Matthew 13 starts with the parable of the Sower.  A pretty simple story, as most of Christ’s stories were, about a farmer out sowing seeds.  You’re probably familiar with it, some seed lands on the path and get eaten by birds.  Some seeds land in rocky soil, where they grow briefly, then die out when the sun scorches them (because they have no roots).  Other seed falls among thorns, which eventually chokes out the plants.  Lastly, some seed falls on good soil and produces a crop of 30, 60, or 100 times what was sown.

Like I said, pretty simple story.  And pretty much every time I’ve heard it preached, it’s all about the good soil and how we Christ followers are to go and multiply and do great amazing things.  Good stuff.  But I’m actually more interested in the seeds that fall in with thorns.

Here’s Christ’s explanation of the seeds that fell among the thorns – “the seeds falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.”  Anyone surprised that the worries of this life can make you unfruitful?  Christ talks about worry in several other verses, with Matthew 6:25-34 being one of the longest discourses on worry.   Take home message – worry makes us unfruitful.

The deceitfulness of wealth was the phrase that really grabbed me and wouldn’t let go.  First, wealth is deceitful,  it promises happiness, peace, and security, and provides none of them.  I wish we (me) could really know this.  All the time and energy we spend chasing wealth, and in the end, it’s all a lie.   Even more interesting is that the deceitfulness of wealth chokes the word. As in, the Word.  The lies of money kills the power of the Word.  That’s a powerful warning, and a really frightening message from Christ.  The end result?  We are unfruitful.

Last point.  Notice that the good plants (seeds) grew up right alongside the thorns.  They both had roots, both withstood the sun, and both grew.  And they were both unfruitful.  In fact, it doesn’t look like there was much difference between the seeds and the thorns, right up to the point that the thorns “choked the plants”.   Strong words.  Think about it for a minute, the seeds are growing up right along with the thorns, and then at some point, the thorns choked the plants.  When Christ explained it to his disciples, he said the seeds were unfruitful, in other words, they had exactly the same impact as the thorns did –  none.  No fruit.  The seeds were designed to bear fruit, and they didn’t.  The thorns choked them out.

We are here for a purpose, here on a mission.  Our mission is to bring glory to God, and go to the uttermost parts of the world and preach salvation through Christ.  We are designed to be in the  war between God and Satan.  We are actually the front line, and we are also the only hope for the lost to hear salvation.  Too many of us are content to quietly grow in the thorns, just happy to be here, buying the lies of wealth, making time to go to church, give a little money, read our bibles occasionally, and pretty much be indistinguishable from the thorns all around us, bearing no fruit.  Christ followers, time for us to stop buying the deceitfulness of wealth, and get back on mission.

Grace and Peace