People who are weedy are seeking for
something to fill the God shaped hole in their lives. While
they may have found “religion” they have not found true
Christianity. Instead of relying on God, they rely on their
own ability to provide and they place other things above
God.
For weedy soil, God is a means to an
end, not an end in itself. Church may provide business
connections or simply a good feeling of having done one’s
duty for the week. True worship of God doesn’t not come into
the equation for people who are weedy soil.
How do we minister to the people who
are weedy soil? Ultimately we need to show them that
fulfillment comes in serving God and not in anything else
that the world has to offer. Matthew 6:24 says, “No one can
serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love
the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You
cannot serve both God and money.”
Replace the word money with anything
else you want - drugs, sports, work, or even family. The
last one is especially difficult because the family is a
good thing and God does not want us to neglect our families.
However, family can take away from God when someone is
constantly running their children to soccer practice, Boy
Scouts, and band. None of these things are wrong or bad, but
they can become very time consuming. Children do not have to
be involved in every opportunity that presents itself. God
should come first in your life as well as your children’s
lives.
When dealing with weedy soil, your
example may be the best witness that you have. They are
looking for fulfillment. Sometimes they have found that by
doing churchy things without having any real spiritual
commitment. Sometimes it’s just material things that they
have filled themselves with. You need to show them that
there is real contentment to be found in serving Christ.
Your example should show that Christianity isn’t just about
feeling good because of doing good things, but that there is
joy in serving Christ. Paul writes in Philippians 4:12 that
he had found the secret of being content, whether well fed
of hungry. Weedy soil is only going to be content when they
are well fed. You need to show them that they can be content
even when they are hungry.
Just as with the shallow soil, you
should share the gospel with people who are weedy soil. They
will believe that they are already saved. They will likely
have some understanding of the gospel. Knowledge of the
gospel is not the same as believing it and living it.
Romans 10:9-10 says, “That if you
confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believe in your
heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified
and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”
I can confess lots of things with my
mouth. With my mouth I can say that the sky is green, the
earth is flat, and eating fatty foods is good for your
heart. This doesn’t make any of them true. If a person is
going to confess that they are a Christian they better
believe it in their heart. If they believe in their heart
that God raised Jesus from the dead, they should live their
life like it.
Christianity is about backing up what
you believe. The disciples saw that Jesus had risen from the
dead so surely they believed in their hearts that it was so.
But because they also believed that Jesus was Lord over
their life, they backed up what they believed by living
their lives in service to him.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that we
should all become missionaries and start planting churches
just because that is how the disciples put their faith into
action. But this does lead us to moving people into the
final category.
Next Section -
Fertilizing the Plants
