Jesus is teaching on a hill beside the Lake of Galilee. There is a breeze blowing as he looks in the direction of a farmer in the distance. He is sowing seed in his field.
As Jesus taught, the farmer acted out his message. The sower, had a bag of seed and, after reaching in and getting a handful, he threw out the seed onto the ground. As he did so, some of the seed would naturally fall on ground that was not suitable, along with the other seed that fell on good soil.
There are things I notice in this wonderful parable of Jesus.
The first is this: The seed falls onto every type of soil without discrimination. It is sown on the soil which is nothing but packed, dry earth. It is sown on soil which is full of rocks, and soil which is full of thorns, as well as on good soil.
I believe that one of the things that Jesus is saying is that God does not have favourites.
Even when God knows that the Word will not take root in a person’s life He still gives an opportunity to hear and respond. That is why Jesus said, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16 v 15,
The worst sinner on earth will be given an opportunity to respond to God — even when God knows it will do absolutely no good.
the second point: The four different soils represent the responses of different types of people.
The first type of soil is the path. This could be a nearby road or a foot path through the field.
In either case, the seed finds it impossible to take root. It cannot penetrate the ground which is hard and dry. It is totally inhospitable and unreceptive to the seed. This type of soil represents the sceptic and rebel. They have no use for the Christian life, even though they may be familiar with it. They see it as irrelevant and unworthy of their interest. They are unwilling to give the control of their lives to anything, even if it is God.. You cannot tell them anything. There is no place for God in their lives. They are proud and arrogant. They are stubborn, selfish and wilful.
The problem is not a lack of understanding, but an unwillingness to receive. The fault is not with the Word, but their response to the Word. The seed is good, but the ground is hard.
The second type of soil is shallow, rocky soil.
In this type of soil the seed would sprout up immediately, but it could not develop an adequate root system so that it died as quickly as it sprang up. Jesus was talking about those who immediately receive the Word of God with enthusiasm, but who do not last. They have genuine joy in the beginning. They are excited about what it means to know God and experience a new life. But something happens. Persecution and trouble come — as they always do. An illness, problem or crisis comes, and they cannot understand why God would allow something like this to happen. Or perhaps someone makes fun of their faith. A family member does not understand and is critical. Their employer requires them to do something which goes against their new-found faith. They know that to follow their faith will cause tension in their relationships with people, so they decide to please people rather than to please God. Their faith is shallow.
The third type of soil where the seed fell was full of thorns and weeds, which Jesus described as, “the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things.” These are what grow up and choke the Word and make it unfruitful. Notice that this is good soil……. Things grow easily here. The plants are prospering. Even the Word begins to grow here. But the soil is crowded with other things. Other things have been allowed to grow that should never have been there. Perhaps this soil was outside the parcel of land the farmer intended to be a part of his field. or— a farmer intentionally sowing seed on land which was full of weeds — a lazy farmer that did not want to properly prepare the soil.
He was lazy. He should have pulled the thorns out by the roots.
Dangerous weeds are growing within and are choking out the Word.
But there was also good soil. These are the people who want the Word to grow in their lives.
Jesus said that the difference between the good soil and the others was that they “hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop — thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.”
They want their lives to be fruitful for God. Their hearts are not hard — they receive the Word into their lives. They work the soil of their hearts, plough it, weed it, fertilize it and are therefore productive.
Some produce a harvest which is 30 times what was sown, others 60 times, and still others 100 times the amount of seed they received. The soil of their lives produces an abundant harvest.
It is not that these people are more talented, it is simply the result of the effort and time invested by those who received the Word. These are people who desire the Word of God and are eager to grow in him.
The soil of their lives is receptive to the Word.
They hear it with their hearts, accept it into their lives and they are spiritually productive.
They are not side-tracked. They understand that there is effort and commitment involved in the Christian life, and they are willing to pay the price of whatever it takes to grow spiritually.
They are not playing at the Christian life — it is their life.
They want to know God. Their lives are good, rich, deep soil.
And one of the important things we must understand about what this parable is saying is: ……..God expects growth.
It is the natural result of good soil and careful preparation.
News from the Church New dates
17th December…. Knit and natter is a time to finish old projects or learn new skills
if you just want to talk well that’s OK too
21st December….. Carol Service at 6-30pm
25th December…. Christmas Day Service 10am (for 45 minutes)
NO SERVICES UNTIL 4TH JANUARY 2026
7th January..…..Friendship Group, (this covers all ages and the lonely people)
ANSWERS TO 30th November QUESTIONS
1) Abraham 2) Eliezer 3) Gideon 4) Hannah 5) David 6) Daniel 7)Jesus 8) Peter 9) Zacharius
10) The rich man 11) Ten 12) Matthias 13) Stephen 14) Paul 15) Revelation 16) Elijah
Bible Quiz this week’s Quiz is Facts about Genesis
1 What name did God give to the firmament.?
2 What name did God give to the dry land.?
3 On which day of creation was man formed?
4 What are the first recorded words of God in the Bible?
5 Which animal is called the most subtil.?
6 On which day did God rest from His labour?
7 Which tree in the garden of Eden were Adam and Eve not allowed to eat off?
8 What did Adam and Eve sew together as aprons?
9 What did God use to clothe Adam and Eve.?
10 Why did God send the flood on the earth?
11 What was Noah’s Ark made from?
12 How many windows in the Ark?
13 How old was Noah when the earth was flooded?
14 What are the names of Noah’s 3 sons?
15 How many people went into the Ark?
16 What are the 2 birds Noah sent out from the Ark?
God Bless