Expert: John Zalewski - 7/25/2011

Question
Hello John,
 Greetings fom Guam. I liked your answer about "breath." You surely seem to know what you are talking about. Perhaps, you can give me some insight into Matthew 13: 22?
 I have an over-view, coming up in regards to this scripture and have no clue as to its meaning. I also, have to come up with a theme for my talking points.
 Any help will be kindly appreciated.

Thank you.

Greg

Answer
Hello, Greg.

Thank you for your compliment, but I must give all of the credit to God for opening my eyes to truth.

Matthew 13:22: He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the Word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the Word, and he becometh unfruitful.

Christ in Matthew 13:18-23 is giving the parable of the sower who went forth to sow. A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.

Actually, in Mark 4 Christ explains to some degree what the parable means.

Mark 4:14: The sower soweth the Word.

The sower is anyone who sends out the Gospel so that God can apply it to the hearts of the unsaved and make them born again, according to His will. We only provide the Words of the Bible so that people can be in an environment where God can save them, if they are one of God's elect.

Romans 10:17: So then faith (the faith of Christ) cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

When an unsaved person is hearing or reading the Bible, God can apply the Word to his heart, making him born again, if that is God's plan.

That is the job of the sower, to get the Word out. You can do this by sending out Bibles, or by teaching what you know from the Bible, or by talking to people about the Bible, etc.

The ground in which the sower sows is the heart of man. The Word of God is sown into their hearts as they hear the Bible.

Now, the various reactions of people upon hearing the Word (Mark 4:15-19) are based upon whether or not God plans to save someone. All of these reactions describe an eventual falling away from the truth, which indicated the individual was never saved to begin with. Once a person is saved, he can never lose his salvation (John 10:27-29).

The verse you're interested in, Matthew 13:22, refers to a person who hears the Word of God, and perhaps has some minor understanding, but the world becomes more important than his fidelity to Christ. He becomes less and less interested in the Bible and obeying God because the demands of the world are too high on his life.

Thus, he becomes unfruitful to God. He doesn't have any real fruit before God (the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22), because he's not truly saved, and so he's ultimately cut off (John 15:2,6).

Sin is still very attractive to such a person, and so the commands of God are taken lightly.

When God saves a person, and only God can save, then we see the reaction of Matthew 13:23. God applies the Word to a person's heart and they become born again (John 3:3), and a new creature in Christ (II Corinthians 5:17). They then will have a good understanding of the Bible, because the Holy Spirit will teach them (John 14:26). This person will bring good fruit before God, the fruit of obeying God in a God-glorifying way.

II Corinthians 9:9-10 is an excellent passage to compare to Matthew 13. In those verses, God is the One Who ministers seed to the sower (gives the Word to the believers so they can send it out to the world), He ministers bread for the believer (the Bread of Life, Christ), and also multiplies the seed sown (Word of God), and increases the fruits of righteousness (when he saves those through the sowing of the seed).

It all fits together quite nicely.

I hope this helps. Any further questions, please ask.

May God bless you,
John

Isaiah 60:21: Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified.