Matthew 13:3-9, 22 - Choked Out

Alan Salwei
Aug 7
5 min read

Worries and wealth can quickly choke out your faith.

Dense green foliage with yellow flowers is interspersed with tall, dried thorns. Text reads: "Other seed fell among thorns... Matthew 13:7." — Anybody who lives in a dry area is familiar with a weed called Tribulus Terrestris, commonly known as goatheads or puncturevine. It swallows everything around it with weeds that look good but choke out the crop, surrounding it with hidden, but super sharp thorns.

Matthew 13:3-9, 22 (NIV)

This week we'll be working our way through various verses in this passage.

³Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. ⁸Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. ⁹Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

¹⁰The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”

¹¹He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. ¹²Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. ¹³This is why I speak to them in parables:

“Though seeing, they do not see;

though hearing, they do not hear or understand.

¹⁴In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:

“ ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;

you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.

¹⁵For this people’s heart has become calloused;

they hardly hear with their ears,

and they have closed their eyes.

Otherwise they might see with their eyes,

hear with their ears,

understand with their hearts

and turn, and I would heal them.’

¹⁶But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. ¹⁷For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

¹⁸“Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: ¹⁹When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. ²⁰The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. ²¹But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. ²²The seed 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. ²³But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

Canons of Dordt

Point 1 - God's Unconditional Election

Point 2 - Limited Atonement

Point 3 - Total Depravity

Point 4 - Irresistible Grace

Article 9: Human Responsibility for Rejecting the Gospel

The fact that many who are called through the ministry of the gospel
1. do not come and are not brought to conversion
2. must not be blamed on
  1. the gospel,
  2. nor on Christ, who is offered through the gospel,
  3. nor on God,
    1. who calls them through the gospel
    2. and even bestows various gifts on them,
3. but on the people themselves who are called.
Some in self-assurance
1. do not even entertain the Word of life;
2. others do entertain it but do not take it to heart, and for that reason,
  1. after the fleeting joy of a temporary faith,
  2. they relapse;
3. others choke the seed of the Word
  1. with the thorns of life’s cares
  2. and with the pleasures of the world and bring forth no fruits.
  3. This our Savior teaches in the parable of the sower (Matt. 13).

Summary

This week are studying the parable of sower. In this parable, Jesus uses four types of soil to describe four different responses to the preaching of the Word of God. Today we turn to the third type of soil, the one already filled with thorns.

The issue with this soil wasn’t the ground itself, it’s what else was present. Like a weed in a garden, these thorns were competing with the seed for needed resources such as water and nutrients.

In this parable, the thorns choke out the seed. These thorns monopolized the available resources to the detriment of the seed that was sown.

In his explanation to his disciples, Jesus described this seed as one who hears the word but cares instead for the things of this world.

Dig Deeper

The sad reality represented by the soil filled with thorns is that when presented with a choice between all the wonders of God and the things of this world, many people will choose that which is temporary and fleeting.

As part his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught in Matthew 6:24 that, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

When it comes to where your loyalties lie, there is no room for dual allegiance. Either God is the lord of your life or something else is. If you serve money, power, or something else; then this will choke out your allegiance to Christ.

Don’t treat your faith as just another part of your busy life. Your allegiance to Christ is foundational to who you are. If it becomes one amongst many, it is only a matter of time before it gets choked out for other things.

AAA Prayer (About)

ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who causes His Word to be sown in our hearts;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth will not choke out God's Word, making it unfruitful;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: