JUST KEEP SOWING

Sermon Notes, July 16, 2017

Rev. Garry McGlinchy

            Pastor Garry's sermon was titled "Just Keep Sowing," and his scripture basis was Matthew 13:1-9, the Parable of the Sower.  Jesus depended heavily on telling stories and parables to teach spiritual truths to His disciples and the crowds that often followed Him.  A parable is a simple story that compares something familiar with something unfamiliar to make a point.  Oftentimes a parable was told using whatever was around so that the people had a real-life picture to go with the parable.  Or the parable was told using examples that were common to everyday life.  Jesus used what was around Him along with common examples taken from everyday life to teach about spiritual truths.  The thing about parables is that they are not meant to provide all the answers to all of life's big mysteries.  Instead, they are meant to provoke the listener to move toward a deeper understanding of God and His character.  In other words, if you want to gain a clear understanding about God, then you have to put in the work.

Trouble in the Text: Matthew 13:3-7  In our text we find Jesus sitting on the beach, and a crowd begins to form around Him.  Can you imagine sitting on the beach taking in the beauty of God's creation and suddenly a crowd of people begins to invade your space?  There you are, sitting on the beach feeling the warmth of the sun on your face, the ocean breeze blowing through your hair, seagulls and pelicans flying overhead and diving into the water to catch fish, the waves slapping against the bow of the boats that are tied to the docks.  Perhaps you can see some fishermen far off in the distance, or a farmer working his field not far from where you are.  Then you begin to hear the murmurs of people talking as they pass by on their way to and from the market.  Then the voices of the people passing by begin to grow louder and louder until they are surrounding you.  Would you move?  Not Jesus, not the Rabbi.  He sees a teachable moment and seizes it.  He gets into a boat and begins to teach.

            Jesus begins by telling a parable about a farmer planting seeds in his field.  There were two ways this was done: one way was by scattering the seed by hand.  The other way, the easy way, was to set the sack of seed on the donkey's back and then lead the donkey through the field.  It's kind of the same idea of a spreader that you might see being pulled behind a tractor, or those small seed/fertilizes spreaders used on your lawn.  If you have used one of these, you know that you have no control over where the seed lands.  The seed goes everywhere!  The crazy thing is that in order for a farmer to gain a profitable crop, he must sow as many seeds as he can. 

           

            With that said, any good farmer knows that not all of the seeds he or she sows will take root and produce a profitable crop.  Some of the seed will become food for the birds, some will sprout rapidly only to die rapidly, and some will grow only to be choked out by the weeds and thorn bushes.  The reality is that despite all that the farmer does to produce a profitable crop, not all the seeds that he sows will produce anything worth harvesting at all.  In fact, the reality is that it has nothing to do with the farmer or the seed at all!  The problem is the soil.  When you think about it, doesn't this sound an awful lot like how many in the world today respond to the Gospel message?

Trouble in the World  When we think about the "seed" of this parable as the Word of God, we can begin to relate this story with people that have heard the Good News of Jesus and have rejected it, or loosely followed it at best.  Those of us who have been faithfully sharing the Good News might be able to identify with the farmer of this story as he scatters his seeds in hopes of producing a profitable crop.  Much like the farmer, many of us have witnessed scores of people who have heard the Gospel message and like the farmer we have come to the conclusion that not all who hear the Good News will receive it and grow in their faith.  Some will reject it as soon as they hear it.  Some will hear the message, only to turn back to their old ways shortly after.  And others will struggle through lire as they try to follow Jesus while they allow worry and insecurity to bog them down until they finally give in to the pressures of this dark world.  The problem isn't the spiritual farmer, or the "seed," the Word of God.  The problem is the heart!  But we must remember that there will always be someone who is ready to hear and receive the Good News of Jesus Christ wherever we go!

Grace in the Text  Our scripture talks about this incredible truth in Matthew 13:8.  "Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop--a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."  Did you catch that?  As the farmer scatters his seed he knows that although some seed will not produce much of anything, there will always be some seed that will produce a profitable crop.  Not only that, but a crop big enough to compensate for the seeds that did not take root!  Why?  Because the soil was ready to receive it.

Grace in the World  Sometimes it can get frustrating watching friends, neighbors and family continue to reject the Good News that many of us have been sharing with them.  However, we must remember that there will always be people ready to not only hear the Good News, but to accept it and grow in their faith!  And much like the seed that fell on the good soil, their faith in God and obedience to Him will far exceed our wildest dreams!

            "The Parable of the Sower," or as the New Living Translation more adequately title it, "The Parable of the Four Soils," should bring encouragement to the farmer.  Who is the farmer?  Those who preach, teach and share the Good News of Christ, and who make it their business to lead the lost souls of this dark world into the bright light of salvation that is only found in Christ!  We must remember that the "seed" is the Word of God!  Even though we may used good "seed," not all of it will produce a crop.  And even when the crops grow, they don't always produce the same amount. 

Application  It can get discouraging when we, the farmers of the Good News, share the Good News with all those around us, only to be rejected time after time.  When we don't see results as we faithfully share the Good News, discouragement sets in and we begin to foster doubt that anyone is listening at all.  Know this to be true.  There is not a mathematical formula, or code, or trick to increasing the Kingdom of God.  There is nothing we can do to make someone accept Christ.  Force-feeding the Gospel down the throat of society does nothing but create more resistance and tension between God and the world.  For the most part, it takes years for someone to truly embrace the freedom that is only found in Christ.  The only thing that we need to do is to be obedient in sharing the Good News through words AND actions to all those around us.  The miracle, and it is a miracle, comes when the Holy Spirit uses our words AND actions to reach a lost soul and bring it into the light of the Living King.

            The four soils represent four different states of the heart and how they receive the Good News of Christ.  First is the hard heart that is too calloused to receive the Good News.  Keep praying, keep reaching out.  Second is the shallow heart that appears to be ready to receive the Good News, but the reality is that they are not ready.  Keep praying, keep reaching out.  Third is the contaminated heart,  They have received Christ openly, yet the worries and stress of this world cause them to hold back from fully embracing faith in God.  Keep praying, keep reaching out.  Finally is the ready heart that is not only ready to receive the Good News of Christ, but it continues to grow in faith and in God.  Keep praying for this person so that they can begin reaching out. 

            As Dory, the scatterbrained fish trying to help Marlin find his son in the animated movie "Finding Nemo," advised him to "Just keep swimming, swimming . . ." And like the farmer who goes out year after year to sow seed in the same fields, we need to keep sowing the seeds of the Good News to all those around us.  We need to "Just keep sowing, sowing. . "