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I guess the parable of the sower is a familiar
one to most of us. It's one of those stories that have
been told and retold countless times. So the danger is
that when we hear it again we can think we already
understand everything that there is to learn from it. Yet
God's word is living and active, sharper than any 2-edged
sword. So we should expect that each time we look at
something like this passage we'll discover new insights,
that we'll be challenged anew by the simple message of
the parable. Well, what I'd like to do today is to
concentrate, not so much on the story itself as on the
three things that make up the story. That is, the seed,
the soil and the sower. |
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The Seed |
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First of all the seed. |
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If you were a follower of Jesus and you observed
the things that were going on at this point in time,
you'd have no trouble imagining the Kingdom of God taking
over the world. People were flocking to Jesus, people
were being healed, evil spirits were being driven out of
people's lives. The power of the kingdom was obvious to
all who were there. It would have been easy to think that
the Kingdom of God would simply overwhelm all who opposed
it. Yet as Jesus tells this parable he raises something
puzzling for us. If this is meant to tell about the
growth of God's Kingdom, there's something wrong. First
of all, the means of the growth of the Kingdom seems a
bit weak. A tiny seed? And it's all a bit hit and miss.
Some of it grows and some dies! Yet this is God's plan to
bring in his kingdom. There's a mystery here. |
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You'd think if the Lord of the universe wanted
to bring his rule to bear on the world he'd be employing
an army of angels. He'd be calling down lightning on his
enemies. He'd be silencing those who oppose him by
supernatural means. But that's not what's implied in this
parable that, he says, reveals to his disciples the
secrets of the kingdom of God.. |
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No, the kingdom is going to come about by a slow
and secret process, that won't be immediately apparent.
There'll be a time of planting, a time of growth in
secret, and only at the end of time will the harvest be
fully reaped. |
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So how is this growth to occur? What is the seed
that will be planted? What is the secret ingredient that
will lead to the kingdom of God taking root in this
world? The answer is simple. "The seed is the word
of God. (v11)" The seed is the gospel that will be
proclaimed from Jerusalem to Samaria and to the furthest
ends of the world. The preaching of the gospel will
germinate into a kingdom of God's people that will expand
and flourish as people hear and respond to the call of
God. |
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Now we can't underestimate the importance of
that statement. There are so many other means that people
would prefer to use to bring in God's kingdom. In fact
there are many Christians in our world today who are
embarrassed to use God's word to spread the Kingdom.
Instead they put other things in its place. There are
some who put ritual and liturgy, the sacraments, perhaps
at the forefront. Who when faced with a crisis, offer
comfort and concern at a human level, perhaps grief
counselling but wouldn't think of bringing God's word
into the situation. There are some who replace the word
of God with social action, or political involvement. Who
rightly see the need for Christians to be involved with
those who are downtrodden and abused by those in power.
But the danger is that they forget the message of the
cross in their work for justice. They forget that the
kingdom of God will come into being only as people's
hearts are changed by the working of his Spirit in their
lives. That even a totally just society wouldn't
represent God's Kingdom unless those in that society had
given themselves wholeheartedly to God's rule in their
lives. |
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Now these are all excellent expressions of the
love of God and the healing that the gospel can bring,
but if they're offered in the absence of the proclaiming
of God's word, then they're empty vessels. Jesus knew
that his healing of people by itself was insufficient.
That's why at the start of Mark's gospel, when Peter
tells him there's a crowd waiting for him, presumably so
he can continue his healing ministry, he says, "No,
we need to go to the other villages so I can preach the
Kingdom of God there as well." And then he adds,
"That is why I have come." He had come to
preach a word which wouldn't solve the problems of the
world. It wouldn't put an end to terrorism, to injustice,
to poverty or starvation. It was a word about personal
repentance, personal forgiveness, personal faith, and
personal discipleship. It was a word that wouldn't change
the masses. It would just change individuals. It sounds
like a very inefficient strategy doesn't it? But as we'll
see in a moment it carries within it the seed of
revolution as individuals respond in obedience and
continue to spread the word of God to others. That's why
when the crowd tried to take him and make him their King
he walked away from them. It wasn't that radical change
wasn't needed in the political and social systems of the
world. As we'll see when we come to the parable of the
Good Samaritan, later in the year, the word of God calls
for social and political action of the most radical kind.
But the word of God, the gospel of Jesus Christ, must
come first. First people's hearts need to be changed. And
that's why the seed that we plant must be the word of the
gospel. |
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Now before we go on to think about the soil and
the sower, it might be timely to think about the events
of the past week. We've seen this week the way events in
one small part of the world can have an enormous effect
on people everywhere. As we watched the horror in New
York, followed by the local events around the collapse of
Ansett and saw the way people's lives have been
devastated, economies undermined by decisions made by a
few, the sorts of words that have been used have been
horror, despair, sorrow, mourning, helplessness. Then as
time wore on words like justice, punishment, retaliation,
recompense began to be used. And I wonder what you
thought when George Bush stood up and said they would
fight terrorism until it's eradicated, no matter how long
it took. I must admit, my thought was that they were
embarking on another unwinnable war. But that thought
just leads to more despair doesn't it? |
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So what does the gospel say to this situation?
