Q3, S01 Soil
Question 07:
Can You See My Kingdom as a Tree?
This quarter we are considering three questions that all focus on the kingdom of God. The question for the next few sessions is: Can you see my kingdom as a tree? As we look at these questions, we’re imagining the kingdom as three spaces in a home: the front yard, the home, and the backyard. In the front yard, imagine a seed being planted to grow into a large tree that shades the home. Inside the home is a table with a prepared meal. Outside, around the back of the house, is a garden or farm—large enough to run as a business with servants or employees.
The parables we will look at in this section focus on the tree. What does it mean for the kingdom to take root and grow? How should this affect the way we view God? How should it affect the way we view ourselves? What is it about the kingdom of God that invites the comparison with a seed growing into a plant or tree?
Tool: The Tree
In front of the house is a seed, and eventually a tree, striving to grow. This is you. Picture yourself as the tree. It represents your love and relationship with God. The seed is the good news of the kingdom of God, summed up by the life and teachings of Jesus. This seed is in the front because if the seed of the kingdom is not received, there is no home to enter and there is no garden to walk back and tend to. Everything begins with our response to the message of the gospel. In some, this seed grows. In others it gets choked out. Vitality, health, and fruitfulness are key words in the front of the home. If your spiritual life is represented by a seed and a plant, how is it doing?
Quarter 3, Session 1: Soil
WILL THE KINGDOM TAKE ROOT IN YOU?
Passage
Matthew 13:1–23
Concept
This session falls under Jesus’ seventh question: Can you see my kingdom as a tree? As we begin to explore the kingdom of God through Jesus’ parables, we find Jesus describing the kingdom as a seed that either thrives or dies in various types of soil. The question we have to ask is what type of soil we are.
Key Question
Where do you see the kingdom of God taking root and producing a harvest in your life (both as an individual and collectively as a group)?
The Tree Tool
Do you see our Tree tool being played out in Matthew 13:1–23? With whom? How so?
Soil
Have you ever been blind to the obvious? Like looking for the keys you’re holding in your hand or the glasses that are on top of your head? For things like that, missing the obvious is frustrating. But it gets more serious when we become blind to more important things that we see everyday—like the things that make your spouse happy or sad, or the ways we demean or dismiss another person without even realizing it.
Jesus tells us that the kingdom of God is the kind of thing we see all the time and yet completely miss. So in the middle of telling the parable of the soils, he explains the overall purpose of the parables (Matthew 10:10–17). He speaks in parables, he tells us, because we become blind to the things we regularly see. This is a constant problem for people in the church. As we constantly talk about and sing about Jesus, we are in real danger of growing numb to the reality of Jesus and his kingdom. So the parables force us to really see what we’re seeing. It’s an invitation to understand and respond.
So as we read this parable and the parables we’ll explore in the sessions ahead, be prepared to have your view of the kingdom challenged.
1. Read Matthew 13:1–23. Right off the bat, what strikes you about this passage? What do you find interesting or challenging or confusing?
The Seed on the Path
With each subsequent description of seed falling into different types of soil (until the fourth and last), we get a new picture of how the kingdom of God can be resisted. First Jesus describes the seed that falls along the path. It sits atop the hard earth until a bird comes and takes the seed away. Jesus explains that this is the person who hears the word of God but does not understand it. When this occurs, the evil one comes and snatches away the seed of the kingdom before it can sink down into the heart.
The word that is simply heard is easy prey for the evil one. Hearing about the kingdom of God is never enough. It has to sink down into the soil of our hearts. So we need to try this description on to see if it fits. Are we hearing? If so, are we understanding? Is the seed of the kingdom sinking down into our hearts and producing anything?
It’s right and good for us to consider whether or not we as individuals are good or bad soil, but it’s also important that we consider this collectively. Are we as a group good soil or bad soil? As we gather and share our lives together, are we the kind of soil where the kingdom of God can take root and grow?
If the truth of God’s kingdom simply sits on the surface of our lives and doesn’t sink into our hearts and into our lives together, then what’s the point? If all we ever do is hear the word of God and talk about the Bible and engage ourselves in endless studies and discussions, but we never actually see the word of God sink down in and take root, what are we accomplishing? What are we even playing at if that’s all we’re going for?
2. For you personally, what does it look like to be in a stage of life where you hear the word of the kingdom but it doesn’t sink in?
