Matt. 13:9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. 
	We are in the midst of the Lord’s parable of the sower and the seed. We have discussed various aspects of the first two soils that the seed fell upon. Initially, we considered the terms of the historical accounting of the hearers of the words of Jesus Christ. We have also looked at the aspect of the receptivity of the soil as it relates to hearers of this age. Further, we have attempted to bring into view the aspect of our hearts as we hear the Word of God. 
	In each of these elements, we are focusing on the effect of the Holy Spirit as He works to bring forth the glory of God in each of our lives. We must never consider the giving of the living Word of God as just for someone else. Where there is life to be ministered, that ministration of the Holy Spirit is for all of us who are in Christ Jesus. We can never claim to know it all, nor to be beyond the need to listen to the Word of God. 
	Each stage of our spiritual growth is marked in these soils of our consideration. We have all gone through the working of the Holy Spirit to soften and to blast apart the hardness of our hearts as viewed in terms of the packed soil of the wayside. It is only through the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit that any of us have had our hearts softened to receive the seed of the Word of our Lord Jesus Christ.
	As well, each of us have gone through those emotional times of response as delineated by the seeds landing in the stony soil. We were all in that stage of spiritual growth that was ruled by emotional responses. Rather than being led completely by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, as will develop in the normal growth of a life hid in Christ, we tried to run with our new found freedom from sin. We were anxious to try our wings, so to speak, and to launch ourselves into the heights of our spiritual nature in Christ, without the true capacity to understand that it is by the Spirit, and the Spirit alone that all things are brought together in Jesus Christ. We wanted to show that we were grown up, and we soon found our wings clipped in our enthusiasm to do great things for the Lord. What we do, thinking it is so spiritually mature, becomes quickly evidenced as but youthful enthusiasm to prove we are somebody in the spiritual realm. The trials and the testings that do come our way, with increasing regularity, blow against the emotionalism, and soon uproot those things that are not truly Christ in us. It should ultimately become evident that we can do nothing. It is only as the Holy Spirit reveals Christ alive in us, that we have any spiritual growth to the glory of God. We are to decrease, in order for Christ to increase in us, as the Apostle John writes concerning the words of John the Baptist in John 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease. 
	This, then, brings us to the third soil of the parable. It is that soil that is infested with the weeds. The weeds grew up with the seed, and soon choked away the fruitfulness of the harvest. Christ was making specific reference to those who hear the Word, and respond to a measure. The Word takes root, but those roots are soon choked out by the cares of this age. Riches, power, prestige, fame, these are some of the weeds of the age that choke off the fruitfulness of growth in Christ. The hearers are Christians. They have accepted the Word into their lives and given it opportunity to develop a root system. The sad thing, however, is that the root system has been supplanted with the tenacious tentacles of this world’s offerings, which are nothing more than deadly weeds choking away at the effectiveness of the growth of that Word. 
	The people of Christ’s day, that seemed to be the most willing believers unto fruition, were those who had nothing else to distract them from the development of the Gospel. They had nothing and no hope apart from Christ. Their wealth was only that they followed Christ. They were the poor and the homeless; the wretched and the sick; the laborers and the slaves. They had nothing else of value to cause them to be concerned when Christ preached that everything must be set aside in order to follow Him. 
	This contrasts greatly with the incident recorded in Matthew 19. A rich, young man came to Christ and asked how to get eternal life. The answer he received of the Lord was beyond the scope of his desire because of the measure of the wealth that he had accumulated. Matt.19:21-22 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give it to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. The issue here wasn’t the wealth of the young man. It isn’t that we are to give everything we have to the poor. There are some people who take this verse out of context in order to make it sound that any wealth needs to be divested in order to be a Christian. There are full doctrines centered around the idea that the accumulation of wealth means that someone is not a true Christian because they have not followed this saying of the Lord. This is not the case at all. The issue at hand is the same issue that the Lord was dealing with in our current consideration of the parable of the sower and the seed and the thorny soil. 