What does this parable say? It says that the only hope
for our world is if the word of God takes root in the
hearts and minds of people so that they stop desiring
power and control and vengeance. And that that will only
happen in small steps as individuals are changed, as the
power of the cross takes over in the lives of individuals
so that individuals begin to love and serve the living
God. |
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The Soil |
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Well, then, what about the soil. I think it's
vital, in this world of experts, of trained
practitioners, of sales techniques, that we understand
the back to front nature of this parable. You see, if a
modern day guru were telling this story they'd talk about
one type of soil and four different ways of sowing. But
not so here. There is only one sower, yet the seed has 4
different ends. This is not about technique. This is not
about one of the sowers who researched his market better
than the rest so that what he sowed bore better fruit. |
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In fact the method of sowing is quite unskilled.
The seed is just scattered willy-nilly without any
control over where it lands. The sower doesn't have to
look for the right soil, he just scatters the seed.
That's because what matters isn't the skill of the sower,
but that the seed is actually scattered and that the soil
is fertile. Now we'll come back to that when we think
about the sower, but for now lets think about the soil. |
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As Jesus tells this story it becomes clear that
there appears to be, at first glance at least, a terrible
waste of effort involved in sharing the gospel with
people. I imagine, as he spoke, Jesus looking up and
seeing the huge crowd that had flocked to hear him. These
apparent converts would mostly fall away in the end. Why?
Well, for the sorts of reasons that he explains here.
There are some who hear but then the devil almost
straight away comes and takes away the word from their
hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. I
guess there were some in the crowd who had made up their
mind about Jesus long ago, and weren't about to take his
words too seriously. |
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We too will encounter those sorts of people.
People who'll reject the word of the gospel out of hand
without even thinking about it. Some will refuse to
consider the possibility of changing their lifestyle
because that would be too hard. Some will object
self-righteously that they have no reason to repent,
they're just as good as the next person. Others will
simply ignore the gospel because they have their own form
of spirituality that they're perfectly happy with, thank
you very much. Others again will think they're too
sophisticated to believe any of that religious
mumbo-jumbo. |
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But notice where Jesus points as the source of
this hardness of heart: "The devil comes and takes
away the word from their hearts." Jesus is convinced
that the work of preaching the gospel will be opposed by
a personal force of evil that he identifies as the devil.
If that's so then we'd better be praying for God's help
as we share the gospel with people hadn't we? |
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But then there are others who receive the gospel
with joy to start with. Of these there are 2 types. Some
hear and respond, but they don't take it much further.
They fail to dig any deeper. Their response is largely
superficial. The adrenalin rush of the initial conversion
experience soon wears off and isn't replaced with
anything else. Perhaps they were misled about the
realities of following Christ. Perhaps they were led to
believe that life would be rosy once they were in God's
kingdom, and now they're beginning to experience the
reality of discipleship, of being a follower of the
suffering servant. And so they lose their enthusiasm for
following Jesus and decide to throw it all in. |
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And the reason for all this is that they have no
roots. They haven't delved into the depths of God's word
to develop a root structure that will sustain them in the
difficulties of life. |
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The other type of short lived growth is where
there's an initial growth in discipleship, but their
commitment to Jesus still isn't 100%. And as time goes on
the percentage drops even further. Their mind gets
distracted by other things: the cares and riches and
pleasures of life. These can be all sorts of good things.
It might be our sporting interests. It might be our
social service activities. It might be our kids. It might
be our work. |
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Church leaders have been reporting a growing
phenomenon over the past 10 or 20 years, where people's
attendance at church has become more and more erratic.
It's now unusual for people to be committed to being at
Church every week. They have so many calls on their time
that regular church attendance begins to slip. Kids have
their sport to go to. Work pressures mean they have to
work on Sundays, or else Sundays are the only day they
have to relax, and how can you relax if you have to get
up to go to church? Now you may be one of those people.
Well if you are, watch out. Because the cares and riches
and pleasures of life are very subtle in the way they
undermine our faith. And they're lethal. They'll choke us
so the fruit of the gospel never matures. (14) |
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But the message isn't all as depressing as that.
There is some soil upon which the seed falls, and when
the seed falls in this soil it grows and grows until it
produces a hundredfold. Again, this has nothing to do
with the sower. It's just that this soil is fertile. When
the seed falls on this ground the initial growth is
followed by ongoing development. These people receive
God's word and hold it fast in an honest and good heart. |
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At this point the image diverges a little,
because at this point God's word acts not just as the
seed, but as the food as well. It's as these people hold
fast to God's word that they grow. And what's the result
of that growth? They bear fruit with patient endurance.
