The Parable of the Sower
I wasn't sure what to preach about this week, and then I got an email from a missionary mailing list about the Parable of the Sower. So I started looking at it, and found several things which challenged me. Then I got another email about it, and I looked at it again, and it challenged me again. Maybe I can share some of those challenges with you.
Jesus often preached in parables. This is a good example. Even if you've never seen a farmer planting seed, you can imagine what is going on in this parable. It's very simple, and Jesus communicates in very simple ways. That's a big challenge for me already, to keep things simple; I like complicated things. So I will try to make this sermon simple.
A farmer goes out, and he sows his seed. And some of the seeds fall on the path. Now I have seen the way people plant rice here. They place the rice plants in very nice, neat rows. When people sow seeds, they do the same: they go along a nice neat row, and there is no wasted seed. How can the seed fall on the path? Or on the rocks, or in the thorns? In Jesus' time, a farmer would not be so precise. He would walk through a field, and throw seed everywhere he went. The seed would end up in lots of different places.
Jesus says ``the farmer sows the word''. In English, we have a phrase ``to spread the word''; it means to pass the message on. Jesus is talking about someone who is telling other people about the message of God. And Jesus expects them to spread the word to everyone! The farmer threw seed everywhere, and it landed in different places: sometimes in good soil, sometimes in bad soil. But he still threw the seed!
When we are talking to other people about the message of God, we should be spreading the word like the farmer throws his seed. We should be passing the message on to everyone. Maybe in different ways for different people. Maybe for some people the way we live will be a message about God; maybe for some people, we will tell them a message about God's love for them; maybe for some people, we will tell them a message about God's forgiveness. But we should always be spreading the word.
This is a challenge to me. Maybe it's a challenge to you too. I know that I don't always tell everyone I meet about Jesus. I don't tell very many people I meet about Jesus. Maybe if I think someone will be very interested, I will say something. If I think they will not be interested at all, I do not say anything. But this is not how the farmer sowed the word! I do not know if somebody will be interested in Jesus or not. I cannot know unless I tell them! If I was sowing seed, I would want to make nice neat lines. I would not want to waste any seed! Seed is expensive, but the word of God is free!
Can I be sowing seed more widely? Can you be sowing seed more widely?
And some of the seed falls on the rock. Jesus explains this - he says that some people will accept the message at first. But then if there is trouble, they soon reject it. He says this is because they have no root. What does it mean to have no root?
I asked a friend about this, and she told me about someone she had met in university. This person from university became a Christian at a big Christian camp. She came back from the camp very excited about Jesus. But maybe a year or two later, she just... stopped. She stopped praying, she stopped going to church, she stopped believing.
My friend said it was as if the girl was in love. The feelings you have when you are in love are very strong! But scientists will tell you that the feelings will only last for two years. After that, if your relationship has no root, it will fall apart. You must be ready to be with your partner even if the feelings are gone. Your heart must be changed by God so that you know He is faithful and true, even when you feel like everything is wrong. This girl was very happy about the message of God, but it did not change her heart. Do you need to ask Him to change yours?
Next we have the seed which landed in the thorns. This week I have been quite ill. It started on Monday, and I had just had a very nice meal, but I noticed afterwards that I had a headache and a bad stomach. But because I'm a man, I decided to be strong and ignore it. On Tuesday things were worse, and I was feeling very tired and very unwell. But I had a lot of things to do, so again, I carried on and ignored it. By Wednesday I couldn't move. I felt like I was only half alive.
God showed me through this what sin is like. He reminded me of a time in my life when I thought that I could ignore sin. But sin is just like the thorns; it grows up and chokes you. The more you try to ignore it, the more it leaves you feeling half alive.
Many preachers these days do not like to talk about sin. I don't like to talk about sin, so this is a challenge to me! I don't like to talk about it because it sounds too negative. It feels like I am accusing you of something, but I am no better myself!
But also because ``sin'' is a difficult idea to understand. When you say that someone is a ``sinner'', they will say, ``I have not murdered anyone. I have not robbed anyone. I am not a sinner!''
But we all do things that we want to hide. We do things that we know we would be ashamed of. When we sin, we are killing someone: We are killing ourselves, because we are cutting off parts of our life. Just like when I was unwell, sin leaves us feeling like we are half alive. Jesus said that ``I have come so you may have life to the full.'' This is a challenge to me - that I do not live my live to the full because of my sin.
And we all do things that hurt others. We all do things which do not give God first place. So when we sin, we are robbing someone: We are robbing God of His glory and His hopes for us.
And do you know the worst thing? When I started to get ill, I thought I could ignore it. By the time I realised how big the problem was, it was too late. It is the same with sin; I know from my own life.
Thankfully, there is a way out. God can remove the weeds. He can forgive our sin. Do you need him to do that?
And finally there is the good soil, which produces a huge crop - thirty, sixty or a hundred times what was sown. When Jesus was speaking, a farmer would expect to get back seven times what he sowed. A crop of thirty times would be a miracle - sixty times or a hundred times would be a huge miracle! And that is what Jesus is talking about - a miracle. He is reminding us that we do not cause Christian growth. God causes it.
But this is a challenge to me as well - Jesus expects that seed in good soil will go on to produce more seed, many more seed. This seed will be spread and more people will believe. Am I really spreading the word of God? Maybe it's a challenge to you too.
So this parable is a big challenge, but a big encouragement. Are we spreading the word? Are our hearts changed? Are we forgiven by God? If we are, then we are promised that we will produce a huge crop - at least a miracle, and maybe a huge miracle. Praise God!