As we come to the study of John's Gospel, I would like to remind you of Jesus' parable of the sower and the seed. The seed is the Word of the God; the soil is your heart. What kind of soil are you going to be?
Will you be the wayside--where the seed is snatched up by the birds of the air?
Will you be stony soil--where the seed only takes root for a short time?
Will you be the thorny soil--where the seed is choked by the cares of the world
OR will you be the good soil--where the seed takes root and bears much fruit?
John Chrysostom, the great 5th century pastor, began his sermons on John by asking this of his congregation. I can find no better words than his:
"Allow us then to sow in good ground; allow us, that you may draw us the more to you. If any man has thorns [is drawn away by the cares of the world], let him cast the fire of the Spirit amongst them. If any has a hard and stubborn heart, let him by employing the same fire make it soft and yielding. If any by the wayside is trodden down by all kind of thoughts, let him enter into more sheltered places, and not lie exposed for those that want to invade for plunder: that so we may see your cornfields waving with corn.
"Besides, if we exercise such care as this over ourselves, and if we apply ourselves industriously to this spiritual hearing, if not at once yet by degrees, we shall surely be freed from all the cares of life." (Chrysostom, John 1:1)
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