They persevere in their service of God and in the process
begin to bear fruit. Notice too, the bountiful nature of
the harvest. They produce a hundredfold. |
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Now at this point we've come full circle. Do you
see how that is? As the word takes root in the believer's
heart, they begin to bear fruit. And how do they bear
fruit? By sowing the seed themselves. So let's think for
a moment about the sower. |
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The Sower |
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What do we discover about the sower in this
parable? Not a lot really, do we. "A sower went out
to sow his seed; and as he sowed ..." That's all
we're told. So what can we learn that might help us
sow the seed. Well, the first thing we see is that |
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The sower isn't the critical factor. |
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The critical factors are the seed: it must be
the word of God if it's to bear fruit for God; and the
soil: it has to be receptive to the seed. But the sower
simply scatters the seed. |
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Now I hope that that's an encouragement to you.
What it says to me, you see, is that I don't have to be a
gifted evangelist in order to take the gospel to people.
All I have to do is make sure I'm able to express the
gospel clearly and make sure I know God's word enough to
tell other people about it. I don't need to know some
special techniques. I don't need to know the answers to
all the hard questions. In fact I went to a lecture this
week by a theologian from London who was arguing that the
days when people were interested in the logical arguments
for and against Christianity have just about gone. What
people are worried about now is not the quality of my
reasoning, but the quality of my life. I gain credibility
through my lifestyle, credibility that gives me openings
for sharing the gospel with people. Look around you. What
you see here is a compelling argument for the validity of
the gospel isn't it? Here is a place where you can find
genuine love and community. That sort of thing can't be
faked can it? That means that every one of us is able to
scatter the seed of God's word, simply by pointing people
to the life of those who have received that word and are
living by it. But secondly |
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There is no right or wrong way to sow. |
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Most of us come out of a time and culture where
we relied on programs to bring us success in evangelism.
Billy Graham Crusades, Evangelism Explosion, the 4
Spiritual Laws, Alpha, you name it. Churches would
develop their programs and the members would be expected
to join in and bring their friends and we'd hope that
something would come of it. And we still do it. And in a
sense there's nothing wrong with that sort of thing if we
do it carefully and wisely. But let me suggest that in
this new age in which we live, we need to give one
another the freedom, the licence to think outside the
square. To come up with new and innovative ways of sowing
the seed. We need to recognise that a technique that
works for me may not work for you. You may be far better
not working with a technique at all. That doesn't mean
you don't need to sow the seed. If you're going to bear
fruit a hundredfold, you need to be sowing seed. But it
may be that the way you do it may be unique for you. I
was at a seminar given by Alan Roxburgh a few weeks ago,
entitled 'Leading the Church after Christendom". He
told a story of visiting a small group who were working
on ways that they could serve God in their own way. There
was a woman in the group who always provided coffee and
cookies for their group. When the time came that they
asked her if she knew where God was leading her, she said
she really couldn't see what she could do for God. She
didn't have any great skills. She was happy to bring
afternoon tea for the group but that was about it. Well
they suggested she continue to pray about it. The next
time they met they asked her again and this time she
said, "Well, you know I have been worried about all
the kids who gather in the streets after school before
their parents get home and I thought maybe I could do
something about it. In fact there's a basement in my
tenement that's not being used and I wondered about
providing cookies and drinks for the kids down there in
the afternoons." Well, they encouraged her to check
out the possibilities and it turned out that she was able
to use the basement and her after school drop in centre
was started. Well, Dr Roxburgh returned to the area a
couple of years later and while he was there, his host
said, "Before you leave you've got to go and see
Annie's Drop-in Centre." Well, he went down to the
basement and there were a handful of kids sitting round
eating cookies and playing pool. Then they said come
through here. There was a passageway that led to the
basement of the adjoining tenement. In there he
discovered another group of kids working on computers
with older students tutoring them. Then they went through
to the next basement and found an area divided into
cubicles with music coming from them. The students from
the local conservatorium had volunteered to give music
lessons to these working class kids. All this had
happened because Annie had the idea of serving cookies
and drinks to these kids after school. |
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Now what I want to say to all of us today is
this. We don't need to be specially gifted to spread the
seed of the gospel here at St Theodore's. We don't need
to use a particular technique. All we need is a desire to
bear fruit and a willingness to try scattering the seed.
I suggested last week and I'm doing it again now, that we
each ask God to show us how he would like us to do our
bit in sharing the gospel with those who haven't yet
heard it. You might already have an idea, or even the
seed of an idea that's just waiting to burst into flower.
Or you might need to pray about it and talk to others
about how you might do it. But really it's up to each one
of us to do what we can to bear fruit for God isn't it? |
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I'm going to hand out a piece of paper in a
moment which has on it some ideas that other people have
come up with to stimulate your imagination. Please don't
let these ideas limit your imagination though. Ask
yourself is there an activity that I'd like to get
involved in? Are there interests and skills that I have
that I could use as a platform for sharing the gospel
with others. If you come up with an idea or three, write
it down and share it with others and lets see what God
can do among us. |