The Seed in the Rocky Soil
The next seed falls on rocky soil, where it quickly experiences a burst of growth, but cannot find enough nourishment in the rocky ground to remain alive and flourishing. Jesus explains that this is the person who initially responds with joy to the good news of the kingdom, but when troubles come, his lack of depth causes him to step away. This reminds us that to start is not necessarily to finish. It’s not about one major experience we have. The kingdom is something that lives and grows. An initial spurt of life is not what it’s about. It’s about the roots growing down deep.
As we zoom out and consider what kind of soil we are collectively as a group and as a church, we have to recognize that it’s never enough for us to simply do church programs. A church can work really hard to keep everyone excited and entertained and occupied, but it requires the kingdom to sink down into the hearts of the people so that the life we’re experiencing is real and lasting. True life in a church doesn’t come from programs and events the leadership creates, but from the people themselves as they are connected to God and as his life pours out through them.
3. Have you experienced seasons when you’ve experienced a surge of growth but eventually fall away? In these times, what causes the growth to stall out?
The Seed in the Thorny Soil
Next we find the seed the falls into the thorny soil. Here, the soil is good, so the plant springs up. In this case, the plant is healthy and has everything it needs to grow. Except it’s crowded out by all of the weeds also growing in that soil, and these weeds end up choking and killing the growing plant. Jesus explains that this is the person in whom the kingdom begins to grow, but when the “cares of this world” and the “deceitfulness of riches” crowd her life, she never ends up producing a harvest.
The “cares of this world” doesn’t seem to be an inherently negative category (cp. 1 Cor. 7:32–35). It could be used to describe essential responsibilities like caring for you family and putting food on the table. It’s possible for your heart to be in the right place, but for your life to be too busy. Your life can become so full of the good things in life that you have no time for God’s kingdom.
On the negative side, we also have a tendency to be deceived by our riches. The only surprising thing is that we are surprised when our wealth leads us away from Jesus and his kingdom in big and small ways. Jesus warns us about this regularly: wealth is deceitful, it’s essentially impossible for a rich person to enter his kingdom. Be careful about your money: it will try to lead you away from him, and you are prone to let it.
Again, we must zoom out to view ourselves as a community. As you look at the other Christians God has placed in your life, is there room for the kingdom of God to take root in your collective life? Are your lives so full of good things (hobbies, sports, meetings—dare we ask…Bible studies?) that there’s no place for the kingdom to flourish? Are you so caught up in the pursuit and enjoyment of wealth that the kingdom doesn’t stand a chance in your collective midst?
4. Is there room in your life for the kingdom to take root? What about your life together as a group or a church? What things (good or bad) crowd out the potential for thriving?
The Seed in the Good Soil
Finally we arrive at the good soil. Here is the one place where the kingdom of God grows and flourishes. Jesus explains that the good soil is the place where there is hearing, understanding, and then a harvest being produced. This soil is the only place where we actually see a harvest. It’s crazy to think of planting a seed and yet not expecting to experience a harvest. The harvest is the point of the planting!
So we need to look at our lives and ask where we’re seeing a harvest spring up. Those are the places where our lives are functioning as good soil. Where does the kingdom sprout up and produce fruit in your own life? Think back to the sermon on the mount. Are there any areas of your life (as an individual or as a group) where you see care for the poor, love for your enemies, the healing of anxiety, and the “radical” pursuit of Jesus springing up? These are the places where the soil has been well tended and the kingdom is growing and producing fruit.
5. Where do you see the kingdom of God taking root and producing a harvest in your life (both as an individual and collectively as a group)?
The Harvest
If you work really hard, you can get some life to grow in bad soil. But it requires constant work. This is sometimes how we do things in our churches. But the point of the parable is that the seeds of the kingdom grow in good soil. The kingdom doesn’t thrive in bad soil. So what kind of soil are we cultivating? It is possible to turn bad soil into good soil through tending, watering, fertilizing, etc. The same is true in our spiritual lives. Where are the weeds that need to be pulled, the rocks that need to be removed, the hard ground that needs to be tilled? And are we willing to make the difficult re-prioritizing required to make the bad soil into good? Only then will we see the kingdom springing up all around us.
6. Spend some time in prayer. Ask God to make your soil good. Ask more broadly as well. Pray for your group and for the whole church. Ask God to make us collectively into the kind of place where the seeds of his kingdom take root, thrive, and produce a harvest.
Key Question
Where do you see the kingdom of God taking root and producing a harvest in your life (both as an individual and collectively as a group)?