With this parable, or story, Jesus talks about a farmer who was scattering and sowing seed. The seed fell on three types of ground. Some fell on the path, where it was trampled on and eaten by birds. Other seeds landed on dry, rocky ground that was missing the moisture needed to grow a healthy plant. Some seed fell in with thorns and ended up getting choked out by the thorns, which grew alongside the good seed. And finally, another bit of the seeds sown landed on good soil with conditions conducive to growth. 

As you may guess (or know), the different kinds of ground represent people’s hearts. When the Word of God is “thrown” our way, our hearts are either fertile soil or they’re not. Another topic for another day!

What I noticed with my most recent repeated reading of this parable, which I had never noticed before, was that the favorable conclusion of the story is not just a healthy plant. Here’s what the Bible does NOT say:

Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up healthy and strong, a thriving plant that was nourished and beautiful.

Nope! Here’s how the parable DOES end: 

“Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.” -Luke 8:8a

And in Jesus’ explanation of the parable’s meaning, He said: 

But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop. -Luke 8:15

Again, no final words about having good soil that allows for the Word to only help us flourish and thrive. 

Rather, this parable actually ends with talk of multiplication. For me personally, the multiplication challenge at the end of the story had been hidden, I think! The seeds that fell on good soil not only grew up healthy and strong, but they also yielded a crop—a hundred times what had been sown. In persevering, the seeds growing from fertile ground produced a good crop. And THAT—right there—is what God wanted me to learn on my most recent re-read of the parable of the sower. His goal for me is not necessarily to just grow up healthy and strong in the Lord. An outpouring of my heart’s good soil should be that I’m yielding a crop, a hundred times more than what was sown. 

In meditating on this convicting idea, I thought about these three things: 

First? As I mature, my satisfaction should not just be in what I take in, but what I give out to others. Studying the Bible, sitting under incredible teaching, listening to Christian podcasts and reading books that teach me more about God are all fantastic things to do. But all of these things are primarily building me up. They’re growing, maturing and strengthening me. Which, again, is great! What isn’t great, however, is if I let it stop there. As God matures me in Him, the overflow of that should spill out onto others. I must take hold of what I’ve learned and then thrust it outward! How? By teaching a Sunday School class, serving in a local organization, mentoring a young believer, volunteering at church, inviting others to Bible study, and the list goes on and on. 

Jesus said that His satisfaction came from doing God’s work, and God’s work for Him involved ministering to the people around Him. Can you imagine if Jesus’ life on earth solely consisted of Him praying to God, studying the Scriptures at the temple and growing in godly wisdom? All of that would have been great for Jesus! But none of it would have turned His ministry outward. None of it would have yielded a crop a hundred times more than was sown. 

“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” -John 4:34

Second? I bear fruit by remaining close to Jesus. My spiritual productivity and multiplication starts with abiding in the Lord. Apart from Him, I’m hopeless and barren. I can remain close to Him by leaning in, listening, following Him, depending on Him and living by His Word. 

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” -John 15:5

Third? Fertility comes through the work of the Holy Spirit. In my own strength and power, not much is possible. And also, the Spirit must be at work in the hearts and lives of the people I’m ministering to and serving. I can invite the same person to church 50 times … that’s 50 times tossing a seed in their direction … but it’s the work and power of the Holy Spirit that turns that person’s heart into fertile ground at the sovereignly appointed time. It’s not up to you or me. Our human efforts are admirable and important, but they can only go so far. We do not have the ability to turn people’s hearts toward the Lord. That is the work of the Holy Spirit alone. 

The fortress will be abandoned, the noisy city deserted; citadel and watchtower will become a wasteland forever, the delight of donkeys, a pasture for flocks, till the Spirit is poured on us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a forest. -Isaiah 32:14-15

From a desert to a fertile field that seems like a forest. Wow, what a transformation! Do not be satisfied with being a healthy Christian who’s full of God’s Word—strong, flourishing, healthy and beautiful in Christ. That picture of spiritual fitness is wonderful, but it is also incomplete. God wants you to not just grow, but also produce fruit. He wants you to turn outward and produce a crop a hundred times more than what was sown into you. What can you do today to move in that direction?