	The rich young man felt that every aspect of the law was fully covered in his life. He was a good man. He abided by the law from early on. He did not cheat or murder or disrespect anyone. He was a model leader of his people and expected to be the recipient of eternal life based on his performance. Christ was looking past the performance and into his heart. Jesus was pinpointing an area that was as corrupt as any other area. There was a lust for earthly treasures that could not be overcome in this young man. He apparently, had accumulated his wealth in very honest dealings and did a good job of it, but, he was unable to let it go to follow the Lord. He placed a higher value on the riches than on the One Who is the source of all spiritual wealth. This young man desired after the things that wealth could afford him on this earth, so much so, that he was willing to give up following Christ in order to keep his money, prestige and power. His heart was after earthly treasures to the point that it was as a god unto his heart. That was the issue. Christ knew his heart and was simply bringing out to the light the truth that this young man, as good as he seemed, was in need of something more than the good that he thought he was doing. There was a deep-rooted weeding that needed to be done in order for the Word of God to bloom in his life.
	Christ went on to discuss this with His disciples in verses 23+24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. There is no prohibition excluding a rich person from coming into the kingdom of God, it is just very difficult because of what is involved in the kingdom of God. Those with money often find that they must protect their assets. They have many concerns about the keeping of their wealth, even if that is only in terms of the prudent investment and security of rates of returns. The difficulty with the acquisition of money has nothing to do with dishonesty or stinginess or lack of compassion for others. The difficulty rests in the fact that those with financial capacities are often so ingrained in their livelihood that they seemingly, do not find themselves in the same utter reliance upon the Lord for their everything as those without anything. If one has nothing, and must rely completely on the Lord to get through each moment of the day, there is a relationship development that takes place between provider and providee. Our greatest times of growth spiritually, happen in our times of complete lacking of any resource to survive. We find ourselves prostrate before the Lord with the knowledge that if the Lord doesn’t deal with us in His lovingkindness and tender mercies, we are lost, gone, completely without any means of making it another moment on this earth.
	The person of means is not immune to this working of God, heaven forbid that we would think this. It is just that if we have much on this earth, there is much to occupy our cares and concerns other than Christ. Please note that even in His words, Christ has the door fully open for those with wealth, however He gives the sense that it is a much more difficult road for those who are self-sufficient over those who have no other resources at their disposal.
	The weeds of this realm, of which money is but one, work to choke out the development of the Word of God. Why? Because they create in us other concerns beyond that of our need of Christ. There are so many invasive plantings of this age into our lives, that we soon find ourselves possessed with little capacity to distinguish that which is of God and that which is of this age.
	We see this in Luke 10:40-42 where Martha was so involved in trying to provide for the physical needs of Christ, that she became exasperated with Mary, her sister, who was simply listening to Christ. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, doest thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. Martha was very involved in what could be considered work of the Lord. She was meeting the physical needs of those who were visiting at her home. She was preparing the food and worried about the comfort of her guests. Yet, she was missing it. She was so involved in the external that she was missing the spiritual truth of the presence of the Lord. Both Mary and Martha were in the presence of the Lord, but only one was interested in the true presence of Christ. That one was at His feet, feasting on every word that proceeded forth from his mouth and heart. She was oblivious to the activity around her because she was lost in the beauty of her Lord. The other, Martha, was oblivious to the truth of Christ. She was so concerned about the physical needs of those who were her guests, that she missed the eternal reality of His teachings. It wasn’t that Martha didn’t love Christ, she did. She loved Him so much that she wanted to make certain that He was fully cared for in her home. The problem arose in the fact that she was so burdened with the care of making sure that all the physical needs were met, that she lost sight of the spiritual reality of Whose presence she was in. The seemingly politeness of having guests removed her from the eternal weight of Christ’s teaching.
