Your Dirt Is Too Dirty!
Introduction:
Last year we had sod put down in the back yard. A massive project because our backyard is pretty big. Before that we had a person to bring about two loads of dirt and spread it. I noticed that after the sod was put down, most of the grass did not catch. I noticed that most of the sod was, in my estimation, already dead. The sod man assured me that the grass would catch. Well about eight months later, it has not. Two factors I believed contributed to this failure: (1) I was sold some dead sod and (2), the dirt was not good.
I have noticed that many good people have good intentions, say nice things, and do some good, but something is missing. Have you noticed some so-called good people treat certain people nice and they have a tendency to either mistreat or overlook others? Also, I have noticed some “Christians” are just plain mean. For some people, their “good side” has to be almost conjured up first. You almost have to pacify them with warm, soft, specially chosen words in order to get to their good side. And just depending on the day and circumstance, you might be met with their “other” personality complex. Finally, what about the Christians who go to church every Sunday, but never have anything nice to say (but only to certain people) or it seems like whatever “good” the worship experiences was, immediately after, they are still “cold.”
Paul said in Galatians 4, “10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.”
I agree with Paul. It is a strange situation many Christians find themselves in today. It is not so much that many don’t have enough “church,” “Jesus,” and “the word.” You have all of these things, yet thou lackest one thing: you didn’t change out your old dirt. We are trying to put new wine in old wineskins. It is possible to have church in you, Jesus, and his word in you and still be miserable. My goal today was to examine the epistle of 1 John, but the Holy Spirit has “arrested” my attention to something of utter importance: getting all of church, the word, and Jesus in you and your dirt has not changed is like cooking unmarinated meat. You have all the fixings of a normal meal, but it just doesn’t taste right. This is what I believe the Lord Jesus was speaking about in Matthew 13.
The Lord gives a parable about the kingdom of heaven (Mt 13:11). This parable is about a sower who sows seeds in four different types of ground (dirt). The central element to all four situations is the type of soil. The word of God is represented by the seed. People are hearing the word. The problem is how people process the word. Consider the four scenarios by briefly examining Matthew 13:3-9, 18-23.
What does it all mean? It is possible to have Jesus but not allow the Holy Spirit to rule and govern your life. The soil or the dirt represents the conditions of your heart. The Holy Spirit needs good ground to operate in. Consider Mt 12:43. There, Jesus speaks about an unclean spirit that goes out of a man. The point (one of the points there) is spirits and even the Holy Spirit needs a place to dwell. Our heart is the ground for which the Holy Spirit and even a wicked spirit seeks to occupy. How freely man gives up passwords and security codes of the heart to evil spirits, but we put up so many defenses against the Holy Spirit from entering our ground-heart-dirt. The Holy Spirt seeks to control our very being and nature but you have to yield to Him.
Conclusion
Story Illustration
A story is told of a lady who did not care much for her neighbor. To show her displeasure, she would often pour her dirty dish water on her neighbor’s flower garden. The other neighbor noticed this but would not say a word. The next year for Mother’s Day, the nice neighbor gave the mean neighbor a bouquet of roses. The mean neighbor was so embarrassed. The mean neighbor told the nice neighbor “thank you for the flowers.” And she asked, “Where did you get the flowers from?” The nice neighbor, so kindly replied, “the flowers came from the flower garden that you’ve been throwing dirty dish water on.” The mean neighbor cried. The nice neighbor replied, “All is forgiven.”
Story Illustration
There was a little old lady who would come out every morning on the steps of her front porch, raise her arms to the sky and shout, "Praise the Lord!"
Well, one day an atheist moved into the house next door. Over time, he became irritated at the little old lady. So every morning he would step out onto his front porch and yell after her, "There is no God!"
Time passes with the two of them carrying on this way every day. Then one morning in the middle of winter, the little old lady stepped onto her front porch and shouted, "Praise the Lord! Lord, I have no food and I am hungry. Please provide for me, oh Lord!"
The next morning she stepped onto her porch and there were two huge bags of groceries sitting there. "Praise the Lord!" she cried out.
"He has provided groceries for me!" The atheist jumped out of the hedges and shouted, "There is no Lord. I bought those groceries!" The little old lady threw her arms into the air and shouted, "Praise the Lord! He has provided me with groceries and He made the devil pay for them!
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