Our modern industrial society is less than two hundred years old. It wasn’t until after 1880, in fact, that farm labor stopping being the primary employment of the majority of American workers. Going back further, all the way to the time of Jesus, farming was by far the most common occupation, so it really shouldn’t be surprising that the Bible contains a lot of agricultural metaphors. It’s what most people were familiar with, and by means of those metaphors, God was able to teach the people of Jesus’ era something of who he is, and how his kingdom functions. And to teach us as well, if we pay attention.
In one of his better known parables, Jesus told his disciples:
“Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times” (Mark 4:3-8; compare also Mathew 13:3-8, Luke 8:5-8).
The seed in this story was scattered onto four different types of soil. On one type, the birds ate it all before it could sprout, but it did sprout and grow on the other three. But on only one of those three types of ground did the plants mature and bear fruit. On the other two, the young plants came to disaster after they’d already started to grow. So what’s going on here? Jesus explained it this way:
“The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop – some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown” (Mark 4:14-20; compare Matthew 13:18-23, Luke 8:11-15).
So this parable is talking about people who hear God’s word, and how they respond to it. The first group is straightforward. Those who hear the gospel but don’t accept it are like seed that gets eaten by birds before it can grow. That’s sad, and more than a little scary, but realistically, I don’t think very many of those people will be reading this article, so I don’t see any need to discuss that group in any depth.
It’s the other three groups, and more specifically, the next two in order, that are more concerning. As I mentioned a few paragraphs back, the seed sprouted on three different kinds of soil, but only produced fruit on one of them. In addition to the good soil, there is also rocky ground and ground choked by thorns. In both of these soils, the seeds do get planted, and they begin to grow, but then something happens to them. And it’s the rocky ground that I want to specifically look at here.
Jesus says the the seed on the rocky ground represents those who “have no root.” Yet they received God’s word joyfully. If you’ve been a believer for very long, you’ve probably known some of these people. They come to Christ, they get baptized, they’re excited to tell you how Jesus has changed their life. They’re on fire for the Lord, for a while. But as soon as the excitement wears off and things start to get tough, they disappear. That’s what happens when believers are not properly rooted.
Roots matter. They don’t just anchor a plant, the roots are also the way plants get their food and water. That applies to us as well. The Apostle Paul wrote:
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness (Colossians 2:6-7).
For believers in Christ, our “roots” are our spiritual foundation, the basics that have to be there if we’re going to survive any kind of troubles – and Jesus was very clear that troubles are definitely going to come (John 16:33).
We should also pay attention to the fact that roots are mostly underground. They’re hidden. They grow quietly and invisibly. And our own roots, for the most part, are not grown in the exciting moments; the worship nights, the conferences, the Christian concerts, or the heart-stirring Sunday messages. Rather, they grow through the small, daily practices of drawing closer to Christ. And it’s especially, through consistency in those small, daily practices that they go deep.
Roots take time and faithfulness to grow. The best way to start is by consistently reading God’s word. Put in fifteen minutes every day, whether you feel motivated or not. Here’s the real secret: it’s when you don’t feel like you’re getting anything out of the Bible, but you continue reading anyway, that you’ll actually get the greatest benefit from it, although you probably won’t see the results until much later.
And then prayer. Again, every day, whether you feel like it or not. Gathering in fellowship with other believers, even when you don’t feel like it. Worshiping God when it doesn’t come easily or naturally. Stepping in to help others, and to tell them what Jesus has done for you, even when you’ve got something else you’d rather be being. Work at getting closer to Christ. Make it your full time job, because it’s already God’s full time job:
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed – not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose (Philippians 2:12-13).
This is work, I won’t try to sugar coat it. But it’s what will give you deep roots. Jesus didn’t say “follow me when you’re excited and fired up for God.” He said, “whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34). The only way to gain the strength to remain faithful to Christ in times of great struggle is to practice remaining faithful during the small struggles.
And the warning of the parable is that this kind of rootedness is not optional. There aren’t two grades of Christians; super-saints and ordinary believers. Rather, Jesus said that those who did not grow deep roots “were scorched and they withered.” When trouble came, they fell away. That’s pretty sobering.
However, my intent in this article is not to scare you, but rather to impress on you our need to become deeply rooted in Christ. We must faithfully seek to become more like Jesus, when we’re feeling the Holy Spirit move, and when we aren’t. Become rooted in God’s word, rooted in prayer, rooted in fellowship, rooted, in other words, in God’s love, in all the ways that it is manifested to us. The bottom line is that you can’t become rooted in Christ by staying away from him, but only by choosing to do those things that draw you closer to him. The things that show we understand that loving God is not just an emotional state, it’s a choice to set God’s priorities ahead of our priorities. It’s saying, “your will be done” (Matthew 6:10), even when what we really, really want is for our will to be done.
And yet, in all this, we must also remember that it’s God who causes our roots to grow (1 Corinthians 3:7). We have to put in the work. In the words of Dallas Willard, “Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning. Earning is an attitude. Effort is an action. Grace, you know, does not just have to do with forgiveness of sins alone.” But it is God who causes our roots to grow, as he himself promised:
Come near to God and he will come near to you (James 4:8).