	It has been my experience that the seeds of the Word of God thrown upon my ears were very quickly eaten by the cares of this age. I was too consumed by my job, by my finances, by my desire for self-satisfaction rather than by my desire after Christ. Distractions soon carried off the weight of the Word, and left me grasping for the straws of something to get me through the day. Many of these things, in themselves, are important, we will agree. There is a need to provide food, shelter, clothing, education, transportation, etc. for our families. We are to be good stewards of that which has been given to us by the Lord. We are to treat each other with civility and with kindness, be good hosts and hostesses. There is a place for being socially acceptable in our appearance within our community. All of these things are part of being that witness of the One Who now indwells us. But, when these things become an issue, then we are at risk of losing sight of what the Lord desires in our beings.
	With regard to food, shelter and clothing, to mention just a couple items of great importance in our lives, Christ is very specific as to how much care they deserve from our beings. Matt. 6:25-34 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, Oh ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself... 
	This is a rather lengthy passage to read, yet in it we find the same aspect as our present consideration of the thorny soil. Where are our thoughts centered? When we are concerned about the things of this realm, those things that we can get or that we strive after, or that we want, we lose sight of what is truly the issue, the focus of all creation, Our Lord Jesus Christ. So often we are torn between that which we desire in the world and that which we desire in Christ. We find ourselves making choices as to what will have the portion of our life on this earth. We make decisions based on how we will live in this present age, not based on Christ, but based on what we consider to be necessity. We are so wrapped up in the external, like Martha, that we are forgetting the truly weighty spiritual and eternal issue of the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
	Does this mean that we should forsake our jobs, our careers, our homes and our possessions? That is what some groups teach, you know. No, that is not what we are considering. But, there is something very essentially pervasively gnawing and entangling at the root-system of our heart that we must forsake, and it will be the complete death of us as the Holy Spirit uproots and tears it from the soil of our being. We must forsake the invasive thought that we can provide for our needs and for our family’s needs. We must realize that we can do nothing to meet the needs of ourselves and our family because we have nothing that will even begin to attend to the true need of life. 
	There is a complete change of reality necessary in us at this point in our considerations. The only way for the soil of our hearts to be weed-free, is for the Holy Spirit to till, mulch, hydrate and nutrify it with Himself alone. Everything else must go. Any thought that we are capable of bringing forth anything in our endeavors and efforts will lead only to frustration and concern, which swiftly draws our attention away from our Lord Jesus Christ. That is the issue, don’t you see. It has absolutely nothing to do with us in any manner. Life, all of the life of the eternal ages is set solely upon the person of Jesus Christ. How is our living relationship and reliance established in Him alone? It is only as we have no where else to turn. Only as we come into the startling realization that we can provide nothing of ourselves. We can bring nothing unto Him. We cannot even bring our wives, our children, our parents into Him. If He chooses not to do the work, it isn’t going to happen. How often do we hope that our good efforts will count forth unto the salvation of others near and dear to us? How often do we desire to go through the mill for our children, so that they are spared the pain and agony that we have suffered before them? We truly desire this wonderful sacrifice on our part, but it isn’t going to happen! Why not? Because if they don’t come to realize the lack of themselves before the Lord, they will never know the fullness of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ in His triumphant and matchless lovingkindness. Yes, we stand with them. Yes, we suffer as they suffer, but we can never, never alleviate nor postpone their human anguish. We have nothing in this realm that can make life easier. Money has never bought health or eliminated death. Our familial love has never eased a heart shattered in the grips of despair and anguish. Nothing we can do will ease one moment’s grief on this earth.
	But, the One Who indwells us is greater than all the powers at work in this creation. He alone holds the key to everything. As our lives are emptied, truly emptied of us, and become the transparent vessel though which Jesus Christ has free access to reveal Himself, then those sorrows, those anguishes, those catastrophes of this age are lovingly and eternally met in Him. To echo John the Baptist, we must decrease, that He will increase. There is no other way! 
	Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.