Seeding of the Heart: The Parable of the Sower

By Frederick L. Cuthbertson

Seeding the Heart studies Jesus account of The Parable of the Sower and its relationship to the hearts of men. The book provides commentary on Jesus description and interpretation of the various soils mentioned in his parable. Each soil represents a particular condition of mans heart in response to the word of God as typified by the planted seed. The soils of the parable are the wayside, the stony, the thorns and the good ground. The author uses each soil to illustrate both Jesus explanation of the parable and the spiritual condition of the modern Christian. The way side represents the indifferent Christian, the stony the unstable Christian, the thorny as the worldly Christian and the good as the fruitful Christian. Pertinent issues that affect Christians of today are noted in each aspect of given parable. Also included is a related chapter on the sowing and reaping principle with Biblical examples to help understand the consequences of mans actions to Divine truth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 15, 2011
• ISBN: 9781469116488

Frederick L. Cuthbertson

Frederick L. Cuthbertson presently serves as an associate minister of the Pentecostal Faith Assembly Church in Philadelphia, Pa. He has written three previous books, The Sayings of the late Bishop William W. Tucker, Reflections from a Concerned Christian and The Weakness of God. He has been married since 1979 to his wife Brenda, and has two daughters, Freda and Melanie.

Book preview

Copyright © 2011 by Frederick Cuthbertson.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

101463

Contents

Preface

Introduction

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Preface

The Parables of Jesus were a featured part of his ministry of the word to the people. Parable is a word derived from the Greek verb paraballo, meaning to lie by the side of, to compare, and also a likeness. The Hebrew form of parable is mashal which is given as a discourse expressed in figurative, poetical, or highly ornamented diction. Jesus used parables in different ways to convey truth to the people. Jesus illustrated spiritual truths using the familiar things of nature.

His ability to illustrate gave the hearer a mental picture of the truth he was teaching. This made it easy to understand, even for the unlearned. Paul says in Romans 1:20, For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.

From the simplest things of life, Jesus taught and explained in his teaching to give understanding. Sometimes he illustrated a parable to hide its meaning from a particular group, such as the Pharisees, and revealed the truth afterwards to his disciples (Matthew 13:10-17). To those whose hearts were receptive to the words of Jesus, they were enlightened with the desire to know God’s will. The disbelieving and carnal stayed in spiritual darkness as Jesus declared, Hearing but not hearing, and seeing but not seeing, (Matthew 13:14).

Each parable had a unique purpose in its application by Jesus to the various groups he encountered. Concerning the parable of the Tares, the purpose was to present the intermixture of good and bad in the visible kingdom of heaven and its final conclusion. This was given as a sermon by the seashore (Matthew 13:24-30). The parable of the Drag Net, Jesus directed to his disciples that speak of the final separation of the good and bad (Matthew 13:47-50).

Jesus addressed the Pharisees with the parable of the Lost Sheep, revealing his love for sinners in contrast to the self-righteousness of the Pharisees (Luke 15:4-7). The parable of the Good Samaritan explains Jesus’ answer to the lawyer’s question, Who is his neighbor? Jesus’ response to the lawyer was to love all men regardless of their status or nationality, for this is the fulfillment of the ancient commandment, Love thy neighbor as thyself.

This manner of teaching in parables by Jesus was no accident, but the accomplishment of what the scriptures said concerning him. I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old, (Psalms 78:2). The Parable of the Sower appears to be among the more meaningful of Jesus’ sayings because it is one of the few to be mentioned by all the synoptic writers of the Gospels. This parable was the first of a series of parables given by Jesus in the 13th chapter of Matthew. Here, sitting in a ship by the seashore, Jesus begins his sermon to the multitude, giving the context of the parable and later revealing the interpretation of