Sunday Lesson: July 5th

The basis for this Sunday’s lesson was the conference talk given by Dallin H. Oaks titled, “The Parable of the Sower.” Read Matt 13: 1-9 

The 1st type of soil, in verse 4, was that of the “Wayside”.  What type of person does this represent?  Who are the fowls?   Read Matt 13: 18-19   Have you ever ignored a gospel truth?    Can this happen in the wrong environments with the wrong friendships? 

Our hearts can be hardened or unprepared.

The 2nd type of soil is “stony ground”.  Jesus explains this in  v. 20-21.  What causes a hearer to have no root in themselves? Pres. Oaks says, “If we are not rooted in the teachings of the gospel and regular in its practices, any one of us can develop a stony heart.  Spiritual food is necessary for spiritual survival, especially in a world that is moving away from belief in God and the absolutes of right and wrong.  In an age dominated by the Internet, which magnifies messages that menace faith, we must increase our exposure to spiritual truth in order to strengthen our faith and stay rooted in the gospel. How can we increase our exposure to spiritual truth?   Have you ever taken a gospel truth for granted?  Have you ever been in a circumstance when someone proposed something inappropriate and you did nothing about it?   Our hearts can become stony from disuse. 

The 3rd type of soil also has “thorns that choke”.   Jesus also explains this in  v. 22.    Pres. Oaks first addresses “the deceitfulness of riches” 

How are riches deceitful?  Pres. Oaks:  “Whatever our state of conversion- we are all tempted by riches.  Those who believe in what has been called the theology of prosperity are suffering from the deceitfulness of riches.  The possession of wealth or significant income is NOT a mark of heavenly favor, and their absence is not evidence of heavenly disfavor.  When Jesus told a faithful follower that he could inherit eternal life if he would only give all that he had to the poor, He was not identifying evil in the possession of riches, but in the evil in that follower’s attitude toward them.  Jesus praised the good Samaritan, who used the same coinage to serve his fellowman that Judas used to betray his Savior.”  However, Pres. Oaks also says:  “Whoever has an abundance of material things is in jeopardy of being spiritually ‘sedated’ by riches and other worldly things.” Have you ever wanted something so badly, you justified an exception? This leads to the choking thorns called,’the care of this world’.   Pres. Oaks calls this the most subtle thorns that choke out the effect of the gospel word. 

What care of this world could choke out the gospel word? 

Pres Oaks relates a story of his esteemed BYU teacher, Hugh W. Nibley, who spoke of the dangers of surrendering to the cares of the world.  He was asked in an interview whether world conditions and our duty to spread the gospel made it desirable to seek some way to, ‘be accommodating of the world in what we do in the Church. ‘  His reply: ‘That’s been the whole story of the Church, hasn’t it?  You have to be willing to offend here, you have to be willing to take a risk.  That’s where the faith comes in…Our commitment is supposed to be a test, it’s suppose to be hard, it’s supposed to be impractical in the terms of this world.”  

Oaks goes on to quote Charles J. Chaput, the archbishop of Philadelphia, who spoke at BYU in January.  He says, “I want to stress again the importance of really living what we claim to believe.  That needs to be a priority – not just in our personal and family lives but in our churches, our political choices, our business dealings, our treatment of the poor; in other words, in everything we do.  Here’s why that is important, learn from the Catholic experience.  We Catholics believe that our vocation is to be leaven society (to lift it).  But there is a fine line between leaven in society, and being digested by society.” 

 Our hearts can be set upon the things of the world. 

The 4th type of soil is “good ground”    Read v. 23   According to this, what is good ground?   Jesus also explained in Luke 8:15, “The good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.”   

How can we prepare ourselves to be that good ground and to have that good harvest?  Alma 5 :12-14  talks about  seeking a mighty change of heart that replaces evil desires and selfish concerns with the love of God and the desire to serve Him and his children. 

Our hearts serve God and his children 

Elder Oaks concludes.  “We have the seed of the gospel word.  It is up to us to set priorities and to do the things that make our soil good and our harvest plentiful.  We must seek to be firmly rooted and converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ.