Matthew 13

The Parable of the Sower

1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6 but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 

9 He who has ears, let him hear.”

What do we hear? Sowing the gospel is non-discriminatory. It is to be sown everywhere.

Before we go on towards how the seed is sown, allow me to say that the sower was walking on a path. Some seed fell at his feet. He did not pick those up to be cast again to the side of the path.

Matthew 10:5

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve Apostles

These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans,

How do we reconcile the parable with Matthew 10:5 in excluding Gentiles and Samaritans?

6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’

Jesus set them upon a path that had a purpose where some were looking for the coming of their Messiah. The direction of that path was chosen because He was the Messiah and He had come to them with purpose.

What is not said in the parable of the sower was this; who chose for him the path to walk?

What path we are set out to walk determines where the seed is cast without discrimination.

Now comes the hard part. What path do we walk?

• Numbers 6:26
  the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
• Job 14:20
  You prevail forever against him, and he passes; you change his countenance, and send him away.

I was surprised to find that the word countenance only appears twice in the ESV.

The reason this article is entitled chess is because I was at one time a competitive chess player.

I gave it up because I discovered my drive to win produced an undesirable countenance. I lost friends because of it. I turned friends into opponents and therefore the enemy. Friends do not appreciate being treated like enemies.

This is in line with recents posts about being competitive. We cannot win friends by treating them like the enemy. We cannot win lost sinners to Christ by pointing out their sin.

Many of us have failed in following the advice “love the sinner but not the sin.” Perhaps that is because we arrive to help while being competitive. We might not even be aware of how combative that feels to the lost.

The only time I can remember Jesus being combative was when non-jews were denied a place to worship God in the temple in Jerusalem. The marketplace where the stalls were set up to sell sacrifices to worshipers that came great distances was done in the only area of the temple where non-jews were allowed to worship.

It is true that Jesus called them a den of thieves but what was being stolen from God was an opportunity to be worshiped by non-jews. God could care less about the money, He is in the soul saving business.

Luke 20:25

He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

Salvation belongs to God, do not fight Him over it.